Customer Reviews

Charleston Era

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While torch songs and ballads were greatly popular during the 1920s, it is the dance music we most often remember--spirited and joyous sounds with unexpected arrangements and comic grace notes, often accompanied by comic lyrics. And it is precisely this that THE CHARLESTON ERA collects: the bright, the bouncy, evokative of Sheiks and Flappers, men with oil-slick hair and girls who wore their stockings rolled down.

Opening with the Paul Whiteman version of "Charleston"--a dance that was soundly condemned as demonic by the kill-joys of the time--this memorable compilation progresses through a host of standards and a good many forgotten but utterly charming favorites of the time. There's Al Jolson, Helen Kane, Gene Austin, and even the great Duke Ellington, who rounds out the line up with a memorable "Runnin' Wild."

The sound quality is remarkably good, particularly when one stops to consider that many of these recordings were made, as the CD cover notes, "in the days before electronic recording." The cuts are lovingly restored and beautifully presented, most of them toe-tappers, all of them guaranteed to flip you back to an era of speak-easies, cloche hats, and shimmy gowns... and, of course, the dance that characterized the era: The Charleston. You just can't listen to it and be blue.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In memory of Cujo, 1992-2005
An Orange Cat and a Dear and Faithful Companion, Greatly Missed

I love the 1920s. I am a kid, but I love it. I have been watching musicals ever since I saw Singin' in the Rain, and I worked my way up from the the 1960s musicals to the the earliest silents of the very late 1800s. But I find that my favorite era is the 1920s. I love the music, movies, clothes, art-deco style, just everything about the 20s. My friends think I am crazy for choosing to listen to Annette Shaw over Beyonce, but they respect my opinion. Even my grandma does not like this stuff!! This music is older than her. This is an AH-MAZING CD. The music is so nostalgic and beautiful. It just takes you back. Back to images of slick-haired men in tuxedos with tails dancing the shag with bob-haired flappers in fringed drop waist gowns, images of prohibition, a sleek silent movie with Rudolph Valentino or Gloria Swanson, fast roadsters, Broadway shows like Good News or No, No Nanette, or the great Ziegfeld Follies. Like I said, the music was just so nostalgic and beautiful that I cried when I listened to the song "Charleston". It was a lovely reminder of one of the greatest decades in the history of the world. Jazz music today is so blah and it has no personality. The 1920s tinny jazz sound is real, RED-HOT JAZZ! This CD really captures the 20s, because the real stuff is the best, not like the movie Chicago, which is okay but does not have real 20s glory like a 20s silent like the Affairs of Anatol. This CD is swell (pardon the old-timey slang) the sound is not static, the music recordings are superb, the price is great, and it's just all nice. My favorite songs are "Charleston", "Everything is Hotsy-Totsy Now", "Charleston Charley", and "Pasadena". Two other good ASV label CDs of 20s music are Runnin' Wild, and Chart-Toppers of the Twenties. Yay! :)

This CD is an excellent introduction to the music of the roaring twenties; it is one of my favorite compilations. I can listen to this CD on a loop and not get bored. The music is jumpy and happy and it is filled with famous names including Al Jolson, Fred Astaire and Helen Kane.

The great thing about the twenties was the carefree attitude that is exemplified in this collection. The lyrics scream fun and rebellion; they're actually quite witty in parts. Pasadena croons, "...back to my home in Pasadena, home where grass is greener where honeybees are melodies and orange trees scent the breeze...", Don't Bring Lulu warns, "You can bring Kate or a porterhouse steak, but don't bring Lulu!", Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue exclaims, "Now if you run into a five foot two covered in furs, diamond rings and all those things, bet your life it isn't her...", I'd Rather Charleston proclaims, "You just repeat that same refrain. You use your feet and not your brain." and Crazy Words, Crazy Tune complains, "...sits around all day long and he sings the same words to every song..." It's about fun and songs about frivolous things.

This is great dance music of a bygone era. Too bad much of today's society labels jazz as that smooth mood music found in elevators and hotel lobbies. This is nothing of the sort. Check it out.

I agree with 20's kid. I'm 12 and I just started listening to this music and love it! It should be more popular, I think. I wish I could've lived in the 1920's. I loved the movie Chicago and started
listening to this type of music and love it! My favorite song on this whole CD is the Paul Whiteman Charleston (the first song). It's great. Music now a days is disgusting and pointless. But this is good music. Hope you buy it!

When a fad hits, everyone hopes to grab a piece of it before it disappears. Think of all the dreadful songs that tried to ride piggyback on The Twist. While there were some fun songs, there were lots of dreadful clunkers that someone hoped would be a winner by including "Twist" in the title. Back in the 20s, when fads became a way of life, one of the biggest was the Charleston. This collection grabs a bunch of tunes with the name Charleston in the title and heaps them with other songs of that era, though certainly not dance numbers.

Another less-than-lovely characteristic of music back then was that if Helen Kane had a hit with a song, everyone and his brother released a version of the same song, hoping to fool the public or capitalize on it, but rarely offering an improvement. Got a few of those too.

This is not to say there are not many pleasures on the disc. Nice to have the original Paul Whiteman tune in such a clear transfer, and other famous songs of the era in very good sounding recordings. But dead wood is all over this disc, songs that I do not much enjoy, or more painfully, enjoy far more in a different version. For the most egregious example, "That's My Weakness Now" is offered in a lame ukelele performance that sounds like an Amateur Hour reject, and is then followed by Helen and one of her signature performances, "I Want To Be Loved By You." Well, this juxtaposition is bad enough, but Helen also did a superlative "That's My Weakness Now" that should have made Ukelele Ike shuffle off somewhere far away. Yet I hear this rendition, instead of Helen. And one other song that was a glory of those days, "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune" is given a sallow performance by Johnny Marvin, when Vaughn DeLeath did it in a way that resonates 80 years later.

So, some delights in here, some ho-hums (this is my first time hearing Adele Astaire, and it will be my last), and a few anvil drops. Not bad for the price, but not quite the storied release described here.

Ever since I saw the movie Chicago I have been dancing the Charleston. My friends call me the 1920s kid because all the kids in my class think I am crazy for dancing the Charleston. Of coarse you don't see many 13 year olds dancing to it. I have been searching along time for a cd like this. It is sad to think that this great music has fadded out of American society. I would do anything to live in the 1920s it was such a great decade. I listened to one of the samples from the cd that they give. It was so cool, I must have listened to it ten times. This is definetly a cd to buy. And I thank Amazon.com for helping me locate this CD. Thanks amazon

THIS HAS DEFINETLY THE BEST REMASTERED VERSIONS OF THESE SONGS FROM THIS ERA. THE FRED AND ADELE ASTAIR SONG IS A RARE PRIZE.
IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE LIGHTING UP A CHEASTERFIELD CIGARETTE AND POURING A LARGE COLD MARTINI. AND DANCING WITH A REAL HOT DAME AND SAYING "OH! YOU KID."
THIS IS A VERY COOL COLLECTION.

It's not often that you find a CD with such a good selection of songs. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it highly.

If you're looking for a CD that captures the spirit of the roaring twenties, look no further! I'm a huge fan of '20s jazz, and this cd has a terrific selection of the most popular dance hits of the decade, and a lot of 'em that are pretty hard to find anywhere else, like 'Crazy World Crazy Tune'. I'm telling you, as a collector of twenties music, this CD is **addictive**! (Everything is Hotsy Totsey, The Girlfriend and Happy Feet are songs that are GUARANTEED to have you up on your feet!)

I love the the 1920s. Most kids today like me like rap and stuff, but not me. No, I have always loved the tinny jazz sound of the 1920s. My friends do not know why I like old-fashioned 1920s stuff, though they respect my opinion, and they would rather listen to Beyonce. And there is no better CD than this one to take you back to the magical era of flappers, sheiks, and Prohibition. I loved it. All the music does not sound static at all, it is beautifully restored. I cried when I listened to the song "Charleston". It was just so nostalgic and beautiful. It really made me think of the era of this music. Thinking of men in tuxedos dancing the Charleston or Shag with flappers in ornate art-deco dresses, champange, elegant silent movies like The Affairs of Anatol. I love this CD, I found it better than Chart Toppers of the 20s, and my favorite tracks on it are Charleston, Everything is Hotsy-Totsy Now, and Pasadena. I also reccomend the Runnin' Wild ASV label CD of 1920s music. Yay!