Customer Reviews

The Complete Arc & Brunswick Sides

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

 

 

Just where the site's product reviewer got the idea that Alice Faye dropped out of the public eye after her scrum with Darryl Zanuck in the mid-1940s escapes me---unless he/she was completely unaware of eight years (1946-1953) worth of a radio hit with husband Phil Harris, on which there were perodic little digs at Zanuck and Fox over his perceived duplicity in bumping Faye for Linda Darnell.

But never mind. One of the treats of the Harris-Faye radio hit was Faye's singing voice (she and Harris, himself a singing bandleader, invariably took a musical turn each on the sitcom), whether caressing a ballad or swinging easily. This set of recordings from a decade earlier is a perfect place to start appreciating Faye's singing voice(she isn't exactly an obscurity as an actress), a honeyed contralto which survives the passage of time and sounds alternatively romantic and playful, even if some of the material with which she was saddled during this period of her career doesn't. Even on some of the more banal selections Faye releases a deliciously affecting vocal presence enough to make you think she could have forged a lasting presence if she'd chosen to sing with the popular jazz orchestras of the day.

Come to think of it, it would be a phenomenal treat to mulct an album of the best of Faye's song performances from the old Harris-Faye show, if it hasn't been done already.

The life of Alice Faye is a fine example of the fulfillment of the American Dream. Faye was born in New York into a working class environment. She left school to earn a living at the age of 13, started in the chorus and rose through the New York nightclub scene, Broadway and eventually radio, as a singer with Rudy Vallee, to become the best example of the girl who sang at the microphone. Her film career began in 1934 and she quickly rose to the top. Her commercial recording career only existed for 4 years from 1933 to 1937.

The idea of creating a complete record of her commercial recordings was sound but unfortunately, this CD contains only one track, "My Future Star", which is not already available on a cheaper CD which contains a few extra soundtracks too. All of the songs, with the exception of the first 2, appeared in Faye's films, even if not performed by her. While many of them are long forgotten, all benefit from Faye's trademark warm smooth contralto but they often lack the vitality of their equivalents on film. Possibly one exception is the recording of "Wake up And Live" which has a delightful bouncy arrangement. Having said that, the recordings are in good condition, having been cut from original 78s.

There is no doubt that a Faye close up enhanced her vocals, if that makes sense, as another reviewer has noted, because Faye was a very pretty woman with beautiful eyes. I suspect too that the 20th Century Fox magicians might also have been able to add a few tricks because she does sound better on film than here in general.

At the top of her career at 20th Century Fox, beginning with the 1938 double-whammy of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "In Old Chicago" (both available on DVD) and ending with the underrated 1945 film noir "Fallen Angel", Alice Faye was contractually forbidden (like Betty Grable would be too) from releasing commercial recordings of the songs performed in her films. This means that, with the exception of "Rose of Washington Square", whose soundtrack was remastered when released on CD, Faye's film recordings (including "You'll Never Know", her best song) are only available in poor quality CDs taken from her movies.

This CD collects her previous commercial recordings, consisting mostly of songs from the films she made between 1934 and 1937. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, like the Irving Berlin songs (from 1937's "On the Avenue"), "Goodnight, My Love" (from the Shirley Temple vehicle "Stowaway") and "There's a Lull in My Life" (from the radio satire "Wake Up and Live"), most of the songs are on the mediocre side. Faye was also primarily a film star, not a recording star. By that, I mean that she sounds great accompanied by a close-up but only good without one. Still, Alice Faye has a warm, nice deep voice, and fans of 1930s music should enjoy this CD.

Between July 1934 and March 1937 Alice Faye recorded a total of 20 songs, sixteen of which were issued at the time. So it was a bit of a surprise, having purchased a CD unequivocally entitled "The Complete ARC & Brunswick sides" to find that it was one short. Consulting the unsigned liner note, it concludes "...an unissued twentieth, "I Feel a Song Coming on", has been lost..." Which is questionable, to say the least, because there were four unissued songs, all of which were included in a subsequent vinyl reissue (Columbia CL-3068).

Having got that grouse out of the way, what's here is an absolute treat. There are plenty of sound track reissues, but they suffer from the "noises off" of the extraneous action. What you get here is the contemporaneous studio recordings, beautifully remastered, with a well-produced liner note and informative discography. It would be churlish to deduct a star for the missing track, and I've resisted the temptation.

I think the songs are great and some of the arrangements are excellent. 'Nasty Man' and 'Here's the Key to my Heart' are very funny novelty numbers. Alice Faye's voice was unique and I love to hear her swing. For me this is a desert island disc.

Although she's well before my time, I love watching Alice Faye in her movies. Most of the divas from that era do little or nothing for me, but she is a rare exception. There is a lack of pretentiousness in her. She's about the only A list female star from that era whom I find sexy. Sadly, the tunes on this cd suffer from lackluster arrangements. I agree with one reviewer about the same songs being more exciting in the films. I believe that this is so for most of the singers in film from that era. The studio recordings are never as exciting or beautiful as the arrangements on the soundtracks. Don't waste your time with this cd. If you enjoy Alice Faye, buy her movies whenever they are available on dvd. I even own the Shirley Temple one that Alice Faye is in, "Poor Litte Rich Girl," just to watch her.