Complete Capitol Hits of Margaret Whiting

Margaret Whiting | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 2000)
• Original Release Date: April 11, 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B00003W0XM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,013 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. That Old Black Magic

2. Moonlight in Vermont

3. It Might as Well Be Spring

4. I'm in Love in Vain

5. All Through the Day

6. Come Rain or Come Shine

7. Along With Me

8. Passé

9. Guilty

10. Oh, But I Do!

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Far Away Places

2. Forever and Ever

3. A Wonderful Guy

4. Baby, It's Cold Outside

5. Dime a Dozen

6. Wedding Bells

7. Slipping Around

8. I'll Never Slip Around Again

9. Broken Down Merry-Go-Round

10. The Gods Were Angry With Me

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

CD, featuring Margaret Whiting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic Maggie - the best singer of the late 1940's, July 5, 2002

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Capitol Hits of Margaret Whiting (Audio CD)

Maggie Whiting was born for a career in music, as her father was a successful songwriter and had many friends in the business. So, all she needed to be a successful singer was a reasonably good voice. In fact, she had a wonderful voice, ideally suited to the romantic songs which provided her with her greatest hits.

This compilation is by far the strongest available, and is likely to remain so unless Bear Family or Proper decide to release a boxed set - if that happens, I'll buy it immediately.

With access to the finest songs available at the time, Maggie recorded the original versions of several songs which have become popular classics, including Moonlight in Vermont, Far away places and Baby, it's cold outside. I've heard several versions of these songs, but Maggie's originals are hard to beat.

My particular favorite song of Maggie's, A tree in the meadow, was actually her biggest hit, but there are not many covers of this song around. Could this be because meadows themselves are a rarity these days?.

Maggie was also a major influence on popular music via her duets with country star Jimmy Wakely. Probably conceived as an idea to give Jimmy some pop success, these duets were not only very successful on the pop charts, but also on the country charts. And so it was that country/pop crossover was firmly established.

All the hit duets with Jimmy, plus all her solo hit singles are here. There are some hits that she recorded with other acts which are missing, but nothing essential. An earlier reviewer suggests that The money tree is not included despite being listed. It is on my copy, so perhaps there is something wrong with his copy, or perhaps his was an early pressing, corrected later.

Maggie was at her peak commercially in the late forties, but still had a few hits in the early fifties, when she started to include more upbeat songs in her repertoire. The birth of rock'n'roll killed her pop career, but she continued to record excellent music, most notably the Jerome Kern tribute album. If you only buy one collection of Magic Maggie's music, this is the one to buy. If you want more, start with the Jerome Kern tribute.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You, Capitol!, October 24, 2001

By 

J Keistler "[e-mail]" (Lake Jackson, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Capitol Hits of Margaret Whiting (Audio CD)

I grew up listening to oldies like Miss Whiting and rock at the same time. I snapped up every old, scratched-up LP of performers from the forties and fifties at garage sales, and treasured them. So many of these recording legends didn't make it to cassette, and LP's were dying out in the eighties. When the major labels finally realized what they were holding in their archives, they began releasing remastered recordings on CD in the late eighties and early nineties. Now, we can find most mainstream and many minor performers on CD, with its associated permanance.

Margaret Whiting isn't my favorite singer from the postwar period--Jo Stafford is. I always enjoyed the crystal clarity of Miss Whiting's voice, it simply never conveyed either sex or emotion in the way that Stafford's does. However, the quality of the material that Miss Whiting recorded is matchless. Additionally, the remastering quality is amazing for these old recordings. On some of these compilations, you can tell immediately which recordings were on record and which ones on tape. All of Miss Whiting's recordings sound like they were recorded at least ten years later!

This set won't disappoint. Her music is great for late night listening on a cold night with a hot drink. . .

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous Maggie, April 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Complete Capitol Hits of Margaret Whiting (Audio CD)

Methinks some titles are missing at the end of disc 2. I have the album and disc 2 ends with Margaret's version of "Why Don't You Believe Me." What's to be said about Maggie that already hasn't been? That fresh-white-sheets-on-the-clothesline-on-a-sunny day voice. The perfect pitch. The intelligent reading of lyrics. The crisp diction. The singer-as-actor approach. The versatility. Which she sure needed because Capitol threw everything but the kitchen sink at her, musically speaking. There's a ton of hits here--almost everything made the top 30--and this collection provides an excellent visit to what pop music was like in the the late '40s and early '50s. Singers recorded and released records frequently--three months was a long time between records--and it was all done live with the orchestra in one or two takes. Even as a teenager Maggie sounded like a wise woman. And a very good singer.