Customer Reviews

The Complete Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

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

 

 

This 13-cd set includes EVERY tune commercially released by the great Glenn Miller Orchestra by RCA. All the great #1 hits are here, as well as dozens of obscure tunes that musically show the evolution of this wonderful band. From the band's first recordings in 1938 when their style was still be refined, the novelty pop tunes, the gorgeous and mooody ballads, the blistering up -tempo "killer-dillers," through the final 1942 session that produced their famous version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue," and signaling the end of the Glenn Miller civilian band as Miller prepared to enter the service, a patriotic decision that cost him his life. This boved set features vocals by Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, The Modernaires, Jack Lathrop, Ernie Caceres, Dorothy Claire and an 18 yr. old Kay Starr. Soloists and sidemen include Billy May, Ray Anthony, Al Klink, Willie Schwartz (on the famous trademark lead clarinet), Ernie Caceres,Hal McIntyre, Johnny Best and Babe Russin. The tunes feature arrangements by Jerry Gray, Bill Finegan, Billy May, Eddie Durham and, of course, Miller himself. This is the ultimate treasure-trove for any Miller fan! And worth the price to boot!

Now THIS is a box set! Every single Bluebird recording by the great bandleader, Glenn Miller, all in one convenient compact set. Thirteen CD's in all, and everyone packed to the max with music every bit as alive today as it was over 60 years ago. This is the sound that defined a generation and an era, all from one man who knew what the record buying and jukebox playing public wanted to hear.
Amazon has the complete listing, so there is no need to get into song titles. But, just so you know, every charted song Mr. Miller released is here - all 127 charted hits - except two: Solo Hop on the Columbia label, and Every Day's A Holiday which was on the Brunswick label (hence the reason for these two numbers not being included - they are not Bluebird or Victor releases!). Plus so many more songs that are, to me, every bit as good as the hits. Along with that there are some very good alternate takes on disc 13.
The main reason, however, to purchase this set above the others is the sound quality of the tunes. It is a truly remarkable sound that RCA has been able to pull off of the original (lacquer?) discs. You'd swear the songs were recorded 30 years after the fact - the sound is that good. A full bass, no ear piercing highs (nice and crisp as they should be), and the mid range sounds just right. Not a click or a pop within ear shot.
Is this set pricey? Well, yeah. I guess it is.
But is it worth the price being asked? Every penny!
This is one set that RCA did absolutely perfect, including the extremely informative booklet (141 pages!).
This is one set that, heaven forbid, if anything should happen to it, I would replace it in a heartbeat (house payment be damned!).
A treasure trove filled with gems from the past by the master of the WWII sound.
I'm sure Glenn would approve.

As a longtime Glenn Miller fan this is a set that I had wanted for a long while. Finding it was a problem because it is out-of-print. I bought it, here, a few weeks ago and really looked forward to hearing music from Glenn Miller that I was not familiar with. This set, 13-Discs in total, is complete and has it all.

For those of you who are tired of hearing the over-played "In The Mood", "Little Brown Jug', "Pennsylvania 6-500", etc. there is plenty here to listen to that will be new to you and very enjoyable. (Otherwise there are plenty of collections out there that have all of the over-played Miller favorites in a single-disc format at a fraction of the $150 price-tag).

That said, after listening to the set a number of times since it arrived, I have come to realize that for every Miller gem there are 2-3 novelty tunes that would have been better off not being recorded. It is a complete set but there is a lot of music here that I could just as soon do without ("Sweet Potato Piper"? "Booglie Wooglie Piggy"?). These tracks have altered my opinions of Miller's music in totality.

I love the Miller sound (I played on the band myself in the '90's for eight years in the reed section) and seldom heard or broadcast items like "Yesterday's Gardenias" or "I'm Thrilled" make the set worthwhile if only because the vast majority of this collection is not available on CD anywhere else.

I was disappointed with the cheap packaging. A musical icon like Miller should merit at least cases for each individual CD instead of 4 discs crammed into a double case (and there's 3 of them) with disc 13 being the odd-one out in it's own case. They are all packaged in a box with a flip-top that will probably fall off if you plan to play the set a lot.

The accompanying booklet, on the other hand, is very well done with a lot of good information and detailed listings of personnel, dates and arrangers for each selection.

The sound quality is not nearly as good as other recordings of the same vintage. Again, with Miller being such a huge figure in 20th Century Popular Music you would have figured a little more painstaking work would have gone into such a mammoth project.

There is some great music in this set and it is nice to finally hear some things that have, unfortunately, been over-shadowed by the same 12 songs that most of the public wants to hear over and over and over again. The band was always VERY polished, tight and was the most individual ensemble of the era. The recordings are a testament to the orchestra's musicianship and execution. Miller's vocalists, especially The Modernaires, were a huge asset to the success of the group. In short, Miller's music epitomizes the Big Band sound. To many people, Miller WAS the Swing Era.

For the casual Miller fan, this set is not for you. For the die-hard Miller fan, however, it is a must-have. 4 stars for completeness. Different packaging would have been more appropriate. Perhaps a newer version will correct this edition's shortcomings.

This is the collection to have if you want all the recordings of the Glenn Miller Orchestra made for RCA/Bluebird between 1938 and 1942. This box set will include lots of vocal numbers, mainly from the underrated Ray Eberle, the cute Marion Hutton and the great saxman Tex Beneke, plus a few others along the way. Also, there's many great instrumentals that you've probably never heard before.

Now, comparing this to the "Glenn Miller Story" (volumes 1 - 4 on 16 discs) from Avid records which includes songs from radio broadcasts, that weren't recorded for RCA; but I'd still say this one is the better choice. Why? Well, the problem lies in the Avid sound quality, there's too much noise reduction, at least for me. Where as this RCA collection breathes better, and has all the sparkle and fire that is missing from the Avid collections. So, if you're not afraid of a little surface noise, go for this box set, but, look around for a price that's $100 or less. If you want a taste of what this collection sounds like, try out the "Popular Recordings" three disc set first.

Lastly, why can't these compilations of old 78's have a few more seconds between them? Essentially we have a bunch of singles all crammed together, so why not let them have some breathing room. As I recall, the UK Beatles albums from 1963-1966 had a seven second break between songs. I loved it! It was like giving each song it's own spotlight. Oh, the days of one song at a time.

This is some of the most finely crafted pop music you'll ever hear. Miller's music immortalizes the pop culture of white, mainstream America in the wartime era... Although it's clearly a big nostalgia trip for us all today, this music also holds up on its own over the decades... heck, even over the centuries, as it turns out. It's both corny and elegant, populist and refined. And a joy to listen to... This box set (SADLY out of print, and in need of reissue!!) is really the way to go for Miller's best work... Like other reviewers here, I also own the multi-volume Bluebird LP sets from the 1970s, and I can hardly describe what a pleasure it is to also have them in digital form as well... this is the kind of box set you can enjoy for weeks on end. Highly recommended!

Having purchased the LPs of this set many years ago I was anxious to get a CD version. I purchased this set from Amazon 5 years ago and have never been sorry. In CD form you get to really learn many obscure GM selections. This set is well worth the cost and will bring you many years of great joy.

Glenn Miller is my main favorite Big Band. The Complete Glenn miller is good but the best stuff is the early stuff from 1939 to 1940. When you get from late 1941 to 1942 you can tell there is a lot of stuff that is not his best. Also you have to understand when the recording ban was getting ready to be in place in 1941 Glenn just like all the other Bands crammed in the studio and made whatever they could put on record and Glenn did that and there were some good stuff but there was a lot of bad stuff also that Glenn did and i think he and the band knew this and you can tell they just was not into it then. And also They did more slow songs than swing tunes. As for Ray Eberle he was a good singer it is just that Glenn made Ray sing an octive higher than his normal voice. I've heard Ray sing in his normal voice on some of the later stuff he did and his voice is almost like his brother Bob Eberle who sang with Jimmy Dorsey's band. Ray hated to sing like he did with Glenn but he was making money so he did what Glenn told him to do. As for Marion Hutton Glenn also made her do the novelty stuff but she had a good voice not great and the funny thing is when she and her sister Betty Hutton auditioned for Glenn he didn't pick Betty because he thought she wasn't very good. Well you know what happen to Betty lol. If you are a diehard Glenn Miller fan then get this and also get the live recordings if you can you get to hear them have fun playing live to the audience. You will have a lot of good stuff on here to listen to but you will hear some of the bad ones also so enjoy. If you want mostly the best of Glenn buy the Glenn Miller A Memorial. It has bassically the best hits by him.

Make no mistake about it: Glenn Miller is the bandleader that make me catch the big band fever some 30 years ago when I was in my early teens, so I have a soft spot for him and his band. But that said, there is a lot of redundant rubbish among his recordings, which of course comes out best in a "complete" collection (this in itself is a misnomer: the collection is far from complete, leaving out the 1935-1938 Brunswicks and Deccas as well as the 1944 HMVs). Tedious pop-items, hair-raisingly silly novelty tunes and mechanically arranged and listlessly performed instrumentals abound in this set (but the same can be said of the complete Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Artie Shaw for instance).
There are also some surprises:
-the crass mediocrity of the singers Ray Eberle (who has no voice, mostly sounds strained, uncomfortable, and totally unswinging) and Marion Hutton (who hasn't got much of a voice either and is often out of tune)
-Miller's tolerance of second rate pianist Chummy McGregor
-the sometimes very corny saxophone solos of Tex Beneke. Good instrumentalists like Willie Schwartz, Johnny Best, Dale McMickle (listen to his work with Hal Mallet for example) and Al Klink rarely get the chance to shine. In ballads Beneke is very good however!
Of course, the biggest advantage of a complete set is that there are always undiscovered gems that you would not find in a "best of" collection, but it also proves that not everything Miller recorded can be labeled "great".

The "best" of Glenn Miller (the things that have really stood the test of time) would arguably comprise four well filled discs. The "okay" Glenn Miller (the items that would please a more dedicated Big Band fan, but perhaps not the general public) perhaps another two. The remainder, six discs, certainly prove that Miller, as most of his colleagues, recorded things that do not hold up very well with the passing of time. And this is because of a number of reasons: some of the titles are just plain awful, musically as well as textually; many arrangements are formulaic to the extent of becoming boring; the musicians certainly got bored with the arrangements and the stuff they had to record, their playing being audibly mechanical, stiff, unswinging; worst of all: the singers Ray Eberle and Marion Hutton, now there is really no excuse for them. Compare Hutton with Paula Kelly, her temporary replacement, there is a world of difference (and even Miss Kelly does not rate among the great band singers!). I cannot detect any charm in Miller's renditions of "Three Little Fishes", "Rendezvous-time in Paree", "Basket Weaver Man", "Ciribiribin", "I'll Never Smile Again", "Angel Child", "Goodbye Little Darling, Goodbye", "A Little Old Church in England", "Booglie Wooglie Piggy", "Papa Niccolini", "Dear Mom" or "Knit One, Purl Two" to name just one terrible item from every disc.
If we are all agreed (as I seem to understand from some other five star reviews) that this is for the dedicated-completist fans only, why award it with five stars?
Three will do for this particular collection.