Customer Reviews

Essential Fred Astaire

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

 

 

This CD contains some of Fred Astaires most well know songs like Check to Check and Lets Face the Music and Dance, all well restored. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is that some of the scores were not from the movies they originally appeared in so they are a little different versions than the one most people would know. But all in all it is a wonderfull light hearted CD well worth the money.

Fred Astaire enthralled the public with his dancing in the many light-hearted films, but his singing was wonderful too. To hear him does awaken memories of his cinematic dancing but his singing evokes an era when popular music was jazz. This limited collection includes most of his well-known favorites. Not all the selections are taken from his films but are rather from original record releases (that even include tap dancing), such as Puttin' On The Ritz, and The Way You Look Tonight. Fascinating Rhythm is also not from a film but it features George Gershwin on piano and Adele Astaire. Another duet has Judy Garland in Easter Parade. If you desire a fair sampling of Fred Astaire songs on a single CD, then this album is a good choice. It is nicely mastered as part of the Columbia Legacy series.

THE ESSENTIAL FRED ASTAIRE IS A GOOD OVERVIEW OF HIS MANY FILM AND THEATRE SONGS. HOWEVER, PREVIOUS ISSUINGS OF ASTAIRE HAVE INCLUDED MANY, MORE SONGS FROM HIS FILMS AND SHOWS. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS TO OFFER A THREE-DISC SET THAT WOULD DOCUMENT ASTAIRE'S EXTRAORDINARY RECORDINGS SHOW BY SHOW AND FILM BY FILM. WHEN ONE CONSIDERS THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE SONGS, THEIR COMPOSERS AND FRED ASTAIRE'S ENORMOUS CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THESE RECORDINGS BE ISSUED IN THEIR ENTIRETY AND WITH AN ESSAY DETAILING THIS NEVER EQUALED, PHENOMENAL MUSIC.....PLEASE SONY DO THE RIGHT THING AND ISSUE THE COMPLETE FRED ASTAIRE ON CD..........GARY JASINKONIS........EAST NORTHPORT, NEW YORK........

One reviewer deducts 2 stars from this volume because of what it does NOT contain, and while I have been guilty of that myself on more than one occasion, I only take that approach when a distributor blares "the greatest hits of" - and then leaves out some very significant legitimate hits in favour of, say, previously unreleased material, or failed singles. No such claim is made by the producers of THIS excellent volume who, in calling it "essential" clearly had some of his more famous tunes in mind.

For you see, between 1929 and 1943, this fine actor/dancer managed to find time to rack up 35 hit singles for Columbia (2), Victor (2), Brunswick (30) and Decca (1), and here they deliver on 11 of them, together with selected sides that, while never actually "hits" for Fred are still closely associated with him, such as Puttin' On The Ritz, Easter Parade and Fascinating Rhythm, to name just a few. I mean, who else jumps to mind when you hear those songs, assuming you're old enough to have heard them way back or, if younger, are a fan of the old musicals?

And the hits that are here are equally as identifiable with Mr. Astaire, starting off with Night And Day which became a # 1 hit for him in late 1932/early 1933 on Victor 24193, and remained there for TEN weeks, with the backing of the Leo Reisman orchestra. Bettering that by one week was Cheek To Cheek from the film Top Hat which hit # 1 in late summer 1935 on Brunswick 7486, again with Reisman backing. He also appears on Top Hat, White Tie And Tails, also from that film, which reached # 2 on Brunswick 7487 and was kept from the top spot only by Cheek To Cheek!

His next three hits included here all came from the film Follow The Fleet, starting off with I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket, yet another # 1, albeit for just 1 week, in March 1936 on Brunswick 7609. Around the same time, Let Yourself Go and Let's Face The Music And Dance, which came out on Brunswick 7608 with the backing of the Johnny Green orchestra, both charted at # 2 and # 5 respectively. A few months later he was back with yet another # 1, The Way You Look Tonight from the film Swing Time (and again with the Green orchestra) on Brunswick 7717, his time staying at # 1 for 6 solid weeks.

In the spring of 1937 he had these hits included here from the film Shall We Dance, once more using the Green aggregation, with They Can't Take That Away From Me reaching # 1 (for 1 week) on Brunswick 7855) and Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, a # 5 on Brunswick 7857. Later that year these hits came out of the movie A Damsel In Distress - Nice Work If You Can Get It, a # 1 (for 1 week) in Nov/Dec on Brunswick 7983, and A Foggy Day, which finished at # 3 on Brunswick 7982, both backed by the Ray Noble orchestra.

More than fairly representative of the word "essential" I would say, with excellent sound and liner notes by Andrew Velez. I would only hope that we will eventually see a volume 2 containing some (or all) of the other 24 hit singles in that period not included here. For the record, Fred added a 36th hit single in 1951 for MGM when the delightful (and arguably longest-titled hit) How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life, became a # 30 duet with Jane Powell from the film Royal Wedding.

With the possible exception of the Judy Garland song (Fred has ONE line)this album is great fun. You will be putin on the Ritz yourself.

This is an excellent audio of many of Fred Astaire's greatest songs. It really exceeded my expectations.