Golden Years of Dick Haymes [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 4CD SET [Box set, Import]

Dick Haymes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 11, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Jasmine Music
• ASIN: B00009WVXG
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,027 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. I'll Get By

2. Lament To Love

3. A Sinner Kissed An Angel

4. I Guess I'll Have To Dream The Rest

5. Wait For Me, Mary

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. It Might As Well Be Spring

2. Slowly

3. That's For Me

4. Till The End Of Time

5. How Deep Is The Ocean?

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Little White Lies

2. Teresa

3. My Sin

4. It's Magic

5. By The Way

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. The Old Master Painter

2. I Surrender, Dear

3. You Stepped Out Of A Dream

4. Can I Come In For A Second

5. I Oughta Know More About You

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

For many Dick Haymes collectors this will be a much-awaited gem of a box set. As with any project of this size the overall sound quality has to be a major consideration and this is consistently excellent throughout the 4 discs. In fact it was difficult to detect any surface noise even on the oldest of the recordings. There are examples of Dick s earliest work with Harry James I ll Get By, (1941) and those blockbusters hits such as You ll never Know & It can t be wrong (1943) with The Song Spinners. Put together, quite wisely, in chronological sequence the listener can hear just how Dick s voice developed from that of a big band vocalist to a major solo artist. Included are his biggest hits, Stella by starlight, Laura, Till the end of time, It had to be you with Helen Forrest etc and there are memories too of many of his film musicals including, Let the rest of the world go by (Irish Eyes are Smiling, 1944), It might as well be Spring (State Fair, 1945), The more I see you (Diamond Horseshoe, 1945), Mi Vida, (Carnival in Costa Rica, 1947) etc. Naturally, with any collection of this size there are going to be the obvious duplications (the chart hits) with other CDs but the inclusion of rarer material, radio performances, two lovely duets with Helen Forrest, Two sleepy people, People will say we re in love and some world transcriptions, which have previously only had a limited release, makes the 101 selections an absolute must for the collector and a wonderful set for the curious first time buyer. The collection has 12 songs with the Andrews Sisters or Patty Andrews, 9 tracks with Helen Forrest including 2 rare radio show duets, 6 Irving Berlin tracks with Carmen Cavallaro to highlight but a few of the songs. There are just so many top performances here that one is simply spoilt for choice. This is the first time that any label has put together such a comprehensive collection, which represents the best of his output from 1941 to 1952 a period during which Dick was a major recording star. With a running time of over 5 hours, sleeve notes by nostalgia expert Geoff Milne, fully annotated with recording dates, matrix numbers where known and orchestral backings this is a major collection. Also available: JASCD124 - In Hollywood JASMCD2525 - The Ballad Singer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Price, Great pressings, January 5, 2004

By 

DodgyUSA (Jamaica Plain, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden Years of Dick Haymes [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 4CD SET (Audio CD)

This Jasmine Music collection of Dick Haymes on 4 cds with over 100 tracks is a great price!

For collectors of Haymes some of the tracks are duplicated on other recordings but this is definitely worth the price.
Duets with Helen Forrest, Bing Crosby, the Andrew Sisters (I guess that counts as a quartet !) are all represented.
The pressings are clean and the sound is wonderful.

Highly recommended.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Golden" Indeed!, May 7, 2006

By 

Dr. Glenn W. Briggs "MusicDr" (KSC, Florida & Chengdu, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden Years of Dick Haymes [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 4CD SET (Audio CD)

Dick Haymes had one of the most mellow voices of the early bona fide crooners, and this collection is "golden" indeed! It is virtually a "complete" collection of his very best work. He was among the best crooners of an era that brought forth many, such as the early Sinatra and the great Buddy Clark. If you enjoy great baritones, rank Dick with the two named above, and such true crooners as Jack Jones, Matt Monro, Steve Lawrence, Perry Como, Don Cherry, and John Gary. For those of you who are too young to recall these super male singers, you have no idea what you are missing - like, real music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent balladeer of the forties, March 30, 2009

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden Years of Dick Haymes [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 4CD SET (Audio CD)

Dick Haymes really wanted to be a songwriter, but nobody was interested in his writing - however, they liked his voice and he ended up having a very successful career as a singer. I notice that none of the songs here credit Dick as a songwriter, so I assume that he gave up his ambitions in that direction. As a singer, Dick started his career as a singer with Harry James and had a couple of top ten hits during that time. However, one record that didn't chart upon initial release in 1941, I'll get by, made number one when re-issued in 1944. By that time, Dick had firmly established his solo career, but the bonus hit would presumably have come as a welcome bonus.

Dick's solo career started with a flourish in 1943, his first two A-sides (You'll never know, It can't be wrong) both making number one, while their B-sides charted in their own right, both easily making the top ten. Dick never made number one again except for the already-mentioned re-release of I'll get by, but he had plenty of other top ten hits, including several excellent duets with Helen Forrest. All their seven top ten hits together are featured here, but the equivalent Helen Forrest compilation contains all 18 of their duets. Wisely, the compilers of this set didn't duplicate all 18 duets here.

Of the solo tracks here, perhaps the most famous song is Love letters, which didn't make the top ten for Dick, though it came close despite being the B-side of Till the end of time (a top three hit for Dick, but a number one hit for Perry Como). Love letters appears to have gone almost un-noticed until Ketty Lester covered it and had a huge international hit with it in the sixties. Elvis Presley followed suit a couple of years later. Alison Moyet had a huge UK hit with the song in the eighties. All of which shows that you can't hide a good song. Another song here, The more I see you, also inspired a sixties cover that became an international hit, this time by Chris Montez. At least the potential of the song was recognized first time around, Dick's version having been released as an A-side and becoming a top ten hit.

Helen Forrest is not the only female singer guest in this compilation, as there are also eight duets with the Andrews sisters (three of which also feature Bing Crosby), three duets with the Patty Andrews, two duets with Judy Garland and one duet each with Evelyn Knight, Ethel Merman and Eileen Wilson. Between them, these duets produced four minor hits, so the public definitely preferred Helen Forrest as Dick's duet partner, However, these duets are interesting in their own way. Fans of the Andrews sisters in particular have plenty of reason to invest in this set. I have a lot of Andrews sisters compilations and some of the duets featured here are new to me.

There is plenty of great music here by a balladeer who was a major star in his time. If you enjoy those other great male balladeers of the forties, Bing Crosby and Perry Como, you'll love Dick's music - and it's unlikely that there will ever be a better collection of it than this one.