I Had the Craziest Dream

Helen Forrest | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Original Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Asv Living Era
• ASIN: B00003E44D
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,647 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Thanks For Everything

2. Deep in a Dream

3. They Say

4. I Poured My Heart Into a Song

5. Comes Love

6. Melancholy Mood

7. All the Things You Are

8. How High the Moon

9. I Can't Love You Any More Than I Do

10. Taking a Chance on Love

11. I Don't Want to Walk Without You

12. He's My Guy

13. I Heard You Cried Last Night

14. Manhattan Serenade

15. I Had the Craziest Dream

16. Mister Five-by-Five

17. I've Heard That Song Before

18. Long Ago and Far Away

19. Time Waits For No One

20. It Had to Be You

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best single-disc Helen Forrest collection, April 28, 2002

By 

Robert E. Simanski (Sterling, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Had the Craziest Dream (Audio CD)

Helen Forrest was the greatest of the female big-band singers and, in my opinion, the equal of Frank Sinatra, the best of the male big-band singers. For anyone who wants to learn what she was all about, this is the place to start. Existing fans already familiar with her big-band work will want this collection as well, if only for the post-World War II duets with Dick Haymes.

This intelligently-produced single-disc collection brings together not only her best work with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James, both also the best of the Haymes duets. The 25 tracks offer about as much music as you can fit on a CD. The engineers have done a good job of restoring the recordings. In some cases they sound even better than reissues from BMG and Sony, who own the masters.

The disc includes seven recordings each with Artie Shaw, Harry James, and Dick Haymes, three with Benny Goodman, and one postwar solo recording. This makes a lot of sense because Helen Forrest came to prominence and matured as a singer with Artie Shaw and did her best-known work with Harry James. The stint with Benny Goodman, who hired her after Shaw disbanded his orchestra in 1939, was a very unhappy one for Helen and Goodman did not handle her properly. The postwar duets with Dick Haymes are nothing short of wonderful and show that she was a fully mature, intelligent singer who could make just about anything sound good.

Frankly, I will never understand why Helen Forrest did not go on to a successful career after World War II, as did Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Doris Day, for example. With the exception of Ella Fitzgerald, who had "gone solo" early in the 1940s and was not a part of the big-band era for very long, Helen Forrest was not only the equal of any of the big-band singers who went on to successful careers but, in fact, was better than most of them.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HELEN FORREST'S DEFINITIVE VOCALS!, February 5, 2000

By 

"scotsladdie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Had the Craziest Dream (Audio CD)

Surely one of the greatest female vocalists of the 30's and 40's, Helen Forrest's voice shines in this fantastic collection. A gifted vocalist with a liquid and ethereal voice,Forrest began her career on radio singing under various names when Artie Shaw hired her to sing with his band in early 1938. Forrest then briefly sang for Benny Goodman (a personally unhappy experience) and afterwards joined Harry James in 1941 where her voice was complimented by James' schmaltzy trumpet and fine arrangements. After singing for James, Helen went solo; she died in 1999. Listen to "Manhattan Serenade" (with James) "Time Waits for No One" and terrific duets with Dick Haymes including "It Had to Be You" "Together" and "I'll Buy That Dream".

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helen Forrest--She Always Rates 5 Stars, September 12, 2005

By 

Paul D. Jones "Paul D. Jones Prof of English,... (Maryville, MO U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Had the Craziest Dream (Audio CD)

It's hard for a lover of Miss Forrest to find fault with anything she did. This album is no exception. Her voice is scintillating as always. The sound quality is excellently reproduced--remember these songs are primarily from 78's. And the price is right. Is there anthing negative to say? One always wishes for more: if only the CD contained more selections! Helen was the best of her era. Everybody knew it then. And many of know that she is "for the ages." This album helps us understand why. (This reviewer invites people who love her to write him at [e-mail] Let's keep her alive in our hearts.)