His Band of Renown

Les Brown & His Band Of Renown | Format: Audio Cassette

Product Details

• Audio Cassette (June 21, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hindsight Records
• ASIN: B0000017Y5
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,861,764 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sunday Blues

2. This October

3. September in the Rain

4. Tall Boy

5. My Baby Just Cares for Me

6. September Song

7. Love Me or Leave Me

8. Sentimental Journey

9. Oh, Baby

10. I'll Remember April

11. Midnight Sun

12. Lullaby in Rhythm

13. Willow Weep for Me

14. I'll Take Romance

15. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

16. This Year's Crop of Kisses

17. Don't Take Your Love from Me

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Performances, Great Songs, Superb Sound, March 10, 2007

By 

Jeffrey Perrenoud (Sandpoint, ID) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: His Band of Renown (Audio CD)

I disagree with the review of November 16, 2000

While Stumpy is... best left undiscussed... he performs on only one track out of 19 (two of which are the Opening Theme and Closing Theme).

The others are uniformly outstanding. Jo Ann Greer sounds like a young Doris Day, with a bit more oomph and better phrasing. Arrangements by Comstock (and some by Martin) on tunes such as September Song, Sentimental Journey, and Love Me or Leave Me. On the latter two she sounds particularly close to Day, who did superb renditions.

Julie London is more enjoyable here than she is on most of her albums, thanks to the band and stellar arrangements.

June Christy is also great, performing several numbers in the style of her then-current Misty Miss Christy album. Arrangements by Rugolo on songs such as Midnight Sun, Willow Weep For Me, and I'll Remember April.

And, here I do agree, the band is excellent. Tight, clean, with several oustanding solo riffs, playing superior arrangements.

Recorded in 1957 for a radio program broadcast for Marines, the sound is unusually good. The inter-song dialogue is sappy, but typical of the period. You either enjoy it or you don't. I did, since it represented a chance to hear the performers speaking voices.

Liner notes are also surprisingly well written and atypically informative.

An outstanding buy for anyone who enjoys music of this style and period, my purchase cost $1.50 plus shipping. I would have paid 10 times as much if there had been samples.

Kudos to Hindsight Records for a fine effort. (And, no, they didn't pay me to write this review.)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A mediocre radio program, November 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: His Band of Renown (Audio CD)

This is a radio program of 1957, featuring Julie London, Jo Ann Greer, Stumpy Brown, and June Christy. The latter has a hard time keeping on the notes. Stumpy is...well...Les's brother. Julie London is okay, but nothing exceptional. The band sounds great, but its role is almost exclusively accompaniment. The chit chat between the selections is awful. Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" announcer, George Fenneman, has to read lines that must have embarassed him.

In short: Not much.

4.0 out of 5 stars Sidemen, January 2, 2010

By 

Bert Hurst (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Band of Renown (Audio CD)

Ditto Mr Perrenoud's review. I'm not as tough on Stumpy Brown as others since he was more a performer of novelty or comedic tunes than a straight singer (his "I Would Do Anything For You" is wonderful.) But mainly I add this comment to mention some of the outstanding sidemen -- Dave Pell, Ronnie Lang, & Don Fagerquist -- and to say that, while this certainly isn't the best 1950s Les Brown CD (my votes would go to the Palladium concerts and the Songbooks), this is a worthwhile addition. It's better Julie London than I have heard before, it reminded me that Jo Ann Greer was a darn fine singer, and there's June Christy who I adore.