Customer Reviews

Jerry Vale - Greatest Hits

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

 

 

The CD cover shows Jerry Vale on the shore, waves gently rolling and pooling at his feet, intently gazing far straight into the vast blue horizon.

The picture accurately depicts what this compilation is all about. Like the waves, Jerry's song delivery is as serene and peaceful; and like the horizon, his vocal range is as limitless in its range. Here is an artist in a medium that he knows best, a singer in total harmony with his song which is further reinforced by the soothing and quivering quality of a crystal-clear voice and the seemingly effortless depth and feelings that go into the performance.

The songs that made Jerry Vale Jerry Vale are here: Go Chase A Moonbeam, And This Is My Beloved, Enchanted, Innamorata, Prima Donna, Solitaire, You Don't Know Me, Pretend You Don't See Her, all delivered with unequalled gusto by this maestro of song.

If you want to know what Jerry Vale is all about, this album is the best place to start.

Jerry Vale - Greatest Hits is a CD that does indeed give us excellent and timeless numbers by the great Jerry Vale; but I agree with the reviewer who writes that this is NOT all his greatest hits and that some of these tracks should have been replaced by bigger hits. On the other hand, Columbia could have simply used a more descriptive title for this CD.

The CD opens with "And No One Knows;" Jerry sings this like the pro he always was! Jerry's excellent diction bolsters his performance and I really like "And No One Knows." "And This My Beloved" is a striking love ballad with a lush musical arrangement; Jerry never misses a note and his voice sounds terrific, too.

"Innamorata (Sweetheart)" has a stunning melody and Jerry really gets the chance to show off his fine operatic qualities. Jerry's voice comes across as fresh, warm and quite a fine instrument! "You Don't Know Me" is another love ballad that showcases Jerry's vocals while a strong musical accompaniment plays in the background. Jerry never sounded better!

"Pretend You Don't See Her" is quite special; and Jerry immediately makes this his own with his singularly wonderful interpretation of this song. "Prima Donna" has a fine backup group of vocalists and Jerry sings this passionately with all his heart and soul. This song recalls loving moments between two people and I think you'll like "Prima Donna" very much.

"If" really comes across well when Jerry Vale sings this; his interpretation is mighty fine and this impresses me a lot. The strings also enhance the number. "Have You Looked Into Your Heart" follows with Jerry singing to perfection; this tender, sensitive ballad sounds fresher than ever when Jerry sings it!

"Somewhere" ends the CD with a solid performance by Jerry Vale; and he sings this with panache. Terrific!

This is a great CD of very fine music by Jerry Vale; but to call this his "greatest hits' is truly a bit misleading. I recommend this for Jerry's fans; but they will know of course that there is a whole lot more to Jerry Vale than just the "hits" on this single CD retrospective.

This CD collection of songs contains some of Jerry Vale's chart topping hits, and some of his finest vocals. I love the CD cover too. With Jerry Vale standing on the beach, it's reminiscent of the 1970's when Jerry Vale would appear on shows like "Mike Douglas" or "Merv Griffin". In the 70's, popular daytime variety shows were sometimes shot at locations away from the normal network studios, like Florida or Hawaii, where performers like Vale would get a chance to perform on the beach, singing the popular songs of the time.

"Innamorata", recorded in 1952, was one of Jerry Vale's first charted hits. (His first charted hit was "You Could Never Give Me Back Your Heart" in 1952, which is available on the excellent CD titled "The Essential 50's Singles".) "Two Purple Shadows" reached #20 on the Billboard charts in 1954. And later recorded by Elvis Presley in 1967, "You Don't Know Me" reached number 14 on the charts for Vale in 1956. In 1958, "Pretend You Don't See Her", written by Steve Allen, reached #7, and regained fame again in 1990 when the movie "Goodfellas" used Jerry Vale in a cameo appearance to perform the song. That song is also listed as one of the top songs with odd lyrics..."Pretend you don't see her, my heart, although she is coming our way, pretend you don't need her, my heart, but smile and pretend to be gay." The classic jazz-like mood song, "Solitaire" is a special treat. It sounds like it came from a scene in a 1940's movie, or a smoke-filled 1950's night club, and because Jerry Vale completely changes his vocal styling for this song, you wouldn't even know it was him singing it if you didn't double check the CD cover. I love it. The hit song, "Have You Looked Into Your Heart", reached #24 in 1964, which is impressive, keeping in mind that groups like the Beatles were also on the charts at the same time. "Somewhere", used in the movie "Marco The Magnificent", is one of my favorite Jerry Vale songs. Considering that the music score was written in Octaves, it takes a professional singer to pull it off like Jerry Vale does. It's very dramatic and gives Jerry the chance to show off his phenomenal vocal range, power, and high notes, sending chills down your spine. I love "For Mama". It's a sad song full of Italian culture, poetic, and beautifully portrayed in Jerry's trademark vocal styling.

Jerry Vale had many more hits that are not on this CD. Hits like "Time Alone Will Tell", "It's All In The Game", "Where Were You When I Needed You", "I Found You Just In Time", and "All I Ever Wanted", to mention a few. However, this CD is an excellent start. With it's variety of songs, this CD gives Jerry Vale a chance to show off his full range of professional vocal styles.

All too often over the years distributors loved to play fast and loose with the term "greatest hits" when offering a compilation of a specific artist or group by including selections that, to most collectors, does not fit the definition. To us, a "hit" was a song that got them heard on the radio or in juke boxes, or which sold the most single copies in either 78- or 45-rpm format, thereby giving them national prominence.

And here we have a man who, from 1953 to 1971, had no less than 34 such hit singles for Columbia, counting both the Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary (AC) charts and, in a 16-track release titled "Greatest Hits" they give us eight that were anything but, namely tracks 1, 2, 4, 6 (which was at least a B-side to the # 14 Top 100 You Don't Know Me in summer 1956 on Columbia 40710), 10, 11, 12, 13, and 16 (which was the flip of the # 32 AC I've Lost My Heart Again in January 1967 on Columbia 43895). But then they go and leave out the hit! That, folks, represents 50% of the contents of this volume!

They do the same thing with his very first single in 1953, excluding the hit side, You Can Never Give Me Back My Heart, which ended up at # 29 that March on Columbia 39929 with the backing of the Percy Faith orchestra, but including the uncharted flip And No One Knows! How did that become one of his "greatest hits" while the hit is ignored? They do provide his second hit, Two Purple Shadows (# 20 in February 1954 on Columbia 40131)), but then omit his third, I Live Each Day (# 29 in May 1954 on Columbia 40210), both with the backing of Jimmy Carroll's orchestra.

His next four early hits are here: Innamorata (Sweetheart) - # 30 Top 100 in spring 1956 on Columbia 40634; You Don't Know Me - # 14 in summer 1956 on Columbia 40710 along with its B-side, Enchanted; Pretend You Don't See Her - # 45 in December 1957 on Columbia 41010 and written by Steve Allen (all these with the backing of Percy Faith); and Go Chase A Moonbeam - # 60 in November 1958 on Columbia 41238. He then experienced a long 6-year chart drought before returning in late 1964 with my personal Jerry Vale favourite, Have You Looked Into Your Heart? which soared to # 1 AC and # 24 Hot 100 with the backing of the Marty Manning orchestra on Columbia 43181.

The following spring he was back with For Mama, a # 13 AC/# 54 Hot 100 on Columbia 43232, based upon a French song, followed by Tears Keep On Falling (# 30 AC/# 96 Hot 100 in May on Columbia 43252, and Where Were You When I Needed You? (# 19 AC/# 99 Hot 100 in August on Columbia 43337), each with the Manning orchestra. The last two are omitted here, as are Deep In Your Heart (# 16 AC/# 118 Hot 100 Bubble Under in October 1965 on Columbia 43413) from the Broadway musical Drat! The Cat!, Ashamed (# 28 AC in February 1966 on Columbia 43473), Less Than Tomorrow (# 14 AC in May 1966 on Columbia 43605), It'll Take A Little Time (# 14 AC and # 120 Hot 100 Bubble Under in July 1966 on Columbia 43696), and Dommage, Dommage (Too Bad, Too Bad), which hit # 5 AC and # 93 Hot 100 in September on Columbia 43774).

Indeed, they ignore 18 more hits to follow, including AC Top 10 1967 smashes Time Alone Will Tell (Non Pensare A Me) - # 6 AC in May on Columbia 44087 - and In The Back Of My Heart - # 5 AC on Columbia 44185 in August - and from 1968, Don't Tell My Heart To Stop Loving You - # 6 AC on Columbia 44432 in February 1968.

There is no denying the excellence of the sound quality, and in the insert there is one page written by Steve Allen in 1998, followed by four pages providing Jerry's comments on each track, including recording dates, and chart details where applicable, along with the orchestras involved. Not a bad compilation by any means under another title, but trying to pass it off as 18 of his "greatest hits" loses it 2 stars in my opinion.

I HAD ORDERED 2 CD'S OF JERRY VALE'S RECORDING. THEY WERE BOTH USED, AS ADVERTISED. THEY BOTH ARRIVED TOGETHER IN A VERY SHORT TIME, MAYBE 8 OR 9 DAYS. CD'S WERE PERFECT WHEN I PLAYED THEM.
I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH THE PURCHASE AND THE SOURCE.
I WOULD MAKE MORE PURCHASES FROM THE SAME COMPANY IN THE FUTURE

If you love Jerry (who doesn't?) then you have to have this one. I'm going to enjoy many more years of excellent listening.

Some of his greatest hits are missing. The one hit I liked and enjoyed the most was "Stay as Sweet as your are," and I could not locate this song on any of his "greatest hits."

Perhaps the two best Jerry Vale albums I know are his tribute albums to Buddy Clark and Russ Columbo, but this album comes in a strong third. The recordings date back to 1952, but the sound, in monaural and stereo, is uniformly excellent. Jerry was only 19 or 20 when he recorded the first number, yet his sound and his delivery at that young age are already musically first class. He must have been quite a prodigy. Most of the accompaniments on the album are by Percy Faith and Glenn Osser, so you can be assured of high musical values through and through. There are a few Italian numbers, which Jerry delivers in a manner that has never been touched by another pop singer, not even by Dean Martin. My favorite cut on the album is Steve Allen's song, Pretend You Don't See Her. As Allen says in the album notes, that recording is perfection itself. The last time I listened to this album, I followed it with a greatest hits collection of another popular singer of the '60's, and the loss in purity of sound and elegance of phrasing I felt in coming away from Jerry Vale was painfully notable. Jerry Vale's remains a voice that demands to be heard.