Customer Reviews

Last Of The Red Hot Mommas

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

 

 

I first came across Sophie Tucker, watching an old MGM 1944 (I think)movie called, "FOR THE BOYS" with George Raft, Dinah Shore, Donald O'Connor and a cavalcade of MGM stars. It was for the war effort, and the plot was pretty easy. Ms. Tucker, of course, was in it, and she appeared in the movie performing for a crowd of service people.
Well, Sophie sang a song with lyrics including, "...The bigger the army and the navy, the better the lovin' will be..." and "...I know perfect gentlemen, discreet in every way...they get into a uniform and it's bang-bang right away..." and so forth. This really peaked my curiosity, as I thought this was pretty risque for that era.
After a little research, and it took a little bit, I found about Sophie Tucker via a few select websites. I ventured to AMAZON.COM, and to my wild, yet sweet surprise, they had several of Sophie's CD's available.
If you appreciate a consumate performer, with a wonderful huskiness to her vocals, astounding phrasing of lyrics and a devil-may-care notion of humor, you will be richly rewarded with this album. The vampish lyrics of some of these tunes, must've curled the hair of the "good girls" and more so, their parents!
Of course, it was all in good fun. A wonderful joke that Sophie and the audience understood. *wink*wink*
The serious songs in this collection speak of the blues, with a serious southern influence, and resonate a powerful voice of sadness.
The somber and the whimsical, the defiant woman of independence and the loving woman done wrong; it's all here in this CD. -And this CD is a flawless as the performer behind the microphone.

After listening to this cd I understand why Sophie Tucker was a legend. She sings every song in a heartfelt and moving emotional aura. And, she had a beautiful, vibrant voice. The Bette Midler of her era! The background noise has been kept to a minimum-after a minute I didn't even notice it-because the vocals were so thrilling. For an example of a great vaudeville artist and a great singing artist, period, get this album!

What can I say? It's all that I expected. It's Vintage! It's wonderful! Her rendition of "Yiddishe Momme" brought more than tears to my eyes. The period quality of the recording makes it a precious treasure. I would have loved to attend one of her live performances!

I only wish I could have seen this legend in person. To sit and listen to one of the greatest icons of a forgotten era is a real pleasure. The sound is a little distorted due to background noise but 20 seconds into "Some of These Days" and you will be so enraptured with this great performers voice you won't even notice it. Listen and love it. There will never be another Sophie Tucker.

The previous reviewer is right in that this cd has a lot of background noise. The songs were recorded in the 20s and 30s and little if anything was done to clean up the sound. If you can get past that drawback, though, you have a wonderful selection of songs from a great vaudevellian. I enjoy this cd a great deal, but buyer beware. The sound quality is not good.

I prefer the blues, and Dixieland styles of the 20's, over the Vaudevillian, however Sophie Tucker is probably the best Vaudeville singer of her era, and this CD is an okay introduction to her music. Try Ma Rainey or Ida Cox, for blues vocalists of the 20's, and try Annette Hanshaw, a jazz singing flapper heiress of the 20's. Also one of the best Dixieland singers of today performs at most Dixieland festivals is Big Mama Sue who sings and plays washboard with banjo player Fast Eddie, visit them at bigmamasue.com

This material was recorded in the 20's and 30's. Very dated sound with a lot of background noise. If given a second chance, I would never buy this CD.