Customer Reviews

Legendary Performer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had this album since it was first released on LP. (if any of you still remember them) This is one of the best Glenn Miller albums not only for the selection of hits, but most of them are live recordings complete with comments from Glenn and his entourage. It also has a heart warming goodbye from Glenn at his last Chesterfield broadcast. Great stuff! I can't believe it took me so long to upgrade to CD!

His biggest hits (Pennsylvania 6-5000, In The Mood, Cattanooga Choo Choo) recorded live. Mostly from Glen Island Casino, featuring Tex Beneke, Ray Eberle, Marion Hutton, the Modernaires and great Harry James. Sound is not that great but it's not that bad either. It is the document of the big band era.

I bought this after reading the reviews and am thrilled with it. The variety of songs is just terrific, with great varations of some of Glenns regular tunes. The verbal dialog is just one more reason for any Glenn Miller ( or Big Band ) fan to own this magnificent group of recordings.

Best Glenn Miller CD. Feels like a live performance you would have heard over the radio with an announcer. Sounds like my grandparent's old light up radio they listened to at night.

This has got almost all of Glenn's biggest hits. They've filled with Jingle Bells, Duke Ellington's Take the "A" Train. and a couple of lesser Miller productions. But this has the music he was famous for. I'd say 20 of the 25 tunes you'd want most from Glenn are here. And although they claim to be never-before released versions, most of them sound exactly like the old 78 discs they recorded on back then. Give this compilation an A-. Even the discs have old fashioned RCA labels.

I began making musical adventures in my youth. I had always enjoyed old movie musicals as a child and there were many that involved big bands and swing music. So one day, I just went out and bought the tape, without any real familiarity with the music itself. It quickly became one of my most listened to tapes. Unfortunately for me, my two very favorite songs from the tape are not on the CD, I can not begin to tell you how very dissapointing that is to me. But I also know that a Glen Miller fan would enjoy hearing those old radio shows, it is something terribly sweet, innocent and wonderful about hearing them like that. There is a nice bit of back and forth banter that otehr recording would not have, and that makes this special as well. But I will tell you this, if you ever get a chance to hear a song called Elmer's Tune (I think Tex Benecke is singing lead w/the Modernaires), it really does encapuslate the flavor of those years, and the band's rendition of Tchaikowski's Piano Concerto No 1 is absolutely masterful. That peice really showed just how layered a Glen Miller arrangement could be. I listened to it so much, I can still hear it in my head and I miss it so much. Funny thing is I got the tape because it had "In the Mood", but I have come to love and sing Elmer's Tune.

If you enjoy Glen Miller, you will enjoy this CD, but if you ever heard Elmer's Tune or Piano Concerto No.!, this CD is a horrible let down.

I've had this on record for years, and it's a must on CD! Think of it as an audio scrapbook of important musical dates in the band's career. (First broadcast from the Glen Island Casino, First Chesterfield broadcast,etc.) All wonderful, and the original 2-disks fit nicely onto one CD. Don't toss that vinyl copy, though-packaging here is pretty shoddy, and the booklet is a joke compared to the beautiful original-all the pictures, and about 3/4 of the narrative are missing.

Though it does contain Miller's best-known hits, this isn't really a greatest hits CD. Instead, this CD is compiled from notable radio performances. The sound is better than I would have expected, and all of the performances have terrific energy.

Especially notable are seelctions from his first broadcast from the Glen Island Casino, the engagement that gave him his big break, and from his last two performances on the air before leaving to join the army. There are tracks included from other notable dates as well, including the occasion when he received the first Gold Record ever.

This is one hugely disappointing CD. The sound quality is poor--you could hear the scratches and pops of the original record. The recording itself--made off a radio broadcast--is not too great to begin with. What's more annoying--for me anyway--is that the radio announcer kept coming on to introduce this and that song, thus ruining whatever mood the album and the individual songs produce in the listener. For god's sake, he even came on DURING "Moonlight Serenade" to utter some nonsense or other. Now does this sound like your idea of a good time?