Customer Reviews

Got My Mind on Music [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 2CD SET

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Alice was an extremely successful actress in the thirties and forties, starring in several musicals. She was also a brilliant singer, who could sing any type of song.

Unfortunately for us, the terms of her contract prevented her from recording any outside songs. All the recordings on this CD are from her musical soundtracks, although Alice did record studio versions of some of her songs from the musicals - they can be found on the ASV compilation You'll never know. So, although many of the songs on the ASV compilation are included here, you may still want both.

Because these are soundtrack recordings, some tracks have things going on which can be a distraction, but it's not as serious as it might be - indeed, on most tracks, you won't hear much, if anything, apart from Alice's lovely voice and the backing music.

It is hard to pick out highlights from 62 wonderful tracks, but some songs worthy of note are The Sheik of Araby (which also featured her friend Betty Grable - they were portrayed as deadly rivals, but they got on really well), America I love you (as relevant now as it was then), You'll never know (the song for which Alice is best remembered), ..... I could list many more, but whether Alice is singing a tender love song, or an uptempo foot-tapper, her performance is flawless.

I just wonder what Alice might have accomplished as a singer if she had been allowed to record outside songs. We will never know, but even with all the contractual restrictions, Alice's music is impressive.

To fully appreciate Alice Faye you have to watch her in her greatest movies. As a song and dance performer in the late 30s and early 40s she was the best of them all, as she proved in her great renditions of You'll Never Know, No Love No Nothin' and America I Love You. This is the largest collection of the songs she sang in the movies that this reviewer knows of. A great rememberance CD.

Alice Faye was a very famous actress/singer in the thirties and forties. She was a primary contributor to the emergence of 20th Century Fox as a major studio. If you are not familiar with Faye's smooth, warm and unusual contralto, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

This double CD is a comprehensive record of her vocals on film. The arrangements benefit from the vitality and sound of the studio orchestra even if sometimes they are edited to eliminate unnecessary dialogue. The quality of the sound is good. For many of the songs, these versions are the only ones available for Faye stopped her commercial recording career in 1937 as her film stardom climbed.

Fay's films usually combined known standards with new songs specifically written for her. Her picture on the cover of sheet music almost guaranteed volumes sales. Accordingly, some of the songs are obscure while others are very famous. Also, some tracks on the CD contain longer versions than appeared in the films e.g. "Are you in the Mood for Mischief" from "Tailspin" or never appeared at all, e.g. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", edited out of "Rose of Washington Square". This is a bonus.

This CD is a compulsory purchase for any fan of Alice Faye.

Working in an era that favored sopranos, Alice Faye (1915-1998) relied on her dancing skills and eventually worked her way into the chorus of The George White Scandals--where she encountered radio star Rudy Vallee, who was so taken with her deep alto that he brought her to his popular radio show, where she quickly parlayed her sudden success into a contract with Fox Studios. By 1934 she was among the greatest stars of the Hollywood musical. She would retain her stardom until, disenchanted with Hollywood, she retired from the screen in 1945 in favor of a radio career. Faye made several television appearances, returned to the screen in 1961 for a remake of STATE FAIR, and appeared in a popular stage revival of GOOD NEWS--but on the whole she preferred the role of wife and mother and declined most professional work.

Although Fox--which later merged with 20th Century Films to become 20th Century Fox--had more than its share of musical stars, unlike such studios as MGM it seldom had its performers make "studio quality" versions of the songs they recorded for their films. Because of this, virtually every selection on the double disk ALICE FAYE: GOT MY MIND ON MUSIC is lifted directly from the soundtracks of the films in which Faye appeared--and in consequence the sound quality is not always what it could be. Even so, Alice Faye's vocals pop, transcending not only the limitations of the recordings but the musical style of the era in which she performed. This is an amazing voice, dark, velvety, unexpectedly sexy and sly, and surprising in its unstudied, almost throw-away quality. When Alice Faye introduced a song it had a way of becoming a hit; she would introduce no fewer than 23 songs that went on to become hits on the Hit Parade, and although this collection contains no fewer than 62 tracks it really on the scratches the surface of her work.

Fortunately, that "scratch" is a good one, for the collection includes many, many examples of Alice Faye at her best--and yes, the "signature" songs that were very distinctly her own: "You Can't Have Everything," "America I Love You," "Good Night My Love," "No Love, No Nothing," "Got My Mind On Music," and her best known recording, "You'll Never Know." Like many singers of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Faye has been neglected in the transfer from vinyl to CD, so releases are few and far between and hit or miss in quality--but fans should probably make this their first stop. This is one of the great pop voices performing at top form. Strongly recommended.

Gary Taylor, Amazon Reviewer

I thoroughly enjoyed this cd because it is real history that will someday be lost. A unique time in our history that will most likely never be repeated. She was a one of a kind singer and entertainer that the average American really adored! She was a major figure in movies that saved 20th Cent Fox Studios, then a major hit radio show, then TV and Broadway. Holding this all together while also raising a normal family, this was a real extraordinary human. She came from a really meager background, so this is a REAL AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY!!!

I love the music and the voice of the late Alice Faye. I Love all her songs, But, I, ordered THIS album for just one song.. the name of the song on album 2 of the set titled:

AMERICA, I LOVE YOU...... Now remember, this is 30ish to 40ish era music.. what is important,is to.. listen.. to the words!!!! They are the most Beautiful, words, I, Have ever heard of the way that I have always felt about My Beloved Country. But, Never, more so, now after September 11, 2001..