Customer Reviews

Nipper's Greatest Hits - The 20's

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was so glad when this CD came in the mail today. I love it! To be able to hear the **actual** recordings people were listening to 80 years ago is phenomenal. Sure the sound quality is not the greatest and the recordings abound with surface noise of all sorts. But that only adds to the pleasure of listening to this CD. Its just as if we were listening to the old victrola itself! (Remember, the 78's that we are familiar with hadn't even been perfected yet). Consider further that many of the recordings on this disc were made without the use of any electricity. They are all a lot nicer to listen to than most of the garbage that has come out of the record companies in the last 20-30 years.

Hats off to RCA for releasing a collection like this. Its so wonderful to hear what popular music was like so many years ago. We need more collections like this! Maybe some with even earlier recordings!?!

Track #4 is "Alice Blue Gown," not "Nice Blue Gown" as indicated. Other than that, this is a great selection of music from the era of F.Scott Fitzgerald, Joe Kennedy, chorus girls, vaudeville and hot toddies. Many of the songs live on today, for example, Frank Sinatra and many others have updated Makin' Whoopee. And it ends with a smashing version of Rhapsody in Blue with George Gershwin himself on piano, and backed with an orchestra. Plus on many of the tracks you can hear the sound of the needle travelingover the record, which only adds to the visceral thrill of hearing a long bygone era.

23 skidoo to the checkout button and shimmy away with this one kiddy! All the flappers are shakin their gams to this one! All you need is a speakeasy and some hooch and you'll be the bee's knees too! The opening track "Let's Misbehave" got me hooked on this CD. "Collegiate" makes a girl bob her hair and a guy grab his Racoon coat. "Charleston" will have you knocking your knees in notime. About half of the tracks are acoustical recordings (imagine that -- no electricity involved whatsoever! It's made by the impact of their voices on the record ALONE!) and the other half are "electrical" made after about 1925. I bought this when it hit the market several years ago and it remains one of my favorites.

Nipper's Greatest Hits--The 20's is a very good CD for those who are interested in music of a by-gone era. It probably isn't for the average listener--the typical music buyer today would probably not have heard of very many of the artists represented, but might know some of the songs on the CD--"I Wanna Be Loved By You" by Helen Kane, the original voice of Betty Boop was also featured on an episode of Gilligan's Island (Ginger sang it). Most people would recognize the names Maurice Chevalier ("Every Little Breeze Seems to Whisper Louise" is on this collection), Eddie Cantor ("Makin' Whoopie") and Fanny Brice ("My Man") because their names live on in the movie world. As well, some names are still famous in the music world today--Duke Ellington ("Black and Tan Fantasy") and George Gershwin ("Rhapsody in Blue"). Some names are almost forgotten today but deserve to be remembered--Paul Whiteman ("Whispering! ", "Charleston" and leader of the orchestra behind George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue") was one of the first 'big bands' with a modern sound that still stands up today alongside better known bands of the 30's and 40's.

The only downside of this, and the other CDs in the Nipper series is that it only features RCA artists. Fortunately, RCA was the biggest label in the 1920s and made most of the hits of that era so that's not really a problem for this, the earliest era represented in the Nipper series so far. Of course, another problem is the sound, far from the hi-fi we are used to today. All selections on this CD were recorded in the 1920s, with primitive techniques (magnetic tape was still 20 years in the future) but it is remarkable what can be done with technology. These tracks sound better today than they did 70 years ago when they were first recorded!

I would consider this to be a very good buy for the money, but only if you are interested! in the music of the long-past. A must-buy, however, for D! Js, for all the dances of the 20's--"Lucky Lindy" by Nat Shilkret, "The Varsity Drag" by George Olsen, "Charleston" by Paul Whiteman, among others.

NIPPER'S GREATEST HITS * THE 20s is perhaps the finest collection of Roaring Twenties music available. All but five of these selections are electrically recorded and many feature the superstars of that day.

HIGHLIGHTS:
GEORGE GERSHWIN and PAUL WHITEMAN recreate their Aeolian Hall performance of "Rhapsody In Blue." Liner notes mislabel this as a 1927 performance, but it's actually an acoustic horn waxing, from three years earlier. No one ever interpreted this piece better than its virtuoistic pianist-composer.
VERNON DALHART made musical history with the first ever C&W million seller, "The Prisoner's Song."
FRED WARING, the PENNSYLVANIANS, raccoon coats, beanies and banners. This is the most famous version of "Collegiate." RAH!
EDDIE CANTOR singing the title number from his Broadway smash, "Whoopie." This stage show was filmed IN COLOR in its entirety, in 1929.
The Boop-boop-a-doop Girl, HELEN KANE with one of her most famous records, "I Wanna Be Loved By You." Max Fleisher's Betty Boop was based on Kane, who supposedly "borrowed" her booping style from another singer.
FANNY BRICE performs her theme song, the torchy "My Man."
IRVING AARONSON's "Let's Misbehave" was used to both open and close Woody Allen's 1972 film, EVERYTHING YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX.
Heartthrob Frenchman, MAURICE CHEVALIER croons "Louise," his first big American hit.
"Black And Tan Fantasy," a DUKE ELLINGTON original, was recorded by his band in the late '20s with the VICTOR, OKEH and BRUNSWICK labels. This RCA version is said by many to be the definitive take of this classic.

Additionally, popular dances of the day like the Lindy Hop, Varsity Drag, Black Bottom and the ubiquitous Charleston are here. Audio quality varies, but is never poor-- no obtrusive filtering used. Includes eight pages of detailed notes. For all who love 1920s music, you can't go wrong with NIPPER'S GREATEST HITS. Highest recommendation.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 67:15

The music of the twenties was some of the most exciting music of the century. Jazz was being interpreted and filtered into dance and pop music for the young and middle class. Literally thousands of bands discovered that they could make a living going from town to town playing for people mad about the new dances of the charleston, the foxtrot, the bunny hop. This led to highly skilled musicians who became excellent players as a result of the long hours they spent playing and practicing. These guys and gals worked at their instruments every day for several hours a day (which is very unlike today's stars - many of who can't play any instrument or who rely on tape loops and rhythm tracks). Their livelihood depended on it.
In 1925 electrical recording took over from the much cruder acoustic recording (where musicians needed to hover around a large horn that was attached to a needle that literally carved the vibrations into wax or another mediium. Audio fidelity took a big leap forward as sound could now be balanced better and a more realistic recording was possible. The result was an explosion in demand for new music. This music was fun, sometimes very complex and innovative, very energetic with its two step and a breakneck pace that could go as fast as 240 beats per minute (this is the speed of modern "club mix" house music!). There were also crooners, male and female, who sang torch songs with pathos and deep sentiment - even when the lyrics were mushy and silly. The USA was delirious with prosperity and possibility. Women were boldly experimenting with new freedoms in dress, manners, and morals. Men were enjoying a prolonged adolescence as large numbers went to college and enjoyed the new lifestyle of the frat boy with raccoon coats, the new invention of the cheap automobile, and an easy to learn instrument called the ukulele (which was brought over from Hawaii by American tourists and which originally came from Portugal).
This album is a good introduction to this music. I only wish it was three albums and contained a wider survey of the great dance bands and crooners out there. Check out Ben Selvin, Ben Pollack, early Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, etc. There is a wealth of music form this period now available in good restored collecitons. this is cheerful, finger-snapping music. Enjoy.

Hooray for Edison. The fact is: the miracle of ACTUALLY BEING ABLE TO RECORD SOUND (!!! - one of yestercentury's science fiction topics, and something we take way too much for granted), allows us to actually listen to the top pop singers, bands and composers of seventy-nine years ago - people who are all dead, but we kind of bring them back to life this way!

SO WHAT if you have to put up with all that noisy record scratch? When I hear a record like this, I feel the same way Carter felt when he stumbled upon Tutankhamen's tomb - astounded and astonished! (He didn't say, "Oh, forget this junk - it's SO OLD"!). Because the fact is that SOUND RECORDINGS are, at present, the closest thing we have to a time machine, and the closest thing we have to being able to travel in time.

Oh yes, and how about the music? Well, if your brain hasn't been turned to mush by what's in the Billboard charts these days, and if you can recognize MUSIC when you hear it - then you'd have to agree this beats the pants off most of what's been recorded in this country for the last 20 years or so - and what will surely seem to future historians the most grotesque misuse of recording technology in the history of mankind.

How odd - at the time we have the most sophisticated recording technology, we seem to be making the WORST records - ever thought of that?

Just listening to Gershwin HIMSELF at the piano, playing the "Rhapsody in Blue" the WAY HE MEANT IT TO BE PLAYED is reason enough to get this.

Hey, RCA put out once a CD, actually the first in the "Nipper" series, with recordings from the 1900's! I WANT THAT CD!!!!

As another reviewer says, there are more and more collections of this music available. That being so, this one loses much of its luster. In the 20s there were as many different genres of music as there are today, and this RCA package focuses on songs from their vault, with no other connection or continuity. Thus you get the soggy country of Vernon Dahlhart, the music hall of Fanny Brice and Gertrude Lawrence, a true pop classic by Helen Kane, some sterling 20s jazz, Maurice Chevalier, and then Geroge Gershwin. But some thematic structure would be nice; this feels like rolling down the car radio dial. And just as there are always stations that you skip past as soon as you hear their flavor, there will probably be selections here you'd rather not listen to.

As an introduction to the music, this is fine. Not great, but fine. You can hear what a long-lost world was listening to (in good reproductions.) But if you already know something about this era, with a few CDs on the shelf, try elsewhere. Hunt down the more consistent collections, of which there are many.

Nipper's Greatest Hits-The 20's contains 20 great numbers on a single CD that really lead you back into the 1920s in America when people were uninhibited and relentlessly optimistic about life. The CD offers tracks by a lot of different musicians and some of them remain famous today: you get Maurice Chevalier singing "Louise;" Fanny Brice performing "My Man" and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performing "Black And Tan Fantasy." Great!

The CD track set begins with the playful tune entitled "Let's Misbehave." Phil Saxe & Chorus do a great job with the vocals for "Let's Misbehave;" this number throws you right into the carefree mood of the roaring 20's in America. Gene Austin then performs "My Blue Heaven" with a slow tempo that works really well. The musical arrangement makes good use of the piano and strings, too.

Other gems on this CD include a song about the hero of the 1920s, Charles Lindbergh, entitled "Lucky Lindy." "Lucky Lindy" is performed to perfection by Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra & Chorus. "The Variety Drag" will entertain you even today with its catchy and infectious upbeat melody; and Helen Kane sings her classic number "I Wanna Be Loved By You." Eddie Cantor also performs one of his signature numbers, "Makin' Whoopee." Wow!

Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra perform The Charleston; and Johnny Hemp's Kentucky Serenaders do a great job with "If I Had A Talking Picture Of You."

The CD ends with an electronic recording of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" performed by George Gershwin on piano with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra. This classic piece of music ends the album with a strong flourish.

The liner notes give you all the song credits and even a brief explanation of how well the songs sold and the popularity of the entertainers on this disc. The artwork is excellent, too.

Unfortunately, there is plenty of surface noise on this disc and you can easily hear a lot of scratches; it sounds as if they simply recorded these tracks straight from old 78s. RCA and BMG state that these tracks were digitally remastered; but whoever did the remastering didn't do a good job. I have to take off one star for this to make this a four star review.

The "roaring 20's" remain a special time in American history. Rarely has the entire country been in such a good mood. The economy was booming, to say the least; and people looked forward to an even brighter future, unaware of the serious economic depression that was actually just around the corner. This CD lets us vicariously experience the good times of the 1920s in America; and music aficionados of jazz from this era will delight in this CD. I also recommend this CD for fans of classic jazz vocals.

Nipper sure gave us some great music in the 1920s! Great job, everyone!!!

The best sampling of 20's stuff I've found.As always Nippers came through.