Customer Reviews

Perry Como: Greatest Hits

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There are possibly only four male singers who could create an intangible magic as they sang.They are and were Sinatra, Cole, Bennett and Como. Despite the poor arrangement of this collection, hidden in this mess is classic Como. Como was always being kidded about his relaxed approach, but in singing relaxation is the sign of total control and supreme artistic confidence.Skip the novelty tunes and go for the ballads like "Till The End Of Time", and marvel at the sheer tonal beauty of his voice.For that reason alone this collection is worth buying. However, I do agree with the reviewer who said that BMG didn't know what they were doing. It is unfortunate that BMG now owns the contents of the RCA Vaults and any truely knowledgeable musician will tell you that there are great treasures in those vaults, most of which will never again see the light of day on CD. For example,during the mid to late sixties which I believe was Como's greatest vocal period, he recorded two albums, one titled "Lightly Latin", and the latter "Perry Como in Italy" a magnificent album recorded in Rome and in my opinion the best sounding Como ever. But to my Knowledge neither of these masterpieces has ever made it to CD. I was never a fan of compilation CD's. I wish they would just release the entire albums that some of these cuts came from, with the songs grouped together as they were originally intended and in their original master form be it Mono or Stereo. But until they do, I'll keep listening to this one!

Perry Como: Greatest Hits is a fabulous two CD set that is worth every penny you'll spend on it! Perry never sounded better--and the sound quality is excellent. The artwork is very nicely done, too.

"Prisoner Of Love" is a charming ballad from Perry's earlier years in show business; and his voice is strong and full of masculine warmth. Perry never misses a note and the arrangement is very beautiful. "Temptation" is another ballad that shines equally bright when Perry delivers this so flawlessly--how impressive! It amazes me whenever I hear this ballad. "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is yet another highlight of this set; Perry croons this with all his heart and soul. Just one listen proves it!

"When You Were Sweet Sixteen" has Perry singing an old fashioned ballad--but when he sings this, it truly sounds fresh and new. I love it! Similarly, "Some Enchanted Evening," from South Pacific, never sounded so beautiful as when Perry Como delivers this to perfection--and beyond! In addition, "I'm Gonna Love That Gal (Like She's Never Been Loved Before)" is one of my very favorite Perry Como songs; the big band arrangement enhances the natural beauty of this tune and Perry makes this a masterpiece in his capable hands.

"If" is another huge Perry Como hit; and the strings that accompany him make this a most charming ballad. "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" picks up the tempo quite a bit for this upbeat ballad that belies the anxiety Perry's character feels as he leaves and hopes his sweetheart will be faithful to him until he returns to her.

The second CD continues the hits. "Wanted" is a stunning ballad that I always enjoy; Perry never misses a note! The melody is very pretty. "Maybe" has Perry doing a fine duet with the great Eddie Fisher; together these tow men harmonize wonderfully and it all works very well. Great! "Patricia" is also a remarkably beautiful ballad.

"Hoop-Dee-Doo" is polka music that is really very beautiful. "Catch A Falling Star" shines like silver and gold when Perry sings this; and "Papa Loves Mambo" is another tune Perry did to please his adoring audiences. Wow!

"(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays" is one of the best Christmastime numbers ever recorded by any artist; and listen for "It's Impossible." "It's Impossible" was recorded in Perry's later years but he sounds so great you'd never know it. "For The Good Times" is yet another fine number that Perry infuses with so much grace and style it actually stuns me with its beauty; and this makes a great ending for the two CD set.

Perry Como was one of the best crooners ever; and this two CD set shows us why. This is a must-have for Perry Como fans; and people who like classic pop vocals and even the "oldies" will want this, too.

No matter how you slice it Perry Como is one of the Top dozen American recording artists of the twentieth century. His appeal was broad and his impact undeniable. From the early 1940's until his final charted hit in the mid 1970's, Perry Como left a legacy of hit recordings that are fondly remembered by generations of Americans. All in all, Perry Como had an astounding 131 charted singles! The genial ex-barber from Canonsburg, Pa. had a total of a dozen #1 hits. And during the 50's and 60's, Como managed to crack the Billboard album chart a total of 26 times. Strange as it might seem, RCA Victor, the only label he ever recorded for never bothered to produce an anthology worthy of this fabulous performer. "Greatest Hits", released in 1999, is in my opinion the first collection to do the man justice. Containing a total of 51 tunes, the collection spans the artists entire career. In all fairness to RCA, it is a monumental undertaking to produce a comprehensive collection for such a prolific artist. But RCA succeeds here. Some of his earliest hits are here including the marvelous "If I Loved You" and the classic "Till The End of Time". "Far Away Places", "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Hot Diggity" are just three of my favorites from the 1950s. The two disc set also includes a pair of big hits from the early 1970's "It's Impossible" and "And I Love Her So." I was disappointed that the bouncy "Seattle" was not included. The remastering job is first rate and RCA has included an informative 16 page booklet. You will not be disappointed with this one. The price is quite reasonable for a two disc compilation this well done. So if you are in the market for a Perry Como collection look no further....this is definitely the one you want.

For anyone new to Perry's incredible legacy of recorded works, the frustration of his many fans about this CD compilation will understandably appear strange. The problem with this release is two-fold, the first involving repetition, many of these songs having been released more than thirty times on CD, and the second problem is describing the compilation as Perry's "Greatest Hits" . . . when so many of his popular "greatest hits" continue to go un-released! Considering the plethora of bootlegged Como releases currently released on CD, these songs are all remastered from original RCA tapes and in this respect are outstanding. However, it doesn't appear that BMG actually used first generation sources or else recordings such as "Kewpie Doll" and "Catch a Falling Star" and "Magic Moments" and even "Round and Round" would have been released here in real stereo or binaural two-track! Jumping from 1958 to 1970 appears somehow incredulous considering the large number of recordings in between these years. If we stick simply to singles, where is Perry's 1965 hit "Dream On Little Dreamer", his 1967 signature song "The Father of Girls" and his 1969 runaway hit "Seattle" ? These are only a few. There are many more. If this double CD compilation were called "Greatest Hits Part One" it would still skirt Perry's first fifteen years with RCA Victor! To make matters even worse, BMG is releasing a new CD compilation later this month ( July, 2000 ) titled "The Very Best of Perry Como" with 20 out of 21 songs replicated from this "Greatest Hits" complication, as in fact the majority of songs within this compilation were replicated from the previous popular BMG release! Well "Hubba, Hubba" you say, and well you should because that's the one addition to the new compilation, recorded by Perry in 1945! BMG should be leading off all of these compilations with Perry's 1975 Australian hit single "Let's Do It Again" and then it might all make sense!

I don't know how anyone could give anything by Perry Como anything other than five stars. Only a few others can do to a song what he can - Johnny Mathis, Vic Damone and Bobby Darin join the magnificent Mr. Como on the top of the list. If you are looking for your first Como CD compilation - this is a good one. If you are new to Mr. Como - this one is a great starter set. If you don't love beautiful music with soaring vocals and great instrumentation (such as you tone-deaf people who like rap and heavy metal who probably are not reading this review anyway), then you wouldn't like this CD. Perry had a style all of his own. I've been looking for a great compilation of his hits and I've found it. However, there are two tracks that should have been included here: his famous opening song from his television show (Dream Along With Me) and the great tune Somebody Up There Likes Me from the movie starring Paul Newman. But, overall, this is a real treasure with all so many wonderful songs and hits.

It's too bad that most people under forty don't even know who Perry Como is and few have ever been exposed to his music. This album will introduce to some marvelous music, sung by the inimitable Perry Como. As a fan of Perry, Sinatra and Bing Crosby, comparisons to their voices is inevitable. Perry modeled himself closely after Bing and the influence clearly shows. His voice wasn't as deep and his range wasn't as great, but his voice was more mellifluous and mellow, particularly as he aged.

All of Perry's great 40's and 50's hits are included here, as well as two stellar songs from the 70's, "And I Love You So" (my personal favorite) and "It's Impossible." Como injected so much pathos and emotion in both these songs. He learned how to use his vocal instrument more effectively as he got older. My only regret is the omission of Perry's last great song, "Wing Beneath my Wings," one of the great swan songs in American music.

Perry Como's music is timeless and anyone of any age can enjoy it. No one else sang quite like him with that beautifully restrained, sweet, gentle style. I've seen Perry in concert several times and he was a beautiful man, inside and out. His voice mirrors his soul and this is a superb collection.

I give this recording only one star not because the recordings are bad but simply because they've been released so many times! I bought this recording thinking surely that many of Perry's songs previously recorded in stereo would have been released that way because of the claim regarding "original masters" having been used. But alas, such is not the case. If you want to hear Perry's 1958 hit record "Kewpie Doll" in real stereo, you'll need to find a friend in England to buy the Reader's Digest 3 CD box set for mega dollars because they won't sell it to you directly!. There's something rediculous going on here! And now they're going to do it all over again next week with yet another greatest hits CD, this time called "The Very Best of Perry Como" where the same songs will be repeated all over again! I wonder if any of them will be original masters but what does that claim really mean? Not much, apparently!

Although there are few high-charting hits missing, Perry had so many American hits that it would take five or six CD's to include them all. Even though a few high-charting hits are omitted this collection contains all the tracks that really matter.

Perry clocked up exactly 100 Billboard hits between 1943 and 1954, eleven of which made number one and all of them are here - Till the end of time, Prisoner of love, Surrender, Chi-Baba Chi-Baba, A you're adorable, Some enchanted evening, Hoop-dee-doo, If, Don't let the stars get in your eyes, No other love and Wanted. During this period, Perry had many other top ten hits, too many to include them all here, but most of the important among them are included.

With the advent of rock'n'roll, Perry found success harder to come by but showed that he was not going to be pushed aside easily by recording such classics as Catch a falling star, Magic moments, Round and round, Hot diggity and Kewpie doll, all huge American hits in the late fifties. The sixties were a quiet period for Perry, at least when it came to hit singles, but he enjoyed a revival in the seventies with It's impossible, And I love you so and For the good times.

If you only want one collection of Perry's music and you are primarily interested in his American hits, this is the best collection you are likely to find.

This CD features some of Perry Como's "Greatest Hits"; but it is by no means a definitive collection. There appears to have been much attention paid to Chart Positions, which is an error. The Charts do not represent the true measure of an artists' success.

There are many very popular Perry Como songs from Singles and Albums which are wrongfully overlooked within this collection. A 2 CD set is by no means adequate to accomodate a definitive "Greatest Hits" collection of Perry Como's recordings. The vast majority of both discs cover the mid 1940's to the late 1950's and then jump from 1958 to 1970; missing more than a decade of Perry Como recordings.

Songs like "Delaware", "Caterina", "Dream On Little Dreamer", "Stop! And Think It Over", "(The) Father Of Girls" and "Seattle" should have all been included; but are missing here.

The sources are Release Master Tapes and the re-mastering is very good. What lets the collection down is the lack of thought within the track listing. This is a misrepresentation of the "Greatest Hits" of Perry Como.

BMG need to "Stop! And Think It Over" like Perry's 1967 Hit suggests!

The CD is very good, but has so many lighter songs that Perry Como was famous for. I like the ballads the best so ordered the CD "An Enchanted Evening" with Perry Como, and it has most of my favorites on that CD/