Customer Reviews

Portrait Edition

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Jo Stafford has been in my Record/CD collection for 50 years. No one can sing as she can, pitch perfect, singing the the songs as WRITTEN, no note bending, and so on. Jo Stafford is the best and no other singer comes close.
I first heard Jo while passing a record store. The door opened and I heard "If". I rushed in and asked who that singer was, from that time I bought every record Jo ever made. Simply the finest singer ever. Now you can get nearly every song Jo recorded, there are a few missing like "Allentown Jail" and "Chantilly Lace" to name two.
I recently played "No other Love" to a friend, who promptly burst into tears, "The most beautiful song I ever heard, and so beautifully sung". Well of course the singer is Jo, and the music Chopin, what a combination!
This boxed set is a good start, a very well chosen set. Buy it, you will not regret it. 70 plus songs all well worth repeated listening, I cannot recomend this highly enough.

It's a crime that this retrospective should be "out of stock" or unavailable. This is the best place to start your collection of recordings by the greatest American female pop singer of all time. I discovered her soothingly beautiful voice by accident, listening to her incredible rendition of "Haunted Heart" featured on the Charlie Haden jazz CD of the same name. Thank goodness, I was able to buy this box set a couple of years later. Only the novelty songs like "Stayin' Alive" and "I Am Woman" (where she purposely sings off-key) wear out their welcomes with repeated listenings. The rest are timeless.

Jo pulls off another triumph. Although this CD contains a different version (and not as good) version of her most famous hit "You Belong to Me," Jo shows she IS music.Two outstanding tracks are the Blues songs..."Every Night When The Sun Goes In" and "Blues In the Night." It is utterly amazing at how Jo sing with such detachment that it makes the pain coming across in the song all the more real. Talk about a paradox. Joe takes her music seriously. So seriously that in order to do comedy material she literally has to become a new singer. In this case Darlene. It is fantastic that as Darlene Edwards she warbles and off key tune like the BeeGee's "Stayin' Alive" and does it so well. I mean she remains off key throughout the whole song (for those who don't get it, it is supposed to be off key an funny). How does someone with so much talent play someone with so little. It is no doubt Bill Murray stole his lounge singer act from Darlene Edwards. Jo has done it again.

I'm so happy I bought this retrospective of Jo Stafford's career before it went out of stock! Jo was one of the top singers of the 1940's and 1950's, starting out as one of the Pied Pipers for Tommy Dorsey. But she never pursued her career and fame with a heated vengeance like other popular singers, and is vastly underappreciated these days. Its really a shame, too, because for sheer artistry she stands shoulder to shoulder with any other popular vocalist of the last 50 years. If any modern singer these days cares to learn all about flawless intonation and phrasing, they need merely listen to Jo Stafford. What comes through when listening to her is just sheer love and affection for the music, with a delightful and refreshing lack of egotism and histrionics. She knows how to let a song speak for itself, with purity and simplicity. I hope this album will be re-released eventually, because its a wonderful and generous collection. Some of my favorites: flawless performances (dare I say definitive?) of "The Night We Called It A Day", "I Should Care", "All the Things You Are", "Stardust", "The Nearness of You", and "I'll Be Seeing You". As you can tell, when she gets her hands on a beautiful ballad, I'm a goner! And her wondrous renditions of the traditionals "Shenandoah" and "My Heart's In the Highlands", done so simply, without unnecessary dramatics, are the most moving I know of. And I'm just hitting the creme de la creme! Anyone who's at all interested in the standards and great singers needs to listen to Jo Stafford!

Actually one of the funniest tracks on here is Stafford poking fun at women's lib, and bad singers(Helen Reddy), all at once in "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar," as her alter ego Darlene Edwards purposly sings every note slightly off key! Stafford had perfect pitch so it's great to hear her as Darlene. Also soem of the finest pop songs from the 50's are here, given difinitive treatment by Jo. Jo had a voice that was truly thrilling and cool. Too bad more songs from her best lp "Jo+Jazz" aren't on here, bnut in general there are a lot of great swing songs and ballads that show how 50 years ago pop music and jazz weren't so far apart from each other.

This is a must have for any Jo Stafford Fan. To begin with on one of these CDs (there are three total) there are two songs "Blues In The Night" and "Every Night When The Sun Goes In" that I have yet to find on any other CD. Oh sure "Blues in the Night" IS on other CDs but it isn't the same version. I guarantee this is the BEST you have ever heard. In fact I lost my CD case and this CD was in it. I rebought the ENTIRE 3 CD set (even though I still have the other two CDs) just to get those two songs. It is unbelieveable how good they are. Jo has other collections that are great but this one shows how hauntingly beautiful her voice is. Try Shennendoah (sp?). I can't recommend this enough  

Smooth, Creamy, Crooning, like Soft Velvet!!

Shamefully, Sony has taken this box out of print. I am not sure what they're thinking. Here we have one of the very greatest female singers from the big-band and swing eras, all the way up to the 70's, who's output reads like a "greatest songs ever" list, and it is now, no longer available for us to enjoy (unless we, luckily, already own a copy of it.)

If your wallet can "take it", by all means, grab up one of the sets being sold by secondary sellers...you'll likely not get a second chance.

This, the Columbia years of Jo's career is just simply "wonderful", and "the best of the best"....but, you will also be wanting some of her Capital stuff, also...Plus, "The Columbia Hits Collection"...what would life be like without "Shrimp Boats" et al?

This set is, by all means, worth every penny you need to pay for a copy! Trust Me, here, folks...I know what I am talking about when it comes to great singers, and great "sets"...all of my life has been spent "close" to music (of all types), and 50's, 60's, and 70's vocalists [male and female] absorbed a lot of my time and attention!). This Set Is A MUST-HAVE! You would do well to get a copy before there are none available at all, anywhere.

Good luck obtaining a set, and by all means, "enjoy many happy hours with Ms Stafford!" ~operabruin