Customer Reviews

Roaring 20's

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

 

 

We purchased this set to play in our antique store, and it has been getting rave reviews from employees and customers. We recommend this to anyone with an interest in the early twentieth century lifestyle and music, it is a wonderful compendium of songs and performers. Well worth the money.

The selections and remastering are good. Most of the selections are from the electric recording era, (after 1925) which means some better sound quality. My only question is why not a two CD set with 20 selections per disc, instead of four discs with 10 selections each?

A good number of oldies are present covering the start of the decade of radio and the creation of big band, which would evolve into swing in the 30s and easy listening in the 40s. You can see through this collection how the music changed from simple brass band arrangements and duets, to full orchestras consisting of strings and woodwind, and much more variety was added. Of course, the 20s bands were distinguishable by there heavy use of brass instruments, and kind of a jumpy beat. Its old, but it still sounds good, and you can see that the music reflected a culture that just wanted to have fun and enjoy living life for what it was, rather than doing work and going to war. The 20s were a time of economic prosperity and prohibition, which was well reflected in the newly introduced music. Many new artists emerged like Paul Whiteman, Fred Astaire, Eddie Cantor, and Rudy Valee to name a few. Of course, it is indeed missing many good songs like Ain't She Sweet, The Charleston (Which was the biggest dance craze of the decade), and Five Foot Two. The Coon orchestra isn't in this compilation, which is a shame since they spawned some of the biggest hits of the 20s. Another thing I noticed is that each CD only contains 10 songs each which clock in at around 30 minutes per CD, when CDs can hold over an hour, which this collection could have been reduced to two CDs. Or they could have included a ton more songs in this collection. Still a good collection but it could have included a lot more since most 20s songs are either in the public domain or don't have strict copyright, so I wish they would have filled the CDs up better since there is so much unused space.

Terrific set- good overview and arrangement of the great music of the 20's...

Had some roaring 20's albums when I was a kid and hoped this was something similar....wasn't. Am donating it the the Retirement Home...am sure they'll love it, tho.

What a great collection.
You just want to tap your foot...then get up and dance to the BIG BANDS of the 1920's as well as sing along with other songs. (there are a few songs from 1930)
This collection is a vital part of our American history.
From the wind up Victrola, some 78-RPM discs, and steel needle to using Stereo software programs resulting in a rich stereo sound only coming from a mono source.
well worth the money...IM very happy.

This CD has great 20's music. Some were not great hits, but others were in the top charts.