Customer Reviews

Sentimental Me: Best of

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The Best of the Ames Brothers: Sentimental Me has eighteen wonderful songs from The Ames Brothers. The quality of the sound is rather good and the artwork is very well done. I am somewhat baffled as to why this CD is currently out of print; but maybe with time and some more sales that will change. This may not have every last one of their hits but as a single CD compilation it is very strong.

"Undecided" starts the track set off with a great number--The Ames Brothers harmonize to perfection on this classic pop tune. They swing brightly to make "Undecided" a great starter tune for this CD! The big band style enhances the natural beauty of the number, too. "Cruising Down The River" features The Ames Brothers front and center--and that's quite all right by me! The accordion is great while these guys sing their hearts out; the woodwind instruments also make this number very special. In addition, there's "Sentimental Journey;" this oldie but goodie tune shines when The Ames Brothers deliver it with passion and style!

"Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai)" has wonderful percussion that helps to mark the beat; and The Ames Brothers never sounded better! I love this tune and I predict that you'll like this, too, if you haven't heard this before. "Rag Mop" is easily a major highlight of this album; The Ames Brothers handle this tune as if they were born to sing songs like this! I really like "Rag Mop" because of its excellent beat and the horn solo really sparkles. "Sentimental Me" also puts The Ames Brothers right in the spotlight--and that's just where they belong! This tune has a great melody and the organ sounds terrific as The Ames Brothers harmonize flawlessly.

"(Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music!" is a tune I associate with Teresa Brewer; but when these men sing it they take this tune and put their own stamp on it with their very fine treatment of this number. The big band style arrangement backs the singers up very well, too. "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" has a very sweet string arrangement and The Ames Brothers truly delve into this number to make it a very special number.

In addition, "I'm Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover" sounds new and fresh when The Ames Brothers belt this one out really well! The Ames Brothers do this one up right and I love every minute of it! There's a substantial backup chorus to add to the number--but please make no mistake about it, this number belongs to The Ames Brothers. The CD also ends well with "A Tree In The Meadow." "A Tree In The Meadow" has a wonderful melody.

Overall, The Ames Brothers still stand out as some of the best male vocalists of the last century. I highly recommend this for their fans; and people who enjoy classic pop vocals will enjoy this album, too.

Wanted to get a CD with some of the Ames Brothers music I loved as a young teenager but clicked on the wrong item and am I ever glad I did. This one contains earlier songs and is a real joy. The harmony is great, the songs are great, a real feel good experience. I'm now anxiously awaiting the delivery of the "right" Ames Brothers CD.

I've had this cd in my collection for many years (and I'm surprised I hadn't done a review of this cd sooner).

Anyhow, this cd is of music from the Ames Brothers' Coral (and Decca) era. All but 3 of the songs were taken from the original first generation master tapes and the remaining three were from tape transfers of the original laquer acetates made during the 1960's. I was told that the laquer transfers sounded horrible on the tapes, but they cleaned up nicely for this cd, i must say. On this cd you get a wonderful collection of tunes, including the very first record ever released with the Brother's vocals on it (A Tree In The Meadow by Monica Lewis and the Ames Brothers, though it is Ed's voice spotlighted most on it with Monicas). There isn't a bad song on this cd, and I recommend it to everyone. Some of my personal favorites on this cd are Undecided, Rag Mop, I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover (with Russ Morgan and his Orchestra), A Tree In The Meadow (with Monica Lewis), and You Are My Sunshine, which was the song that got me hooked on the Ames Brothers to begin with. I only wish Varese would've done a second volume, these guys deserve it.

Part of my review of the Taragon CD "The Very Best Of The Ames Brothers" was critical of the fact they didn't make it clear that the volume covered only their RCA Victor period, and also that they left out too many of their bona-fide hits while including three tracks that were not among their "very best."

The same thing applies to this Varese-Sarabande issue which covers their early days at Decca/Coral. It, too, could have been made clearer had the title read "The Best Of The Ames Brothers - 1948-1953."

Like the other volume the sound quality is perfect, and here too you get informative liner notes [4 pages written by Robert Rice in March 1995], two more nice photos of the brothers, and a discography of the contents on the reverse.

The last two tracks in this volume are actually their very first hits, released by the parent Decca label. I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover was billed as Russ Morgan & His Orchestra with Milt Herth At The Organ & chorus by The Ames Brothers. It reached # 6 early in 1948. A Tree In The Meadow was billed Monica Lewis and The Ames Brothers, and it reached # 21 in September 1948 with the backing of The Mary Osborne Trio.

By 1949 Decca had decided to handle all further releases on their new Coral subsidiary, but here V-S omits their first - You, You, You Are The One, an adaptation of the old German folk song Du, Du Liegst Mir In Herzen, which reached # 23 in March 1949 with Roy Ross & His Orchestra, who would also back them on their next 10 Coral hits.

They do include their 1949 rendition of Cruising Down The River, one of eight hit versions that year, although in their case they brought up the rear tied with Helen Carroll's Mercury cut, reaching only # 29. Then came the breakthrough hit Rag Mop, their first # 1 [for three weeks] early in 1950, which originally had Sentimental Me as the flipside. However, when that began to receive as much play as the A-side [it too went to # 1], they quickly re-issued it as an A-side with Blue Prelude [track 10] as its B-side.

They weren't as fortunate with (Put Another Nickle In) Music Music Music, losing out to the London Records cut by 19-year-old Teresa Brewer [# 1 for 4 weeks], but settling for a still-respectable # 13. A flurry of releases then followed throughout the rest of 1950, but here you get just one - Can Anyone Explain? (No, No, No) which peaked at # 5 that September. Missing are: Stars Are The Windows Of Heaven [# 17 in July], Thirsty For Your Kisses [# 26 in November], Oh Babe [# 20 in December], and The Thing [# 29 in December].

Their initial 1951 hit is also missing - Wang, Wang Blues [# 16 in July] - but the remaining three are here, with Hawaiian War Chant topping out at # 21 in September backed by Roy Smeck And The Serendaders, followed by the huge double-sided hit Undecided b/w Sentimental Journey. With the A-side billed to The Ames Brothers And Les Brown And His Band Of Renown, it reached # 2 that fall, while the flip, billed to Les Brown And His Band Of Renown And The Ames Brothers, went to # 23, using the exact same arrangement as employed by Brown in his hit 1945 rendition [# 1 for nine weeks when Doris Day did the vocals].

At the start of 1952 the brothers had another double-sided hit, this time with Marty Manning's band, when I Wanna Love You peaked at # 19 in January and its flipside, I'll Still Love You, reached # 29 in March. Neither, unfortunately, is included here. The, with the backing of Ray Bloch & His Orchestra, Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart reached # 13 in August, followed by String Along (# 18 in September), and My Favorite Song (# 15 in October).

In 1953, No Moon At All (again with Les Brown & His Band Of Renown) made it to # 21 in January, followed in March by their last Coral hit, Can't I, which hit # 23. That is another omission from this volume.

We could have done without tracks 5, 9, 10, and 12, none of which can be considered among their best at Coral and, instead, been treated with some [or all] of those missing legitimate hits. That would have made this a 5-star offering. Even so, by getting both this and the Taragon issue, you do get the bulk of the hit singles registered between 1948 and 1960 by one of the most successful male quartets of that bygone era.

I wouldn't refer to The Ames Brothers as a premier singing group. I tend to prefer The Mills Brothers or The Four Freshmen, but The Ames Brothers did sing well and this CD combines some of their very well known songs such as "Sentimental Me," and "Undecided" with many less well known songs of theirs but songs that are pleasant novelty tunes. You could do worse than getting this CD to further expand your collection.