Customer Reviews

Sing Along With Mitch

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We still listen to the LP version of this album! It's a beloved family treasure. Kids will likely enjoy the easy-to-remember tunes. Adults will enjoy the funny, catchy lyrics and the harmony. All in all, this is great music that has stood the test of time.

You don't have to worry about explicit language or ear splitting volume - you can just enjoy the clever writing and pleasing tunes. Don't be surprised if the whole household starts singing along. It's hard not to!

This first Mitch Miller singalong album was quite a milestone, in my opinion. Anyone who could get very self-conscious afraid-to-sing afraid-to-dance Americans singing deserves praise for that accomplishment alone. The subsequent string of similar Mitch Miller albums was proof of the popularity of his concept. And Americans did sing along with these old standards: I grew up singing songs I learned from this album while sitting around campfires in the deserts of California and Arizona in the late 1950s. In those pre-Beatles days, the musical emphasis was on melody instead of on the musician's egos and electronic sound effects. "Don't Fence Me In" is particularly sweet here, and is my favorite song from the album. I can still see the Joshua trees stretching out into the distance... The first half of the album drags a little too much for my taste; the second half is generally more lively and catchy, and more suitable for fun singalongs. I believe these albums used to be accompanied by lyric sheets, but in this resource-stressed modern world you have to find the lyrics yourself on the Internet.

I like the way Mitch Miller sing these songs, I like the lyrics, I like the orchestration and it is a good choice of easy listening songs. So, it is a good CD to buy.

This is a great CD. It's one that we always seem to grab for the entire family to listen to. My kids love all the songs and it will take you back to your own childhood.

Travel back to your childhood days when mom busied herself in the kitchen after church, while dad picked out his favorite LP to put on the High-Fi. It was the only day we listened to Mitch Miller and the Gang, and the wonderful blend of strong voices still sounds like home. There is no replacement.

I first heard this album (the original vinyl) in Mrs. Kieslings sixth grade music class in 1960. That makes it a precious memory. We all got mimeographed sheets of the words so we could sing along and we had a ball. Later our family would gather around the television once a week and sing the words off the bottom of the screen. Only Mom had a really good singing voice, but that didn't bother anyone, and the noise that ensued when they broke into "be kind to your web-footed friends" was probably frightful, but we loved every minute. I still prefer subtitles to dubbed movies.
Thanks to the magic of vinyl, and now lucite, the thrill has been preserved. When I started the disk, it all came back. I've played it for my friends and heard them repeat it word perfect (well, almost). and nobody over fifty could resist "web footed friends.
But something is missing. Every copy of the original album and all of Mitch's albums contained a printed sheet with all the words to all of the songs, so that everyone could read it as they sang. That sheet is missing from the CD. This is inexcusable. These days it is much easier to include the words in a CD than it was to include them in an album in the old days. All you have to do is to print them up as a booklet with the original cover art on the front and slide it under the label tabs. What could be easier? This IS a sing along album for Heavens sake! What good is a sing-along without the word sheet? Only about half as much. Now if we want to have a sing-along evening, someone has to sit down by the player and laboriously transcribe the words by hand.

Great CD, I remember listening to the album when I was a child in the 60's we would sit at the dining room table and "sing along with Mitch" I can still remember all of the words 40 years later!

In the late 1950's and early 1960's, when I had to take a school bus to school, some of the guys would lead sing-alongs. They even brought their own guitar and banjo! Many of the songs we sang came straight from recordings by Mitch Miller. We were probably one of the last groups of youngsters to sing something other than rock-and-roll on a school bus. In fact, I think we were an exception in that we did sing on the bus! Later on, at school talent shows, invariably someone would do a skit on Mitch Miller, even putting on a false beard and mustache, and performing his unique elbows out style of conducting! I am glad to know that his music is still loved today.

Sing Along with Mitch brought the wonderful music of Mitch Miller and his chorus into the households of so many Americans; and I am still amazed by that classic Mitch Miller sound. These songs remain special today for their charm and their timeless appeal. These ballads and musical numbers also bring back fond memories of listening to this with my father when I was just a little boy. The quality of the sound is excellent and the front artwork is faithful to the record album front cover artwork. The only negative I can think of is that we don't get the lyrics here; if you want to sing along but don't know the lyrics already, you have to listen to these songs and learn them before you can sing along with them. Oops! That was a mistake.

"That Old Gang of Mine" starts things off with a terrific number; the chorus harmonizes perfectly and I could never tire of hearing this tune. "Down by the Old Mill Stream" has a wonderful melody and the singers handle complex tempo and key changes like the pros they were and still remain! Other hit numbers include the flawless "By the Light of the Silvery Moon;" the renditions of "You Are My Sunshine" and "Till We Meet Again" with their splendid musical arrangements and "Let the Rest of the World Go By" which has these fine performers singing this with panache. I love it.

"Sweet Violets" is very well done and the medley that includes "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is easy on the ear. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" has a marvelous combination of singing and music to make this a stand-out number; and I really like their version of the very classic "Don't Fence Me In." Now THIS is great music!

The album ends with two really nice medleys that leave me wanting more; I often reply this CD the moment that it's over so I can enjoy it once again! I highly recommend this for fans of Mitch Miller and easy listening music from the mid 20th century; and people who enjoy classic pop vocals would also do well to add this to their collections.

I was delighted with the quality of the recording--especially compared to my over-used LP albums. I was disappointed, though, that the CDs do not include sing-along words, as my LPs do.