Customer Reviews

Stardust: The Classic Decca Hits & Standards Collection

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

 

 

This is a great compilation album with so many classic songs, you can't go wrong buying it....Bing sings his best, Judy sings her best, etc. etc. But the real find here is the only Decca recording by the legendary Roberta Sherwood (of all the many she churned out for that label through the 50's and 60's) to be transfered to CD. Why all of this unique song stylist's recordings have not already appeared as CD's is beyond me, but at least we have one of the songs most closely associated with her, "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You." It's the ballad she (already a middle-aged mother of three) was singing on stage in a second-rate Miami nightclub the fateful night powerful columnist Walter Winchell went bar hopping and happened to wander in. The jaded, world-weary show biz journalist was moved to tears, and immediately began a campaign for unknown Roberta in newspapers across the nation that turned her, almost overnight, into one of the biggest nightclub draws in the world. She quickly recorded Hoagy Carmichael's classic "Up A Lazy River," which became her biggest hit and remained her theme song until her death at 86 in 1999. A warm, down-to-earth, immensely talented entertainer, she could sing anything from 'torch' to C&W to hymns, and was a regular guest on TV with Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, and all the other top hosts of the day. I'm grateful for even this one song by her on one CD, but MCA should release all of Roberta Sherwood's great albums on CD to enthrall a new generation of music lovers.

Yes there was a musical world before 1956 and the Elvis explosion. That musical world, however, was the world of the parents, including mine, of the Generation of '68. For those who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II it is all here for you. Bing Crosby (doing a great job on the title track), The Andrews Sisters (without Bing but ripping the joint up with Rum and Coca Cola), The Mills Brothers (damn, if Paper Dolls is not one of the theme songs for that era, what else beside Sentimental Journey is?), The Ink Spots (doing a misty-eyed job on If I Didn't Care) and on and on for Disc One. Almost nothing but beautiful tunes there. Disc Two is later material and a bit more spotty, refelcting a shift in musical tastes to the more ephemeral. Stick outs here obviously are Louis Armstrong and Patsy Cline. The others like Three Coins in the Fountain are so-so. Buy this for Disc One, really.

I'm a baby boomer, so I really don't have any nostalgic tie-ins to this 1920s, 30s and 40s music. I just think these are quality songs, with beautiful and catchy lyrics, gifted singers, backed up with rich, full (sometimes) orchestral music. And these songs are performed by an amazing range of artists. And, considering this music was originally performed in the early decades of the 20th Century, there's some interesting sexual innuendos one can watch for, too.

For instance, "I Could Have Danced All Night." Now, you don't really think she's singing about *dancing* do you??

"I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night, and still have asked for more. I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things, I've never done before. I'll never know what made it so exciting..."

Sure, sure, she's singing about DANCING.

This CD also has a wonderful rendition of "Unchained Melody" made popular (again) in the second half of the 20th Century by contemporary artists.

"Oh my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch..."

I consider this original version of "Unchained Melody" to be one of the most beautiful songs of the 20th Century . There's also Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," Judy Garland's "Trolley Song", The Mills Brother's "Paper Doll," (I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own..."). These two CDs contained about 45 songs.

If you're one of those nutty retro baby-boomers that have a deep abiding love for all things old, you'll love these original recordings by original artists, preserved by Decca. They're the songs our WW-II era parents loved and listened to, over and over again. And there is something about listening to these songs that makes life seem a little sweeter and a little simpler. This music also makes a great present for the "over-80" crowd.

Rose (who is waiting for some mad scientist to figure out this whole fourth-dimension thing so I can get back to the 1920s, where I belong).

I'm a baby boomer, so I really don't have any nostalgic tie-ins to this 1920s, 30s and 40s music. I just think these are quality songs, with beautiful and catchy lyrics, gifted singers, backed up with rich, full (sometimes) orchestral music. And these songs are performed by an amazing range of artists. And, considering this music was originally performed in the early decades of the 20th Century, there's some interesting sexual innuendos one can watch for, too.

For instance, "I Could Have Danced All Night." Now, you don't really think she's singing about *dancing* do you??

"I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night, and still have asked for more. I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things, I've never done before. I'll never know what made it so exciting..."

Sure, sure, she's singing about DANCING.

This cassette also has a wonderful rendition of "Unchained Melody" made popular (again) in the second half of the 20th Century by contemporary artists.

"Oh my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch..."

I consider this original version of "Unchained Melody" to be one of the most beautiful songs of the 20th Century . There's also Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," Judy Garland's "Trolley Song", The Mills Brother's "Paper Doll," (I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own..."). These two cassettes contained about 45 songs.

If you're one of those nutty retro baby-boomers that have a deep abiding love for all things old, you'll love these original recordings by original artists, preserved by Decca. They're the songs our WW-II era parents loved and listened to, over and over again. And there is something about listening to these songs that makes life seem a little sweeter and a little simpler. This music also makes a great present for the "over-80" crowd.

Rose (who is waiting for some mad scientist to figure out this whole fourth-dimension thing so I can get back to the 1920s, where I belong).