Search - Various Artists :: 1951: 20 Original Chart Hits

Of More Interest In Britain Insofar As Familiar Tunes Are Co

10/23/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you search in Music using "A Time To Remember" you will see the vastness of this series from the U.K. which combined excellent sound quality with tunes that were heard in that part of the world for the years concerned.



But, for the most part, many of the tracks in each were totally unfamiliar to North American record-buyers, radio listeners, and juke-box players. And this volume covering 1951 is no exception as only Too Young by Nat "King" Cole, Good Morning Mr. Echo by Margaret Whiting, Laura by Stan Kenton, and Hot Rod Race by Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan will evoke any memories. So too will the tune In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening, but here we heard the Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman and Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford renditions. For Dean Martin, that was just one of many of his Capitol releases that went nowhere in the early stages of his career for Capitol.



Songs such as Once In A while and Heart And Soul, both dating back to the 1930s, did become later hits on the Billboard charts, but not until 1952, and for Patti Page and The Four Aces respectively.



Artists such as vocalists Alan Dean and Eve Boswell, organist Reginald Dixon, and orchestra leaders Charles Williams and Sidney Torch, while quite well known in the U.K., are totally unknown on this side of the Atlantic to the average North American fan who recall those early years of the decade of the 1950s.



Probably a 4-star compilation in the U.K. (the lack of detailed liner notes and discography would keep it from going to 5 stars), but still meriting 3 stars here for the quality of the musuc and, perhaps, the rarity of some cuts. These would include Tennessee Saturday Night by Ella Mae Morse (the 1949 hit here belonged to Red Foley), Pa's Not Home by the great R&B artist Nellie Lutcher, Blue Turning Gray Over You by Billie Holiday and The Tiny Grimes Sextet, and I'll Take Romance by June Christy.



Green Eyes by Helen O'Connell may also jump out at some, but be advised that this 1951 re-recording pales in comparison to the 1941 smash hit by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra in which Helen and Bob Eberly handle the vocals."