Search - Various Artists :: Legendary Bands of the 20's

Great music, disappointing sound

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson | 01/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First off, the producers of this set have done a nice job of distilling a "best-of" collection of 1920s dance bands. There is some truly marvelous music on this disc: original recordings that capture the "Roaring Twenties" at its best. Goldkette, Whiteman, Kahn, Weems, Bernie, Lanin--virtually every major band leader of the decade is represented here in a nice mix of "hot" and "sweet" styles. Unfortunately, thee producers also chose to drench these fine recordings in artificial reverb. Why? The added echo takes the crispness and "snap" out of these recordings (and I don't mean surface noise), leaving the bands sounding "mushy." The vocals, in particular get completely lost in echo--it's really disgraceful. The removal of surface noise and crackle seems to have been done rather well, but then they went and ruined the tracks with this unnecessary and distracting echo. I just don't understand it. If you're looking for a good 20s dance band compilation, ASV, Pearl, Take Two, and other labels have put out similar CDs with much better sound. Avoid this CD and look for those instead."