Search - Various Artists :: Polka Dance Party, Vol. 1

Uninspired performances, mediocre recordings

Bill Smythe | Chicago | 08/08/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Unless I miss my guess, this material is at least two decades old, and probably in the public domain by now. There are 20 tracks performed by eight different obscure polka artists. Recording quality is far from superb. On some of the Deutchmeisters tracks, all the microphones seem to have been placed near the drums, making it difficult to hear anything else. Some instruments on the Polka Padre tracks seem to have been full of water, judging from the gurgling. Watch out for the repackaging. The CD says Polka Dance Party Volume 1, but the cover says Polka's Greatest Hits Volume 1... Don't be trapped into buying Polka's Greatest Hits if you already have Polka Dance Party, or vice versa. A small example of the manufacturer's carelessness is that, on my copy, the back cover (the one that's harder to fix) was upside down. For the best polkas, stick with Joey Miskulin, Frank Yankovic, Jimmy Sturr, and Eddie Blaconczyk."