Search - Fontane Sisters :: Till Then [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]

Track listing!

David Newland | dayton, oh USA | 11/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Disc: 1

1. Till Then

2. Baion

3. Cold Cold Heart

4. Handsome Stranger

5. Grasshopper Heart (And A Butterfly Brain)

6. Can't We Talk It Over

7. Three Little Rings

8. Down Home Rag

9. Turtle Song

10. I'm A Little Cuckoo

11. Moon June Spoon

12. If You Would Only Be Mine

13. Rhumba Boogie

14. Silver Bells

15. Jing A Ling Jing A Ling

16. I Guess I'll Have To Dream The Rest

17. Fifth Wheel On The Wagon

18. Fortune Teller Song

19. There's Doubt In My Mind

20. Winter's Here Again

21. Lonesome Road

22. I Didn't Know What Time It Was

23. Kissing Bridge

24. Makin' Like A Train

25. What Did I Do

26. Bounce Bouncy Bally

27. Hurry Home To Me

28. Walkin' The Floor Over You

29. Grand Central Station

30. I Grabbed For The Engine



Disc: 2

1. I Had A Talk With The Wind And The Rain

2. Falling

3. Please Play Our Song

4. Mexican Joe

5. I Wanna Be Loved

6. Underneath The Linden Tree

7. Mississippi Mud

8. Put Your Shoes On Lucy

9. Fairy Tales

10. Cinderella Work Song

11. Tennessee Waltz

12. I Get The Blues When It Rains

13. Alabama Jubilee

14. Snowflakes

15. River In The Moonlight

16. Fortune Teller Song

17. Castle Rock

18. Howdy Doody Christmas

19. Popcorn Song

20. Twenty Four Hours Of Sunshine

21. Bumpity Bus

22. If I Knew You Were Coming I'dve Baked A Cake

23. Price I Paid For Loving You

24. Let Me In

25. When I Dream

26. He Who Has Love

27. My Fickle Eye

28. It Couldn't Be True (Or Could It)

29. Linger In My Arms A Little Longer Baby

30. Missouri Waltz



"

The RCA years 1949 to 1954

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marge, Bea and Geri Rosse adopted the name Fontane sisters for professional purposes. They got their big break when they teamed up with Perry Como. The recordings that they made with Perry are featured on a separate compilation that I've already reviewed, leaving this compilation to focus on their solo music, though Perry puts in a brief appearance on one track here. This compilation focuses on their RCA recordings from 1949 to 1954, though even the liner notes acknowledge that the sisters achieved their biggest successes after they switched to Dot. Nevertheless, they recorded plenty of great music for RCA with and without Perry, so this compilation is definitely worth a listen.



While with RCA, the Fontane sisters had five American Billboard hits, two of which (Tennessee waltz, Cold cold heart) made the top twenty but neither made the top ten. Patti Page and Tony Bennett respectively had the big chart-topping hits with these songs, though it seems that Patti's version of Tennessee waltz was only intended to be a B-side. The other three hits (Let me in, Castle rock, Kissing bridge) spent just one week each in the charts. Of these, Kissing bridge is a Christmas song and this is the track that features a brief appearance by Perry Como.



Away from the hits, the music here offers a typical repertoire of the period, with some novelty songs (The turtle song, I'm a little cuckoo) among the more conventional songs. These include their versions of songs that became hits for others including I wanna be loved (Andrews sisters) and If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake (Eileen Barton), although I'm not sure if the versions here were covers, or if they were alternative versions that didn't chart. In those days, it was normal practice for several versions of each song to be released as singles, leaving the radio stations and the public to decide what they liked.



Apart from Kissing bridge, other wintry songs include Silver bells, Winter's here again, Snowflakes and A howdy doody Christmas. Not all of them are Christmas songs as such, but none of them would be out of place on a Christmas album. Elsewhere, there are Disney songs (Cinderella work song, Jing-a-ling jing-a-ling), train songs (Rhumba boogie, Grand Central station, I grabbed for the engine), country songs (Walking the floor over you, Handsome stranger) and much else besides.



If you particularly want the hits, there is a greatest hits compilation on a different label. The first five tracks there are the five RCA hits that I mentioned. The remainder (it seems) are their Dot hits.



Their period with RCA may not have been their most successful, but the Fontane sisters certainly recorded plenty of great music for RCA. Listening to this compilation, the mystery is why they weren't successful during this period."