Search - Various Artists :: Nipper's G.H.: 40's 1

Nipper turns his attention to the best of music in the 40's

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 12/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having been impressed with what Nipper turned up from the 30's, I was slightly disappointed to find the pickings are not as good in Volume I of the Greatest Hits from the 40's. Yes, there is "Star Dust," Lena Horne singing "Stormy Weather," Glenn Miller's Orchestra doing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and Spike Lee's immortal take on "Cocktails for Two," but this is the first Nipper collection where I did not recognize at least half the tracks. True, these songs were all done long before I was born, but I did a lot better than this with the two volumes covering the 30's. Young Frank Sinatra is here crooning his way "There Are Such Things" with Tommy Dorsey and "Night and Day" in an early solo effort and I do recognize most of the artists if not most of the songs. Still, Nipper's Greatest Hits is the best collection of eclectic oldies this side of Time-Life. My rule of thumb is always pick up any greatest hits album that adds five new songs to your music collection, and Nipper never disappoints by that standard."

Fine assortment of just some of Nipper's best from the 1940s

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 02/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nipper's Greatest Hits: The 40's, Vol. 1 gives us some excellent numbers from the 1940s that sound as great today as they ever did! The sound quality is rather good considering the age of these recordings and I like the artwork as well. There's also lots of big band style musical arrangements on these numbers; this was so popular especially in the first half of the 1940s.



"Frenesi" by Artie Shaw And His Orchestra starts the track set off well. The horn solos are awesome and the strings work very well to make this a fine number. I also like the tempo changes. Duke Ellington And His Orchestra turn in a fine "Don't Get Around Much Any More;" again we have a strong horn solo and the orchestra sounds so sweet while Duke leads them along. Listen also for "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller And His Orchestra with a little help from Tex Beneke on vocals; this sounds so good and upbeat I always smile whenever I hear it!



Dinah Shore sings "Blues In The Night" with an excellent musical accompaniment; Dinah's excellent diction bolsters her performance and she never sounded better! Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra also do a great job on "Boogie Woogie," a solid hit from the 1940s that I love to hear even in these times.



Artie Shaw And His Orchestra return to perform "Stardust;" they do this with great sensitivity and panache. Artie sure could lead his team! There's also Duke Ellington And His Orchestra with Joya Sherrill performing "I'm Beginning To See The Light." Duke's orchestra sounds wonderful and these talented people perform this flawlessly.



Lena Horne's "Stormy Weather" blasts this classic number straight out of the ballpark; there's hardly any surface noise on this track and Lena sings this as only she could. I love the sound of Lena Horne's voice.



Overall, this single CD can't possibly give us half of Nipper's greatest hits from the `40s even if it is part of a two CD set. Instead of making this a two CD set, you'd need a total of four or five CDs to truly capture the best of the best from the 1940s on Nipper's label. Nevertheless, as part one of a two CD set this still gives you quite a bit of high quality controlled music; and this would also be a great starter CD for newcomers to this genre of music.

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