Search - Johnny Mercer, Pied Pipers :: Dream Team

A good collection but a painful mistep or two along the way.

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 05/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers put out some great songs between 1943 and 1954 and this CD is an solid compilation of those songs. The transfer from the original 78 acetates to the digital format was very well done with minimal noise at the very most. The songs in general are entertaining and have a good rhythm to them. I particularly liked "St. Louis Blues" and "Embraceable You." The Pied Pipers, made up for June Hutton and three men, harmonize so well that they really were a treat to listen to!



There are liner notes by Tony Middleton, too. Tony provides us with a nice two page essay about Johnny Mercer and the group calling themselves The Pied Pipers. There are a couple of great black and white photos of Johnny Mercer and additional liner notes tell exactly when and where each song was recorded.



Now for the other side of the coin. If you're sensitive to certain racial issues, proceed with caution. I was offended in particular by some of the lyrics to the song entitled "Louisville Lou." These lyrics describe a typical African-American person as not knowing the definition of the word "encyclopedia" and they call one young man who is almost ready for college a "boy." I did not like that at all and for that alone I have to take off 1 and 1/2 stars. Yes, I know, at the time these songs were written these lyrics were considered "OK;" but these days we know better and I just didn't like it. Moreover, another song called "Ugly Chile" has more lyrics that are disdainful toward African-Americans. Not good.



However, to be fair, there are other songs on the CD that inject some harmless humor into the song set. I liked the dating game played out in the song called "Goodbye Romance" and the updated version of the 1920's song called "Yes, We Have No Bananas." There is a bittersweet and sarcastic type of humor in "Duration Blues" which is a song about life in America during World War Two.



In all, Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers display true talent and this CD is a very good collection of their work. You get a whopping 28 songs on a single CD which makes it a good value, too. However, for some people some of the lyrics will be unpleasant and so I add that as a cautionary note.



This CD would be of interest not just to fans of Johnny Mercer and/or The Pied Pipers but to fans of pop vocals from the 1940's and 1950's as well.

"

Several gems, much common

Howard Brian Herdeg | Orange County, CA | 08/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The album has three of my favorite performers, Johnny Mercer, The

Pied Pipers and June Hutton. 40% of the songs were worth having, a few were nowhere. I am glad I bought it and was pleasantly surprised by

THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA,"