Search - Fred Astaire :: Golden Greats

"Shall we dance" with the "Top hat" Knight?

javiermaths | 10/10/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of course we shall.
Quick overview of this reviewer: 19, classical music lover, fond of cinema from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s and a Sinatra, Crosby and Astaire's music collector. Unusual characteristics for a teenager? No, Sir / Lady. I'm simply "old-fashioned" as Fred, so elegant as Bing and go "my way" as Frank. These gentlemen do deserve to be called "singers". Yes, that's singing, that's dancing, that's entertainment.
Is "Golden Greats" the best set of music for the King of Tap Dancing that one can own? The answer for this question depends on two standpoints:
The first one refers to both future and technology. Obviously, soon there'll be better-than-now devices to record and play audio and video media (e.g. the microchip), so that we'll be able to have more than 1000 songs in a memory in miniature. This would mean that "Golden Greats" wouldn't be the best option, but only if we now had chips instead of CDs.
The second one comes to tell you why "Golden Greats" is really the best updated compilation for Freddy's music.
I've heard and read some many people complaining about this set, so that I've decided to well argue what they could wrongly state:
1. "Lack of further information about the singer and the tracks"
If you've reached this shopping placed, it's because you know how to navigate into the world wide web. I mean there are lots of web sites where you may read, learn and get references about Fred's career and songs including their lyrics, but anyway, I hope you find a little bit of them throughout this helpful review.
2. "The songs are not in chronological order or there is not any criterion to sort the songs as they are"
Well, I've just found one and it's simple:
CD1 contains most of the well-known songs performed by the most famous dancing couple not only in the 30s and 40s, but in the 20th century: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Some of them come from their early performances at RKO and some others from the MGM musicals. You can look for further info from the heavenly "Cheek to cheek" to the bristling "Let's face the music and dance" in the web. I'd really like to highlight the outstanding "Nice work if you can get it", "Let yourself go" and "I can't be bothered now". I'm sure you'll be tapping and get amazed with these versions.
CD2 has a brief connexion with 1, but the clear intention of it is to present some of the recordings Fred and his first feminine partner and sister: Adele, sang together when they joined the theatre in 1917. It's unmistakable the great piano performances and accompaniment: George Gershwin's unique style.
Do you remember Fred and Cyd Charisse "Dancing in the dark" of Central Park, sensual scene from the MGM picture "The Band Wagon", 1953?
Or Fred singing "This heart of mine" while dancing with Lucille Bremer, elegant scene from the MGM picture "Ziegfeld Follies", 1946?
Both are for me the loveliest dances ever heard by human eyes and ever seen by human ears, so, anyway, I bet you'll be waltzing while listening to them. And we're now exploring...
CD3, which focuses on Fred's love songs and is aimed to show his abilities as song writer when performing "Just like taking candy from a baby" and "If swing goes, I go too". Starting with the Irving Berlin's marvellous production: "Puttin' on the Ritz" from the Paramount picture "Blues skies", 1946, it's clear that this great composer is paid homage throughout the whole compilation, specially when the best perfomer of his compositions: Sir Bing Crosby, comes to fight Ladies Linda and Lila's (Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale) love against Fred's dancing (ch)arms and "capture her heart" with his crooning (ch)arms (From the Paramount picture "Holiday Inn", 1942). But finally both Bing and Fred prefer to harmonise their skills to become the best "couple of song and dance men". The King of Song (let's accept Sinatra is the Prince) and the King of Dance together at their best, but Bing..., Bing is already another story to be continued in another review...
3. "Originality in the songs". Some people could say: "some of the songs aren't the original soundtracks from the movies, they were recorded in a studio". Yes, they were recorded in the Brunswick and Decca companies. And would you like to know anything else? Some of them like "Let yourself go" and "Music makes me" were never sung by Fred in the movies, but by Ginger.
But here's when this logical question appears: are you looking for Fred's music or films? There's also a wide range of Fred's movies available right here at Amazon, where you can not only hear, but gaze and applaud Fred's dances. Try your search again or look for help!!! I own some of the original soundtracks and they aren't correctly caught: noise, incomplete dialogues, cut songs, etc.
The jazz style given to some tracks is ideal. Moreover, you'll find here a "Babbitt and the Bromide" with Adele, more interesting than the version with Gene Kelly. The original version of "A couple of song and dance men" from the Paramount picture "Blue Skies", 1946, deserves to be given 5 stars when Bing's voice really hits the air and Fred's feet really hit the ground. Look out! It isn't the version from the London Sessions these knights recorded in the 70s when their voices sounded dull. I'd rather listen to the old-fashioned one included here in "Fred Astaire Golden Greats", the best choice for collectors of Fred's music.There's nothing to complain about.
This review was written in loving memory of Frederick Austerlitz, the Knight of Dance.PS: I gave 5 stars not because of quality, but due to technological reasons. We'll have better sets in a future not very distant."