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The Big Bands Had All But Faded From The Charts By This Time

06/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've seen my reviews of the years 1950 and 1951 in this wonderful series from ASV Living Era of the U.K., you know that these early years of the decade were notable for the rise of the individual singers (with orchestral backing) as opposed to the 1930s and 1940s when it was mostly (but not always) the other way around, i.e., the orchestra/band was the headliner while vocalists, if any, always got second billing.



By 1952 the old-style Big Bands of the Dorseys, Miller, Lombardo, Shaw, Goodman, Herman, Krupa, James, etc., had given way to new-style orchestrations of the type delivered by Percy Faith and Leroy Anderson, with more emphasis on strings. Paul Weston was still around, but now HE was getting second billing to wife Jo Stafford (You Belong To Me - # 1 and the # 1 song for the year) and Doris Day (A Guy Is A Guy - # 1), among others. Eddie Fisher, represented here by two of his 13 - count 'em - 13 1951 hit singles, was normally backed by the Hugo Winterhalter orchestra.



Hank Williams tunes continued to be converted to Pop hits this year, with Rosemary Clooney (backed by Percy Faith), taking Half As Much to # 1 that summer and, just for good measure, they throw in Hank himself and his rendition of Jambalay (On The Bayou) which, while only reaching # 20 Pop (the top hit in that category was the # 3 by Jo Stafford), but his # 1 Country hit spent 14 solid weeks at the top spot.



Of the 16 tunes that made it to # 1 in 1952, 14 are here with the only omissions being the novelty tune It's In The Book (Parts 1 & 2) by Johnny Standley (Part 2 had the backing of another old-time Big Band, Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights), and the Christmas tune I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, by 12-year-old Jimmy Boyd. They also skipped over three pretty good # 2 hits as well: Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina) by Rosemary Clooney; At Last by Ray Anthony & His Orchestra (one of the few lingering Big Bands), with vocal by Tommy Mercer; and Tiger Rag by Les Paul & Mary Ford.



But what's here is just fine as representative of the third year of the Decade of the Fifties, the sound quality is excellent, and there are both detailed liner notes and a discography of the contents. If you see something you want, I would suggest grabbing a copy now because, once they're gone that's it, as Universal Music Group has bought out ASV and has reportedly decided to discontinue their oldies series."