Search - Patti Page :: For Sentimental Reasons 1

A great CD collection of hits but some surface noise is ther

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 05/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In her prime, Patti Page had one of the most beautiful voices I have heard--ever! Her voice on this CD is rich, vibrant and exciting. She not only sang well but she used her voice to accentuate even the smallest nuances of words so that the listener is really pleased. The musical arrangements are very well done, too. I loved it.



My favorite songs on this CD include the classic "(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window;" "Tennessee Waltz;" and "Lullaby of Birdland" which is a great song to start the song set off strong! These recordings have been transferred from the sound tracks of Patti's 1950's television show and I liked hearing the audiences clap as she began many of the songs here. Her audiences applauded very frequently at the end of these songs, too, naturally.



Now for the opposite side of the coin. When they transferred these songs onto CD, they could have done a better job of eliminating "surface noise." "Surface noise" includes sounds you will hear such as a type of hissing in the background. This is an obvious giveaway that the song was recorded many years ago when digital technology was still far off into the future. Unfortunately, the liner notes are sparse. Patti does write a few words about how much she loves the songs on this CD; but otherwise all you get is a listing of the songs along with who wrote them and the time length of the song. I had hoped for maybe an essay about Patti or maybe the dates that each song was recorded. Then again, there are some beautiful photographs of Patti which I really enjoyed looking at!



After all is said and done, this is a fun, enjoyable CD for any Patti Page fan or fans of classic pop vocals. You get 26 songs on this CD; and this makes it a real value! That's good for the casual fan who just wants a "taste-test" of Patti's work in the early 1950s when she had a show on television. I am taking off one star, however, because of the rather constant surface noise and the occasional "tinny" sound of the recordings both of which lower the quality a little of the reproduced recordings here. Still, a good CD. SMILES

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DEJA VU! Watching 50s TV while listening to this CD!

Bill Busse | Fairmont, MN United States | 06/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Patti Page's 50s TV show was a staple at our house. AND it was shown in reruns around the world into the 70s at least. These recordings bring back great memories but some of the selections lack that Hi-Fi sound were are used to listening to. The only reason this didn't get 5 stars from me is the sound quality of some of these. These were remastered from the TV show recordings, not the master tapes which were sold to Mercury records and released on many albums in the mid 50S."

A great sound, though they aren't the versions I'm familiar

Bruce R. Gilson | Wheaton, MD United States | 11/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Almost a year and a half ago, I reviewed "The Rosemary Clooney Show: Songs from the Classic TV Series" and gave it a high rating. This CD is so similar in concept that I almost feel like recycling that review, with names changed as appropriate.



Both Patti Page and Rosemary Clooney were great female vocal artists whose career peaks came in my favorite era, the early-to-mid 1950s. Both are great favorites of mine, both had TV shows in the 50s, and both have now had CDs made of airchecks from the shows. It would, in fact, seem that Patti Page, who is still very much alive and interested in her music, must have seen the success of Rosemary Clooney's CD and decided, "I could do this too!" And I'm glad she, or whoever chose to put this CD out, did. The songs sound great, even though they're different versions.



Of course, not all of the songs on the CD were Patti Page hits, but a lot of them were -- about the same proportion that you'll find of Clooney's hits on the Clooney CD. One difference is that the Clooney CD features arrangements by Nelson Riddle -- her lover in real life -- who couldn't participate with her in her hit recordings because they were under contract to different recording companies, while it isn't clear who backed up Patti Page on this CD, but I suspect it was the same Jack Rael who backed her up on her recordings (Rael was her manager, so it's hard to believe he wasn't involved in these versions!) And as a result, the arrangements resemble Page's hit recordings on Mercury much more than the Clooney CD versions resemble her hit records. Still, they sound good, and make nice alternative versions to listen to.



My opinion of this CD is just as high as of the Clooney CD I reviewed in June 2004. If you like the pop music of this era, and you're as much of a devotee of Patti Page's voice as I am, don't miss this CD!

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