Search - Vaughn Monroe :: Requestfully Yours

Request Them Again!

Daniel Mugan | Little Neck, New York United States | 05/31/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The title of this album, intrigued me because it reminded me of the days when I was a kid coming home from school and my mother would have radio station WVNJ on listening to the popular songs of the day. The disc jockey used "Requestfully Yours" as his theme song to introduce the program to the audience and so, hearing it sung again brought back many happy memories.Arthur Jackson, author of the liner notes for this CD opens with the assertion that Monroe had "more than two dozen hit records between 1940 and 1954, but none of them are here". In general he is correct except that I would hardly say that "Someday" was not a major Vaughn Monroe song since it topped the charts and sold more than one million copies!That aside, he is correct; most of these tunes were the "B" sides of better known songs and as such were hardly played over the radio. However, there are some real gems in this collection and frankly, I am surprised that some of them did not become major hits for Monroe. I especially like Vaughn's version of the Hoagy Carmichael song, "Ivy" and "In A Little Book Shop" which received the Johnny Long treatment in having the band sing along and is a delight to the ears. For variety, the collection includes several instrumentals and a couple of songs featuring solos by band members Ziggy Talent and girl vocalist, Marilyn Duke. This is a CD intended for the VM fan interested in having their collection expanded beyond the usual array of Monroe hits such as "Ballerina" and "Ghost Riders", etc. and is therefore a welcome addition. On a personal note, I would like to add that to my ear, Vaughn Monroe's singing voice was at its peak during the period when most of these songs were recorded-1945-1947, and they are a listener's delight."