Two Words, One Answer.
I've heard
 I've Heard the Mermaids Singing - Movie Poster - 11 x 17 $14.99 MovieGoods has Amazon's largest selection of movie and TV show memorabilia, including posters, film cells and more: tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from MovieGoods on Amazon at www.amazon.com/moviegoods  I've Heard That Song Before: Hits of Harry James $15.99 I'm not a big band aficionado by any means so I won't attempt any erudite discussion of the performances on these CDs. Suffice to say, I love the music from this era because it conveys a sense of life long gone from our society. I wanted to add to my relatively small collection of big band music a good overview of Harry James, and decided, after some reading, on this representative two-CD set of the band's recordings from the 1940s on Jasmine Records from the UK. Good choice! As a long-time record collector of predominantly opera/classical music, I do know something about recording quality, and especially transfers first to LP and now to CD. What a splendid job Jasmine have done here. The source 78s must be platinum, if there were such a thing. No surface noise, nothing but James's crystal trumpet, and his outstanding personnel, along with impressive vocalists Helen Forrest, Dick Haymes and Kitty Kallen. (Alas, nobody sings anymore.) Special accolades must go to Geoff Milne at Tall Order who, according the literate, informative and educational liner notes, did the mastering and CD transfers, and whose judicious use of the CEDAR noise reduction system demonstrates that the oft-maligned process can be enormously successful in the right hands. (The "black" before Kitty Kallen's entrance on "I'm Beginning to See the Light"--Gee, no pun intended!--is a bit disconcerting for a moment, but so it is with noise reduction and on these recordings it's just about 100% successful.) Jim Cutler, president of the Harry James Appreciation Society, and Messrs. Paul Pelletier and Brian Belton have done superlative work to preserve these great artists and make them available to anyone who wants to listen and get a feeling for a world we've been throwing away for decades. Indeed there's nothing in this collection not to like, but I'll single out a few selections I'm particularly fond of: the elegance and sophistication of "Ain't Misbehavin;" Helen Forrest's wistful "But Not For Me," and her signature "I Had the Craziest Dream," which includes James's wonderfully languid, soaring introduction. As a Sinatra fan I find "All or Nothing at All" with a pre-Dorsey Frank is simply wonderful. In fact, as a lifelong Yankees fan, I'll even accept the "Dodgers Fan Dance" because James's playing is so breathtaking! Indeed, every selection conveys impeccable taste, brilliant execution and flawless musicianship. This last is particularly impressive because as the accompanying notes make clear, band personnel changed so often. How many really exemplary musicians there were then! At the time the bands were performing and making recordings, we were either mired in the Depression, entering or already in a world war. Yet every time I hear any of the musical standard-bearers of the time, I'm always struck first by the ebullience and joyous sense of life they embody--and then by their immense musical talents. There's something within all the music I've ever heard from this time--just as there is in the films of the period--that really captures a stark difference in attitude, feeling and being between then and now. Yes, it was a different time, but hardly "innocent" (the stock dismissive reply that has little meaning) given the life-and-death seriousness which engulfed the world then. The music here, in itself and in its performance, captures a wonderful essence of the kind of people we were. I think a better one. |
|
