The artists on this collection vary widely in style, from the sophistication of Fred Astaire, to the warmth and humour of Flanagan and Allen. However, they all share two things in common: in their day - the thirties and forties, they were the very best in their field; and they all have the ability to evoke that wonderful era for us today - the golden age of popular music. Whether wartime memories evoked by Vera Lynn, or memories of the dance hall with Glenn Miller - we are entering the warm world of nostalgia! Twenty-four different artists, all singing their greatest hits.
We begin our survey with one of the greatest songs of the period, Love Is The Sweetest Thing, sung in the definitive 1932 recording by the great Al Bowlly. Originally from Mozambique, he was the most popular dance band singer of the thirties, and the most prolific, recording more than six-hundred titles. Tragically, he was killed during the Blitz in London, but the legacy he left behind is ours forever.
Mysterious, glamorous Marlene Dietrich was born in Berlin, and as a child studied music. She began her German film career in 1923, and in 1930 made her most successful film, The Blue Angel, in which she sang the classic Falling In Love Again. She went on to make many films, mostly in the USA, and in later life began a new career in cabaret.
Sweet Lorraine is performed here by Nat King Cole in his Trio days, before he achieved his later huge fame. The Trio had their first hit in 1942, with Straighten Up And Fly Right, and became more popular throughout the forties, before they disbanded in 1951. Cole went on to launch his meteoric, solo career, achieving almost eighty hit singles in Billboard charts before his sadly premature death in 1965.
Bing Crosby is one of the centurys greatest popular singers, who turned everything he sang into something special. Whether in jazz or slow ballads, the Crosby magic is always there, and White Christmas is no exception. The song won an Academy Award in 1942, and went on to become one of the best selling records of all time.
Connie Boswell was one of a trio of singers who were perhaps the greatest female vocal trio of them all. Although they worked together until 1936, Connie was always determined to achieve a solo career, despite being confined to a wheelchair due to contracting polio as a child. She was an all-round musician, playing cello, saxophone, trombone and piano, but here she sings for us, All Alone, without her sisters, in the classic song by Irving Berlin.
The fame, even today, of Glenn Miller and his Orchestra makes it hard to believe that the band existed for only five years. Yet within that short period it became the most popular and successful dance band in the world, clocking up 40 top ten records in three years. Original recordings of the band still sell extremely well in the 1990s. Moonlight Serenade was the bands theme tune, recorded in April 1939.
The name Fred Astaire has become synonymous with elegance and style, his seemingly effortless perfection on the dance floor matched by his intimate delivery of classic songs, many of which he introduced. Top Hat, White Tie And Tails is from Irving Berlins Top Hat, one of the greatest of all pre-war musicals. Recorded in June 1935, this song remains one of Berlins most loved contributions to popular song, sung to perfection by the incomparable Astaire.
Vera Lynn, The Forces Sweetheart began her singing career with Joe Loss and his Band. She was signed up by Charlie Kunz, with whom she stayed for eighteen months before joining the prestigious Ambrose orchestra in 1937. But it is one of her legendary wartime recordings we have here, The White Cliffs Of Dover, backed by another musical great - Mantovani and his Orchestra.
Frank Sinatra began his recording career with Harry James in 1939, before joining Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra