Cole Weston

Doris Day packed four careers into one lifetime, two each in music and movies. The pity is that all most people remember are her movies, from Teacher's Pet (1957) onward, as the quintessential all-American girl, cast opposite such icons of masculinity as Clark Gable and Rock Hudson. She also transposed this following to television at the end of the '60s with a situation comedy that lasted into the early '70s. If most people remember her as a singer, it's usually for such pop hits as "Secret Love" and her Oscar-winning "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," which became her signature tune. But before all of that, from 1939 until the end of the '40s, Doris Day was one of the hottest, sultriest swing-band vocalists in music.

Doris Day packed four careers into one lifetime, two each in music and movies. The pity is that all most people remember are her movies, from Teacher's Pet (1957) onward, as the quintessential all-American girl, cast opposite such icons of masculinity as Clark Gable and Rock Hudson. She also transposed this following to television at the end of the '60s with a situation comedy that lasted into the early '70s. If most people remember her as a singer, it's usually for such pop hits as "Secret Love" and her Oscar-winning "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," which became her signature tune.

Ella Fitzgerald whose 100th birthday we celebrate this year, was unsurpassed as an expressive vocalist who dominated the musical scene, whether singing little ditties or the works of seasoned composers like Duke Ellington, Cole Porter or the Gershwins. To mark her many contributions in music across jazz & pop, we are proud to present 100 songs culled from the many recordings she made for Decca & Verve, often with some of the best musical units of the time. This extraordinary collection is bound to delight everyone with a deep abiding love for music in general & vocal music in particular.

We continue our highly popular and successful America’s Greatest Hits series as we work back through the 1950s, now reaching the point at the turn of the decade, this time with an expanded 4-CD edition to sit alongside the existing single CD 1950 edition (ACRCD176) originally released in 2006 before we introduced the 4-CD format in recent years. This great-value 104-track collection comprises every record which charted in the Top 15 of the Billboard Best Sellers and Honor Roll Of Hits and the Top 10 in the Cash Box chart during 1951. It omits certain records which peaked in 1951and which have already appeared in our America’s Greatest Hits 1951 collection and some which were big hits in 1949, and had already peaked, so will appear in that collection. As with all these collections it features all the biggest hits of the year and all the biggest names in American pop of that era, at a time when the USA was emerging from post-war austerity into a more optimistic decade but was about to become embroiled in the Korean War, and it very much captures the spirit of the times. It also includes a number of lesser known records which are not heard very often and which have not been readily available on CD. As always, it includes a substantial 15,000-word booklet with a commentary on every track, and it’s a must for collectors of our completist chart-based anthologies.

Timeless collection featuring the most beloved songs sung by legendary artists. 100 songs on 5 CDs.
The Great American Songbook is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs & Jazz standards from the early 20th century. This 100 song collection presented on 5 CDs contains the most beloved songs sung by legendary artists. Includes standards recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr, and more.

Amazon Review by Adrian Clark
'Golden' is one word that you really can associate with this generous compilation, whose tracks cover the 1920s up to the mid 1970s. Most of the songs on this compilation would have been played on the various radio programmes multiple times during the 1950s and 1960s and anyone who listened to the radio regularly around this period will find them instantly recognisable. This was a period when innocence ruled the airwaves and these cheerful, light songs- many of which were chart hits- would have been sung along to in many homes.

Spanning two discs and 40 songs, The Capitol Years is the most thorough retrospective of Dean Martin's Capitol recordings. From "Memories Are Made of This" to "Return to Me" and "Volare," all of his major hits for the label are included, as are several album tracks, lesser-known singles, and a handful of rarities. The collection may have a few too many songs for some casual fans, but it's the only album that presents all the important Capitol tracks with care, thought, and first-class sound.