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Today we know Johnny Mercer mainly as the genius songwriter from Savannah, GA, and perhaps tend to forget that he was also one of the most prolific hitmaking singers of the 1940s. This excellent compendium of his hit singles, plus a pair of his most famous songs ("Blues in the Night" and "One for My Baby") from 78 rpm albums, will definitely give you the idea. Though not the owner of an overpowering, world-beating voice -- to his everlasting and needless regret -- Mercer had his own Southern hipster charm, with slippery grace-notes and swinging turns of phrase that any jazzer would envy. An irony for today's audience is that many of Mercer's biggest hits here -- "Candy," "Personality," "Baby, It's Cold Outside" -- were not written by him, for he truly was a recording star in his own right and not merely a songwriter out to plug his own material. Paul Weston dresses up most of the charts in period big-band garb, decorated with tasty streaks of strings; the Pied Pipers chirp away most of the time, and Benny Goodman's Orchestra and the King Cole Trio chip in on a track apiece. These records are completely saturated in World War II, GI jivey, moon-June, sentimental atmosphere that place them precisely in their time -- and as such, they generate gobs of nostalgia. Informative liner notes, a thorough discography of these 20 sides, and reproductions of some of the original 78s and sheet music round out this appealing package.
© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
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Johnny Mercer, Composer, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1950 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Freddie Slack And His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist - Leon Rene, ComposerLyricist - Johnny Lange, ComposerLyricist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1950 Capitol Records Inc.
Johnny Mercer, Composer, MainArtist - Paul Weston, Conductor - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1950 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, ComposerLyricist - Harold Arlen, ComposerLyricist - Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers, MainArtist - Paul Weston, Conductor - Jo Stafford, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1951 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Harold Arlen, ComposerLyricist - Paul Weston, Conductor - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist - The Pied Pipers, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1944 Capitol Records, LLC
Joan Whitney, ComposerLyricist - Johnny Mercer, Producer, MainArtist - Mack David, ComposerLyricist - Jo Stafford, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra - Alex Kramer, ComposerLyricist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1989 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Jo Stafford, MainArtist - Phil Moore, Composer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1945 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, Composer, MainArtist - Harry Warren, Composer - Paul Weston, Conductor - Jo Stafford, FeaturedArtist - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, FeaturedArtist - The Pied Pipers, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1945 Capitol Records Inc.
Bob Hilliard, Composer - Bishop, Composer - Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers, MainArtist - Jo Stafford, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1945 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Johnny Burke, ComposerLyricist - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra - The Pied Pipers, Background Vocalist, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Jimmy Van Heusen, ComposerLyricist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1946 Capitol Records, LLC
Sidney Lippman, Composer - Sylvia Dee, Composer - Johnny Mercer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers, MainArtist - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1946 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, Author, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Harold Arlen, Composer - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1950 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - RAY GILBERT, ComposerLyricist - Allie Wrubel, ComposerLyricist - Paul Weston, Conductor - The Pied Pipers, FeaturedArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1946 Capitol Records, LLC
Leo Robin, Composer - Arthur Schwartz, Composer - Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers, MainArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1946 Capitol Records Inc.
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Felix Bernard, ComposerLyricist - Richard B. Smith, ComposerLyricist - The Pied Pipers, MainArtist
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1946 Capitol Records, LLC
Kurt Weill, Composer - Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Orchestra, FeaturedArtist - Langston Hughes, Composer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1947 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Clarence Williams, Composer - Paul Weston & His Orchestra, Orchestra - The Pied Pipers, Background Vocalist, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Lucy Fletcher, Composer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1947 Capitol Records, LLC
Johnny Mercer, MainArtist - Nat King Cole, MainArtist - Danny Baxter, Composer - Henry Jones, Composer - Vernon Lee, Composer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1947 Capitol Records, LLC
Sylvia Robinson, ComposerLyricist - Johnny Mercer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Blue Rays, FeaturedArtist - Paul Lincke, ComposerLyricist - Alvino Rey, Conductor
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1952 Capitol Records
Johnny Mercer, Producer, FeaturedArtist - FRANK LOESSER, ComposerLyricist - Paul Weston, Conductor - Margaret Whiting, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(C) 1989 Capitol Records, Inc. ℗ 1949 Capitol Records, LLC
Album review
Today we know Johnny Mercer mainly as the genius songwriter from Savannah, GA, and perhaps tend to forget that he was also one of the most prolific hitmaking singers of the 1940s. This excellent compendium of his hit singles, plus a pair of his most famous songs ("Blues in the Night" and "One for My Baby") from 78 rpm albums, will definitely give you the idea. Though not the owner of an overpowering, world-beating voice -- to his everlasting and needless regret -- Mercer had his own Southern hipster charm, with slippery grace-notes and swinging turns of phrase that any jazzer would envy. An irony for today's audience is that many of Mercer's biggest hits here -- "Candy," "Personality," "Baby, It's Cold Outside" -- were not written by him, for he truly was a recording star in his own right and not merely a songwriter out to plug his own material. Paul Weston dresses up most of the charts in period big-band garb, decorated with tasty streaks of strings; the Pied Pipers chirp away most of the time, and Benny Goodman's Orchestra and the King Cole Trio chip in on a track apiece. These records are completely saturated in World War II, GI jivey, moon-June, sentimental atmosphere that place them precisely in their time -- and as such, they generate gobs of nostalgia. Informative liner notes, a thorough discography of these 20 sides, and reproductions of some of the original 78s and sheet music round out this appealing package.
© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 20 track(s)
- Total length: 00:59:25
- Main artists: Johnny Mercer
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Capitol Records
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 1989 Capitol Records Inc. This Compilation ℗ 1989 Capitol Records Inc.
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