Hal Kemp was one of the most consistently successful and prolific hitmakers among the many popular bandleaders whose orchestras played the “sweet” style of music which dominated the radio airwaves during the 1930s in the USA, their repertoire not only encompassing dance band music, but vocal renditions of some of the hot new songs of the day emerging from Tin Pan Alley, along with compositions from the stage shows and movies which the Great American Songbook writers like Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart were creating.
This collection completely comprises the biggest of his 58 career hits on the Brunswick and Victor labels before his untimely death in 1940 at the age of 38 in a road accident. It features the No. 1s “There’s A Small Hotel”, “When I’m With You”, “This Year’s Kisses”, “Where or When”, and his other Top 3 hits “There Ought To Be A Moonlight Saving Time”, “Shuffle Off To Buffalo”, “For All We Know”, “With All My Heart”, “A Star Fell Out Of Heaven”, and “The Touch Of Your Lips”. Featured vocalists include Skinny Ennis, Maxine Grey, Bob Allen, Saxie Dowell, Nan Wynn and Janet Blair. It's a substantial, nostalgic and evocative overview of the hit career of a highly successful orchestra leader, with early versions of some of the great songs of the era.
REVIEWS
As always in this Acrobat series, there is a lot of useful information to be gleaned from the helpful liner booklet which helps to amplify our appreciation of the music. Acrobat are doing a great service in continuing to reissue such collections as this one. - Gerry Stonestreet (In Tune Issue 346)
Disc 1 |
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Track |
Title |
Artist |
1 |
H'lo Baby |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
2 |
If I Had A Girl Like You |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
3 |
(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
4 |
Forty-Second Street |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
5 |
Shuffle Off To Buffalo |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
6 |
You've Got Me Crying Again |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
7 |
I've Got To Sing A Torch Song |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
8 |
Love Is The Sweetest Thing |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
9 |
Good Night, Lovely Little Lady |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
10 |
Love In Bloom |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
11 |
For All We Know |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
12 |
Irresistible |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
13 |
Hands Across The Table |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
14 |
Lullaby Of Broadway |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
15 |
Once Upon A Midnight |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
16 |
Thrilled |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
17 |
Alone |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
18 |
With All My Heart |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
19 |
Where Am I (Am I In Heaven) |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
20 |
Dinner For One, Please, James |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
21 |
The Music Goes Round And Round |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
22 |
Lost |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
23 |
The Touch Of Your Lips |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
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Disc 2 |
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Track |
Title |
Artist |
1 |
Gloomy Sunday |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
2 |
There's A Small Hotel |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
3 |
I Don't Want To Make History (I Just Want To Make Love) |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
4 |
When I'm With You |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
5 |
A Star Fell Out Of Heaven |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
6 |
Me And The Moon |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
7 |
I've Got You Under My Skin |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
8 |
Pennies From Heaven |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
9 |
With Plenty Of Money And You |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
10 |
Goodnight, My Love |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
11 |
This Year's Kisses |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
12 |
What Will I Tell My Heart? |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
13 |
Where Or When |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
14 |
Whispers In The Dark |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
15 |
Where In The World |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
16 |
The Night Is Filled With Music |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
17 |
Don't Worry 'Bout Me |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
18 |
The Chestnut Tree ('Neath The Spreading Chestnut Tree) |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
19 |
Three Little Fishies (Itty Bitty Poo) |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
20 |
Love For Sale |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
21 |
What's New |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
22 |
So You're The One |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |
23 |
It All Comes Back To Me Now |
Hal Kemp & His Orchestra |