One of Acrobat’s most popular and successful series are the America’s Greatest Hits collections – 4-CD sets featuring the biggest hits from the Billboard charts from 1940, when the Billboard record sales chart was launched, through to 1962.
However, before the Billboard chart was first published, the popular US weekly radio show Your Hit Parade, sponsored by Lucky Strike, began producing a chart in 1935, which was sometimes a Top 10, sometimes a Top 15, so we decided to take the America’s Greatest Hits format back into the Your Hit Parade era of the 1930s.
This 95-track 4-CD collection comprises every record that featured in the Your Hit Parade chart during 1938.
It was a varied musical landscape, with the big swing orchestras like those of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman making their mark, though often with middle-of-the-road vocal performances rather than jazzy pieces, although there’s plenty of hot stuff here too, from Duke Ellington, Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald and Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey.
Along with them are the big dance bands who were popular on radio, including Guy Lombardo, Shep Fields, Larry Clinton, Horace Heidt, all with their featured vocalists, who included fine singers like Martha Tilton, Helen Forrest and Bea Wain, plus some of the top solo singers of the era, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Rudy Vallee and Fred Astaire among them, competing with each other as they recorded the future classics of the Great American Songbook that were coming out of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley.
It’s an enjoyable and fascinating musical snapshot of the era, complete with a 12,000 word booklet with notes on each track, and full discographical and chart information.
CD 1
1. ONCE IN A WHILE Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25686)
2. ROSALIE Sammy Kaye Orchestra (Vocalion 3700)
3. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT Fred Astaire (Brunswick 7983)
4. BOB WHITE (WHATCHA GONNA SWING TONIGHT) Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 25683)
5. YOU'RE A SWEETHEART Dolly Dawn & Her Dawn Patrol (Vocalion 3874)
6. THERE'S A GOLDMINE IN THE SKY Bing Crosby (Decca 1565)
7. TRUE CONFESSION Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25706)
8. VIENI, VIENI Rudy Vallee Connecticut Yankees (Bluebird 7069)
9. YOU CAN'T STOP ME FROM DREAMING Teddy Wilson Orchestra (Brunswick 7954)
10. IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25686)
11. BEI MIR BIST DU SCHOEN Andrews Sisters (Decca 1562)
12. I DOUBLE DARE YOU Russ Morgan Orchestra (Brunswick 8037)
13. THE DIPSY DOODLE Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25693)
14. SWEET SOMEONE Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8013)
15. IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25663)
16. YOU TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY HEART Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 25720)
17. MAMA THAT MOON IS HERE AGAIN Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm (Bluebird 7318)
18. WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm (Bluebird 7318)
19. THANKS FOR THE MEMORY Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm (Bluebird 7343)
20. GOODNIGHT ANGEL Artie Shaw New Music (Brunswick 8054)
21. I CAN DREAM CAN'T I Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25741)
22. SWEET AS A SONG Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8043)
23. I SEE YOUR FACE BEFORE ME Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Victor 25684)
24. PLEASE BE KIND Red Norvo & Mildred Bailey (Brunswick 8088)
CD 2
1. TI-PI-TIN Horace Heidt (Lysbeth Hughes) (Brunswick 8078)
2. HEIGH-HO Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8074)
3. YOU'RE AN EDUCATION Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25794)
4. LET'S SAIL TO DREAMLAND Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Victor 25786)
5. IT'S WONDERFUL Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 25727)
6. HOW'D JA LIKE TO LOVE ME Jimmy Dorsey (Decca 1671)
7. LOVE WALKED IN Sammy Kaye Orchestra (Vocalion 4017)
8. ALWAYS AND ALWAYS Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25768)
9. I FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU EVERY DAY Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (Decca 1671)
10. I LOVE TO WHISTLE Fats Waller (Victor 25806)
11. ON THE SENTIMENTAL SIDE Bing Crosby (Decca 1648)
12. AT A PERFUME COUNTER Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (Decca 1724)
13. DON'T BE THAT WAY Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 25792)
14. CRY BABY CRY Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25819)
15. SUNDAY IN THE PARK Hudson-DeLange Orchestra (Brunswick 8077)
16. YOU COULDN'T BE CUTER Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25766)
17. CATHEDRAL IN THE PINES Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm (Bluebird 7553)
18. I LET A SONG GO OUT OF MY HEART Duke Ellington (Brunswick 8108)
19. LOVE LIGHT IN THE STARLIGHT Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8110)
20. BEWILDERED Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25795)
21. YOU LEAVE ME BREATHLESS Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25828)
22. SAYS MY HEART Red Norvo Orchestra (Brunswick 8135)
23. LET ME WHISPER Bing Crosby (Decca 1819)
24. MUSIC, MAESTRO, PLEASE Tommy Dorsey (Edythe Wright) (Victor 25866)
25. OH MA MA Rudy Vallee Connecticut Yankees (Bluebird 7543)
CD 3
1. THIS TIME IT'S REAL Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8121)
2. MY MARGUERITA Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8129)
3. I MARRIED AN ANGEL Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25837)
4. FLAT FOOT FLOOGEY Slim & Slam (Vocalion 4021)
5. DAY DREAMING Rudy Vallee (Victor 25836)
6. I HADN'T ANYONE TILL YOU Ray Noble Orchestra with Tony Martin (Brunswick 8079)
7. LITTLE LADY MAKE BELIEVE Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Victor 25823)
8. WHEN THEY PLAYED THE POLKA Sammy Kaye Orchestra (Vocalion 4152)
9. THERE'S HONEY ON THE MOON Vincent Lopez Orchestra (Vocalion 4141)
10. WHEN MOTHER NATURE SINGS HER LULLABY Bing Crosby (Decca 1874)
11. WHERE IN THE WORLD Hal Kemp Orchestra (Victor 25855)
12. I'M GONNA LOCK MY HEART (AND THROW AWAY THE KEY) Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra (Vocalion 4238)
13. NOW IT CAN BE TOLD Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 25856)
14. A-TISKET, A TASKET Chick Webb Orchestra (Decca 1840)
15. YOU GO TO MY HEAD Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 25849)
16. WHAT GOES ON IN MY HEART Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 25878)
17. I'VE GOT A POCKETFUL OF DREAMS Bing Crosby (Decca 1933)
18. STOP BEATIN' AROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 26012)
19. SO HELP ME (IF I DON'T LOVE YOU) Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra (Vocalion 4253)
20. I'VE GOT A DATE WITH A DREAM Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 26000)
21. ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND Bing Crosby & Connee Boswell (Decca 1887)
22. TU-LI TULIP TIME Horace Heidt Orchestra (Brunswick 8192)
23. BAMBINA Jan Garber and his Orchestra (Brunswick 8206)
CD 4
1. CHANGE PARTNERS Fred Astaire (Brunswick 8189)
2. LAMBETH WALK Russ Morgan & Jimmy Lewis (Decca 2009)
3. AT LONG LAST LOVE Ozzie Nelson Orchestra (Bluebird 7825)
4. SMALL FRY Bing Crosby & Johnny Mercer (Decca 1960)
5. WHILE A CIGARETTE WAS BURNING Buddy Rogers Band (Vocalion 4408)
6. HEART AND SOUL Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 26046)
7. MY REVERIE Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 26006)
8. MY OWN Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 26005)
9. ALL ASHORE Swing And Sway with Sammy Kaye (Victor 26059)
10. SUMMER SOUVENIRS Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 26042)
11. WHO BLEW OUT THE FLAME Larry Clinton Orchestra (Victor 26073)
12. DAY AFTER DAY Richard Himber Rhythmic Pyramids Orchestra (Victor 26106)
13. TWO SLEEPY PEOPLE Fats Waller And His Rhythm (Bluebird 10000)
14. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN SO SOON Red Norvo Orchestra & Mildred Bailey (Vocalion 4432)
15. DEEP IN A DREAM Artie Shaw Orchestra (Bluebird 10046)
16. SIXTY SECONDS GET TOGETHER Mills Brothers (Decca 1964A)
17. YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL BABY Bing Crosby (Decca 2147)
18. THIS CAN'T BE LOVE Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 26099)
19. JEEPERS CREEPERS Al Donahoe Orchestra (Vocalion 4513)
20. (DON'T WAIT TILL) THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS Eddy Duchin Orchestra (Brunswick 8264)
21. WHAT HAVE YOU GOT THAT GETS ME Benny Goodman Orchestra (Victor 26053)
22. I WON'T TELL A SOUL Andy Kirk Clouds Of Joy (Decca 2127)
23. YOU GOT ME Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Victor 26030)
