VARIOUS ARTISTS
Remember Pearl Harbor: Songs That Won The War (Varese Sarabande)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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For history buffs, nostalgia buffs (there's a difference) and people who just like old songs, Remember Pearl Harbor is a worthwhile discful of - as the subtitle claims - the songs that won the war. World War Two, to be precise. Unlike a few recent releases with similar titles, this one has the original recordings, not modern-day artists' renditions. That does mean the sound quality varies from song to song, with hiss being the most common audio annoyance, but if you know what these things sounded like in the first place, you'll appreciate the cleanup that's been done. When you hear a little bit of snap, crackle and pop far in the background of "I'll Walk Alone," by Anne Shelton with Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra, you can bet it sounded like a roaring, crackling campfire when Varese first got ahold of it.

Varese is also to be commended for finding some long forgotten gems like Carmen Miranda with Banda DeLuca's version of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and Fats Waller's "Swing Out To Victory," and for adding little touches like the sound clips of FDR's Pearl Harbor speech, a Kraft commercial and an ad for Tire Registration week. While the songs tell the story in their own ways, songs are fantasies, and these clips bring the reality of the war into focus, making the songs all the more poignant. Very nicely done, although I can NOT figure out why they threw in one modern-day recording, that being "We Mustn't Say Goodbye," sung by Rod McKuen, who also wrote the liner notes. It seems completely out of place and breaks up the continuity. On my player, that one is skipped automatically, so I'm back to loving this one.

Track List:

Rockabye My Baby There Ain't Gonna Be No War (The Knights) * Keep 'Em Flying (Gene Krupa and Johnny Desmond) * Buy, Buy, Buy Bonds (Bing Crosby) * I'll Walk Alone (Anne Shelton with Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra) * Chattanooga Choo Choo (Carmen Miranda with Banda DeLuca) * First Class Private, Mary Brown (Perry Como) * He Wears a Pair of Silver Wings (Dinah Shore) * A Fellow on Furlough (Mark Warnow and the Hit Paraders) * Here Comes the Navy {Beer Barrel Polka} (The Andrews Sisters) * The Deepest Shelter in Town (Florence Desmond) * That's Sabotage (Glenn Miller & His Orchestra) * Goodbye Dear, I'll Be Back in a Year (Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights) * That Soldier of Mine/Tire Registration (Harry James & Helen Forrest) * Let's Get Away from It All (Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra) * We Mustn't Say Goodbye (Rod McKuen) * Swing Out to Victory (Fats Waller) * I'll Be Seeing You (Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra) * Remember Pearl Harbor (Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra)

© 2002 - DJ Johnson