Helen was one of the finest and most successful female singers of the late thirties and early forties, in an era dominated by big bands who created some great music. Helen worked for Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Harry James. Her greatest successes came with Harry James, but the music here covers her time with Artie Shaw. Artie’s female singer was Billie Holiday. When Billie declared her intention to quit, Helen joined. Billie helped Helen a lot during the transition period before finally leaving, so Helen was off to a good start. One of two collections covering the recordings that Helen made with Artie Shaw and his orchestra, this includes the American hits I have eyes, Deep in a dream, Between a kiss and a sigh, Deep purple, Comes love, Melancholy mood, Day in day out and All the things you are, all of which made the top twenty with many of them doing considerably better than that. For Helen’s other recordings with Artie Shaw, including the number one hits They say and Thanks for everything as well as You grow sweeter as the years go by, I poured my heart into a song and Many dreams ago, see the companion volume Sweeter as the years go by. Together, these CD’s include everything that Helen and Artie recorded together. Because there is not enough material to fill two full CD’s with Helen and Artie’s music together, the opportunity has been taken to include some tracks recorded during live radio broadcasts, but they are well worth hearing despite any slight imperfections, especially as no studio versions of those songs were recorded by Helen and Artie. Unlike some other singers who emerged during the big band era, such as Dinah Shore, Doris Day and Peggy Lee, Helen was not interested in adapting her style to suit the pop music that replaced the big bands in the late forties, so she faded into obscurity, only briefly re-emerging in the eighties. Nevertheless, Helen was a major star in her day and this collection contains some of her most important recordings. If you haven’t got Sweeter as the years go by, you should buy that first (it contains her two biggest hits) or better still, do as I did and buy both together. |
