Louis Prima And His New Orleans Gang - The Chronological Classics: 1937-1939 (2000)

  • 25 Jun, 22:21
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Artist:
Title: The Chronological Classics: 1937-1939
Year Of Release: 2000
Label: Classics [1146]
Genre: Jazz, Swing
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue,log,scans)
Total Time: 70:05
Total Size: 150 MB(+3%)
WebSite:

Tracklist

01. Fifty Second Street (2:50)
02. The Love Bug Will Bite You (3:07)
03. I Just Can't Believe You're Gone (2:35)
04. Rhythm on the Radio (2:34)
05. Danger, Love at Work (2:59)
06. Afraid to Dream (2:38)
07. You Can't Have Everything (2:48)
08. Tin Roof Blues (2:52)
09. Now They Call It Swing (3:04)
10. Yes, There Ain't No Moonlight (3:12)
11. Rosalie (2:35)
12. Where Have We Met Before? (3:20)
13. Why Should I Pretend? (3:15)
14. Doin' the Serpentine (3:03)
15. You Call It Madness (2:59)
16. Nothing's Too Good for You (3:05)
17. Show Me the Way to Go Home (2:52)
18. Exactly Like You (2:45)
19. Jitterbugs on Parade (2:36)
20. Now and Then (2:56)
21. A Good Man Is Hard to Find (3:02)
22. If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight (3:02)
23. Of Thee I Sing (2:59)
24. Sweet and Low Down (2:57)

During the late 1930s Louis Prima evolved ever so slightly beyond the New Orleans revival and hot novelty formulas that he'd milked so relentlessly from 1934-1936. Almost everything he recorded during the years 1937-1939 followed the same pattern of small group swing lathered over with Prima's showy vocals. These records didn't sell very well, and neither Vocalion nor Decca felt obligated to keep him on their rosters. The only two instrumentals heard here are a vigorous "Tin Roof Blues" and a neck-snapping "Jitterbugs on Parade" which is played so fast that the band sounds almost tortured rather than enthused. Poor Louis was desperate, his vocals were overbearing, the public wasn't interested, so it seems he figured the only thing left to do was to play so fast that it hurt. On each of the vocal tracks his frantic humor seems rather forced. It's good to have access to these recordings in order to satisfy one's curiosity and get a glimpse of an overview of the man's recording career, but they are certainly not the best of Louis Prima. Greater enjoyment will be derived from the work of the men he so closely imitated during the 1930s: Louis Armstrong and Wingy Manone.