Various Artists - America's Greatest Hits 1950 (Various Artists) (CD)

We continue our highly popular and successful America's Greatest Hits series as we work back through the 1950s, now reaching the point at the turn of the decade, this time with an expanded 4-CD edition to sit alongside the existing single CD 1950 edition (ACRCD176) originally released in 2006 before we introduced the 4-CD format in recent years. This great-value 104-track collection comprises every record which charted in the Top 15 of the Billboard Best Sellers and Honor Roll Of Hits and the Top 10 in the Cash Box chart during 1951. It omits certain records which peaked in 1951and which have already appeared in our America's Greatest Hits 1951 collection and some which were big hits in 1949, and had already peaked, so will appear in that collection. As with all these collections it features all the biggest hits of the year and all the biggest names in American pop of that era, at a time when the USA was emerging from post-war austerity into a more optimistic decade but was about to become embroiled in the Korean War, and it very much captures the spirit of the times. It also includes a number of lesser known records which are not heard very often and which have not been readily available on CD. As always, it includes a substantial 15,000-word booklet with a commentary on every track, and it's a must for collectors of our completist chart-based anthologies.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Andrews Sisters - I Can Dream, Can't I'
2. Bing Crosby - Dear Hearts And Gentle People
3. Bing Crosby - Mule Train
4. Dinah Shore - Dear Hearts And Gentle People
5. Dick Haymes - The Old Master Painter
6. Tony Martin - There's No Tomorrow
7. Richard Hayes - The Old Master Painter
8. Jo Stafford ; Gordon MacRae - Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (The Magic Song)
9. Jack Teter Trio - Johnson Rag
10. Ames Brothers - Rag Mop
11. Buddy Clark - A Dreamer's Holiday
12. Red Foley - Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
13. Owen Bradley ; His Quintet - Blues Stay Away From Me
14. Phil Harris ; His Orchestra - The Old Master Painter
15. Tony Martin ; Fran Warren - I Said My Pajamas
16. Teresa Brewer - Music! Music! Music!
17. Edmundo Ros ; His Orchestra - The Wedding Samba
18. Patti Page Quartet - With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming
19. Lionel Hampton ; His Orchestra - Rag Mop
20. Frankie Laine - Cry Of The Wild Goose
21. Jimmy Dorsey - Johnson Rag
22. Sammy Kaye Orch. - It Isn't Fair
23. Vaughan Monroe - Bamboo
24. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians - Enjoy Yourself
25. Bing Crosby - Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
26. Dick Todd - Daddy's Little Girl

Disc: 2

1. Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys - Rag Mop
2. Bing Crosby ; The Andrews Sisters - Quicksilver
3. Ralph Flanagan - Rag Mop
4. Eileen Barton - If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked A Cake
5. Ames Brothers - Sentimental Me
6. Arthur Godfrey ; The Chordettes - Candy And Cake
7. Mary Martin ; Arthur Godfrey - Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep
8. Anton Karas - "The Third Man" Theme
9. Mindy Carson - Candy And Cake
10. Mills Brothers - Daddy's Little Girl
11. Frankie Laine - Swamp Girl
12. Mervin Shiner - Peter Cottontail
13. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians - "The Third Man" Theme
14. Gene Autry - Peter Cottontail
15. Gordon Jenkins ; His Orch. - My Foolish Heart
16. Freddy Martin ; Orch. - Music! Music! Music!
17. Bill Snyder ; His Orchestra - Bewitched
18. Ray Bolger ; Ethel Merman - Dearie
19. Billy Eckstine - My Foolish Heart
20. Spike Jones and His City Slickers - Chinese Mule Train
21. Perry Como ; the Fontane Sisters - Hoop Dee Doo
22. Jo Stafford ; Gordon MacRae - Dearie
23. Mindy Carson - My Foolish Heart
24. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians - Dearie
25. Russ Morgan ; the Morganaires - Sentimental Me

Disc: 3

1. Swing and Sway With Sammy Kaye with Tony Alamo - Wanderin'
2. Gordon Jenkins, His Piano, Orch. ; Chorus with Bonnie Lou Williams - Bewitched
3. Andrews Sisters - I Wanna Be Loved
4. Hoagy Carmichael ; Cass Daley - The Old Piano Roll Blues
5. Sammy Kaye ; the Kaydets - Roses
6. Doris Day and The Mellomen - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
7. Kay Starr - Hoop-Dee-Doo
8. Nat "King" Cole - Mona Lisa
9. Billy Eckstine - I Wanna Be Loved
10. Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra - Count Every Star
11. Patti Page - I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
12. Gordon Jenkins Orchestra ; The Weavers - Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
13. Larry Green ; His Orchestra - Bewitched
14. Kay Starr - Bonaparte's Retreat
15. Gordon Jenkins Orchestra ; The Weavers - Goodnight, Irene
16. Les Paul - Nola
17. Gary Crosby ; Friend - Sam's Song (The Happy Tune)
18. Bing Crosby ; Gary Crosby - Play A Simple Melody
19. Art Lund - Mona Lisa
20. Vic Damone - Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
21. Mariners - Sometime
22. Mitch Miller ; His Orchestra ; Chorus - Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
23. Joe "Fingers" Carr ; The Carr-Hops - Sam's Song
24. Ames Brothers - Can Anyone Explain (No, No, No!)
25. Victor Young ; His Orchestra and Don Cherry - Mona Lisa
26. Frank Sinatra - Goodnight, Irene

Disc: 4

1. Tony Martin - La Vie En Rose
2. Jo Stafford - No Other Love
3. Kay Starr ; Tennessee Ernie Ford - I'll Never Be Free
4. Richard Hayes ; Kitty Kallen - Our Lady Of Fatima
5. Dick Haymes ; Artie Shaw - Count Every Star
6. Patti Page - All My Love (Bolero)
7. Dean Martin - I'll Always Love You
8. Sammy Kaye Orch. withTony Alamo ; The Kaydets - Harbor Lights
9. Red Foley - Cincinnati Dancing Pig
10. Frankie Laine - Music, Maestro, Please
11. Gordon Jenkins ; Artie Shaw - I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
12. Perry Como - Patricia
13. Don Cherry - Thinking Of You
14. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians - Harbor Lights
15. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians - All My Love
16. Nat "King" Cole ; Stan Kenton - Orange Colored Sky
17. Paul Weston ; His Orch. With The Norman Luboff Choir - Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)
18. Perry Como ; Betty Hutton - A Bushel And A Peck
19. Eddie Fisher - Thinking Of You
20. Phil Harris - The Thing
21. Mills Brothers - Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)
22. Kay Starr - Oh Babe
23. Margaret Whiting ; Jimmy Wakely - A Bushel And A Peck
24. Ray Anthony ; His Orchestra - Harbor Lights
25. Bing Crosby - All My Love
26. Bing Crosby - Harbor Lights
27. Spike Jones and His City Slickers - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer