Hits Of '25 Yes Sir, That's My Baby!

Living Era's year-by-year compilations of hit recordings from the Roaring Twenties are well worth investigating. This volume, focusing upon the year 1925, is much better than the hideous cover photo suggests. Although the people posing artlessly with gaping smiles look positively idiotic (the hem of the woman's flapper dress still has pins holding it together), the music within provides an overview of recordings that sold well in their day. Gene Austin's amazingly funny vocal technique makes the title track a veritable masterpiece of silliness. Small wonder this one is referenced as a number one hit. Aside from arresting performances like Al Jolson's cloyingly sentimental "All Alone" and Vernon Dalhart's austere "The Prisoner's Song" (it sold seven million copies!), much of what's reissued here is either campy comedy or lively, upbeat dance music. Listeners in the 21st century may now access vintage recordings by Ben Bernie & His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra, Isham Jones & the Ray Miller Orchestra, Vincent Lopez & His Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra, Nat Shilkret, Ben Selvin, Carl Fenton, Ted Lewis, and Paul Whiteman. Comedians and curios include Eddie Cantor, Cliff Edwards as "Ukulele Ike," and the vaudeville team of Billy Jones and Ernest Hare, popularly known as the Happiness Boys. As if to compensate for a massive glut of Caucasian showmanship, the producers tacked on Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong's January 1925 recording of "St. Louis Blues" with Fred Longshaw providing haunting accompaniment on the reed organ. The fact that this was a number three hit (presumably in the "Race Records" catalog) leads to speculation as to whether Living Era will issue a parallel series focusing upon hit records by people of color. Time will tell. ~ arwulf arwulf|