Art Lund - Collection 1941-59 (2020)

Art Lund was a singer with the big bands of Benny Goodman, with whom he had several hits, and Harry James before embarking on a solo career and scoring a No. 1 in 1947 with his first release “Mam’selle”. He had several more hits during the 1940s and ‘50s until, as a middle-of-the-road crooner, his music was overtaken by rock ‘n’ roll and its aftermath and he turned to TV and movie acting. This great-value 51-track 2-CD set features a number of recordings with the Benny Goodman Orchestra from his early career, including duets with Peggy Lee, and also with The Harry James Orchestra, but mainly comprises selected A and B sides from his solo releases for the MGM and Coral labels from this era, with at least one side included from a significant proportion of of fifty or so releases during these years. It features all his ten career chart entries, including the No. 1 “Mam’selle”, the No. 4 “Peg O’ My Heart” and the Top 20 hits “And Mimi”, “Hair Of Gold, Eyes Of Blue”, “On A Slow Boat To China” and “Mona Lisa”, plus three Top 20 hits with Benny Goodman, including the No. 5 “Blues Skies”. It’s an entertaining cross-section of his recordings across the best part of two decades, showcasing the breadth of his talent, and very much capturing the zeitgeist of the popular music of the era.