Skeets McDonald - Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes: The Singles Collection 1950-62 - COMPACT DISCS

Chopin's four ballades occupy a special place in the collective mind of classical pianists. To many, each is a jewel of the Romantic era, models of poetic lyricism. (Sam Reich) Israeli pianist Dror Biran performs these works with great mastery and sensitivity. Dror Biran is one of Israel's most admired and gifted pianists. His playing has been described in Die Beeld as Inchpowerful, but also beautifully sensitiveInch. The Plain Dealer added Inchhis fortissimos crashed and roared, but next to them came pianissimos that whispered seductively... he has technique to burn and uses it effectively... Inch His superb tonal control combined with interesting phrasing and voicing has won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences.

Country star Skeeter Davis enjoyed a chart career that lasted nearly a quarter of a century from the early '50s through to 1976, her personality and the quality of her voice enabling her to successfully adapt to the changing idioms within the genre. Coming to prominence in the pop charts as she did with the iconic hit InchThe End Of The WorldInch, many fans may well be unaware of the dues that she paid before that major success which saw her almost top the US pop charts. By the time that classic record was released towards the end of 1962 - it is in fact the last single to be featured in this collection - she had already had a significant career focused purely on the country market, recording initially with her friend Bette Jack Davis as The Davis Sisters and then, after a break of a couple of years, resuming her career as a solo artist in 1958. This great value 61-track 2-CD set comprises the A and B side of every single she released on RCA from her 1953 debut as part of The Davis Sisters and then as a solo artist through to the end of 1962, plus seven bonus tracks selected from her two solo albums from the period InchI'll Sing You A Song And Harmonise TooInch and InchHere's The AnswerInch, the latter trading on her success with InchanswerInch records like her debut solo hit InchLost To A Geisha GirlInch, and the Top 5 hits Inch(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling TooInch, and InchMy Last Date With YouInch. It features her 1953 debut country No. 1 as The Davis Sisters InchI Forgot More Than You'll Ever KnowInch, plus her twelve solo hits during the period, including the Top 10 successes InchSet Him FreeInch, InchOptimisticInch and InchWhere I Ought To BeInch, and ending with the classic InchEnd of The WorldInch. It's a thorough overview of her first decade as a recording artist, which set the scene for a long and successful career.

Chet Atkins was one of the most innovative and influential personalities in country music in the post-war decades, both as a highly skilled and distinctive finger-picking guitarist, and as a record producer and session musician, helping to shape the InchNashvilleInch sound which helped broaden the popularity of country music in the late '50s. This great-value 59-track 2-CD collection focuses on his work as a recording artist, covering a period over more than a decade and a half during which he progressed from being a journeyman country musician to one of the most respected and imitated guitarists in all of popular music, not just country, with major rock artists later citing him as a key influence. Deriving his style from influences as diverse as Merle Travis and Django Reinhardt, he developed a finger-style technique which set him apart from his peers and gave his music and recordings an increasingly distinctive flavour. This anthology comprises selected A and B sides from the singles he released during the period covered by this collection, so that it provides a fascinating musical journey through the years when his stature within the business inexorably grew, and his work as a performer became overshadowed by his studio work with other artists, and his A&R role at RCA. It naturally offers plenty of examples of his unique skill as a guitarist but also shows the many sides of his talents as singer, bandleader and songwriter, and includes all the country chart entries he had during this time with InchMr. SandmanInch, InchSilver BellInch, InchJean's SongInch, InchBoo Boo Stick Beat, InchOne Mint JulepInch and InchJingle Bell RockInch.