Various Artists - Verve Records: The Sound Of America (Various Artists) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

VERVE RECORDS THE SOUND OF AMERICA / VARIOUS As an independent record producer going back to the early 1940s, Norman Granz started building a personal network of record companies - disc by disc, artist by artist, innovation by innovation - that grew into a tsunami by the time he sold Verve Records at the end of 1960. It remains a feat unmatched to this day. This 4-LP box set celebrates the fascinating spectrum of recordings made during the Norman Granz era of Verve Records. It includes vocal tracks by Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday; Charlie Parker with strings; a raucous live jam session; Beatnik poetry by Jack Kerouac and stand-up comedy.

We complete our popular and successful series devoted to the biggest chart records of each calendar year in the early chart era as we focus on 1948, the eighth full calendar year of the Billboard Best Sellers chart which was launched in July 1940. Acrobat now boasts a complete series of these collections from 1940 through to 1962. This great value 103-track 4-CD set comprises just about every record which peaked in the Top 15 of the Billboard Best Sellers chart or in the Top 15 of the Cash Box chart during the year. For reasons of space, it excludes those records were still in the chart at the start of the year, but which peaked in the Top 10 in 1947, and so are included in our existing 1947 collection. It was a big year for solo vocalists, who were starting to dominate as the big swing bands declined in the era of post-war austerity and the burgeoning medium of television offered new promotional opportunities, although the InchsweetInch orchestras with their featured singers continued to hold sway, and the year had it's customary smattering of novelty songs, often in jazzy R&B or country styles. Eight different records made No. 1 in the Best Sellers, with some having lengthy chart runs. As usual, there were also quite a number of highly collectable records by some artists we don't hear too much about these days. It makes for an intriguing and very entertaining musical snapshot of the music scene during a period of creative transition as the world finally settled down after the turbulent years of conflict. It includes a 15,000+ word booklet with a commentary on every record as well as full discographical and chart information. Album Tracks 1. Ray Noble & His Orchestra with Buddy Clark - I'll Dance at Your Wedding 2. Jack Smith with the Clark Sisters - Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo) 3. Peggy Lee - Golden Earrings 4. Bing Crosby and Carmen Cavallaro

Album Tracks 1. Once in a While 2. Rosalie 3. Nice Work If You Can Get It 4. Bob White 5. You're a Sweetheart 6. There's a Goldmine in the Sky 7. True Confession 8. Vieni, Vieni 9. You Can't Stop Me from Dreaming 10. If It's the Last Thing I Do 11. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen 12. I Double Dare You 13. Dipsy Doodle 14. Sweet Someone 15. In the Still of the Night 16. You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart 17. Mama That Moon Is Here Again 18. Whistle While You Work 19. Thanks for the Memory 20. Goodnight Angel 21. I Can Dream Can't I 22. Sweet As a Song 23. I See Your Face Before Me 24. Please Be Kind 1. Ti-Pi-Tin 2. Heigh-Ho 3. You're An Education 4. Let's Sail to Dreamland 5. It's Wonderful 6. How'd Ja Like to Love Me 7. Love Walked in 8. Always and Always 9. I Fall in Love with You Every Day 10. I Love to Whistle 11. On the Sentimental Side 12. At a Perfume Counter 13. Don't Be That Way 14. Cry Baby Cry 15. Sunday in the Park 16. You Couldn't Be Cuter 17. Cathedral in the Pines 18. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart 19. Love Light in the Starlight 20. Bewildered 21. You Leave Me Breathless 22. Says My Heart 23. Let Me Whisper 24. Music, Maestro, Please 25. Oh Ma Ma 1. This Time It's Real 2. My Marguerita 3. I Married An Angel 4. Flat Foot Floogey 5. Day Dreaming 6. I Hadn't Anyone Till You 7. Little Lady Make Believe 8. When They Played the Polka 9. There's Honey on the Moon 10. When Mother Nature Sings Her Lullaby 11. Where in the World 12. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away the Key) 13. Now It Can Be Told 14. Tisket, a Tasket 15. You Go to My Head 16. What Goes on in My Heart 17. I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams 18. Stop Beatin' Around the Mulberry Bush 19. So Help Me (If I Don't Love You) 20. I've Got a Date with a Dream 21.