Ginny Simms The Best of Ginny Simms (with Kay Kyser And His Orchestra)

Based on the play list this is a fine addition to any lover of the 40's However if you are going tohave a play list which one can listen to samples it might be nice to include the artists vocals and not as in so many cases just the orchestral intro. That said i love the lady and will be purchasing this CD soon. Based on other recordings i have of this wonderful artist i have given it a reasonable rating

This CD is excellent, but has its flaws.
The good points are...A lot of rarities, including a false start version of THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS & STRIPES that I'd never heard. BTW, I'm Steven Beasley, and modestly offer that I have one of the largest (if not the largest) collection of Kay Kyser memorabilia on the planet. This and 95 cents will get you a small cup of coffee.See some KK memorabilia and anything else you'd want to know about Kay at kaykyser.net. Continuing w/ the rarities, producer Dan Rivard neglected to mention 2 alternate takes present here. One is I WON'T GO HOME w/ Sully Mason, the other is IT MUST HAVE BEEN TWO OTHER PEOPLE. In Mr. Rivard's defense, these 2 could have escaped his radar, as the vocal phrasing is just a tiny bit different. This CD DOES include Ginny's first Brunswick performance w/ Kyser, THE GIRL ON THE LITTLE BLUE PLATE. And the pics and artwork are gorgeous. One question-under the CD there's a great colorized pic of Ginny, but why does it appear she has her fingers stuck in a Grecian urn? My first negative point- Why no songs from THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG? I'M FIT TO BE TIED and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LOVE were great Simms vehicles. Second negative point- Before Harry Babbitt, the main 'boy' singer of romantic songs was BILL 'SMILIN' STOKER. He's constantly referred to here as BILL STOKES. C'MON GUYS!If that was YOUR Granddad, you'd get it right!
The liner notes by ever present Gary Theroux contain some misinformation- he states that Ginny returned to the band -briefly- in their film AROUND THE WORLD. Not so, Theroux! Once Ginny left in '41, she never returned. Something else rather curious- Theroux states how "By that point (in '41) Kay and Ginny were deeply in love..." Harry Babbitt personally told me that though Kay was somewhat smitten w/ Ginny, she did not feel the same, though they were often romantically linked in the press of the day. But Harry WAS THERE. Theroux also states that "In real life, Kyser was a painfully shy man, fearful of marital commitment". Kyser was NOT shy. A very PRIVATE man, yes. There's a difference. Three years later he married (and stayed married to) one of the most beautiful women/models in the world, Georgia Carroll (Kyser).
Finally, although they've managed to clean up the surface noise somewhat, that adjustment also makes the brass sometimes sound thin and nasally and removes some of the midrange vocal warmth. As a sound engineer for 20 years i think i can say that.
All in all, a very nice collection for any Kyser fan. Oh, one more thing- The pic on the cover, they're all waving at the camera from in front of an airplane. What they DON'T tell you was they were on their way to Atlanta to play the premiere of GONE WITH THE WIND! (A minor point...sheesh!)