Ethel Merman

This British compilation, presumably taking advantage of a 50-year copyright limit, presents recordings made by Ethel Merman between 1932 and 1946. Almost all of them are songs she sang in her Broadway musicals, though only the eight selections from +Annie Get Your Gun are technically original Broadway cast recordings. Merman was already a stage star when she made her recording debut in 1932, singing Irving Berlin's independent song "How Deep Is the Ocean?," resulting in her first chart hit. She also scored hits with her studio recordings of "Eadie Was a Lady") from +Take a Chance (1932), "An Earful of Music" from the film Kid Millions (1933), and "You're the Top" and "I Get a Kick Out of You" from +Anything Goes (1934). Decca recorded four songs from +Panama Hattie (1940), and three of them, "Let's Be Buddies," "My Mother Would Love You," and "I've Still Got My Health" are here. There were no contemporary studio recordings of +DuBarry Was a Lady (1939) or +Something for the Boys (1943), so songs from these shows, "Friendship" from +DuBarry and "He's a Right Guy" and "Hey, Good Lookin'" from +Something, are drawn from radio performances. The +Annie Get Your Gun selections, all of Merman's vocals from the cast album, include her hit duet with Ray Middleton on "They Say It's Wonderful." The sound quality is fine (except for the radio tracks), and the rarity of some of these recordings makes this a valuable album. U.S. copyright holders are no doubt dismayed about the release of albums such as this (not to mention their ready availability in this country), but Ethel Merman fans have no reason to complain. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide