Wabash Blues — Isham Jones and his
Orchestra featuring Louis Panico
Ain’t We Got Fun? — Van and Schenck
with orchestra conducted by Charles A. Prince
Kitten on the Keys — Zez Confrey and
His Orchestra, Zez Confrey, Piano
I’m Just Wild about Harry — Marion
Harris with Isham Jones and His Orchestra
Three O’Clock in the Morning — Paul
Whiteman and His Orchestra
Margie — Eddie Cantor with Orchestra
The Sheik of Araby — Rudy Wiedoeft’s
Californians
Palesteena — Frank Crumit with orchestra
conducted by Charles A. Prince
Second Hand Rose — Fanny Brice with
Orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon
April Showers — Al Jolson with orchestra
conducted by Charles A. Prince
Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean: "Positively,
Mr. Gallagher?" "Absolutely, Mr.
Shean" — Ed Gallagher and Al Shean
with Orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret
Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays
Jazz) — Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
The OKeh Laughing Record (Lachplatte)
— Otto Rathke and Lucie Bernardo
My Man — Fanny Brice, with orchestra
conducted by Raosario Bourdon
Barney Google — Billy Jones and Ernest
Hare, with Orchestra
It Aint Gonna Rain No Mo’ — Wendell
Hall
Toot, Toot, Tootsie! (Goo’Bye) — Al
Jolson, with Orchestra conducted by Charles
A. Prince
Timely Topics — Will Rogers
Yes! We Have No Bananas — Billy Jones,
with Orchestra
Swingin’ Down the Lane — Isham Jones
and his Orchestra
rec. New York except for The OKeh Laughing
record rec. Berlin and Second Hand
Rose and My Man, both recorded
in Camden, New Jersey
By definition popular music
has always been commercially successful. What
it isn’t always — and this has been a constant
— is good. A look at the current charts as
well as the chart-toppers of the past will
bring back winces and occasionally howls of
recognition. So what we have on this second
volume of Naxos’s Hits of the 1920s is
the top of the heap, and there are some wonderful
moments here. To open the disc we get a quadruple
blast of the best of them, started off by
Wabash Blues of 1921 performed by Isham
James and His Orchestra, featuring, as the
credits indicate, Lewis Panico and his "laughing
cornet" - a fun, snappy tune. Following
is a rather surprising early version of Ain’t
We Got Fun? by Van and Schenck. The lyrics
betray a certain sense of bitterness not mined
in later versions I’ve heard: "The rich
get rich and the poor get children" followed
by "The rich get rich and the poor get
laid off." Then, for fans of silent film,
we have Kitten on the Keys by Zez Confrey
of 1922, a tune that shows up often as the
soundtrack to many a Chaplin short.
Some of the hits here are
rather pleasant, if lesser-known, such as
the waltz-time Three o’clock in the Morning
performed by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
and recorded in 1922. The big names aren’t
absent entirely. Eddie Cantor shows for his
1920 hit Margie and in a similar vein
we have Al Jolson’s over-the-top April
Showers. The mastering here is much different
than that found on the Columbia Legacy reissue
of 1994, which has the vocals much more forward
in the mix and with more surface noise. The
same song on Naxos has much less surface noise,
but the compromise is the suppression of aspects
of the rest of the recording; namely, the
band. It’s a bit of a toss-up, depending on
what bugs you most — surface noise, or overall
presence. My ultimate choice for this song
is for the Columbia release — I’m fine with
a bit of surface noise if the backing band
has more of a toehold. Overall, however, the
remastering is top-notch, befitting Naxos’s
other work with vintage recordings.
Aside from three exceptions,
all of the songs here were recorded in New
York. Of those three we have the positively
frightening "O-Keh Laughing Record (Lachplatte)"
an international hit recorded in Berlin, which
consists entirely of Otto Rathke playing sourly
on a cornet while he and Lucie Bernardo laugh.
Yep, that’s it. Mystifying and disturbing
and looking back you wonder what on earth
people were thinking lining up in droves to
buy it. Other low points in public taste are
documented here with the interminable song
with the equally lengthy title Mr. Gallagher
and Mr. Shean: Positively, Mr. Gallagher?"
"Absolutely Mr. Shean."
For those who enjoy vintage
recordings of Twenties tunes, this is hardly
a purchase to debate over — the price is right,
the sound restoration is very good, and the
tunes are fun to hear (for the most part),
and while you put the disc on, think on the
possibility that someone 85 years from now
will be sitting in a space age living room
writing reviews on a retrospective restored
reissue of Spice Girls and Kylie Minogue.
David Blomenberg
CD Reviews
NAXOS 8.120841 [65:18] 
