A Great Collection!

This collection is a must for Perry Como fans! I bought it primarily for "Seattle," a favorite of mine, though difficult to find on Perry Como compilations. However, many of the songs on this CD are great finds! From "You're Following Me" to "I Love You and Don't You Forget It" to "Delaware" that great Perry Como voice comes through!

Great sound, great singing!

Perry Como's art was an understated one, and the singer's ability to make the song, not himself, the center of attention might explain Como's effortless versatility. This diversely-styled collection never stops being interesting, from Burt Bacharach's "Don't Be Cruel"-esque "You're Following Me" to the delightful, lightly-rocking "I Looked Back," the latter featuring an odd but very effective bridge among its many charms. There is also the theme from the old TV show "Here Come the Brides" ("Seattle") and a stunning exercise in Como-style mega-legato, "The Father of Girls," which Como raises from the potentially maudlin to the genuinely moving. The remastered sound is magnificent. May Mr. Como live forever in digital!

The Electic Mr. Como

This album brings together tunes that remind us of all the forces that shaped and continue to shape "Pop" music. As the informative notes tell us, television fueled a demand for novelty tunes like "Delaware" that appealed more to Mr. C's sense of business than his artistic impulses. Also included are numbers that owe much to 1950's Rock ("You're Following Me," "You Looked Back"); Latin melody and instrumental arrangement("Coo Coo Roo Coo Paloma," "Forget Domani"); the chord structure of Country Western ("Meet Me at the Altar," "Here Comes My Baby," "Sunshine Wine");and Blues("Dream on Little Dreamer.") Then, there are the wonderful tunes like "Seattle" that defy easy reference to "pure" forms. Common to all of these tracks is the theme of love developed by the mellifluous voice of the artist. Clearly, "Nashville Sound" requires not a southern accent but only a certain chord structure and the lovely sincereity that Perry brings to all of his work. But even if you're a fan of neither Rock nor Country, you will still be delighted by the poignant "The Father of Girls" and "I know what God Is," two songs reminiscent of his early ballads. If not for the work of Mr. C(and this album in particular), I would have to scramble through many CDs while teaching my brief Pop Music unit as part of U.S. History class. For while Pop music draws on many of the "pure" forms, no artist except Perry has produced so many charted singles reflecting its eclectic nature.