Eddie Fisher - The Very Best of Eddie Fisher

Eddie sold his songs without even trying--and that's no small feat !!!

The Very Best of Eddie Fisher is an excellent two CD set that Eddie Fisher fans would never want to be without. The quality of the sound is great and the artwork reflects good taste.

The first CD begins with "May I Sing To You." This number features Eddie singing at his best; in fact, he never sounded better! The lush orchestral arrangement features strings, brass and more to bolster Eddie's fine performance of this ballad. "Bring Back The Thrill" places Eddie squarely in the spotlight as he sings this with great sensitivity. Moreover, listen for "Turn Back The Hands Of Time;" Eddie's hit with this always impresses me as one of his very best; his voice is rich, strong and full of warmth. What a crooner!

"Tell me Why" has Eddie singing with a backup chorus and the ballad has a heavenly flavor to it that I love; and it shows Eddie's operatic ability, too. "Forgive Me" sounds great when Eddie sings this and the musical arrangement lacks nothing--it's THAT good. "Wish You Were Here" is another major Eddie Fisher hit; and I love to listen to this track over and over again.

In addition, listen for Eddie to perform two great duets with Perry Como: "Maybe" and "Watermelon Weather."

The second CD continues the hits. "Oh! My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa)" sounds best only when Eddie sings it; and the chorus in the background bolsters Eddie's excellent performance. Eddie's excellent diction also enhances his performance. "Heaven Was Never Like This" is another beautiful tune featuring Eddie singing to perfection and the strings are beautiful, too.

"Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep)" again hints at Eddie's operatic ability as he dreams of being a father and a loyal husband to his one true love. "Heart" is a great tune from the Broadway show entitled Damn Yankees and Eddie never misses a beat. Listen also for "On The Street Where You Live." Eddie sings this with all his heart and soul; I love it!

The liner notes include a fine, informative essay about Eddie and this album.

Overall, Eddie Fisher's talent places him near the very top of the best male vocalists of the entire twentieth century. Eddie isn't remembered the way he should be remembered; but maybe with fine CD sets out there like this one people will find him and cherish his talents all over again.
January 11, 2008

Did Anyone Get The Number Of That Bus?

Eddie Fisher was just one the many highly successful pop singers to burst onto the scene after WW II, only to see their careers eventually crunched under the wheels of a runaway bus known as Rock 'n Roll - the genre that wouldn't last.

But, until then, he was as consistent a mainstay for RCA Victor on the pop charts from 1950 to 1957 as the best of them, boasting no less than 58 hits. And all of the primary ones are in this compact two-disc set complete with 8 full pages of liner notes written in April 1997 by the accomplished author Colin Escott. Also included is a complete discography of the contents showing label details and chart performances.

All four of his # 1 hits are here - Wish You Were Here (1952), I'm Walking Behind You (1953 with Sally Sweetland), Oh! My Pa-Pa (also 1953), and I Need You Now (1954), as well as his double-sided hit duet with Perry Como in 1952, Maybe b/w Watermelon Weather.

Blessed with a powerful voice, he soars on other hits such as Turn Back The Hands Of Time from 1951 and 1955's Heart, from the musical Damn Yankees, and even managed to turn that accordion staple, Lady Of Spain, into a # 6 charter in the fall of 1952. It was also in 1955 that he first tried his hand at R&R, taking Dungaree Doll to # 7, but by then the bus was bearing down hard, and following two Top 40 charters in 1956 - On the Street Where You Live and Cindy, Oh Cindy - he would never again crack the Billboard Pop Hot 100 Top 40 (although he would place six in the Top 40 of the Adult Contemporary (Easy Listening) charts following their introduction in 1961.

Still, backed almost exclusively by Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra, he gave us seven solid years of great entertainment, and no collection of the music of the early portion of the decade of the 50s would be complete without him.

I only wish Taragon could have found some way to include his first big hit - You Can't Be True Dear - which he did in 1948 at the age of 20 with The Marlin Sisters while under brief contract to Columbia.
September 18, 2007

This is THE Eddie Fisher Collection to get!

This is not only the most complete of the Eddie Fisher cds available, but it's got great sound quality as well. All of Eddie's hits are here -- and there isn't a bad song in the bunch.

EVERYBODY'S GOT A HOME BUT ME was a real surprise, as it was among those I'd never heard before (Eddie Fisher was a bit before my time) and quickly became one of my all-time favorites. It's a very vivid narrative of a man traveling across America on a bus ...

I guess the greatest testimonial I can give this album is to say that Eddie Fisher moved up significantly higher on my list of all-time favorite artists the minute I heard this album. March 9, 2005

Turn Back the Hands of Time!!!

If you are as I, a child of the 50's, you won't get past the first cut, "May I Sing to You", before you're saying to yourself, "I'm a kid, again!". Everything about this anthology of 45 ballads is true to the original; from Hugo Winterhalter's production and orchestration to the man himself. Especially valuable was the fairly lengthy bio-sketch which accompanies the two cd's. Taragon did a truly outstanding piece of work with this. September 15, 2002

Eddie At His Best. What A Voice He Had!

These are some great selections of Eddie Fisher singing at his best from the 50's. I wish they would release a complete collection of his recordings. April 30, 1999

More reviews at Amazon.com ...