Along with the likes of Kitty Kallen, Helen O'Connell and June Christy, as well as, in their early careers, Peggy Lee and Doris Day, Helen Forrest was one of the striking coterie of female vocalists who graced the dance hall stages with the great names of the swing and big band era, and who appeared on many of their most successful recordings before forging a successful solo career. During the decade from the late 1930s through to the post-war years, Helen Forrest performed and recorded with the orchestras of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Harry James, and recorded notable duets with another former big band singer Dick Haymes, racking up a lengthy string of hits on records with those orchestras on which she provided the vocals. This great-value 48-track 2-CD set consists entirely of such records, all of which featured in charts like the Your Hit Parade chart in the years before the Billboard record sales chart was introduced in 1940, or in one or other version of the Billboard charts after that, all of them reaching the Top 25 places. Alongside those "featured vocalist" and duet hits, pride of place goes to her 1944 solo No. 2 "Time Waits For No One". It includes seven No. 1s - "They Say" and "Thanks For Ev'rything" with Artie Shaw, "I Don't Want To Walk Without You", "Mister Five By Five", "I Had The Craziest Dream" and "I've Heard That Song Before" with Harry James and "Taking A Chance On Love" with Benny Goodman. It also features a continuous run of seven Top 10 hits with Dick Haymes. It's not only a fine and varied showcase for Helen's talent and versatility as a popular performer with the top bands of the day, but it's an evocative trawl across the popular music of a significant era in both music and what was going on in the wider world.
6 I Cried for You (Now It's Your Turn to Cry Over Me)
7 Mister Five By Five
8 I Had the Craziest Dream
9 Manhattan Serenade
10 I've Heard That Song Before
11 Taking a Chance on Love
12 Cabin in the Sky
13 I Heard You Cried Last Night
14 Time Waits for No One
15 Long Ago (And Far Away)
16 It Had to Be You
17 Together
18 I'll Buy That Dream
19 Some Sunday Morning
20 I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
21 Oh! What It Seemed to Be
22 Come Rain or Come Shine
23 In Love in Vain
24 Why Does It Get So Late So Early
Along with the likes of Kitty Kallen, Helen O'Connell and June Christy, as well as, in their early careers, Peggy Lee and Doris Day, Helen Forrest was one of the striking coterie of female vocalists who graced the dance hall stages with the great names of the swing and big band era, and who appeared on many of their most successful recordings before forging a successful solo career. During the decade from the late 1930s through to the post-war years, Helen Forrest performed and recorded with the orchestras of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Harry James, and recorded notable duets with another former big band singer Dick Haymes, racking up a lengthy string of hits on records with those orchestras on which she provided the vocals. This great-value 48-track 2-CD set consists entirely of such records, all of which featured in charts like the Your Hit Parade chart in the years before the Billboard record sales chart was introduced in 1940, or in one or other version of the Billboard charts after that, all of them reaching the Top 25 places. Alongside those "featured vocalist" and duet hits, pride of place goes to her 1944 solo No. 2 "Time Waits For No One". It includes seven No. 1s - "They Say" and "Thanks For Ev'rything" with Artie Shaw, "I Don't Want To Walk Without You", "Mister Five By Five", "I Had The Craziest Dream" and "I've Heard That Song Before" with Harry James and "Taking A Chance On Love" with Benny Goodman. It also features a continuous run of seven Top 10 hits with Dick Haymes. It's not only a fine and varied showcase for Helen's talent and versatility as a popular performer with the top bands of the day, but it's an evocative trawl across the popular music of a significant era in both music and what was going on in the wider world.
