The Music That Helped The Allies Win The War Q Records, an offshoot of QVC shopping channel, is carving out a niche with historical recordings, assited and marketing marketing in part with The History Channel. Its latest effort is Till Then (shouldn't it be 'Til Then as in "Until Then" as opposed to a CD about farming techniques? Sorry, couldn't resist, but then again, The Mills Brothers song is listed like that, so who am I to argue with history?) This twin CD pack offers 36 selections of the WWII era, including Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and a number of other familiar folks and bands. The real gems are those selections from folks I had not heard of before--then again, I didn;t grow up with WWII music. And with this is mind, it's a pleasure to hear these "new" songs. Sure, the famous ones are on the CDs: White Cliffs of Dover, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, In the Mood, Sentimental Journey, and so on. But I enjoyed some that may have been famous before, but never quite registered on my rock & roll radar--GI Jive from Louis Jordan is a scream, This is Worth Fighting For from The Ink Spots is a sobering patriotic number, and Imagine Me In The Maginot Line from George Formby is a hoot. I would have liked to hear the rest of Spike Jones' ascerbic Der Fuhrer's Face, but that's the only disappointment. Interspersed from time to time are short excerpts from speeches by Hitler, FDR, Churchill, Eisenhower, Chamberlain, and others. It's a nice touch. Again, the quality of the recording is wonderful. I listened to this over and over again. If you're looking for a good introduction to WWII era music, this is a pretty good place to start. Track Listing CD 1 1. Introduction (5:12) (a) Adolf Hitler, 1934 (b) Begin The Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (c) Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, 1938 (d) Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1940 (e) President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 (f) Remember Pearl Harbor - Sammy Kaye (g) Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition - Kay Kyser & His Orchestra 2. In The Mood (2:36) 3. Paper Doll - The Mills Brothers (2:36) 4. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - The Andrews Sisters (2:45) 5. There Are Such Things - Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra (2:42) 6. There's A Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere - Elton Britt (2:43) 7. One O'clock Jump - Count Basie & His orchestra (2:09) 8. You'll Never Know - Dick Haymes (2:45) 9. Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:2 1) 10. And The Angels Sing - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra with Martha Tilton (3:10) 11. The White Cliffs Of Dover - Vera Lynn (3:16) 12. Waitin' For The Train To Come In - Peggy Lee (3:07) 13. Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer - The Four Vagabonds (2:53) 14. Shhh, It's A Military Secret - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra with Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke and The Modernaires (2:23) 15. Straight Up And Fly Right - Nat "King " Cole (2:36) 16. God Bless America - Kate Smith (2:42) CD 2 1. Der Fuehrer's Face - Spike Jones (0:45) 2. We're Gonna Have To Slap That Dirty Little Jap - Lucky Millinder (1:04) 3. Up A Lazy River - The Mills Brothers (2:45) 4. (I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time - The Andrews Sisters (2:57) 5. I'll Be Seeing You - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra (3:03) 6. White Christmas - Bing Crosby (3:03) 7. Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree - The Andrews Sisters (2:14) 8. Imagine Me In The Maginot Line - George Formby (2:47) 9. When The Lights Go On Again - Vera Lynn (3:15) 10. American Patrol - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:16) 11. La Vie En Rose - Edith Piaf (3:05) 12. This Is Worth Fighting For - The Ink Spots (3:03) 13. He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings - Dinah Shore (3:15) 14. G.I. Jive - Louis Jordan (2:59) 15. Dream - The Pied Pipers (2:47) 16. Sentimental Journey - Les Brown & His Orchestra with Doris Day (3:11) 17. In Times Like These - Harry James & His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen (1:57) 18. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1944 (0:29) 19. Till Then - The Mills Brothers (1:57) 20. Begin The Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (3:12) $24.98 www.qrecords.qvc.com Back to Audio Review List Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com