With its Greatest Hits (a title shared by several different collections, of course), the British Hallmark label joins the flood of unlicensed discs presenting Eddie Fisher recordings of the early '50s as these tracks enter the public domain in Europe, where copyright extends only 50 years. Fisher started recording in 1949, so as of 2000 his music started becoming available to the grey marketers, and by 2005 the bulk of his early hits were there for the taking. Hallmark apparently mastered this album from old vinyl, since the music has the boxy, slightly muffled sound typical of such transfers (and surface noise is audible on occasion). The 22 tracks include 21 of Fisher's 28 American chart hits of the period 1950-1953. (The notable omissions include "Many Times," "With These Hands," "Bring Back the Thrill," and "How Do You Speak to an Angel?," all of which charted higher than some of the less successful included tracks.) The 22nd track is "Everything I Have Is Yours," which was not a single at all, but an album track from the 1952 Fisher LP I'm in the Mood for Love. Legitimate, authorized compilations like those released by RCA (which continues to claim copyright for this material in other territories including the U.S.), at least one of which is also called Greatest Hits, are to be preferred over this collection.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo