This 27-song British compilation with a running time approaching 77 minutes chronicles
Dinah Shore's early recording career, starting with "Who Told You I Cared?" from the first recording session she participated in under her own name in October 1939 to "Manhattan Serenade," recorded two days before the onset of the 1942 musicians union recording ban.
Mark Greenfield, who provided the recordings (originally from RCA Victor) and wrote the liner notes, is not concerned with compiling a hits collection: He leaves out more of
Shore's chart singles than he includes, among them the notable successes "Jim" and "Miss You." But he does include such hits as "Yes, My Darling Daughter," "I Hear a Rhapsody," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Blues in the Night," and "Sleepy Lagoon." And he finds room for such strong material as
Cole Porter's "I've Got My Eyes on You" and "Everything I Love,"
Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You," and
Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," as well as some interesting specialty material, such as jazz critic/songwriter
Leonard Feather's "Dinah's Blues."
Shore did not become a major star until after this early period in her career, and you can hear her feeling her way to a style of her own on these recordings. But her warmth of tone and feel for rhythm are already apparent.