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The Pied Pipers were one of vocal groups who graduated from being featured performers with the big bands of the swing era to careers as recording artists in their own right, and enjoying a string of hits during their heyday in the 1940s. With the fine female vocalists Jo Stafford and June Hutton as members of the group at various time during these years, they had a distinctive harmony style that was very much of it era, their repertoire encompassing swing material, ballads and pop novelty songs and more. Having made early records for RCA as an 8-piece group they became a quartet and spent three years with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra before splitting with him and striking out on their own. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of early releases on the RCA-Victor and Ammor labels, and then most of their releases on the Capitol label from this era. It features their US No. 1 “Dream” plus all their other ten US hits, including the Top 10 entries “Mairzy Doats”, “The Trolley Song”, “In The Moon Mist”, “Open The Door, Richard”, “Mam’selle” and “My Happiness”. They were a group who very much captured the spirit of their time, and this is an entertaining showcase for their particular brand of vocal group pop.
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