The Horace Heidt Hits Collection 1937-45

Horace Heidt was one of the bandleaders who achieved huge commercial and popular success during the 1930s and ‘40s playing what was called the “sweet” middle-of-the-road blend of orchestral dance band music, with a variety of featured vocalists singing ballads, novelty material and songs culled from the stage shows and movies of the time. Defying the trends towards the “hot” swing music popularised in the late ‘30s, he racked up a string of big sellers recording initially as Horace Heidt & His Brigadiers, and then as Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights. This great-value 50-track 2-CD set consists entirely of records which are credited in Joel Whitburn’s “Pop Memories” with a chart position in the Top 25 in one or other of the charts available during the 1930s, or which were hits in Billboard’s published charts after the launch of the record sales chart in 1940. It includes his 1930s No. 1s “Gone With The Wind” and “Ti-Pi-Tin”, and his Top 3 hits from the 1940s Billboard Sales Chart era “G'bye Now”, “The Hut Hut Song (A Swedish Serenade)”, “Goodbye Dear, I'll Be Back in a Year” and “I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire”. It’s an entertaining window on a style of music which represented a significant strand of the musical zeitgeist of the era spanning WWII, and a worthy showcase for an artist whose music has not enjoyed the profile which his remarkable success deserves.