Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Goodbye Sue
2. Long Ago (And Far Away)
3. I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do)
4. Temptation
5. Till the End of Time
6. Prisoner of Love
7. Garden in the Rain
8. They Say It's Wonderful
9. If I'm Lucky
10. Sonata
11. Song of Songs
12. Far Away Places
13. Blue Room
14. With a Song in My Heart
15. Forever and Ever
16. "A" You're Adorable (The Alphabet Song) - Perry Como, The Fontane Sisters, The Fontane Sisters
17. Some Enchanted Evening
18. Bali Ha'i
19. I Wanna Go Home (With You)
20. Hoop-Dee-Doo - Perry Como, The Fontane Sisters, The Fontane Sisters
21. Bushel and a Peck - Perry Como, Betty Hutton
22. If
23. Black Moonlight
24. Without a Song

Disc 2:

1. You'll Never Walk Alone
2. I Concentrate on You
3. You Are Never Far Away from Me [#] - Ray Charles, Perry Como
4. Maybe
5. Watermelon Weather
6. Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes
7. Wild Horses
8. I Confess
9. No Other Love
10. You Alone (Solo Tu)
11. Papa Loves Mambo
12. Tina Marie
13. Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom) - Ray Charles, Perry Como
14. Juke Box Baby
15. More
16. Somebody Up There Likes Me
17. Dream Along With Me (I'm on My Way to a Star)
18. Try a Little Tenderness [#]
19. Unchained Melody [#]
20. Round and Round - Ray Charles, Ray Charles Singers, Perry Como
21. Just Born (To Be Your Baby) - Ray Charles, Ray Charles Singers, Perry Como
22. Catch a Falling Star - Ray Charles, Perry Como
23. Magic Moments - Ray Charles, Ray Charles Singers, Perry Como
24. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive - Ray Charles, Perry Como
25. Birth of the Blues - Ray Charles, Perry Como

Disc 3:

1. Begin the Beguine
2. Delaware - Ray Charles, Perry Como
3. What Kind of Fool Am I?
4. Dream on Little Dreamer - Anita Kerr Quartet, Perry Como
5. Bummin' Around [#] - Anita Kerr Quartet, Perry Como
6. Summer Wind - Perry Como, Anita Kerr Quartet
7. How Insensitive (Insensatez)
8. Anema E Core
9. Father of Girls
10. Sunrise, Sunset
11. In These Crazy Times - Ray Charles, Ray Charles Singers, Perry Como
12. It's Impossible
13. Something
14. I Think of You
15. Bridge Over Troubled Water
16. And I Love You So
17. For the Good Times
18. Where You're Concerned
19. Not While I'm Around
20. Colors of My Life
21. Best of Times [Single Version] - Ray Charles, Perry Como
22. Wind Beneath My Wings

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81232 in Music
• Released on: 1993-11-09
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

A Cross-Generational Collection of Songs!
This is a well engineered collection of songs dating from Perry's very first recording for the RCA Victor label in 1943 to his last in 1987. The recordings are presented chronologically and that's a plus. Unfortunately, Perry's recording career is by far too massive to be well represented within a three CD collection such as this. BMG could have devouted an entire set to his 1940s recordings alone not to mention almost every decade since! Releasing only one song from the five album collection produced by Hugo & Luigi in the early 60s, for example, is clearly a misrepresentation of Perry's recorded repertoire and his very successful Nashville collection is not clearly represented either. The real problem here is that BMG is trying to do too much with too little. Perry's success is probably more cross generational than even Sinatra and his many fans would have been better served had BMG attempted to focus in on this fact a little better. This is a collection well worth having but there are more recordings missing than there are present. BMG is attempting to kill a number of birds with one stone, if you'll pardon the cliche, but their shots are far too scattered. Anyone familiar with the Como repertoire knows full well that he deserves better than this from a label to which Mr. C. was loyal for almost 50 years. This is a good start but BMG needs to go back to the drawing table and begin to do the job thoroughly.

What a voice!
It's a tragedy that most people under forty don't even know who Perry Como is and few have ever been exposed to his music. This album will introduce to some marvelous music, sung by the inimitable Perry Como. As a fan of Perry, Sinatra and Bing Crosby, comparisons to their voices is inevitable. Perry modeled himself closely after Bing and the influence clearly shows. His voice wasn't as deep and his range wasn't as great, but his voice was more mellifluous and mellow, particularly as he aged.

All of Perry's great 40's and 50's hits are included here, as well as two stellar songs from the 70's, "And I Love You So" (my personal favorite) and "It's Impossible." Como injected so much pathos and emotion in both these songs. He learned how to use his vocal instrument more effectively as he got older. One of the greatest moment on this set is the inclusion of Perry's last great song, "Wing Beneath my Wings," one of the best swan songs in American music.

Perry Como's music is timeless and anyone of any age can enjoy it. No one else sang quite like him with that beautifully restrained, sweet, gentle style. I've seen Perry in concert several times and he was a beautiful man, inside and out. His voice mirrors his soul and this is a superb collection.

the essential como collection
There are too many fine recordings of Perry Como to try to come up with the definitive three c.d. collection, but this comes as close as anyone can get. I just hope that R.C.A. goes to the effort of putting together part 2 of the Como collection. I'll surely be waiting.