It's a no-brainer that the
Capitol From the Vaults series would dedicate a volume to their affluent association with the cinematic side of Hollywood. This is especially true since label co-founder Buddy de Sylva was previously the head of production for Paramount Pictures. As pop music artist and scholar
Billy Vera points out in his liner notes essay, the label's first hit -- "Cow Cow Boogie" by
Ella Mae Morse -- was featured in the all-star propaganda film Reveille With Beverly (1943). The tradition served Capitol well throughout their first decade and there are over two dozen examples -- which
Vera also notes as being nowhere near complete -- on this single CD compilation. Many of these sides not only scored big at the box office, but held their own on the national pop and country & western charts as well. Included are a bevy of Top Ten hits such as "The High and the Mighty" (
Les Baxter), "It Could Happen to You" (
Jo Stafford), "Buttons and Bows" (
Dinning Sisters), and even the animated antics of "I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat" (
Mel Blanc). This collection also features a couple of chart-toppers -- "On the Atchison, Topeka & the Santa Fe" (
Johnny Mercer) as well as "Mona Lisa," the latter of which was also given an Oscar as "Best Song" in 1950 for its use in Captain Carey U.S.A. As an obvious labor of love, the audio in the
Capitol From the Vaults series is unsurpassed -- rising to the occasion of such memorable pop music. ~ Lindsay Planer