The art of crooning was gradually perfected during the 20th century by
Russ Columbo,
Bing Crosby,
Rudy Vallée,
Al Bowlly,
Perry Como,
Frank Sinatra,
Billy Eckstine,
Herb Jeffries,
Nat King Cole,
Al Hibbler,
Tony Bennett, and
Johnny Hartman. One important name missing from that admittedly short list is
Dick Todd, known in his day as the Canadian
Crosby. By far the best collection of his recorded works was released in 2003 by the Jasmine label under the title
Orchids for Remembrance (inadvertently echoing Blue Orchids, a Bluebird double-LP reissue collection from the 1970s). While Living Era's 27-track
Canadian Crosby (1996) also does justice to this often overlooked performer, Jasmine's double CD contains enough material (52 selections dating from the years 1938 and 1939) to cover most of the essential ground, including a pair of satisfying medleys, several soft-serve cowboy numbers, and no less than ten examples of
Todd backed by a woozy female vocal trio billed as
the Three Reasons. Seeing as how their name might suggest some sort of connection with Sigmund Freud or hitherto unsuspected links with André Breton's first Surrealist Manifesto, it is entirely appropriate to point out the weirdest tune in the entire
Dick Todd discography. This without question is "A Home in the Clouds," a naïve and idyllic daydream ditty describing a stratospheric abode where
Dick Todd and his sweetheart are equipped with a radio transmitter that they use to "...broadcast our impressions to folks on earth below." It is a bizarre and beautiful scenario worthy of the imagination of
Edgar Rice Burroughs.