Great Songs Of The Heart 50'S & 60'S / Various Great Songs Of The Heart 50'S & 60'S / Various CD

Love songs are almost as old as the hills. They certainly date back to the twelfth century when the troubadours popularised writing love poems which eventually were set to music, and so it continued into the twentieth and the advent of recording technology. And for as long as there have been love songs, there have been songs with "heart" in the title. Irving Berlin's Be Careful, It's My Heart from the forties is a case in point, and that brings US to the decade in which we begin to chronicle our Great Songs of the Heart. Compiled by Austin Powell (whose previous Fantastic Voyage compilations include It Takes Two and the Forgotten 45s), the 3 CD set Great Songs of the Heart presents 90 songs of the heart released between 1951 and 1962. When rock 'n' roll came along in the mid-fifties, the love songs got simpler; the cleverly crafted lyrics of the great songwriters of the previous three decades gave way to the two-minute declaration of love in much simpler and straightforward language, but in the first half of the fifties the big stars of the day like Eddie Fisher, Doris Day, Kay Starr and Nat "King" Cole liked nothing better than to sing of new love, lost love and broken hearts, as you'll hear on our selection. Teen heartthrobs found new songs of the heart endeared them to their predominantly female teenage audience, while some singers eschewed newer love songs for old favourites like Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, Young at Heart and Be Careful, It's My Heart. Across the pop, country and R&B markets in America, as rock 'n' roll gave way to a more homogenised pop music in the late fifties and early sixties, New York's Brill Building songwriting teams provided a ready supply of songs. It didn't matter how big a star you were, a song of the heart was never far away. Elvis is represented here with a song from the 1962 film Kid Galahad. Johnny Mathis, Jackie Wilson, Guy Mitchell and Glen Campbell are all here too, as are fifties hitmakers Jo Stafford and Julie London. Some of these recordings are readily known, others will hopefully be a pleasant addition to your musical collection. An ideal Valentine's Day gift, or a token of affection at any time of year, we hope you'll take them all to your heart.

1. I'll Hold You in My Heart...(Eddie Fisher) 2. Every Beat of My Heart (Royals) 3. Icy Heart (Bill Haley w. the Saddlemen) 4. If I Give My Heart to You (Nat King Cole) 5. Two Hearts, Two Kisses...(Doris Day) 6. You Have My Heart (Slim Whitman) 7. With a Song in My Heart (Perry Como) 8. Young Hearts (Jim Reeves) 9. My Heart Reminds Me (Kay Starr) 10. My Heart Is Breaking Over You (Ruth Brown) 11. Keeper of My Heart (Faye Adams) 12. You Got a Heart Like a Rock (Charlie Gracie) 13. Humpty Dumpty Heart (Lavern Baker) 14. Left Right Out of Your Heart (Patti Page) 15. I've Got Bells on My Heart (Jane Morgan) 16. My Heart Is An Open Book (Michael Holliday) 17. Your Hand, Your Heart, Your Love (Andy Williams) 18. Can't Tell My Heart (What to Do) (Frankie Ford) 19. Cross My Heart...(The Emjays) 20. My Heart Became of Age (Annette with the Afterbeats) 21. Watch Your Heart (Petula Clark) 22. My Unbreakable Heart (Russ Hamilton) 23. The Heart of a Man (Frankie Vaughan) 24. Raining in My Heart (Buddy Holly) 25. Mighty Cold... (Fabian) 26. Just Ask Your Heart (Frankie Avalon) 27. Be Careful...(Pat Boone) 28. Come Into My Heart (Lloyd Price) 29. If I Give My Heart to You (The Teddy Bears) 30. Listen to Your Heart (Fontane Sisters) 31. The Story of a Broken Heart (Johnny Cash ; the Tennessee Two) 32. One Heart (Jerry Fuller ; Diane Maxwell) 33. Since You Broke My Heart (Everly Brothers) 34. In the Heart of a Fool (Johnnie Ray) 35. Cry Hurtin Heart (Guy Mitchell) 36. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart (Kalin Twins) 37. My Heart Never Said Goodbye (Steve Alaimo) 38. Open Up Your Heart (Isley Brothers) 39. With All My Heart...(Curtis Lee) 40. Where Is My Heart (Cliff Richard and the Shadows) 41. He Will Break Your Heart (Jerry Butler) 42. I Belong to Your Heart (Sam Cooke) 43. My Heart Stood Still (The Spectors Three) 44. The Hurt in My Heart (Conway Twitty) 45. The Brigade of Broken Hearts (Paul Evans) 46. Cold Cold Heart (Jerry Lee Lewis) 47. Your Cheatin Heart (Jack Scott) 48. Cross My Heart (Billy Fury) 49. Wooden Heart (Bobby Stevens) 50. Teardrops in My Heart (Joe Barry) 51. Room in Your Heart (Gladys Knight ; the Pips) 52. Heart and Soul (The Cleftones) 53. My Heart Belongs to Only You (Jackie Wilson) 54. Young at Heart (Connie Francis) 55. You Set My Heart to Music (Johnny Mathis) 56. Half of My Heart (Emile Ford ; the Checkmates) 57. Little Bitty Heart (The Brook Brothers) 58. Two Initials...(Ritchie Adams) 59. My Heart Went Do Dat Da (Barbara Lewis) 60. Rainin in My Heart (Dorsey Burnette) 61. My Heart, Your Heart (Gene Pitney) 62. In Your Heart (Mark Wynter) 63. I Listen to My Heart (Frank Ifield) 64. Please Don't Take My Heart (Craig Douglas) 65. Why Did You Break My Heart? (Chris Farlowe) 66. Baby My Heart (The Shadows) 67. How Do I Tell My Heart... (Glen Campbell) 68. Heart in Hand (Brenda Lee) 69. Parade of Broken Hearts (Jimmy Justice) 70. Heart of Stone (John Leyton) 71. Give Me Back My Heart (Paul Anka) 72. Love Me with All Your Heart (The Kestrels) 73. If You're So Smart... (The Tams) 74. Tonight My Heart She Is Crying...(Solomon Burke) 75. Cry My Heart Out (Helen Shapiro) 76. I Sold My Heart to the Junkman (The Blue-Belles) 77. My Heart Said...(Tippie and the Clovers) 78. Devil in His Heart (The Donays) 79. Heart Breaker (Dean Christie) 80. Keep Your Love Locked...(Paul Petersen) 81. I Left My Heart in the Balcony (Linda Scott) 82. My Heart Belongs to Daddy (Julie London) 83. If My Heart Had a Window (Jo Stafford) 84. Home Is Where the Heart Is (Elvis Presley) 85. My Foolish Heart (Ben E. King) 86. Broken Hearts Anonymous (Johnny Preston) 87. Here's My Heart (Bobby Edwards) 88. Little Bitty Heart (Claude King) 89. My Heart Is Bleeding (Fats Domino) 90. From the Bottom of My Heart (Dean Martin)