The Best of Anthology (Re-Recorded Versions)

Album Review

The audience for V-disc recordings has changed considerably since the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry "Give-'Em-Hell" Truman years. Back in the 1940s, V-discs were not created for commercial purposes or sold in record stores; rather, the recordings (which ranged from alternate takes to radio broadcasts) were donated to the United States military, and the V-discs that were made from those recordings were given to members of America's army, navy, marines and air force — not civilians. But these days, the audience for V-disc recordings is primarily a civilian audience consisting of jazz and traditional pop collectors. Many of those civilians weren't even born in the '40s but have become serious connoisseurs of '40s music, and such connoisseurs are the target audience for this two-disc Andrews Sisters collection (which offers a 47-minute, V-disc-oriented audio CD, and a 70-minute DVD containing the 1942 musical/comedy film Private Buckaroo). The Best of Anthology isn't really a best-of; it doesn't boast the Andrews Sisters' definitive Decca versions of hits like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Is You Is, Or You Ain't My Baby" and "Rhumboogie." But the V-disc versions of those hits that Master Classics/Cleopatra provides are pleasingly solid, as is a 1944 medley of three other hits: "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," "I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time," and "Pennsylvania Polka." And while Private Buckaroo doesn't exactly have the most substantial plot in the world (no one will mistake it for Casablanca or Citizen Kane), the presence of the Andrews Sisters, Harry James and Helen Forrest makes the lighthearted puff picture worth seeing. The Best of Anthology is not recommended to casual listeners, but it's a nicely assembled release that hardcore collectors will definitely appreciate.