Ralph Marterie - The Best of Ralph Marterie: The Mercury Years

The Best of Ralph Marterie: The Mercury Years

By   Ralph Marterie

Very Good Condition

Generous helping (25 tracks worth) of his 1950s Mercury sides, including big hits ("Shish-Kebab," "Caravan," "Pretend," "Skokiaan"), flop singles, and a smattering of LP and EP tracks. Not many people are curious about Marterie's brand of MOR big band pop these days, but he was certainly a versatile fellow, piloting his troops through everything from near-muzak to the bona fide swing of "Bumble Boogie" and "Caravan." Oddly, this doesn't include his hit covers of Bill Haley's "Crazy, Man, Crazy" and Woody Guthrie's "So Long (It's Been Good to Know Ya)." Perhaps the authors of the liner notes for Mercury's vintage pop series are tired of defending the label's artists against accusations of sanitizing roots music for the masses.