The Early Years at RKO - Fred Astaire 2013

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Sony Masterworks team up to celebrate one of Hollywood's most beloved stars: Fred Astaire. The new 2-CD set from Sony Masterworks, Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO, is available November 19 and TCM names Astaire their “Star of the Month” for December.

Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO features 31 songs that showcase Astaire’s vocal performances from such classic films as Top Hat, Swing Time and Shall We Dance. In these and other films, Astaire introduced songs by the greatest “American Songbook” composers, including Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and George and Ira Gershwin. The songs on the 2-CD set have long since become standards and include “Night And Day,” “Cheek To Cheek,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “They All Laughed,” “They Can't Take That Away From Me” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

The Early Years at RKO comprises these and other songs performed by Astaire in RKO films, on record backed by orchestras led by the esteemed conductors Leo Reisman, Ray Noble, and Astaire’s friend Johnny Green. The set also includes rare alternate takes and two solo performances by Astaire’s most famous partner, Ginger Rogers. Additionally, the collection features liner notes by “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Mr. Michael Feinstein.

“From the vantage point of today it might be hard for some to fully grasp the impact that Fred Astaire had on the world of entertainment,” writes Feinstein in the album liner notes. ”While there were many hugely talented song and dance men,” he notes, “he is considered by many to be the most sublime popular singer and dancer of any generation. That he is still revered and remembered today is a testament to the idea that great art does not diminish, nor lose its power to captivate each succeeding generation. The tracks that appear in this compilation truly mirror his films… and are in many instances the very first recordings of a group of songs that have survived to become Great American Songbook standards.”