Charleston on the Thames
This Flapper title reminds us that they "Black Bottomed" and "Charlestoned" in merrie olde England too, back in the '20s. Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence stirred up plenty of musical magic on their side of the pond, where the gin was legal.

There are plenty of American selections on this CD as well, including some wonderful numbers by Waring's Pennsylvanians ("Ice Cream") and Paul Whiteman's Orchestra ("Nobody's Sweetheart"), and a terrific rendition of "Broadway Melody" with Charles King doing the vocal and the legendary Roy Shields conducting the orchestra. This compensates for Annette Hanshaw's dull rendition of "Button Up Your Overcoat" (leave Helen Kane's stuff to Helen Kane!) and the poorly arranged rendition of "Charleston" that opens this collection.

Overall, this is an interesting collection of well-known and lesser-known recordings of '20s standards, with enough good content to offset the mediocre.

Takes You Back in Time
One thing I really like about this collection is that it that while it contains a number of "standard" selections from the 20's that have been done many times by many artists, it also contains a lot of selections that you just don't hear that often. In fact some of them are probably next to impossible to find any other place. Considering that most of these recordings were made more than half a century ago, the quality is outstanding. Sometimes old recordings are full of hiss and static and scratchy sounding, but these have been restored to near perfect condition. For old recordings, these are as good as it gets with almost no background noise. The only thing that gives away the age of these records is that some selections do tend to sound slightly flat, probably because they were taken from original monophonic sources and possibly in part due to the noise reduction process. It doesn't detract in the least from the recordings. Of course you can find some more modern groups that have re-recorded some of these songs in full, rich stereo, but they really don't sound that much better and sometimes not as good. The original artists often did the best renditions. If you really want to hear what the 20's sounded like musically, this is the album for you. You won't find a better 20's collection.

Do, Do, Do Buy this CD
A great collection of songs. It starts off strong and keeps going. There are a few weak ones but don't let that hold you back just skip over them. Grab the flask, put on your raccoon coat and have some fun.

Late '20s dance music
The very first selection on THE ROARING 'TWENTIES is one of the earliest electrical recordings in existence. "Charleston," by the Savoy Orpheans, recorded in 1925, is an ideal way to begin this musical journey back to the carefree days of that unique decade. What follows is a solid set of tunes, many of which got plenty of exposure on early radio.

Two pages of liner notes are included, as well as such details as recording dates and running times. Top rating for album content, source condition and reproduction quality. THE ROARING 'TWENTIES is a terrific collection of late 1920s popular music.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 73:12

Excellent compilation and restoration
I have been searching for the recording of Charles King singing, "Broadway melody" for years. Here it is - in an excellent restoration - with just the slightest (and soon unnoticed) hint of surface hiss. What a great performance. Gene Kelly imitated King's phrasing and style when he did the same number in "Singing in the rain." King introduced the song in, "Broadway Melody of 1929." He was a talented Broadway singer who hoped to follow Al Jolson's success in Hollywood. He was memorable in the movie but soon returned to Broadway, found plenty of work, and was eventually forgotten.
There are lots of great numbers here. Hooray to Pearl for bringing this one out.