Tony Martin Strolls Through Melody Lane

I recently transferred this fine Tony Martin album for friend and fellow collector John Morris, so why not share it here as well.

This 1956 double EP is equivalent to a 10-inch LP. The album also exists in a 12-inch version with a few extra songs, but I don't have that edition, alas. What's here is very good, though.

Tony Martin

Based on the song selection, (A Stroll Through) Melody Lane might just as well have been called (A Stroll Through) Memory Lane. The oldest song is from 1917 and the newest from 1931.

The songs, however, weren't that old when Martin recorded them. These sides were drawn from Martin's 1939-42 sojourn with the Decca company, a fact that is not mentioned on the LP. Rose Room, California and Avalon come from his first recording dates for Decca, in March 1939. I can't find any evidence that A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody, Cuban Love Song or Beautiful Ohio were ever released as singles, but that may be an oversight on my part.

The conductors on these sides were the veteran Abe Lyman, the youthful David Rose and Dick Winslow, who was mainly known as an actor (at least I think it's the same fellow).

Postwar, Martin signed with Mercury and then RCA Victor. You can find his Mercury Dreamland Rendezvous LP here on this blog, in a newly remastered version. From RCA, we have his Desert Song album, done with Kathryn Grayson. Both are very good - Martin lost little of his voice's luster as time went on.