For over 30 years, Jo Stafford was one of America's top middle-of-the-road pop singers, admired for her ability to always sing in tune and to uplift every lyric she interpreted while actually singing very straight. This three-CD retrospective, which was released in 1994, has 76 selections covering a 40-year period, with most of the numbers dating from the 1940s and '50s. On the minus side, the music is not programmed in chronological order, and the complete personnel is not given, but since Stafford's style was unchanged through the years and she tended to be the main star of her records (except when sharing vocals with the likes of Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Gordon McRae, Nelson Eddy, Gene Autry and even Liberace), these are minor faults. It is unfortunate that Stafford's odd hillbilly hit "Tim-tay-shun" was not included, but all of her other big sellers are here. As an extra "bonus" at the end of each CD are one or two selections from the Jo Stafford/Paul Weston alter-egos Darlene and Jonathan Edwards, which features satirical cocktail piano from Weston and remarkable singing by Stafford that is consistently just a little bit out of tune -- pretty painful stuff!
