GI Jive

They Say...

Review by arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide

Released in 2002, Past Perfect's "GI Jive" is an anthology of hit records from the Second World War. Adorned with a heavily sexualized image that mimics the not-very-subtle artwork that decorated the girlie pinup calendars conventionally preferred by sailors, airmen and members of the ground infantry, "GI Jive" contains 25 titles recorded during the years 1939-1945. Measurable popularity is not the exclusive prerequisite, otherwise the selections by Captain (and later Major) Glenn Miller would have included his solid gold recording, "Chattanooga Choo-Choo". Instead the collection combines authentic period hits with topical tunes that refer directly to the realities of wartime life at home and in the Armed Forces. These include the title track, sung by Johnny Mercer; "FDR Jones" delivered by Judy Garland; Benny Goodman's "We'll Meet Again" and "My Guy's Come Home"; Freddie Slack's "Furlough Fling", a solemn ode to heroism in the form of "My Shining Hour" presented by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, and wistful references to Silver Wings by Margaret Whiting and Dinah Shore. On the light and jazzy side, Fats Waller, backed by the Victor First-Nighter Orchestra hams up Irving Berlin's propagandistic "That's What the Well-Dressed Man in Harlem Will Wear" and Louis Armstrong chimes in with a disparaging song about draft-dodgers called "Jodie Man". The rest of the tunes heard on this collection typify popular music of the day without specifically referencing the war.