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Critic's Review
Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
In 2003 Collectables doubled up two mid-'50s Mitch Miller albums on one CD. It's So Peaceful in the Country was released in 1956 and features Miller teaming up with fellow smoothie Percy Faith on a selection of standards like "Darn That Dream" and "Moonlight Becomes You," as well as some that never quite reached standardhood, like "I'll Be Around" and "Love Among the Young." All the songs are bathed in strings and have pretty standard elevator-lite arrangements -- very pretty and very boring. The second album collected here, 1956's European Holiday, is of more interest as it features vocals, less treacly arrangements, and a fun theme: a European holiday, believe it or not. The first side of the album has Jerry Vale, Jill Corey, and the Michael Stewart Chorus on vocals, and while none of them will give Ella or Carmen any pause, they still are fun and tuneful vocalists. The songs are feather light and silly, especially "Traveling Through Europe," which takes a musical trip through Europe complete with bad accents and corny attempts at local musics. The rest of the disc is comprised of three Mitch Miller Orchestra tracks with a French flair and some wonderfully cheesy vocal choruses. Fans of easy listening weirdness will dig the European Holiday portion of the set; too bad it had to be paired with an album of no interest at all.
