Smoke Rings (album)

Smoke Rings is a compilation album of phonograph records released by Victor Records in 1944 featuring Swing-era recordings of eight bandleaders as a part of their Musical Smart Set series. The set was released in conjunction with Up Swing during the American Federation of Musicians strike and features popular recordings by the various artists.

Reception
The album's sides were titled Big Hit of, with the year released after; Smoke Rings features songs from 1936 to 1943. This could be misleading: According to Joel Whitburn, the four songs by bandleaders Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Larry Clinton and Glenn Miller were all number one hits. Ellington's "I Got It Bad" hit only the 17th position, while Artie Shaw's "All The Things You Are" and Freddy Martin's "Intermezzo" placed inside the top ten, at numbers 8 and 7 respectively. Kaye's version of "Moon Love" did not chart.

Despite the fact sister album Up Swing charted, Smoke Rings did not. Billboard magazine described the album in April 1944 as featuring "sentimental oldies". Both releases may have been to make up for lost sales: Victor's cancellation of the contracts to Oklahoma and Carmen Jones was a solid sock, as the Oklahoma album has sold almost 300,000 copies, the greatest album sale in the history of the disk biz.

Track listing
These previously issued songs were featured on a 4-disc, 78 rpm album set, Victor P-147.

Disc 1: (20-1557) 1. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1936:$  "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You", recorded June 15, 1936 with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra.

2. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1937:$  "Once In A While", recorded July 21, 1937 with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

Disc 2: (20-1558) 1. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1938:$  "My Reverie", recorded July 16, 1938 with Larry Clinton and His Orchestra.

2. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1939:$  "Moon Love", recorded May 29, 1939 by Sing and Sway with Sammy Kaye.

Disc 3: (20-1559) 1. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1940:$  "All the Things You Are", recorded October 26, 1939 with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra.

2. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1941:$  "Intermezzo", recorded March 26, 1941 with Freddy Martin and His Orchestra.

Disc 4: (20-1560) 1. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1942:$  "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good", recorded June 26, 1941 with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.

2. $Big$ $Hit$ $of$ $1943:$  "That Old Black Magic", recorded July 15, 1942 with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.