Rhino Records’ Album of WWII Morale Boosters

“Songs That Got Us Through WWII,” an 18-song album from Rhino Records, is a fascinating combination of musical history and sociology.

Some of the selections--including the Frank Sinatra/Tommy Dorsey Orchestra version of “I’ll Be Seeing You” and the Mills Brothers’ “Till Then”--are expressions of loneliness and love that could have been hits in peacetime.

But other songs--from the Andrews Sisters’ “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and Johnny Mercer’s “G.I. Jive” to Vaughn Monroe’s “When the Lights Go on Again (All Over the World)” and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra’s “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover” are clearly morale boosters aimed at comforting a wartime audience.

The CD, compiled by singer Billy Vera and supervised by James Austin, includes an excellent 12-page booklet that puts the music in cultural perspective. Other selections include Mercer’s “Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive,” the Song Spinners’ “Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer” and Martha Tilton’s “I’ll Walk Alone.”

Austin said that Vera--whose No. 1 single “At This Moment” was released by Rhino --suggested the concept and even the album title.

“The idea wasn’t to just do the biggest hits from those years, but to look for songs that had a special poignancy--songs that actually did help get people through those difficult times,” said Austin.

“We’re already thinking of doing a Volume 2, but we don’t want it to just be a repeat of this one. We’re going to put some special twist on it--possibly a group of R&B; songs about World War II or country songs about World War II.”

BUDGET SAMPLERS: Record companies have found that sending promotional CD samplers to industry tastemakers is such an effective way of showcasing new artists--many of whom have difficulty getting mainstream radio airplay--that labels are begining to make low-priced samplers available to the public.

Sire Records has already released some samplers and now CBS Records is releasing two of them--one spotlighting country- and folk-related pop acts, the second centering on alternative rock artists. They can be found in most stores for between $6 and $8 each.

The country-folk collection, titled “Hitchhiker,” features tracks by Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, the Indigo Girls, James McMurtry, the O’Kanes and Darden Smith.

“Theodore,” the second CBS sampler, features 16 songs, six of which have never been available on a CD album. The last include Kate Bush’s “Be Kind to My Mistakes,” Big Audio Dynamite’s “If I Were a Carpenter” and Living Colour’s “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution.” Among the other artists represented: Public Enemy (“Welcome to the Terrordome”), the Psychedelic Furs (“House”), 3rd Bass, Poi Dog Pondering, the Rave-Ups, Nuclear Valdez and Prong.