Thinking of You/Bundle of Joy

Technically speaking, this discount-priced two-fer CD combines two LPs featuring Eddie Fisher that represent consecutive releases for him, sequenced in the opposite order from their release; Bundle of Joy was issued in late 1956, Thinking of You in 1957. But neither of the albums is a regular Fisher LP: Thinking of You is a compilation of his early-'50s hits, while Bundle of Joy is not actually a Fisher album at all, but instead an original soundtrack recording drawn from a movie musical in which he co-starred with his then-wife, Debbie Reynolds. Fisher fans, therefore, may consider this a modest best-of with some collector's-item movie music tacked on. Among the first 12 tracks on the disc, ten were chart items for Fisher between 1950 and 1954, when he ruled the airwaves. Included are all four of his number one hits -- "Wish You Were Here," "I'm Walking Behind You," "Oh! My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa)," and "I Need You Now" -- as well as two Top Tens, "Thinking of You" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time." There are also some lesser chart items and a couple of B-sides, one of which is the evergreen "My Blue Heaven." The result is not a comprehensive hits collection, but a reasonable sampling of the highlights of Fisher's career as a pop star. Then there's the soundtrack, much of which consists of orchestral scoring, though there are solo numbers for Fisher and Reynolds, a duet between them, and moments where co-star Nita Talbot gets a word in edgewise. The songs, by Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon, are forgettable and, in fact, forgotten, but Fisher and Reynolds fans may get a kick out of hearing them in good fidelity. And it is such fans that this mixed bag of an album is targeted at.