Back in 1957, following Harry Belafonte's huge success with the Calypso album, RCA decided to issue a sampling of tracks from his first 3 LPs (Mark Twain, Belafonte, & Calypso) on 45 rpm vinyl discs. In so doing they hoped to capitalize on the popularity of single-play records amongst younger listeners. The package was augmented with selections from his existing singles catalogue. In all, it consisted of 21 discs issued in sleeves carrying a color photo of Belafonte. Of the 42 sides, 10 were drawn from his early singles portfolio (1952-54), 8 from new singles (1955-57), and the remaining 24 from LPs. Uninformed music buffs, who had only just tuned into Belafonte, did not realize that some of these tracks had been around for upwards of 5 years. But jukeboxes everywhere suddenly had access to a wide variety of Belafonte repertoire.

The following 3 selections were omitted from the release:

Jerry (This Timber Got To Roll) - 1952
Probably excluded because it was already available on EP.

Gomen Nasai (Forgive Me) - 1953
Belafonte recorded this number under duress. He had been on contract to RCA for over a year and had not yet
enjoyed commercial success as a recording artist. Consequently the A&R people pressured him to explore
songs from outside the folk idiom. Although initial sales were encouraging, he refused to include this number in
his nightclub act and it never achieved its potential on the charts. Considering these circumstances it may have
been left out of the re-issue intentionally.

Springfield Mountain (Too Roo De Nay) - 1953
Possibly just an oversight.

Also of interest is the fact that the original recording of Matilda from 1953 was chosen for this release in spite of the existence of an update from the Belafonte LP of 1955. In contrast, the 1952 reading of Man Smart was supplanted by the up-tempo track from the Calypso LP of 1955.

This special edition was made up of the following singles:

Footnotes:

1)  Selections drawn from the "early singles" portfolio are in italics, while those from "new singles" carry an asterisk (*).

2) It had not been the intention of the present study to address the subject of re-issues and compilations, however it was felt that an exception was warranted in this particular case. The singles launch heralded Harry Belafonte's arrival as a recording artist with broad popular appeal.

3) Artwork is taken from the Best Of Belafonte, 10 EP boxed set compilation of 1956.