Rock and Roll Riot!!

A riot courtesy of the Waldorf Music Hall label, home of my favorite rock and roll cover versions. Moreso than Tops and other cheapie labels (the names of which have vanished from my memory in a sudden data-dump), WMH departed from the sound of the original hits. It did its share of sound-alikes, but mostly the label's sessions produced a fun and fairly potent r&r/big band mix. A mix I love. A sound that keeps me seeking out these things.

Which is to say, it works for me. And, after all, rock and roll began as a branch of big band jazz, anyway--think Johnny Otis, Hal Singer, Buddy Johnson, and Big Jay McNeely. So I would argue that the WMH label's vision/version of r&r wasn't that far off the mark. Maybe a little old-fashioned by then, but it works for me.

Not only that, it works for me. Lest I forget to mention that.

Hope you enjoy these, whether you dig them as camp, as misguided rock-cover attempts, as a chronicle of what can be accomplished quickly and with little money, or as a fairly potent r&r/big band mix--a phrase I just trademarked, by the way. Use it, and I'll send my cat Perry after you. He will take over your sink and demand food and get mad whenever you're late putting it out.

Now to the riot. Note that Artie Malvin's Rock Around the Clock presents the song as written (save for the last couple bars of the verse/intro). This is unusual. The only other true-to-the-sheet-music version I know of is the Living Guitars' 1970 recording on RCA Camden, so this is a cool find.

Rock and Roll Riot! (Click to reach folder)

Tracklist:

Blue Suede Shoes--Loren Becker with Enoch Light
Hound Dog--Artie Malvin with Enoch Light
Stranded in the Jungle--The Rhythm Rockets
My Baby Left Me--Loren Becker with Enoch Light
Rock Around the Clock--Artie Malvin with Enoch Light
See You Later, Alligator--Artie Malvin with the Rhythm Rockets
Shake, Rattle and Roll--Artie Malvin with Enoch Light
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You--Slim Weston
Long, Tall Sally--Loren Becker
Ready Teddy--Frank Virtuoso
Don't Be Cruel--Loren Becker
Roll Over Beethoven--Joe Fortunato
Rock and Roll Music--Hollis Harbison

Rock on!


Lee and Perry

Stuff on its way

Just to let everyone know that I'm getting stuff ready to put up. Including music for this Sunday's gospel music post. Things are moving slow on account of a bad sinus infection that's been dragging me down.

It goes with the weather. To wit, the up and down temps have caused my sinuses to be even more congested than usual. This level of congestion always leads to infection, as my doctor has explained to me. It seems that the germs in question are "good" germs--germs that aren't a problem when my sinuses are draining like they should be. But which are a problem when they're not, in effect, flushed out.

Good germs gone bad. That would make a good Ed Wood, Jr. movie.

But I will get music up, if it's the second thing I do. Or even the third.

What fun weather. We were having August in May, and now we're back to February. In other words, it's spring.

Lee

David Rose, Leonard Pennario, Phyllis Diller...

...Ferrante and Teicher, and more! A line-up you'll (possibly) only find at MY(P)WHAE.

An-n-n-d... I have no idea what happened to the above photo--it looked fine when I edited it. Something went wrong, Fly-style, during the matter transmission. But I sort of like the bad-satellite-feed effect, so I think I'll keep it!

For years, I've wanted to type "bad-satellite-feed effect." At last, my desire fulfilled.

And we're about to enjoy some recent thrift store booty, including stuff I found this Saturday in a Goodwill a couple villages off. Now, I've seen the LP Strings Alive abut five million times over the years, but I never broke down and bought one (near as I can remember). And all because of the label, Spinorama--I figured the sound quality would be as "off" as the material. Like, what, out of Rose's discography, was Spinorama likely to own?

But this time I got curious and took it home to meet my Dual 1229 (alas, my turntable's parents were out)--and, to my slight amazement, the sound quality is just fine. So far, however, my 'Net searching hasn't revealed when, and for what label, it was recorded. And of course it wouldn't help to know when the LP was issued, since it's all old stuff. And stuff no one wanted, seeing as how it ended up with Spinorama.

Pretty exciting story, huh? Behind the blog, it's a thrill a minute, folks. That's why I like to give the occasional b.t.b. report. Mabye I should give advance warnings to the feint-of-heart. (Hm. I'm part of the minority of spellers who correctly types "feint" vice "faint." So there. Nyah!)

And I also found Phyllis Diller and Leonard Pennario, though not on the same album. Also making a rare thrift appearance was Ferrante and Teicher's Dynamic Twin Pianos.

Goodwill was good to me. To you. To us.

I wonder what happened to the rest of that image? If anyone spots a tiny label arc that reads "Long Playing 33 1/3 rpm High Fidelity Record," it's probably mine.

Link to folder: David Rose, Leonard Pennario, Phyllis Diller, and more.

The Tracklist

Holiday for Strings (Rose-Gallop)--Ferrante and Teicher, 1960.

Liza (Gershwin-Kahn-Gershwin)--Ferrante and Teicher, 1960.

Blue Skies (Berlin)--Ferrante and Teicher, 1960.

March of the Lunatics (Pennario)--Leonard Pennario and Leonard Pennario, pianos, 1960.

Jamaican Rhumba (Arthur Benjamin)--Leonard Pennario and Leonard Pennario, pianos, 1960.

Poinciana (Nat Simon and Buddy Bernier)--David Rose and His Orchestra.

Twelfth Street Rag (Bowman)--Morton Gould and His Orchestra, 1948.

The March of the Siamese Children (Rodgers)--Norman Leyden's Child's World Orchestra.

The Terry Theme (Charles Chaplin)--Hugo Wainterhalter and His Orchestra, 1953.

Cafe Rio (Gould)--Morton Gould and His Orchestra, 1957.

I'd Rather Cha Cha Than Eat (Grand-Boyd)--Phyllis Diller with the Three Flames; Murray Grand on piano, 1959.

Guess Who I Saw Today (Grand-Boyd-Johnson)--Phyllis Diller with Murray Grand, piano, 1959.


Enjoy! And please ignore the numbers in front of the folder titles--their only function was to make the tracks appear in the proper order. I had to figure a way around Box's alphabetizing feature.

Lee

Unusual UFO captured on premises--with two ETFs aboard!

ETFs=Extraterrestrial Felines, of course....




Lee

Sunday morning gospel--Donna Bowling; Sing Along with Word!

We begin with Cyberyokel.com's thoughtful review of Jerry Barnes' Hymntime Sing-Along:

Ha, ha, ha! Look at the geezers (Is that Col. Sanders behind the granny in purple?)! And the two young zombies in the Petticoat Junction casualwear. (Hey, sorry, guys! Like, we ran out of chairs. Why don't you just park your cans on the carpet.) What a hilarious Dark Ages domestic scene! Just who are these mannequins, anyway--the Kurt Kaiser singers? Nah, must have been folks they hired on the cheap from Stepford Models, Inc. Gosh, you'd think Mitch Miller'd have sued Word over the "sing-along" stuff. And dig the mind-control Christian song titles: Trust and Obey (!!), Faith Is the Victory, When We All Get to Heaven. Like, are those songs or lectures, or...? Oh, yeah, I can't wait to get to the Glory Barn, you blank-eyed cultists--just so I can meet zombied-out statues who pose for Word album covers. I think I'm going to be sick.

Another fabulous review from Cyberyokel.com, where the observations are always sophisticated.

And on to some truly excellent music by Jerry Barnes and the Kurt Kaiser Singers, plus some artist-unknown tracks from a Word five-record set I thrift-found last month. I'm guessing there used to be a booklet and/or slip of paper that listed the performers, but it's no longer there. So, here's my best guess: The Old Fashioned Revival Hour Choir and Quartet.

You'll be in sing-along Heaven, pun intended:

Sing Along with Word! (Click link to go to folder.)

Track listing:

By and By (Tindley)--Unknown Word label artists.
Count Your Blessings (Oatman-Excell)--Unknown Word label artists.
Glory to His Name; When We All Get to Heaven--Jerry Barnes, Kurt Kaiser Singers, 1963.
He Is Able (Excell)--Unknown Word label artists
Lily of the Valley; Trust and Obey (Sammis-Towner)--Jerry Barnes, Kurt Kaiser Singers.
My Savior's Love (Gabriel); Jesus Loves Even Me--Jerry Barnes and the Kurt Kaiser Singers.
Near the Cross (Crosby-Bradbury)--Jerry Barnes and the Kurt Kaiser Singers.
No, Not One (Oatman-Hugg)--Jerry Barnes and the Kurt Kaiser Singers.
The Great Physician (Hunter-Stockton); Faith Is the Victory (Yates-Sankey)--Jerry Barnes.
The Sweet By and By (Bennett-Webster)--Unknown Word label artists.

And now, courtesy of Rose Records of Vandalia, Ohio, here is Donna Bowling. Her accompanists include the Christian Family Singers. I'm guessing (based on Donna's hair style, the song titles, and just the general look of the cover) that these excellent tracks are from the late 1960s:

The Greatest Friend of All--Donna Bowling (Click link to go to folder.)

Track listing:

Farther Along
He'll Make It Right (Carter)
I Pray My Way Out of Trouble (Wilburn, Lynn)
I'm A' Gettin' Ready to Go (Loretta Lynn)
I'm Gonna Kneel at the Feet of Jesus (G. Jones)
Legend of the Dogwood Tree
Medals for Mother (Osborne Brothers)
Oh Death
The Dead Shall Live Again
The Great Judgement Morning
The Greatest Friend of All (M. Montgomery)
You're the Only Bible (Atwood)

See ya next Sunday!


Lee