Greetings. All selections were ripped from vinyl except for March for Americans, which I ingeniously rescued from shellac. I say "ingeniously," because I somehow managed to reintroduce some lower frequencies to the performance. And I did so ingeniously--by pushing up the slides from about 200-600 Hz.
"So, Lee, how did you manage to boost the bass?" "By pushing up the slides." "Ohhhhh-kay."
O.K., so I chose the most obvious solution. But sometimes that takes genius. (Somebody, get me out of this.)
Thus, I brought the recording back to life. It's running around someplace. Hiding, probably. Come out, come out, wherever you are.
I rescued the big band titles from one of those cursed "electronically re-recorded to simulate stereo" collections. My mono-restoration trick was simple, but it worked. Success and simplicity make for a wonderful combination (he typed, humbly).
Frank Loesser and Irving Berlin are represented by two titles apiece--all four are gems, itbo (in this blogger's opinion). If I had to pick two (one each), they'd be God Bless America (Berlin) and Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (Loesser). Is the second title ironic, you wonder? Well, seeing as how there was approximately no room for irony in WWII, I'd say.... um.... No.
Fellow blogger Ernie may be interested to know, if he doesn't already, that Bill Finegan arranged Glenn Miller's swinging version of the Civil War classic When Johnny Comes Marching Home. (Ernie's a Sauter-Finegan fan.) I wrote about the song's history a while back--it was based on one of the bleakest anti-war statements ever put into music.
I don't know if Paul Anka's Longest Day rendition is from the year of the movie (1962), or if he redid it. I'm guessing 1962, but a guess is just a guess (and a stab is just a stab). Paul can hold a tune, I suppose, though he did a much better job writing the things. In my opinion.
Percy Faith's version of This Land Is Your Land out-New-Christy-Minstrelses the New Christy Minstrels by a factor of five. Or six.
Yes, I typed "out-New-Christy-Minstrelses." A good time to get to the music, and fast:
Memorial Day, Part 1
March for Americans (Grofe)--Meredith Willson and His Concert Orch., 1941. From Decca 78.
I Am an American (Carmen Dragon)--Edward G. Robinson with the U.S. Air Force Band, 1971.
This Land Is Your Land--Percy Faith and His Orchestra.
God Bless America (Berlin)--Kate Smith.
This Is the Army, Mr. Jones (Berlin)--Hal Mcintyre and His Orchestra; vocal: Jack Lathrop.
We Did It Before--Barry Wood and the Wood Nymphs.
They're Either Too Young or Too Old (Schwartz-Loesser)--Jimmy Dorsey and His Orch.; vocal: Kitty Kallen, 1943.
The Longest Day (Jarre-Anka)--Paul Anka.
American Salute (Morton Gould)--The United States Air Force Band, 1969.
A Salute to the Armed Forces of the United States--USAFB, Singing Sergeants, 1969.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home--Glenn Miller and His Orchestra; vocal by Tex Beneke and Marion Hutton. Arranged by Bill Finegan.
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (Loesser)--Merry Macs, 1942.
Part 2 will feature WWI-era 78s and three more WWII titles. Plus, whatever else I might manage to get ready on time.
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend....
Lee
