Sounds for Friday! Dogs barking, birds chirping, people stomping, pianists boogying...

We see before us (or right above us, anyway) a "popular classical" RCA Victor 45 from 1949 or 1950. Notice the 52- prefix and the midnight blue wax. Notice the silhouette of my fingers as they hold the disc in front of my desk light for the photo.

I mean, take no notice of the silhouette of my fingers as they hold the disc in front of the desk light.

You may be thinking, "Oh, boy--Al Goodman and His Orchestra. How exciting can things get?" And meaning it sarcastically. But this is an Al Goodman side to be treasured. It is nothing less than the best version I've yet heard of George Voelker's great descriptive novelty of 1894, A Hunt in the Black Forest. A Boston Pops staple. A terrific piece of light music whose ending is best described as Spike Jones turned to eleven.

Ah, now you're excited! (If only because it's Friday.) At three grams, my new stylus did a fabulous job of tracking this somewhat worn record. A little MAGIX filtering, and we're off! (Clippity-clop-clop....)

Paul (Hot Canary) Nero's Beverly Hill Billy is making its third audio appearance here. This 1950 gem is... a gem. I just said that. The rocking 1951 Brother Fats--recorded by Ray Anthony, no less--really rocks. Yes. And 1956's Butternut was co-written by George Harrison, though I'm guessing not by that George Harrison.

It's a rockin' gem. (Rock and gem?) In a Latin American way. Dance from Bonjour Tristesse, from 1958, is from the movie Bonjour Tristesse of 1958. (Is there an echo in here?) Georges Auric, the composer, was a member of Les Six. He wrote lots of movie scores, including Jean Cocteau's 1946 Beauty and the Beast.

Percy Faith's Perpetual Notion, from 1949, previously showed up at my Vintage Lounge blog. It's from 1949. (Hello....) And we have other tracks. I'm not up to writing about them, so let's just mosey on over to the playlist--the Friday playlist that I put together for Friday. (This is Friday, isn't it?)

Sounds for Friday!

PLAYLIST

A HUNT IN THE BLACK FOREST (Voelker)--Al Goodman and His Orch., 1949-ish.
BEVERLY HILL BILLY (Nero)--Paul Nero and His Entourage, 1950.
BROTHER FATS (Skylar)--Ray Anthony Orch., 1951.
BUTTERNUT (Cecil R. Harris-Geroge Harrison)--Dick Jacobs Orch., 1956.
DANCE FROM BONJOUR TRISTESSE (Auric)--George Cates Orch., 1958.
PERPETUAL NOTION (Faith)--Percy Faith Orch., 1949.
STOMP AND WHISTLE (Overbea)--Harry James Orch., feat. Buddy Rich, 1954.
TARRENTELA ROCK--Frank Sandy and the King's Men, 1958. ("Bay-beh!!")
THE CREEP (Burton-Sigman)--Larry Clinton Orch., 1953.
THIS SONG IS FOR THE BIRDS--Spike Jones & His City Slickers, 1955.
WHERE HAS MY LITTLE DOG GONE--Frank Froeba.


Yes, I think it's Friday. All day, as they say.


Lee

Country to rockabilly--It's MAGIX!

I heard that Rolling Stone has put out yet another history of rock and roll. The text is brief and to the point: "Elvis invented rock and roll. The End."

Critics are already calling it "thorough" and "nuanced."

Anyway, we've been told that music of the 20th century turns on the sessions recorded at Sun in 1954 and 1955 by Elvis, Scotty, and Bill, and I'm not here to argue with anything that PBS believes. However, I'm a little weirded out by the fact that, the moment I add a little echo (and a touch of reverb to produce that muddy Sun sound), I'm able to transform the 1952 Carlisles hit No Help Wanted into Sun flare. I mean, fare.

The sacred Sun sound--simply recreated with a few MAGIX knobs. I hope I'm not hunted down for this.

And I won't even mention the Little Junior Parker sessions that Sam had Elvis and Co. copy. Again, I do NOT argue with PBS. Nor have I ever suggested that the last two letters of PBS stand for... well, something.

Besides, we're not allowed to disagree with received ideas about pop culture. Unless we want to be lectured about "nuance." Which is incorrectly used to mean (see one of my previous posts).

So, you'll hear the 1952 No Help Wanted in all of its no-effects-added glory. Then you'll hear the same track after I add a touch of echo and a tiny bit of reverb (the latter in the hopes of giving the track that foggy, compressed Sun sheen). The trick is to kill the treble and then recreate a version of it by squashing the sound. These tactics sound bizarre when explained, but if they work, that's all that matters.

The lead guitarist is the late Chet Atkins, who doesn't count in early r&r history because he could play too many notes.

I think I've been sufficiently brittle in my prose. To the tracks:


Country to rockabilly--It's MAGIX!

No Help Wanted (Bill Carlisle)--The Carlisles, feat. Chet Atkins, 1952. No effects added.
No Help Wanted (Bill Carlisle)--The Carlisles, etc., 1952. Effects added.



Lee

Two requests.

Brush your teeth. And wash behind your ears. That's all I ask. (Oops. Wrong topic.)

I forgot--we're talking about requests I've received. And, in fact, there are four of them being honored today. Tonight. Whenever.

The reason I usually shy away from requests is because I rarely have time to get to them. But this is a light-request period. For the moment. (Christmas is coming.)

Sooo... we start with Art Mooney's Sinner's Train, which I'd planned to include in one of the slaylists, except I couldn't find it. Well, I found it--but only at the end of a second long search. It was (you'll never anticipate the ironic payoff) exactly where it should have been--in my "Big Band" box of 45s. It took me two long searches to discover that I'd filed it correctly.

Ha, ha, ha, ha. It was right where it was supposed to be!

So, imagine how much time it takes me to find things I haven't filed correctly.

Sinner's Train--Art Mooney, His Orch. and Cho., 1956.

Marty asked to hear Lena Horne's recording of New-Fangled Tango from the Bob and Ray/Living Stereo/various artists LP, and it is here to hear. In Living Stereo, no less.

New-Fangled Tango (Dubey-Karr)--Lena Horne, 1958.

And I've had a bunch of requests over the months for Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues--the 1953 (well, 1952) song that, shall we say, inspired Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. And we've got it. It's from the 1953 Jenkins LP, Seven Dreams, though I can't remember which one. Certainly, Johnny Cash was dreaming if he thought for one moment that his blatant... er... borrowing would go unnoticed. Granted, the twelve-bar-blues form isn't copyrightable, but, generally speaking, melodies and lyrics are. Took him a while to get sued for it, though.

I remember how disappointed I was when I discovered, via this track, that my favorite Johnny Cash song had actually been written by Gordon Jenkins. If you've never heard this, be prepared emotionally, psychologically, and philosophically for the audio revelation that awaits you. (Insert Halloween scream.)

Crescent City Blues (Jenkins)--Beverly Mahr, 1953.

And we end with a suite movement Grofe borrowed from himself. (Say what?) The Dam Builders, the second movement of Grofe's Valley of the Sun suite, mostly consists of music previously used in Rocketship X-M. To wit, some of the cues from the latter part of that magnificent soundtrack. We'll be hearing the Arizona State College Symphonic Orchestra, circa 1952, recorded live.

The Dam Builders (Grofe), from Valley of the Sun suite--Arizona State College Symphonic Orch., c. 1952.

MY(P)WHAE, your source for my(p)whae. Coincidence? MY(P)WHAE doesn't think so.



Lee

Sunday morning gospel: Church Service for the Home, with Evangelist Clarence Jackson

Music from the Ashcraft First Church of God in Dayton, Ohio, (probably) 1970. Clarence Jackson, the man who introduces each selection, refers at some point to a revival that began in the winter just before 1970, and I'm guessing he meant the revival in progress. Ergo, I think the recording date was 1970. But I don't know for sure.

I haven't checked the Internet for a Rose Records (of Vandalia, Ohio) discography, but I'm guessing there isn't one. In fact, I just now checked--nope. No Rose Records discography.

And they say you can find anything on the Internet. Well, "they" are wrong.

Anyway, some excellent, very down-home gospel. Not the down-homest I've ever heard, but it's in the ball park. (I have no idea what I just typed. Nor do I want to know.) I love these tracks. Expect all the passion, but none of the polish, of a Gaither gospel sing. Gaither performances are uncanny in their robotic perfectness. Nothing against the Gaithers, but I prefer more humble offerings like these. The recording is very, very good--Rose Records knew how to make these things.

This playlist is dedicated to richard dawkins.

If I weren't dozing off at the keyboard as I type this, I'd say more. But I.... (Zzzzzz.)

Click here for the music: ZIP NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

Going to Live in Green Pastures--The Christian Family
Live Like Jesus--The Gospel Harmoneers
I Want to See Jesus--The Christian Family
Thank God, I Am Free (Hemphill)--The Gospel Harmoneers
Oh, Praise the Lord (Bea Collins)--The Christian Family and The Gospel Harmoneers
Had It Not Been (R. Goodman)--The Christian Family
Prayer--Reverend Vernon B. Collins


See ya next Sunday!

Lee