Easy Listening Blowout, Part Two!

So, you ask, can Tchaikowskiana really be considered an example of easy listening? And since when is Tchaikovsky spelled "Tchaikowsky"?

These are good questions, and they deserve to be answered. The answer to question #2, of course, is that "Tchaikowsky" is the old-fashioned American spelling. You see it all over sheet music and records. And I hate it when people write their name over all things. (Sound of tin cans crashing.)

That didn't quite work. But we'll pretend it did and just move on....

Question #1--can this fantasia on T. themes be considered vintage easy listening? Yes, I think so. After all my years of studying the pop instrumental genre, I'm still inclined to think that easy listening (as we know and love it) evolved directly from the light/semi-/middle-brow orchestral music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Proving it is the hard part, of course. Sure, I have any number of examples that would seem to support my notion, but organizing data around a thesis--as common as the practice may be--isn't valid scholarship. Only preponderance of historical evidence can prove a hypothesis like mine, especially given its very general nature. And I don't have close to all the data I need. All I can say at this point is that the suggestion doesn't contradict the data I've collected. Which is a lot more than nothing, to be sure.

I'll bet you didn't know how academic this blog is. Now you do. For more than 20 years, I've been studying this branch of pop music--and you can see what it's done to my once fine mind. Don't follow my tragic example.

But DO give a listen to these excellent, superb, compelling, and not at all shabby easy listening gems from the days when things were cheaper and highway traffic was lighter. The fun starts with three Vincent Youmans selections played (and, presumably, arranged) by Russ Case, who provided some superb arrangements for both Perry Como and Andre Kostelanetz. (Around this blog, that's a major endorsement.) I rescued these from a 45 EP, and I'm guessing the original recording date to be in the 1945-48 range. In all probability, it originated as a 78 set. In time, it'll show up on some list, or in a thrift, or a 1940s RCA catalog. I have faith.

Next up, two 1952 sides by Mitch Miller, both superbly arranged and superbly easing. As easy should be. The first number is by Jimmy Carroll, who arranged for Columbia and the Bell label, and who gave us the Sing Along with Mitch sound. (So there.) Harpsichord by Buddy Weed and Stan (Come On-a My House) Freeman, respectively. I love the muted chorus on the first--were they singing from another room, possibly? Great effect. Ripped from a white label DJ 78.

Tchaikowskiana, arranged by Herman Hand for Paul Whiteman, is a fantasia on T. themes, and is very well done, considering how hokey it could have turned out. Adapting famous melodies and shaping them into a medley is a tradition (or, some snobs would say, a crime) that continues to this day. What some might dub a weird relic from 1928, I call pop music as usual.

Easy listening as we know and love it existed in full by 1940. Proof: Andre Kostelanetz' Highlights from Porgy and Bess, a Gershwin medley arranged by Nathan Van Cleave (who later penned music for The Twilight Zone). My 78 gets a little noisy by the end of Side 2, but that can happen. Old records, old needles, the forces of time. They all work together to make audio restoration a more challenging and interesting task. (Damn shellac discs!) Oops. I don't know who said that. It wasn't me.

Click here to reach the music: Easy Listening Blowout, Part 2

PLAYLIST

TEA FOR TWO(Caesar-Youmans)--Russ Case Orch. and Chorus.
HALLELUJAH (Robin-Grey-Youmans)--Russ Case Orch. and Chorus.
GREAT DAY (Caesar-Youmans)--Russ Case Orch. and Chorus.
JUST DREAMING (J. Carroll)--Mitch Miller Orch., Buddy Weed, harpsichord, 1952.
WITHOUT MY LOVER (BOLERO GAUCHO)--Mitch Miller Orch., Stan Freeman, harp., 1952.
TCHAIKOWSKIANIA (Arr: Herman Hand)--Paul Whiteman Orch., 1928. From 12" 78.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM PORGY AND BESS (Arr: Nathan Van Cleave)--Andre Kostelanetz, 1940.

Lee

Early Burt Special, 2008--Part 4

What an interesting credit: Hilliard-Backrack. The same spelling shows up on the flip side. Sorry about that, Mr. Bacharach.

I'm typing this with a temperature of 99.5. That doesn't sound like much until you realize my average temp is around 97.0. I'm hoping it's not a respiratory infection, because those are never good things. I don't know anyone who thinks so, either.

Backrack. That must have made Burt feel really special.

Take Me To Your Ladder (I'll See Your Leader Later) is not something I expected to like, but I do sort of enjoy it, silly background singing and all. And the oddly-titled flip is a decent enough teen ballad--nothing special, but nothing embarrassing, either. I give Hilliard and Backrack (whoever he is) a C-plus for these.

That Kind of Woman is, in my estimation, the Early-Burt masterpiece of them all. Just an astonishingly excellent song beautifully performed and arranged. But the tune was changed in a way that didn't please Burt (on the insistence of the publishers, I believe), and he's more or less disowned it. Now, if I had written something this extraordinarily good, I'd be bragging from here to Jupiter about it, changes or no. But that's me.

Roseanne and Searching Wind are two Burt piano solos-with-orchestra (hm... would that still be a solo?) from 1957. The songwriters are Manning-Osser-Osser (?) and Heyman-Young, respectively--Burt is the piano man only. And a very, very good one, as we'd expect, though I'm glad he didn't permanently settle into a Roger Williams groove. (And I've always wanted to type "settle into a Roger Williams groove.") Still, it's nice to hear him showcased in this way.

The Morning Mail is simple but very catchy light rock and roll, skillfully rendered by The Gallahads, who remind me here of The Silhouettes. Sort of the song and the singers. Very Get a job-esque, and earlier.

To the Early Burt: Early Burt Special, 2008--Part 4

PLAYLIST

Take Me To Your Ladder (I'll See Your Leader Later) (Hilliard-B.)--Buddy Clinton, 1960.
Joanie's Forever (Hilliard-B.)--Buddy Clinton, 1960.
That Kind of Woman--Joe Williams w. Jimmy Jones Orch., 1958.
Roseanne (Manning-Osser-Osser)--Burt Bacharach, piano, w. Marion Evans Orch., 1957.
Searching Wind (Heyman-Young)--Burt Bacharach, piano, w. Marion Evans Orch., 1957.
The Morning Mail--The Gallahads w. Billy Mure's Orch., 1956.


More to come!


Lee

"What's New, Pussycat?" corrected

The correct version, this time! Joe wrote to let me know I'd uploaded Tom Jones' version by mistake for Early Burt Special, Part 2--so, here's the right track (from the Hector label), and by its lonesome for your convenience:


What's New Pussycat (Hector Records 1779)

Sorry about that!

Now to fix another file mishap--apparently, something went very wrong with this year's rip of Ferde Grofe's Christmas Eve. I'll try to figure out what....




Lee

Happy Birthday, Reverend King!

Several sources cite I Want to Be Like Jesus as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s favorite hymn. If so, Rev. King had especially inspired taste. For this post, I've freshly ripped my 78 rpm recording of the great spiritual, as recorded for Victor in 1927 by the Tuskegee Quartet. And I've added the flip side, a version of Go Down Moses in Major mode for a change.

We also have Mahalia Jackson, whom I could listen to forever, and Jimmy Dean (yes, that Jimmy Dean) and Anita Bryant, who give us exceptional versions of Take My Hand, Precious Lord and Just a Closer Walk with Thee, respectively.


Click here to reach Music for Martin Luther King Day.


PLAYLIST

We Shall Overcome--Mahalia Jackson
The Old Rugged Cross--Mahalia Jackson
How I Got Over--Mahalia Jackson
Take My Hand, Precious Lord--Jimmy Dean
Just a Closer Walk with Thee--Anita Bryant
Take My Hand Precious Lord--Mahalia Jackson
I Want to Be Like Jesus--Tuskegee Quartet, 1927.
Go Down Moses--Tuskegee Quartet, 1927.



Lee