Adventures in record rescue

The Cloudburst portion of Grand Canyon Suite, broken in fourth....

Last post, I wrote about rejoining the two halves of a broken 78. Ernie, understandably skeptical, asked how the heck that was possible, and it occurred to me that the disc in question was merely split to the label, not broken in half. (See photos.) D'oh.

I guess I confused 1/4 with 1/2. People do it all the time. While I did get through my Math requirements in college, that was nearly twenty years ago. Plenty of time to forget about fractions and stuff.

A half, one-fourth--whatever. I just make the things sound good....


Lee, writer of fractured accounts

Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch., 1932: Grand Canyon--Suite

(Ferde, 78 from set, On the Trail sheet music.)

Here they are--all five movements of Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon--Suite as performed by Paul Whiteman's concert orchestra in 1932 for the Victor label. You will notice (by the absence of the "Scroll" label) that my edition is a reissue. But it's a good-sounding reissue, so all is well. And I had two sets to work from--the first from a Cincinnati used book store circa 1979, and the second an extra copy from the BGSU Sound Recording Archives, circa 1988. The second half of Cloudburst comes from the latter set, and--speaking of halves (quarters?)--the Cloudburst disc is split to the label. Luckily, the break is clean as can be, so I was able to get a fine-sounding file after carefully rejoining it. We can thank MAGIX and Magic Tape.

I kept the sound as vivid as possible without letting the upper end get too noisy--what a balancing act. In the end, I created fifteen audio files in addition to the project file, the effects file, and the file on which the various cuts, etc. are kept. And I kept my s... sa... san... sanity intact, somehow. (Hee, hee, ha, ha!)

So, you'll be hearing fifteen stages of noodling, splicing, and EQ'ing--the end product thereof. Whatever did humanity do before digital sound editing?

Don't forget to download both zip files (labeled Part 1 and Part 2 within the Savefile "project"), and prepare for one of the grandest audio journeys on disc. Truly awesome playing by the 1932 Whiteman orchestra.

Click here to reach files: Grand Canyon--Suite--Paul Whiteman Concert Orch., Parts 1 and 2.

PLAYLIST

Sunrise
Painted Desert
On the Trail
Sunset
Cloudburst

--Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch. 1932. Victor set C-18. (C=Concert Series)

Lee

1932 "Grand Canyon Suite" preview--only at MY(P)WHAE!

Two photos taken in my uncluttered, perfectly organized Media Room (which, you may recall, dates back to the time of Abe Lincoln, when our old house was a two-room, two-story affair). We see the cover to the 1932 Grand Canyon Suite 78 album (by Paul Whiteman's concert orchestra), and we see discs waiting their turn to be ripped and edited. I've been ripping them out of sequence, to be properly ordered once the editing is done. I'm picking the best sides from two copies of the 78 album, and doing them in sequence is the least of my worries--they were arranged, like many a later LP set, for changer play.

So far, so good. Here's a chunk of Cloudburst, which blows away even Ormandy's bigger, louder, later, hi-fi-er version:

1932 Grand Canyon Suite preview.

I'd forgotten how brilliant Grofe's original score was. Or, should I say, is. This is a living audio document, after all. And the Victor label engineers worked hard to ensure it was a near-perfect one. Grand just isn't the word.


Lee

Swinging' sounds for Monday!--Hangover Square, Horn Belt Boogie, It Should've Been Me!

For Ernie--who I hope is recovering without any problems from his awful bout of flu--we have Eddie Sauter's Hangover Square, recorded in 1946 by Ray McKinley and His Orch. What a piece; what an arrangement. In spite of the label (the cheap and noisy Majestic), I got a decent file. Toward the end, it sounds like the turntable got knocked or something, but I swear I did nothing to the equipment. I wonder what it was like hearing this offbeat side in 1946?

Then we move on to Mitch Miller. Yes, that Mitch Miller, directing a crack quintet that includes Stan (Come on-a My House) Freeman on harpsichord, and Gunther Schuller on French horn! The two selections are by the great Alec Wilder, one of many folks who fail to get their due due to all the hoopla over Raymond Scott.

What can I say about the Top Hatters, who covered Dim, Dim the Lights (the Bill Haley hit) and It Should've Been Me (Ray Charles) for the Cadence label in 1954? Well, not much--"Top Hatters" and "Dim, Dim the Lights" gives me eight entire matches on Google, and none of them look biographical. I can say that their voices sound funny, as if slowed down. Interesting that, in this early stage of the rock and roll takeover of the pop charts, anyone would think to slow down a singing group--quite the reverse of the tendency to come. And I have no idea what i just typed. Sounds good, though.

Zip ye straight to the zip file--you'll be glad you did. Swinging' Sounds for Monday!


PLAYLIST

HANGOVER SQUARE (Eddie Sauter)--Ray McKinley Orch., 1946.
SERENADE FOR HORNS (A. Wilder)--Mitch Miller, w. Stan Freeman, Gunther Schuller, 1951.
HORN BELT BOOGIE (A. Wilder)--Same guys.
IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ME (King Curtis)--The Top Hatters, 1954.
DIM, DIM THE LIGHTS (Ross-Dixon)--The Top Hatters, 1954.



Lee

At MY(P)WHAE: The importance of regular JRBs.

At MY(P)WHAE Text (where, anymore, I stick my rants), your author just had a Jon Robin Baitz.

Who Flushed JRB?

Amazing. Traditionally, those of us on the left have regarded neocons as our biggest, worst enemies. We forgot about the progressives.




Lee

Sunday Morning Gospel--Fairfield Highlands Baptist Church Choir

First-rate choral gospel sounds from the Fairfield Highland Baptist Church Choir of Fairfield Highlands, Alabama--I'm guessing from the late Sixties. We start with the version of Charles H. Gabriel's Send the Light that I've always hoped to find--mixed chorus, fast tempo, spirited (no pun intended) delivery. This two-chord smash hit of 1890 never sounded better, though you will hear more than two chords in the arrangement--the arranger understandably felt moved to move beyond I and V. Luckily for us, the embellishment is anything but excessive, and the singers are anything but reserved. This track opens Side Two of the LP, but I put it at the head of the line. There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save, after all.

A bunch of other great songs skillfully put across, including a Higher Ground (Gabriel, again) medley that includes He Lifted Me (Gabriel, again!), and The Solid Rock (William B. Bradbury). Witness how well the two Gabriel tunes sound at the end, one atop the other.

Says the back cover, "The purpose of this album is to make possible a permanent 'keepsake' in the homes of members, and friends of the Fairfield Highlands Baptist Church." Well, who wouldn't be a friend of the Fairfield Highlands Baptist Church after hearing these gems?


To the gospel: Sunday Morning Gospel, Apr. 6


TRACKLIST

Send the Light
There Is Power in the Blood (Trumpet: Dick Thomassian)
Higher Ground (Duet: Becky Jinks, Sylvia Mitchell)
Always the Same (Solo: Doug Williams)
No One Understands Like Jesus (Women's Ensemble)
We'll All Be There
His Yoke Is Easy
Jesus, the Name I Love to Hear
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder (Trumpet: Dick Thomassian)
King Jesus (Solo: Houston "Red" Bates)
Shall We Gather at the River



Lee