Otto Cesana and His Orch.: Sugar and Spice (1953), plus two bonus tracks!

So, I've decided to feature my recently-acquired 78s next week. Right now, we have Otto Cesana's Sugar and Spice, a ten-inch Columbia LP from 1953 whose eight tracks reappeared two years later on the twelve-incher, Ecstasy. In fact, all eight bands were crammed onto a single side of the latter LP.

I figured the original tracks would sound less compressed than their reissues, and I was right--they have much more bass, and fuller acoustics overall. However, I didn't expect them to be slower, which they are--by a whole tone and a half! I.e., the interval of a minor third. Assuming the Sugar and Spice tracks were mastered at the correct speed, then it's obvious they were sped up to fit Ecstasy's single-side playing length. Assuming.

I discovered this when I was forced to substitute Ecstasy's version of Marionette for the jump-filled Sugar and Spice version. (Very close examination revealed two very fine cross-cuts.) "Wait a minute--these aren't the same speed," I said to myself. Track comparison also revealed that wind effects were added to the start and finish of Whirlwind for the 1955 album. The stuff you learn at this place, no?

It's way too late to rename this blog Obscure Discoveries.

Anyway, Cesana's 1953 tracks are first-rate Forties-style pop instrumental in a David Rose, Meredith Willson, Morton Gould, Percy Faith mode (take your pick). I know--we've all been told that Space Age Pop, lounge, etc. dates back to only 1951 or so, but hopefully I've demonstrated the silliness of that idea by now. What's commonly accepted isn't always what's right. Cesana's music is pure Forties, which suits my ears just fine. We're talking a musical genre (or collection thereof) that peaked circa 1944, after all.

So, all eight tracks from Sugar and Spice (with a reissue band stuck in), PLUS the vocal-refrain version of Devotion and the sound-effects-added version of Whirlwind. Get your bonus tracks here, folks.

(Click here to reach zip folder: Otto Cesana: Sugar and Spice, 1953.)

PLAYLIST (All selections composed by Cesana.)

My Beloved
Hey, Professor! (Harpsichord: Bernie Leighton)
Devotion
Night Train
Mine at Last
Marionette (From CL 631)
Reflection
Whirlwind
Whirlwind (Reissued version)
Devotion (Vocal version)

(Ripped from Columbia CL 6261; CL 631; and 40767)


Lee

Eddy Arnold, R.I.P.

Courtesy of Ernie, I found out that the wonderful country artist Eddy Arnold died today at the age of 89. The Perry Como of country crooners, that Eddy.

Sunday, I plan to feature his RCA Victor album of Fanny Crosby songs--Blessed Assurance, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, Tell Me the Story of Jesus, and so on. Possibly the most sublime country gospel LP ever put together.

Read his NYT obit here: Eddy Arnold, 89, Country Singer with Pop Luster, Dies.

Rest in peace, Eddy.

Lee

Stuff to start the week off with

While I'm getting that batch of eBay 78s ready for listening (colloquial for "ready to listen to"), here's some stuff I'd prepared for the blog but had forgotten about. It's been sitting there, all ready to go. Here it is.

And we start with three Ferde Grofe goodies: 1) Steppin' Out, a song Grofe co-authored with banjoist Harry Reser, in a 1926 recording by the Jan Garber Orch. featuring Reser; 2) A great piano solo by Grofe on Paul Whiteman's 1922 recording of Chicago; and 3) The Whiteman orch. with the Henry Busse-Sam Ward-Ferde Grofe classic Nuthin' But.

Next up, the British R&B group The Pretty Things, from a U.S. copy of their first LP. I no longer have the LP, but I saved it to cassette. You're hear, within the space of three titles, the Things managing to sound like Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, and John Lee Hooker. Way like. The Things, in turn, were copied by others. Do we see a theme, here?

You're Ahead in a Ford, sung by the Four Lads, comes from a 1959 Ford give-away LP--an LP long gone from my collection. If only I'd known I'd have a blog someday--boy, the stuff I'd have kept. But how was I to know? Anyway, I don't know who the female soloist is, except that she's obviously not a lad.

Makin' Love Ukulele Style and Let's Harmonize are fun 1949 sides by Sammy Kaye and the the Kaydets, whose music we've been invited to swing and sway with. Don't be shy--it's half of the effect. Of course, in my dizzy, allergied-out state, I already feel as if I'm swinging and swaying.

We close with Nelson Riddle's instrumental version of I Wish You Love, which starts out sounding like the title music to a lost Clint Eastwood Dollars movie, and with the cool 1951 protest 78, Spring Song. It's not the Mendelssohn number, but it's still very arty stuff.

Click here to reach the zip file: Stuff to Start the Week off With

STUFFLIST

STEPPIN' AROUND (Grofe-Reser-?)--Jan Garber Orch., w. Reser on banjo, 1926.
CHICAGO (Fisher)--Paul Whiteman Orch., w. Ferde Grofe, piano; 1923. From HMV 78.
NUTHIN' BUT (Busse-Ward-Grofe)--Paul Whiteman Orch., 1923. From Victor 78.
ROAD RUNNER--The Pretty Things, 1964.
ROSALYN--The Pretty Things, 1964.
JUDGEMENT DAY--The Pretty Things, 1964.
YOU'RE AHEAD IN A FORD--The Four Lads, 1959. From give-away LP.
MAKIN' LOVE UKULELE STYLE--Sammy Kaye Orch., Kaydets, 1949.
LET'S HARMONIZE--Sammy Kaye Orch., Kaydets, 1949.
I WISH YOU LOVE--Nelson Riddle Orch., 1964.
SPRING SONG (Robinson-Schacter)--Hope Foye, Ernie Lieberman, 1951.


Lee

Sunday cats

"Hey, guys, wake up! We're late for church!"




Lee

Sunday, allergies, politics

Greetings. Sorry about the absence of a Sunday Morning Gospel post--I've literally been so sick from allergies, I couldn't focus closely enough to get it done. I had material already burned, but it needed to be converted to mp3 and uploaded. And written up, etc. I just didn't have the energy or concentration to do all the steps. And I don't feel much sharper now, as we speak. Tree pollen is the culprit, and the rain appears to have had approximately zero effect on it.

On the other hand, everything is blooming, and our back yard (the one that Bev planted) never looked more gorgeous. So, that's the good side to all this. I have some back-yard-that-Bev-made photos to go up sometime when my head stops spinning.

At the moment, I've been ripping and editing a group of 78s I got on the cheap from eBay, and what fabulous sides. I'll hopefully get these up in a day or two. If I needed a reminder of how much I love Fifties pop, these sides provided it with interest. Rock critics insist that it's the worst stuff ever produced, and let me say that they are entitled to be wrong.

One of these sides is called The Baion, which happens to be the beat that author Dominic Serene i.d.'s as the standard Burt Bacharach beat. And so I was expecting to hear just that. Instead, it's an entirely different pattern--the same one featured on the Dick Hyman Trio's 1956 classic, Junglero. Then again, there may be different versions of the baion, so this is something I'll have to investigate further. Stranger things have happened.

Now that I'm a little bit over my annoyance at Obama's terrible managing of the Wright situation, not to mention his inexcusable attempt to politically profit from it (which was both grandstanding in nature and plain dumb), I can't agree with our local big-city paper that Obama's ex-pastor is either unamerican or racist, no matter how his words may play in that regard. Wright's words really do need to be considered in the context of Black Liberation Theology. Bottom line: black Americans have made remarkable gains, but we're talking very recent history. Knowing this, people should be willing to cut Wright the slack he's owed, even if they know nothing about his brand of preaching. Unfortunately, such slack is not going to be cut, and it was vital that the Obama campaign show the utmost wisdom in dealing with the situation. What they showed wasn't wisdom.

And now we see any number of people blaming Wright, the press, and anyone who who supports Hillary for the mess. They'd better not get around to blaming any of our 20 cats, because then I'll really get sore.

Anyway, when every other object of blame has been used, there's always space dust and the pollen count.

Aren't you glad I shared?

Lee