Halloween 2009, Part 3! Found Sound from Outer Space--Glenn Derringer

My copy of Found Sound from Outer Space came with a pile of 45s from eBay, and I was expecting campy sounds. I mean, it had to be campy--the Wurlitzer 4037 Organ with a built-in synthesizer (Orbit III) and tracks like Spinning Wheel and Aquarius.

And it is. It's also expertly arranged and brilliantly performed. The first question that came into my mind as I listened to these numbers: "Who is Glenn Derringer?"

So far, I've discovered that he was a child prodigy on the accordion, a la Dominic Frontiere. He made a 1956 LP for ABC-Paramount called Young Ideas--at the time, he was a performer on the Mickey Mouse Club. Plus a 1957 ABC LP called Accent on Youth. And a bunch of albums for Wurlitzer.

And he is or was the president of Kustom. Well, I knew he was somebody, as they say. And he is. So nice to see the ultra-talented succeed.

The perfect background for a space-music Halloween (and who doesn't want a space-music Halloween?). The music is great fun, and this guy is good. Scary-good. And scary fits with Halloween. My favorite? If I had to pick, it would be the beautifully Bach-style arrangement of Walter Donaldson's Love Me or Love Me.

No year, but we can guess 1969/70. To the spacey sounds:

ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

SLAYLIST

AQUARIUS (MacDermot, Rado, Ragni) SUNNY (Hebb) SPINNING WHEEL (Thomas) LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (Kahn, Donaldson) THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA (Jobim, Gimbel, DeMoraes) WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHIN' IN

Glenn Derringer, Wurlitzer 4037 Organ, w. Orbit III synthesizer.


























Lee