Weekend Pops concert--Band of the Royal Air Force, Frank Westphal, Victor Military Band, more!

Ten Pops classics ripped from my collection--all but the David Whitehall sides are from 78s. All but two are making repeat appearances. Of the two new sides, Where the Volga Flows is a fun mix of Russian melodies by Cui, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. (If you can I.D. anyone else, let me know.) In 1940, the main theme was turned into the pop hit On the Isle of May by easy-listening great Andre Kostelanetz and Mack David (brother of Hal and lyricist for Burt Bacharach's Baby, It's You and The Blob!). I have a copy lying around someplace in my vast piles o' sheet music.

The other "new" side, the Victor Military Band's 1911 recording of Irving Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime Band, is exceptionally well done and a taste of dance music to come.

David Rose's Our Waltz is performed by the composer himself (well, and his orchestra), but don't ask me when it was recorded--the year isn't showing up on Rhapsody, and I don't remember if this is the 1942 original or a rip from the Coronet label. I don't know why Rhapsody fails to display the year info, but it does so consistently. We can give it that, at least.

I'm guessing it's the 1942 version, which would mean I ripped it from a 45 rpm RCA EP (which would put the vinyl count at three). It's great, wherever I got it from....

Click here to reach zip file: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

A HUNT IN THE BLACK FOREST--Band of the R.A.F., Cond. by J.H. Amers (1931) IN A CLOCK STORE (Orth)--Same (1931) WHERE THE VOLGA FLOWS (David, Katzman)--Frank Westphal and His Rainbo O. (1922) ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND (Berlin)--Victor Military Band (1911) VENUS AND BACK (Shaw)--The Coronet Orch. (1954) BEYOND THE SEA--Macklin Marrow, MGM Orch. (1948) SONG OF THE FLAME (Gershwin-Harbach-Hammerstein-Stothart)--David Whitehall and His O. (Circa 1957) MANHATTAN SERENADE (Adamson-Alter)--David Whitehall and His O. (Circa 1957) OUR WALTZ (Rose)--David Rose Orch. THE SKATERS-WALTZ (Waldteufel)--International Novelty O., Dir. Nat Shilkret (1926)


Lee

Castle House Rag, and other great 78s

78s from my collection, lovingly and obsessively ripped, filtered, and edited. The Castles in Europe (Castle House Rag) is making its third or fourth appearance here, and in a new rip. You'll also hear the flip side, Castle's Lame Duck, which must refer to a dance invented by Irene and Vernon Castle. Googling "Lame Duck," "dance," and "Castle" might solve the mystery, but I'm strapped for time here. I picture a group of dancers dragging their right or left foot across the floor in slow 4/4. It's not an elegant picture....

Go here for info on Irene and Vernon Castle and James Reese Europe (the "Europe" of Europe's Society Orchestra). And Bill Reed writes about Europe here.

Then we move to the big band era, 1939-1942-style, with sides by Red Nichols, Bob Chester, Mitchell Ayres, and Guy Lombardo, whose version of Ernesto Lecuona's Jungle Drums is quite nice. Mitchell Ayres, of course, became Perry Como's musical director.

Then we zoom on back to the Twenties, with The Peerless Quartet and Frank Westphal and His Orch. (separately, not together). The former perform George Gershwin's first big hit, Swanee, and Westpahl gives us a charming dance novelty called Birdie, complete with sound effects. A very chirpy performance.

Click here to reach the zip file: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

CASTLE HOUSE RAG (THE CASTLES IN EUROPE)--Europe's Society Orch., 1914.
CASTLE'S LAME DUCK--Europe's Society Orch., 1914.
OUR LOVE--Red Nichols and His Orch.; vocal: Bill Darnell.
YOU'RE SO DESIRABLE--Red Nichols O., vocal: Bill Darnell.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ (LOOKIN' FOR MY HONEY)--Bob Chester Orch., 1940.
UNDER A STRAWBERRY MOON--Mitchell Ayres and His Fashions in Music; vocal: Meredith Blake, 1942.
KASHMIRI SONG--Joe Reichman and His Orch., 1942.
JUNGLE DRUMS--Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, 1940.
SWANEE (I. Caesar-G. Gershwin)--Peerless Quartet, 1920.
BIRDIE--Frank Westphal and His Rainbo Orch., 1922.


Lee

Wall Street, weak?

Maybe, but its greed is stronger than ever. At Huffington Post, bloggers and comment-section scribes alike are raging over the CEO bonuses and the like--just pages and pages of angry posts and long threads containing....

Er....

Sorry, my bad. I'm thinking of their response to the Rick Warren invocation. And the long threads that accompanied news of Obama's faith-based initiatives. The Wall Street stuff is getting a fraction of that response. If that.

Even MSNBC's Keith Olbermann isn't very flushed over the flushing of our bailout dough, though I remember him getting all red-faced over Warren and even featuring a state-church-separation expert on his show (maybe Keith thinks religion isn't allowed in public). If only Keith could channel some of that annoyance toward this latest abuse of $$ by the $$ people. Then he could teach Huff-Po how to.

This is all good news to the W. Street fat cats (no, that's not a rock band), none of whom need expect a serious scolding from the liberal community. They wouldn't listen, anyway--they're too busy rolling in their (cue the sound file):

Money--"Beatlemania" LP (Top Six TSL 1)

And my "Wall Street weak" pun is all over Google. I guess it's not mine.



Lee, too young to remember when (or if) liberals got upset over corporate greed

Ohhhhhhhhh-kay....

According to the Entertainment section of today's Columbus Dispatch, The Cowboy Junkies "blend rural, poetic sensibilities with gauzy rock."

Yeah, well, someone has to, I guess.

Sunday morning gospel--Charles H. Gabriel, Part 5

Welcome to the fifth installment of my series devoted to the brilliant gospel songwriter Charles H. Gabriel (1856-1932),

1917's Thou Mighty to Save features words by the great Fanny (Francis J.) Crosby--this was one of a handful of Crosby/Gabriel collaborations, and I love it. The 1895 hit Let the Sunshine In is not to be confused with the Stuart Hamblen hit Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine In) of sixty years later. Or the Fifth Dimension oldie from Hair. Well, unless you want to.

Sail On is the first Gabriel number I ever noticed. This was about twenty years ago; I had the 1917 Billy Sunday Chorus recording, and I had to know more about the composer (and, in fact, lyricist) behind this incredibly distinguished gospel song. I just knew he was somebody significant. I was more correct than I could have guessed.

Click here to reach zip file: ZIP NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

AWAKENING CHORUS--Salem United COC Men's Chorus
AWAKENING CHORUS--The Harmony Singers
THOU MIGHTY TO SAVE (Crosby-Gabriel)--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Choir
THOU MIGHTY TO SAVE--The S.F. Bay Cities Crusade Choir, 1960.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN--Charles Turner
LET THE SUNSHINE IN--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Q.
MY SAVIOR'S LOVE--Mack Evans
MY SAVIOR'S LOVE--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Q.
MY SAVIOR'S LOVE--The Envoys
BRIGHTEN THE CORNER--The White Sisters, 1962.
BRIGHTEN THE CORNER WHERE YOU ARE--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Q.
GLORY IN MY SOUL--Ralph Carmichael Quartet
THERE'S A RAINBOW ON THE CLOUD--Homer Rodeheaver, 1923.
I NEED JESUS--Homer Rodeheaver, 1925.
SAIL ON--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Quartet
I WILL NOT FORGET THEE--Old Fashioned Revival Hour Q., 1969.


Lee