Good stuff from Goodwill

It's become obvious to me that I don't thrift nearly as often as I should. There was a time, not too long ago, when thrifting was my life. I need to thrift more aggressively. (I've always wanted to type "thrift more aggressively.") Not in the sense of grabbing a box of records and snarling "Out of my way!" but in the sense of getting back to my true calling.

Anyway, got a great haul at one of our two local Goodwills--a bunch of records had been dumped there, and what fun looking through them. And buying some. Therapy, I call it.

Here are some of my find highlights (find highlights?), starting, by accident, with a disc not from the haul--a Promenade label cover of Come Go with Me. The rest are from the haul, beginning with two by Pat Boone, whom I love, and who I never felt I had to disdain just because I also like Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed. Great singing is great singing, after all. I'll Be Home is crooner-Pat at his best, and I love his laid-back Tennessee Saturday Night. Pat is always welcome here.

The two Hit label sides are worth the whole download. First, a cover of Lorne Greene's big hit, Ringo, which sounds ilke Ted Cassidy (Lurch) at 16 rpm. Cherish the classic dangling participle--"Shot from behind, I thought he was dead." The flip, I can't find a thing out about (out about?). A Hit original, maybe? It's a cool period spoken patriotic number of the Walter Brennan type (always wanted to type that) called The Spirit of This Land, which happens to be narrated by the Spirit of the Land. The Flag was out of the studio, I guess. Of course, they could have had the Constitution narrate it, but they wanted a new twist.

Fred Waring's 1944 version of David Rose's Holiday for Strings (in a 45 rpm reissue) is gorgeous. It was co-arranged by Harry Simeone, years before he put his name on Katherine Davis' Carol of the Drum. The next three come from the 1963 Capitol collection, Chart Busters--Vol. 4--released by "popular demand," assures the back cover. We believe them. I'd meant to not include the Beach Boys track, but, oops. At any rate, the mono LP version of Be True to Your School isn't all over the place, so.... Also, the by-demand Donna Lynn's My Boy Friend Got a Beatle Haircut, and the Drew-Vels' superb Tell Him. The LP also features some group called the Beatles, along with Jody Miller, Al Martino, and Nat King Cole. How soon we forget that rock and roll wasn't the only thing on the charts back then.

From 45s, two fabulous 1950 Tommy Dorsey tracks--T.D.'s Boogie Woogie and Opus Two. I had to Google to find the flip side's title, since Goodwill had stuck the price sticker over it. All I could see was Two. (Tea for...? Cocktails for...?) Our playlist wraps up with the knock-down-drag-out Hit label version of My Bonnie, a cover of Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers. I guess the Beatles were into Kerouac and bongos at the time.

Click here to hear: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

COME GO WITH ME--Promineers.
I'LL BE HOME--Pat Boone, 1956.
TENNESSEE SATURDAY NIGHT--Pat Boone, 1955.
THE SPIRIT OF THIS LAND (Norris & Richards)--Charlie Rogers (Hit 155).
RINGO--John Preston (Hit 155).
HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS--Fred Waring and His Concert Vochestra, 1944.
MY BOYFRIEND GOT A BEATLE HAIRCUT--Donna Lynn, 1963.
BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL--Beach Boys, 1963.
TELL HIM--The Drew-Vels, 1963.
T.D.'s BOOGIE WOOGIE--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch., 1950.
OPUS TWO--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch., 1950.
MY BONNIE--The Boll Weevils (Hit 107).


Lee

Ferde Grofe's "Valley of the Sun Suite" (1952)

(From the liner notes): Ferde Grofe, composer of such well known works as the GRAND CANYON SUITE, MISSISSIPPI SUITE and the HUDSON RIVER SUITE, produced VALLEY OF THE SUN SUITE at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Honorable Howard Pyle, former Governor of Arizona, for the celebration of Reclamation's Golden Jubilee in 1952.

VALLEY OF THE SUN SUITE is the first and only musical story of the miracle of reclamation, and is basically the story of the SALT RIVER PROJECT, the nation's first multi-purpose reclamation project, which coupled the generation of electricity with a vast water storage system to provide a firm foundation for the burgeoning metropolis the Salt River Valley supports today.

More than a half century ago drought-ridden Salt Valley farmers banded together to organized the Project under the authorization of the National Reclamation Act which the late Theodore Roosevelt signed into law in 1902. Hydro electric power generated at Roosevelt Dam was sold to the Gila County copper mines and to power users in the Valley with the resultant revenue being used to assure the Valley of a constant water supply.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the 1952 premiere of the Valley of the Sun Suite, as conducted by Grofe and performed by the Arizona State College (Tempe) Symphonic Orchestra. The pieces opens in a beautifully moody manner with Valley of Ditches, employs themes from the composer's Rocketship X-M soundtrack in The Dam Builders, provides delightful dance music for the Masque of the Yellow Moon, and closes with the gorgeous Reclamation's Golden Jubilee (this blogger's favorite movement).

Today's offering is about as won't-hear-anyplace-else as it gets. To the suite: Valley of the Sun Suite

PLAYLIST

VALLEY OF THE SUN SUITE (Ferde Grofe)

1. VALLEY OF DITCHES
2. THE DAM BUILDERS
3. MASQUE OF THE YELLOW MOON
4. RECLAMATION'S GOLDEN JUBILEE

Arizona State College (Tempe) Symphonic Orchestra Conducted by Ferde Grofe.
Recorded by Arizona Recoding Productions, Phoenix.

(Canyon ARP 249)


Lee

The Sixties rock again! A Song Hits and Hit Parader concert.

Or should it be "the Sixties rocks again"? Collective nouns are always a problem. And I just lost all of the text I just typed--that hasn't happened for a while. Dang it. Firefox decided to crash, and I hadn't saved anything. Usually, Blogger auto-saves, but not this time.

Oh, well.

Anyway, the Hit Parader and Song Hits labels were put out by the magazines of the same names, and their material (none of it ever credited to anyone) was sub-par by sound-alike standards. In other words, sub-Tops, -Prom, -Hit, and even -Top 6. But it's awful in a way that (to my ears) makes it great fun. In a way which even makes it kind of arty. Call me crazy, but I've been called worse.

The labels' Beach Boys covers, in particular, were astonishingly lackluster, and even the Fab Four covers are drab, save for the sloppy but reasonably energetic She Loves You. Not so bad, however, are All Day and All of the Night (which fades out just as it catches its groove), Satisfaction, and an almost acceptable Leader of the Pack, on which the voices sound a little chipmunk-y. Wishin' and Hopin' (Bacharach-David) and Stranger in Town are pretty good, but the norm they're not.

I'd add Seventh Son (a cover of Johnny Rivers' rendition) to the pretty-good list, but it's not given any time to get going. That, plus the fake, imitation-live banter at the start sets new standards for fake.

Song Hits and Hit Parader didn't try very hard. And, for some reason, that makes their stuff all the more fun. To me, that is. Others, it may simply annoy. I don't know. Anyway, the two labels stayed in print for at least five years, and probably more like seven. Any Hit Parader/Song Hits historians, please feel free to share your stories and facts, however horrific they may be.

To the concert. You know you want to: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE


PLAYLIST

SHE LOVES YOU
PLEASE PLEASE ME
I FEEL FINE
WE LOVE YOU, BEATLES
HELP ME, RHONDA
SATISFACTION
ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT
YOU REALLY GOT ME
SEVENTH SON (W. Dixon)
LEADER OF THE PACK
I KNOW A PLACE
STRANGER IN TOWN (Del Shannon)
LONG LONELY NIGHTS
WISHIN' AND HOPIN' (Bacharach-David)
NOBODY I KNOW (Lennon-McCartney)


























Lee

Thriller: The Hungry Glass (1961)

Written and directed by The Twilight Zone's Douglas Heyes, the 1961 Thriller episode The Hungry Glass is an adaptation of Robert Bloch's The Hungry House. You wouldn't believe me if I told you that an episode starring Captain Kirk (William Shatner), the Professor (Russell Johnson), and Ellie Mae Clampett (Donna Douglas) was probably the scariest thing ever made for TV, so I'll just give you the link to a high-quality (and uncut!) upload of the episode--The Hungry Glass (1961)--where you can behold for yourself. Whoever put this one up, a million thanks.

There are a few Captain-Kirk-esque moments in his playing, but Shatner is otherwise terrific and utterly sincere, and Johnson couldn't be more convincing (and less Gilligan's Island) as the initially skeptical friend who quickly wishes he'd never convinced Shatner and wife to move into the spooky New England house with the too-welcoming mirrors (though they don't show up until about half-way) and an ocean view straight out of The Uninvited. (In fact, I wonder....)

Here's a piece about the nothing-to-do-with-Michael-Jackson Thriller: Thriller. Overall, the show was great, but it suffered from a lack of consistency in presentation, to put it mildly, given the way it switched off between crime and horror. And given the way Alfred Hitchcock didn't care for the competition it gave his own program on the same network (NBC). And, so, a third season was never to be. Meanwhile, Hitchcock's shows became highly Thriller-esque (in their hour versions, anyway), though without anything approximating the same flair.

I first saw The Hungry Glass (in a rerun) at the house of my maternal grandparents circa 1970, and, God, did it scare me. For months, I couldn't turn my back on a mirror--seriously. I'd run out of the bathroom before anything could get me. Shows like Thriller helped make it impossible for me to have a relaxing childhood. When I reflect on this episode today, I can see where it would have done that. It spooks me out even now. It takes me two minutes, tops, to forget that I'm watching Kirk, the Professor, and Ellie Mae (whose non-speaking part is small but memorable).

And I wish more Thriller episodes were out there, Net-wise--see this while you can. A polished and smashing installment, with a beautifully framed narrative that grabs the viewer from the first image.

Oh, and there's a fabulous Pete Rugolo score. They should have kept Pete on for more horror (vice crime/suspense) episodes, but they did not.


Lee

Flag Day 2009

To help us celebrate Flag Day, here are some reruns of works by the blogger himself. My not-overly-successful Star Spangled Burt (my so-so attempt to arrange the STB in Burt style) is joined by my Variations on the STB, which I initially didn't think worked out so well but now like. And the Star Spangled Rag, Star Spangled Malt Shop, and The STB on Mars.

As a reward for putting up with my pieces, you get Jaye P. Morgan belting out Yankee Doodle Boy. Turner Classic Movies® is keeping the flag waving today (saxophone music).

Oh, sorry. For a moment, I thought this was TCM®.

To the stuff: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

VARIATIONS ON THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER (Lee Hartsfeld), 2007.
THE STAR SPANGLED BURT (Lee Hartsfeld), 2008.
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER ON MARS (Lee Hartsfeld), 2008.
STAR SPANGLED MALT SHOP (Lee Hartsfeld), 2008.
THE STAR SPANGLED RAG (Lee Hartsfeld), 2008.
YANKEE DOODLE BOY (Cohan)--Jaye P. Morgan, 1960.


Lee

78 care, Pete Grendysa style

My e-buddy Pete Grendysa has given me permission to feature Part 3 of his 1984 Goldmine series, The Care of Feeding of 78s. Lots of very handy and interesting information here. You'll recall that we discussed the issue of whether or not to put water on shellac and/or how much, and what kind of detergent (if any), and now we have our answers. Oh, and whether or not to use those fancy, pricey cleaners we're supposed to use. Vinyl cleaning is briefly addressed, too.

You'll find the text here: The Care and Feeding of 78s, Part 3, by Peter Grendysa.

I left out the last paragraph, which was a teaser for Part Four. Otherwise, every word is as it appeared originally. Well, except it's not hard copy this time.

Sunday morning gospel--The Blankenships: House of a King

I love Appalachian-sounding gospel music, and, from the first note, these tracks by the Blankenships struck me as just that. Sure enough, I looked at the back jacket and beheld: "'Recorded in the Country' at Appalachia Sound Recording Studios, Chillicothe, Ohio."

That explains it.

Your classic circa-1972 small label gospel recording: generic cover, badly reproduced photo, and inspired music in the grooves. The contrast between 3) and both 1) and 2) can be delightful, as it is here. I love every note of this, though I do wish Higher Ground was the Charles H. Gabriel tune. Can't have everything.

Thanks, Jim and Linda, for the great sounds.

To the gospel: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

I HAD A VISION OF HEAVEN
HE PILOTS MY SHIP
I'M MOVING UP HOME SOMEDAY
TOURING THAT CITY
FAMILY REUNION
THE BEST IS YET TO COME
HOUSE OF A KING
HIGHER GROUND
GETTING READY TODAY



Lee