Rock Along with Mitch, Part 5--The "Big Ten Inch Record" connection

I refer to the Big Ten Inch Record song by Fred Weismantel, which was recorded in 1952 by Bull Moose Jackson, and not the excellent blog by that title, though the latter is always worth checking out.

It seems that Fred wrote songs (and, according to a Youtube blurb, also produced sessions) for the Columbia quartet The Four Voices. The best of that bunch, the superb Lovely One, was a top 40 hit in 1956 and is included in today's playlist along with two others written by Weismantel--the memorable Angel of Love and the rather contrived, but still interesting, Sidewalk Bop.

Lovely One is new to me and a total delight to discover (sorry about the so-so sound--I dubbed it from a VG- copy). As a rock and roll production and arrangement, it's the equal of Devil or Angel or Oh What a Nite, and it belies the stereotype of stiff, unsoulful white cover versions in that 1) it's anything but stilted and 2) it wasn't, to the best of my knowledge, a cover. Our fourth track, by the Four Coins, is definitely a cover--and an excellent one.

Now, Rock History is weird regarding... well, just about everything, but especially in regard to white covers of black R&B hits. The practice is seen as a crime to the original titles and artists, and there's very good reason to see them as such--they took sales away from same and often (but by no means always) lacked the freshness and drive of the copied performances.

Yet, somehow, when Elvis came along and covered black material, or when Buddy Holly swiped from Bo Diddley, or when, years later, British youth made like Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters--suddenly, "covers" were a good thing. An original, white thing, even. Theft ceased to be theft, because, apparently, when you do a really, really good job at swiping something, it's no longer an instance of swiping.

Anyway, we continue with two 1954 r&r-style hits by the Four Coins (at least one--I Love You Madly--being a cover) and a 1955 title in the same vein, PLUS the Four Lads, in 1955, covering Pledging My Love. Columbia's plan was masterful, not to mention original--avoiding rock and roll by recording it.

We keep the "doo wop" motif going with the Metrotones' 1955 Columbia disc, Tonight, which steals La Paloma for its melody. And the Four Voices return for the elaborate (but rocking) Geronimo, which I added to fill out the list to ten tracks. And because it's a great side, its un-p.c. moments notwithstanding.

To the music: Rock Along with Mitch, Part 5 (Mitch, Part 15)


PLAYLIST

LOVELY ONE (Fred Weismantel)--The Four Voices w. Ray Conniff, 1956.
ANGEL OF LOVE (F. Weismantel)--The Four Voices w. Ray Conniff, 1957.
SIDEWALK BOP (F. Weismantel)--The Four Voices w. Ray Conniff, 1957.
STORY UNTOLD--The Four Coins w. Don Costa Orch., 1955.
I LOVE YOU MADLY (C. Jones)--The Four Coins, 1954.
MAYBE (Croswell)--The Four Coins, 1954.
MY ANXIOUS HEART (Sanford--O. Jones)--The Four Coins, 1955.
PLEDGING MY LOVE (FOREVER MY DARLING)--The Four Lads, 1955.
TONIGHT (Wolfson-White-Cassin)--The Metrotones w. Sid Bass Orch., 1955.
GERONIMO (Ebb-Klein-Coleman)--The Four Voices w. Ray Conniff, 1956.


Lee

Ahhhhhhhhh.... no.

Rock along with Tony!

Close Your Eyes (B. Petkere)--Tony Bennett (Columbia 4-40427; 1955)


I love it! Composer Bernice Petkere also wrote Lullaby of the Leaves.


Lee

Mitch, Part 14: Thirty Sing Along Favorites, Vol. 1--Voices from the Harry Simeone Chorale

From 1961, we have Carol of the Drum borrower Harry Simeone sounding uncannily like Mitch Miller and the Gang. The LP is Thirty Sing Along Favorites, Vol. 1 and the label is 20th Fox (no "Century"). And this is the Twil....

Oops; wrong opening. The front jacket, by the way (see above), includes "Century" in the logo (as Mel correctly points out), but the label leaves it out. Until 1963, "20th Fox" was the official name, after which "Century" was added. Even the Both Sides Now discographers don't know why. To confuse everyone, possibly.

I was expecting better sound from 20th Fox--this isn't exactly classic mono fidelity. But it's adequate. It's better than Golden Tone, anyway. (We pause as that last statement echoes down the long and lonely corridors of the Hall of Small Compliments.)

Oh, no--do I have to list all these titles? Yes, I suppose I do. I draw the line, though, at typing out the words.

Click here to hear: Thirty Sing Along Favorites, Vol. 1


SINGLIST

1. CHARMAINE/DEAR OLD GIRL/CLEMENTINE
2. TEN LITTLE FINGERS AND TEN LITTLE TOES/SHE'LL BE COMING 'ROUND THE MOUNTAIN/HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE
3. ONCE IN A WHILE--HONEY, HONEY, BLESS YOUR HEART--CARELESS LOVE
4. SLEEPY TIME GAL/KENTUCKY BABE/LISTEN TO THE MOCKING BIRD
5. RAMONA/AURA LEE/LI'L LIZA JANE
6. BILL BAILEY WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME/TOOT, TOOT, TOOTSIE!/FUNICULI, FUNICULA
7. HELLO, MY BABY/WHEN YOU WERE SWEET SIXTEEN/FIVE FOOT TWO, EYES OF BLUE
8. THERE IS A TAVERN IN THE TOWN/THE WHIFFENPOOF SONG/LITTLE BROWN JUG
9. MY BLUE HEAVEN/ON THE BANKS OF THE WABASH/MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, LOUIS
10. I'M AN OLD COWHAND/HOME ON THE RANGE/RED RIVER VALLEY


Thirty Sing Along Favorites--Voices from the Harry Simeone Chorlae, 1961. (20th Fox 3051)


Lee

Mitch, Part 13--Sing-Alongs Before Mitch

More sing-alongs before Mitch, including Larry Green's incredibly fun There's Yes! Yes! In Your Eyes (1949), which was part of the Gay 90s, Teens, Twenties, and ragtime revivals taking place in the pop charts just after the close of WWII. I had this 78 as a kid (another copy, that is), and I liked it so much I smashed it. I was a real snob about dance and jazz music--anything "cornball" didn't make it for me (uh, man). Freddy Martin and Guy Lombardo, for instance--too square. I thought the sing-along chorus on this Larry Green 78--plus the tinkly Twenties piano--were the funniest things I'd ever heard. In other words, I was well on my way to developing correct--dare I say, "good"--taste, but something happened. I don't remember when or where, but something prevented me from entering adulthood as a snob. Or at least too much of my adulthood. I did most of my nose-turning-up as a kid. Got it out of my system, I guess.

Thanks for the fascinating background? Sure! So... four sing-alongs before Mitch, which is to say that they all predate Mitch's first Sing Along with... LP of 1958.

Click here to hear: Sing-Alongs Before Mitch

PLAYLIST

THERE'S YES! YES! IN YOUR EYES--Larry Green and His O., Vocal by Chorus, 1949.
HERE'S TO THE LADIES--Henry Jerome O., w. Ray De Mene and Ensemble, 1953. (MGM)
PIE-WOCK-A-JILLY-WOCK--Same, w. Henry Jerome, Jr. and the youngsters of PAL of NYC.
HOLD ME--Don Cornell, w. Chorus and Orch. Dir. by Jerry Carr, 1954. (Coral)

(And don't forget the five sing-alongs-before-Mitch still active at this post: This post )

Lee

Our Harvey Pekar FOF, Cheryl

Close family friend Cheryl has a large (and rapidly growing) abdominal mass that may or may not be cancer. Her primary care doctor is one for the (horror) books--not only did he delay looking into Cheryl's present bout of illness, he misreported the blood test findings as "high," making us all sure (and stressed to the gills) that Cheryl had cancer. As she well may, but in fact the test results were low. It could be a benign tumor. She has a history of cysts.

But she also had a sister who died of cancer after a long bout.

We're praying for her, of course--that's what we believers do. We'd recently found out that Cheryl, whom we'd thought was a casual acquaintance of Harvey Pekar (she'd met him through his wife Joyce), was in fact a fairly good friend. Cheryl describes Harvey as a very caring type, someone who never spoke about himself (!) but focused on others and their experiences and needs. He was ideally suited for the kind of work he did, she feels (both his day job and his graphic-novel gig). I kind of figured he was a people-watcher. And that he had to be focused outwardly to a greater extent than he ever let on in his cartoons.

We have a letter in Harvey Pekar's (very interesting) hand, in which he outlines what issues of American Splendor are still available. He closes by sending greetings to Cheryl.

In an ideal universe, the surgeon will remove the tumor, and it will test benign. I'm hoping the universe is in an ideal way this week--long enough, at least, for Cheryl to be declared okay.

Meanwhile, I've gotten to know the walls of this house very well. That'll happen when you're crawling them....

Sunday morning gospel--Sacred shellac

Charles H. Gabriel's Sail On (1908) was the hymn that got me interested in gospel song history. (Regarding the Homer Rodeheaver rearrangement mentioned at the great Cyberhymnal site, I believe all Homer did was add the fade-out-and-repeat at the end, but don't quote me.) This was about 20 years ago, back when I was starting the church-organist phase of my life. At the time, I might have been able to name twenty hymns.

So, we have, from 1922, the Cincinnati Tabernacle chorus--2,000 strong--singing this wonderful number, and you may be wondering how it was possible to record that many singers using the acoustical process (AND recording outdoors, unless they somehow got all those souls into a studio). Well, as you'll hear, it was possible. The results have a way-off-in-the-distance sound, but we can expect that. The pianist must have been playing quadruple-forte just to be picked up by the recording apparatus. But the fidelity--at least for the choir--isn't bad at all, all technical circumstances considered.

The rest are electrical-era recordings from 1927-1930, with four by Smith's Sacred Singers--these are sides recently eBayed. (I've always wanted to type "recently eBayed.") Two are justly famous "blood" songs. The other two are old friends of the blog--Homer Rodeheaver and Henry Burr singing Charles Gabriel's Where the Gates Swing Outward Never, and Bud Billings and Carson Robison crooning the same composer's Will the Circle Be Unbroken (with words by Ada Habershon, misspelled by the Victor label as "Habersbon").

All were loving restored yesterday by your blogger, and the new rips of the last two titles sound better than ever. As in, "quieter." Less noisy. Not so 78-ish.

To the 78s: Sacred Shellac--Smith's Sacred Singers, more!

SHELLAC-LIST

THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD--Smith's Sacred Singers, 1930 (Columbia 15551-D).
THE CHURCH IN THE WILDWOOD--Same.
ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB--Same, 1929 (Columbia 15430-D).
JESUS DIED FOR ME--Same, 1929.
SAIL ON (Gabriel)--Cincinnati Tabernacle Chorus--2,000 voices, 1922 (Rainbow 1013)
WHERE THE GATES SWING OUTWARD NEVER--Homer Rodeheaver--Henry Burr, 1927 (Victor 21337)
WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?--Bud Billings--Carson Robison, 1927 (Victor 21586)


Lee