I hope the cover image isn't too dark. If so, I did my best. Thing is, the brightness is set too low on my HP monitor (except for several hours, recently, when it went the other way), and so I figure that overdoing the darkness will get an image just right. Meanwhile, the HP on-line instructions insist that the monitor can be manually adjusted for contrast, but I've searched every inch of same with no luck. I almost think the PC is taunting me with its occasional, inexplicable contrast shifts.
And so, at last, a copy of An Hour of Star Dust in acceptable-plus condition. This is one of those easy-to-find albums that's nevertheless hard to find in playable condition, like The Eddy Duchin Story or Como's Golden Records. I've celebrated by ripping the entire LP, and not just half of it, like last time.
Royale, of course, was a junk label supreme, and this one is junky even by Royale, um, standards--not the music or the orchestra, which are great, but the sound quality, which is fairly pathetic. My theory is that the material was recorded off the radio, probably overseas, and then mastered from reel to reel tape. The latter would explain the machine shut-off sound that follows each track, which I've edited out for your convenience. (The shut-off noise, not the tracks.) I also edited out numerous pops and tape drop-outs (or are they broadcast drops?) and just generally balanced the two channels to minimize distortion and create the illusion that someone actually engineered this.
Some all-time great Pops novelties, all beautifully done--Dizzy Fingers, Kitten on the Keys, The Syncopated Clock, Stringcopation--and lush, gloriously over-arranged standards like, well, Star Dust. How over-arranged? Well, I can picture Mantovani paring down the Star Dust orchestration and halving the running time. Not a problem for me--I love such over the top easy listening, in part because it makes for such a wonderful contradiction (easy/over the top).
The two-part Hollywood Concerto has nothing to do with Hollywood or concertos, which makes for a nothing ending to this set, but I love it, anyway. It's probably my favorite junk-label album of all time.
An Hour of Star Dust--Royale Concert Orch.
Star Dust
Those Foolish Things
Charmaine
Syncopated Clock
Dizzy Fingers
La Golondrina
Stringcopation
Kitten on the Keys
Dolores
Snow White
Hollywood Concerto, Pt. 1
Hollywood Concerto, Pt. 2
An Hour of Star Dust--Royale Concert Orch. (Royale 1274)
Lee
11 comments:
*Thank you so much, especially for "La Golondrina", new version! Regards!
The darkness actually kinda makes it look like it was fished out of a swamp. Which is a-ok in my book! :)
Thanks!
Thanks Lee,
This one looks fun!
I'm into oddball cheap label stuff, and if it has things like Dizzy Fingers or Kitten on the Keys, so much the better, thanks!
(Two weeks ago at my local library, I found the original sheet music to Dizzy Fingers, score!)
Slobodan,
You're welcome! Glad to help.
Carol,
Ha! That's a good description. The main problem is the yellowing on the ultra-cheap cardboard. '50s Royale jackets end up looking like 1890s newsprint.
Doug,
"Fun" is the word. This is a line-up to die for. Well, not literally....
Vilstef,
I have some original Confreys in my sheet music collection, and what I love is the simple left-hand parts, even with the tough r.h. arpeggios. Some novelty music of that era features octave-chord combos that call for a three-handed pianist....
Lee, have you heard the story of Art Tatum tutoring himself by learning songs on piano rolls? There was a particularly difficult piece (title unknown to me) which he struggled with for sometime and finally learned. Only later did he find out it was a four hands piece! Stubborn + focused=Genius!
Stringcopation is really somethin' else! :D If you ever do another Cartoon Music "playlist" some version of Stringcopation ought to be on it! This is one amazing site!
Thank you!
I listened to Hollywood Concerto...expecting something kinda epic and Grofe-like, something like Stardust...but heard something that really should've been called "Sea-Chanty Medley" instead :D Enjoyed it very much, though! Gotta love these cheap-label hijinks! ;)
Glad you enjoyed. Yes, I'd love to know the story behind "Hollywood Concerto"--that is, maybe they had meant to include something by that name but stuck these on instead. Their quality control was nonexistent! My favorite cheap-label scam occurs on "Popular Melodies of Chopin" (Hudson), on which they reuse portions of two tracks to push the tracklist to eight.
In fact, that post and link are still active: http://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2010/06/popular-melodies-of-chopin-elly-ellason.html
I love the Royale "An Hour Of..." records mostly because the covers always look awsome and the fact that none of them are really an hour long. The longest one I have found clocks out at just under 45 minutes, some as short as 30 minutes!
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