Fab Forgeries, Part 3! Wayne Newton, Liberace, Brenda Lee, Ray Stevens, Jim Nabors, more!

 

Well, Percy and Paul and Andre will show up in our next playlist, but for today, these other fun cover versions...

First off, Lee Castle's rockin', big-band-style Birthday--a priceless rendition from a no-year-known Pickwick LP.  Then, Ray Stevens' more than competent 1970 She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, followed by Jim Nabors' My Sweet Lord--not the laugh riot we might expect, but a nicely done cover.  And Wayne Newton's Long and Winding Road could have been a lot worse--I like it, I have to confess.  Liberace's take on the same number is here for name value only--It's a standard pop-piano-type rendition (of the Ferrante-and-Teicher, Peter-Duchin type), with some comments from L. himself at the end, as he congratulates the orchestra.  Brenda Lee's 1965 He Loves You puts her in the first-artists-to-cover-the-Beatles group, though the "he" is in the title only: Brenda sings the lyrics as written, and very nicely.  Nancy Sinatra's 1966 Run for Your Life is very well done, too, as is the Ventures' properly raucous 1964 I Feel Fine (another early cover).  As for the New Christy Minstrels' Atlantis/Hey, Jude mashup, maybe that otherwise excellent group was better off not trying to be hip/with it.  It's different, anyway, as is Morgana King's non-psychedelic rendering of Tomorrow Never Knows, which holds up quite well as a "regular" number.  The Burbank Philharmonic's (whoever they were) 1970 Hey Jude is fine Dixieland Fab Four, if you're in the mood for Dixieland Beatles, and the Longines Symphonette's Classical-style Eleanor Rigby/Yesterday medley is superbly done--a perfect example of a potentially hokey and pretentious effort beautifully hitting the mark, with the expert arranger mixing the two numbers with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.  Just gorgeous.  

The Cyrkle do a ring-around-the-key-centers version of I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, the Lettermen (one of the finest Beatles-cover groups) provide an interesting I'm Only Sleeping, and the Haircuts (plus The Impossibles?) give us an uncannily close-to-the-original I Want to Hold Your Hand, from a 1966 Somerset LP (which I owned years ago).  Jose Feliciano was another savvy Fab Four cover artist, and here we hear (here we hear?) his excellent 1966 Help!  I remember Jose from back in the day, but I somehow didn't appreciate his outstanding musicianship then.  I do now.  And... the Four Freshmen with a meh Ob-La-Di..., and a very nice Something by Engelbert Humperdinck (still with us at 89), one of my favorite singers--sort of Tom Jones without the soul.  Nothing wrong with that, of course--this gave Engelbert the edge on ballads, and in particular his fabulous Burt Bacharach renderings: I'm a Better Man, Love Was Here Before the Stars, et al.  And it's fitting to mention Burt, who was--along with the Beatles, Brian Wilson, and Carole King--at the top of their form in the 1960s and early 1970s. (I prefer Brill-Building Carole to her solo period, but that's just me.)  

Oh, and a gorgeous live 1970 rendition by Israeli singer Esther Ofarim of the Paul McCartney masterpiece, She's Leaving Home.  An absolute gem.

Enjoy! 

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 3.zip

Birthday--Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Orch.

Yesterday/Hey Jude--Tom Jones, 1970.

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window--Ray Stevens, 1970

Jim Nabors--My Sweet Lord (Harrison), 1974

Tomorrow Never Knows--Morgana King, 1968

He Loves You--Brenda Lee, 1965

The Long and Winding Road--Wayne Newton, 1970

She's Leaving Home--Esther Ofarim, 1970

Can't Buy Me Love--Brenda Lee, 1965

Run for Your Life--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Hey, Jude/Atlantis--The New Christy Minstrels, 1969

I Feel Fine--The Ventures, 1964

Something (Harrison)--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1970

Got to Get You Into My Life--Morgana King, 1968

Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da--The Four Freshmen, 1969

Help!--Jose Feliciano, 1966

I'm Happy Just to Dance With You--The Cyrkle, 1967

Medley: Eleanor Rigby; Yesterday--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Hey Jude--Burbank Philharmonic, 1970

The Long and Winding Road--Liberace, 1971

I'm Only Sleeping--The Lettermen 1972

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Haircuts, 1966

Lee

Fab forgeries! Forty Beatles tunes not by the Beatles: Peter Knight, David Rose, Petula Clark, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mortier Dance Hall Organ, more!

 

Forty (!) Beatles covers: Some good, some okay, some "Ouch!"  Or just plain strange, like The Johnny Mann Singes' She Loves You (which sounds like a multi-tracked Lurch), Tennessee Ernie Ford's Yesterday, and The Mortier Dance Hall Organ medley excerpt.  The Mann side is interesting as one of the earliest Beatles covers, a category which includes The Ray Charles Singers' 1964 Do You Want to Know a Secret, Jimmy Griffin's All My Loving (same year), and 1965's Can't Buy Me Love by Henry Mancini, I Feel Fine by Enoch Light, plus And I Love Her by David Rose. These are adult-pop efforts which hew to the mood and tempi of the originals, whereas George Chakiris' 1965 She's a Woman takes off into territory best described as, um... better left unvisited?  His take not only speeds things up, it perhaps gives us an idea of 1965 Broadway's concept of 1965 teen pop.

Also painfully inappropriate: Steve and Eydie's A Little Help From My Friends, which is arranged to accommodate their usual style.  Nothing against their usual style, except that it doesn't fit the material.

But some excellent pop-orchestral interpretations: The always-reliable Andre Kostelanetz and Paul Mauriat, assorted Readers Digest box set conductors like Norman Percival and Ken Thorne, and the superb Peter Knight, maybe best known for orchestrating Days of Future Passed.  On the fine-but-amusing side: Ken Thorne's jaunty A Day in the Life (at least Peter Knight's cover gives it some gravitas).

I haven't decided whether or not I like Petula Clark's Rain and We Can Work It Out, though they're certainly interesting.  Nancy Sinatra and the Buckinghams provide adequate covers, Johnny Mathis delivers a fine Eleanor Rigby (as we'd expect), and Tom Jones... Well, I forgot to include Tom.  Maybe next time.  

John Davidson is barely so-so, while Lena Horne gives Rocky Raccoon a lot of highly dated soul.  The big surprise is Noel Harrison, whose contributions should be the epitome of camp but which are downright good.  Penny DeHaven's Countrypolitan I Feel Fine (1970) is a lot of fun, and I guess I have to rate Frank Chacksfield's as the best of the Discotheque versions, as much as I love Enoch Light.

As for Phyllis Newman's When I'm 64, the track's professionalism can't be faulted, but the original was a send-up to begin with, and so it's sort of a send-up of a send-up.  Or... maybe the problem is that it takes the faux-1920s sound of the Beatles track too literally.  I don't know...

The one "fake hit" in our list is the excellent Hit Records knockoff of Nowhere Man, from 1966.  The good ol' Jalopy Five.

Some of the tracks I spared you: Let It Be (Ray Conniff Singers), My Sweet Lord (Jim Nabors), The Long and Winding Road (Wayne Newton), and Your Mother Should Know (George Burns).

DOWNLOAD: Fab Fogeries Pt. 1.zip  Fab Forgeries Pt. 2.zip

She Loves You--The Johnny Mann Singers, 1964

The Fool on the Hill--Andre Kostelaentz and His Orch., 1969

Do You Want to Know a Secret--The Ray Charles Singers, 1964

Yesterday--Mantovani, 1966

With a Little Help From My Friends--Steve and Eydie, 1969

Rocky Raccoon--Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo, 1969

Lady Madonna--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

All My Loving--Jimmy Griffin, 1964

Can't Buy Me Love--Henry Mancini Orch. and Chorus, 1965

A Day in the Life--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds--Noel Harrison, 1967

She Loves You--Mortier Dance Hall Organ, 1965

Something--John Davidson, 1970

Strawberry Fields Forever--Noel Harrison, 1967

I Feel Fine--Penny DeHaven, 1970

Day Tripper--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Help!--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1966

Come Together--Charlie Barnet and His Orch., 1970

Lovely Rita--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Rain--Petula Clark, 1966

Yesterday--Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1968

And I Love Her--David Rose and His Orch., 1965

We Can Work It Out--Petula Clark, 1966

When I'm 64--Phyllis Newman, 1968

I Feel Fine--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, 1965

All You Need Is Love--Norman Percival and His Orch., 1970

Hey Jude--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

Eleanor Rigby--Johnny Mathis, 1967

I'll Be Back--The Buckinghams, 1967

A Day in the Life--Ken Thorne and His Orch., 1970

Get Back--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Hello, Goodbye--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Getting Better--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Yellow Submarine--The Hank Levine Singers and Orch., 1968

Got to Get You Into My Life--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Nowhere Man--The Jalopy Five, 1966

She's a Woman--George Chakiris, 1965

Lee

Sunday afternoon gospel--on Monday: Sacred Shellac for May, 2025, 1906-1929

 

Gospel quartet gold, from 1905 to 1929 (including three selections from Columbia's "country" series).  And the years provided are not guaranteed to be correct, given that 1) DAHR's servers have been incredibly slow, even timing out more than once, and 2) due to online date disagreements.  For instance, The Columbia Mixed Quartette's Home of the Soul could be 1916, 1919, or 1921.  (I opted for 1916.)

This would have been ready to go yesterday (Sunday), but for some unknown reason, when I chose an image for this project/group, Mp3tag changed ALL of the recording years to 1929.  Why 1929, I have no idea, unless Mp3tag is anticipating another Wall Street crash...  At any rate, I've provided the (hopefully) real dates below, along with the labels and catalog numbers--two fields which I presently don't have on my VinylStudio software.  If I can manage to upgrade to VS "Pro," I should be able to add those fields to the track pages.

And a word about "quartets"--or, rather, a number of words.  At least in accordance with early-1900s usage, a "quartet" could be any group singing in four-part harmony, as with the already-mentioned Columbia Mixed Quartette (from 1916, 1919, or 1921).  "Quartets" can even, far as I know, include a fifth harmony voice, albeit for extra color--the harmonic texture isn't changed.

Most complicated of all, quartets can be sex-specific or mixed.  And a given arrangement (how the voices, or different parts, are ordered) can have the principal part (the melody) assigned to the soprano, to the tenor, to the baritone, or the bass.  And the voicings "shift" accordingly.  These are all examples of homophony, which can be simplified to "melody with accompaniment."  In homophonic four-part texture, whatever voice assumes the chief part will be supported by the other three (or four) voices.  I hope we're clear on that.

And I hear instances of a baritone melody line with a falsetto tenor assuming either the lead (melody) or top (second tenor) voice.  The effect is very nice, though for a classic "Barbershop" lineup, we need to turn to the Criterion, Haydn/Hayden, and Peerless quartets--Bass, baritone, first tenor (lead), second tenor.  The other quartets don't sound as Barbershop-y.  (-ish?)

DAHR (Discography of American Historical Recordings), a priceless reference which I hope isn't on the verge of crashing, is a bit less slow today, and so I was able to learn that my privately recorded Columbia His Eye Is on the Sparrow was waxed "between 1918 and 1924."  Helpful, no?  Whereas, if I use my Almost Complete 78 Record Dating Guide (II), the date would be approx. early 1923 (per the matrix number).  Maybe next round I can save time by listing all 78 recording years as "Anyone's best guess."

My 10" 1906 Hayden Quartet Glory Song (the huge 1900 gospel hit by Chas. H. Gabriel), is listed at DAHR as an 8" issue.  Same label number, and presumably the same performance.  Oh, and this was Gabriel's original manuscript for that once-very-famous number:

Gabriel was also the composer for the famous Brighten the Corner Where You Are and the above-mentioned Sparrow--the latter often mistaken for a Black spiritual, and probably because of its huge popularity in Black churches (and its association with Ethel Waters and Mahalia Jackson).  Harry K. Shields' custom recording gives us an idea of what it sounds like straight from the page.

Pictures From Life's Other Side (titles vary) was a late-19th-century Social Gospel number which became a sacred standard, starting with this 1926 Smith's Sacred Singers recording, a huge hit for its day.  Theirs was the first recording, I believe.  In 1951, it was again popularized by Hank Williams.  Other artists who have provided versions: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Story, the Blue Sky Boys, Cowboy Copas, Bill Anderson, and George Jones.

The three non-quartet sides are the duets Jacob's Ladder, Life's Railway to Heaven, and The Harbor Bell.  And some of the quartet numbers go the old-time route of a solo tenor for the verse, with the full group arriving for the chorus.

The selections marked "a" and "b" were thus labeled to keep the idiot VinylStudio program from confusing the tracks.  (Actually, it's an amazing program, but with numerous glitches.)

DOWNLOAD: Sacred Shellac 5 5 25.zip

When the Roll is Called up Yonder--Hayden Quartet (Victor 16749; 1908)

Hold the Fort--The Chautauqua Preachers' Quartette (Columbia A1585; 1914)

The Wayside Cross--The Chautauqua Preachers' Quartette (Columbia A1585; 1914)
Life's Railway to Heaven--Charles Harrison--Clifford Cairns (Victor 18925; 1922)

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere--Columbia Stellar Quartette (Columbia A2048; 1916)

When the Mists Have Rolled Away--Trinity Choir with Orch. (Victor 17137; 1912)

Home of the Soul--Columbia Mixed Quartette (Columbia A2048; 1916)

The Harbor Bell--Charles Harrison--Clifford Cairns (Victor 18925; 1922)

Don't You Hear Jerusalem Moan--Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers With Riley Puckett (Columbia 15104-D; 1926)

The Light of the World Is Jesus--Whitney Brothers Quartet (Victor 16465; 1909)

Pictures From Life's Other Side--Smith's Sacred Singers (Columbia 15090-D; 1926)

Glory Song (O, That Will Be Glory)--Hayden Quartet with Orch. (Victor 4398; 1906)

Home of the Soul--Whitney Brothers Quartet (Victor 16372; 1909)

Will the Circle Be Unbroken--William McEwan, Organ Acc. (Columbia A1364, approx. 1912)

What a Glad Day--Wright Brothers Quartet (Columbia 15402-D; 1929)

The Home Over There--The Peerless Quartet (Victor 20669; 1926)

Jacob's Ladder--Frank and James McCravy (Okeh 45128; 1927)

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere--Henry Burr With Peerless Quartet (Victor 19883; 1926)

His Eye Is on the Sparrow--Harry K. Shields, Tenor Solo (Columbia Phonograph Co. 91396; 1918-1924)

Sweeter as the Years Go By--Criterion Quartet (Brunswick 5042; 1921)

Brighten the Corner Where You Are--Criterion Quartet (Brunswick 3296; 1926)

Lee