Halloween 2024, Part 1: Stanley Holloway, Paul Frees, Elsa Lanchester, David Rose, Gene Moss, The Merriettes

 

A number of technical glitches when preparing this slaylist--evil forces working to ruin my Halloween-blogging plans, no doubt  But I chanted some magic words over my ceramic Frankenstein-monster-and-pumpkin planter (? shown above), and I seem to have expelled the demons (or anti-demons?) at play.  But not before having my first MAGIX "project" (of 20-plus tracks) vanish on me.  Crud.  

Elsa Lanchester for Halloween?  If only for her portrayal of the Frankenstein monster's bride, yes.  But we'll hear two 1957 numbers from her act at Hollywood's Turnabout Theatre, shortly after the closing of that establishment.  Forman Brown's Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin may or may not be a period song adapted by the songwriter--it certainly sounds "period."  It's all about a hat pin as a defense against unrequested sexual attention--and there's also the implication that the pin can function as a reminder to young lower-class British women of the virtue of protecting their "you know what."  At the close, we discover that, had her mother remembered to carry a hat pin, the singer wouldn't have been born.  Yikes.  Those reserved Brits sure have a talent for bold, frank (not to mention dark) humor.  The Ratcatchers Daughter (which I incorrectly tagged as The Ratchcatchers Song--sorry!) is described as a "London Street Song," and a rough one, too.  Even though the fidelity is adequate for both numbers, I suggest headphone listening--if you want to make out all the lyrics, that is.  The numbers are introduced in a dry, ready-to-burst-out-laughing fashion by Elsa's husband, Charles Laughton (whose sole directing job, 1955's Night of the Hunter, is a perfect Halloween flick.  Which is probably why it's not on TCM's October schedule).

Sterling Holloway's Sweeney Todd the Barber is more typical music-hall material, though with the same level of dark humor.  Recorded in 1957, far as I can determine, though released in the U.S. (on Columbia Masterworks) in 1958.  And the Village Stompers' Haunted House Blues is a spooky-in-title-only number, but still fun.  Of course, I was hoping for something more traditionally Halloween.  A few screams, or at least a low-pitched "Buwa-ha-haaaa!"

The Dramatic Cue and Mood Music "suite" was edited by me from the above Elektra LP.  I assembled a number of season-appropriate cues into a single file, and it flows amazingly well (I was expecting lesser results).  The LP has seen better plays, but VinylStudio's declicker filter did an amazing job, as usual.

Two Funeral March of a Marionette (aka Alfred Hitchcock Presents) offerings: An excellent and just-right 1956 pipe organ performance by Ray Bohr, and a fine, swinging 1959 interpretation by Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men.  (What Halloween is complete without Ralph and the Marlboro Men?)  And, courtesy of the famous voice actor Paul Frees (Solomon Hersh Frees), we have "Boris Karloff" crooning the Bacharach-David The Look of Love, and "Bela Lugosi" with Games People Play.  And some moody--if marginally-Halloween--1961 titles on Enoch Light's Command label (Grand Award Record Co.): Strange Interlude and Witching Hour.  I was hoping the latter would have a more foreboding sound, but it's effective enough, and the highly precise Command-style stereo is fun.  

In addition, my favorite Douglas Byng track of all: 1963's I'm a Mummy.  A brilliant cabaret performer, known for appearing in drag, and of course at a time when it was very not safe to come out of the closet.  A situation to which we never want to return.  Douglas was a comic genius, which is all that matters.

Gene Moss, the voice of Smokey Bear from 1992–2002, provides two song parodies as "Dracula": I Want to Bite Your Hand and Frankenstein (Clementine), both from the 1964 RCA LP, Dracula's Greatest Hits.  And I confess to a love for Mantovani's music--including this dreamy 1969 arrangement of Robert Colbert's famous Quentin's Theme (from the 1960s Gothic soap, Dark Shadows).  Just part of my high regard for expertly arranged and performed mood/background/"EZ" fare.  The collectable value of most mood music, of course, is slim to none.

My rip of David Rose's Forbidden Planet comes from the 1957 MGM Music From Motion Pictures LP (speaking of superior mood music), but I cheated by swiping the Discogs image of the picture sleeve that came with the single.  Rose was hired to compose that film's soundtrack, but his music was ditched for the very cool (I think so; not everyone does) electronic background.  So, is this the actual title music Rose composed?  Or an original recording thereof?  I do not know.  But it's excellent stuff.

Look Out for the Batman, courtesy of (who else?) Synthetic Plastics Co., is a mess of a knockoff rushed to market during the 1966 Adam West/Batman craze, but I love it to death.  I even love the recorded-in-another-room quality of the drums.  And Batman is a permanent part of my Halloween memory, if only because I went to school as Batman that year--complete with cape and mask.  Even at 9, I recognized the set as non-brand, but it was cool, anyway.

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2024, Part 1

SLAYLIST

Sweeney Todd the Barber--Stanley Holloway, 1957

Dramatic Cue and Mood Music-suite, 1964

Quentin's Theme--Mantovani, 1969

I Want to Bite Your Hand--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Alfred Hitchcock Presents--Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men, 1959

Frankenstein (Clementine)--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Blue Ghost--Tommy Roe, Jordanaires, 1962

Trick or Treat (Ferde Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1976

Ghost Town--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff Orch. and Chorus, 1956

March of the Marionettes--Ray Bohr, pipe organ, 1956

Haunted House Blues--The Village Stompers, 1964

I'm a Mummy--Douglas Byng, piano: Alan Leigh, 1963

Strange Interlude--Lew Davies and His Orch., 1961

The Witching Hour--Same, 1961

Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin--Elsa Lanchester, intro: Charles Laughton, 1957

The Ratcatcher's Daughter--Same

Forbidden Planet (Rose)--David Rose and His Orchestra, 1957?

The Look of Love--Paul Frees as Boris Karloff, 1970.

Games People Play--Paul Frees as Bela Lugosi, 1970.

Look Out for the Batman--The Merriettes, 1966

Lee

Reposts: The Biggest Hits of '59, Vols. 1 and 2--The RCA Camden Rockers (not!)

As requested by musicman1979, a revival of RCA Camden's The Biggest Hits of '59, Vol. 1 and biggest hits of '59, vol. 2.  From "The Biggest" to "biggest."  And, for some unknown reason, I forgot that I'd already ripped and posted the second volume--this, despite the fact that musicman requested that I "revive" same.  It's rather hard to revive/restore something that hasn't already been offered--hence, "revive" is a hint that a given offering has already been offered.  Then again, could we conceive of a multiverse in which this wouldn't be true?  Great material for a two-hour debate.  Or not.  Anyway, I done spaced out.

As noted in my previous post, plus my earlier Biggest Hits of '58 entry, by this point RCA was no longer using its own artists (Stuart Foster, Robert Alda, Tex Beneke) for its "Biggest Hits" LPs.  Come 1958, this most popular record label of its time was trading tapes with... SPC (Synthetic Plastics Co.), the folks behind Promenade, Prom, Peter Pan, and other rack-jobber operations!  And why not, I guess.  Furthermore--and I had forgotten this discovery--the tracks of the second 1959 volume also appeared on  Eli Oberstein's bottom-of-the-barrel Ultraphonic (Record Distributors of New Jersey) label.  Thus, RCA was sourcing its fake hits (as I call them--"hit facsimiles" doesn't have the same ring) from the bottom of the bottom of the barrel.  However, pressed on better-quality vinyl than anything offered by the "fake RCA" (Record Corp.) or SPC.  With classier cover art, to boot.  And, in the case of volume 2, in stereo!

Some excellent fakes between the two volumes--topped by I Need Your Love Tonight, which is graced by terrific Elvis-sound-alike singing--long before that became an industry.  And Hawaiian Wedding Song features an expert impersonation of Andy Williams--something that never became a trend.  (No cut on Andy, who was a superb vocalist.)  And I have a vague memory that this particular Pink Shoe Laces isn't, in fact, the SPC cut.  Which, if so, raises the mystery of, "Where did it come from?"  Enough to keep fake-ologists busy for years.  I, on the other hand, am too lazy at the moment to dig through my record rows and track-compare.

And, though I have two copies of biggest hits of '59 vol. 2 (I'm going with RCA's lowercase font), at least one of them was a thrift gift from Diane, so... thanks again, Diane!

As musicman noted, when I put up the Promenade I Ain't Never at my Lee's Fake Hits channel at YouTube, I should have used the stereo cut here.  Maybe I should do a second posting.

Sorry for my recent blog absence.  I do intend to offer some Halloween slaylists this month--or one, at the very least.  Fresh Halloween sides are tough to dig up (especially if they're been buried for a spell), in distinct contrast to Christmas LPs and singles, which--like Xmas decorations in October--are everywhere.

DOWNLOAD: The Biggest Hits of '59, Vol. 1--RCA Camden Rockers

DOWNLOAD: biggest hits of '59, vol. 2--RCA Camden Rockers

Lee

 

Hey There, Lonely Girl--Jingle, Jangle--Sugar, Sugar (Design SDLP-311)--repost from Apr. 12, 2019

Musicman1979 suggested I revise this post (thanks!), as the LP is (or was) being discussed at the Facebook Brand "X" page.  I retained the original text.  I see that I liked the cover tracks, though the Facebook verdict is less kind!  Enjoy...

Design Records has given us three anonymous but pretty good 1969 rock/pop covers--The Archies' Jingle Jangle and Sugar Sugar, and Eddie Holman's Hey There Lonely Girl--plus six other tracks that couldn't possibly be less related in style.  We get Dixieland, a Rimsky-Korsakoff selection in the style of a Benny Goodman combo, two tracks that would have fit in better with last post's fake The Good, the Bad & the Ugly LP (one choral, the other a kind of Mexican exotica), plus Running Free and Brazil Nut, neither of which I know what to label.  Only nine selections, so things are over with pretty quick, and the LP could have been a lot worse, considering its slapdash nature.

And, really, it's the incredible front cover that makes this a must-have.  Well, for me, anyway.  Far better art than the Design Records norm, and it's delightfully period art--clearly, the illustrator was a fan of the Yellow Submarine movie. I could have done with a few more colors, but why complain when the jacket is so far above expectations?  The back cover is the same one used on all Design LPs of this period--black and white pics of other Design LPs, and a blurb about musical tastes in America and the importance to the public of having "quality low-cost recordings of familiar favorites" available to it.  Familiar favorites like Brazil Nut, Sissy, and Carol's Theme.  Tracks you would have expected to pay a whole lot more for.

Sound quality is decent, and condition is okay, though a big bubble in the vinyl at the start of side 2 made for some fun restoration--for the first time, I used the "loud" option on the rumble filter (for the quiet opening section).  And I don't know what is happening to the sound on Carol's Theme, whether the breaking up of the audio is the result of needle wear or issues in the pressing.  Perhaps we'll never know.  But the sound only sucks in spots--and that cover is far out.  So out of sync with most of the music, and vice versa--just as we expect with these things.

No artists are credited.  Design was manufactured by Keel Mfg. Corp., Hauppauge, NY.  Which is to say, it was a Pickwick label.




LINK:  Hey There, Lonely Girl (Design SDLP-311)





Jingle Jangle
Hey There Lonely Girl
Sissy
Running Free
Brazil Nut
Sugar, Sugar
Carol's Theme
Rollin' River
Sweet 'n Low

Hey There, Lonely Girl--Jingle, Jangle--Sugar, Sugar (Design SDLP-311)




Lee

Thrift store shellac scores: "Ghost Riders in the Sky," "Cheroubtoul Rah."

 

"Thrift store shellac scores"--say that ten times.  ("That, that, that, that...")  Yes, we find some of the least usual shellac in thrift stores.  Alongside the common-as-dust platters (Frankie Laine on Columbia, etc.).

I'll start with two "Arabic" 12-inch 78s which, after any number of listens, I find quite interesting.  However, no need to apologize if your response is closer to "Was the needle stuck in the groove?" or "Yikes!" or "Huh??"  It's the kind of ethnic music which radically departs from the ways of Western music--Western form, anyway.  And both sides are pre-electric (1909 for the first; the second, unknown).

Both artists--Abdel Hai Effendi Hilmy and Salim Douman--were popular Arab-American singers, with Abdel passing away in 1912--Douman, in 1955.  Now we know.

The Douman side, Lahar Anhy, is the livelier of the two, though it has the same stuck-on-the-tonic drone feel.  The side also sports a wide crack, the sound of which I painstakingly edited out of the file (my wrists have yet to un-numb).  The crack rendered the B side impossible to save, given the chipped-away areas, but A was (more or less) rescuable.  Abdel's 1909 effort--Cheroubtoul Rah, Pts. 1 and II--is slower but with relatively better fidelity, since I was able to use my 3.0 mil 78 stylus.  In the case of Douman, I opted for my 1.2 mil stylus, which 1) made for less than perfect groove compliance, but 2) less noise from the crack.  

And, honestly, I'm expecting most listeners to give each file, at most, a 30-second chance before moving on.

The Mac Gregor label square-dance sides by Rusty's Rides make for a night-and-day contrast with the Arabic tracks.  They're a fun reward for anyone with the stuff to endure twelve minutes of the Opera Disc Company and Macsoud sides.

And, according to a 78 expert who clearly knows his stuff (at the 78 rpm records & cylinders fan group Facebook page), the Discogs data on the Opera Disc Company is false--it was not a "bootleg" label.  To quote the expert, "The discs were pressed in Germany by Deutsche Gramophone which did not have a license to sell most of these outside Germany."  Now we know, Part 2.

My label shots are digital pics, since my new Epson scanner has a depth of focus of approximately half a hair-width.  My chief problem with my old Epson was far too much detail.  With my new one: Out of focus scans for anything not flush with the glass. 

DOWNLOAD: Arabic, Mac Gregor 78s

Lahar Anhy (Bagdady)--Salim Doumani (Macksoud 115)

Cheroubtoul Rah, Pts. I and II--Abdel Hai Effendi Hilmy (Opera Disc Company 200041; 1909)

Ghost Riders in the Sky--Rusty's Riders (Mac Gregor 681)

Smoke Smoke Smoke (Talkin; up the Square)--Same

                                                                                                                  

Lee

Happy Birthday, Merv: Let's Dance Tonight (1952)

 

Actually, Merv's birthday was the 6th, but I'm within a week.  And I've been wanting to feature this 1952 EP set (which also appeared as a 10-inch LP) for some time.  And the 1952 release year is contained in the matrix #: E2PW.  In case you were wondering.

Six excellent Merv-with-Freddy numbers which, along with some others, don't show up on Jasmine's Early in the Day – The Singles Collection CD.  So, I could call them blog exclusives.  I think I will.  (Ahem.)  These are blog exclusives.  There, I said it.

The two instrumental tracks are an odd pair: Wabash Blues and Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.  And, of course, while both are outstanding dance numbers, they don't swing: Martin's band was a "sweet" outfit.  Aka, MOR, "Mickey," or probably worse.  Myself, I regard Martin's fantastic group as the finest of the non-swing big bands, along with Kay Kyser.  The musicianship is never less than superb, and Freddy had quite a knack for finding first-rank band vocalists, Merv included.

Best number?  Probably Leroy Anderson's Serenata, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.  If I had to choose, that is.  Fidelity is fabulous, and I noticed that the "RCA 1949-" curve in my VinylStudio program (the response curve I applied here) is quite close to the RIAA curve.  Close enough as to not matter, probably.

Merv's been gone 18 (not quite 19) years already, and that's another "What happened to the years?" moment for me.  As I believe I mentioned some years back, I had the pleasure, circa 2005, of ripping a CD for Merv (of his own sides) via his manager.  She shared his email response--all about the fun he had listening to "the old songs."  It felt terrific to give back to a singer who made my vinyl and shellac collecting that much more of a pleasure.  And to think that my Merv-collecting started circa 1982 as a joke.  That is to say, I thought it would be amusing to amass a collection of Merv's recordings, figuring that his discography couldn't be that large.  Wrong!

And, of course, along the way I came to like his work a great deal.  My favorite Merv holdings include some pre-Martin demo 78s and his 1946 Songs by Merv Griffin 78 set on his very own Panda label.  Complete with an autograph to his "dear friend Mrs. Hawkins."  But I fear we've entered the "Who was Merv Griffin?" phase of U.S. popular culture.  After all, even some classic rock bands are unknown to younger listeners come 2024, and so I'm sure that Merv's off the radar.  Indeed, there are members of my own generation who didn't know that the famous talk show host had made records (except, perhaps, for his MGM Christmas effort).  Oh, well...

Oh, and the Merv-showpiece of the group, At Your Command, was penned by Harry Tobias and two former Rhythm Boys members--Bing Crosby and Harry Barris.  The lovely Tell Me melody was based on a mazurka by Xaver Scharwenka.  The "tune" was familiar, but not Xaver.

DOWNLOAD: Let's Dance--Freddy Martin and His Orch., featuring Merv Griffin, 1952

Let's Dance Tonight--Merv with Freddy

Tell Me--Same

Wabash Blues

Serenta--Merv with Freddy

At Your Command--Same

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Echoes of Love--Merv and The Martin Men with Freddy

Heavenly Symphony--Merv and the Glee Club with Freddy

Lee