A Singing Science Record: Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans--Space Songs (1959)

 

How could I possibly have passed up a Singing Science Records "Ballads for the Age of Science" LP called Space Songs, with Tom (pre-On Top of Spaghetti) Glazer, Dottie Evans, and the Tony Mottola Orchestra directed by Hecky Krasnow, with lyrics by Hy (Unchained Melody) Zaret and music by Lou Singer?  I ask you.  I think Volunteers of America wanted $1.20 for it, and I thought, "This'll be different."  And it is.

Label: Motivation Records, a division of Argosy Music Corporation, and packed with clever, catchy songs for the classroom.  My favorite is probably Gravity, which Guy Mitchell and Mindy Carson would have had a ball (no pun intended) with: If the Earth is a ball, why don't we fall off, While it spins around; If the Earth is a ball, why don't we all go flying off the ground?  Yeah, why is that?  Well, the Earth has a force that pulls and draws all matter toward its core.  And the pull of the force called "gravity" is why we don't fall off.  Ahhhh... now I see.

Dottie Evans I know as a singer for Enoch Light on the Waldorf label, and she is excellent here.  Unusually clever lyrics and ingenious melodies (many P.D.-familiar) combine to make a highly entertaining offering.  And I had to promise myself to limit my manual click repairing to the loudest clicks--otherwise, I'd have been another week fixing this.  Well-recorded but not the best pressing.  Actually, when the label is "Motivation Records," the experienced collector isn't expecting background silence.

Other gems: What Is the Milky Way, Beep Beep (Here Comes the Satellite), and Why Does the Sun Shine?  And the second number had me curious as to how many satellites we had in orbit when this LP was made (in 1959).  Answer: Only 14.  Imagine when the space-junk count was that low, way back when I was two.

And What Is a Shooting Star? (A shooting star is not a star, Is not a star at all; A shooting star's a meteor that's heading for a fall) has confirmed my correct guess that a meteorite is a meteor after it has burned and/or broken up in our mesosphere.  Anyway, a surprisingly entertaining classroom album, or maybe not so surprising, given the talent involved.  Other LPs in this series include Energy and Motion Songs, Nature Songs, and Weather Songs.


DOWNLOAD: Space Songs--Tom Glazer, Dottie Evans.zip FLAC



Zoom a Little Zoom (Rocket Ship)

What Is the Milky Way

Constellation Jig

Beep Beep (Here Comes the Satellite)

Why Does the Sun Shine

What Is a Shooting Star?

Longitude and Latitude

It's a Scientific Fact

Ballad of Sir Isaac Newton

Friction

Why Are Stars of Different Colors

Why Do Stars Twinkle

What Is Gravity

Planet Minuet

Why Go Up There

Tom Glazer & Dottie Evans, Tony Mottola Orchestra, 1959

Lee

Ferdie Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite--original 1932 recording (from 12-inch 78 rpm album) by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch.

 

A 50/50 mix of original 1932 issues, plus two 1941 reissues--all the original 1932 recording, of course.  Working with sets from different eras meant using two response curves, but my VinylStudio software is more than up to that challenge.  Five movements across eight 12-inch 78 sides presented a bit of an editing challenge, but nothing major.  The movements are Sunrise, Painted Desert, On the Trail, Sunset, and the spectacular Cloudburst.  More than nine decades later, this suite remains magnificent.  Or, should I say, grand.

My album (the holder) pictured above is the 1941 album, and exactly when or where I came across the two original discs (Sunrise and Cloudburst), I don't remember, save that it was at a Goodwill.  The original price tag of $1.99 is still on the album's spine, meaning that I bought this set well before the recent sound-recording price hike at GW.  Maybe this album came with the mixed 1932 and 1941 pressings.  And someplace in my mess of 78s there's the 1941 reissue set I bought back in 1978 at a Cincinnati book store.  You know, if this room were about twice the size, I could get my collection in some kind of order...

The background on this famous suite is all over the internet, so I won't repeat those details here.  Recorded April 26-28, 1932, making this performance just shy of 94 years old.  Amazing fidelity for the period, and even more amazing: The wide dynamic range, all the way from ppp (pianississimo) to fff (triple forte).  And I can find no definite year for Grofe's expanded orchestration of the suite, though it may have been around the time of Andre Kostelanetz's superb 1941 recording, which I posted here.

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Grand Canyon Suite 1932.zip

Sunrise

Painted Desert

On the Trail

Sunset

Cloudburst

Grand Canyon Suite (Ferdie Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch., 1932

Lee

Return to the blog: Strauss Waltzes in Dance Tempo: Al Goodman, 1940

 

I'm back!  These are all eight selections from from the 1940 10-inch 78 set, Al Goodman's Invitation to the Dance--Strauss Waltzes in Dance Tempo, and though they may not make for the most dynamic comeback post in sharity history, we have to ask if these once-known-by-everybody works have retained their fame.  Strauss, Jr.'s magnificent waltzes were a major part of sound recording history for, oh, 100 years or so, but come 2026 does the average person know The Blue Danube by ear (or even by name)?  Thus, these could be a new experience for some (but not for my regulars!).  Anyway, I found this set in the still-for-99-cents record boxes at the big city Goodwill, and the cashier only charged me once for this set (rather than a buck a pop).  Maybe she knew that a 4-disc 10" 78 set=one 10-inch LP, but probably not.  She was likely surprised that anyone was interested in this thing.  One of those, "I don't know what this is, so I'll just go with a single charge" thrift-store-checkout events.

Naturally, these waltzes have been considerably abridged, since complete performances would have run this into a four- or five-volume set, but even so, we get the first and second waltzes/themes of Blue Daube, each with a sub-melody (for a total of four strains), and for Tales from the Vienna Woods, we get the first, second, and fourth waltz, plus part of the coda.  No wonder it's so hard (for me, anyway) to remember the names to all of these.  Any given "Strauss waltz" can amount to six distinct themes.  Melodies just poured out of this genius.

Anyway, a very pleasant return to the blog, and Goodman's brand of easy-listening/mood/light provides an interesting contrast to the distant-mike sound of his fellow label mates Andre Kostelanetz and Morton Gould, whose mood selections had nice, suspended-in-space acoustics.

This set is ordered in a "manual" (pick-up-the-record-and-turn-it-over) format: Sides 1/2, 3/4, etc.  Or else the selections could be heard out of order on a changer.

Strauss Waltzes in Dance Tempo (1940).zip FLAC

Blue Danube Waltz

Wiener Blut (Vienna Blood)

Southern Roses Waltz

Wine, Women and Song

Tales from the Vienna Woods

Voices of Spring

Emperor Waltz

Artist's Life

Al Goodman and His Orchestra (Columbia set C 13, 1940)

Lee

Some holiday shellac, plus Grofe's "Christmas Eve," The Four Voices, Stan Freberg, "The Christmas Tree That Ran Away"

 

A nice 1935 Hallelujah Chorus, the not-listed-at-Discogs Christmas Lights, the flip side of the Four Voices' 1959 Wang Wang Blues (the listed flip is The Little White Cloud That Cried), and Novena di Natale (Christmas Novena) are my favorites from the list, though I have a tacky love for the tacky-even-for-SPC The Christmas Tree That Ran Away--priceless, in that so-chintzy-it's-good budget-label way.  Meanwhile, I'm guessing that the Tops Music Hall and Drama Group's The Night Before Christmas is a reissue of the version released in 1948 on The Record Guild of America, Inc. label.

And, in Novena di Natale, I hear the melody for the Italian Christmas song, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (You Come Down From the Stars).  DAHR reveals that the recording date was between 1910 and 1916...

Grofe's charming Christmas Eve was written in 1934, and this recording dates from 1956-1957.

DOWNLOAD: Hallelujah Chorus, Christmas Lights--V.A.zip

                     

SLEIGHLIST

The Messiah--Hallelujah Chorus--Royal Choral Society and London Philharmonic, c. Malcolm Sargent, 1935

Christmas Eve (Ferde Grofe)--Barron Smith on the Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia

The Holy City (Michael Maybrick)--Richard Crooks, Tenor, Orch. Dir. by John Barbirolli, 1934

The Messiah--And the Glory of the Lord--Royal Choral Society and London Philharmonic, c. Malcolm Sargent, 1935

Christmas Lights--The Four Voice, 1959

Sleigh Ride--Sammy Kaye and His Orch., 1960

Caroling, Caroling (Burt)--16 Singing Men

The Star of Bethlehem (Michael Maybrick)--Richard Crooks, Tenor, Orch. Dir. by John Barbirolli, 1934

Yule-Tide--A Christmas Fantasia--Arthur Pryor's Band, 1912

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer--Johnny Cole (Crown 5132)

March of the Toys (Herbert)--Lew White, Organ, Harry Bruerer, Drums, 1941

Green Chri$tma$ (Freberg)--Stan Freberg, 1958

Jingle Bells--Domenico Savino and the Rome Festival Orch., 1956

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town--Domenico Savino and the Rome Festival Orch., 1956

Novena di Natale (Christmas Novena)--Banda Municipale di Milano (1910-1916)

The Christmas Tree That Ran Away--The Caroleers (Peter Pan X-57, 45 rpm EP)

Ding-a-Long Song, The Sleigh Bell Song--The Cricketones, 1953

Winter Wonderland--Fontanna His Orch. and Chorus (Palace XM 903)

The Night Before Christmas--The Music Hall Drama Group and Orch. (Tops 309, 78 rpm)

Santa Claus Polka--Eddie Wojcik, V: Syl Wojcik

Lee

"The Mostest, Bestest, Merriest Christmas Time"--More V.A. Christmas fun! ("Keep them reindeer rollin'! Yule-tiiiiiiiide!")

 

An all-stereo V.A. holiday list, though I think that a fake/pseudo-/rechanneled stereo track snuck through, but that'll happen.  We start off gloriously with that 1945 classic, All Around the Christmas Tree, albeit in a 1964 performance by John Klein on the Carillon Americana Bells, "the fascinating 610 bells of the world's largest and finest modern carillon, housed for the (1964-65 New York World's) Fair in the The Coca-Cola Company Pavilion Tower."--from the liner notes for the LP pictured topside.  The combination of the 610-bell carillon and Henri Rene's orchestra makes for an amazingly cool, Christmas-y sound, though I wish RCA hadn't limited the audio to its Dyna-groove version.  But who's complaining?

I'd planned on making my next sleighlist an all- (or mostly-) organ package, but the percentage of organ tracks this time around is almost 1/3rd, pretty much making this an organ V.A. list, or a semi-organ V.A. list, and there's a lesson there for all of us.  Which will come to mind after my first cup of coffee, I'm sure.  Five tracks by the excellent Buddy Cole on pipe organ, plus Dennis Awe at the Lowrey Holiday D-350 organ with Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Seth Rye at the same model with Here Comes Santa Claus.  Nothing says "Christmas" more evocatively than the sound of an organ-demo room.  ("And here's the one-finger-with-chords button...")

More Christmas polkas, including the Polish carol, Pasterze Mile (Beloved Shepherds?), I Dream of You and Me Polka, and I Can Tell It's Christmas, and Have a Merry Christmas Polka.  And some dreadful--er, dreadfully charming--Peter Pan (SPC) tracks in true stereo and from the 1970s, I believe, including the title track (The Mostest, etc.), Rudolph's Christmas Party, and the impressively green number, A Favor for the Little Christmas Tree, which recommends the replanting of a (real) Christmas tree instead of burning it or laying it out by the curb for waste removal.  All the ingredients of a holiday standard, but somehow (far as I know) it never achieved that status.  And I guess I can't quite imagine rowhouses with replanted Christmas trees.  Things would get pretty cluttered.  Even more so, if specifically planted around and about the recycle bin. 

And for those who've always wanted You're the Cream in My Coffee as part of their holiday background mix, look no further--Bobby Roberts and His Orch., 1958, has you covered.  From the LP Holiday Music for Happy People (see above), which is packed with weird medleys, but I guess when a gathering becomes happy (tipsy) enough, even Rawhide can be slipped into the sleighlist without interrupting the glow--"Oh, this is a good one!  'Keep them reindeers rollin'!!  Yule-riiiiiiiiide!  Yee-haw!!'"

DOWNLOAD: Mostest, Bestest, Merriest Christmas Time.zip

All Around the Christmas Tree--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964

Jingle Bells--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958

The Little Drummer Boy--The Caroleers (SPC/Premier version in true stereo)

The Mostest, Bestest, Merriest Christmas Time--The Mistletoe Singers

Sleigh Ride--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964

Medley: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer--You're the Cream in My Coffee--Jingle Bells--Bobby Roberts and His Orch., 1958

I Dream of You and Me Polka--Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push, 1991

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer-Dennis Awe, Lowrey Holiday D-350, 1982

Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958

A Favor for the Little Christmas Tree--The Misteletoe Singers (Tinkerbell label)

Here Comes Santa Claus--Seth Rye, Lowrey Holiday D-350, 1982

Gather Around the Christmas Tree--The Mistletoe Singers (Tinkerbell label, not quite stereo)

Have a Merry Christmas Polka--Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push, 1991

Good King Wesceslas--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958

We Three Kings of Orient Are--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958

Rudolph's Christmas Party--Peppermint Kandy Kids, 1971 (Peter Pan EP)

Pasterze Mile (Beloved Shepherds?)--Carol--Ray Jay, 1991

Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958

Joy to the World, Adeste Fideles, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. and Chorus Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964

I Can Tell It's Christmas--Unknown, 1988

Lee