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
12 comments:
Now this one I've seen before. Never paid it any attention, but I've seen it. :)
What?? You passed on this groovy cover? (-: I'm shocked.
You do find 'em. Yikes.
I thought Design was the label with the least shame when it came to exploiting a few hit titles and then cramming the remainder of the disc with previously related tracks seemingly picked at random. But I was wrong. Crown was the worst. Today, at St. Vincent de Paul, I spotted three Crown LPs of this type, each containing a SINGLE current hit surrounded by filler. I picked one. All three were in great shape, as if the owner couldn't bring him or herself to listen to them. I plan to put up the one I chose--"Those Were the Days"--just to document how cheap a cheap label could be. Short of putting out a blank disc. The back jacket brags about how Crown is the best record value on the market, etc., etc.
And it doesn't even have a groovy cover.
Proving once again that Crown was worse than Design.
Indeed. I guess they were afraid that, the moment they took any pride in their product, something awful would happen.
This is a surprisingly good collection! I really like Hey There Lonely Girl; whoever sings this does a really good job on it. For those folks who did not particularly care for Eddie Holman's vocals on this Ruby and the Romantics cover, this is a good version who prefer a smoother singer. The Jazz piano is a nice touch.
The Baroque classical introduction at the start of Sugar Sugar is a nice touch. However, overall this cover is slightly boring compared to the excitement of the original from the Archies. Design was so cheap that could not get a female vocalist to sing the parts that Toni Wine sang on the original Archies recording. While it gets an A for uniqueness, I would rather listen to the hit original of "Sugar Sugar." Fortunately, the cover of "Jingle Jangle" fares much better. The singer enunciates the words that were kind of muffled on the original hit Archies album.
Whoever plays the clarinet of "Sweet N' Low" does a good job playing in the style of Benny Goodman recordings of the period and even recreates the kind of small group Jazz he would like to do with his Quartet and Quintet. A great cut, yet the teens were probably wondering, "What is Dad's music doing on an album such as this?" For people who like all kinds of music styles, including Jazz, this one is really nice.
Running Free sounds like it should belong in a big-budget '60's movie. I think "Sissy" may have been later reused on the Design Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head album,I vaguely recall hearing it before. A unique combination of Jazz, Honky Tonk, and Herb Alpert-styled trumpet. The player could either be Mel Davis or Lee Castle, the latter of which recorded two songbook albums with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra on Pickwick/33 around this time, Bacharach and David and the Big Band Beatles Bag!
Rollin' River sounds like it could have been a good cut on a Ray Charles Singers album of the period. Whoever solos on the verses does a really good job on it.
After a solid introduction that would make you think that it would kick in to a great homage to the Tijuana Brass sound, Carol's Theme settles into an Easy Listening Jazz sound that could either fit right at home on an Al Hirt album. This gives us an idea of what Al Hirt and Liberace would have sounded like had they chosen to make a record together. Good trumpet playing on this one. This tune and Brazil Nut have a very similar musical sound and feeling to them. Like the percussion behind the piano on Brazil Nut.
Overall, people who like all kinds of music will like this one; however, fans of livelier music may want to pass this one up if it shows up at the local Thrift store. Four out of five stars from me.
The following year Design tried to make these albums more teen friendly--a few weeks ago I bought for a quarter at Goodwill another 9-song 3-hits-7-filler collection called Close To You/Make It With You/We've Only Just Begun, with two of the selections ("Joshua" and "Seems To Me") coming from Beats!!! The Mersey Side Sound, their contribution to the Beatles knock-off album boom in '64. Plus there is a great original, "I Promise You (You Won't Cry Tonight)" in the style of the Lettermen that would have been a great song for them to record and have a more professional sound to. Their version of "Make It With You" has a string section and sounds really good. Sung and played by that famous Fictitious group The Pop Machine. Going for six bucks currently on E-Bay.
musicman1979,
Thanks for the review! It's been so long since I've to these tracks, I'll have to give them another listen.
With all of the recent attention given to this article on Brand "X" Records, this would be a good time to revive the links to this post. Just a suggestion. Thanks.
musicman1979,
That's a good idea! Hopefully, I still have the zip on my D drive.
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