I've had these tracks ready for the past week--they were a tough cleaning-up job, but it only took me a couple hours or three. However, writing this essay has turned out to be a near impossible task, because my findings are complicated and confusing. In my recent Hurrah! Top Hits post, I presented my theory that Pickwick had already acquired Waldorf by 1961. This, obviously, was consistent with my theory that Pickwick had bought Waldorf. Well, the great Both Sides Now website reports that it was Am-Par Records, soon to become ABC-Paramount, which acquired Waldorf in October 1959. So much for my Pickwick theory. Both Sides Now's Hurrah Records page only covers the Pickwick-group LPs that came out, beginning in 1962, under the "Hurrah Records" banner, or whatever you call those things, and I totally believe Both Sides Now--their research is impeccable. However, BSN only deals with LPs, and it seems that the EPs released under the Hurrah! name preceded the LP line by at least three years. This label scan from 45cat proves as much:
The giveaway that Hurrah! is Pickwick can be found int the "Bobby Krane" credit, Krane being a real or made-up name used by Pickwick on its fake-hit LPs. Why the Hurrah! EP labels revealed no company name, I can't begin to guess--it would sure make my work a lot easier. But the Bobby Krane credit and the fact that the Hurrah! EP labels sported the same design as Pickwick's Discount Disc and Bravo! issues have me convinced Hurrah! was Pickwick all along. (Discogs lists Hurrah! as a Waldorf sublabel, but I disagree.) There may even have been, in effect, two Pickwick Hurrah labels: the EPs with the !, and the other ("Hurrah Records") being the LP line. Except I have a Hurrah! LP, so....
Good grief. Let's face it. These labels behaved irrationally, and there's no sense to be found in their actions, and we who collect these things should expect to be confounded at every turn.
The 33-JAN-58 catalog number has me thinking today's LP is from 1958. Dunno why. Anyway, it's one of Waldorf's last-gasp issues. The fakes are mostly decent, meaning that, over time, Waldorf got the hang of copying rock styles (its initial efforts were pretty terrible--fun, but terrible), and if I had any idea why they tacked on six additional, totally unrelated tracks (which I did not rip), I'd offer it. But I'm stumped. These additional six tracks bring the 18 Top Hits track total to 24 (cheap-label logic in action), and they forced the shortening of at least two of the Top Hits. I know this because I have the 78 rpm versions of Till and Liechtensteiner Polka, and they're the same tracks, only longer. Waldorf cut them for this LP, despite the fact that the LP format gave them much more playing time to work with. Only in cheap-label land would the 78 rpm versions be the longer, unedited cuts, and the LP tracks the shortened ones. Such ridiculous details only serve to make this hobby more fun....
And... further weirdness: That 1961 Hurah! Tops Hits LP from before uses this exact 18-hits-plus-six-filler-tracks format. And it, in turn, the Hurrah! LP appeared in a co-release which looked exactly like a Waldorf issue (stock Waldorf cover art) and which employed a Waldorf series title (America's Favorite Music). My guess was incorrect regarding who bought up Waldorf, but I was right that Waldorf and Pickwick were working together. An amazing finding sure to put the average music lover to sleep with excitement.
I forgot to add that Enoch Light does an almost excellent cover of the wonderful Roger Williams hit, Till. But this arrangement (Light's, we can assume) dispenses with the (music term alert) 4-3 suspension that makes the "...adore you" moment in so awesome in the original. (In the Roger Williams mono mix, the singer making the half-step down from G# to G natural is just a little unsure, making the performance all the more precious.) Light blew it. (Is that a pun? A blown light?) Too bad. This was so close to being a perfect cover.
I found this minus a cover, which is why I have no image to share. Likely, it was one of their two or three stock images.
DOWNLOAD: 18 Top Hits (Waldorf 33-JAN-58)
I'll Come Running to You--Curtis Smith
The Joker--Curtis Smith
Peggy Sue--Hal Willis
The Object of My Affections--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade
Could This Be Magic--Curtis Smith
Great Balls of Fire--Hall Willis
Till--Enoch Light and Chorus
Liechtensteiner Polka--The Hi-Fi's
The Story of My Life (Bacharach-David)--Jim Richards
Why Don't They Understand--Loren Becker and the Hi-Fi's
Wild Is the Wind--Loren Becker w. Enoch Light, his Orch. and Chorus
At the Hop--Hal Willis and the Woodchuckers
March from the River Kwai (Colonel Bogey)--Enoch Light and his Orch. and Chorus
Sugartime--Dottie Evans and Judy Johnson
Stood Up--Loren Becker and the Zig Zags
Catch a Falling Star--Artie Malvin
Rock and Roll Music--Hollis Harbison
The Stroll--Jack Brown with the Monarchs
Till--Enoch Light Orch. and Chorus (Top Hit Tunes TH-16-2; 78 rpm)
Liechtensteiner Polka--The Hi-Fi's (Top Hit Tunes TH-16-2; 78 rpm)
Lee
16 comments:
I have had BSN bookmarked for a long time, but always forget about checking there on label questions similar to what you discuss here. It is a truly wonderful source of knowledge and data.
And this is quite a lineup of music and artists, many thanks. I wonder how well Enoch would have done as Enoch Light and the Zig-Zags?
I see this has an all-star cheapie cast - Loren Becker, Artie Malvin and Dottie Evans. I have a pre-Enoch Light Artie Malvin record coming up - a 78 by the "Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke, vocal chorus by Artie Malvin."
DonHo57, I was thinking the same thing! That's why I followed Enoch with the Zig Zags. Too bad I had to use a comma. "Enoch Light and/with the Zig Zags" would be the ultimate track credit. Yes, BSN is fabulous, but I wish it also dealt with singles. But it's too great a site to carp over. Everyone can't be everything. Well, except me. I am... Everything Man!!
Buster--Yup, Arthur Malvin, right? I knew he had a big band start, as did Loren Becker, I think. Way back, when I started studying postwar pop, I was astonished by all the pop singers, including Merv Griffin, who had their start as band vocalists.
Oh, and the Artie Malvin singers are on the all-time great Jimmy Dorsey side (year of my birth), "So Rare." You already knew that, but....
Buster--Me again. You said "Artie." My bad. I had remembered seeing him billed as Arthur Malvin with Glenn Miller, but my memory isn't what it used to be, and it never was.
Yeah, this one is "Artie" although I think I have seen him credited as "Arthur." Or maybe I am imagining that. My memory sometimes plays tricks on me.
I've always been under the impression that Pickwick was just a licensing company. They wouldn't have bought or merged with anyone, they would have just entered into a new licensing agreement with someone from time to time. I know they got a foot in the door at Capitol at one time, so that was a big deal for them!
Pickwick had its own labels at first, and it bought up Tops in the early 1960s when it went bankrupt. The Both Side Now listing is on this page: https://www.bsnpubs.com/discogl-r.html You have to scroll down, but it lists their labels, and there's an page in progress about Capitol and Pickwick. As you know, they eventually got into the reissuing of older material from RCA, Dot, etc. Weirdly enough, Wikipedia says, quote, "Capitol sold its share in the company in 1970," yet I recall Pickwick Beach Boys LPs in the stores in 1976. I owned most of them. Capitol started reissuing the BB itself, omitting two tracks per LP, which greatly annoyed me.
Anyway, what Waldorf's new owners did with the recordings it bought, I dunno. I just know that the Pickwick/Waldorf connection seems to have begun the same time Waldorf went under. I don't completely understand the nature of the connection, save that the 1961 Hurrah! Top Hits LP I have also came out in that Waldorf-style LP (the label of which--Top Hit Tunes--is listed as an unknown at Discogs), and that it follows the exact same format as this 1958 LP. Namely, 18 hits, plus six totally irrelevant added tracks. The Hurrah! EPs don't list a parent company/distributor, but they are definitely Pickwick. Why they don't say so on the label is just another mystery.
Maybe I'd be better off not trying to figure this stuff out!
Let me rewrite that last part in something closer to English:
I don't completely understand the nature of the Waldorf/Pickwick connection. I just know that the Hurrah! Top Hits LP I posted was co-released in the Waldorf style using a Waldorf series name and Waldorf cover art. The label--Top Hit Tunes--is listed as an unknown at Discogs, though it has a Waldorf sound. I wish the EPs released by Hurrah! Top Hits and Hurrah! Pops put the parent co. on their labels. It would solve at least part of the mystery.
Hope that sounded more like Earth communication than my last attempt....
'll Come Running to You--Curtis Smith
The Joker--Curtis Smith
Peggy Sue--Hal Willis =Top Hit Tunes see label here https://www.45cat.com/record/th161
Could This Be Magic--Curtis Smith
Great Balls of Fire--Hall Willis
The Story of My Life (Bacharach-David)--Jim Richards
are also on Top Hit Tunes (NJ) EP - 16-1
Top Hit Tunes (NJ) EP - 16-1 V/A is also on (1957) Country & Western (NJ) EP - 7 V/A some tracks are also repeated on 8 Top Hit Tunes (NJ) EP - 17 V/A
Waldorf (NJ) Top Hit Tunes EP - TH16-2B includes
Loren Becker And The Hi-Fi's Why Don't They Understand
A2 Loren Becker With Enoch Light Orchestra Wild Is The Wind
A3 Hal Willis And The Woodchuckers At The Hop
Top Hit Tune (NJ) EP -16-3 So proberly part of a trible pack box set
A1 Enoch Light And His Orchestra And Chorus March From The River Kwai (Colonel Bogey) Rate
A2 Dottie Evans And Judy Johnson Sugartime
A3 Loren Becker And The Zig-Zags Stood Up
B1 Artie Malvin Catch A Falling Star
B2 Hollis Harbison Rock And Roll Music
B3 Jack Brown And The Monarchs The Stroll
Label here https://www.45cat.com/record/th163
Wow, I don't know how I had not encountered BSN by now, but what a website! Thanks so much for pointing me there.
I wish it dealt with singles, too, but there's Discogs and 45cat for that. Neither, unfortunately, are up to the standards of BSN. A lot of corrections need to be made, and a lot of entries filled in. This is where I should be stepping in/up, since I'm a member of both places. The cheapo labels are probably the biggest discographical puzzles out there. Maybe that's why BSN has no Synthetic Plastics Co. page! I don't blame them for leaving it be.
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