And so we have a new batch of fake hits. A new album of fake hits, to be more precise. 1959 is the year, and the guilty party is the Synthetic Plastics Co., on its Prom label. Discogs disagrees with me on the "label" part, noting on its Prom page: "Not a label but a company. Please only use for manufacturing credits etc." Synthetic Plastics Co. is listed as the parent label of Prom. Wikipedia, meanwhile, calls SPC a "manufacturing company." Ohhhh-kay. Well, I'm going to continue regarding Prom as a label in the SPC stable, and that was an unintentional rhyme (label in the stable)--but a very good one. Oddly enough, two of these Prom tracks showed up on Broadway Records, though I know of no Broadway/SPC connection. More on that later.
As you can see by the scans, no artist credits appeared on this album, so I referred to my EP singles on the Promenade label (same as Prom, basically), and now we know who sang and/or played what--according to Prom, at least. (See playlist.) And we can be fairly sure some of the names weren't for real. I mean, "Sugar Beat"? "Jennie Feathers"also sounds fake, though who can say? I will say that Jennie doesn't sound like a Jennie. And we have the named-after-the-label Promineers, and we have Glitters. Not "The Glitters," but "Glitters." It's a group, so logically there should have been a "The," but the Promenade EP label credit just says "Glitters." Logic plays no role in the Cheap Label Zone.
The EP track credit that really has me wondering is "Donnie Rounds." Donnie Rounds?? That's the person or outfit credited for Theme from A Summer Place, the Max Steiner composition from the hit 1959 film. A theme featuring clinking triplets--from the man who gave us the King Kong soundtrack! Anyway, Donnie Rounds?
Donnie Rounds? Better than Ronnie Dounds, I guess.
To my surprise, this LP's version of El Paso also showed up on Broadway Records. So did this LP's version of Way Down Yonder... What kind of shake-up happened in 1959? What are we witnessing here?
The bonus tracks are all fake versions of Way Down Yonder..., starting with the edited-down version that appeared on Promenade EP A-55-112, and continuing with the versions on Broadway Records and the Evon label--both the same performance, except that the Evon clocks in at about 2:27 and the Broadway at 1:26. These junk labels did expert track-trimming, something we might not have expected, given their tiny budgets. And considering the fact that, in those days, editing meant splicing and rejoining magnetic tape. I'm only now realizing how frequently cheap-label fakes were trimmed down to fit cramped EP groove space. Makes sense. I just wouldn't have thought they were so skilled at it.
A thirteen-track playlist. And it's not even Halloween!
DOWNLOAD: Hits a Poppin' (Prom 212)
Harbor Lights--The Promineers
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--Pat Vale
Theme from a Summer Place--Donnie Rounds
El Paso--Bill Baron
Handy Man--Michael Reed
Beyond the Sea--Jim Everett
Country Boy--Sugar Beat
Down by the Station--Glitters
Little Bitty Girl--Dottie Grey
You've Got What it Takes--Jennie Feathers
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--No credit (Broadway 181; 45 rpm EP)
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--Pat Vale (Promenade A-55-112; 45 rpm EP)
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--Stumpy Anderson and his Stompers (Let's All Do the Twist--Evon 351)
Lee
11 comments:
If I had been a few years older in the early sixties when the British Invasion began I would have started a garage band and named it Sugar Beat.
A nice lineup of fakes and impostors. Thanks, Lee.
Ha! Or you could have beat the invasion. Glad you enjoyed. This one was really fun. And I just finished a rip of a trashed Goodwill Hits a Poppin', with only one of the tracks too hammered to save. I can't believe I got the rest to sound so good (well, it was my software that did it, really, save for all the noise spikes I had to manually remove). Nine out of ten selections that I haven't seen before on a fake-hits LP--worth the 99-cent investment. Hilariously campy cover, used over and over.
Coming up soon. I may scan the cover "as is," not fixing it up. Just to see if those folks swipe it.
Just the other day, I was remembering a record my family had. It was on the Promenade label. Seems it was a 7" EP with three songs on either side, and one of them was "Down By the Station." But at this point my memories tend to crash together, leaving composite memories that I accept as the original item. I might be remembering aspects of three different records. But I do recognize this label, and I'm delighted to see "Down By the Station" on here. A piece of my childhood reclaimed, this. Thank you!
My pleasure! That's really cool.
The same thing happens with my memories. At some point, I realized how often my brain transposes details from different things or events--or even makes stuff up from scratch. That can happen when we're SURE something occurred, even when it didn't--our brain provides the memory. It all has something to do with the way the brain formats data for storage. Retrieval is tricky. The pop myth is that our brain is like a video or DVD recorder, and all we have to do is hit "rewind." If only that were the case!
"Just a second. My brain is clocking."
I love the opening line of 'Harbor Lights' where the singer does his best Fran Drescher!!!! I realize she was a tot at the time but it still makes me laugh as most of these great fake hits do!!!!!
Scott1669,
I see what you mean on "Harbor Lights"! Perfect description. Maybe the singer had missed his Nasacort spray before the session....
I've had this album in my collection from about 1962 when it was in a supermarket 99 cent record sale. Not true sound-a-likes more like Your Hit Parade versions, but very enjoyable.
They are a lot of fun. Were the displayed in racks, I assume? Like the comic-book type, or were they on shelves? I've read that, in addition to supermarkets, these showed up in drug store and even hardware stores.
I just HAVE to comment on the Pat Vale "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans". The band does a great job aping the sound of Freddy Cannon's original recording, yet the singer sounds like a middle-aged country bumpkin plucked off of the farm sounding geting the chance to cut a record!! It's unique, but not awful.
Other cuts on this sound really good--the Michael Reed "Handy Man" is way better than the Jimmy Jones original, even though there's a brief flub in the middle of the number. He also does a good job covering Marv Johnson's "You've Got What It Takes", although I personally think the Dave Clark Five's cover is the best version of that song.
Clearly, someone is clearly imitating Fats Domino on "Country Boy". However, the sax solo, drummer, heck, the whole BAND is outstanding on this cover. Could have used a better singer. The Bobby Rydell fake is pretty good too.
musicman 1979,
Yeah, the singer on "Country Boy" sounds like he's just woken up. I agree that the backing is fantastic, though. And I'm totally with you on the band's great job with "Way Down Yonder..." If only the singer were adequate. He does a fairly good Cannon imitation, but he doesn't have the volume and energy required. At least he's way better than however did the "Stumpy Andersen"/Gilmar version. That guy sounds like a weary Frankie Laine, wishing he were somewhere else.
Er, "Whoever did...," not "however"!
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