Didn't we just see these two?? Hits are A' Poppin' again.

Another Hits A' Poppin' (SP 206, this time), with the same couple from the last jacket, and in the exact same pose (almost makes you think it's the same photo), the guy still lugging the portable player with the LP resting atop it, and the lady smiling, as if to say, "We weren't able to get the actual hits for the party, but these are just as good."  The kids, not shown in the photo, are heading for the exit.  Meanwhile, in transit, the loose disc has slid off the player three times for added crackle and pop.  To put the "Poppin'" in Hits A' Poppin', no doubt.

This disc, luckily, does not appear to have been bounced or slid around anytime during its life, though, despite its mint look, there were some surface noise issues.  Nothing I could see, but my ears spotted them right off.  Luckily, the defective tracks only numbered three, and they were only defective in spots-- so I was able to patch over many of the bad spots with sections from my 45 rpm EP versions.  For instance, I was able to replace the beginning and ending portions of I've Had It and the first half of (All of a Sudden)...--right up to where the engineer jumped to the closing bars.  I can't say I'm shocked that such a hyper-cheap pressing would have "invisible" surface noise.  Almost to be expected, really.  I mean, when the company can't even come up with a label name for the collection....

Actually, the jacket puts "SP" before the number, and we can assume/presume/whatever that SP is Synthetic Plastics.  Why SPC left off the C, I don't know, but I doubt anyone cares much.  I guess we can consider this the SP label.  As opposed to the (nothing) label of last post.  "Oh, great!  A new release on the (nothing) label!  My favorite!"--Excited buyer, 1959.

Goodbye Baby, credited on the Promenade EP to Dick Stetson (really?), was a hit for Jack Scott, and I have yet to listen to the Scott version.  I'm eager to hear it, just to see which of the two playlist versions it resembles.  For I have Skeets Mooney (really?) performing it on Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes, and it doesn't even sound like the same tune on this LP.  It's like the three chords of the Stetson edition were reduced to one or two.  Children's Marching Song is very, very familiar to me, and I have no idea why.  That is, I don't simply know the tune, I remember the record--but I was only two when it came out.  Maybe it was played as an oldie on Toledo AM radio, though I sort of doubt that.  Maybe it was used as a children's show theme.  Maybe my parents had the record, though they never bought "pop" records (just jazz and Classical), so, if they had a version of this, it was likely a low-budget fake.  Bottom line: I have no idea how or why I'm so familiar with the original.  Maybe a teacher played it in class, but even then I don't think it would be such an ingrained memory.  Like, how often would she have played it?

So many mysteries, so few answers.  Anyway, besides the LP version of "Knick-Knack, Paddywhack," you'll be hearing the Broadway Value version by Vic Corwin.  A thrill a minute at this blog.  The other two alternates are Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Sixteen Candles, both ripped from my 78 rpm copy on Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes.  I came very, very close to giving the track credits to the Coasters, my aging eyes failing to see the "iers."  Maybe an on-line credit tipped me off, but at some point I said, "Hey, it's the Coastiers!"  And I typed in the credit accordingly.  But I came so close....

Betty Green, credited with I Cried a Tear, sounds suspiciously like the falsetto male R&B voices we hear elsewhere on this disc, but who am I to say?  And one thing about the Leiber-Stoller standard Charlie Brown, which of course had nothing to do with the comic strip--doesn't arson go beyond the realm of mischief?  I mean, just a little?  "Boy, he's such a clown.  Set the auditorium on fire!!  What a hoot.  You should've been there.  Can he come over for supper, ma?"

I've Got a Wife, the Mark IV hit (as I Got a Wife), sounds like every other polka I've ever heard, so I'm not surprised to see on line that Frankie Yankovic recorded it.  And, while I would've bet that the Everly Brothers were the duo being copied on I've Had It, the original group was The Bell Notes.

Back jacket: "Fine records needn't be expensive."  I don't know about fine, but certainly entertaining records needn't be....

My bronchitis is getting better, though I feel exhausted from the ordeal.  Apologies for not having a gospel post ready--it was all I could do to get up and move around this past week.  I'll feel more at peace when my lungs feel less full.  They're clearing, though....

UPDATE: Just discovered on eBay--an alternate version of this LP.  Same number (SP 206) and selections, but different cover image and label (Parade, an SPC label).

DOWNLOAD: Hits A' Poppin' (SP 206)






Smoke Gets in Your Eyes--The Glitters
Children's Marching Song--Promenade Orch. and Choir
16 Candles--The Promineers
Charlie Brown--The Promineers
I Cried a Tear--Betty Green
Goodbye Baby--Dick Stetson
(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings--Michael Reed
I've Got a Wife--Bob Mitchell
Plain Jane--Jimmy Grant
I've Had It--The Grasshoppers

BONUS TRACKS

Goodbye Baby--Skeets Mooney (1958)
The Children's Marching Song--Vic Corwin (Broadway Value 163; 45 rpm EP)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes--The Coastiers (1958)
Sixteen Candles--The Coastiers (1958)

Lee