Top Hit Tunes time--Joe Hollis and the Gang, Joe Perkins, The Monarchs, more!

These tracks hail from a strange time in the history of Waldorf Music Hall/Waldorf Record Corp. (which I simply call the Waldorf label, to keep things simple).  I refer to late 1957 through 1958 or 1959, when the label's fake hits were sounding less professional than usual, with some of them actually appearing on other labels, as well.  I'm not aware of any previous label-hopping when it came to Waldorf/Audition/Colortone/etc.  For instance, at least two of the tracks in this playlist also appeared on the Hit Parader label, where they were offered (minus any attribution): Put Your Head on My Shoulder, credited here to "Flip Morgan," and Poison Ivy, credited here to "The Flashes."  Comparing the two Poison Ivy pressings side by side (or one over the other), the only difference I discovered was a longer fade-out on Hit Parader.

Both Sides Now notes that Am-Par Records, which later became ABC-Paramount, bought out Waldorf in October, 1959, and I believe them, because BSN knows its stuff.  But, as I've noted in previous posts, there was also a mysterious Pickwick-Waldorf connection that seems to have started about this time, and which continued at least into the early 1960s--even as late as 1965.  I first noticed the connection in this post of a 1961 Hurrah! (Pickwick) release which used the standard Waldorf LP format (eighteen current hits, plus six filler tracks), plus stock Waldorf cover art.  It's possible that it was Am-Par, not Waldorf, which partnered with Pickwick, since this crossover phenomenon started about the time of the acquisition.  At the moment, I don't have enough examples to go by, so I'm still confused by the whole thing.  But I doubt anyone is losing sleep over this, so, to the music....

The first eight selections come from the red-label 10" 78 rpm EP pictured above, and the best of that lot are Hollis Robinson's Johnny B. Goode--primarily for the deft copying of Berry's guitar style--and the excellent fake of the Coaster's Yakety Yak.  Witch Doctor might have reached the fake-hit heights, too, had Waldolf taken the time and trouble to speed up the "Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah"'s instead of featuring a falsetto. But at least it's enthusiastically done, which can't be said of Jennie Lee , which has too much tired blood.  The Prom label issued a far better Jennie Lee fake, and I was sure that I'd posted it recently, but it doesn't look like I did.  Odd. Or maybe not--these are so easy to lost track of.

The next eight tracks come from the only Top Hit Tunes 45 in my collection that isn't shot to heck--of the eight numbers, King Creole is by far the best, featuring a singer who does a very good Elvis.  Bird Dog and Betty Lou are decent covers, while Gingerbread is overdone to the point of comedy.  The hit version was by Frankie Avalon, of all people.  And, listening to his version, I can't hear any basis for Loren Becker's vocal swoops, or whatever those are, though Becker does pull off a livelier version--Avalon sounds like he didn't want to do it.  I can see why--rockabilly was clearly not Frankie's thing, though I regard him as a competent teen-ballad singer.

Put Your Head on My Shoulder and Poison Ivy come from my 45 rpm copy of Top Hit Tunes TH-34-1--they were the only two salvageable numbers.  And, after I discovered that both tracks were also on the Hit Parader EP, I sort of cheated and substituted the quieter HP version of Poison Ivy, carefully duplicating the earlier Waldrof fade-out.  Which only goes to prove that all of this time indoors is not affecting my sanity.  Not one teeny bit.  Good cover of Put Your Head..., and, while simple, it's a beautifully written tune, in my opinion.  I've read accounts that describe Anka as not the easiest person to work with, but he's certainly talented.

To the fakes!





DOWNLOAD: Top Hit Tunes time




Don't You Just Know It--Joe Hollis and the Gang  (Top Hit Tune TH-20-1; 78 rpm)
Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)--Hollis Robinson (Same)
Twilight Time--Joe Perkins and the Zig Zags--(Same)
Witch Doctor--Joe Perkins (Same)
Do You Want to Dance?--Jerry Duane w. Enoch Light and His Orch. (Same)
Secretly--Jerry Rollins (Same)
Jennie Lee--Jean and Johnny Jones (Same)
Yakety Yak--The Monarchs (Same)
King Creole--Dick Penrose (Top Hit Tunes TH-22-1; 45 pm)
Gingerbread--Loren Becker with the Zig Zags (Same)
Carol (Chuck Berry)--Jerry Duane with Enoch Light Orch. and Chorus (Same)
How the Time Flies--Loren Becker and Micahael Stewart (Same)
Bird Dog--The Ferrell Brothers (Same)
Early in the Morning--Ken Lynch (Same)
Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes--Tony Stevens (Same)
Poor Little Fool--Loren Becker with the Zig Zags (Same)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder--Flip Morgan (Top Hit Tunes TH-34-1)
Poison Ivy--The Flashes (Same)

Lee