Another Parade of Hits A'Poppin'--this time, no Enoch

Today's offering--Parade of Hits A'Poppin', Vol. 9 (a six-track 45 rpm EP)--represents the parting of the ways between Prom, Parade, and Enoch Light.  I totally doubt he was involved in any of this EP's recordings.  For one thing, the Prom label singles which were released concurrently with this EP feature a generic "Prom Orchestra," along with singers not part of Enoch Light's regular group (Artie Malvin, Loren Becker, et al.).  Light had started in December, 1951 as the the a&r and sales manager for Prom, leaving in 1954 to start his own labels--18 Top Hits, Waldorf Music Corp., etc.  Here we see the Parade label carrying on as if nothing had happened.  Typical cheap-label behavior.  The a&r man had left, is all.  No reason to make a thing out of it.

SPC (Synthetic Plastics Co.) took over at Prom--or maybe it was there all along.  I totally don't trust Discog's write-up on Prom, so...  Anyhow, I've included six bonus tracks, three of which (Dim, Dim the Lights; No More; Sincerely) are titles from this EP--only in versions overseen by Light, from his 18 Top Hits label.  Light's versions are much livelier and, not surprisingly, better recorded.  The remaining three tracks are also Waldorf fakes--Earth Angel, Gee, and High Noon, the last featuring a superb vocal by Artie Malvin.

If I have the sleeve for this EP, then it's lost someplace in this record and sheet music jungle I call my Media Room (actually, Bev's phrase).  So I swiped the sleeve image from Discogs--a sleeve which, for some reason, sports a different catalog number than my EP (7809 vs. 4509).  Yet another cheap-label mystery.

Since my copy of the EP is plagued by epic surface noise at the track fade-outs, I used the final few seconds of my Prom label singles and spliced in those moments for quieter fades.  The trouble I go through for this stuff....

And who was Bobby Powers?  I have no idea.  I guess he was the guy who got stuck with the "Hits-A-Poppin Orchestra" while Parade was pondering its next move.  And, though this is not an epic issue, especially given the Parade label's inconsistent punctuation of the series' title, it should probably be "a'poppin'," as opposed to the additional two forms in which Parade presented it.  And so, as of this post, it's officially "A'Poppin'," as opposed to "A' poppin.'"

Oh, and this EP's version of Dim, Dim the Lights is identical to the one released on Gateway Top Tune and Music Masters.  So there.

Now it's time to enjoy the hits (take your pick) a'poppin' or a' poppin.'  The choice is yours.





DOWNLOAD: Parade of Hits A'Poppin' 4509 (Most likely, 1954)





Parade of Hits A'Poppin' (Parade 4509)

Let Me Go, Lover (Carson-Hill)--Patty Kay, The Prom Orch.
Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)--Tommy Scott and the Rockets, The Prom Orch.
Hearts of Stone (Jackson-Ray)--The Mullen Sisters and the Rockets, The Prom Orch.
Melody of Love (Engelmann-Glazer)--The Rockets, The Prom Orch.
No More (DeJohn-DeJohn-DeJohn)--The Mullen Sisters, The Prom Orch.
Sincerely (Fuqua-Freed)--Same

Bonus Tracks

Dim, Dim the Lights--The Brigadiers (18 Top Hits 140; 45 rpm EP)
No More--The Larsen Sisters (Same)
Sincerely--The Larsen Sisters w. Orch. (Same)
Earth Angel--Jerry Duane and the Brigadiers (18 Top Hits 141; 45 rpm EP)
Gee--Brigadiers Vocal Group (18 Top Hits, Waldorf 127; 45 rpm EP)
High Noon--Artie Malvin w. the Enoch Light Orch. and Chorus (Waldorf Record Corp. P 111)



Lee