In case anyone has been dying to know whether or not major (and legit minor) labels did fake-hits LPs... well, now you know. Here's an RCA budget LP of hit copies, all performed by "The RCA Camden Rockers." I wonder if they were "Stars of Radio, TV, Stage and Screen" working under another name. Or, possibly, the famous budget outfit known as "Vocals and Orchestra by Popular Artists." The RCA Camden Rockers. Bet RCA dreamed that one up on the spot. "How about the 'RCA Camden Rockers'?" "Why not? This is just a budget issue, so... sure. Whatever."
I like the bit of the three teenage girls listening to The Great Artie Shaw on (surprise!) the RCA Camden label. It's the one lying on the floor, to the left of the sleeveless LP. (Record jackets never showed people handling records properly...) Of course, a junk label wouldn't have pushed the jacket photo toward the bottom, as here. Anywhere, here's the LP they're inexplicably grooving to:
I can't identify the other three jackets (there's an album leaning up against the girl in pajamas). RCA has taken a type of scene common to cheap-label issues, only with some "cheesecake" added. The gal on the hammock-style chair is saying, "We're on the cover of The Biggest Hits of '59, and we're listening to Artie Shaw?" And those haircuts...
So, you might figure that these RCA (Camden) fake hits are bound to be a notch or two above the junk-label product, and you would be... wrong. The opening fake, Venus, sounds like the one put out by Synthetic Plastics Company (SPC), featured in this post. As in, the very same track. When I have a moment to do track comparisons, I imagine I'll find some other numbers lifted (legally, I'm sure) from the junk labels. This all confirms my feeling that RCA never put tons of pride into its budget line. That didn't prevent a lot of great stuff from coming out on RCA Camden, but RCA clearly didn't give a hoot on a release of this type.
At any rate, some excellent fakes, topped by I Need Your Love Tonight, which is graced by terrific Elvis-sound-alike singing--long before that became an industry. And Hawaiian Wedding Song features an expert impersonation of Andy Williams--something that never became a trend. (No cut on Andy, who was a superb vocalist.) Pink Shoe Laces sounds different from the Tops label version, though it could have been borrowed from another cheapo label or group thereof. Speaking of Tops, even on its cheap LPs, it managed to spring for twelve tracks, yet RCA only gives us ten here. The old you're-not-paying-for-a-full-album-so-you're-not-going-to-get-one attitude. Columbia did the same bit. Then, later, came the post-Endless Summer Capitol reissues of the Beach Boys catalog, with two tracks omitted per LP. But what has any of this to do with Artie Shaw? Why would three teen gals at a slumber party be spinning Artie on that groove-destroying portable? It pains me to think of what players like that did to LPs, especially since I routinely behold the kind of damage they did.
Let the RCA Camden Rockers make your Fourth a blast (and, hopefully, not a bomb). Best word play I can mange at less than three hours to 7/4/20--sorry!
DOWNLOAD: The Biggest Hits of '59, Volume 1--RCA Camden Rockers
Lee
19 comments:
The girl in the chair appears to be holding a Lou Monte record. The upside-down record at right is an Eddie Fisher reissue on Camden, I believe. Eddie was old hat by 1959, but hipper than Artie or Lou Monte, I would think.
Also, I never realized that Dorsey Burnette (or Dorsey-Burnette as RCA would have him) wrote "It's Late" until I saw the label above.
The "Dorsey-Burnette" had me going, "Wasn't that a single name?" I Googled it and discovered my memory was correct. I totally missed the Monte LP. Can't really see the Fisher, but there's a second one I missed--with the trumpet on the cover. Tommy Dorsey?
Oh, and thanks for the extra identifications.
Yes, I think the one with the trombone is a Dorsey Camden - good catch!
Thanks, Lee for posting these fakes or covers. They are very interesting. I am really enjoying them.
You can tell, or at least I think I can, they sound like B singers. Good but not good enough. Honestly, I never knew these types of LPs existed. To be honest, while I was never in the in-crowd, so to speak, I can not imagine someone buying them. Regardless of the cost. But, hey I love the Waldorf Music Hall LPs.
On the other hand, I am glad they did make them, that you are sharing them and I am enjoying them. Again thanks.
Looking for more goodies from you. Always a pleasure. Bryan
Glad you're enjoying, Bryan! More to come.
Do you have any of the "Hits a Poppin" 10" records. I had some in the 50s and if I remember correctly Loren Becker (of Waldorf - Enoch Light fame) was one of the artists. Thank you for all the strangeness that you share.
Sure! And I have two or three of 10" Hits s Poppin', though they don't list the singers. And I have a 78 and two 45s from that series--all on Parade, which Enoch Light owned, I think.
My family had 3 or 4 of those albums with the Top hat and bubbles. Looking at the cover art, Enoch Light and Vincent Lopez are listed as leaders on a couple of the albums. Could you post these, or should I let ancient memories remain dusty?
I think there was a whole series of similar records, from about '55 to '59. I don't think I've seen any of these outside of that time frame, but I could be wrong.
Eric,
Yes, I can put up what I have no the Parade label, though the best-looking one, condition-wise, is the 78 rpm EP, which is without a cover. I have two 45 rpm editions, too, with sleeve art that differs from the 10" jacket art.
Ernie,
Yes, Hits a Poppin' was continued, post-Enoch Light, by Synthetic Plastics Co. until about 1959, as you guesstimated. Maybe 1960, at the latest. To make things as confusing as possible for the collector, Tops, Gateway (Top Tunes), and SPC routinely swapped tracks. And I just labored over a semi-trashed LP on Hollywood, whose material turns out to be mostly tracks I've already posted, either on Tops or Prom/Promenade (SPC). I could have saved myself a lot of work and simply substituted the better-condition tracks.
Whoops, sorry, I meant the main RCA record in the post was part of a series. :) And as the name implies, there was more than one volume per year.
I have this record! It's part of my "girls with records" cover display collection.
I do have that Lou Monte Record in my collection! This series actually started around 1956 or so and it was more along the lies of the Enoch Light Waldorf Top Hits series, which to be honest, was copying the successful "your Hit Parade" formula that was so popular at the time. Some of the more famous people in this series that appeared in the volumes prior to this include former Tommy Dorsey vocalist Stuart Foster and Glenn Miller saxophonist Gordon "Tex" Beneke, pianist Johnny Guarneri and, in volume Two of BIggest Hits of '56 Volume Two, future stars vocalist-actress Polly Bergen and organist-vocalist Earl Grant, plus former Tommy Dorsey vocalist Connie Haines. According to my online research, these records were changed under the "RCA Camden Rockers" moniker with the second group of 1958. This was probably when Camden was losing interest in the series and wanted to do what MGM was doing with A-List artists who had reissues on Tops/Royale and present SPC soundalikes on better quality vinyl. I must admit this album is pretty good. There is a unique take on "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", a slamming "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", a great "Eli Whitney" take on "I Need Your Love Tonight", plus a great Andy soundalike on "Hawaiian Wedding Song." I do think the Gilmar version of "It's Just A Matter of Time" credited as to "Jack Richards") is better even though it sounds like a white man singing the number. I also have the Artie Shaw album on CD and cassette and I am still looking to add it on vinyl. "A Room With A View", "Scuttlebutt", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" are all great, but my favorite cut on the Shaw LP is "A Foggy Day" which is on the RCA Camden sampler LP All-Star Spectacular. Big Band music at its finest! Some of these "RCA Camden Rockers" LP's stayed in my collection for a hot minute before I purged them, but the one posted here is good enough for me to start looking for my copy. Thanks again, and God bless you.
If you ever come across another one of the records in this series, please do consider doing a rip of it in the future. Listening to this Record makes me wish that I had kept some of the other volumes in this series! It probably was easy for RCA to tape-swap with SPC because they were both based in New Jersey--Either a drive or a train ride away to the nearest office since RCA was based originally in Camden, New Jersey.
Two people are selling Stereo copies of this record on E-Bay right nowm with the cheapest one being this vendor at this link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/384671253296?hash=item5990318330:g:7oUAAOSwOnFhzHp0
musicman1979,
Sure, I can post some more of these--I believe I have Vol. 2 of 1959, one or two 1958 Camden fake-hit LPs, plus some of the earlier editions (1956 and 1957) when RCA still had its own vocalists, like Stuart Foster, doing the tunes. And, wow! I don't think I've ever seen the Living Stereo version of this. I'm tempted to buy it, if only because, in all probability, the stereo is true stereo. Then again, I recall an RCA Jerome Hines "Living Stereo" edition that didn't sound like true stereo. Anyway, RCA certainly offered way better pressings than SPC!
Agreed. You have more volumes in this series than I do! I briefly had Biggest Hits of '59 Volume 2 in my collection in 2008, yet I purged it before I found out that these were SPC soundalikes on better quality vinyl! The real evidence is when you play "Till I Kissed You" on that album (I recently checked out on YouTube) and the version is identical to the one that appears on SPC Hits A' Poppin' 109, that I found and bought in April of 2021. Now I am on the hunt for this record again!
The only one in this series that I have presently in my collection is Biggest Hits of '56 Volume Two, with Polly Bergen, Earl Grant, Connie Haines, Johnny Guarneri, and forgotten acts like Kyle Kimbro, The Townsmen, and the Jack Say Orchestra. Some real good stuff on that album.
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