Enoch Light, in Stereo Phase X, with arrangements by Lew Davies--a lucky thrift find from a few months back. I had to come up with an ID-tag category, so I decided on "Mood Music," though these excellent tracks could also be called easy listening, instrumental pop, almost-Space Age Pop, or Great American Songbook (as in, from the...). Space Age Pop and Great American Songbook both have unfortunate abbreviations--SAP and GAS, respectively--so I'm always careful not to abbreviate. Me, I regard this collection of lushly-arranged standards as easy listening, which is a subsection of instrumental pop, which is, in turn, a subsection of light orchestral music. Sometimes I capitalize, sometimes I don't. These day, capitalization rules are pretty much whatever one decides. We have cyberspace to thank for this. Proper nouns (specific persons, places, or things), in particular, are taking a beating. I once had someone argue the rule (to capitalize these), and I realized that engaging in such an argument was taking time away from more important things, like watching Time Life ads on cable TV or seeing if I can still gargle the National Anthem. There's no shortage of people who think that established rules can be passed over, and just because.
This is first-rate mood music--as good as it gets, meaning on a par with Andre Kostelaentz and Percy Faith. And only $3.98 at the late Columbus-based department store chain Lazarus. Most of us are familiar with the gems that make up this playlist--standards, all. If I had to pick my favorites, they would be Stairway to the Stars (co-composed by Paul Whiteman's own Matty Malneck), the Kern masterpiece All the Things You Are, and Dancing in the Dark. One reason I love Dancing... so much is because Fred Waring's version sold it to me. I refer to Waring's amazing 1931 version, when his group was still called Waring's Pennsylvanians. This version is terrific, too. I wish they'd have put a Victor Herbert song in here, but they didn't. Victor seems to get shortchanged in the standards department, and he's the great talent who pretty much started the ball rolling when it comes to modern standards. Or, to the GAS. Whoops--I said I wouldn't use that abbreviation. Speaking of bending the rules.
What about the sound? Well, the notes have a lot to say on that topic. I quote: "'Grand Award's spectacular stereo sound includes a key element that is not found in other two channel recording systems--the newly developed Grand Award 'Phase X' process. 'Phase X' is an engineering achievement which creates a complete panorama of sound and eliminates the 'hole in the middle' effect which gives the impression that unrelated sound is coming from two separate side sources."
Isn't that a famous nonsense song from way back? "No more hole in the middle of the sound. No more hole in the middle of the sound. Grand Award's new Phase X is a very great success. No more hole in the middle of the sound." Playground song, I think.
My favorite line: "The world's greatest artists possess an ability to achieve exciting musical interpretations." You don't say. Grand Award Records are for the "discerning, discriminating and appreciative person." No complainers allowed. The main liner note essay, however, is very well written. Cliched, but not your usual budget borderline word salad.
Funny how the notes promise stereo with no hole in the middle, in light of the vocals-on-one-side/ instruments-on-the-other stereo to come in the rock era. I'm thinking Capitol, of course. That's why I made a point of getting all of my early Beach Boys vinyl in mono--the stereo is intolerable. Everything is high-class on this LP--I want to say that it's amazingly so for a budget disc, but Grand Award's $4.98 list price wasn't all that budget, as far as I know. I was just looking at 1956 prices, and maybe things were different in 1959, but this LP is no cheap production. It would appear that any Waldorf/G,A, connection was over when this stereo disc came out. My copy came with a Grand Award inner sleeve, which I scanned for you as part of the zip.
Grand Award. Hm. Maybe Light won a thousand bucks for his Phase X stereo--hence, a "grand award." No, I'm sure that wasn't the case. Now, to redo the HTML for the title listing.
Oh, and I just bought a number of post-Enoch Top Hit Tunes EPs. I need to go through the painstaking process of comparing tracks--the goal is to get a bead on what group created the tracks, or at least who may have been trading off with Waldorf.
DOWNLOAD: All the Things You Are--Enoch Light and His Orchestra (1959)
Someone to Watch Over Me (Gershwin)The Song Is You (Kern)
What Is This Thing Called Love (Porter)
My Heart Stood Still (Rodgers)
Everything I Have Is Yours (Lane)
No Other Love (Rodgers)
Tenderly (Gross-Lawrence)
All the Things You Are (Kern)
Stairway to the Stars (Malneck-Signorelli)
Dancing in the Dark (Schwartz)
The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful (Suesse)
Penthouse Serenade (Jason-Burton)
Enoch Light and His Orch. Play All the Things You Are (Grand Award G.A. 236-S.D., 1959)
Lee
17 comments:
Thanks, Lee!
Some of the early Beach Boys records were mono-only. I actually like the sound of the early-stereo records - go figure.
Hope you are feeling better.
Didn't Capitol disgrace the early BB LPs with is "duophonic" faux stereo? I know that Brian, being deaf in one ear, conceived all of his productions in mono.
Thanks the well wish. (Can that be singular?) This is like a light URI that just won't leave my body. Typical of this time of year, so I don't suspect COVID.
Yes, they did - Surfin' Safari and maybe one other.
Get rid of that infectiion! I have had several in my lungs lasting for nine months now. On intravenous antibiotics (again).
Oh, no. Very sorry to hear! Get better--please.
This time of year is the least best for respiratory issues.
Thanks for the music. Now both of you get better!
Lee, thanks for the great Enoch Light... always nice to hear his work without vocals. Great stereo sound, too. I always hated the voice one side, instrumental on the other "stereo" - - not my idea of stereo at all. Y'all take care and get well. Burt
Ernie,
I'll do my best. I just wish Buster's infection would stop holding on...
Burt,
Thanks! I agree about the stereo--totally natural, full and bright. They could have dispensed with the "Phase X" hype--it's simply superb stereo. The worst thing with the segregated-channel stereo is when you lose a channel--half the sound vanishes!
Thanks, Lee! This sounds glorious. I've always passed up these Grand Award LPs in the thrift bins, but you've educated me. This type of "easy listening" music is essential to me these days in dealing with employment stress. The great thing about working at home is that you can put on your Enoch Light, Kostelanetz, Paul Weston (et. al.) albums and there's nobody to look askance.
I lucked into a whole batch of these Grand Award Stereodisc LPs by Enoch Light. Before that, I also ignored them in thrifts, thinking they looked a little cheesy -- guess they put their money into the music, rather than cover design. They're well-pressed thick vinyl and clean up nicely. Just found a bunch of Paul Whiteman on Grand Award, too. Can't wait to clean and hear. Thanks for sharing yours!
Diane,
Sure! And you get the luckiest thrift finds...
Sorry to be so late to the mono-vs-stereo debate. The preference for mono with 1950s and 60s pop music is probably my only point of agreement with jailbird Phil Spector who was a ceaseless advocate for monaural sound. Real space just doesn't behave like engineered two-channel space. I dare anyone to listen to any Flamingos record in stereo without disgust and exasperation. Stereo for such groups should be banned and all recording restored to mono for true listening. I even prefer Blue Note and Impulse albums of the 1950s and early 60s in mono where the music sounds like it does in a jazz club. Over and out. Get well wishes to all those coping with autumnal ailments.
Hi Lee, thanks for another Enoch Light LP. Love the Sap and Gas. Never realized it as Sap. As I file it under the label SABP. Yes, for easy filing I place all Enoch Light and his artists under this label in my files. I guess because when I first started collecting Enoch Light it was the period of 1958-1963 or thereabout. I was introduced to his output as SABP. Bryan
Bryan,
What does the B stand for? And I hope you enjoyed this offering--I have another Grand Award EL album that showed up with this one.
David,
I also prefer mono for 1950s and 1960s pop. Any stereo that doesn't sound natural, that's doctored in a Phase 4 Stereo type of way, I despise. Stereo that hasn't been messed with--I can live with that. Thanks for the well-wish. The allergens are keeping my head stuffed, I hate to report...
Jeff M.,
Sorry to overlook your comment! Glad I'm providing some needed relaxation--or, actually, the thanks should go to Enoch. I have another EL album from this period yet to post. When I first became interesting in easy listening (which my brother and I used to call "store music"), I was a little sheepish about it. It was during my second term in the Navy, circa 1982--about the time I discovered that this brand of music had a much longer history than I'd thought. Anyway, a Navy friend was looking through some of my recent LP finds, which included early Percy Faith on RCA. He responded with a blank look and a comment I'll never forget: "I knew SOMEBODY listened to this type of music."
Delightful, like listening to a Seeburg background music Mood Library disc, but in wonderful stereo.
According to what I have read, it sounds like "Phase X" was what Enoch Light would later use on Command Records with the Dimension 3 process. Enoch left the Waldorf/Grand Award empire he founded to start Command Records, with an eye towards the nascent Stereo market. With an emphasis on sound quality, recording techniques, and gatefold liner notes describing the "Full program". Enoch Light moved from low-budget obscurity to big budget A-list album star, with several of his Command Records charting in the Top 40 when Stereo was in its infancy. After Enoch left to start Project 3 Records, Loren Becker was put in charge of Command, and he helped produce some more cutting-edge material for Tonight Show trumpeter Doc Severinsen and also brought in Warren Kime and his Brass Impact Orchestra, whose 3 albums are treasured by fans of the "Space Age Bachelor Pop Music" genre. Enoch was probably gearing up to start Command when this LP came out--I had a warped Ink Spots LP on Grand Award that had this same Stereo process described on the label and in the liner notes. Also, Lew Davies followed Enoch to Command Records and is responsible for several of the arrangements on LP's from him and from labelmates guitarist Tony Mottola and the aforementioned Doc Severinsen. Grand Award also had numerous cover paintings done by one Arthur Shilstone, who served as a part of the "Ghost Army" during World War II, profiled in a fascinating PBS documentary a few years ago.
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