This is a significantly improved new version of the rip I featured in this 2018 post. The fidelity isn't great (the LP has seen many plays), but gone is the muffled, low-detail quality, at least. Three posts back, I featured another An Hour of Tops in Pops, though I forgot to include the "N" suffix with the catalog number. The suffix on these issues (L, this time) is important, because the 1389 catalog number was the standard Hour of Tops in Pops identifier, with the suffixes presumably marking the editions. This allowed Allegro Royale not only to conserve numbers but to reuse cover art. Just as with 1389N, 1389L is missing the track listing on the cover, but this time the panel appears to have been deliberately removed (last time, Allegro Royale apparently simply forgot to print the info). Why someone would remove the track listing, we'll never know--unless it was part of a threat, perhaps. ("Play this thing one more time, and I'll remove the track listing!" "Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try that!")
Some things are lost to time. The fate of the paste-on track sticker for this LP will forever dwell in the Hall of Forgotten Fates.
The version of Rock Around the Clock which starts this record is identical to the Broadway label single by Jack Richards, and it's totally possible the rest of these tracks represent fakes swapped between Eli Oberstein and Broadway, as well. Many or most of these probably also showed up on the Today's Records label. With fake hits, it was a small world. ("Can we use your fakes?" "Sure. Go ahead.")
The lead guitarist on Clock is to be commended for copying the original Danny Cedrone solo from the Haley original, something even the Comets' Frank ("Frannie") Beecher didn't attempt on stage, at least when it came to the lightning-fast half-step portion which ends it. Whoever this guy was, he came very close to nailing it. A lot of highly fun grown-up pop numbers here--Learnin' the Blues (Frank Sinatra, original), Hard to Get (Gisele MacKenzie, original), A Blossom Fell (Nat "King" Cole, orig.), and Heart (Eddie Fisher, orig.), plus the extremely annoying Honey-Babe (Art Mooney, orig.), which was unleashed on the 1955 Top 40 from the move Battle Cry, a film I'd only want to see for Gregory Walcott's role as a drill instructor. And, besides Clock, there are two other rock and roll gems: Don't Be Angry and Two Hearts, Two Kisses. It's interesting that neither number is done in a "pop" style--an indication that r&r was coming into its own, at least on the budget front.
So, is this an hour's worth of pops? No, closer to 33 minutes. So why did the Record Corp. of America title it "An Hour of..."? What, you're asking me?
Oh, and Unchained Melody and A Blossom Fell contain periods of a high-pitched squealing that must have happened in the mastering process, or else which represent a defect in this particular pressing. I tried different types of filtering, but with no luck. Fortunately, the instances are fairly brief.
To the fakes...
DOWNLOAD: An Hour of Tops in Pops (Allegro Royale 1389L; prob. 1955)
Rock Around the Clock
Learnin' the Blues
Hard to Get
Honey-Babe
Sweet and Gentle
Love Me or Leave Me
Unchained Melody
A Blossom Fell
Something's Gotta Give
Heart
Don't Be Angry
Two Hearts, Two Kisses
An Hour of Tops in Pops (Allegro Royale 1389L; prob. 1955)
Lee
8 comments:
You know, I've been seeing this cover for many years and I don't think I ever realized that it was a series rather than a single album. For this wisdom, I thank you.
Sinatra covered "Two Hearts, Two Kisses" - one of his worst Capitol recordings.
Buster,
I think the fake RCA used the same bit for its 10-inch "Tops in Pops" LP--one catalog number with a variety of suffixes. The Tops label did the same bit with its "Top Hits" LPs--one number, different suffixes--but there was no consistency in the letters. No pattern I could discern, anyway.
Yikes! I didn't know Frank recorded it, too. Not his kind of material at all! I think Doris Day's version is a bit contrived in the rhythm department, but it's not bad. I'll have to hear Frank's version (or maybe I should spare myself the experience)...
Wow....
The voice on "Learnin' The Blues" sounds very much like Joe Valino.
He's the guy that did that pre-Frank version pressed as a demo on Gold Star 253 in 1954.
The story is that it got airplay on WPEN in Philly and that Frank heard it, loved it, and sent his "associates" to "pressure" Valino to give up the song. Frank supposedly recorded it for Capitol days later.
It was written by Vicki Silvers, a Havertown housewife who then placed the publishing with Barton Music after learning of Frank's intentions. Barton allegedly owned by Sinatra.
Valino titled it "Learned The Blues". The take here is clearly a different take, but sounds very much like Valino.....to my possibly tin ear.
Am I crazy, not for the first time?
Lafong,
Wow--I have absolutely no idea. The tracks on this LP were co-released on Broadway Records, and Broadway's "Learnin' the Blues" release is credited to Jack Richards. My guess would be Richards, not Valino, but I can't be sure. Maybe someone reading this has some info. Wish I could help!
Bryan,
Sorry to see your comment vanish. Very interesting info, though--thanks! I've noticed that Alshire's stuff seems to be alive and well on CD.
I have the Joe Valino record myself (I have been contemplating a Valino post for about a decade now), but couldn't tell you if this is the same singer without finding the disc, which may be hopeless.
That Sinatra story always struck me as being apocryphal (it's too pat), but who knows.
Hi Lee, As I mentioned in my now-deleted post, this would make a great album to clean too. It did. It was a fun album to clean my Friends kitchen too.
I like to think that the title of "An Hour of Tops in Pops" is not far off. Misleading to downright lying it is. But, with me, when I play a new mp3 or CD, I almost always double play it. So at 33 minutes x 2 plays, I am getting "An Hour of Tops in Pops". So, this then is true in advertising. Haha.
Bryan
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