The Golden Treasury of the American Hit Parade ("A Rollicking set of 100 Tunes from 1951 to 1960 with Top Ten hits from each year," no less) is a Tiara seven-disc boxed set which, unlike most Tiara releases, offers SPC (Synthetic Plastics Co.) material--specifically, SPC soundalikes (fake hits, that is) which originally showed up on Prom and Promenade EPs (usually in edited-down versions) and in complete form on Prom (or SPC no-name label) LPs. All in monaural. But the cool thing about today's tracks: Genuine stereo! Tiara actually remastered about one-third of these in honest-to-goodness stereo. And it's the kind of strictly separated stereo (binaural?) best appreciated on headphones. You may find yourself surprised, as I was, by how good these stereo mixes sound, not only in performance (though there are some shaky vocals, especially the D- Elvis impression on A Fool Such as I), but also in the fidelity department. Some of the instrumentals are amazingly hi-fi. Well, on a Synthetic Plastics Co. scale, at least.
There were a number of late-1950s titles which I'd hoped would be in true stereo (Purple People Eater and Where the Boys Are, for instance), but approximately half of these are in lousy fake stereo of the "rechanneled" variety, so I didn't bother with those ("Lousy fake stereo" being an oxymoron, btw.). But I pulled out 37 good actual-stereo sound-alikes, and then I pared those down to 25, and... we have our playlist. By the way, speaking of badly-faked Elvis, whoever crooned Conway Twitty's Only Make Believe had the Presley sound down pat--just like Conway Twitty in his early days, come to think of it. SPC should have used him (Bill King) for A Fool Such as I.
My favorites include the skillful copy of Lawrence Welk's 1960 Calcutta, plus the equally proficient imitations of Percy Faith's 1960 Theme From a Summer Place, Ray Anthony's 1959 Peter Gunn (the Henry Mancini TV theme thereof), Perez Prado's 1958 Patricia, Billy Vaughn's 1958 La Paloma, and the Reg Owen Orch.'s 1959 (rec. in 1958) Manhattan Spiritual. Other sound-alikes I dig: Perry Como's vocal doppelganger (and resident SPC Christmas LP star) Johnny Kay doing the fabulous Perry Como soundalikes (logical, no?) Kewpie Doll (1958) and Moon Talk (same year)--plus, Where or When (imitation of Dion and the Belmonts, 1959), To Know Him Is to Love Him (the 1958 Teddy Bears hit), and the infectious Billy T, which seems to be a retitling of Kathy Linden's 1958 Billy (a tune dating back to 1911!). Plus, passable copies of the Platters, Kingston Trio, Peggy Lee, and the Fleetwoods. At the same time, SPC/Tiara has treated us to superior impressions of Frank Sinatra (Mr. Success, 1959), Dave "Baby" Cortez (The Happy Organ, 1959), and The Virtues (Guitar Boogie Shuffle, 1959 again). Who could ask for more? In the present context, I mean?
All selections by the world-famous The Broadway Pops Orchestra With Featured Vocalists and Chorus. I found the Prom/Promenade artist credits for all but three titles--A Fool Such as I, Where or When, and Calcutta. Of the three, I was only able to trace Calcutta to a Synthetic Plastics Co. release.
DOWNLOAD: Prom/Promenade Soundalikes in Stereo!
THE BROADWAY POPS ORCHESTRA WITH FEATURED VOCALISTS AND CHORUS
Peter Gunn--Promenade Orchestra (UPDATE: Not a Prom/Promenade track! My bad.)
Beyond the Sea--Jim Everett
A Fool Such as I--(Unknown Artist)
Guitar Boogie (Shuffle)--Glitters
Since I Don't Have You--The Grasshoppers
Beep-Beep--The Kays
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes--The Glitters
Moon Talk--Michael Reed (Johnny Kay)
Come Softly to Me--Grasshoppers
Fever--Betty Green
Mr. Success--Al Freed
Harbor Lights--The Promineers
Patricia--Jose Gonzales
Where or When--(Unknown Artist)
Kewpie Doll--Bob Mitchell (Johnny Kay)
Theme From a Summer Place--Donnie Rounds
Calcutta--(Unknown Artist)
(It's) Only Make Believe--Bill King
Billy T--Hildy Tree
La Paloma--John Logan
Twilight Time--The Promineers
Manhattan Spiritual--Bill King
To Know Him Is to Love Him--The Grasshoppers
The Happy Organ--Pat Vale
It's All in the Game--Michael Reed
Lee
12 comments:
Looks like fun but the link doesn't work.
Thanks Lee! I never knew there were anthology collections of fake hits. Thanks for taking the time to find the best-sounding of the group. Always great to hear a decent rendition of Beyond the Sea
- Steve in PA
Anon.,
Maybe the site was down--it's working for me now. Just click on the "Direct Download" option directly under "Save to pCloud," and it should download quickly.
Steven in PA,
You're welcome, and this was a very unusual find. I wouldn't have expected a boxed set of these knockoffs, either--especially with some true-stereo numbers in the mix. I wish they'd presented all the stereo-era tracks in genuine stereo, but some are better than none! It was fun picking out the best tracks. Glad you enjoyed--and "Beyond the Sea" is an especially adept fake!
A box set! Whoa, man! The Longines Symphonette Society must have been quaking in fear at the competition! This is indeed the find. Now I'll keep my eyes peeled for similar finds. (Won't hold my breath, though.)
Diane,
True--This isn't a show-up-everyday type of set. (-:
Interesting, very interesting! Never would have guessed such a collection existed.
The girl on the cover looks like she's thinking 'I wish dad would by me a REALElvis record"
Link works. Thanks a lot.
Ernie,
It was a surprise to me, too. I never expected to hear late-'50s Promenade fakes in genuine stereo.
Rev. B,
Ha! And that art originally appeared on the Promenade/Diplomat/Spin-O-Rama LP, "A Tribute to Glenn Miller."
Anon.,
You're welcome!
LOL! 'I wish Dad would buy me a REAL Glenn Miller record...'
I love the cover, but I love the tracks even more! Any chance we could hear the other 75? I don't care about sonics.
Gilmarvinyl,
Maybe, at some point. It'll be a major task!
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