Top Hits, Parade SP-101. Or is it Top Tunes? Top hits, by any other name, are fake hits, and Parade (by the time this was issued--I'm guessing 1958) was SPC in disguise. We know this because of the back-jacket logo: Fine records needn't be expensive. I wonder if that was SPC's way of saying, "Don't expect us to put money into these things"?
I won't admit that I tossed this together, but I tossed this together. I'd planned to feature a twist LP (can't have too many of those) on the amazingly (but lovably) cheap Palace label, and mainly because the tracks genuinely rock. But I'll have to do comparison listening to figure out the sources and actual titles, since the LP in question uses older material from another label. Or, the standard older-material-repackaged-as-twist-music-to-cash-in-on-Chubby-Checker ploy. You've heard of that one. So, for now it's Top Hits, aka Top Tunes.
This baby has been waiting for some time to see the light of blog, and I've been meaning to post it but somehow haven't, and now it has me feeling all guilty. And the lady on the front looks SO happy. Just like she looks on all of the SPC EP sleeves which carry the exact same image. For a flat-fee photo, SPC sure got its money's worth, even if this redhead did not.
These are all quite decent sound-alikes, even if Witch Doctor (as far as I can tell) uses a soprano in place of the requisite sped-up tape. Not that "requisite" is a concept which resonated with the jobber-rack labels, though thankfully this version of The Purple People Eater has the expected doubled-speed effect. And I've always wanted to type, "the expected doubled-speed effect." I can now scratch that off my Things I Want to Type list.
SPC, posing as Parade, has provided the artists' aliases, which include The Wright Bros., Shep Wild, and the no-relation-to-Alan Al Freed. (Just checked Discogs to make sure there wasn't an actual Shep Wild, and it appears I was correct.) The Wright Bros.--wow. They had to be quite up there (up there--right) by 1958. In fact, they were no longer with us. But did such things deter SPC? Of course not.
And, boy, Do You Wanna Dance sure brings back memories--of the 1965 Beach Boys hit version, that is. It was a while before I heard the original Bobby Freeman 1958 hit (called Do You Want to Dance). I guess, in anticipation of the Beach Boys' version to come, SPC opted for "wanna."
And what role does Johnny Sullivan's Orchestra play (no pun intended) in all this? Was Johnny and his orchestra even for real? Doubtful--Discogs gives "Johnny Sullivan" two credits, both of them on Parade. But I love the way the label credits Johnny, only to put other names on the tracks--as if to say, "Just kidding!" Just in case we weren't clued in by the two deceased aviation pioneers in the performer roster. However, this is fun stuff, so... to the Top Hits/Tunes!
DOWNLOAD: Top Hits (or, Top Tunes)--Johnny Sullivan and His Orch. (Parade SP-101; prob. 1958)
All I Have to Do Is Dream--The Wright Bros.
Return to Me--Richard Deane
Chanson D'Amour--Al and Betty Wright (any relation to the Bros.?)
Who's Sorry Now--Terry Frank
Witch Doctor--John Logan
Secretly--Bob Mitchell
Do You Wanna Dance--Al Freed
For Your Love--Michael Reed
The Purple People Eater--Shep Wild
Looking Back--Bill King
Lee
7 comments:
Great one, thanks Lee!
Up there -- haha! I get it! Thanks, Leester, for another bunch o' fun. Anxiously awaiting more twistorama...
Thanks, Lee! Hope all is well. I was thinking the other day, you haven't updated us in quite a while on your cat situation. How's the gang doing?
Ernie,
The cats are doing well. The "herd" is down to four now. Cancer and old age claimed the other six, one of whom seemed as if he would live forever. They want Daddy's constant attention, and I guess they own me. No point in pretending otherwise!
So good to have a new "Fake hits" LP posted! And from Prom's Golden age! They are no tape-swapping with Tops on their versions of "All I Have to Dream" and "Looking Back" here. "All I have To Is Dream" is way better than the Toppers version on a Tops 45 that I have; the singer occasionally credited as "John Logan" does a great job on the Bryant lyrics, while the Nat King Cole fake "Looking Back" features a great singer who puts his unique spin on the song without trying to ape Nat's signature vocal style, which Tops did on their version that was labeled as "Nick Bonney and the Toppers."
"Al and Betty Wright" do a great job aping Art and Dotty Todd on "Chanson D'Amour" with SPC not drenching the song in echo and reverb like Era Records did on the Art and Dotty original. And could that be King Curtis on the saxophone? It sure does sound like his style.
SPC's take on Connie Francis' breakout hit (which could be sung by the lady who sang her "Lipstick on Your Collar" on Hits A Poppin 109 has even MORE of a Rock flavor than Connie's original, plus the lady does sound a lot like Connie in the last verse. Dottie Evans cut a very realistic version of the same song for Bell Records in a version that is uploaded on YouTube.
A really good version of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance" sans a lot of echo that was in the original and a slightly more exciting singer than Mr. Freeman who pulls off a good performace despite a few clinker notes here and there. It has the feel of a Gilmar "Steve Marks" soundalike. Also, in the era you tuned out the top 40, Bette Midler had a hit with a simmering mid-tempo interpretation on Atlantic Records.
SPC's take on "Secretly" did a really good job of aping one of my al-time favorite Jimmie Rodgers hits and once again has the flavor of a Gilmar Records fake (I have the "Jack Richards" version in my collection.) The singer does a really good job imitating Jimmie's tender vocal style on this one.
Their version of Dean Martin's "Return To Me" is good. The singer sounds like a much younger version of Dino and does not quite have some of the former Dean Paul Crocetti's unique vocal mannerisms, yet it is a real good recording and is very unique.
A common theme on this set is canning a lot of the echo. They did it again here on Ed Townsend's big hit, "For Your Love" in a great version that has got the flavor of a classic Doo-Wop song. This is one I will be spinning a lot when I am on this blog. Ed would later would co-write Marvin Gaye's homage to eros love, "Let's Get It On" in 1973.
This has to be one of the most boring covers of "Purple People Eater' that I have ever heard. However, I did like how they named their Sheb Wooley knockoff as "Shep Wild." I got quite a chuckle when I read th credits for this one.
Overall, a great SPC fake hits set. Not quite as exciitng as some of the 1959 sets, but just as good. The Parade label looks as if it is SPC's homage to the original LP label for Atlantic Records. Four out of five stars for me. Great to hear the cats are doing well.
musicman1979,
Thaks, as ever, for your review! I agree all the way, especially with your point that these tracks benefit from a lack of echo. The sound is very good. SPC had excellent fidelity, actually, though of course its pressings were often terrible. This one is an exception--very little in the way of in-between track noise (a problem with most Promenade EPs), though there were some noisy cutoffs in the mastering--I carefully removed those. Eli Oberstein's label groups were the very worst in that department. Thanks so much for nothing that these versions weren't co-released with Tops--the crossover may not have started until late 1959 or 1960. And I hadn't considered Shep Wild as a takeoff on Sheb Wooley. That one whizzed right by me. Fine set, and yes, the Parade logo is very similar to Atlantic's.
Great comments, as always. "The Wright Bros." credit also shows on Hits A' Poppin' 109 on the label's take of "Till I Kissed You", which recently was posted on this blog in Stereo on the RCA Camden Biggest Hits of '59 Volume Two LP earlier this Summer.
Also, SPC ripped the John Logan credit from the history books. He was a General who fought in the Western Theater during the Civil War.
Oh, the SPC "Lipstick on Your Collar", credited to Janet King, is actually on Hits A' Poppin 108, also posted on this blog.
You keep unearthing a lot of great vinyl gems that I am looking to add to my own personal vinyl collection! Thanks again for all of your hard work.
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