Halloween 2024, Part 1: Stanley Holloway, Paul Frees, Elsa Lanchester, David Rose, Gene Moss, The Merriettes

 

A number of technical glitches when preparing this slaylist--evil forces working to ruin my Halloween-blogging plans, no doubt  But I chanted some magic words over my ceramic Frankenstein-monster-and-pumpkin planter (? shown above), and I seem to have expelled the demons (or anti-demons?) at play.  But not before having my first MAGIX "project" (of 20-plus tracks) vanish on me.  Crud.  

Elsa Lanchester for Halloween?  If only for her portrayal of the Frankenstein monster's bride, yes.  But we'll hear two 1957 numbers from her act at Hollywood's Turnabout Theatre, shortly after the closing of that establishment.  Forman Brown's Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin may or may not be a period song adapted by the songwriter--it certainly sounds "period."  It's all about a hat pin as a defense against unrequested sexual attention--and there's also the implication that the pin can function as a reminder to young lower-class British women of the virtue of protecting their "you know what."  At the close, we discover that, had her mother remembered to carry a hat pin, the singer wouldn't have been born.  Yikes.  Those reserved Brits sure have a talent for bold, frank (not to mention dark) humor.  The Ratcatchers Daughter (which I incorrectly tagged as The Ratchcatchers Song--sorry!) is described as a "London Street Song," and a rough one, too.  Even though the fidelity is adequate for both numbers, I suggest headphone listening--if you want to make out all the lyrics, that is.  The numbers are introduced in a dry, ready-to-burst-out-laughing fashion by Elsa's husband, Charles Laughton (whose sole directing job, 1955's Night of the Hunter, is a perfect Halloween flick.  Which is probably why it's not on TCM's October schedule).

Sterling Holloway's Sweeney Todd the Barber is more typical music-hall material, though with the same level of dark humor.  Recorded in 1957, far as I can determine, though released in the U.S. (on Columbia Masterworks) in 1958.  And the Village Stompers' Haunted House Blues is a spooky-in-title-only number, but still fun.  Of course, I was hoping for something more traditionally Halloween.  A few screams, or at least a low-pitched "Buwa-ha-haaaa!"

The Dramatic Cue and Mood Music "suite" was edited by me from the above Elektra LP.  I assembled a number of season-appropriate cues into a single file, and it flows amazingly well (I was expecting lesser results).  The LP has seen better plays, but VinylStudio's declicker filter did an amazing job, as usual.

Two Funeral March of a Marionette (aka Alfred Hitchcock Presents) offerings: An excellent and just-right 1956 pipe organ performance by Ray Bohr, and a fine, swinging 1959 interpretation by Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men.  (What Halloween is complete without Ralph and the Marlboro Men?)  And, courtesy of the famous voice actor Paul Frees (Solomon Hersh Frees), we have "Boris Karloff" crooning the Bacharach-David The Look of Love, and "Bela Lugosi" with Games People Play.  And some moody--if marginally-Halloween--1961 titles on Enoch Light's Command label (Grand Award Record Co.): Strange Interlude and Witching Hour.  I was hoping the latter would have a more foreboding sound, but it's effective enough, and the highly precise Command-style stereo is fun.  

In addition, my favorite Douglas Byng track of all: 1963's I'm a Mummy.  A brilliant cabaret performer, known for appearing in drag, and of course at a time when it was very not safe to come out of the closet.  A situation to which we never want to return.  Douglas was a comic genius, which is all that matters.

Gene Moss, the voice of Smokey Bear from 1992–2002, provides two song parodies as "Dracula": I Want to Bite Your Hand and Frankenstein (Clementine), both from the 1964 RCA LP, Dracula's Greatest Hits.  And I confess to a love for Mantovani's music--including this dreamy 1969 arrangement of Robert Colbert's famous Quentin's Theme (from the 1960s Gothic soap, Dark Shadows).  Just part of my high regard for expertly arranged and performed mood/background/"EZ" fare.  The collectable value of most mood music, of course, is slim to none.

My rip of David Rose's Forbidden Planet comes from the 1957 MGM Music From Motion Pictures LP (speaking of superior mood music), but I cheated by swiping the Discogs image of the picture sleeve that came with the single.  Rose was hired to compose that film's soundtrack, but his music was ditched for the very cool (I think so; not everyone does) electronic background.  So, is this the actual title music Rose composed?  Or an original recording thereof?  I do not know.  But it's excellent stuff.

Look Out for the Batman, courtesy of (who else?) Synthetic Plastics Co., is a mess of a knockoff rushed to market during the 1966 Adam West/Batman craze, but I love it to death.  I even love the recorded-in-another-room quality of the drums.  And Batman is a permanent part of my Halloween memory, if only because I went to school as Batman that year--complete with cape and mask.  Even at 9, I recognized the set as non-brand, but it was cool, anyway.

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2024, Part 1

SLAYLIST

Sweeney Todd the Barber--Stanley Holloway, 1957

Dramatic Cue and Mood Music-suite, 1964

Quentin's Theme--Mantovani, 1969

I Want to Bite Your Hand--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Alfred Hitchcock Presents--Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men, 1959

Frankenstein (Clementine)--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Blue Ghost--Tommy Roe, Jordanaires, 1962

Trick or Treat (Ferde Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1976

Ghost Town--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff Orch. and Chorus, 1956

March of the Marionettes--Ray Bohr, pipe organ, 1956

Haunted House Blues--The Village Stompers, 1964

I'm a Mummy--Douglas Byng, piano: Alan Leigh, 1963

Strange Interlude--Lew Davies and His Orch., 1961

The Witching Hour--Same, 1961

Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin--Elsa Lanchester, intro: Charles Laughton, 1957

The Ratcatcher's Daughter--Same

Forbidden Planet (Rose)--David Rose and His Orchestra, 1957?

The Look of Love--Paul Frees as Boris Karloff, 1970.

Games People Play--Paul Frees as Bela Lugosi, 1970.

Look Out for the Batman--The Merriettes, 1966

Lee

Reposts: The Biggest Hits of '59, Vols. 1 and 2--The RCA Camden Rockers (not!)

As requested by musicman1979, a revival of RCA Camden's The Biggest Hits of '59, Vol. 1 and biggest hits of '59, vol. 2.  From "The Biggest" to "biggest."  And, for some unknown reason, I forgot that I'd already ripped and posted the second volume--this, despite the fact that musicman requested that I "revive" same.  It's rather hard to revive/restore something that hasn't already been offered--hence, "revive" is a hint that a given offering has already been offered.  Then again, could we conceive of a multiverse in which this wouldn't be true?  Great material for a two-hour debate.  Or not.  Anyway, I done spaced out.

As noted in my previous post, plus my earlier Biggest Hits of '58 entry, by this point RCA was no longer using its own artists (Stuart Foster, Robert Alda, Tex Beneke) for its "Biggest Hits" LPs.  Come 1958, this most popular record label of its time was trading tapes with... SPC (Synthetic Plastics Co.), the folks behind Promenade, Prom, Peter Pan, and other rack-jobber operations!  And why not, I guess.  Furthermore--and I had forgotten this discovery--the tracks of the second 1959 volume also appeared on  Eli Oberstein's bottom-of-the-barrel Ultraphonic (Record Distributors of New Jersey) label.  Thus, RCA was sourcing its fake hits (as I call them--"hit facsimiles" doesn't have the same ring) from the bottom of the bottom of the barrel.  However, pressed on better-quality vinyl than anything offered by the "fake RCA" (Record Corp.) or SPC.  With classier cover art, to boot.  And, in the case of volume 2, in stereo!

Some excellent fakes between the two volumes--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.)  And I have a vague memory that this particular Pink Shoe Laces isn't, in fact, the SPC cut.  Which, if so, raises the mystery of, "Where did it come from?"  Enough to keep fake-ologists busy for years.  I, on the other hand, am too lazy at the moment to dig through my record rows and track-compare.

And, though I have two copies of biggest hits of '59 vol. 2 (I'm going with RCA's lowercase font), at least one of them was a thrift gift from Diane, so... thanks again, Diane!

As musicman noted, when I put up the Promenade I Ain't Never at my Lee's Fake Hits channel at YouTube, I should have used the stereo cut here.  Maybe I should do a second posting.

Sorry for my recent blog absence.  I do intend to offer some Halloween slaylists this month--or one, at the very least.  Fresh Halloween sides are tough to dig up (especially if they're been buried for a spell), in distinct contrast to Christmas LPs and singles, which--like Xmas decorations in October--are everywhere.

DOWNLOAD: The Biggest Hits of '59, Vol. 1--RCA Camden Rockers

DOWNLOAD: biggest hits of '59, vol. 2--RCA Camden Rockers

Lee

 

Hey There, Lonely Girl--Jingle, Jangle--Sugar, Sugar (Design SDLP-311)--repost from Apr. 12, 2019

Musicman1979 suggested I revise this post (thanks!), as the LP is (or was) being discussed at the Facebook Brand "X" page.  I retained the original text.  I see that I liked the cover tracks, though the Facebook verdict is less kind!  Enjoy...

Design Records has given us three anonymous but pretty good 1969 rock/pop covers--The Archies' Jingle Jangle and Sugar Sugar, and Eddie Holman's Hey There Lonely Girl--plus six other tracks that couldn't possibly be less related in style.  We get Dixieland, a Rimsky-Korsakoff selection in the style of a Benny Goodman combo, two tracks that would have fit in better with last post's fake The Good, the Bad & the Ugly LP (one choral, the other a kind of Mexican exotica), plus Running Free and Brazil Nut, neither of which I know what to label.  Only nine selections, so things are over with pretty quick, and the LP could have been a lot worse, considering its slapdash nature.

And, really, it's the incredible front cover that makes this a must-have.  Well, for me, anyway.  Far better art than the Design Records norm, and it's delightfully period art--clearly, the illustrator was a fan of the Yellow Submarine movie. I could have done with a few more colors, but why complain when the jacket is so far above expectations?  The back cover is the same one used on all Design LPs of this period--black and white pics of other Design LPs, and a blurb about musical tastes in America and the importance to the public of having "quality low-cost recordings of familiar favorites" available to it.  Familiar favorites like Brazil Nut, Sissy, and Carol's Theme.  Tracks you would have expected to pay a whole lot more for.

Sound quality is decent, and condition is okay, though a big bubble in the vinyl at the start of side 2 made for some fun restoration--for the first time, I used the "loud" option on the rumble filter (for the quiet opening section).  And I don't know what is happening to the sound on Carol's Theme, whether the breaking up of the audio is the result of needle wear or issues in the pressing.  Perhaps we'll never know.  But the sound only sucks in spots--and that cover is far out.  So out of sync with most of the music, and vice versa--just as we expect with these things.

No artists are credited.  Design was manufactured by Keel Mfg. Corp., Hauppauge, NY.  Which is to say, it was a Pickwick label.




LINK:  Hey There, Lonely Girl (Design SDLP-311)





Jingle Jangle
Hey There Lonely Girl
Sissy
Running Free
Brazil Nut
Sugar, Sugar
Carol's Theme
Rollin' River
Sweet 'n Low

Hey There, Lonely Girl--Jingle, Jangle--Sugar, Sugar (Design SDLP-311)




Lee

Thrift store shellac scores: "Ghost Riders in the Sky," "Cheroubtoul Rah."

 

"Thrift store shellac scores"--say that ten times.  ("That, that, that, that...")  Yes, we find some of the least usual shellac in thrift stores.  Alongside the common-as-dust platters (Frankie Laine on Columbia, etc.).

I'll start with two "Arabic" 12-inch 78s which, after any number of listens, I find quite interesting.  However, no need to apologize if your response is closer to "Was the needle stuck in the groove?" or "Yikes!" or "Huh??"  It's the kind of ethnic music which radically departs from the ways of Western music--Western form, anyway.  And both sides are pre-electric (1909 for the first; the second, unknown).

Both artists--Abdel Hai Effendi Hilmy and Salim Douman--were popular Arab-American singers, with Abdel passing away in 1912--Douman, in 1955.  Now we know.

The Douman side, Lahar Anhy, is the livelier of the two, though it has the same stuck-on-the-tonic drone feel.  The side also sports a wide crack, the sound of which I painstakingly edited out of the file (my wrists have yet to un-numb).  The crack rendered the B side impossible to save, given the chipped-away areas, but A was (more or less) rescuable.  Abdel's 1909 effort--Cheroubtoul Rah, Pts. 1 and II--is slower but with relatively better fidelity, since I was able to use my 3.0 mil 78 stylus.  In the case of Douman, I opted for my 1.2 mil stylus, which 1) made for less than perfect groove compliance, but 2) less noise from the crack.  

And, honestly, I'm expecting most listeners to give each file, at most, a 30-second chance before moving on.

The Mac Gregor label square-dance sides by Rusty's Rides make for a night-and-day contrast with the Arabic tracks.  They're a fun reward for anyone with the stuff to endure twelve minutes of the Opera Disc Company and Macsoud sides.

And, according to a 78 expert who clearly knows his stuff (at the 78 rpm records & cylinders fan group Facebook page), the Discogs data on the Opera Disc Company is false--it was not a "bootleg" label.  To quote the expert, "The discs were pressed in Germany by Deutsche Gramophone which did not have a license to sell most of these outside Germany."  Now we know, Part 2.

My label shots are digital pics, since my new Epson scanner has a depth of focus of approximately half a hair-width.  My chief problem with my old Epson was far too much detail.  With my new one: Out of focus scans for anything not flush with the glass. 

DOWNLOAD: Arabic, Mac Gregor 78s

Lahar Anhy (Bagdady)--Salim Doumani (Macksoud 115)

Cheroubtoul Rah, Pts. I and II--Abdel Hai Effendi Hilmy (Opera Disc Company 200041; 1909)

Ghost Riders in the Sky--Rusty's Riders (Mac Gregor 681)

Smoke Smoke Smoke (Talkin; up the Square)--Same

                                                                                                                  

Lee

Happy Birthday, Merv: Let's Dance Tonight (1952)

 

Actually, Merv's birthday was the 6th, but I'm within a week.  And I've been wanting to feature this 1952 EP set (which also appeared as a 10-inch LP) for some time.  And the 1952 release year is contained in the matrix #: E2PW.  In case you were wondering.

Six excellent Merv-with-Freddy numbers which, along with some others, don't show up on Jasmine's Early in the Day – The Singles Collection CD.  So, I could call them blog exclusives.  I think I will.  (Ahem.)  These are blog exclusives.  There, I said it.

The two instrumental tracks are an odd pair: Wabash Blues and Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.  And, of course, while both are outstanding dance numbers, they don't swing: Martin's band was a "sweet" outfit.  Aka, MOR, "Mickey," or probably worse.  Myself, I regard Martin's fantastic group as the finest of the non-swing big bands, along with Kay Kyser.  The musicianship is never less than superb, and Freddy had quite a knack for finding first-rank band vocalists, Merv included.

Best number?  Probably Leroy Anderson's Serenata, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.  If I had to choose, that is.  Fidelity is fabulous, and I noticed that the "RCA 1949-" curve in my VinylStudio program (the response curve I applied here) is quite close to the RIAA curve.  Close enough as to not matter, probably.

Merv's been gone 18 (not quite 19) years already, and that's another "What happened to the years?" moment for me.  As I believe I mentioned some years back, I had the pleasure, circa 2005, of ripping a CD for Merv (of his own sides) via his manager.  She shared his email response--all about the fun he had listening to "the old songs."  It felt terrific to give back to a singer who made my vinyl and shellac collecting that much more of a pleasure.  And to think that my Merv-collecting started circa 1982 as a joke.  That is to say, I thought it would be amusing to amass a collection of Merv's recordings, figuring that his discography couldn't be that large.  Wrong!

And, of course, along the way I came to like his work a great deal.  My favorite Merv holdings include some pre-Martin demo 78s and his 1946 Songs by Merv Griffin 78 set on his very own Panda label.  Complete with an autograph to his "dear friend Mrs. Hawkins."  But I fear we've entered the "Who was Merv Griffin?" phase of U.S. popular culture.  After all, even some classic rock bands are unknown to younger listeners come 2024, and so I'm sure that Merv's off the radar.  Indeed, there are members of my own generation who didn't know that the famous talk show host had made records (except, perhaps, for his MGM Christmas effort).  Oh, well...

Oh, and the Merv-showpiece of the group, At Your Command, was penned by Harry Tobias and two former Rhythm Boys members--Bing Crosby and Harry Barris.  The lovely Tell Me melody was based on a mazurka by Xaver Scharwenka.  The "tune" was familiar, but not Xaver.

DOWNLOAD: Let's Dance--Freddy Martin and His Orch., featuring Merv Griffin, 1952

Let's Dance Tonight--Merv with Freddy

Tell Me--Same

Wabash Blues

Serenta--Merv with Freddy

At Your Command--Same

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Echoes of Love--Merv and The Martin Men with Freddy

Heavenly Symphony--Merv and the Glee Club with Freddy

Lee

Fourth of July music: "Grand Canyon Suite" (Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., from 1941

 

Imagine my excitement when I encountered--for the first time, ever--a MONAURAL copy of the 1966 Harmony reissue of the Andre Kostelanetz recording of the Grand Canyon Suite.  Andre's marvelous reading was first released in 1941 in a bulky 12" 78 rpm album, and it stayed in Columbia's catalog for an impressive 25 years.  And I've never quite understood Columbia's insistence on keeping its back catalog current in this fashion, since this meant--in the case of Kostelanetz, at least--the release of old material alongside the latest high-fidelity examples.  If the goal was to publicize the latest in sound reproduction, that was no way to do it.

Anyway, for a 1941 recording, the sound is nothing short of fabulous.  And why the Grand Canyon Suite for the Fourth?  Two reasons.  1) The work satisfies the trope of "uniquely American," if only because the Grand Canyon resides in Arizona, which is part of the United States.  2) My joy at finally encountering a mono copy of this issue makes it a must to post. ("Must to post"??)  3) I love this piece to death.  Oh, and I broke my vow not to pay $3.99 Goodwill vinyl prices by grabbing this.  I decided it was worth four bucks.  But I'm happy to report that the local GW vinyl doesn't seem to be moving, otherwise.

The history of the suite is available all over cyberspace, so I won't devote space to same.  Though, despite my undying love for this wonderful work, I can't recall if Grofe completed it in 1931 or 1932.  I think it was 1931, but I'm not sure.  Okay--"composed between 1929 and 1931."  I'll assume Wikipedia has its facts straight.  First performed on November 22, 1931.

And it's my guess that, if we stare at any photo of the canyon long enough, we'll eventually spot the likeness of Washington, Lincoln, or Thomas Jefferson.  Drink lots of coffee.

Ferde never wrote anything else to compare with Canyon, though my second-favorite Grofe suite has to be Niagara Falls.  Followed by Valley of the Sun.  And the Mississippi, Death Valley, and Hudson River suites are charming works. Avoid this man's piano concerto and the awful World's Fair and Aviation suites, though his 1938 Trylon and Perisphere (aka, Black Gold) deserves serious attention.  It has Grofe functioning in a Honegger-lite fashion, and superbly.

Oh, and if you come across a fake-stereo copy of this LP, put it back in the row.

Happy Fourth!

DOWNLOAD: Grand Canyon Suite--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch. (Harmony HL 7395; 1966--orig. recorded in 1941)

Lee

Hit Records filler/B-sides: A fun (and, hopefully, enlightening) survey

 

Wow--Blogger has made things even more of a hassle.  It has added an utterly pointless extra step to uploading images from a PC.  There's some reverse-logic idea that increasing the number of necessary steps is somehow helpful to the user.  After all, the greater the number of options, the better.  In reality, no one wishes to be deluged with choices.  An intelligent scheme would consist of basic options, with advanced choices accessible upon demand.  Options are not options when they are forced upon us.  (Argggh...)

But, to the matter at hand... A visitor suggested a post devoted to the filler/B-side numbers released on Hit Records (a group which included Spar, Country & Western Hits, and Modern Sound), and this struck me as a great idea.  And this project proved to be unusually challenging (I have a MAGIX project printout for transferring the composer creds to mp3tag, along with ten pages of notes), and mostly because Hit Records typically failed to include writer credits on its LP releases (in addition to regularly omitting artist credits--even aliases).  And there was the occasional problem of title disagreement--e.g., "Up Town Down Town" vs. "Uptown, Downtown."  Yet, for all that, Spar/Hit Records operated in an infinitely less slapdash manner than most of the other rack-jobber budgets.  And, as we shall hear, it produced some of its own material (no doubt, for the benefit of direct-to-the-label royalties), and produced it well.  Its filler numbers were clearly rush jobs, but they were never less than professional and beautifully arranged and engineered.  My opinion of Hit Records "filler" has grown much kinder over the years, and my affection for the label's budget hit knockoffs has increased at the same time/rate.  Way back when, I regarded HR product as an amusing record-collecting sideline, with the occasional superb performance entering the picture--such as the "Boll Weevil"'s amazing My Bonnie.  But I've come to host high regard for HR's entire bag of offerings.

But enough intro.  Today's playlist features songs by HR personnel, most of whom were industry insiders.  Some of whom had "real" chart hits.  I decided to leave the composer tags as they appeared on HR/Spar/Country & Western Hits singles, save for shortening "J. Norris and K. Richards" to "Norris-Richards." N-R were actually Hit Records co-founder William Beasley and his wife Dorothy J.  And there was Connie Landers, who wrote and recorded as "Connie Dee" (and who was songwriter-credited at least once as "Connie Sanders"--a typo?).  Her Brill Building-esque Once a Cheater and her amusing heartbreaker ballad, Ring Telephone are first-rate filler.

Back to the Beasleys, their forte was in the area of country and western, and they wrote at least one successful number for Brenda Lee.  Their The Spirit of This Land was the very first HR single which had me wondering, "Was this an actual hit?"  No, it's a very skillful imitation of a type of conservative patriotic paean--expertly stilted, with a narrator who sounds ready to break into laughter.  Like the instrumental Tower Suite (also by JN and KR), which appeared in single form as the flip of Theme From Peyton Place, it was penned to function as a B-side complement to the hit number, and in that context, it's a gem.  Of the country numbers written on the spot by the Beasleys, I have to choose Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue as the winner, if only because of its bounce-the-stylus energy.  Their best number in this list, though, may be I'm So Lonely, an effort which channels British Invasion rock, Gene Pitney, and Neil Diamond.  

There are only (let's see) three Bobby Russell numbers--all good, with Big Windy City impressing me the most, despite the naïve and generic quality of its lyrics.  It certainly conveys the appropriate mood, and the Bacharach-esque hook is delightful and superbly ear-catching.  It hardly rises to the level of Goffin/King, but then there wasn't the necessary window of opportunity.

I have a special affection for Bergen White's efforts--in part, because of some ingenious turns of phrase.  For example, the payoff close to Another Year, the ultimate life-gone-wrong country saga.  And his hilarious, Roger Miller-esque Pay It No Mind takes Miller's sardonic-commentary style to the level of harsh mockery, with the singer/narrator delighting in the misfortunes of the protagonist, who can't so much as get out of bed without dooming his day.  Bergen's You're the Only Girl for Me is an interesting take on the Four Seasons/Jan and Dean sound, and You Make The Decisions is minimalist gold.  Back to Bobby Russell, the masterful Come On On may be the all-time best could-have-been-a-hit filler HR track.  It's astonishing that so much care was devoted to a "Let's sneak in one of our own" project.

Brilliance in context is nevertheless brilliance.  (And you may quote me.)  Coughing up acceptable filler material on short notice is an epic challenge, and the HR folks routinely met it with impressive prowess.  Here are twenty-five goodies.

DOWNLOAD: Hit Records Filler

I'm So Lonely (Norris-Richards)--Dee and Robert

You're the Only Girl for Me (Bergen White)--The Roamers

Come Back to Me (N-R)--William Randolph and His Orchestra

I'm on My Way (N-R)--Jack White

Come On On (Bobby Russell)--Dee and Robert

Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue (J. Norris)--Ed Hardin

Pardon My Living (B. White)--Bob Adams

You're Not the Same Now (B. White)--Fred Hess

Never Forget Me (B. White)--The Roamers

Another Year (B. White)--Bergen White

Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater (Connie Sanders)--Connie Dee
Pay It No Mind (Bergen White)--Fred York

A Broken Hearted Fool Like Me (N-R)--Fred York

Where You Been (Bobby Russell)--Charles Baker

Don't Come Too Late (N-R)--Bobby Russell

You Can't Trust a Friend (B. White)--Lisa French

Big Windy City (Bergen White & Bobby Russell)--Fred Hess

Hearts Are Funny Things (N-R)--Bobby Brooks

Ring Telephone (Connie Landers)--Connie Dee

That's All That's Important Now (N-R)--Ed Hardin

The Spirit of This Land (N-R)--Charlie Rogers

Uptown, Downtown (B. Russell)--Fred York

You Make the Decisions (Bergen White)--The Chellows

You Were Gone (B. Russell)--John Preston

Tower Suite (N-R)--William Randolph and the Music City Orch.

Lee

Who among us doesn't dig "That West Coast Sound"? (Modern Sound 561; 1966)

 

You have a choice: I Love that West Coast Sound, by The Jalopy Five or That West Coast Sound, by The Jalopy Five.  That is, you can go by the front jacket or the back.  And, of course, some of these are not by the Jalopy Five (a Hit Records alias, anyway), which means I'll have to track down the original artists and dates by referring to the Hit Records singles.  Easily accomplished with 45cat and Discogs.

And, good grief, Blogger must be on its last legs.  It took me several minutes to get those two images in their proper place AND properly enlarged.  Blogger simply doesn't want to cooperate.  Oh, and I'd initially inserted the cover and label images, in that order.  And Blogger displayed them in reverse order.  Of course.  And, in other news, I've taken to snapping "live" label shots, since my new Epson printer has, at best, a one-centimeter depth of field.  If I want in-focus images, I have to go the Canon route.  But I shall spare no effort to get these fake sounds to you.  For real.  That is my (more or less) sacred pledge.

The liner notes discuss "The British Sound," "The Detroit Sound," and "The Nashville Sound," noting in delightfully redundant fashion that "each is distinctive within itself."  That's like calling something "unique in its singular way."  Anyway, in case you weren't paying attention, this LP features "that" West Coast sound, and my first response was, "Cute blonde."  My second response was, "Hit Records never did a good job with the California sound."  And, as a rule, it did not--Its Beach Boys knockoffs are typically lacking.  But here we have some actually decent imitations of Jan and Dean, the B. Boys, and the Mama's and the Papa's, as the latter (for some reason) called themselves.

Did producer (and California Street cowriter) William Beasley say, "Let's assemble our more passable efforts in this area"?  Was that premeditated, or is the track selection just a lucky accident?  Whichever the case, Sloop John B is a totally acceptable copy of the Beach Boys hit, Surfer Girl (even though it changes the melody in spots!) features unusually tight Hit Records harmonies, and Ride the Wild Surf beautifully captures the Jan and Dean sound.  I'm impressed.  California Girl(s), on the other hand, falls in the middle range of okay.  It's hardly the worst budget Beach Boys copy, but the famously awful Pickwick effort, The Surfsiders Sing the Beach Boys Songbook (1965), set the budget-knockoff bar at a record low!  (An LP best experienced with a licensed therapist on hand.)

The filler tracks are fun--California Street in particular (cowritten by producer William Beasley as "Richards").  And Bergen White's She's Come of Age has more than a slight touch of Brian Wilson, meaning that Bergen, as usual, took his pen-a-flip-side-as-quickly-as-possible job seriously.  I really should devote a post sometime to Hit Records filler numbers.

And I took the liberty of correcting California Girl (maybe the cover model is that very girl), though I otherwise retained the credits as displayed.  At least Hit Records' errors were consistent from front to back, and label to cover.  There's a certain integrity, there.

Really, much better than we might expect from a dollar-bin special.  And the engineering, as ever, is gorgeous.  Below I've given the 45 rpm credits and dates, though all the mp3 tags read "The Jalopy Five," and the composer fields are blank--both in concurrence with Modern Sound's layout (or lack thereof).

DOWNLOAD: I Love That West Coast Sound (Modern Sound 561; 1966)

Sloop John B--Jalopy Five, 1966

Monday Monday--Jalopy Five, 1966

California Dreaming--Jalopy Five, 1966

California Girls--The Chellows, 1965

California Street (Dorothy Jean and William Beasley)--Johnny and the Jalopy Five, 1965

Ride the Wild Surf--The Roamers, 1964

Little Old Lady From Pasadena--The Roamers, 1964

Hey Little Cobra--The Roamers, 1964

Surfer Girl--Jalopy Five, 1963

She's Come of Age (B. White)--Bobby Brooks, 1965

Lee

Various Artists, Part 2, for May 2024--Red Prysock, The Regents, June Valli, Tony Bennett, and Samba Voodoo!

Today is my annual "No way I can be that old!" day (67, this time around), so I'm celebrating with more various artists.  That is to say, with another various-artists post.  "More various artists" is kind of awkward--it could suggest artists who are more various, whatever that might mean.  And, of course (and for what it's worth), variety can only exist within a group of things.  We had a manager who bragged that the company has "many diverse individuals," and I wondered if he meant people who exist simultaneously in multiple dimensions.

So... after I assembled this list, I searched for a common theme or two.  Or three.  As in, are there any?  And one theme is early rock and roll--The Dreamers' 535 (with that wonderful electric guitar distortion that graced so many blues and doo wop sides, and which Stan Freberg irreverently described as the "Howdy Doody button"); the Regents' Barbara Ann B-side, I'm So Lonely; and the honking-sax magic (always wanted to type that) of Red Prysock on the Mercury label, from the 1957 LP The Beat.  This is where rock and roll and R&B become the same thing--In fact, the honking-tenor-sax r&r of Hal Singer, Big Jay McNeely, Wild Bill Moore, and other 1940s rockers was enjoying a second wave in the wake of Elvis, or whatever I just typed.  If I'd had it handy, I would have snuck in Harry James' 1939 Back Beat Boogie, which would have fit like a glove with latter-'50s instrumental rock.  But my 45 rpm copy is stuck away someplace in my maze of 45 boxes.  In the closet.  Behind the row of records blocking the door.  In there somewhere.  Laughing at me.

And, speaking of rock and roll finding its way into the pop charts (we were?), we have some excellent examples of "pop" vocalists helping toward that objective, with both June Valli and Guy Mitchell touching on the style.  First, June (whom I've referred to at this blog as RCA's "pre-Elvis Elvis") with a rocking Strictly Sentimental and a habanera/tresillo (3-3-2 beat) Leiber-Stoller number, Will You Love Me Still, which anticipates Brill Building pop to come.  Very Under the Boardwalk-esque, even if Jerry and Mike had nothing to do with Boardwalk.  Then, Guy Mitchell plunging into rockabilly on Crazy With Love, the B-side of the magnificent 1956 Singing the Blues.  Didn't anyone notice, at the time, that Guy had taken that plunge?  Guy almost, but not quite, wandered into the same zone the next year with Hoot Owl, the flip of Rock-a-Billy.  Fourthly, Eileen Barton with a rock and roll remake of 1950's If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake.  (And that 3-3-2 beat, again.)

And there's the theme of Boomer Top 40 rendered in an EZ vein (yes, you can quote me), an area often covered here.  Namely, Paul Mauriat with a delightful beautiful-music rendition of Penny Lane (maybe the best EZ Beatles cover of all time), plus two selections which reveal the soul of Mauriat: In the Midnight Hour and I Heard It Through the Grapevine.  These can be regarded as skillfully rendered massed-strings soul, and therefore ingenious.  Or they can be regarded as skillfully rendered massed-strings soul, and therefore hilarious.  Same premise, two parametrically opposite conclusions.

In a category by itself, there's Jackie Lee's wonderful 1961 remake of Isle of Capri Boogie, with a Mysterioso organ to out-Mysterioso 96 Tears. A wonderful almost-rock-and-roll performance which ranks with the almost-rhythm-and-blues of Jimmy Dorsey's 1957 So Rare.  And I'll stand by whatever I just typed.

More mellow sounds with Engelbert Humperdinck delivering an excellent rendition of the Carole King-Gerry Goffin Yours Until Tomorrow (1967); the great Ray Charles Singers with their smash hit Al-Di-La, plus an interesting take on Do You Want to Know a Secret--one of the first adult-pop covers of the Fab Four; Freddy Martin and the terrific Artie Wayne presenting an ultra-smooth rendering of the Chopin-derived A Song to Remember (1945); and Martin's semi-mellow 1950 Misirlou, one of the very best big band/pre-surf interpretations of this Middle Eastern classic.

And three selections in a showtune vein: Don Cherry's I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine, Jo Stafford's If I Were a Bell (from Guys and Dolls), and a spectacular semi-Kostelanetz helping of Vincent Youman's Great Day by Russ Case and His Orchestra. Had Andre mixed swing with strings, he'd have sounded like this 1954 recording.

Carmen Cavallaro's 1951 Deep Night returns, and it's pure exotica, even if it's not from the islands.  It has that sound, nonetheless--the flute, female chorus, and the Afro-Latin rhythms do the trick.  Cavallaro, as always, is fabulous.  "Samba Voodoo With Female Sextette," explains the jacket.

Oh, and a 1959 Jean Goldkette recreation of My Pretty Girl, from the original charts (says the liner notes).  For once, a "'20s in hi-fi" attempt that sounds like the '20s in hi-fi.  To be fair, though, the Peep Hole 8 (!) deliver a not too anachronistic Diga Diga Doo from the 1958 Pickwick LP The 20's Roar Back.  So, the themes are: Retro 1920s, Samba Voodoo, showtunes, early r&r, "pop" which touches on r&r, and Jackie Lee's class-by-itself Isle of Capri Boogie.  Plus, Tony Bennett, Don Cherry, and a great 1956 rendition of Alfred Newman's 1931 Street Scene.

DOWNLOAD: Various Artists, Part 2--Red Prysock, June Valli, Guy Mitchell

I'm So Lonely--The Regents, 1961

How-Ja Do, How-Ja Do, How-Ja Do (If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake)--Eileen Barton, 1955

Strictly Sentimental--June Valli With Joe Reisman's Orch., 1957

Will You Love Me Still--Same

A Song to Remember--Freddy Martin Orch., V: Artie Wayne, 1945

Misirlou--Same, V: Stuart Wade, piano: Barclay Allen

Foot Stompin'--Red Prysock and His Orch., 1957

535--Dreamers, 1955

Crazy With Love--Guy Mitchell With Ray Conniff and His Orch., 1956

In the Midnight Hour--Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, 1969

I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff and His Orch., 1956

If I Were a Bell--Jo Stafford With Paul Weston and His Orch., 1953

Yours Until Tomorrow--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1967

Al-Di-La--The Ray Charles Singers, 1964

Great Day--Russ Case and His Orch. and Chorus, 1954

Street Scene--Joe Lipman and His Orchestra, 1956

Deep Night (Samba Voodoo With Female Sextette)--Carmen Cavallaro

My Pretty Girl--Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra, 1959

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, 1967

I Heard It Through the Grapevine--Same, 1969

Isle of Capri Boogie--Jackie Lee, 1961

Happiness Street (Corner Sunshine Square)--Tony Bennett, 1956

He's a Real Gone Guy--Red Prysock and His Orch., 1957

Hoot Owl--Guy Mitchell With Jimmy Carroll, 1957

Diga Diga Doo--The Peephole 8, 1958

Lee

Continental Juke Box No. 1--Wally Stott, The Melody Sisters, Michel Legrand, Giampiero Boneschi!

 

This made-in-Holland ten-incher showed up during my latest Goodwill trip, and how could I pass up that fabulous cover?  And, it turns out, the music is terrific, too, especially if you're in the mood for a Sh-Boom cover by a popular Dutch singing duo (the Melody Sisters).  I'm giving some thought to posting Sh-Boom at Lee's Fake Hits (YouTube), except that it doesn't really qualify as such, since it's not a budget knockoff.  Still, I could stretch the rules--it's my channel, after all.  

And I just now realized I had misread "Wally Stott" as "Wally Scott," which explains why I couldn't find anything out about her, despite conducting what I thought was a thorough Google search.  Seems Stott was Angela Morley, born Walter Stott in England and working as an arranger and recording director for the Dutch Philips label.  She became a transgender woman in 1972.  Here, Stott's orchestra performs the Dave Cavanaugh number The Cat From Coos Bay.  As a composer, Stott/Morley was best known for The Goon Show, The Little Prince, and Watership Down.

And... an excellent mood music rendering of Charlie Chaplin's Smile by Orchestra Michel Legrand, as the credit reads.  Then, the internationally successful Dutch Swing College Band with Muskrat Ramble in excellent hi-fi mono.  Thus ends Side 1.

Side 2 opens with Trinidadian pianist Winifred Atwell's Let's Have a Party, featuring the 1920s hits If You Knew Susie..., The More We Are Together, and That's My Weakness Now, plus Knees up Mother Brown, a British music hall classic credited here as a folk (traditional) number.  Mother Brown was memorably recorded by Merv Griffin with Freddy Martin in 1950, most probably as a follow-up to Merv's smash hit, I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.

Then, Danish violinist Sven Asmussen's orchestra and chorus with Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do It Again, covering (far as I can determine) The Four Tunes.  After which, harmonicist Jean Wetzel performs The Touch (from Touches pas au Grisbi) with Jean Wiener and His Trio.  Things conclude with Giampiero Boneschi directing the Melodicon Children Chorus in Aveva un bavero, with the Children sounding more like over-18s.  Come 1970, Boneschi became known for his electronic music.  At least one of his electronic pieces (The Latest Fashion) was utilized as soundtrack music for Space: 1999.

DOWNLOAD: Continental Juke Box No. 1, 1954 (?)

The Cat From Coos Bay--The Wally Stott Orchestra

Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)--The Melody Sisters and Black and White w. Orchestral Accompaniment

Smile (From the film "Modern Times")--Orchestra Michel Legrand

Muskrat Ramble--Dutch Swing College Band

Let's Have a Party: If You Knew Susie.../The More We Are Together/That's My Weakness Now/Knees up Mother Brown--Winifred Atwell and Her "Other Piano"

Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do It Again--Svend Asmussen and His Orch. and Chorus

The Touch--Jean Wetzel, Harmonica With Jean Wiener and His Trio

Aveva un bavero--The Melodicon Children Chorus, Dir. Giampiero Boneschi

(Philips B 10156 R)

Lee

Various Artists for May, 2024: Piano Red, Donna Lynn, The Checkers, Pat Boone, Leadbelly, Tony Bennett, more!

 

No particular theme to this VA playlist: From John D. Loudermilk to Piano Red (aka, Willie Lee Perryman, aka Dr. Feelgood), from Villa-Lobos to Julius Fucik to Carole King, and from Si Zentner to Leadbelly to Pat Boone, it's pretty much any LP track or single I've looked at recently and said, "This would make a nice post."  Or a portion thereof.  Any VA playlist featuring the Checkers, Larry Williams, and Tony Bennett is (in my utterly unbiased viewpoint) a playlist to be cherished.

In addition to Bud Shank's jazz take on I Am the Walrus, there are at least three other Beatles links: 1) Donna Lynn's version of I'd Much Rather Be With the Girls (originally Boys), a Keith Richard-Andrew Loog Oldham number slightly controversial for its day in sexual-orientation terms, with the Stones (along with the Dave Clark Five) having been maybe the Beatles' chief rivals, and with Donna Lynn's chief claim to fame her Top 100 novelty, My Boyfriend Got a Beatle Haircut, and 2) Pat Boone's 1965 Say Goodbye, penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David--the link being the Burt song included (along with Carole King's Chains) on the Beatle's first album and 3) Larry William's 1958 classic Dizzy, Miss Lizzy, which is usually associated with the Beatles' cover from Beatles VI (U.S.) and Help! (UK).  Then, 4) the Dr. Feelgood (Piano Red) recording of Right String but the Wrong Yo-Yo, which the artist had recorded earlier (in 1950), and which dates back at least as far as 1929.  The Beatles connection?  Right String was recorded in 1958 by Carl Perkins, who played a huge role in the early sound of the Beatles.  Our four Fab Four connections.  Well, five, actually (including Shanks).  And a sixth, if we want to get technical: 6) Leadbelly's 1944 In New Orleans, a bordello ballad better known as House of the Rising Sun (often, with the female narrator switching gender). Sun, of course, was a huge hit for another major British Invasion act, The Animals.  Is there a seventh link?

Yes, a desperate one: The fact that Tony Bennett and The Beatles both abbreviate to T.B.  No, I won't go there.

The other gems: Susie's House, an excellent rockabilly number by John (Tobacco Road) Loudermilk on Columbia during Mitch Miller's reign (!), and the early (1953) doo-wop classics Without a Song and The White Cliffs of Dover (the versions, not the numbers)--a King single thrifted by me maybe 25 years ago, while the Tommy/Jimmy Dorsey Bell label Marie and Green Eyes single was originally thrifted by me about 50-plus years (!) ago.  That copy has since been replaced.  

I was a huge Tommy Dorsey fan as a kid, and I remember, when I finally thrifted an RCA Victor TD 78 set, deciding that these 1954 Bell remakes were far superior to the originals (even prior to hearing the 1941 J.D. Green Eyes).  Had I heard the originals first, maybe I'd be declaring the newer versions inferior.  We'll never know.  And my ATFV (Alternate Time Flow Viewer) is on the fritz.

The 1962 Dr. Feelgood (Piano Red) Right String... sounds very much like the same artist's 1950 rendition, the main difference being the louder dynamics here.  As for the flip--What's Up, Doc--we have some of the most blatantly suggestive lyrics since Howlin' Wolf's Mr. Highway Man.  Red's two 1957 RCA Victor sides, taken from a promo EP (with June Valli on the flip!) have Perryman's style tweaked to sound like the then-current r&r.  It didn't take much tweaking.

Don't expect an avant-garde jazz rendering of I Am the Walrus--It's nice, but more like the lite or smooth variety.  And from the Pickwick Happy Time label, and thrifted in the wrong jacket, there's Julius Fucik's classic circus march, Entry of the Gladiators (as Gladiators March) played at an amazing tempo and recorded without much treble--and I see that I ripped it under the proper title.  I'd correct this, but that would mean having to redo the mp3 tagging and image-inserting.  Ain't modern tech amazing?

Also, two cool TV spy classics, with (who else?) the Harmonicats giving us the Avengers theme and Si Zentner with a terrific rendering of Pete Rugolo's Fugitive title music.  Then, Bacharach and David in pop-folk mode with 1958's Ooooh, My Love, beautifully crooned by Vic Damone--and, for contrast, a rocking 1955 version of Bernice Petkere's 1933 Close Your Eyes by Tony Bennett.  Next, in the further service of disunity, Andre Kostelanetz with an excellent reading of Heitor Villa-Lobos's 1930 The Little Train of the Caipira, and Jan Garber's Orchestra in an outstanding 1961 rendition of the Dixieland classic, That's a Plenty, in plenty stereo from a Motorola/Decca demo LP (which hawks "the phantom third channel").  Plenty started life as a 1914 ragtime piano solo by Lew (Charmaine) Pollack.

DOWNLOAD: Various Artists for May 2024

Susie's House--John Loudermilk, 1958

Wild Fire--Piano Red, 1957

Rock, Baby--Same

Devil or Angel--The Clovers, 1965 (Lana Records remake)

Marie--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch., Feat. Jimmy Dorsey, V: Gordon Polk, 1954

Green Eyes--Same, V: Johnny Amoroso, Lynn Roberts, 1954

Ooooh, My Love--Vic Damone With Jimmy Carroll and His Orch., 1958

The Little Train of the Caipira--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch.

Gladiators March--Unknown (Pickwick)

Say Goodbye--Pat Boone, 1965

Until Yesterday--Tony Bennett With Percy Faith and His Orch., 1953

The Fugitive Theme--Si Zentner and His Orch., 1964

Theme from The Avengers--Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, 1967

In New Orleans--Leadbelly, 1944

That's A Plenty--Jan Garber and His Orch., 1961

I'd Much Rather Be With the Girls--Donna Lynn, 1965

Without a Song--The Checkers, 1953

Dizzy, Miss Lizzy--Larry Williams, 1958

I Am the Walrus--Bud Shank, 1968

Randy--Earl-Jean, 1964

Close Your Eyes--Tony Bennett, 1955

Right String but the Wrong Yo-Yo--Dr. Feelgood and the Interns, 1962

What's Up, Doc--Same

White Cliffs of Dover--The Checkers, 1953

Lee

Repost: The Dorsey Touch--Maury Laws' Chorus and Orch., 1957

NOTE: My April 18, 2018 text, with a new link.  Thanks for musicman1979 for reminding me to revive this:

So, why did I buy this Goodwill album?  Well, after going through eight or nine boxes, I'd picked a small group of LPs and 45s.  My brother-in-law was standing next to me.  I thought this jacket was kind of cool (it is--surprisingly so for a cheapo label), so I held it up and said, "Do I want this?"  "Yes, you want this," he replied.  So I bought it.

The label is Hollywood, and here Hollywood is pulling the standard budget-label read-the-smaller-print scam: a big (colorized?) picture of the famous artists being exploited, the artists' name in big letters ("Dorsey"), and no Tommy or Jimmy Dorsey present on the disc.  Surprise!!  Just Maury Laws' Orchestra and Chorus, which does a surprisingly decent job recreating the Tommy Dorsey sound (7 to 8 on a scale of 10).  (I don't think any of these were originally Jimmy Dorsey sides, but correct me if I'm wrong.)  Surprisingly decent, because the budget couldn't have been very sky-high.  In all, a fun LP with a few outstanding performances.  My only complaint: some truncated arrangements, including my two all-time favorite TD tracks: Marie and Sunny Side of the Street.  How could they?  But there's an excellent Opus No. 1, so maybe I can forgive this lapse in $1.98-LP wisdom.  This junk-label album far exceeded my low expectations, so I'll give it an A.  Besides, the cover rocks.

Biggest surprise: the very decent sound.  I combined left and right for fabulous results.  Not usually, but sometimes the poverty-row record companies get it right.  Well, except for putting the jacket's track listings in the correct order, but not doing so is a proud budget label tradition.  These folks have standards to uphold.

DOWNLOAD:  The Dorsey Touch--Maury Laws' Chorus and Orch., 1957

Getting Sentimental Over You

Royal Garden Blues
Boogie Woogie
Song of India
Swanee River
Marie
Will You Still Be Mine/Once in a While
Yes Indeed (Sy Oliver)
Sunny Side of the Street
I'll Never Smile Again
Opus No. 1 (Sy Oliver)
This Love of Mine/Embraceable You/There Are Such Things
Quiet Please (Sy Oliver)
Getting Sentimental Over You

Prepared and Directed by Maury Laws (Hollywood LPH-136, 1957)

Lee

Sunday evening gospel: The Conveyors Quartet--Lovest Thou Me... More Than These?) (Crusade LP 228-02)

 

Don't let the cover scare you: This is terrific country-gospel quartet singing, and this quartet has already seen time at this blog, though the earlier link is now kaput, thanks to Workupload.  But here are some group pics from the previous post (alliteration unintended), plus my explanation...

Quoting me: "We can assume we're seeing the four singers plus three musicians. (I've never understood why 'musicians' doesn't include singers. It should.) I don't think we have a family group this time, though (going by another Conveyors LP), it seems the group was headed by a husband and wife team--Ardeth and Kenny Dykhoff. I can't quite pick them out in the above photo, but here they are, from their Just a Little Talk With Jesus LP. Seated is pianist Marilyn Gallaway."

Life would be so much easier if gospel LPs simply listed the singers.  Oh, well.

Anyway, an excellent collection of fine Gaither numbers, with three genuinely old oldies: There's a Great Day Coming (1886), My Saviour's Love (1905), and How Great Thou Art, whose melody consists of a Swedish folk tune.  Hence, year unknown.  However, 1949 is the year that Stuart K. Hine wrote the hymn text, as inspired by Carl Gustav Boberg hymn O Store Gut, whose words became associated with this melody in the late 1800s.  

I think this is the first slow-tempo rendition of My Saviour's Love experienced by my ears, and it's quite effective.  Surprisingly so.  And the balance between ballads and "fast" songs is exactly right.  And the 1942 mega-classic Jesus Is Coming Soon is always wonderful to hear.  It's near-impossible to render badly.

The two chief virtues of this LP (seeing as how the bass and first tenor aren't the most effective soloists) is the superb group blend and the amazing stereo fidelity.  Honestly, this could be a digital effort.  (Apologies to analog-philes.  Of which I'm one, come to think of it!)  Actually, I'm a compromised analog-phile, since I prefer to save analog sources digitally, so that I can apply EQ, filtering, etc.  So, I'm a (let's see) semi-analog-phile.  Yeah, that sounds right.

A saxophone and harmonica make their appearances throughout the LP.  Both provide a nice, novel touch.

Excellent gospel, and I'm using Google Drive for the first time.  I hope it works out--As far as I know, I made the file available to everyone who has the link.  Let me know if there are any issues.


DOWNLOAD: Lovest Thou Me... More Than These?--The Conveyors Quartet (Crusade LP S 228-02)

Lovest Thou Me (Moe Than These)

Daddy Sang Bass

Something Worth Living For

A Beautiful Life

Redeeming Love

Now I Have Everything

Going Home

My Saviour's Love

Joy in the Camp

How Great Thou Art

Jesus Is Coming Soon

There's a Great Day Coming

Lee