A single which merits its own post, and with a three-paragraph backstory

 

DOWNLOAD: Bob Ellis 1955.zip--Santa Claus (Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., Elector Records MC-1000-45; 1955.

And, wow!  Blogger is now allowing the post-search function.  There's hope for us all.

Regarding the backstory for 1955's Santa's Sleigh, by Santa Claus (aka Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., all  can say is... hoo, boy.  Maybe grab a stiff drink before continuing.

Bob Ellis was the stage name of Raymond Asserson, Jr., the great-grandson of Rear Admiral Peter Christian Asserson. Raymond was the fourth husband of Christine "Cee Cee" Cromwell, daughter of American diplomat James H.R. Cromwell and Dodge Motor Company heiress Delphine Ione Dodge. Christine got none of the Dodge fortune when her mother Delphine died in 1943, whereupon it was discovered Delphine had disinherited James H.R. Cromwell (after their divorce, I'm guessing) and anyone related to him, which meant "Cee Cee" and her half-sister Anna Ray "Yvonne" (Baker) Ranger. But it doesn't sound like Christine was without dough....

And, in 1970, Christine survived a plane crash--get the whole story here.

Back to the backstory, this record was made during Bob's (Raymond's) marriage to Christine. when he was co-managing her night club in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. You never know what kind of history is going to pop up behind a thrift and/or eBay acquisition.  And, 

Now, I hate to describe as awful any recording by someone who might be reading this post, however low that probability may be.  In which case, it can come across as a personal attack.  But since Bob Ellis Jr. didn't pen this thing, I'll go ahead and pronounce the melody uninspired and the words terrible.  At this point in his development, Bob Jr. could not sing.  We don't expect expert vocalizing from children, but...

I want to question whether Santa might have changed his mind, after hearing this record, about letting Bob Jr. drive the sleigh.  And an inexperienced magic-sleigh driver?  Sorry, doesn't wash.

Anyway, Bob Ellis makes one terrible Santa.  Any successful SC imitation requires more than a mock-bass voice and echo-enhanced "Ho Ho Ho!'s.  Santa has to sound boundlessly generous.  A less than sincere Santa is a logical contradiction.  A successful Santa is all about giving, not posturing.  Despite the red suit, the fancy sleigh, and so on, Santa is a refreshingly humble icon.  His flashiness speaks to the many legends randomly combined into his person: Norse sky god Thor (bearing gifts at Christmas and entering homes via their chimneys, plus his chariot and goats which fly the night sky), the Christkind or Christkindl (the gift-bearing Christ Child, aka Kris Kringle), Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and who knows who (or what) else? 

This is one of the perfect holiday novelties.  How can I be sure?  Because I don't know whether I'm doing a service or disservice to the celebration.  Probably both.  Thus, the ideal novelty!

And why is Santa's Sleigh placed in quotes on the B side?  I have no idea.  For that matter, why isn't the name of the label (Elector) on the label?  Which is where we'd logically expect to find it.  These are the questions which haunt us as we hike through life, tripping over fallen branches and random rocks.

Lee

Parade Christmas Sampler

 

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Well, if I have to check online to see my comments, no problem.  Meanwhile, in addition to sending me that weird message (that I had somehow, in some neighboring multiverse, disabled comment moderation) and the accountably revised Comments Setting page, the post search feature isn't even working!  When Blogger goes belly up, it sets new standards.

By/on request, Parade's Christmas Sampler, a collection which ironically (and vividly) offers, more than anything else, a sampling of SPC's policy of ineptitude.  I mean, what can we say about a sampler that doesn't even identify the performers, beyond showing some album jackets on the front?  Is the goal to promote SPC's stable of artists by not naming them?  All told, this promo item is a splendid example of standard rack-jobber inattention to detail.  Worker #3: "This isn't ready for release."  SPC supervisor: "Don't worry about it.  Just get this to the racks."

I didn't go to the trouble of guessing the artists, save for Perry Como-soundalike Johnny Kay, who was re-re-re-re-released for something close to eternity across both SPC and other budget lines (in any word-association exercise, "Johnny Kay" would have to be answered with, "Shameless recycling."  If Johnny's contract called for a check every time his material was reused (and fake-stereo-ized, retitled, reattributed, etc.), he'd have been one wealthy person.  But, somehow, I doubt this...

So, cute concept.  With an artist listing, this might have more closely resembled an actual LP.  "Come, check out these tracks.  But we're not about to disclose the artists behind them.  Just buy anything with 'Parade' stamped on it."

Of course, I'm simply assuming that this post will actually post.  At the moment, I can't be certain of anything, Blogger-wise. As for Microbrain's Support person's suggestion (re my OneDrive cloud service), I don't see how I can possibly be utilizing "any company's main office network" (VPN?) by signing onto MY OneDrive account and linking to MY files.  I'm living in a 19th-century farmhouse in the middle of rural central Ohio.  It's not as if I'm anywhere close to downtown Columbus.

 

DOWNLOAD: Parade Christmas Sampler.zip

O Come All Ye Faithful
The Night Before Christmas
White Christmas
I Heard the Bells (Longfellow-Marks)
Jingle Bells
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Away in the Manger
When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
Hallelujah
Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
As With Gladness
Joy to the World
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
The Twelve Days of Christmas

Parade Christmas Sampler (Parade XSP-419)

Lee

Beyond human belief

 Along with Microsoft Support providing incomprehensible instructions re OneDrive (the techs seem to think I'm using an improper VPN, a concept I barely understand), I've suddenly been alerted by Blogger that I have shut off comment notifications.  I DID NOT SHUT OFF this feature.  But, just off the bat, suddenly a "You have shut off this feature" notification.  What the heck?  Did I do this during a shot period of lost time?

Attempting to adhere to the useless online instructions, I am unable to access options allegedly contained within my settings.  Those options are NOT THERE.

I'm utterly confused.  Is this just another Blogger We-forgot-how-to-keep-this-service-going software snafu?

What SHOULD I be seeing in the Settings section in regard to comments?  And why is at least one useless online tutorial referring to the Settings icon as Options?  Is Google not familiar with its own programs?  Frankly, this wouldn't surprise me.  (At this point, I'm confusing MS with Google.  A mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

Lee

Confusion reigns with my file-sharing service

 Greetings.  Please let me know if you're able to successfully download my two recent zips.  I have set them to "view only" for the OneDrive sharing link, but OneDrive is telling me that neither zip has yet been shared.  (????)

Still working out issues with OneDrive.  Microsoft Support wants me to share by email only, but that's ridiculous--I should be able to share with whomever, a la a blog link.  An option possible at my online OneDrive, and which thus should present no problems.  But there's that word: "should."

The online/VPN? file links are set by default to "edit" status, so that anyone with the link can edit the file.  However, this option is easily changed, as noted, to "view only."  Thus my links are view-only.  Which should avoid any security issues.

I get the distinct impression that Microsoft Support has failed to understand the circumstances at hand.  Namely, while I can share from the VPN (?), or the online version of the cloud, I cannot mass-share from my personal OneDrive.  This is what I conveyed to M., but so far their instructions aren't consistent with what I'm trying to accomplish.

And I'm not about to collect 200-plus email addresses for file sharing.  Excuse me, please, while I scream.  (AIEEEEEE!!!!!!)  Thanks.  I'm better now.  I mean, is the concept of sharing from a site/page/blog/etc. a new one to Microsoft??

Lee

The re-return of "Christmas Is for Children"--A Pickwick (Design) classic from 1957 (?)

This at least my second reposting of this terrific LP find of four years back.  And a re-re-posting is sort of apt, or even ironic, given that this delightful Pickwick collection contains material re-re-recycled for years by Pickwick on one or another of its kiddie labels. 

Such a tacky-cool cover photo, and if the copyright year shown on the back cover is the year of release, then this is from 1957 (Design's first year--and, in fact, mine). This is quite possible, since the label is in the earliest style, complete with the promise of "Stereo Sonic Sound," which this disc does not deliver--the tracks are all mono. Stereo didn't happen at Design until the early 1960s, apparently, but I guess Pickwick Sales Corp. figured no one would sue. Their reasoning was probably something like,  "Anyone who buys this junk isn't going to know what stereo is.  No risk of any legal action."

 That's not a cut on the material, which is not only fun but very nicely arranged and performed, but just an acknowledgment of this album's rack-jobber standing. "Junk" tracks, but jewels of that type.

The selections, all released as singles or EP tracks on Pickwick's Cricket and Playhour labels (and who knows where else--Happy Time, probably), date back to 1953 or earlier (I suspect A Christmas Carol is pre-1953). The super-condensed Carol is fun and nicely spooky (it's like a Classics Illustrated version of a Classics Illustrated version), and Ding Aling Dong, The Sleighbell Song (aka, Ding-A-Ling Dong, The Sleigh Bell Song) remains one of my favorite cheap kiddie holiday numbers.  Plus, we get the ad-jingle-sounding Tinker Town Santa Claus, which I first heard in its 1970s Playhour Records edition, and I've Got Eighteen Cents, an annoying number sung by Rosemary Jun (1928-2016), whose real name was Rose Marie Jun, and who can't be blamed, since she didn't pen the thing.  Rose Marie, aka Rosemary, is credited on the back jacket, along with the Cricketones, Toby Deane, Norman Rose, and Linnea Holm, and the label lists the Cricket Children's Playhouse (which doesn't seem to have existed) and one Brett Morrison, who was actually Bret Morrison (1912-1978), and who, among others, played The Shadow on the radio.  

Here's Brett (left).  Pickwick's children's labels had a weird habit of referring to singers as "casts," as in "Performed with full cast and orchestra."  And its "cast" credits weren't consistent, either--sometimes, they varied between sleeve and label, and (far as I can tell) from issue to issue.  But Pickwick wasn't trying for anything close to the orbit of perfection, so we can forgive them for screwing things up on a regular basis. Five of the Christmas Is for Children selections are traditional, if we include Jingle Bells (a pop song, really) under "traditional."  Four of the five are sung by the St. Margaret's All Boys Choir, who might be the group doubling as "Santa's Friends" on Jingle Bells, and these tracks are a nice break from some of the over-cuteness which precedes them, such as Little Christmas Stocking with the Hole in the Toe (aka Just Come up with a Title So We Can Get Out of Here), and the Eighteen Cents song, which, again, I'm sure was merely another gig for Rose Marie Jun, and not something we can pin on her in any way.  

In all, the perfect cheap collection.  If you don't believe me, ask Roy Freeman, Director of Artists and Repertoire (Pickwick had one of those??): "Here is as fine a group of gay holiday songs as you'll find under any musical Christmas tree...All of the favorites for Santa's little helpers."  And I can easily picture 1957 children yelling, "We want Tinker Town Santa Claus--and I've Got 18 Cents!"  

"Many, many happy Yuletide hours are the promise and offering of this gala Christmas package...and may we warn you in advance...BE SURE..OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS..."  Which means we're in time.  Unless, of course, they were referring to Christmas, 1957.

DOWNLOAD: Christmas Is for Children.zip

Lee

Merry Shellacmas! John McCormack, Trinity Choir, Collins H. Driggs, International Novelty Orch., (1910-1940/58)

 

One hour of 78 rpm goodies, all Santa-approved (you'll have to take my word).  The Trinity Choir's 8/26/1926 Christmas Hymns and Carols, (I love it when that distinction is made) from a period when the "standard" hymns and carols had almost been codified.  Exception: Christians, Awake, Salute the Happy Morn, which should be a standard carol-sing title, but which never quite entered that category.  It's still performed, but more or less as an extra treat.

John McCormack is magnificent in both acoustical and electrical form, and we get his classic 1914 Ave Maria (with Fritz Kreisler, and in the Bach-Gounod setting I prefer) and a wonderful Oh Come, All Ye Faithful from 1926 (with the Trinity Choir sounding stronger and brighter than ever).  But maybe the highlight of this sleighlist is the 1913 Prince's Orchestra Children's Symphony, aka Kindersinfonieand and Toy Symphony, which for a long time was falsely credited to "Haydn"--i.e., Joseph or Michael--but actually came from the pen of Benedictine monk Father Edmund Angerer (1740-1794). The chief challenge, performance-wise, is locating the original toys (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) for the sound effects.  And we already know that Spike Jones was hardly the first person to expertly employ musical racket, but this circa-1770 piece really pushes the date back.

Plus, Nathaniel (aka, Nat) Shilkret directs the International Novelty Orchestra, with Sigmund Krumgold on pipe organ, in the all-time version of Leon Jessel's 1897 holiday masterpiece, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.  Recording date: 1/25/1928 (a month late!).  But not before Collin H. Drigg's 1940 Novachord recording, very possibly arranged by Ferde Grofe. Says Wikipedia, the Novachord is "often considered the world's first commercial polyphonic synthesizer." I'll buy that. Er, I would, if I could afford one.  (Or had a place to put it.)

Lillian Currie's Children's Toy March (Pince's Band, 1912) was presented at a faster clip in 1911 as part of the descriptive piece On a Christmas Morning.  I see that I posted same at my Shellac City YouTube page in its Harmony label edition.  Anyway, this more mellow rendition of the march has its charms...

Oh, and I always feel the need to note that "Adeste Fideles" is not "Fidelis," though we see that typo pretty often.  Oh, and when I posted my YouTube upload of the Driggs 78 at Facebook, a number of synthesizer enthusiasts were more than slightly impressed.  Synths have a longer history than we imagine.

And a non-shellac, non-78-rpm selection, 1958's God's Christmas Tree, ripped from my Columbia 45.  How this got on the list, I don't know, but I never said I knew what I was doing.

The wonderful Richard Crooks 1933 performances are of two once-standard holiday concert numbers--Stephen Adam's The Star of Bethlehem and The Holy City.  They may still be featured in England.  The 1933 Red Seal RCA audio is nice.

And I just lost three hours of my life in the goal of finally, somehow, figuring out why OneDrive was not giving me a sharing link to this file.  In the meantime, my MAGIX-exported FLAC files (I discovered I indeed have that option) somehow reverted to mp3s.  And my brain is too fried to even start to attempt to figure out how that happened.  (The letter couldn't been an operator-error event!  I always reason best when I'm annoyed.

DOWNLOAD: Merry Shellacmas! (1912-1940).zip

Adeste Fideles (Oh Come, All Ye Faithful)--John McCormack, Trinity Choir, 1926

Christmas Hymns and Carols, Pts. I and II--Trinity Choir, Dir. Rosario Bourdon, 1926

Messiah--Hallelujah Chorus (Guess who?)--Same

Gloria from "Twelfth Mass" (Mozart)--Trinity Choir; pipe organ: Mark Andrews, 1926

Ave Maria (Bach-Gounod)--John McCormack, Fritz Kreisler, 1914

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (Jessel)--Collins H. Driggs, Novachord solo, 1940

Parade of the Wooden Soliders (Jessel)--International Concert Orch. Dir. Shilkret; pipe organ: Sigmund Krumgold, 1928

Children's Symphony (Father Edmund Angerer)--Prince's Orch., 1913

Children's Toy March (Lillian Currie)--Prince's Band, 1912

Messiah--Hallelujah Chorus--Mark Andrews, Pipe Organ Solo, 1925

Babes in Toyland--March of the Toys--Victor Concert Orch., Dir. Nathaniel Shilkret, 1939

The Skaters--Waltz--International Concert Orch., Dir. Nathaniel Shilkret, 1926

The Star of Bethlehem--Richard Crooks, Orch. cond. John Barbirolli, 1933

The Holy City--Richard Crooks, Orch. cond. John Barbirolli, 1933

God's Christmas Tree--Southwest High School Choir, O.B. Dahle, 1958

Lee

A Panorama of American Orchestral Music: Grofe, John Knowles Paine, Copland, MacDowell, Roy Harris (1955?)

 

A Panorama of American Orchestral Music was a series, and an interesting one.  With impressive fidelity, even (for Allegro Elite, especially).  Too bad Ferde Grofe is represented by the Huckleberry Finn movement from his Mississippi Suite.  Not because I dislike the movement (in fact, I love the suite to death), but on its lonesome, it sounds like background for a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  George Gershwin, meanwhile, is represented by an orchestration (by Gregory Stone) of his Prelude No. 2 for Piano, a dirge-like number in 12-bar blues form.  It's addictive.

And the Overture to "As You Like It" is my introduction to John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), senior member of the Boston Six (along with Edward MacDowell and George Chadwick), and I couldn't be more impressed--it's gorgeous.  One listen tells us that Paine was a major name in American music.  Paine's piece is followed by Edward MacDowell's ingenious Lamia, based on a poem by John Keats, its subject being a serpent transformed into a gorgeous vamp, only to have her true nature/form exposed (no, seriously).  Lamia exists in any number of folk variants.  In Greek mythology, she was a beast who dined on children (isn't that charming?).  Anyway, MacDowell's piece is masterfully written, like everything else he ever composed, and I've always thought of Edward as Debussy minus the modernity.  He's what Claude would have sounded like had Claude taken a conventional path.  Same level of genius, but minus a forward-looking quality.  So, MacDowell was a genius who didn't transcend his time.  So what?  A master composer is a master composer (is a master composer).  And you can quote me.

So, as we speak, my four favorite American composers are Grofe, Gershwin, MacDowell, and now John Knowles Paine.  Oh, and the self-taught, mocked-for-decades-until-critics-wised-up 18th-century genius, William Billings. A not-favorite American composer is Aaron Copland, whose work, as a general rule, I can take or leave.  But... I'm rather fond of Quiet City, the final track in this program.  And I have to wonder if it inspired Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront (1954) score (which pales next to this fine composition).  Any number of measures could be transplanted from Quiet City into that soundtrack, and with no one the wiser.  I'm glad to encounter a Copland work that I actually like. 

By the way, the musicians under Richard Korn's baton are terrific.  And "The Philharmonia Orchestra" is a pseudonym, apparently.  But for whom?

As for Roy Harris' First Interlude From "Folk-Song Symphony," I can't describe how little it does for me.  Off-the-scale (no pun intended) modality and a certain degree of polytonality (I think--not sure), all I can say is that this sort of folk tune setting was accomplished with infinitely more skill and taste by Bela Bartok.  I have no problem with harmonies that clash, except (I guess) in this case.

Thanks to the cover design, Grofe appears to be wearing the world's worst toupee.  Or posing after a safety-scissors haircut.  This is the result of a clash between Ferde's profile and the white U.S. map silhouette.  A careless cover design from the Record Corp. of America, of all outfits?  Shocking.

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Panorama of American Orch. Music.zip

Lee

Halloween 2024, Part 2: Al Goodman, Earl Fuller, John Logan, Charles Randolph Grean, The Four Tunes, The Liverpool Five, more!

 

On this not-so-chilly October evening, our second Halloween 2024 collection (which is why I call it "Halloween 2024, Pt. 2"--seems logical enough).  We start out with a marvelous 1945 recording of Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound theme, which Camden credits to Harold Coates, though it's really conducted by the Ukrainian-born Alfred Goodman.  The theme was famous for its use of the Theremin, and I think I hear a brief appearance of same on this recording, though my ears may be mistaken.  

Until I figured out that "Harold Coates" was Al Goodman, my Google searches kept taking me back to Memorable Music From The Movies (shown above, with Jim Flora art).  There was, in fact, a real Harold Coates, so I don't know if RCA's Camden label goofed, or if RCA was mad at Al, or what.  The correct ID appears at a Miklos Rozsa page.  However, no mystery in regard to Harry Lubin's One Step Beyond track, Weird, which is definitely by Lubin and very recognizably from that very show (One Step Beyond), where it was constantly used.

In fact, both Weird and the OSB title music were reworked into the second-season Outer Limits title music--unfortunately.  Lubin's OL music hardly compared to Dominic Frontiere's amazing first-season offerings, but he did an uncharacteristically terrific job on the famous Demon With a Glass Hand ep, plus the score for my favorite second-year OL, The Duplicate Man. I wish Harry had worked at that level more often.  At any rate, Lubin will always be known for the rather lame 1959-1961 OSB, a show hosted and directed by John Newland, allegedly featuring true (yeah, right) tales of the paranormal.  Because I only knew Newland for OSB, I always figured the man was something less than a masterful horror director, and so I was stunned to discover he'd directed what might be the scariest episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted Thriller series, "Pigeons From Hell," along with some other genuinely excellent entries.  He also directed the famous 1962 Bus Stop episode, "I Kiss Your Shadow," which Stephen King calls "the single most frightening story ever done on TV."  At the moment, that ep is still up on YouTube, and it is quite creepy (hence, perfect for Halloween).  But not quite the equal of Thriller eps like "Pigeons," "The Hungry Glass," or "The Cheaters."

And, courtesy of SPC's (Synthetic Plastics Co.) Promenade label, two budget knockoffs by John Logan: 1958's Dinner With Drac and The Witch Doctor.  From SPC, also, is 1965's Saturday Evening Ghost, performed by Frankie Stein and His Ghouls.  I can't believe I didn't hang on to my copy of the original LP version (which preceded this 1977 {?} Peter Pan EP release).

Rod McKuen's 1959 The Mummy features Bob McFadden and Dor (Rod), and is derived from a folk tale I know from childhood, which was featured in the same year's The Thing at the Foot of the Bed.  My book copy is packed away at the moment, so I can't quote from the text, though it employs the same story formula, only minus any mummies.

More instrumentals: Theme from "The Man With a Thousand Faces"--from Chopin's Prelude in E minor (Op. 28 No. 5); Morton Gould's Deserted Ballroom, performed by Morton at the piano; Chopin, again, with his famous Funeral March, performed my Mark Andrews; Josette's Music Box, familiar to any Dark Shadows fan; Graveyard Blues; John Barry's The Black Hole--End Title;  Lawrence Welk and George Cates' terrific adaptation of a famous Grieg number; Frank De Vol with The Addams Family theme; and Ferrante and Teicher with a prepared-piano rendition of Man From Mars, which I suspect they wrote (though I'm not sure).  Not sure where the LP is at this moment.  And there are Three Hauntovani Waltzes, composed and played by some guy named Lee Hartsfeld.

And, one of all-time favorite finds: The two-band, 78 rpm Theatre Lobby Spot for The H Man (the title for the 1959 release of this 1958 Inoshiro Honda classic).  "One of the most unusual and exciting films of its kind!" "Faceless, formless horror of destruction!" "Terrifyingly real, as the world in which it lives!" "See an exotic dancer trapped and destroyed!" "See.. The H Man."

And... three sides shared with me years back by my dear e-friend, the late Pete Grendysa, one of the leading R&B-history experts: Steve Gibson and the Red Caps doing their version of Charles Grean's The Thing (note that Grean recorded our version of Josette's Music Box); The Four Tunes' Ballad of James Dean; and Mr. Ghost Goes to Town, sung by the 5 Jones Boys.  The Four Preps' The Sphinx Won't Tell and the Liverpool Five's The Snake are maybe titles you're not likely to hear elsewhere, but with all the recordings available on YouTube these days, who knows?

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2024, Pt. 2

SLAYLIST

Spellbound (Rozsa)--Harold Coates (Al Goodman) and His Orch.; 1945

Weird (Harry Lubin, From "One Step Beyond")--Harry Lubin; 1960

Dinner With Drac--John Logan (Promenade; 1958)

Theme From "Man of a Thousand Faces"--Wayne King Orch.; 1958

Deserted Ballroom (Gould)--Morton Gould, piano; 1940

Funeral March (Chopin)--Mark Andrews, Pipe organ solo; 1928

Josette's Music Box (From "Dark Shadows")--The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde; 1970

Saturday Evening Ghost--Frankie Stein and His Ghouls; 1965

My Friend the Ghost--Jill Whitney; 1954

The H Man--Theatre Lobby Spot (Columbia Pictures; 1959)

Graveyard Blues--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1918

Witch Doctor--John Logan (Promenade; 1958)

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte--Al Martino, Orch. c. by Pete King; 1964

The Thing (Grean)--Steve Gibson and the Red Caps; 1950

The Quest for Bridey Hammerschlaugen--Steven Freberg, with June Foray; 1956

Ballad of James Dean--The Four Tunes; 1956

Mr. Ghost Goes to Town--The 5 Jones Boys; 1936

The Sphinx Won't Tell--The Four Preps; 1962

The Snake--The Liverpool Five; 1965

The Black Hole--End Title (Barry)--Andre Kostelanetz; 1980

Mountain King--Lawrence Welk and His Orchestral; 1961

The Addams Family--Frank De Vol; 1965

The Mummy (Rod McKuen)--Bob McFadden and Dor (Rod McKuen), 1959

Man From Mars--Ferrante and Teicher, 1956

Three Hauntovani Waltzes (Lee Hartsfeld)--Your blogger;  2010

Lee

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