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
