Various Artists--Sep., 2025: Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, The Penguins, Hugo Winterhalter, The Checkers, Dreamlovers, more!

 

I forgot what "part" I'm at, various artists-wise, so I used the month and year instead.  The usual mix of doo wop, early soul (The Imperials), easy listening, EZ jazz, Dixieland, and Little Red Riding Hood.  Wait... Little Red Riding Hood?

THE BREAKDOWN:

The three Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey sides consist of a so-so So Rare (a stereo remake on the Bihari Brothers' Bright Orange label--so you know it's high end), plus two 1955 sides made for Columbia: Jackie Gleason's own Melancholy Serenade, and the terrific swing selection, Stompin' Down Broadway.  And we have some easy-listening (or EZ) jazz by way of the Columbia Musical Treasuries Orchestra's Call Me and the Moonlight Strings' Don't Go Breaking My Heart (a Burt and Hal classic).

In the R&B-vocal/early soul department: The Penguins' 1954 Hey Senorita (from a typically poorly-pressed SPC collection), The Channels' 1957 That's My Desire, The Imperials' (with Little Anthony) 1958 Two People in the World, and my favorite of the bunch, the pricey collectible from 1959, Teardrops Are Falling, by the Checkers.  Luckily, I ripped it from a thrifted copy of Porky Chedwick Presents His All Time Favorite Dusty Discs, Vol. 2.  I had to do some major audio repair, thanks to a radical crosscut (courtesy of whoever previously owned it, not me), but it's always nice to get a clean-sounding cut out of a not-clean-sounding cut.  And the Imperials and Channels are courtesy of the same Porky LP.  (I've always wanted to type that.)

Then, some 1963 R&B of the Chubby Checker era, by way of the famous doo-wop group, the Dreamlovers (minus the "the") on a 1963 LP which I thrifted in its Columbia Special Products reissue. We get The Slide, Pony Time, and Carole King's Loco-Motion.  Like much twist-era material, it is expertly done but a bit wearing when taken in a full-LP dose.

Next, two Al Caiola pop-instrumental tracks from 1965's Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes: Jerry Goldsmith's famous Theme From "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and Maurice Alfred Cohen's (aka, A. Carr) Man of Mystery (Theme Music of the Edgar Wallace Thrillers).  Two tracks earlier, the virtuoso accordion of Myron Floren impressively rushes through Lover, from 1956's Lawrence Welk at Madison Square Garden.  Re "The Edgar Wallace Thrillers," I think this refers to the British TV series, The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959-1965).

Some fine easy listening follows: The Moonlight Strings' Strangers in the Night (1969), Hugo Winterhalter's version of Mah-Na-Mah-Na (also 1969--the same year the Muppets first used it [on Sesame Street]), plus Frank Chacksfield and His Orch. with I Got Rhythm (1956).  As far as EZ renditions of I Got Rhythm, I prefer Andre Kostelanetz's amazing 1941 rush-through arrangement, though Chacksfield's milder treatment rocks, too.  Or doesn't rock.  Whichever.

And I ripped the artists-unknown Little Red Riding Hood from a Happy Time (Pickwick) LP, the track appearing earlier (?) on a 1960 Hudson label LP.  The Hudson label had been owned by Eli Oberstein, but (far as I know) Eli sold most of his labels to Pickwick in the late 1950s, so Hudson was likely Pickwick-owned come 1960.  Whatever I just typed.  And the fate of the wolf is pretty hilarious in this music-with-narration kiddie Riding Hood variant: I won't give it away, but I'll note that the wolf is neither axed, shot, nor felled with an arrow.  
                                     

DOWNLOAD: VA Sep. 2025.zip  FLAC

Melancholy Serenade--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch. Featuring Jimmy Dorsey, 1955

Theme From "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."--Al Caiola, 1965

Hey Senorita--The Penguins, 1954

That's My Desire--The Channels, 1957

Stompin' Down Broadway--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch. Featuring Jimmy Dorsey, 1955

Call Me--The Columbia Musical Treasuries Orch. (Arr: Ken Woodman), 1968

Loco-Motion--Dreamlovers, 1963

South Rampart Street Parade--Lawrence Welk's Dixeland Boys, 1956

The Slide--Dreamlovers, 1963

Strangers in the Night--The Moonlight Strings, 1969

Teardrops Are Falling--The Checkers, 1959

Two People in the World--The Imperials, 1958

Pony Time--Dreamlovers, 1963

Lover--Myron Floren, accordion, with Lawrence Welk and His Orch., 1956

Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Bacharch-David)--The Moonlight Strings, 1969

Man of Mystery (Theme Music of The Edgar Wallace Thrillers)--Al Caiola, 1965

So Rare--Members of the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras

Mah-Na-Mah-Na--Hugo Winterhalter and His Orch., 1969

I Got Rhythm--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1956

Rock Around the Clock--Frankie Carle, 1973

Little Red Riding Hood--Unknown (Bedtime Stories and Songs, Happy Time [Pickwick])

Lee

A Great Light Concert--National Opera Orchestra (1953)!

 

That cover and label might necessarily suggest a junk-label product, and we might necessarily conclude that the audio is probably not state of the art.  No, not necessarily.  However, in this case, yes.  A junk label (Eli Oberstein strikes again!), and with less than RCA-quality fidelity, but still pretty decent audio, considering.  Well, fairly decent...

And I thrifted this mainly for 1) the wonderfully chintzy jacket, and 2) the inclusion of Liszt's Chromatic Galop, which I had never before heard.  And it's as amazing as I figured.  And, again, for the early 1950s, the audio is... okay.  Middling.

As far as the sound-editing/-correcting process on my part, the VinylStudio declicking filter did wonders for the many clicks (aka, ticks) and pops.  But I had to spend approx. two hours on manual click repairing.  Was it worth the time?  Well, seeing how this is is a delightful LP and a marvelous example of rack-jobber Classical music, yes.  And I used an excellent after-market stylus and my Stanton 500 cart instead of my terrific AT cartridge, and simply because it's better for junk vinyl.  (The wonderful after-market stylus is, of course, no longer in production.)

The Gramophone label--and all the junky Record Corp. of America rip-offs--fascinated me as a kid.  My maternal grandparents had a number of Gramophone, Varsity, Royale, et al. albums, and I found them quite cool in their cheapness.  Obviously, I still do, and nearly (yikes!) 60 years later.

And... something I still, to this day, find difficult to believe.  Namely, when I first discovered thrifting, ca. 1967, it always puzzled me that the cashiers (always women, all of whom looked "old" to me) had no clue about the difference between, say, a 12-inch 78 and a 12-inch LP.  All they knew was that the "big" records were 25 cents and the "little" records were 10 cents (I think).  Big/little.  And so I hypothesized that, back when long-playing records (including 45s) were introduced, most customers were just as confused as the Salvation Army cashiers.  I figured that people saw no reason to pay $3.98 or more for an LP, and thus was created the market for 99-cent budget vinyl! 

Adding to the confusion caused in the first place by the introduction of 45 and 33 & 1/3 rpm discs, we had RCA trying to hype 45s as the long-playing format of preference (instead of 10" and 12" LPs).  This made sense, in a way, since 45rpm EP albums and boxed sets were analogous to 78rpm albums and boxed sets.

But buyers figured things out eventually, and so RCA's plan failed.

And, last thing, dig the appearance of I've Been Working on the Railroad in Poet and Peasant, and nearly 50 years before that song was penned.  By Facebook "woo woo"-reel standards, this is proof that time travel must be real.  We have the "proof" right here!!

Oh, and of course the "National Opera Orchestra" could be anyone.  And, off the top of my head, I recall that Eli Oberstein recorded in Europe because the musicians worked for a flat fee (no royalties).  I can picture a German musician in his 80s, and somebody asking, "Were you part of the National Opera Orchestra?"  And the old man replying, "The what?"



DOWNLOAD:  A Great Light Concert 1953.zip

Poet and Peasant (von Suppe)

Hungarian March (Berlioz)

Chromatic Galop (Liszt)

Zampa Overture (von Herold)

March Slav (Tschaikowski, sic)

Military March in D (Schubert)

A Great Light Concert--National Opera Orchestra (Gramophone 2044; 1953)

(And there's "art" this time!)

Lee

"Oh Julie" With the Crescendos (Guest Star G-1453; 1962)--in a lossless file!

 

So, I'm back--and I've joined the FLAC community.  A very simple matter of two or three program settings.  And it's almost ironic that I'm utilizing a lossless format for an SPC LP!!  That's almost a contradiction in logic.

But this is great, great stuff.  The Crescendos, though their fame was limited to Oh, Julie, were an unusually talented doo-wop quintet (and they were a quintet, despite the four-member pose used for this LP).  As far as I know, and thanks to my friend Brian McFadden's wonderful Rock Rarities for a Song and the handy listings at Discogs, my guess is that half of these cuts were either demo recordings or simply unreleased Nasco or Scarlet label sides.  In fact, I'm partly echoing one of Brian's conclusions.  Anyway, the Crescendos' only LP, and it's a budget exploitation-product containing a mere eight tracks.  But the music, to my ears at least, is rock and roll gold.

And these guys clearly had fantastic potential, and it's too bad their potential wasn't properly fulfilled.  But they gifted us with these sides, so...  And I've augmented the eight tracks with (you'll never guess) two budget knockoffs--one from Broadway/Eli Oberstein, and the other from Hollywood (original source unknown).  And a reminder that Oberstein's Halo/Ultraphonic/etc. LPs utilized Broadway material (masters released, in turn, on Broadway's "Value" sublabels).  My Halo Tops in Pops LP was too hammered, and so I ripped the first Oh Julie (aka, Oh, Julie) knockoff from a choppy but salvable Value Hit Parade Tunes release (12 Hit Parade Tunes).  This stuff gets complicated.

Where was I?  So, one Nasco cut (the title track), plus three from Scarlet Records.  And the Crescendos' impressive versality shines through in this short playlist, I think--and their supporting harmonies are exceptional.  The female voice which appears on two (three?) cuts belongs to Janice Green.  Now you know.

I honestly never gave Oh, Julie much thought, and it certainly wasn't on my list of favorite 1950s r&r hits.  But it is now.  I have a junk-label gem of an LP to thank for this.  And, actually, the front jacket almost makes this release look like a "legit" one--i.e., from a non-rack-jobber label.  Emphasis on almost.

With each listen, this is becoming one of my favorite LPs.  And... I added an image in 11's Media Player app, but it doesn't seem to have taken.  Ah, the new, totally useless Windows Media Player.  And the FLAC folder link might noy be working properly--let me know.  It seems to be taking me back to my OneDrive folder, which is NOT what I want.

DOWNLOAD: Oh Julie SPC.zip FLAC

Oh Julie (Nasco, 1958)

Julie Anna

Katie Doll

Angel Face (Scarlet Records, 1961)

Without Love

I'm So Ashamed (Scarlet Records, 1961)

Let's Take a Walk (Scarlet Records)

Oh, Julie--The Corwins, 1958 (Value VLP-107)

Oh Julie--(Unknown, from The Nation's 12 Big Hit Recordings, Broadway LPH-139)

Lee