The Return of Halloween 2023, Part 3: Monster-Size Monster tracks! Or, look out for "Lookout Mountain"!

 

I think we all prefer our monsters monster-sized.  So long as they obey.  And so long as they aren't mutant insects...

With Jeane Dixon, break-ins, and seasonal soundalikes out of the way, it's time (just barely) for more of my favorite pieces of tongue-in-cheek terror.  And, for some reason, it was only last nght that I found the recording dates for Haunted House Polka and He's Going to Eat Me Up (thanks, 45cat).  I'd searched for them in the past, but you know how that goes: Locating data is often a matter of using the exact correct phrase or phrase combination, or you're up a haunted creek without a crucifix.  I'm probably showing my age, but I can remember when Google searches were pretty straightforward.  You put in a search phrase, and up popped the object of your search.  That was, what?  1888 or so?

And, save for the creepy Lookout Mountain, the rest of the slaylist is classic October 31 absurdity: Haunted House Polka (1955), The Screemin' Meemies From Planet "X" (Merv's finest novelty, and he made a number of them), Close the Door (a lighthearted take on The Thing), Rip Van Winkle, Munster Creep, In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King (the least dread-invoking title, after Planet "X"), Which Witch Doctor, Funny Farm, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (nothing to do with Robert Louis Stevenson's brilliant novella).  My worn Jekyll copy sounded best with my 1 mil mono stylus, so that's the rip you'll hear.  Also, Spooky Movies, which seems to me a Halloween variation on the "I took my girl to the movies, hoping for romance, but she just wanted to moon over Troy Donahue/Guy Madison" genre, only with monsters the target of her ardor.  (No, not a love for big-screen pirates.)

Bob Hudson's 1966 I'm Normal, and The Napoleon XV Revue's 1975 He's Going to Eat Me Up are our two axe-cellent copycat answers to They're Coming to Take Me Away, though there are other thump-a, thump-a, thump-a, thump-a knockoffs lurking around.  Any number of them, actually, and I have--or used to have--a CD-R of same, though one would have to be strapped down (or in) to take them away in one session.  I mean, to take them in.  Note that the latter contains a phrase not suggested for family listening.

And this is just from my boo-point, but I seriously believe Merv Griffin made the best, most campy novelties of all time, and of course I've included his two moss-terpieces for the season: the above-mentioned Screamin' Meemies and House of Horrors, both penned/co-penned by Doris Roberts.  Another Merv novelty accomplice was the famous Charles Randolph Grean (Quentin's Theme), who produced Merv's RCA hits (during Merv's brief period of chart success) and, far as I know, all of his later special productions, including the immortal Have a Nice Trip (1968), co-written by Charles.

1961's Rip Van Winkle is not so much Halloween in theme but feel, with sound effects fit for the season, and a sufficiently supernatural theme.  And a Halloween without Steve Allen is, well, a Halloween without Steve Allen.  Allen's "rockin'" ghost rocks in the fashion of cool jazz, as we'd expect from Steverino, who was (hardly) one of rock and roll's early champions.

I cited Lookout Mountain as the single credibly creepy title in the mess--er, mix.  That's because there's no lightness in the handling, and, really, it would be a chillingly challenging task to add levity to a narrative about a vengeful ghost coming to kill his widow and her new man.  But, a couple questions, at least: Were the Voodoo (?) hexes love spells which backfired?  And, if they knew the ghost would find them on Lookout Mountain, wouldn't the simplest solution have been to not go there?

And we get a soul version of Buck Owens' It's a Monster's Holiday.  Had I been able to find Owens' own recording (I failed to exhume my copy of same), I'd have made coffin space for it, but...  Oh, and there's an incredible story (thanks, Charlie Christ!) behind The Incredible Shrinking Man, on which Ray Anthony is credited as "Ray Anothony."  This title music, not surprisingly, started as an acetate not related to the film to the tiniest degree.

And the theme from William Castle's The Night Walker (1964) by (who else?) Sammy Kaye, the fondly remembered (by me, anyway) King Kong cartoon theme, and SPC doing some PD-graverobbing (in this case, from Charles Gounod) with The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show (aka, Funeral March of a Marionette).

A demon's dozen today: Thirteen titles!  Well, actually, that was true last post, but I neck-glected to depart that fact.  But, today we have a double demon's-dozen today: 26 grisly groaners!!  So, be careful!  Times two.  

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2023, Part 3

SLAYLIST

Lookout Mountain--Chuck Miller, 1956

Haunted House Polka--The Cavaliers, 1955

The Screamin' Meemies From Planet "X"--Merv Griffin, 1961

Spooky Movies--Roy Clark, 1963

Thirteen Men--Dinah Shore With Harry Zimmerman's Orch. and Cho., 1958

Close the Door--Jim Lowe With Norman Leyden Orch., 1955

Big Bad Wolf--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff and His Orch., 1958

The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Danse Macabre--Dick Jacobs and His Orch., 1958

Rip Van Winkle--The Devotions, 1961

Munster Creep--The Munsters, 1964

House of Horrors--Merv Griffin, Orch, conducted by Charles Grean, 1962

The Naughty Ghost--Jan August With Vocal Group, 1955

I'm Normal--The Emperor (Bob Hudson), 1966

The Rockin' Ghost--Archie Bleyer Orch. and Chorus, 1956

He's Going to Eat Me Up--Napoleon XV Revue, 1975

In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King--Belmonte and His Afro-American Music, 1955

Tennessee Hill-Billy Ghost-Red Foley With the Anita Kerr Singers, 1951

It's a Monster's Holiday--Chick Willis, 1975

Murder, He Says--Betty Hutton With Pete Rugolo and His Orch., 1951

Which Witch Doctor--The Vogues With Al Kavelin's Music, 1958

The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show--Unkown (Diplomat, 1962)

The Incredible Shrinking Man--Ray Anothony (Anthony) and His Orch., 1957

The Thing--Danny Kaye, Orch. and Cho. Dir. by Ken Darby, 1950

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--The Emersons, 1959

The Night Walker--Sammy Kaye and His Orch., 1965

King Kong--Wade Denning and His Port Wawshingtons, 1966

Lee

Shellac City 2022 Halloween Youtube playlist, 1904-1947

So, I discovered--not to my surprise--that most of my Halloween 78 rpm rips were lost when Workupload had deleted all of my zips--AND when all the zip files on my previous PC's D drive couldn't be retrieved by the Geek Squad.  Sometimes, it doesn't pay to get out of the coffin at sundown...

Yes, a more tragic tale has ere been told.  Well, actually, that would require a hyphen--e'er.  As in ever, except with the v omitted.  No, wait.  It's "ere" in the sense of before.  My bat--er, my bad.  So, no punctuation necessary--my error.  No more tragic tale has before been told.  Or e'er for "no more tragic tale has ever been told."  I'll leave this up to you.

However, my 2022 YouTube Halloween 78 playlist is still in place, and below is the link.  At least, I think it's the link.  Let me be sure.  (Annnnnnnd, no.  I isn't.  Time to create a new link.)  Here we go--this one works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR451Zkh5EA&list=PLZptDb6GpTWgqE6xz9YEfSlqNxRImV0va&index=1

26 acoustic/acoustical and electric 78s, from Spooky Spooks (1916) and Chopin's Funeral March (1909) to Little Nell (1932) and Hooray! Hooray! I'm Goin' Away (1947).  Also, Murder, Witch Hazel, and No! No!  A Thousand Times No!!

And the moral of the season is, Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!

Lee

Music, Music, Music!--Hugo Winterhalter (1958; reissued 1949-1950 tracks)

 

From 1958, one of the weirdest cheesecake covers of all ("Let's put a seemingly nude model in a bathtub holding a trumpet {"A bathtub holding a trumpet?"] with a music stand next to the tub..."), though the model is easy on the eyes, and the composition is excellent (the photo composition, that is--not the sheet music in the stand).  Eight of these ten tracks came out earlier on this 10" album, which had more dignified, but far less fetching, jacket art...

The two extra tracks on the 1958 12-incher--Blueberry Hill and Casey Jones--were previously unreleased, far as I can determine.  And the musicianship throughout the ten selections is superb, with an especially gifted pianist (marvelous on Casey Jones), and someone who might be Paul Whiteman's own Chester Hazlett on "subtone" clarinet.

I've loved this LP since thrifting it approximately forty (!) years ago, and the miraculously fine fidelity gives these sides an eerie edge--to my ears, at least.  Eerie, because the tracks, marvelous as they are, are in a hybrid big-band/easy-listening style which didn't become the 1950s norm, not even by way of Mitch Miller's own solo sides (which evolved into Mitch Miller and the Gang/..and His Sing-Along Chorus).  They hint at an evolutionary path not taken!  Throughout the 1950s, the big-band sound endured, even as it got bigger, and the easy-listening sound also became bigger--and lusher.  These tracks are an oddity in terms of the separate paths taken by EZ and big band, but all the more interesting for being different, I think.

Seven of these ten tracks are covers of numbers that charted in 1949 and 1950: Blueberry Hill--Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins, 1949; Music! Music! Music!--Teresa Brewer, 1949; My Foolish Heart--Billy Eckstine, 1950; The Third Man Theme--Anton Karas, 1949; There's No Tomorrow--Tony Martin, 1950; Casey Jones--Dixie-Aires, 1949; and Jealous Heart--Al Morgan, 1949.

The three non-1949-or-1950-chart numbers (far as I know), are Come Into My Heart, The Glow-Worm (A huge 1952 hit for the Mills Brothers), and Leave It to Love.  However,  Leave It to Love--a 1948 song by Irving Szathmary--was recorded in 1949 by Ralph Flanagan, and appeared in a Jan., 1950 budget knockoff on Varsity by Jimmie Livingston.  Would a budget knockoff have been released had the song not charted?  Not likely.  But then who had the chart hit?  I wonder...

According to the Online Discographical Project's listings, Hugo made twelve solo recordings for Columbia during his brief stay, including two Christmas numbers (Blue Christmas, and You're All I Want for Christmas), with all but four of them showing up here (plus the two previously unreleased numbers).

During his Columbia period (as musical director), Hugo also provided orchestra backings for Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Toni Arden, et al.

Side notes: On the original 78 issues, a group called The Five Gems is featured with Winterhalter's orch. on Music! Music! Music!  and The Glow-Worm (with no mention of a chorus).  Also, Hugo's "Chorus" is alternately credited as his "Choir" and "Vocal Group."  Now we know.  So far, I can find nothing about the Five Gems, nor have I seen them credited anywhere but on the two Winterhalter sides.  Given the brilliant piano work on Casey Jones, however, I suspect the Gems participated on it (as well as Glow-Worm).

DOWNLOAD: Music! Music! Music!.zip FLAC

HUGO WINTERHALTER ORCH.

Music! Music! Music!--With the Five Gems (1950)

My Foolish Heart--With Choir (1950)

The Third Man Theme-- With Choir (1950)

Leave it to Love--With Choir (1950)

Blueberry Hill

There's No Tomorrow, V: Johnny Thompson (1949)

The Glow-Worm--With the Five Gems (1950)

Come into My Heart--With Choir (1950)

Casey Jones

Jealous Heart--With Vocal Group (1949)

Hugo Winterhalter, His Orchestra and Chorus--Music! Music! Music! (Harmony HL7078, 1958)

Lee

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

VBR fun...

So, until Monkey D. Sound alerted me, I had no idea my VinylStudio mp3 exports were happening at the near-least VBR (7, to be precise).  That the program has defaulted the VBR thus is kind of mind-blowing--I would think that a medium value would be the default.  To make life even more fun, it turns out that each and every VinylStudio project (album, whatever) has to be individually adjusted.  I'll have to contact Alpinesoft and ask if it's possible to change this setting across the board.

I'm in the process of redoing my last post, but it involves four projects/albums, and a reordering of the track numbers.  With VinylStudio, each snag is a "What's next?" event.  However, the software performs amazingly well, even if it leaves much to be desired in the logical-design realm.

And a "VA" project is totally out of line with VS's chief design, which presumes that the user is digitizing his or her favorite Boomer-rock LP.  Meanwhile, the program is packed with 78-rpm playback curves.  Go figure.

As for me, I don't even have a favorite rock album, and if only because rock is not my favorite music.  In fact, I don't care for most "classic" rock (please don't tell anyone), and I feel no need to conform to the typical tastes of my generation.  Anyway, most of what I do with the program involves bypassing its "album" template.  Namely, I tend to rip one to four tracks per "album," and then simply allow the albums to pile up (30 is the limit).  I don't know or care whether or not the program thinks that I've ripped thirty Led Zeppelin LPs.  With MAGIX, I had to do a degree of "improper" employing of the features, but with VS, that dynamic is epic.  The degree to which I am NOT using the software as intended is almost surreal.  And now this.  A per-album VBR default which is almost the least in that regard.

Did someone decide, "I'm sure our users want substandard mp3s"?  At least MAGIX's mp3 export default was middling, which is logical.  This allowed me to go up or down as I chose.  (I chose "up.")  But, in the meantime, I wasn't making poor-quality mp3s.  The least VBR is 9, and so a 7 is pretty lousy.  Or very, actually.  Well, I have nothing to lose.  But my mind.  I'd add an "in retrospect" observation, but I don't have one at this time!

Lee

Various Artists for August, 2025--Skeeter Davis, Mills Brothers, Peggy King, Sid King, Murray Arnold, Woody Herman, Little Eva, more!

 

You've gotta love that Percy Faith jacket: "How to sell these elegant popular concert numbers to the still-evolving 12-inch-LP market?  Sex!  That's the only way."  The streak up the man's back is the result of the lamp whose glare I couldn't totally suppress--not the photographer's fault.  Anyway, I love that "Get me out of here!" look on the lady's face.  Or, "Darn, I forgot to let the sitter know I'd be this late..."

So, a Golden Records classic, some recently-thrifted shellac, the Mills Brothers doing doo-wop, a couple century-plus-year-old goodies, fine rural '40s gospel, and an authentic Hawaiian number from back when everyone expected that state to become my country's 49th.

And, luckily, there are still local thrifts (two of them) that haven't gotten stupid with their vinyl pricing, and so I've hauled in a decent amount of analog audio since my last "Various Artists" bash (in March).  I think the principal inspiration for this VA post was the atypical appearance of 40 or 50 78s in fine condition at the big city Goodwill--of which I nabbed nine or so.  Also, Hi Yo Silver! simply demands a blog slot.  (And let me check to make sure I haven't already posted it...  Nope; we're good.)  Amazing work by the Arthur Norman Singers and the virtuoso accordionist--plus, surprisingly decent audio from a six-inch Golden Records release.  Audio which sounded dreadful in stereo but just fine with the channels summed.

Ripped in mono from Music from Hollywood is Percy Faith's superb 1953 instrumental version of Song from Moulin Rouge, and from Mantovani's 1962 Moon River and Other Great Film Themes LP, the equally superb Big Country theme.

And, from that recent 10"-shellac haul, the soft and sultry crooning of Peggy King (whose Zero Hour is among my all-time favorite pop gems), with the amusing Gentleman in the Next Apartment, plus Bob Merrill's great Make Yourself Comfortable (made famous by Sarah Vaughan), both 1954.  And Freddy Martin pianist Murray Arnold on the Cardinal label, performing his own Boo Boo Boogie and a boogie-woogie version of Camptown Races.  No record collection is complete without one.

The 1955 Sid King 45 showed up in the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift, and when I saw the title--Sag, Drag and Fall--something told me that I was in for some Shake, Rattle and Roll-style rockabilly.  I was correct.  Fine stuff, with a nice flip.

And a good dance-band version of the famous Black and White Rag (George Botsford, 1908), and though I have no idea who Bobby Mills was, I suspect he may have been European or European-American.  Just a guess from a Discogs listing.  Actually, the label, K and K, was a country operation.  So... dunno.  And we move on with the marvelous West Lawn Polka (1912), by banjo mega-virtuoso Frederick J. Bacon, followed by a 1914 rendition of the National Anthem (another no-collection-should-be-without disc), and great 1946 country gospel by Roy Acuff--That Glory Bound Train.  I was very happy with the 1946 rip, since picking the right Columbia response curve is always a matter of guesswork.

From the RCA Camden Easy to Love Skeeter Davis LP of 1970, Carole King's magnificent 1964 Let Me Get Close to You.  And, further down the list, another Goffin-King classic, Down Home (Little Eva, 1963), from an original, much-played 45 release.

Elsewhere, Neal Hefti and Woody Herman's 12-bar-blues rocker, Blowin' up a Storm (1946, Carnegie Hall), an almost hilariously over-the-top Pink Panther (theme) by the world-famous Columbia Musical Treasuries Orch. (1968), and an I-hoped-it-would-be-better Hugo Montenegro version of Good Vibrations.

From the Tops-related cheapie line Golden Tone, a marvelous budget cover of the Peter Gunn Theme, credited to "The Hi-Tones" (whatever), and from the 49th State Hawaii Record company, Little Brown Gal.  Apparently, Hawaii was in the running for No. 49, until Alaska took that slot.  And two numbers from my mono copy of Dionne Warwick's 1965 Here I Am LP: (Are You There) With Another Girl, and the astounding Lookin' With My Eyes, both Hal and Burt, of course.

Garage-band gold with the Kingsmen's rendition of Money (too bad about the piped-in audience noise), and Paul Revere and the Raiders' 1963 Louie, Louie.  A standard cover tune which, in an under-rehearsed take, was a huge hit for the Kingsmen, of course.  And, back to Bob Merrill, the superb Take Me Along (from a Broadway show), as performed by the Mills Brothers in either 1959 or 1961.  It all depends on whether or not my source LP--the MB's 1961 Yellow Bird--utilized the single release, which I strongly suspect was the case.  From the same LP, MB's excellent Get a Job cover, which may or may not be the 1958 single release.

And who hasn't wanted, more than anything else, to hear Sheb Wooley's rendition of Rawhide?  Well, long no longer--it's here.  Sheb was no Frankie Laine, but his take is decent enough.  We close with the 1971 jazz-rock of Get It On by Chase--a huge hit in my home town of Toledo, and one of my fondest AM-radio memories.  We even had a call-in talk show named after it.

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Various Artists August 2025.zip

The Big Country (Jerome Moross)--Mantovani and His Orch., 1962

Hi Yo Silver!--The Arthur Norman Singers, 1958

Let Me Get Close to You (King-Goffin)--Skeeter Davis, 1964

Sag, Drag and Fall--Sid King & The Five Strings, 1955

Rawhide (Washington-Tiomkin)--Sheb Wooley, 1961

Are You There (With Another Girl) (Bacharach-David)--Dionne Warwick, 1965

Good Vibrations--Hugo Montenegro, His Orch. and Chorus, 1969

Money (Bradford-Gordy)--The Kingsmen, 1964

The Song from Moulin Rouge (Auric)--Percy Faith and His Orch., 1953

Boo Boo Boogie--Murray Arnold Plays 4 Hands, 1954

The Gentleman in the Next Apartment--Peggy King w. Percy Faith and His Orch., 1954

Lookin' With My Eyes (Bacharach-David)--Dionne Warwick, 1965

Take Me Along (Bob Merrill)--The Mills Brothers, 1961

Get a Job--The Mills Brothers, 1961

The Black and White Rag--Bobby Mills and His Orch., 1955

The Pink Panther (Mancini)--The Columbia Musical Treasuries Orch., 1968

Camptown Races--Murray Arnold Plays 4 Hands, 1954

West Lawn Polka--F.J. Bacon, Banjo Solo w. Piano Accompaniment, 1912

The Star Spangled Banner--Victor Mixed Chorus, 1914

Brothers! (Berlin)--Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Vocal w. Orch., 1954

Blowin' up a Storm (Neal Hefti-Woody Herman)--Woody Herman and the Herd (Carnegie Hall, 1946)

But I Don't Care--Sid King & The Five Strings, 1955

Peter Gunn Theme (Mancini)--The Hi-Tones (America's Top Tunes, Golden Tone)

Down Home (King-Goffin)--Little Eva, 1963

That Glory Bound Train--Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys, 1946

Little Brown Gal--Lei Momo Sweethearts w. John K. Almeida's Hawaiians

Make Yourself Comfortable (Bob Merrill)--Peggy King w. Percy Faith and His Orch., 1954

Louie, Louie (Richard Berry)--Paul Revere and the Raiders, 1963

The Story of Billy Bardell (Wooley)--Sheb Wooley, 1961

Get It On--Chase, 1971

Lee

Anyone Who Had a Heart--Dionne Warwick (Scepter 517, 1964): A masterpiece in mono!

 

As many of us know, thrift vinyl prices have gotten absurd, generally speaking (with the local Volunteers of America demanding $5.99 a pop (!), though at least one Goodwill in the nearest big city still sells at .99 each)  However, if it's a good buy and the condition is good, I'll fork out $2.99, which I have done so far on (I think) three occasions.  I did so with a near-mint copy of the Harmony label reissue of "The Grand Canyon Suite"--in monaural.  The first and only mono copy I've ever come across.  And $2.99 (a bargain) for Bobby Vee's marvelous The Night Has a Thousand Eyes LP, also near-mint and with a jacket in perfect condition.  Also, for today's gem--Dionne Warwick's second LP, from 1964, and in mono.  I actually prefer Top 40 music of this era in monaural.  Not sure why, but in mono the tracks have more punch and presence.  To my ears, that is.  I can't speak for anyone else's (though I've often spoken into other ears).

And musicman1979 reminded me that I posted the mono Harmony Grofe reissue last year on July 4th: https://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2024/07/fourth-of-july-music-grand-canyon-suite.html  

This would have been up sooner, but it wasn't ready yet.  (A little exercise in Police Squad! humor, there.)  Problem was, I finally found the ideal analog-to-digital interface, but my initial experience was nothing but failed channels and a Line input which didn't accept a stereo signal.  Being the infinitely patient and mature person that I am, I only screamed at the unit, oh, three times.  Well, four.  But no more than five times.  Okay, six.  And my yelling was closer to agonized screams.  But I otherwise kept my composure (and saved my blood pressure).  "Gear that doesn't work" might be a bigger anger trigger on my part than "Software That Fails."  Close call.

Luckily, the Sweetwater rep was terrific, and together we did some highly detailed troubleshooting--whereupon, the flaw in the soup was the least likely item: the brand-new audio cables--the right side was defective.  In five decades, and to the best of my memory (which isn't always the best), this is the first bad audio cable I've ever encountered.  Seriously.  Anyway, rep Barrett sent out (free of charge) two upgraded RCA-to-1/4" cables, and now all is fine.  Well, except that VinylStudio doesn't let me know when and if I'm peaking the input.  However, VS's peculiarities are nothing next to its many virtues, luckily.  The software is so amazing, I have no right to nitpick.

Oh, and what about the album?  Yes, today's offering.  And it's magnificent!  Purely fabulous (not faux-fabulous)!  And, except for a slightly scratchy first band (which cleaned up nicely via VS's patching and manual-declicking features), in super-good shape.  In short, worth five times the three-buck asking price.  Not a bad song in the mostly Bacharach-David lineup, and Dionne has one of the most amazingly expressive voices in the history of pop music--and, to top things off, she always effortlessly managed Burt's quirky rhythms and his often jazz-complex melodic intervals.  On the first takes, probably.  I recall reading that, when Burt and Hal discovered Dionne, they knew they had the perfect interpreter.  If they hadn't known as much, they'd have had to be drunk or otherwise impaired.

There's the great title song, Anyone Who Had a Heart, which I admire more each time I hear it, plus the just-as-magnificent Don't Make Me Over, the elegant I Cry Alone, and the should-have-been-a-monster-hit This Empty Place (maybe my favorite of the bunch).  That possibly-greatest-all-of-Dionne-numbers had the unfortunate fate of serving as the B-side of Wishin' and Hopin' (terrific in its own right, but not as substantial as Empty).  Luckily, Place was also memorably recorded by the Invasion bands The Searchers and Ian and the Zodiacs, meaning that someone realized the hit potential of this gem.  How could anyone not be blown away by such a perfect pop release?  I ask you.  Should have been an A-side.

So, I changed the numbering (after exporting from VinylStudio), and I hope the proper numerals (1-12) show up--and the the jacket art, which I added in the Media Player app.  Hope all goes as intended.  I plan to get a VS upgrade, which should mean that I can add a year field per track.  (Woo-hoo!)  And Fab Forgeries, Pt. 7 is coming up next post.

DOWNLOAD: DW--Anyone Who Had a Heart.zip

TRACK LIST--All recorded 1963, unless otherwise noted

Anyone Who Had a Heart (Bacharach-David)

Shall I Tell Her (Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman)

Don't Make Me Over (Bacharach-David; rec. 1962)

I Cry Alone (Bacharach-David)

Getting Ready for the Heartbreak (Larry Weiss-Lockie Edwards)

Oh Lord What Are You Doing to Me (Luther Dixon-Burt Keyes)

Any Old Time of Day (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

Mr. Heartbreak (Barbara English-Al Cleveland)

Put Yourself in My Place (Reggie Obrecht-William Drain)

I Could Make You Mine (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

This Empty Place (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

Please Make Him Love Me (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

Anyone Who Had a Heart--Dionne Warwick (Scepter 517, rel. 1964)

Lee

Fab Forgeries, Pt. 6!! "Hard Day's Night"-athon; Big-band Beatles, The Kingsmen, Johnny Mathis, Lawrence Welk, Johnny Rivers, The Lettermen, more!

 

Some big-band Beatles in the mix, courtesy of Enoch Light, Lawrence Welk, Sammy Kaye, and Buddy Morrow, and no fewer than five covers of A Hard Day's Night, courtesy of Enoch, The Kingsmen, Johnny Rivers, Alshire's famous Frank "88" Malone (who?), and, in the best Peggy Lee manner, Chris Connors.  Then, Johnny Rivers again, with Can't Buy Me Love, the Buckinghams with a 1966 interpretation of I Call Your Name, an excellent Lettermen rendition of For No One, a Dixieland Sgt. Pepper's... by Andre Kostelanetz, a swinging Eleanor Rigby by Michael Dees, and the Supremes with You Can't Do That (but they do, and more than adequately).  Meanwhile, Homer and Jethro's 1964 take on I Want to Hold You Hand is typical of the opinion, on the part of many professional, established recording musicians of the day (and H&J were highly accomplished), of the Fab Four's music: Annoying, monotonous low-calorie noise for screaming teens and pre-teens--a pop-music aberration soon to fade from the scene (and we know how that worked out).  And maybe I'm reading too much into this version of She Loves You--after all, Homer and Jethro had for years been specializing in take-downs of current chart hits.  But this particular lampoon complies too closely for coincidence with the standard dismissals of Beatlemania when that craze first exploded; the most hilarious parody of this type being Allan Sherman's classic Pop Hates the Beatles (also 1964).

And Ray Conniff is back with an effective cover of the Starr-Harrison Photograph, a track I didn't think I had ripped (but which, obviously, I had).  As for the New Christy Minstrel's I Want to Hold Your Hand (speaking of), their take is certainly different.  Meanwhile, Ronnie Aldrich's two pianos, along with the London Festival Orch., perform a memorable Because--the type of Beatles number which calls for this type of concert-hall version.  As for the "live" Johnny Rivers Fab-Four renditions, my ears get the feeling that the audience chatter was added after the fact, though I'm not sure.  Meanwhile, Anne Murray's 1974 Day Tripper is very 1974, which I suppose is to be expected.  Not a bad cover at all.  Even better is Johnny Mathis' My Sweet Lord, which the singer handles superbly.  And, whoever he was, Frank "88" Malone performs a nice honky-tonk Hard Day's Night for Alshire Records around 1968 or 1969, looks like.  And the Kingsmen's Bill Black-esque take on the same tune is terrific, though as with Rivers, the live-ness of the performance is doubtful.

Of the big-band renditions, I'm inclined to go with Buddy Morrow.  Then again, Sammy Kaye's Eight Days a Week is terrific, and it's impossible to miss with Enoch Light.  In sum, I'd rather not have to pick.  And Percy Faith's My Sweet Lord has a fine rock feel, and it's impressively true to Harrison's original.  I was expecting something more traditionally FM-radio-EZ, but it really moves.

And Floyd Cramer does a fine job with a Beatles classic which deserved a greater number of covers: I'll Follow the Sun, from the first Beatles LP I ever owned (The Beatles '65).  At the time, and since my budget was typically limited to 45s, LPs seemed like a miraculous, almost impossible proposition--all of those tracks on a single platter!  Years later, I'd buy my first Beach Boys LP at a discounted price (Capitol was cutting the BBs from its catalog): 1964's All Summer Long, in trashy Duophonic "stereo," though at the time (and on our cheap portable phonograph) it sounded just fine.  Anyway, some real happening homages for this post...

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 6.zip

A Hard Day's Night--Enoch Light and His Orch. (1964)

My Sweet Lord--Johnny Mathis (1971)

Eight Days a Week--Sammy Kaye and His Orch. (1965)

A Hard Day's Night--The Kingsmen (1965)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--Andre Kostelanetz (1975)

Eight Days a Week--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade (1965)

Eleanor Rigby--Michael Dees (Arr. by Bob Bain, 1968)

I Want to Hold Your Hand/And I Love Her--Enoch Light and His Orch. (1964)

Photograph--Ray Conniff (1974)

Please Please Me--Buddy Morrow and His Orch. (1964)

Because--Ronnie Aldrich and His Two Pianos With the London Festival Orch. (1970)

A Hard Day's Night--Johnny Rivers (1965)

She Loves You--Homer and Jethro (1964)

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The New Christy Minstrels (1966)

A Hard Day's Night--Frank "88" Malone

I'll Follow the Sun--Floyd Cramer (1965)

You Can't Do That--The Supremes (1966)

Get Back--Paul Mauriat and His Orch. (1969)

Can't Buy Me Love--Johnny Rivers (1964)

I Call Your Name--The Buckinghams (1966)

Hey Jude--Lawrence Welk (1969)

My Sweet Lord--Percy Faith, His Orch, and Chorus (1971)

For No One--The Letterman (1967)

A Hard Day's Night--Chris Connor (1965)

Day Tripper--Anne Murray (1974)

Lee

Fab Forgeries, Part 5! Patti Page, Jerry Vale, Frankie Carle, The Moog Machine, Aretha Franklin, Kate Smith, Ray Conniff, more!

 

                                      

Frankie Carle, Bert Kaempfert, Ray Conniff, The Cowsills, Kate Smith, Jerry Vale, and the Lettermen are among our Beatles-cover artists today.  And a shout-out to the the earliest covers, starting with 1964: I Want to Hold Your Hand--Frankie Carle; and A Hard Day's Night--Marty Gold and His Orch.  On to 1965: And I Love Her--Ferrante and Teicher.  Hm.  And that's it for 1965.  But a nice batch for 1966: Yesterday--Boots Randolph; Michelle--The Fiesta Brass; Yesterday--Kate Smith; and Nowhere Man--Les and Larry Elgart.

And our fourth and fifth Somethings for this series to date, with more to come: Bert Kaempfert and Patti Page, both from 1970.  Plus, our fourth Long and Winding Road, by my favorite pop-instrumental maestro, Andre Kostelanetz (also from 1970).  From 1969, an unusually fine Paperback Writer by The Cowsills (!), Get Back by the Moog Machine (from their LP, Switched-On Rock), a great Eleanor Rigby by Aretha Franklin; a lovely Here, There and Everywhere by the Lettermen; and Dionne Warwick's take on We Can Work It Out (from her Soulful LP on Scepter).

Another Here, There, and Everywhere, this time by the always excellent Petula Clark, and our lone 1968 track--The Fool on the Hill, by the Billy Vaughn Singers.  The latter is a fine EZ Fab Four fake.  (Actually, a legit cover, but "Fab Four fake" sounds good...)

Two creative John Denver Fab Four covers, both from 1970: Golden Slumbers, and Eleanor Rigby.  And three more 1970 tracks: Jerry Vale crooning Let It Be, Tony Mottola with a near-hard-rock Come Together, and a highly enjoyable Living Strings rendition of Hey Jude.  And only we up-there-in-age folks remember when material like that last number was played on FM EZ radio.

Skipping ahead to 1973, a decent Ray Conniff presentation of the Paul and Linda McCarney Live and Let Die--one of those shouldn't-work-but-it-does tracks.  And from 1974, the Starkey-Harrison Photograph, ably rendered by one of the blog's favorite crooners, Engelbert Humperdinck.

A technical note: Though I've added art to every Fab Forgery project in Windows' Media Player app, not all of that art seems to be showing up, even after I've checked it within the app.  My apologies for any not-showing-up art.  There's no apparent reason for this.  (I know--get a Mac.)

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 5.zip

I Want to Hold Your Hand--Frankie Carle, 1964

A Hard Day's Night--Marty Gold and His Orch., 1964

Something--Bert Kaempfert and His Orch., 1970

Here, There and Everywhere--The Lettermen, 1969

Golden Slumbers--John Denver, 1970

Live and Let Die--Ray Conniff, 1973

Yesterday--Boots Randolph, 1966

My Love--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1974

Come Together--Tony Mottola, 1970

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da--Floyd Cramer, 1969

Paperback Writer--The Cowsills, 1969

Let It Be--Jerry Vale, 1970

And I Love Her--Ferrante and Teicher, 1965

The Fool on the Hill--The Billy Vaughn Singers, 1968

Something--Patti Page, 1970

The Long and Winding Road--Andre Kostelanetz, 1970

Michelle--The Fiesta Brass, 1966

Get Back--The Moog Machine, 1969

Yesterday--Kate Smith, 1966

Eleanor Rigby--Aretha Franklin, 1969

Here, There and Everywhere--Petula Clark, 1967

Hey Jude--The Living Strings, 1970

We Can Work It Out--Dionne Warwick, 1969

Nowhere Man--Les and Larry Elgart, 1966

Eleanor Rigby--John Denver, 1970

Above: Nowhere Gig--by the Cake Toppers

Lee

Fab forgeries, Part 4! Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, The Lettermen, The Lennon Sisters, Petula Clark, Boots Randolph!

 

Can't beat the line-up for this post: The Lennon Sisters, Peggy Lee, The Lettermen, The Electric Scoundrals, The Harmonicats, Terry Baxter (the legendary), Boots Randolph, Ferrante and Teicher...  And the list goes on.  And I've got scores of tracks either ready to go for the next installments, or in preparation for same.  In addition to the ready-to-go tracks, I have about 25 in need of audio clean-up and labeling.

And... perhaps the worst Hey Jude ever concocted in a budget studio, or any other kind, as bellowed out by "The Electric Scoundrals," a pulled-out-of-who-knows-where alias for a fake best-of-the-1960s LP from Premier Albums, Inc.  Lord help me, I love this version.  It's so bad, it's... wonderful bad.

However, The Lennon Sisters and The Four King Cousins provide perfectly acceptable covers of, respectively, I Want to Hold Your Hand and Good Day Sunshine.  The former is from 1964, which makes the LS one of the first "pop" acts to tackle the Fab Four.  Ferrante and Teicher give us a catchy Yellow Submarine cover, and I realize that I accidentally chose two of the few acceptable covers from Terry Baxter's box set, Yesterday: The Wonderful Music of the Beatles: namely, Sgt. Pepper's... and The Fool on the Hill.  My bad.  The dreadful Paperback Writer will have to wait until next time.

Bud Shanks' jazz treatment of I Am the Walrus is a track I like more each time I play it, and we've got Ella Fitzgerald performing George Harrison's Savoy Truffle, and quite well.  I love the truly spacey ending.  Also, The Carpenters expertly adapting Help to their style, the Lettermen delivering a memorable World Without Love, and Tammy Wynette giving us a Countrypolitan Yesterday.  The Sandpipers, meanwhile, essentially mimic the Beatles on Things We Said Today, but quite well.

Boots Randolph's My Sweet Lord totally works for me, unlike Jackie Cain and Roy Kral's Fixin' a Hole, which I tried hard to like, but... And Petula Clark is back, with a Hey Jude which fares infinitely better than the hilarious Premier track, though just about anything would.  Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 4.zip

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Lennon Sisters, 1964

Yellow Submarine--Ferrante and Teicher, 1969

Fixin' a Hole--Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, 1968

I Am the Walrus--Bud Shank, 1968

The Long and Winding Road--The Sandpipers, 1970

If I Fell--Perry Botkin, Jr. and His Orch., 1970

Good Day Sunshine--The Four King Cousins, 1968

Yesterday--Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, 1966

Michelle--Warren Covington Orch.

Norwegian Wood--Perry Botkin, Jr. and His Orch., 1970

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--The Terry Baxter Orch. and Chorus, 1972

A Hard Day's Night--Charlie Barnet and His Orch., 1970

Help--The Carpenters, 1970

Savoy Truffle (Harrison)--Ella Fitzgerald, 1969

Hey Jude--Petula Clark, 1969

Yellow Submarine--The Richard Wolfe Children's Chorus, 1969

The Fool on the Hill--The Terry Baxter Orch. and Chorus, 1972

I Want You (She's So Heavy)--The Assembled Multitude, 1970

My Sweet Lord (Harrison)--Boots Randolph, 1971

World Without Love--The Lettermen, 1975

Yesterday--Tammy Wynette, 1968

Things We Said Today--The Sandpipers, 1966

Something (Harrison)--Peggy Lee, 1969

Photograph (Starkey-Harrison)--Engelbert Humperdinck (1974)

Hey Jude--The Electric Scoundrals

Lee

Fab Forgeries, Part 3! Wayne Newton, Liberace, Brenda Lee, Ray Stevens, Jim Nabors, more!

 

Well, Percy and Paul and Andre will show up in our next playlist, but for today, these other fun cover versions...

First off, Lee Castle's rockin', big-band-style Birthday--a priceless rendition from a no-year-known Pickwick LP.  Then, Ray Stevens' more than competent 1970 She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, followed by Jim Nabors' My Sweet Lord--not the laugh riot we might expect, but a nicely done cover.  And Wayne Newton's Long and Winding Road could have been a lot worse--I like it, I have to confess.  Liberace's take on the same number is here for name value only--It's a standard pop-piano-type rendition (of the Ferrante-and-Teicher, Peter-Duchin type), with some comments from L. himself at the end, as he congratulates the orchestra.  Brenda Lee's 1965 He Loves You puts her in the first-artists-to-cover-the-Beatles group, though the "he" is in the title only: Brenda sings the lyrics as written, and very nicely.  Nancy Sinatra's 1966 Run for Your Life is very well done, too, as is the Ventures' properly raucous 1964 I Feel Fine (another early cover).  As for the New Christy Minstrels' Atlantis/Hey, Jude mashup, maybe that otherwise excellent group was better off not trying to be hip/with it.  It's different, anyway, as is Morgana King's non-psychedelic rendering of Tomorrow Never Knows, which holds up quite well as a "regular" number.  The Burbank Philharmonic's (whoever they were) 1970 Hey Jude is fine Dixieland Fab Four, if you're in the mood for Dixieland Beatles, and the Longines Symphonette's Classical-style Eleanor Rigby/Yesterday medley is superbly done--a perfect example of a potentially hokey and pretentious effort beautifully hitting the mark, with the expert arranger mixing the two numbers with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.  Just gorgeous.  

The Cyrkle do a ring-around-the-key-centers version of I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, the Lettermen (one of the finest Beatles-cover groups) provide an interesting I'm Only Sleeping, and the Haircuts (plus The Impossibles?) give us an uncannily close-to-the-original I Want to Hold Your Hand, from a 1966 Somerset LP (which I owned years ago).  Jose Feliciano was another savvy Fab Four cover artist, and here we hear (here we hear?) his excellent 1966 Help!  I remember Jose from back in the day, but I somehow didn't appreciate his outstanding musicianship then.  I do now.  And... the Four Freshmen with a meh Ob-La-Di..., and a very nice Something by Engelbert Humperdinck (still with us at 89), one of my favorite singers--sort of Tom Jones without the soul.  Nothing wrong with that, of course--this gave Engelbert the edge on ballads, and in particular his fabulous Burt Bacharach renderings: I'm a Better Man, Love Was Here Before the Stars, et al.  And it's fitting to mention Burt, who was--along with the Beatles, Brian Wilson, and Carole King--at the top of their form in the 1960s and early 1970s. (I prefer Brill-Building Carole to her solo period, but that's just me.)  

Oh, and a gorgeous live 1970 rendition by Israeli singer Esther Ofarim of the Paul McCartney masterpiece, She's Leaving Home.  An absolute gem.

Enjoy! 

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 3.zip

Birthday--Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Orch.

Yesterday/Hey Jude--Tom Jones, 1970.

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window--Ray Stevens, 1970

Jim Nabors--My Sweet Lord (Harrison), 1974

Tomorrow Never Knows--Morgana King, 1968

He Loves You--Brenda Lee, 1965

The Long and Winding Road--Wayne Newton, 1970

She's Leaving Home--Esther Ofarim, 1970

Can't Buy Me Love--Brenda Lee, 1965

Run for Your Life--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Hey, Jude/Atlantis--The New Christy Minstrels, 1969

I Feel Fine--The Ventures, 1964

Something (Harrison)--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1970

Got to Get You Into My Life--Morgana King, 1968

Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da--The Four Freshmen, 1969

Help!--Jose Feliciano, 1966

I'm Happy Just to Dance With You--The Cyrkle, 1967

Medley: Eleanor Rigby; Yesterday--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Hey Jude--Burbank Philharmonic, 1970

The Long and Winding Road--Liberace, 1971

I'm Only Sleeping--The Lettermen 1972

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Haircuts, 1966

Lee