Twenty memorable mono sides, ripped from 45 rpm discs in my collection. As usual, no unifying theme, save that all but two are from the 1950s, starting with the 1957 paean to marital fidelity, Hello, Is That You? by the (Original) Red Tops, recorded (I seem to recall) at Sun. Then, a jazzy Capitol country side from 1951--a pre-Maybellene take on Ida Red called Freight Train Breakdown. And I made sure to use the correct pre-RIAA response curve for the early-50s Columbia and Capitol singles. (To my slight surprise, Columbia was still using a 300 Hz bass turnover as late as 1954!)
And... the original 1950 Tony Bennett Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which Google's AI describes as Tony's breakthrough hit on Columbia. (His 1958 Greatest Hits LP utilizes a different arrangement altogether.) I prefer this original, if only for the way Tony belts it out. Then, Steve Lawrence does his best Bobby Vee impression with the King-Goffin Poor Little Rich Girl, whose lyrics portray a class-divided romance as doomed--in contrast to June Valli's From the Wrong Side of Town, which asserts (in so many words) that class distinctions are irrelevant.
Way to the Stars (from the 1945 movie) is magnificent 1954 (?) mood music by George Melachrino, while Sometimes is too-smooth-to-be-doo-wop doo-wop. (Think the Four Lads crossed with the Five Satins.) The Four Voices' 1962 remake of their 1956 hit Lovely One is especially elegant doo-wop, though it does register as/in that style. Further in the list, we have "real" doo-wop from Lee Andrew and the Hearts (the brilliant Nobody's Home). An incredibly tight performance, backed by the famous Pancho Villa Orchestra, best known for the 1957 hit, After School Rock (not in this list).
Brother Fats is a fascinating hybrid: Not quite rock and roll, but not quite big band, either. Peggy King's 1957 Zero Hour is a movie theme gorgeously (and seductively) crooned, while Rock, Pretty Baby pushes all the right 1956 American Bandstand buttons. Which is logically impossible, actually, since AB didn't start until the next year. And the songwriter was Sonny Burke!
Tamboo is a superb 1955 piece of concert exotica, while the Leiber-Stoller Bazoom! is a fine Larry Elgart cover of the Cheers hit. And for anyone wondering what Rock Around the Clock sounded like before it was revamped by Bill Haley, we have Bill Coates sticking to the original verse and chorus (with piano embellishments) from... well, I don't know. Sometime in the '50s, surely.
Rosemary Clooney's rockin' version of Tennessee Ernie Ford's Shot Gun Boogie has an R&B-style backing led by none other than Mitch Miller, and Kay Star's "pop" cover of the Clovers' Fool, Fool, Fool is almost as good as the original (penned by the co-founder of Atlantic Records). And there's fine middle-of-the-road jazz vocalizing on The Glow-Worm, followed (two entries later) by the weird but fun Tokyo Melody, the second 1960s side in our list.
DOWNLOAD: Memorable Mono Media.zip FLAC
Hello, Is That You?--The (Original) Red Tops, V: Rufus McCay, 1957
Eddie Kirk--Freight Train Breakdown, 1951
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams--Tony Bennett, Orch. directed by Marty Manning, 1950
Poor Little Rich Girl (Goffin-King)--Steve Lawrence, 1963
Way to the Stars (Nicholas Brodszky)--The Melachrino Orch., 1954
Sometimes--The Bachelors, 1958
From the Wrong Side of Town--June Valli w. Joe Reisman's Orch. and Chorus, 1956
Lovely One--The Four Voices, 1962
Brother Fats--Ray Anthony and His Orch., V: Gloria Craig, The Skyliners, 1951
Zero Hero--Peggy King w. Frank De Vol and His Orch., 1957
Tamboo--American Symphonic Band of the Air, Dir. Willliam D. Revelli, 1955
Bazoom! (I Need Your Lovin')--Les Elgart and Orch., 1954
Rock, Pretty Baby (Sonny Burke)--Jimmy Daley and the Ding-a-Lings, 1956
Rock Around the Clock--Bill Coates at the Console
Fool, Fool, Fool--Kay Starr w. The Lancers, Lee Young and His Band, 1952
Hesitation (Winterhalter)--Hugo Winterhalter and His Orch., 1952
Nobody's Home--Lee Andrews and the Hearts, 1958
The Glow-Worm--The Paulette Sisters and Dick Style, Larry Clinton Orch., 1952
Shot Gun Boogie--Rosemary Clooney, Orch. under direction of Mitch Miller, 1951
Tokyo Melody--Helmut Zacharias and His Orch., 1964
Lee
19 comments:
bad link
it will be interesting to hear your 45 version of "Shot Gun Boogie"; I have a 78 version of "Beautiful Brown Eyes", it does not have the same kind of great sound quality as the A-side, however, I do prefer this slightly tamer version over the Tennessee Ernie Ford version. The Steve Lawrence song is kind of one of my favorites since my Nana got me a copy in a stack of 45 she got me at a garage sale in September of 1989 when I was 10 years old. However, I do think it could have done without the vapor voice throughout the number. The Les Elgart I Need Your Lovin' tends to marry their signature band sound with that of a higher-sounding vocal group; at least it is miles above the original hit version on Capitol by vocal group the Cheers featuring future Pied Piper Sue Allen.
The Helmut Zacharias song is a revelation; just a touch more of a beat than some of his previous work ("When the White Lilacs Bloom Again", etc.) You can definitely hear traces of a Bert Kaempfert influence in the arrangement, as well as some Hugo Winterhalter touches as well.
Art,
Try it again--it's working for me. I successfully downloaded the zip. Let me know.
musicman1979,
I agree that this version of "Bazoom!" is far better than the original. And the HZ selection does evoke Bert (and Hugo!).
musicman1979,
And, come to think of it, there is a mild flanging effect with the overdubbing on "Poor Little Rich Girl." Probably unintentional...
Good choices, Lee. That Ray Anthony tune reminds me of Ella Mae's "Pig Foot Pete". I thought Steve_and_Eydie was gonna drop into "Pretty Blue Eyes" when I heard his intro.
LOL! Glad you enjoyed, and I'll have to listen to that Morse track. Thanks.
I love these smorgasbord selections! All sorts of goodies from all over the place. Thanks, Lee!
And the download worked fine for me, first try.
Ernie,
Thanks for that note--it seemed to me that the download was working fine. But, of course, glitches can occur (especially with Windows!).
Hi Lee ! I always enjoy your miscellaneous sharings. Something fun to discover. For once, I appreciate Peggy King's voice. :-) So thanks for them.
Great stuff! Thanks for defending mono. I'm going to asssume that Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West are the blazing guitar pickers on that incredible Eddie Kirk single. And I still can't believe that petite Peggy King had such a powerful voice. So did June Valli. Hard to believe Les Elgart made a record like "Bazoom." Was Mitch behind this? I assume he was behind Rosemary's suprsing but superb recording of "Shotgun Boogie." Why am I always impressed with George Melanchrino? What a leap from George to The Bachelors. I almost didn't make it. So much else I could say. But just me say, Thank you! Please keep using your blog as a juke box.
Distinctive Speedy West on pedal steel, on the Eddie Kirk number
Also, Peggy King is still with us in July 2026, age 96.
I had assumed that there was a Bear Family CD by Eddie Kirk, possibly even a multi-CD effort. I guess that is not true. But the great British label B.A.C.M. did release a Kirk CD about 20 years ago entitled "Blue Bonnet Blues". It's likely still available from them direct, but it may be difficult to find from most retailers. That label is highly authoritative and run by hard core collectors, so it would undoubtedly be very well done. He also recorded at least 2 tracks as a vocalist with Spike Jones....Bryant and West are on those 2 tracks as well.
Ravel,
Glad you enjoyed the King track! Nice to hear from you.
Anon.,
Will do! And, yes, apparently it is Speedy West giving us that killer guitar solo. And I have a second Memorable Mono Media post almost ready to go!
Peter,
Thanks for verifying!
Peter,
That's great to hear! Thanks.
lafong,
Kirk with Spike Jones! Far out. And, yeah, I spotted those B.A.C.M. CDs on Amazon, and both at a healthy price...
Post a Comment