Memorable Mono Media, Part 3: Dell-Vikings, June Valli, The Buckinghams, Carl Perkins, Big Jay McNeely, Sunny Gale!

 

So, ragweed pollen has arrived, and so I feel like I'm blogging in my sleep.  In fact, I might be asleep--can't be sure.  But, trusting that I am in fact awake, here are 22 memorable mono tracks, starting with some 78-rpm thrift finds of the past two weeks: The Dell-Vikings on Fee Bee (with the ballad side sounding terrible, but the hit side--Come Go With Me--sounding terrific), The Heartbeats with Oh Baby Don't, and LaVerne Baker on Atlantic with the rocking Jim Dandy.  Note the distortion and tape-glitch in How Can I Find True Love--flaws which also appeared in the 45 rpm release, if not as blatantly.

Then, back to 45 rpm singles, with a terrific, more-or-less-r-&-r ballad by Fred Weismantel, sung beautifully by the Four Voices: Darling, Thanks to You.  This 1955 performance, much like the same songwriter and group's Lovely One (also in this playlist), is the perfect marriage of 50s-quartet pop and doo-wop--the Four Lads meet the Dell-Vikings, sort of.  

Then, the incomparable June Valli with 1957's Street of Memories, probably my favorite of this bunch (and with enough reverb for two sides).  Next, Magic Star--Tel-Star with lyrics--beautifully arranged by Bill Justis for Margie Singleton on Mercury.  And we have ? and the Mysterians with the two-chord romp, Got To, a 1967 effort which--as the B-side of Girl (You Captivate Me)--charted, though just barely.  Meanwhile, Carl Perkins' Hollywood City (1962, Columbia), cowritten by Otis Blackwell, completely failed to chart, though it probably should have.

Very tight musicianship distinguishes Boyd Bennett's Right Around the Corner, while tight doo-wop harmonizing graces the Turbans' Sister Sookey of the same year (1956). 

Then, Clyde Battin and Gary Paxton's (Skip and Flip) 1959 Lunch Hour, which is not to be confused with June Valli's 1958 single of the same name (farther down in this list).  Jerry Lee Lewis' 1961 Money, not surprisingly, went nowhere (Lewis having committed bigamy in 1957 with a 13-year-old bride--not the kind of thing that helps a pop career), whereas Ray Conniff's Strollin' and Boppin' hit the Top 20 as one of the numbers on the LP Dance the Bop!  And Conniff was, at the time and by contrast, legally married to his second wife.

Conniff leads the orchestra on the Four Voices' Top 20 hit, Lovely One, an unusually elegant doo-wop effort, and he provides a reasonably rocking background for Guy Mitchell's Take Me Back Baby, penned by Claude Demetrius (cited as "Demetuis" on the label), and a minor hit for Guy.  This is followed by Dealer of Dreams, a Buck Ram number which failed to chart for the Penguins.  Then, the frenetic, solo-filled, honking-sax classic, The Goof (1952).  

Which brings us to our playlist's most out of place track, the 1968 Where Did You Come From by the Buckinghams.  Afterwards, a subdued June Valli demonstrates that teen rock was no challenge for her (Lunch Hour, 1958), Sunny Gale provides a country-fied Come Go With Me, and the Mint Juleps give us a highly effective12-bar-blues rocker, Vip-a-Dip (another non-charter).

DOWNLOAD: Memorable Mono Media, Pt. 3.zip

How Can I Find True Love--The Dell-Vikings, 1957 (Fee Bee 205, 78 rpm)

Come Go With Me--Same

Oh Baby Don't--The Heartbeats, 1956 (Hull Records 720, 78 rpm)

Jim Dandy--LaVerne Baker and the Gliders w. Orch., 1956 (Atlantic 116, 78 rpm)

Darling, Thanks to You (Weismantel)--The Four Voices, 1955

Street of Memories--June Valli w. Joe Reisman's Orch. and Chorus, 1957

Magic Star (Tel-Star)--Margie Singleton, Merry Melody Singers, Arr. Bill Justis, 1963

Got To--? (Question Mark) and the Mysterians, 1967

Hollywood City (O. Blackwell-W. Scott)--Carl Perkins, 1962

Right Around the Corner--Boyd Bennett and His Rockets, 1956

Sister Sookey--Tubans, 1956

Lunch Hour--Skip and Flip (Clyde Battin--Gary Paxton), 1959

Money--Jerry Lee Lewis and His Pumping Piano, 1961 (Sun 371)

Strollin' and Boppin' (Conniff)--Jimmy Richards (Ray Conniff), 1958

Lovely One (Weismantel)--The Four Voices, 1956

Take Me Baby Baby (Claude Demetrius)--Guy Mitchell w. Ray Conniff, 1956

Dealer of Dreams (Buck Ram)--The Penguins, 1956

The Goof--Big Jay McNeely and His Orch., 1952

Where Did You Come From--The Buckinghams, 1968

Lunch Hour--June Valli, 1958

Come Go With Me--Sunny Gale, Orch. and Chorus Dir. by Sid Bass, 1957

Vip-a-Dip--Mint Juleps, 1956

Lee

TV Western Themes--Slim Boyd and His Range Riders (Coronet CX 175; 1963)

 

One of my all-time favorite budget efforts, despite its many shortcomings.  Among these: Only two of the ten tracks are actual TV themes (Davy Crockett and Cheyenne); hence, 80 percent of the material rates as filler (though not a bad ratio for a junk-label LP).  As for Slim Boyd and His Range Riders, other artists credited with the same material (on other issues) range from Sons of the New Frontier, The Rio Grande River Boys, Frankie Starr, and Jack Arthur, among others--the usual up-for-grabs junk-label attributions.  And, though this collection was released in 1963, the material dates back to the previous decade and to the Peter Pan label--thus, the release year amounts to nothing.  Otherwise, a perfect album.  And it has cheap but delightfully campy jacket art, as does Western Favorites, the source for today's bonus tracks:

                                                                                     

The numbers I added from the Coronet Western Favorites (no "TV" this time), include A Buckskin Boy (And Gal in Calico) by J. Fred Coots of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town fame.  Here's the original Peter Pan picture sleeve and record label for same:

Meanwhile, here's the original sleeve and label for Buffalo Billy, an actual pop song (as opposed to an intended-for-budget-label title), plus the sheet music for the 1909 My Pony Boy, which appears on the latter LP as Pony Boy.  And you thought this was all junk with no redeeming details...

The standout TV Western Themes tracks--Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Davy Crokett, Cheyenne, and El Paso, a fine cover of the Marty Robbins hit--comprise a full 60 percent of the track list, which is an impressive feat for any dollar-bin disc.  Oh, and here's El Paso in its original SPC EP form:

Several of the shorter selections, including Arkansas Traveler, are medley snippets padded out via splicing, though Red River Valley only gets one pass, and with an awkward finish.  Anyway, the usual for-a-buck rip-off, but with unusually fun selections.

At Discogs, "Slim Boyd" yields no fewer than seven budget aliases, including Curley (Half as Much) Williams. 

DOWNLOAD: TV Western Themes.zip

SLIM BOYD AND HIS RANGE RIDERS

Davy Crockett (actual TV theme)

Wyatt Earp

Cheyenne (actual TV theme)

El Paso

Red River Valley

Wild Bill Hickok

The Old Chisholm Trail

Jesse James

Buffalo Bill

Home on the Range

SONS OF THE NEW FRONTIER

A Boy in Buckskin (J. Fred Coots)

Buffalo Gals

Buffalo Billy (Redman-Cavanaugh-Weldon)

Pony Boy (Heath-O'Donnell)

Arkansas Traveler



Lee