Hit Parade of Ten Top Tunes--Jerry Rudolph and his Radio & TV Orchestra

What's a fake-hits LP without a pinup cover girl?  Take cover photo, tilt 90 degrees to the right, remove tint, and--instant pinup cover girl!

This ten-inch extremely budget LP on Today's Records (about whom neither I nor Discogs know a thing) features Jerry Rudolph and his Radio and TV Orchestra, and you just know that credit was for real, because it sounds so real.  I haven't had time to do track comparisons on these, but I strongly suspect they showed up on other labels, also--Prom, Gateway, Royale... who knows?  Or maybe Today's Records did its own stuff in its own studio.  Probability is very low, but if Today's Records could afford its own pinup cover girl, maybe it could afford its own counterfeit Frankie Laines, Sammy Davis, Jr.'s, Julius La Rosas, and Boyd Bennetts.

And I think Frankie Laine is who the unnamed singer on Hummingbird is trying to imitate.  He misses by many miles, but the guy mimicking Sammy Davis, Jr. down to the last scat-chorus syllable on Love Me or Leave Me is a far more successful copycat.  House of Blue Lights (I'm almost sure this is the version that appeared on Gateway Top Tune) is an excellent copy, and it's hard to miss with The Yellow Rose of Texas.  Get some snare drums, a chorus singing in two parts (strike that--sounds like three parts), add echo--instant Yellow Rose of Texas.  In the earliest versions of this song, the "sweetest little rosebud" was African-American, of course--"yellow" meaning light-skinned.  As for Ain't That a Shame, it's the Caucasian (Pat Boone) version being copied, unfortunately.  Meanwhile, the creepy Man in the Raincoat cover could have used a better whistler.  Besides straying off key, he almost comes in early (listen closely at the very start).

That song always leaves me feeling that, after absconding with the singer's dough, the man could have at least left her the raincoat.

And I just resurrected the twelve-inch Flying Saucer of Latest Top Tunes file at this post, another Today's Records gem by Jerry Rudolph.

To get today's Today's Records offering, click on link below.  Since the songs on this LP are 1955 hits, I'm guessing the LP is from that year.






DOWNLOAD:  Hit Parade of Ten Top Tunes--Jerry Rudolph and his Radio & TV Orch.




Sweet and Gentle
Yellow Rose of Texas
Hummingbird
Seventeen
Love Me or Leave Me
Domani
Ain't That a Shame
The Bible Tells Me So
The Man in the Raincoat
House of Blue Lights

Hit Parade of Ten Top Tunes--Jerry Rudoph and his Radio & TV Orch. (Today's Records 1905)


Lee

Golden Gospel Million Sellers--The Sunshine Boys (Starday 156; 1962)

Checking up on this LP's song titles and composer credits, I plugged "You'll Know I'm Satisfied" (in quotes) and "York" into the Google search box--no results found.  Why no results?  Maybe it's because the song is actually Martha Carson's self-penned 1951 hit Satisfied.  Tsk, tsk.  Shame on Starday.

Also, Stuart Hamblen did not write I Believe--Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl, and Al Stillman did, however.  So, some careless packaging here--but very nice music.

It may be a stretch to suggest that the LP title, Golden Gospel Million Sellers, was an attempt to trick buyers into thinking that these are the million selling versions, but that charge would only apply if Starday had titled this LP Golden Gospel Million Sellers by the Sunshine Boys.  Which it did not.

Er, wait a minute.  Actually, yes it did--on the back cover and the labels.  There it is: Golden Gospel Million Sellers by the Sunshine Boys.  Tsk, tsk.  Shame on you twice, Starday.

But the tracks are excellent, and Starday put out a lot of terrific gospel, so I guess we have to forgive.  And the Sunshine Boys were on a million-selling disc--Red Foley's 1951 Peace in the Valley, though that title isn't on this disc.  Anyway, J.D. Sumner sang with this group prior to joining the Blackwood Brothers in 1954, and here's a picture of Elvis and the Sunshine Boys, from 1957:

Looks like Sumner's in the photo--not sure.  Elvis first heard Sumner when Sumner was singing with these guys, except Sumner must have been performing on a guest basis, since it was post-1954.  I'm tossing this essay together in a hurry (still labeling the MAGIX tracks), so I can't verify everything, but my gospel-knowledgeable readers will step in, I'm sure.  On that note, let me thank Josh for the This Ole House history he shared in the comment section.  And guess what song starts this playlist?  This Ole House, of course--only under its alternate title, This Old House.  Nothing to do with the PBS series, far as I know, and I'm surprised to see that it's still on.  Shows you how often I tune in PBS.

A number of these tracks fall into the "inspirational" category--His Hands, It Is No Secret, Three Bells, He, I Believe, Open Up Your Heart, and Crying in the Chapel.  That's almost the entire album, actually.  Anyway, were the Sunshine boys a group "long recognized as America's #1 spiritual quartet," as the liner notes claim?  Since it's Starday making the claim, I wouldn't bet the farm on it, but the group clearly had a notable gospel career.  Here's a write-up on the singers which I found slightly unclear in spots, but helpful nonetheless.  As for the "Light Crust Doughboys" portion of their history, they were obviously not the famous Western swing group by that name.  Unless the Light Crust Doughboys had satellite bands, a la Paul Whiteman.  As in, different groups operating under the name in different locations.  Dunno.

The second and last titles are of unknown authorship.  Or "folk," as the term is sometimes used (to mean "We don't know").  The second (A Pilgrim) has been recorded by any number of people, including the Byrds in 1968 (as I'm a Pilgrim).




DOWNLOAD:  The Sunshine Boys--Golen Gospel Million Sellers (1962)




TRACKS

This Old House (Stuart Hamblen)
A Pilgrim
He (Richards-Munlan)
It Is No Secret (Hamblen)
Three Bells (Peer)
Open Up Your Heart And Let the Sunshine In (Hamblen)
You'll Know I'm Satisfied (York)  {Actually, Satisfied, by Martha Carson)}
His Hands (Hamblen)
Crying in the Chapel (Glenn)
How Great Thou Art (Carl Boberg--Stuart Hine)
I Believe (Drake-Graham-Shirl-Stillman)
When the Saints Go Marching In


Lee

Born Free/Strangers in the Night/A Day in the Life of a Fool--Dean Franconi and his Orch. (International Award AKS-271; 1967)

I had a sarcastic essay all ready to go for this one, but the tracks are a pleasant surprise--fine easy-listening music in the Andre Kostelanetz/Percy Faith style.  And good stereo sound.  Exceptions: the mono Oh Marie and Londonderry Air--but both nice, and nice-sounding, tracks--and Treasure Waltz, a bit out of place in style, and sounding like a bad attempt at faked stereo.  Espani Cani is similarly out of place, but it's an excellent performance in nice stereo, so I do not complain.  Do you hear me complaining?  Nope.

Actually, since all of the tracks, except the three then-current hits, are filler, I guess there's no objective floor for deciding what fits and what doesn't.  Just my judgment call.  I guess, to my ears, Treasure Waltz and Espani Cani lack the dreamy, mood-music feel of the rest, though I like Cani, anyway.

A dollar-bin LP worth its price, and then some.  Imagine that.  I don't feel like figuring out which LPs in the Pickwick catalog yielded the filler tracks--it doesn't matter much.  And this is Pickwick, of course--KM Corp.  I figured there had probably been a Design Records version of this, as well, mainly because the cover design is very Design.  I was right.  From Discogs:

Not quite the same cover--different upper portion for the titles, different font, Strangers in the lead, and "The Lush String Sounds of, etc." up topside, but the same photos in the same soap-opera-montage style.  If you spotted both jacket versions while flipping through a row of thrift vinyl, you'd think they were identical.  In fact, I thought my LP was the Design label--until I pulled out the LP and saw the white label and "International Award."  That was my first clue.

We have the standard junk label scheme at work here: exploiting a few current hits, and packing the rest of the playing time with filler.  Typically, filler grabbed from here and there in the label's catalog.  Except this time the filler is good stuff and mostly by the same orchestra.  Junk label filler is typically by a host of folks under false names or none at all.  This fine effort in no way excuses what usually passed for an LP from the Pickwick group, but it does prove the outfit could produce good material, whether by luck or design.  Actually, I reckon the credit should go to Dean Franconi and his orchestra, and a sound engineer who went well above and beyond the dollar-bin call.

La Mer, by the way, is Beyond the Sea.  It's the original French title.  This version is particularly lovely.  This disc is full of surprises--ten in all.  Most on-line sources give this a year of 1967, so 1967 it is.




DOWNLOAD: Born Free, Strangers in the Night--Dean Franconi and his Orch.





Strangers in the Night
A Day in the Life of a Fool
Oh Marie
La Mer
La Paloma
Born Free
Londonderry Air
Over the Waves
Treasure Waltz
Espana Cani

Born Free/Strangers in the Night/A Day in the Life of a Fool--Dean Franconi and his Orch. (International Award AKS-271; 1977)


Lee

"Just Some of Those Songs Mrs. Robinson"--King Richard's Fluegel Knights (1968)

Don't ask me--I just work here.  "Just Some of Those Songs Mrs. Robinson" may not be the weirdest LP title ever devised, but, then again, maybe it is.  If the photo story has you going "Huh?" then join the club.  Mrs. Robinson (I assume that's her in the granny glasses) is window-shopping for mod clothes.  She sees a young couple and decides to break in.  She and the young man share a cigarette--I think.  The girl leaves, they end up naked in an alley.  Just your everyday slice of 1968 life.  Then the cops show up.

No, I have no idea, really.  Maybe the U.K. version of this LP gives us some clue:

Well, it was a thought.

I suppose the album art is pretty creepy, though I just see it as period weirdness.  Actually, the last word in creepy has to be the Gary Puckett and the Union Gap hit Young Girl (selection 8).  We're spared the words, and this is good.

The inside jacket tells us that Richard Behrke was the leader of the Knights.  And it isn't joust kidding--he was.  I checked.  There are ridiculous notes (kindly scanned for you) by Sal Forlenza, who designed the album with Bob Venosa.  I know this because of the credit which reads, "Forlenza Venosa Associates" for the album design.  Sal and Bob also did a 7-inch 33 and 1/3 record on Columbia called My Fair Salesman, year unknown, and I can't wait to never hear it.

Luckily, in a 2013 entry on the page for a used LP, Amazon reviewer George O' Leary sheds lights on the Knights.  I quote: "As an orchestra leader/arranger, Richard Behrke backed lifelong friend Bobby Darin on his 1960/61 hits Artificial Flowers and Lazy River on the Atco label, as well as being instrumental in the music chosen for Beyond the Sea, the 2004 film based upon Darin's life starring Kevin Spacey (Peter Cincotti played Behrke in the film).  Before that, however, he recorded (six) albums for MTA with a a group that, featuring a flugelhorn (a brass instrument looking like a bloated trumpet), evoked similarities to the music of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass."

Which is my problem with this record--it sounds like Herb Alpert.  The musicianship is superb, and the arrangements are professional as can be, and I like what's done with Burt Bacharach's Trains and Boats and Planes (listed as Trains, Boats and Planes), but I just get tired of the Alpert sound after four or five tracks.  However, what matters is what you think, dear reader/listener.  And I knew I wouldn't get away with presenting the jacket minus the music, so I didn't even try.

That horrible phrase "generation gap" shows up in Sal's liner essay, and something told me the term must have come from social science.  I was right.  Wikipedia: "Early sociologists such as Karl Mannheim noted differences across generations in how the youth transits into adulthood and studied the ways in which generations separate themselves from one another, in the home and in social situations and areas (such as churches, clubs, senior centers, and youth centers)."  Because no one ever noticed stuff like that before.  Might explain why we Boomers didn't listen to Rudy Vallee and wear raccoon coats. Or dance to Kay Kyser.  I mean, generally speaking.

New generations, new ways.  Someone had to discover this, because how else would we know?

Anyway, highly well-done music, and one of the all-time examples of album design bizarreness to ever turn up in a VOA thrift bin.  I'll have to be nicer to the budget LP jackets from now on.  Even the tackiest of them are at least sane.





DOWNLOAD:  Just Some of Those Songs Mrs. Robinson--King Richard's Fluegel Knights (1968)





TRACKS

Dessert (Al Kessler)
Like to Get to Know You
By the Time I Get to Phoenix (J. Webb)
Do You Know the Way to San Jose (Bacharach-David)
Scarborough Fair
Turnabout (R. Behrke)
Something Classic (R. Behrke)
Young Girl
Train, Boats and Planes (Bacharach-David)
Gentle on My Mind
I Will
Mrs. Robinson (P. Simon)

Just Some of Those Songs Mrs. Robinson--King Richard's Fluegel Knights (MTA MTS 5011; 1968)





Lee

Happy Easter!

For today, new rips of my standard Easter 78s: The famous Robert Lowry hymn Christ Arose! as recorded by the Haydn Quartet in 1908 (with no !) and the Shannon Quartet (a.k.a. Shannon Four) in 1925, and Jesus Lives!, recorded in 1922 by the Trinity Choir.  The tune for Jesus Lives! was written by Henry J. Gauntlett in 1852.  Meanwhile, the Shannon Quartet became the Reverlers in 1925.

The rest of the tracks are me at the organ (actually, my Casio WK-3800), playing Easter hymns.  I tossed this together at the last minute, meaning last night.  Total rush job.

I play two Jesus Lives! tunes--the Gauntlett music used by the Trinity Quartet, and a 1921 tune by Andrew L. Skoog, who was born in Sweden and died in Minnesota.




LINK:   Easter 2019--78s, Lee at the organ



Christ Arose! (Lowry)--Shannon Quartet (Victor 19883; 1925)
Jesus Lives! (Gauntlett)--Trinity Quartet (Victor 19004; 1922)
Christ Arose (Lowry)--Haydn Quartet (Victor 16008; 1908)
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today (Lyra Davidica, 1708)--Me, Casio WK-3800
Sing, men and angels, sing (John Porter)--Me, Casio WK-3800
Jesus Lives! (Andrew L. Skoog, 1921)--Me, Casio WK-3800
Welcome, Happy Morning (Frances R. Havergal)--Me, Casio WK-3800
Jesus Lives! (Gauntlett, 1852)--Me, Casio WK-3800

Lee