Jack Bishop Sings Songs of Faith (Gloryland 101)--Bluegrass gospel from Columbus OH!

 

Recorded in Columbus, Ohio, but pressed in Lafayette, Tennessee, according to the matrix number (ARP-8185-- Atwell Record Pressing, Inc).  No law against that.  And no law against providing bogus composer credits on this type of LP--a common practice, and who reads the credits, anyway?   Well, me, come to think of it.  Anyway, I made my best attempt at tracking down the actual composers and writers where necessary, only ending up with five Unknowns. In the case of Light at the River (actual title: There's a Light at...), the 1896 lyrics are used on this performance, but it's not the original tune--so I had to designate the composer as Unknown.  Will the Circle Be Unbroken gets an Unknown, too, since it's not the Charles H. Gabriel--Ada R. Haberson number from 1907--it's the version associated with the Carter Family.  And we get the J.W. Vaughan The Old Country Church--the old Old Country Church, as opposed to J.D. Sumner's newer song by that title. 

This LP is as bluegrass gospel as bluegrass gospel gets, and the excellent musicians are listed, along with little bios, in the notes, which is quite handy.  Not sure about "borned," however ("Jack was borned and reared in Kentucky..."), but typos happen.  Such as the president of Atlantic Records getting songwriter credit for Somebody Touched Me.  Seriously--check the label scan included in the zip.

And I'm about to doze off at the keyboard.  Ragweed pollen is here, so I'm taking Benadryl, and I'm half-here, at the most.  So I'd better sign off.  But not before uploading the zip file and linking to it.  Great bluegrass gospel awaits you.  Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Jack Bishop Sings Songs of Faith

The Fields Have Turned Brown (Carter Stanley)

Purple Robe (Odell McLeod)

The Heaven Light Is Shining on Me (Unknown)

Oh Those Tombs (Unknown)

Memories of Mother (Carter Stanley)

Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Unknown)

The Old Country Church (J.W. Vaughan)

Shouting on the Hills (E. Bartlett)

Somebody Touched Me (Unknown)

Over in the Gloryland (James W. Acuff-Emmett S. Dean)

Light at the River (w: Merritt Casey-m: Unknown)

Where the Soul Never Dies (Wm. M. Golden)

Lee

"Duke of Earl" on Promenade

 

It satisfies some weirdness in me to title a post "'Duke of Earl' on Promenade."  A part of me must like awkward post titles.  Maybe it's something I'll outgrow, but I don't know--I'm 63, after all.  Anyway, Duke of Earl on the Promenade label is what we get, and more--and I just remembered that I was going to check to see if I have the Promenade envelope that came with the Duke of Earl set (Promenade A-54-20).

I checked, and no, I don't.  The closest thing I have is the envelope for set Promenade A54-17.  Click on link to see it at my "text" blog.  I love the blurb on the A-54 series envelopes: "Listen to this!  The Top Tunes of Today....the Top Recording Artists of T V, Radio and Movie are YOURS at this sensational price.  You just can't equal this quality!"  Well, yeah, you can even exceed it--by buying the original hits.  But, true--you couldn't beat the price.  "Make sure to ask for only PROMENADE."

Record store clerk: "Can I help you?"  Buyer: "I want only PROMENADE!"  Clerk: "Huh?"

So, we get six tracks, none of them carrying a credit, from Promenade EP A-54-20 2, which was the second disc in the two-disc issue A-54-20, with "20" being the 20th issue in set 54.  Wow, this label kept busy.  And you just couldn't equal the quality, either.  In addition to the six tracks from A-54-20 2, we get four tracks from Promenade EP NRR-2, including Bill Marine's Heartbreak Hotel, which we previously heard on that Eddie Maynard LP which doesn't feature Eddie Maynard.  Right now, I'm pinching myself to see if I'm sane.

And, to make things crazier, I included four tracks from the Top 6 Hits series, which was put out by the Startime Record Corp., apparently as a Pepsi premium (Music for Those Who Think Young).  They duplicate four of the Promenade A-54-20 titles: The Twist, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Duke of Earl, and Break It to me Gently, and, interestingly, all but Duke of Earl sound like the same people and arrangements, but in different performances.  The Startime Lion Sleeps Tonight, Twist, and Break It To Me Gently are RCA Victor Custom releases, but there's no dead wax martix #.  However, there's a "12-61," which I'll take as the release date.  The other Startime EP that I sampled--matrix MX 10295/96--is definitely 1961.  Well, if it's an RCA Custom job, which it likely is.

The Teresa Brewer hit (A) Sweet Old Fashioned Girl, by Bob (Sparrow in the Treetop) Merrill, is a cool response-to-rock-and-roll novelty by a composer who had actually anticipated the Elvis Presley onslaught to come with a bluesy number called Tell Me, Tell Me, recorded by June Valli in 1954, and whose Make Yourself Comfortable of the same year (a big hit for Sarah Vaughan) featured the standard doo-wop I-vi-ii-V structure.  I like Bob Merrill, who don't get no respect.

And, though you probably know this, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, aka, Wimoweh, aka Mbube, was recorded in the pre-Elvis era by the Weavers, among others.  Here's the 1939 South African original on Youtube.

Dear Ivan is a dumb but interesting Jimmy Dean number, and Tutti Frutti is a cover of the Pat Boone record, so don't expect any wildness in Bill Marine's performance.

And I remain puzzled to this day about what the heck Duke of Earl (1962) is actually about--assuming it's about something.  I guess it doesn't matter, since the song is so incredibly catchy and cool.  You'll notice the Promenade label for A-54-20 2 has no performer credits, but that was not a standard thing--some of the label's EPs from this period do include credits.  And I have a couple that feature credits on one side but not the other.  But you still couldn't equal Promenade quality.  According to Promenade.

Enjoy these fun fakes from SPC's Promenade EP sets and from whoever was providing the fakes for those Pepsi premiums.  And, as ever, there's no way to write about these things in a fashion that sounds rational.  But I try.

DOWNLOAD: Duke of Earl, and more

The Twist--Unknown (Promenade A-54-20 2)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Same)
Duke of Earl (Same)
Unchain My Heart (Same)
Break It to Me Gently (Same)
Dear Ivan (Same)
Dear Ivan (Jimmy Dean)--Unknown (Top 6 Hits, Record 1--Startime MX 10295/96; 1961)
Duke of Earl (Williams-Edwards)--Same
Break It to Me Gently (Lampert-Seneca)--Same
The Lion Sleeps Tonight--The Elektras (Top 6 Hits, Record 6--Startime 1545; 1961)
The Twist--Mr. 5 by 5--Same
Tutti Frutti (La Bostrie-Penniman)--Bill Marine, Promenade Orch. and Chorus (Promenade NRR-2; 45 rpm EP)
Sweet Old Fashioned Girl (Bob Merrill)--Laurie Leslie, Promenade Orch. and Chorus (Same)
Treasure of Love (Stallman-Shapiro)--Carter Farriss, Promenade Orch. and Chorus (Same)
Heartbreak Hotel (Axton-Durden-Presley)--Bill Marine, Promenade Orch. and Chorus (Same)

Lee

Music from Hollywood Films--The Audition Studio Orch., and others. (Audition AUD 33-5911)

This is Waldorf on the wane. The actual label is Audition (which offered Supertone High Fidelity, no less!), but, of course, Audition was a Waldorf sublabel.  I like Audition because it had such cool color covers, like this one, which is Tony Randall and (I think) Sheree North, from the 1957 movie No Down Payment.  It's the movie that "inspired" the LP, so the jacket says, though I wonder if the verb is being misused to mean, "from," as in "This image is from the movie."  Otherwise, "inspired by" makes no sense, given that the movie, according to IMDB's synopsis, is about four southern California married couples living in a housing development and experiencing marriage issues.  Not sure how picks like Rock Around the Clock, The High and the Mighty, and Manhattan could have been "inspired" by a movie of that type, but I suppose there's a shortage of songs about marital struggles in southern California housing developments.  (I haven't seen the flick, so maybe some of these numbers show up along the way in some form or other.)

Since the cover shows a pic from a 1957 movie, we can halfway safely assume this LP is from 1957 or 1958.  These are all recycled Waldorf tracks, of course, save for (I'm assuming) the title cut.

There is, of course, no such thing as the Audition Studio Orchestra.  There is, however (or was) the Enoch Light Orchestra, and that's who we get on six of these ten tracks.  As for the other front jacket credits, maybe Bud Freeman is on here somewhere--not sure.  But I've ruled out the presence of Bob Bollinger, Jack Brown, and Lois Winter.  In their place(s), we get Bob Eberly, Margie Murphy, Artie Malvin (of course), and The Brigadiers.  So, why didn't Audition list the actual artists?  To be cute?  No, I'm guessing someone simply forgot who was on the tracks.  Someone misplaced the track sheet.  "Um... let's just give Jack Brown and a few others the 'Starring' credit."--Jacket supervisor, confused.  There was a Jack Brown at Waldorf, btw, but just not on this particular piece of vinyl.

So, we get April Love from "April Love," The High and the Mighty from "The High and the Mighty," Three Coins in the Fountain from "Three Coins in the Fountain," and Secret Love from "Secret Love."  Er, I mean, from "Calamity Jane." Oddly enough, Audition decided not to associate Rock Around the Clock with "Blackboard Jungle," instead associating it with the movie Rock Around the Clock, a 1956 comedy of the unintentional type, in which Bill Haley demonstrated his inability to act.  Wikipedia tells us that the flick (Rock Around the Clock) was one of two cheapies that exploited Haley's musical fame.  Audition chose to title the song (We Gonna) Rock Around the Clock, instead of (We're...), for some reason.  I kind of like it, actually, but it's probably a typo.

Extra-good audio quality on these--way better than they'd sound from those six-selection EPs churned out by this company.  And no wonder--it's Supertone High Fidelity, after all.  And we get three gorgeous Enoch Light instrumentals, so what's not to love?  And it may or may not be Will Bradley on Three Little Words, and No Down Payment gets no artist credit in my listing, because I was unable to locate any Waldorf recording of that number.  Otherwise, we're good to go...

DOWNLOAD: Themes from Hollywood Films (Audition 5911)

Around the World--Enoch Light and His Orchestra
The High and the Mighty--Enoch Light and Light Brigade
Three Coins in the Fountain--The Bridadiers w. Enoch Light and His Orch.
Three Little Words--Will Bradley Orch.?
(We Gonna) Rock Around the Clock--Artie Malvin w. The Light Brigade
Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)--Enoch Light and His Orchestra
April Love--Bob Eberly and the Monarchs
Secret Love--Margie Murphy w. Enoch Light and His oOrch.
No Down Payment--Unknown
Manhattan--Ashley Adams

Lee

My Home--The Jubilee Quartet w. Whitey Gleason at the Piano (Mid-America Recordings LPST-203; 1966)

A stock cover, but a nice one.  On the back jacket, there are hard-to-see signatures from three of the members: Buddy Campbell, Norman Huxman, and the fabulous pianist, Whitey Gleason.  With the right lighting, they'd have shown up fine, but my scanner simply won't capture them (see above--or try to), even when I adjust the color levels after the fact.  Maybe I should try some "live" shots.

Okay, I just took some, using my computer desk lamp for the lighting.  The signatures are way easier to see...

So, imagine my surprise when I saw the great Lee Roy Abernathy listed under "Background Music" for this disc!  The composer of Gospel Boogie.  The astounding piano on these tracks, however, is supplied by "Whitey" Gleason (first signature).  The performances are marvelous, and the Jubilee Quartet appears to be from Georgia.  Not positive, but in the notes, "Whitey" Gleason mentions spending "many memorable and fruitful hours" in Abernathy's home studio in Canton Georgia.  In fact, this was recorded there--I'm looking at the credits now.  The label, Mid-American Recordings, was located in Memphis TN.  Quite a few of these numbers were tunes I've recently become acquainted with, so this LP--another thrift gift from Diane--is very good timing.

However, I'm rushing to press, and it's not because I waited too long to rip this, but because I had to overcome some limitations in the sound.  I don't know what happened, but one possibility is that, when this was being mastered, someone accidentally turned the treble knob all the way to the left. The sound was all bass and mid-range, and muffled highs.  I did two re-EQ's, and both turned out too weak in the lower end.  Third try, I simply added a pinch of treble and called it a day.  I didn't get great results, but what you'll hear is much better than what I was getting from the grooves.

Weak treble or no, this is a winner all the way--expert singing of the muscular Statesmen Quartet type, with workmanlike piano that occasionally breaks out in amazing passages.

Last time or so, I mentioned Barbershop, and there's a lot of Barbershop feeling here.  At this point in history (1962 1966) close harmony groups of any and every type were typically packed with "Barbershop" touches--touches that even found their way into the piano accompaniments.  For instance, the (probably African-American in origin) bit of "sliding" chromatically during a chord change, where time permitted.  And the vocal swoops, and so on.  These things had become integrated into close harmony singing, which, as I've noted before, is a phrase defined differently wherever you happen to look it up (my favorite definition has the top three voices contained within the range of an octave, with the bass free to roam).  I take the simple route--close harmony is simply that: close.  As in, notes close together.  It's harmony contained within the range of male voices--hence, the notes are literally scrunched together, with overlapping whenever necessary.  The "lead" (or tenor) can carry the melody, or it can harmonize above it.  The bottom line is that close harmony gets its special sound by the requirements of containing harmonies within a fairly narrow range (not a problem with SATB harmony).  Close harmony is typically notated in treble and bass clef fashion, with the understanding that the upper part will be taken down an octave.  In such a case, the formally correct way to notate the upper line is to add an "8" under the treble clef (to indicate one octave lower), but lots of close harmony is notated with a funky "tenor" clef that's not to be confused with the actual tenor clef used in Classical music.  I hope all that wasn't as confusing as it sounded to me.

Wow.  I really didn't get to saying the stuff I wanted to, but I'm out of time, so this essay will have to do.  Bottom line: great Southern quartet gospel.  Grade A.  The real deal.  I'd have preferred more treble, but it's a little late to write the label and ask for a remastering...

The set ends with one of my late foster mother's favorite hymns--He Hideth My Soul, which features one of the brilliant Fanny Crosby's most exceptionally distinguished and moving texts.






DOWNLOAD: The Jubilee Quartet: My Home (1962 1966) (Correct year provided by Bob.  Thanks, Bob!)

Lee

The Nation's 12 Big Hit Recordings--"All New Hits!"

Well, I jut had a false memory in which I had already put up an album from this series--but it looks like I didn't.  Rather, I was recalling this post, in which LPs are similarly strewn across the carpet--except the cover shows three gals having a slumber party.  That was an RCA Camden special--this is Hollywood Records, which I'm always confusing with Broadway.  And we can imagine the cover girl saying, "Give me that Frankie disc--I hate fake hits!"  I don't know what's playing on the vintage 45 rpm player--it's an EP, is all I can see.  On the floor, there appears to be... let's see... Eddie Fisher, Frank Sinatra, Eddie again, Nat King Cole, Tennessee Ernie Ford (?), and Arthur Murray.  There are at least two other jackets, but they're obscured.  So, why would Hollywood Records be plugging the major labels?  To give the buyer the impression that Hollywood was a major label?  Who'd be that out of it?

The Nation's 12 Big Hit Recordings--that sounds very official, no?  As named by the Nation's Twelve Big Hits Association of Cheapsville, Ohio, probably.  The exact same over art was used for all of the LPs in this series, as far as I know--I have four others, and it's same guy and gal and 45 rpm player.  There was probably a standard catalog number.  This has a "C" to distinguish it from, say, A or B.  The weird thing with this one: I had just bought a hammered copy of this from eBay, because I saw I didn't have these selections in my 12 Big Hit Recordings stash.  The dealer graded it at VG-, which it was, more or less (G+/VG-; who can say?), and so I had to do a lot of sonic surgery to get a good file.  Then, right after I'd completed the rip, a much better copy showed up at one of the local Goodwills, along with five other fake-hit LPs.  I was stunned, because these things hardly ever show up at the thrifts anymore, but not too stunned to grab them all and shell out my ones.  (Or was it two fives?  Or a ten?)  Next trip to the same thrift, there were two or three more fake-hit comps.  Then... nothing more.  So far.

That was supposed to be an interesting account, but I don't think it quite made it.  Anyway, excellent condition, (this one--not the eBay purchase), but the usual cheap pressing--therefore, some hiss to reckon with.  And we're in the 1957/58 realm, a point at which the cheap labels were trading off tracks like crazy--which is to say, most or all of these also came out on Synthetic Plastics Co. and Tops singles and LPs, because I've heard several of these about a million times, to date--At the Hop, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (which I'm starting to hate), Jailhouse Rock, and Silhouettes.  I'll have to do some fast side-by-side comparing, and then I'll get back. Unless I get hopelessly lost in the Media Room jungle.

Nope, here I am.  So, I'm playing one of my 12 Top Hits on Tops Records, and April Love is the same as here (except for some Tops reverb).  At the Hop--same.  Peggy Sue--same (with way more reverb on Tops).  Kisses--ditto.  Great Balls of Fire--yup.  Jailhouse Rock--yup, again.  I'm listening to the topside LP in this post, by the way.  Much duplication, though the Tops label reverb is kind of annoying next to the undoctored sound here.  So, even though a number of these tracks are blog repeats, you're getting purer audio with this rip.  And all of the above (save for Kisses) are superior fakes, reverb or no.  Meanwhile, I don't recall previously encountering fakes (or non-fakes) of Put a Light in the Window and My Special Angel.  Neither one makes my day, though I'm betting the Four Lads did a much better job on the former.

At this point in fake-hits history (late 1950s), SPC (Promenade, Prom, etc.) was putting out the same versions as Tops (and, evidently, Hollywood), so some kind of consolidation was happening.  A single outfit providing the masters, maybe.  Yet, Broadway (and its sublabel, Value Hit Parade) was still putting out its own fakes.  That changed around 1960 or 1961.  Broadway had been absorbed.  Into what, or by whom, I don't know.

This cover scan is from my eBay copy, which was torn on the "LPH-100-C" part, so I grafted that portion from my Goodwill copy.  Now you know.






DOWNLOAD--The Nation's 12 Big Hit Recordings

Lee