Fake gold from Waldorf (1956)

 

As I work on a large post that's taking longer than I figured, it's time to put up this delayed post.  Only six tracks, but they're classic Waldorf.  They are fake gold.  And "fake gold" may not sound very complimentary (especially during a gold rush), but I think it's accurate and flattering--Waldorf's fakes are gold, as a rule.  At least, when Enoch Light was calling the shots.  On that note, I just ordered some post-Enoch Waldorf EPs from eBay, and they're very possibly fakes that were also issued on the Song Hits and Hit Parader labels (sold in the magazines of that name, and in Charlton Comics).  They're from the Twilight Zone period, Waldorf-wise, when weird things were being issued, such as all of those recyclings of earlier recordings on LPs sporting blank back covers.  Waldorf's weird period.  When Waldorf went weird.

This ten-incher, however, is classic Waldorf.  It's from 1956, and all the expected folks are present: Artie Malvin, Loren Becker, the Waldorf Ink Spots, Vincent Lopez, Enoch, and... Van Alexander and His Orchestra?  Hm.  I haven't noticed Van Alexander on any other Waldorf vinyl, but maybe I'm just not paying attention.  That happens sometimes.  (Did I just type something?  Where am I?)

You've got to love that beautifully period, campy cover.  The kids, though a little stiffly posed, look like they're having a great time, and it's a good composition, the lettering skillfully arranged around the visuals.  I have to wonder about the orange background--felt?  Construction paper?  Orange chalk on newsprint?  The orange wall seems to meet the orange floor in an arc shape, as if the background was curved.  Probably not worth wondering about.  The cover is simply what it is--a colorful budget jacket.  In the scheme of things, the particulars don't matter.

I know--modeling clay soaked in orange juice!  Anyway, the question is, why only six tracks?  Waldorf was perfectly capable of putting eight tracks on its ten-inch LPs, so why only six?  Maybe it's because the six-selection track listing fits so perfectly above the heads of the dancers.  That must be it.

Our last two budget rock and roll posts featured "rock 'n roll," but this time the apostrophe has moved to the right: "rock n' roll."  I won't bother to mention that the proper contraction of and is 'n', because...  Oops, I just did.  Oh, well.  So, six classic Waldorf tracks, and in a higher bitrate.  I had been using MAGIX's default mp3 bitrate when I exported my files, and it was too low.  (This way, I get to blame MAGIX instead of myself for not fully studying the export page.)  I've had some requests for lossless files, but I don't plan to go that route.  Not at this time, as the saying goes.  I am, however, going the larger-bitrate route.  Everyone has to, at some point in his or her cyber-life.  Just as, once upon a time, Waldorf went the Full Dynamic Range route.  (Maybe those are orange drapes behind the couple.  And a cloth floor...)

DOWNLOAD: Rock N' Roll (Waldorf Music Hall MH-33-170; 1956)

Lee

Happy Goodman Family--Portrait of Excitement (Canaan CAS-9655; 1968)

 

Thanks to those curses to humanity known as Windows 10 and the new Blogger, this post is arriving late.  I spent 20 minutes on what should have been a three-minute task--migrating and renumbering the individual files.  And getting the four images inserted, and  in order, took three tries--a task that used to take maybe a minute.  That's progress.  So, I don't have time to say much, save that the Happy Goodman Family is Southern gospel.  It's not possible to miss with this wonderful group, and my thanks to Diane for this great thrift gift.

I yell at 10 fairly often, but somehow that never inspires it to behave rationally.  I'm just glad I didn't have to deal with any of the earlier versions. 

Luckily, we have lively and superb gospel music to get our minds--or my mind, anyway--off of all troubles and woes and car alarms.  Twelve delightful gems--just bear with the slow opening number.  Nothing against slow numbers, but they should be placed someplace within a program as energetic as this one, and not at the start.  Not that anyone asked me.

To the great gospel...

DOWNLOAD: Happy Goodman Family--Portrait of Excitement (1968)

Lee

The obscure and mysterious Cameo Records label--vintage fake

 

As far as I know, this label is not to be confused with this one.  Then again, who knows?  Anyway, for my Aug. 19th Eddie Maynard post, I had used the Internet Archive to track down the source for Because of You (uncredited on the Maynard LP), and I discovered it was originally a Johnny Kay release on the Popular Records label (not to be confused with Popular Extended Play Records).  To make a long story less long, Popular Records led me to Cameo Records, a label with ties to a slew of other cheapo operations, including Family Library of Recorded Music, Solitaire Records, Micro Records, and Gateway Top Tune (!!).  There's also an SPC (Synthetic Plastics Co.) connection, since the Eddie Maynard LP is on Promenade, an SPC label.

Bandleader/pianist Preston Sandiford, who is most likely the person mentioned in this Wikipedia entry, is the link between Cameo and Gateway Top Tune.  Cited as an important musical influence by Quincy Jones, no less!  So, how did such a distinguished musician end up in this obscure budget group?  Well, probably the same way Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Bob Eberly, Artie Malvin, and other significant artists ended up in the jobber racks.  Anyway, the orchestral backings on these Cameo 45s, while not perfect, are higher than the cheap-label norm, and the vocalists are mostly above par, too--save for one Pat O'Shea, whose cover of Shrimp Boats is downright dreadful (in the "hurry, hurry, hurry home" part, at least).  It may have been a bad key for her--I don't know.  But Perry Como-soundalike Johnny Kay/Kaye, famous for his endlessly recycled budget Christmas tracks, is phenomenal on Trust in Me, and Larry Foster is very solid, too, though it's odd that he made no attempt to mimic Johnnie Ray on his covers of Cry and The Little White Cloud, given that he possessed a Sammy Davis, Jr.-style ability to copy other singers.  He displayed that talent on a 1954 Coral side, A Trip to Hollywood, and on a ten-inch budget LP I can't Google-locate at the moment.  I have no idea if he's the same Larry Foster who did The Other Family, though Discogs thinks so.

Fake hits from the pre-rock&roll era are always fun to find, and they're of course harder to come by.  So, the condition on these is not the tops, and I unfortunately had to pass on a couple of titles too worn to rescue.  But, for most of the rest, all it took was a few hours of neutralizing some clicks, pops, and explosions to get them sounding pretty decent.  I regret to say that Blue Tango is not the gem I thought it would be--Sandiford's men sound a little under-rehearsed.  But even mediocre Leroy Anderson is worth a listen. 

Before I forget, the clipped beginning on Dance Me Loose (one of those "Thank goodness rock and roll came along" early '50s hits) was the fault of the Cameo engineer, not me. 

Discogs identifies Cameo as a Canadian label, and Solitaire as UK, but I've seen U.S.A. pressings for both, so the jury's still out.  (It's been more than an hour.  Someone needs to go fetch them...)  It's always risky to make a definite claim regarding any budget label, especially one as quirky as Cameo, so I'm treading cautiously.  The bottom line is that there's often no way to be sure that label A is related to label B, given the way masters were liberally traded between label groups.  Any connection between Cameo and SPC, Gateway, and Popular Records could be purely coincidental.  And this could all be the result of a multiverse collision.  We just don't know.

Oh, and Pat O'Shea redeems herself with a fun La Fiacre.  It has me forgiving the all wet version of Shrimp Boats.

The highlights, to my ears, are the aforementioned Trust in Me, superbly crooned byJohnny Kaye-with-an-e, the two Johnnie Ray sides done in a Frankie Laine/Tony Martin style, I Wanna Love You, and Bermuda, a hit (in real life) for the highly so-so Bell Sisters (Rosemary and Betty Clooney, they weren't), here with a backing which sounds like a collaboration between Duke Ellington and Carmen Cavallaro.  Cameo was certainly an interesting label, with the kind of weird edge I love.  I suppose these sides could be termed "vintage fake."

DOWNLOAD: Cameo Records EPs--Various performers

Cry--Larry Foster, Preston Sandiford Orch. (Cameo Records 45-323)
The Little White Cloud That Cried--Same
Wheel of Fortune--Pat O'Shea w. PS Orch. (Cameo Records 45-320)
Trust in Me--Johnny Kaye w. PS Orch. (Same)
Shrimp Boats--Pat O'Shea, the Esquires, and PS Orch. (Same)
Dance Me Loose--Bobby Lynn, Milton Herbert Orch. (Same)
Retreat--Pat O'Shea, PS Orch. (Cameo Records 45-321)
Anytime--Johnny Kaye w. Milton Herbert Orch. (Same)
Please Mr. Sun--Same
Unforgettable--Bobby Lynn, PS Orch. (Same)
I Wanna Love You--The Azalea Trio (Cameo Records 45-324)
Blue Tango (Anderson)--PS Orchestra (Same)
Le Fiacre--Pat O'Shea, PS Orch. (Same)
Bermuda--Bobby Lynn, PS Orch. (Same)

Lee

The Train Keeps A-Rollin'

 

Hopefully, this is a more accurate 231 depiction than last time--I plugged "Pacific 4-6-2" into Google Images, and this is one of the many that popped up.  A lovely 1910s postcard scan came up, too, but the snow on the tracks made the wheels invisible.  My thanks to Jarbie for helping increase my limited knowledge of locomotives.

This is a repost, more or less--I had it up briefly, and then I decided to redo my London label Ansermet file, which I'd forgotten to apply the ffrr curve to.  Then I guess I lost my train of thought, becoming busy with other posts (three in the making as we speak).  Get it?  Train of thought!!

Anyway, turns out my VinylStudio program has no London ffrr curve, but it does have a Decca ffrr curve, and it worked just fine--brighter highs, more detail overall.  I guess ffrr is ffrr, whether it's Decca or London.

Eric was kind enough to share three Pacific 231 versions in last post's comment section, including a stereo recording by Ansermet, to whom this piece was dedicated in 1924. I'm pretty sure my Ansermet is different than Eric's, even though it's approximately the same length.  It sounds different, it's mono (which proves nothing, but just saying), and it was released in 1955, so I'm (possibly) totally convinced it's a different performance.  I ripped it from the 12" LP London LL1156, the U.S. edition of this British Decca album.

As much as I love the two Ansermet recordings. my favorite version remains Serge Baudo conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1963. And the Baudo is also the first recording of 231 I ever heard, so... coincidence?  I don't know.  But every musical detail is there, clear as crystal, including those incredible piano-crashing-down-the-stairs triplets at the end, which I would have sworn were quarter-note triplets but which are plain, ordinary eighth-note triplets.  Not that Ansermet doesn't do an equally beautiful and faithful job--it's just that I like the Baudo more.  I would have said "...Baudo better," but "Baudo better" sounds like some strange TV offer. 

I used to blast a cassette dub of Baudo's version on my car stereo on my way to work--back when car stereos meant cassette players (plus a radio).  Nice memories.  The piece didn't inspire me to speed, however.  I like to follow traffic laws.  It's the right thing to do, and traffic tickets are expensive.

"I couldn't help it, officer--I was listening to Pacific 231."  "Oh, okay.  In that case..."

DOWNLOAD:  Ernest Ansermet, Serge Baudo--Pacific 231 (Honegger, 1924)

Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1)--Ernest Ansermet, c. L'Orchestre De La Société Des Concerts Du Conservatoire, 1955

Same--Serge Baduo, c. Czech Philharmonic Orch., 1963

Lee

Wait a minute--that's not Enoch Light...

 

It's Ginger, aka the lovely Tina Louise, smoking a cigarette and not looking very happy.  Maybe it's the make-up.  Maybe it's her having to pose for a budget label LP of recycled tracks.  No way to be sure.  This is one of those "What are they selling here?" albums, and it's titled  Moments to Remember, Volume 3, though "Volume 3" is nearly hidden in tiny font just above the title, so you might have missed it, as I did.

Volume 1 of this series has a Jayne Mansfield cover, but I haven't seen Vol. 2, so I don't know what it has in the way of artwork.  Anyway, the (for once) decent liner notes tell us that Paul Whiteman accompanies Bob Eberly on Do I Love You?--something I wouldn't have known save for skimming the notes, since the credit doesn't appear on the label.  The rest of the liner essay is a continuous take on the "Moments to Remember" theme, and in fact that very song shows up as track 1, Side 1, by the Brigadiers with Vincent Lopez--a very nice version, too.  Three instrumentals, I believe, and all by Enoch Light and His Orch., with the remaining tracks featuring vocals by (of course) Artie Malvin, (of course) Loren Becker, Peggy White, The Ink Spots (which incarnation, I don't know), Eberly, The Zig Zags, and (of course) The Brigadiers.  High quality performances with Grade-A audio, though I had to filter some spots (probably "invisible" needle wear, from an invisible needle).  All and any playing damage was easily fixed.  This is not a long-playing LP, by the way--it's a "King Size Record."  So the back cover insists.  A possible clue that budget customers were somewhat confused about record sizes and what they meant.  I vividly recall, as a kid shopping at Salvation Army, the clerks talking about "little" records vs. "big" records, as if speed wasn't a factor.  Once, when buying four 12-inch 78s of Chopin Preludes, I tried unsuccessfully to explain that the 78s shouldn't go for the same price as the 12-inch LPs.  It was a lost cause--the clerk simply repeated, "The big records are 25 cents."  Or was it 50 cents?  No, probably 25.

Anyway, as collection titles go, "Moments to Remember" definitely sounds better than "Tracks to Recycle," though it is kind of an odd effect to have a pic of Tina under that title.  I mean, I have no direct memories of Tina.  1) I've never met her, 2) and not in such a state of dress, and 3) When this came out, I was either 0 or 1 years of age.  And I was always a Mary Ann guy, anyway.  (Gilligan's Island reference, for my younger readers.)  A Dawn Wells jacket, on the other hand, would entice me into buying any LP, regardless of what it contained.  The Sound of Car Alarms, Vol. 3.  Wouldn't matter.

Hopefully, no typos in the ID tags.  I was hoping for a higher number of instrumental tracks, but I'm just lucky to get a famous "cheesecake" LP at thrift prices.  This was a pre-$1.99 purchase at the Goodwill I mentioned, so I got it for a buck.  The instrumental tracks, by the way, are classic stuff, so I'll be on the lookout for more vocal-less Enoch Light numbers.  Hope you enjoy today's offering.

DOWNLOAD: Moments to Remember, Volume 3 (Waldrof Music Hall MHK 33-1239)

Lee