Dance and Sing Mother Goose with a Beatle Beat (Golden Records LP 127; 1964)

 

There was such a boatload of Beatles knock-offs during the first wave of Beatlemania, I wonder if anyone has catalogued them all?  Golden/A.A. Records wasn't expecting this effort--arranged by Milton DeLugg and performed by Wynken, Blinken, and Nod--to make much of a splash, but Dance and Sing Mother Goose with a Beatle Beat turned out to be the outfit's sleeper release for the year (1964).  Well, not really, but I think it's safe to call this LP the best-ever attempt to merge Mother Goose nursery rhymes with 1964 teen dance beats.  The only one, probably.  

This was a surprise.  And the surprise is not that a children's record label would release an LP of nursery rhymes with a British Invasion feel--any and every excuse to Beatles-link a collection of tracks, whatever those tracks may be (nursery rhymes, Poe adaptations, train sounds, belly-dancing instructions) was used in those days, and when all existing excuses were exhausted, new ones were made up.  As Beatles tie-ins go, this one is actually pretty conventional.  What's surprising is that it was done so well, that everyone took the project seriously.  Low-budget LPs for children--especially albums based on current crazes--were not usually this thoughtfully or skillfully conceived, but what we have here, against all odds, is a collection of amusing texts and expert, studio-level backings that really rock the shoe.  Since it's Milton DeLugg behind the music, I guess we couldn't expect anything less than expert arrangements, but the lyricists--Jeff Harris and Ann DeLugg--do expert work, too--nothing like the phoned-in rush job we might expect with such a kiddie effort.  In fact, the words get pretty hardcore at times--take these (to Three Blind Moose): "The moose hung Bruce, The moose hung Bruce, He hangs in a caboose, He hangs in a caboose.  Now, Bruce was a goose, was a goose on the loose, But Bruce wasn't loose when they put on the noose, And the three moose have got Bruce's loose goose juice, For three blind moose, Three blind moose."  The perfect lullaby for little sleepyheads.  "So, they (yawn) hung Bruce and drained his juice and (yawn) the blind moose got some goose juice?"--Child.  "That's right, dear.  Sweet dreams."--Mother.  Three hours later, the child wakes up yelling.  Clever verses, though they might work better for, say, Boris Karloff Reads Mother Goose for Naughty Children.

Anyway, I enjoyed this oddball issue quite a lot, and, after doing some quick track comparing, I see that my suspicions were correct--the backing tracks here were also used on the same label's The Beatle Beat LP of the same year (left), which I posted here.  Great way to save on production costs: use the same instrumental tracks twice--once, for backing, and the next time, as solo numbers.  Hard to be sure with this label's weird catalog scheme, but it would appear The Beatle Beat followed Dance and Sing Mother Goose with a Beatle Beat, which must mean someone said, "Hey, why don't we recycle these tracks using titles that vaguely reference the song names?"  The Mother Goose LP also came out in EP issues as part of the Nursery Beat Series.  In fact, it looks like these selections made up the whole of the Nursey Beat Series.

I forgot to mention The Golden Rock-a-Twisters, who assist Wynken, Blinken, and Nod.  And it just occurred to me that the "moose juice" lyrics are all the more perverse, given that this is a Mother Goose-themed LP.  A Mother Goose rhyme about a captured and killed goose?  And I can't believe I just typed "Mother Goose-themed LP."  Anyway, maybe the Beatlemania craze was regarded by some in the recording industry as not merely peculiar and unconventional, but potentially harmful.  This could account for the occasionally disturbing lyrics here.  Actually, I'm deliberately overanalyzing things to up the word count, so as to maintain a balance between text and image.  With New Blogger, there's no way to be sure how things are going to coordinate (or not coordinate) in that regard.

And the preview image indicates I have more space to fill.  Well, how about that jacket art, which is very nice, though I can't make out the artist's signature?  Everyone and everything has a Beatle wig, including the clock, cat, and mouse, though I don't recall any mention of the cat in Hickory Dickory Rock (which is called Hickory-Dickory-Dock on the jacket).  I don't quite get the banana with the glasses, vest, and Beatle hair--I don't recall any lyrics along that line--though there are the three blind moose twisting away, Snoopy-style, with Bruce the Goose mercifully left out of the picture.

Why does Blinken (pictured under the drummer) have four arms and four legs?  Weird.  And I'm assuming Nod is the Paul McCartney-looking guy with the tiny guitar (to the left of the moose).  Except he's egg-shaped, which would suggest Humpty Dumpty in a Beatle wig, and I think I'll just quit trying to make sense out of this...

DOWNLOAD: Dance and Sing Mother Goose With a Beatle Beat (Golden Records LP 127; 1964)

Lee

The Now Generation--Hits Are Our Business (1970)

 

From the notes: "The Now Generation contributes their winning ways to the tremendous versatility of the group."  Someone must have won the 1970 Filling Space with Words Award for that.

Now, the big question: Is that Jimmy Buffett on the far right?  Does he appear on several songs?  So claims the Discogs entry for this album.  And, at a well-known record forum, one poster asserts that Jimmy was "involved in a covers-only band called the Now Generation circa 1969."  At eBay, Jimmy is the selling point for LPs by this group.  

So, was Jimmy a member of this group?  I'm guessing absolutely not.  I'm basing my guess on simple logic--The Now Generation, in this case, was completely made up.  Therefore, Jimmy could not have been part of it, because there was no group to be part of.  There were groups named The Now Generation, but this wasn't one of them.  No, this LP is clearly the usual Spar Records tomfoolery.  Spar was the parent company of Hit Records, Modern Sound, and Top Pop Hits, among other cheapo labels, and much of Spar's output consisted of fake hits.  I sound-compared three of these to their original 1965 and 1966 versions--they match, exactly--and the six then-current tracks (Down on the Corner, etc.) all appeared in 45 rpm form on Spar's Top Pop Hits label, credited to Hit Records holdovers like The Jalopy Five, The Chords, Kathy Shannon, and Bobby Sims.  There's no consistency in sound or style, and even if this was a covers band, there'd be some sameness in those areas, and there isn't.

Spar's Now Generation LPs all feature a mix of then-current tracks with older numbers, a sure sign that Spar was raiding its vaults in order to get the maximum mileage from its holdings.  Similarly, Spar's umpteen Hit Records/Modern Sound LPs of the 1960s were almost randomly tossed together, with the same tracks appearing on multiple LPs--which is to say, Spar was following the standard cheap-label pattern. Some of the overlapping could have been accidental, given that quality control was a thing of zero concern to the cheapies.

So, am I insulting the music here?  Not at all--these are all competent fakes, and most are quite fun.  The quality is a little surprising, since this company put out its share of dreadful sound-alikes (its Beach Boys and Jan and Dean fakes were especially terrible).  But today's tracks all fall someplace between okay and not bad, and much of the fun here lies in the weirdness of the line-up--Down on the Corner, Honky Tonk Women, and... It Must Be Him??  These Boots Are Meant for Walking and Wooly Bully are strange enough choices, "now generation"-wise, but Vikki Carr's comedy classic It Must Be Him is so utterly non-"now generation," we have to wonder why Spar didn't add Strangers in the Night.  (Likely, Spar never did that one.  Too bad--it's one of my Boomer guilty pleasures.)  I should note that, back in the day, anything that hit the pop Top 40 was played on AM radio--it could be Dean Martin followed by the Stones.  A surprising number of "older" pop stars hit the charts in the 1960s--the Beatles and Barbra Streisand played side by side (but not together).  When People was being played every five minutes on Top 40 radio (I was 6 or 7), I remember drawing a cartoon in which a character was grooving to the rock hits of the time, only to toss the radio out the window when Barbra came on: "People, People who need people. (CRASH!!)"

Here is the Now Generation.  Hits were their business.  Making them under multiple aliases was their game.  On the mp3 tags, I included the names of the groups and singers credited on the 45 rpm releases.  Many of those names are fake, too, but at least I'm giving you the authentic fake names, so to speak.  

Now for the Time Generation.  I mean, time for the Now Generation...

DOWNLOAD: The Now Generation--Hits Are Our Business (Spar Records 4807; 1970)

Lee

When are Chinese Christmas LPs not Chinese Christmas LPs? A: When they're Japanese.

 

Oops.  On December 10, I featured a ten-inch LP of Western Christmas songs sung in Chinese.  Except they were actually sung in Japanese, as I found when I plugged the label images into Microsoft's Translator app.  Going from Chinese to English got me nowhere, so I tried Japanese to English, and...

"Japanese Nativity Song Seika," with "Seika" meaning either "birth" or "home."  Definitely not a Chinese LP...

I like "Nativity song."  It's a cool phrase.

Lee

Priceless information on "He Will Set Your Fields on Fire"

 

Last month, reader Gary kindly sent me this scan of He Will Set Your Fields on Fire.  It is copyrighted 1925, as is the book containing it (Winning Praise, The Sebren Music Co., Asheville NC).  

Then, today, reader Leah--the great granddaughter of Homer Ballew (lyricist H.M. Ballew) left this comment at my Dec. 30, 2018 Fields on Fire-athon post:

"Hello, My name is Leah Stewart, daughter of Leta(Ballew)Stewart and great grandaughter of the late Homer Ballew. According to my 94 yr old grandpa Charles L Ballew who is sitting her next to me...His father Homer Ballew wrote the song he 'will set your fields on fire' when he was a young boy in the late 20's."

Huge thanks to Leah for providing this priceless information.  I asked her for a little more information, mainly to clarify that Homer was the lyricist (i.e., that he had no hand in the tune--just checking to be sure, as I don't place absolute faith in songbook credit order), but whether I hear back or not, a billion thanks for Leah's comment, which I didn't answer immediately, as I wanted to have all the relevant data on hand first.  This is the sort of feedback and handle on history which makes blogging a joy.

I am fully convinced 1925 is the correct year for this number, and I've been wondering for years when this first appeared.  A zillion thanks to Gary, as well, for providing these scans.

Sometimes, the internet is a pure miracle.  This has totally blown my mind!  Finally--the year and credits for this gospel masterpiece established. 

Lee

The Shawnee Choir--The Caroling Season (1974); The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (1977)

 

Here are the other two wonderful Shawnee Choir "reference recording" LPs ripped and scanned for this blog by Brad, the King of Jingaling.  Speaking of, be sure to check Brad's site for the Line Material booklets from 1956-62 (save for 1957).  I had hoped that maybe I had a 1957 LM brochure sitting around, but memory told me mine was the 1960 catalog.  For once, my memory was correct.  Oh, well.

I suppose that, if your church has a first-class choir, these LPs would make fine reference recordings, but not many church choirs are on or near the level of the superb Shawnee outfit.  Whatever.  All I know is that lovers of brilliant choral performances live to find LPs like these.  Well, if they're into vinyl.  If they have a phonograph.  Then again, with folks like me, Brad, Ernie, Buster, and all the other vinyl bloggers digitizing audio media of old, I guess it's not necessary to own a phonograph to enjoy vinyl.  Amazing.  I made a claim, and then I obliterated it.  But I'm a good sport about such things.

What am I babbling about?  Don't ask me.  It's mild migraine time, I'm afraid.  That's what I'm dealing with right now as I type--a light migraine with occasional stabbing pains and a general feelings of "I'm not real."  That not-quite-here feeling is one of my psychological migraine symptoms--I also, on rare occasions, have audio hallucinations, OR my sense of smell is altered.  I've read that the pain aspect of a migraine is caused by inflammation outside the brain, whereas the neurological symptoms--an altered sense of smell or a not-quite-here feeling (in my case)--are caused by inflammation of the veins inside the brain.  What a wonderful thing to be discussing when we're about to hear exquisitely performed holiday music.  So, just leave me to my migraine, and meanwhile the Shawnee Choir will make anything-but-easy choral arrangements sound like child's play.  Absolutely gorgeous stuff here, and thanks again to Brad.  I had planned to get these up sooner, but you know the old joke: If you want to give God a good laugh, tell him your plans.  I guess that applies to both grand plans and to the little ol' plans of bloggers. 

DOWNLOAD

The Caroling Season--The Shawnee Choir (1974)

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols)--The Shawnee Choir (1977)

Lee