Sunday afternoon gospel--"The Kitty Wells Family Gospel Sing" (1965)

 

Every day, I learn something new.  For instance, I'd have sworn that Kitty Wells' husband, Johnny Wright, was not the creator of William M. Golden's Where the Soul of Man Never Dies, Thomas A. Dorsey's Shake My Mother's Hand for Me, or J.W. Vaughan's The Old Country Church, but apparently he was.  I mean, a major label like Decca wouldn't lie, would it?  A disappointing but good-in-spots gospel LP by the Kitty Wells Family, one from which I was expecting a lot more, if only because the track listing includes classics like Glory Land March and Jesus Is Coming Soon.  But, in the latter case, it pays to read the fine print: This is not the unforgettable R.E. Winsett Coming Soon but a piece of fluff by one Bill Phillips.  And how can you go right with a title like Let's Regain the Garden?  You can't.  And I wish Roy Botkin hadn't wasted our listening time with A Family Gathering at Home and There's No Greater Time Than Now--Couldn't Decca have chosen a couple more P.D. classics to fill said space?  (And credit them to Kitty's hubby?)

But the good tracks almost make up for the filler titles--the spirited Glory Land March, an excellent Precious Memories, and three other genuine gospel goodies, including Thomas (Precious Lord, Take My Hand) Dorsey's Shake My Mother's Hand for Me.  I'm generally not big on mother songs when it comes to gospel, but at least this particular mother song, while falsely attributed, is the real gospel deal.  Five out of twelve ain't bad, though I still feel pretty let down.  I mean, this is Kitty Wells, her family, and the label is a major one, so we don't really expect such cheap tactics as borrowed credits and cliché-athon filler.  But so it goes, sometimes.

Now, that was a ringing endorsement, wasn't it?  Seriously, though, the five good tracks (Side 1-3, 5; Side 2--1, 2, 5) make this worth the download.  But, if you're me, you'll want to avoid the rest.

On the mp3 ID tags, I've given the proper author/composer credits.

DOWNLOAD: The Kitty Wells Family Gospel Sing (Decca DL 74679; 1965)

Jesus Is Coming Soon
A Family Gathering at Home
Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
Let's Regain the Garden
Shake My Mother's Hand for Me
Heaven
Glory Land March
Precious Memories
I'm on My Way
Thank God for a Mother Like Mine
(With My Friends At) Old Country Church
There's No Greater Time Than Now

The Kitty Wells Family Gospel Sing (Decca DL 74679; 1965)

Lee

An Hour of Tops in Pops (Allegro Royale 1389L; 1955?)--Rock Around the Clock; Two Hearts, Two Kisses; Don't Be Angry; more!

 

This is a significantly improved new version of the rip I featured in this 2018 post.  The fidelity isn't great (the LP has seen many plays), but gone is the muffled, low-detail quality, at least.  Three posts back, I featured another An Hour of Tops in Pops, though I forgot to include the "N" suffix with the catalog number.  The suffix on these issues (L, this time) is important, because the 1389 catalog number was the standard Hour of Tops in Pops identifier, with the suffixes presumably marking the editions.  This allowed Allegro Royale not only to conserve numbers but to reuse cover art.  Just as with 1389N, 1389L is missing the track listing on the cover, but this time the panel appears to have been deliberately removed (last time, Allegro Royale apparently simply forgot to print the info).  Why someone would remove the track listing, we'll never know--unless it was part of a threat, perhaps.  ("Play this thing one more time, and I'll remove the track listing!"  "Oh, yeah?  I'd like to see you try that!")

Some things are lost to time.  The fate of the paste-on track sticker for this LP will forever dwell in the Hall of Forgotten Fates.

The version of Rock Around the Clock which starts this record is identical to the Broadway label single by Jack Richards, and it's totally possible the rest of these tracks represent fakes swapped between Eli Oberstein and Broadway, as well.  Many or most of these probably also showed up on the Today's Records label.  With fake hits, it was a small world.  ("Can we use your fakes?"  "Sure.  Go ahead.")

The lead guitarist on Clock is to be commended for copying the original Danny Cedrone solo from the Haley original, something even the Comets' Frank ("Frannie") Beecher didn't attempt on stage, at least when it came to the lightning-fast half-step portion which ends it.  Whoever this guy was, he came very close to nailing it.  A lot of highly fun grown-up pop numbers here--Learnin' the Blues (Frank Sinatra, original), Hard to Get (Gisele MacKenzie, original), A Blossom Fell (Nat "King" Cole, orig.), and Heart (Eddie Fisher, orig.), plus the extremely annoying Honey-Babe (Art Mooney, orig.), which was unleashed on the 1955 Top 40 from the move Battle Cry, a film I'd only want to see for Gregory Walcott's role as a drill instructor.  And, besides Clock, there are two other rock and roll gems: Don't Be Angry and Two Hearts, Two Kisses.  It's interesting that neither number is done in a "pop" style--an indication that r&r was coming into its own, at least on the budget front.

So, is this an hour's worth of pops?  No, closer to 33 minutes.  So why did the Record Corp. of America title it "An Hour of..."?  What, you're asking me?

Oh, and Unchained Melody and A Blossom Fell contain periods of a high-pitched squealing that must have happened in the mastering process, or else which represent a defect in this particular pressing.  I tried different types of filtering, but with no luck.  Fortunately, the instances are fairly brief. 

To the fakes...

DOWNLOAD: An Hour of Tops in Pops (Allegro Royale 1389L; prob. 1955)

Rock Around the Clock
Learnin' the Blues
Hard to Get
Honey-Babe
Sweet and Gentle
Love Me or Leave Me
Unchained Melody
A Blossom Fell
Something's Gotta Give
Heart
Don't Be Angry
Two Hearts, Two Kisses

An Hour of Tops in Pops (Allegro Royale 1389L; prob. 1955)

Lee

Great Moments of Gospel Music: Dixie Echoes, Carl Story, Sego Bros. and Naomi, Sunshine Girls, more!

 

This 20-selection gospel special was mastered by no less than the Columbia Recording Studio, so I can't understand why they did such a bad job of it.  It took some work to level out the track volumes, but this material is generally of such a high quality, it was well worth the effort.  As ever, I had to remove some clicks "by hand" in my MAGIX program (after the file's trip through VinylStudio), but then I imagine the groove width on this vinyl was compressed a bit (assuming that's possible) to fit in all these numbers, which made the LP more susceptible to scratches.  Don't ask me what I mean by that, as my brain isn't clocking normally right now.  It's the high ragweed pollen count...  My body is filled with allergy meds, and I'm still sneezing.

Florida Boys, Sego Brothers and Naomi, Carl Story--how can we go wrong?  Answer: we can't.  Be on the ready for the extremely down-home singing of the McCormick Gospel Singers (Walking on Holy Ground), the not-quite-on-key bass voice solo that starts the Crusaders' Noah Built an Ark (prior to the terrific, upbeat harmony section), and the must-have-been-dubbed-from-vinyl fidelity of Just a Rose Will Do and Faith Is the Key (weren't J.T. Adams and the Men of Texas WORD artists?).  Today's label, Gospel Time Records, was a subsidiary of Spar Records, which explains the Spar look to the label (I love that sideways font!), and this thing has both a genuine culled-from-everywhere and sold-on-TV character to it, though there's no direct indication that this may have been a TV offer.  My favorite line from the notes: "Gospel music is simply an extension of the stories and the messages given to each of us in the biggest best selling book of all times, the BIBLE."  Okay.

Great Moments of Gospel was a series, I believe, and, in this case, the playlist is so delightful, I guess it doesn't matter from where Spar got its tracks.  Some were likely originally recorded by Spar, and others leased from elsewhere.  Who knows?  Just always remember that gospel music "is easy to understand and accept, because it is tied to the happiness as well as the trials and tribulations of living day to day."  This is a "Compatible" disc, which means it plays on both stereo and mono equipment, allegedly with equally excellent results.  But there may be a catch there.  The thing is, it's my understanding that monaural cartridges were bad news for stereo grooves, and because they were designed to "read" the horizontal groove plane only.  Now, I vividly recall my dad buying a stereo cart for our home's monaural, single-speaker rig in order to make things safe for playing stereo issues (in mono).  So, it may be that, Compatible or no, these Compatible records wouldn't have held up under a cartridge made for mono.  Maybe the missing qualifier is that you needed a stereo cart if you had mono gear.  Oh, well.  I'm not going to buy a mono cartridge to test things--I'll just take Spar's word.  That's the less expensive option.  No need to conduct a test.

To the budget (but first-rate) gospel...

DOWNLOAD: Great Moments of Gospel Music (Gospel Time 1017)

There's a God in Heaven--Sego Brothers and Naomi
The Richest Poor Man on Earth--Dixie Echoes
Noah Built an Ark--The Crusaders
Battle Hymn of the Republic--Florida Boys
Just a Rose Will Do--John Daniel Quartet
Peace of Mind--Georgians Quartet
The Whole World in His Hands--Wendy Bagwell and Sunliters
How Great Thou Art--Wally Fowler and the Oak Ridge Quartet
Ashamed--Sons of Song
Faith Is the Key--J.T. Adams and the Men of Texas
Oh Yes I'm Saved--Foggy River Boys
Heavenly Highway--Sunshine Girls
Above the Storm--Pine Ridge Boys
In That Old Fashion (sic) Home--Travelers Quartet
Hallelujah Amen--Clyde Beavers
Jesus Is Mine--Melody Men Quartet
The Lights of Glory--The Crusaders
Alone--Carl Story
Walking on Holy Ground--McCormick Gospel Singers
Rock of Love--Morris Family

Great Moments of Gospel Music (Gospel Time Records 5017; Spar Recording Studios)

Lee

Current Hits, Volume No. 12--Featuring "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1964)

 

Utterly classic cover.  From 1964, and another gift from Diane (thanks, Diane!)--this time, from a discount box in a record store, if my memory isn't malfunctioning.  And what a subtle Fab Four cash-in, no?  Big white-against-brown font: "Featuring 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.'"  To the left of the track titles, a generic Beatle.  Clearly, a rush-job cash-in.

Classic liner text: "It seems that not one single soul in the country, or for that matter the world, could possibly be oblivious to the fact that I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND is the hit record of the year.  It's a product of the beatle haircut and a strange new disease that has swept England and is now hitting our country, known as 'beatleism' or 'beatlemania.'  Not since the early days of Elvis Presley has there been a hit song that has generated as much excitement as I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND.  Man, if you're alive and under a 105, and this song doesn't move you something is wrong!  This recording alone is worth the whole price of the album.  Don't be the last to know, pick it up, pay the man, and take it home--now!"  Now--not tomorrow, not next week, not sometime next month.  NOW!

Someone skipped high school English, I think.  Anyway, none of the punctuation or (lack of) capitalization is mine--why "beatleism" and "beatlemania"?  And who the heck ever heard of "beatleism," anyway?  But, there we have it--the notes telling us to buy this LP so we can get our copy of I Want to Hold Your Hand.  Which is actually their copy of the song, literally.  How masterfully Hit Records obscures the distinction between the actual recording and their knock-off thereof.

I love the last-minute-cash-in nature of this release.  We can only imagine that this was going to be just another Current Hits collection--but then, the Beatles seized the charts.  Panic time!  And we have some typical budget-label inconsistency here, with the reverse jacket saying "Current Hits--Volume 12," while the front portion announces, "Current Hits--Volume No. 12."  Anyway, I can imagine someone saying, "Quick!  Make this all about 'beatleism," and put one of those long-haired guys on the cover--over here on the left, where there's room."  Beatleism.  Sounds like a philosophy.  ("All you need is love."  "Hey, you sound like a beatlist.")

Too bad this version of Hand (credited to "The Doodles" on the 45 release) isn't very good.  Now, it is delightful in its amateurishness--almost like a group of singers imitating the New Seekers (exhausted after a two-week tour) badly imitating the Beatles--but it can only be described as lame.  I've had it on 45 forever, and I've always liked it, in the way that one likes a nice-try-but-keep-your-day-job fake hit, but it's hilarious to see it serving as the LP headliner.  The other eleven tracks, which run the gamut from "ouch!" to highly competent, are actually more fun.

And, almost hilariously, the LP line-up corresponds to the release schedule of the 45s--and I've placed the 45 rpm credits on the mp3 ID tags (the LP forgoes artist credits).  Forget Him, a hit for Bobby Rydell, is adequately sung by... Bobby Russell, maybe?... and Jan and Dean's Drag City is only moderately botched by The Jalopy Five.  For some reason, I like the Hit Records attempts at the surf and hot rod genre, despite the fact they never did them very well.  As Usual is Betty Williams imitating Brenda Lee out of key, and I somehow knew this had to be a Lee hit, even though I don't remember it from bitd (back in the day).  And, though The Boy Next Door has nothing to do with the Meet Me in St. Louis classic, it's an excellent girl-group side and pretty expertly covered by the Belles (and originally done by The Secrets).  It's cowritten by John L. Medora (aka Johnny Madara), a songwriter maybe best known for At the Hop. Medora also cowrote the classic Lesley Gore hit, You Don't Own Me, done here by Bill Austin (!!), according to the single release.  But it's clearly a female vocalist, and the Hit Records Project reports that the vocalist is, in real life, Connie Dee (real name: Connie Sue Landers).  She does a fine, get-it-done-quick job.  The two soul sides--Um Um Um Um Um Um and Talking About My Baby--are solid covers, too, whereas Rick Nelson's For You is... not so fine.  Covering Rick is Ed Hardin (Bobby Russell?) who can't seem to get the notes right on the bridge of this 1930 classic by Joe Burke and Al Dubin (which was memorably recorded by the Ravens in 1947).  Hey Little Cobra is another badly done but infectious and charming cover (this time, by the Roamers, copying the Rip Chords), with the group at least properly negotiating the key changes.  Daisy Petal Picking is nicely done, though this Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs hit doesn't really do much for me.  Then we have an Andy Williams hit, A Fool Never Learns, sung in Elvis style by Fred York, and I have no idea why.  (Though, actually, it would have made a nice Elvis single.)  My first reaction was, "Is this an Elvis hit I didn't know about?"  Answer: no.

And all of this has something to do with "beatleism" taking over the world.  A classic, "Quick!  Change the cover!" fake-hits collection.  Thanks again to Diane for finding this--I had been wanting to have it.

And I forgot to note--Elvis lead guitarist Scotty Moore was one of the engineers on this release!

DOWNLOAD: Current Hits--Volume No. 12 (Hit Records HLP 412; 1964)

Forget Him--Wayne Harris
Drag City--The Jalopy Five
As Usual--Betty Williams
The Boy Next Door (Madara-White)--The Belles
Hey Little Cobra--The Roamers
Daisy Petal Picking (sic)--Ricky Dickens
For You (incorrectly credited to "J. Bert" and "A. Bubin")--Ed Hardin
Um Um Um Um Um Um--Thomas Henry
A Fool Never Learns--Fred York
I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Doodles
You Don't Own Me--Conne Dee (Connie Sue Landers)
Talking About My Baby--Harvey Frolic

Current Hits--Volume No. 12 (Hit Records HLP 412; 1964)

Lee

An Hour of Tops in Pops--Royale Dance Orch. and Singers (Royale 1389; prob. 1955)

 

Since we're on the subject of Eli Oberstein's Record Corp. of America, here's a Tops in Pops (or, An Hour of Tops and Pops) from that budget operation--one which I somehow hadn't yet featured.  I've had this one for, gosh... 25 years now?  I think this is one of the thrift finds that started me on my fake-hit addiction, so it's kind of a milestone.  Or the purchasing of it was, at least.  Two interesting things about this particular cover: 1) Royale forget to fill in the title strip area with titles, and 2) there's some faint ink script that says, "Darling--One (something) day, and every other day--you have all my love.  James.  Feb. 14, 1956."  A Valentine's gift!

I wish I could make out the second word, but the ink is just too faded.  I tried everything--resizing, increasing the contrast and saturation, messing with color filters, etc.--but no go.  No type or amount of photo enhancing cracked the mystery of that second word.  But we have the gist of the message.

So, I did a couple searches and only found only one source (rateyourmusic) which says anything about Eli Oberstein's use (specifically, on the Royale label) of European musicians on the cheap "to back up American performers," though I could swear I once read a piece which claimed Oberstein did this specifically for his fake-hit compilations, and because he didn't have to pay royalties for the backings.  It would help a lot if I could find solid documentation for this, since my memory, like anyone's, often gets things wrong.  Memories love to malfunction.  I'd hate to think I've been hosting an urban legend.  Then again, what else is cyberspace for, if not unsubstantiated claims?

Whoever did the instrumental backgrounds on these--they did well.  The singers are all solid, too.  I'm guessing this is late 1955 or early 1956 (the "Feb. 14, 1956" helps in that regard), since these are all late-1955 hits.  Five are rock and roll numbers from that fabled period when the "pop" cover versions were outselling the originals--hence, Daddy-O copies the Fontane Sisters (and not Bonnie Lou), I Hear You Knockin' is an imitation of Gale Storm (not Smiley Lewis), At My Front Door copies Pat Boone (not the El Dorados), and My Boy--Flat Top copies the Dorothy Collins pop version of Boyd Bennett's hit.  However, Only You does seem to be a copy of the Platters, even if the high voice sounds female here (at least to my ears).  Memories Are Made of This is, of course, an imitation of Dean Martin; It's Almost Tomorrow, of Jo Stafford; Band of Gold, of Don Cherry; Love and Marriage, of Dinah Shore (I'm fairly shore, er, sure); Sixteen Tons, of Tennessee Ernie Ford; Autumn Leaves, of Roger Williams; and He, of Al Hibbler(?).  Not sure about Hibbler.  While he was the one who hit it big with the number, this singer doesn't seem to be trying to emulate Al.  I guess only He knows who was being copied here.  (Cha-dunk; crash!)

Enjoy, and I promise to do a Sunday morning post next, um, Sunday morning.  I.e., a gospel post.

This is not an hour's worth of "pops," of course.  It's not even a half hour, in fact.  I trust no one sued over the misleading title.  Oh, and notice the amusing title correlation in the line-up: I Hear You Knockin'/At My Front Door. 

DOWNLOAD: An Hour of Tops in Pops--Royale Dance Orch. and Singers (Probably 1955)

Memories Are Made of This
Daddy-O
It's Almost Tomorrow
Band of Gold
Love and Marriage
Sixteen Tons
I Hear You Knockin'
At My Front Door
Only You
My Boy--Flat Top
Autumn Leaves
He

An Hour (not) of Tops in Pops--Royale 1389N; late 1955 or early 1956

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