Shivery Shellac, Part 3!--Beatrice Kay, Harry Reser, Marek Weber, Eugene Goossens! (1907-1958)

 

A cryptful of shiver-producing shellac, and I had a devil of a time finding my copy of Spooky Spooks, that 1916 classic by Charles Prince's A. Band.  And, wouldn't you know it, the first place I should have checked was exactly where the thing turned up, but did I look there first?  No, of course not--I went through my entire 12" 78 stash--twice, no less--before checking my first choice.  There's a moral there, someplace.  You've heard, "It was in the last place I looked" (which some regard as redundant, since, as a rule, people stop searching once they've found something), but this time, it's "in the first place I should have looked."  A lesson for us all.  Go with your guts.  And not in the gore-picture sense.

So, I need to hurry here, lest I drive myself sane.  And, you know, I was afraid I might end up with thirteen tracks in this list (I'm not superstitious, but...), but I wound up with fourteen, so... whew!  I'm in for good luck on Sunday, I reckon.  Frankie says, "Arrrrrghhh!!"  I'm sure we all appreciate his input.

In the scary-titles-for-music-that-turn-out-to-not-be-scary sweepstakes, the winner has to be 1955's The Theme from Dial "M" for Murder, which starts out in a horror vein but quickly moves into a Morton-Gould-mood-music mode.  Nice selection, but it must depict one of the less suspenseful moments in the Hitchcock film.  And we have one of my best-ever thrift finds--the "Theatre Lobby Spot" for the classic Japanese horror flick, The H-Man (1958).  I presented it in a single file, though it's really two bands on (what looks to be) a vinyl 78, with no lead-in groove to the second part.  I spliced them together, shouting "Live! LIVE!" having forgotten, for a brief moment, that I'm not Victor Frankenstein.  We have some concert "horror" fare, too: Rachmaninoff's C-Sharp Minor Prelude, as played by Marek Weber's orchestra in 1928, Manuel de Falla's The Fire Dance, as conducted by Eugene Goossens in 1928, and Chopin's famous Funeral March, Op. 35, as played on the pipe organ by Mark Andrews in 1928.  Clearly, 1928 was a good year for spooky background music.

And we have (straight from the 78) Beatrice Kay's 1947 Hooray, Hooray, I'm Goin' Away, which very possibly influenced a certain 1966 novelty hit.  Plus, a companion piece to last post's Little Nell--another mini-melodrama called No! No! A Thousand Times No! as provided by Harry Reser's Orchestra in 1934.  On the Level You're a Little Devil (no comma in sight on the label) is a 1918 novelty that'll have you saying "Awwww."  Or not.  1919's A Cat-Astrophe features cartoon sound effects before there were such things, and Vamp Me is yet another charming Byron Gay novelty from the days of the proto-big bands (as in, 1922).  Then we have the wacky 1907 novelty Gesundheit! (To Your Health), because nothing says "Halloween" quite like sneezing.  (Wait a minute...)  Actually, I'm not sure why I included this one.  Wait, I know--it puts the playlist count up to fourteen, from thirteen.  That must be why.

Happy Halloween!

DOWNLOAD: Shivery Shellac, Part 3! (1907-1958)

A Cat-Astrophe--Columbia Orch., Dir. by Charles A. Prince, 1919
Vamp Me--Rega Dance Orchestra, 1922
On the Level You're a Little Devil--Irene Farber and Lewis James, 1918
Gesundheit! (To Your Health)--Arthur Pryor's Band, 1907
Spooky Spooks--Prince's Band, 1916
Funeral March (Chopin, Op. 35)--Mark Andrews, Pipe Organ Solo, 1928
Prelude (Rachmaninoff)--Marek Weber and His Orch., 1928
Dance Macabre--Lew White, Organ, w. Xylophone and Piano, 1942
My Friend the Ghost--Jill Whitney, 1954
No! No! A Thousand Times No!--Harry Reser and His Orch., V: Tom Stacks, 1934
The Fire Dance (Manuel de Falla)--Hollywood Bowl Orch., c. Eugene Goossens, 1928
Hooray, Hooray, I'm Goin' Away (Skylar)--Beatrice Kay w. Mitchell Ayres, 1947
The H-Man (Theatre Lobby Spot)--1958?
Theme from Dial "M" For Murder (Tiomkin)--Dimitri Tiomkin and His Orch., 1955

Lee

Shivery Shellac, Part 2!--Little Nell, That Hypnotizing Man, Ah-Ha!, Storm, The Ghost of the Violin (1904-1936)

 

From J.W. Myers' gender-inclusive rendition of Come Take a Trip in My Airship (1904) to Frances Langford's jazzy reading of Cole Porter's Swingin' the Jinx Away, today's 11 titles cover 32 years, thirteen short of the 45-year span of Part 1.  Wait a minute--did I say "thirteen"?  Buwa-ha-haaaa!!!

I knew there was a thirteen in here someplace.  Anyway, don't be surprised when J.W. Myers sings, "...and right near the Dipper, I gave him my heart," since gender-blind vocals were a thing in the early days of recording.  In fact, I used to have a dance band version of The Man I Love which featured a male vocal refrain, so the practice was still in place come the late 1920s.  (And, for some odd reason, early renditions of The Man I Love often took brisk tempos.)  Meanwhile, hypnotism is a Halloween trope--instances of hypnotism, anyway (Bela Lugosi: "Come... here!")--and we've got two examples today/tonight: That Hypnotizing Man (Dolly Connolly, 1912) and Hypnotized, which can be taken as a standard love song or a song about possession.  As in, being possessed ("One look at you, and I was hypnotized").  Why doesn't the singer simply say he was enchanted, or attracted, or that something was stirred inside him?  The man isn't simply captivated--he's been mesmerized.  The gliding, shimmering organ chords (played by Ted Fio Rito) very subtly suggest something supernatural at work.  It's there, if you listen really closely.  But not too closely...

Everything wraps up with an unusual grand organ solo, and I still have my 2016 blog notes regarding it (which is good, since I won't have to retrace the info).  This organ solo, called Storm, includes storm imitations (you read that correctly) on the organ pedals, and apparently this was an actual concert genre around the turn of the last century--storm pieces on the organ.  Clearly, the tradition didn't age well, since, by the time the British Arthur Meale committed his Storm to shellac (on HMV) in 1926, Gramophone magazine was less than charitable in its review, calling Storm "a ludicrous piece of theatricalism," and "a demonstration of the worst excesses of which the organ is capable." Hm. Other than that, did they like it?

Anyway, I've traced Storm back at least as far as 1905, and it may have originated as an organ improvisation, and... it doesn't appear to have been published. It seems to have originally been called Storm at Sea (which would explain the stanza of Eternal Father, Strong to Save), and the sections (quoted from a 1906 recital announcement) are as follows: Calm at Sea--Distant Thunder--Rising Wind--Hooting of Sirens in the distance--Hymn, "Eternal Father, strong to save"--Tempestuous Sea (theme on the Pedal Organ during the storm)--Thunder rolls away--Thanksgiving Hymn, "O God, our help in ages past," etc.  

Now you know as little as I do.  I think that select moments in Storm would make a terrific accompaniment for a Lon Chaney horror silent, and so I offer it as a classic example of shivery shellac.  More to come, believe it or don't.

DOWNLOAD: Shivery Shellac, Part 2

That Hypnotizing Man--Dolly Connolly, 1912
Graveyard Blues--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, 1918
The Ghost of the Violin (Two-step) (Ted Snyder)--Prince's Band, 1913
Come Take a Trip in My Airship--J.W. Myers, 1904
Ah-Ha!--Oriole Orchestra, V: Mark Fisher, 1925
Ah-Ha!--California Ramblers, V: John Ryan
Little Nell--Eliot Everett and Orch. (Joe Haymes), 1932
The Devil Song--Ed McConnell, 1927
Swingin' the Jinx Away (Cole Porter)--Frances Langford w. Jimmy Dorsey and His Orch., 1936
Hypnotized--Ted Fio Rito and His Orch. V: Muzzy Marcellino
Storm (Arthur Meale)--Arthur Meale, Grand Organ Solo, 1926

Lee

Shivery shellac for Halloween at MY(P)WHAE! (1909-1954), Part One

 

Above: Your hosts for "Shivery Shellac"--two Frankies and a demonic-looking pumpkin head, with the first Frankie's brains evidently not yet in place (yuck!).  I didn't notice that until I snapped the shot.  The first Frankie must have posed for the tumbler before he was fully assembled.

"What's the pink lid on your monster cup?"  "Oh, those are his brains."  "Gross."

I was going to bow out of Halloween posting this year, seeing as how I have little to no new material (Halloween sides are much harder to come by than Xmas stuff), but a couple days ago I was listening to last year's "Haunted Victrola" posts, and I wasn't happy with the rips.  For some reason, over the past few years I had taken to eliminating the low end (such as it is) on my acoustical 78 rips, and that naturally leaves things sounding tinny (which is fine if you want a gramophone-type sound, but...).  This present series of rips is hopefully much better, with more bodies.  Er, I mean, with more body.  To the sound, that is.  More body, more gloom.  I mean, boom.  Plus, I think my rips--of big band-era tracks, especially--have better-chosen response curves, my having had (by now) a few years or more practicing with my VinylStudio.  My VS program has a good number of preset curves, but I find myself doing a lot of modifying (and even working from scratch, at times--no pun intended).  It's gotten easier over the many months.

Tomb--er, tomorrow, I hope to have another group of Halloween 78s ripped'n'ready, because no group of revised October 31st rips are complete without The Ghost of the Violin or Spooky Spooks (if I'm able to clear the way to my crate of 12-inchers).  And, ironically, one 78 that seems to be hiding out on me: The Sneak.  I guess it takes its title seriously.

Of the twenty-two tracks in our slaylist, some titles are full-Halloween: Greenwich Witch (two versions, including Zez Confrey's own outstanding piano solo), Witches' Dance, The Hoodoo Man, The Merry Ghost from Chatham Square, for example.  Other titles suggest Halloween, even if they're not full-Halloween:  I refer to The Vamp, Which Hazel, Love Him So Much (I Could Scream), and a few more.  And there are yet others which might be called a session on the rack--a stretch, in other words.  These include Murder, Animal Fair (great, surreal sound effects), Danger, and Magic Eyes.  To this blogger, these are all Halloween titles, even if not, in every instance, full-Halloween.  And I believe I made up that term, though I haven't Googled it to be sure.  "Full-Halloween" doesn't have the sound of a commonly used phrase.  "Shall we go full-Halloween this year?"  I don't think people say that when discussing costumes or decorations.  But, then, I don't know.

All ripped and restored by me from 78s in my collection.  Not ripped in the 1970s/1980s gore-movie sense, of course.  Speaking of which, I have one of those 50-movies-on-twelve-DVD sets which includes 1981's The House by the Cemetery, an Italian flick set in the U.S. which is very creatively done and well photographed but 1) pointlessly gory, 2) badly and/or incoherently plotted, 3) on top of all that, choppily edited, 4) poorly dubbed, and 5) pretty stupid, however genuinely spooky some of the scenes.  There are movie fans who love that type of disconnected and illogical Italian horror, and (at least on line) they treat it like great art, but I'll take Ed Wood, Jr. and Larry Buchanan.  And I won't even pretend their stuff has any artistic significance.  But, back to topic--enjoy today's shivery shellac!  Have a boo-delicious time!  Stay tombed for (possibly) more shivery shellac.

DOWNLOAD: Shivery Shellac, Part 1 (1909-1954)

Murder--Plantation Jazz Orch, V: Unknown, 1920
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Frank Westphal and His Orch., 1922
Animal Fair--Carl Fenton's Orch., V: Billy Jones, Ernest Hare, 1924
Witches' Dance (Hexentanz)--Leopold Godowsky, 1921-1922
Eccentric Rag (J. Russell Robinson)--Oriole Orchestra, 1924
Jabberwocky--Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band, 1921
Dance of the Demon (Eduard Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohman, 1922
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, Piano Solo (1922)
Chopin's Funeral March--Prince's Band, 1909
Vamping Rose (Violinsky-Schuster)--All Star Trio and Their Orch., 1921
Which Hazel--Al Herman, 1921
The Hoodoo Man (Arr: Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1924
Danger--Isham Jones Orchestra, 1925
The Vamp--Joseph C. Smith's Orch., V: Harry Macdonough, Billy Murray
Magic Eyes--Oriole Orchestra, 1923
The Merry Ghost From Chatham Square--Henri Rene Musette Orch. With Vocal, 1943
It's Witchery--Charlie Spivak and His Orch., V: Tommy Mercer, 1947
Inner Sanctum--Charlie Spivak and His Orch., V: Irene Daye, 1948
The Thing (Grean)--The Sundowners Band, 1951
The Haunted Ballroom (Geoffrey Toye)--The Kingsway Symphony Orch., c. by Camarata
Love Him So Much (I Could Scream)--Peggy Lloyd With Nick and His Gang, 1954
The Thing (Grean)--Cliff Holland With the Les Morgan Orch. (c. 1951)

Lee

Sunday morning gospel: Your Worship Hour Quartet--I Never Walk Alone (Crusade LPM 9401)

 

Gorgeous harmonizing, some great songs in the mix, and an expert accompanist on the piano.  An LP this good deserves to be heard, though the playlist does fall a little short in terms of balancing the slow, thoughtful numbers with the upbeat titles.  As a consequence (at least to my ears), things get a little sluggish--or too measured and drawn out--at times.  Otherwise, this would have been a perfect release.  But as is, it's more than worth sticking with, because the best tracks are absolute gems. 

In fact, every one of the upbeat numbers is exceptional--Keep on the Firing Line, Jesus is Coming Again, Leave Your Heavy Burden on the Cross, Who Is on the Lord's Side? and This Is Why I Want to Go.  And some of the slower numbers are equally good--in particular, the classic Ivory Towers and Alfred H. Ackley's lovely, concert-style I Never Walk Alone, which I'm sure I first encountered in a Homer Rodeheaver songbook.  I wish I could find that songbook--an initial search didn't turn it up.  This is, I believe, the first recording of the song I've ever heard.  And it's a gem.

Three from today's playlist are the work of Singspiration's John W. Peterson, and if your ears detect a famous Strauss waltz in Peterson's Jesus Is Coming Again, you're almost right--it's actually Emil Waldteufel's 1882 The Skaters' Waltz being paraphrased (unintentionally, I assume).  The second upbeat Peterson gem is Leave Your Heavy Burden on the Cross, which has been a favorite of mine for years, and which should have become a standard.  The remaining Peterson title is Over the Sunset Mountains, which isn't up to the others--too generic, imo.  But Peterson was allowed some duds.  After all, among other brilliant gospel numbers, he gave us Surely Goodness and Mercy.

Your Worship Hour was apparently a syndicated radio show originating in South Bend, Indiana, and these very gifted gents were obviously the featured quartet.  In terms of talent, they're on par with the superb Old Fashioned Revival Hour Quartet, whom they sound a great deal like.  I'd almost think they were the same guys, moonlighting, though that's highly unlikely.

In this LP's arrangement, The Sands of Time had me thinking it was a fairly recent number, but I couldn't have been more mistaken--the melody (by Chrétien Urhan) in fact dates back to 1834, and the text (a very long poem which was adapted as a hymn) was penned by Anne R. Cousin in 1857.  So, recent it's not.  Meanwhile, In the Great Tomorrow (love that title!) comes courtesy of the same team (Virgil and Blanche Brock) who gave us Beyond the Sunset, and I think you'll hear a similarity.  This being a gospel LP, there are the usual errors in the music and text credits, though nothing too outrageous.  Still, I don't know how (or from where) they came up with Edie Marks and J. Olsen for the Cousin-Urhan The Sands of Time, or why there's no author/composer credit for Keep on the Firing Line, which was written and composed in 1915 by Bessie F. Hatcher.  I didn't catch any other goofs or omissions in the notes, though, sound-wise, there are several clipped starting passages.  I promise these were the Crusade label's doing and not mine.  Oh, and as for as mid-tempo selections, the close-harmony version of Martin Luther's A Mighty Fortress is marvelous.  And it's nice to hear this seminal work in a non-SATB setting.  The publisher is listed as "Rodeheaver," and we can only assume that refers to the arrangement, given the work's year of composition (c. 1529).

A superior LP.  Even though the balance of tempi isn't ideal, this is worth sticking with.  

DOWNLOAD: I Never Walk Alone--Your Worship Hour Quartet (Crusade LPM 9401)

I Never Walk Alone
Ivory Palaces
Over the Sunset Mountains
Keep on the Firing Line (Hatcher)
The Sands of Time (Cousin-Urhan)
Breath of Calvary
Jesus Is Coming Again (Peterson)
In the Great Tomorrow
Leave Your Heavy Burden at the Cross (Peterson)
I Am With You
A Mighty Fortress (Luther)
This Is Why I Want to Go
He Became Poor
Who Is on the Lord's Side?
There Is a Fountain

I Never Walk Alone--Your Worship Hour Quartet (Crusade LPM 9401)

Lee

The Happy Hammond Plays Burt Bacharach

 

Well, first off, The Happy Hammond Plays the Hits of Burt Bacharach sounds slightly hilarious in the present year of 2021, though there's a lot of neat alliteration there--Happy Hammond, Hits, Burt Bacharach.  But, the thing is, we have an organist--Ena Baga--who was highly regarded in British light music circles, and who started her professional career as a cinema organist (playing for silent films) when she was  fourteen, apparently (we're talking 1920).  So, whatever you think of Hammond organs, happy or no, the playing here is tasteful and expert.  My sole complaint centers on a single track--Wives and Lovers--which Ena presents, not as a jazz waltz, but in straight 1-2-3 triple time.  Like a regular waltz, that is.  A jazz waltz is supposed to swing, with the second count slightly ahead of the beat in the triplet-y fashion of swing.  But the sheet music for the song is written in straight 3/4, so Ena can be forgiven.

By the time Burt had hit the big time, eighth-note syncopation was the rule in pop and rock, which is why Wives and Lovers has an older-generation sound to it (and, maybe, because Jack Jones sang it).  And, overall, Ena fares more than adequately with the new-fangled 1960s rhythms of Do You Know the Way to San Jose, There's Always Something There..., etc., and I just admire her effortless pop-organ technique.  I suppose the Hammond rhythm effects are kind of dated (not sure if they're programmed or "live"), but this is from 1972, and it is presumably geared toward an older listenership (though the notes specify "all ages," which I sort of doubt).  I personally love the Hammond sound, and I have a word I use to describe it, but one which I won't divulge, since it can easily be taken the wrong way.  The Hammond model used by Ena is identified as a TTR, a European make (of course).

Burt is known for quirky meters, though I've always regarded his signature touch as the quirky phrases that fill his songs (and which typically, but not always, manage to stay within the common meter of 4/4), with occasional time signature switches, such as the 5/4 to 4/4 bit that occurs first thing in Anyone Who Had a Heart.  I Say a Little Prayer goes further, jumping from 4/4 to 2/4 to 3/4 to accommodate the phrases.  Anyway, save for missing the necessary jazz-waltz feeling of Wives and Lovers, Ena (born in 1906) does very well with Bacharach's superb, sometimes tricky music.  Extremely pleasant (did someone say "easy"?) listening.

I wonder what Ena thought of the front jacket?  Did she say, "I will not stand for that jacket?"  And did they reply, "You're under contract"?  I can easily picture this LP in a "Woolies" (Woolworth) rack in Scotland, circa 1978, when I was stationed there.  Woolies carried Hallmark and MFP (Music for Pleasure) budget LPs.

DOWNLOAD: The Happy Hammond Plays Burt Bacharach (Hallmark SHM 767; 1972)

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head 
This Guy's in Love With You
Anyone Who Had a Heart
Wives and Lovers
The Look of Love
Do You Know the Way to San Jose
I Say a Little Prayer
Close to You
There's Always Something There to Remind Me
Trains and Boats and Planes
I'll Never Fall in Love Again
I'm a Better Man

The Happy Hammond Plays the Music of Burt Bacharach--Ena Baga at the Hammond (Hallmark SHM 767; 1972--a product of Pickwick International)

Lee