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

Shellac for October, 2021--Bob Haring, Paul Specht, Varsity Eight, Fred Waring, Erskine Hawkins

 

I couldn't have planned it better--22 78s, with 11 from the acoustical era and 11 from the electrical era.  It just came out that way--no conscious attempt on my part (though I was mostly conscious during the ripping of these).  So, 22 dance (and big band) sides, ripped and restored by me from my own discs, with the earliest dating back 99 years to 1922, and the most recent dating back 70 years to 1951.  In 78 rpm terms, 1951 is practically current.

First up: Bob Haring's Orchestra performing Charley, My Boy, with Al Bernard on the vocal.  The Al Bernard credit comes from Discogs, as I was unable to find the info in either my Rust dance band discography or the huge online 78 discography.  Things wrap up with (among other numbers) Avery Parrish's proto-R&B classic, After Hours, as redone in 1950 for the Coral label by Erskine Hawkins, who originally recorded it for RCA in 1940.  The flip is called Station Break, and there's an interesting grease-penciled note on the label, probably by a DJ: 

"Some blare."  Interesting, because I didn't notice any blare.  Unless "blare" is some complimentary slang, as in "This record is some blare--it really rocks."  I doubt it, however.  There are check marks on both sides.

Knock at the Door (1922) is a reasonably "hot" side by the California Ramblers, only under the name "Varsity Eight."  I've seen a lot of Varsity Eight sides over the years, and I don't know why I'm just now finding out they were the California Ramblers.  All Muddled Up, by Paul Specht and His Orchestra, had me expecting something a little eccentric, given that title, but it's merely an exercise in Zez Confrey-style syncopation--not a bad way to spend three minutes and 5 seconds, by any means, and there's a nice Dixieland-style ending.  And the piano breaks on the flip, Waltzing the Blues, are amazing.  Again, I was expecting something more novel with that title, too, but it's not a wasted three minutes and 8 seconds, by any stretch.  I guess I was expecting something more blues-y, triple time or no.

And four fine 1922-1923 sides by the Great White Way Orch., directed by Hugo Frey, with a charming piano duet on To-morrow.  Ross Gorman, of course, is best known for playing the Rhapsody in Blue clarinet glissando in the original (1924) version, which I believe was partially improvised.  The famous opening glissando, that is.  And we get Ross' orchestra, from 1926, performing a spirited Valencia, which features Elliott Shaw not at his best on the vocal.  The silly Jericho (1929) by (Fred) Waring's Pennsylvanians, is a very "hot" and memorable number, even with lyrics about the jazz craze in "Bible days" and how the walls of Jericho melted from the impact of the hot music played by the Israelites.  Something like that.  Waring's novelties were the ideal type--totally unapologetic.  If you're going to be silly, go all the way, I say.  The flip is the only waltz in today's line-up, and it's nicely arranged and performed--a good cool-down from the wall-melting hotness of Jericho.

Then we have Erskine Hawkins' terrific 1950 Coral sides, then the overly cute but fun Us and Company by Leonard Joy's All String Orchestra.  It has a very 1930 sound, which is not surprising, since it's from 1930.  Next, the jazziest in our list: 1928's Waitin' for Katy by (wait) Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, which could be jazzy back in the late 1920s--the proof is before us.  The Raymond Paige 78 is one I've been planning to put up for some time, though it's taken this long for it to make its debut, and I don't know why.  Just fate, I guess.  And I know that everyone is itching to hear a 1951 Mitch Miller sing-along-style side, and so we have (If You) Smile, Smile, Smile, a selection to definitely have on hand when visitors arrive, just to show them how cool your tastes are.  ("Wow!  That's really hip--in a not-hip sort of way!")  I like it, but then I have a high tolerance for that kind of thing.  Moving along, a title that would never be used today--I'll Always Be Following You, a 1950 Jimmy-Dorsey-on-Columbia side with Sandy Evans on the vocal.  I bought the 78 for the flip, Wimoweh, but some previous owner destroyed that one with a bad needle--I'd need to have a lab examine it to find out what happened to the grooves.  They were there at one time, we can be sure, but something silenced them.  However, the reverse, Following, is nice (and a little bluesy), even if creepy by today's standards--we can almost picture the singer buying surveillance gear to keep track of his lady love.  Of course, back in 1950, the lyrics would have registered pop-culturally as merely a declaration of attraction and devotion, but contexts can change over seven decades.  They typically do.

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: October Shellac, 2021

Charley, My Boy--Bob Haring and His Orch., V: Al Bernard, 1924

Knock at the Door--Varsity Eight (California Ramblers), 1924

All Muddled Up--Paul Specht and His Hotel Astor Orch., 1922

Waltzing the Blues--Same

Stella--The Great White Way Orch., Dir. Hugo Frey, 1923

Carolina Mammy--Same

To-morrow--Same, 1922

You Gave Me Your Heart (So I Gave You Mine)--Same

I Wish I Knew (You Really Loved Me)--Clyde Doerr and His Orch., 1922

Valencia--Ross Gorman and His Orch., V: Elliott Shaw, 1926

Cherie, I Love You--Same

Jericho--Waring's Pennsylvanians, V: Fred Waring, Orch. members, 1929

Cherie, I Love You--Same, V: Clare Hanlon and Chorus, 1929

After Hours (Avery Parrish)--Erskine Hawkins and His Orch., 1950

Station Break--Same ("Some blare")

Us and Company--Leonard Joy's All String Orch., V: Chester Gaylord, 1930

I'll Still Belong to You--Same

Waitin' for Katy--Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, V: Vocal Trio, 1928

Love Thy Neighbor--Raymond Paige and His Orch., V: The Three Rhythm Kings, 1934

Once in a Blue Moon--Raymond Paige and His Orch., 1934

(If You) Smile, Smile, Smile--Mitch Miller and His Orch. and Chorus, 1951

I'll Always Be Following You--Jimmy Dorsey and His Orch., V: Sandy Evans, 1950.

Lee

Sunday gospel--The Home Gate Quartet: Love Will Roll the Clouds Away (c. 1972)

 

An especially primitive cover design--I love it.  Not much of a 3D feel to it, which makes it kind of interesting--that, and the weirdly proportioned people up front.  Today's group is the Home Gate Quartet, and I'll let the liner notes introduce them: "Playing rhythm guitar and singing the lead is John Vaughn, singing alto his wife, Joyce, both from Somerset, Ky.  Singing baritone is Carl Fiffe from West Liberty, Ky. Singing the bass is Alvin Collins from Harlan, Ky."  In short, you'll be hearing a falsetto-sounding male voice on the melody, and a female alto supporting same (unless the order is flipped).  Now you know.

This is pure country gospel, which is to say it's pretty much bluegrass gospel, only generally slower and minus a banjo or mandolin.  By slower, I mean the rhythm is less pronounced.  The two styles are really very close, and I would have no issue with calling this bluegrass.  Maybe we can settle on country/bluegrass gospel.  Carl Story and the Chuck Wagon Gang rolled into one act.

This gem of an LP is a prime example of the type of "local," small-label gospel I live to find (especially when it's this well performed), and it has introduced me to standards I hadn't heard of.  The Rite matrix #'s (29497/98) place this at approximately 1972.  And so we have songs that were 25 to 35 years old when this was cut--"modern" gospel numbers, as I regard them, since my song knowledge is focused on earlier stuff.  Still catching up with the second half of the last century.

Some challenges with the image editing and rip, since 1) the imperfectly-printed Rose Records labels showed up on my scanner as white with a hundred (or so) black specks, plus 2) the tracks are listed out of order on both the jacket and label.  I searched for credits where none were given, and I found a total of one: Geneva Stroud and Hale Reeves for Love Will Roll the Clouds Away (1946).  And John Baxter, Jr. is allegedly the lyricist on I'm Living in Canaan Now (1938) or else he was doing the publisher-copping-song-credit bit.  Not sure which.  Oh, and I was expecting the famous 19th century Ring the Bells of Heaven (Cushing-Root), but this is definitely a different Ring the Bells...  Fine, toe-tapping number, though.  Actually, I'm not sure the older hymn would translate well to country/bluegrass gospel.

Apparently, stereo Rose Records LPs were in compatible stereo: "Rose stereo records can be safely played on today's monaural phonographs."  Unless "today's monaural phonographs" presumes a stereo cartridge and stylus, which seems unlikely.

Loved this one.  An interesting contrast to the slick, extroverted Southern quartet fare I've been posting lately.

DOWNLOAD: The Home Gate Quartet: Love Will Roll the Clouds Away (Rose Records 504; c. 1972)

Love Will Roll the Clouds Away (Stroud-Reeves)
When I Get Home (Reed)
I'm Livin' in Canaan Now (Baxter-Center)
Will Someone Be Waiting (Presley)
Springtime Blooms in Gloryland (Summers)
Praise God I'm on My Way
Last Altar Call
Ring the Bells of Heaven
Working the Road
Mansion in Glory (Shiver)
Rocking on the Waves (A.B. Sebren)
Till I Prayed Thru

Love Will Roll the Clouds Away--The Home Gate Quartet (Rose Records 504; c. 1972)

Lee