Fab forgeries! Forty Beatles tunes not by the Beatles: Peter Knight, David Rose, Petula Clark, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mortier Dance Hall Organ, more!

 

Forty (!) Beatles covers: Some good, some okay, some "Ouch!"  Or just plain strange, like The Johnny Mann Singes' She Loves You (which sounds like a multi-tracked Lurch), Tennessee Ernie Ford's Yesterday, and The Mortier Dance Hall Organ medley excerpt.  The Mann side is interesting as one of the earliest Beatles covers, a category which includes The Ray Charles Singers' 1964 Do You Want to Know a Secret, Jimmy Griffin's All My Loving (same year), and 1965's Can't Buy Me Love by Henry Mancini, I Feel Fine by Enoch Light, plus And I Love Her by David Rose. These are adult-pop efforts which hew to the mood and tempi of the originals, whereas George Chakiris' 1965 She's a Woman takes off into territory best described as, um... better left unvisited?  His take not only speeds things up, it perhaps gives us an idea of 1965 Broadway's concept of 1965 teen pop.

Also painfully inappropriate: Steve and Eydie's A Little Help From My Friends, which is arranged to accommodate their usual style.  Nothing against their usual style, except that it doesn't fit the material.

But some excellent pop-orchestral interpretations: The always-reliable Andre Kostelanetz and Paul Mauriat, assorted Readers Digest box set conductors like Norman Percival and Ken Thorne, and the superb Peter Knight, maybe best known for orchestrating Days of Future Passed.  On the fine-but-amusing side: Ken Thorne's jaunty A Day in the Life (at least Peter Knight's cover gives it some gravitas).

I haven't decided whether or not I like Petula Clark's Rain and We Can Work It Out, though they're certainly interesting.  Nancy Sinatra and the Buckinghams provide adequate covers, Johnny Mathis delivers a fine Eleanor Rigby (as we'd expect), and Tom Jones... Well, I forgot to include Tom.  Maybe next time.  

John Davidson is barely so-so, while Lena Horne gives Rocky Raccoon a lot of highly dated soul.  The big surprise is Noel Harrison, whose contributions should be the epitome of camp but which are downright good.  Penny DeHaven's Countrypolitan I Feel Fine (1970) is a lot of fun, and I guess I have to rate Frank Chacksfield's as the best of the Discotheque versions, as much as I love Enoch Light.

As for Phyllis Newman's When I'm 64, the track's professionalism can't be faulted, but the original was a send-up to begin with, and so it's sort of a send-up of a send-up.  Or... maybe the problem is that it takes the faux-1920s sound of the Beatles track too literally.  I don't know...

The one "fake hit" in our list is the excellent Hit Records knockoff of Nowhere Man, from 1966.  The good ol' Jalopy Five.

Some of the tracks I spared you: Let It Be (Ray Conniff Singers), My Sweet Lord (Jim Nabors), The Long and Winding Road (Wayne Newton), and Your Mother Should Know (George Burns).

DOWNLOAD: Fab Fogeries Pt. 1.zip  Fab Forgeries Pt. 2.zip

She Loves You--The Johnny Mann Singers, 1964

The Fool on the Hill--Andre Kostelaentz and His Orch., 1969

Do You Want to Know a Secret--The Ray Charles Singers, 1964

Yesterday--Mantovani, 1966

With a Little Help From My Friends--Steve and Eydie, 1969

Rocky Raccoon--Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo, 1969

Lady Madonna--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

All My Loving--Jimmy Griffin, 1964

Can't Buy Me Love--Henry Mancini Orch. and Chorus, 1965

A Day in the Life--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds--Noel Harrison, 1967

She Loves You--Mortier Dance Hall Organ, 1965

Something--John Davidson, 1970

Strawberry Fields Forever--Noel Harrison, 1967

I Feel Fine--Penny DeHaven, 1970

Day Tripper--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Help!--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1966

Come Together--Charlie Barnet and His Orch., 1970

Lovely Rita--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Rain--Petula Clark, 1966

Yesterday--Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1968

And I Love Her--David Rose and His Orch., 1965

We Can Work It Out--Petula Clark, 1966

When I'm 64--Phyllis Newman, 1968

I Feel Fine--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, 1965

All You Need Is Love--Norman Percival and His Orch., 1970

Hey Jude--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

Eleanor Rigby--Johnny Mathis, 1967

I'll Be Back--The Buckinghams, 1967

A Day in the Life--Ken Thorne and His Orch., 1970

Get Back--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Hello, Goodbye--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Getting Better--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Yellow Submarine--The Hank Levine Singers and Orch., 1968

Got to Get You Into My Life--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Nowhere Man--The Jalopy Five, 1966

She's a Woman--George Chakiris, 1965

Lee

Sunday afternoon gospel--on Monday: Sacred Shellac for May, 2025, 1906-1929

 

Gospel quartet gold, from 1905 to 1929 (including three selections from Columbia's "country" series).  And the years provided are not guaranteed to be correct, given that 1) DAHR's servers have been incredibly slow, even timing out more than once, and 2) due to online date disagreements.  For instance, The Columbia Mixed Quartette's Home of the Soul could be 1916, 1919, or 1921.  (I opted for 1916.)

This would have been ready to go yesterday (Sunday), but for some unknown reason, when I chose an image for this project/group, Mp3tag changed ALL of the recording years to 1929.  Why 1929, I have no idea, unless Mp3tag is anticipating another Wall Street crash...  At any rate, I've provided the (hopefully) real dates below, along with the labels and catalog numbers--two fields which I presently don't have on my VinylStudio software.  If I can manage to upgrade to VS "Pro," I should be able to add those fields to the track pages.

And a word about "quartets"--or, rather, a number of words.  At least in accordance with early-1900s usage, a "quartet" could be any group singing in four-part harmony, as with the already-mentioned Columbia Mixed Quartette (from 1916, 1919, or 1921).  "Quartets" can even, far as I know, include a fifth harmony voice, albeit for extra color--the harmonic texture isn't changed.

Most complicated of all, quartets can be sex-specific or mixed.  And a given arrangement (how the voices, or different parts, are ordered) can have the principal part (the melody) assigned to the soprano, to the tenor, to the baritone, or the bass.  And the voicings "shift" accordingly.  These are all examples of homophony, which can be simplified to "melody with accompaniment."  In homophonic four-part texture, whatever voice assumes the chief part will be supported by the other three (or four) voices.  I hope we're clear on that.

And I hear instances of a baritone melody line with a falsetto tenor assuming either the lead (melody) or top (second tenor) voice.  The effect is very nice, though for a classic "Barbershop" lineup, we need to turn to the Criterion, Haydn/Hayden, and Peerless quartets--Bass, baritone, first tenor (lead), second tenor.  The other quartets don't sound as Barbershop-y.  (-ish?)

DAHR (Discography of American Historical Recordings), a priceless reference which I hope isn't on the verge of crashing, is a bit less slow today, and so I was able to learn that my privately recorded Columbia His Eye Is on the Sparrow was waxed "between 1918 and 1924."  Helpful, no?  Whereas, if I use my Almost Complete 78 Record Dating Guide (II), the date would be approx. early 1923 (per the matrix number).  Maybe next round I can save time by listing all 78 recording years as "Anyone's best guess."

My 10" 1906 Hayden Quartet Glory Song (the huge 1900 gospel hit by Chas. H. Gabriel), is listed at DAHR as an 8" issue.  Same label number, and presumably the same performance.  Oh, and this was Gabriel's original manuscript for that once-very-famous number:

Gabriel was also the composer for the famous Brighten the Corner Where You Are and the above-mentioned Sparrow--the latter often mistaken for a Black spiritual, and probably because of its huge popularity in Black churches (and its association with Ethel Waters and Mahalia Jackson).  Harry K. Shields' custom recording gives us an idea of what it sounds like straight from the page.

Pictures From Life's Other Side (titles vary) was a late-19th-century Social Gospel number which became a sacred standard, starting with this 1926 Smith's Sacred Singers recording, a huge hit for its day.  Theirs was the first recording, I believe.  In 1951, it was again popularized by Hank Williams.  Other artists who have provided versions: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Story, the Blue Sky Boys, Cowboy Copas, Bill Anderson, and George Jones.

The three non-quartet sides are the duets Jacob's Ladder, Life's Railway to Heaven, and The Harbor Bell.  And some of the quartet numbers go the old-time route of a solo tenor for the verse, with the full group arriving for the chorus.

The selections marked "a" and "b" were thus labeled to keep the idiot VinylStudio program from confusing the tracks.  (Actually, it's an amazing program, but with numerous glitches.)

DOWNLOAD: Sacred Shellac 5 5 25.zip

When the Roll is Called up Yonder--Hayden Quartet (Victor 16749; 1908)

Hold the Fort--The Chautauqua Preachers' Quartette (Columbia A1585; 1914)

The Wayside Cross--The Chautauqua Preachers' Quartette (Columbia A1585; 1914)
Life's Railway to Heaven--Charles Harrison--Clifford Cairns (Victor 18925; 1922)

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere--Columbia Stellar Quartette (Columbia A2048; 1916)

When the Mists Have Rolled Away--Trinity Choir with Orch. (Victor 17137; 1912)

Home of the Soul--Columbia Mixed Quartette (Columbia A2048; 1916)

The Harbor Bell--Charles Harrison--Clifford Cairns (Victor 18925; 1922)

Don't You Hear Jerusalem Moan--Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers With Riley Puckett (Columbia 15104-D; 1926)

The Light of the World Is Jesus--Whitney Brothers Quartet (Victor 16465; 1909)

Pictures From Life's Other Side--Smith's Sacred Singers (Columbia 15090-D; 1926)

Glory Song (O, That Will Be Glory)--Hayden Quartet with Orch. (Victor 4398; 1906)

Home of the Soul--Whitney Brothers Quartet (Victor 16372; 1909)

Will the Circle Be Unbroken--William McEwan, Organ Acc. (Columbia A1364, approx. 1912)

What a Glad Day--Wright Brothers Quartet (Columbia 15402-D; 1929)

The Home Over There--The Peerless Quartet (Victor 20669; 1926)

Jacob's Ladder--Frank and James McCravy (Okeh 45128; 1927)

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere--Henry Burr With Peerless Quartet (Victor 19883; 1926)

His Eye Is on the Sparrow--Harry K. Shields, Tenor Solo (Columbia Phonograph Co. 91396; 1918-1924)

Sweeter as the Years Go By--Criterion Quartet (Brunswick 5042; 1921)

Brighten the Corner Where You Are--Criterion Quartet (Brunswick 3296; 1926)

Lee

(Fake) Village Stompers, Roger Williams, Billy Vaughn, The Ventures, Reg Owen, and more!

 

Given the loving care that Diplomat (Synthetic Plastics Co.) devoted to the cover design, it's obvious that huge sales were anticipated.  I mean, every detail spells "excitement," from the barely noticeable upper-margin font, "Greatest Instrumental Hits," to the square turquoise border, inside of which we find a blue border, plus green and blue font.  This release screams "Buy me!"  By not calling attention to itself, it, um... calls attention to itself?  Wait a minute...

$2.99 at the nearest Goodwill (better than the $5.99 vinyl over at Goodwill Unlimited), and I grabbed this because 1) It was senior discount day, plus 2) I knew that these were genuine fakes.  Meaning, except for the two big-font titles (which we'll have to assume were provided for this release by "Tony Vincent"), all of the rest are previously-issued Promenade label knockoffs.  For-real knockoffs.  The real fake deal.

Not surprisingly, I was unable to track down any previous instance of Washington Square on Promenade, even at 45cat, nor any Promenade release of More (The Theme From Mondo Cane), and so we can be reasonably sure that their release year was 1963--that these are the first (and, probably, only) pressings of these fakes.  Ye olde routine of placing the titles of two current hits in huge font, with everything else in not-so-huge font--but, for once, the LP was not padded with retitled filler numbers.  All but one of these were for-real instrumental hits.  Fakes thereof...

We get the "Promenaders" covering the Ventures' Walk, Don't Run, and the "Promenade Orchestra" with Humoresque (and sounding for all the world like a small jazz combo with an amazing Carmen Cavallaro-style ivory tickler).  I can't honestly say that I ever possessed such keyboard skills, though I could always lie.  Also, there's Josh Logan (normally credited as a vocalist) apparently providing the alto sax for a swipe of Billy Vaughn's 1958 La Paloma, and a twangy guitar for his cover of Bill Justis's Raunchy.  That, or else S.P.C. was being especially careless with its attributions.  Nah, that's not possible...

Bert Kaempfert receives the knockoff treatment from the Promenade Orch. and Chorus for Wonderland By Night, and Bill King (Bill King?) covers Manhattan Spiritual.  And the Roger Williams hit (penned by Norman Petty) Almost Paradise is knocked off by Harvey Jay, for whom this fake is Harvey's (you guessed it) sole Discogs credit.

Works for me: The perfect means by which to get clean pressings of some classic Promenade knockoffs, and at half off of the unreasonable GW price of three bucks.  Of course, had this not been mono, I'd have left it in the bin (placed, as ever, on the floor), since the only thing worse than S.P.C. fake stereo is, say, Pickwick's.  Anyway, despite my snarky observations, a decent group of classic instrumental hits, reasonably well simulated.

DOWNLOAD: Washington Square--Tony Vincent Orch.zip

Washington Square--Tony Vincent and His Orch., 1963?

Wonderland By Night--The Promenade Orch. and Chorus, 1961

La Paloma--John Logan, 1958

Walk, Don't Run--Promenaders, 1960

Humoresque--Promenade Orch., 1958?

More (From Mondo Cane)--Tony Vincent and His Orch., 1963?

Manhattan Spiritual--Bill King, 1959

Patricia--Jose Gonzales, 1958

Raunchy--John Logan, 1957

Almost Paradise--Harvey Jay, 1957

"Fine Records Need Not Be Expensive."--Back cover.  

Lee

Three Shades of Blue; Mississippi Suite (Grofe): Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch., 1928 and 1927

 

From the original 78s (are there any other kind?), the premiere recording (from 1927) of "Ferdie" Grofe's  charming Three Shades of Blue, written in 1927 and recorded in 1928.  Plus, Grofe's "other" concert work (re Grand Canyon Suite), Mississippi Suite (A Tone Journey), written in 1926 and recorded in 1927.

I last posted these in 2020, using Wokeupload.  Meaning, those files are now in Workupload Heaven (and having a great time, I hope).  Who knows how long that link had stayed active, anyway--prior to the banning of my shares, I mean?  And Blogger is refusing to play nice, and so my 1933 image of Ferde will have to go here, instead of above:

Ripping shellac with VinylStudio has seemed like a long journey, but it's probably only been a couple of months.  Yet, we don't always measure time in terms of hours or days.  And I have no idea why I typed that--it seemed appropriate.  It just tumbled out of my Bag of Cliches.  But, yes, VS is such an incredibly fussy program (unlike MAGIX, which almost runs itself), it required any number of attempts, including test CD-Rs, until I have started to feel as if I know how to use the program.

Much--maybe most--of the problem is that VS is (to put it lightly) not designed for what I'm doing with it.  Despite all the handy 78 rpm response curves included in the software, the general template presumes that the user is digitizing his or her 1960s and 1970s rock vinyl collection.  Hence, I'm pushing the software into areas it doesn't want to go.  And that glitch I reported to VinylStudio, which VS told me it would fix?  I have no idea whether or not it has been.  But, to the music...

Three Shades of Blue consists of "Indigo," "Alice Blue," and (on side B) "Heliotrope."  As ever, Grofe makes superb use of PW's expanded "concert" orchestra, and I'm blessed with a fine copy of the single 12-incher (as opposed to the less-than-fine but serviceable Mississippi Suite shellac).  I don't have the sheet music handy (Lord knows which stack it's sitting in), but I recall that the clever shifting meters of Heliotrope were accommodated within 4/4--no Burt Bacharach-esque time-signature shifts.  Grofe was working well beyond Zez Confrey, then famous for his polymetrical tricks--Kitten on the Keys, in particular.  In spots, the band seems slightly confused, but overall an expert presentation.  And accomplished in only 2 and 3 takes (I forget the distribution, side-wise).

Mississippi Suite (A Tone Journey) was composed in 1926, and recorded on 9/7/1927.  The first movement, "Father of the Waters," was cut (to fit things on a single 12-incher, probably), so things start with the fun, cartoonish "Huckleberry Finn," then proceed to the languid "Old Creole Days" (well, almost languid, had the session not been rushed), then (after flipping to side B) the justly famous showstopper, "Mardi Gras."  I'm guessing Henry Busse provides the muted trumpet for the second movement--it really sounds like him (we hear the famous "sour" Busse tone), though I can't be sure.  Of course, the song standard Daybreak was adapted from the middle section.

Years ago, a friend listening to the full-orchestra Mississippi Suite had only one gripe about the piece--the drawn-out climax.  Maybe he had a point, but at this rapid tempo and in a smaller setting, the closing doesn't seem at all padded.  And I've always wanted to type, "at all padded."  Now, at last, my wish has been fulfilled.

Mississippi must have made quite a splash in 1926, given that portions of it were interpolated into the 11/15/1926 Fred Rich and His Hotel Astor Orch. recording of George and Ira Gershwin's Do-Do-Do.  Around that time, there was also a British recording of either the entire suite or Mardi Gras alone.  And I don't recall what that record was, or by whom, and it's probably because I've blocked out the painful memory of receiving that 78, years ago, in pieces: The eBay dealer had packed the 12-inch disc so incompetently as to leave a portion uncovered.  By no small coincidence, that exposed section didn't survive.  She gave me a prompt refund, insisting that she'd never before broken a 78 during shipment.  I figured she was either unusually lucky or prone to embellishing her USPS past.

Oh, and since I started with the weird and wacky OneDrive cloud service, Microsoft has made at least one major design change.  Not sure why--All was well prior to the alteration.  In Cyber-Land, program tweaks are often made simply for their sake...

DOWNLOAD: Three Shades, Mississippi.zip

Lee

Happy Easter, 2025 (actually, 2024)!

 

I decided I can't improve on last year's playlist, so...

Happy Easter!

DOWNLOAD:  Easter 2025  (Please ignore the "2024" on the zip title...)

Peter Cotton Tail--Meadowlarks (Irene Records)

Old Rugged Cross--Mac MacFarland--(Same)

Easter Parade--Eddie Brandt and (His) Hollywood Hicks, V: Ruthie James (Same)

Christ Arose--Collegiate Choir, 1920

Easter Bunny Polka--Eddie Brandt and (His) Hollywood Hicks, V: Eddie Brandt and Ruthie James (Irene Records)

Jesus Died for Me--Smith's Sacred Singers, 1929

Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb--Smith's Sacred Singers, 1929

Power in the Blood--The Cincinnati Baptist College Quartet, c. 1971

How Great Thou Art--Jerome Hines, 1965

The Old Rugged Cross--Jerome Hines, 1965

Unknown Choir, Word Records--He Lives

He Arose--Haydn Quartet With Orchestra, `1908

Victory in Jesus--Church of the Nazarene Male Quartet, 1959

Bunny Hop--Peter Pan Orch. and Singers, Dir. by Vicky Kasen (1955)

Love Led Him to Calvary (Webster-Gabriel)--Mrs. William Asher-Home Rodeheaver, With Pipe Organ, 1925

Funny Little Bunnies--The Cricketts, Feat. "Hoppy" the Bunny, Peter Pan Orch.

Reapers Are Needed (Charles H. Gabriel)--A.T. Humphries and Lee College Choir, c. 1959

Awakening Chorus (Charles H. Gabriel)--Same

Peter Cottontail--Ray Heatherton (The Merry Milkman), 1951

Eggbert, the Easter Egg--Same

Lee