Shellac Shanty

Happy Canada Day!

2007-07-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

.... or Joyeaux d'Anniversaire du Canada (to keep les Quebecois happy - grin...)!!

So, what do we have to celebrate this fine and joyous day? Why, nothing other than... Italian 78s!

I found these 8 discs at one of my usual thrift store haunts. There were 2 albums there, one was full of... stuff (most of which I had already, and the rest wasn't too exciting), and then I opened up the other album. Seeing all the Italian Cetra and Odeon 78s in there, I immediately said to the clerk "These are sold!" She grinned. I was very surprised to see these, as this stuff, for Denver, is rarer than hen's teeth. How rare is a hen's tooth one wonders...

Anyways, I started in on them, and have discovered some more singers I really enjoy (and one I didn't). These are all from the period between 1947 and 1957, and might make a nice little slice of the Italian popular music 'scene' during that time. So, let's just go through the recordings, I guess, by singer.

First up, we have my least favorite of the lot, Gino Bechi. These were from an American RCA Victor pressing, but the recordings were done in Italy. The material is very good, it's just that I don't really enjoy the Italian operatic style, unless it is done during opera. Sergio is quite a capable baritone, but this was the one-off that you get in every batch, I guess. He's not my cuppa cappucino, but maybe you'll enjoy him. We have a number about the moon, Melanconia Luna, or, Melancholy Moon. SInce this was an American pressing, RCA conveniently provided an English translation. I don't know who the engineer was on these recordings, but he should be taken out and shot. You'll cringe at the microphone placement on the orchestra... the string section sounds like they were placed in the men's bathroom or something... the other side features a (mercifully) short tune entitled Ricordati Di Me, or, in English, Remember Me. With the badly-recorded orchestra of Maestro D. Olivieri, how can one forget?

We move on to better things, all the way to 1957 and a Canadian Capitol release featuring the vocal talents of Sergio Bruni. These were, if my very bad Italian allows, taken from a film entitled "Canzoni della Fortuna", but there is a notation on the label stating "... Bari -- 1957". I really need to bone up on my Italian. Anyway, the songs here are Buon Anno... Buona Fortuna, or, "Happy New Year... Good Luck". Nicely done, and a little more of the style I like. The back side is sung in Neopolitan, with the tune being entitled Serenatella Sciue' Sciue'. No translation provided. These are really a nice contrast to the Victor discs as they are nicely recorded, which would hopefully hold true for pressings from the very end of the 78 era. This was about the time that 78s were discontinued in the US, but in Canada, they were pressed into the very early 1960s. Nice stuff, this.

We now get to the Italian pressings on the Italian labels. A very nice voice comes from the grooves of an Italian Pathe' 78, the voice of Narciso Parigi. These are from 1956, and feature songs that were part of some sort of contest as the label indicates that these were presented at the 6th Song Festival of San Remo. The first one, La Corpa Fu, was presented there, while the actual A-side, Aprite le Firestre, actually won first prize. No wonder, it's a catchy little tune about springtime, and that's about all I can get. But it's very nice! The orchestra, conducted by Barimar, doesn't hamper the singing, either.

Moving back to 1954, we now present two sides by Achille Togliani on the Italian Cetra label. State Vicino a Mme is a very nice slow ballroom type dancing number, perfect for crooning and swooning 'neath the mooning in Juning, oops, this is July. Sorry about that... the second number is a nice Beguine entitled Accarezzame. There is a little of the let's mic the piano in the men's room syndrome, but I guess it was used for effect.... a very nice example of an Italian Beguine though, with the orchestra conducted by Angelini.

Maestro Angelini now leads up in a little bit of up-tempo Italiana entitled Sorentinella, with vocal duties going to the Duo Fasano. Recorded in 1951 on a Cetra disc, I don't know who the two singers are, but it's definately a toe-tapper! The other side of this disc features a VERY nice singer, Nilla Pizzi, singing Grazie del Fiore. Sung very sultry, which makes my lousy translation of the title as "Thank You for the Fire" ring true, as this song is all about passion and love. Which makes it brilliant. Nilla Pizzi is turning out to be my second-most favorite of this batch, which is no slouching!

Moving back to 1949, we get another Nilla Pizzi recording, Quanta Nostalgia. Again led by the orchestra of Maestro Angelina, this is another wonderful sultry number about lost love and memories (as far as I can tell). Again, an Italian Cetra disc, and I'd love to find more of her work. The other side of this disc features the only recording I have by Elena Beltrami, and WOW what a chanteuse! I can gather the material deals with love, as it is a tango-style number entitled Autumno. Also recorded in 1949 with the orchestra conducted by Maestro P. Barzizza, this one burns with the passion required for tango material.

Which brings us to the last of the singers, Luciano Tajoli. Another wonderfully sultry alto, perfectly suited for singing of tunes great and not-so-great. The not-so-great tune is actually the Clanker of the Week, a silly thing called Valzer delle Candele, sung as a duet with Mita Ferroli being the other singer. Why is this the Clanker? Well, listen to the two melody lines. Come on, Auld Lang Syne and Danny Boy? Granted, this is a Odeon disc from 1947, but, please.... Maestro Piubeni, could you not find something better than this and calling it the "Candelight Waltz"? Oy vey.

She more than makes up for it, though, on the other side of this disc, Buon Giorno Amore Mio. Orchestra led by Maestro Piubeni, recorded in 1947, this is a MUCH better tune, at least in my opinion, and if I were in Italy, I would love to be awakened by this song, a nice little slow fox trot. This you'll like.

The last disc features Luciano Tajoli sounding almost Brasilero-sultry in these tunes... Dolce Veleno, and Madonna Rosa. Both recorded in 1947 with Maestro Piubeni again, the material is very well done here, emotion poured to overflowing on the songs. This is one powerful singer, people.

A word about the recordings and transfers... the discs were in pretty ratty shape, especially the Odeon discs, and I got what I could out of them. There's a bit more artifacting than I'd prefer, and on the last disc there were groove digs galore, including one spot where someone dropped what must have been an extremely heavy reproducer onto the disc, raising a blister on the opposite side! One nice thing about Italian 78s, though, they have a date on them in the runout area so dating these was bone-easy. If you look at the 'album' field in the ID3v2 tags, you'll see what I mean.

Anyways, hope you have a brilliant holiday, and I hope that these have spiced things up a bit for you.

Ciao!

Gainfully Unemployed... and Happy!

2007-06-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

The day job ended not with a bang, but a whimper. And I seriously doubt that I'll be making that commute ever again. Almost all of my acquaintences say that I look like I feel so much better now that that stuff is over... and I tend to agree. I can now focus more on the home front, the other areas in my life that need more attention, and, of course, getting some 78s recorded and posted. We all know what is important, don't we :)

Starting off for this post, I have a couple of renditions of Arman Kachutarian's Sabre Dance, from the Gayne Ballet Suite. Let me warn you, neither one are musically accurate, but one definately has better props and chops than the other. I'll let you compare, though...

The first one is by the Columbia Concert Orchestra, under the baton of Lou Bring. This Sabre Dance features none other than Oscar Levant on piano, and it tries to be a tour de force. Unfortunately towards the end, it becomes somewhat of a tour de forced... but his playing overcomes the difficulty of the piece. The flip side is much more relaxed, and a very nice little rendition of the Lullabye from the same suite... very nicely done. These were released on Columbia Masterworks, on the blue label, so they were considered the 'more serious' of the Masterworks library (the 'less serious' material got released on the green label).

Next, for comparison, we have Macklin Marrow and the MGM Orchestra in their rendition of the Sabre Dance. I think I have heard this recording before... on Peter Schickele's radio program where he blasts extremely bad recordings in the classical genre. Well, it may not have been this one, but it should qualify, at least in my opinion... nowhere as crisp and precise as the score calls for, this one kind of mumbles and fumbles through the piece, and makes something memorable into mush. But, hey, what do you expect from a disc that has the Bohemian Polka on the back? This was from an opera or something that was called "Schwanda, the Bagpipe Player" and was written by a gentleman with the last name of Weinberger. Ultimately forgettable.

Let's move on to a pair of pseudo-tangoes, 'done' by Marek Weber & his Orchestra. We have the classic Jalousie, which Marek forgot to turn up the heat on, and A Media Luz, which sounds like it could have been watered down so much that it was past becoming pap for a B-movie... come on, whistling?? Tangoes are supposed to be about love's burning desire, flame, and passion. These two are about as passionate as a piece of limp linguini. Feh.

Okay, let's improve things a touch. Percy Faith. Not the most invigorating of artists, but still a great contributor to Wonder-Bread pop music of the 50s. These two from Mr. Faith are eminently more listenable... the Tropic Holiday offered here (composed by Mr. Faith), is almost-samba, it has a bit of the tropical feel to it, but still the dependance on the harpsichord. More oy-vey than Ole' but still something nice to pass.... something.... the other tune on this Columbia disc is something that you may remember from a Panagra film "A Journey to South America". Yes, folks, this was music used for a travelogue/school geography film. It's a Peruvian Waltz entitled Gaviotta. It actually sounds pretty good for stock film music... I might use it for some commercial beds....

Something a little more juicy (but not much) is this pair from Al Blank's Harmonica Trio. These were recorded and released on a regional New York City label, that being the Riviera label. I don't have scans yet, but will post them in the near future. I guess these recordings were meant to cash in on the "Harmonicats" fad (that lasted all of, what, 3 minutes?), but they're OK in their own right. No toos Thielmans, but no slop, either. A couple of tunes that would make Mitch Miller proud, Up A Lazy River, and I Still Get A Thrill Thinking of You.

Still in the mid 50s, I found this little gem. Yes, it's not too bad, considering the rest of the stuff from this batch of 78s I have had to suffer through... Ed Farley's Orchestra, performing the hit he co-wrote, The Music Goes Round And Round. Yes, it comes out here. This, and the b-side, Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider, have some of the Dixieland feel to it, and are quite toe-tappable tunes. These wre on the DelVar label (again, scans coming), another New York City regional label... goes to show that independant labels are not just a thing of the 21st Century! One warning (and a mini-rant): this one may be a bit noisier as far as transfers go... the reason is this: the trombone player, as in a lot of trombone players of this era, seem to try and play with the raspiest tone possible, which makes pop and tick filters go absolutely BERSERK! I tried a bunch of different combinations, but could not get the recording where I wanted it, so I left it alone, pretty much. I have some Frank Brunis discs that I am dreading to encode for the same reason.... Dixieland trombonists seem to want to play with this sandpaper tone. Feh.

Hey, I said "Feh" twice in one post. Maybe I should have said "Meh."

Now that I have subjected you to the bland, let's get to some goodies.

I saw this in the same batch as the bland stuff and didn't think much of it until I put it on the player and (gently) dropped the needle. Ray Anthony on Capitol. Not much to get excited over, but these are not bad tunes! Mr. Anthony's Blues is not so much blues-y but it is a fun little instrumental, if you can get past the cheesy opening... The B-side, Cook's Tour, starts to bring the heat up a little, and it can be said that Mr. Anthony delivers.

Turning up the heat a little more is Charlie Spivak's rendition of Massenet's Elegy. Nice orchestral treatment of this, even though it's a Big Band cover of a classical tune, it plays very well. THe real heat comes in with the other side, Brother Bill. I wondered how a tune about hunting in Maine could swing as hard as this does, but then I looked at the composer: Louis Armstrong. That explains everything.

We'll close this week with a couple by Charlie Barnet that bring down the house. Gulf Coast Blues is a good example of how a big band can really swing through a bluesy riff thing, bringing as much energy as the studio can handle. This copy is a bit worn (gee, I wonder why...), but not bad enough that you miss what it's all about. Even the typical Decca shellac doesn't bring down the energy of this number. Nor does it on the A-side, Duke Ellington's Drop Me Off In Harlem. Yowzah! Now this is swingin'! Charlie's band kicks this one off in high gear, smokes the tires, and only gets better. A great swing session from a great band. This record actually had a 'cookie-bite' chip out of it, that went across the lead-in grooves, but there was enough lead-in on the track itself that I could get all of the track for you. It was worth the find. :)

Hope you enjoyed this batch, I have a real surprise coming up for you next time around (as much as a surprise as it was for me when I found 'em!)... what're they all about? It's a SURPRISE!

See ya next time, and keep those comments coming!

Sunday Afternoon Shellac

2007-06-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

This Fathers Day stuff is not so bad... I get to watch racing, rest, and do up a bunch of 78s for your enjoyment! How much better can it get?

......aside from the usual political fauleraul, but we don't do that here... much...

Well, what better way to start a Father's Day collection, than with........ Irish music! Theo Karle was an Irish-style tenor, but other than that, I don't know too much about him, other than that he may have been based in the Seattle, Washington area. The label he did these two recordings for, That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone, and Mother Machree, was the Linden Record Co., and it was based in Seattle. Linden was also the 'home' of Stan Boreson, a Seattle-area humorist, who specialized in pseudo-Swedish comedy records, much like Yogi Yorgesson did for Capitol in the 1950s... only Stan was funnier, in my opinion. Stan did the pseudo-Swede routine well into the 60s, and, if I am not mistaken, was a television personality in the Seattle area as well. My apologies regarding the condition, as these sides were done on early 'vynilite', and the material is very susceptible to scratching and wear... and this disc proves it.

Moving right along, how about some Banana Music! Here we have Buddy Clark making a lot like Der Bingle in Xavier Cugat's rousing rendition of a banana commercial, Chiquita Banana, also known as The Banana Song. What a clever reminder to never put your bananas in the refridgerator. The back side, South America, Take It Away! shows how well (or badly, as the case may be) Buddy Clark tried to imitate Bing Crosby imitating Desi Arnaz. Ouch. This one almost qualifies as Clanker of the Week. Cugat did some great recordings with the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, unfortunately, these two Columbia wonderments were not among them.

If anyone stops by Lee's MY(P)WHAE blog, he's been doing some good things about 'salon music', so I thought I'd add my two cents' worth (or gasoline to the fire) with a couple of recordings by the Victor Salon Orchestra, under the baton of Nat Shilkret. Nat had his own orchestra in the transitional era of recordings going from acoustic to electric, as well as heading up the Victor Salon Orchestra, which was for music that was more for sitting in the parlor than dancing. These two are very early electrical recordings, and the orchestra seems to feel a bit uneasy about playing real instruments, rather than those made specifically for acoustical audio recording. Google up Stroh violins and you'll see what I nean. Yearning and When You and I Were Seventeen show how well electrical recording could have been done... the instruments regain the delicacy that was lost in translation in most acoustical recordings.

The salon influence carried itself into dance bands, as seen here by two OKeh recordings from the 40s by Griff Williams, Love Is (with Walter King on vocals), and Foolish (with Lois Lee doing the vocal duties). The over-vibrato'ed saxophones and the syrupy-sweet arrangements make these two songs more suitable for parlor chat than dancing, but there is definately a danceable fox trot beat in there somewhere. Just don't expect any kind of foolishness on the floor... or maybe these were for making mooshie on the dance floor and not getting caught... Also, these might sound like they would have made the playlist in the UK, but there's no indication of an overseas recording on the label...

Where the Salon influence REALLY carried over was in the 'sweet music' of the post-WW2 era. Case in point are these four Sammy Kaye sides: Here I'll Stay, They're MIne! They're Mine! They're Mine!, I Hate to Lose You, and Green-Up Time. Vocals are by Don Cornwall, except for Green-Up Time, where the chores are handled by Laura Leslie. The official name of the band was 'Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye', so I guess you could sway and croon 'neath the silvery moon on a night in June that makes you sweat like a buffoon that fell off a pontoon... definately not my cuppa, but still nice to listen to. I'm surprised that these haven't made the playlist in any of the 'Music of your (After)Life' radio stations...

Enough with the salon music, I may have already put you in a coma!

I have one 'transitional' recording before we get to the more modern era stuff, that being a pair of sides on Decca by none other than the legendary star of stage and screen, Deanna Durbin. I have never seen any recordings by her, so when this one showed up in the thrift store, I snagged it. They are still movie-type songs, but who knew she had the good voice? On Kiss Me Again and My Hero, we have a pair of very nicely sung tunes. And, for that period of Decca recordings, the shellac quality isn't that wretched for a change.

We'll close it up with a few more modern recordings, so you can get an idea of where the musical trends were headed in the pop music genre...

Dick Hyman was a brilliant jazz pianist that did a lot of recordings with his group in the early days of stereo LPs, in particular, his work on the Command label in the 1960s. These two pieces, however, show his mastery of the harpsichord piano (that's what it says on the label, folks). The Red Cat, and Threepenny Tango are neat indicators of the brilliance that was to come from Mr. Hyman and his fantastic fingers. And, yes, THreepenny Tango is indeed the theme from Kurt Weil & Berthold Brecht's 'Threepenny Opera', in case you were wondering. These were released on MGM's DuraLite material (their non-breakable-under-normal-use records), which was a bit less scratch-prone than others of the time... and they still hold their sound if you can find good unworn copies.

What can you say about a boxer from New York City that got his nose broken in his first bout. Not much, unless said boxer was Antonio Benedetti... his agent said that his broken nose would bring his singing career to a grinding halt, but we all know that said agent was full of hooey. The singer changed his name and recorded a few minor hits, then blasted upon America with a song about leaving his circulatory organ in a major CAlifornia city with hills and cable cars. What would have happened if Tony Bennett hadn't had his schnozz busted... I shudder to think of the loss of a singing talent for the ages. Here are two of his early recordings with the Ray Ellis Orchestra on Columbia, In the Middle of an Island, and I Am. Nice tunes, and you hear the vocal passion that can still be heard even in his most recent recordings.

I don't know much about the next artist, except that he played a passably mean saxophone when he wanted to. Grady Martin must have been heavily influenced by the likes of Bill Doggett and other R&B sax players, because he honks really well in his version of When My Dream Boat Comes Home. Backed by the Slew Foot Five (cringe), this passes for some decently playable R&B, kinda-sorta-maybe. What kills it is his cover of Allegheny Moon. Champagne bubbles, here we come. Wunnerful, wunnerful. Insulin will be available after the performance. Released on Decca, near-mint condition, etc etc. I actually didn't apply any kind of filtering or noise reduction on these two sides... what you hear is DIRECTLY what came off the disc.

I wish I could say that for the last record today... I decided to lay some REAL R&B on you for the closer. Roy Milton & His Solid Senders, with a pair from the Specialty label (the same label that was to host Little RIchard Penniman's run of hits in the late '50s). His cover of On the Sunny Side of the Street has some downright houserockin' beat, as does the other side, I'll Always Be In Love With You. But, come on guys, fess up on that piano solo! It's good, and if you recognize the two melodies used, you'll fall out of your chair laughing! This shows that one could have a rippin' good time in the studio and cut music that was FUN to listen to and dance to. No starchy cardboard here (although the noisy pressing and the groove wear may make you wonder if it WAS pressed on starchy cardboard!)...

Well, that's it for this week, hope you all had a brilliant Father's Day, and stay tuned for more shellac shanty goodness to come!

Ready.... Steady....

2007-06-13T22:14:00.001-07:00

Welp, now that I'm off the night shift, I can start encoding the 78s again, and I have a bunch of 'em!

I want to start with a pair from Ray McKinley, recorded on the Majestic label. Why, oh why does it seem like 90% of the Majestic 78s get pressed off-center?? These are, so excuse the warble... the first one I picked up at the thrift store because of the A-side title, Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume. Interesting title, but not too interesting of a recording, plus it has the grunge factor in the grooves. I did use the filtering plus noise reduction to get this thing listenable, and it is a cute little tune about the Old West (Movie version, since the song sounds like it was rejected from a bad B-move musical) and lady luck. Not the greatest, but hey, it's Ray McKinley, and it kind of swings. What REALLY swings is the instrumental B-side, Jiminy Cricket. This is a Ray McKinley original, and WOW this JUMPS. Also, with the grunge gone, you can hear some VERY subtle nuances in the recording itself, like the VERY muted cymbal work, and you can actually hear the acoustics of the recording studio. A rare thing in most Majestic pressings. Good Swingah!

Keeping up with the acoustical wonderments of just how GOOD a 78 can sound, we hop over to Jolly Olde for a pair from Mantovani, with vocal work by Lita Roza. These are UK pressings, and they sound so soo sooo good, even if it is a string section trying to sound like a Wurlitzer theater organ. If Someone Had Told Me (written by DeRose & Tobias, from the production "About Face") and the old crooner, Stars Fell on Alabama (a Parrish & Perkins tune). I may have put up the Phil Harris version either here or on another one of the sites, but this is a credible version of the tune. Not as good as Phil's, but quite servicable. And, yes, this is the same song that Jimmy Buffet covered on his "Cocoanut Telegraph" LP (which is a great LP).

Continuing with the sonic goodieness, we get to a pair of Harry Belafonte 78s, on the RCA Victor label, that I do not believe were released on any of his later LPs. These feature Harry with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra (I can see you cringe already...), and are quite quite good, both musically and sonically. Hold 'Em Joe, and I'm Just a Country Boy are diametrically opposite in tempo, but equally great songs. The first is from a Broadway show, "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" and is written by Harry Thomas. It tells of a stubborn, thirsty mule, and Harry Belafonte has a little fun with Hugo's boys in it. The second song is a ballad about unrequited love, written by Fred Brooks and Marshall Barer... it's a heartbreaker, but shows Harry B at his soul-calypso best.

And, for those of you that like the older acoustical-era recordings, here's a pair for you. We start with a Harmony label 78, which has an honest-to-goodness Irving Berin song on it, Roses of Yesterday, as recorded by Harry Trimble and His Oklahomans, with vocals by Robert Wood. If you hear a faint reprise of "Blue Skies" in there, you aren't alone (grin). The second song is a Gottler, Clare & Pinkard tune entitled Come On, Baby! It's done by Lou Gold and His Orchestra, with Jim Andrews on the vocals. A nice pair of flapper tunes for those who flapper, pretty indicative of the dance music of the 1920s.

Well, it's late, I have a bunch of stuff yet to do, and the hour long commute is awaiting me in the morning, so I had better post these and let y'all enjoy 'em. Keep the cards and letters coming, folks, and thanks for the support!

Until next time......

WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS!!!

2007-04-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

I just this very night got the word that the hard drive that puked got restored, and all the archive files, as far as I can tell, are intact! So, this means that you now can peruse all the musical files you thought were gone forever. Don't feel bad, I thought they were gone, too.

A Great Big Shoutout goes to Duane & Diane for getting the drive restored intact... Duane is the connection between myself and the hosting site, and Diane is a veritable wizard when it comes to network and site admin. Massive Blessings to both of you for the assistance!

The bad news: I am back on the night shift for 6 weeks, so new material may be slow to happen, but there'll be some great stuff coming! I have boxen and boxen (inside joke) sitting in here....

And to all of you, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, as well as thanks for your kind offerings on the PayPal front.

Cheerios!!!

HOSTING SITE DOWN!

2007-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering where everything went, the box that hosts all of the pic and sound files has taken a massive POOP and will be down for a while. I don't know when it will return, but it should some time soon.

Pray that it wasn't the hard drive....

Continuation of the Turn-of-the-Century Party Project

2006-09-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some more digging thru the stacks for 1910 music, and have come up with a few... but FIRST, I have a REAL treat for you...

I have a 1920s vintage Silvertone portable phonograph, one that sounds really really good (I think). I got it for $20 at an anteeky store in SE Washington because there was some burn marks on the corner, but the darn thing played kinda good... so, I rebuilt the reproducer. That's when I found out it was kind of an orthophonic reproducer! (Google 'Orthophonic' and you'll see why those reproducers were VASTLY superior to the technology of 10 years beforehand).

Here's the unit, as you can see, in darn nice shape inside. The felt is original as far as I can tell... full size pic is here

Here's the unit in action... (full size pic here)...

And... here is a Demonstration of what it sounds like... with narration by Yours Truly! The audio is a little tinny, probably because I had the stereo speakers still on while running the mic through the board (which you can see in the corner kind of). I was mucking with getting board audio back into the production computer for a future project, so I figured why not try it with a little demo...

I was upset because I had lost the crank to the Silvertone, but a plea for help on 78-L and Ron L'Herault to the rescue! So, now I can take the portable to the party, along with some playable discs.

The record I used for the demo is this one, In The Land of Beginning Again, performed by the Columbia Band, under the direction of none other than Charles A. Prince! Obviously, a 12" Columbia, the songs contained within are: Some Lonely Night (Meyer), and Take Me Back To That Rose Covered Shack (Jentes-Ager). This was recorded under the supervision of G. Hepburn Wilson, as is the other side of the disc, entitled The Madelon. Madelon contains the following songs: Comprenez-vous Papa (Lawrence), and Cotton Hollow Harmony (Whiting). Incidental vocals are by the Peerless Quartette. These sides were recorded in October and November of 1918, respectively

We move smartly along to a waltz, done by the Blue Ribbon Trio (Wiedoeft, Briers, and Green), Sweet Anabel, written by Alice Nadine Morrison. Typical trio instrumentation, including the marimbist on way too much caffeine. But still a nice waltz number, nonetheless. This one was recorded acoustically for OKeh during July in 1923. I'll ahve the other side ready for the next posting.

Next up, a bit of an oddity. This version of Hi-Le-Hi-Lo was recorded in 1905, and is a German yodel feature. The singer, George P. Watson does it quite nicely with the orchestral backing. This is from a single-sided Victor Grand Prize label 10-inch. I say this version, because Billy Murray does a rather racist version, changing the title to "Hi-Lee-Hi-Lo" and parodying the Chinese in a rather stereotypical slam. I don't have a good version of it handy, else I would have included it here. If I find it, I'll slip it in, though.

Continuing on in the vein of stereotypical views of the non-white races, here are a couple more examples of what passed for the white vision of the black man and black society. The Hayden Quartet sings there version of I'se Gwine Back to Dixie. This is on another single-sided Victor Grand Prize label, although I can only guess at the recording date, somewhere between 1905 and 1908. The other disc is Arthur Collins and his routine of I'm Getting Sleepy. This is labelled as a "comedy routine", and is basically your basic 'darky sketch'. only it doesn't say so on the label. Again, a guess at the recording date would put it about the latter part of 1905. It's a shame how the more times change, the more things stay the same, and only the greasepaint is changed to 'protect' the ignorant.

I guess that somewhere in Victor Land, they felt that songs about being closer to one's god would even it out, I don't know... but there were some very sentimental and sacred-sounding choir pieces recorded during the same period of time. Here's one of them, Lead Kindly Light (Dykes), performed by the Trinity Choir, again on single-sided Victor, with a recording date of between 1906 and 1908. A later example of the Stirring Spiritual Solo, this time from 1907 (yet released later on the Victor 'patents' label on a double-sided disc) is this one by Frederic C. Freemantel, Lord, I'm Coming Home (Ackley). The other side has Frank Stanley singing the inspirational number One Sweet Solemn Thought (Ambrose). Frank Stanley was a member of several of the Victor vocal groups, along with Arthur Collins, Frank Pryor, Byron Harlan, and Billy Murray. These voices also appeared as the Peerless Quartet (not all at the same time) and in the Victor Minstrel Company.

How to get a grasp on the juxtaposition of the titles recorded in the early 1900s? Best way to do it would be this: very few white people had seen anyone other than white people, so this was a way of visualizing what other races were like. Of course, the stereotypes weren't very pretty or complimetary, but there were still a lot of people with the Caucasian 'Manifest Destiny' idea in their heads, so I guess they rationalized their prejudices that way... I wasn't there, so I couldn't tell you... I'm only bringing you a little history.

I have a few more sides to do up, and hopefully there'll be more fox-trots and one-steps in that pile.

Minstrel & "Darky" records

2006-09-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I have two "yes" votes for posting the Minstrel & "Darky" discs. I was worried about how to preface these, but the zenman posted his comments... and I could not state it any more eloquently. Herewith follows his comments about the issue:

Posting what we now think of as racist material? I would vote yes, actually.

I think that it's very important, especially for listeners of the types of music you so graciously present, to [have] a genuine understanding of the cultural differences between Then and Now. Nothing can present this better than the most popular of media from that earlier period, the 78 RPM record.

There are several other sites that already make this type of material available - the Archive.org 78rpm collection is quite full.

The first time you hear this 'Minstrel Show' material your jaw drops. Listen to more and you find that there are brutal racial stereotypes being presented of not only Blacks, but of Italians, Jews, Poles, the Dutch and Germans, and so on. This was an accepted fact of life in those times. Blackface is anathema now but a given in vaudeville then.

You don't see 'Amos and Andy' on television any more for good reasons. And unless you search them out, you also won't be seeing cartoons with these racial stereotypes, nor will you, wthout a bit of looking, se Irving Belin's 'This Is The Army' (from WW2), which features several blackface numbers. And so it should be, as we have grown, somewhat, out of these cruel stereotypes that genuinely offend and hurt so many people who frankly deserve much better from this country and this culture.

By posting this material -with the proper caveats- [emphasis added] you do the world a favor. I think it's very important to show how ingrained such thoughless cruelty was at one time, and how we have grown - albeit slowly, and with resistance from many - out of this. It's especially important for mainstream whites to hear this, as many of them are blissfully unaware of how common this was only a few decades ago.

But most people don't know anything about history anyway. Maybe this could shake up their brains and make them think about it a little.

Wow. I could not have said it any better myself.

Now, on to the discs. These came out in the late 1910s and early 1920s, and, as stated by zenman, contain RAMPANT racial slurs and stereotyping.

The Victor Minstrel Company always had the one line in their recordings, at least the ones that I have heard... "Gentlemen, be seated!" at which point the 'show' would begin. The first one, Mississippi Minstrels, according to the label, contains the following songs: "I Guess I'll Have to Telegraph My Baby", I Want to go Back to the Land of Cotton", and Remus Takes the Cake". You may hear some of the then-current Victor recording artists in here, I think Campbell & Burr, Billy Murray, and members (if not the entireity) of the Peerelss Quartet had done some of the minstrel recordings. You have the songs, interspersed with anecdotal humourous segues, and the the players march off the stage.

Minstrel records like this were actually one of the ways that a lot of sheet music was sold during the period... people heard the snippet of the tune, then went to go get the sheet music so they could play it on the i=piano in their parlors.

Speaking of the Peerless Quartet, they are on the other side of this record, with a "Descriptive Negro Medley", Down on the Levee. Songs included are "Sunshine", No Use Awaitin' Till To-morrow", "Oh, Ma Yaller Gal", "On the Mississippi", "Hallelujah", "Checkerboard Suit", and "Take Your Feet Out of the Sand".

Again, I MUST CAVEAT... these guys dropped the Ni**er-bomb more times than I would care to count. These are presented for HISTORICAL REFERENCE as well as a view of the times, which is vastly different than what we have now. And for that, I thank the Gods.

Next up is Golden & Hughes' "Darky" Specialty number, Unlucky Mose. The duo tell the story about a man who thinks himself the luckiest man in the world because he has a hat on his head, shoes on his feet, bacon in his pan, etc. and then is told by a compatriot otherwise. Something like that. Again, heavily stereotyped, just like the blackface artists did on the vaudeville stage (and on shows like Amos and Andy, etc.). This is a sketch number as opposed to purely musical.

The other side of the Victor disc gives up another VIctor Minstrel Company number, New Orleans Minstrels. Are we noticing a bit of a regional theme here? Remember, these were concocted and recorded by men in New York City that had probably never been to the Deep South, and this is how they characterized that region to the rest of the country, and the world. Anyway, the songs here include "At A Georgia Campmeeting", "All I Wants is My Black Baby Back", and "On Emancipation Day".

If you're offended by these, I apologize. But, they're a piece of American history, whether we like it or not. History cannot, and SHOULD not, be revised just because it makes some people uncomfortable.

I have more of these, along with some other period pieces, which I may bring out on a later posting. Some of them are quite musical, actually...

Ah well, enough history for a while.

More from the Acoustic Project

2006-09-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

Crud.

I was in the middle of doing this post, and something went and started to attack BlackIce through Internet Exploder... but I don't run BlackIce. So...........

Where were we.... I was gonna share some more of these 12 inch discs from the period of 1910-1918 or so, as I'm doing up a project for a friend's wedding anniversary. They love to do theme parties, and this time around the theme is ca. 1901, the closing years of the Victorian Era. I told them that the music would be from a few years later, and they said that they didn't mind, so here I am, digging through the shelves, looking for something closely approaching period stuff, without having to resort to the Dreaded Whitburn book. Those of you who are into historical recorded music know about that book. I'll save my opinions on it for another time...

We'll start with Vess Ossman... One of the premier banjo artists of the period. He did some solo recordings, but he also had his own orchestra, aptly named Vess Ossman's Banjo Orchestra. We have 2 selections from Vess, My Hawaiian Sunshine, a Fox-trot written by the songwriting team of Gilbert and Morgan, and You'll Always Be the Same Sweet Baby written by a Mr. Brown. These are labelled as "Dance Music" on the Columbia 12 inch record. It had once been said that a gentleman knows how to play the banjo, and when NOT to play it... but these were different times, and good banjo playing was valued... especially when it was something that COULD be recorded with the equipment of the day, that being November of 1916.

Next up, we have a side by Yerkes' Jazzarimba Orchestra, Mammy O'Mine. Again, a Columbia 12 inch record, a Medley Fox-trot, featuring "In Soudan" by Pinkard and Osborne, and "Don't Cry, Little Girl, Don't Cry" by Maceo Pinkard. Incidental vocals are done by the Premier American Quartette. Recording date on this one was March of 1919. I tried to get the other side of this one to record, but there is an unrecoverable needle gouge on that one, unfortunately.

Continuing on, since we're kind of in the Parlour Music mode here, we have a pair by Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, recorded in May of 1917. First up is an adaptation of Dvorak's Castle Valse Classique, adapted by Dabney. The reverse side is a catchy little number entitled One Fleeting Hour, which introduces the song "My Dreams" in there somewhere, written by a Mr. Lee. One thing to note about the Rector Novelty Orchestra is the marimba player... he is all over the place, but in a tasteful manner... sometimes it distracts from the melodious musicality, but sometimes it can also hide a multitude of musical sins, too. Your call....

Now we move on to those venerable and prolific recording artists, Prince's Band. Not only did they do marches, they did fox trots, one-steps, and waltzes as well. We'll start out though with a pair of patriotic marches, the National Emblem March by Bagley, and J P Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever March, both recorded in August of 1916. Stirring renditions, both.

We move now to a Turkey Trot Dance Medley, in two parts, recorded by Prince's Band, Part One consisting of "Bobbin' Up and Down" and "Texico", written by Theodore Morse, and Part Two, consisting of "Hitchy Koo", "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee", and "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", written by the trio of Gilbert, Muir, and Abrahams. These were recorded in January of 1913, again, for Columbia.

Moving on to the third disc in this session by Prince's Band, this time under the direction of G. Hepburn Wilson, we have a medley of tunes by Remick, entitled the Remick Melody. The tunes here include "She's Good Enough to be Your Baby's Mother", "Save Your Kisses 'Till The Boys Come Home", and "Loading Up the Mandy Lee". The other side of the record gives us what is called a one-step (and labelled as "Dance Music"), but is actually an adaptation by Zimmerman of the Anchors Aweigh March. Considering that this was recorded in January of 1916, it may have been a bit confusing...

I leave you now with a quandry... In this batch of discs, I have encoded up a couple of Minstrel records, as well as what are referred to on the label as a "Darky Specialty" and a "Descriptive Negro Medley". I put it to you, dear readers, should I post these? Or should I let them remain unposted, because these records today would DEFINATELY be considered HIGHLY racist in nature. racist enough to be offensive. I don't have dates for these, but I suspect that they would have been recorded sometime in the early 1920s, but I am still looking for discography info on them.

Tell you what... I'll hang on to them, and if there is enough of a request for them, I'll post them, but BE WARNED, they may probably offend, even when taken into historical context.

Instead of those tracks, I'll leave you with a nice scan of the back of a Victor sleeve of the period...

...the full size scan can be seen here.

Please leave feedback if you do or do not want me to post up the minstrel and/or 'darky' material, I'll abide by your wishes on those.

Coming up, more acoustic stuff, and a few odds & ends from later on in the 78 era.

Harry Lauder revisited

2006-09-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I posted a bunch of recordings by Sir Harry Lauder, in commemoration of his birthday. Well, while I was digging through the racks of 78s, I happened upon a bunch MORE of Sir Harry's output, even some better copies of what I had posted before! So, in the spirit of a good Scotsman, I have put all 18 sides into an archive, and am posting it to share with all you fine people.

Here's the list of what's on there, from the early purple label recordings to the later electricals:

Queen Among the Heather
It's Nice to Get Up in the Mornin' But it's Nicer to Lie in Bed
From the North South East and West
I Think I'll Get Wed in the Summer
There Is Somebody Waiting For Me
The Bounding Bounder
I've Something in the Bottle
Same as His Father Was Before Him
Roamin' in the Gloamin'
Wee Hoose 'Mang the Heather
Bella the Belle o' Dunoon
The Sunshine of a Bonnie Lassie's Smile
It's A Fine Thing to Sing
Saturday Night
Roamin' In The Gloamin' (Electrical)
I Love A Lassie (Electrical)
Loch Lomond (Electrical)
Scotch Memories (Electrical)

These are sorted (no track numbers) by catalog number on the disc, so you can kind of follow the historical flow of the works. All are from 12" VIctor 78s except for "Queen Among the Heather" which is from a 10" disc. I know I have more 10" Harry Lauder discs, so I'll add them in when I find them...

So, while I labor away at this project, enjoy this compilation of Sir Harry Lauder.

New Pix of the MESS

2006-09-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

While I am working on (a) the 1910 Theme Party music, and (b) the cool stuff on reel I got in a eBay auction win, I thought I'd share some new pics of the absolute garbage dump of the studio.

I had to get the reel tapes out of the boxes they were in for the last 6 years, and get them onto some kind of shelving... so here's what I built out of scrap lumber for them...
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Here's some of the new re-arrangement... looking from the garage main door back towards the operating position... the file cabinet holds VCR tapes and 5" reels, on top of it is a Johnson Viking-II Amateur Radio transmitter. Sad story on that, UPS destroyed it in shipping. The long cardboard boxes are all cassettes, and in the rack you see a Sherwood 4-channel receiver I need to go through and check out. Got it dumpster diving. Above the cassette boxes is a 5-channel Sparta remote event mixer. It works. Another dumpster dive.
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This is the new(er) desk where the sattelite monitors now sit. To the right is the rack of records that have to be re-filed in the big racks... as you can see I been a busy Impaler. On top of the record shelf are the three in-use sattelite receivers, and another black & white tuning monitor. The red chair is for in-studio guests... when I don't have LPs piled on it.
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Now we're getting to the mess. All those cables running out the window are for sattelite rigs, scanners, transceivers, and other RF that goes out to the roof or the side yard where the sattelite dishes are.
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Looking towards the operating position now, the computers, the TEAC 2300, the Marantz 2252, the Pioneer PL-71 turntable, and hidden behind the cables are some of the amateur radio stuff and the scanners. And the JUNK I absolutely need to get cleaned up. The reel deck on the floor kinda is a Sony SC-230 tabletop reel deck, with inputs for a phono cartridge, line-level inputs, and actual speaker outputs. I plan to get this one running for 1 7/8 ips reels, so I don't have to re-speed them off the TEAC. The Chair of the Impaler is hiding the 12 channel Sony mixer that I use for production. Yes, I know it needs to go on a shelf... just gotta BUILD it, to hang under the main shelf where the decks are... one with a slifing dealie so I can get to the back without killing myself. Also, you can see the Mustek tabloid size scanner directly behind the chair.
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Looking a little more to the left, you can get a little better view of the bench where all the transcription takes place. The turntable on the right is the ELAC Miracord, which is what I use for 78 encoding. Cartridges on the ELAC and the Pioneer are Stanton E500s, cheap but durable. You can see more crap underneath the bench that needs to be cleaned, too. And, yes, that's a Vac-O-Rec off to the right. It works, too!
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That's it for the picture tour, more when I make some improvements!

Acoustic Records for a Project & a Couple of Spoken Word Discs

2006-09-07T01:23:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of getting a project together for a friend's anniversary party, which will be set in the pre-WW1 era (approximately 1910-1913 give or take a few years), so I am going through my acoustically recorded 12 inch stuff to see if anything would be apropos for the gala, and yes, indeedy, I found some! These are more of the light classical things (popular stuff was on 10-inch pressings as a rule), but there were a lot of waltzes and one-steps released in the 12-inch format. I suspect that it was to go up against the Edison 4-minute cylinder, which played longer than the standard 10-inch disc (which would go about 3 1/2 minutes before the grooves ran into the label...).

Before we get to those, however, I landed a couple of Spoken Word discs (which are somewhat rare), and, pursuant to a topic thread in the 78-L list, I decided that I would encode them and post them.

The large label one I believe to be an acoustic pressing, both sides are combined here into one file. The Ancient Mariner is read here by E. J. Ballantine, and read quite well. As you can hear, these discs were pretty worn when I got them, and it took a lot to get what you hear out of the grooves.

The smaller label disc is a later, electrical recording (at least it SOUNDS like an electrical recording...), and we hear two selections, the first, read by Cecil Yapp, is the Frost poem, Mending Wall, and the other side, a recitation of the Biblical story of The Prodigal Son, as read by Walter Hampden.

(I am told by Mike Biel that there were only 13 disc titles issued by Spoken Word discs...)

Now, on to the project discs... we'll start out with some light classical recordings, recorded in Germany, but pressed and released in the US on the Odeon label. The band, whose only credit given is that of "Blasorchester", gives us first a Potpourri aus Offenbach'schen Operetten, as arranged by a gentlemen named Fedras. The printing on this disc is in the German font of the day (I should scan this so you will know what the heck I am talking about...), which is not surprising, since the second language in the US was German before World War One. We went through the propoganda a few posts ago, so I won't re-hash THAT issue... The reverse side is a waltz, labelled as Waltz aus Die Glocken von Corneville, written by a Mr. Planquette.

(Thanks to my German correspondent friend who helped witht he corrections of the titles...)

Oh my, here's a scan of the label of the disc so you can see what the font business is all about...

Remember the Romberg Sousa record that sounded like a film score reject? Well, I have a recording of Sousa's Band here for you, while we are in the Waltz Mode... written by Johann Strauss, we have the My Treasure Waltz. Recorded on the Victor label (on a one-sided 12-inch disc, no less!), this one came out quite nicely.

A bit of the light classical for you now, courtesy of Arthur Pryor's Band. You may know of them from Lee's MY(P)WAE blog (see sidebar for link), for their popular (for the time) music, but we have a couple of what I call 'Parlour Classics'. THese weren't 'classical' enough for the Red Seal label from VIctor, but still, they're more in the classical vein... perhaps the Mantovani or Frank Chacksfield of that era... the two pieces I have for you are the Felsenmuhle Overture by Reissinger, and something that may make you want to remember the Spike JOnes version (but please don't, Spike wasn't born yet...) of the Intermezzo from "Glow Worm", by Lincke. Yes, THAT Glow Worm. A couple of good-condition discs and nice tunes for the parlor.

We'll close out this edition with a couple of one-steps, as recorded by Prince's Band (under the direction of G. Hepburn Wilson), the Shapiro Medley, including the songs "Played By A Military Band" and "Down In Bom-Bombay". These were recorded by the Columbia Graphophone Company (a Columbia Record), in their usual style, which was quite good for the period. The other side gives us the Gilbert and Friedland one-step My Little Dream Girl. Goodness knows I have NO idea how to do a one-step, and these sound somewhat more like marches than dance numbers, but I guess they had that in them there days...

I'll be better about getting stuff going over here, because I need to get this project done (an afternoons' worth of music to encode!), and I'll be down a couple of days due to some oral surgery (only a couple of bad pre-molars this time...), so if you see any really off the wall posts, that'll be why.

Next up, I have some more acoustic stuff for you, including ANOTHER version of a Sousa march, played by, none other than, Prince's Band!

A snack, of sorts...

2006-08-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Something to tide you over while I finish up on a project that's non-blogshare related...

I found these in a set of classical 78s I got recently... and since there hasn't been a posting here for a while, I thought you might like a little visual sharity.

Here's a promotional picture (actually an artist's rendering) of Jose Iturbi, the Victor Red Seal recording artist (sez so at the bottom of the picture)... I have several Iturbi discs, and may post some in the future, he's good!

In this set was also an artist's rendering of Sir Thomas Beecham, the conductor. I have NO idea what the "Bart." is after his name, maybe someone has comments on that?

Full size scans are here:
Jose Iturbi...
Sir Thomas Beecham, Bart.

I'm working up a selection of VIctorian type music for a garden party to be held in October, so as I get some of the 1910-1917 music encoded, I'll share it with you.

Thanks for your patience!

A Quick Commercial Message...

2006-08-24T02:28:00.000-07:00

I know, keeping up (kind of) three shares blogs is a lot of work, and I think I get a couple of you that check out one or two of the other blogs, but please take a moment and check out my other two sharesites, you may find something you like!!

The moodietoonz site has more tiki-jazz-lounge-mood type stuff from the post-shellac era, and the AudiOddities site has.... well.... stuff that doesn't fint any real genre. I usually put up strange stuff there, and occasionally, some home recordings on disc. It is different!

As usual, comments are always welcome, and if you link to any one of the blogs, your link will show up in all three of the audioshare blogs.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programme....

Riverside History of Classic Jazz

2006-08-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Here it is, in all its' 5 disc and 18 pages of liner notes glory!

I'm gonna do this up as 5 separate archives, plus an archive of the liner notes in actual size...

I got this set years ago in Portland, Oregon, for the sum total of fifteen bucks... because the discs were about three steps from TRASHED! The binder has finally fallen apart, the sleeves are all ripping out at the bottom, there was even some white mold-like residue on one of the discs.

The set starts out with a "roots of jazz" type thing, going back to field recordings of African chants and Southern street vendors calling out their wares. It then goes to the early days at the turn of the 20th Century ragtime, early blues, and boogie-woogie, then develops from there, to examples of Chicago and New York, then goes on to the revival of 'hot jazz' in the late 1940s. Riverside released this in 1956, with remasters done by Reeves Sound Studios, and a discography by Orrin Kepnews.

In the discography pages, however, there are a BUNCH of hand-written corrections... so I wonder who had this set before I did... one GLARING error is on side 9, to be specific, the Muggsy Spanier track is labelled on the disc and in the discography as "Lonesone Road", when, in fact it is "Muskrat Ramble"! There are a couple of other personnel corrections in the notes as well, I'll leave you to figure out who and what...

Anyway, let us get the ball rolling...
Disc One ('Backgrounds' and 'Ragtime')
Disc Two ('The Blues' and 'New Orleans Style')
Disc Three ('Boogie Woogie' and 'South Side Chicago')
Disc Four ('Chicago Style' and 'Harlem')
Disc Five ('New York Style' and 'New Orleans Revival')

...and here is the link to the 18 pages of liner notes for you to read at your leisure. There are some good photos in there, as well...

You'll note that this collection is VERY heavily leaning towards the Dixieland-style, or "hot" jazz, as opposed to what jazz had already turned into (that being swing), and where it was going (bop, cool, and third-stage, to name a few styles). Whether it was a desire to chronicle the 'classic' period, or maybe an effort to help 'right the boat' as some saw it, it is not known... what I do know is this: this is a darn good compendium of where 'trad jazz' started and where it was going, even if it had, by 1956, crumpled itself into a niche that it would never really escape from.

...except for the many avid fans of Trad Jazz, of course :)

The Rest of the Classical Stuff, and more

2006-08-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

I have the rest of the classical stuff (well, the single disc items, anyways, I'm giving up on the Tosci Red Seal DeLuxe stuff for the time being...) from the last haul encoded, and I think it kind of illustrates my point about cruddy recordings...

In this batch, there is a Red Seal shellac recording of Arturo Toscanini & the NBC Symphony Orchestra performing the Prelude to Act 1 and Prelude to Act 3 from Verdi's "La Traviata". Now THIS is a FAR superior recording to the Tosci DeLuxe sessions, at least the one I fought with in the last post. The shellac was much quieter, and it seems as if the recording, while still sounding a bit like it was coming from a canyon, is more defined than the Cinderella Overture on red vynil. Obviously, this was an earlier recording, but still, there's no excuse for a recording that sounds like it was recorded in Mush Canyon, especially when you're trying to release it on a high-end format (at least for that period).

I found kind of a cringer in this lot as well, the Sigmund Romberg rendition of John Philip Sousa's Semper Fidelis march. This is what happens when you get an over-ambitions orchestra doing a classic march, and turning it into something that was rejected for a film score. Yes, it's an orcehstrated version which isn't too awful bad, until you get to the coda..... WHERE THE HECK DID THAT COME FROM??? oy vey and gevalt. RCA Victor, this was not a winner of the catalogue.

At least, his rendition of Lehar's Silver and Gold Waltz passes muster nicely. If this was also film-score bait, then this works. Very nicely done. Note to Sigmund.... put down the marching scores and slowly back away.

Let's contrast this with a Columbia Masterworks pressing of Andre the K (Andre Kostelanetz & His Orchestra) doing Sibelius' Valse Triste. Yes, the engineer rolled off the top end somewhere around 10k, but the performance made me actually sit there and go "....wow." He sure knew how to wave a baton. RCA may have had the better sonic recordings, but sometimes the performance surpasses the sonic incredulity. Andre's version of Paderewski's Minuet in G, even though it sounds like it was sped up in the control room to A-flat, is still a beautiful recording. Nice nice nice stuff.

I found another RCA Red Seal of Alexander Brailowsky, This time doing one of my favorite piano spectaculars, Franz Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2. OK, it's both sides of the disc, so he takes pretty much all the repeats indicated in the original score. BUT... this is NOT my favorite version of this piece. It is an interesting study in how to slop through some of the really hard bits and still sound somewhat reasonable. If you listen to the last portion of the piece, you'll hear some real schlepping in there... granted I have many versions of this, and most try to master that part (including Irwin Nyreghazi's version, which is the best example of how to power one's way through the piece, irregardless of notation), but Alexander must have had a bad day when this was recorded.

Time for a treat.

Gordon Jenkins wrote this four-piece deal and recorded it in 1949 for Decca entitled Manhattan Tower. The four parts, all combined for you so you don't have to stack up the mp3 files on the mp3-o-phone, are: "Magical City", "The Party", "New York's My Home", and "Love In A Tower". Gordon wrote this as a sonic memento of his living in a suite in one of the skyscrapers in Manhattan for a month while on assignment there, since he was working in Los Angeles as conductor there, but came to New York occasionally for conducting gigs. This was pretty popular around 9/11 for some reason, and I found a copy of this a while back... it's not in the greatest shape, and the de-noise took a few liberties (for which I apologize), but it is still a neat little narrated piece of sonic poetry. Elliot Lewis did the narration, and Beverly Mahr did the solo on "New York's My Home". This was released on Decca's 'unbreakable under normal use' Deccalite media, which, for some odd reason, made it more susceptable to noise. Sigh......

Anyways, we're done with classical for a little while, I have some big band and country swing stuff coming up that should knock your socks off, so check in often, you never know what'll be in the shanty!

Classical Interlude + a Couple of Requests

2006-08-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of requests from the 78-list, so I'll start off with fulfilling those...

It's In The Book (Parts 1 & 2)

I don't know the history of this recording too well, but thanks to David Lennick, he let me know that this is the original release of this comedic classic. Magnolia was a label in Hollywood that Horace Heidt owned, so he released this Johnny Standley routine, which Capitol picked up and bought the masters to. It has been bootlegged many many times hence, and occasionally appears on the Dr Demento program, and other comedy/dementia radio shows.

The label scan is the best I could do to accurately get the colors down, silly Nero Photo program wanted to keep making things brighter and the lettering more golden than it is... took me longer to get the label scan correct than to get all the noise out of this record, and the record was pretty beat up. If you have this record on Magnolia, you'll note that there is an ongoing 60-cycle hum in it, varying from "noticeable' to 'really freaking obnoxious'. I removed as much as I could...

Next up, a piece of interesting-ness. Sears, in the late 40s and early 50s, had their own Silvertone house label (actually, there were earlier iterations of Sears in-house labels, but this series of Silvertone would be around the early 1950s). These wre available for those retail customers that had purchased a Sears phonograph, so they would have something to play on it when the machine was delivered.

Again, with thanks to David Lennick, I found out that the releases were usually single disc affairs, but this one is an anamoly... spanning two discs (red vynil, no less) is the Overture to Romeo and Juliet, composed by Tchaikovsky, and performed by the Silvertone Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Eric Leinsdorf. No clue as to which REAL orchestra this was, but I suspect it was the orchestra Mr. Leinsdorf was conducting at the time.

While we are on the subject of red vynil 78s, let's look at the RCA Red Seal DeLuxe series. In an attempt to make 78s more 'hi-fi', RCA Victor released some material on red vynil pressings, as opposed to their usual shellac pressings. RCA had already released things on vynil (promotional and DJ-release records), so they were familiar with how to press things well on the new medium. These were thicker than the DJ pressings, and were meant to be (1) uinbreakable, and (2) have a quieter sound than shellac. They nailed (1), but GOT nailed on (2) because of the massively heavy stylus pressure utilized on period phonographs. Remember, this was the age of steel needles in heavy pot-metal (or bakelite, if it was hi-tech) tone arms, with no sense of balance or anti-skate, or anything that we now take for granted. Also, the paper sleeves tended to put small hairline scratches into the discs (no dust protection), making them VERY noisy. When found new, these play really really nicely, but if you chance on to them in less-than-new condition, they can be a real headache to get the noise out of.

The set that I just acquired is one of those... less-than-new.

This is a set of Rossini overtures, as performed by Arturo Toscaninni and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. I have seen this set on Victor LP many times, and even on rhe RCA Red Seal regular shellac 78s, but never in the DeLuxe type. So, I buy it, and bring it home, and start encoding the La Cenerentola Overture. NOISY! And, in my opinion, not that great of a recording, either. Is it me, or were the RCA classical recordings, at least the ones of Tosci, just recorded that badly compared to other recording of the time?

To compare notes, I grabbed an RCA Red Seal shellac pressing of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture, performed by Eugene Ormandy and the MInneapolis Symphony Orchestra. As far as noise went, this was MUCH better, but the recording... errgghh. The Rossini was spread out over two sides, while this was a single side, and I think that Eugene waved the baton somewhat wildly in the tempo department.

Even more interesting was his rendition of Moto Perpetuo, by Paganini. I haev not heard this performed many times, but, from what I can tell, it is somewhat of a challenge to the string sections. And at this breakneck tempo, a REAL challenge!

Time for a little relaxation, no? No.

Alexander Brailowsky, pianist very-darn-good, crammed these two onto one side of a 12" disc for RCA Victor... Rimsky-Korsakoff's Flight of the Bumblebee, and Liadoff's The Music Box. Nice little etudes and studies, performed much better than in 99.99 per cent of young person's recitals that we have all had to sit through more than once in our lifetimes (either as parent or fellow performer.... I know. I have done both on repeated occasions). When you have nightmares with a poorly-executed "Fur Elise" as the soundtrack, you know you have been to one too many.

NOW it is time to relax the tempo a bit. Brailowsky gives us Chopin's Nocturne in F-sharp (Opus 15, Number 2), so that we can all relax from the noise and rushed tempii and hecticness of the day.

I think that the red vynil experiments of RCA Victor were a good idea that was too early for its' time... I have heard what these are capable of, sonically, and they'll blow your socks off, but they also tended to show off really putrid (even for the time) recording technique.

Where was Enoch Light when ya needed him!

Some Sweet, Some Swing, Some Stuff

2006-08-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Let's start off with the stuff... I had in the latest round of thrift store shellac this album by Frank Froeba & His Backroom Boys. Unfortunately I only have, you guessed it, 3 of the 4 discs in there, but all 6 sides are some pretty nice bar-room piano with a very light rhythm section behind Frank. No info on who he is, but he's got some nice chops, and the ability to go from waltzes to boogie without any problems. I put all 6 sides in an archive, so if you want Back Room Piano just click on the link. It WORKS now!

First off, a couple of light classical sides. These got mixed in with the current batch of 78s, they sounded good, so here they are. Charles Kullman sings with his tenor voice, two songs from the motion picture "Song of Scheherazade", backed by the orchestra conducted by Julius Berger. It is unknown whether or not these are from the sound track, but they're nice to listen to on a summer's evening... his renditions of Gypsy Song and the Fandango from Capriccio Espagnole are good, nice recordings, nicely encoded. This bunch of shellac was, for the most part, in really decent shape, but there were a couple of exceptions... this one wasn't one of them though.

Going into the Sweet side of things, here's a pair by legendary Golden Throat (and butt of many jokes) Vaughn Monroe. His rendition of The Legend of Tiabi makes my skin crawl. I can see why Spike Jones said what he did about him... Vaughn takes this Navajo legend song and turns it completely into sticky sticky gossamer goo of Wonder Bread. The only thing worse is actually bringing in the Sons of the Pioneers for his butchering of Cool Water. WHAT IS WITH THE SWING BREAK IN THERE??? How RCA Victor could sell this stuff, I'll never know. I really really want to make this my Clanker of the Week, but I feel bad about doing that with the Sons. Vaughn Monroe? You deserve every bit of Clanky-karma you get over this one. Bleah.

Let's move on to a VERY politically incorrect version of Missouri Waltz, performed by Eddy Howard & His Orchestra, on the Majestic label. Majestic had some winners out there, and some LOSERS. WARNING: this song has references to darkies and picaninnies in it, sung by a white guy, recorded in 1946. Just thought I'd warn you. The back side is a bit more soothing, except for the fact that the record has some pretty bad damage on it... this is one of the exceptions to the general level of quality in this batch, so, my apologies. I tried to get most of the poo out of it, but there's still some artifacting in there, so best to play this with the treble decreased for better results... unfortunately the title, My Best to You, isn't the best of quality, but, hey, I tried.

Continuing on in Sweet-ville, here's a pair of recordings by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae on the Capitol label from 1949... Whispering Hope and A Thought In My Heart. Orchestral duties on these are by Paul Weston, and they're nice... if you like Geritol or Serutan and Carter's Little Pills with your Wonder Bread... I really don't care too much for the sweet side of the shellac era, maybe it was being forced to watch Lawrence Welk too much as a youth. But, I post these for your edification, education, and entertainment, because I know that SOMEWHERE out there, people like this stuff (he says as he grins...).

We'll go now to another Majestic record, this one a bit better than the Eddy Howard cringer.... The Three Suns. Their version of Twilight Time and It's Dawn Again show their smoothness (and nice work on the Hammond organ, too, for which I am a sucker for...). Recorded in early 1945, a pleasure to the ears. THIS is the sweet stuff I can relate to!

We'll go about a year into the future, into November of 1946, for this pair by Ray Noble & His Orchestra. Buddy Clark croons a good croon here on Love is a Random Thing, and Linda. Ray Noble was another of the great sweet band leaders of the time, and you can see where the popular music trend was heading from these two very well-recorded Columbia sides.

Earlier in the same year, Kay Kyser recorded a pair of fairly famous tunes, one sweet: The Old Lamp-Lighter, with one Michael Douglas on vocals (anyone for a loverly bunch of cocoanuts?), and one swingy: Huggin and Chalkin', with Jack Martin singing about his girthly girl and the betrayal by a piece of chalk. The Kaydettes were the backing vocalists on both sides, as well. Another pair of nicely done Columbia sides!

--- ADDENDUM ---
It is with sadness that I just learned that Mike Douglas passed away this morning, 11 August, on his 81st birthday.
----------------

Had enough sweets and want to burn off some of the energy? Well, here we go!

We'll start with a VERY early Phil Harris pair, one song of which we have heard before: Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree. This recording is from 1937 and is VASTLY different than his ARA treatment of the tune recorded 9 years later. It is the same song, to be sure, but done in a much more down-tempo rendition. Phil was with Columbia/OKeh at this time, before he went to ARA and then eventually on to RCA VIctor, where he recorded his big hit "The Thing". The B-side is a very laconically recorded version of Nobody... it shows his smooth Southern Gentleman style of delivery at its' best. I'm NOT knocking this record, believe me, it is just that these songs are so DIFFERENT than what I've heard from Phil in his later years.

Keeping up with a bit of the diginified country theme, here are a pair from Dorothy Shay. Dorothy was very good at taking what would be considered 'hill-billy' songs and putting them up with a very swanky (and VERY GOOD) swinging arrangement and orchestra. Pappy's Predicament and Another Notch in Father's Shotgun show this off quite nicely, with backing vocals by a group known only as "Her Kinfolk". On Pappy's Predicament, listen for the joke-play with the names of cities and states, it's a hoot. A pair of Columbia sides, recorded in 1949, and the quality of the encode is pretty doggone good.

Next we have up a pair by the DeCastro Sisters. Don't know too much about these fine singing ladies, except that they recorded this pair on a local Los Angeles label, Abbott records. They do very well with their renditions of It's Love, and Teach Me Tonight, backed up by Skip Martin & His Orchestra. I would suspect that these were done in the early 1950s, kind of when swing and sweet were mixing it up and emerging as the period of popular music. It is too bad these girls didn't land a major record deal, they would have done quite well...

Next up, a pair by one of the best boogie pianists in the 40s and 50s, Albert Ammons. His version of Swanee River Boogie is a hep boogie treatment of the old standard. The B side has Jack Cooley singing I Don't Want To See You, with Albert kicking his Rhythm Kings as hard as they would go. A prime example of 1946 R&B here, and it only got better as time went on. These were on a pretty ratty Mercury disc, but I think I got most of the groove-poo out...

Next up, we have a very popular 78 by Ethel Smith and the Bando Carioca. Yes, ladies & gentlemen, it is that quintescential Hammond organ showpiece, Tico-Tico. Almost every Hammond player (myself included) has a copy of this, as it was (I think) the first real pop recording of the venerable Hammond B-3. Nice samba background too. Ethel definately had the Hammond Chops going on this, as well as the back side, a medley of 2 songs, Lero Lero & Bem te vi Atrevido. This Decca recording was really really decent, which is a surprise as this Ethel Smith record was usually played to death. Nice stuff!

We close with what I think is one of my best encoding and remastering jobs ever, on one of my most favorite recordings ever, of one of my most favorite songs ever, by one of my most favorite groups ever. Spike Jones & the Other Orchestra's Laura. This 78 was damn near pristine when I pulled it from the album. Yes, I used a protective cloth on it so that no finger oils got into the grooves, and yes, I breathed on it a little in the remastering. THIS is an example of the high fidelity one can get out of a 78rpm record when it is remastered correctly. I'm kinda bummed that the back side, When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on the Tuba, didn't come out as well, but, hey, it is still a great pair of tunes to end this session with. Dick 'Country' Washburne was one of the best tuba players around, ever, and this shows how fanatical Spike was about the musicality in any of his recording efforts. His bands and orchestras were always perfection-tight, very professional, and it showed. I love Spike Jones' stuff, and I'm glad to have as many 78s of him as I do, and I'm glad to have this particular one in the excellent condition that it is in. And I'm always glad to encode 'em up and share them with all you good people out there in Internet-land.

Until next time!

Happy Birthday, Sir Harry!

2006-08-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

It was on August the 4th, 1870, that a wee bairn was born in the fair land of Scotland. His name was Harry, and he went on to be the first person ever to sell one million records. Yes, it was Harry Lauder, the Singin' Scotsman (later to be knighted as Sir Harry Lauder).

Also, someone on the 78 list posted a very late (in his career) recording of Hiking Medley, which prompted me to unearth my encodes of Sir Harry stuff. (If I get permission to share the Hiking Medley song, I'll add in the link). I have 10 twelve-inch sides, altogether, which I'll try and put in some chronological order (no guarantees!)...

The earliest ones I have would be the Victor purple label single-sided discs in the 70000-series. From the North, East, South, and West, on Victor 70120, would have been recorded during the US involvement in World War One, as Harry is remarking about the soldiers and sailors he encountered on this voyage to and from America. The other single-sided purple label is Victor 70125, I Think I'll Get Wed in the Summer. Probably about the same time, given the catalog number, as the other one, but I'll have to check Ty's discography to be sure. This one was a very worn copy, so the encode is not very good, I'm afraid.

Next up is There Is Somebody Waiting For Me, on a blue label Victor disc, catalog number 55121-A, paired with The Bounding Bounder (55121-B). Don't know when this was recorded, as Ty's online discography doesn't cover any of the Victor bat-wing ethnic issues.

Next up is the pair of Sir Harry's most popular and well-known recordings, Roamin' in the Gloamin', and Wee Hoose 'Mang the Heather (Victor blue label 55129-A and -B respectively). The B-side was also pretty beat up, so the encode isn't the greatest, but you get the idea. I think somewhere in the stacks I have another copy of this, I'll need to dig it up and re-record it.

I suspect, and maybe someone on the 78 list can confirm, that the blue label discs were re-releases of teh purple label single-side discs, coupled so that the buyer would have half the weight to carry home, and save twice the space in the gramophone cabinet (or Victrola cabinet). Very thrifty and Scottish ideal!

The next disc is a surprise to me as I forgot I had encoded it! Cut from the UK HMV (His Masters' Voice) masters Cc8016 and Cc8002 respectively, here are the electrically recorded versions of Roamin' in the Gloamin' (Victrola Scroll-label Red Seal 9012A), and I Love A Lassie (Victrola Scroll-label Red Seal 9012B). Harry's voice made the transfer from the horn to the microphone quite well, and in these sides you can hear the warmth in his voice that could only be imagined with acoustic recording technology. Don't have a date on these, maybe someone can fill me in...

Last up is Victrola Red Seal (Scroll label) 9295, the A-side being the electrically recorded version of Loch Lomond (HMV master Cc8029), and the B-side, Scotch Memories (interestingly, no indication of this being a HMV master!). Again, no dates I have on these, unfortunately, but I would put them at approximately the late 20s.

THe significance of the scroll label (which I'll post as soon as I can find the discs again) was that these were electrical (or, as Victor put them, "New Orthophonic") recordings. Electrical recording was the rage as early as 1927, and finally took over the industry by 1930. Victor and Western Electric had two different systems (yes, one was Victor and the other was Columbia... same story, same rivalry, things just don't change, do they...), so if you see a 78 with a W in a circle or a diamond in the groove run-out area, it is an electrical recording. This stopped as well in the mid-30s.

I hope you enjoyed my little tribute to Sir Harry... raise a glass of single-malt and toast the man for bringing a bit of Scotland to the Victrolas of America.

More swing from the thrift store

2006-08-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

I'm only into the second of four album cases and I have some really hep platters for all you hep-catters...

Starting off tonight's edition, a double-side of the original Dusty Fletcher version of Open The Door, Richard. This is a two-parter on the National label, the first part I have occasionally heard on some of the R&B shellac or Americana radio stations, but I have never heard the second part (which is just as funny, in my opinion). I do know that Louis Jordan has covered this, along with a few other performers, but the original still stands up there proudly.

Moving right along, here are four sides by that legendary Southern Gentleman, Mr. Phil Harris. The first side is one of his classics, Woodsman Spare That Tree. This isn't the later RCA release, this is the earlier (and better, again my opinion) ARA release. A lot of his ARA stuff was re-recorded for release on RCA Victor, but the ARA material just seemed to have more spunk and energy than the RCA sides did. The back side, Bump On-The-Head Brown, bears this out, as it is typical of one of Phil's anecdotal stories about life in a smaller Southern USA town. Even though the songs weren't written by Phil, he sung 'em like he had wrote 'em, sho'nuff.

Next we go to Phil and (I believe) his young daughter. Yes, folks, it's the ARA pressing of One-zy Two-zy. Proof that using children in a record CAN be a good thing. She's devilishly cloying and you can tell that she has Daddy wrapped all around her little finger (as all little girls do so well with their fathers). I have the RCA version of this somewhere, I'll have to compare it with this, the original, to see if it got sweeter or if it just got sappier.

The back side, Some Little Bug, shows us that things haven't changed too much in the infectious culinary arts department, only the names have been changed to protect the board of health. Nice number, and it'll have you looking at that McDOnalds burger twice before chomping it into oblivion.

We'll wander off into Western-land now, with another ARA pressing, that by Smiley Burnette. Catfish Take A Look At That Worm will strike a chord into all who practice the art of trying to catch dinner from a lake, pond, or stream. Sometimes, dinner refuses to co-operate! But it is a nice little Western string band interlude to while away the hours, and hopefully not scare away the fish.

The back side of this one, is a song that actually Phil Harris could have recorded and pulled it off. Peg-Leg Bandit is a story about a small time varmint and how his karma bites him in the fleshy parts of his anatomy. There's a moral lesson here, but the song is too fun to worry about that... Smiley Burnette shows up in a lot of late 40s western music radio programs, a lot of them are out there on the net, and are worth looking up if you're into the genre. Some very good country swing listening!

Now, for Waltz Time. These two were not in the greatest of shape when I found the disc, but I managed to get a somewhat noise-free encode (you should have SEEN the GOONK that came off the record cleaning brush!)... the D'orsay Dance Orchestra, electrically recorded on the Harmony label (at that time a Columbia pressing), performing Cuban Love Song, with Jack Miller on the vocals. Nice little waltz to break up the dance card for you. The back side, another number in 3-4 time, is Tell Me With A Love Song, this time with Bobby Dix doing vocal duties. These were done in the late 20s-early 30s (I need to check Ty's online disography), but showed that waltzes could be done with flair and panache, and that not all things were hot-cha swing jazz.

I found this curiosity in the stacks, played it, and decided to share it with you. Collins H. Driggs was apparently an organist of some repute and reknown. His stylings on the Hammond aren't too shabby, either, as witnessed by his renditions of Hindustan and Loch Lomond. Recorded on the Enterprise label out of Los Angeles (I assume in the late 40s?), Collins had a guy on trap drums with brushes as his only backup, and I assume it is he that is also playing the celeste. You may think that organ music was specifically for the skating rink, but this stuff actually has a decent swing factor.

Let's get back to the swing, big band style now... Jan Savitt was one of the leaders who never got to the level of Benny, Artie, Glenn, Tommy, Jimmy, or Woody. Not to say that he didn't have some players with good chops! He also had some nice tight arranging on hand as well, as witnessed by Lovelight in the Starlight. His band, the Top Hatters, are backing Carlotta Dale's vocals well and fine in this number, and I'm sure that many a nightclub attendee and their parners danced the night away to things as good as this. This was from teh pre-war era, as the Bluebird label was teh one with the musical staff on it, not the later one that Glenn Miller sides are usually seen with.

Bon Bon takes over the microphone on the back side, singing Moonshine Over Kentucky. Swinging a little harder, but still getting the job done, with some very nice solo work in here as well. Only wish I had a personnel list....

OK, crescendo time... Woody Herman. Another great bandleader of the 40s. Took his craft well into the late 70s with many editions of his Thundering Herd. Swung his butt off. I know this, because I got to see a lot of the later Herd shows when Woody brought them through the northwestern US. This recording is somewhat earlier, because, even though it is on Columbia, it has no mention of the Herd on the label. But it swings right along, anyway! Woody picks up the microphone and sings about that southern Mecca, Atlanta, GA. The band has fun with this one too, and the pressing quality is short of miraculous. The Columbia engineers brought their A-game when they recorded this one, and it shows.

Where it REALLY shows how hard Woody could drive his outfit is on the back side, Wild Root. This swings right up there with the best of them, and the recording is just soooo pristine that you can almost hear the walls shake from the energy. This is one for the jumpin'-wailin'-jivin' hepcats and hepkittens to tear up the pinewood with, baby!

Get out there and SHAG IT!

Some are hot, and some are.... not

2006-07-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

Yep, you can see what I have been doing! Encoded a BUNCH more of these 78s I got in a nice haul a week or so ago. And, let me tell you, some of these were in darn near mint condition... one of them is even autographed! We'll get to those later on...

Let's start it off with another CLANKER OF THE WEEK. It is only Monday, but I think that this thing rates almost as high up as the infamous Patti Page Snowman song (shudder). But, hey, what do you expect with a title like Cornbelt Symphony. Oh, this one is CORNY alright, teeth-grittingly so. I would have to give Jack Smith & The Clark Sisters an 8.5 on the Clank-O-Meter for this one... and, have the insulin handy, too, because it is full of that cloyingly sweet high fructose corn syrup as well. Yeeargh.

The back side of this disc isn't much better, to tell you the truth. Cute, but it is a piece of Wonder Bread mexicana called Cuanto Le Gusta. Can't even get it spelled right... what were they THINKING? This side does for American-Mexican relations what Jimmy Doolittle did to Tokyo in 1942. That's right.... bomb. Why, Capitol, why?

Remember the Evelyn Knight disc a few posts ago? Well, I found some more of HER high fructose syrup-y sweetness... four sides, actually (again on the GOOD Decca shellac)... two (A Little Bird Told Me, and Brush Those Tears From Your Eyes) with a vocal group of sweater-wearing all-American boys called The Stardusters, and two (Buttons and Bows and I Know Where I'm Going) by herself, with an orchestra backing. Mannie Somebody... both tunes were from the movie "The Paleface". Another non-memorable cinematic excursion into Saturday afternoon, I'm guessing. I don't have the discography site handy, but I wonder when the Buttons and Bows side was recorded, before or after Doris Day's version. I actually kind of like Evelyn's better... sort of like Day and Knight.... OK OK, bad pun. We'll move on.

Let's stick in a little more Western pop here... this is actually one of my favorite pop western tunes, and one of my favorite recordings of same. Eddy Arnold (the Tennessee Plowboy, or so it says on the label), singing Anytime. This is a great record. Sung well, played well, recorded well, what more can I say? Hats off to RCA Victor, they did this one good. And you'll have it stuck in your head for a while, which is not a abd thing. Even the B-side, What A Fool I Was, is a good follow-on tune, a little more Western, but still a darn good number. Eddy knew how to pick 'em, I reckon.

Continuing on down Wonder Bread Lane, we have a couple of Al Goodman sides. Al occasionally swung the band fairly well, but was better known for his sweet work. These two, When I Grow Too Old To Dream and Deep In My Heart Dear, are just that, very good sweet-swing tunes. Columbia cranked out a bunch of stuff like this, just right for dancin' and romancin'.

One more sweet thing, by the master of the croon, Der Bingle. This is an older Bing, with Matty Melnick's orchestra backing him up, performing an old standard, Deep Purple. Der Bingle at his shellac-y pre-war Decca blue-poo noisy best. I was going to do up the back side of this, Stardust, but there was a groove dig in there waaaaay too bad to get a good encode. Sorry, kids, but what I have coming up will definately make up for it.

Let's shift the gears and go to a pair by Dennis Day, with Freddy Martin's ORchestra backing him. This was on a vinyl 78, one used for promotional use. These vinyl 78s got sent out to radio stations and some big retail clients. They usually didn't last too long, as the stylus tracking forces of the day (numbered in many-grams) would do a very good job of destroying the record after a few plays. Fortunately, some survived, and when found in decent shape, can result in a really nice recording. This was one of those. Dennis does a stirring rendition of J.P. Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, and then backs it with a little novelty number called Come Into the Parlor. Cutely done, and very Irish... well at least at first, anyways.

Now, let's swing this thing a little bit.

Frankie Carle. Not known for whipping a band into a frenzy like Goodman or Prima or either of the Dorsey Brothers, but just the same, this is the SWINGINGEST version of The Glow-Worm that I have EVER heard. Columbia did a brilliant job recording this as well, because it is not too often a case where you can hear the band 'breathe' with the room acoustics. This 78 is one of them. Nice, nice, nice. And the B-side, Penguin at the Waldorf is right up there with it, both for swinging and recording quality. WOW. I love it when you get 78s that are in good enough shape and recorded well enough to show off just how GOOD a shellac disc can be.

While not in the audio quality realm of Columbia, this ARA pressing of Illinois Jacquet's band, The Jacque Rabbits, makes up for it in heavy-hitting swing. And these two sides knock back to back home runs, let me tell ya! Start off with Illinois Stomp, and you can hear just how hard the band is going at it. The B-side, Ladies' Lullaby... well, if this is a lullaby, I'd hate to hear the alarm clock! Grab on, strap in, and hold tight, this one is a killer-diller!

Just to slow it down a piece, we'll give up a Mindy Carson pair, backed by the Glenn Osser Orchestra. Mindy did these on Musicraft, a lesser-known label, but they still had some fine stuff to sell. Not all heavy hitters, but enough to keep the coffers gonig for a few years... These two are as lightly and sweetly sung as any, but Mindy has a little fun with them, fun enough to add her to my 'Keep Your Eyes Open For More' list. Pianissimo and What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For are two very very nice pieces to catch your breath with. Cutting in, please....

Our last pair for the night... Ray McKinley. He recorded these two for Majestic, the first, with Teddy Norman on the vocals, is a nice little sweet number entitled One Love. More of what Ray was known for, yes yes yes... a nice little tune, swung and swooned, and all that. But what makes this record special is the A-side (and it looks like the B-side was recorded BEFORE the A-side was, according to the matrix numbers), Down the Road A Piece. Whoa. Dissonance. Almost a be-bop boogie piece. Ray McKinley doing vocals. And then it goes into this hard, hammering, swinging, coming at you like a steam engine ready to rock off the rails, hold on Gertie! This is the REAL DEAL, kids! And (!!) it was recorded well enough for you to really get a feel of how hard this thing ROCKS.

AND (!!!!) IT WAS AUTOGRAPHED BY RAY HIMSELF!!! LOOKIE!!!

If you want to see a larger pic of this, click here.

Sweet, huh. I thought so.

Well, this is MORE than an album-full, and should keep y'all going for a day or two. Granted, with the ELAC, I can churn these out in greater numbers than before, and I'm starting to like it better. But, I still need to get the Fons running so I can do up some sixteen-inch transcription discs I landed a couple of days ago... those will have to wait for a good while until I figure out how to get a transcription table re-rigged.

So, have a good'un, enjoy the 78s, because, more are coming!!!

A pictoral view of the MESS

2006-07-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well, you've heard the posts, here's how they get from point A to point B... kinda.

Someone said that it is cathartic to share messy spaces and be amazed at how anything gets done, but here's the litany.....

Here's the stack of stuff to do for the MoodieToonz blog, plus a few 78s in the mess somewhere...

And here's MORE LPs and a few albums of 78s to do up...

The main guts, a TEAC 4300 reel deck, Kenwood KX-5530 cassette deck, and the Marantz 2252 with the Pioneer PL-71 atop it. ALL this stuff was bought from thrift stores or estate sales.

Another look at the ELAC and the Vac-O-Rec... both are thrift store gems, the ELAC for 5 bucks, the Vac-O-Rec for three.

Here's the 10-dollar Pioneer table I use for any LPs and 45s. It's doing a Ronnie Aldrich LP for the MoodieToonz blog now...

A side-view of the 'operating position' with another rack of recent finds that need to get encoded. I also do amateur radio so there are scanners and stuff in there, and even a couple of satellite receivers. And the many cans of soda...

The headon view of the computing position. Where all the editing and remastering takes place.

The three boxes in the garage, the one on the left is the audio remastering machine, the cnetre one is for audio out-streaming (currently streaming the Tiki Radio stream found in the side-bar), the one hidden on the right is used for aircraft spotting and monitoring (ACARSd server).

The TV I watch when I get bored or during a long boring encode.

About five percent of the total amount of cassettes I have.

As you can see, I have a lot of CRAP in here, but it's all GOOD crap :)

And, for all you kitten lovers, here's the newest addition to the house...

Artie Shaw Live!

2006-07-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

As promised, here it be! At least the first disc of the live stuff... RCA Released this some time in the late 50s or early 60s, in a 2-LP box set, with a nice little booklet of liner notes. The notes takes the reader through Artie's rise and hey-dey, all the way to when he got tired of the limitations of swing (to him) and just didn't show up one night. That spelled the end of the outfit, effectively, but Artie did do some projects after that fateful night in the Cafe' Rouge...

These cuts show that Artie's outfit COULD swing, and swing hard. There's a couple of early Buddy Rich efforts in here (you can hear him pushing the band, both on the traps and with his verbal coaching) that show just how brilliant he was going to be in the future. Tony Pastor gets his chops in as well, both on vocals and on a solo on tenor.

Here it is, then... Artie in the Blue Room

AND!!! Since I got on the stick and it is still Thursday, I went ahead and did up the other LP for your pleasure. This one has recordings from a little later on in Artie's career, right before he decided to vamanos a Mexico and leave the band to Tony Pastor. This band swung harder than the Blue Room band did, and I'm of the opinion that it was due mainly to one individual, kicking the band hard from the traps... one Mr. Buddy Rich. It's a case of one person making all the difference in an organization, bring that certain 'spark' that lights the inspiration of the rest of the outfit. Buddy had a way of doing that, all the way to his going to the next life.

As an aside, I was in Chuy's in Tempe, Arizona years ago, and could have SWORN I saw Buddy's ghost. He played there a lot in the early 80s, and I had the pleasure of seeing him live there several times. I also got to see him in the Portland, Oregon area in the late 70s as well.

One of my favorite episodes of Johnny Carson was when Artie and Buddy came on... they spent the entire 90 minutes reminiscing about "the days", and it was some of the most compelling television ever. I wish I had a copy of that program...

Anyways, enough drivel, enjoy Artie in the Cafe' Rouge.

Stil no luck on getting Vol. 2 of the Benny Goodman airchecks, I went to the thrift store where I got volumes 1 & 3 (and this Artie Shaw set), and..... nada. Maybe some day the Gods of Shellac Archiving will bless me with volume 2.

Sigh...

more from the stacks & a little political history

2006-07-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

I am having SO much fun with this ELAC, I have the tonearm balanced and everything... it's not an SME but it'll do until I can get the Fons replaced (that one had individual speed control on all three speeds, plus the plynth was set up for the SME arm).

So, while we wait around for the Artie Shaw set, here are a few more 78s I had on the 'Pile of Doom' for you to listen to...

We'll start with a little bit of political history/propogandizing from right before World War One. The US had not been drawn into the War to End All Wars when these were recorded, but the writing was definately on the wall, and songs were cranked out to get the populace ready for the coming fight.

The Peerless Quartette recorded this song, You'll Be There, to get the boys all ready for going into the trenches against the Huns. The basic theme is this: when our allies in Europe are getting the bejabbers gassed out of them, you'll proudly be in the trenches, fighting for the Good Old U.S.A. Hmmm, kind of like what Fox News and CNN are spouting now, with the current state of affairs in Lebannon... hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the Israelis can find another source of fresh water for their country without dropping white phosphorous bombs into houses in the neighboring countryside. No, ladies, and gents, I'm not a Hezbollah apologist, but neither do I buy the current rhetoric coming out of Tel Aviv. And, if it gets Syria, Iran, and eventually the U.S. involved, things are going to stink mighty mighty bad.

Which leads me to my next selection, the reverse side of the record. Aaron Campbell and Henry Burr recorded this little ditty, Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You, probably to get those who emigrated to the U.S. to either back up their newly adopted country or get the heck out. At the time, there was a MASSIVE German immigrant population in the U.S., and they were none to keen on going and fighting the forces of their homeland. As I recall, the Irish immigrants weren't very keen on the idea either, helping the British and all. So, one piece of flag-waving jingoism was placed before the peoples, and the Columbia Gramophone Co. did their part. They must have, because there were a massive amount of these sides pressed (as indicated in the last number of the matrix number, which you'll find in the ID3v2 tag).

I guess I need to say that I am VERY Patriotic, but I can't stand having a populace be manipulated by media to go off and fight and die for causes that mean little or nothing to a majority of the people in this here Constitutional Republic. I love my country, it is just that I am mad as hell about the governing thereof by a certain cabal of greedy corporate facists, while the rights, liberties, and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution are being trampled into the dirt by the very government that was sworn, individually and corporately, to uphold it.

America is not a democracy. It never was, and was never meant to be. Democracy is 10 wolves and 1 sheep deciding on the dinner menu. Do you want that? I sure as hell don't.

Soapbox mode off... but every so often, I'll post some reminders that manipulation of the populace by the media is NOT a new idea... it has been going on a lo-o-o-ong time.

Just wait until we get into a study of the race and minstrel records of the early 1900s. Makes me ashamed to be a Caucasian.

Soapbox mode REALLY off now.

Let's talk about love. A majority of these 78s deal with that, in several different musical genres... we'll start out with the almost-banal, yet somewhat swinging performance of Evelyn Knight (with the Jeff Alexander Chorus). Love's A Precious Thing... man comes, man puts stars in woman's eyes, man takes off and says "Keep on loving!"... o-o-o-o-ka-a-a-ay... even in Wonder Bread Land, teh girl has stars in her eyes I guess... but it's a nice tune, and after the third or fourth playing kind of grows on you. Recorded on Decca when their shellac was good, probably early 1950s.

On the back side of this is another, more introspective love song, If I Ever Love Again. This song, I think, takes place about 2 months after the guy in the previous song took off. I speak allegorically, of course. But it's a nice little love ballad, so what the hey. You may hear some thumps in this song, because the disc has a crack running through it, but, once again, CoolEdit did its' voodoo (that it do so well), and the track came out pretty darn good.

Going from Darn Good to Gol-durn Good, we go now to Gallatin, Tennessee, to the studios and pressing plant of Dot Records. This pair is by Big Jeff and his Radio Playboys, and is some hootin' good country swing. For those into labels (on the records) this release is on the original yellow and black Dot label, that is clearly marked "Gallatin, Tennessee" on the bottom. These releases usually had some very good western and 'hill-billy' music on them, and are somewhat sought after. This is definately pre-Pat Boone Dot Records. Step It Up And Go is a good swing-your-partner tune, with some nice pi-annah and fiddlin' in it, whereas the flip side, After We Are Through, is a howl-at-the-moon, done-broke-my-heart lament. Still good examples of early 50s country-billy, both of them.

Next up, we'll endure some of the poopy pre-war Decca shellac for a pair of love songs by none other than Ella Fitzgerald. These are crooned, more than swung, but she still had the sultry pipes! On This Love of Mine and Jim, she's right in with it as the combo grooves slow while she heats it up. A side note, This Love of Mine was co-written by one Frank Sinatra. Cool, huh.

Finally, we have one of my absolute favorite sides in shellac-land, Life Gits Tee-jus Don't It by Carson Robison. Released on MGM, this is just a great great song about the perils of procrastination and lack of motivation. This was posted on Lee's MY(P)WHAE blog a while back, and I gleefully downloaded it. Lo and behold, in this last batch of 78s I scored, here it was, and in PRISTINE shape to boot! Happiness abounds!

Wait, what's this on the flip side? Could it be? After so long? and on the back side of such a great tune as this? We have, ladies and gentlemen, our CLANKER OF THE WEEK! Wind In The Mountains. Hoo boy. Carson, you should have stuck to just one. Not only is the performance beyond lackluster, it sounds like someone put wet socks in the microphones of not only Carson, but the string band that backs him up. You can tell the sadness in the tune by how sad the musicians are that they had to record this. It must have been an effort... I give it a 7 on the Clank-O-Meter, partly for the performance, and partly for being paired with a great tune.

OK, we're done for tonight, I'll get started on the Artie Shaw here tomorrow so you can enjoy it during the weekend.

Don't forget to leave comments!

More Benny Airchecks

2006-07-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

In answer to the request for more of the MGM Benny Goodman airchecks, here is Volume 3. Wait, where is volume 2? Certainly not in the LP jacket that said Volume 2... I was encoding these up the other night and tried to follow the tune list on the jacket, and things weren't synching up... so I looks on the label and it says "Volume 3". Sigh. And, no I haven't been back to the thrift store to see if they have a Volume 3 jacket with Volume 2 in it. And I really really need to because there is some stuff on Volume 2 that is supposedly rare.

On the jacket liner notes for Volume 2, there is the story as to how these recordings came to be. Apparently, Benny, when he was going to try something new, such as a new chart, or a new voicing on a current arrangement, would have records cut of the performance of the tune, so he could review them over his late breakfast the next day. Somehow, these survived, and MGM got their paws on them. They released 3 LPs (that I know of) of selected discs, and, voila! They could have done without the crossfading bit though...

These discs, for the most part, came from the "Camel Cavalcade" program, and, as one commentor stated, showed a very different side to Benny's playing than what was done in the studio. THere is a TON more energy on thiese sides, and you can hear Benny & the boys laughing and cutting up in some of these tracks. They sound like they were having an absolute blast, which is (as a musician, myself agrees) the best space to be in when performing.

I wonder if any effort was made to get ALL of these discs together and some kind of box set made up... there'd definately be some demand for it, especially if these haven't seen the light of day for some time...

Anyway, while you're pondering the ramifications of this, enjoy the 3rd LP in the set, while I scamper off to the thrift store to see if they still have volume 2.

BG Performance Records, Volume 3

Coming up, Artie Shaw 2 LP live set.

Kenton Encores

2006-07-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the next thing underneath the George Archer set on the pile-to-get-encoded was this interesting Capitol set of Stan Kenton sides. The album is called "Encores" and contains some pretty interesting stuff, including an appearance by none other than bongo-king Jack Costanzo!

I had an issue with the first disc, as there was a huge crack & piece of it sitting in the bottom of the sleeve. Not pretty. But thanks to CoolEdit, I managed to make a listenable effort from the 2 affected sides.

Here's the cuts and soloists on them:
- Capitol Punishment - a Pete Rugolo chart, with Boots Mussulli on alto and Kai Windig on trombone.

- Somnambulism - a Ken Hanna chart, with George Weidler on alto and Milt Bernhardt on trombone.

- He's Funny That Way - Pete Rugolo's arrangement with the Misty June Christy on sultry vocals.

- Abstraction - another Rugolo chart, this time Stan takes on solo duties, with Eddie Safranski on bass and George Wiedler on the alto.

- Peg O' My Heart - Pete's arrangement of the standard, with Stan on piano, Eddie Safranski on bass, Vido Musso on tenor and Kai Windig on trombone.

- Chorale for Brass, Piano and Bongo - Rugolo wrote and arranged this, Stan on piano, Milt Bernhardt on lead trombone, Buddy Childers on lead trumpet, and bongo king Jack Costanzo on bongos.

Nice stuff this, bridging the gap between jazz and something you might hear on a 1960s Italian film soundtrack. A couple of these cuts were cutting-edge, even for the Kenton band in the 1950s!

For the most part, this set was in very nice shape, even the disc that had the big chunk out of it (which happened between the thrift store and my house, which frustrates me to NO end...) was in very good looking shape.

More coming, including another batch of BG airchecks on MGM LP (by request)!

NEW TURNTABLE!!!

2006-07-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite new, in fact, it's pretty damn old. But it will play 78s decently enough to do encodes without having to initially record them into the computer at 45rpm and use CoolEdit to adjust the speed... it is an old ELAC Miracord 50H that I bought years ago at a thrift store (naturally), stuck on a shelf in the shed, and forgot about. Until about a month ago, when I saw it in there and hauled it into the garage-studio... and forgot about. Well, now that I'm done with work for a while, I finally loaded up a cartridge to it, hooked up a phono preamp and hooked it into the Marantz as an auxillary device, cleaned it up a little, and BA-ZAMMO. New turntable. Yay-ness!

I'll start out with a couple of test-runs I did up on the ELAC, nothing very substantial, but still an indicator of how to get things rolling again....

Blue Barron was a band leader in the late 40s and early 50s. He leaned somewhat towards the post-swing 'sweet swing', which morphed into the wonderful world of early 50s popular music. This here side is an example of that sweet pop-ness, a little thing called Bubbles. This is from a MGM 78, with vocals by the Blue Notes. Not too bad, but, not exactly earth-shattering, is it.

Moving back in time, we have another example of cuteness by a group that was more known for a Western sound, but not really quite there. The Milt Herth Trio was not really known for foot-stomping country swing, although they did do a few numbers that were up there in the Yee-Hah Factor. This record is not one of them. Huckleberry Duck is a cutesy little dealie with organ (probably Hammond), piano and drums. The redeeming feature of this side is what might be taken for boogie-woogie house-rocking piano in the second half of the record. Interesting, no?

The B-side to this disc is a vocal effort by Milt, Worried Mind. Written by Jimmy Davis and Ted Daffan (of Ted Daffan's Texans), this just kind of sits there. The one thing I noticed is that Milt, for some unknown reason, sounds like the droning vocalist heard on some of the WW2 German propoganda-swing records done by the ubiquitos "Charlie & His Orchestra". Spooky, in a strange kind of way.

I was feeling brave and wanting to try an acoustic recording, and, lo and behold, I found another 9-inch Emerson disc from 1917, laying on the bench amongst the piles of LPs (which got moved into another pile so I would have room for the Miracord on the recording bench. Full-O-Snap, done by the Emerson Miliraty Band, actually came out pretty good for an acoustic record... I think I may have to redo the other Emersons with the new technique (recording in stereo and zero-ing out the gain on the left channel), because this thing came out GOOD.

OK, now to the meaty stuff.

I have a set of Bell (Hawaiian) 78s by George "Tautu" Archer & His Pagans, recorded in 1945. Now THIS is Original Tiki! I only have 3 of the 4 discs in the set, but I'll share all 6 sides with you. These are actually more Tahitian than Hawaiian, but they're still a gas.

Ama Ama
Hei Porohiti
Marcelle Vahini
Maruru A Vau
Reva Taua
Toerau

I really should say more about George 'Tautu' Archer, except for... there's no liner notes on this album! All it says is that these were recorded in 1945 in studios in Honolulu, and that the album consists of Tahitian songs and chants. They sould almost Hawaiian, except for the language is different, and instead of occasional English inserts, some of the vocals are in French (Tahiti was part of French Polynesia).

OK, that's it for this round, I'll play with the new ELAC for a while and get you some more shellac stuff.

Benny Goodman on MGM

2006-07-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Quandry solved!

Actually not by my own choosing... there were a couple of cuts on the Masterworks LP set that had groove digs on them that I couldn't overcome. Not happiness. But, since the set is still available on CD, no great loss.

So, on to Step Three: The Benny Goodman Performance Recordings LPs I found in the same trove. Here is the first volume! These are airchecks from 1937-1938 era, when Harry James and Ziggy Elman were countering the very talented sax section containing names like Adrian Rollini and Vido Musso. The band was appearing on the Camel Cavalcade radio show, and playing a long-term gig at the Madhattan Room in New York City. This was a kicking band, a tight trio, and a very fluid quartet.

And none of these recordings were released as heard here on Columbia 78s. None.

This was MGM's attempt to ride the coat tails of Columbia's celebration of Benny Goodman's 25th Anniversary, with a release of their own. They must have combed the vaults of radio program masters that they owned rights to to get these tracks, and they did one heck of a good job on this set, at least in my opinion. How they got the rights to do this? Maybe someone on the 78 list can fill in those blanks, but for now, I'll enjoy these nice snippets of Benny & the Boys doing what they did best... filling up the dance floor and getting the toes of thousands of Americans tapping on their living room floors.

I don't know much more than what is on the copious liner notes (which are due to be scanned and posted hopefully soon), so, until then, enjoy Volume 1. I'll have Volume 2 in a few days, and also some more real 78s for you to enjoy.

Back with Benny and a quandry

2006-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the Shanty for too long now.... and I have a BUNCH of stuff to encode up for you.

But first, some non-shellac shellac.

I was in a new (for me) thrift store and found a BUNCH of Benny Goodman on LP. These are shellac-era performances, and the one I am going to share with you is an edit of the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. This is NOT the 2-record set (which I have another copy of now, and I'll relate the story, because it ties in with why I'm giving this out)... that will come later. I also found some of the MGM-label "performance sessions", specifically volumes 1 & 2 (which I'll ALSO be posting in the near future here). These are, I think, from radio air-checks, which would put them well within the scope of this blog.

This here archive is volume 1 of the 1938 concert as released by Columbia as catalogue number CL-814. Now, I don't know if this is a re-re-re-issue, but there are some differences in this LP and the 2-disc Masterworks set(s) I have, notably that the only tunes on this are "Don't Be That Way", "One O'Clock Jump", the "Twenty Years of Jazz" retrospective (with a different title for the first part of that one, "Sensation Rag" as opposed to "Dixieland One-step" on the Masterworks 2-LP set), and the "Honeysuckle Rose" jam session.

I noticed that the pressings are not as 'clean' on this as the Masterworks set (which I am listening to as I type this). I have the ORIGINAL Masterworks 2 part set (the green-label Masterworks), but for some reason, the second disc on that set was mislabeled and I only have sides 1, 2, and 3. Plus, they are in pretty ratty condition, so I couldn't get a good indication of how crisp the remastering job is/was. The Masterworks set, however, still has a BUNCH of the flaws from the 78rpm masters, specifically the groove grunge in the middle of "one O'Clock Jump". I removed it from the CL-814 files, as well as 'sweetening' it somewhat. On the Masterwork set, it sounds like they went to a DIFFERENT DISC after the noise nastiness. But the MW set does sound crisper and has some more dynamics than the CL-814 release. Still has a lot of the flaws though, from the original set of takes.

I wonder, if someone were to really really go through the Library of Congress discs and the Columbia discs, and do a GOOD re-mastering job, including the cuts that were deemed "too poor for LP re-issue", would this concert be a viable release? I bet it would, especially with the technology that is currently available. Anyone familiar with the concert's liner notes can see just how big an event this was... maybe even get the COMPLETE "Honeysuckle Rose" jam session (it was heavily edited on both the releases)...

So, for the first part of our journey, here is the CL-814 Columbia release, from a Six-eye mono LP that was in fair condition when I got it. It is in .rar format, in mono 160/44 FHg MP3. I hope that the sweetening I did doesn't cause cries of "Heresy!" amongst the purists....

Download the CL-814 LP archive.

I'll have the 2-disc set coming in a few days, as well as some more 78s I found in the recent weeks.

- - - ADDENDUM - - -

After doing some looking on the net, it looks like Sony Legacy released the ENTIRE concert on a 2 CD set in 1999. It is still in print, so........

It has the ENTIRE "Honeysuckle Rose", and the songs that were removed from the original LP release. BUT, there's a LOT of surface noise on the tracks, according to one of the reviews.

So...........

I think I'll remaster it for myself since the full version is still apparently in print. Sorry, kids.

Acoustic Tunes for June

2006-06-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, now that the Memorial Day rigamarole is over, we can settle down into a summer (OK... late spring) filled with shellac-ical wonderment!

The temps in Colorado have been more summer-like than spring-like, so any time in the studio is limited (no air-conditioning), but I am managing to get a few encodes done...

We begin with the comedic pair of Furman & Nash, and their offering:Hey, You Want Any Codfish? This is from the reverse side of an earlier post of Jones & Hare off of an acoustic Columbia
disc. The scene is basically this: street vendors came through the streets of the city so that the housewife could get supplies, instead of having to go out to do marketing. Fruits, vegetables, meats, milk & cheese, even ice was available on an almost daily basis. Furman & Nash were one of the many Vaudeville teams that recorded some of their material... not as famous now as Jones & Hare, but still fun.

We'll go to Cuba for the next one, from the Orquestra de Max Dolin. Si Ilego a Besarte (Dame un Beso) is another little listenable treat for the parlor Gramophone. From an acoustic Victor, the sounds of this turn-of-the-century Cuban Orquestra are sure to please.

We'll continue this acoustic odyssey with another selection from Prince's Orchestra: La Paloma. Again, good material for the parlour on a summer evening. Tunes like this were great for sitting around, having tea and cakes on the screen-porch, the era equivalent of chillin' on the front steps of today... but much less harried!

Crossing oceans, let's hear the trio of Louise, Ferrera, and Greenus playing O Sole Mio. Hawaiian guitars playing a Neopolitan song... it does work, and I believe that this was one of Peter Ferrera's more popular early recordings for Columbia.

We did some whistling records a while back, and on the first incarnation of the Shellac Shanty (now long gone but archived somewhere, I'm sure) there were some more whistling records. This one is kind of interesting, it is the Cribiribin Waltz, as whistled by one Guido Gialdini, and recorded for posterity on a Victor acoustic disc. This record had some bad groove damage in the first 30 seconds or so, but I think I got most of what I could out of it... further on in the record, it plays quite nicely, especially after CoolEdit did its' thing. The orchestra is uncredited, unfortunately...

On to the banjo... and this is not a Fred Van Eps record! This is the A-side to the whistling record just mentioned, and the banjo is plucked and strummed quite nicely by one F. J. Bacon (with uncredited piano accompaniment). The tune is the West Lawn Polka, and it doesn't sound too much like any polka I have heard! When I was recording this into the computer, it was interesting hearing the banjo being played at 60% speed, almost sounded like a classical guitar... it gives quite an insight into fingering technique for the banjo... and this recording has a lot of very nice technical playing.

I'm working on some more for you in the jazz vein, so I'll leave you with these for the parlour for now. Keep watching this space and feeding back some feedback, and I'll keep posting the discs!

Blessed summer!

the Impaler

A Memorial Day Marching Salute

2006-05-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

As we come up to the Memorial Day holiday in the US, I had a few 78s in reserve that I was going to hold for a 'special occasion'... and Memorial Day seems like a good enough one for me.

We'll start the martial madness with a few recordings of the immortal Prince's Band, all on acoustically recorded Columbia discs. The All-American March seems like a good enough place to start... unfortunately I don't have the disc in front of me at the moment, but I'll insert composer info when I do find the disc again. On the back side of this 78 is Prince's Band playing John Phillip Sousa's Directorate March. Not as well known, but still very capably performed. Next up, we have a Medley of Patriotic Airs, arranged by Maurice Smith for Prince's Band. Stirring! We conclude with Meacham's American Patrol March. Wow. Break out the flags and rally 'round 'em boys!

We'll move way up the timeline to some more modern recordings that I found by The Goldman Band. These are some REALLY nice recordings, especially for the time, and ESPECIALLY since they're on Decca (albeit late 40s-early 50s Decca). There were 8 sides in the set, but I only had 3 discs, so, once again, 2 sides are missing... maybe one day I can get the last missing sides of this, but for now, here are the 6 sides I have:
Boston Commandery, written by T M Carter
2nd Regimental Connecticut National Guard March wriiten by B W Reeves
Colonel Bogey March, written by K J Alford
Our Flirtation, written by J P Sousa
National Emblem March, written by E E Bagley
Stepping Along, written by E F Goldman

The last one was written by the conductor, by the way. Nice stuff for a parade!

Well, I wish you all a very Blessed and safe holiday weekend, I'll be watching fast cars try and negotiate Monaco, Indianapolis, and Charlotte Motor Speedway all day tomorrow, if the motorsport gets boring, I'll encode some more!

Brad

Bob & Marek & Ted and the Debutantes

2006-05-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

After a wunnerful-wunnerful week of going through reel tapes, I noticed it has been a day or 7 since I touched this blog. Like the sands through the hourglass... these are the discs of the Shanty.

The weather has actually been good for transferring stuff, especially from reel to mp3: warm, humid, just a little breeze to make the studio bearable. It also works pretty well for 78 transfers too, for some reason, the discs are a little less noisy, and I don't get the static discharges that one gets in low-humidity climes.

But that doesn't mean that the transfers are easy, no sir-ee... the first one will be a bit of a pain to listen through, and I almost didn't post it, but it is some good trad-style jazz by one of the premier players of the post-WW2 era, Pee Wee Hunt. This pair is on the FM label, out of Los Angeles, and they look like they were pressed on ARA machines (the matrix numbers look very much like ARA pressings), which means that the ARA 'standard' shellac mix was not used, this stuff is WORSE. I don't know what got into these grooves, but it was nasty-nasty! The A-side, After You've Gone, is almost unlistenable, for which I apologize, but the B-side, On The Sunny Side of the Street fared somewhat better. Still noisy, but at least you can get an idea of what was being laid down that day.

While we're on poopy shellac quality, let's play us an early Decca from 1935... Mike Reilley & Eddie Farley and the Reilley-Farley Onyx Club Boys, in a little bot of pseudo-trad jazz called The Music Goes Round And Round. Reilley & Farley get the composition credits on this one, perhaps this is the original recording? Again, poor shellac quality (typical early Decca), but a worthy recording. The B-side, Looking For Love, is a VERY nice instrumental romp, especially considering that the shellac didn't get played to death.

Shifting gears, we'll play a little Marek Weber. Or at least I think we will, because the recording engineer, in his infinite wisdom, on a VERY nice recording of waltz medleys, decided to roll off the top at somewhere around 8000 Hz I think. Apaprently the studio was connected to the recording machine by two paper cups and a string? Shame on you, Columbia Records, for cloning Thomas A. Edison's ears onto some poor recordist.... in any case, here's In Old Vienna: Waltz Medley and In Old Vienna: Franz Lehar Waltz Medley. Dance cards please.....

All RIGHTY then... let's spice things up a bit with a gen-yew-wyne OKeh Oater... Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys! I think these were recorded in Houston, TX (matrix number starting with "H"), but they could have been done in Los Angeles... but they were cut on a July day in 1941, and Bob was definately feeling his oats on these. Tommy Duncan takes the vocal reins on Please Don't Leave Me, and then Leon McAuliffe rips it up on My Life's Been A Pleasure... well Bob certainly was doing SOMETHING pleasurable with his signature "Awww-HAAAWWW!!" calls during the song... all in all, a VERY good Wills pair here.

We'll close with what might be called the Clanker(s) of the Week.

I like Hawaiian music. Really I do. And I thought that this would be a good pair of Hawaiian sides. Really I did. But then, after playing them and encoding them, I remembered why I don't like Ted Fio Rito. Aside from the very Lawrence Welk schmaltz, aside from the inane and obnoxious wood-block playing, aside from the uninspired vocals from The Debutantes, Ted takes two GREAT Hawaiian Johnny Noble songs, and turns them into POOP! In A Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii... the girls could be singing about the Corn Festival in Salina, Kansas, for all I know. And what they do to King Kamehameha... I ought to post the Sol Hoopi version, done on Brunswick a few years earlier. MUCH more noble Noble song. Ted, you ought to have been thrown off the boat, sirrah. No wonder Spike Jones made an early target of you. These were recorded in April of 1938.... but they shouldn't have been. Cringe-o-meter? Off the scale.

I still have a bunch of marching music here, I think I'll post those for Memorial Day. Have a great week, and see you next time!

Another Sunday mixed bag

2006-05-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

As I sit here on an overcast Sunday, looking through the stacks of 78s to see what to bring you for the weekend, and NONE of them having anything to do with Mother's Day (and needing to make a couple of phone calls...), it's 'Aww, what the heck' time... you have had to put up with classical stuff for 2 postings now, might as well return to the world of popular music with this load.

We'll kick it off with a smoothie that was somewhat of a commercial success for one of my favorite singing pianists, Nat "King" Cole. Released in 1951, backed by Les Baxter's orchestra, we have Nat crooning Too Young. Nicely melodicized... smoothly sung... have another Manhattan as we curl up by the shellacophone, Dah-h-h-h-ling.

What's the better side? Of course, it would be Nat with his trio (uncredited) in a number with MUCH more jazz flavour: That's My Girl. Phil Rugolo's orchestra this time, and Nat sounds like he is having way too much fun on this take.

Turning back the clock a tad, we have a bit of a mystery here. I have this killer-diller V-Disc, y'see, and the label for one side is completely ripped off. It also looks like it had a milkshake spilled on it at some point in time. So, I clean it within an inch of its' life, do the encoding on it, and it SOUNDS like it may be Jack Teagarden, BUT I AM NOT SURE. [note correction in next paragraph!] There are the two songs on the one side, I'm Confessin' That I Love You, and Pale Moon. [The original title I had was "Song of Hiawatha" as the lyrics are directly from the poem of the same name] The singing style is definately unique, the music jumps quite nicely, but I still can't get a handle on who the leader is of this band. The catalogue number is 140b, but I have not been able to find it on any of the online discograpy tools to confirm just who it is, so that I can give it proper credit.

AND PROPER CREDIT IS FOUND!!!! Thanks to Lady Domi, these 2 cuts are Identified as TONY PASTOR! I'll be changing the ID3v2 tags on the files shortly to reflect the correct artist and title info.

The other side is a nice little small group session by John Kirby & His Orchestra, Do You Savvy. Shades of the Goodman small groups, this is definately tasty. the V-disc sessions were unique in that a lot of players could combine talents 'for the War Effort'... usually contractual obligations and restrictions would have prevented a lot of the group sessions from occurring... there's a couple of websites with some very interesting stories about V-discs and some of the things that went on during the sessions. Worth a Google!

While we're on the subject of longer sessions, I found a nice Hit of the Week recording by Phil Spitanly's Orchestra, I Apologise. Oh yes, I left the Cal Fight Song in there too, along with the announcement for "next Thursday's record." Hit of the Week records were basically paper-backed discs with a coating on them in which the grooves were pressed. They were one-sided, and played about 5 minutes length. Released by the Durium Co. during the Depression Era, the company thought that people would buy records at newsstands for a nice cheap price. Unfortunately, Durium fell to the economic woes, but we still have the music to remember them by.

As an aside, the concept of a magazine with a CD in it is definately not new!

Scooting up to 1937, we have these recordings of the Quintette of the Hot Club of France that were re-released by Victor on their Hot Jazz Classics label. You can hear the synergy that Django Reinhart and Stephaine Grapelli brought forth on these cuts, Miss Annabelle Lee, and Mystery Pacific. These Victor pressings aren't the greatest (I suspect somewhat worn masters) but they do show one heck of a great group swinging like there is no tomorrow.

Nine years, and one war later, we have a couple of nice tunes by George Olsen & His Orchestra. First, we have Judith Blair singing about war surplus! I've Got A Walkie Talkie... gee, well we had to do SOMETHING with all that surplus military equipment, I guess... the disc looked like it had gone through WW2, and the transfer is nowhere near as good as I would have liked it, but I did this up for a couple of friends that are fellow Amateur Radio operators, and this is my little tribute to them. The other side, Surrender, has Ray Adams singing about something that happened well over 9 months before the recording date... I guess the military theme was still on a lot of people's minds (at least until the V-J babies started appearing!).

Cranking up the time machine to September of 1950, we have Sammy Kaye with another sweet piece of romantic moosh, Guilty. It's not that bad, Tony Alamo does a credible job of singing here, but it just epitomizes the 'sweet' swing that makes me want to reach for the insulin after each playing of the song.

So, why did I inflict this upon you? For the B-side, of course! Who can resist anything with the words "Novelty Polka" on the label? Certainly not me! Cheeky Cheeky Hoopla fits this bill... with Tony Alamo and the Kaydettes singing this bit of drivel for the masses in Pennsylvania or Ohio (no offense intended to residents of Ohio or Pennsylvania...), I guess it is just another piece of undiscovered dementia. But it IS kinda fun though.

We'll close this week with a swinger and a swinging oater. From 1939, on the Varsity label, here is Will Osborne and his Slide Music with You Call It Madness. Nicely done, nicely swung, but otherwise nicely unremarkable. Will Osborne does the vocal work here, and not too bad of a pressing for a smaller record label. Sometimes you get the better stuff on the smaller labels (gee, kind of like today, you can get better stuff on the indie labels than what the big boys are spewing forth with...)

The swinging oater, and GREAT surprise, is Will's rendition of the Bob Nolan classic, Tumbling Tumbleweeds. It's country-swing at its' earliest? Country-jazz-swing? Jazz-western? Certainly not Hilbilly-bop.... and probably something that Buddy Rich wouldn't be TOO allergic to! It is interesting that Will took the chance with the arrangement on this tune, personally I think he pulls it off quite well, and this is one of MY favorite versions of the song.

Well, time to call the mothers in my life and wish them a happy day, enjoy the sides, and we'll see you again soon with more shellac-y STUFF!

Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" suite

2006-05-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one to tide you all over... I found this 3-disc set, listened to it, and thought it was a very nice rendition of the classic Gershwin "Porgy and Bess" tunes, arranged into a symphonic suite. It was arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, and performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Fritz Reiner.

The shellac quality is typical Columbia Masterwork late 1940s (which means it's OK but very susecptible to any kind of grunge on the disc and almost 'mooshy' in places), but a little bit of CoolEdit's juju and it cleaned up to about 90% of where I'd really like it to be.

CoolEdit Pro also has a nice way to combine the discs using their multi-track mixer... makes the side transitions almost seamless!

The complete file is about 23 megs and runs around 24 minutes... I do not recall seeing this on LP or CD, so here's a perhaps-lost piece of very nice symphonic pop-ness for you.

Porgy & Bess - A Symphonic Picture

A couple of notes - there are moments in here that sound an AWFUL lot like the arranger was listening to Whiteman's version of "Rhapsody in Blue"... I think I can tell where Russell got a couple of his transitional ideas... also during one point in I think the 5th side, someone needs to shoot the clarinet player.

Anyways, I have some more 'conventional' 78s lined up for you for next time, in the meanwhile, enjoy a little symphonic Gershwin!

Brad

A classical journey....

2006-05-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

....into the JOYS of cleaning records before trying to get a decent transfer. That was what this week was...

I found a nice looking set, "A Night At The Met" on Columbia Masterworks, with some nice operatic numbers from Rise Stevens, Lily Pons, and Ezio Pinza (whom I shall never forget as the voice narrator on a Magnavox hi-fi demo record... which I may post later on AudiOddities...), so, I figure that this should be an easy posting, and bring some culture to the Shanty, right?

WRONG!!!!

This set has to have been one of the MOST challenging I have ever done. This includes spending a night trying to get all the sonic crud out of one track, only pitching it after five hours of frustration.

The tracks DID finally come out, with a bit of coaxing (and THOROUGH cleaning of the discs... even one side was wet-played to try and get a recording of it, which is almost an absolute NO-NO), I got these tracks out of the mire for you.

Some are brilliant. GORGEOUS recordings of EXCELLENT performances. Take, for example, Rise Stevens singing Mon Coeur s'Ouvre a ta Voix from act 2 of Saint-Seans' Samson & Delilah. Fausto Cleva & the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra do the honors here in a very nicely done rendition of the song. Even with the rapid cutoff of the ending note ("Record's almost over, boys, cut it off quick!"). There's still some pops in here, but I think you get the idea.

Another wonderful performance is Rise teaming with tenor Raoul Jobim, singing the Seguililla and Duet from act 2 of Bizet's Carmen. Here, George Sebastian takes over the reins of the Met Orchestra, and does it quite nicely. This was the recording that I had to finally do a wet-play (spray the disc with water, clean it out with a toothbrush, then spray again and get the crud out with a record brush, THEN wet it AGAIN with a spray bottle and play the disc and pray... the disc played with minimal damage) treatment on, as this was the one that I fought with for five hours before punting the file and starting from scratch. You can see it isn't perfect, but it is a whole lot better than it was.

I don't know why Columbia threw in Lily Pons' rendition of the Bell Song from Delibes' Lakme... it's a pedestrian version, maybe an alternate take, who knows. The album cover says that these were from the soundtrack of United Artist's "Night At The Met", but I think they stretch the point juuuuuust a tad.

Case in point: Ezio Pinza's frantic (or traumatic) recording of Finch' Han al Vino from act 1 of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Was this recorded in a closet and Ezio needed to go to the bathroom? It sure sounds like it. For lack of a better (or worse) disc, I nominate this one as the Clanker of the Week. Short and sweet.

Which is strange, because also on the same side as this poorly recorded bomb is a VERY sweet version of Serenata deh Vieni alla Finestra from act 2 of the same opera. MUCH better recording, nicely recorded, nicely sung, just Ezio and a mandolin or lute with the Met Orchestra well in the range of subtle-ness.

Ezio does redeem himself with this performance of Il Lacerato Spiritu from act 1 of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. Now THIS is the power of Mr. Pinza... with Fausto Cleva whipping the Met Orchestra quite well.

The Lacerated Spirit... that how this week has gone, to sum it up... but tomorrow brings a better day and all that stuff...

.......so there you have it. A mediocre set with some highlights, and one very very LOW-light.

My work schedule should let me do some more popular discs and other stuff this week, so enjoy the operatic respite, and always remember to keep your discs clean and your wits about you.

Weekends are made for 78s

2006-04-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh weekends! Yay-ness! I've been working a lot, but I have managed to encode a few things this week for your listening enjoyment. No particular theme, just going thru the bins and boxes from recent thrift store acquisitions...

We'll start off this fine fine weekend with a couple from Bob Haring's Orchestra, also known as the Colonial Club Orchestra. "It's Too Late to Be Sorry Now" features Bob's statuesque (for lack of a better term) vocals and a nice little romper on Brunswick from 1925. Since there's no indication of electrical recording on the label, but the bass is just too full to be done on a horn, dont'cha think? The back side, "My Pal Jerry", was labelled as Bob Haring & His Orchestra on the on-line discog., but on the label it shows as Colonial Club Orchestra, with, again, no vocal credits. I don't know why I want to call Bob Haring 'Bob Hoskins', maybe it is the vocal stylings, I guess... still a nice record, though!

Next, another nice pairing for a spring sun-shine-y day, here's Gene Austin with Frank Banta on the piano with "Tamiami Trail". In 1926, when this was recorded, the road from Tampa to Miami, Florida, was basically a two-lane track through the Everglades. Now, it is a 4-lane highway, paralelled by an Interstate motorway some miles to the south. Back then, though, I'm sure there were some very romantic spots along the side of the road, where the adventurous couple could spend the mosquito-filled evenings fanning away the perspiration, on the lookout for alligators in their "little two-by-four" bungalow... I guess love conquors all in the middle of the Florida swamps... "But I Do - You Know I Do" would might be the song for the next morning, when asked if true love can get through a night of mosquito bites.... A Victor electric recording, showing that the nuances of recorded music changed drastically with the advent of the microphone.

Keeping with the 'singer-and-piano' motif, we'll go to Austria for a couple of very curious numbers, recorded by Hermann Leopoldi, recorded on Austrian HMV (His Master's Voice), some time in the late 40s. I suspect that these are political humor pieces, because, through my very faltering German, I notice that the song "Wenn der Ungar Justig ist" has several references to Hungary or Hungarian custom, and the reverse side "Powidltatsckerln" makes reference to a person from (the former) Czechoslovakia, and how they order a salad with mayonaisse. This may have been recorded when Austria was still under Allied control after World War 2 and broken up into four pieces, much like Germany was until the reconsolidation. If anyone has any more insight on these sides, please leave a comment or three :)

We'll continue with a couple of Ted Lewis sides, but only one with vocalization... the one with his crooning, "That Certain Party", recorded in December of 1925, was one of his better known sides... but I think the better side of this pairing is the reverse, "Don't Wake Me Up (Let Me Dream)". Not because of the lack of Ted's patter, but because the band seems to get a chance to stretch out, even if it is limited to the length of a 10-inch 78 side.

Closing it out today is one of the reasons I got into collecting 78s, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. These guys could STOMP it! Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields penned up a choice pair and recorded these in March of 1918 in the New York studios of Victor... you can see how jazz started to develop with "At the Jazz Band Ball" and "Ostrich Walk". Check out the opening of Ostrich Walk, now you know where perhaps a lot of musical pop, rock, and R&B opening ideas came from many years later.

These are labelled as "Original Dixieland Jazz Band" (not "...Jass..." as on the original release of "Livery Stable Blues"). You can read an excellent article on ODJB written by Tim Gracyk here that sheds some great insight on their history.

Before I forget, I'd like to thank Tyrone Settlemier for his great work on the on-line discography mentioned in the previous posting. Tim & Ty are names I remember from the 78rpm mailing list, otherwise known as 78-L, which I was active on a few years ago (and may have to re-activate myself upon once again, there are a great bunch of characters and historians there).

Have a great weekend, and see you next week!

Brad

A quickie on a GREAT resource

2006-04-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

Great massive props to MY(P)WHAE Lee for this GEM of a resource:

The Online 78rpm Discographical Project.

WOW!! Now I can get some dates for you on the stuff I put up... this is utterly FANTASTIC stuff, and once again I bow my sombrero to Lee for getting this info to me. In fact, I sent the keeper of the project info on "Rock Love" (shudder) because he didn't have it listed in his 1950s Bell entries.

I'll have more 78s later, but I wanted to get this up ASAP... it's the Turkey's Suspenders (thanks for the great new expression, Domi!!)!!

Brad

Housecleaning & re-encoding & Jolson

2006-04-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Denver in the springtime can bring drastic weather changes... Saturday it was in the low 80s here, and last night it snowed. There was about an inch on the front lawn when I got home from work last night, but it looks to be melting off, slowly but surely.

I could sleep in this morning, so I stayed up way too late getting some of the older encodes cleaned up a little so I could share them with all you fine fine people... so let's get started!

Al Jolson... there was a reason that he was known as "The Jazz Singer" and not "The Waltz Singer". In the thrift-store baggie-of-78s there was this Brunswick disc that has examples of Al singing well in, and well out of, his domain. He gets the vocal duties on this hot little number with Carl Fenton's Orchestra, "Miami". I don't remember when he took a stint away from Columbia to record with Brunswick, but I usually don't see many of his recordings on that label. I at first thought this was an acoustic recording but after a careful listen, found it to be electrical! And no mention of any electrical process on the label! I guess I may have to re-think the other Brunswick stuff I have posted... anyways, you can almost hear the "Mammy!!" he is so famous for in this recording... the Jolson style is certainly there.

Now, as for the reason he was NOT called "The Waltz Singer": "You Forgot To Remember", again with Carl Fenton's Orchestra providing the backing. This comes VERY close to qualifying for a Clanker, especially how he releases his last note. I almost cried when I heard this song of the jilted lover, and not at the lyrics. Al, stick to the uptempo stuff and leave the waltzes to the waltz professionals. Please.

Well, I had a bunch of things that I just wasn't happy enough with as far as the remaster process went that I wanted to share earlier, but finally got around to cleaning them up some more. Let's begin with another Cal Stewart story, this one concerning that fine walk spoiled by frustration: "Uncle Josh Playing Golf". This recoring had a HUGE crack in it, so you'll hear some thumping through the first half, but, for a Victor 'Grand Prize' label, it's sufficiently old enough that I guess it can be excused, somewhat. And dig the pronounciation of 'gol-f'....

We'll switch gears from whacking golf balls to whacking drum skins with a couple by Gene Krupa, from the mid 40s. Irene Daye takes us on a stroll with a number about a Cuban dance instructor, "Six Lessons from Madame LaZonga". The Columbia pressing was fairly worn, but I managed to get a decent run at it... also the recording engineer rolled off the highs so badly, it made it somewhat easier to get a lot of the groove wear out of this one. Gene's band kicks, as you can see, and it is a humerous number for Irene. The flip side, "No Name Jive", is all Gene. Some very nice drumming here, ladies and gentlemen, it's just too bad that (1) the groove wear made this one real hard to get something out of, and (2) the same recording engineer rolled off a good portion of the top end... again. Maybe he was related to Thomas Alva [Edison]?

Going back a few years, let's touch upon the country-type genre. Vernon Dalhart recorded many a folk and western song on Victor before the Western genre became nationally popular. Carson Robison did much the same, only with more folk type style. Here they team up for a pair on a Victor electrical disc, with a good string band behind them. "My Blue Ridge Mountain Home" and "Golden Slippers" show why the country-folk-Appalachia sound was really suited for electrical recording, as the horn just couldn't get the nuances down well.

Some time ago, I posted "Sailin' On" by Ben Black & His Orchestra. Well, I remastered it again, this time with MUCH better results. I also added the Impaler Touch to the flip side, "Moonlit Waters". Again, I think you'll find an enjoyable record, albeit with just a touch of plagarism from the Masters... but, hey, it's all for a good swoon with your June as you croon the silly tune 'neath the moon....

Now, in case you were wondering, I do have a couple more German things to get to you, so I'll just hit them quickly...

Some nice singing by Frieda Benneche in the German folk-lieder style on this US Victor bat-wing acoustical record, actually... no major warble, just a couple of interesting numbers for the German audience..."Freut euch des Lebens", and "Treue Liebe". Ahhh, true love.... just makes all the snow want to go away... but PLEASE keep the birds OFF of the records!

Another interesting German singer here, Georg Gut. Recorded in Germany and released in the US on Columbia ethnic green label (12-inch disc, no less), Herr Gut sings "In meinen kleine Konditorei", and "Wenn du einmal dein Herz verschennst dan Schenk' es mir". REstaurants and love? My German once again fails me. But Herr Gut does a credible job on these... electrical recordings, too, if my memory serves me...

I'll close this session out with a couple hot off the turntable, a pair of sides on a Romeo label disc that are good for the springtime and love and all that horseradish. I have NO idea who The Lumberjacks are, but they saw their way quite nicely through "Let Me Be Alone With You". Acoustic recording (of decent quality), no vocal credits, but still quite a hummable number. I'm gonna have to invest in a Rust's Discography book to help get me through this, I guess, as far as dates and personnel....

On the other side, Vincent Richards & His Orchestra take over the duties with an almost down-tempo 'pouty' love song, "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You". Nice muted cornet solo in this after the vocal (again uncredited), and the tuba player sure wants to get somewhere, but the drummer, with his work, keeps it in line.

OK, I'm outta here, hope you enjoy it, keep safe, and have fun! Congrats to Lee on his 100,000th hit on his blog, one day, maybe the Shanty will be as well travelled :)

Peace & Blessings,

Brad

"God is in the house..."

2006-04-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here is your treat...

It is anecdotally recorded that one night, at the Cotton Club in Harlem, Fats Waller was in the middle of a set where he was just plain 'on it'. He was cooking. Suddenly, after he looks out into the audience, he stops playing, in the middle of a number. Just stops. He then stands up and steps away from the piano, picks up the microphone, and says "Ladies and gentlemen, God is in the house tonight..." as he points and bows to Art Tatum, who had just come into the club.

Art Tatum. One of the BEST improvisational piano players EVER. Few could hold a candle to him. He could take a simple tune and expand upon it until it became a symphony. He was extremely gifted, yet a very shy man off the stage. He would let his fingers on the 88 keys do all the talking he ever needed to do.

Art Tatum. What else can I say?

I have an incomplete set on ARA records of Art in a solo setting. I'm missing one of the discs, but I'll gladly post the contents of the other three.

"Poor Butterfly"
"Lover"
"Yesterday"
"Running Wild"
"Memories Of You"
"Hallelujah"

These six tunes show just how easily Art could jump from one mode into another, stride one minute, and almost free-improv the next. These were all recorded in one session, as the matrix numbers are pretty much sequential... just imagine Art ambling into the studio, sitting at the piano, and all the recording engineer had to do was to start the lathe and nod to the Man. Then Magic occurred. Can't be more elequent than that, I guess. Or, maybe, further elequence would be wasted... listen and be transported into Art's World. It's well worth the trip.

I am sorry to say that "Hallelujah" was pressed off-center, that's why it sounds off-key. ARA was never very good with their quality control, but at least the shellac quality on these was well above their average.

If anyone has the fourth disc to this set, please leave me a note in the comments, if nothing more than to get mp3 files to complete this set digitally. Thank you.

Art Tatum.

Enjoy.

Wow.

A Clanker and some older (but good) encodes

2006-04-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

After working a 50 hour week, including a Friday night shift followed by a Saturday day shift, I'm wiped out. Oh yea, include the having to call a plumber because someone left a perfectly wonderful pork shoulder roast out on the counter all night then decided to put all the remains down the garbage disposal. $110 later....

I did get to taste some of the roast though. It was good.

We'll start with the Clanker of the Week. This was an absolute BOOGER to get cleaned up to any kind of hearable file. Took at least 4 days of cramming in time to try this, and finally on the third attempt I got something workable.

The song is "Rock Love" by a group called The Three Belles. The recording is on a 7-inch polystyrene 78rpm disc on the Bell label. Yes, Bell records, same label that brought you groups like Bread and the soundtrack of Godspell. Bell did these right at the end of the 78 era (late 50s in the US), and had absolutely NO 'name' artists. Why these sold, I'll never know. This release is actually one of the more 'rocking' releases on Bell, most of their 78s were the usual dentist-chair pap (or poop, according to your taste). The musicians on Bell at that time were pretty much all house groups, and nothing of any real noteworthy distinction. In other words, Drek-on-78.

To show you how much of a challenge this was to get cleaned, here's an excerpt of the disc BEFORE any processing: "Rock Love" - pre-processing excerpt.

Why did I spend all this time working on a disc like that? To show all you fine folks that I'm dedicated. Or should be institutionalized maybe (grin).

Just hearing the lyrics makes me wonder, is this a love song? A gospel song? Certainly not rock-n-roll, even with the 'catchy' (NOT!!!) background vocals....

A clanker, a cringer, and certainly a melt-into-an-ashtray candidate. I give it a solid 9 on the Cringe-o-meter, plus points for having a hook that you CAN'T GET OUT OF YOUR MIND.

.....whew.....

I'm making up a surprise to make up for inflicting Rock Love (shudder) upon you, so the remainder of today's post will be older encodes that I went through and re-cleaned up as best I could.

I was looking back through the Shanty postings and noticed that I mis-named Charles Trenet. What finer excuse for a side from such a fine chanteur! Here'tis: "'Y'a d'la joie'". Recorded on Columbia (a French recording) and repressed for the US in the late 40s, and one I encoded sometime in 2001. Perhaps earlier than that, because of the original bitrate, and the fact that there was a lot of noise in the encode. But, I managed to make it listenable, but I need to find those discs and re-encode them. That way I can get all the corrent numbers on the ID3v2 tag. With springtime coming on fast, I think I'll put more of these French chansons on, if for naught else than that they make me feel all happy and spring-time-y and stuff.

Here's another, MUCH nicer encode of a band called the Frivolity Club Orchestra. I suspect, from the sound quality, that this was also on a Columbia Vita-tonal recording, and that this MIGHT have been a Harry Reser group. He had the Cliquit Club Eskimos, and a couple of other bands in his recording stint for Columbia, and this just has the Harry Reser 'sound'. Here's "All I Want Is You". Again, no definate dates or personnel, because I was a twit and didn't save such things. But it's a good encode, for 2001 technology, one that I didn;t have to do much cleanup on.

Anyways, if I'm gonna get your next posting off, I'd better finish this one. Sorry it is a bit short, but I guarantee that the next one will be worth the wait.

Cheers!

the Impaler

Digging in the bins....

2006-04-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

A very good day, today was... long, but good. I managed to find some Brasilian guarana sodas after about a week of looking for the store, which turned out to be in what amounts to a double-closet in an office building full of stores run by 'internationals'. Anyway, I did manage to find the store after about a week of hunting, as rewarded myself with 2 12-packs of Brasilian Guarana Antarctica. Yummy stuff! I usually drink Mountain Dew soda, but this may replace it, or at least be a more healthful alternative. I think I'll have one now! And guarana seems to be a much more mellow 'buzz' than caffeine... I don't feel jitter-y at all. Nope, no sir-ee.

I was donig some more 78s and found another set of Ben Selvin acoustic sides, this time on Brunswick (instead of the sister Vocalion label). These are acoustic, but not as 'sharp' as the Vocalion sides, but they're very nice indeed! We'll start out with everyone's favorite orange... yes, another version of "Valencia". Not a pipe organ to be found, sorry to all you Jesse Crawford fans. Again, no vocal credits, but I'm again suspecting 'Scrappy' Lambert on this recording. The disc, for being a B-side, is pretty groove-worn, but I managed to get a decent remaster out of it. And don't blame me if that tune gets stuck in your head. It will. You were warned. And stuff.

Coming close to being almost a perfect transfer is the A-side, a rousing little number named "Betty". WOW. Great tune, great recording, great transfer. Same vocalist, no credit, all it has on the side of the label is "For Dancing". A toe-tapper, surely, and hopefully something to help my friend Domi either get or stay awake. Ben Selvin sides are always discs to look for, at least for me. This one shows why.

We'll crank up the time machine a few years, not many though, to a pair of electrically recorded Columbia sides by another of my favorite band leaders, Ted Lewis. "Hi Diddle-Diddle" shows Ted at his spoken-crooning best, with just enough silliness to be a trademark Ted Lewis hit. And notice the 'adultization' of the nursery rhymes he uses as lyrics... makes it quite suggestive for the era, but was toned down enough to get it past the censors...

The other side to this one, "Iyone My Own Iyone" also brings in Hawaiian Guitar legend Frank Ferrera for one of his few electrical appearances. "Iyone" was usually just another dance number, but Ted decided to give it a Hawaiian feel (and change the spelling of the subject, too, from "Ione"), and he pulled it off quite nicely. This was a pre-Vita-Tonal D-series disc, but the engineers were on their toes this session, a nicely done recording of a pair of nicely done tunes.

I was looking for some things from the back bins to put in here, as I haven't been keeping up with the current encodes, and I found a bunch of Pathe' vertical recordings from the mid 1910s, actually possibly done very close to World War One. These are originally French recordings, but were also pressed in the US, probably from the original French Freres Pathe' cylinders. Pathe' vertical discs were recorded using a 'hill-and-dale' method of modulation, with the recording coming from a vertically modulated groove. Edison, and all the other cylinder recordings used the same methodology... Edison Diamond Discs were also vertically modulated, as opposed to horizontal modulation, used by Emile Berliner on his discs, and picked up my 95% of the other disc systems. Rex and OKeh used vertical modulation for a while, until Rex went away, and OKeh went lateral. The actual groove on these is more of a U-shape, and is much wider than a standard V-groove. The stylus used for playback was an actual sapphire ball mounted on a shank instead of a steel needle. The discs, because of this, usually suffered very little wear, and thusly transfer quite well, if you have a way to track them accurately. If you use a standard conical stylus, you'll get print-through from the adjacent groove, which is what you hear, and why you hear it. These are older transfers, done when I was living in Idaho and didn't have a good Pathe' stylus. I still don't have one, but one of these days I'll pop for one, since they're available for Stanton cartridges now.

Enough blather & history, here's a couple of the sides.

The first one, is more of a French-Swiss piece, sung by a singer credited only as Charlesky. "L'Echo Tyrolien" features M. Charlesky singing in French and.... yodeling. Tyrol is a region of Switzerland (for those of you geographically-challenged) that is oft-sung about. I wish my command of French was better, but I like just listening to this stuff. You definately won't hear this on most other blogs, it's pretty obscure!

The second one, from a different disc, is a very patriotic number by a singer credited only as "Berard". "Le Depart Du Bleu" sounds to me like a patriotic call to arms, something to counter the "Mister Dinkelspiel" type pro-German recordings. You can hear bits of "La Marsialle" (yes, I probably blew the spelling) in this one, which points it towards rousing the blood of the French Patriot overseas against the marchies of the Kaiser and his followers.

Well, I was looking through the bins some more, and found the Jesse Crawford theater organ recording of "Valencia". For some reason, this is one of the most ridiculed and least sought-after recordings... it is usually on the Bottom Ten Favorite list of a lot of collectors. One reason may be that there are so many copies of this disc out there. I think I have four or five, just from thrift-store grab-bags, and none of them are in any decent condition. This is actually the best one in the house, and it still has issues, but here it is, anyway. Jesse Crawford made several theater organ recordings, well into the early 1960s, but this was his 'break-out' recording (or, for some 78 collectors, a 'breat-IT' recording). It is an early Victor electrical recording, still on the Bat-wing style label (before the scroll-type label, which usually denoted an electrical recording). It has power, it has the deep bass, and it has the groove wear to go with it. History lessons later, if anyone wants it.

I just got done with another interesting record, so I'll post it. Back to the Brunswick acoustic recording room for Isham Jones' version of "I Can't Realize". Some goofiness in this one, as you'll note that the 'trombone' solo after the tasty piano chorus ain't no trombone! THEN, we get ANOTHER piece of silliness, the near-comb-and-paper solo. Isham, Isham, Isham.... don't know who was not credited with this goofiness, but I'm sure there are some very famous names hidden in this group.

Do we have time for one more? Sure! It's more pedestrian (dare I say, pre-lounge?), but it is more of a typical Isham Jones disc... "Lady of the Nile" is almost bland, compared to the cut on the other side of the record. Some thematic Mysterious Sounds of the East (well, I guess Egypt is east of Hoboken...), since that was a popular topic of the day, and flappers used the Egypt influence in their fashion style. So, there are a lot of recordings that used Egypt and the Middle East as a recording theme, and basicly they all sound a lot like this cut. Oh, yes, it was written by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones, so I guess that makes it a little less pedestrian than the other fluff of the day...

I was going to save this for later, to give some relief to the planned Clanker of the Week. And boy howdy, are you gonna need relief from this one. I'll leave you in blissful suspense as I think this recording will BREAK the Cringe-o-meter! Yes, even worse than Choke & Stink! And this was commercially released! Be afraid, be very afraid!

Until then, I remain,

the Impaler!

A quickie on a Tuesday afternoon

2006-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Still more goodies from the stacks, it's blustery and stuff, and I am running on three hours' sleep... but I did get a few more done today, so here they are!

I don't have any dead rabbits or anything on my porch or such to relate (the Pinkster views them as chasing material, but not for the catching, that is, of course beneath her stature... she would rather watch them frolic and let the other felines of the area exert all their energy. The Pinkster is by no means fat or lazy, just too dignified for all that fuss. Squirrels? That's another matter entirely! If you go to my home page you will see the Pinkster in all her grandeur.

Music, Maestro, PLEASE!

I was going through the discs and found this pair by Roy Evans on COlumbia Vita-Tonal (electric recordings) that immediately reminded me of Leon Redbone, or at the least material he would have in his trick-bag. "I'm Tickled Pink With A Blue Eyed Baby" and "It's An Old Spanish Custom In The Moonlight" just feel like Leon Redbone songs, even though Roy sings them a couple of octaves above Leon's usual velvety growl. No orchestra credit is given, unfortunately... it's a nice, unobtrusive band. Oh, one more thing, Roy: lose the gargling effect, PLEASE.

I'll follow the Roy Evans sides with a couple of Victor electrical pressings... it was a conundrum I faced with these, as I was between sides of some pre-lounge stuff from the early 50s (pretty unremarkable stuff, that, but I'll let you decide, as I am posting them in today's audio journey), and looked down at the stack and saw "Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders" on a VIctor Scroll disc. Oh joy! Gotta encode this! "That's Why I Love You"... yep, I love the sound of those Victor Scrolls, the bass is just so... THERE. But wait... where did it go?? The rest of the recording is, um, well, OK I guess, but someone forgot to add in the bass! There's usually some great tuba or bass sax in there, but for some reason, someone put a sock in it. It's too bad, because this is a nice hook-y tune, typical of Johnny Hamp's work. The recordist must not have had something quite right because it sounds like there was some actual diaphragm buzz in this, wonder where THAT came from... And just who is responsible for that there fiddlin'... fess up now, or it's back to the bread lines....

So, I decide, let's do the other side, since it's a Jan Garber track. Gotta be at least a decent rendition of "Baby Face"... and it is. Benny Davis does the vocal chores in this recording while Jan cranks up the swinging orchestra all the way to 'Jaunt'. There's also some very hot muted cornet licks in there too before the vocal.

Now, the other part of the conundrum. I was in the midst of recording a disc by Wladimir Selinsky & his String Ensemble. Wladimir WHO? Well, Columbia thought he was worth something, as these two semi-unremarkable cuts came from a disc out of an early 1950s set called "Dinner Music". First alarm bell for a dull disc. But these aren't that bad... Wladimir is no Andre the K, but I guess he holds his own... you decide. In "Neopolitan Nights" you get a kind of feeling that you're in an Italian restaurant and Eisenhower has just been elected... and for that after-dinner martini, we have the "Sleeping Beauty Waltz"... is it nap time yet?

I'll close with another interesting side... this is an Oxford single-sided disc, and I wonder what the story is on it. "Mister Dinkelspiel" is sung by an unknown baritone (the only credit is "Baritone Solo with Orchestra") and is apparently an attempt to make the Germans look good in the US at around the time of World War 1 (before we became involved in actual fighting). There's a slight slam on the Irish, but mostly the lyricist shows the good German Guy as friend to America. A little propoganda you say? No more than the junk seen today on Fox & CNN and the rest of the media... remember, records were a way of spreading propoganda to the people in the early 20th century. I'll post some WW1 stuff later and you'll see.

Nuff-a-dis, gotta go to work... enjoy the day and I'll have more for you soon. Right-click on the link to download the tunes, you know the drill :)

Until next time,

the Impaler

Oh boy, what a great record!

2006-04-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I just did a posting, but I found some cool stuff in the batch of 78s that I have been working on....

I was going through the stack-that-has-no-Hawaiian-78s, encoding away, and found a disc that I wish I could get a clean transfer of for you... the recording is SO good... FOR AN ACOUSTIC RECORDING! I heard highs on the trumpet that made me weep, a clarity that would not be reached by the electrical recordings for some years, and a very hot pair of numbers as well! The band responsible for these sides-o-hotness was Ben Selvin's Orchestra, and the pressings were on Vocalion (the filigree-type label). "Sweet Child" opens up with a piercing horn statement, and then rolls on from there. Mr. Selvin sure knew how to knock 'em out. The vocal credit is not given, I'll have to do some looking to see if it is who I think it is... the vocalist almost has a Harold "Scrappy" Lambert feel to his voice, but then again, a lot of male singers did at that time. I'd place this one smack in the middle of 1920-1923, and the recordist has his notes very handy. My only woe is that this disc is so hammered that I can't give you a true feel for the quality of the recording. I heard it and my first thought was "This is an ACOUSTIC recording??"

The other side picks up from where "Sweet Child" left off and rollicks even merrier... "I Wish I Was In Peoria"... this side just plain STOMPS. It's a tune that will catch in your hook-memory and never let go after a few listens. I had to go very easy on the filtering to try and capture how GOOD the recording originally was, but as with the other side, the wear factor is pretty darn high. I can see why, though, as good as this tune is. Mr. Selvin: hats off to you!

Calming down just a touch now... fanning myself after those two rollickers...

I posted over on AudiOddities (see sidebar for link) a cut of theater organ music. As a keyboard player, anything with a good piano or organ recording is a must for me. Yes, I have 4 or 5 copies of Zez Confrey's "Kitten On The Keys" along with some of his other recorded works. Not wanting to get into a dissertation on the Joys of Ragtime (and Why Scott Joplin is not the Be-all and End-all of Ragtime Composers), let me just say that I enjoy all forms of keyboard music, from Biggs to Joplin to Waller to Shearing to Kenton to Tatum to Brubeck to Vince Guaraldi to Corea to Jarret to Keith Emerson to to to....... I think you get the idea. "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" is an example of a singer (Ned Miller) being accompanied by a good player (Milton Charles) on a halfway decent Wurlitzer Theater Organ (in this case the organ at the WENR Radio Studios in Chicago, Illinois). The recording is on a Columbia Vita-Tonal electrical recording, and you do get a sense of how full and rich a theater organ can sound, even in this late 20s recording. Try THAT with a horn, Thomas Alva! This song was recorded by other, more conventional dance orchestras, but it still somewhat swings with the theater organ booming away.

The reverse to this side, "Sonny Boy", is kind of a quasi-Irish lament... but it still shows off the stylistic capabilities of Ned Miller, in that he can do the Irish Tenor thing as well as make an honest attempt at a hot dance number.

Let's shift some gears now... I love the Hawaiian Steel guitar. That's a given. I also love performers that don't give a poop about their critics. Sure, you can have great steel players like Sol Hoopii and Mr. Ferrera, but this player was accused once of having "absolutely no musical taste, whatsoever." BAH! Roy Smeck has more taste in his little fingernail than all of his detractors, I think so anyways... I only wish that he had recorded on a label that had decent shellac quality! I do know that others that get Roy Smeck 78s have a dreadful time remastering them, because they are mostly very worn because of being played to near-death. Combine that with Brunswick's use of cruddy shellac on their Melotone subsidiary label, and you get headaches during the restoration process. Anyway, here we have Roy Smeck's Vitaphone Trio performing "The Waltz You Saved For Me", and it illustrates the headache factor perfectly... great recording of a guitar trio (and I do not know who does the vocal here either), on absolutely horrid shellac, played to near death. Sigh. But, there's a good college try in the restoration... the reverse side, "By The River Ste. Marie" came out much much better, however... again, uncredited vocal and Roy doing the zany things he did on the steel guitar, but it is all quite quite tasteful. He's got to be right up there with Sol (Hoopii) and Sol (K. Bright) and Frank Ferrera and Felix Mendelsohn for acumen in playing the instrument...

I've got more things to get posted for you, but I just HAD to get the Ben Selvin sides up tonight. I think you'll see why.

Right-click on the link to download the tunes, you know the drill :)

Until next time,

the Impaler

Some talking records and some good news

2006-04-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

First off, for those who have been reading, my daughter (16 years old and already more worldly-wise than most all of her peers, in my opinion anyways) went through a week at an intervention inpatient clinic. She came home on Friday, and although she's not 'cured', she is well on the way to recovering. One never is truly 'cured' of thoughts like she had (I speak from experience), but since she has added a vast array of coping skills to her repetoire, I think things should be somewhat better. I DO thank you all for your prayers, meditations, good thoughts, et al, things are improving very nicely, please continue to think of not only her, but the entire family as well..... we thank you, and may your rewards be seven upon sevenfold as your faith sees fit :)

Now, ON TO THE RECORDS!

I loaded up for you a while ago a Cal Stewart "Uncle Josh" disc, but today we have something a bit different in the spoken-word vein. Charles Ross Taggart recorded these two poetic recitations from Holman Day's writings of "Up In Maine". "Plain Old Kitchen Chap" (subtitled "Farmer Jones Prefers a Corner by the Kitchen Stove to the "Best Room"") tells a story of how Farmer Jones reacts to his Missus going all a-fancy on the Parlour, so that the place can be 'cultured up'... It is a good recitation, done in what is supposedly a Maine accent by Mr. Taggart, acoustically recorded for Victor in the early 20s. The record itself was VERY worn, and had a multitude of fairly deep gouges on it, as well as a bunch of surface noise. This took a couple of days to 'get right', and it still isn't perfect, but with a lot of material from this period, you have to pretty much work with what you have. At least the file is playable, and listenable now, whereas before it was pretty munged.

The reverse side features Mr. Taggart reciting from the same collection "The Stock in the "Tie-Up"", subtitled "Farmer Jones Talks on Cow Comfort". The recording, labelled "Humorous Dialect Story" on both sides, has Farmer Jones talking about his day and how he feels about his livestock faring the Maine winters. He also goes on about those who stand pious on Sunday yet leave cracks and holes in their barn walls, leaving their poor cattle far less than comfortable. This side is more worn than the other, and it shows, unfortunately. Again, a lot of work went into getting this one playable, but you'll probably notice a lot of artifacting when it gets noisy towards the end. My apologies, but this is a case of preserving the content as much as possible over getting the "perfect transfer". At least with my meager equipment :)

I promised you all a cat-realted recording, and here it is: "The Kitten With the Big Green Eyes". Recorded on a later (for Vocalion) blue label, Ronnie Kemper goes into a good bit about how the eternal war between kitties and mousies progresses over cheese... granted, it's not "Dingbat, the Singing Cat", but it has its' cuter moments... kinda... rough recording, the shellac quality makes Decca's blue-label stuff look good, and I'm sure Domi will give me a better idea on the dates for this side. For which I am eternally grateful :)

The A-side to this little novelty is a nice little sweet song, "Make-Believe Island". Harry Cool does the vocal duties on this ditty, and even though it pales against the efforts of Ray Kinney and the other Hawaiian bands, you gotta give 'em an 'E' for Effort... also another 'E' goes out to Helen Forrest for her nicely done rendition of "I Heard You Cried Last Night". This song touched a chord within me because of the week's events, so I recorded it into the computer... well, that's ONE reason anyway...

The OTHER reason, is that it is the reverse side of a very favorite platter of one of my listeners, Brian (Fool on Hill). A long time ago, he had asked me if I had this side, and I thought I did, but the recording I had was either someone else's transfer which they shared, or it was from a CD. Well, I finally have a copy of Columbia 36677 here in the Shanty, so, here is "James Session". Domi, you're gonna have to help me on who the session men were, but I *think* it is Krupa on drums, although I could very well be mistaken. Harry does a darn fine job on the solo as well. Brian seems to remember this being more "hot" and "swing-y" than it was, but I think this one rates right up there with "Tom Foolery" for a straight-out swing session. I had a bit of bother with the remastering, as CoolEdit has a problem with raspy-toned brass in the click reduction, which I haven't figured out how to fix... The other remaster I have is different than this one, mine sounds more muddy than I'd like, I guess I'll have to play with it at a later date to see if I can clear it up some more...

I promised you a Clanker of the Week, one that would blow away any credibility the artist had, and I think this one delivers. Oil up the Cringe-o-meter and prepare yourself for "Rice, Red Beans, and Turnip Greens", performed (probably under duress) by none other than Little Richard Penniman (as frontman to the "Tempo-Toppers"). This goes past a multitudes of "Oy Vey" to a heightened level of "GEVALT!" The story on this one is: when Little Richard got his start recording, he was under the production of one Don Robey (who, apparently, has had a multitude of stories written about him, none of them very flattering). Robey had, among others, the Peacock label in the mid 1950s (this was recorded in 1954), and was, to his credit, one of the pioneers of getting the R&B artists released and onto the radio stations that would play such music. This was, obviously, done before Penniman's very successful stint on the Specialty label, and, to its' credit has some nice sax work on the solo (completely cancelled by the organ break)... but just the sheer concept of someone who made his fortune singing about how "She's Got It" and many others that just plain ROCKED.... well, I'll give it a 7 on the Cringe-o-meter.

A bit of administratia before we close this post, I discovered that on a couple of things last time I forgot to put on the MP3 ID3 tags... these should be fixed, but if you run into any more, please let me know, and I'll remedy that.

Next time, we'll have a few more Hawaiian things, somoe more acoustical recordings, and well, STUFF! Hopefully, I can get a mid-week posting in, even if it means that I give you some old encodes that are laying about (with over 3/4 of a terabyte in MP3 files, I think I can find SOMETHING...)

Again, thaks in advance for all your thoughts and prayers, we appreciate them all.

Right-click on the link to download the tunes, you know the drill :)

Until next time,

the Impaler

...sigh...

2006-04-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well, first off I'll let you all in on a little secret, I am very much on the bummed out side of the emotional roller-coaster at the moment. Work is fine, just that I had to put someone very close to me into the hospital this morning for an attempted suicide last night. She's spending the week at an adolescent inpatient facility for suicide eval and hopefully will be on the long road to inner healing and peace soon... so I'm not my most chipper self at the moment. I'm doing the encoding and posting thing tonight mainly as therapy for my own sanity and inner healing, so I hope that the sides don't depress you too much.

I was going to start out with another side with a Colorado motif that I found in the thrift-store stack. But after listening to the B-side of that one, I kinda feel led to post the B-side first. It puts how I feel at the moment into song, and is a request for those of you who know me (via the net, no matter how fleeting the relationship) to please follow the advice of the title: "Light A Candle In The Chapel" (sung by Johnnie Johnston & His Orchestra). This is a bit melancholic but for a "sweet" music side, it has just the right bit of poignancy in it, especially for my current mood. I don't know much about the orchestra, but looking at the matrix number, it is very early on in the Capitol run, so this would be maybe 1940-ish? The shellac quality is remarkably good, and the recording is many shades above OK (not referring to the OKeh label, mind you). Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, I and my 16 year old daughter, as well as the rest of the house, could certainly use them.

The side with the Colorado motif is the A-side to the above, "The Singing Sands of Alamosa". Johnnie croons nicely about the valley in southern Colorado that is basically a desert... sand dunes and all. Alamosa is only a town of roughly 10,000 people now, I can imagine what it was like in the 1940s... a dusty, sandy, windy clapboard town with not a heck of a lot going for it... but I do hear that the scenery has an allure of its' own down there, especially in the spring. I do know that it gets hotter than blazes there in the summer, and it is not unusual for Alamosa to get well over a foot of snow at a time in the winter. How that equates with a desert is one of the wonderful conundrums of this state... but Colorado is a beautiful place overall, from the prairies out east, to the majesty of the Rockies (which I have a view of from my house), to the very arid western slope. And many natural wonders in-between. If I find any more Colorado songs, I'll be sure and post them up.

I feel the need for something soothing here, so I am gonna delve back into the Hawaiian pile for the remainder of the night's posting...

I know that there have been a bunch of Ray Kinney discs on here already, but he was one of the more prolific recordists of the Hawaiian genre in the late 30s and early 40s. His stylings may not have been as accurately 'Hawai'ian kine' as, say, Sol Hoopii, but he still had a following in the nightclubs of Honolulu and the west coast of the US... enough so to have a TON of stuff released on Decca, both hula stylings as well as the more 'mainland-sound' band arrangements. This one, "Don't Play Aloha Oe When I Go" refers to the tradition of performing "Aloha Oe", the song written by Queen Liliukolani when she was basically kicked out of what was once her soverign country by the US in the 1900s when Hawaii became a US colony & territory. It is a VERY sad song, with very sad connotations for native Hawai'ians, so Ray basically says here, "Don't be sad, I will return to my island home some day." It's more of a 'mainland' arrangement, but still features some nice Hawaiian steel guitar, and is just a nice piece of music. Decca blue-label recording again, with the inherent lousy shellac quality, but I think I got most of the offending clicks out.

Next up, we have Ray Kinney doing more Island-style hula songs. From an earlier session and release than "Don't Play Aloha Oe...", we have a nice pair here: "Haleiwa", and "Papalina Lahilahi". Both these tracks are sung in the native Hawai'ian and are a fair representation of hula stylings of the late 1930s. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the music, mind you... but still nice to listen to, and a pair of darn good mood-mellowers.

We'll close this session with another pair of sides from one of my most favorite Island artists, Sol K. Bright and his Hollywaiians. His great cut "Hawaiian Cowboy" is one of my absolute most favorite sides. I first heard that song on a CD of Hawaiian Steel Guitar remasters, and it really opened up my eyes to two new worlds: Hawaiian Steel Guitar, and Hawaiian Slack-key Guitar. I have always been on the look-out for recordings of either ever since, and have found some absolute treasures, on 78, 45rpm signles, LPs, and CDs.

Tonight, we do not have "Hawaiian Cowboy" but two later, and more restrained sides from Mr. Bright and his troupe. The first one, a 'loper' (listen and you'll see why) is "I Wonder Where My Hula Girl Has Gone". This song has one of the most ambitious use of wood-block rhythm I think I have ever heard. It's almost Hawaiian-sweet-western, but the vocals are nice, and it's not a frenzy (to some Sol K Bright fans, this recording was a dissapointment in its' mellowness). Recorded in the 40s on Bluebird (the Victor sub-label that crossed many sonic genres in its' life), the quality of the recording is quite nice as well.

The flip side, "Tropic Trade Winds", is somewhat of a rarity for Sol K, because, unlike a vast majority of his recorded works, it is sung in English. Sol sang his lyrics in Hawaiian, Samoan, and even Tahitian; this is the first one of his sides that I have heard him sing in English. Mayhaps this was a disc for the tourist trade? I know not... but it is still, I think, worthy of inclusion onto the Shanty Virtual Turntable.

Well, kids, that be it for tonight. Bear with me & my moods, things should look brighter in a few days' time.

And again, thaks in advance for all your thoughts and prayers, we need 'em.

Right-click on the link to download the tunes, you know the drill :)

Until next time,

the Impaler

Let there be SWING!

2006-04-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday night, got a few more discs encoded up, and I think you'll like these, they're good.

I want to start off with the other side of a Will Fyffe 78 I put up a few postings ago. Since now I have a hour-plus each way commute to work, I threw the contents of the shellac shanty holding folder and Lee's MY(P)WHAE & Vintage Lounge sites onto a mp3 CDR so I can haev wonderful randomness to soothe the jangled nerves instead of the crap one hears on commercial radio. Makes one HELL of a difference! Anyways, I was listening to the Will Fyffe sides, and thought, 'What the hey, I should share the other side too', so, here it is... Will Fyffe's "Sailing Up The Clyde", a story about leaving one's home to venture onto the high seas, or at least that was the original intent :) I'll have to do up some Sir Harry Lauder sides so you can compare.

Next, we have a nice waltz from Joseph C Smith's Orchestra (a companion to a side posted earlier), "Three O'clock in the Morning". A classic Victor Bat Wing acoustical side, nicely recorded and the remaster came out nicely, or so I think anyways.

Does it look like I am doing house-cleaning here? Well, maybe, but there's a method to my madness... it's called 'sharing the wealth' :) either that or 'drown them with material!!'

Here's a companion, kind-of, to the bird call story disc, "Children's Songs and Games (part 1)" and "Children's Songs and Games (part 2)", performed quite aptly by Prince's Orchestra on a blue label Columbia acoustic recording. Prince was very good at taking the mundane children's songs and making a nice orchestral suite out of it. Mr. Prince was quite prolific at recording suites of airs and collections of songs, to the point that the practice of combining two or three popular tunes of the day into a medley, and calling it by another name, may have originated with his technique. I know a lot of artists did that during the mid-acoustical era...

One more comedic oddity before we get to the swing stuff... Cal Stewart made a lot of records under the name "Uncle Josh". These were stories from the point of view of a person from 1900-era rural America, a 'country bumpkin' as it were. There are several people that collect Cal Stewart "Uncle Josh" recordings exclusively! Cal recorded for Victor, Columbia, and Edison, and his stories can be found on both disc and cylinder format. This recording, "Uncle Josh Gets A Letter From Home", is on a Columbia disc, and dates from some time in the 1910s. His laugh is pretty infectious, too.

Now, on to the good stuff (if you're a swing fan)... I found these in the same pile as the Hawaiian discs, in pretty good shape, and quite listenable!

If you're into Frank Sinatra, here's an early recording of him while he was with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, "Snootie Little Cutie". Frankie shares vocal duties with Connie Haines and the Pied Pipers in this song about a girl so taken with romance and moonlight and stuff... All penned by one of my favorite songwriters of the day, Bobby Troup. Yes, he was Dr. Joe Early on the old "Emergency" TV series, the frumpy one who was hooked up with Nurse Dixie (played cool as a cucumber by Julie London). Bobby and Julie were married in real life, and I think that she did some singing for the band he had going in the Los Angeles area. Bobby wrote a BUNCH of good material, and this is one of his gems, I think. The recording is definately post-WW2 (or the release is, anyways... the label actually says "RCA Victor" and not just "Victor"), but I think that the recording engineer had stuffed the mics with his old socks or something... very muffled. But it still swings... I tried to get some of the high end back on the re-master, but to not much avail...

The reverse side (which is actually the 'A' side) is a VERY nice instrumental swing session by Tommy & the band, "Tom Foolery". I don't know who did the hot trumpet solo, but it COOKS. I'm gonna have to get out all my information on sessions, but, in the meantime, if anyone has information or session data, PLEASE leave a comment and I'll share it.

(Addendum: much thanks to Lady Domi who supplied me with this in the comments:

"If you're talking about Victor 20-2116, 'Snooty Little Cutie' was recorded on February 19, 1942 in Hollywood and 'Tom Foolery' on April 8, 1946 in New York. Judging from the line-up, the trumpet player must be Charlie Shavers (he's the hottest guy in the section, at least)..."

Thanks again!!! Brilliant stuff :) )

The other swing 78 I'll share with you is in not as good of shape as the Dorsey side, but it's still a couple of nice numbers...
one of which was written by Bobby Troup! Here we have Johnny Messner and His Orchestra backing Jeanne D'Arby doing the Bobby Troup classic "Daddy". This is an earlier version of the song than the June Christy & Stan Kenton version, and does not show up on the ASCAP database. The release is, I THINK, pre-WW2 Decca (blue-label) and suffers from their inconsistent shellac quality, but I think I got most of the crud out of it.

The B-side is an interesting little instrumentsl semi-stomper, "Mobile Flag Stop", subtitled "Catching the 8:02 Local". A good train-motif song, it chugs along merrily, something harder than the Toonerville Trolley, but not as hard-charging as a good version of "The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe". Again, suffering from the Decca shellac issue, but listenable, nonetheless.

Well, enough for one night, I'll post some more Hawaiian stuff tomorrow, because I have gobs of it here!

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

Thanks for posting feedback, please continue, it makes my day :)

Kind words from across the sea

2006-04-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

Ah the great world of music, and people who love it :) I was looking at one of the people that have been leaving comments' sites, one Lady Domi, from La Belle France, and her very very kind comments about the Shanty. I will give you the BabelFish translation of what she said forthwith:

Being of morose mood and so much is not very sadistic in this rainy Sunday, I do not resist the pleasure of recommending the blog of Brad to you, which on the other side of the Atlantic prevails (and more precisely in Colorado) under the soft name of "The Impaler", and whose "Shellac Shanty" (the "Hut with the shellacs", the shellac being matter whose the 78 turns were made) conceals some completely dispensable scarcities.
Not need to be anglophone: it is enough to click on the titles of pieces... Hold, for example, this "Where Did my Snowman Go" interpreted by Patti Page and a chorus of children as you never heard some before (to be downloaded in own way of weapon defensive, very practical to make flee a guest who encrusts yourselves)...
But, I exaggerate. There are also at Brad very full with curiosities very sympathetic nerves: inter alia, two songs hawaiiennes with matched guitar - very pleasant to listen while the rain tambourine with the windows.

Merci beaucoup, my friend :) I speak and read the language somewhat, so I got the gist of her kind words, but Babelfish helped in the intricacies...

Ah, it does the heart good to be commented upon positively :) Her site is VERY good when it comes to the realm of jazz and reviews of same... if you read French, you can go directment to her Jazz Corner. If you don't read French, there's always Babelfish :)

In honor of her very kind words, I think I'll share some shellacs aux Francais that I encoded up a few years ago with you fine folks... I enjoyed these when I got them, and going back and listening to them again make me wish I was somewhere in the French countryside with a basket full of wine, cheese, breads, and my portable gramophone... watching the world go by... a spring day perfect for romance. The artist I speak of is Jean Sablon, a voice not very familiar with American listeners, but he should be (at least I think so)...

La Chansons des Rues

Melancolie

Un Poisson Dans l'Eau

Vous Qui Passez Sans Me Voir

All of these are from Columbia 78s recorded and mastered in France but pressed in the US. If I remember correctly, the releases came after WW2, perhaps 1946 or 47. They sound good, or they WOULD sound better than these encodes are... reason being: I encoded these YEARS ago on somewhat slower computers and inferior equipment. If I can find the discs I want to re-encode them, because (1) they are sonically very interesting, very 'warm and comfy' in the recording room, and (2) I like the material.

Oh sure, there are a BUNCH of releases by Jean Sablon, Charles Trenet, even Maurice Chevalier available on CD, but I find that getting the shellac disc, cleaning it, recording it into the computer, and then sitting back with a nice glass of wine on a sunny Sunday afternoon as they merrily play along (and not having to worry about scratching or dropping or breaking the disc), what could be better?

Lady Domi, I wish for you sunny, breezy Sunday afternoons, but if it rains, I wish for you (and all my readers) a warm fire, a sense of quietude, and many cabinets (or hard drives full) of good music to wash away the melancholy of the day.

Shellac, good companionship, good wine, and cats. Can it get any better?

Patti, Patti, how COULD you....

2006-04-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

Home from work early enough to encode a few more various & sundry things from the shellac stack...

I have a couple more German sides, but I won't inflict them on you. Instead, we're going to go DIRECTLY to the Clanker of the Week. This one should have been recorded on Don't-ium (Hit of the Week records were on Durium... sound it out... OK, so it ISN'T funny...). And, although it is supposed to be some kind of Winter Yule Holiday release, one of those that make you want to sip that hot chocolate as you curl up to the warm toasty log fire in the fireplace, after hearing this record, I wanted to double-slam-inject some insulin, hurl my Christmas cookies, and vehemently throw this disc into the cheerily burning fire. I'll explain in a bit why this disc was saved from that cruel fate reserved for Jesse Crawford 78s.

The Clanker of the Week is..... Patti Page (with the Hugo Peretti Orchestra, and a bunch of kids screaming at the top of their itty-bitty screeching lungs) performing (or mayhaps, suffering through)
"Where Did My Snowman Go". Have your most cringing expressions at the ready, my friends. I would give this one a solid 8 on the Clank-o-meter. Or the Cringe-o-meter. Patti, Patti, Patti, was this actually in your contract?

Now, as to the reason why this disc is not in a kajillion pieces on the floor: "Changing Partners". This is the B-side of this Mercury 78, probably recorded in the 1950s, definately with a different orchestra (Joe Reisman), and a WHOLE LOT more feeling. As bad as the kiddie record is, this one is just so much..... BETTER. It is good to find a side that restores one's faith in a singer, no?

While we're on love songs, a couple of them popped up on the Hawaiian stack I am going through, and these would definately qualify as late-early Exotica. Recorded in the late 30s, and on Decca (but with decent shellac quality for the blue-label variety), Ray Kinney offers up "Wahini U'i", or "Beautiful One". Written by James Kahale, and featuring George Kaniapau on the vocals, this is a truly beautiful number. Add in the tasty Hawaiian steel guitar, and you're ready for an evening with a drink with an umbrella in it on the lanai at the Royal Hawaiian, watching the surf roll in and out as the sun sets.

The reverse side, "Mi Nei", or "How About Me?" is even that much better. I truly got lost in this one. Vocal duties by George Kaniapau and Henry Paul, and written by Charles E. King, this is soooo silky and sooo smooth, you should be on your several-th umbrella drink by now. My goodness. Decca sure knew how to get the good stuff. These two sides are actually from an album (which I don't have the jacket for), and I sure hope there's more like these in the Hawaiian stack-o-shellac. Looking down at the next few discs, there is. Yay-ness!

Anyone up for some Armenian crooning? Sure ya are :) I found this in a stack of Soviet LP recordings of Armenian folk songs and stories, and it is actually the best record of the bunch. Imagine my surprise when I opened the sleeve (yes, it has a cardboard sleeve), and the disc came out all nice and shellac-y. I was surprised, to say the least. I was even more surprised when I got done remastering it! The LPs are a lot of Armenian folk tales in spoken-word format, so I didn't give them too much consideration (they're here though, awaiting the day when I start up a THIRD music blog...). But this I had to get posted, because it is a neat little bit of Armenian language crooning. "Karine", sung by Karo Tonikyan, with appropriate backing by the Armenian State Variety Orchestra, conducted by A. Alvazyan, who also composed the selection. Yes, the MP3 tag reads Armenian State VARSITY Orchestra (my oopsie), which was going to lead to the comment about wondering about the Armenian State Junior Varsity Orchestra and all that, but, as usual, I digress yet again.

The recording, I would place as being done in the late 50s or early 60s... I'll have to consult with some of my friends on the 78rpm mailing list as to when the Soviet State Recording Ministry quit pressing 78s. The B-side, "Karavan", ain't half bad, either. Almost a tango feel to it, but with the Armenian flavor. Not to be confused with the Ellington version of "Caravan", but still a nice piece. And I have the correct info on the MP3 ID tag, too. This one has a bit more of the crackle to it, and try as I might, I could not get all of it out.

Never mind, I fixed the first bad tag.

Six selections, will that hold you over for a day or two? I surely hope so ... I should have some more for you for the weekend, hopefully some more domestic stuff... but the Hawaiian stuff is just sooOOOooo good........ and I'm sure we all in the Northern Hemisphere could use a little warming up from the snow and bleak of winter.

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

AND POST SOME FEEDBACK!!! ELSE I WILL PUT UP MORE GERMAN STUFF!!!
(because I fixed the comment dealie)

Just a couple more German things, I promise

2006-04-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

Working, an interruption of more joyous things in life, but a necessary evil.

I really did want to get these German & Austrian things posted, as some of the recordings are quite good, and the material is, well, different! I have a huge stack of about 60 Hawaiian things to post, as well as a bunch more acoustic sides from the 1910s and early 1920s to get encoded (and share with you all)... and since my work schedule will only get worse for the next few weeks, I'm resigned to only posting a few sides a week (unless I get a burr under my saddle and post some other stuff I have already encoded)...

Last posting, I offered up a pair by a duet, A. Engel & L. Nolte. I have another pair of recordings by Herr Engel, on the Odeon label this time. The artist credit on this disc is "Altmeister Adolf Engel, Wien - Tenor mit Orchesterbegleitung", so now we have a first name for this singer. Whether or not he is the Austrian equivalent of Billy Murray, I do not know... the vocal register is similar though... see what you think about "Die alte Uhr". This is an excellent example of how good an acoustical recording can be. Yes, meinen Damen und Herren, the singer & orchestra are playing into a recording horn (or horns). The recording engineers really had the arcane art of adjustments and tunings of the recording diaphragm down by this time, to the point that recording engineers' notebooks were highly valued secrets, and many of them took their notebooks with them when they left the studio they worked for for other ventures. This is an American recording of Herr Engel, as opposed to the European recording of the duet on Columbia in the previous posting.

Die alte Uhr is actually the B-side of the disc, "Weisst du Mutterl was i traumt hab'" being the A-side. Again, a really well done acoustical recording, I believe done in the mid 1920s. I don't have access to any of my dating guides so I am in the dark as to pressing and release dates.

One more thing about Odeon orange discs... the German ones (whether American or European pressings) will have the labels in the German font, which is a headache to read. But, at that time, that was the de facto font for anyone speaking or reading German. So, those make for some interesting additions to the shellac collection.

Giving the Germans a bit of a break, let's hit a couple of classical sides from this batch. Victor had Enrico Caruso as their flagship tenor in the 1910s and 1920s. Columbia had a few good voices of their own, one of which was Oscar Seagle. His recordings of "Chanson Bachique", from the opera Hamlet, and the Prologue from 'I Pagliacci'" by Leoncavallo, demonstrate his apt and able handling of both the French and Italian styles, at least of the day. Victor and Columbia were at each others' throats to get the classical masters on their respective labels, and the recordings sometime suffered for it. Mr. Seagle's efforts, though, were not wasted here, even though the orchestra sounds like they were playing in a closet full of blankets. Either that, or the recording engineer left his notebook at home that day.

We'll head merrily back across the Atlantic with another acoustical recording of the Columbia Quartette, "When The Sheep Are In The Fold, Jenny Dear". This is a nice example of almost-barbershop harmony with a meager background orchestra. I do not know the personnages behind the generic name 'Columbia Quartette', but there are a few familiar voices in there. I'll have to give this another serious listen to see, but I don't think either Billy Murray or Edward Smalle are in there (two names very familiar to aficionadii of early 1920s music). This has to come from the mid to late 1910s, as the matrix number and catalog number are embossed under the label, instead of being in the run-out groove. Early Columbia pressings are like that. It is even quite possible that this could have been recorded and released on cylinder as well, but usually a separate recording was done for the cylinder release. By this time, cylinders were on the wane, and discs were rapidly becoming the media of choice.

Well, I think I am going to leave you with these for the next few days. Please, pass the word around if you like the site, and please also feel free to leave comments. It gives me something to read besides the 295 pieces of eMail that fill my inbox .

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

More of the Germans (and them damn birds)

2006-04-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

Weekends... a nice relaxation away from the rigors of employment (and the chance to sleep... a LOT!). I have been doing a few more of the 12" German Columbias I got up in Loveland, and finding them interesting. These are more classical than popular, but you still won't hear them around a lot... ahhhh dagnabbit, I'm wandering again.

OK, we'll start with some German Volkslieder (folk-music) from the same batch that the last 2 German sides were from. Note that these are German recordings on US-pressed discs. I do have some German discs around here, and may post them at some future date. There was a large market for German 78s in the US as there were a lot of German immigrants in the midwest in the 1920s and 1930s (about the time when these were pressed & released). If you get fortunate, you can find some of these 78s in estate sales & thrift stores.

The tracks are longer than usual, as all the sides for today's posting came from 12 inch discs as opposed to the usual 10 inch discs. 12 inchers were usually reserved for longer compositions (duh!) such as classical works, and, in some cases, extended jazz takes. In the 1910s, Columbia did waltzes on 12 inch discs, and Victor recorded a lot of light opera 'highlight' discs, known as "Gems of...".

Enough of the rambling, first up is a pair of sides by A. Engel & L. Nolte, a male & female duet, backed by an unknown orchestra (and the occasional track of those damn birds). I don't know what it is about German Volksleider adn birds, but apparently it is supposed to be a Schwartzwald (Black Forest) type of thing. Annoying.
"Voger'l Fliagst in die Welt Hinaus", and "Im Prater Bluhen Wieder die Baume". Both are electrical recordings, and I think date from the mid 1920s.

We'll continue with a track on a more pure classical vein, "Transcription of the Folk-Song 'S kommt ein Vogel gefolgen", done by the ubiquitous (and anonymous) Grand Odeon Orchestra. Electrically recorded in Europe and released on a US-pressed Odeon 12-inch disc, I combined both sides into one file, so you don't have to turn the mp3 file over and restart it on the turntable to hear the second part. This is a very nice performance, and the recording ain't too bad either.

Finishing this weekend's offering off is this clanker, "Neue Wiener Volksmusik" (New Vienna Folk Music), performed by the also (well-deservedly so) anonymous Columbia Konzert Orchester. I also combined the two sides into one file for your convenience. The composer is listed only as "Komzak" and the conductor is listed as an "A. Weiss". As you can hear, the first part comes off credibly enough, but the second part begins to deteriorate to the point of belonging on Peter Schickele's program segment of Mediocre Performances. There are some SERIOUS clankers in here, perhaps due to the amount of beverages consumed by the performers? Who knows, but these gaffes were preserved on shellac for all the world to forget...... except us poor shellac archivists who are (un)fortunate enough to run into pieces of well-intentioned drek like this.

I think I am going to start a Clanker Of The Week 'feature'.... and this recording would sure qualify. As far as Clankers go, this one isn't TOO bad (about a 5 on the Cringe-o-meter), but, believe you me, there are some cringers out there. I'll share them, with appropriate warning, of course. With an evil grin. And an even more evil gin. And stuff.

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

Lombardo, Germans, and Birds (OH MY!)

2006-03-31T01:07:00.000-08:00

A long day. That there is STILL no toner in the copier at work (and many many training packets to copy), I got a three-hour (unpaid) break, so I decided to go into Loveland (and see the Lovely Lake where Lovers Love to Go) to check out the thrift-store action up there. No quantity, but I did manage to find 10 discs, 9 of which contain German music, and one Patti Page 78 I didn't have.

We'll start out this voyage with the 'A' side to the Lombardo Loveland 78 (an interesting story about that one, if you listen to the lyrics, apparently there is quite the colloquial intimate reference in Lovely Lake in Loveland....... if you speak Swedish....) the oft-recorded "Wedding Samba". Kenny Gardner does the vocal chores quite nicely on this take. I fail to understand, however, where the huge Brasilero contingent is on the Rio Grande, unless there is a Rio Grande in Brasil, in which case, my ponderings are moot. But, on first listen, it seems that Kenny is singing about southern Texas, and if he is, someone horribly failed geography 101. Shoot the lyricist.

Remember the kvetching I did about Decca shellac? Well, this here cut proves me wrong, although this song is probably from the same session as Wedding Samba, which would put it on the better black-label shellac. "Enjoy Yourself", again with Kenny Gardner on vocals, joined by the Lombardo Trio on backing vocals. Hedonism in the early 50s, anyone? Not the record I would play when the Reverend is over for supper....

This next recording is for the birds... literally!"Bird Calls with Story, Part 1", done by Howard R Garis and Edward Avis. Mr Garis tells the story of Uncle Wiggly and Billy the Squirrel, while Mr Avis adroitly performs whistled bird calls. I suspect that this was a childrens offering, but Columbia in the blue-label acoustic era made no indication of a 'juvenile' series. There is a little bit of artifacting on this disc, but you can plainly hear the reverberation from the studio walls (a bit on the hard side) and even some of the recording machinery. I suspect this was recorded in the late teens.

Finally, we continue the bird motif with a very interesting recording from Columbia, "Waldeslust", which roughly translates to "Call of the Forest", or something like that. Any of you who are better at German than I am, please correct mein malgespracht Deutch. Vielen Dank, meinen Damen und Herren (und lieben Kinder). Harry Steiner's Parlophon Orchestra & Choir perform this one. It is interesting because even though the label (US Columbia Vita-Tonal green Ethnic series) SAYS "Electrical Process", the vocals sure sound like they were singing into a horn! Needless to say, this was a challenge to re-master! The birdsong and some of the other music sound electrically recorded, so this may have been a case of an overdub of an acoustical track onto an electrical recording.

What the heck, I'll put on the other side as well... "Der Soldat hat ein Sabel", or "The Soldier has a Saber". This time, Herr Steiner's orchestra backs up the Saxophone Orchester Dobbri (mit gesang). My guess would be that this would have been very early on in the German Patriotic Campaign of the early 1930s, so this recording may have some darker overtones of things to come. Again with parts of this sounding as if it were recorded acoustically and then laid onto an electrical recording. Both sides do say on the label that this is an imported recording...

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

Thursday's posting and stupidity by your host...

2006-03-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

OK, I really blew this...

If anyone has the oringinal text to this post, which I STUPIDLY overwrote, please put it in the comments bin so I can recreate it??

I have the tunes, but all of the ancillary info is PFUI.

"Cut Yourself A Piece of Cake" by Billy Jones & Ernest Hare
Billy Jones & Ernest Hare on a Columbia acoustic recording from the very early 20s... this showed their style and why they became famous as "The Happiness Boys". Their later recordings were on Brunswick.

"Lola Lo" by Joseph C Smith & his Orchestra
A Nice little pepster by Mr Smith on a Victor acoustical recording from the early 20s.

"Sailing On" by Ben Black & his Orchestra
A Victor electrical recording... this one is a bit shrill, and I'll re-master it (I promise) to get the artifacting out. This one will have a theme familiar to anyone even remotely classical trained.

Sorry about the brief commets, but I really screwed the pooch in overwriting instead of creating-new... it's late and I need to go to bed.

Some more for a spring evening

2006-03-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly but surely going thru the thrift-store bonanza, donig 4-6 sides a day when I'm not working. Since I *have* been working today (and tomorrow and Thursday), not much progress has been made on the stacks, but I have a few already done I can share wit'cha.

We'll start off with a side with some local flavor: "There's A Lovely Lake In Loveland". Loveland, CO, is about 90 minutes north of me, and, yes, Virginia, there's a lake in the center (or centre) of town. Not very big, but a lake, nonetheless. Must have been some kind of inspiration to the songwriter, as Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians do a nice job with this waltz. Kenny Gardner does a nice job with the vocals, along with the Lombardo Quartet. The recording is on Decca, and is definately from the late 40s.

We venture from Colorado to early 1920s Cuba with a recording by Orquestra Max Dolin: "La Golondrina". This Victor acoustic recording is fairly commonplace amongst collectors (I have at least 3 copies of it now), but I find that it is interesting for... well... the most melodic use of slide whistle in a waltz. This was part of Victor's
'Ethnic' series, as the catalogue number is in the 70000 series, as opposed to the normal 10000 series for their 'un-ethnic' recordings.

We conclude with another journey to Hawaii, this time on a Decca electrical recording, Ray Kinney singing with Dick McIntyre & His Harmony Hawaiians: "Farewell Malihini". The recording is a bit noisy in places, but as with most pre WW-2 Decca blue-label discs, the quality of the shellac is atrocious, making the restoration a challenge. The song is beautifully sad, though, and you can hear some very nice Hawaiian steel guitar work in this one as well. The other side of the 78 is equally as poingant, I may post it in the near future... don't want to make you too depressed in one sitting. :)

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!

A couple to get you started

2006-03-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lee's Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else blog, I have been prodded to share a few of my transfer efforts.

First up is a nice Hawaiian trio of Louise, Ferrera and Greenus with "My Hawaii (You're Calling Me)". This is on a Columbia acoustically recorded 78, and has gone thru the Club Impaler restoration process (to be described in a later blog). The three instruments came out really well in this recording, and you can feel the relaxed aura of Hawaii in the early 1920s.

Next up, an electrical recording of a Scottish singer, Will Fyffe. Victor had Sir Harry Lauder on their records, so Columbia needed a Scottish singer as well, since they were great competitors, or so history relates it. "Ye Can Come And See The Baby" is done in the same style as Sir Harry would have done, but with the electrical process, sounds soooo much better. This would have been recorded in the late 20s.

Finally, we return to the acoustical era for what would be known as a "Parlour Recording", basically a prelude to "light Classical" music: Prince's Orchestra performing "The Trailing Arbitus". Not to be confused with The Performer Formerly Known As The Performer Formerly Known As Prince of modern day, this Prince recorded extensively with his band and orchestra for the Columbia Graphophone Company. Recorded in the late teens or early twenties, this is another nice relaxation piece.

As always, right-click on the link to download & enjoy!