Double Impact

Albums of TV themes….meh. But an album full of themes from mostly (deservedly) forgotten TV shows from the 1959-1960 season? Yippee! Bourbon Street Beat? Men Into Space? Johnny Staccato? And who out there knows all the words to the theme from “International Detective"? I do! It goes like this…..

“Internationaaaaaaaaaaaaaal Detectivvvve……Internationaaaaaaaal Detectivvvvvvvvvvve……….buh-BAYH-ohhhhhhh” (repeat)

And best of all…..there are WORDS to the theme from Bonanza that, sadly, do NOT reference Hop Sing.

Goes like this:

“Bonanzaaaaaaaaa (yiyiyyiyiyiyiyi)

We gotta right to pick another fight…Bonanza!
If anyone fights any one of us, he’s gotta fight with me….
One for four…four for one…..

Any one of us who starts a little fuss, knows he can count on meee...”


And wait til you hear what arranger Ray Martin did to the song, well, it's mighty fine, and is my pick o' the week.

Not that I have anything against lounge-y blogs (kiss-kiss, lounge-y blogs! Love ya!)…..but hadn’t I been drifting dangerously into that territory lately? Well, I’m back to total weirdocity, (weirdo-city or weird -OC-ity, take your pick) with this one, no ping-pong stereo here, it’s all in glorious mono. Yiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi!

Double Impact

Men Into Space
Hawaiian Eye
Staccato’s Theme (Johnny Staccato)
The Deputy
Riverboat Theme
Bourbon Street Beat
Bonanza
Twilight Zone
San Francisco Blues
The Untouchables
Markham Theme
International Detective

Ethel's Souvenirs

There's something about Sunday morning that makes me more receptive to low-key music, such as this 1949 charmer by organist Ethel Smith performing music with a Latin American flavor. I like the cover, I like the music, and that's about it.


Ethel Smith Souvenir Album Decca 5016

So which will it be, student--the falsetto or the pinched?

If you have a lot of time on your hands and are looking to perfect a skill that has been outdated since the demise of vaudeville, then today's offering is for YOU. This blog has recently highlighted the importance of ventriloquism in everyday life, assuming your everyday life includes operating a pirate ministry or doing an off-color nightclub act.

Jimmy Nelson's "Instant Ventriloquism" is a pretty deceptive title--he actually expects you to stand in front of the mirror for hours to keep your lips from moving while replacing the "p" sound with "th". Which would explain why I can't come up with the names of more than one ventriloquist who could even remotely be considered a celebrity, Edgar Bergen, and he worked on RADIO.

And if becoming a "real" ventriloquist proves too challenging, the last part of the record and enclosed print materials allow you to simply play the record of the dialog between Farfel and Danny O'Day with gaps for responses from YOU the ersatz ventriloquist. Or better yet, toss the script and write your own responses to the dummies and create a bizarre blue comedy ventriloquist act. Do it, and I'll be there in the front row!

Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism Juro Celebrity Records JCR 101

"Falsetto or pinched" are the two types of dummy voices you can choose between--either high pitched or whiny.

Can't Win 'Em All, Leo

OK Leo Addeo, I have given you several chances and you have disappointed me for the last time. How can it be possible to do a boring version of "Istanbul Not Constantinople"? And this from someone who has been provoked into inappropriate fits of giggles in public places when Leo's "One Paddle" or "Hukilau Song" pops up in the iPod shuffle. You only get 4 songs from this crap album, so suck it up. I love you all and everything, but I draw the line at "Funiculi Funicula".

4 from Far Away Places with Leo Addeo
Never of Sunday
Istanbul
Shalom
Far Away Places

Atrocious Apostrophe's Cha Cha Cha

Honestly, it's not that difficult...an apostrophe-"S" means belonging to (word) or (word) is. So does the title mean Pertinent Percussion Cha Cha "is", or "belonging to" Pertinent Percussion Cha Cha? Lesson over, grammar and spelling will be meaningless in the all-text future anyway.

This was purchased for the irresistible title "Travel Now, Pay Next Year Pleasure Cruise Cha Cha Cha", which turns out to be OK. This is one of those annoying albums that does that ping-pong stereo thing audiophiles in the 50s and 60s loved so well, but give me a headache. The liner notes are a veritable wankfest of such details about piccolos that come peeping through the throbbing ensemble attack (I kid you not)and "furious display of guerra scratching"--do you see why I chose the word wankfest? Geez, Alfalfa, why not just write "No Gurlz Allowed" on the front cover and be done with it?

Basically these are heavy-handed arrangements with blatting Prado-esque trombones, gratuitous everything-but-the-autohorn percussion, which are better enjoyed sparingly rather than listening to the whole album all at once. And you'd just better heed these stern admonitions to adjust your stereo system accordingly:

Watch out especially for the bright, piping piccolo on the left with the guerra and quito under it--these contrasting sounds should not obscure each other. The rasping scratch of the guerra should not fuse into a swishing sound nor should the demands of the two percussive instruments diminish the quality of the piccolo's notes.

Sheesh, quit tinkering with the damn stereo already and grab a chick and do some cha cha cha!

Pertinent Percussion Cha Cha's (sic, as if you didn't know) - Enoch Light and the Light Brigade

Havana at Midnight

I wonder how many budget record labels this music has appeared on? I recognize the song "Bailando" from a Request records cassette I had to buy an extra of copy years ago because I was playing the crap out of it. I am completely delighted by the cheezy secondratedness of this whole album--it's pretty reet in its own awful way. The generic band name "Pedro and his Amigos" is a big enough south-of-the-border bucket to dump this odd collection of tango, cha cha, merengue, and mambo into.

Havana at Midnight
Bravo Records K109 Freeport, L.I.

Bawdy Songs Goes to College

Well, sometime tomorrow I will reach the 100,000 visitor mark, which was surely helped by the gay porn sites that linked to me when I posted the Willie and Spotted Dick comedy album or whatever the hell it was called, I've already forgotten. Hidey there, gays! The gays just LOVE me.

But instead of more dirty stuff with little redeeming social value, I am offering.....dirty stuff with tons of redeeming social value, in the form of American folk music as collected by Oscar Brand from college campuses. Talk about NPR-worthy! We've all enjoyed Oscar Brand's Bawdy cowboy music, and of course the bawdy sea chanties (my personal fave), yes? Bet you've never heard an anatomical song about the female genetalia backed by banjo music, now have you? Sadly, there are minor problems with "Study in Anatomy", which is one of my favorite numbers on the album. Cut 1 on side two is pretty much worm-meat, but I put it on here because I felt like it. You would think for the SIX DOLLARS (yes, for only the one album) I spent it would be in better shape.

Don't forget, tomorrow is Record Store day, I doubt that I will make it to any of my favorite stores because they'll be too crowded with dabblers to do any good shopping, plus I never like to do stuff when I'm told to do it.
Anyway, here's Oscar Brand, listen and enjoy then go buy the album on his website blah blah blah.

Bawdy Songs Goes to College

Side 1

The Girls Form Campus Hall
Four-Letter Words
Study in anatomy
Drinks all ‘Round
Seniors in Town Again
Glorious
Correspondence

Side 2

The More Vulgar-Minded
Ride On
The Duchess and the Student
Old Soldiers Never Die
Four for Three
The Codfish Song
Father’s Grave

Audio Fidelity AFLP 1952 Presented warts and all, with absolutely no audio clean-up...what a time-saver!

Mmm, Nice!

I'm sure I'm way behind the curve, since I have only just now discovered the amazingly entertaining "Mmm, Nice!" by Bob Thompson, his Chorus and Orchestra. Since it was released in 1960, that would make me nearly 50 years behind the times. Anyway.

Fortunately, someone considerably more coherent and literate than myself has already written about this album, so if you want to find out the personnel (which includes the recently departed Bud Shank) and other pertinent info, go here.


My favorites are the Thompson originals, "Playboy", "Joie de Vivre" and the title track. The rest of the arrangements are first-class, and the chorus is delightfully schlocky. I love this album, and if you are even more behind the times than I am, you're in for a major treat.

Side 1

Mmm, Nice!
The Song Is You
Younger Than Springtime
People Will Say We're in Love
They Can't Take that Away From Me
While We're Young

Side 2

The Best Thing For You
Ain't We Got Fun
Hello, Young Lovers
Do It Again
Joie de Vivre
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Playboy

Mmm, Nice! Bob Thompson his Chorus and Orchestra RCA LSP-2117



My copy of the album was originally sold at the defunct Indianapolis department store Wm. H. Block Co. The building was designed by Indianapolis resident Kurt Vonnegut Sr.

26 Top Hits

Only 26 songs on this album?? What a bunch of underachievers, the Residents were able to cram 40 whole cuts on their Commercial album. Sorry, owner of “Hit Records” label, I am unimpressed with your bang/buck ratio.

The liner notes statement “We feel sure that you will be pleased with the purchase of this limited addition album” is far from the most moronic part of *26*TOP HITS*, featuring the suitably beige sounding “Music City Orchestra and Chorus”. Being on the “Hit Records” label, it’s probably a group of Nashville studio musicians, but you have surely heard better karaoke singers and very possibly better sounding Middle School Symphony Orchestras than you will hear on this album.
Highlights include potentially trouser-soiling falsetto versions of Young Girl and She’s Come of Age, a recording engineer who fades in and out of songs at the oddest times (though inexplicably he allows the insufferable “Honey” to run a full three minutes) and oooh! Sound effects! on the Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde. The only reason I bought this was for the cover version of Judy in Disguise (with Glasses), and I was suitably horrified, at least 50 cents worth.

26 Top Hits

Side One

Honey
Young Girl
Lady Madonna
Dock of the Bay
Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde
Scarborough Fair
Up Town Down Town
Once You’ve Been in Love
Come On On
You Can’t Trust a Friend
You Make the Decision
Madrid
She’s Come of Age

Side Two

Valleri
Love is Blue
Simon Says
Valley of the Dolls
Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)
Going Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
Sha La La La La
You Were Gone
Berlin melody
True Love You Can’t Buy
This Town
One Fine Day
Wise Like Soloman (sic)

25 cents worth of cha cha cha

Do the Half Price Books chain stores seem too mall-y for anyone else, or is it just me? I always think it smells like the Olive Garden there. Anyway. I tagged along with the Mr. there recently since they sell vinyl, and sometimes even 78s. I seldom have the patience for 45s, but for a quarter each I had no problem taking a chance on the few I picked up.

All of you Eurps out there will probably know the name of British bandleader Joe Loss, though I'd never come across his name here in the States. Easy Listening World has more than a few Joe Loss albums at this writing, so if you enjoy the two cuts below there's a lot more to be heard.


Joe Loss and his Orchestra

Latino

Wheels

Telemark 880

Dance Along with the Lecuona Cuban Boys

Several beers consumed. Can't remember which track of this album was too mangled to include. Mistakes with titling tracks. Don't much care. Lecuona Cuban Boys. Flouncy shirts. Cha cha cha.
Dance Along with the Lecuona Cuban Boys

He Knows What's Best For Me

You know, we like to “kid around” a lot here at ST but beneath my naugahyde-covered cast-iron exterior, you know I have a heart of pure marshmallow fluff, and really understand the important things in life. So on this most sacred of Christian holidays, known as “Maundy Sunday” I would like to present an inspirational message of hope for those who appear abandoned and wheelchair-bound, mired in the mud of an empty field in the sole company of an affable yet dim-witted canine. From the liner notes:

During the time when I longed for a more intimate relationship with God I prayed “Lord, I want to know more of you, whatever it takes and no matter what the circumstances.” Three nights later, I lay paralyzed at the base of a cliff, with the Holy Spirit whispering gently in my ear, “Rest in Me now, and I will draw you into a deeper knowledge of Myself.”


Only three days to get his prayer answered, now that’s first-class service!

Due to being, um, overwhelmingly moved by this album I was only able to transfer one cut. But it IS one that Mr. Mitchell tells us he wrote while shaving one day, so you know I have chosen wisely.


Scott Mitchell - He Knows What’s Best For Me
Unknown label, through Overcomers thru Christ Ministry in Kennesaw GA

Sip a Little Oolong Tea with Billy May

My new motto..."Always listen to side 2". No matter how mediocre side one of an album may seem, I very often find something to appreciate on side two. As is the case with today's album Billy May 70, which seemed to start off with plenty of lush and smooth string arrangements and not much else. But then with side two came the delightful little number "Road to Hong Kong" featuring some questionable Oriental-sounding babes singing some dorky words about oolong tea. Yahtzee! The album is suddenly worth the $2 I spent.

Note about the transfer.....apparently I recently offended the freakishly sensitive Hellenic ears of one of my dear, dear loyal readers. Surely his hearing is more refined than my cloddish and trans-fat laden AMERICAN ears, so to please my European listeners (Greece IS in Europe isn't it....?), there are no attempts to clean up the audio. I cranked up the volume slightly, but other than that, this album is as pristine as the day its mamma birthed it. So, hope you love it!

Billy May 70

Side A

I Believe In You
Song From Advise and Consent (Heart of Mine)
Oglan Oglan
The Naked Island
Once Again
Handful of Stars

Side B

Bashful Billie
Lovewise
Road to Hong Kong
Pennies Form Heaven
Perdido
Change Partners

Potluck

Man, I've bought a LOT of music lately.....I have stuff from last month I haven't even taken out of the sleeve. I must have 20+ things I haven't had time to listen to yet.....I promise, I only have a few things to do this weekend, so I'll try to do enough so I'll have a new album every day for a week.

John LaSalle Quartet was sort of a more commercialized Lambert Hendricks and Ross, maybe I need a few more listens to fall in love with it. There are some strong numbers, such as Ridin' High and Potluck, and one number where I fwowed up indeed, "Christopher Robin is Saying His Prayers". If you dig the jazzy vocalese, give this one a try.

John LaSalle Quartet - Potluck

Ive Got You Under My Skin
Once in a While
A La Claire Fontaine
Nickelodeon Song
Time After Time

Side Two

I'll Remember April
Nobody's Heart
Christopher Robin is Saying His Prayers
Potluck
The Night We Called It a Day
Ridin' High

Yum-dee-dah-dee-daaah the music brings me close to youuuuu

Avert your eyes, guys, plug your ears and sing LALA LA really loud…today it’s “Something for the Girls”. As though there were any girls reading this. It’s by some accordion guy named Dick Contino, backed by the David Carroll orchestra. Pretty much a yawn-a-thon in my book, though some of the background vocals are incredibly goofy. Guess I’m just not a girly enough girl to enjoy it. Great cover, though!


Side One
Twilight Time
Mexicali Rose
Nightingale
Song of the Islands
Tango of the Roses
Bewitched

Side Two
Poinciana
The One Finger Melody
You Are Always in My Heart
Adios
Charmaine

Something For the Girls - Dick Contino