Hawaiians for Jesus

Apparently there is a "German punk 'n Roll" surf band called the Hawaiians, but this ain't them. These are actual Hawaiians and they love them some Jesus. I always enjoy adding yet another phrase that people can googlesearch and then land here by accident....then recoil in horror, and immediately hit the back button. I would say the vast majority of the hits I get are people wanting to find something else entirely, and leave in under a minute. So to all of you looking for punk 'n roll.....sorry sukkahs!

Anyway.....Jesus-y Hawaiians. The guy sings like Dudley Do-Right, which he shows off to great effect in a song called "Ho, Everyone That Is Thirsty", which is of course why I bought this album. There is a disco tune I can imagine Tammy Faye might have enjoyed singing, the obligatory 70s show tune that isn't supposed to be Jesusy but it sounds that way when they sing it, and then one Hawaiian sounding number. That would be about it.


The Hawaiians - The Hawaiians (Mark and Diane Yasuhara)

Tempo Records R-7054 1973
Shawnee Mission, Kansas

There Is Someone
He Turned Water Into Wine
Love Theme (from "Spirit of '76")
Holy Glory
Ho, Everyone That Is Thirsty

Music blended to mix graciously with social gatherings

Here's something I'm sure my readers will have absolutely NO use for....a collection of background music "blended to mix graciously with social gatherings". These remind me a lot of the generic library and production music that some of you love so well--maybe you'll want to give this a try, thought it has little redeeming musical value. Despite that, I kinda dug listening to it. Third floor, Ladies Lingerie!

From the liner notes:

"For card parties, however small, this music is sufficiently unobtrusive not to confuse the bidding, yet fill in those dull gaps while the slow player shifts gears before sluffing a deuce." (insert crass joke here)

Did ALL rich men back in the day look like the Monopoly guy, or is it the Esquire man? I particularly like the guy behind the door whose pop-eyed lechery is honking off the lady to his right.

Background Music - Music blended to mix graciously with social gatherings

Note: The first cuts on side 1 & 2 were in too bad shape to digitize. The others are pretty bad. Why bother then, you ask? Why, indeed. And isn't the record cover swell?

Side 1
The Way You Look Tonight - Jack Stern & his Orchestra
Thou Swell - Charles Romo and his orchestra
It's De-Lovely - Bill Loose and his Orchestra

Side 2
Sometimes I'm Happy - Charles Romo and his orchestra
Evelina - Bill Loose and his Orchestra
Oh Lady Be Good - Jack Stern & his Orchestra

Let's Go Skating!

I hope you have hardwood floors so you can take off your shoes and skate around the room in your stocking feet while you're listening to this. This one is about as corny as you can hope for in an organ album, hope you enjoy it. When did I go from loathing popular organ music to loving it?

Ken Griffin at the Organ Moonlight and Roses
Columbia CL 1207

Moonilght & Roses
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
Doll Dance
Josephine
Flirtation Waltz
Petite Waltz

Wunderbar
Smile
Hi-Lili Hi-Lo
Moonbeams
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Sweet Georgia Brown

Here's Ken in action....



You can find out about his career here.

Back in Business with Brother Dave

"Dave Gardner, talking a smooth Southern-hip-universalist line, is about as think-y as they get. Or, to put it another way, he is stimulating, relevant, pointed -- all the things that true wit has always been. Gardner is more succinct about it. He flashes a huge smile, opens his big blue eyes, looks at you with this impossibly innocent face, and says, "I stir up snakes."

--from the liner notes to the 1960 comedy album Kick Thy Own Self from a comedian I've never heard of, Brother Dave Gardner. You can find out more about him here.

Kick Thy Own Self - Dave Gardner RCA Victor LSP - 2239 (1960)

If you have ever downloaded anything from this site, you have Mr. Baikinange to thank. I may be the one with the weird taste in music who obsessively buys up the vinyl, but it's his tireless computer maintenance that makes this blog possible - he spent the better part of Sunday buying me a new hard drive and resurrecting all my music from the depths of oblivion. He never reads this blog but I want to thank him publicly anyway.

"

pronit 45, originally uploaded by Battlecat.

The " is to denote "pause" in case you didn't figure that out for yourself....two of my hard drives "disappeared" yesterday, taking the vast majority of my music, wiping out 95% of iTunes (about 8000 songs) as well as some albums I had already ripped and was going to get ready to post. I tried to digitize something this morning but it's not working, I suppose I need to uninstall & reinstall the software I use. The Mr., AKA ST's entire IT department, has been out of town for work and I'm sure as hell not going to bug him with this right away when he gets back. I hope it's not a major problem, but it feels pretty bad.

You may feel sorry for me now.

an album for "hip" dancers

Today's album is a screeching honking rocking good time from Sil Austin and his orchestra. I would definitely throw this one on the turntable if I was hoping to have everyone start dancing and misbehaving, it's that kind of party music.

If you like this one, I ran across some other Sil Austin albums here. I don't have much use for folk music played on sax (Scarlet Ribbons? Ew. ), and the Honey Sax one has Whiter Shade of Pale...Ode to Billy Joe...and Red Roses For a Blue Lady. OK on second thought, forget I mentioned it.

Slow Walk ROCK an album for "hip" dancers
Sil Austin and his orchestra

Train Whistle
Shufflin' Home
Pink Shade of Blue
Walkin' and Talkin'
Oochie John
Birthday Party

The Last Time
One Plus Two is Nine
Dogwood Junction
Bout Time
A Mother's Child
He's a Real Gone Guy

Granny and Jim

If you’re looking for music from an old lady singing about tatting antimacassars, lumbago, and feeding the cats you’re going to be disappointed—Granny and Jim are both GUYS. This is your basic “good time music” (banjo alert!), meaning lots of old timey and folk-y music and good clean gentle humor. But it manages somehow to be entertaining anyway.

The liner notes tell us Jim Symington was a son of a US Senator from Missouri and a “left-hand man for Sen. Robert Kennedy, as well as campaign troubadour”, which makes me think there were some kind of peacenik political leanings there somewhere. Granville Sascha “Granny” Burland (most sources say Alexander Sascha Burland, I'm just quoting the liner notes) had the more interesting career, having made his mark as the composer of the theme song for “What’s My Line” panel show, as well as the commercially successful “No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In”. His crowning achievement has to be his association with the novelty band “The Nutty Squirrels”, who actually had a Top 10 hit in the late 50s with Uh Oh Part II.

One interesting tune on this 1963 album is the “Ballad of John Smithers”, the tale of a battle between a “pencil-pushin’ man” and the "20-ton pile of steel" computer that threatens to take over his job. (Spoiler alert: they both die in the end)

Songs of love, country, mom, gum, sports, home kissing, and breakfast by Granny and Jim
Phillips PHM 200-095 (1963)


Not Here, Not There, It’s Fifty Miles From Nowhere
Let’s Talk About My Sweetie
Old Tom Wilson
Oh You Spearmint Kiddo with the Wrigley Eyes
Take Your Finger Out of Your Mouth, I Want a Kiss From You
Let It Rain! Let It Pour!
Baby Brother Blues (Baby Sister Blues)
Sport Medley:
Baseball
One Idea About the Girls
Mandy
Thirteen Stripes and Fifty Stars
Ballad of John Smithers

Wrong cover, or Wrong Album?

Since it is highly unlikely you will ever see any reference to such things as "bit rate" or any other signs of a serious (or even thoughtful) audiophile in this blog, it will probably come as no surprise when I say that when I buy albums out of the 33 1/3 cent bin I barely make a perfunctory glance at the condition of a record before purchase. Which occasionally results in the discovery that I now own something completely different than I thought I had. My immediate disappointment that I would not get to hear Chubby Checker's version of the Mexican Hat Dance Twist, the "Love is Strange" Chalypso (sic) or the "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" Shimmy was countered by the fact that I DID own a twist version of "Night Train" (with lyrics!), the tale of "Mister Twister", AND a practically word-for-word cover of Fats Waller's Your Feet's Too Big....but with a twist beat! One never knows, DO one.

All I could salvage from the 33 1/3 cent copy of "For Twisters Only", and by that I mean all I wanted to salvage from it here

Your Feet's Too Big
Twist Train
Mister Twister
But Girls!

Knuckles O'Toole (Mr. "Honky Tonk" Himself)

Today's album is the perfect musical accompaniment for...an alien funeral? A hyena's bris? The vivisection of a manatee? This is honkytonk music for chrissakes, it's not perfect for anything, EVER.
Though it DOES have a version of Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay (which is inexplicably spelled Ta-ra-ra-Bom der-e" on the cover--is that the German spelling or something?) which is of course essential for every sophisticated music collection. You may thank me now.

Knuckles O'Toole (Mr. "Honky Tonk" Himself) and Orchestra - Honky Tonk Piano

St. Louis Blues
Down Home Rag
After You've Gone
Strolling Through the Park One Day/Wait 'til the Sun Shines Nellie/My Pony Boy/In My Merry Oldsmobile
Ciribiribin

My Wild Irish Rose/When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Take Me Out to the Ball Game/In the Good Old Summertime
Oh Marie
Ta-Ra-Ra-Bom Der-e
Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

Bouffartique!

Today's album is a very excellent entry from Oscar Munoz Bouffartique entitled "Charanga Pachanga". Capsule review--if this one doesn't make you want to gyrate your solar plexus, then you probably aren't particularly adept at gyrating your solar plexus for anything else, either.

BOUFFARTIQUE.

I'm SO in love with that man's name, it's such a delightful contraction of bouffant and fart and boutique, all in the same word.

I suppose I shouldn't be so negative, but I know all it takes is one person to bring down an entire sharity blog, so it doesn't hurt to have a Plan B, assuming I would want to continue if I woke up one morning to find my blog missing. So if this blog ever crashes and burns and vaporizes one day, we'll all meet up at Bouffartique!, OK?

The New Latin Dance Craze Charanga Pachanga - Bouffartique y Su Charanga
Vocalists: Yayo el Indio, Frank Souffront, Tony Molina


Charanga en New York
Senorita Catalina
Con Dulzura
Guapacha en Orbita
A Salter la Reata
un Lejano Amor

Charanga en Puerto Rico
Que Siga el Ritmo
Charanga Road March
Morena Escultural
Llego la Pachanga
Volvere Cielo Azul

Two Sides of Dennis and Cree

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Dennis and Cree had TWO sides, I didn't even know they had ONE....and by the way who the hell are Dennis and Cree??

Apparently they are a music/comedy duo from Nashville who favor such inspirational tunes as "Lord, You Gave Me A Mountain" and "Impossible Dream" and also do rape jokes and such hilarity as "my doctor is so bad he treated a man for jaundice for years and then found out he was Oriental". Heh heh. So I guess we know what the two sides of Dennis and Cree are, and we get to hear them live and in action in Oklahoma City. Hit it, boys!

Two Sides of Dennis and Cree

Side 1 (music)
But You Know I Love You
Hey Mr. Banjo
Lord, You Gave Me a Mountain
Impossible Dream
Down on the Corner
Games People Play

Side 2 ("comedy")
The Girdle Bit
The Hometown Bit
The College Grad
The Skydiver
The Doctor Bit
Ed's Anniversary
The Sad Soul



autographed! which is surely why it went for the whopping huge price of 50 cents.

Where There's Bud.....

I was a little disappointed when I brought this home and saw that it wasn't some sort of Budweiser promotional record, but just a collection of very familiar old standards. But the witty and offbeat arrangements by Russ David make this album a real delight. The liner notes say that Russ David was the music director of the St. Louis NBC affiliate (when such jobs existed) and that he had worked with both Isham Jones and Ben Pollack. Maybe the St. Louis connection explains the bottle of Bud....?

The uncredited female vocalist has some real chops, and brings humor & energy to these old chestnuts. If you like snappy & slick big band music with peppy female vocals backed by "do-be-do" male chorus I think you'll dig it. For me, this one's a real keeper.

Where's There's Life.... - Russ David and his Orchestra (1960)

Where There's Life
All of My Life
Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
Give Me the Simple Life
If I had My Life to Live Over
Love the Life I'm Living

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries
These Will Be the Best Years of OUr Life
There's a Lull in My Life
The Best Things in Life Are Free
Life is So Peculiar
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

If you look at the album cover on the album cover, you see their version is the Living Stereo....but mine is in glorious mono.

Presenting....The Torch Hour!

....with that sensuous gesticulating seller of songs.....Mr. Billy Daniels!

Billy would have had to dial it back considerably to get to "off the chart"....my favorite is "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight", in which Billy and his accompanist Benny Payne try to out-wail and out-holler one another, with results that Screamin' Jay Hawkins might have found excessive.

Torch Hour - Billy Daniels featuring Benny Payne at the piano
Mercury MG 25103

Side 1
Old Black Magic
Diane
Just one of those Things
I Concentrate on You

Side 2
If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody
Lady of the Evening
September Song

Tricky Trombones

First, I want to express my disappointment that "Trombonanza" from this album is NOT an arrangement of the theme from Bonanza for trombones. Fortunately, some of the goofy arrangements, such as "Cheek to Cheek" and "Skip to My Lou" (!) make up for this obvious shortcoming.

But the big question remains.....is this stereo fad here to stay?

In listening to this unusual performance, we think you'll readily agree that Stereo has "come of age", and, as is so beautifully illustrated here, it has developed from a popular oddity, or at best an instrument of enhancement, into a medium that can be and is incorporated into modern orchestrations.

whew! I guess that freakishly long and convoluted sentence answers THAT!

Tricky Trombones - Warren Covington and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Cheek to cheek
C'est Si Bon
Gimme a Little Kiss (Will Ya, Huh?) Cha Cha
(I Wonder Why) You're Just in Love
T Bone Rare

I Get a Kick out of You
Once in Love With Amy
You're the Top
Hey There
Trombonanza
Skip to My Lou

(missing: Side 1 cut 4, Stardust--there are enough versions of stardust in the world as it is, this one was not worth listening to all the way through)