Mi Nuevo Amigo Machito

After listening to a few numbers, I was ready to dismiss “Mi Amigo Machito” as simply derivative, with its blatting Pradoesque trombones punctuating some fairly standard cha cha arrangements. But as the album unfolded, up popped the dopey “No Down Payment on Love” (though FYI, you can put Love on layaway), and a cha cha version of “Song of India” and Israeli Sha Sha Sha (sic), providing enough mixed music metaphors to make my head spin, but not in an unpleasant way.

Were I not a 750 pound morbidly obese Belgian confined to my bed, I undoubtedly would be up around my room dancing to this swell album.

Mi Amigo Machito

Forum Circle Records SF 9038
Manufactured by Connisseur Record Corp., Kearny New Jersey

Cheek to Cheek
An Affair to Remember
Cooking Cooking
Desierto (Song of India)
Cathy Cha Cha Cha
Rumba Ace

Santa Cruz
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Remember Me
Sunny Ray
No Down Payment
Israeli Sha Sha Sha

Boom Chicks

Joe Dixon’s Boom Chicks , it’s a little short on any real boom-chicka, but it’s a pretty cool album cover, yes? And appears to have been pre-owned by someone named Peckle, always a bonus.

Maybe the album was never even commercially released, it’s stamped "Promotion, not for sale" on the back.

It’s also stamped “Inspected by 990”. Well, good work 990, I’m sure you did a right fine job, tho it’s in pretty bad condition at this point, even by this blog’s standards. I did a particularly crap job working on this one, if for some reason you want the raw wav file so you can divide the songs a little more artfully than I did, let me know. I didn't care for it too much, so I have no plans to revisit it.

Download for some pleasant, albeit ordinary, big band dance tunes from a former clarinet player from Tommy Dorsey’s band.

Joe Dixon "Boom Chicks"
Golden Crest Records CR 3036

I Found a Million Dollar Baby in the Five and Ten Cent Store
It Had to Be You
Cocktails for Two
You're an Old Smoothie
All the Things You Are
Can't We Be Friends?

That Old Feeling
The Breeze and I
Say It Isn't So
Out of Nowhere
Paradise
How Deep is the Ocean

Leon Berry Wants to Steal My Lunch Money

Or possibly do something more malevolent. I mean LOOK at that evil stare, a little mal de mer and he's ready to lead a road company of the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

He's like Harry Connick Jr.'s lecherous uncle. Those wacky men and their giant Wurlitzers. Aaah, I got nothing here, stop the carousel, I wanna get off.



Giant Wurlitzer - Leon Berry Vol. 3 Audio Fidelity AFLP 1844(1958)

Tavern in the Town
This Can't Be Love
People Will Say We're in Love
Falling in Love with Love
South Foxtrot
Dixie

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean/Caissons
Roman Guitar Tango
Washington Post
What is this Thing Called Love
Sari Waltz
Student Prince Serenade

Tubby Walton Sings. Again.

Sometimes the liner notes just have to speak for themselves.....

“Let’s have MORE of those songs!”
That was what folks said when they heard TUBBY WALTON’S first album of country meetinghouse religious favorites, sung in the untrained but naturally rich and mellow voice of “Georgia’s Ambassador of Good Cheer”.

Without commercial promotion of any sort, Cousin Tubby’s first album was a fast sellout and, like the voice of the turtledove, the cry of MORE! MORE! continued to be heard.

Never one to deny his “public” William Hewlette Walton, his legal alias, called in his “organ playing ladies” as he calls Mary Eskew, Lola Downs, and Eloise Phillips (talented musicians all!) and they teamed with the recording genius of Maurice LeFevre to help Tubby “birth” this second album. (ed.: ew.)

....................

So-o, cut down the lights, close your eyes, open your ears and your heart and let memory be your guest as you hum along while Tubby sings the tender and romantic “goodies” Grandpa employed to enthral (sic) Grandma-—back “When You and I Were Young, Maggie”!

You’ll be glad you did!

And while you enjoy this music-that’s-different you can experience a warm glow of satisfaction from knowing that every cent of the $5 you paid for your album goes to worthy causes—the YMCA Boys Work, the Epilepsy Fund, the Cancer Fund, and others. And when Cousin Tubby says it ALL goes to charity he means exactly what he says!
“It’s ALL clear, Cousin. And, beloved, when Tubby says it is ALL clear that’s what he means. There ain’t no deducts, Cousin.”

GUARANTEE

Tubby guarantees every album you buy; if you don’t like it, keep the album and he’ll refund your $5! (ed.: If you don't like the album, why would you want to keep it?)

That’s fair enough for anybody, so how many copies can we sell Y-O-U, Cousin?

--James Q. (Jake) Maxwell

Well. How can I possibly make fun of such a worthy fundraiser? I'll just have to let you listen (if you dare) and do it yourself.

Tubby Walton Sings Again....
LeFevre Sound, Atlanta MLFP 2626

Jesus is Calling
He Lives
The Great Physician
Precious Lord, Take My Hand
(two other Jesusy songs I couldn't bring myself to sit through)

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes (what the hell does that MEAN, anyway??? I always wondered.)
Kathleen
Juanita
Maggie
Genevieve

My Bathroom is a Very Special Place

One of the most popular classics from the 365 Days Project is the stunningly kitschy giveaway from the American Standard plumbing company entitled The Bathrooms are Coming!. That album represents some of the most appallingly lame promotional songs ever concocted by an ad agency, and they are delightful indeed. So I was pretty excited when I found "Music for Bathroom Baritones and Bathing Beauties", also from American Standard. It's supposed to be a collection of songs you'd like to sing in the shower or tub--maybe people knew the words to "Flirtation Walk" back in the day, and both Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell were surely still alive when this came out--but some of the rest of them, I don't know. OK, maybe I can see myself singing "My Buddy" a la Al Jolson while lathering up.

The music is performed by two different choral groups--The Voices of Walter Schumann, and the Winged Victory Chorus. Not soloists. How many people did American Standard think would join you in the shower to help with the harmonies?

Music for Bathroom Baritones and Bathing Beauties

Dancing in the Dark - The Voices of Walter Schumann
My Buddy - The Voices of Walter Schumann
A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody - Winged Victory Chorus
Where or When - The Voices of Walter Schumann
Paddlin' Madeline Home - The Voices of Walter Schumann

I Only Have Eyes For You - The Voices of Walter Schumann
Whiffenpoof Song - Winged Victory Chorus
Stardust - The Voices of Walter Schumann
Sweetheart of Sigma Chi - Winged Victory Chorus
Flirtation Walk - The Voices of Walter Schumann

The Girl Who Cried "Cha Cha"

I've posted a LOT of cha cha albums, with a heavy emphasis on the cheesiest ones with the stupidest song titles. Maybe I've cried "cha cha" one too many times for you to bother to download this particular cha cha album. But this one? (kisses fingertips with a loud French-y MWAH!) This is the real thing, the roots of cha cha, featuring such luminaries as Beny Moré, Noro Morales, and Tito Rodriguez. And it contains one killer number, the hopelessly sexy "Negra Mi Cha Cha Cha" by Facundo Rivera which has earned itself a long term place in my favorite iPod playlist.

Love the REAL cha cha? Don't pass this one by. Because I said so.

Cha-Cha-Cha (Various Artists)
RCA LPM 1081 (1955)

Las Engañdoras - Ernesto Duarte
Negra Mi Cha-Cha-Cha - Facundo Rivera
Musafa - AL Romero Quintet
El Tunel - Tito Rodriguez
Cha-Cha-Cha - Beny Moré with Ernesto Duarte
Aquellos Ojos Verdes - Alamendra Orchestra

Silver Star - Noro Morales
El Baile del Cha-Cha-Cha - Al Castellanos
Me Lo Dijo Adela - Tito Rodriguez
Baila Vincente - Aragon Orchestra
Nicolasa - Ernesto Duarte
Lamento Cubano - Alameda Orchestra


EDIT: Apparently there is a problem with Mustafa - click here for a better version

Saturday Night Dance Date

There are a couple songs on the Tops records cheapie "Johnny Long Plays for Saturday Night Dance Date" that I enjoyed pretty much. I'm a fan of the cornball big band songs where the guys in the band provide an off-key backup chorus for the perky girl singer (in this case, Sandee Moore). Sandee does a marginally sexy version of "Daddy" (which sounds like it should have been performed by Eartha Kitt), and the boys hoke it up on an off-kilter version of Sweet Sue. Most of the rest is pretty average big band dance numbers.

Why is it that all big band sidemen chorus numbers sound about the same? Maybe it's the same reason that no matter what's in it, most garbage smells pretty much the same?

Johny Long Plays for Saturday Night Dance Date Vocals by Sandee Moore
Tops L1575

Sweet Sue
Where or When
Swinging Down the Lane
Lay is a Tramp
Daddy
Flamingo

Blue Prelude
Silver Dollar
Paradise
My Sin
One Dozen Roses
One O'Clock Jump

Bottoms Up! For Swingers

Recorded live at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas circa 1970, it's the "comedy" revue "Bottoms Up for Swingers".

The liner notes promise waaaay more that the album delivers:

Whammo...up in the air, and a quick Moroccan "Zip-Zap" comin' and goin', wow!! And the best of all fun and orgiastic delights...rollin' all over you in wave after wave of sound and sights and tactile delights....BOTTOMS UP blows your mind, your secret places and things!



Oh, and this guy is in the show.

Maybe he was the one did the oh-so droll bit about the headwaiter at the cannibal restaurant (with a Rastus accent) who wears a bone through his nose and recommends the hippie stew....

BOTTOMS UP for Swingers Laff Records WP 1-3650

Husband Hunting

“Husband Hunting” by country singer Liz Anderson was released in 1970 ; the same year that daughter Lynn Anderson hit the big time with “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” . The album is a throwback to sixties music, rather than looking ahead to the decade ahead; it feels about 5 years behind the times, with its reference to go-go dancers, and a polite and restrained version of “Okie from Muskogee”, free from the exuberant cheers that punctuate the original.

I was hoping that the song “Wee Little Kittens” would be a country weeper about a cruel-hearted lover who drowned a bag full of kittens in the pond, and likewise submerged her love in a burlap sack (hey, I could write country songs!!) But sadly, it’s only a love tune that should be called “Twee Little Kittens” instead.

Note to self....no more 70s country albums.

Husband Hunting - Liz Anderson (1970)

RCA LSP-4346

Husband Hunting
Show and Tell
Okie From Muskogee
Born to Lose
Only for Me

That's a No No
Don't Leave the Leaving Up to Me
Down in the Boondocks
All You Add is Love
Wee Little Kittens

Music for the Birds

The "Dark Angel of the Violin", Eddie South, joins forces with reedman Mike Simpson in a charming and jazzy collection of tunes about our feathered friends.


Music for the Birds - Eddie South (violin) and Mike Simpson (reeds & flute)

When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along
Skylark
The Hot Canary
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Blues for the Birds

Flamingo
Listen to the Mockingbird
Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing
Robins and Roses
Bird Bath

Pardon My Partial Doo-Wah

Which do you prefer hearing, the metallic "PING!" of a baseball hitting an aluminum bat or the organic sounding CRR-RACK! of a wooden bat connecting? OK, I don't really care about baseball either, but I see the difference as analogous with the sound of CD versus the mono version on an album.

I found out right after ripping this that it's still available on CD, along with another vintage Hefti album, so you'll only get a tantalizing taste of a few numbers. It's really great stuff. But mine's crackly mono, which is the way I prefer it. But if you don't mind having a coppery aftertaste in your ears, then I recommend you go buy the remastered CD version.


Jon Hendricks and Steve Allen added lyrics--two of the Basie numbers were later used in Lambert Hendricks & Ross collaborations. Musicians include Ernie Royal, Milt Hinton, Al Cohn, and Phil Woods.

Pardon My Partial Doo-Wah - Neal Hefti

Two For the Blues
Chug-a-Lug
Ready Rudy
Kiss Me First

I Love, Cuddle, Caress, Fondle the Hula

Aloha, all you wahinis and um, wapinis, today we're goin' to a Hukilau with lovely red vinyl recorded in Honolulu, so you know it's a very special day indeed.



By studying the back cover of this album I am surely going to master the magical and seductive language of the HULA and parlay these skills into a brilliant and top-paying career at the United Nations as an interpreter of Hawaiianese. Then it'll be arrivederci blogging and to all of you-lot, but of course that won't all happen for a few weeks yet so there might be a time to post a few more albums before I leave. I have already memorized the "Love, Cuddle, Caress, Fondle" gesture which ought to come in handy next time there's a really long speech by Qadaffi or Kadafi or Gandolfini or however you spell his name.



I "think" this album has some really swell yodeling on it! (doing "think" gesture while typing)



HULA--the ageless, the beautiful, the world's favorite interpretive dance

Lovely Hula Hands - Music of the Hula recorded by Wakiki Records Co. in Honolulu

Lovely Hula Hands - Honey Kalima and His Royal Hawaiians
Green Rose Hula - Haunani Kahalewai's Trio with the Wakiki Serenaders
Little Brown Gal - Kalani Bright and His S. S. Lurline Serenaders
Nani (Beautiful) - Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hanuoli Girls
My Yellow Ginger Lei - Bill Aliiloa Lincoln and His Hawaiians
Hame Pila - Honey Kalima and His Royal Hawaiians

Hukilau - Kalani Bright and His S. S. Lurline Serenaders
Nawiliwili - Haunani Kahalewai's Trio with the Wakiki Serenaders
To You Sweetheart Aloha - Honey Kalima and His Royal Hawaiians
My Little Grass Shack - Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hanuoli Girls
Hawaiian Hospitality - Bill Aliiloa Lincoln and His Hawaiians
Manu Oo - Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hanuoli Girls