They might not have had Prozac at the start of the 1960s, but they DID have the Honey Dreamers—-wholesome, chipper, ready to walk on the Sunny Side of the Street. To paraphrase Lenny Bruce, these people probably smiled when they defecated. I find the whole album simultaneously exhausting, and charmingly comical.
I think it was also a few years before the concept of “affirmations” came along, and each song title could scrawled on a post-it and placed on the fridge: “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams”. “Feelin’ So Good Today”. “It’s a Good Day”. “The Best Things in Life Are Free”.
The Honey Dreamers appear here with with “the Aaron Richard’s orchestra” (sic)-- apparently Top’s Record’s only hired the BEST proofreader’s, what they MEANT to say was the Aaron Richards Orchestra. Did you hear my indignant sniff of derision when I wrote (sic)? Of course you did.
The quintet was a “two-girl and three-men vocal opposition” who appeared on all the big TV shows of the era—Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Steve Allen, and Dave Garroway. From the liner notes:
Even when singing a straight monochrome of melody, the voice blending is pretty and mellow. Also interwoven in the enchanting melodies are staggered entrances and humming.
And if the Honey Dreamers can’t make you smile with their lilting tunes they will probably come over and poke you one the shoulder over and over and over and tilt their heads coquettishly and make cute pouty faces until you fake a wan smile. Trust me, just paste a phony smile on your face and they should leave you alone shortly.
Really Living - Honey Dreamers with “the Aaron Richards Orchestra.
10 comments:
Hi,
Thanks for this great vocal group. A real gem. But what's that extreem low background noise? Is that such a bad pressing?
RonH
Maybe that's the humming....? I noticed that one channel was really low, so maybe I had to raise the volume more than usual. It's probably something stupid I did, though Tops is not known for its high quality recordings.
Actually, I've heard some very high quality recordings from Tops. It's their pressings that stank. Sounded like the music was being played while a concrete mixer was at work.
Some of their stuff was pressed in the UK by another label (Mayfair?) - good quality vinyl, good pressings, and they sounded great.
Yes, I had the same experience with Tops. Some bad some good. But in this case it looks like turntable or receiver noise. This noise is alien. Perhaps another try without raising volume.
Ron
In my spare time, I'm getting rid of most of the scratches on these tracks. I know. I should get out more, I'll post a link when it's done.
Thanks for another TOPS masterpiece. These weren't always the best records (many were, with big names), but they all had a charm of their own. In the '50s in Southern California, a $1.98 record and L&M beer, 4 quarts for a dollar, made for a great bar-b-que.
For some reason, all recordings I am making have low audio. When I click on the mixer, it tells me it's not connected. Until I can get the Mr. to take a look at it, I'm going to hold off on posting anything. When it sounds horrible to ME, then there's definitely a problem. If anyone has any tips or wants to try to help, please send me an email.
MeeeyOOOWrrr! FFFfft!
Here you go. A cleaned up, audio boosted, de-clicked, all-round nicer sounding version of this lovely LP. Is here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M3D5NS2T
Cool stuff! I'm late to the game here, but glad, since I got the cleaned-up rip.
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