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Showing posts with label Dances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dances. Show all posts

Thursday, December 24, 2015

A Budget Label Christmas


For those of you who love those old budget label Christmas records (the kind your parents randomly picked up at the drug store just as something different to play on the stereo around the holidays.) I have a tub of pure Cheez-Whiz for you today.

In the 1950s and well into the '80s, It wasn't uncommon to see racks of super cheap anonymous Christmas records in your local drug store or supermarket selling for anything from 88 cents to $1.98. A cheap "impulse" thing you bought when your Christmas spirit was high, but money was tight. This made an even balance. You got your gifts and wrappings, ornaments for the tree, a quart of dairy egg nog and...Wait...I gotta have tunes!

And there they were. Conveniently close to the check-out stands for ridiculously low prices. Problem. Solved. Granted, it was "mystery music". But who knows?

Sometimes these records became family heirlooms, others donated to the thrift shops. But there's always been a soft spot for those over 40 who can still remember seeing these records at drug and discount stores. 

And a very special thanks to Kaiwaza for finding some of these aural samples.



"Christmas With The Caroleers" The Caroleers (Promenade/Diplomat/Spin-O-Rama, 1963)

First, let's get started with the biggest known of the budget label acts (and absolutely mandatory in any collection of cheapo vinyl); The Caroleers.

As mentioned here, "The Caroleers" weren't technically an actual group. Although some Caroleers tracks have the same vocalists, it appears to be the generic umbrella name for anonymous holiday material from Synthetic Plastics Company (famous for their Peter Pan label of cheap kids records) and their various subsidiary labels regardless of the actual performer. Many of the same songs also appear across several Caroleers LPs on the various Peter Pan/SPC label LPs, 45s and EPs in the 1960s.

Putting names and faces to this music is next to impossible. SPC/Peter Pan (as well all the other budget labels) only paid their studio performers a flat rate with no royalties. They rarely had credits for anyone.

But in my research last week, I made a major breakthrough. I found one actual person that not only appeared on some Caroleers tracks, but could very well be the mysteriously female sounding voice on the "Nuttin' For Christmas" song I wrote about a few weeks ago that was credited to Bobby Stewart as well.




Her name was Toby Deane, a comedienne and voice actress. Bob Purse has an excellent post on Toby's career on his blog, The Wonderful and the Obscure. Toby Deane recorded for Peter Pan/SPC label records and various other budget labels from the 1950s to the 1970s. Her voice is believed to be on several hundred children's records.

And the Eddie Maynard Orchestra. But once again, I run into the same dead ends in my research while looking for Eddie. All that is known is they appear across several Peter Pan/SPC label albums and their holiday music appears on LPs credited to The Caroleers. 





Santa Claus Is Coming To Town The Caroleers (Diplomat/Tinkerbell, 1970)

With the release of this album, the sound of The Caroleers radically changed. No more old recycled tracks, here was a Caroleers album of mostly actual original material. Sung by Toby Deane and Ray Dorey. A pop vocalist who, like Toby Deane, also performed with Benny Goodman's Orchestra in the 1940s. Ray was also a fixture on Boston area on radio and TV in the 1950s and in later years, recorded chidren's records and other material for Peter Pan/SPC.

It sounds more cohesive than other Caroleers albums in that it wasn't a grab bag of whatever was in the SPC/Peter Pan vaults and that it was single group in a session specifically for this album.





Christmas Is For Children; Merry Favorites from Santa's Little Helpers (Design Records DLPX-2, 1957)

Toby Deane also appears on this album. In fact, many of the Caroleer vocalists from the Peter Pan/SPC labels appear on this Pickwick distributed LP. It appears there were no exclusive contracts to the budget labels, as these performers seemed to appear on nearly all of them. 

Design Records was Pickwick's subsidiary label. They're best known today as where Lou Reed got his first break in the music industry as a staff songwriter and recording as session musician and occasional vocalist with some musicians who would later form The Velvet Underground. While most of Design's output was knockoff cover versions of pop songs and sound-alikes, Design occasionally licensed older material of various pop acts. When stereo LPs became the norm, Design took a few, shall we say, liberties with their licensed material (Such as this infamous Roy Orbison "remix".)

And down here, I dug out some of the earliest stuff that was available back in the day. Perennial, old-timey fruitcake-like music you probably heard dropping from the automatic record changers inside your parents/grandparents BIG console stereos of the time. Choruses, orchestras and pipe organ music. Mostly playing public domain traditional carols.




Christmas At Our House; Favorite Christmas Carols Martha Tilton and other Great HOLLYWOOD Vocal Stars, George Mather at The Console (Tops Records,1956)

Martha Tilton was called "The Sweetheart of Swing", best known for her 1944 hit "I'll Walk Alone". After 1950, Big Band swing music had given way to the pop balladeer and her career was fading and she was recording for Tops.

This album also features Marni Nixon, who was a movie playback singer (she recorded the vocals for Deborah Kerr's singing parts in The King And I.) She is also fondly remembered in the Seattle area as the host of KOMO-TV's kids TV show Boomerang.

Thurl Ravenscroft was a radio and animation voice actor and basso singer who sang the classic 1966 version of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (not on this album.) and the legendary voice of Tony The Tiger in TV commercials for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

Doris Drew (Not to be confused with Doris Day) was a jazz singer and like Marni Nixon, often recorded songs for actress singing parts in movies. Norma Zimmer would join Lawrence Welk's orchestra as it's religious singer. John Gabriel would find later fame as a soap opera actor in the '60s, '70s and '80s. and probably best known as Seneca Beaulac in Ryan's Hope. All that is known about John Gustafson is he had an uncredited role as a background singer in the 1954 movie musical Brigadoon. And I can't find anything at all on Bill Reeve.

Tops Records was a typical budget label that specialized in the "knockoff", sound-alike record and often sold packaged compilations of these. When the LP was invented, they changed to recording originals by fading and B-List stars. At their peak in the late 1950s, they were the most popular budget label in America.

They also pioneered the "cheesecake" album cover (With Hollywood actresses on the covers, including Jayne Mansfield, Mary Tyler Moore - who appeared on several Tops LP covers. Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.)

Jayne Mansfield
Mary Tyler Moore
Rita Hayworth
Kim Novak & Rita Hayworth

But then after a strange merger with failing Geiger counter maker Precision Radiation Instruments in 1958 (which established it's own subsidiary record label) and a couple years later, a disastrous acquisition by an investor who was completely inept to the record business, Tops was bankrupt and it's catalogue was sold to Pickwick Records just two years after the acquisition.

Another strange coincidence was Tops Records were also pressed at the same South Central Los Angeles pressing plant as the Bihari brothers' infamous Crown Records. Just what connection Tops had with Crown is still unclear with many collectors. It's believed the plant was originally owned by Tops and sold to Crown and then used again by Tops as a cost cutting measure. Even some Tops recordings appeared on Crown (attributed to different artists) and vice-versa. At this time, Crown's record quality was still fairly decent. But after Tops folded in 1962, Crown's quality tanked. And like Crown, Tops covers were known for splitting at the seams as they were just two pieces of cardboard held together by a cover slick.





Hail To Christmas Peter Raymond Carolers (Wyncote, 1966)

On this album, it appears the lead caroler on some tracks on Side 1 is a very off-key caroler who sounds like he's trying to shout over the orchestra. He also botches the lyrics in "Jingle Bells".

It takes work to botch up the lyrics in "Jingle Bells".  

Wyncote was owned by Cameo-Parkway Records, a major independent label based in Philadelphia and named for a Philadelphia suburb.

You'd think Wyncote, being owned and operated by a major independent would have better quality albums than the usual budget label dreck. But nothing could be further from the truth. They were amongst the very worst budget labels I have ever seen. Every Wyncote record I ever owned (all of them clean and some close to mint) was plagued with ghastly surface noise, the vinyl often had bumps and even a few air bubbles. Like Tops/Crown, Wyncote covers were slapped together with no inner paper or plastic sleeves and the quality of the music? Well, let this sink in.





Christmas Favorites The International Choristers and Orchestra Featuring George Mather (HIM again?) at The Mighty Console (Craftsmen/Golden Tone/Tops, 1959)

Nothing says international Christmas like four random average American-looking white people from the Midwest and a rather annoyed looking sidewalk Santa, who seems to be pondering "How much did they say I was getting for this stupid photo shot again?"

And it really shows on this album in particular. They sing in perfect English with exaggerated German and French accents.

From here, we go to the late '70s and the disco-themed Christmas budget albums.





Christmas And New Year's Party - Irwin the Disco Duck with The Wibble Wabble Singers and Orchestra (Peter Pan, 1977)




Disco Noel Mirror Image (Pickwick, 1979)
 
Mirror Image was Pickwick's house band in the 1970s. They appeared on several "sound-alike" Pickwick albums of the 1970s.


Disco Noel included a free disco dance lesson.
Pickwick was so confident in the success of the Disco Noel album, it was immediately followed up with Yuletide Disco.


And they did sell quite well, in spite of disco rapidly falling out of popularity at this time.

But this would be the end of the era of the budget label Christmas record. Pickwick had been sold to PolyGram earlier in 1979 and would soon cease operations and Peter Pan/SPC would concentrate solely on their kids records.

Still, it was an era. And it still feels weird walking into a discount retailer and not seeing the bins of budget label Christmas records like I used to.

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

"Dancing In The Dark" Bruce Springsteen (12" Extended Remix, 1984)



It seemed like a good idea.

But Bruce Springsteen's music (and this song in particular) is the type that utterly clashed with the general type of the R&B infected New Wavy dance music that was popular in the dance clubs in 1984 this version was made for. No matter how much drum machine and strange background singers you put in it.
  
That might be why Bruce Springsteen himself has never re-released this version of "Dancing In The Dark" on any of his compilations.

And let's face it, it's a horrible remix.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Dance The Slurp (1967)



Side B



This was a promo 45 that was given away with the purchase of a Slurpee at 7-Eleven stores in 1967.


Thursday, November 20, 2014

"Running" Chubby Checker (1982)



You're probably listening to this and thinking "Hey wait a minute, this isn't a song you can twist to!"

And that's what Chubby Checker was aiming for on his 1982 comeback LP The Change Has Come. To prove he wasn't just a one trick act and he could be a modern Adult Contemporary pop singer as well as as the master of an all time dance classic.

But there's no escaping The Twist and the only single from this LP, "Running" stalled at #92 on the charts. It just wasn't the Chubby Checker we know and love. And Chubby returned to twisting....

Saturday, November 08, 2014

"The Frito Twist" Euel Box (PAMS Recording, 1962)





Yours in a specially marked bag of Frito's corn chips in 1962 (The Year of The Twist).....



Wednesday, September 03, 2014

"The Kwella Stroll" Lou Berrington & The African Kamp (Parkway,1966)

This song, "The Kwella Stroll" is the HILARIOUS B-Side of a tune called "The Kwella" (Which was actually a fad dance in 1966)


Saturday, January 11, 2014

"Hey Jude" The Far Out, Underground, Acid Rock Feet of Harry Zonk (1969)



Just when you thought you've finally seen EVERYTHING: A tap dance record of "Hey Jude"......

This may be where the Age of Aquarius ended.....

Monday, May 27, 2013

The Utica Club





http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/2003/023.shtml

I'm back,

It's Memorial Day in America, the sacred time where Americans remember their fallen heroes by quaffing oceans of beer and eat tons of grilled food. And watch the Indy 500 on TV......

So for your drinking pleasure, I present you with The Utica Club Natural Carbonation Beer Drinking Song, a song best heard under the influence of several bubbly foamy alcoholic beverages. And this charming little 45 from '60s is presented to you on a scratch resistant Stereo MP3....perfect for tipsy music playing......

Utica Club was a beer they brewed in upstate New York. They still brew it (we all could go for a tasty round!)



http://www.saranac.com/page/family-brands

Enjoy!

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2003/01/365-Days-Project-01-23-the-utica-club-national-carbonation-band.mp3

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

"Live Is Life" Opus (1985)


Interesting tune from Opus. Austria is usually one of the last places on Earth you'd look for reggae. But this one hit wonder scored a massive new wave hit with this flytape catchy tune.




Instant '80s Pop Culture Fact: "Live Is Life" was the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's favourite song. It also came out at the height of his cult's popularity.


Imagine a bobblehead of this guy if you want a visual of how the Bhagwan danced.....

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Election Day Hits: "The Politics Of Dancing" Re-Flex (1983)


Well, with Halloween over and Election Day coming up, it's time to dig through the archives for songs about politics And there's NO shortage of those either.....

I'll start with the ULTIMATE song about politics, a 1983 dance pop classic from a UK band called Re-Flex. This was their only US hit.......

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Before There Was American Idol......

....there was The Gong Show.

And I'd STILL take Chuck Barris anyday over Ryan Seacrest. The Gong Show wasn't about sappy wannabes singing lame Whitney Houston or John Mayer covers, The Gong Show had talent....and REAL (future) stars. Like this little unknown act called The Mystic Knights of The Oingo Boingo.

And if you're any fan of classic alternative rock.....well, you knew who this group became:


This was from 1976, LONG before Oingo Boingo went New Wave, they were a performance artist troupe from L.A......

Monday, October 08, 2012

Halloween Hits: "The Mummer's Dance (Radio Single Version)" Loreena McKennitt (1997)


It's amazing how so many people get Loreena McKennitt mixed up with Enya. And contrary to widespread urban legend - and one of my pet peeves when talking to the utterly CLUELESS about the song - Enya NEVER sang backup on the chorus on this radio single remix. That was just an overdub of Loreena McKennitt's voice in a different key. I have the radio promo CD and nowhere on it does Enya's name pop up ANYWHERE.



"The Mummer's Dance" hit #14 on the Top 40 radio charts in 1997.

So what's a mummer and why is it dancing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_Play

Loreena McKennitt also had another creepy earlier Canadian hit single "All Souls Night" (1991)


Friday, October 05, 2012

Halloween Hits: "Monster" Fred Schneider & The Shake Society (1984)

1984 Original Cover
1991 Reissue Cover


Often miscredited to The B-52s, this was a solo single from Fred Schneider. From his 1984 album Fred Schneider & The Shake Society. It was repackaged and re-released on Reprise (try saying that 10 times fast) in 1991.

The music video, as you can imagine was one of the first ones banned by MTV.....

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Lost '80s Pop Classic Week: "Rock Me Tonite" Billy Squier (1984)


Well, let me put it this way. Billy Squier was cool. SUPER COOL. At one time, he REALLY was the most popular solo rock artist in the early '80s in America, At one time eclipsing Bryan Adams, George Thorogood and Pat Benatar COMBINED. And if you don't believe it,  I'll remind you:



 But in 1984, something went wrong......Horribly wrong

He was at the peak of his career when he released Signs Of Life, and from all indicators, it was going to be ANOTHER blockbuster album. And it was. This baby shipped platinum straight from Capitol Records on pre-orders ALONE. And a catchy new song hit the airwaves, "Rock Me Tonite" and all was going according to plan.

And then MTV aired the World Premiere Video of "Rock Me Tonite".......


....and you could hear the sound of a million jaws collectively hitting the floor.

For one thing, EVERYTHING was wrong with the video. Famous heterosexual rock guitarists just weren't supposed to prance around in ripped tank tops and pajama bottoms. Or dry hump the floor. Or wear ANYTHING pink. Or stumble around with the band like a drunken drag queen (with a PINK guitar.) It was a TOTAL image clash from the Billy Squier of just a year ago then. Fans scratched their heads and said "What the fu.....?"

And it was proof positive a HUGELY successful music career can be destroyed almost overnight by just ONE bad music video.

And Billy Squier, who once HEADLINED stadiums was suddenly reduced to playing much smaller music venues. (His loyalest fans were still plentiful, but the mainstream fans had all but instantly deserted him.) Over ONE video......

The next few years were rough as he tried to live down the "Rock Me Tonite" video. He released an album in 1986 Enough Is Enough which was a far more serious effort in an attempt to recover from the video debacle and return to form. But rock radio and MTV had mostly ignored it. They were too focused on the hair metal bands who, ironically, pranced around in ripped tank tops and pajama bottoms. Dry humped the floors. Wore ANYTHING pink. And stumbled around like a drunken drag queens.

Some even had PINK guitars.

His comeback finally came in 1989 with the release of Hear And Now, which scored him his first #1 rock hit since "Rock Me Tonite" called "Don't Say You Love Me"and things looked good again....


But Seattle grunge came and soon wiped everyone off the map.

He left Capitol in the early '90s and the music business for the most part, doing nature conservancy work but he still makes occasional appearances at Classic Rock shows....... 

Friday, September 28, 2012

"Gangnam Style" Psy (2012)


At History's Dumpster, it doesn't have to be old to get tossed in. Pop fads are being created all the time.  There's no reason to make it purely nostalgia. If it were, it would get boring for me as the blogger here. Quickly.

Today, we look at the craze known as "Gangnam Style", an internet meme gone berserk lately. What is it?


If you've been living under a rock (and with things as crazy as they are in the world, I can't really blame you.) "Gangnam Style" is a video and funny dance by pudgy Korean rap star Psy and currently the fastest rising song on today's Top 40 charts:

http://cclamp.radioandrecords.com/rrwebsite20/Members/Charts.aspx?ChartId=1

Flash mobs doing the Gangnam Style dance pop up everywhere regularly and the dance had been a regular feature of morning talk shows. People everywhere seem to love it, as videos of them dancing to it keep popping up everywhere on YouTube.

You could call it The Macarena of 2012.

And in a way, "Gangnam Style" has finally opened up the door for one of the richest known sources of sometimes excellent undiscovered pop music, known as K-Pop (Korean Pop). But I also worry if K-Pop will be pigeonholed by "Gangnam Style" There's far more to it than just this song. MUCH more. But knowing how the record and radio industry work, they always look for copycats of The New Big Thing and never really dig deeper for the hidden gems, which K-Pop has no shortage of

On the other hand, it could usher in a K-Pop music revolution, Having been a fan for years, it's about time.

Here's one of my favourites from Loveholic, a 2004 K-Pop classic, titled - what else? "Loveholic". It's a pop song sung entirely in Korean, but I like the melody. And the lead singer's hair in lights.....Nice touch.



And while for some people, the bowlegged side to side stepping with arms folded looks stupid. But so does every other dance really. And you have to admit, the song is fun relief in a sea of Justin Bieber, OneRepublic and Carly Rae Jepsen tunes that flood the Top 40 airwaves today.

For now.

There will come a time when we'll all get sick of it (some folks already are.) But for now, enjoy it while it's here.

Just don't make any YouTube videos. Please. You don't look as cool as Psy. Please......

Monday, September 24, 2012

Lost '80s Pop Classic Week: "Everybody Dance" Ta Mara & The Seen (1985)


I remember first hearing this song on "C-89" KNHC 89.5 FM Seattle back in 1985 and I could have sworn the lyrics went:

Everybody`s dancing

In the nude across the nation

I'll bet you didn`t know


Which left my teenage male mind in 1985 wondering "Where?!...WHERE??!! FILL ME IN!! WHAT DOES THIS CHICK KNOW THAT THE REST OF US DON'T??"

What a drag when I finally pull up the lyrics online almost 20 years later to find the actual lyrics were:

Everybody`s dancing

With a new determination

I bet you didn`t know


Ta Mara & The Seen came out at a lucky time in rock 'n roll history. When Minneapolis was the Seattle of it's day (just like Seattle in the early '90s, ANYTHING that was big in Minneapolis, preferably connected to Prince in some way, got signed to a record deal in 1984/85. Ta Mara & The Seen were produced by Jesse Johnson of The Time, who also was Prince's band in the movie Purple Rain.)

Nothing was heard from Ta Mara & The Seen again.....But they left behind an instant '80s party classic....