Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism

Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism and Ventriloquism For The Beginner

A Juro Celebrity Record JCR-101
Juro Novelty Co., Inc. 1964

Great cover. Well done recording. I wonder how many people actually got anywhere learning the art of ventriloquism using this instructional LP? Not many, I suspect. The same deal applies to the instructional books you might buy as a comic book reading youngster to help you muscle up so that bullies would stop kicking sand in your face at the beach.

Ventriloquism, is like learning the guitar. You can learn a few basics and then spend the rest of you life figuring out how play like people who practice for 12 hours a day every day.

Nice vintage recording. Now hold you lips together and say: "nnnnnnllllloooyyyy"! I meant Enjoy!

From the A side: "Remember, you can't rush ventriloquism!" But wait! The album cover said INSTANT!

The Sounds Of Martin Denny

The Sounds Of Martin Denny
Exotica
Liberty LRP 3034 - 1957

This pressing is apparently the earlier mono release. The following year Liberty release a stereo pressing.

You see this LP around. It is no hidden treasure by any means. You can find a lot of information on Denny if you search his name. I just wanted to jump in there and say his work is fabulous!

The cover art is amazing, the model's head is almost 3D.

Piano Magic

Piano Magic
Eric Silver
Allegro Royale 1535 19??

Here's another interesting find. This record came with the Plymouth records I posted yesterday. The album cover was created by "Design House" the same designer who created several of the Plymouth covers. All very graphic cover designs.

There is a "Royale" discography online, but this LP isn't listed although the catalog number would fit into the list.

This info was posted: The catalog consisted of re-releases of Allegro Records and tapes from German radio along with masters from the old 78 RPM Sonora, Majestic and Musicraft labels. The Tops label, including masters recorded by the old Black and White label was acquired around 1955 and jazz material was obtained from Savoy and the German Climax label. When The American Federation of Musicians refused to sign a contract with Oberstein, new releases used instrumental backups recorded in Europe to back American performers. The he way around it was have artist do their thing - then have the backups to their thing - then mix the two - and press the recording.

I find it interesting that this record was with the Plymouth records I found and the cover was designed by the same person or company that designed covers for Plymouth.

I've posted Stormy Weather, the last track on the side B (for my money, the best track). Very nice work from Silver, who is also obscure... or I didn't do the right type of keyword search to find him.

Sigmund Romberg Melodies

Lover Come Back To Me

Sigmund Romberg Melodies and Popular Waltz Favorites
Viennese Symphonic Orchestra
Recorded In Europe
Plymouth Merit P12-68 19??

This is my last post from this lot of Plymouth Records I found yesterday. Another great 40s flavor cover design, this time credited to "Graber".

I expected this recording to be like the others, very bland for my taste. Nothing unique. But this album comes across like a soundtrack from a Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy movie.  The vocal treatment sounds much like MacDonald (no credit is given to the vocalist).

Which is interesting... because while I'm typing this and listening to the A side I find on wikipedia that Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald regularly recorded and performed his (Sigmund Romberg) music.

So is this MacDonald singing on this record?  Yes, I believe it is. I did a search for the titles found on the record label and found the MacDonald did record these songs. There is no other information to be found on the label or jacket. In fact, Plymouth did not bother to list the title of the last track on the A side (which is a separate instrumental track).  I'll post the last two tracks (one continuous audio file) above.

Side B is all Viennese Symphonic Orchestra... Weird...

If so how did Plymouth get rights to publish this material especially when Romberg was working for Columbia from 1945 to 1950? Why was there not enough Romberg material to fill an entire album and why did Plymouth not credit MacDonald on the jacket?

There's story there, I'm sure!

Music For Every Mood

Music For Every Mood

Harry Horlick and his orchestra + Viennese Symphonic Orchestra

Plymouth Merit P12-73 19??

Ah... here we actually have an artist credit for the music, Harry Horlick.

(From Wikipedia) The A&P Gypsies was a musical series broadcast on radio beginning in 1924. With the opening theme of "Two Guitars," the host and band leader was Harry Horlick, who had learned gypsy folk music while traveling with gypsy bands in Constantinople.

The Gypsies began as a six-piece salon group with a repertoire that ran the gamut from classical and semi-classical to folk and Gypsy music. From 1923-24 into the 1930s they were the most popular instrumental music program on the air. Horlick’s genius was for simple, logical, concise arrangements of tunes that added vital narrative, dramatic, and vibrant orchestral elements, effectively transforming them into light classical compositions. His highly melodic treatments, by turns soaring, fiery, or sentimental, provided listeners with a welcome alternative to the more frenzied heavily rhythmic dance music of the period. Toward the end of the decade the Gypsies, maintaining the same style, content, and characteristics, expanded to a fashionable 30-piece ensemble which Horlick scored in a deft, well-balanced, and richly satisfying theatre orchestra manner.

Again, another great 40s flavored cover design, this time credited to Design House • Slonevsky.

Irish Songs

One Hour Of Irish Songs and Folk Songs
The Viennese Symphonette
Plymouth Merit P12-70 19??

Another great 40s flavored cover design from New York City budget record company Plymouth Records. Again, no information to be found on Plymouth Records (at least when I did the search).

One Hour Of Organ Favorites

One Hour Of Organ Favorites

Recorded In Europe

Plymouth Merit P12-66 19??

Recorded in Europe?  Then it has to be good!

About the music?  Wait... what?  I fell asleep for a... OK... Not my cup of tea.  Or is it? I love bland obscure stuff... so I must be loving this!

No info on Pylmouth Records to be found.  Apparently from the Plymouth records that I have on hand they produced "budget" product with nice minimalist 40s flavored jacket designs.

An Hour Of Hawaiian Melodies

Eleu Mikimiki

An Hour Of Hawaian Melodies

Plymouth Hawaiian Orchestra

Plymouth Merit P12-86 - 19??

Did Plymouth Records misspell Hawaiian on the cover of this album?!! I guess this was the last job "Design House" did for Plymouth (Design House credit on the cover).

I the only thing I can find on the Plymouth Record Corporation is that they filed a lawsuit in 1955 for money not received for records delivered to the party of "Brooks".  Imagine finding details of an ancient lawsuit online but nothing else.

Great color and artwork on the cover!

Enjoy!

Passion In Paint

Passion In Paint
Henri Rene and His Orchestra
RCA LPM-1033 1955

Great cover! Being an artist I'd thought this album was a must have.

The work is symphonic in nature and perhaps not as arty or "splashy" as the cover suggests. By way of example listen to the track that puts Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" to music. If any track on this album is expected to have "flare" to it, I guess it would be the Dali track. See if your vision is like Renes'.

Cover notes:

Passion in paint, passion in music…how differently they are expressed, and yet how closely akin are they! Music has color and paintings have rhythm, and both convey to us beauty and emotion.

Here, as far as I know, is the first attempt to link popular paintings with what is usually called "popular" music. I am not sure I know precisely what popular music is: I am certain that these original rhapsodies by Henri René are music which everybody can enjoy, which everybody can understand and from which everybody can experience an emotional lift.

Henri René has, of course, not attempted any literal description of the paintings. That would be impossible in music. Ha has given us impressions. These very sensuous mood of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus to the famous and still controversial Duchamp Nude Descending the Stairs, a painting which no longer "describes" or"tells a story" but is all impression and emotion. What you have here, therefore, is amood music album with many moods.

Many of the paintings treated musically by René are familiar favorites. Several of them can be seen in our country. To see others you will have to travel as far as Florence, Madrid and Paris. To enjoy René's music you don't have to travel at all: you can "see" the paintings from your armchair.

This latest work of Henri René follows a series of highly successful albums composed, arranged and conducted by him in his own individual style. That style is Continental, which is quite natural considering that René has spent much of his life abroad. Among the albums which have become best sellers are Listen to Henri René and Music for Romance…

Here, then, is passion in paint translated into passion in music. Whatever you play the album one "painting" at a time or whatever you play the whole album together I think you are in for a new kind of enjoyment."

George R. Marek
Director of Artists and Repertoire
Copyright 1955, Radio Corporation of America

TANGO

TANGO
Pedro Garcia and his Del Prado Orchestra
Audio Fidelity AFLP 1838 - 1957

Gorgeous cheesecake jacket art. The models (or dancers) are credited on the back cover as: Carol Lawrence and Tony Franco.

Cha-Cha - Jose Madeina and his Orchestra

Let's Cha Cha Cha
Jose Madeira and his Orchestra
Palace (Buckingham Records) PST 606 195?

Great cover... but look at the cover below. Interesting to note that Palace was recycling cover elements. But after all, that's one hot model and we save money and that is one hot model!

Again, like the other record, I can't locate much info. Apparently "Joe Madeira" released a few albums, but I can't even find a date of release for this LP.

Cha Cha Ritmico

Dance Band Cha-Cha
Jose Madeira And His Orchestra
Palace M 631

And now for another variation on the cover theme!

The music on this album is pretty good stuff. The tunes lift themselves out of the ordinary with the occasional nice brass section and some really decent keyboard pounding by Madeira(?).

Maysa - The Sound Of Love

No Medio Da Noite

Maysa
The Sound Of Love
Orchestra Conducted By Simonetti
UA (UAL 3034) 1959

Here we have an exotic artist from Brazil. From the jacket notes, United Artists apparently discovered Maysa and produced this album for the U.S. market. I did attempt to research Maysa and this album and came up with zero.

She was stunning, as you can tell from the jacket photo. She preforms in her native language, which of course, is very exotic sounding. The arrangements are a cool mix of mellow jazz, easy listening, exotica and "Brazilian" music. This album is unusual and wonderful work of art.

I wonder whatever happened to Maysa (pronounced Mahee-za)?

This tidbit from the jacket: "A young woman of unusual beauty, very little is known of Maysa. Unlike its curious North American counterpart, the Brazilian public seems able to respect the wish for privacy of its star performers. It is known, however, that she is from a well-to-do family in Rio, a "society girl" with a beautiful voice who had no need nor desire for a career.

There you go...

Enjoy!

It's All Greek To Me

What you won't find in the record bin at your local Northern Kentucky Goodwill. A low budget project recorded live in Greece (I assume). At least I can tell that the record was manufactured in Greece on the Philips Label. One color cover printed on light weight stock.

For your enjoyment a beautiful song from the A or B side (I have no idea and I don't know if I've got a whole song from start to finish as the entire side is without "tracks"... so I lifted a sample).

TinkArt In The Manic Mark Art Villa

Now appearing in Manic Mark's Living Room is a new and wonderful Side Show Tink ArtWork! Tink manages to work into her art a ton of vintage found objects. The detail is amazing!. Her art is the center of attention (as demonstrated by the vintage plaster head man giving it the once over)! 

You can contact and commission a Tink creation through her site: Tinker's Witch Crafts (she's a good witch... by the way)

Liberace and Paul Weston

Liberace & Paul Weston - Concertos for You

Columbia Masterworks (ML 4764) 1953

Terrific cover signed and dated by Liberace - 1954. A product of today's Goodwill treasure hunt!

I also love the music. Over-the-top numbers with all the fireworks Liberace was known for.

Cocktails For Two

Louis Martinelli And The Continentals
Cocktails For Two
Crown Records (CST 126) 1959

Billed on the back cover as a music for "Cocktail Hour" (The hour is just after five p.m.). Martinelli plays his accordion on every track which may be enough to drive some to drink more at cocktail hour. I realize this is his record and his instrument.

The record itself is a rich swirled dark amber. The unusual record along with the great space age cover give the package an exotic look.

The music doesn't live up to the marketing. I think I'll go get a beer.

Morton Gould - Jungle Drums

Jungle Drums

Morton Gould and His Orchestra
RCA (LM-1994) 1956
RCA LSC-1994 1960 (stereo release)

Early "exotica" music from Gould featuring wonderful covers. The music is more symphonic in nature and not as heavy on "jungle drums" as you might expect (as suggested by the cover art). The sound is pleasant, but "safe" for my tastes. To be fair, I think the success of Martin Denny's Exotica, released in 1957, would motivate artists to experiment more with their arrangements and sound.

The recording was popular enough so that RCA felt good about releasing a stereo pressing some four years later.

More Jungle Drums
Morton Gould
RCA Victor Red Seal LM-2768
1964

I gave the 1956 initial release a pass because the exotica/space age trend was just getting off the ground. This 1964 sequel album is still too reserved for my tastes. The great covers don't cough up the goods.

By 1964 there was so much exotica and whacky space age stuff on the market, I have to wonder who this album was aimed at.

Martin Denny - Enchanted Sea

The Exotic Sounds Of Martin Denny
The Enchanted Sea
Liberty (LRP 3141) - 1960

Martin Denny is known as the "father of exotica" (Wikipedia). Exotica is a "style" of music which may also be referred to as lounge.

You can find a lot of material on the web about Denny, so no need for me to copy and paste here.

I post this cover because of the great cover art and by chance this may be your first exposure to Denny's work. So enjoy and seek out more of his stuff! Denny's music will transport you to amazing places. Or in this case, enchanted places.

The Mystic Monks

The Mystic Monks
Swingin Bells
Ranwood Records (R-823) 1968

Cool space age pop tune produced and arranged by Anita Kerr.

Monty Montgomery

Reba Got The Preacher

Reba Got The Preacher
Mega Records 45 RPM (promotional copy) 1970

Great cheesecake jacket.

A song about some tramp (OK... a really hot red headed tramp) stealing the preacher away from his flock and forcing him to go to honky tonks where he becomes a broken alcoholic.

From the cover... apparently, The Preacher did have some fun on the road to hell!