Muriel Millard - Show Biz

Le Bonheur, C'est Ca

Muriel Millard
Show Biz
Venus Records VL 315
Distributed In Canada By London Records
1962

Here was have a yard sale find in Northern Kentucky. The album jacket cover is in English but the back cover and label are in French with the exception of the last track on the B side, Show Biz (which, oddly enough... is sung in French).

Millard is a club, or cabaret performer. According to an online Canadian Encyclopedia, Millard wrote most of her songs after 1960. So, perhaps she wrote the songs on this LP.

Kaleidoscope - Les Baxter His Orchestra And Chorus

Tropicana

Kaleidoscope
Instrumental Varieties By Les Baxter His Orchestra And Chorus
Capitol Records T594
1955

At first glance, I never suspected this album to be 1955 vintage. The quality of the cover design seems more early "60s" to me.

"Kaleidoscope, Instrumental Varieties" is a nice way to label an album that contains songs that are not "thematically" consistent. There are "easy listening" tracks mixed in with the more atmospheric "exotica" tracks.

The album kicks off with a nice cover of Tropicana. The B side is more easy listening capped off by a fab tune titled Atlantis.

As always, if there is a problem with any post, let me know and I will try to make corrections.

The Enchanted World Of Ferrante & Teicher

The Enchanted World Of Ferrante & Teicher
United Artists UAL 3375
1964

This is an excellent album full of atmosphere that appeared in the June 6, 1964 Billboard Pop Spotlight Picks with the following blurb: "Messrs, Ferrante & Teicher continue to make beautiful music even more beautiful with their dual pianos. Back by a large orchestra, big arrangements and an impressive list of songs, it all adds up to first-rate entertainment."

I think this LP transcends easy listening and is as good at setting mood as many of the excellent Jackie Gleason records I have on hand. Gleason is another favorite artist of mine who's work seems to consistently transcend the standards of the day.

Soundblast - Ferrante And Teicher

Soundblast
Ferrante And Teicher
Westminster WP 6041
1956

This is a re-release of Soundproof (1956). According to spaceagepop.com this is the mono release of the stereo re-release of Soundproof (same songs). I will assume the the stereo version of Soundproof features the same songs as the mono version of Soundproof. Confusing.

Both sport wonderful and collectible jacket art.

And this is an excellent LP with experimental sound throughout.

I recently found a full color version of the jacket as seen above. I can only assume that jacket is the original release followed by the monochromatic cover version

General Electric Show N Tell Hog

General Electric Show N Tell

Pickwick International ST-6428
1965

Show N Tell is a device as seen in the second image. A combination record player and slide viewer that was apparently redesigned during production and came in several colors.

The media came as shown above, created by the budget record company Pickwick. This must have been a nice contract for Pickwick. There were a large number of records to produce. I'll feature more as I can.

General Electric Show N Tell Shoemaker & Elves

General Electric Show N Tell
Pickwick International ST-167
1964

Show N Tell is a device as seen in the second image. A combination record player and slide viewer that was apparently redesigned during production and came in several colors.

The media came as shown above, created by the budget record company Pickwick. This must have been a nice contract for Pickwick. There were a large number of records to produce. I'll feature more as I can.

General Electric Show'N Tell Puss In Boots & Doggie In The Window

General Electric Show N Tell
Pickwick International ST-166
1964

Show N Tell is a device as seen in the first and last image. A combination record player and slide viewer that was apparently redesigned during production and came in several colors.

The media came as shown above, created by the budget record company Pickwick. This must have been a nice contract for Pickwick. There were a number of records to produce. I'll feature more as I can.

Cugat Cavalcade

Cugat Cavalcade
Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra
Columbia CL 1094
1958

This is an excellent space age cover and album by Cugat. Of course, I have yet to run across a Cugat album that I don't like. He has a way of making most songs hip. He understood how to modernize a tune just enough to give the song a unique personality.

There are great covers of Brazil and Tico-Tico on this album.

David Rose And His Orchestra

David Rose And His Orchestra
HI FIddles
MGM Records E3481
1957

Great space age cover. Not sure the play on word works graphically... but love the wave length illustration.

David Rose was married to Judy Garland for about four years (divorced in 1944).

I don't see this album listed on the several online discographies of Rose's work. There are mentions of the LP here and there and you can find the album in a 1957 MGM Billboard display ad.

This is a nice space age, bachelor pad record. Light, hip and fun. There may be better songs on the record... but no better title can be found: Satan And The Polar Bear (track 3 on the B side)! Man... who came up with that one and I can't believe the title made it into print!

It's to bad for me that you can buy this song as a download on Amazon. I'd love to share it.

Enjoy!

Allen Hanlon Picks Leroy Anderson

Serenata

Allen Hanlon Picks LeRoy Anderson

Golden Crest CR 3012
1957

From Billboard Magazine May 6, 1957: LeRoy Anderson tunes like Sleigh Ride, Syncopated Clock, etc. are well known enough but they are better suited to bigger and more colorful ork groups than that obtained by multi-track guitar disking. Hanlon's technique is tops but it doesn't add up to much of a commercial LP package. Cover seems to have little connection with the contents.

I was going to say that...

I do love the cover, but there isn't any real relation to content. And use of multi-track recording didn't help fatten up the sound. The sound on most tracks seem thin and restrained. Serenata, track 3 on the B side is quite nice and has a little personality.

African Safari - 101 Strings

The Trek Back

African Safari By Edmund De Luca
101 Strings
Alshire S-5171
1969

The sub-title from the cover reads: The Activity And Excitement Of An Actual Big Game Hunt!

Well... ah... don't think so. Maybe the title should have read: Here I Am In The Jungle... Hunting For My Pants!

Not a bad 101 effort really. Pleasant easy listening with just the slightest touch of exotica .

Dance With Xavier Cugat

Dance With Xavier Cugat
Columbia CL 537
1953

Lovely cover on this Cugat album. This record is a bit inconsistent. There are some very fine "space age" tracks even a track with bit of an "exotica" flavor (Nightingale) A few tunes feature vocals. There are a few avergage sounding tunes mixed in. Very fun stuff for the most part and, as usual for Cugat, more engaging than most other Latin artists working at the time.

Chipmunk Punk

Chipmunk Punk
Excelsior XLP-6008
1980

OK... this LP should have been titled Chipmunk New Wave, or Main Stream Rock/Pop... but I realize that I'm over intellectualizing and Wave doesn't rhyme. But wasn't the point of punk to spit in the eye of convention? I think my point is, do not use this record as a tool to teach your children about The Punk Movement. Golly... make them stick a safety pin through their ear first for goodness sakes!

This is actually my favorite helium FX cartoon character record. It isn't complete torture.

Watch the vintage commercial below. Over a 1,000,000 copies have already been sold... NO WAY!

An Hour Of Piano Dance Music - Frank Froebra

Hindustan

An Hour Of Piano Dance Music
Nat Brandwynne And His Orchestra
Frank Froebra at The Piano
Allegro/Royale 1285

Here we have another great vintage cover on a budget record. This is a two color print job, red and silver metallic ink (reflective ink). Highly unusual.

Allegro jackets on their 12 inch records were constructed differently then all other 12 inch jackets, slightly smaller and printed on heavier cardboard. Many sported engaging designs.

This is an "Allegro" labeled jacket with a "Royale" labeled record inside. Royale's catalog consisted of re-releases of Allegro Records.

Froebra was a house pianist for Decca in the 1930s and 40s.

The record starts off with some very standard 30s sounding band backed dance tunes but then and thankfully, transitions to some nice light jazz (not at all "dance" music) which Froebra is better known for. These inconsistencies are common on this label. They pressed what they could beg, barrow or steal.

Topicana - Monty Kelly

Bali Hai

Tropicana
Monty Kelly
Somerset P-7300
Miller International Co.
1958

This is an excellent early exotica flavored LP. I also ran across this LP sporting the same jacket design on a site featuring Essex label releases. The catalog number is ESLP-203. A 1955 release.

A 1953 Billboard article explains that Kelly signed a two year non-exclusive contract with Essex to make 32 non-exclusive instrumental sides. The tune Tropicana, from this album, was done to full fill part of this contract.

At some point Kelly went to work for Somerset as a staff arranger. He worked on 101 Strings albums composing at least 50 tunes according to a 1967 Billboard article (Monty Kelly And The Soul Series).

The article goes on to point out that Kelly showed devotion to all types of music and was prolific.

I don't see Kelly listed on spaceagepop.com. This surprises me after listening to this LP and reading the Billboard article. Kelly seems like a good fit.

About half this album can be found on a CD collection (Bali Hai excluded) titled "The Golden Age Of Light Music: Great American Light Orchestras".

As always if there is a problem with any post, let me know and I'll try to make corrections.

Christmas With Chippy The Chipmunk

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Chirstmas With Chippy The Chipmunk
Silver Seal UT-1006
Premier Albums

This is a great album cover. Chippy is a two color (red & white) print on embossed die cut foil and then applied to the cover, like a sticker.

I can find almost no mention of this album online. At first, I thought that this may be a rip off of the "real" Chipmunks. It is and maybe worse is than that the Chipmunk Song found on this record is an direct copy of the Ross Bagdasarian song released in 1958. I'm not a Chipmunk scholar... but I don't think the other tracks are direct copies. They seem to be far more budget basement chipmunks. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is not a copy.

I have, on a number of occasions while collecting records, run across budget labels using material obviously without permission or infringing on brand, so the out right stealing and brand infringement doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is the expense Silver Seal went to produce the cover. This was not a cheap jacket to print and assemble.

Sounds To Make You Shiver!

Sounds To Make You Shiver
Black&White SPC-5101
Product of JKL Entertainment Productions

This album is a great collectable for the lurid and garish cover art.

Side one, A Night In A Haunted House is one long wind storm with other FX thrown in. At one point there is even a little music which is nice. The recording drifts and the use of FX is sparse making this a good recording for use in other audio projects or for video presentations.

Side two has some nice creepy sound effects. Phantom Piano is very cool.

I think this is a re-release of a Pickwick album (same cover art, but no "Pickwick" logo). The album may also have been released on the SOMA label. I've seen the album on another blog sporting the same name but with a different and very fun cover imagine.

Songs From Sesame Street

Yellow Submarine

Songs From Sesame Street
Another Peter Pan Original
Peter Pan 8092

Here is another incredible Peter Pan record. A while back I featured a Peter Pan "Disney" knock off record. On that record Peter Pan used illustrations on the jacket that looked like very much like Disney characters. I don't know how they got away with infringing on the Disney brand.

Now I find this "Sesame Street" album. Interestingly enough, this album is labeled "Another Peter Pan Original" while at the bottom of the cover (out of the frame on my scan) there is a line of copy: Not affiliated with the T.V. program "Sesame Street". At the same time, the back cover is loaded with copy explaining the actual T.V. program mentioning Jim Henson and actual character names while.

The songs are by the "Peter Pan Orchestra and Chorus". For the most part, the sound is total early and not so great 70s adult easy listening. Any kid who thought he was going to hear The Cookie Monster sing a song was in for a hugh disappointment.

Apparently, according to the back jacket, the song "Yellow Submarine" (not this version, of course) was actually used on shows number 17, 62 and 102.

Sound For A Picture Evening

Gay Party

Sound For A Picture Evening
Popular Photography
1965

This an LP marketed by Popular Photography magazine. I'm assuming sales were largely made through advertising in found in the magazine.

There is a Capitol Records logo on the record label.

Apparently, the record was made to accompany home movies and slide shows. There are a variety of easy listening selections and some sound effects with suggestions as to what type of slide show the track would best work with. Gay Party, for instance, "fits just about any party".

I do not, however, note any tracks suggestions that would go along with 8MM movies of my time spent doing tunnel clearing operations in Vietnam or any music that would enhance the experience of someone watching their face melt in the bathroom mirror while doing LSD. I jest of course... but that's the record I was hoping for.

Doin' The Twist - The Twisters

Twister's Blues

Doin' The Twist
The Twisters
Treasure TLP 890

I can not find any information on who The Twisters were. Treasure Records, as far as I can tell from the back cover, was a budget label operating out of Mount Vernon, New York.

The "Peppermint Lounge" is mentioned, as an advertising gimmick on the front cover. This dates the album to 1960 - 62 when the Twist fad was in full swing.

On this record, "The Twisters" do covers, in a "twist" style. What's interesting about this LP is that, probably due to the low budget, the sound is totally stripped down. There are three or four people playing without reverb or other FX. The lead guitar occasionally sounds a bit out of tune. In my opinion, this is a nice unexpected and unrefined sound for this type of recording.

David Carroll - Let's Dance Again

David Carroll And His Orchestra
Let's Dance Again
Mercury SR 60152
1962(?)

This LP came be found on CD.

Many of Carroll's album covers are bold cheesecake fun. I think one reason that Carroll's "dance" LPs can be found on CD is because people are drawn to the covers.

The music isn't great 60s cheese or good space age pop. Curiously, there is one track on this LP that gets the exotica/space age pop job done nicely. The tune, Swamp Fire, is very cool and seem strangely out of place amongst the sugar coated white bread "dance" tunes.

The Mellow Guitar Moods Of Los Indios Tabajaras

Nunca - Lovely Weather - St. Louis Blues

The Mellow Guitar Moods Of Los Indios Tabajaras
RCA Victor LPS-2959
1964

Wonderful space age pop album by brothers from The Tabajara tribe of Northern Brazil who created a night club act around Brazilian and Latin folk songs.

Real information is lacking as RCA was careful to package the duo as they saw fit. As an exotica act (in my opinion).

They charted a Top 10 album with their first RCA release, Maria Elena. The novelty worn off and their next release barely dented the Top 100. This album is their third RCA Victor effort. Apparently, however, their records sales were such that RCA would continue to produced as many as 18 more Indios LPs into the 1980s.

Needless to say, St. Louis Blues is not a Latin folk song. I post the sample because it is a unique cover of that tune and I just like it. I found a Los Indios "best of" CD on Amazon (a pricey import) that includes two songs from this LP, Amor and Angelitos Negros.  Much of their music, however, can only be found on vinyl.

Freddie Sateriale's Big Band Cha Cha Chas

Everyday Is Ladies' Day Meringue

Freddie Sateriale's Big Band Cha Cha Chas

Merengues & Mambos
Broadway Latin America Party
Spinorama Records S-22

Very little information to be found on this album or artist. The jacket design looks to be early 60s (after Enoch Light's Command Label jacket designs). I think this LP may be the stereo release of an earlier Spinorama release, MK-3038.

Nice clean basic space age big band Cha Cha.

Learning Basic Skills Through Music - Volume II - Partners

Partners

Learning Basic Skills Through Music
Volume II
Educational Activities AR 552
1980

Learning Basic Skills Through Music - Volume II

Let's Dance

Learning Basic Skills Through Music
Volume II
Educational Activities AR 522
1980

Sounds like Palmer mixed a a touch of The Beatles into Let's Dance. The lesson? Learn the basic skill set necessary for getting down with your bad self of course!

Learning Basic Skills Through Music - Vocabulary

Kinds Of Food

Learning Basic Skills Through Music

Vocabulary
Original Words & Music By Hap Palmer
Educational Activities AR 521
1980

Panic The Son Of Shock

Panic The Son Of Shock

The Creed Taylor Orchestra
Compositions By Kenyon Hopkins
ABC Paramount

Creed Taylor's follow up to his great album titled SHOCK.

From the back cover: "One point first: if you think, upon first hearing it, that this album is simply a kind of Muzak for morticians, you may disqualify yourself right from the start. It's a free country."

I do no yet own SHOCK, so I can't compare albums. Side one on this LP seems to lack the atmosphere I was expecting. It seems a bit too "Spike Jones" for me. That is, with the exception the 5th track titled Out Of This World. This song has a great 50s science fiction feel to it and ends up unexpectedly with dogs barking.

Side two plays for me much better. The tracks are titled Heartaches, Rain Alpine Honeymoon, A Shot In The Dark, The Fastest Gun and No Smoking. They are moody, atmospheric and nicely quirky.

Learning Basic Skills Through Music

What Are You Wearing?

Learning Basic Skills Through Music Volume 1
Original Words & Music By Hap Palmer
Educational Activities AR 514
1969