The series will include entries from the Honey Dreamers, Snooky Lanson, Bob Carroll and perhaps others. We start off with this 1955 issue by Gisele MacKenzie, a charming and talented performer of the time. MacKenzie's strengths were her flawless intonation and diction. I do believe she could sing most anything, which served her well on the television program Hit Parade, where she was one of the resident singers.
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| A hat wearing Gisele |
MacKenzie is less successful with "Unchained Melody," which lacks passion, and "The Breeze and I," which does not at all convey regret. "Unchained Melody" (from the film Unchained) was first an instrumental hit for Les Baxter and then a vocal hit for Al Hibbler. The Righteous Brothers had a huge success with it 10 years later "The Breeze and I" is a vocal version of Ernesto Lecuona's "Andalucia," and was on the US charts first in 1940 (Jimmy Dorsey-Bob Eberly) and then in 1955 (Caterina Valente).
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| From a Billboard ad |
The backing here is by Alvy West. I enjoyed the recordings he made with Sinatra some years before this, but these are not in that league. "Unchained Melody" sounds feeble and "The Breeze and I" is stereotypical. The recording of the band isn't very good, either - although Gisele sounds fine.



22 comments:
Thank you Buster. No one will be able to accuse you of a hard sell this time ;0) Regardless, i am still looking forward to hearing it.
JohnnynUSA
Johnny - I like Giselle, but see if you disagree with me.
Thank you ... am also very much looking forward to hearing this
bulldogUK
I don't think you can go wrong with Gisele, but I'm really looking forward to The Honeydreamers.
Many thanks for upload. always thought Gisele was a great singer.
Kind Regards,
James.
Thanks for posting! Interesting to hear this arrangement of "Unchained Melody," which she'd rerecord in a much lusher version with Axel Stordahl on her self-titled 1958 LP.
Thanks, all for the comments!
qatburger - Good point; in fact, I meant to point out that she later re-recorded Unchained Melody.
Thanks Buster - I enjoy her vocals a great deal, and found I had none of these! Fixed :)
Which reminds me - I was looking for "Sings of Loser's Lullabies" if that was somewhere in the archives! Early '60's, with a bit of Bossa - thanks Buster.
FF - I don't think I have that one, but I have to do a bit more exploring before saying for sure. The LP looks familiar but doesn't show up where it should be in my collection.
Thanks Bud - appreciate your reply and effort!
Update to FF - I found the LP; my copy is mono.
Mono is awesome - as you know! I would be most grateful without a doubt!!
I have heard samples of all the songs from Venetor, it's good - and your rip would make my week!!
Thanks. This should be interesting.
All I can remember from my childhood is that she was a guest on panel quiz shows and she did some TV commercials. I don't think I've ever heard her sing.
Thank you Buster.
Rich
Please reup
Gisele MacKenzie
Thanks Again In Advance.
Please keep up the good work.
New link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!rZER3bJT!pwCxBNvRhDrfeGJB84CMMkAg-tiur3azWIvj0xwEoJ8
Replacement link:
https://www.mediafire.com/?ygo8ot9fbiv98ph
If you ever decide to return to this blog, I am interested in listening to other Camden EPs from your collection, including Snooky Lanson and the Honey Dreamers (with Charlie Spivak). Thanks in advance.
musicman - Hey I forgot about that promise. I know where the Honey Dreamers EP is; I'll try to transfer it. Not sure about Snooky.
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