Saturday, July 27, 2013

Gisele MacKenzie and Hits from 1955

I have been neglecting this blog lately in favor of the parent blog, so to make amends, I will start posting a series of EPs that RCA issued in its Camden budget series under the titles "Today's Hits" or "Today's Top Hits'.

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.

A hat wearing Gisele
In 1955, musical tastes were changing, and so in addition to pop songs, you would hear tunes such as "Two Hearts, Two Kisses," originated by the R&B group Otis Williams and the Charms, and covered by Pat Boone. "Two Hearts, Two Kisses" is actually the best performed song of the four at hand.

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).

From a Billboard ad
"Play Me Hearts and Flowers" was introduced by Johnny Desmond, who sang it on a television program, but was really not much of a hit. I featured Desmond's LP of the same name on my other blog a few years back.

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:

John said...

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

Buster said...

Johnny - I like Giselle, but see if you disagree with me.

bulldogUK said...

Thank you ... am also very much looking forward to hearing this
bulldogUK

Ernie said...

I don't think you can go wrong with Gisele, but I'm really looking forward to The Honeydreamers.

James056 said...

Many thanks for upload. always thought Gisele was a great singer.
Kind Regards,
James.

qatburger said...

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.

Buster said...

Thanks, all for the comments!

qatburger - Good point; in fact, I meant to point out that she later re-recorded Unchained Melody.

flyingfinger said...

Thanks Buster - I enjoy her vocals a great deal, and found I had none of these! Fixed :)

flyingfinger said...

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.

Buster said...

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.

flyingfinger said...

Thanks Bud - appreciate your reply and effort!

Buster said...

Update to FF - I found the LP; my copy is mono.

flyingfinger said...

Mono is awesome - as you know! I would be most grateful without a doubt!!

flyingfinger said...

I have heard samples of all the songs from Venetor, it's good - and your rip would make my week!!

KL from NYC said...

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.

Rich said...

Thank you Buster.

Rich

Gretchen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sturgeonjohnp said...

Please reup
Gisele MacKenzie

Thanks Again In Advance.
Please keep up the good work.

Buster said...

New link:

https://mega.co.nz/#!rZER3bJT!pwCxBNvRhDrfeGJB84CMMkAg-tiur3azWIvj0xwEoJ8

Buster said...

Replacement link:

https://www.mediafire.com/?ygo8ot9fbiv98ph

musicman1979 said...

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.

Buster said...

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.