Lauritz Melchior

This is a companion to my recent post of Lauritz Melchior in The Student Prince, which can be found on the Big 10-Inch Record.

This 78 offers up the supposed "Bach-Gounod" version of "Ave Maria", a Melchior encore, and couples it with the 1898 Ethelbert Nevin groaner "The Rosary", a song that was considered outdated a generation before this recording was made in 1947.

The famous heldentenor was branching out from Wagner in the 1940s, appearing in movies, recording operetta, and indulging in salon songs such as this pair, which he inscribed for the record arm of M-G-M. He also was endorsing a variety of products, including the drug store after-shave lotion called Aqua Velva. The ad below displays the peculiar notion that you could sell scent by associating it with tenors, actors, violinists, generals and writers. Why, everyone knows that half-naked women are the way to go!

On this single, in the grand M-G-M tradition, Melchior has the posh backing of the studio orchestra, led by Georgie Stoll. The sound is reasonably good.

1947 ad (click to enlarge)

Fran Warren with Charlie Barnet

I've been celebrating the recordings of the recently deceased Fran Warren on my blogs recently. Here is what I believe to be the singer's first record, made with Charlie Barnet's band in October 1945, when she was 19.

Warren had already sung with the bands of Billy Eckstine and Art Mooney. As far as I can tell, she made only two records with Barnet; this is the first. It certainly is a creditable effort, showing great promise.

Warren

Fran moved on to greater success with the Claude Thornhill aggregation - notably "A Sunday Kind of Love" - and as a solo artist. I have already shared some of her RCA Victor recordings here and on the Big 10-Inch Record, FYI.

Evans

The flip side of this Decca 78 is also of interest. It shows off composer Redd Evans' chops as a singer (he's a little like Johnny Mercer, another singing composer). However, Evans did not write the song, "Surprise Party", nor was he a member of the Barnet band. He did have a sideline as a music publisher, however - and as publisher of this particular song, he sold both it and himself to Barnet.

As a composer, Evans usually wrote with Dave Mann, and was responsible for among others, "No Moon at All" (a Page Cavanaugh specialty), "The Frim-Fram Sauce" (a Nat Cole hit), "If Love Is Good to Me" (a Jackie Paris favorite), and "Let Me Off Uptown" (Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge with Gene Krupa).

Fran Warren

Last week I was sorry to hear about the death of another fine vocalist, Fran Warren, who made many excellent records from the 1940s into the 1960s.

Warren was a band singer before going out on her own. Her first recording was with Charlie Barnet (I believe I have that and will share it), and her first hit was with Claude Thornhill - "A Sunday Kind of Love". Warren signed as a single artist with RCA Victor in late 1948, and her records started being issued after the then recording ban ended. She stayed with RCA until 1951.

This EP collects four items from that period, although the record itself dates from late 1955 or early 1956.

In 1947

"A Wonderful Guy" is from 1949, and has backing by Henri René. This version does not use the familiar verse, but does have a musically and lyrically interesting "C" section that I can't say I have heard before (I am no expert on the South Pacific score, admittedly).

Hugo Winterhalter leads the band on "My Silent Love", from 1950, and "Stormy Weather", from 1951.

As far as I can tell, "Temptation" was never issued as a single. It has backing only by drums. (I wonder if it dates from the Musicians Union recording ban.)

Warren was a very skillful singer, but doesn't always get credit for that because she stresses involvement over technique, and her singing isn't note perfect. I have always responded strongly to her work, and I am sure I have most of her records. That includes almost all the RCA sides, which I will collect for a future post on my other blog.

1949 Billboard ad

Vic Damone and Ralph Marterie

I recently was preparing a reup of one of trumpeter Ralph Marterie's LPs for my other blog, and enjoyed the listening experience so much, I pulled out a few other Marterie records for sharing.

One is this EP that paired the bandleader with the wonderful vocalist Vic Damone in four romantic tunes. This is presented as a "Sorority Serenade," reminiscent of the "Freshman-Sophomore Frolics" and the "Junior-Senior Prom" that were the names of two Ralph Flanagan LPs I recently offered on the 10-inch blog.

The songs are all associated with well known recordings - "Serenade in Blue" with the Glenn Miller-Ray Eberle recording, and the others with Frank Sinatra (at least in my mind). Damone stands up well to comparisons, his sole lapse being a unwelcome (and insecure) venture into falsetto.

The EP is from circa 1954 - "Serenade in Blue" and "That Old Feeling" were issued as a single in late 1953. The sound is excellent. The cover features dual disembodied heads depicting the principals, and even a bonus pair of severed heads from depiction of the sorority soiree.

G&S with Barbara Cook and Alfred Drake

This is a promotional EP that I first shared several years ago on my other blog. I have redone the transfer, achieving much better results this time around. Here is some of what I had to say way back when:

"Today we have a very unusual item - a promotional record made for a 1957 televised presentation of Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard, with a cast that included Alfred Drake and Barbara Cook, fresh from Candide.

"The record is a 7-inch EP issued by the NBC publicity department. My copy does not have a cover, and I doubt it came in one.

"These songs are not excerpts from the televised production itself, which probably was transmitted live. These were pre-recorded with piano accompaniment in place of the Franz Allers-led orchestra that was featured on the Hallmark Hall of Fame program.

"The sound is good, and reveals fine performances by Alfred Drake and Barbara Cook, and a soggy one from Celeste Holm."

Drake, Holm, Hayes, Cook

I should also mention the good performance by Bill Hayes, and that the production has now been issued  on DVD. You can learn more about it here.

For the record:

Yeomen of the Guard - April 10, 1957

NBC

Barbara Cook - Elsie Maynard
Alfred Drake - Jack Point
Bill Hayes - Col. Fairfax
Celeste Holm - Phoebe Meryll

Ralph Flanagan - Top Pops

This EP is something of a follow-up to the two Ralph Flanagan LPs I recently featured on my other blog.

"Top Pops" presents four popular songs of the time (1953-54). "Stranger in Paradise" is from the 1953 Broadway show Kismet (but of course was derived from one of Borodin's Polovtsian Dances). "From the Vine Came the Grape" was a hit for the Gaylords. Lou Monte had a popular version of "Darktown Strutters' Ball" - Italian style, as was his shtick (to mix ethnicities).  "Make Love to Me" was brought to renewed popularity by Jo Stafford in 1954. It was originally "Tin Roof Blues", a 1923 New Orleans Rhythm Kings recording.

The EP features the familiar Flanagan sound, derived from Glenn Miller, but nonetheless attractive. The songs are well recorded and the pressing is good.

Patty Andrews

Patty Andrews, the last surviving Andrews sister, passed away yesterday. She was a fine singer, so I wanted to post one of her singles in tribute.

This particular item was recorded in Los Angeles in February 1952. At that time, Decca was issuing individual records by Patty along with ensemble recordings with her sisters. She was always the solo voice in the act, but these records allowed her to work in a different style from the bulk of the trio's repertoire.

The World War II song "I'll Walk Alone" was revived for the 1952 Jane Froman biopic, With a Song in My Heart, and Andrews' rendition contended with Froman's for popularity. The flip side, "That's the Chance You Take," was a new song, and not a bad one. Eddie Fisher's version was, I believe, more popular, although not superior to this one.

Andrews is in fact convincing in both songs, although her intense, forthright approach isn't all that well matched to Nelson Riddle's pastel arrangements. The off-mike effect at the end of "I'll Walk Alone" was a bad idea.

This is still a nice remembrance of a talented vocalist. The sound is good (for Decca, anyway).