And things don't end with "unknown artists": Also unknown is the company which produced this, plus the label name, though we are informed that these tracks are "Real Cool!" and "Jazz-O!!" And who hasn't found him or herself exclaiming "Jazz-O!!" when the music is really rockin'? Come on, admit it...
I saw an edition of this cardboard record with "Grants" stamped on the label, meaning that that copy was used as a promo (probably a freebie) for W.T. Grant. No company or store is named on my copy, however, so maybe this was a promo item waiting (in vain) for some company stamp. No way to be sure. At any rate, these four titles were 1958 hits for, respectively, the Kalin Twins, LaVern Baker, Janice Harper, and Jimmie Rodgers. This anonymous group manages to make When sound almost exactly like Dix-A-Billy, which isn't that hard to do, since both use the same I-vi-ii-V chord scheme. Still, they could have varied the arrangements a little...
I'm surprised by the audio quality, though the restoration required summing the channels, doing a bit of track splicing, and laying on some noise-sample filtering. The sound coming from my cartridge wasn't very pretty, but I've improved things from "Yikes!" to pretty good.
Sorry about my time away from the blog--I'm finishing up a 78-ripping project which was triggered by my discovery of the 800N-12 series of acoustic playback curves. I also have Biggest Hits of '59, Part 2 scheduled--in Living Stereo, no less. And, once again, the tracks originated with the Prom label.
In fact, why don't I imbed my YouTube posting of this EP? Enjoy!