One of this LP's previous owners decided Lawrence needed a beard, so he or she drew one. ArcSoft MediaImpression to the rescue. Whoever defaced Lawrence decided to leave Larry clean-shaven. Less work for me....
Twelve very entertaining Lawrence Welk sides featuring basso profondo Larry Hooper, and I guess I'm now officially a Welk and Hooper fan. Of course, if you tell someone you're a "Welk and Hooper" fan, they're likely to say, "What?" Or "Was that some old vaudeville act?"
The biggest hit in this collection is almost certainly Hooper's 1953 cover version of Don Howard Koplow's Oh, Happy Day, an unbelievably simple number in the standard doo-wop I-vi-ii-V form, with no bridge. Koplow's version has a lot of historical significance--you might be as amazed as I initially was to discover that a rock and roll number (and that's all it can be called) hit it big on the charts in 1952 and 1953, and (in Koplow's case) in such a raw version. Elvis invented rock, huh? But Rolling Stone-style journalists have evolved an amazing and highly effective strategy when it comes to dodging the truth about pop music history--they simply ignore it.
I've included my copy of Koplow's 1952 Oh Happy Day original (no comma in his case), and it sounds awful. It wasn't all that well recorded to start with, but my edition/pressing (on Essex, but with a label color I haven't seen elsewhere) has plenty of distortion and almost no high end. Since my disc, despite the cruddy fidelity, is in near-perfect shape, I have to wonder if it's a bootleg. It's also a semi-tone below every other posting I've heard. For a while, I was afraid my turntable was running at the wrong speed, but I did some track-comparing, and my table is fine. It's my copy that was, for some unknown reason, mastered a half-step too low. Anyway, Koplow didn't have much of a voice--he makes Hooper sound like Jerome Hines. The three fake-hit versions I've included are also embarrassingly better, mainly because they're professionally done. A quick check tells me nothing, but I strongly suspect the Your Hits label went along with Your Hit Parade. Discogs won't tell me, though. And when the fidelity on a six-selection Waldorf EP is twenty times better than the disc it's copying... what can be said?
Prior to checking the years for these recordings, I figured that Ball of Fire and Falling Star were Welk-Hooper attempts to cash in on the success of Day, but they're too removed, time-wise. But who knows? Hooper's precise diction doesn't quite go with Ball of Fire, imo, but there isn't a lame track in this bunch, and Hooper's naturally fine voice is one I could listen to all day. Or half a day. For hours, certainly. Oddly enough, and this is just my opinion, the Welk-Hooper Oh, Happy Day sounds more rock-and-roll than the original, at least after all these decades. Yes, there's the Welk orchestra chirping along, but it's a bare-bones arrangement, and Hooper respects the material (what material there is) and does it straight, and since he has an infinitely better voice than Don Howard Koplow, and perhaps because of the way the Welk band emphasizes the triplets, there's a genuine r&r sound to Hooper's disc. As for the original, shouldn't they have redone the take after Koplow messed up the beat at the beginning?
I didn't intend for this essay to be all about Oh, Happy Day, but it is the stand-out number, if only because of its importance to pop music history--and because Hooper's version is so very good. Hooper made a good deal out of a song that barely qualifies as one. Roger Boom is a track I wish I'd discovered years ago--it would have been a regular on my Halloween sleighlist. I won't try to describe it--just listen. And keep in mind that the writer, Bob Hilliard, also gave us the words to Dear Hearts and Gentle People, Our Day Will Come, Civilization (Bingo Bango Bongo), In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, plus Any Day Now and Please Stay with Burt Bacharach.
Click here to hear: Lawrence Welk feat. Larry Hooper
Oh, Happy Day (Don H. Koplow), 1953
Minnie the Mermaid, 1953
With a Little Bit of Luck, 1956
Falling Star, 1957
The 4th "R" (Religion), 1956
Saw Your Eyes, 1954
Ball of Fire, 1956
It Was That Kiss, 1957
Roger Boom (Bob Hilliard), 1956
Mutual Admiration Society, 1957
Lola O'Brien the Irish Hawaiian, 1955
Hallelujah! Brother, 1953
BONUS TRACKS
Oh Happy Day--Don Howard (Essex 311; 1952)
Oh Happy Day--Honey Dreamers (Your Hits 7015; 78 rpm EP)
Oh Happy Day--Dolph Dixon (Waldorf A 114; 45 rpm EP)
Lee