Yup, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra on Waldorf, faking the 1956 hits. Of course, Paul got to do much more on the label besides sound-alikes--for example, he did a 50th anniversary LP, which is coming in the mail as we speak. I got a great price on it. Hope it plays as nicely as it looks in the pics.
In addition to fake hits, Paul did five LPs for Waldorf (for its Grand Award label), and I've yet to post his Grand Award Hawaiian Magic, a copy of which Buster sent me some time back. I must get to that. Paul recorded yet another Rhapsody in Blue for Grand Award (as part of the anniversary set), which features Eugene Weed on the piano. This track was inexplicably reissued on a Synthetic Plastics Company boxed set called A Century of American Music, which you can presently get for a buck from Discogs (That's about what I paid for it). Then again, it may not be the Waldorf version, given how loosely the SPC set plays with the credits. For instance, it features the Phil Flowers recording of Rock Around the Clock but tells us we're hearing Bill Haley. Ah, nope. Something close to the same boxed set, with a different cover (and no Rhapsody in Blue), was also released by SPC, with a different cover and Vincent Lopez getting the blame.
But we're here to talk about today's offering, 8 Top Hits (Waldrof Music-Hall MH 3333; prob. 1956), featuring Paul Whiteman and a host of singers and quartets. And my copy came without a cover, so I scanned my EP cover, with sports the same photo, so it's close enough. The jacket image at Discogs isn't very good, so I passed on using it. The sound came out better than I expected, and it was good to begin with, so we'll hearing some fine 1956 fidelity. The surface is about a VG, but I killed all or most of the clicks and pops, as usual, so... But there's the question as to whether Paul Whiteman was actually involved with these tracks. That is, was his name stuck on the jacket simply to give this 10-inch LP extra cred? I'm leaning in that direction. Unfortunately, I don't have the EP singles (18 Top Hits 203 and 204) which contain seven of these tracks, and which might (or might not) confirm who did the conducting duties. So I dunno. However, at Discogs there's a listing for the Waldorf LP 18 Top Hits LP (33-TH-9), on which the orchestra credit for Miracle of Love is given to Enoch Light, not to Paul, as here. You can't believe a thing you read on these cheapies--not even on the Waldorf labels, which were the closest things to legit issues in the world of budgets.
So we can probably assume that Paul's name is being used her for its celeb value, but it's still incredibly cool to see him associated with fake hits. Loren Becker only gets two credits this time (!), with Artie Malvin getting four. The Zig Zags Quartet appears twice, with the Rhythm Rockets getting only one shot. (One shot! Get it?) The versions are very good, even if many are in that big band style that Enoch favored. The very underrated songwriter Bob Merrill (who apparently was never forgiven for writing Doggie in the Window) is represented by the excellent Eileen Rodgers hit, Miracle of Love, well-faked here by Sylvia Textor. True Love is beautifully sung by Artie Malvin and Lois Winters, and it's too bad I can't stand the number. That it's by Cole Porter does nothing to endear it to me. Blueberry Hill isn't very good, though maybe Artie Malvin would have had a more appropriate instrumental backing on Bell, for which he also sang. In all, a fun set.
In terms of fidelity to the originals, our Bell label bonus singles are a whole different story. The Bob Miller fake of Little Darlin' made the amazing choice to copy the Gladiolas original, not the monster-hit cover version by the Diamonds (which some argue is better than its source, which it may be). It's a delight to hear such an effective copy of the "R&B" version (amd I'm using quotes because traditionally, and in spite of what you've heard, "R&B" never referred to a specific style--rather, the R&B charts reflected what was popular with black record buyers--hence, Bing Crosby's White Christmas was an R&B hit as well as a "pop" smash). And you wouldn't believe how much needle-dig noise I had to remove from the Little Darlin'rip. But it was worth the trouble. African-American saxophonist and bandleader Buddy Lucas is listed as the singer on Hound Dog and When My Dreamboat..., so I have no I have no reason to doubt it--and he has the right feel and the right kind of rough voice, so I'm fine with Bell's choice. Then we get Artie Malvin doing The Green Door again--only minus the Enoch Light sound, which in this case is a good thing. Marion Colby's Dim, Dim, the Lights is terrific in the way it captures the sound of the Bill Haley hit version, and the lovely and talented Edna McGriff (a vocalist with Buddy Lucas' band) was somehow coaxed by the Bell sublabel Favorite (if you can imagine a sublabel of Bell) into waxing a superb version of Sh-Boom, that monotonous early rock hit which used the chords to I Got Rhythm (including the circle-of-fourths bridge), and which was brilliantly and brutally trashed by Stan Freberg. (I personally like both versions--the original and the unkind parody.) Edna's version is jazzy and sultry, which is quite an accomplishment when the material is so minimalist.
To the maybe-Paul Whiteman tracks and the Bell bonuses!
DOWNLOAD: Paul Whiteman and His Orch.--8 Top Hits (Waldorf MH 3333; prob. 1956)
And the actual cover image, found at a WordPress site by Sky Raven, who provided the link. Many thanks! As you can see, identical save for the extra print:
8 Top Hits--Paul Whiteman and His Orch. (Waldorf Music-Hall MH 3333, 10-in. LP; prob. 1956)
Out of Sight, Out of Mind--The Zig Zags Quartet
Green Door--Artie Malvin w. the Rhythm Rockets
Cindy, Oh Cindy--Loren Becker w. the Zig Zags Quartet
Blueberry Hill--Artie Malvin
Hey! Jealous Lover--Loren Becker
Miracle of Love (Bob Merrill)--Sylvia Textor
True Love (Cole Porter)--Artie Malvin and Lois Winters
You'll Never, Never Know I Care--The Zig Zags Quartet
Bonus Tracks (All 45 rpm singles)
The Green Door--Artie Malvin (Bell 11; 1956)
Hound Dog (Leiber-Stoller)--Buddy Lucas w. Jimmy Carroll and Orch. (Bell 3; 1956)
When My Dreamboat Comes Home--Same
Little Darlin' (Maurice Williams)--Bob Miller w. the Michael Stewart Quartet (Bell 35; 1957)
Dim, Dim, the Lights (Ross-Dixon)--Marion Colby w. Gil Stevens and His Orch. (Bell 1083; 1955)
Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)--Edna McGriff and the Tomcats (Favorite 21000X; 1954)
Lee