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Tuesday morning gospel--The Cleveland Quartet and Mr. and Mrs. Floyd H. Lacy
Kind of a late Sunday post here. This superb quintet included Floyd H. Lacy, high tenor, and his wife, who apparently played piano for the quintet, though (for some reason) not on these reissued...
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Twelve Top Hits--The Toppers, and the Toppers. Plus, The Toppers.
Yet another Tops Records 12 Top Hits. Don't ask me how many of these they made, because the very thought is terrifying. And, for once, we have a group of kids who honestly look like they're having a...
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Doris Akers, Directing Glad Tidings Temple's Harvest Time Choir (Crusade LP M...
The best-known hymn by "Miss Gospel Music," Doris Akers (1923-1995), may be 1962's Sweet, Sweet Spirit, which was sung at the 1977 funeral of her close friend Elvis Presley. Another famous Akers song,...
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Living Guitars Shindig (1964): Al Caiola rocks the digs for citybillies
Living Guitars Shindig. Dig the lack of punctuation--no colon, no dash. Even RCA Camden preferred to save a penny on its keystrokes. In case we were new to the concept, the back jacket tells us the...
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Tops in Pops--The Latest Hit Recordings (Halo 50220X; prob. 1958)
A cheap-looking but fairly effective jacket photo, with the guy on the left either badly sunburned or wearing war paint. (Sorry, that was not PC.) The extreme contrast was not my doing. It seems to...
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Yes, major labels put out fake-hits LPs: The RCA Camden Rockers, 1959
In case anyone has been dying to know whether or not major (and legit minor) labels did fake-hits LPs... well, now you know. Here's an RCA budget LP of hit copies, all performed by "The RCA Camden...
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Parade of Hits a' Poppin'--Loren Becker, Artie Malvin, more (prob. 1954)
"Fine records needn't be expensive"--Back jacket. Now we know where Synthetic Plastics Co. got this logo. Anyway, I love Discogs, but they goofed with this series and with this LP. They gave this a...
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Another Parade of Hits A' Poppin (Parade 5004; prob. 1954)
This is the second of the my Parade of Hits a Poppin' ten-inch LPs, with Earl Sheldon and "Stars of Radio and Television" (did that phrase originate here?) getting all the credit this time. Actually,...
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Rock Around the Clock-athon--fake-hit versions, and more!
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock was copyrighted in 1953 and recorded by Bill Haley in 1954 as the B side of Thirteen Women. It was done in two takes at the end of the session, and the version we...
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Southern Hymns--The Southern Joy Quartet, The Thomas Family (Royale 18121)
A budget Sunday afternoon gospel, from a ten-inch Royale reissue of sides recorded in 1946 for Majestic. I got decent sound out of this cheap piece of wafer-thin vinyl, but only because I used my...
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Another Parade of Hits A'Poppin'--this time, no Enoch
Today's offering--Parade of Hits A'Poppin', Vol. 9 (a six-track 45 rpm EP)--represents the parting of the ways between Prom, Parade, and Enoch Light. I totally doubt he was involved in any of this...
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Fully orchestrated, no less--Parade of Hits A'Poppin' 7802, Vol. 2 (1954?)
In case you're just tuning in, I recently established (last post) that Enoch Light started with the Prom label in December, 1951, and that he split in 1954, forming his own labels, which I collectively...
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"Go Ye"--The Crusaders Quartet (Grace Note 7829/7830; approx. 1962)
On my mp3 ID tags, or whatever they're called, I forgot to include the label's matrix numbers--7829 and 7830. I did, however, include the all-important RITE matrix number that's scratched into the...
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8 Top Hits (Hits... Hits... Hooray!)--Waldorf Music-Hall DC-105; prob. 1957
Before I forget, dig the original Woolworth price sticker in the upper right-hand corner (99 cents). Waldorf was "exclusively sold in Woolworth stores from 1954 to 1959," to exactly quote Wikipedia,...
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He was the world's most famous dance band leader. By 1956, he was doing fake...
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...
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Barry Frank, Edna McGriff, Enoch Light, Jack Hansen. the 4 "Dukes." (John...
Seven tracks today, all worth a spin. Two "pop" numbers, an R&B novelty, and four early rock and roll numbers. All fake versions, but you can't have everything. As far as fakes go, these are the...
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Vincent Lopez, astrologer (1946)
I wonder if Vince foresaw his future as a budget-label maestro. Studied at a monastery--wow.From 1946's Big Book of Swing. My copy is new old stock.Lee
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Waldorf in transition: America's Favorite Music, or Top Hit Tunes (1959)
Both Sides Now notes that Waldorf Music Hall records were sold exclusively in Woolworth stores, which is fairly common knowledge among us cheapo-label lovers. However, Waldorf Music Hall (or...
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Solid Ground--Through the Eyes of Innocent Children (Melody MSLP-41; c....
Through the Eyes of Innocent Children. Ah, but how do we know they're innocent? Hmm. Well, I guess they look innocent enough, so I'll go with that. But, given that the kids are singing, should it...
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Goodwill 45s--Clovis Gentilhomme, Frank Flood, Little Walter, Adrian...
\Okay, one or two of these came from flea markets, not Goodwills, but most were thrifted. All were second-hand, at least. And Clovis Gentilhomme fans, rejoice! We have Clovis doing a weird version...
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