Les Baxter

Les Baxter was one of those guys who was a conductor and arranger, and whose name showed up on other people’s records. But he made his own records also, in fact he made a few dozen albums of “exotica,” but the songs he put on the radio were straight MOR.

This was a best-of collection that I picked up on pre-recorded cassette, and I think it may only have been released in that format.

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Les Baxter:

• Tango Of The Drums – This is a tango, and it has drums. So I guess it’s aptly named. It was a kind of hit in the spring of 1956.
• Because Of You – Features the chorus. This was a hit for Tony Bennett
• Ruby – Features a harmonica solo with a lot of vibrato. Cool. We have this by Ray Charles also. This is from 1953
• Blue Tango – This would be great to dance to, if you were in a 50s movie…
• The High And The Mighty
• The Poor People Of Paris – This was originally Pauvre Jean, which means poor John, but it got misrendered as pauvres gens (same pronunciation), which means poor people, and I guess to emphasise the French origin it became The Poor People Of Paris. It spent 6 weeks at number one in the late winter and spring of 1956.
• Wake The Town And Tell The People – Another big one, from the summer of 1955. Ah, young love….
• April In Portugal – Another tango…
• Unchained Melody – This is the original hit version of the song; Baxter got it out ahead of everyone else. “Unchain me” sings the female chorus as Baxter sets up the beautiful melody, then the male chorus kicks in while the orchestra scales down to a bit of percussion, strummed guitar, then muted strings, then the women’s chorus with the full orchestration as the song draws to a close, much too soon. The song reached # 1 in the spring of ’55. Version No. 2. And oh how I would love to dance. Any volunteers?

Al Hibbler

Al Hibbler was a jazz singer whose style overlapped a bit into R & B. He sang for Duke Ellington and Jay McShann in the 40s, then put 7 hits on the top 100 between 1955 and 1957.

This is a double album called Al Hibbler’s Greatest Hits that I picked up at Centennial Library.

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Al Hibbler:

· Unchained Melody – If you want the whole history, look it up on Wikipedia, but the summary is this: it was written by Alex North and Hy Zaret, it was used in the obscure movie Unchained, where it was sung by Todd Duncan, and it was a hit first by Les Baxter, followed in quick succession by Hibbler, Roy Hamilton, and a few others. Then of course it was revived by The Righteous Brothers 10 years later, and the rest is history. Actually the rest is several versions of history, but we’ll get to that later. Hibbler sings it well, and the arrangement is appropriately understated. His version reached # 3 in the spring of ’55. Let’s keep track of how many versions we have. This is one.
· After The Lights Go Down Low – Wilson Pickett did In The Midnight Hour, same idea. This was a top 10 hit in the fall of ’56.
· Breeze (Blow My Baby Back To Me)
· On A Slow Boat To China – An old standard; Jimmy Buffett did this.
· I Can’t Escape From You
· Pennies From Heaven
· Don’t Get Around Much Any More – A Duke Ellington song. Paul McCartney covered this years and years later.
· Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That, Baby
· It’s The Talk Of The Town – “Everybody knows you left me…”
· I Love You – Not a particularly original title. This isn’t the People song, nor the Stereos’.
· Trees – I think that I shall never see etc. From January, 1957.
· Stella By Starlight – The only Stella I ever knew was a woman who lived down the street from us when I was growing up, and she had a husband and an only daughter who was friends with my sister. And I never saw her by startlight. cf Ray Charles and The Ames Brothers. The Ames have the harmony thing going on, and Ray has the raggedness. Al here does it straightforward, which I suppose is legit…
· He – A song about God. The McGuire sisters also did this, and so did The Righteous Brothers about 10 years later. From December, 1955.
· There Is No Greater Love
· ‘Tis Autumn
· I’ve Got A Right To Sing The Blues
· Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me
· You’ll Never Know
· Daydream – Not The Lovin’ Spoonful song
· 11th Hour Melody – From late winter, 1956.

December 25

Allow me to make one thing clear. I don’t do Christmas. I’ve never done Christmas, I don’t do Christmas now, and I will never do Christmas – no tree, no holly, no mistletoe, no turkey dinner, no gifts. Well ok, gifts. I did two gift exchanges this year. But that doesn’t count.

But I live in North America, and I grew up listening to the radio. I mean I don’t surf, but I listen to The Beach Boys, and I don’t do drugs, but I listen to The Grateful Dead. So keeping that in mind, here is my list of my seasonal favourites.

16. Circle Of Steel - Gordon Lightfoot. May as well start with a downer. Some years ago I was a cab driver, and I saw this song up close…

15. Please Daddy Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas - John Denver. Another downer, I always like to throw a bit of real life into the holiday cheer. The video mixes up John Denver and Alan Jackson

14. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Crystals

13. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – The Jackson Five

12. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – – The Four Seasons. I couldn’t decide so I included all three.

11. Please Come Home For Christmas – The Eagles. I guess this one’s just nostalgic for me.

10. Wonderful Christmas Time – Paul McCartney. Macca may be a sap, but he’s an excellent sap.

9. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon & Yoko Ono. John shows his sentimental side here, and the video takes all the sugar out of it.

8. The Chipmunk Song – The Chipmunks. Hands down best video

7. Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord – Boney M. In your face Christianity on this. I was doing the aforesaid cab driving job in the winter of 1978 when the radio was playing this song every 5 minutes, and I didn’t mind, it was so darn exuberant…

6. Mary’s Boy Child – Harry Belafonte. Just over 20 years before the Boney M version, Harry Belafonte put the same song on the charts, but while Boney M partied Harry prayed.

5. If We Make It Through December – Merle Haggard. Another touch of reality. I will quote Dave Marsh: This “was the first record … to come to grips with the fears, frustrations, and hopes-against-hope of the workers thrown into disarray by the initial round of deprivation as the world economy cooled…”

4 Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano. I’m not sure why this song appeals to me so much, but it does. I think it’s just organic, some kind of association that’s insinuated its way into my consciousness between this record and December snowfalls and winter holidays and who knows what else.

3. Remember (Christmas) – Harry Nilsson. This song has nothing to do with Christmas, except for the title, but it’s Harry Nilsson.

2. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love. Phil Spector went all out on this one. The song, the arrangement, the over-the-top wall-of-sound production, Hal Blaine’s drums, all together they can’t overpower Love’s amazing vocals, which, unless you are legally dead, will nail you firmly and completely to the nearest wall.

1. Snoopy’s Christmas – The Royal Guardsmen. This was the follow up to Snoopy And The Red Baron and Return Of The Red Baron. It didn’t even make the top 100, but boy I remember hearing it on the radio, over and over and over, and it was great, but then December 26 they quit playing it. That was 1967. There’s something about that descending melody on the chorus that still melts my heart, all these many years later. And when they hit that harmony on “good will to man…”

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Now here’s a country singer whose records you can sink your teeth into. He’s got this amazing baritone, but unlike Johnny Cash who sings in the same range, he’s a good singer in the conventional sense.

He sang hymns, but this is a collection of his non-hymn hits, it’s the Capital Collectors Series, and I picked it up at one of the libraries. A few tracks came from the Yesterday / Today 25th Anniversary collection.

It’s funny how is epithet is so much a part of his name; if I said I had a collection by Ernie Ford, nobody would know who I was talking about…

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Tennessee Ernie Ford

• Tennessee Border – His first single. It was a hit in 1949.
• Country Junction – His second single. Also from 1949.
• Smokey Mountain Boogie – He wrote this, and Country Junction also.
• Mule Train – A hit late in 1949. Better known by Frankie Laine
• Anticipation Blues – A good natured song about pregnancy and childbirth. Reached # 3 on Billboard country in 1949.
• Cry Of The Wild Goose – Written by Terry Gilkyson, of the Easyriders. From 1950.
• I’ll Never Be Free – A love song. Kay Starr sings on this. Reached #3 in 1950.
• Ain’t Nobody’s Business But My Own – The flip of I’ll Never Be Free.
• Bright Lights And Blonde Haired Women – Recorded in 1950, but appears not to have been released until 1960.
• Shot-Gun Boogie – Reached # 14 on the pop charts in 1950.
• Tailor Made Woman – From 1951.
• I’m A Bad Man – This was recorded in 1951 and remained unreleased until the release of this very collection in 1991. Maybe they didn’t want the hymn man saying that he was bad.
• The Strange Little Girl – A strange little song. From 1951
• Mister And Mississippi – Reached #2 in 1951, covered by Patti Page.
• Kissin’ Bug Boogie – Yet another boogie, also from 1951.
• Blackberry Boogie
• Hog-Tied Over You – Now that’s romantic! With Ella Mae Morse. From 1952.
• I Don’t Know – Neither do I.
• Hey, Mr. Cotton Picker
• Celebratin’
• Catfish Boogie
• The Honeymoon’s Over – A song about marriage. From 1954.
• River Of No Return – From 1954
• The Ballad Of Davy Crockett – From the spring of ’55, had to compete with Fess Parker and Bill Hayes.
• His Hands – Oops, I thought no hymns.
• Sixteen Tons – This song was it. #1 as 1955 drew to a close. The song was written by Merle Travis, and may be the greatest ode to the working man ever written. Harry Nilsson covered it on his one and only Tower LP, Spotlight On Nilsson, but his version was underwhelming.
• First Born – From the fall of ’56, an ode to a baby.
• I Gotta Have My Baby Back
• Born To Lose – I’ve got this by Ray Charles, but I think I like this version better. It’s simpler, more austere, Tennessee and a guitar. Very sad.
• Nine Pound Hammer – The other Merle Travis song. John Prine did this one.
• That’s All – Not the Nat King Cole / Ricky Nelson song.
• In The Middle Of An Island – From the fall of ’57. Tony Bennett did this.
• Hicktown
• Release Me – A lot of competition for this one: Kitty Wells, Ray Price, Charlie McCoy, Esther Phillips, Engelbert Humperdinck.
• Colorado Country Morning

April, 1955

Here are some songs that were on the music charts in April, 1955. I have the blue ones. I don’t have the black ones.

…yet...

• Dance With Me Henry - Georgia Gibbs
• Play Me Hearts And Flowers - Johnny Desmond
• I'm Always Hearing Wedding Bells -Eddie Fisher
• Make Yourself Comfortable - Andy Griffith
• Unchained Melody - Al Hibbler
• Danger Heartbreak Ahead - Jaye P. Morgan
• The Ballad Of Davy Crockett = Walter Schuman
• The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente
• Two Hearts - Pat Boone
• Whatever Lola Wants - Sarah Vaughan
• Unchained Melody - Roy Hamilton
• Honey Babe - Art Mooney
• Don't Be Angry - Nappy Brown
• Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White - Alan Dale

Nappy Brown

Nappy Brown was one of those artists, like Joe Turner, that bridged the gap between jump blues and bona fide R & B. His sound is very late 40s, but not totally.

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Nappy Brown:

· Don’t Be Angry – From the spring of ‘55

The Moonglows

I have three of The Moonglows’ top 100 singles. I’m missing See Saw, which may be the Don Covay song recorded by Aretha Franklin, but I doubt it. Their lead singer was Harvey Fuqua, who became a big shot at Motown in the 60s, and so some of their recordings were labelled Harvey & The Moonglows.

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The Moonglows:

· Sincerely – One of the 50s great R & B classics, it only reached number 20 on the Billboard charts, and that was in March ’55. The McGuire Sisters’ version spent 10 weeks at number 1, but if people remember the song, they remember The Moonglows.
· Ten Commandments Of Love – 1. Thou shall never love another, 2. Stand by me all the while, 3. Take happiness with the heartaches, 4. Go through life wearing a smile. 5. Thou shall always have faith in me in everything I say and do, 6. Love with all your heart and soul until our life on earth is through, 7. Come to me when I am lonely, 8. Kiss me when you hold me tight, 9. Treat me sweet and gentle, 10. *** (no number 10). A hit in the fall of ’58.
· Please Send Me Someone To Love – From the summer of ‘57