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Saturday, January 3, 2015

Love, Lies, And Flying Festoons - The Serendipity Singers

The Beanstalk
Muddy Old River
The Lion
Serendipity Singers
Sing Of: Love, Lies, and Flying Festoons
And other songs by Shel Silverstein
Philips PHS 600-190
1965

From Billboard, September 11, 1965: The Serendipity Singers must share credit with writer Shel Silverstein for this one. Silverstein's written all 16 songs on this album – ranging from ballads to sprightly nonsense songs. The classification comes somewhere between folk and nursery rhymes.

Little Sally Saucer
When Peaches Grown On Lilac Trees
The Monkey And The Elephant
Modern Talk
Everytime
The Clam
The Beanstalk
The Slitheree-Dee
Some Days
Muddy Old River
Willowy, Billowy Land
Plastic
If You Come Back In Summer
The Flying Festoon
Boa Constrictor
The Lion

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Hawaiian Mood - Billy Mure

In A Persian Market / Mure
Swinging Palm Trees / Leilani
Hawaiian Moods
Billy Mure And His Orchestra
Luke Leilani And His Hawaiians
Spinorama S-157

Budget split LP between Mure and Leilani. Mure's side is a very good space age/exotica flavored set. Leilani's side features a pleasant, although more "traditional", set along with the rocking swing tune added as the last track (sample above).

Mure:
Hawaiian War Chant
Hawaiian Parade
In A Persian Market
Spain
By The Waters Of The Minnetonka

Leilani:
Sunset
Lovely Guitars
South Sea Island
Serenade
Swinging Palm Trees

Monday, December 29, 2014

Lana!

The Fool On The Hill
Lana!
Arranged and Conducted by Chuck Sagle
Produced by Danny Davis
RCA LSP-4026
1968

The Sound Of Silence
How Can I Be Sure
Baby, Now That I've Found You
Honey
The Fool On The Hill
Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Gentle On My Mind
For Me
Workin' On A Groovy Thing
Mine
The Music Played

Symphony Of The Birds - Johan Dalgas Frisch

Loch Lomond
Symphony Of The Birds
Recorded by Johan Dalgas Frisch
MGM Records E/SE-4442

From the back cover: These birds have a special interest: they are among the world's most exotic. Their home is the lush jungle-land of Brazil. Much of their music was recorded for the first time by Johan Dalgas Frisch, the Brazilian engineer and ornithologist who is probably the most prolific natural sound disk maker in the world. Some of the most beautiful of bird calls have been collected by Mr. Frisch for this album, and deftly combined with specially made arrangements. – liner notes by Faith Crumpacker.

The producers got lucky when they mixed the sample above, however the rest of the set features an annoying blend of bland stock music and environmental recordings.

Emperor Waltz
Sukiyaki
Medley
Santa Lucia
Medley
Tico Tico
Waves Of The Danube
The Song From Moulin Rouge
Luar do Sertao
Loch Lomond
Vira do Minho

Bossa Nova Goes To The Movies - Harry Betts

Love Song From Mutiny On The Bounty
A Lot Of Livin' To Do
Bossa Nova Goes To The Movies
Harry Betts with The Bill Brown Singers
Produced by Jackie Mills and Tommy Wolf
AVA Records A14
Choreo Records - Distributed by MGM Records
1962 - United Recording Studios

This release came with a printed "dance step" instructional insert titled "Bossa Con Betts - Bossa Nova Dance - By Rocky Mari & John Monte"

Although a line of type identifying Choreo Records as the record company and MGM Records as the distributor appears on the jacket, some other identifying information is covered over in 5 places with AVA stickers including the disc labels.

Nice smooth Bossa Nova featuring jazz composer and trombonist Harry Betts.

You'll Never Get Away From Me
Our Language Of Love
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
Love Song From Mutiny On The Bounty
Tonight
A Lot Of Livin' To Do
Song From "Two For The Seesaw"
Theme From Carnival
Love Theme From Period Of Adjustment
On The Street Where You Live

Sunday, December 28, 2014

My Coloring Book

My Coloring Book
Green Onions
My Coloring Book
Modern Sound

From the back cover: Color can mean opportunity or disappointment, but whether you like pink, blue, red, green, or any combination, the secret of life is deeply woven in the colors that surround us. Life itself is a painting of sorts. When we are born we are given a large canvass and a brush, and we are able to paint a picture of our life using the colors we choose, as we go along. Our actions and the influence of other people are sure to appear on this canvas. There are only a few basic colors that we can use; it's the blending that actually makes the picture.

My Coloring Book
Blue Velvet
Blue On Blue
18 Yellow Roses
Little Band Of Gold
Green Onions
Roses Are Red
Rambling Rose
Ruby Baby
Take A Letter Miss Gray

Dance & Dream - Marc Powers

Soliloquoy
Lonely Hour Blues
Blues Of The Levee
Dance & Dream
Marc Powers Society Orchestra
MVM 135

From the back cover: For many years the name Marc Powers has been synonymous with fine society music in the New York area.

Obscure album from the super budget label, Mount Vernon Music. It is hard to tell what the story is behind the music, if the selections were recorded by a single "group" or (more likely) compiled from a variety of sources. Marc Powers may be a real person or a made up name for a band leader.

Nonetheless, for a budget offering, there are a number of nice tunes to be found on the LP.

Soliloquoy is a typo as it appears on the jacket.

Nannette
Fancy Lovin' You
Prof's Blues
Adelita
Soliloquoy
Chopin's Polonaise
Monaco
Lonely Hour Blue
Blues Of The Levee
Wistfully Yours

Puff The Magic Dragon

Aura Lee
Puff The Magic Dragon
Springboard International HT 706

This set features, more or less, the standard vocal approaches you might expect to hear on a children's record of this sort. However, Side 2 features one fantastic lounge inspired tune that I've shared above. Enjoy!

Puff The Magic Dragon
Aiken Drum
Little Tin Soldier
Listen To The Mocking Bird
Lloyd George Knew My Father
The Lemon Tree
Aura Lee
My Bonnie
Poor Little Buttercup
Little Lisa Jane
Shenandoah