Howdy Folks! Check out my Atomic Age Vinyl Finds! If there are copyright issues or a problem with any post, just contact me and I will make corrections. I'm here to have fun and hope you will share in my process of discovery!
Location Sound Recording by Brad Miller & Clyde McKinney
Philips PHS 600-231
1967
From Billboard - February 4, 1967: Following the success of their first two releases, the Mystic Moods Orchestra offers this beautiful entry, which should prove to be their biggest yet. Sounds abound under the lush string arrangements enhancing the moods. "Born Free," the themes from "Grand Prix" and "The Sand Pebbles" and a haunting "Symphony" are highlights.
Enoch Light
Command Performances
Command Records RS 868SD
1964
Here's another installment in the many great Command recordings released in the early 60s sporting a minimalist cover design art directed by Charles E. Murphy.
As usual the engineering on this record is excellent. Stairway To The Sea sounds like throwbacks to the late 50s mood.
Tony Mottola
Romatic Guitar
Command Records RS 847 SD
1963
Many of the Command label recordings are only available on good old vinyl. This one can be found on CD.
This recording was originated and produced by Enoch Light. The cover was art directed by Charles E. Murphy who was responsible for creating a minimalist design trend on album jacket during the early 60s.
As usual, the engineering on this record is amazing. I'm listening to a very clean copy, through headphones and the audio is outstanding. Mottola's guitar is left channel and the back up instruments are right channel. The effect of listening to the record on a good stereo would be even better. It sounds like Mottola is sitting playing his guitar right next to me.
The album is a smoky smooth, on the light side of jazz, spiced up with vibraphone, organ and bongos.
Korla Pandit
Poor Butterfly & For All We Know
Vita Records V-216
This 10 inch 78 RPM isn't listed on the Korla Pandit (site) discography, but going by the Vita catalog numbers this record was probably release 1950/51.
Provocative Percussion Volume 2 Enoch Light and The Light Brigade Produced by Enoch Light Art Direction: Charles E. Murphy Cover Art by Josef Albers Command Records RS 33-810 1960 Grand Awards Record Co. Inc.
Hernando's Hideaway Speak To Me Of Love - Cha Cha Cha Matilda Good Night Sweetheart - Cha Cha Cha What Is This Thing Called Love Lady Is A Tramp Speak Low I've Got A Right To Sing The Blues Mack The Knife Temptation The Natives Are Restless Tonight Foggy Day - Cha Cha Cha
This record was produced By King Records of Cincinnati, OH in a short-lived series (of "international" recordings) that lasted through 1961 - 62.
There are no album notes to draw information from. I can only find one other album cover by Cangaceiros online.
The music is pleasant and well engineered but overall the album lacks the flare of a Cugat effort. Curiously, the Oriental Cha Cha sound more like Klezmer Cha Cha
The B side is a terrific story of a disease that makes men crawl behind their woman.
Wonder Woman
Power Records
Peter Pan 8165
1975
I just found the album above which was released several years before the "comic book" version. The audio stories are the same. This record is a single jacket with no comic book insert.
The well-known film actress, Sarita Montiel, who has won fame in Hollywood by her art and beauty, is a revelation in "El Couplet" as a singer of high quality and pure style. She sings these ballads from the early years of this century in a highly professional way, and revived our memories "those times of the couplet."
The time of La Fornarina, Raquel Miller, Pastor Imperio, La Goya, Mercedes Seros... and so many, many "stars," creators of the tune of the latest couplet, which sometimes made its debut with all honors and maximum expectation.
Music For A Rainy Night
Paul Weston And His Orchestra
Columbia CL 574
1954
In a curious matter of taste, I read one online a comment about Weston's work being "quite superior" to Jackie Gleason. I have to disagree, this work sounds a dated or average compared to the many Gleason albums I own. In comparison, many Gleason LPs sound fresh today.
Wild Stereo Drums
A Wide-Ranging Program of Music Accenting Powerful Percussion In Dazzling Stereo
Capitol ST 1553
1961
From the back cover: Try-Fi Drums - Stan Levy, Alvin Stoller, Irv Cottler, backed by Billy May's Orchestra... If you have any doubts about your stereo balance, you can check it here and now, as three of the finest jazz drummers in the business go into action from three locations. This galvanic opener present them, in the order mentioned, performing high-speed, expertly-executed solos. The Bill Holman arrangement was specially scored for the big sound of heavy percussion with big band, and the effect is sonically tremendous. Through the solos range from ultra-low booms to sharp reports, your system should – if equipped with distortion-free amplification and good speaker networks – be able to reproduce each note with clean definition. There should be none of the "muddy" running together that results from heavy volumes of sound playing through inadequate components.
Bankok Beat - Pepe Dominguin... Here you can enjoy a speaker-to-speaker bongo session between Dominguin and his cohort on the right. And from the time a big gong sounds to the right (a deep resonant sound that produces perceptible overtones, and should reverberate long and clear without the tones "breaking up"), until it comes in again at the end, the drummers won't let up. An occasional chord from the celesta chimes out from between the bongos, as does a random tinkle from the little Chinese cymbal tree. These little chiming sounds, incidentally, are a good test for the high end of your system. You should hear each tinkling note crisply and clearly when a cymbal is struck.
Blue Rhumba - Pepe Dominguin... Pepe switches to timbales for this frantic rhumba, and also switches over to the right side, leaving the remainder of the "stereo stage" for claves, scraper, bass, guitar, and horn men. Here are small, high-pitched drums that put out a sharp wave front requiring good speakers to reproduce properly. Again, the bests should be distinct and precise, without breaking down or sounding "fuzzy."
Drummer Boys - Felix Slatkin and The Drum Brigade... Here's a grand array of drums and cymbals – twenty percussion instruments in all – sounding off in a vivid stereo demonstration that calls forth every spectacular trick in the drillfield drummer's book. Once more here's huge volume of sound that will put your set through its paces. Booming and rolling from left are bass drum and low-pitched tenor drums, cymbals between, with higher-pitched field snares and conventional snares to the right. Smashing across the room they come, with percussive brilliance that tapers into a rhythmic coda of stick work on the drum rims, then rolls into a final bang!
Ting Ting Ting - Les Baxter... the master of percussive sounds himself starts off on a marimba, then shouts for Chico Guerrero, who joins him at left on tumbles. Soon Domingo Dariea on conga drum and Chino Pozo with bongos have joined the fray. Chico's tinging cymbal should be heard brightly above the cacophony, as Aime Vereicke and Oswaldo Oliveria come in with additional drum effects. Big piano chords bring in some brilliant, melodic sounds. Notice the depth and power of that string bass behind the piano? If your system – especially your speakers – is capable of properly reproducing the lowest registers, you'll not only hear it, you'll feel it.
Uncle Tom Tom - Les Baxter... This flashy duet between a low-pitched tom tom on the left and a higher one on the right is an excellent test for your stereo channel separation. The drums were recorded into right and left microphones, and complete separation was maintained. They should should individually from each speaker, without any leakage from one channel to the other. Tenor sax man Plas Johnson is in the middle of it all, aided only by an occasional dry thump from a dampened bass drum. Splendid musician that he is, Plas wails his way through it all in fine form.
Rocket Racket - Dick Harrell... Wild, swinging and uninhibited, the ability of young drummer Dick Harrell is, in itself, out of the ordinary. But added to this is the revolutionary procedure used to record his two tracks (this and the last one in the album). First, soloist Dick and rhythm drummer Roy Harte came into the studio and recorded the driving drums parts. Then arrangers scored instrumental parts, which were recorded over the drum tracks. Uniquely, the other instruments back the drums! Unhampered by the need to accompany anyone, and further aided by another drummer to hold the beat, Dick really "rolled".
Bongo Bash - Pepe Dominguin... The celesta and bass open with a melodic little ditty, and Pepe Dominguin plays an obbligato bongo beat at right. A cow bell on the other side give the bongos some by-play, and a mellow tenor sax accompanies. Here's percussion on the lighter side – yet, strange though it may seem, the extremely high tinkles of the celesta's upper register are almost as demanding on the high end of a sound system as are the sharp drum sounds. They should be clear, clean, and melodic.
Drivin' Around The Block - Dick Harrell... Here's another of those very appropriate melodies scored as accompaniment for the drums, which this time include temple blocks and the pop and rattle of a tambourine. Dick is aided by sax and guitar, plus a full-throated electronic organ. Big, frantic sounds that make a wild closer for a wild album!
101 Strings
A Night In The Tropics
Somerset P-4400
1957
I'm a sucker for any album with a tropical theme... even a 101 Strings album... although you never want to get your hopes up. In fact, there are at least three very good 101s out there to be had including a wonderful album titled, Que Mango! which was arranged and conducted by Les Baxter.
I don't think 101 Strings ever set foot on a tropical island because they knew their instruments would immediately go out of tune in the humidity. Lucky for them this album was recorded in Hamburg, Germany and likely in the dead of winter.
This album is pleasant lush mood, but even the track titled "Exotic Night" is far from exotic sounding.
Moog Groove
The Electronic Concept Orchestra
Limelight LS-86070
1969
That's a massive wall of electronic hardware behind the model!
From the back cover: For years it seemed that no really new instrumental sounds were being discovered for the world of pop music (except perhaps the "wa-wa" pedal)—and then it happened. Within the past year electronic music has exploded upon the scene. After more than fifteen years of development and experimentation mostly in abstract avant-garde serious music, electronic music has finally been applied to songs that really set a groove. This exciting development hasn't happened automatically. Only within the past several years have there been electronic music instruments that are compact enough to be used in a recording studio. At present, of the available instruments, the Moog Synthesizer is gaining the greatest use (in the background on the front cover). Developed by Robert Moog, it has been used for effects on rock records for quite a while. Now with the creation of the Electronic Concept Orchestra it becomes a pop instrument of amazing versatility. By electronically producing tones with an infinite variety of frequency characteristics, the "Moog," through the technique of multi-track recording, can create a whole range of entirely new musical colors. The Electronic Concept Orchestra was formed to create a musical approach to pop and rock music that is as fresh as Walter Carlos' efforts in the classical area with "Switched On Bach." Although many "spaced-out" effects can be created with electronic music, we, have made an effort to put melody, music, and "good vibes" first and novelty gimmicks second. To that end, the efforts of Eddie Higgins as performer and arranger have been invaluable. Well known as a jazz pianist, Eddie has entered the world of electronic music with a real feeling for the fusion of the pop and electronic fields. So here is the Electronic Concept Orchestra and its "Moog Groove." With thanks to The Beatles, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Joe Cocker, Michel LeGrand and many others for bringing these great songs to our attention, we hope that you dig these sounds where you can feel it. Relax, loosen up, and get into the "Moog Groove"! - R. M. ADDITIONAL NOTE: Sometimes magic happens in a recording studio. It happened on this album. From the moment that drummer, Morris Jennings, walked into the studio, set up his drums, and started to play, we all knew we were into something special. As a result, most of the instrumental backgrounds were "one take" affairs. A good performance, like good food, is fine, but that really exceptional performance (just laying it down right) is like a gourmet meal— and Morris is a terrific "cook"!
Aquarius Oh Happy Day Hey Jude Both Sides Now Grazing In The Grass Feelin' Alright Penny Lane Atlantis Rock Me Windmills Of Your Mind
The Keyboard Sounds Of Today
Derek & Ray
RCA Victor LSP-3665
1966
Here we have a groovy 60s "atomic age" keyboard recording with orchestration arranged and conducted by none other than Marty Gold. Gold also gets credit for producing the LP.
Amazingly, there is almost no information to be found on this duo. It appears as if they made one other album, Two Different Worlds (RCA LSP 3426, 1965), also with Gold arrangements. Billboard gave that effort a good review.
Sounds Of The Schober Electronic Organ
LP-soc7
1966
Demonstration and advertising records can hold musical moments so I pick them up when I find them. In this case, the jacket was appealing with the image of the family excited about the sounds of the electronic organ. As a child, and I was the same age as the boy on the cover when this record was released, I would have found the prospect of playing the organ a nightmare from a horror movie. This is just a matter of how you grow up and what tastes you develop folks.
Anyway, on second glance I saw the phrase "easy-to-assemble kits". The Schober organs were sold as kits and the idea of buying an organ as a box of parts intrigued me.
I found, online, a 1966 Schober ad they ran in Popular Mechanics. The top model, Recital, sold for $1500 (compare that to $2500 for a "ready-built" organ). The ad goes on to state the organ is "easy to assemble" and "You supply only simple hand tools and the time."
Then I found a webpage that describes restoring a Recital model, purchased new by the owner in 1973. One paragraph from that page grabbed my attention: "In 1973, my wife and I bought a Recital organ kit, then spent nine months soldering circuit boards, building the console and pedal clavier, and wiring everything together. We had a big party when we finished, and we were very happy with the results."
So, the "easy-to-assemble" kit didn't arrive as components that would take an afternoon to assemble with a pair of pilers and a screw driver. No, you had to actually solder you own circuit boards!!!
I wonder how many people expected that they would be required do such a total assembly? How many organs were returned and if you started the build, how many folks were defeated by the assembly process and never finished?
Apparently enough organs were sold to keep the company in business for some time. The company was formed in 1954 and went out of business sometime after 1973 (in the 70s).
I'm enough of a collector to know that anything that came as a "kit" is desirable, because not many people had the "time and tools" to mess with this type of high-level assembly. Therefore, there probably aren't that many surviving examples. So, if I may, I'd say a real organ collector couldn't give up the hobby until he or she found a nice Schober organ to show off.
