Howdy Folks! Welcome to The UnEarthed In The Atomic Attic album blog! Here you will find a wide variety of unusual Space Age Vinyl finds that feature good quality cover scans, jacket notes and audio samples for you to enjoy. I'm here to have fun and hope you will share in my process of discovery!
Cha-Cha-Chas Mambos Rumbas
Bettini And His Orchestra, With Vocals
Vox Productions STVX 426.210
Made In France (on back cover, although the record label reads: Made In U.S.A.)
1960
Uneven sounding collection of tracks featured inside of this fine glossy cheesecake jacket.
Tequilla
Tango Puesto En Rumba
El Reloj
Paraiba
Pomponio - El Aguacero
Fiesta Cubana
Gelosia
Quando Te Beso Tiemblo
Quase Ma Luco
O Sambo De Ernesto
La Negrita Color Cafe - Bam Bu
Cha Cha Flamenco
Soul Power!
Richard "Groove" Holmes
Prestige 7543
1968
Richard "Groove" Holmes, organ
Wally Richardson, lead guitar
Steve Wolfe, rhythm guitar
Jimmy Lewis, electric bass
Ben Dixon, drums
Dave Blume, conga drums and arranger (Gimme Little Sign and How Can I Be Sure)
From the back cover: Richard "Groove" Holmes, as he has come to be known (nicknames have long been common among jazz men – did you know that drummer Zutty Singleton is known to his friends as "Face"?) was born in Camden, New Jersey, May 2, 1931. After several years of "giggin' around", pianist Les McCann heard him playing, in Pittsburg, and recommended him to a California record company.
That was 1960. The following year Holmes began recording, on his own and with groups ranging from combos led by such formidable players as Ben Webster and Gene Ammons to the big band of Gerald Wilson. – Chris Albertson
Soul Power
Gimmie Little Sign
How Can I Be Sure
Sunny
Since I Fell For You
The Pearcher
Girl Talk
25 Pianos Play Evergreens Of Broadway
The 25 Pianos Of Tommy Garrett
Liberty Premier LMM-13018
Top of the line book-fold jacket with die-cut cover (the piano shape on the left is cut out to reveal the inside cover Broadway image).
From the notes: This album, with music created by 25 pianos, including concert grands, baby grands, uprights, spinets, tacks (Ragtime), celestes and even electronic space-age pianos, presented almost insurmountable problems in the making. It was recorded over a week-end on three consecutive 16 working-hour days and since the session was a labor of love for the adventuresome pianists involved, many cancelled engagements, leaving Hollywood nightspots strangely silent. Veteran sound technician, Eddie Brackett, followed Tommy Garrett's blueprint for the date, which started with a convoy of 12 piano-laden moving vans arriving in order, and then simultaneous but separate relays of "takes" in three huge adjoining record studios. Ten full hours of brilliant piano-orchestra music resulted.
The Carousel Waltz
Fanny
I Could Have Danced All Night
The Sound Of Music
Hey There
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Tonight
Hey! Look Me Over
Till There Was You
Baubles, Bangles And Beads
Bali Ha'i
Manhattan
Swingin' Easy
Carmen Cavallaro
The Poet Of The Piano
Decca DL 74287
From the back cover: If any one cocktail lounge or supper club were able to secure the full-time, permanent services of Carmen Cavallaro – the internationally acclaimed "Poet Of The Piano" – it would be in a position to save thousands upon thousands in furnishings and decorations. For the extraordinary magic of Mr. Cavallaro's piano artistry could easily invest even a football field with the most romantic of moods.
Let There Be Love
Along With Me
Everybody Loves A Lover
Fly Me To The Moon
It's All Right With Me
I Fall In Love Too Easily
Mack The Knife
Tonight
Day In – Day Out
Get Out Of Town
I Got It Bad
Lullaby Of The Leaves
Famous Motion Picture Actor Jon Hall Directs Music From Honolulu
Mercury Records MG 20403
The engineering to me, at first, seemed "simple or unpolished". But when you read in the notes (see below), how the session was recorded, the tunes take on a more intimate and enjoyable "lounge" sound. Good variety of sound from traditional to the cover of Quiet Village.
From the back cover: Movie and TV Star Jon Hall provides a musical cocktail so different and refreshing with this original, authentic Hawaiian music that its intoxication will whisk you off to the Golden Islands of Hawaii almost literally
The unusual recording set-up for this album is best described by quoting portions of Movie Actor Jon Hall's account directly: "As I said, the equipment used was an Ampex portable recorder, using two Electro-voice 666 microphones which seemed to work out very satisfactorily. The recordings were made at the bar in the La Haina Hotel without the aid of any sound-proofing or acoustical advantages that we have here. To cut down vibrations noises we had to wedge papers in the windowsills, as the building was approximately 100 years old, plus wedging doors, etc., and seeking out a little varmint called a cricket, of which there were many, and carry them off to some other part of town to carry on their musical choruses.
"My mike setups were played in as close to the instruments and the voices as I could possibly get them. The piano and the female voice were picked up on one mike which was a chore in itself, as the piano was a small upright borrowed from a church and was constantly going out of tune, which resulted in my keeping a piano tuner on hand at all times to keep this instrument operating.
The bass fiddle had a tremendous split in it which also had to be wedged to avoid strange vibration noises, and part of the drummer's equipment had to be dismantled and put in another room as it seemed to fall apart every time the band started to play.
The other microphone picked up the drummer and the bass fiddle, plus their voices simultaneously, and I would say it was approximately two feet away from the voices and instruments. I believe you must realize the problems I had in trying to get any semblance of balance with only two microphones picking up three voices and three instruments all at the same time.
On a side note, Jon Hall directed the 1965 cult horror film The Beach Girls and The Monster. He committed suicide after bladder cancer caused his health declined to the point that the pain was unbearable.
Quite Village
Hawaiian Cowboy's Song
Pua Carnation
Tanga Tika
Leahi
Rocking Chair Hula
Singing Bamboo
Alika
Nani Waimea
Nka Pueo
Puamana
He Alii
Moods For Firelight
Francis Scott And His Orchestra
Capitol Records
T529
From the back cover: Francis Scott is a brilliant young arranger-conductor who is becoming widely known for his presentations of the best in listening music – a most appealing series of Capitol albums including the best-selling "Moods For Candlelight." He hails from Denver, holds a Master's degree from Stanford, and has pursued his musical career with leading Hollywood orchestras.
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
The Very Thought Of You
'S Wonderful
You're My Everything
I See You Face Before Me
There Is No Greater Love
Why Do I Love You
I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance
Rose Room
The Heart Of Mine
I'll Never Be The Same
To help warm things up on this cold 2014 winter day, I've lit a fire in The Atomic Attic. Enjoy Adams' hot torch treatment of Love For Sale.
From the back cover: Tall, dark and comely, Jerri Adams was born in Cincinnati on May 30, 1930. Along with her regular schooling, she applied herself industriously to singing, carolling in church choirs, with her high school dance band and at the local USO. After a year at the University of Cincinnati, she left to take up a spot as the featured vocalist with Gardner Benedict's orchestra, touring the country and appearing in most of the major hotels and ballrooms along the way. Later, she left the band to appear with a vocal-instrumental group throughout the midwest, and it was while she was singing with this combination that she was heard by Frankie Lane. The rest, as noted above, is a continuing history, and this collection is a milestone in the rise of a major singing star.
Gone With The Wind
Everything Happens To Me
Let's Fall In Love
Love For Sale
All I Do Is Dream Of You
Over The Rainbow
Give Me The Simple Life
Take Me In Your Arms
Can't We Be Friends
Imagination
Love You Madly
Detour Ahead
Great Mambos
Also Other Latin America Favorites
Coronet Records CX-120
Tracks presented on this album are collected together from other Prado LPs. The tone quality of organ heard on this cover of Guaglione seems different than versions being sold online, the one I found posted on YouTube and one I apparently digitized from another one of his albums. I didn't modify the recording in any way. Did Prado release more than one version?
Guaglione
Cuba En Cha Cha Cha
Mambo Macabre
Lucky Mambo
Oy Maria
La Empaliza
Asi Asi
Azuquito Con Leche
Tu Ve Tu Ve
La Clave
Siempre
Ahora Si Tengo Un Amor
Emotions
Richard Shores And His Orchestra
Mercury Records MG 20130
Shore created an engaging album for his age, presenting us with a tapestry of orchestrated pieces that thematically support the title concept. Each track is arranged in a somewhat "safe" manner. Shore does not push period sonic, conceptual boundaries, but the sound he created perfectly reflects the moody visual vibe expressed on the cover.
From the back cover: There was no question in Shores' mind concerning the type of album he wanted to produce, and finding Mercury in complete agreement, "Emotions" he believes is completely representative of his talents. The youthful composer-conductor-arranger has directed his entire life along one path. Before leaving high school he wrote what is even today echoed through the classrooms and corridors of a Chicago high school as the official class song. His academic graduation also promoted him into concert work around the midwest, with the Army continuing his musical education by assigning him to direct and perform on almost 500 radio programs. Musical comedy composition still delights him when he isn't occupied with writing and arranging background music for radio and television.
Love
Hate
Sorrow
Gay
Blues
Surprise
Frustration
Fear
Hysteria
Burnished Brass
The George Shearing Quintet With Brass Choir
Orchestra conducted by Billy May
Capitol Records T 1038
1962
From the back cover: George is playing with a large and varied backgrounds of up to sixteen brass instruments.
A fine smooth blend of Shearing style, rich full brass and creative lounge/mood arrangements.
Memories Of You
Lulu's Back In Town
If You Were Mine
Burnished Brass
These Things You Left Me
Mine
Beautiful Love
Cuckoo In The Clock
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Cheek To Cheek
Blame It On My Youth
Basie's Masement
