Digression No. 8

I was surprised to find this blog showing up a PCL Link Dump the other day. Anybody coming here from there - welcome! The tone of the post there may lead you to think that we deal only in ironic hipster stuff like Mickey Spillane and Raymond Scott, but that's really not true (although we do have those tendencies here, admittedly). Whatever you would find on 10-inch LPs in the early 50s, you can find here, although I do ignore the records that are easily found elsewhere (Sinatra, Cole, Crosby, the more popular soundtracks and shows, etc.). Rather than Cole, you will find Page Cavanaugh. Rather than Sinatra, Herb Jeffries. Etc.

I did also want to mention a few things that I did in response to requests elsewhere. These are 12-inch LPs that may be of interest.

First, the Sons of Sauter-Finegan, which rip formed part of the Jazzman's extravaganza of albums by the recording band that was led by arrangers Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan. The "sons" are the soloists from the band. Some of this LP is good and some of it is tepid, like many jazz albums from that era. Link below.

And then there is Bill Frawley Sings the Old Ones (also known as Fred Mertz Sings). Here's the way I described this gem over at Rocket from Mars' Vinyl Adventures at Franklynot:

"A word of warning - this album contains the following: wavering and hammy vocals by Bill/Fred/Bub, quasi-barbershop background singers, tack piano, banjo solos (had enough yet?), and a cover photo of Bill in straw boater and striped blazer.

"Vaudeville did not survive this kind of thing, and it's a wonder that Dot Records did."

Now I'm quoting myself, so it's time to go. The cover and link are below.

SONS | FRAWLEY