It was quite a thrill to receive a note from Sue Raney and her husband Carmen Falzone following my posting of her uncollected singles recently. This was through the intercession of Bill Reed, who knows Sue and had taken Sue a CD of the singles. She responded:
"I can’t begin to express my gratitude for the compilation of the singles I made so long ago. It was such fun to listen to them again. We sure tried to get a hit record in those days (ha). 'Biology' was the only one that made it to the Billboard chart at about 50 something (I think). [Note from Buster - that's the only Capitol single I don't have, ironically.] What a special person you are to have taken the time to do all that. You made me so happy, and I thank you so very much for your love and support – the notes you wrote are also quite a keepsake for me."
Speaking of Bill (maestro of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair), he reminds me that in my recent Carole Simpson post, I really should have mentioned that Carole has a 2008 release called "Live" and Otherwise, available here.
Finally - and completely unrelated to the previous discussion - I came across a most interesting radio show on the web this weekend, and thought I would share my refurbishment of the sound. This comes from the Sunday Gramophone feature of a site called Crooks and Liars, which apparently does not refer to the musicians or proprietors but to the site's main preoccupation, politicians. Sunday Gramophone has exceptionally interesting material, unfortunately presented in exceptionally low bit-rate mp3s. Yesterday's offering was from an NBC program of July 1, 1943 by the NBC Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Stopak. This was in a late-night sustaining series called Music of the New World, devoted to all types of music from the Americas - a wartime effort designed to promote inter-American harmony.
This particular program was devoted to US composers, and included less-often heard works by Sowerby (Comes Autumn Time) and Creston (Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, with Artur Balsam), along with pieces by Griffes and Carpenter.
I have rebalanced the sound, but the compression artifacts from the low bit-rate file are of course still audible (but not too distracting, I hope). It is presented in FLAC format to avoid additional compression effects. The program also is now tracked. The link is below.
LINK
2 weeks ago
Wow, Buster... you've hit the big time! I am thrilled for you and it's incredible when you think about it that a high quality singer such as Sue Raney has to depend on people like you just to hear her own records!
ReplyDeleteBuster, Please know that the wonderful Sue Raney( and she is wonderful) is just one of the many of us who are thrilled with all that you offer. Thank you. JohnnyUSA
ReplyDeleteIt's always cool when you hear from the artist behind a post. Well, not when they want you to take it down, but that's more the exception in my experience. I've heard lots of nice things from artists I've shared, as well as their family or people who were in the band or even the models on the cover. Always cool.
ReplyDeleteI knew Carole well and worked with her quite a bit in the last years of her life. Under-recorded and unsung. Loved her music.
ReplyDeleteSkip - I loved her music as well - listened to the recordings recently, as was struck anew by her aritistry.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of a re-up on this?
ReplyDeleteDrRay3
DrRay3 - Do you means the Sowerby-Creston post?
ReplyDelete