This Is the Final Farewell to Mitch, I Promise

I recently came across this 1952 Mitch Miller LP, and wanted to bring it to you even though I suspect it will elicit another chorus of groans from the people who think Mitch not only had the beard of a devil but cloven hooves as well.

But where else but on a Mitch Miller record could you hear Greensleeves presented in oom-pah style? No one else would dare - or, I suppose, care - to do so. On a Miller record, everything is beautifully done and imaginative, but with little if any regard for conventional good taste. The latter tendency he shared with musics that came later - the former, not so much. I have to admit that I do not require my listening material to be all that tasteful - but I sure hate it when it's dull and poorly done (like most rock music). I find records like this amusing and enjoyable, while others retreat in horror.

The excellent vocalists on these records are the Paulette Sisters, Peter Hanley and Burt Taylor, who were, I believe, Columbia contract artists.

The download includes two Columbia ads that promote this LP and the other pop materials that the label was releasing at the same time under Mitch's aegis. The ads are fascinating items, showing how repertoire was migrating from various genres into the pop realm in the restless search for new material. (Perhaps Mitch's oddest idea in this regard was to have Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra record It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.)

One of the ads contains a column by Mitch in which he praises Hank Williams (an M-G-M artist), noting that Williams compositions had recently become hits for Tony Bennett (Cold, Cold Heart), Jo Stafford and Frankie Laine (Hey, Good Lookin'), Rosemary Clooney (Half as Much) and Jo again (Jambalaya). This was written at the end of Williams' very short career - he would die only three months later, at age 29.