Dates with Ralph Flanagan

A short time ago, I wrote about an unusual 12-inch promotional disk that had a 10-inch Buddy Morrow LP called "The Big Beat" on one side and a Ralph Flanagan album on the other.

The Meadowbrook EP

Here is the Flanagan side of the record, sourced from a 10-inch LP laboriously titled "Dates with Ralph Flanagan at Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook and the Hollywood Palladium." And if that isn't confusing enough, the 10-incher was actually a combination of two EPs, one for the Meadowbrook (at right) and one for the Palladium.

Joint Flanagan-Morrow ad

Not that the numbers were actually recorded at those then-famous venues. That took place in a New York studio. To simulate a supposed ballroom sound, RCA added a big dose of reverb and amped up the bass. The result was hollow and boomy - more like an airplane hangar than amphitheater, I'd say. I've adjusted the bottom-heavy effect, but there's not much I can do with the echo.

The recordings are from May and June 1953. The set includes a number by Buddy Victor, an innocuous band vocalist of the time.