First of all, I want to showcase my redo of the nine singles that singer Matt Dennis made for Capitol in 1946 and possibly early 1947, all with Paul Weston. These are excellent records - Dennis was a terrific singer even relatively early in his career, the arrangements were fine, and the songs were well selected, although I could do without "A Trout, No Doubt." (Hey, that rhymes!) He even makes me like "Linda."
As mentioned, I have remastered these sides and the sound is much improved. I also have carefully repitched the recordings, which were sharp, making Dennis sound adolescent (he was 32). The transfers are from my collection of 78s.
These days, Dennis is mostly known for his compositions - "Angel Eyes," "Violets for Your Furs," "The Night We Called It a Day," "Everything Happens to Me," all available in superb Sinatra renditions - but he also was one of the finest singers of the post-war era. Unfortunately, none of the songs here are his compositions.
The rest of today's remastered selections:
Virgil Thomson - The River; Otto Luening - Prelude on a Hymn Tune by William Billings; Two Symphonic Interludes. ARS recordings led by Dean Dixon.
Written on the Wind; Rhapsody for Four Girls in Town. Soundtrack recordings of music by Frank Skinner and Alex North. The latter piece features Andre Previn on piano.
Nielsen - Symphony No. 3. The classic rendition led by Erik Tuxen.
Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae - Sunday Evening Songs. Really old oldies in treasurable versions from the beloved pair.
See the original posts for more on these selections. Links to the downloads are in the comments.
18 comments:
Thanks Buster - The Four Girls in Town is exellent, never heard it or of it before - Quite apt at the moment as I'm in NY livin' the American dream (ie working!)
Jols
Whew, I can't keep up with you lately Buster! Thanks!
Jols - I often am there myself, working!
Ernie - I have been motivated, or something.
First order of business (or is it pleasure?): further thanks for your latest melange of marvels. But I want to give special gratitude for the Matt Dennis sides--all discoveries for me. Weston was in the Dorsey band when Dennis and Adair wrote their string of masterpieces, including "Everything Happens to Me" and "The Night We Called it a Day." I'll put Matt's version "Just Squeeze Me" up there with what I thought were the previous best recordings of this song. Johnny Burke sand Jimmy van Heusen's "So Would I" is new to me and a wonderful variation of the oft-sung me-too sentiment from those all-too-distant days when love songs came from the heart and had wit and wisdom. I take it that is Eddie Miller on "At Sundown." Matt's version of "Linda" is as good as Buddy Clark's. "Roses in the Rain" is a perfect welcome-Spring song. Does the last name "Carle" on the label being, as I presume, to Frankie? In any case, a fabulous song--as is the far better-known "In a Lazy Mood." I'm glad the composer, Eddie Miller, got a chance to chime in. All in all, a superb set of vocals by another master-singer. God bless you for this addition to my library. I just wish the multitudes who need this music would make a beeline to your blog and retrieve the riches you keep offering.
It was rare enough to have major mainstream American music programmed by the Philadelphia Orchestra when I was a kid. If it wasn't for the ARS and the Louisville Orchestra, the starvation would have been so much worse. Some day, if I hit the lottery, I will reissue all the ARS recordings of American music because they served as a solitary portal to so many great composers, including Ives, Cowell, Piston and, in this case, of Thomson and Luening. Thank you for this and every other LP from the series. Dean Dixon was the perfect conductor to entrust with these works. I just wish music this wonderful was what my children needed. The America that needed this music is gone. And soon the Americans who needed it will be also.
David - Thanks as always for your thoughtful and gracious comments! I have many ARS recordings that I haven't transferred as yet, so more to come.
I don't know the cause, but my attempts at downloading your remastered recording of Matt Dennis keeps being thwarted by a 'switch' to Photoshop 5...que pasa?
BIG thanks, Buster
Thanks alot!
Hi Buster,
Much appreciate your efforts.
I will look forward to some "musical enlightenment".
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Hi, Buster, thank you for the Matt Dennis and the "Written on the Wind".
Buster, the Matt Dennis link isn't working. Thank you for everything you provide, but especially those suave and sly singer-pianists...
Buster, I'm still getting a "Temporary error, retrying" message on the Matt Dennis. This is the only mega.nz link where I've seen this message. I'm not sure what constitutes "retrying" but that message never goes away. Thank you.
Mega seems to be having a problem with the file - not sure why. Here is a link on Zippy:
https://www109.zippyshare.com/v/IAMugicy/file.html
Success. Again, thank you.
David
Hi, Buster,
I somehow overlooked this one. Mega still has a problem and the zippyshare is, of course, already gone.
Any chance for a re-up?
Thanks in advance.
New links:
Matt Dennis on Capitol
https://mega.nz/#!uUskka4Z!tmZkpIV-OAaYqUl22hMZhatvQgxBf64f08lCxuy8I8o
Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae - Sunday Evening Songs
https://mega.nz/#!rR0xFIgK!LfQ88CN9pOxqEbXFTeSGlAe4McM5UCGyRUYqNzbz3Xk
Nielsen - Symphony No. 3
https://mega.nz/#!KRdQWC5Q!B3r5ZEYfNH5RhRqvjtoIOH-EjxpYIt9PYYU2fN2_qSs
Virgil Thomson; Otto Luening
https://mega.nz/#!vQUWxTTa!Mi31FUjC9R0CZu8LO-n74ipZGKUcI-72Q58E4we5vOE
Written on the Wind - Four Girls in Town
https://mega.nz/#!CZclWQIT!PiddYhf2nl0jFibObAjfc0gazqoD4-hbVfcVM1MDUS4
Thanks again! And same day service, yet!
Incidentally, I had some difficulty downloading the Matt Dennis file from Mega. Turns out that the problem was of my own making. I was playing a sound file on the VLC Media Player at the same time as the download. Mega evidently doesn't like that. Once I figured out the hangup, it was clear sailing.
Anyhow, just a word for the benefit of others - don't try to multitask when using Mega.
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