Soundtrack Reups and Remasters

A few of these soundtrack reups are requests, but most of them are just the result of me wanting to improve the sound on some of my old projects. These are all remastered, and the sound is generally much improved.

Links to all items are in the comments to this post.

Aladdin (promo). The excellent promo record for the 1958 CBS television presentation of Cole Porter's Aladdin, with an intro by the composer.

Alexander the Great. Mario Nascimbene's thunderous 1956 score. Has a great cover image of Richard Burton plotting to take over the world while wearing blue diapers and a blond wig. (Really.)

Barabbas. More glorious noise from Nascimbene, this time in stereo. No Burton, though. This transfer is new to this blog.

Flame and the Flesh. Obscure 1953 soundtrack EP with music by Nicholas Brodsky. The "flesh" here is Lana Turner, "predatory adventuress of all the capitals of Europe," who unfortunately does not appear on the EP. Carlos Thompson does.

Summer Love. Something of an homage to the recently deceased Rod McKuen, who appears here as "Ox," a member of a rock group called "Jimmy Daley & the Ding-a-Lings." Music by Henry Mancini. I am not making this up.

Sunny Side of the Street. Songs from the 1951 film by Frankie Laine and Billy Daniels, who appeared in the flick, although these aren't the soundtrack recordings, if that makes sense. The cover features giant heads of the singers jutting out from a shocking-pink apartment building. 

Victor Young - For Whom the Bell Tolls; Golden Earrings. Atmospheric 40s scores by the great Victor Young in excellent sound from an early LP.

Tammy and the Bachelor; Interlude. This one was actually in my past batch of reups, but I thought I would throw it out there again because there is a new link. Music by Frank Skinner.

Meredith Willson's 'Chiffon Swing'

There was a great amount of interest in my previous post of Meredith Willson's band recordings, so here is another set by him.

That first group collected concert pieces. This album assembles pop songs and a few classical adaptations under the confounding banner of "Chiffon Swing." I'm not sure what the "chiffon" signifies, but I can report that there is little "swing" to be found herein.

Meredith Willson

What you will discover is some enjoyable light music, with imaginative if slightly dated arrangements. Willson does particularly well with the Chopin and Tchaikovsky pieces. It's usually a dreary experience when dance bands take on the classics, but these efforts are enjoyable.

Also of note is Willson's own composition "Thoughts While Strolling," which comes from his O.O. McIntyre Suite. (McIntyre was a then-famous syndicated newspaper columnist.) Willson himself is the flute soloist in the piece. He was an accomplished instrumentalist who had labored in bands as diverse as those of Sousa and Toscanini (the New York Philharmonic).

These recordings all are from March 1942, and originally were issued in a 78 set. This 10-inch LP comes from 1949. Decca's sonics are pleasant but opaque.

Jean Sablon on Capitol

About a year ago I began featuring the American recordings of French crooner Jean Sablon. The series started with 1942 and 1946 collections on Decca, moved on to 1938-47 RCA Victor sides, and here concludes with Sablon's 1952 album for Capitol.

This set is just as good as the other LPs, so needless to say I recommend it. The singer is in good voice. The highly sympathetic accompaniments are by Skitch Henderson and orchestra, plus an anonymous vocal troupe.

Jean Sablon

The sound is excellent on these sides, which made up a 10-inch LP presented here in its dual-EP form. Although the front cover only mentions six songs, eight are indeed included. This fact is helpfully mentioned on the back cover, although it does not go on to specify what those eight songs are. I have included label scans to clarify matters.

The wonderful cover art may be the best thing about the package. I think that's a hat on her head; at least the placement would indicate as much.

Note (May 2025): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Mahalia Jackson - First LP on Apollo

This LP is titled, "Queen of the Gospel Singers," and Mahalia Jackson certainly was that in postwar America.

A powerful singer and commanding presence, she came to fame via the recordings heard on this, her first long-playing album. It collects eight of the sides that the small Apollo label made with her beginning in 1946. Pride of place is given to "Move on Up a Little Higher," her breakthrough 1947 single. The other songs are hardly less fine, saturated with her intensity and sincerity.

At a recording session

The accompanists on most of these items are Mildred Falls, piano, and Herbert James Francis, organ, with guitar added on some songs.

The recording quality is just to my taste, giving the listener a real sense of what it was like in the studio with Jackson and the musicians. (Please forgive the occasional pops that the record has acquired over the years.)

This LP came out in 1954, just before the singer moved on to Columbia Records. If there is interest, I also have her second Apollo collection, "In the Upper Room."

Reups by Request: Rodzinski, Lili Kraus, Fran Warren, Frank Skinner Soundtracks

I've been busy with some reups as a result of requests - a bunch of recordings by Artur Rodzinski with the New York and Cleveland Orchestras, pre-war Lili Kraus in Bartok, Fran Warren singles, and two tuneful film scores from Frank Skinner.

The Skinner and Kraus LPs and some of the Rodzinski tracks have been remastered. In general, this has improved the sound, but the Rodzinski items were by and large never very good sounding, whether from the original recordings or the quality of my copies (or transfers!). You may need to exercise some sonic tolerance for these.

Tonight's offerings:

Bartok Piano Music - Lili Kraus (remastered). Her 1938 recordings for Parlophone - I believe this may be the only 20th century music she recorded.

Tammy and the Bachelor; Interlude (remastered). Frank Skinner's beautiful 50s scores. Tammy includes the Debbie Reynolds hit song; I've added the McGuire Sisters' recording of the Interlude title song as a bonus.

Fran Warren - RCA Victor Singles. I compiled this tribute post upon the death of Warren, one of my favorite pop vocalists. Excellent sound.

Bizet - Carmen Act III Prelude (Rodzinski) (remastered). This is from 78 and actually has better sound than the Bizet LP below.

Bizet - Symphony (Rodzinski) (remastered). Columbia recordings with the New Yorkers.

Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5 (Rodzinski) (mp3). More with the New York PSO.

Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2 (Rodzinski) (mp3). Ditto.

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet, 1812 (Rodzinski) (remastered). With the Clevelanders and better sounding than some of the others.

Wagner - Siegfried Idyll (Rodzinski) (remastered). And back with the New York ensemble.

FYI - a further Rodzinski recording, the Franck symphony with Vienna forces, is still available. See the comments to this post for links to all these items.