Buster's Unusual Spring

If your heart doesn't go dancing at the thought of another spring-themed compilation, I hope this collection, "Buster's Unusual Spring," will at least start your feet tapping.

In these 28 selections, I've avoided the usual spring songs - "Spring Is Here," "It Might as Well Be Spring," and so on - in favor of more esoteric fare. Multiple genres are represented - pop, classical, jazz and country among them. I myself was unfamiliar with most of these numbers. The best known are probably "It Happens Every Spring" and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" - and you will recognize a few classical melodies in new settings.

As usual, the recordings are discussed below in chronological order.

The first selection is the only acoustic recording in the set, and a late one at that - it's from 1926 and the technology-challenged Gennett label. Chic Winter (other sources say it's Winters) and orchestra offer the peppy "Spring Is Here" (not the Rodgers and Hart song). Winter(s) led a fancy outfit that was in residence at the impressive but long-gone Hotel Gramatan in Westchester County, north of New York City.

The following year, HMV had the incomparable John McCormack in London's Queen's Hall for a session devoted in part to settings by Granville Bantock of poems by Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (the name itself is poetry) that were based on ancient Chinese texts. "A Dream of Spring" is from a work by the eighth century writer Ts'en Ts'an. McCormack sings with his usual penetrating intelligence, sympathy for the text, sweet tone and faultless diction.

Harry McClintock by R. Crumb

We abruptly switch genres from Sir Granville to the musings of Haywire Mac, the author of "Big Rock Candy Mountain." Here, under the name of Radio Mac, the America folk singer Harry McClintock presents the "Hobo's Spring Song," done for Victor in 1929. Mac was a colorful character who was a member of the International Workers of the World and spent time as a union organizer.

Harold aka Scrappy aka Burt

Also from 1929, we have tightly-muted trumpeter Henry Busse with orchestra and the much-recorded vocalist Scrappy Lambert under the name Burt Lorin. They offer up "Like a Breath of Spring-Time," which makes me wonder when "springtime" became a compound word. The song comes from the lost film Hearts in Exile, which was issued both as a silent and a talkie. Presumably the song was more effective in the latter version. By the way, this song was also recorded by Dr. Eugene Ormandy's Salon Orchestra before the conductor went uptown.

From 1930, Waring's Pennsylvanians give us "It Seems to Be Spring," written for the film Let's Go Native. With a title like that, the movie had to be offensive in some manner, but the plot summary just sounds inane, as does the casting - Jack Oakie and Jeanette MacDonald. One hopes that MacDonald rather than Oakie introduced the song. In either case, they had to be better than the anemic Three Girlfriends who assist Fred Waring on the record.

"Spring in Manhattan" of 1934 is one of the earlier releases from the Liberty Music Shop label, which specialized in cabaret music. Most of its artists were familiar from New York nightlife, but here, despite the song's title, we have Los Angeles' Bruz Fletcher, who recorded very little but has a following even today. Fletcher's song comes from the album above.

Ray Noble

We now transport you from Manhattan to France for "Paris in Spring," which Mack Gordon and Harry Revel wrote for the film of the same name. Despite the titles of movie and music lacking the definite article, Al Bowlly sings "Paris in the spring." The South African vocalist had come to the US with English bandleader Ray Noble, who assembled a superb American band. The troupe began recording in 1935, including this fine song, here in a wonderfully polished and presented arrangement with a characteristic vocal by Bowlly, an exceptional singer. Noble was to stay in the States, but Bowlly moved back to England in 1937 and perished in the London blitz.

Ella and Chick

"I Got the Spring Fever Blues" is from 1936 and and the band of Chick Webb with the young Ella Fitzgerald sounding surprisingly like Connie Boswell with a touch of Mildred Bailey. Ella is great, and the band, led by the short-lived drummer Webb, is as well. In the ensemble are such luminaries as Taft Jordan, Teddy McRae and Sandy Williams.

Peg LaCentra

Another great band was led by Artie Shaw, here with one of his first recordings, also from 1936. At this early date Shaw was known as "Art Shaw." Some of you may be familiar with "There's Frost on the Moon (Spring in My Heart)," which turns up in Christmas compilations. Shaw already had started incorporating strings in his arrangements - unusual for a swing band at the time. One of the violinists here was Jerry Gray, later a famed arranger for Glenn Miller (who himself was a Ray Noble sideman and played trombone on the "Paris in Spring" date above). The success of the Shaw record, though, is largely due to the excellent singer Peg LaCentra.

Teddy Wilson

Moving to 1939, we hear the evocative song "Some Other Spring," from the band of pianist Teddy Wilson and vocalist Jean Eldridge. Billie Holiday fans will likely be familiar with her Columbia recording of this song. Although Holiday made many great recordings with Wilson earlier in her career, she had moved on by this point. Eldridge was a sensitive singer, but didn't have a strong voice. Wilson's piano is excellent, as always.

Fletcher Henderson

The fashion for adapting classical airs for swing numbers was in full flower when Benny Goodman and band decided to adopt Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" for a 1939 record with a Fletcher Henderson chart. I can't imagine the composer approving this version, but he had been gone for almost a century at the time. More than 80 years later, we can enjoy both Mendelssohn's piano piece and the Goodman-Henderson swing interpretation.

Earl Robinson and Paul Robeson

A very different "Spring Song" comes to us from the great Paul Robeson and frequent collaborator Earl Robinson, working with Harry Schachter. Robeson and Robinson had their biggest success with "Ballad for Americans" in 1939. "Spring Song," an anti-war ballad, was issued in 1941 during the run-up to the American involvement in World War II. Robeson and Robinson were Communists, a group that wanted to keep the US from waging war on Germany, which had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviets in 1939. "Spring Song" was released shortly before the German invasion of Russia.

Jerry Mazanec

From 1942, Jerry Mazanec and his Bohemian polka band regale us with "Spring Awakening." I believe Mazanec was from Cleveland, but his more traditional approach soon was supplanted on Columbia records by the propulsive Slovenian band of that city's Frankie Yankovic, who became nationally popular after the war.

Larry Green led a Boston society band in the Eddy Duchin mold. He offers "Spring Is Really Spring This Year" (as opposed to being autumn, I suppose). It's a nice song and the leader's florid Carmen Cavallaro-style piano playing occasionally gives way for a good Gil Phelan vocal. This one comes from 1946; I have a Green LP on Vik from about 10 years later, but it tells us nothing else about him.

Charlie Spivak

The trumpeter Charlie Spivak was at the helm of a swing band for many years and many recordings, among them "Spring Magic" from 1946. You will immediately recognize the melody for this one. Alexander Borodin invented it for one of his string quartets. Alec Wilder rudely appropriated it without attribution for this pleasant tune with vocal by Jimmy Saunders and the Stardreamers. Several years later, Wright and Forrest borrowed the same melody for "And This Is My Beloved" from Kismet.

Old friend Johnny Johnston peeks in with "I Bring You Spring" with the assistance of the Crew Chiefs and bandleader Sonny Burke. This is a good tune with a sonorous vocal that wasn't included in my 2019 compilation of Johnston's recordings. It comes from 1947.

Hal McIntyre

That same year, excellent Hal McIntyre band featuring the sorely underrated vocalist Frankie Lester produced an M-G-M single of "Spring in December" - another song that features in holiday compilations. Some of Hal's later recordings have appeared here.

Fans of Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes may be familiar with "It Happens Every Spring," which originated in the 1949 film of the same name. The tune is nothing special, but Mack Gordon's lyrics paint a charming American scene at mid-century. This interpretation is from the future talk-show host and media mogul Merv Griffin, working with Freddy Martin's band.

Bill Farrell

The talented but now-forgotten vocalist Bill Farrell sings "Spring Made a Fool of Me" with support from Russ Case. Farrell, supposedly discovered by Bob Hope, had been listening to two other Bills - Billy Eckstine and Billy Daniels - but his singing is nonetheless impressive. He recorded for a few labels circa 1950, then made a few albums for Dobre in the 1970s.

At the same time and also for M-G-M, Russ Case recorded instrumentals under his own name, including an inoffensive "Symphony of Spring," which is our next selection.

In December 1951, Mercury invited Paul & Roy the Tennessee River Boys (seems like there should be some punctuation in there) to Nashville's Tulane Hotel to set down their own "Spring of Love." Paul & Roy were in the Bill Monroe bluegrass mold, minus the banjo. Good stuff.

Early the following year, the popular Four Aces Featuring Al Alberts did "Spring Is a Wonderful Thing" for Decca. Al's vocal gyrations have never been a favorite of mine, and here he is at his most elaborately emotive.

Back to the country genre for the Maddox Brothers and Rose and their "The Time Is Spring." This comes from 1953 and a group that is always entertaining, here supplemented by guitarists Joe Maphis and Johnny Bond.

The Four Freshmen

The Four Freshmen and the illustrious arranger Nelson Riddle turned their attentions to Matt Dennis' excellent ballad "Love Turns Winter to Spring" for a 1954 release on the Capitol label.

Next, an obscurity - the multi-talented Ken Moore, who not only sang and played the piano on "Spring May Come," but wrote the piece and released it on his own Lucky label in 1954. Billboard called it "listenable after-hours wax" and so it is.

Kitty Kallen came out of a big-band background for a successful solo career, with her biggest hit being "Little Things Mean a Lot" in 1954. "Come Spring" is from the next year, about the same time that Kallen began having the vocal problems that impeded her career for several years. I don't know if this is why Decca turned the vocal reverb up to 11 for this record; I do know that the sound would be better without the intrusion.

Jimmie Rodgers

Bobby Troup's touching song "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" is perhaps better known as the reworked Beach Boys tune "A Young Man Is Gone," yet another James Dean homage that is beautifully sung but pointless. The Boys' harmonies were modeled on those of the Four Freshmen in that group's recording of the original. Here we have the excellent folk-oriented pop singer Jimmie Rodgers backed by Hugo Peretti. His rendition was on the flip side of his big 1957 hit "Honeycomb."

Our final selection will be familiar - perhaps overly so - to any fan of the cabaret singer set. It is "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," a wonderful Tommy Wolf-Fran Landesman song that is done perfectly by jazz vocalist Mark Murphy. This is taken from the singer's 1962 LP Rah, which I have featured in its unexpurgated version. (See the post for an explanation.)

Except for the final number, these files have been remastered from lossless needle drops found on Internet Archive.

Hope your spring is going well; it snowed here today.

We Celebrate 1,000 Posts with 19 Busters

My namesake above appears unenthusiastic, but I am pleased to be marking an even (or uneven) 1,000 posts on this blog, spread out over the last 12 years. To celebrate, I've put together a post consisting of 19 tracks either involving artists named Buster or songs with Buster in the title.

So we have Busters Moten, Harding, Bailey, Dees, Benson, Ferguson, Brown, Larsen, Falkenberry and Bennett among the artists, plus songs titled "Button Buster," "Finger Buster," "Atom Buster," "Skull Buster," "Banjo Buster" and "Buster Astor." There are jazz, country, blues and pop records, but no classical items by Buster Heifetz or Buster Toscanini.

My thanks go out to my great pal Ernie Haynes, who has been encouraging me since the beginning - and who actually came up with the concept of this post. And of course thanks to all of you who have followed this blog through the years, especially those who comment. Your contributions make the comment sections just as lively than the posts themselves, if not more so.

Here is some commentary on today's selections, as usual presented in chronological order.

The first selection is "Button Buster" from 1922, a version of the laughing record that was inexplicably popular back then. No artist is listed on this cheapo Grey Gull pressing, but it is thought that the original was recorded in Berlin in 1920 for the Beka label. By the way, I think the record is called "Button Buster" not because you bust your buttons from laughing but you bust the buttons on your player in your frenzy to shut the darn thing off.

Our next item, "Just You, Just Me," comes from 1929 and the almost certainly pseudonymous Buster Benson and His Band, on the Jewel label. The name "Buster Benson" appears on just this one record, and is possibly the better known and wildly prolific recording artist Adrian Schubert under another name. I did need to make a small edit to this transfer to eliminate noise.

Also from 1929 is the Gus Arnheim band on Victor with "One Sweet Kiss," vocal by Buster Dees. The singer did not record much, but managed to make 10 records in 1929 with Arnheim, Henry Halsted and Jackie Taylor.

Buster Moten

From 1932 comes the superb and important Bennie Moten band from Kansas City, featuring Count Basie, Lips Page, Walter Page and Eddie Durham. The song "Toby" was written by Bennie's brother Buster Moten and arranger Eddie Barefield.

Moving on to 1937, we have the wonderfully vulgar Western swing anthem "Ain't Nobody Truck Like You" by the Texas band Ocie Stockard and the Wanderers, with a vocal by Buster Ferguson. Despite the title, Buster repeatedly insists that "ain't nobody truck like me" in the lyrics.

The Tune Wranglers, with Buster Coward to the right of the microphone

Another excellent Western band with a fellow named Buster as singer was the fecund Tune Wranglers, also from Texas, who present "Honey, Smile for Me" with Buster Coward on vocals. This, too, was from 1937.

Buster Bailey

Switching styles, we hear from clarinetist Buster Bailey and His Rhythm Busters in "Chained to a Dream," from 1938. I could have made a post of Bailey' records alone - he worked with everyone from W.C. Handy to King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson and John Kirby, among others.

Another key artist was the famous New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton, heard here on "Finger Buster" from 1938, a few years before his early death. I've corrected the pitch on this one.

Our next selection comes from 1940 and returns us to the sound of Kansas City jazz. This record involves two Busters. One is again Buster Moten, who composed "Moten's Swing" with his brother Bennie. As "Moten Swing," this became a standard both in Bennie's own recording and in the Count Basie version of 1940. Our record is a rendition by a studio group led by guitarist Eddie Durham with solos by the brilliant alto saxophonist Buster Smith.

Buster Harding

Our next Buster is Buster Harding, an influential arranger and composer. Here is his composition "Bedford Drive," which he arranged in 1945 for Artie Shaw's band.

Buster Bennett

A much different sound from Shaw's suave tones is provided by the singer and altoist Buster Bennett, who tells us about his "Reefer Head Woman" in this 1945 Columbia recording of his own blues concoction.

Atomic bombs were on everyone's mind in the postwar era, and any number of songs at that time made use of the theme. This 1946 record not only includes it in the title, "Atom Buster," it came out on the Atomic label. The composition, which sounds like it is based on "I Got Rhythm," is by guitarist Barney Kessel, who leads an excellent ensemble in this swinging outing.

I couldn't resist adding another Buster Bennett opus to the mix. This is his entertaining double-entendre blues "Fishin' Pole" (in which he brags about his "very long pole," of course). This came out under the name of tenor saxophonist Tom Archia in a 1947 issue on the Aristocrat label. I faded this one in after a few moments because of groove damage at the record's edge.

Also from 1947 is "Silver and Gold," a pleasant country tune from the obscure Bob Pressley and His Sagebrush Serenaders, with whistling by the even-more-obscure Buster Falkenberry. Pressley cut a total of six sides for Decca at about this time.

Larry Vincent

The Pearl label was mainly if not exclusively a vehicle for the Pearl Boys, who were mainly if not exclusively a vehicle for label owner Larry Vincent and his mildly risque party-record compositions. "Buster Astor" from 1949 is a typical example of his inspirations.

"Skull Buster" from 1949 came out under the name of bop pianist Al Haig, but is mostly a showcase for the superb tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, who was making a name for himself at about this time as a member of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers" band.

Smilin' Ed O'Connell and Froggy the Gremlin

The "Witch-a-Ma-Jig Song" comes to us courtesy of the great Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown Gang, who had a well-remembered children's show on both radio and television. The Buster Brown Gang, named after the sponsor, Buster Brown Shoes, featured the inimitable gravel-voiced Froggy the Gremlin, who became one of my favorite impersonations as a annoying teenager ("Hiya, kids! Hiya, hiya!"). I also wore the shoes (see below), although not as an adolescent.

Buster Brown's stylish selections

Quick aside - Buster Brown Shoes were one of the leading examples of a commercial image well outliving its inspiration. Buster Brown was a cartoon character (supposedly inspired by the young Buster Keaton) who had disappeared by the mid-1920s, but he, his pageboy haircut, enormous chapeau and floppy cravat were still selling shoes well into the 50s. Notable recent examples of this atavistic phenomenon are Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, minstrel show stereotypes who are still hawking packaged food today - although not for long.

Arthur Smith and His Cracker-Jacks

Arthur Smith was known as a many-noted guitar player (he is dubbed "Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith" on the label of this tune), but on "Banjo Buster" from 1950 he became a many-noted banjo player. As sometimes happened with these knock-'em-out virtuoso exercises, the record company sped up the master to make the playing more impressive, but I've tamed the pitch. Billboard called this selection a "sparkling hunk of hominy," which is saying a lot. The flip side was "Mr. Stalin, You're Eating Too High on the Hog." (Mr. Stalin and his hog are not included here.)

Buster Larsen

Our final Buster is Buster Larsen, a Danish stage, film and TV actor of the time. His selection is titled "På Bustur Med Buster" ("On a Bus Trip with Buster"). Could you imagine something like this today - "On a Bus Trip with Lady Gaga." "På Bustur" comes from 1957.

Thanks, everyone, for taking this bus trip through my record collection for the past 12 years! Hope you have enjoyed yourselves.

In closing, let me mention some frequent commenters and contributors, knowing that I am sure to forget some people - in no particular order, Charlot, centuri, David Federman, Bryan Cooper, 8HHaggis, JAC, Ernie, A N Other, Scoredaddy, Eric, Grover Gardner, Andy Propst, jserraglio, coppinsuk, Sky Raven, gpdlt2000, Phillip, alfred venison, Boursin, Lennonka, Your Pal Doug, Rich, Addison, rev.b, styles, Jim, StealthMan, Rich, Rootie, SwingKing, Morris, RonH, monkeeboy, RecordHunter, hkitt42, iracema1, Jim in Seattle, flurb, TupeloBrian, Badgercat, kiken, 78heretic, dave_bruce, Geoconno, Nigel, Nick, Randy, Lee Hartsfeld, Ronnie, Alan Eichler, Kevin WOlf, luckymike, boppinbob, bhowani, jeronimo, barba, thedentist, Kwork, BobSanders, Muff Diver, Ravel, flyingfinger, woolfnotes, Moahaha, Wortley Clutterbuck, Andrew, dgrb, MOQChoir, tony, DonHo57, Richard Bock, Rio Veneno and Unknown. Thanks to them and everyone else who has been part of this wonderful community!

The Popular Lecuona

My recent post of a few Morton Gould recordings of the music of Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963) led me to seek out recordings that would demonstrate how the Cuban composer’s music became popular in America during the 1930s into the 50s.

This post is the result. It compiles 24 versions of Lecuona’s most popular compositions, drawn from 78s and soundtrack recordings. These include different interpretations of the songs that Gould orchestrated: "Andalucía" ("The Breeze and I"), "Malagueña," "La Comparsa" and "Jungle Drums."

Alfredo Brito

Perhaps the first Lecuona melody to become popular in the U.S. was his 1929 composition "Siboney.” (Siboney is a town in Cuba, and by extension can be understood to refer to Cuba itself.) The song gained notice in 1931 via a record by Alfredo Brito and His Siboney Orchestra, the first item in our collection.

Many artists have since recorded “Siboney,” often with the English lyrics written by Dolly Morse that have nothing to do with Lecuona’s original words. Bing Crosby recorded the English version in 1945 with Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. Cugat was prominent in America at the time and recorded many Latin songs, but nonetheless his was not considered an “authentic” Cuban band, even though he spent much of his youth in that country.

The young Cugat. He later grew hair.

Cugat in fact popularized the second Lecuona composition in the set, "Para Vigo Me Voy” (“I’m Going to Vigo,” a town in Spain), which became known as "Say Si, Si" after acquiring Al Stillman’s English lyrics. Cugat recorded it in 1935, the year of its composition. The English version became a hit in 1940, with the Andrews Sisters having the best-selling disc. The download includes both the Cugat and Andrews records.

The next song, “Jungle Drums,” was called “Canto Karabali” by Lecuona when he published it in 1933. I believe “Karabali” refers to African slaves brought to Cuba from a particular region of Africa. Both versions in the playlist come from 1939, the first by Artie Shaw and his band, the second from Cugie again, with an unlikely vocal by Dinah Shore, making one of her first appearances on record. Dinah presents the English lyrics written by Carmen Lombardo, of all people. “Jungle Drums” went on to become one of the theme songs of the exotica movement of the 50s.

“The Breeze and I” is one of Lecuona’s most recognizable and enduring melodies, originally published as “Andalucía” in 1928. With Al Stillman’s new English lyrics, the song became an American hit in 1940 through the single version by Jimmy Dorsey’s band, with a vocal by Bob Eberly. This is another Lecuona song that is still heard today.

Jimmy Dorsey and Bob Eberly

After “The Breeze and I” and “Say Si, Si” became hits, Lecuona wrote the title song for the 1942 film Always in My Heart, which starred Kay Francis and Walter Huston. The song was nominated for an Academy Award, losing to "White Christmas." Dorsey and Eberly, recognizing a good thing, recorded a version with Kim Gannon’s English lyrics, and it became a hit as well.

One of Lecuona’s most popular melodies, "Malagueña" (that is, a type of dance from Málaga, Spain), comes from his 1933 Suite Andalucía, to which he added lyrics in Spanish. Our first interpretation comes from Del Campo and His Orchestra, with a piano solo by arranger Jose Esteves. Luis Del Campo was a former Cugat singer who formed his own band in the 1940s, continuing until his death in 1950. This record, from about 1947, appeared on the short-lived Coda label.

Dorsey and Eberly struck again in 1942 with a vocal version of "Malagueña" called “At the Cross-Roads,” with English lyrics by Bob Russell.

It’s been said that Lecuona lifted the melody of "Malagueña" from a section of Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s 1851 composition Souvenirs d'Andalousie. I think it’s more likely that both Lecuona and Gottschalk were drawing upon the same indigenous melody.

Next we have a record by the Lecuona Cuban Boys, confusingly named because the group did not include Lecuona himself. He did, however, start the group in the early 1930s after seeing the success that Alfredo Brito was having with his music. The song “Panama” comes from a 1937 Columbia album by the group.

The Cuban Boys also contribute a rendition of one of Lecuona’s best-known melodies, “La Comparsa,” taken from their early Victor album Melodias Cubanas, with a piano solo by Armando Oréfiche, the group’s leader. I've also included a 1946 recording of "La Comparsa" from Camilo Lentini and His Latin-American Orchestra on the Pan-American label. Lentini was active in the Los Angeles area in the 1940s.

Hollywood called on Lecuona once more for a title song for the 1946 film One More Tomorrow, an Ann Sheridan-Dennis Morgan-Alexis Smith love triangle in which Morgan has to choose between his principles and his rich friends. (In other words, it has a plot you have seen a hundred times.) The version of the song in the playlist comes from Tex Beneke’s revived Glenn Miller Orchestra, with a sensitive vocal by Artie Malvin, who later became the king of the budget-label cover records.

Also in 1946, Lecuona provided the music for Carnival in Costa Rica, a musical starring Dick Haymes and Vera-Ellen. I am particularly fond of the music from this film, so I have included the main songs directly from the soundtrack and from Haymes’ Decca recordings.

Vera-Ellen’s singing voice was dubbed by Pat Friday, a superb vocalist who appeared on several radio shows, did some film dubbing and made a very few records, including a version of Carnival in Costa Rica's “Mi Vida." My other blog will soon have a post of the few 78s she made in 1946 for the small Enterprise label.

Dick Haymes and Vera-Ellen in Carnival in Costa Rica

In this collection, we have soundtrack versions of “I’ll Know It’s Love” (Friday solo and Haymes/Friday reprise), “Mi Vida” (Haymes/Friday duet) and “Another Night Like This” (Haymes solo). Also included are Haymes’ Decca 78s of “Another Night Like This” and “Mi Vida,” which have backing by Gordon Jenkins.

The Lecuona Cuban Boys return with a 1946 single on the Majestic label – “Rumba-Bomba,” with a Manyo Lopez vocal, and “Maracas,” vocal by Ernesto Ojea.

Lecuona’s music continued to be popular into the 1950s. The playlist concludes with two versions of “The Breeze and I” from that decade. The first is a Vic Damone vocal recording, which became a hit in 1952. Finally, there is a George Shearing instrumental from 1951 that demonstrates the influence of Shearing’s sound on the exotica bands that were soon to emerge.

The sound on these records ranges from good to excellent. Most were sourced from lossless needle-drops on Internet Archive.