It's not hard to figure out why this never achieved the renown of Manhattan Tower - that composition had a story arc, the romance of New York and some relatively well-known songs.
This work - which indeed is composed of seven dream scenes - has no such continuity and a dark undercurrent, and is punctuated by an annoying alarm going off every few minutes. There are no hit songs, unless you want to consider "Crescent City Blues" a hit song because much of it was "borrowed" a few years later by Johnny Cash for his "Folsom Prison Blues". "Crescent City Blues" is performed here by Jenkins' wife, Beverly Mahr.
 |
| Bill Lee with his own record |
The "dreamer" on this LP is studio singer Bill Lee, one of the Mellomen singing group along with Thurl Ravenscroft (who also makes an appearance on this LP). Lee did extensive work for Disney, and was a well-known vocal double, dubbing the singing voice John Kerr in South Pacific and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music, among others. He is very effective here.
 |
| John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan |
Appearing on the corny but affecting "The Pink Houseboat" is the husband-and-wife team of John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan, who were fixtures on American television for many years. Also prominently featured on the concluding "The Girl on the Rock" is the excellent Laurie Carroll. I don't have any information on her, but would assume she was a studio singer.
The cover on this LP is by Alex Steinweiss, signing as "Piedra Blanca". It is one of his more effective post-Columbia designs, although the background looks like something the cat brought up. You may notice among the murk on the center left that Gordon Jenkins autographed my copy of the record.
This was a very long record for the time (1953), and as a result the sound was cut at a low level. The first side was mastered a half-tone sharp, probably to make the side a little shorter and the cutting easier. I have corrected the pitch in this transfer.
As I said, you will find much to like here if you enjoy Manhattan Tower. The first song is recognizably the same sound world as the earlier work, and the final number has a similar ecstatic feel. However, it is, as I mentioned, a curiously dark work, and at the end, the dreamer remains asleep permanently, forsaking reality and yielding to his fantasy.
The cover on this LP is by Alex Steinweiss, signing as "Piedra Blanca". It is one of his more effective post-Columbia designs, although the background looks like something the cat brought up. You may notice among the murk on the center left that Gordon Jenkins autographed my copy of the record.
This was a very long record for the time (1953), and as a result the sound was cut at a low level. The first side was mastered a half-tone sharp, probably to make the side a little shorter and the cutting easier. I have corrected the pitch in this transfer.
As I said, you will find much to like here if you enjoy Manhattan Tower. The first song is recognizably the same sound world as the earlier work, and the final number has a similar ecstatic feel. However, it is, as I mentioned, a curiously dark work, and at the end, the dreamer remains asleep permanently, forsaking reality and yielding to his fantasy.
LINK to remastered version in ambient stereo (April 2025)
