A Dolf in Wolf's Clothing

I enjoyed presenting my recent post of LPs by Dutch light music maestro Dolf van der Linden, so I've prepared another one - with a difference.

The change is that van der Linden is not credited with the two albums in this post. Instead, they are attributed to a made-up bandleader named "Daniel De Carlo." It's not clear why the Decca company decided to issue these fine records under a pseudonym. Perhaps van der Linden had a contract with another company?

"Daniel De Carlo" smudges one of his records

Whatever the reason for the obfuscation, Decca then decided it would market its De Carlo LPs with a whole series of hideous covers, as if to repel the record buying public. One wonders what the motivation would be to encase a perfectly delightful album of melodies with a photo of a man in a mangy wolf's head, his vulpine leer proffering One Night of Love. I can't imagine a less inviting promise.

It's not as though this was a one-time occurrence, either. The Decca art director ordered three such beastly covers (to my knowledge). In one, a ratty fox wearing earphones advertises George "The Fox" Williams' LP The "Fox" in Hi-Fi. There also is one featuring a tattered tiger costume, also inflicted on van der Linden (you can see it advertised on the back of both of these De Carlo albums).

For the second De Carlo LP in this post, This Is Romance, Decca didn't concoct anything so repulsive, just one of its usual derpy concepts, this one involving a boy, a girl, and a papier-mâché tree.

The music in these albums, in contrast, is elegant and well recorded. For One Night of Love, van der Linden mixes works by European composers with better-known pieces like "Lullaby of Birdland" and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" (which songs, come to think of it, are also by Europeans). The second record is similar, with the unfamiliar alongside such items as "Once in a While" and even the "Tennessee Waltz." The conductor also includes one of his own compositions, "Angele" in the This Is Romance set.

Dolf van der Linden and the Metropole Orchestra

Strangely, Decca provides a straightforward biographical sketch of van der Linden on both LPs, attributing his life events to De Carlo. Even more strangely, Decca issued other van der Linden records under another pseudonym - "Van Lynn." This was at least closer to the conductor's real name.

There is more about van der Linden in my first post of his LPs.

Dolf van der Linden, Master of Light Music

This blog has presented a great deal of light music over the years - Kostelanetz, Paul Weston, Morton Gould and Leroy Anderson, among others. Today we turn our attention to one of the music's finest practitioners, Dolf van der Linden, who was and is almost unknown in America.

Van der Linden (1915-99) was the founder and leader of the Metropole Orchestra for 35 years (1945-80) while working for Netherlands Radio. He became well known throughout Europe for his orchestra's superb technical command, along with his own arrangements and compositions.

Renown in America didn't follow for a number of reasons. While RCA Camden and Capitol released several albums under his own name, as many or more came out under the pseudonyms of Daniel De Carlo and Van Lynn (both on Decca) and Gerard Blene (on Jubilee), among others.

Today we have two of the three LPs that Camden released under the conductor's own name. These mainly comprised van der Linden's compositions, although it's difficult to tell with certainty because he also used pseudonyms for many of his works.

The Camden LPs are labeled as being by "Dolf van der Linden and His Orchestra," but it's fair to speculate that this is the Metropole Orchestra, or substantially so.

Dolf van der Linden and the Metropole Orchestra 

Floating on a Cloud

The van der Linden LPs on Camden date from 1956, although I suspect they were recorded earlier. The sound is fine, but more characteristic of the postwar years than later in the 50s.

Floating on a Cloud is the more romantic of the two albums. "Love Affair," "Stormy Heart" and "Little Romance" are the bandleader's contributions under his own name, and he added "Meditation," "For Us No Moon Is Shining" and "Keep Pretending" as Guy Brain.

Also contributing songs were Metropole pianist and arranger Manny Oets, and European bandleaders José Fontaine and Emile DeRadoux. Two songs came from Gun Finlay, whom I know from "Rain," the fine tune on the flip side of Sinatra's "Three Coins in the Fountain."

All these items are immensely pleasing and exceptionally well played. They are sure to appeal if you like string choirs, woodwinds and harp playing beautiful arrangements.

In a Casino on the Riviera

I don't suspect that the casinos on the Riviera are playing Palm Court music these days, but if they were, they could do worse than the music on this second Camden LP.

In a Casino on the Riviera is no less appealing than Floating on a Cloud, but the compositions are much different.

Van der Linden immediately is in Leroy Anderson territory with the first item, "Fiddler's Escapade," written by Belgian arranger-composer Johnny Steggerda. Dolf then breaks out the castanets for his own "Prima Ballerina." He also contributes "Song of Spain" (more castanets), "Les Danseurs Mondains" and "Slavia," all under his own name. The latter is a quasi-Slavonic dance.

Dolf's Guy Brain persona provided the tango "Tus Ojos," "Round and Round" and "Concha." Other items came from the Belgian composers Fud Candrix and René Costy and van der Linden arranger Joop Elders. H. Ackermans and B. Speguel wrote "Her Majesty's Gypsy," a Lisztian Hungarian dance.

The only familiar item on either LP, to me at least, is the "Petite Waltz" from French songwriter Joe Heyne. I suspect you would have to be of my advanced age to recall this tune, but it's delightful either way, and here in a stellar performance.

If you want to learn more about the Metropole Orchestra and van der Linden, the orchestra has a series of brief videos on their history along with associated playlists.

I strongly recommend these albums if you like light music. My thanks to friend and discographer Nigel Burlinson for passing along a helpful article about van der Linden and his recordings.