More from the Spencer-Hagen Orchestra

Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen

Back in 2018, I devoted a post to the Spencer-Hagen Orchestra, a lush orchestral outfit started by two veterans of the Hollywood studios - Herbert W. Spencer and Earle Hagen.

That item presented the group's first LP, made for the "X" label in 1955. Today we'll follow with the balance of Spencer-Hagen's output for that subsidiary of RCA Victor, except for a few songs that I couldn't locate. The collection includes their second LP, Recipes for Romance, along with an LP they shared with fellow arranger Richard Maltby, and one single.

Spencer and Hagen, who were masters of their craft, both had long careers in film and later television. They worked together throughout the 1950s. Spencer was mostly known as an orchestral arranger, Hagen as a composer. The latter's greatest fame was yet to come, via theme songs for such television programs as the Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke shows.

Andy Griffith and Earle Hagen

Recipes for Romance

Spencer-Hagen's second LP, Recipes for Romance, was apparently intended to capture the swinging bachelor market. It supplied both the romantic mood music, and on the back cover recipies for 12 cocktails. Putting the record on the turntable and then suavely checking the back cover for drink ingredients was apparently meant to be the royal road to romance. (Despite all the mixed drink recipies, the cover suggests wine instead, which might have been less clumsy.)

The back cover scan is in the download for those of you who might want to mix up such fare as a "Cuba Libre." The notes describe the music as follows: "To the exotic rhythm, a full measure of sensuous melody, and pour over warm starlit night." (Seems to be missing a verb, likely "add.")

The young Herbert Spencer

Spencer and Hagen shared composing credit for all these numbers, although its tempting to speculate the Hagen did most of the themes and Spencer most of the orchestrations. Whoever did what, this is high quality light music, written primarily for strings, harp and woodwind, with a few brass players as featured soloists. The first number, "Pink Lady," is a gorgeous pastoral melody, for example.

"Silver Fizz" is a contrasting item, the kind of thing that would underscore a breathless travelogue montage. It adds french horns to the mix. And, as you might have guessed, "Cuba Libre" has a Latin beat, with a trombone carrying the first theme.

So it goes throughout this strikingly well-recorded LP, which I've mastered in ambient stereo.

LINK to Recipes for Romance

"Angel Bells" / "Black Sapphire" Single

Two other Spencer-Hagen compositions appeared on a 1954 single - "Angel Bells and "Black Sapphire." These are compatible with the numbers on Recipies for Romance, so I've included them as bonuses items in that LP's file linked above.

The orchestra also released a few other singles that didn't otherwise appear on LP. One disc coupled "I Met You Once Before," a selection I haven't been able to locate, and "Vera Cruz," which appears on the album below. Another single that has eluded me is "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" and "John and Julie."

Musical Highlights from Damn Yankees / Love Themes from the Cinema

The second album, Musical Highlights from Damn Yankees / Love Themes from the Cinema, is actually the LP version of separate EPs issued by Richard Maltby and by Spencer-Hagen.

EP covers

Damn Yankees was the second Richard Adler-Jerry Ross musical to achieve Broadway success, following The Pajama Game. (See here for a discussion of their brief career together. The post has a newly remastered cover LP containing some of the best songs from their shows.)

Richard Maltby

Maltby was a fine arranger, but the EP format led him to present abbreviated versions of two big hits from Damn Yankees - "Heart" and "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo." The musical's biggest hit - "Whatever Lola Wants" - does merit a full-length treatment.

The Spencer-Hagen EP included mainly unfamiliar fare, although not unworthy. The best-known theme is probably "Not as a Stranger" - best known to me, anyway, because Frank Sinatra, who appeared in the film, issued the Jimmy Van Heusen-Buddy Kaye song as a single with the usual stellar backing by Nelson Riddle.

The other numbers are good, too - "Tight Spot," "Lucy Gallant" and "The Seven Little Foys."

When the LP was being assembled, the producers added a song to the selections derived from the Spencer-Hagen EP: "Vera Cruz," which, unusually for the group, includes an accomplished although unidentified vocal group. As noted above, "Vera Cruz" was originally issued on a single.

Spencer and Hagen would go on to make one other LP, for the Liberty label, which also engaged them to back vocal LPs by the Four Grads, Lincoln Chase and Jeff Chandler, better known as an actor. The records above come from my collection, except for the single, which is courtesy of Internet Archive.

LINK to Damn Yankees / Love Themes from the Cinema

The Spencer-Hagen Orchestra

When I posted the soundtrack LP to Gentlemen Marry Brunettes a few months ago, I mentioned that Herbert W. Spencer and Earle Hagen, who worked on the music, also headed an orchestra for recording purposes during the 1950s. Some of you were interested in hearing that band, so here is its first album - I Only Have Eyes for You: Memorable Melodies of Harry Warren.

Discogs tells us that the Spencer-Hagen Orchestra made three and a half LPs on its own (splitting one with Richard Maltby) and backed singers on an additional three. I have all those records, so more of their work may appear here as time goes by.

That's a good thing for those of you who like lush Hollywood-style orchestrations. Spencer and Hagen, who were masters of their craft, both had long careers in film and later television. They worked together throughout the 1950s.

Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen

The cover notes of this LP imply that "X" Records suggested the formation of the orchestra for recording purposes. Label "X" started up in February 1954, and I Only Have Eyes for You is actually the first record issued by "X" in its LXA series. "X" was set up as a subsidiary of RCA but run separately and distributed independently. The name apparently came from Billboard's 1953 stories about RCA's plans for the then-unnamed entity, which the magazine dubbed Label "X" for want of another term.

"X" was a short-lived enterprise. RCA closed it at the beginning of 1956 and transferred some of its catalog to the new Vik label, including this LP. Vik replaced the "I Only Have Eyes and a Mouth for You" cover with a more conventional pretty-girl motif (see below). The unusual "X" cover design was no doubt inspired by a famous 1950 Vogue magazine photo by Erwin Blumenthal (at right).

The disc pays tribute to the prolific Hollywood songwriter Harry Warren. Even though Warren was still active and producing hits ("Zing a Little Zong," "That's Amore") when the record was made, the most recent song covered dates from 1937. Most of the tunes will be familiar to people who enjoy the music of that era, with the possible exceptions of "Summer Night" and "Where Am I?" 

Good sound on this fine record. The download includes front and back scans from both the "X" and Vik LP, plus a brief history of those labels from the excellent Both Sides Now discography site.

Note (October 2024): This has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK