More Perfectly Frank

Several months back, I presented a selection of songs that Frank Sinatra recorded for his 1953-55 radio program, To Be Perfectly Frank. These were sourced from two awful-sounding bootlegs from many years back. I got rid of most of the noise, rebalanced the scrawny sounding transfers, and fixed the speed where it was awry. The results, while not in any sense high fidelity, were acceptable to these jaded ears - and certainly good enough for you to appreciate some Sinatra from a prime period and in a small group setting.

Here, as promised, are the rest of the recordings from those sources - and if anything, these sound even better.

I spent a fair amount of time searching through my Sinatra materials to find some ad or other artifact of the radio program, without luck. So I've chosen one of my favorite Frank photos - looking casual outside what I would guess is the office of a Tijuana divorce lawyer.

As before, I am presenting these recordings are in memory of my late mom, who started me on record collecting and got me my first Frankie LP (Ring-a-Ding-Ding).

NEW LINK

Stokowski Conducts Falla and Borodin

Here by request is an early LP of music conducted by Leopold Stokowski - Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances" from Prince Igor and Falla's "El Amor Brujo." In other words, a work sometimes called "Love the Sorcerer" conducted by a musician sometimes called the Old Sorcerer.

Our friend David says this Falla is the best he's heard, and indeed this 1946 version with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony is not the only notable version led by the conductor. He also did a vivid stereo version with the Philadelphia Orchestra. This one is characteristically atmospheric and nicely recorded.

The label says the Polovtsian Dances were "transcribed" by Stokowski. I have no idea what that means, although it suggests that Stoki has adjusted things for recording purposes. This session, with a pickup orchestra, is from 1950.

I'm not the world's biggest Stokowski admirer, although I notice that I do seem to have quite a few recordings by him, including both the Falla versions. And in truth I do enjoy them!

More Josef Marais

I am indebted to reader JohnnyUSA who has graciously provided Josef Marais' first recordings, in response to my recent posting of Marais' second album.

Johnny has provided a very nice transfer that I have cleaned up a bit. There are a few brief passages of groove damage, so please be warned. [August 2019 note: I've replaced the defective sides with new transfers.]

I hope Johnny doesn't mind but I am using the cover of the 78 album above (his transfer is from the 10-inch LP). That's because, as often happened, the graphics on the 78 album were much better than the LP. I have included the LP's front and back cover in the download.

Those of you who have heard the later collection will know what to expect, so it only remains for me to thank Johnny once again for his contribution!

Mambo with Sonny Burke

A short while back I offered the first US LP by Pérez Prado, mentioning that it was issued after bandleader Sonny Burke had had an American hit with a cover version of one of Prado's tunes.

Here is that Burke record - Mambo Jambo - which includes a selection of other mambo items that Burke issued after his initial success with the title tune.

Burke was an accomplished arranger and these sides are actually quite good in their own way, if not with the idiomatic touches that make Perez's records so satisfying. So, for example, instead of Perez's perfectly timed interjections of "dilo!" (which he somehow turns into one syllable), you get a sloppy band shout of "ugh!" And instead of the great vocalist Beny Moré, you get that horrible swing-era convention, the band vocal. As usual, the band here sounds bored, embarrassed and a little irritated - why this sort of thing became popular is an enduring mystery.

My friend Ernie asked for this record because he somehow acquired the cover above without the record inside (actually records - it's a double EP), and always wondered what the music sounds like. Now he knows.

Picking up a cover with no record (or the wrong record) is an all too frequent annoyance for the record collector. Right now I am looking at one of my favorite record covers, which I unfortunately found with no record. It is called Authentic Music from Another Planet, in which ufologist Howard Menger plays music taught to him by a man from Saturn (the planet, not the car company). Also on the record is music inspired by Marla Baxter, who claims to have had a lover from Saturn - a tall, well-built man with a golden beard, she says. There are photos of Howard and Marla on the LP, but none of the tall, well built man with the beard.

Since I don't have the record, you will never learn what the people of Saturn were listening to in 1956, when this record came out. (Presumably it wasn't Elvis.) Sorry!

England's Newest Hitmaker - Vera Lynn

I was amazed to read last week that the top spot on the British album charts was claimed by Dame Vera Lynn, who vaulted to number one over those comparative newcomers, the Beatles. The UK must be in the throes of one of its periodic spasms of nostalgia.

Well, I think it's a wonderful thing, because Dame Vera - still with us at 92 - was a fine singer who managed to be approachable while being artful. Somehow she used her extreme skill as a vocalist to draw us closer, and the catch in her voice was always endearing rather than annoying.

This 1949 LP provides a chance to hear her in some characteristic selections, with backing on most tracks by Robert Farnon, the great arranger (he is called Bob Farnon here). His work is beautifully suited to the vocals, and the greeting-card perfection of the cover could not be more apt, as well.

Now the bad news - I transferred two different pressings of this LP using two turntables and three cartridges and was not able to avoid a certain amount of peak distortion on Dame Vera's voice. It apparently was on the master. Still, I hope you enjoy this as much as Dame Vera must be enjoying her renewed celebrity.

Overtures with Albert Wolff

Albert Wolff was one of those conductors who made fine records, but has no great reputation these days. Of Dutch descent, he was born in Paris and spent much of his career there, conducting the Lamoureux, Pasdeloup and Opéra-Comique orchestras.

Wolff made this LP with the Opéra-Comique orchestra in June 1951. (Actually, even though it says "long playing" on the cover, I think this was what was called a medium-play record in the trade, per our friend Mel - longer than an EP, shorter than an LP.) Decca sent the classic team of John Culshaw and Kenneth Wilkinson to do the recording in the Maison de la Mutualité, and the results are very fine.

Two miscellaneous French overtures aren't usually the kind of thing that attracts me, but Wolff, the Opera-Comique players, and the Decca production team make this a treat.

Hanson and Harris Symphonies

I promised a return to the America Festival Music Series that came from Rochester on Mercury records during the 1950s, so here we go with a notable pairing of symphonies. Howard Hanson and his Eastern-Rochester group present the work most often nominated as the "great American symphony" - Harris' third - with Hanson's own fourth.

The performance of the Harris is less muscular than you might be used to, if you are used to Leonard Bernstein's way with this music. I'm not complaining, just observing - I do prefer this approach. Hanson's symphony, meanwhile, is enjoyably Sibelian.

One of my favorite aspects of the LP (as often happens) is the American Scene-style cover, so appropriate in style if not in content for the Harris work. The cover artist (named Maas) may have been inspired by one of my favorite paintings in this style, John Rogers Cox's Gray and Gold from 1942.

The download includes the February 1955 review of this recording from The Gramophone, which observes that "one sometimes feels as though a guiding hand is reaching out to lead us into a particular section of the orchestra." If so, the guiding hand is Hanson's - these performances were recorded with a single microphone.

LINK - remastered in ambient stereo March 2025