One year's free subscription to th' 4/5g© who can explain what's going on in the background!
You'll know irritating Irish tenor Dennis Day from his Blarney ballads on The Jack Benny Radio Show, which, together with the pummeling huckster ads make the show nearly unlistenable today. Back then, only Crosby and Sinatra offered relief from the baffling fad for flutey-voiced male vocalists building to the high octave on the last trembling note. Day wasn't the worst offender, he was a talented mimic and likeable character actor, but if I ever hear him sing Clancy Lowered The Boom again I'll t'row th' wireless out th' window, dat oi will, bejaysus and begorrah. Here it is, should youse bums be desirous:
So that about wraps it up for Irish Tenor Week here at th' IoF© (we're starting it retroactively)! By way of a reward here's a swell and mostly unknown slab of polished yacht rock from another D.D., Dane Donohue, who doesn't cover Clancy Lowered The Boom. Even if yacht rock gives you gas, you have to admit this is as good as it gets. Look it up on discogs or something, or go here for the skinny.
This post mediated by Uncle Sturdley's International Criminal Court, The Hague, Coon County, TN.
Favourite pre-Elvis singer? Got one? Any sex, any style.
ReplyDeletepre-elvis? I enjoy Danny Kaye. Hard to get his records, tho'. - useo8
ReplyDeleteHank Williams Sr.
ReplyDeleteInteresting write-up of Dane Donohue, I'd never heard of him before!
ReplyDeletePre-Elvis: Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, etc.
This might be interesting as well: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/preston-lauterbach/before-elvis/9780306833106/
If you dig th' Dan, you'll dig th' Dane!
DeleteLittle Richard
ReplyDeleteLauritz Melchior, Kirsten Flagstad
ReplyDeleteHoagy Carmichael
ReplyDeleteBillie Holiday
DeleteRosemary Clooney honorable mentions Keely Smith,Nat King Cole,Patti Page, Doris Day, Julie London,Sarah Vaughan...
ReplyDeleteand all the great blues men/women the king of prescription meds stole from like Little Junior Parker
Fun Quiz: with which of the following artistes did Rosemary Clooney *not* sing as a duet?
DeleteBarry Manilow
Wild Man Fischer
Bing Crosby
Marlene Dietrich
There's a photograph of Smelly Dave The Dead Whale, signed by Bob and Ray, for the first 4/5g© with a correct answer!
if you don't narrow down that question it becomes kind of worthless.
ReplyDeletealso what's wrong with singing commercials as sung by the sportsmen and intro'd by big fat don wilson?
This kind of stunt may have worked back in 8th grade.
Deletenothing worked back in 8th grade! most especially if you were gay. total agreement with can'tstanditness of day's voice. i always fast forward through his songs. but very funny on benny show. kenny baker was much better singer but not as funny.
Deletecranberry processing in the picture? Or something much, much darker...
ReplyDeleteBig Joe Turner was a big fat fuck who could belt'em
she sang with them all i believe and her husband jose ferrer also
ReplyDeleteWoody wins the Smelly Dave pic!
DeleteIke Turner. I really dig pre-rock n' roll chitlin circuit black r n' b rock n'roll. Little Richard, and later on, Andre Williams, Johnny "Guitar" Watson (in every incarnation). Elvis always seems a bit lame after that lot.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link, this here is the link, the link is here:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/3WRBWknZUdD
Does Kenneth McKellar fit the timeliness?
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't fit any timelines, being the eldritch hellspawn of Cthulhu.
Deletethe pic will look good over the fireplace thanks
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the cover of Mr Donohue's 1978 opus (and the coveted prize of an annual IoF subscription) I think Roland Young at A&M Records who did the artwork for The End Of The Beginning, the 1976 offering from Richie Havens, would like a word. It's all there; the cupped hands cigarette lighting, the fleeing girl, the furtive air and the sense of intrusion upon the end of an affair. It's also another sublime slab of yacht rock.
ReplyDeleteHow do you add a photo? Here's a link to the original anyways.
https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/868x0/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2F72981651f4084562e71c0829dbec113e.600x600x1.jpg
And as for a pre-Elvis favourite? It's difficult to look past Ella, Billie & Dinah. But if you do I'm a big fan of Rita Reys, Helen Merrill and Chris Connor. And of the male vocalists - Ray Charles, Chet Baker & Nat 'King' Cole.
The Havens cover is a masterpiece, the Donohue cover is, well, not.
DeleteYour prize subscription is to "Dentistry Today", the dental profession's go-to source of news for all things dental! Simply "visit" their web site at https://www.dentistrytoday.com and fill in the "Subscribe To Our FREE E-Newsletter" fields you'll find in the sidebar for your FREE subscription!
(You can't embed photos in comments, probably a good thing.)
I agree with your appreciation of The End Of The Beginning. And, as I noted, that doesn't just end at the cover. The album is one of Richie's finest even whilst being probably his most atypical. DD's is worse simply because the contrast levels are shit. Or whatever the technical term is. You know what I mean, the shadows are far too shadowy and consequently it's all far too obtuse.
DeleteAs for Dentistry Today? Well yay me! What could be more filling? What other publication would allow me to drill down with such precision, and polish up on my bridge work. (I think I'll leave it there - on the table in the waiting room.)
I agree with Eric, looks like cranberry processing in the photo, I didn’t spot the fleeing woman in the DD cover. It probably looked ok on a nice 12” cover, not so online.
DeleteI didn't spot the fleeing woman, either. Interesting that it took the third Double D in the post to spot her. But I don't think she's fleeing. and they're not cranberries. They're grapes, and she's crushing them for Donohue's upmarket Californian wine, Stiletto.
DeleteI have a question TOTALLY UNRELATED to all of this. Has anyone heard the new Marty Stuart surf-instrumental album, "Space Junk"? It was a record day only release, not streamable. Anyone got it?
ReplyDeleteI have a soft spot for Frank
ReplyDelete