KENNY RANKIN (1940-2009) Here's That Rainy Day

Kenny Rankin swooped the planet two days ago, June 7, 2009. He was 69. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer three weeks ago. Far from retired, he had a concert scheduled for September 20, 2009 in Norfolk, CT at a venue called Infinity Hall.
As an artist, Rankin was adept at appealing to all types of music fans. He was George Carlin's opening act for years, and Johnny Carson wrote the liner notes for Kenny's 1967 debut album "Mind Dusters." Rankin covered folk, jazz and smooth rock in the early 70's and just as easily put out an album of standards ("The Kenny Rankin Album") in 1976 with Don Costa conducting a full orchestra. He was not only a talented singer and guitarist, he wrote some classic songs. "In the Name of Love" was covered by Peggy Lee and "Haven't We Met" was memorably recorded by Carmen McRae.
Kenny also covered songs so well that he earned praise from the original composers. On his fifth album, "Silver Morning" (1975) he offered an elegant jazz-folk rendition of "Blackbird." It was so memorable that a dozen years later, Paul McCartney asked him to perform it as part of a medley at a Songwriters Hall Of Fame ceremony honoring the works of Lennon-McCartney.
"Blackbird" is a song open to many interpretations. A favorite, is the concept of resurrection and rebirth...sunken eyes once again able to see, and broken wings once again able to fly. It is quite a fitting song, in contemplating a good man and the rewards of an afterlife.
And so is "Here's That Rainy Day," which was, oddly enough, a favorite of melancholy comedian Spike Milligan and talk show host Johnny Carson. The lyric speaks in a way of that day of reckoning...when the sunshine is just a memory.
Rankin's inspiration for a musical career did, after all, have its roots in a religious moment. He recalled, ""I was in the fourth grade and sang 'O Holy Night' in a Christmas play. My teacher, Miss Isabel Pringle, came over to me and patted me on the head and said 'Kenneth, that was lovely.' She set me on the path in music..."

KENNY RANKIN - Here's That Rainy Day
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Big Band Medley: Beatles, Searchers & Clark

Swing it! Squalkin' trumpets, bouncin' 'bones, twangy guitar, chuggin' drums...it's time for three Big Band treatments of Liverpool and Mersey faves!
Your RS download gets you all three tracks:
"Can't Buy Me Love...Needles and Pins...Glad All Over."
Back in the mid-60's, one of the comical ways in which the "British Invasion" music was accepted, was via a mainstream cover version. Like: "Really, this mop-top music isn't bad, it has some nice melodies, if only that bad singing didn't get in the way."
Not far from the rack containing Keely Smith's album of Lennon-McCartney covers (a sample is on this blog), was Buddy Morrow's "Beatlemania: The Big Hits of 1964." Which included covers of The Dave Clark Five and others.
Buddy Morrow now 90 [update...he's died since this posting], was a trombone player and band leader who had a powerful interest in the more splashy side of jazz. One of his notable instrumental hits was a version of "Night Train," and one of his best albums was "Impact," his bold collection of TV Themes, including a fierce take on "M Squad," the Count Basie classic. Along with Al Caiola, Doc Severinsen and others, Morrow's exciting work has managed to survive a period of neglect to be respected once again for cool charts performed with hot chops. There's some rockin' stuff buried in the "Big Band" part of the local record store.
Which isn't to say that Big Band is the perfect setting for "Beatlemania" songs...but you'll still have some fun with these. Pretty cool guy, Buddy Morrow...or as he was known in the old neighborhood...Moe Zudekoff
Here's a medley of "Glad All Over" and "I Saw Her Standing There."
Update: Nov, 2011. Rapidshare's annoying "30 days without a download kills it" policy killed the original links. They are back via a better company.
BIG BAND BEATLEMANIA
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"Your Mother Should Know" Phyllis Newman

Your mother should know Phyllis Newman. Or your grandmother. Phyllis Newman is best known to those who were active theatergoers in the 50's and 60's. They would've seen her in "The Apple Tree," "On the Town," and "Prisoner of Second Avenue." Granny might tell you, "Oh, yes, Phyllis Newman was married to Adolph Green. People thought Betty Comden his writing partner was, but it was Phyllis."
Kids growing up in the 60's or 70's saw Phyllis on quiz shows, her ebullient presence perking up slow-moving programs like "To Tell the Truth" and "What's My Line." Since those shows were shot in New York, it was easy for her to drop by and promote her latest Broadway production.
Did you know Phyllis Newman beat Barbra Streisand for a Tony Award? Do you care? Well, it's true. Newman's star turn in "I Can Get it For You Wholesale" was hot stuff way back when...back when the radio played songs your mother (or grandmother) would know.
She turned up on TV once in a while, too, singing satiric songs on "That Was the Week That Was," playing a Russian spy on "Amos Burke Secret Agent," etc. She capped the 70's with a one-woman show, "Madwoman of Central Park West," and still turns up on soap operas and in films, though her main interest is theater charity work, notably "The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative." Talk about women's health...Newman's autobiography mainly chronicles the harrowing physical and emotional problems that came with cancer treatment and a double mastectomy. Unlike some "uplifting" tomes, this one's frank, factual, and pretty depressing, even if the "happy ending" is that she did come back and return to performing.
Like many actresses in Broadway musicals of her era, including Chita Rivera, Georgia Brown and Angela Lansbury, Phyllis Newman was on original cast album vinyl but rarely given a real shot at solo recordings. That field was dominated by the likes of Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney and the rest of the nightclub professionals. Still, when she did get a chance in front of a studio microphone to make an album or single, she didn't disappoint. Songs such as "Clouds" or "Those Were the Days" or "Your Mother Should Know" were easily within her range of both key and credibility. Belated Happy Birthday (March 19, 1933) to Phyllis Newman.
PHYLLIS NEWMAN Your Mother Should Know

Ill-Ustrated Songs #17 "DIRTY MAGGIE MAY" Vipers Skiffle Group Pre-Beatles

"Dirty Maggie May...she'll never walk down Lime Street anymore..." What happened to the rest of "Maggie May" on The Beatles' "Let it Be" album? Why didn't they complete it? Maybe Lennon figured everybody knew the song so well he didn't need to go on. John and his friends knew The Vipers Skiffle Group version by heart. Download it and you will, too.
Liverpool's DIRTY MAGGIE MAY

Beatles + Beverly Hillbillies = Jerry Inman

The humble ol' guitarist Ace Tipton recalls that Jerry Inman "never quite made it to the big time but recorded a Beatles album that done quite well. Jerry was like a wind up jukebox when I met him. He knew every country song there was and could sing them non-stop for hours. Jerry passed away some time ago due to stomach problems of which he fought for years."
In 1968, following the Beatles covers album, Jerry was voted "Most Promising Male Vocalist" at The Academy of Country Music Third Annual Awards Show. He managed to get himself onto the "Glen Campbell Good Time Hour" in May of 1969 singing "Mississippi Woman." But, that's not why you're reading this.
What you want, is to hear how a bluegrass picker can scramble-up a damn frisky version of "I've Just seen a Face," recalling the banjo stylings used by Flatt & Scruggs (who made The Beverly Hillbillies theme a hit). Jerry's singing is ok, but it's the C&W arrangement that makes it great. We cool down with another track from Jerry's all-Beatles album, a croon of "And I Love Her."
For the record, the record's JERRY INMAN- R.F.D.- (Lennon & McCartney Country Style). He also released "You Betchum!" for Elektra in 1976. His last chart action was a cover of "Why Baby Why" in 1978. Cool stuff; Jerry's music was in, man.
2 C&W Beatles Covers

KEELY SMITH & HER HAWD DAZE NITE

Around the same time Jane Morgan was struggling through lightweight arrangements of heavy songs like "These Boots are Made for Walking" and "Sounds of Silence," veteran lounge babe and Louis Prima-holster Keely Smith was likewise keeling over at the thought of giving up being a Top 40 songsmith due to some scruffy mop tops. In a similar "If you can't beat 'em, put a beat to 'em" mood, she made a mod album of swingin' Beatles covers.
Thing is, some of them actually do swing, and there's something appealing as well as appalling about her very valid New Yawk take on "Hard Day's Night." (Actually her "hawd" pronunciation may reflect her Cher-like Southern-styled roots more than her New Yawk and Vegas lifestyle). Generally, loungemeisters made clowns of themselves when trying to be cool with "today's sound." Old school talents like Sinatra and Dino were smart enough to leave that stuff alone and find their way into the charts with more age-friendly fare ("Strangers in the Night" and "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime").
Today there's a bit more tolerance for big band concepts. People are rediscovering rock covers by Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald, and yeah, having a laugh with Richard Cheese (or Paul Anka's one cheesy album of swingouts).
Keely is still gettin' it done, by the way. Now that lounge is so finger-snappin' cool to 20-somethings, she even made it to Jimmy Kimmel's show last month to premiere a track from her latest CD. No, it wasn't a Beatles cover. But hey, it coulda been.
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Beatles! "You Know My Name" In FRENCH

We like art collages, but tend to be baffled by sound collages. Odd, isn't it?
When The Beatles snuck "You Know My Name, Look Up The Number" onto a B-side, it sounded like a recording of somebody spinning the dial between "Top of the Pops," "The Goon Show" and shortwave radio.
Yet, being a Beatles song, it was dutifully covered by other artists. Here is the French language version by one Gerard Saint-Paul (unless it's two, Gerard and Saint-Paul). What do you think it sounds like? Sort of Deja vu in French? Could it also be Groovy Fab?
It's on Volume 2 of "La France Et Les Beatles" which is up to four volumes already. Sapristi! Gerard also recorded Rentre Jojo a la maison (Get Back) and C'est beau Paris (Come Together), while Ringo Starr sang "Beaucoups of Blues." I wish my French was good enough. I'd tell you so much more.

Gerard Saint-Paul - Dis moi je t'aime.

LET IT BE...in Chinese dialect - PAUL FREES

This blog's last but not least single for 2006 is appropriately, LET IT BE.
But in its most inappropriate form.
Paul Frees probably was used to racial stereotyping from having worked with Spike Jones, who regularly had his singers do black dialect ("You Always Hurt the One You Love"), Asian schtick ("Chinese Mule Train"), and questionable Semitism ("Tennessee Waltz."). Paul wasn't usually asked by Spike Jones to be racist but...Pillsbury made an offer.
In the 60's they sold non-nutritional powdered drink mixes. "Freckle Face" strawberry and "Chinese" cherry were among their "Funny Face" products. Paul voiced most of the characters.
And so, with Spike and Pillsbury for influences, it's no surprise that a few years later Paul saw nothing wrong with turning "Let It Be" into an R-infected Asian parody. (And he wouldn't be the last...Peter Sellers as "Sidney Wang" in "Murder by Death" for example).
My only real objection to what was considered goofy fun more than anything racist, is that all the other cuts on "Paul Frees and the Poster People" were accurate caricatures of famous stars (Karloff, Lugosi, Lorre, etc.) but he sounds nothing like the sweet, soft-spoken Warner Oland (as advertised) or even the stern and haltingly articulate Sidney Toler. Paul's "Charlie Chan" is just an excuse for clazed phlazing. Uh crazed phrasing.
But it's SO over the top it'll probably raise more smiles than middle fingers.
My appreciation of Paul's work verges on awe (he voiced Boris Badenov, Ludwig Von Drake, the Pillsbury Doughboy, etc.)...but I won't be surprised if a few of you listen to this and say "Aw...."

PAUL FREES
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PAUL FREES as PETER LORRE: "HEY JUDE"

Imagine combining Peter Lorre and Paul McCartney! Paul Frees (lower right corner photo) did. Paul Frees was a genius, arguably the finest voice-over talent of all time, capable of vibrant Orson Welles-type movie narration as well as silly cartoon and commercial voices (Boris Badenov, Ludwig Von Drake, Captain Peachfuzz, Pillsbury Doughboy...)
He gave me an enduring thrill when, in response to a fan letter, he CALLED ME UP to say hello. That'll make an impression on a kid!
He did his legendary Peter Lorre impression on radio in front of Peter Lorre himself (on the Spike Jones show) and as a "pet project," got a chance to revisit Lorre on "Paul Frees and the Poster People," where he imagined classic movie stars singing contemporary tunes.
My favorite album track, and your sample, is "Peter Lorre" suavely singing and periodically going ballistic on Paul McCartney's "Hey Jude."

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Sgt. Pepper's MAX MILLER

One of the many faces you probably didn't recognize on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band belongs to... Max Miller.
The Stone Age Benny Hill, merry Maxie was known as "The Cheeky Chappie" for the saucy tunes that got him banned from BBC radio for five years.
Probably all of The Beatles wanted him on the Pepper cover. Lennon and Harrison must have loved Miller's vaudevillian bravado (a style that may have later influenced Spike Milligan and the Monty Python troupe). McCartney and Starr probably also loved Miller's musical styles, ones that your mother would know, and still make for a sentimental journey.
He died in 1963, just before The Beatles changed the music world. He remains a beloved figure in England and has been the subject of a few TV documentaries and other belated huzzahs.


No Rapidshare. No codes or ads. Just "MARY FROM THE DAIRY"
By MAX MILLER

HONOR BLACKMAN SINGS

I AM PUSSY GALORE...HEAR MY ROAR. AND PURR.

Some find "celebrities who sing" awfully funny. 

Don't laugh at Honor Blackman. First of all, she'll beat the crap out of you. Even now. Second, when she recorded her lone album in late 1964, "Everything I've Got," she acknowledged in the liner notes that she was not a professional singer, was asked to give it a try (coming off her James Bond film fame) and so, what the fuck (I'm not quoting exactly) she did.

And she did good. Mostly.


No surprise that her most effective tracks were more spoken than sung, most notably a fierce and passionate reading of Charles Aznavour's venomously sulky "Tomorrow Is My Turn."

Like an actress working in Broadway musicals rather than a professional singer working in nightclubs (Gwen Verdon, Angela Lansbury and Chita Rivera would all be in that latter category) Honor Blackman puts over a tune with panache if not pitch-perfection. Show tunes with strong lyrics and a mild octave range shimmered under her sultry breath. Less successful, but kind of cute, is her attempt at pop via "World Without Love."

As Gomez Addams used to say: "That's FRENCH!" 

And so one must say "Merci" rather than "Mercy!" when this gutsy woman chose to take a shot at "C'est Droll," c'est seriously.
Here's fascinating Honor Blackman, who puts a bit of a thrill in the ill category of celebrity cash-in singing albums. 

Your four tracks in the zip file:
To Keep My Love Alive (murderous black humor from Broadway)
C'Est Drole (half spoken, half sad)
Tomorrow Is My Turn (easily the best version of this Aznavour grunt)
World Without Love (please...lock me away...)


Here's 4 From Galore

FREDDIE LENNON : JOHN'S FATHER

You didn't know John Lennon's father recorded a single?
I hope so. I wouldn't want to be alone. I only found out through reading Cynthia Lennon's second bio of John. She didn't pull any punches about Alfred "Freddie" Lennon being a disappointment to John. I just wondered how much of a disappointment he was to the music world.
As you'll hear, the bloke wasn't half bad. Or he was only half bad. John inherited some of his famous nasal voice from "Freddie," that's for sure. On the A-side, co-written by Freddie, he offers an autobiographical apology for his love of sailing (which made him an absentee father and husband).
Who'd be buying this? Well, if you check what else was on the charts when The Beatles were first getting hits...it was Louis Armstrong doing "Hello Dolly" and Andy Williams, Peggy Lee, Patti Page etc. And only a few years earlier Walter Brennan was offering talk-novelties with middle-aged background singers.
In Great Britain, even the grand Goon Spike Milligan offered up sentimentality on a 45 rpm from time to time. "Freddie" shares Spike's sentimentality and weak romantic tenor (Milligan sang much stronger on the novelty Goon numbers John Lennon loved so much and was so influenced by). No use belaboring this any further. Here, Fred Lennon gets his 3 minutes of fame, and toward the end, actually sings and hits a few notes.
Alfred "Freddie" Lennon, the sailor come home from the sea. To cash in on his son.

That's My Life... FREDDIE LENNON
b-side, The Next Time You Feel Important