The ESSENTIALS

THE COLDEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

1/6/2012

Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil

Every season brings an avalanche of covers of seasonal standards and would-be standards, as well as an avalanche of new seasonal songs hoping to join the select group. But, from time to time, a Christmas here or there will bring a reminder of a great song that you know--and that you may even have--but that you've forgotten about. A few years back, we saw the revival of a song frequently associated with Claudine Longet, but written and originally recorded by Margo Guryan--"I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You". This past year, a cover version from one of Indie Pop's most endearing and (possibly) enduring groups, The Very Most, reminded everyone of a terrific, if largely forgotten, 60s winter song--"The Coldest Night of The Year".

"The Coldest Night Of The Year" was written by the same songwriting team that gave us "On Broadway" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", the husband and wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (who also wrote "Christmas Vacation" for the Chevy Chase film of the same name). The two met at Don Kirshner's song writing mill, Aldon Music in the famous Brill Building, and married in 1961. Whatever else anyone tells you, the song was first recorded by brother and sister duo Nino Tempo & April Stevens. But Nino and April recorded "The Coldest Night Of The Year" when they were finishing up their contract with Atco, anxious to move on, and Atco was just as happy to see them go. There was no promotion for the 1965 single and it failed to chart.

Even if Nino and April recorded it first, there is no question that the definitive version of "The Coldest Night Of The Year" was recorded in 1966 by British duo Twice As Much with the help of a then unknown folk singer Vashti Bunyan.

Vashti Bunyan

London born Vashti Bunyan had studied art at Oxford but was ultimately expelled for failing to attend any classes. Inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, she decided to pursue a career in music. Vashti's delicate voice and tall and slender figure had some envisioning her as Britain's answer to Francoise Hardy. Vashti recorded a pair of singles on her own and "The Coldest Night Of The Year" with Twice As Much in the mid-60s (though the latter wasn't released until 1968). In 1970, Vashti's first full-length album was released. "Just Another Diamond Day" received some critical praise but sold only a handful of copies. Discouraged, Vashti left music entirely, moved to the countryside and raised a family.

Over time, though, and unbeknownst to Vashti, "Just Another Diamond Day" grew into a cult classic--an album that commanded as much as $2000 on eBay. By the time the album was re-released on CD in 2000, there was a full-blown Vashti renaissance underway. Vashti returned to music and finally cut her sophomore album, "Lookaftering", in 2005. 2007 saw the CD release of all of Vashti's mid 60s recordings and demos, including "The Coldest Night Of The Year".

"The Coldest Night Of The Year" was essentially a reworking of the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside", except that the male in the song is begging to stay rather than trying to trick the female into staying. I'm not the first to remark that "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a little bit creepy and misogynist. Mann and Weil's version of the concept removes that icky aspect and, suddenly, it's truly cute and cuddle worthy. Since there weren't a lot of seasonal songs being written in that very musically distinctive period, Mann and Weil's trademark 60s Pop/R&B sound is also a plus. And what ultimately sets the Vashti Bunyan version apart from the rest is the rawness of it; it has what almost seems, in retrospect, an Indie Lo-Fi vibe. Very cool! Vashti also infuses the song with an innocence and sincerity that is unmatched before or since.

Speaking of "since", there have been covers of the song though few have left a mark. Back in 1997, San Francisco's Indie Pop trio The Virgin-Whore Complex took a stab at it. Several years later, in a sort of Back To The Future maneuver, Lou Christie covered the song as a kind of companion piece for his own "Christmas In New York". The She of She & Him, Zooey Deschanel, has been known to perform the song, though it was not included on the pair's recent Christmas album (which seems an opportunity lost). As previously noted, The Very Most included a cover in their 2011 EP "Snow Covered". And we've spotted at least one more version, recorded in 2010 by Indie artists Gordon Merrick & Cilla Danone. Just as "White Christmas" will always belong to Bing, though, "The Coldest Night Of The Year" will always belong to Vashti Bunyan. Or, at least, it should.

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THE AMERICAN SONG-POEM CHRISTMAS (Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?)

8/17/2011

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Song-Poem Christmas - Santa Claus Goes Modern (Bobbie Boyle) by BarNoneRecords

1. HEATHER NOEL - Santa Came On A Nuclear Missile
2. BOBBIE BOYLE WITH THE SINGERS - Santa Claus Goes Modern
3. NORRIS THE TROUBADOR, SEABOARD COASTLINERS - Christmas Time Philosophy
4. DICK KENT WITH THE LANCELOTS - A New Year's Dawning
5. THE SISTERHOOD - The Rocking Disco Santa Claus
6. STAN BEARD & THE SWINGING STRINGS - Snowbows
7. BOBBIE BOYLE WITH THE MSR SINGERS - Randy, The Lil' Elf
8. RODD ROGERS - Maury, The Christmas Mouse
9. RANDALL REED WITH THE FORERUNNERS - The Peppermint Stick Man
10. THE SISTERHOOD - Christmas Treat, Peppermint
11. KAY BROWN - Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?
12. RODD & THE LIBRETTOS - How Do They Spend Christmas In Heaven
13. THE SISTERHOOD - Ole Year Christmas
14. GENE MARSHALL - Evelyn Christmas
15. RODD & NITA - Jolly, Jolly Santa Claus
16. SONNY CASH - Merry Christmas Polka
17. RODD & JUDY - Santa Fix My Toys For Christmas AMAZON
18. THE SISTERHOOD - Baby, It's A Cold Night In December BAR/NONE RECORDS
19. ROD ROGERS & THE LIBRETTOS - Santa Claus Goes Modern
20. CARA STEWART WITH LEE HUDSON ORCHESTRA - The New Year Song
21. TERI SUMMERS & THE LIBRETTOS - Season's Greetings

The idea that anyone can become an overnight success in the music business surely goes back to the earliest days of shellac. In fact I'm quite certain there's a hieroglyph somewhere that, when interpreted, promises that the local artist will commit to a cave painting anything another can imagine..for just a small piece of mastodon.

Back when I was young, if you spent time reading all the classifieds in the backs of various magazines, you could find ads promising to put your poems to music. The ads would raise the hopes of would-be songwriters with specters of records and radio airplay and royalties and perhaps even a "Hit Record". And then would come the punchline. They would put your poems to music, alright, for a fee of...well, it varied. $79? $129? $200? $400? Some of these companies are still around and have taken their act to the Internet--Ramsey Kearney (famous for making a Song-Poem record about a blind man's penis that was submitted as a goof) and Magic Key for example.

Most people coming across such ads dismissed them for the scams they were, but there's always a percentage of the population that will take the chance. So lots of folks sent in their money and, sure enough, their poems were put to music and recorded and pressed to vinyl and delivered back to the would-be songwriters. Not a single one became a hit. In most cases, these outfits were assembly-line music mills, where the music was crafted in under an hour and the singers got just one take. In the rest of the cases, they put in even less time and effort. Strangely enough, most of these would-be songwriters were quite happy with the results.

Rodd Keith

Stranger still, musicologists and record collectors began to take an interest in these tiny pieces of pop culture. The very fact of their existence was a miracle, after all. Since every passing fad is the stuff of poetry and since the music generally reflected the then current trends, Song-Poems serve as excellent time capsules of bygone eras. And the tension between amateur and inept songwriters--everyday people, in other words--and the cynical professionals trying to scam a buck off them with a minimum of effort was found to be utterly unique and strangely affecting.

As the collecting and cataloging of Song-Poems became larger than a cult and certainly at least a niche, collectors learned to recognize the styles, sounds, names and labels of the industry's "stars". Such performers as The Sisterhood, Dick Kent, Bobbie Boyle and, most especially, Rodd Keith are well known to any Song-Poem aficionado and new "finds" are celebrated with the type of ecstasy one might expect of a Beatles fan discovering a lost tape in someone's attic. Keep in mind, Song-Poem records were never printed in huge quantities (generally just as many as the song-poet was willing to pay for and, maybe, a few serviced to local radio stations as part of the song-poem contract).

The study of the many mysteries of Song-Poems reached fever pitch in the early years of the new century. A great documentary, "Off The Charts", graced the airwaves of PBS stations in 2003. Rodd Keith's many Song-Poem recordings were anthologized. And Bar/None Records released a pair of Song-Poem collections, "The American Song-Poem Anthology" and this one--"The American Song-Poem Christmas".

Some of the songs on the Christmas collection have attained mythic status among holiday music collectors--generally the ones that are mythically awful (so bad they're good) like "The Rocking Disco Santa Claus". But, honestly, there are some genuinely terrific tracks here which, in my opinion, might have done well in the right hands, with a little love and care and the proper promotion. So "The American Song-Poem Christmas" is hit and myth, then. (Sorry, just couldn't resist.)

In particular, there's no mistaking the genuine talent of Rodd Keith, who, under a wide assortment of monikers, routinely made the most amazing records out of the most absurd and horrendous Song-Poems. There's a quartet of tunes here from The Sisterhood, who plied their trade through the disco drenched seventies, and a pair of tracks From Dick Kent, one of which--"Santa Claus Polka"--carries the name Sonny Cash. Then there's the legendary tale from Heather Noel of Santa going the full Slim Pickens, "Santa Came On A Nuclear Missile". And one of my personal favorites from the album is the remarkable "Christmas Time Philosophy" by Norris The Troubador--a song which manages to have an early to mid sixties Folk-Rock sound in spite of the fact it was reportedly made in 1950.

I swear, it's impossible not to smile listening to this collection. The only thing that could make it better would be a Christmas Volume 2.

"The American Song-Poem Christmas" is a must-own disc on multiple levels for any collector of Christmas music. Mostly, I recommend this disc because it captures so wonderfully (in an alternate universe kind of way) the pure innocence of an earlier time, of would-be songwriters with stardust in their eyes dreaming of White Christmases and hit records. And, for a brief moment in time, as they opened that package and gazed upon a grooved gleaming circle of sound with their name--and song--upon it, their dreams came true. As much as the Song-Poem mills were taking advantage of those soliciting their service, for just that moment in time, Santa (six foot four or otherwise) existed as surely as you or I. And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

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THE ORIOLES - WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR'S EVE?

12/31/2010

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WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR'S EVE?/THE ORIOLES

Sonny Til and The Orioles began as the Vibranaires in their home town of Baltimore in 1947. Changing their names to that of the state bird the following year, The Orioles stripped away the orchestral arrangements then in vogue with vocal groups like The Ink Spots and Mills Brothers. The group's breakthrough single, 1948's "It's Too Soon To Know" (written by their manager Deborah Chessler) is described in terms reserved for those monumental records that changed the course of musical history, such as "That's All Right Mama" by Elvis Presley. It came out of nowhere, immediately shot to #1 R&B and even crossed over to the pop charts, a feat rarely accomplished by African-American groups at the time. Doo Wop was born. The Orioles closed out 1948 with a seasonal song, "Lonely Christmas", the first ever Doo Wop Christmas recording. The following year, they brought back "Lonely Christmas", which had reached #8 R&B in 1948, pairing it with a Tin Pan Alley song written by Frank Loesser.

Frank Loesser never saw "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" as a seasonal song, let alone a New Year's standard. In fact, it upset him to no end every time someone performed the song in a winter context. To Loesser, his 1947 composition was a spring song--a song about a beginning, not an end.

Frank Loesser was born in New York City in 1910. Loesser, the son of a pianist, dropped out of college after one year and, ultimately, found himself performing in clubs with his future wife, Lynn Blankenbaker Garland. Universal Pictures signed him in 1936 and he wrote some memorable lyrics for the movies up until the war. It was after the war that Loesser truly made his mark, writing the songs for hit Broadway musicals such as Guys & Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, winning Tony Awards galore and, in 1962, a Pulitzer. He also continued writing for the movies. Among his greatest contributions was a number Loesser had written in 1944 specifically for he and his wife to perform at parties--"Baby, It's Cold Outside". When MGM wanted a full score from Loesser for the 1949 film Neptune's Daughter, he included the now classic duet. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" won Loesser an Oscar.

As far as can be determined, Margaret Whiting was the first to record "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"--in 1947. But The Orioles were the first to chart with the song. In the more than 60 years since the Orioles recording, and in complete opposition to Loesser's thoughts about his own song, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" has become THE standard of New Year's songs. If "Auld Lang Syne" is the holiday's "Jingle Bells", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" is most certainly it's "White Christmas".

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EKIMI - GOOD KING WENCESLAS

11/25/2010

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EKIMI/GOOD KING WENCESLAS (THE NEXT NOEL)

For my second entry in the Essentials, I knew I wanted to spotlight something that didn't have universal acceptance as "essential", but something that was nonetheless very high up on my personal list of songs or albums that I simply must listen to every Christmas. Fate (or something) intervened when someone in the forums at FaLaLaLaLa.com requested versions of "Good King Wenceslas". I know some good ones, including several very recent, but this is the only version I consider personally indispensable.

     For the first 30 or so years of my life, this song was just one of those ancient carols that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. Good King blah blah blah blah blah yeah yeah shut up already. Oh, my God, will you people never stop that awful noise? Deep and crisp and even. Every version sounded to me like a bad Salvation Army band.

   In 1990, I was going through a New Age phase and bought this album as much for its title as anything else. At this late date, I can recall nothing else of the Ekimi album; but their version of "Good King Wenceslas" was instantly unforgettable. Because they did the song as a spoken piece, I understood what the words meant and what the song was about for the very first time.

   A little background that most likely won't care about, but some may. Wenceslas was actually a Duke, not a King-- the Duke of Bohemia (what is now part of the Czech Republic) to be precise. Duke Wenceslas was beloved by his subjects as a kind, generous and pious man. In particular, the Duke loved Christmas. Every Christmas Eve, he would call his pages to gather food, firewood and clothing and they would give them to the neediest of his people. Wenceslas would then encourage others among the rich to do likewise. Wenceslas was ultimately killed by his own brother when he was only 28, famously saying "Brother, may God forgive you." Wenceslas' brother had been put up to the deed by the pagans, but, seeing what he had done, Boleslaus turned from them and spent the remainder of his life carrying out the good works his brother had started. Duke Wenceslas was later decreed a Saint. The tales of Saint Winceslas were written down and carried far and wide. In the mid 1800's, Reverend John Mason Neale, a hymn-writer, decided that the tale of Wenceslas would be a fitting way to teach others of Christian charity. His words (a translation of the written Czech stories) were put to an old tune believed to be of Scandanavian origin, "Tempus Adest Floridum", and published in 1853.

   Ekimi was primarily the collaberation of two classically trained musicians from Cincinnati, Chris Dahlgren and Billy Larkin. They wanted to explore new musical interpretations and thought Christmas music would be ideal for that. "The Next Noel" was issued on the California Music-West label. The pair recorded a few more albums as Ekimi on their own Krysdahlark label before splitting. Both moved firmly into Jazz music. Dahlgren moved to Berlin in 2004 where he teaches music and plays with his current group Lexicon. Larkin is still in Cincinnati where he currently plays with the group Triage. For "Good King Wenceslas", they called upon Gary Barton for the dramatic reading.

   "The Next Noel" is, sadly, very much out of print. Nor does it appear to be available digitally. The good news is that it's not especially rare, so, if you're interested, you should be able to find a copy at a reasonable price.

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Various - RHYTHM & BLUES CHRISTMAS (1976)

10/24/2010

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SIDE 1
1. Merry Christmas, Baby......Charles Brown (1956)
2. Silent Night......Baby Washington (1967)
3. White Christmas......Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters (1954)
4. It's Christmas Time......The Five Keys (1951)
5. Run, Rudolph Run......Chuck Berry (1958)

SIDE 2
1. Christmas Celebration......B.B. King (1966)
2. (It's Gonna Be) A Lonely Christmas......The Orioles (1949)
3. Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby......Amos Milburn (1949)
4. I Wanna Spend Christmas With You......Lowell Fulson (1967)
5. It's Christmas......Marvin & Johnny (1957)

   Once upon a time, I suggested to a Blues act that they record a Christmas album. Their response was “but there are only two Blues Christmas songs.” Having hunted for Christmas music for roughly 40 years, now, it is my considered opinion that it is harder to find good Blues Christmas music than virtually any other genre. And good new single artist Blues Christmas albums are almost unheard of. But “only two Blues Christmas songs” woefully undershoots the mark.

   I begin where I began, more or less. As a young Stubby, I was pretty much a Top 40 kid, a Bubblegum child truth be told. United Artists’ “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, issued in 1976, can rightly be said to have altered the course of my musical existence. I was already several years into my budding love of Christmas music when I first heard it, but (to use a reference from a different genre entirely) I was still looking for love in all the wrong places.

   I’d like to be able to say that I discovered this album myself. Or even that I first heard it in 1976. But it was actually a close friend (hoping to silence my whining about the lack of variety in the holiday selection at the local record shops) who threw this on the turntable a couple of years after its release. From the first notes, I was in a trance-like state of bliss, and there I stayed until the end. At which point I think I let out the kind of exclamation Lucy makes when Schroeder hits upon the toy piano sound for “Jingle Bells”--“That’s IT!” I had heard some of the songs before, but not in one continuous stream like that. And, certainly, there were many I hadn't heard before and never knew existed. (What else might be out there waiting to be rediscovered?)

   “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” is only 10 tracks, but every one is a true classic. The album opens with Charles Brown’s 1956 Aladdin version of “Merry Christmas Baby”. This is either the greatest Blues Christmas song ever written or the greatest R&B Christmas song ever written; probably both. The original version was recorded with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in 1948, but, for me, the 1956 Aladdin is Brown’s best of many recorded versions.

   The album then weaves its way through The Drifters, The Five Keys, Chuck Berry. Side 2 was even better, a musical soundscape of BB King, Amos Milburn, and Lowell Fulson--all totally new to me at the time--ultimately coming to a close with the bouncy and hopeful sounding “It’s Christmas”, a 1957 recording by Marvin & Johnny. Every song an absolute classic. Every song an absolute “must have”. The selection, the pacing, the liner notes on the album’s back cover—everything about this album was perfect. At this late date, of course, all of the tracks have appeared elsewhere. But the original UA “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, itself, has never been issued on CD.   I still rank it atop my “must have” list of Blues Christmas albums. I even keep an extra sealed copy on hand...just in case. Christmas isn't Christmas for me without this "Rhythm & Blues Christmas" LP. After all these years, it's still......perfect.

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ESSENTIALS

There are just some albums and tracks you either can not do without or should not do without. The "Essentials" are those records and CDs and songs and artists that are bound to make it to my record player or CD changer every Christmas. They come with my highest recommendations.