TWILIGHT OF STEAM
…the thrilling audio companion to the exciting and controversial deluxe hard cover edition entitled The Twilight of Steam Locomotives by Ron Ziel

Published by GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.

Recording engineers: Brad Miller and Leo Kulka
Art director / Photography: Ron Ziel
Designer: Marshall Gatewood Moseley

Side Number One

1. Track One (1:57) As we begin our adventure in “The Twilight of Steam Locomotives” the inside front cover beholds the World famous Reader R.R. in southwest Arkansas. This is the last 100% steam powered common-carrier mixed train to operate in the United States and according to Mr. T. W. M. Long, President of the charming shortline, “We’re in the passenger business and having a grand time. You’all come down to see us.” We hear No. 11, a well polished 2-6-2 making her tri-weekly train in the Reader yard. How about that perfectly tuned Nathan Chime whistle, a sound to stir most anyone.

2. Track Two (3:16) On pages 11-13, you will find a recent victim of dieselization, the Virginia Blue Ridge during the last days of steam. This recording has 0-6-0 No. 9, shown in both photos, topping a grade near Piney River, Virginia. Even the song birds seem to sense that the passing of an era is very near indeed.

3. Track Three (1:26) Apparently silenced forever, the last of Southern Pacific’s esthetically pleasing G S series 4-8-4’s is shown on page 65 in retirement. We hear her now during a portion of her “last run” to Reno, Nevada in 1960. This sound was typical Espee with big and beautiful Northern’s that could start an 18 car train and roar by you at 60 mph in nothing flat. Witness same.

4. Track Four (1:11) Until early 1963, the Bevier & Southern in central Missouri had a leased Burlington Mike, No. 4963. On page 96 the 2-8-2 is shown at Bevier. Listen to her walk a string of hoppers “over the top,” past our trackside location.

5. Track Five (1:46) Opposite the 4963, a handsome 2-6-0 No. 97 of the Mobile & Gulf is portrayed quite intentionally, on page 97. Her whistle is possessed of a deep melodic charm as the Mogul awakens the Alabama countryside during an early morning dew near Brownville.

6. Track Six (4:11) Many fascinations of the steam locomotive are evident when viewed emerging from under a bridge. The Kentucky & Tennessee’s No. 10, a husky 2-8-2 is doing just that, partially camouflaged behind her own steam, on page 103. From the same location, we capture the Mike with a capacity load from Mine 16 and unless some miracle happens, the K & T will be dieselized by the time you read this for lack of spare parts and qualified machinists for maintenance.

7. Track Seven (1:22) Upon turning the page, a color portrait of Magma Arizona’s trim No. 7, star of Cinerama’s “How the West Was Won,” presents itself. With the temperature hovering near 105 degrees, the 2-8-2 moves right along near Queens, on the return trip to Superior, Arizona.

8. Track Eight (0:39) One of the very last all steam shortlines east of the Mississippi is none other than the Mississippian, appropriately displayed on page 106-107. No. 77 leaves the house to pick up the caboose in the yard.

9. Track Nine (4:26) A “Carolina Shortline” devotes the entire chapter to the Graham County Railroad, which operates two Shays in the southwestern portion of North Carolina. The indescribable beauty of the No. 1926 with engineer Ed Collins working the whistle cord over, illustrates in sound, that which cannot be done with words or photography. The next time you are in Bear Creek Valley, ask Ed to put on a show for you, just like this one.

Side Number Two

1. Track One (1:14) 0-6-0T No. 13 of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal is the star of Chapter 12, pages 116-121. Here she makes her recording debut in the very last days of BEDT steam. Listen to the flange squeel as the side-tanker tows a box car within the shadow of Manhattan skyscrapers!

2. Track Two (2:34) “Last of the Narrow Gauges”—is the story of the Denver and Rio Grande in southwestern Colorado, chapter 14. The photo opposite the color plate shows Mikados No. 484 and 487 at the same time this recording was made on the eastbound assault of Cumbres Pass, from the locomotive tender.

3. Track Three (2:43) However, within this chapter, “Last of the Narrow Gauges” there lies the resurrected ghost of Pennsylvania. Crickets with intermittant gusts of wind rattling the corn stalks herald the approach of 2-8-2 No. 15 of the East Broad Top as her whistle echoes across the Aughwick Valley. Author Ron Ziel exclaims, “This is simply a great sound track!”

4. Track Four (3:27) Sharing fame and fortune with other “Excursion Engines of the ‘60’s” chapter 17, were Reading’s T—1’s. From the very first, No 2124 to the very last, No. 2102, these beautiful Northern’s thrilled hundreds of thousands of people in the population density of east-central Pennsylvania. October, 1963 saw these 4-8-4’s under steam for the last time. We join Trains Magazine in saying “Thank you” to the Reading for a delight that will be unsurpassed for years to come. On an earlier “Iron Horse Ramble” in 1961, No. 2124 has just been cut off and is standing on a siding, saluting No. 2100 as she heads the special towards Valley Forge.

5. Track Five (2:35) Canada’s last excursion engine is the 6167, featured in a two page spread of sub-zero weather. Yes, those pages look mighty cold as the mighty Northern makes mock work of her train in tow as she effortlessly gains speed leaving the yard board at Toronto, Ontario.

6. Track Six (3:11) Just turn the page and you’ll find the “Cozy and Friendly, The Strasburg” puffing through the cemetery. And that’s exactly the sound you are hearing as well. Let us know if any other “ghosts” bother you, that is other than 0-6-0 No. 31.

7. Track Seven (3:19) And turn the page once again to face “The Great Teacher, No. 4960.” My, what an aggressive management that makes available an authentic steam locomotive such as this 2-8-2 for school children excursions and at the bottom of their inter-department transportation notices state “make every effort to handle with fact in mind these children will be future shippers and passengers of the Burlington.” Leave it to the Q, a railroad that is currently making passenger traffic history, to go one step further. Let’s listen as the spunky Mikado walks up the grade from Ottawa, Illinois, enroute to Streator with several hundred happy youngsters. By the way, that bird was a little upset being covered with cinders and such. Shouldn’t happen to a bird.

8. Track Eight (1:55) To close Volume One of “Twilight of Steam” we have selected an unusual track in that this sound story is all but forgotten in the annals of history. Fifty carlengths ahead and around a curve, Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 No. 14 puts air into the train and whistles off. Then the slack comes roaring down the river canyon at Dundon and the train leaves for Widen. This is the sound that is so familiar to those crewmen whose home away from home was a caboose. To be continued.

If you are unable to purchase either this record or the hard cover book edition, through your dealer, write directly to: Mobile Fidelity, Burbank, California 91503. Brochure will be sent upon request.

SONIC-SEVEN is the name given to the combination of technical advances and achievements contained in this recording. Under the supervision and development of Leo Kulka, and pioneered in tis use by Brad Miller, engineer/producer for Mobile Fidelity records, SONIC-SEVEN approaches a new spectrum of dynamic sound reproduction.

Special microphone techniques were designed to re-create the peculiarities and acoustical conditions of the terrain. Depending on weather conditions and air temperatures, the following microphones were used, independently: Neumann SM-2 Stereo Condenser; AKG ribbon dynamic D24b; Electro Voice dynamic 666. The Neumann SM-2 used in the Sum and Difference method of stereo recording was matrixed to left-to-right stereo. Original master recording was accomplished on Ampex 350-2 equipment, and the signal then fed to the fully automatic Newmann Master Disc Lathe through a fully transistorized control board without the use of a single transformer or vacuum tube. Frequency response of this board is ± 1 db from 5 to 100,000 cps. Intermodulation and harmonic distortion is virtually non-existant.

With the fully automatic Neumann Lathe, and the Teldec Cutting System with automatic variable pitch and depth control, the complete dynamic range is preserved at all times. Within the Teldec System is incorporated a process which makes this disc compatible for FM stereo Multiplex broadcasting as well as stereo-monaural playback system compatibility for the home. Yes, you may use this disc on ANY Phonograph Player, Stereo or Monaural, without damage to record or needle.

There you have it. The dynamic big picture of SONIC-SEVEN.

“Listen and compare!”

Unless otherwise noted, license is hereby granted to radio and television broadcasters for the programming of contents herein without payment under the United States Copyright Act. Any other use without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Many Mobile Fidelity albums are available on TAPE. For 8-track, cassette, or open reel information, manufactured by GRT, write for complete catalog. It’s free.

MF 13 STEREO THIS DISC MAY BE PLAYED ON MOST MONAURAL SYSTEMS SPECIAL Volume 1

mobile fidelity records
QUALITY STEREOPHONIC RECORDINGS
P.O. BOX 336 + BURBANK, CALIFORNIA

a High Fidelity Recording of Steam Locomotives in Action
Fidelity in Motion
© COPYRIGHT 1963 — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

“Damn Tooting,” said Lucy, and that was the inspiration for The Best Damn Dance Band in the Land.

As I reflect back on it all now (“it all” meaning the formation of our orchestra: Ira Ironstrings, The Best Damn Dance Band in the Land), it must have been divinely blessed. Things Good like that just don’t happen every day in North Crumble. Not by a long shot.

I think it’s important that the world-at-large know about the day our orchestra was formed…for posterity’s sake, and also because we all get fed up with visiting anthropologists messing up the Good Life here in Macon County with their deep, probing questions. So here goes:

Actually, it was a non-Ironstrings but a fast-friend — Lucy N. Fairweather, our percussionist and Moral Beacon — who inspired us to form our orchestra. that sweet, grey-haired old lady had been passed out in our setting-room rocker for eleven days, just a-rocking and eyeing the bougainvillaea. Came the fateful evening, April 11, 1930. A typical Ironstrings family scene at dusk: the sun falling behind the Ice House, scented breezes wafting in from Kissing Bog, and the whole Ironstrings clan gathered underneath the creeping veranda. Lucy looked up at us Ironstrings, rubbed her antimacassars (which had been ailing of late), smiled benignly, and said, “You Clydes oughta do something about Dance Music. It’s damn well going to the dogs, and tha’s a fact.”

Well sir, we Ironstrings galvanized into action. After flooring the old lady with a feint to the mid-section and a mean right hook, I asked here just what more we could do. Already we had founded a fund to preserve used Andy Kirk 78’s. “Nothing more can be done!” we said, almost to a man. (“Almost,” because Armando Lauderdale had carried the maid, Thelma N. (for Nothing) Edison, off to Kissing Bog and couldn’t be contacted nohow.)

To tell the truth, Lucy was fit to be tied. (In fact, we had to forcibly restrain Polly Paradiddle, who was coming at her with a hunk of hemp and a mean glint in her good eye.) Lucy spoke up just in time. Saluting the colors, she said, “True grey Southerners! Be creative as all get out about the Dance Music Problem!” Taking it as her personal mission, she hailed a passing Red Cross van, clambered up on the hood, and stamped her right foot for attention. “Ira Ironstrings, Friends, and you Crumbums in the ally there,” she spake, still stamping her right foot for attention and also because the sole of her sneaker was flapping some. “I has come up with something, and in sheer reverence to this old grey head and also because I holds the notes on all your instruments, I think that mayhap we oughta form an orchestra! Horray!”

“Horray,” we answered, to a man. (Armando was back now, picking nettles out of his spats.)

“Damn tooting,” said sweet good grey-haired motherly affectionate Lucy.

That did it!

“Tooting!” I cried out. “That’s our answer!”

“The child’s been tetched since the day of the borning,” said Lucy, “and that’s a fact o’ nature.”

“Fellow Red Necks,” addressed I (never dreaming that this was the birth of what would serve in years yet unborn as a true elocutionary gift). “Tooting! Dwell on that word a mo’. Today in music everyone is ‘blowing!’ Every Man Jack of you has been faced with music that’s been blown! Bring back the Toot, say I.”

As if to emphasize my stand, Gutbucket Avakian, the Armenian Red Cross driver, gave his truck horn a whomp with his elbow. Toot, it went. Toot it kept on wenting. Stuck, it was.

“Crazy, pops,” said Thurston, my Portuguese step-sister, running toward the stuck horn, “G Sharp.” Pulling her trusty tuba out of her satchel, she ran off a wicked vamp. Lucy stomped her foot faster. “You fat heads are swingin’ now,” she wheezed.

Frenzy set in.

Maxwell Suggins (tenor washboard and temple bells) had tooted up a heavy four-beat rhythm on his “board.” Tanya Blackberry tooted a joyous cadenza on her three-string Woolworth guaranteed banjo, c. 1907. Reminding us all of a young Teschemacher, Hot Lips Skorstad tooted variations of “A Train” on kazoo, enough to make strong men weep.

I whooped, “Now we’re Tooting, bless our cute little hearts. Now we sound like The Best Bamn Bance Dand in the Land!” (I never could say it fast.)

Hearts full and feet a-flap, our 12 Hot Licks o’ Rhythm kept it up far into the night. As luck would have it, little Samuel F. B. Marconi, boy inventor, warmed up his cactus-needle recorder, the better to preserve all this on wax (as they say in Show Biz). Good thing, too, for you can now hear, at a ridiculously low price, The Best Damn Bance Dand In the Land.

Recorded April 11 and a hunk of April 12, 1930, in North Crumble, Macon County, Georgia, without benefit of clergy.

For your further dancing pleasure, may we suggest:

SORTA-MAY by Billy May, Capitol 562
HAWAIIAN WAR CHANT by Tommy Dorsey, RCA Victor 1234
CHARLESTONS by Ira Ironstrings, Warner Bros. 1297
GLENN MILLER, Epic 3236

Side One:

1. Across the Alley From the Alamo (2:12)
2. The Blacksmith Blues (2:10)
3. The Surrey With the Fringe On Top (2:21)
4. Down By the Station (2:05)
5. Christopher Columbus (2:48)
6. Mountain Greenery (2:43)

Side Two:

1. Jingle Jangle Jingle (2:33)
2. Little Brown Jug (2:26)
3. Jambalaya (2:00)
4. The Huckle-Buck (3:01)
5. I’d’ve Baked A Cake (2:22)
6. Last Night On the Back Porch (2:05)

PRODUCED BY LOU BUSCH

VITAPHONIC HIGH FIDELITY
WARNER BROS. HIGH FIDELITY

MONOPHONIC W 1380

Stereo Action is a new concept of music in motion; a new dimension in recorded sound. Stereo Action brings you unmatched fidelity through the full sound spectrum, plus the exciting new illusion of sound in motion. Soloists and entire sections of the orchestra appear to move thrillingly back and forth across the room. Stereo Action is musical movement so real, your eyes will follow the sound.

STORY OF STEREO ACTION

The advent of stereophonic recordings for the home and the equipment on which to play them brought in its wake a whole specialized repertoire of “sound demonstration” discs—recording which when played on stereo phonographs would provide the hearer with spectacular sonic illusions of motion, directionality and depth (RCA Victor’s BOB AND RAY THROW A STEREO SPECTACULAR, LSP-1773, is a prize example). The snarl of racing cars whizzing past the starting line, the New York City subway, a ping-pong game, the bowling alley, the zing of a rifle bullet toward its target, the soft-shoe dance across the stage—these and a host of other novel effects became showpieces for the home stereo listener.

Wonderful as these stereo sound effects may be as aural novelties, they cannot hold the listener’s attention for long or over many hearings. The substance of almost all recordings worth living with is, after all—MUSIC.

Stereophonic recordings of symphony, opera, Broadway musicals, jazz and popular music literally added a new dimension to home phonograph listening. Such sound is enhanced not only through being spread across a broad frontal arc covered by the loudspeakers—as against being “squeezed” through a single enclosure; but more especially it is enhanced through the sense of localization and depth perspective. A soloist or instrumental choir, recorded in stereo, can be heard in the living room in the same relative placement as it would be in the concert hall, on the opera stage, or in the night club. The sound of instruments and singers emerges from the speakers in genuine aural perspective. In stereo recordings of opera, Broadway musicals or drama, movement across or from front to back of the stage is immediately discernible as such to the listener. These elements of directionality, depth illusion and motion are not to be found on monaural recordings; they are properties unique to stereo. This holds especially true for motion.

Though the great classics of the concert hall and opera remain of necessity inviolate, beyond a certain point, when it comes to exploitation of stereo recording techniques, popular entertainment music is something else again. Such music, after all, is meant to entertain—to delight and even surprise the hearer. So it is that record producers of the stereo era have been industriously devising ways and means of bringing the special properties of stereo to bear on entertainment music, and in a manner that would add something genuinely new and exciting to this type of listening fare. What RCA Victor has chosen to call STEREO ACTION is its special response to the fascinating challenge posted by the new techniques made available through the development of stereophony for the home. This has involved much more than merely exploiting motion and directionality in terms of shifting instrumental choirs and soloists from one side of the listening room to the other. For meaningful results, it has demanded new concepts in the art of orchestral arranging and a large measure of truly imaginative and creative collaboration between musicians and recording engineers.

The art of “pop” recording has become today, more than ever before, an art of dramatic enhancement through every device of microphone placement, reverberation technique, ping-pong stereo, and the like; but little had been done to develop a whole repertoire of pop musical arrangements that would take full advantage of the complete armory of enhancement techniques now available to the record producer. RCA Victor’s Stereo Action series marks a serious and carefully thought-out step in that direction. The facts of recording history show that musical enhancement by way of microphone and other audio techniques dates back a surprising number of years.

RCA Victor began experimenting with multi-track recording of soloists well before magnetic tape came into general use—notably with Jascha Heifets playing both solo parts of the Bach Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra (c. 1947) and with the late, great Jazz musician, Sidney Bechet, playing all six instruments of a New Orleans combo in Blues of Bechet and Sheik of Araby (c. 1940).

After the war came the magnetic tape revolution in recording technology, and with it came a greater flexibility than ever before in using various enhancement devices in the field of popular music recording.

With the coming of stereo and the development by RCA Victor and others of doing master recordings on 3-channel stereo tapes (“triple-tracking”), special new techniques became and everyday part of phonograph record studio production. Every 3-track original has, of course, to be blended to a 2-track working master tape for producing the disc or pre-recorded tape for use on home 2-channel stereo phonographs or tape machines. So, in the process of “blending down,” many things that may not have come off in the recording session can be set right in the re-recording. Even before stereo, “post-equalization” and “post-reverberation” were commonly applied in instances where a master tape from a recording session may have left something to be desired. Of course tape editing techniques play a great part in this, too, so that the combination of all of these devices and techniques adds up to a product created as much by the studio engineers as by the performing musicians. With this wealth of knowledge and dramatic device at their beck and call, it seems only natural that the art of “musical-dramatic” enhancement, applied so successfully over the past decade to monaural entertainment recording, should begin to turn to stereo, no longer as just a novelty gimmick, but as a medium to be used with genuine creative imagination. It is with this in mind that RCA Victor has embarked on its Stereo Action series of recordings that highlight the special listening dimension provided by motion-in-stereo. Some of the “stereo highlighting” on these recordings will be apparent at once to the listener—wherein plectral, percussive or solo legato elements in an arrangement are manipulated in motion and/or in apparent perspective against a tonal background that shows them and the stereo medium to the most striking possible advantage; but this is merely a first step in the development of a new dimension in the art of orchestral arrangement and entertainment presentation on records, one that should over the years establish a dimension in home musical listening that is truly a la unto itself—to be experienced, as on these RCA Victor recordsings, only in stereo and only through the art of recording as developed for he 1960s and beyond.

— DAVID HALL
Music Editor, HiFi/Stereo Review

This album is comprised of outstanding selections from the widely acclaimed Stereo Action catalog developed by RCA Victor artists and engineers. In the event you wish to explore further in this exciting field, the complete album source for each composition is illustrated and numbered for your convenience.

Side One:

1. Ray Martin and His Orchestra: The Flight of the Bumble Bee (2:02) …Flutist Julius Baker is the “bee” in a honey of an arrangement. Listen as he flits furiously back and forth between speakers, with the string action following in hot pursuit.

2. Marty Gold and His Orchestra: Did You Ever See A Dream Walking? (2:38) opens, naturally enough, with the dream walking…from right to left, and back again. The chorus moves across from the left, and the trumpet solo moves across from the right. note how the voices move from left to right toward the end.

3. Dick Schory’s Percussion and Brass Ensemble: Runnin’ Wild (2:33) — Five shifty trumpets keynote this — rhythm drummer using brushes is centered — three xylophones, split right and left, hammer out the intro — the auto-brake drum (left) challenges the wood blocks (right) — more trumpets from everywhere — a drumstick solo on string bass plus bongos (left) and claves (right) — finally trumpets in high register, left-to-right and then parking in the middle.

4. Vic Schoen and His Orchestra: And the Band Played On (1:44) was approached with a swinging sense of humor. Trombones, cellos and horns on the left provide the depth for the Dixie-like feeling of trumpets and clarinets on the right. In the second chorus, the trombones move to the right to accompany the drumstick solo (played on the rim of the drum).

5. Leo Addeo and His Orchestra: Dancing Tambourine (3:15) starts off with the orchestra galloping from left to right, then back again and over to right once more. The harmonica is heard moving in the same pattern, as if following the orchestra. that’s the bass accordion making three turns, left to right. And there’s an amusing touch at the end when the accordion bellows down from left to right.

6. The Chorus and Percussion of Keith Textor: Lonesome Road (2:38) has one pedestrian, at least, snapping his fingers and whistling as he moves from right to left. The accompaniment begins on the left and the whistler goes right. The voices begin on the left, and at the end the whistler returns, this time moving from left to right.

7. The Guitars Unlimited Plus 7: Expresso (2:04) could give you coffee nerves, just in the sheer speed of its switching of speakers. The guitars move left as the tambourine moves right, and continue to alternate with each other. The solo guitar goes left to right.

Side Two:

1. Bernie Green and His Orchestra: Kiss of Fire (2:27) — In this first example available to the public of a new process called “Animated Tape,” our phantom trumpet soloist bounces back and forth from speaker to speaker at the start, then proceeds to float, somewhat jaggedly, between the speakers as he moves from side to side. The bass guitar and piano in deep registers set off the work of the soloist. Listen for a couple of flashes of the world’s weirdest piano about halfway through.

2. Marty Gold and His Orchestra: The 3rd Man Theme (2:44) — The harpsichord begins as it slides from left to right and back — then solo guitar (left) and accordion (right) slowly exchange positions punctuated by the piccolo. The full brass states the melody with harpsichord and xylophone accents. These instrumental combinations are heard again during the course of the performance.

3. Dick Schory’s Percussion and Brass Ensemble: Hernando’s Hideaway (3:35) — After the opening sound-effect tableau, trombones slide from left to right, then tiptoe back and forth with tambourine, castanets and snare drum in hot pursuit. Trumpets, vibes, organ, French horns and xylophone pick up the hunt for Hernando — another tableau depicts the end of our hero. Then a Latin beat and full orchestra criss-cross - a guitar floating from right to left then hands the melody back to the trombones — a harp gliss, left to right, precedes the final door slam.

4. Henri René and His Orchestra: Swanee River (1:51) — The big band builds sound volume across the speakers. The guitar solos around a circle from left to right and back again. The chimes swing their circle from right to left and back. Note how the arrangement ends with the sections of the band spread in layers across your speakers.

5. Leo Addeo and His Orchestra: Every Little Movement (2:32) — The bass accordion clumps around from side to side, swaying with elephantine ecstasy, first with a scratcher for company, then with thumps from the kettle drum, and finally falls into the background, losing none of its joyous force. When the flutes pick up the melody line, they are given added propulsion in their action movements by the kettle drums which send them sliding from left to right with a rumbling wallop. At the very end, the scratcher sweeps across the spectrum from left to right.

6. Ray Martin and His Orchestra: Jericho (2:48) — The voices get the rhythm going, swinging from side to side. Then the girls change to hand clapping to emphasize the beat and to back up the stentorian trombones on the right when they begin to dig into the melody. Finally, when the brilliantly brassy trumpet solo circles the ramparts of Jericho and winds up with a chilling blast to the heavens — by golly, the walls come a-tumbling down, vividly and on all sides.

7. Manny Albam and His Orchestra: Stompin’ At the Savoy/Johnson Rag (2:30) — These two fine standards are played simultaneously in Maestro Albam’s unique arrangement. Savoy begins on the right, moving, as do the trombones, playing the same song, to the left. That’s the general trombone pattern, from right to left speaker before the release. Suddenly, the reeds begin to play Johnson Rag on the left, moving to the right and back again. Later on, the trombone solo begins left and moves right; the trumpet solo starts left and moves back and forth, concluding with the original combinations in their original positions.

MIRACLE SURFACE This record contains the revolutionary new antistatic ingredient, 317X, which helps keep the record dust free, helps prevent surface noise, helps insure faithful sound reproduction.

IMPORTANT NOTICE — This is TRUE STEREOPHONIC RECORD specifically designed to be played only on phonographs equipped for stereophonic reproduction. This record will also give outstanding monaural performance on many conventional high fidelity phonographs by a replacement of the cartridge. See your local dealer or serviceman.

RCA Victor LSA-2489

ERIC SILVER at the console

Side one:

1. Londonderry Air (3:26)
2. Sleeping Beauty Waltz (3:50)

Side two:

1. Flight of the Bumble Bee (1.24)
2. Nocturne (3:49)
3. Scotch Medley (3:13)

936

(And that’s all there is for this one — no liner notes at all. I’m guessing that this was a ‘60’s era “stereo recording is a new thing” release, but haven’t been able to find any definitive information.)

A Touch of Folksy, Nostalgic Old Hawaii

One of the most exciting things that can happen to a person is a real, honest-to-goodness Hawaiian party. It can happen any place, any time, and it’s very likely to be impromptu. Conviviality reigns. Food and drink are abundant. Everybody sings and dances. Most play one or more instruments. Ukuleles appear from nowhere, and if you’re very lucky there’s a slack key guitarist among the group…or someone rounds him up. The music is sure to begin at a lively tempo with hulas familiar to all. As the party progresses, the mood becomes more sentimental. Later the less familiar numbers begin to creep in as each artist performs his special numbers, sometimes a piece handed down to him in secrecy by an older member of his family.

These Hawaiian party songs are many things: sweet and sentimental; playful and peppy; sensuous and suggestive; nostalgic, reverent. But above all they are rhythmical, for Hawaiians are a people who dance their songs, and the rhythms of the earth are strong in these exuberant people.

Slack Key Guitar Indigenous to Hawaii

A unique guitar technique, peculiar to The Islands, slack key almost defies description. Basically an unusual tuning (and there are several different slack key tunings, including two known as “Wahine” and “Maunaloa”) in which the tension is lowered to produce a deep, vibrant tone, this difficult method has been handed down by demonstration. There are no written instructions.

Admired and respected as a style, slack key evolved, probably in the 1880’s, from the Spanish guitar brought to Hawaii by sailors aboard whaling ships of the early 19th century.

Slack key is related in philosophy and attitude to flamenco, a sort of gypsy jazz, in that its essence is improvisation and its rhythms are the heartbeat of the folk.

Leonard Kwan, our slack key guitarist for this album, is one of the few younger musicians of Hawaii who have mastered the style. A versatile musician, he plays many string instruments.

about the selections…

Side One:

1. Haleakala Hula (2:38), snappy and happy-hearted, concerns the fascinating beauty of Haleakala—not a lovely little brown gal but—the world’s largest dormant volcano…Haleakala, “House of the Sun,” on the island of Maui.

2. Po Mahina (3:03)—a slow, dreamy-voiced tune backed by the steady, sensuous beat of the slack key guitar—suggests, even to the ear unfamiliar with Hawaiian words, a romantic moonlight night. And that’s precisely what “Po Mahina” is all about…it’s a love song of a couple walking in the moonlight.

3. A Song to Hawaii (2:33) explains that, in Hawaii, the spirit of Aloha begins with the elements: the wind, the waves, even the flowers. With simplicity and reverence, Bob Pauhale Davis sings this tribute to the land of his birth—Hawaii, now the Aloha state.

4. Manini Chimes (1:11) is a new title to an old tune. It is a brief slack key “excercise” handed down by tune and technique, but not by name, to our artist from his uncle. In this, its first recording, it’s christened “Manini,” a lively pint-sized number, or literally, “alert little fish.”

5. He Aloha No Honolulu (2:16), to hula enthusiasts immediately suggests a line of quick-stepping hula girls, naughty-sweet in their swishing ti-leaf skirts. With diamond-bright eyes they sing of the excitement of a trip from Honolulu to the big island of Hawaii and of the sights along the way.

6. Kahoolawe Hula (2:41), for all its melodious and rhythmical appeal, describes the island of Kahoolawe, always a harsh, dry island where few but goats have ever lived. today it is a barren, and (though it is not expressed in the song) pock-marked island of exploded and unexploded shells, a military target isle.

Side Two:

1. Opihi Moemoe (3:00) was recorded earlier as a single record, and as such this lively number with a magnetic beat has had a great deal to do with Leonard Kwan’s rapidly growing popularity as a slack key artist in Hawaii. The piece, a no-name hand-me-down for generations, is now called “Sleepy Opihi” (tiny shellfish).

2. Noho Paipai (2:22) is the “Rocking Chair” hula, in which the vocal portion is almost sleepy, while the syncopation of slack key accompaniment is rather rhumba-like. The lyrics are romantic: the poet yearns for his love, whom he has kissed as a stranger.

3. Yellow Ginger Lei (2:34) is sweet and slow, and this tremolo slack key version gives a vibrant quality appropriate to a hula about a fragile flower. The yellow ginger is a favorite island blossom, delicate and of spicy fragrance, which blooms in moist, verdant valleys.

4. “Susy” Ana E (2:49), lively and saucy, is a typical Hawaiian hula. It was written in admiration of a girl called “Susy” Ana, a girl with pretty eyes, a girl who goes swimming and fishing with her kane (man).

5. Nahenahe (1:50), another traditional tune with a new title, suggests sweet music, soft winds, gentle manners. Our slack key version reveals a strong Spanish influence, remembering slow, formal patterns of dance, courtly manners, and then…provocative castanets.

6. Ahi Wela (2:58), “Love Hot as Fire,” is an old and well-loved song in which Hawaiians use the hymn-like style of singing brought to them by New England missionaries…to tell of a passionate, all-consuming love.

the artists:

Leonard Kwan, slack key guitar and mandolin
Bob Pauhale Davis, baritone
The Kamaha’os Trio: Kalona Manning, Kaua Ioane, Kape Kauhane
Thomas Kaheiki, bass
William Kaawa, guitar

Notes by: Mazeppa Costa & Margaret Williams
Cover by: Allison-Nieman Graphic Design Associates, Honolulu
Published by: Tradewinds Records, Honolulu

TS-102

(Another thrift-store find, this one. The great 60’s era graphic design and wonderful title caught my eye. The music isn’t bad, but doesn’t grab me as much as many other find have, but that’s all part of the fun of randomly grabbing old records.)

That there is something unique about the San Francisco music scene has been obvious for some time now.

One after another, a succession of great bands—the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Country Joe & the Fish, Big Brother & the Holding Co.—have emerged from what the Rock generation has called “the Liverpool of the U.S.” and more are coming.

“Music IS different here,” says Joe Tate, lead guitarist of Salvation, latest in the succession of San Francisco bands to emerge on the national scene. “Tastefully, it’s different. It has a flavor that hasn’t been beard before.” “I would use the word ‘pure,’” interjected Al Linde, his songwriting-singing associate in Salvation. “Music is purer here. If you’re shucking, they know it!”

Salvation emerged this past year in San Francisco. For weeks the band was a feature at the free concerts in Golden Gate Park given every Sunday by local bands under the wing of The Diggers, the Monks of the Haight/Ashbury who provided free food and concerts all summer.

Salvation loved the concerts in the park. “It’s our business to entertain,” Linde says. “We’d play for Ed Sullivan, President Johnson’s press party, any place, if they’d ask us. It’s good for music to be there where people are and it’s good for them for us to be there.”

Salvation began when Al Linde, a former harpoon sharpener and garbage collector at the University of Washington in Seattle, met Joe Tate, a cesspool driver and former student at the School of Mining & Minerology of the University of Missouri.

“Al and I were running around with a tape we had made and we got a call for a job at the Roaring 20s that started in 9 days. So we learned 20 songs and went to work and stayed there three months.” Teddy Stewart, the group’s drummer, met Joe outside a bar in Sausalito and U.S. of Arthur (his real name is Art Resnick and he went to the University of Minnesota with Bob Dylan) and bassist Artie McLean joined later.

“We’re growing,” says Linde, “but we change all the time. the thing to do is to all grow at the same pace. We have depth and we’re growing with each other. We haven’t really even delved into what we COULD do yet. We haven’t even scratched the surface of each other’s talent.”

“I’m surprised all the time,” Joe Tate says, wonderment at the band’s capabilities lighting his face.

Joe and Al are dedicated to joy as firmly as the Ritz Brothers are to chaos. As far as he can see into the future, Joe just wants to be playing music and Al says that he is determined to be happy. “It’s a hard job staying happy! All I want to do is entertain and I hope I am entertaining. It makes me feel good.”

The music on the album is a good cross-section of what Salvation does. Al Linde refers to it as “the music we’ve listened to all our lives. Super product. Super square.” It took them three days in three four-hour sessions to cut the album and all the songs were written by Al and Joe. The music, Al says, “is earthy, commercial, what just comes out of our mouths and souls. How hammy can you get?”

Al, the harpoon sharpener (he was with the Seattle fishing fleet for a while) says he was raised on Jimmy Reed. “He was my first influence. I ran into him in a friend’s house on records. I picked up a guitar and learned those little runs. then Chuck Berry, and Fats Domino. I was listening to him in high school. I even dig Perry Como, man! My influences? Bob Dylan. Pat Boone. Woody Guthrie. John Coltrane. Lawrence Welk…”

Joe Tate, who is a firm believer in spontaneity (“When I feel I know exactly what we’re doing, I don’t want to play the song any more, it’s dull and boring.”) says he has been influenced by Julian Bream, Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow and Charlie Byrd but also says he is “radio taught!”

Of the songs in the album, Al wrote Love Comes in Funny Packages on “a riverboat in Seattle. It’s in B-flat. it’s just a horny cat digging a chick on the street.” Cinderella (one of the group’s most successful songs in performance) is “a true rock ‘n roll song,” Al says. “The lyrics are cute,” Joe Tate adds, “it’s a knock-out rock ‘n roll song.” More Than it Seems “is our answer to Motown,” Joe says. “This shows another side of Joe’s guitar playing,” Al adds.

Getting My Hat “is a kind of rhythm and blues variation of everything we’ve ever heard. It’s one of our true songs and it has ‘fours’ in it and is dedicated to all those groups that have ever done fours in jazz.” All says G.I. Joe “is a rock-and-roll-ee! It is good time music. I was talking to myself. I didn’t write it or anything. I just sat down and played the whole song through once and I knew it! I never had to do anything to it after that.” Think Twice “is a very free song. Every musician gets a chance to express himself in it and it ends in a jam.” Joe points out that Al plays harmonica on this one.

She Said Yeah! “is real hard rock, it’s really fun.” The Village Shuck is “a good time song, a happy go lucky song. Joe plays electric mandolin on it. It’s bizarre,” Al says. And adds, “I sing it in an English-Western accent, like something out of the 30s, the Victorian times.” What Does an Indian Look Like is a fun song, too. “It’s the next thing between rock ‘n roll and Village Shuck,” Joe says.

As this album was being released, Salvation was in New York and planning on driving back to San Francisco in their bus, “a 24 passenger 1963 Ford school bus.” It used to belong to a church and the band has transformed it from its original image quite successfully. Joe designed the big metal hand which is one of its salient features. Some of the pictures Jim Marshall took of the group followed a mad bus ride in Los Angeles. The deepest conviction of Salvation is that they are guarded by the mighty hand of God in all driving adventures. Like their music, the bus is impromptu and joyous.

— RALPH J. GLEASON, Contributing Editor, JAZZ & POP Magazine, Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Al Linde, vocal
Artie McLean, bass
U.S. of Arthur, organ & harpsichord
Joe Tate, guitar
Teddy Stewart, drums
Auxiliary members: Tom scott, tenor sax and flute—Bill Plummer, sitar

Side 1:

1. Love Comes in Funny Packages (2:51)
2. Cinderella (2:48)
3. More Than it Seems (3:19)
4. Getting My Hat (3:59)
5. G.I. Joe (4:35)

Side 2:

1. Think Twice (7:05)
2. She Said Yeah (3:41)
3. The Village Shuck (2:20)
4. What Does an Indian Look Like? (3:40)

ABC Records ABC-623

(This one was part of the collection we got from Prairie’s family. She’s guessing that it was her dad’s at some point in the past, though nobody’s really sure one way or another. Apparently a mostly forgotten piece of the late 60’s San Francisco music scene.)

There were misgivings. Early Porter? Fine for their time, those catchy lyrics, but old hat. His melodies? They’d be somehow flat, archaic, not swinging. Just a little bit passé perhaps, even a trifle sad on rehearing. An age gone by, etc., etc.

All wrong.

In this “new bottle,” Cole Porter’s music glows brilliantly, richly, with a tint of the elegance and sophistication that was so inherent in his particular sound. And, in fact, what a pleasure it is that Dave has liberated the songs from their oft-found cocktail lounge and society dance-band surroundings and breathed new body, new bouquet into them. Dave’s up-dated arrangements illustrate how well Porter adapts to the jazz idiom. This could be the true test of any song: no matter in what style it is played, does the melodic line hold up, is it a joy to listen to?

The answer here is affirmative as Dave and the Quartet delve deep beneath the surface veneer, the mere chic of it, to plumb Porter’s wonderful urbanity, his verve, his lyricism and wit. They find it all in abundance and answer it with their own matching contributions, at times subtle, at others heady or hard-driving, depending on what the song calls for or inspires. A give and take it is, one talent feeding several, Porter providing the magic to work with, the group weaving the spell without the help of Porter’s inventive lyrics (so much a part of his music). Again, it is a testament to the abundant richness of musical dialogue that words aren’t necessary to convey the full and vibrant nature of the songs. They are complete as we hear them. The lyrics? They’re a bonus as we find their echo filling our minds.

In Anything Goes Dave skates the album title song with deceptive simplicity, lightly sketching the melody before Paul Desmond swings out with a relaxed and swinging solo (backed by drummer Joe Morello’s steady ride-cymbal) that nicely expresses Porter’s “voice.” Dave takes it again, matching Paul with a wry solo of his own that builds to a conclusion through an intricate progression of fine Brubeckian chords.

Subtlety and sophistication keynote the group’s rendition of Love for Sale but don’t limit the range or pace of the track. Dave starts it in a gently tantalizing fashion, understating the “message” of the song, then flows into a catchy 4/4 chorus which soon flowers into a hint of double-timed barrelhouse piano before he returns it to the misty realm of intrigue and mystery which Porter probably would have approved.

As for Night and Day, it wails. Up-tempo all the way, it begins with a pulsing Desmond solo that’s a pleasant switch on the mushy, overblown treatment the song often receives. Dave follows with an equally jubilant, driving solo that is rousingly sustained by Morello and bassist Gene Wright.

For spirit and lyric taste, Paul’s entrance in What is This Thing Called Love is vintage wine indeed. Liltingly, he enters after Dave’s delicate solo and weaves an air of questioning melancholy that beautifully expresses the song’s lyric. Dave continues the mood and takes the song out with another introspective solo that complements Paul’s.

I Get a Kick Out of You is all champagne and caviar. Here, the group swings from beginning to end, the ebullient line of the melody driving Dave and Paul in successive vervy solos that seem to be both urbane and “down-home.” It’s Porter and Brubeck at their best, a welding of talents in a high-spirited blend of sophisticated jazz that also “grooves.” The spirit spills over into Just One of Those Things where, again, Paul wails nicely, setting the mood with an intricately wrought, full-bodied chorus. Dave follows in the same vein, swinging fully while exploring the varied harmonic steps to that famous trip to the moon on gossamer wings.

The Quartet continues to explore in You’re the Top and All Through the Night. Both further exemplify the joyousness of the Porter-Brubeck union and prove that not only can old wine be put into new bottles but that, as in this case, the resulting ferment can be a delight to the musical palate.

Notes by Anthony Tuttle

Personnel:

• Dave Brubeck, piano
• Paul Desmond, alto sax
• Joe Morello, drums
• Gene Wright, bass

Side 1:

1. Anything Goes (5:38)
2. Love for Sale (5:14)
3. Night and Day (4:52)
4. What is This Thing Called Love (6:14)

Side 2:

1. I Get a Kick Out of You (5:14)
2. Just One of Those Things (6:18)
3. You’re the Top (6:34)
4. All Through the Night (8:25)

Columbia Records CS 9402

(This is another from Prairie’s family. We’re both big Cole Porter fans, and while I’m not the biggest jazz fan on the planet, the Dave Brubeck Quartet has some very interesting takes on some of the old Porter standards.)

Side 1:

1. Wait ‘till the Sun Shines Nellie/Billy Boy/In the Good Old Summertime (2:02)
2. You Were Meant for Me/I’m Always Chasing Rainbows/My Blue Heaven (2:59)
3. Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home/There Is A Tavern In the Town/She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain (2:15)
4. I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now/My Gal Sal/After the Ball (2:59)
5. Listen to the Mocking Bird/Old Folks at Home/Camptown Races (2:02)
6. Swingin’ Down the Lane/I’ll See You In My Dreams/Peg O’ My Heart (3:10)

Side 2:

1. Doo Wacka Doo/Toot, Toot, Tootsie/China Boy (2:04)
2. Josephine/The Gang That Sang “Heart of my Heart”/At Sundown (2:46)
3. Give My Regards to Broadway/The Yankee Doodle Boy/Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Der-E (2:20)
4. A Bicycle Built for Two/Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis/Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1:51)
5. Shine On Harvest Moon/Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair/Ida! Sweet as Apple Cider (2:37)
6. A-Tisket A-Tasket/When You Wore a Tulip/At the Darktown Strutters’ Ball (2:18)

Columbia CL 1581

This Columbia High Fidelity recording is scientifically designed to play with the highest quality of reproduction on the phonograph of your choice, new or old. If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future.

(I’m pretty sure this was a thrift store find. I found some pretty harsh reviews when I Googled for the title, but I think it’s fun for what it is — a cheesy, silly little selection of banjo medleys. The whole thing sounds like it could have served for background music on the Muppet Show at some point (which, in my world, is a good thing).)

“I’ll Be in Sun Valley” is the new bit by Hap Miller included in this recording, but it is YOU who will be in Sun Valley and right in the world famous Duchin Room as soon as the needle hits the groove. Hap has included other numbers frequently requested in the Duchin Room so that his fans can roll back the carpet and have a Sun Valley party, any time, any place.

You’ll hear the tinkle of glasses and the laughter. You’ll see yourself dancing with your favorite partner and remember the moon shining romantically on the mountains encircling this lovely valley, high in the Sawtooth mountains of Idaho.

You’ll hear Hap give the downbeat to his smiling orchestra—the friendliest orchestra in the world. You’ll remember the time Hap played one of these 25 tunes…just for you.

The seven-piece Sun Valley orchestra includes violin, tenor saxophone, guitar, string bass, accordian, drums and piano. With this combination Hap feels he can use full volume without becoming blatant. “I want the instrumentation to have full sound and rhythm,” Hap says, “but I want people to be able to hear what their friends across the table are saying.”

Hap’s danceable music is an engraved invitation to dance with no R.S.V.P. needed and has turned Sun Valley into one of the dancingest resorts in the world. When Hap plays, guests pack the Duchin Room and request their favorite songs. We hope they are yours, too.

Side 1:

1. It Happened in Sun Valley (Open) (2:21)
2. Medley: Winter Wonderland/I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (3:35)
3. Medley: A Foggy Day/All the Things You Are/Getting to Know You (3:37)
4. Danke Schoen (2:30)
5. Alley Cat (2:35)
6. Medley: Just One of Those Things/Anything Goes (1:57)
7. La Cumparsita (2:57)
8. Black and Tan Fantasy (1:32)
9. Mack the Knife (2:15)

Side 2:

1. I’ll Be in Sun Valley (2:30)
2. Medley: The Way You Look Tonight/Shall We Dance/I Concentrate on You/This Can’t Be Love (4:49)
3. Wiener Blut (1:40)
4. La Ultima Noche (3:12)
5. Medley: Thou Swell/’S Wonderful (2:58)
6. The Sun Valley Twist (2:13)
7. Never on Sunday (2:44)
8. Mama Yo Quiero (2:24)
9. It Happened in Sun Valley (Close) (0:45)

Stanal Records S-1010 A & B

This STANAL custom made record represents the ultimate in listening enjoyment. Every aspect of recording has been carefully supervised by Stanal engineers, using the very latest electronic equipment. If this is a stereophonic record, play only on a stereophonic reproducer. If this is a monophonic record, you may purchase it knowing it will play on a monophonic reproducer as well as stereophonic equipment.

Recorded live in the Duchin Room, Sun Valley, Idaho — 1964

(This came from Prairie’s grandfather. He didn’t remember much about it, but we’re guessing it was a souvenir from a trip to the Sun Valley Lodge at some point in the past. It really reminds me of the house band at the lodge in “Dirty Dancing”.)

It was bound to happen. Here it is only a season or two A.D. (After Discotheques) and youngsters are discovering that the older generations know how to enjoy themselves. As a matter of moment, teen-agers are beginning to wallow in that way to wall-to-wall fun—the Polka.

Young America has scoured the earth for discotheque dances. They dipped into Africa for the Watusi. They went zoo-hopping for the Monkey. They set traps for the Mouse. And, despite the water shortage in the Northeastern U.S., they have been doing the Swim. The A-Go-Go’s rock to all of them. Now why shouldn’t the “In” crowd discover the polka? Here’s a Discotheque for Polka Lovers. There’s nothing happier…or more fun.

Down at the Polka Palaces in Milwaukee, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Pennsylvania when they Round Up the Gang and roll out the barrels, the carefree cult bounces around to that big, bubbling beat. When Johnny Vadnal and his orchestra let loose, everything goes but slipped discotheques. Johnny’s long a favorite around Cleveland. He’s the polka lovers’ favorite bandman.

Discotheque for Polka Lovers wraps up a whole collection of fun and games for everyone. Johnny Vadnal and his Polka Players deal out a large assortment of polka rhythms that move! If you do the polka now, you’ll hop to it. If you’ve only a learner’s permit, you’ll find that the polka is just about the most swinging dance there is. Everyone can enjoy this Discotheque for Polka Lovers.

— Mort Goode

Side 1:

1. Round Up the Gang (2:17)
2. String-A-Ling Polka (2:21)
3. Slap Happy Polka (2:35)
4. Here Goes Polka (2:34)
5. Dancing on Saturday Night Polka (2:22)

Side Two:

1. One for the Road Polka (2:32)
2. Hi-Fi Polka (2:32)
3. Good Luck to You Polka (2:27)
4. Jolly Lumberjack Polka (2:48)
5. The Arcade Avenue Polka (2:44)

RCA Camden Mono CAL-923

(Prairie and I were wandering through the Pike Place Market a few summers ago, and this was sitting out in one of the cheap bins out front of one of the music stores. The title caught our eye, and even though I didn’t have a way to listen to it at that point, we couldn’t pass it up. Once I got a turntable and we could listen to it…well, it’s far more polka-y than disco-y, and not something that is high on my regular listening pile, but it’s still worth a laugh.)