JonMichael is Neither Jon nor Michael

He by Al Hibbler (#4 in 1955)

Just in time for Christmas, Al Hibbler delivers the most obvious song about God from the 50s. Unfortunately, the lyrics are nearly repellently religious. Al Hibbler’s old school vocal and older school arrangement make render this song inert today. The question is: did it work well then? I don’t know. The McGuire Sisters also recorded a top twenty version, so it must have had some appeal. And Al does sound like he has true conviction… but I’ll never put this on as background music unless I have to.

Only You by The Platters (#5 in 1955)

The Platters’ first big hit is a song of pledging one’s true love to “Only You.” This song epitomizes the grey-scale that separates Bing Crosby from Chubby Checker. On the one hand, you have smooth precision harmony and a slightly over-powering arrangement. On the other, you have a black group with non-standard vocalizing. This song captures an innocence without being cloying or maudlin. And the lyrics embody true devotion as few others can. Even Ringo Starr’s ill-considered version captures some of the flavor, but the Platters wrote the cookbook and everyone from The Miracles to Boyz II Men listened.

The Shifting, Whispering Sands by Rusty Draper (#6 in 1955)

Differences between Rusty Draper’s “Shifting, Whispering Sands” and Billy Vaughn’s: Billy’s is spoken word, Rusty’s is sung. Billy’s focuses on “Part 1”, Rusty’s is based on “Part 2”. Billy’s features hyper-dramaticism, Rusty’s features strangely intoned vowels.

Similarities between Rusty Draper’s “Shifting, Whispering Sands” and Billy Vaughn’s: Both have the same tune (i.e. not much), both feature a boring mid-50’s chorus AND instrumentation, both suck.

Rusty Draper wins a few more points for the lack of spoken word, but still, I can’t imagine anyone turning on the radio and listening to this song.

Black Denim Trousers by The Cheers (#6 in 1955)

Bert Convy is in The Cheers and you can totally hear him. This story of the “terror of highway 101” is fun if a little square. The motorcyclist who wears the black denim trousers (trousers) has a girlfriend and hits a train. What’s interesting is the tempo. The spondee of the lyrics and the relentless instrumentation make this song both memorable (it’s so insistent) and isolated (that anyone who played this today would be laughed off the street). Unless he’s a gangsta. “And when they cleared the wreckage all they found was his black DKNY jeans.”

The Bible Tells Me So by Don Cornell (#7 in 1955)

In this day and age when you can hear Christian-rap, Christian-hard rock, Chrisitian-pop, and even Christian-bubble pop, its hard to believe that someone could get to #7 on the regular old pop charts with a song about the Bible. Times were different then, songs could promote a certain religious-ness, but this song seems like the “book of James” of God-based pop songs. Don Cornell simply says the Bible tells him how to live and addresses no matters of faith beyond that. And you’d have to be pretty devout to think this numbing light country arrangement was enough to sustain you.

The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1) by Billy Vaughn (#5 in 1955)

Spoken word singles are terrible. This one is no exception. Whoever is speaking (Billy plays instruments) clearly thinks that these are important words. They are not. The music, which one could argue is the purpose of the piece, is neither interesting nor very good. Billy Vaughn should have stuck to instrumentals. The phrase “why the white bones” is nauseating in its faux importance. I think I know why Billy Vaughn’s career hit the skids soon after Elvis. What’s surprising is why it didn’t happen sooner.

Tina Marie by Perry Como (#6 in 1955)

Perry Como is my absolute favorite of the pre-rock era singers. “Tina Marie” is so much fun you wonder why he alone couldn’t stave off folks like Elvis. (Of course, I love the SCTV bit about him.) Tina Marie is a girl that Perry “someday … [will] carry… off in [his] arms” and who wouldn’t want him? He’s backed by an overzealous male barbershop quartet (from Skokie) that really cares about what they’re singing and that’s cool. Perry proves that he cares about entertaining and singing his best no matter what. Put this one on when you’re feeling low.

New Cereal Idea

"Crypto Grahams"

It's like Alpha-Bits, but the letters all stand for different letters.

Gum Drop by The Crew Cuts (#10 in 1955)

The Crew Cuts’ only top ten of the rock era pales in comparison to “Sh-Boom” but excels when compared to its contemporaries. The song reflects this ambivalence. On the one hand, this is a pretty rockin’ song with neat staccato harmonies and cooler-than-cool attitude. While the lyrics aren’t poetry, they describe a youthful love even if the candy image is both overused and a little too mature. That said, this is not “Sh-boom” and it never will be. It doesn’t even have any nonsense lyrics. So while this song looked so fine, life isn’t really a dream, sweetheart.

Singles vs. Albums

This came out of the "Moments to Remember" post and I wanted it have its own home.

There is an article (Link to be provided later) that suggests that musicians fear having their albums torn apart by those who want to pay for a download only a couple of singles. John and I, as staunch single supporters believe that this a good thing since most albums we have to buy (to maintain out top ten list collection) are one or two good tracks sould with 17 songs worth of crap.

Sean, correctly I think, argues that album-oriented musicians will still sell the whole album because the good is there. I agree but I think that the crux of this argument is whether the album should continue to exist at all. The only reason we have the thing is because of marketing conditions surrounding vinyl. The two formats from the 60s (the 33 and the 45) were both the product of vigorous pushes by record companies that had patents on the technology, much the same way DVDs are manufactured today. This is OK for a while, but now music (masquerading as information, according to Sean) can be transferred WITHOUT any cost of creation. That's the reason no one can really push this, because now the only money record companies will make is off of the talent that they posses and in this world of narrowcasting, there is no way to make a lot of money on anybody. And they'll still have to make videos for MTV, and they'll still have to sponsor bloated concert tours pushing more money into ClearChannel's pocket.

But this is the true revolution. If Usher finishes a song, why shouldn't he make it for sale that night? Why wait until you have 13 tracks? Isn't the release date of an album meaningless. I hope that songs will eventually replace albums completely. If someone has an artistic vision for an entire album (people like Beck and Tori Amos) by all means continue to release it. But why should greedy record companies that release two or more versions of the same album (to get more money out of those who buy early) get rewarded for HOLDING back material. More discussion, doubtless will occur in the comments so stay tuned.