The New Band of Spike Jones- Plays Hank Williams Hits

Welcome to another month of the good ole Donkey Show.  I was really hip on this months records but less so after I listened to them.  Is that a good thing for me to admit?  Well, it is not that bad. Perhaps, they just looked more promising this month than actuality.  Not to say that there are not some gems out there.  Anyway, still a bit scrambled after this week (which during writing was the week of July 4th).  Wednesday was a holiday off work so in effect, it was like a week with two Mondays.

Looking at the title of this, (which I bought for a dollar), this looks like a great record  and a no-brainer to purchase.  I mean what could be better than the clown prince of music, Spike Jones, playing the songs from one of the greatest country artists ever, Hank Williams?  Well, if you were not paying attention (which I was not), this is the “new band” for Mr Jones, which unfortunately for us, was a pretty straight big band set up.

Apparently Jones (born in Long Beach, CA in 1911), grew tired of being seen as the crazy bandleader of the City Slickers, and wanted to prove that he could be legit.  He started going a dual route in 1946.  This was further pushed along by the advent of rock and roll in the 1950’s which killed the big band scene.  According to Jones, the novelty aspect was already built in to this new music.  During this time, Jones shifted away from the City Slickers and into this new band with a more straight forward sound, Heavy smoking led to his eventual death in 1965.  He was 53.

That all being said, he is this record from Liberty Records, released in 1965.  Not sure if this was released posthumously or not. No mention of death on the back cover.  Not a bad album, but one can not help but think what could have been had this been a City Slicker album.  Pretty straight forward big band renditions of William’s catalog with most of the high points of his career. Not as big band-y as I would have thought as there are a lot of modern instruments (guitar, banjo, and harmonica).

For a sample, I went with what is a sort of dixie-land tribute if you will to “Kaw-Liga”.

Did not like this album. Meh.  I get it.  It was only a dollar, but I had my hopes oh so ever set on a City Slicker type effort.

 

Pete Fountain and Al Hirt- The New Orleans Scene

I got this at Vinyl Edge in the Heights for $3. I would have bought it for either so having both artists make it a no brainer.  Plus I really bought it for the song that I am going to post.

I have had both Pete Fountain and Al Hirt on this site numerous times, but this is the first time I had them together.  Both men had deep ties to the New Orleans’ jazz scene.  Both men had their own night clubs in the French Quarter, I believe.  Both men also stole members from each others bands as well.  Despite these events, the two remained friendly in competition for the most part.

This record from Coral in 1962 and features four songs from both Fountain and Hirt in a traditional 7 piece dixieland jazz format.  The other four tunes are just Fountain,, backed by a typical West Coast rhythm section.  A fellow blog site dedicated to Fountain describes this album in more detail.  I have been leaning on other’s blogs quite frequently this month.

Blog entry on the record.

For a sample, I decided to highlight something from the two artists and I wanted to use “It’s A Long Way From Tipperary” , being one of my favorite tunes.  The song , made popular in WWI, is sung from an Irishman’s perspective, being in England for training and away from home.

Satisfactory Record