Label / Cat. No: Sacred SAC 5061
First Released: 1972

What The Album Blurb Says…

For a number of years now Jim Roberts and Norma Zimmer have provided moments of unusual enjoyment for millions of Americans. In the world of pure entertainment, longevity is synonymous with popular response. Norma and Jim have been premier performers for many years now courtesy of us, the American people, and Lawrence Welk. Mr. Welk ultimately decides who the performers will be; we feel his choice is just right!

This is the third album by Norma and Jim. Their style of singing seems perfectly matched – it’s as comfortable as a pair of gloves. they blend beautifully singing some of the most popular gospel songs of the day – and some songs that are ageless. HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL is a favourite and is performed by mass choirs around the world. thank you Audrey Mieir, for the inspiration with which you’ve graced the world! I wonder how often BEYOND THE SUNSET has been sung, played, whistled, and used as a source of comfort since Virgil Brock first penned the lovely lyric some years ago. You will enjoy having this recording in your home.

The performances of hymns on TV by Jim and Norma have opened a door that has given many additional thousands an opportunity to hear them in person; in hymn festivals, in concerts, as solo performers in Billy Graham Crusades, and in churches everywhere.

the creative arrangements on this album are by Buryl Red. Mr. Red is gifted in many areas of music, one of which is the art of arranging. you will also hear his lovely song entitled HIS GENTLE LOOK.

KURT KAISER

What I Say

I know, I know. When I bought this album I had a tiny sliver of hope that this was going to actually be about somebody called ‘Wonderful’. You know, in the same vein as ‘A boy named Sue’. I mean, there are some unusual names about. I once knew someone called Zachariah Puddlechuck, and that would make a great name for an album – ‘His Name Is Zachariah Puddlechuck’. But no, with crushing inevitability, this turned out to be an album of Christian songs, extolling the virtue of some chap name of Jesus. Or Wonderful. I’m still not sure which.

The sleeve notes warrant a bit of a further look. Firstly, longevity is apparently synonymous with popular response, apparently. Well look at Cliff Richard for a start. He’s been around since the Pilgrim Fathers, and who wants to listen to his records? Oh yes, my Mother-in-Law. Alright then, maybe Jonathan King would be a better example. There’s a man who is pretty much universally unpopular but who won’t stop making his bloody songs.

Also, who is the Lawrence Welk character who stands head and shoulders above the American People then? Well, you can see for yourself, but seeing as this was released by London label, and I’ve managed to go 37 years without ever hearing his name even casually mentioned before, I’m prepared to stick my neck out and say that that’s going to be pretty meaningless to a lot of Brits. Apologies of course to all those people better informed and educated than I…

However, I am most concerned by the line ‘You will enjoy having this recording in your home’. Is it me, or does that sound more like a command than a recommendation. Maybe it’s the Teutonic tone of Kurt Kaiser’s comment that scare the living bewonderful out me, but I’m scared. I’m scared because I have that album in my home, and I didn’t (and don’t) enjoy it. Will Mr. Kaiser come round in the dead of night, drag me off, and leave me bound and gagged and listening to his sacred music compositions. I sincerely hope not.

The music sounds like a grown-up Elaine & Derek – a collection of sweet Christian tunes which all merge into one. I’ve always found that Christian music tends to err on the side of dull. Actually, there’s a challenge for you – are there any Christian music albums that won’t bore me to tears? A prize for anyone who can find one. Anyway, as I was saying, this album features 9 samey songs.

Ah, but I hear you cry, “but there are 10 songs on this album, surely”. Well, yes there are. Just as you think you can’t take any more sweetness, side two starts with ‘Sweet, Sweet Spirit’. This song has A COUNTRY TWANG. Not enough to be exciting or offensive, of course, but just enough to lift the tedium. It was at this point that I thought that this might yet have some saving grace – a sub-Carpenters kitsch that might just make this album worth something to me.

But it wasn’t to be.

All too quickly it sank back into the banal. I mean, yes, their voices are fine, the arrangements are a bit saccharine for my tastes and seem to my untrained ears to be somewhere between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Disney soundtracks. But it’s all soooooo bland.

There is however one very positive point about this album. It clocks in at just under 28 minutes. I tell you, I’ll never have that half hour back again, but I was far more in the mood after it to thank Wonderful, if only for not having made the album a double.

Tracks

Side 1

1. His Name Is Wonderful
2. Every Moment Of Every Day
3. He Lifted Me
4. When I Kneel Down To Pray
5. I Would Be Like Jesus

Side 2

1. Sweet, Sweet Spirit
2. His Gentle Look
3. Take Up Thy Cross
4. He Touched Me
5. Beyond The Sunset

Final score:

2 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: A&M Records SP-4775
First Released: 1979

What The Album Blurb Says…

Special thanks to Kip for having such a good idea; to Kip and Herb for bringing me into it; to Juliea for all the help along the way; to everyone at A&M for keeping it such a good place to work/play; and a very special thanks to Ms. Merman. If it weren t for her great talent, dedication to “the work to be done,” sense of humor, love of life, generosity and the ability to give of herself…well then, most of us wouldn’t want to do another hundred records, T.V. shows, state fairs, etc… with her.

Thanks, Ethel, for the continuing reminders of what it’s all about…

Love, Peter Matz

“For decades Ethel Merman has been the heart and soul of the American Musical Theatre. Hearing this album, I’m convinced that this Disco Diva may be taking a whole new career! Not only are these songs among the world’s favorites, but the sheer joy of Merman’s voice makes me want to get up and dance. Bless you for boogeying, Ethel, you’re hot as a pistol!”

Paul Jabara

“P.S. When are you going to sing one of my tunes?!”

What I Say

Back in the late 80s I was a big fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway, the ‘comedy’ improvisation show. (I put ‘comedy’ in speech marks because, seeing it again recently on re-runs, I realised just how pedestrian it really was). Often the show would end with a game called ‘Party Quirks’ – one of the ensemble would play the part of a party host, and his guests all had idiosyncrasies which the host had to guess. The guests of course couldn’t just walk in and say ‘I’m a Mexican Astronaut’ because that would just be too easy, and not make for very interesting television. Despite having been quite a big fan, the only thing I remember is one round of party quirks where someone had to demonstrate that they communicated with the dead. At one point he sang ‘I hear voices and there’s no-one there’, to which the host (on that occasion Tony Slattery) replied, “Oh! He thinks he’s Ethel Merman”. e.t.a. – I’ve since been informed that Tony Slattery was quoting ‘Airplane!’, which makes sense.

And that, gentle reader, was the sum total of my knowledge of Ethel Merman until now. Or at least, I thought it was. Having listened to this album, I realise that although I may never have seen or heard Ethel directly (see, we’re on first name terms already), I have heard her parodied a thousand times. On all those American sit-coms when somebody ‘amusingly’ bursts into song, or takes on a big dramatic number, the voice that they’re impersonating is Ethel’s. You don’t believe me? Just listen to the how she pronounces ‘know’ in ‘like no-business I know’, and you will have an instant pang of recognition.

It seems that our Ethel is a comedic cliché, the distinctive voice of American Musical Theatre, a vocal shorthand to all that is glamorous and over-the-top in Broadway. I’d say she was the American Elaine Paige but that seems unfair. At least Ethel seems to have some charisma…

But if Ethel herself is a cliché, then what can I say about this album? In 1979 when Disco still seemed newish and exciting, this may have been a truly revolutionary album. When worlds collide. The old and the new. But now it just seems like a bunch of old standards with an uninspired disco backing added on afterwards. It’s kind of telling that Ethel came into the studio and did her normal renditions of the songs in a single take. There’s no integration or fusion here, and the two layers seem to operate independently of each other. You have some lively old songs, and some non-descript Disco instrumentals, but the total is substantially less than the sum of its parts.

Ethel’s voice sounds… strong for a 71 year old, but I can’t say it’s exactly to my tastes. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with this album, other than it should never have been made. Ethel worked in Musical Theatre, not Studio 54, and it just seems to tarnish what was otherwise a pretty heady career. I say shame on the producers who clearly wanted to make a fast buck on the back of the Disco phenomena by trying to appeal to two separate markets to try and double their profits. The cads.

It’s worth reading the ‘About This Video’ section on this YouTube offering to give another insight into opinions of this album. Unapologetic. Shocking. But honest about this album’s place in the Disco pantheon.

As a final point, I should probably point out that this barely falls into the category of ‘Forgotten Albums’. After all, this was rereleased as a CD, and apparently has quite a cult following. It even has its own Wikipedia Page. So, can I call it a Forgotten Album? Well, it was in a cardboard box, under a table, in a corner of a charity shop sited in a Livestock Market in Hereford. I’d therefore say pretty much, Yes. I also think, having forced myself to listen to the whole bloody thing that it really should have stayed forgotten.

Doing it right:-

Tracks

Side 1

1. There’s No Business Like Show Business
2. Everything’s Coming Up Roses
3. I Get A Kick Out Of You

Side 2

1. Something For The Boys
2. Some People
3. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
4. I Got Rhythm

Final score:

2 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: Cambrian MCT 219
First Released: 1972

What The Album Blurb Says…

Maralene Powell made her first record as a solo artiste. Her second recording was in comapny with Gareth Edwards who for a brief moment exchanged the rugby field for the sound studio.

In this, her first album, Maralene presents a collection of songs which are as varied in subject as they are melodic in nature.

Family music at the fireside has been usurped in past decades by radio and television, but these technical wonders are now commonplace and making one’s own music is becoming a rediscovered pleasure. This is indeed a talented family for in this record Maralene is joined by her brother and sister, Aubrey and Denise and her brother in law – John. The quiet mid Wales valley of Pantydwr must often echo to their songs.

“Amazing Grace” cannot be too frequently recorded for each singer brings something new to the listener. The Gentlemen Songsters who join Maralene in this version with such effect are too well known to need introduction. “Morning has Broken” is an old melody which lingers in the mind long after the echoes have died away.

This is a collection of ballads and folk songs, some old and some new. “Love is Teasing” is from the distant past while “Deportee” underlines how cheaply human life is sometimes held in the modern world.

Together they are a collection without a theme – unless what ordinary people feel and experience is thematic. Maralene is already well known on record and in concert, but this is the first recording of the Four P’s and it must widen even further their circle of admirers.

What I Say

In light of the fact that the Taffs had a lucky victory on Saturday, I thought it only right we should look at one of their countryfolk for today’s outing. And so we have the lovely Maralene Powell, a farmer’s daughter from Pantydwr in Radnorshire. I’m not sure Radnorshire even exists any more, though there is a pub just a stone’s throw from here called the Radnorshire Arms. See, a little background colour for you there.

Although it’s ostensibly a Maralene album, the full title is Just For You – Maralene Powell and the Four P’s sing a selection of folk and country songs for your pleasure. And I thought Script For A Jester’s Tear was enough of a mouthful. These ‘Four P’s’ confuse me though. There’s a picture of them on the front, matching Salmon pink tops, flares armed and dangerous, and rolling Welsh landscape behind. And I think Maralene is one of the Four Ps. It certainly looks like her, and the sleeve notes refer to how Maralene is “joined by her brother and sister, Aubrey and Denise and her brother in law – John”. That makes three other people, Maralene being the fourth. So why is it Maralene AND the Four Ps. Surely it’s either ‘The Four Ps’ or ‘Maralene and the Three Ps’. Surely Maralene is being counted twice. I shouldn’t let it bother me, but this is exactly the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night.

I’ve just noticed that on the back of the album it says it’s called ‘Maralene Powell with the Four “P’s” and the Gentlemen Songsters present a selection of Folk and Country songs for your pleasure.. Seems like everybody’s getting in on the credits. Good job they didn’t put that on the cover of the album, or there wouldn’t have been enough room for that lovely picture of Maralene looking foxy.

The songs are a bit of an odd mix. Understandably, given the nature of the Welsh, there are a few religious songs on here – ‘Tramp On The Street’ stood out for likening the treatment of Jesus to the death of an unloved Tramp. On The Street. A strange comparison to make, but at least I remembered it! Amazing Grace is handled well, and the Male Voice Choir, sorry, the ‘Gentlemen Songsters’ make sure you know this is a Welsh record. But the version of Morning Has Broken struck me as a little… off. The pianist and the guitarist seemed hesitant, and not quite sure when to come in to best compliment the vocals. It leads me to believe (though I may be completely wrong) that the song was recorded ‘live’ in the studio.

I do have a few concerns though with the choice of songs. We have an album created by someone with great potential and a good voice, but the songs just don’t seem to do Maralene justice.

Firstly, there is a tendency on this side of the Atlantic to believe that Country songs hold some meaning for us. They don’t. Really. It’s nice to listen to, and I’ve learned over the last few years to love Country music, but there is something so very wrong about a singer from North Wales telling me about her Louisiana home, and how the cotton crop has done this year. I’m not saying you have to stick to what you know and sing about daffodils and leeks, but there is only a certain degree of credulity I can muster, and it stops short of believing you’re a prairie flower.

What causes me more of a worry are the two songs that start side two – ‘Love Is Teasing’ and ‘I Will Never Marry’ – they both carry the same message, which is that men are feckless bastards who will get what they want from you, then cast you aside. You can’t trust them, so don’t waste your time on them. I shant comment further, only to suggest that maybe Maralene had one or two boyfriend issues at the time….? Mere speculation….

We also have a rendition of ‘Nobody’s Child’, a song last seen on Tony Best – By Request, and of such awful sludgy sentimentality that it makes me nauseous just to think about it. It’s a song about how the narrator goes to an orphanage and finds a blind boy who nobody wants (because he’s blind, obviously), and how said blind orphan believes he’d be better off dead because at least in Heaven he’d be able to see. This really is the most unpleasant song I think I’ve heard since No Charge. Yes, it’s really that bad.

The record is released on Cambrian Recordings, a label I hadn’t come across at all before, and one that has a strong Welsh pedigree, boasting Max Boyce and Mary Hopkin as signed artists.

Maralene’s voice is rather lovely. It has that pure, clean tone that was so favoured in folk circles in the 60s and 70s. That may however have been her downfall in that while the voice is technically good, it doesn’t ( to my ears at least) stand out above the other recording artists of the time. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it – in fact, there’s a lot to commend it, but it lacks that distinctive edge that could elevate it into wider public recognition.

Equally, the album doesn’t have a focus – had it been an album of religious songs or an album of standards, it might have fared better, but it seems to lack identity as one or the other, and so ends up a bit of a hodge podge. That’s not to say I won’t be listening to it again. But you can be sure I’ll be skipping Nobody’s sodding Child.

Tracks

Side 1

(This is, by the way, the first album that I have ever seen that listed it’s tracks a, b, c.)

(a) Amazing Grace
(b) Morning Has Broken
(c) See That Little Boy
(d) Deportee
(e) There But For Fortune
(f) Tramp On The Street

Side 2

(a) Love Is Teasing
(b) I Never Will Marry
(c) Nine Hundred Miles
(d) Country Girl
(e) Cotton Fields
(f) Nobody’s Child

Final score:

6.75 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: Stereo Gold Award MER408
First Released: 1976

What The Album Blurb Says…

The truck driving man is about as individual and as special a breed of man as you’re ever likely to meet. He’s a man used to long silences broken only by the soft hum of wheels that burn up the miles between lonely townships. He has his own set of driving rules, his own language and his own songs. They’re songs that truly reflect the nomadic life that he leads and the situations that lie around each bend in the road, songs with titles like “Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves”, “Burning Rubber” and “Bumper to Bumper”. The truck driving man may sing, hum or whistle them as he drives along that long black ribbon of tarmac towards his destination. Now you can share these songs of the road, as Big Dave and the Tennessee Tailgaters play and sing the tunes that have their own special message for each truck driving man… wherever he may be.

What I Say

I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, but I’m as sure as I can be that this album is a cheap and nasty record cynically trying to cash in on the 1970’s trucker / Convoy fad. Yes, shocking I know, but I’m willing to bet there there is no such person as ‘BIG DAVE’, let alone the Tennessee Tailgaters.

Let’s look at the evidence shall we? Firstly, there’s the fact that BIG DAVE isn’t being used to push this album. The biggest text on the album sleeve is ‘Truck Driving Man’. Poor BIG DAVE is relegated to a small corner of the tarmac, and his Tennessee Tailgaters get an even smaller point size. If you go looking for BIG DAVE on the internet (along with the TTs, of course), the only reference you’ll find is to this album. Hmmmm…. sounds mighty fishy to me.

Secondly, Big Dave manages to sound like a very convincing woman on ‘Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves’, probably because it is sung by a woman. So unless BIG DAVE is either a) an hermaphrodite with an ability to switch voices at will, b) a very good impressionist or c) has an incredible range, then I don’t think he alone tackles the vocals. Fair enough, it may be one of his Tennessee Tailgaters, but as there are sadly very few details on the record sleeve, it’s hard to tell.

But the most damning evidence for how nastily this album has been thrown together to hang on to the ‘Convoy’ fad of ‘76 is all connected to that particular song.

Exhibit A – the big splash across the young ladies nether regions saying ‘including CONVOY’. Clearly the makers of this album are using that song as the attention grabber. After all, why else paste those words across her mimsy. However….. there is a further implication by placing the splash there. It’s suggesting censorship, that the young lady leaning suggestively on the cab of the truck may be showing more than she should.

But look! Thanks to the internet, I found a copy of the original, American version of this album, and LOOK! No splash, no ‘including CONVOY’, and no flesh needing to be censored….

Exhibit B – some simple maths. On the front cover it lists 7 songs, and says ‘& 4 Others’

By my reckoning that makes 11 songs. But look at the track listing…. six songs on each side. That always made 12 when I was at school, which means they’ve stuck an extra song on there. I’m betting it’s Convoy.

Exhibit C – The vocalist on CONVOY does not sound at all like BIG DAVE. In fact, he sounds completely different to BIG DAVE, to the degree whereby I would argue with some confidence that it’s not BIG DAVE at all, but some completely other person.

Exhibit D – The credits on the album label are all intact for every other song. Every single one. Except Convoy. Why would that be, unless it was a last minute addition to the album.

Now, I may be going out on a limb here, but I reckon that this album, originally released in America, had a version of Convoy stuck on for the British market becuase the timing meant that Convoy was fresh in the mind of the British music buyer, and this was a dirty, nasty, cynical way of selling their grubby little record. BIG DAVE? Big FRAUD, I say.

Which means I haven’t spoken about the music (mostly Country with a couple of Bluegrass instrumentals), the inability for the culture to translate (American Knights of the Road on the wide open plains vs. a bloke from Dudley in overalls sitting on the A14 to catch the night ferry to Zeebrugge) or how this music is inappropriate (instrumentals telling of the life of the truck drivin’ man? How does that work. Oh, and that ‘Diesel Smoke Sally’ seems to be about a woman who’ll sleep with any trucker who passes through her cafe. Charming).

But you don’t need to know about all that, when it’s all been built on such flimsy foundations. You know, I never thought I’d have to turn detective, but I’m glad that I’ve saved you from this charlatan. You may thank me at your leisure.

Tracks

Side 1

1. Truck Driving Man
2. Gimme Forty Acres
3. Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves
4. Burnin’ Rubber
5. King Of The Road
6. T-Town Tailgaitin’

Side 2

1. Convoy
2. Six Days On The Road
3. Giddy Up-Go
4. Diesel Smoke Sally
5. Bumper To Bumper
6. Girl On The Billboard

Final score:

1 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: Hirra HLS 207831
First Released: 1974

What The Album Blurb Says…

The Kaye Family must surely rank as unique among musical entertainers. Mother, Father, Daughter and Son, whilst each projecting strong individual qualities in their respective talents, merge into a blendship of melodic unity, which is smoothly maintained throughout a warm and appealing performance.

Audience attention is commanded by supreme musicianship, smack on timing that would do justice to a space shot and a superb arranging ability. Deeply insighted into people’s requirement in entertainment, they have the happy gift of presenting the very best material covering a spectrum from light to popular music.

This intimate family unit, small as it is, nevertheless produces the big sound.

The skilful change of immaculate gowns, by the ladies who supply the vocals, compliments their splendid harmony.

There is nothing magical in their success, just hard unrelenting work, dedication to their art and that impelling desire in all true professionals to bring and give only of the best to the people.

Ringing the curtain down on The Kaye Family is a difficult task, the clamour is always for more.

Call your own family together, set the turntable to 33 1/3 r.p.m. and be assured that you too will spin this disc many times.

DICK DOYLE
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen
South Wales

What I Say

Can I get this out of the way first. Musical family groups are creepy. From the Von Trapp singers to The Jackson Five, there is something just so…. wrong about large members of the same family performing together. I think the optimum level is two brothers – just look at Oasis, Spacehog or The Black Crowes. Two brothers bring the necessary friction, the dynamic which pushes both to outperform and out achieve the other.

But just look at the Kaye Family. You know behind the bearded face at the keyboard lies a tartar. A man who has marshalled his wife and children into his dreams of stardom. “Sharon darling, we need another baby. We don’t have a drummer. Brace yourself…”.

And this is the result…. I’m saying nothing.

To be fair, the family are all talented musicians (in their own way), but how many teenagers would a) voluntarily practice their musical instruments, b) want to spend large amounts of their free time rehearsing with their parents, and c) appearing in public, not only with your parents, but wearing the same clothes as them. I can only imagine the number would be very small, which means that either the Kaye Family are one in a milllion, or Old Man Kaye beats his children in time to the ‘Rumba’ setting on his organ.

Of course he doesn’t. I think legally I need to make it clear that I do not believe that Mr Kaye in any way mistreats his family. Though of course, he does mistreat the audience with his organ led arrangements. The Rumba is his favourite setting (NOT for beating his family, NOT for beating his family – I can’t stress that enough), as everything has that very 1970s latin arrangement to try and make them sound exotic and mysterious. I’m not sure how exotic and mysterious the Canton Liberal Club, Cardiff on a June night in 1974 really was, but I’m sure the Kaye Family helped the atmosphere along enormously.

These are clearly a band who’ve done the club circuit. They belt out the numbers double fast, not giving the audience the chance to catch their breath, throw missiles or shout insults. Just listen to the introduction and see how long it takes them to launch into the fastest version of ‘Cabaret’ that you will ever, ever hear. And ‘Aquarius’ gets the same treatment. Be still my racing heart, it’s all that I can do to keep my breath.

I’ve often found that if you listen carefully to a lot of these old albums I find, you can often find one of the musicians, there in the background, just itching to be allowed a chance to break free and really show what he can do. You don’t have to look too hard on this album to find that member of the group. The son (let’s call him Jim. I have no idea what his name is, but Jim seems as good as any) clearly toes the party line on the drums. His father’s arrangements are strictly adhered to. But there seems to be a pay off. Maybe Jim’s got something on his old man… some indiscretion maybe, or knowledge of a dark family secret. But clearly there is a deal been struck here. Jim plays his old man’s parts to the letter, but he’s allowed to let rip at the end of the songs. And by Jove does this boy let rip! Think Animal from The Muppets on steroids. Jim is up for some serious thrashing of those skins. So the gentle folk rhythms of ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’ end with Jim rockin’ the house. And good on him I say.

Dad demands his moment in the spotlight, and gets a solo spot with his ‘Short Selection of Famous Overtures’, which I will just say is possibly the most tedious thing I have ever had to listen to. Although Jim livens it up a bit at the end in his own inimitable style. And then Jim gets to lead on ‘Midnight In Moscow’, and things start to go crazy. Seven Russian Themed songs in a medley with drums as lead instrument all the way. Magic in a tin it is, magic in a tin.

Ultimately, I can’t blame them for the way they look, because it was 1974 so this was what was expected (even the silver capes, I suspect). I can’t blame them for providing populist entertainment because they’re doing the club circuit, and that’s what’s needed. I can’t even blame them for being slightly creepy because they’re a family, and unlike a lot of families, at least they’re spending a lot of time together and doing something creative.

What I can blame them for is getting Dick Doyle to write their album blurb, and for using a word as obscene as ‘blendship’. Eurghhh. What were they thinking?

Oh, and it turns out his name’s not Jim. It’s Adrian. I should have guessed. He looks like an Adrian.

Tracks

Side 1

Cabaret
Put On A Happy Face
Something’s Going To Happen Tonight
Love Me With All Your Heart
Quando Quando
Never Ending Song Of Love
Everybody Loves A Lover
High On A Hill
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Too Young

Side 2

Granada
White Rose Of Athens
A Short Selection Of Famous Overtures
Aquarius
Midnight In Moscow
Volga Boat Song
Gopak
Black Eyes
From Russia With Love
Kalinka

Final score:

6.5 out of 10 but only because I’m strangely drawn to their bass playing daughter…

Label / Cat. No: Sacred SAC 5064
First Released: 1972

What The Album Blurb Says…

SOUNDS OF FRESH WATERS are exciting new sounds from Merv and Merla Watson, two remarkable musicians, well-trained and refreshingly creative. The music from this husband-wife team is a rare find in its up-to-date lyrics and original sounds that communicates with any audience.

Merv and Merla are not like some folk singers you’ve heard. They have a different drive, an unusual commitment to their music and its message. The songs they sing are a part of them, for they have spent many long hours in composing, scoring, searching for the right words to please their audiences across their native Canada and the United States.

Merla is accomplished as a vocalist, pianist and violist. In 1962 she toured the Middle East as soloist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation concert party entertaining U.N. troops. Merv, outstanding with the guitar and accordion, is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has taught music in the Toronto schools. Together the two originated the idea of the Schoolhouse Concerts in Toronto to stimulate interest in the performing arts as a means of Christian witnessing.

The concert series met with immediate success, as did Merv and Merla, as they sang their own folk music at each concert. Recognition for the two came quickly and they began touring with their folk-gospel music, receiving acclaim for their ability. Audiences everywhere responded enthusiastically to their music that moves naturally, uninhibited by tradition or boundaries.

This album is their finest work, sounds and feelings that are jubilant, some haunting in the contemplation of God, others crystal clear in lyric, all fresh and new, a symbol of their faith.

What I Say

I don’t think I’ve ever met or known of anyone called Merla. To my 30something English ears, there’s a certain exotic ring to the name. It conjures up 1950’s mid-west diners, gingham and bitter coffee. For all I know, it could have the same connotations as ‘Doris’ or ‘Mabel’ over here, but there is a certain glamour I can’t help but imagine.

The picture of Merla in a very 1972 dress with her racy gold shoes does nothing to dim my excitement. The only thing that can do that is to listen to the album.

I know that the job of the album blurb is to sell the album to the casual record browser, but you can’t help but wonder how they can promise so much and yet deliver so little. In the case of Merv and Merla, I had considered a line by line breakdown of their claims against the reality, but I can feel a rant coming on, and would need a couple of aspirin and a good long lie-down if I went down that route.

But there are four key issues that I think do need to be addressed:-

1. The up-to-date lyrics reflect a two-millenia old system of religious beliefs. Not the most up-to-date now, is it?
2. Communicates with any audience? Surely that’s the point of an audience, or am I missing something here?
3. Merla is “accomplished as a vocalist, pianist and violist”. So why picture her on the album cover holding a guitar, an instrument which you seem to be saying she wields with all the grace of a lump-hammer?
4. Merv is a graduate of the University of Toronto is he? In what subject? Zoology? Physics? What?

One other thing that bugs me is that poor Merla is relegated into second billing, even though alphabetically her name comes first, just. Is poor Merla just another victim of the misogyny of patriarchal society, or does ‘Merv and Merla’ just sound better than ‘Merla and Merv’? You decide.

The music itself is an odd blend. The album starts with a guitar sounding like a harpsichord, which leads into liturgical-influenced melody. It seems to be tripping over itself, but never quite falls.

At times this album conjured up 1960s Leonard Cohen (that’ll be the folk element then), and at other times, it reminded me of the soundtrack from ‘Hair’ (though being Christians, I kind of doubt that Merv and Merla would be cavorting naked, covered in body paint during their “Schoolhouse Concerts”.) Some of it was quite Jewish in its influences, and it was only subsequently that I found out that Merv and Merla now reside in Israel.

There’s talk on that site of ‘Merla’s Miracle’, a book detailing how Merla defied the surgeon’s predictions after a ‘bizarre’ accident where a piano crushed her hand, and in fact did play professionally again. You will of course be pleased to know that in the cause of furthering my knowledge of the artists I present to you here, I have tracked down and purchased a copy of ‘Merla’s Miracle’, and I will of course let you know in due course what the book’s like.

The most bizarre track however is ‘The Time of The Singing Of The Birds’ in which Merv and Merla whoop, holler and tweet like a pair of demented magpies. Sadly this track jumps on my copy, meaning I can’t present it in it’s fullness. But thanks to the wonder and diversity of YouTube, I found that someone had used it to enhance some video of some birds.

So ladies and gentlemen, kick back, relax, and enjoy the freakish sound of Merv and Merla.

Tracks

Side 1

1.O Sing A New Song
2. Consider Him
3.The Time Of The Singing Of The Birds
4. Miracles
5.Hear My Prayer
6.Just Before Midnight

Side 2

1. I Will Sing
2. The Lord Is My Shepherd
3.It’s Gotta Be Great
4. In The Night
5. The Seed Of Joy
6. Grace Be To You And You

Final score:

5.75 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: World Wide Recordings BG 2932
First Released: 1970

What The Album Blurb Says…

On July 7, 1967, Billy Graham crossed the Yugoslav border above Trieste, en route to his first public meetings in Eastern Europe. We well remember the enthusiastic reception he received in Zagreb. During his EURO 70 Crusade, the evangelist “returned” to the same city when it joined 35 others to be linked with Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle, in Europe’s largest ever, closed circuit TV network.

Although Mr. Graham has not yet visited Czechoslovakia, members of the team have taken his personal greetings to Christians there. They have confirmed my own conviction that God’s people in Eastern Europe can be more closely identified with those described in the Book of Acts than any others we have seen.

This record, introduced by Cliff Barrows leading congregational singing in Prague, captures something of the victorious spirit of these our fellow members of the Body of Christ. It is presented with the hope that it will encourage Western Christians to pray for them, as they pray for us, and thus strengthen the ties which bind our hearts in Christian love.

Dave Foster, Eurovangelism

What I Say

What an oddity we have to mark the “long-awaited” return of , a 1970 souvenir of Billy Graham’s tour to Europe. I have to admit something of a vested interest here, in that in 1984 I saw Billy at Ipswich Town Football Stadium where his doom mongering, predictions of an imminent nuclear war and obvious showmanship had the opposite effect on me than that intended.

For me, the most striking thing about this record is that half of the front cover is taken up with the stark warning “Phongraphic RECORD – DO NOT DROP OR CRUSH. KEEP AWAY FROM EXCESSIVE HEAT”. I’m not sure if Mr. Graham’s records are more prone to being dropped or crushed, but by 1970 I’m pretty sure most people with phonographic reproduction equipment were pretty au fait with vinyl handling techniques. I’m tempted to analyse further, but good taste and decency prevents me…

Anyway, first thing to note is that this ‘Billy Graham’ album contains no actual Billy Graham. Not a bit of it. The spoken introduction and final prayer are from his ‘music and program director’, Cliff Barrows. While I’ve got nothing against Cliff (well, apart from the fact that he made a film with Cliff Richard which would prejudice you against most people), you buy a Billy Graham album, you expect a bit of Billy action. I’m tempted to complain of false advertising here…

Cliff’s proselytizing bookends the musical content of the album, Christian music sung by a variety of Eastern European choirs and organisations. There’s some diversity here, from the almost but not quite Welsh stylings of the Prague Male Voice Choir, to the instrumental pieces which sound like the soundtrack to a piece of avant-garde Soviet animation.

However, my clear favourite by a country mile is the Bratislava Youth Ensemble. While the rest of the album provides foreign language versions of Western favourites or tunes embedded in Romantic folk, the Youth Ensemble are giving it large in a very 1970s Eastern European understated way. The songs are just that little bit more chirpy than the Wesleyan sounding hymns, and there’s the acoustic guitar, so beloved on Christian Youth Groups. During ‘Mary Magdalene’, there’s even a bass guitar, and you can tell that the bassist is just itching for an excuse to burst into ‘Jazz Oddysey’. Thirty seven years on, their exciting, youthful glee sounds like every other progressive Christian Youth Group of the last couple of generations, only in Slovak.

The rest of the album is…. curious. It’s like trying to watch ‘The Weakest Link’ in a language you don’t understand. You understand the format and the mechanics, but lack the comprehension. I have the tune of ‘What a Friend We Have In Jesus’ ingrained on my memory from years of Sunday School, but the novelty here is that it’s in Czech. Almost like a cover version. Which reminds me, I have an excellent version of ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’ by the Smiths sung in German. Nothing to do with Billy Graham, but then again, nor has this album really.

Tracks

Side 1

1. Greetings and congregational singing of Blessed Assurance (Cliff Barrows and congregation of Baptist Church, Prague)
2. Jerusalem The Golden (Baptist Choir, Bratislava) Slovak
3. His Eye Is On The Sparrow (Rumanian solo)
4. The Head That Once Was Crowned With Thorns (Male Voice Choir, Prague)
5. Mary Magdalene (Youth Ensemble, Bratislava) Slovak
6. Wonderful Name Of Jesus (Euro 70 Choir, Dortmund) German
7. Doxology (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech

Side 2

1. What A Friend We Have In Jesus (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech
2. Roll Jordan Roll (in English) (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech
3. This Little Light Of Mine (Unique Instrumental Duet) Czech
4. What Is He To You? (Youth Ensemble, Bratislava) Slovak
5. Surely Goodness And Mercy (Baptist Choir, Zagreb) Yugoslavia
6. Just As I Am (with final prayer by Cliff Barrows) (Baptist Choir, Bratislava) Slovak

Final score:

3 out of 10 for incomprehensible (to me) cover versions..

Label / Cat. No: Chevron Records CHVL 177
First Released: 1979

What The Album Blurb Says…

To reach the coveted number one spot in the British charts is not only an achievement all ‘home-grown’ artists long for, it is a pinnacle which any band or solo artist in the world today would love to reach. Featured on this album are musical tributes to the people who have achieved that rare distinction this year. Our own versions of these hits are performed by a select group of session musicians and singers handpicked from the cream of the studio world.

1979 has seen a real potpourri of musical styles gain commercial success and so it follows that this year’s number ones are, in their own way, all quite unique. From the synthesized sounds of “Are Friends Electric” to the brilliant harmonies of “Tragedy”. From the futuristic lyrics of “Video Killed The Radio Star” to the foreboding lines of “I Don’t Like Mondays”, all twelve songs comprise an entertaining look back on the past year’s music. Enjoy it!

What I Say

Oh, at last! I’ve hit paydirt. This album is a reminder of why I got into this field of work in the first place. Yes, yes, I know it’s not work, and I’ve not been here long, but all the same…. Where do I start? There is so much that is gloriously wrong about this album I’m spoiled for choice.

Chaps of a certain age in Great Britain will certainly remember the ‘Top of The Pops’ albums of the 70s. Semi annual compilations of all the current hits performed by wannabes and session musicians struggling (though failing) to sound like the original artists. A cheap and cheerful precursor to the ‘Now’ series of albums which killed off the cover-compilation market in one fell swoop. After all, who’d want to have soundalikes when you can get an album stuffed with the original artist recordings?

My knowledge of music law is slim, but as I understand it, record companies own the recordings they release, but not the songs. To licence the recordings for a compilation album would be prohibitively expensive. But get a few hungry musicians into some dead studio time, churn out piss-poor versions of current hits, and you’ve got a licence to print money.

So, back to those ‘Top Of The Pops’ albums (which I’m sure I’m obliged to point out had nothing to do with the TV programme of the same name….) On every cover was a picture of a spectacularly zeitgeisty model wearing something light and flimsy (and preferably off the shoulder), and looking slightly surprised, like you’d just caught her having an inappropriate thought. Pretty much the same kind of thing you used to see on peanut packet display cards. Probably still do, if you buy peanuts, which I can’t say I do all that often. Not that that’s relevant now.

I accept fully that these albums had a fantastic reason for their production. Pop consumers don’t necessarily want to buy all the albums, or even singles, that these cover jobbies have on them, so to have them all in one place is cheap and convenient. Also, it also meant you never had to think about what to get your Dad for Christmas. This year’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ album? That’ll do nicely.

But the ‘Top of the Pops’ albums were at least a brand, and were pretty mainstream. You’d always find them well marketed at Woolworths at the very least. But this item we have before us today? Chevron Records? Top Hits of the Year? I never realised that there was a cheaper and nastier alternative to the cheap and nasty alternative provided by TOTP.

Let’s start with the cover, shall we? I suppose we can forgive that fact that this is the late 70s, and this brand of cheerful sexism was still de rigeur. I’m a little concerned by the all in one vest / leotard, 100% man made materials, chemical yellow number the dear lady is wearing, and I suppose the flower in her hair is more a gypsy / spanish allusion than a throwback to the summer of love. However, I can’t help but wonder what people like Ian Dury, Sting or Bob Geldof would think to having an album of their material graced by such gloriously tacky cover art. I may be being presumptuous here, but I’m not sure it’s really their bag…..

The idea that the fine people at Chevron Records try to present this as a “tribute” to those outstanding individuals doesn’t quite ring true. Not unless their definition of “tribute” is “to cynically make money on the back of the songwriting of other people far more talented than we are” which, to be fair to them is possible. But as they commanded me in the sleeve notes to “Enjoy it”, then I feel beholden to do so.

Actually, it’s not that hard to enjoy. The pleasure may not be, as our friends at Chevron records expected, derived from pure enjoyment at the high quality of these recordings. Instead, all entertainment as far as I can tell comes from seeing how hard these poor people are trying to faithfully replicate the original recordings. Sadly, I can report that in every instance, they fail to cut the mustard, and the results are often hilarious. I can clearly picture some ‘Filthy Ralph’ style producer in his smoke filled studio saying ‘ah, fuck it, that sounds close enough. Right, who’s going to be Gary Numan?’ Oh, and if you don’t recognise the ‘Filthy Ralph’ reference, you haven’t watched enough ‘Filthy, Rich & Catflap’ and you should rectify that immediately.

Part of the problem, I admit, is that most of these songs have gone on to be remembered as classics. Fair enough, who remembers Lena Martell except my Mum? But we all know what ‘Heart of Glass’ should sound like. And it’s not like this. Sting’s vocal ticks are so familiar that without them ‘Message In A Bottle’ sounds just weird. And who in their right mind would even attempt to sound like Ian Dury or Bob Geldof? It can only end up as a dreadful parody at best.

I mean, the guy who does Ian Dury sounds like he’s from a public school, and is doing his best to sound like a geezer, but just comes across like his hernia needs attention. An effeminate Gary Numan? And don’t even ask about their “Trevor Horn”. Instead of using the vocoder (?) at the beginning of ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’, they just get him to sing in a squeaky, semi-strangulated voice.

Having done a little checking, there were five other Number Ones in 1979 which, for reasons best known to themselves, failed to make the grade for this album. Two were by artists already featured (Sunday Girl – Blondie and Cars – Gary Numan), but I do feel cheated knowing that we could have had versions of YMCA, Another Brick In The Wall, and worst of all, Dr Hook’s “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman”. I’m sure you feel cheated too.

Tracks

Side 1
One Day At A Time
We Don’t Talk Anymore
Message In A Bottle
I Will Survive
Are Friends Electric
Heart Of Glass

Side 2

I Don’t Like Mondays
Ring My Bell
Bright Eyes
Video Killed the Radio Star
Tragedy
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

Final Score

8.5 out of 10 – a valuable half point lost by the omission of Dr Hook.

Label / Cat. No: Hallmark Records HMA 230
First Released: Sometime After 1963

What The Album Blurb Says…

Comfortable. At first glance it doesn’t seem the ideal word to sum up the sound of Miki and Griff, but listen a little closer to the kind of songs that they sing to the way in which they’re presented and you may, after all, find it a rather apt appraisal.

They’re comfortable because everything that they do vocally is easy on the ear and has a warm and friendly approach, rather like the greeting of an old and much loved friend. It’s an approach that this two-some have found success with ever since they teamed up and began delighting stage and television audiences. And in the late 1950’s they began to find recording success, notably with “Little Bitty Tear” which, despite the formidable competition offered by Burl Ives, gave the couple a solid chart hit.

This collection of songs encompasses titles that Miki and Griff fans know and love. “Vaya Con Dios” “Can’t stop loving you” “Tennessee Waltz” and “Hold back tomorrow” are the sorty of songs we expect Miki and Griff to sing and because they perform them so delightfully and with their own natural charm, listening is, well… comfortable?

What I Say

I had no idea that there was an English country movement in the late 50s. However, I should have guessed – growing up in Suffolk in the 70s, where the populace was 20 years behind the times, the proliferation of Country bands (I’m told I mustn’t call it Country & Western) should have been a giveaway.

I’d also never heard of Miki and Griff, but the album cover just oozed drew me in. The slightly older lady with pearl necklace (ooer missus) and very 50s dress sitting on a mock stile while a slightly leering gentleman in acryclic cardigan and a side parting you could use as a set square leans in in a vaguely threatening way is classic charity shop record cover. There’s even the kind of toy cat that causes nightmares in over-sensitive children lurking between the happy couple.

The music? Well, the music is incidental – I could look at these two all day, but the assessment of ‘comfortable’ is one I’d go along with. If only because all the tunes seem vaguely familiar. The title track, which opens the album, is just a distillation of every country-lite tune you’ve ever heard. The steel guitar is understated, and you can just feel the guitarist wanted to break out and wail all over it. Rockin’ Alone tells a sad story of geriatric abuse, and in what was obviously a more innocent time, Griff (and I am assuming Griff is the male in this partnership) says he knows of some teenagers who would love to have an old lady like this to look after, as if she were their own granny. These days the teens would nick her pension to spend on cider. Probably. Yes, yes, I know there are some perfectly lovely teenagers out there, before anyone starts complaining. Which is unlikely, really, seeing as nobody reads this yet. Or possibly ever….

Anyway, yes, so the tunes continue. Vaya Con Dios…. well, it probably sounded exotic in 1962. I don’t speak Spanish, so for all I know it could mean “take twice daily with food”. I don’t remember what ‘I can’t stop loving you’ was like, and ‘The Tears Break Out On Me’ is a maudlin tale, comparing crying to some kind of nasty rash. What where they thinking.

I have to admit that my mind wandered by the time I got to Side 2, mainly because it was all so samey. There were moments where you could just tell that Miki & Griff wanted to rock out a little more, let rip, scare the older generation. This is evident by the Chas & Dave style chorus in Crystal Chandeliers. But thankfully they managed to just about keep a lid on things, and their light country stylings won out.

So in short, probably what you expect from the cover. Inoffensive British take on American country music. Comfortable? Like a pair of tweed slippers. But perhaps ‘Predictable’ is a better word for it.

Tracks

Side 1

A Little Bitty Tear
Rockin’ Alone (In An Old Rocking Chair)
Vaya Con Dios
I Can’t Stop Loving You
The Tears Break Out On Me

Side 2

Tennessee Waltz
Crystal Chandelier
Hold Back Tomorrow
I Want To Stay Here
Have I Stayed Away Too Long

Final Score

6 out of 10