From the 30s: Fred Astaire

[TC Chris]

Tonight when the New Age not-music show came on, I hit the selector buttons to "CD" and popped one into the player. This was a collection of mostly 1930s recording of "American Songbook" tunes sung by Fred Astaire. But first, back up. Yesterday on my after-work walking route, the headphones were playing NPR's excellent evening news program. Excellent, except when it comes to music. They always select the least substantial crap to single out for praise. Yesterday's error was a new recording by some young lady who broke up with her boyfriend and decided to share her feelings in the aftermath with the whole world. Yeah, just as bad as it sounds and maybe worse. The reviewer was all atwitter about the sharing of healing and loss and blah blah blah. Come on, when I hear music, I really want hear something universal, not some young lady's personal experience. Then there was the performance, one of those wispy little whisper voices. Not exactly Ethel Merman, shall we say. Made me wanna barf.

So now I was listening to Fred Astaire sing classic 20th century American songs. These are songs about universal things. One of them that made me pause and reflect was "The Way You Look Tonight" by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. These were pros, working at the top of their game, writing songs that are still sung today, about 85 years later. The song expresses love indirectly. That makes the expression even more powerful. The little lady whispering about healing from her unhappiness? Even NPR will have forgotten her by next year, when they are gushing over some other tuneless tune. Kern, by the way, also wrote "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" with Otto Harbach, one of the nearly perfect songs. While the little lady is telling us how she is grieving, Kern and Harbach said it in a way that is memorable and universal. Kern also wrote Showboatwith Oscar Hammerstein, another project that lives on 90-odd years later.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

"deleted", I turned the italics off and they stayed on. Aaargh....

Chris Campbell

[William]

I couldn't agree more, Chris. There are few songs written today that will have the lasting impact as the songs written during "The Great American Song Book" years. Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, and, all the others during that time period. And, don't get me started on todays artist.

Bill

[Firedome]

All so true, that's why I said earlier that the classic singers and songs from the '30s to '60s will never be equaled in my view.
Also agree NPRs selections of songs and "singers" at the end of ATC typically suck.

[Firedome]

I think NPR's problem is they keep trying to appeal to the 20-35 yr old set, so their picks are meant for that group, ignoring the fact that their audience tends to be more like 35+, and realistically much more like 50+... d'uh.

[19&41]

The songs from the great American songbook can make one imagine that every song that was written during that time was destined for greatness. I remember growing up at home there were piles of sheet music whose cover art were far more memorable than the songs they contained. There were far more clinkers or faddish pieces than the standards we treasure now. They did provide fertile ground for the "greatest hits" that rose from them. I wonder how many timeless works are being generated in the popular music of today?

[walyfd]

I've said before... COULD there ever be another Ella Fitzgerald with today's "talent" shows? No...

I think Gaga has decent pipes for jazz but would never give up the big bucks to dedicate to the genre...

I could listen to version after version of the Songbooks by virtually any singer of the '20s to Natalie Cole in the '90s...

[William]

Linda Ronstadt is one of those singers that has reinvented herself over the years. She teamed up with Nelson Riddle and produced a CD of the Grest American Song Book. She did a good job, and I enjoying listening to the CD once in a while.

This is the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ocf8qNpUcc

Bill

[Firedome]

That was a v nice album but it was a long time ago! She's pretty much incommunicado now with PSP, and her last full album was around 15 yrs ago sadly. Gaga is super versatile but as walfyd says she knows were the money is. Sadly no more duets with Tony will be forthcoming, we have that dvd and it's wonderful.

[walyfd]

She did a couple and both were beautiful. It was the last time Nelson recorded, I believe.

Only singers who can or should do the classics are on Broadway. Chenoweth. Audra McDonald, Kelly ohora come to mind. Would there be enough interest in them doing solo albums of Porter, Berlin or Gershwin?

[TC Chris]

I agree that every age has lots of junk, and the 20th century was no different. Yes, we do listen to the best of the era, and it really is unfair to compare the worst of today with the best of yesterday. There are many gems from the last 50 years that are likely to endure for a long time.

One measure of quality is how many other artists cover a piece. That's certainly true for the American Songbook works. Look at Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust," a tune that's been performed by half a gazillion other musicians. But recording technology now lets us hear original versions i good quality sound, and a lot of more recent tunes will be remembered that way, by being replayed. Look what lands on YouTube.

Take Chuck Berry's wonderful pieces, "Promised Land" and "Maybellene." They really are his. "Promised Land" is one of the most compact adventure stories ever told, and I swear, my eyes always get a bit moist when we get the final lines, "tell the folks back home this is the promised land calling, and the poor boy is on the line." Or Sam Cooke, or the Beatles, or Patsy Cline. On and on.

But the ephemeral crap that NPR gushes over, no way. It's crap no matter how you package it. They just package it with lots of adjectives and trendy phrases. Lipstick on the pig,and all that.

The important thing is to enjoy the good stuff and share it with others. One reason I like lots of different kinds of music is that the high school band director, the sainted Walter Cramer, had us play lots of different kinds of music. And then I could go home and turn on my Top 40 radio station. And then spin one of Dad's musicals on the Magnavox, South Pacific or Oklahoma. When we share with others, especially younger folks, we enrich their lives.

Chris Campbell

[William]

I couldn't agree more, Chris.

Bill

[Firedome]

Unfortunately American popular culture in general is mostly banal crap or worse nowadays: movies, music, and now all the internet shite and manipulation that we are constantly being bombarded with, with worse likely to come. The ratio of crap:good has gotten drastically higher in the last 40 years. I would never have imagined in my wildest nightmares that swill like Cardi B's "WAP" would even be allowed to be recorded and even more so, promulgated for general consumption, by children even (what's to stop them?). if you don't know it check it out, regardless of your tastes, as it's the perfect symbol of the kind of slipping into decadence we face, the apotheosis of greed's truimph over decency.

Forever, older generations have observed that our culture is going to "deleted" in a handbasket. I can recall my great uncle Clyde making that very observation around 1972, and eventually he was right. As Richard Russo ("Empire Falls") wrote so brilliantly in a quote from his first novel, "Mohawk" (1986):

"it occurred to Anne that, viewed objectively, there had been an insidious moral slippage through the generations, each succeeding one surrendering a small patch of ethical territory."

In the end, how much territory will be left?
Fortunately it seems there are still those who stubbornly do embrace quality in their workmanship, be it in music, art, or whatever may be their vocation. I fear, though that in the face of increasing monetization of culture, that number becomes smaller as time goes on. Yes, there will always be garbage culture, but it is good that we are able to look to the past for what may turn out to be the best.

One contemporary local group imo falls into the "worth listening to" category and I'll post about them shortly.

[TC Chris]

I try to resist excessive lamentation about degraded modern culture. It's been going on for years. When I was a teen, my favored rock music was a sure sign of cultural collapse to my elders. One thing was true: the older music did contain much of value and interest (and, as now, lots of dreck). I was lucky to find the interesting older stuff, eventually. Right now the Met opera broadcast is on the radio. It has been a weekly feature for about 90 years now. Yes, from time to time I have to write to my local radio station when they start questioning whether it's popular enough. This, from a station operated by a famous arts school, that ought to understand that its mission is not popularity, but teaching. We all need to do some teaching, giving others a chance to hear something they may not have heard before.

Chris Campbell

P.S. I did check out Cardi B on YouTube and yeah, it sounded pretty awful.

[19&41]

I thought it would be interesting to see what was the best sellers in one of Billboards' first top record listings in 1936, the year Swingtime was released. It looks like a few didn't withstand the test of time.

Billboard Top 10 Nov 36.JPG (152.25 KiB) Viewed 10025 times

[electra225]

The kids at work frequently listen to "music" while they work. I'd not call it music, but I'm old. The words are many times what I'd consider pornographic. The "n-word", "f-bombs" ethnic slurs all are included in the lyrics, which make no sense to me.

There is a lady vendor who comes into our store to sort out the spices in the baking aisle. She is an older, retired lady, really nice. She came in awhile back and I spoke to her "How Ah Ya, How Ah Ya", like Arthur Godfrey used to do. Of course, she knew what I was talking about. The young lady who was working as a receiver at the time, 30-something, asked who Arthur Godfrey was. We told her he was a popular TV host at the time, played a ukelele and was a singer. Archie Blayer was his orchestra leader. She asked about his singing, so I got on YouTube on my phone and pulled up the "Too Fat Polka". One of his more popular songs, of course. "Can she fit in my coupe? By herself, she's a group. Can she possibly set upon my knee, NO, NO NO!". The young lady was appalled that "in the olden times" they allowed fat shaming. So, not to be outdone, I pulled up Bob Wills' "Roly Poly". "Roly Poly, daddy's little fatty. Bread and jelly 20 times a day. Roly Poly, eats a hearty dinner. It takes lots of strength to run and play". This song could not be recorded today without having 500 protesters out front of the Columbia plant threatening to burn the place down. Then Gentleman Jim Reeves with "Penny Candy". "Penelope Candice is her name, and she likes that fine and dandy, but if you want to see her dimples show, just call her Penny Candy". The younger lady thought this song was awful. Jim Reeves, awful? Just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.....

[TC Chris]

I thought it would be interesting to see what was the best sellers in one of Billboards' first top record listings in 1936, the year Swingtime was released. It looks like a few didn't withstand the test of time.

Billboard Top 10 Nov 36.JPG

Notice Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Red Norvo ensembles among the recordings. And no. 8 for Brunswick was Fred Astaire. Some dross in there too, to be sure.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

She asked about his singing, so I got on YouTube on my phone and pulled up the "Too Fat Polka". One of his more popular songs, of course. "Can she fit in my coupe? By herself, she's a group. Can she possibly set upon my knee, NO, NO NO!". The young lady was appalled that "in the olden times" they allowed fat shaming. So, not to be outdone, I pulled up Bob Wills' "Roly Poly". "Roly Poly, daddy's little fatty. Bread and jelly 20 times a day. Roly Poly, eats a hearty dinner. It takes lots of strength to run and play".

Good thing you didn't add Big Mama Thornton, "They Call Me Big Mama":
Well, they call me Big Mama
Cause I weigh 300 pounds

And Bob Wills's song was actually not fat shaming. Fat babies were regarded as healthy. But once somebody is prepared to disapprove, you're no likely to change her mind.

Arthur Godfrey wasn't on much around my childhood home. My parents thought he as a jerk for firing Julius LaRosa.

Chis Campbell

[TC Chris]

And a further reply o the subject of old-fartism. The musical instrument purveyor Sweetwater sends along articles. A recent one was about "They Don't Make Rick Like They Used To." And the article agreed: yes, not the same but just different. Here's an interesting paragraph:

Another important difference is the way people are exposed to music. From the early days of radio through the 1990s, many local DJs had a hand in curating their station’s playlists. These DJs were music lovers who were excited to introduce their listeners to new and interesting artists — it was a point of pride. Similarly, during the 1980s and 1990s, MTV was still focused on playing music videos, and, with 24 hours a day to fill, they had room for programs like 120 Minutes, Yo! MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball, and Alternative Nation. Today, most commercial radio stations choose their music programming based on what’s most popular, and what’s most popular is often whatever record companies decide to aggressively promote based on marketing research. Stations that employ DJs who are also musical tastemakers are rare and are usually only found as nonprofit radio stations in college towns or large cities. And, of course, MTV is no longer a music channel. Like most cable networks, they have opted to focus their programming on reality TV shows, which are popular and inexpensive to produce.

But as to now:

However, something else has occurred over the last 20 years that has shifted the musical landscape in a positive direction. The affordability of recording equipment and the ease of access to alternative distribution channels have made it possible now more than ever for independent artists to bring their musical visions to life and to share them with a global audience. In fact, it can be argued we’re currently living in the most exciting and musically diverse period in human history. That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s backed up by the sheer volume of incredible contemporary independent artists posting their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and myriad other online music-distribution channels. Many of these independent artists are pushing music forward in unexpected ways, while others are carrying on the traditions of legacy genres, leading to the question posed in the title of this article.

You can read the whole piece at the link below, and hear 4 excerpts by bands I've never heard of but that would make me stop, listen, and say "Who's that?" Listen to the very short tracks and see what you think, here;

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/they- ... -t1-insync

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I had to delete my post. I was on the wrong thread. Sorry for the intrusion.