Screenland Plus TV-Land (Jul 1959 - May 1960)

Reviews of new discs by BOB CROSBY, NBC-TV star A THRUSH of rather brilliant plumage, Carmen McRae does her bit for the cause of ornithology with her new Decca titled, "Birds Of A Feather." Carmen's caught herself a flock of finefeathered friends, including "Skylark," "Flamingo" and "Baltimore Oriole." Miss McRae flies high on this one with an outstanding assist from Ralph Burns and his orchestra. . . . Buddy Knox, one-half of the Roulette money-making team of Knox and Bowen, stays right in the heavycoin groove with his newest release. The lead side is a melancholy etching, "I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself," that should keep the record dealers happy. The flip side is the up half of his manic depressive biscuit, keeping up a rocking twoand-a-half minutes that should sweep away the gloom and doom engendered by the other side. "To Be With You" is its name and romance is its game. . . . Joni James' association with the late composer-singer Hank Williams goes back to Joni's fabulously successful rendering of Hank's "Your Cheatin' Heart." Hank was undoubtedly the king of popularized country and western music. Here, in an M-G-M album, "Joni James Sings Songs By Hank Williams," the reasons become very apparent. In addition to "Cheatin' Heart," the LP contains such Williams classics as "Cold Cold Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin' " and "Jambalaya". . . . With the movie version of "Porgy And Bess" coming out, there no doubt will be a lot of covering records. But we'll settle for Pearl Bailey's Roulette album, "Pearl Bailey Sings Porgy and Bess and Other Gershwin Melodies." "Bess You Is My Women," "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "A Foggy Day" and "Someone To Watch Over Me" are the tunes included. ■ One of the most superfluous bits of information we've uncovered recently is the fact that Marilyn Monroe can sing. Her new United Artists recording taken from the soundtrack of "Some Like It Hot," demonstrates that, sight unseen, 54 Marilyn can still make an impression. Through the torchy ballad "I'm Through With Love" and the up-beat "I Wanna Be Loved By You," Mrs. Miller conducts herself in a manner befitting a top-notch vocalist. ... A Columbia album of dance music by Les Elgart and his orchestra titled "Les Elgart On Tour" is a fine sample slice of one of America's leading orchestra's dedicated to the proposition of getting people to trip the light fantastic. The Elgart touch is a light, deft one; the music is crisp, fairly uncomplicated and, as we mentioned before, super-danceable. . . . Jerri Adams, the good-looking Columbia chirper, has a winning twosome going for her. The top side, "Who Needs You," is a sprightly thing replete with a beat; the flip side's a quieter ballad, "Play For Keeps," a number which gets to the heart of an affair of the heart. . . . The Kingston Trio, via its latest Capitol etching, is keeping its fans blissful. The coupling consists of "Tiajuana Jail" and "Oh Cindy," a pair of folk ballads that should have an immediate rebirth of popularity. If these boys aren't careful, you soon won't be able to tell the folk songs from the pops on the best-seller lists. ■ Everyone's invited to Roulette Records* "Rock-n-Roll Record Hop," an LP funfest. On hand for the festivities are Frankie Lymon doing his famous "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," The Cleftones, The Playmates, The Heartbeats, The Valentines and The Crows, which is a full-house of musical activity. ... In a good-looking, two-LP Coral album, Neal Hefti and his orchestra play "The Hollywood Song Book," a collection of the past 24 Academy Award-Winning songs. The album kicks off with 1934's "The Continental" from "The Gay Divorcee" and works its way through the years to lQ57's "All The Way" from "The Joker Is Wild." The liner notes are by columnist Sidney Skolsky and give some inside info oh each of the selections. . . . Paul Anka can play Anka-man on my singin' team anytime. His new ABC-Paramount release | is first-string all the way. The initial j half is a mover, "Late Last Night"; second half, "I Miss You So," is slower1 tempo'd but loaded with class. . . . Pat Boone's back in the singles spotlight. The * dashing young knight mounted on white } bucks has a new Dot record which con | tains a wild thing titled "Wang Dang i Taffy Apple Tango" — a humorous har | poon aimed at today's cha-cha trends. The reverse offering, "For A Penny," is a ! typical Boone ballad that comes off smooth as a double scoop ice cream soda. ■ Singers and trumpet players come and go but Louis Armstrong seems to go on forever. In his latest Decca album, "Satchmo In Style," Louis teams up with the Gordon Jenkins orchestra and voices in an assortment of some of his later works. It doesn't matter whether he's working with a small outfit or a lush string setup such as Jenkins'; Satchmo always makes himself and the listener at home. Louis' biting trumpet and gravel voice are as wonderful as ever on numbers like "Blueberry Hill," "Chloe" and "The Whiffenpoof Song." . . . Tony Bennett, the big man with the big voice, combines a standard with what could very easily turn into a standard with this performance. The Columbia pairing has the evergreen, "It's So Peaceful In The Country," backed by "Being True To One Another," a fine new ballad which has all the earmarks of staying around a long, long time. . . . Andre Previn, who with the aid of a rhythm section has done right by a number of shows over the past several years — "My Fair Lady," "Li'L Abner," "Pal Joey" and "Gigi", now turns his attention to the works of a top Broadway composer, Vernon Duke. Playing solo piano, Andre does a brilliant job on Duke's "What Is There To Say?" "Cabin In The Sky" and "April In Paris," among others. It's all in a Contemporary album titled, reasonably enough, "Andre Previn Plays Songs By Vernon Duke." . . . The Platters are liable to pick up all the marbles again with their Mercury coupling, "Enchanted" and "The Sound And The Fury"; the latter is the title song from the movie while the former is a ballad of the genre that the Platters are currently tres hot with. It could very well be another "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" which would put the Platters in another tax bracket for sure. . . . Coral Records has undertaken an ambitious project, "The Jazz Story," a three-LP, boxed album with narration by Steve Allen, covering 40 years of jazz and taking in a raft of important jazz figures from Jelly-Roll Morton to Errol Garner and from King Oliver to Art Farmer. It's a painless two-hour history course. ... A fresh new voice and a couple of still-fresh old songs make a winning combination on a hot-offthe-presses Mercury single. Frank D'Rone, a fine young singer on his way to the top, tees off on "Fascinatin' Rhythm" and Yesterdays." END