s***@gmail.com
2012-06-05 21:31:51 UTC
SavoyBG listed the Glenn Miller version of 1940 hit "Beat Me Daddy
Eight To The Bar" as among his favorites for that year, as here:
................................................................................
Newsgroups: rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
From: The Bloomfield Bloviator <***@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 06:43:15 -0700 (PDT)
Local: Mon, Jun 4 2012 9:43 am
Subject: Re: Who are your favorite artists from the 1940s
<snip>
MY TOP 25 RECORDINGS FROM 1940:
<snip for brevity>
20. Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar - Glenn Miller
...........................................................................................
What I would ask neophyte, newcomer or others who have not gone too
far beyond the "wading pond" end of the (admittedly humongous) Swing/
Big Band pool of music, not to throw your full trust credulously
towards any given pick by B. Grossberg, even if he knows a lot more
than you about the subject, with anything approaching an alacrity that
there is no calling back.
To wit: As I have tried to point out many times before over the years
here, just because Glenn Miller's band was the biggest band in land in
terms of popularity, at least, doesn't mean Miller and company always
had the best version (or coolest version, or however you rate or
describe a superlative) of any given song they made a crack at.
Fortunately (and this is not always the case), at this moment, you can
access more than one version of Beat Me Daddy, 8 To The Bar, on The
Tube, for comparison's sake.
And Miller's version (not that swing aficionados couldn't have
predicted this) doesn't really have the juice, the moxie, the kick,
and the high-spirited-ness of the Will Bradley Orchestra version. You
may not know the name Will Bradley or Ray McKinley (who also shared
the name sometimes as The Bradley-McKinley Orchestra) today, but it
was a big name back in its day, say the way The Marvelettes or The
Kinks or The Turtles had a name for themselves in r&r back in the
60's; in other words, at one time, they were somebody. Even today,
at least among the Swing followers who have closely studied or
remember the big bands, songs like "Celery Stalks At Midnight",
"Bounce Me Brother Will A Solid Four" and, yes, "Beat Me Daddy Eight
To The Bar" are certifiable big band classics.
Let's take a look (or if you will, a listen) at both versions:
First, the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley version, featuring Freddie Slack
on piano, which kicks out the jams and then some:
Now, here's the Glenn Miller version, pleasant, but if you listen to
this kind of thing too much, you may be running back to your R&B
records because you might get bored before the record is over;
certainly compared the Bradley/McKinley, this much more mild-mannered:
Look, actually there is nothing wrong with the middling' Miller
version.
But, by the way, some of public felt the same way, I feel too, back
then.
The Bradley/McKinley/Slack effort was a # 1 record.
The Miller version of BMDETTB was a # 15 record.
The Bradley/McKinley version, along the Andrew Sisters # 2 version,
will be on a line on the revised Swing Era Recordings list at DDD when
it is put up some day very soon, I hope, probably within the upper 250
of the list. These are the "go to" versions, if you will.
Moral of the story: he may know a lot more about records than you (or
I - in the case of rhythm and blues and blues, and some old-timey
country), but please don't trust Bruce to pick the best big band or
swing era records for you, TOTALLY, in every case. I haven't perused
his list thoroughly, but this example popped right out at me.
Pendragon/Scarlotti may actually line up with SavoyBG here, because
his limited expertise and knowledge doesn't much go beyond Miller or
Harry James, and he is such a "homer" for records he knows about or
those in his own collection already, that his objectivity has never
been established, or thereby, any degree of real authority, then.
Eight To The Bar" as among his favorites for that year, as here:
................................................................................
Newsgroups: rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
From: The Bloomfield Bloviator <***@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 06:43:15 -0700 (PDT)
Local: Mon, Jun 4 2012 9:43 am
Subject: Re: Who are your favorite artists from the 1940s
<snip>
MY TOP 25 RECORDINGS FROM 1940:
<snip for brevity>
20. Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar - Glenn Miller
...........................................................................................
What I would ask neophyte, newcomer or others who have not gone too
far beyond the "wading pond" end of the (admittedly humongous) Swing/
Big Band pool of music, not to throw your full trust credulously
towards any given pick by B. Grossberg, even if he knows a lot more
than you about the subject, with anything approaching an alacrity that
there is no calling back.
To wit: As I have tried to point out many times before over the years
here, just because Glenn Miller's band was the biggest band in land in
terms of popularity, at least, doesn't mean Miller and company always
had the best version (or coolest version, or however you rate or
describe a superlative) of any given song they made a crack at.
Fortunately (and this is not always the case), at this moment, you can
access more than one version of Beat Me Daddy, 8 To The Bar, on The
Tube, for comparison's sake.
And Miller's version (not that swing aficionados couldn't have
predicted this) doesn't really have the juice, the moxie, the kick,
and the high-spirited-ness of the Will Bradley Orchestra version. You
may not know the name Will Bradley or Ray McKinley (who also shared
the name sometimes as The Bradley-McKinley Orchestra) today, but it
was a big name back in its day, say the way The Marvelettes or The
Kinks or The Turtles had a name for themselves in r&r back in the
60's; in other words, at one time, they were somebody. Even today,
at least among the Swing followers who have closely studied or
remember the big bands, songs like "Celery Stalks At Midnight",
"Bounce Me Brother Will A Solid Four" and, yes, "Beat Me Daddy Eight
To The Bar" are certifiable big band classics.
Let's take a look (or if you will, a listen) at both versions:
First, the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley version, featuring Freddie Slack
on piano, which kicks out the jams and then some:
Now, here's the Glenn Miller version, pleasant, but if you listen to
this kind of thing too much, you may be running back to your R&B
records because you might get bored before the record is over;
certainly compared the Bradley/McKinley, this much more mild-mannered:
Look, actually there is nothing wrong with the middling' Miller
version.
But, by the way, some of public felt the same way, I feel too, back
then.
The Bradley/McKinley/Slack effort was a # 1 record.
The Miller version of BMDETTB was a # 15 record.
The Bradley/McKinley version, along the Andrew Sisters # 2 version,
will be on a line on the revised Swing Era Recordings list at DDD when
it is put up some day very soon, I hope, probably within the upper 250
of the list. These are the "go to" versions, if you will.
Moral of the story: he may know a lot more about records than you (or
I - in the case of rhythm and blues and blues, and some old-timey
country), but please don't trust Bruce to pick the best big band or
swing era records for you, TOTALLY, in every case. I haven't perused
his list thoroughly, but this example popped right out at me.
Pendragon/Scarlotti may actually line up with SavoyBG here, because
his limited expertise and knowledge doesn't much go beyond Miller or
Harry James, and he is such a "homer" for records he knows about or
those in his own collection already, that his objectivity has never
been established, or thereby, any degree of real authority, then.