[Dixielandjazz] The 1950's

[Jim Kashishian]

Steve Barbone wrote:
Like check out this NY Times review of Rod Stewart singing the songs of the
fifties. This album arguably does more for gaining new audience for music of
the fifties than all of us OKOM musicians/fans put together. NUMBER 1 ON THE
POP CHARTS????? WOW!!!!!!!!!
Whether "we" like it or not is immaterial.


Steve.  Perhaps you should read some of what you copy & send to DJML before
you send it!  
The article you refer to (see below) is about Barry Manilow singing, not Rod
Stewart.  What is not "inmaterial" in this particular article is the
"dislike" of the music by the writer:  see ending sentence..."Even if rock
'n' roll hadn't arrived, those years couldn't have been this dull." JON
PARELES 

He also says of his singing (not Rod's, but Mr. Manilow's):  "then along
comes Mr. Manilow, right up front and earnestly trying to emote, which for
him means laying on the vibrato." 
And, "There's no yearning, no mischief, no lust, just an unctuous diligence;
the only dramatic tension is whether Mr. Manilow will go flat before the
next note."

I honestly think many of us are doing a better job of exposing 1950's, and
early year's music than Mr. Manilow, if this article is anything to go by
(although to a smaller audience, or course).  Certainly not an article to
hold up as an example of what should be done with the "older tunes".  Ok, so
it made number 1, and people are buying it, I suppose.  What a shame they
aren't getting more for their money. Julio Iglesias recorded "Begin the
Beguine", also.  Big deal!  I even recorded "Chatanooga" with him.  Still
not particularly good music, but the big names will sell, and they can get
the cash to hire in the best to surround them. 

Jim




THE NEW YORK TIMES - February 13, 2006 by JON PARELES

Barry Manilow
"The Greatest Songs of the Fifties"

"The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" by Barry Manilow.
 
The inexplicable Barry Manilow renaissance continues on "The Greatest Songs
of the Fifties," which hit the pop chart at No. 1 last week. In Mr.
Manilow's 1970's heyday, no one imagined that his modest voice would give
him a second career as an interpreter. But he hasn't been writing songs
lately. 

Like other aging pop stars, he has already made albums of Tin Pan Alley
standards, with chutzpah enough to redo an album of Frank Sinatra favorites.
Now he's on to the 1950's, which, some people may remember, gave birth to
rock 'n' roll. Not in the Manilow universe: this is an album of ballads, all
of which reached No. 1 in much better versions. Elvis Presley, the Everly
Brothers, Dinah Washington, Tommy Edwards and Frankie Avalon have no
worries. 

The new versions orchestrate the songs as pure old-fashioned easy listening.
There's no yearning, no mischief, no lust < just an unctuous diligence; the
only dramatic tension is whether Mr. Manilow will go flat before the next
note. Strings are slathered on thickly, horns are muted and any drums are a
distant rustle. A listener could almost escape into the sticky-sweet
perfection of the arrangements, but then along comes Mr. Manilow, right up
front and earnestly trying to emote, which for him means laying on the
vibrato. 

He doesn't bring on guests who might outsing him except for a version of
"Sincerely" with Phyllis McGuire, who sang it in 1955 with the McGuire
Sisters. They were one of the white groups that covered 1950's R&B hits in
blander, better-selling versions, yet Ms. McGuire still sounds friskier than
he does. He is presenting the illusory 1950's of conservative mythology:
placid, cozy, chaste and oblivious. Even if rock 'n' roll hadn't arrived,
those years couldn't have been this dull. JON PARELES 


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