Shirley Bassey - "The Fabulous Shirley Bassey" Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, UK, 1959 (Columbia)

Shirley Bassey, famous in the United States for her recording of "Goldfinger" is an exceptional British singer.  Born in Wales, "The Fabulous Shirley Bassey, released in 1959, was her second album.  Always a big voice, she strikes me as a powerful wind machine, and even the orchestration around her has to go from 8 to 10 in volume control.  Which sounds a bit much, but the fact is her voice has a lot of warmth, and on the "Fabulous" album there are classic songs.   "The Man Who Got Away," "Cry Me A River,"  "I've Got You Under My Skin," and others on this disc are superb pieces of contemporary music. 

As part of my obsession with British pop music before the Fab Four, Bassey is a key showbiz figure that expressed the grit and soiled nature of pop music at the time.  Hearing the recordings of that period it sounds light and fluffy, but I suspect it's aural candy to disguise the roughness of the post-war U.K. years.   Bassey is not a light singer, but a performer of great attitude and brings magnificence to the main meal.  When one digs up the beautiful landscape of a part of the world that suffered greatly, one can find great art.  Shirley Bassey is such a fine, and the "Fabulous Shirley Bassey" is an album full of polished gems, but there is a lot of grit within its textures. 

Rod McKuen - "Beatsville" Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, 1959 (HiFi Records)

As the son of an artist who lived in the so-called "Beat" world, I had the first-hand experience being in such a world, yet years later, one realizes that such a world was being mocked and made fun of by the establishment - both in the entertainment media and in the press.  I lived with my family at the height of the "Beatnik" era at the most iconic "Beat" location - San Francisco.  Eventually, my dad and mom had to move out of that city, due to the consistent harassment of the tourists who came to San Francisco to see "Beatniks."   At the time, there was a very popular TV show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" which featured the most famous Beat(Nik) at that time, Maynard G. Krebs, played by the wonderful Bob Denver.  It didn't help my father at the time who was trying to live a private life in San Francisco. 

One of the by-products of the commercial world is an album by America's number-one poet Rod McKuen's "Beatsville."  It's McKuen reciting his poetry with jazz music in the background. On a cultural level, this is far away from Jack Kerouac's recordings with Steve Allen.  In fact, it's very much a knock-off of that theme and idea from an actor, poet, and songwriter.  Still, "Beatsville" offers specialty charms, such as a snapshot of that era and how the sub-culture was treated in the mass media.  McKuen's poetry reflects on the Beat landscape but seen through the eyes of corporate America, which in that Situationist stance, appreciates the spectacle of looking at the Beat culture from a safe distance for the average listener to this album.  Clearly, no one in the Beat world would be seen within a mile of this album. 

McKuen is a terrible poet, but his saving grace is that he had the good taste to admire Jacques Brel and introduced him to the English speaking world.  The way he was portrayed in the TV world is that he was a sensitive voice (due that he's a poet) and had a handsome face and appearance.  I'm a fan of his clothing sense, and I also like his voice, when he reads and when he sang.  I remember when I worked at Book Soup, McKuen was shopping at the store, and a few minutes later, David Bowie walked in.  Both were, of course, huge Brel fans.  McKuen actually was a pal of Brel, and in my mind, I wanted to introduce McKuen to Bowie just for that reason alone.  Of course, I didn't because I didn't know these guys, and in no fashion did their body language acknowledge one to the other.  In fact, I don't think either of them was aware of the other that afternoon at the shop.  Still, I feel it was a lost opportunity on my part - on the other hand, one couldn't possibly ignore McKuen in the 1960s.  I remember buying "Axis Bold as Love" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience when it first came out.  To my surprise when I put the disc on the turntable, it was a huge orchestra.  I thought "wow this is a very strange direction for Hendrix" and then I heard McKuen's croon, and went 'oh-oh.'   Both shared the same label, so in the factory, they put the wrong album into the wrong jacket.  

The other day I found "Beatsville" in my favorite local record shop, Mono Records in Glendale, and couldn't pass up the chance of buying this rarity.  In an odd way, it brought back memories of hanging out in The North Beach in San Francisco with my Dad, although the McKuen recording is a total Disneyland version of that location.  I imagine McKuen been there and maybe even lived in that town, but clearly, his interest in that world was more commercial than the reality of the location.  Still, "Beatsville" is very much a spectacle in the Guy Debord sense, and it's an interesting by-product of that era.    And the album cover, of course, is the real masterpiece.  A beautiful album cover!

On the other hand, I strongly recommend Bob McFadden and Dor's "The Beat Generation," which is written by our Rod.   Richard Hell turned this song into "The Blank Generation."  So McKuen not only made his presence in the Beat world, but also on the Punk planet as well. 

Bob McFadden & Dor: "The Mummy" b/w "The Beat Generation" Vinyl, 7" 45 rpm, 1959 (Brunswick)

It took me around 40 years to discover Bob McFadden and Dor's "The Beat Generation," and my only interest in this particular novelty song is that Richard Hell based his "The Blank Generation" on it.  Rod McKuen wrote the song and I guess he was sort of a 'Beatnik' for the masses in the late 1950s.   Listening to the recording, I can hear McKuen's vocals, as well as McFadden, who was a voice-over actor for cartoons and commercials.    In such a fashion, McKuen is one of the mainstream artists who hammered the nail into the Beat coffin, but still, this is a good tune.  It's crap, but it has its charm.  Hell's "The Blank Generation" is way better.  Still, I think it's great that Hell got to this record and made his own take on it. 

Henry Mancini and his Orchestra - "The Versatile Henry Mancini And His Orchestra" LP, Vinyl, Album, 1959 (Liberty)

The album cover alone is worth the purchase, and of course, there's music to go with the graphic cover.  The Versatile Henry Mancini is a combination of exotica and a down kind of mood. This album floats, but it does have its tension.  For one, he's a brilliant arranger.  Everything is top-notch on his recordings.   This is one of my favorite Mancini albums. 

As mentioned its hard to get past the cover, but there are elements here that reminds me of Brian Eno's "Another Green World," as well as some of Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds" era.   Although the theme of the album is exotica island life, it has a noir quality as well.  Accordion comes between the organ which gives it a charm, with the occasional guitar joining the aural party.  It's a beautiful sound conveying not the islands, but the thought or imagination of such a place.  Mancini is not presenting reality but a 'sound' imaginary place.     Nor is it in your face like a Martin Denny recording.  Mancini is more sleepy, drowsy and very sexual. 

Mancini has done all sorts of music, and the one's I know are his soundtracks and some of his jazz-related recordings.  I never heard his albums devoted to the famous film soundtracks of its time, because the theme turns me off.  But this is an exceptionally great album.   For those who like 'moderne' sounds of the mid-century will go big on this, but also if you like the more experimental or exploration side of exotica.