Are there any interesting records in my grandparents' record collection?

;_;

this a fun ragtime (?) piano piece if you can tolerate the vocals. it almost sounds like a riff on Teresa Brewer's 'Music! Music! Music!'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkgJ7nIucr8

nice sleeve too:

http://i.imgur.com/O7jgdiH.jpg

That Xavier Cugat record is pretty good. I'd also try spinning the classical stuff but that may be void if you don't really like classical

honestly I wouldn't know where to start with those classical LPs; I have no idea if those are reputable conductors/performances. some of them appear to be budget releases, and then there's a ridiculous 10-LP Reader's Digest Boston Pops box set that you would probably have to pay to get rid of. but I like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhc0Rl5_5Ps

Personally, if you were planning on picking up a turntable, I'd keep at least the Perez Prado, the Don Cherry, the Ella, and the CSO/Reiner Brahms' 3rd. Nothing rare, just very likely good records.

My grandparents had a lot of Folkways records, classical, jazz, and 60s motown. I managed to get some of them although I think my aunt took a lot of the good ones.

I'd keep all the classical and donate the rest, but that's just me.

Nothing that jumps out at me from that list as a definite keeper. I was a bit surprised to see Don Cherry in that list- but then I looked it up and realized it's not the same Don Cherry. Might be some gold there if you have the patience to listen through it all.

thanks for the tips, Tom. I did a double take when I saw the Don Cherry record (lol xpost) until I figured out that it wasn't the trumpeter.

I was hoping I'd come across an original pressing of Anthology Of American Folk Music and a stack of Charlie Parker singles, but that just wasn't their style, and they definitely didn't warm up to the rock era — my grandfather hated the Beatles and hippie culture when my dad was growing up, and even Motown would probably have been a stretch. I feel like their taste in music was somewhat conservative even by the standards of their generation.

yeah there are some good classical records in there. On the whole its a pretty bland collection and conservative -- sort of what I'd expect of the average WWII generation couple (if they're younger than that generation), no offense to your grandfolks. I'll bet that there are some cool sounds somewhere in some of those easy listening records, I just wouldn't have the patience to listen through them.

My grandparents were lefties and their collection was atypical.

The Everly Bros record is pretty good, maybe the Connie Francis, the Louis and Ella records, I'd be curious about the Bill Haley and the Comets record, Perez Prado record is probably fun

On the whole its a pretty bland collection and conservative -- sort of what I'd expect of the average WWII generation couple (if they're younger than that generation), no offense to your grandfolks.

yeah, they were born in 1928 and 1930 and they're very conservative politically (my grandfather still occasionally sends out scaremongering anti-Muslim chain emails :-/), so their musical taste isn't too surprising. I have an interest in space age pop and Martin Denny-style exotica, but it doesn't seem like there's much of that in their collection.

the James Taylor LP is the major outlier on the list, but I'm pretty sure it belonged to my dad. one side of it is extremely moldy for some reason.

the oddities I didn't mention are an acetate disc with my grandfather's name on it (I still haven't asked him what it is, and I'm not sure how to play it without damaging it), a private-press single of sentimental songs recorded by one of his coworkers, and a recording of a speech by the president of his company. I'm definitely holding onto those.

the Bill Haley song is a little stiff, but it has a nice sax solo.

I'm not sure how they ended up with this Bill Black Combo single. Black recorded for Sun Records and played bass on Elvis's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky', but 'Yogi' was never anything close to a hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnMNU-gXCLg

it's weird seeing so many 7-inch 78s in their collection. apparently Bell Records manufactured them for a few years in the late '50s as the market for 78s was dwindling. they're made of vinyl and their sleeves boldly proclaim "full length playing time equal to ten inch record". they aren't very collectible though.

http://i.imgur.com/iWxgl5O.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxZHCVC_kI0

I like this Four Lads song, nice sad youtube comment as well:

I was in the US Army stationed at Ft. Eustis, Va. assigned to Hq. Company. In our barracks someone purchased a Four Lads album. This was one of the song. I head it over and over again. Convinced me to continue my college education on the GI Bill. I did, but lost my girl on that decision. Obtain my B.S. in Business Management, was brought aboard on a management training program taken our family to three states, and re-tired after 35 years in commercial insurance.
Some of the songs words, yeah, I can relate to them now. During down time, I question what ever occurred to X. Song brings back many personal memories. G3n3 H1nd5 - San Jacinto - California

I own that Cugat lp; I would check out the Prado, and Three Suns, but that's me.

Three Suns have a killer album called Movin' and Groovin. Unfortunately didn't see that one on the list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkvCZpOEAis

useful thread, I can never even parse some of this stuff

Ella on Verve is definitely a keeper

Prado, Everlys, Petula Clark, Nancy Sinatra are others I'd keep

yeah Don Cherry is WRONG DUDE

Black recorded for Sun Records and played bass on Elvis's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky'

he played on a lot more than that. he was elvis's bassist throughout the sun years and the early rca years.

Yeah, the Petula Clark has a killer chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjuG9nstgvE

the motherlode of VNYL shipments

don draper's LP collection, currently available at auction here:

"Glad All Over" from the Dave Clark Five, "The Music Man" Broadway performance, "The Supremes at the Copa," Nat King Cole's "I Don't Want to be Hurt Anymore."Al Hirt's "He's the King," "Elvis Sings How Great Thou Art," "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Errol Garner's "Paris Impressions," "The Red Mill" by Victor Herbert and "Up in Central Park" by Sigmund Romberg, "Some Blue-Eyed Soul" by The Righteous Bros., "Sketches of Spain" by Miles, "The World's Greatest Jazz Band," "Johnny Hodges, Billy Strayhorn and his Orchestra," "Ambassador at Jazz" by Max Kaminsky, "Subways of Boston" by The Coachmen, "Ben-Hur" soundtrack, "Think Ethnic" by the Smothers Bros., "Streets I Have Walked" by Belafonte, "John Gary Sings Your All-Time Favorite Songs," "Four Freshman and Trumpets," "Where the Action Is" by The Ventures and "Annie Got Your Gun" soundtrack.

∙Perez Prado And His Orchestra - Dance Party (Parade (3) - SP 325)
∙John Barry - Goldfinger (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (United Artists Records - UAL 4117)
∙Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Reprise Records - 0432)

i'll take those, thanks

I liked that Bill Black tune. That was actually a B side though, to "That Ole Buttermilk Sky," a minor hit.

sorry ilx, I considered your suggestions but ended up only keeping a few records that struck me as interesting. so

http://i.imgur.com/GSrmIC5.jpg?1

the sleeve notes wax rhapsodic about the supposedly hi-tech piano roll transfer process:

Early in 1959 an unusual event took place at RCA Victor. One of the nation's finest recording studios was placed in readiness for a most extraordinary "date." A meticulously tuned piano was carefully placed in relation to a group of the most sensitive microphones available. At a a spoken signal to the producer the familiar strains of the Rhapsody in Blue began to sound in the studio—exactly as played by George Gershwin himself. But there was no one seated at the keyboard!http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-iiam.gif The keys were depressed and released by a ghost, in this case a Duo-Art piano roll which Gershwin had cut decades before. It was a "recording" replete with subtle diminuendos and crescendos which gave further proof that he was, in addition to being a creative genius, an extraordinary pianist. It was, in fine, a recording-of-a-recording—but it emerged as the highest fidelity recording of Gershwin ever achieved since his all-too-few disc performances were captured before the present era which enables us to impress wide-range sound on tape. The performance we hear on this record is a remarkably accurate re-creation. It is not the sound of an automaton at the keyboard—rather, it is a play-back of exactly what Gershwin did on that day back in the Twenties when his performance was engraved into the piano roll forever.

the Gershwin performances only account for about 15 minutes of audio, so the rest of the LP is padded out with rolls recorded by a bunch of stride and ragtime pianists.

http://i.imgur.com/bz32Amt.png?1

like a lot of records in my grandparents' collection, this was released on a budget label. apparently Royale acquired the back-catalogues of defunct record labels and re-released them under its own imprint. there's no session info on the label or sleeve aside for the the "recorded in Europe" tagline.

http://i.imgur.com/MVt3uHQ.jpg?1

this is the only record of theirs that seems to be remotely collectible (according to popsike), but I'm not really sure why (baby boomers buying back mementos of their childhood?). Design was a division of Pickwick.

I also kept the Frank Petty piano record I mentioned upthread.