Centuries of Sound

• 1950 Part Two

  At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a placeholder to appear on the podcast feed. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website. It will be spring soon – And I, whose childhood Is a forgotten boredom, Feel like a child Who comes on a scene Of adult reconciling, And can understand nothing But the unusual laughter, And starts to be happy. Philip Larkin, Coming (1950) As we saw in part one, the middle of a century is a time for looking back as well as looking forward, nostalgia for the unremembered past of previous generations mingled with excitement at progress both technical and social. The flipside of this is a lack of concern with what’s popular now. The music business tends to jump on bandwagons whenever it can, but in 1950 there isn’t a clear bandwagon to jump on, so musicians seem more than ever to be given the leeway to mess around to find out what the next thing might be. The story of the last few years has been the rise of rhythm and blues / jump blues, but as we turn the decade it seems to be in a lull. Of course, we know this will not last – in January 1950 Sam Philips opened his Memphis Recording Service studio, initially in order to bring R&B artists to a mainstream (i.e. white) audience. In 1951 the studio would record “Rocket ‘88”, in 1952 Philips would found Sun Records, and in 1953 they would make the first recordings of Elvis Presley. In New York, meanwhile, Charlie Parker’s trumpet player had decided to branch out on his own after attending discussions and jam sessions at Gil Evans’ place on 55th Street. Through 1949 and 1950 he got some of these likeminded people together to record a series of sides for Capitol. Sadly, the record company had very little idea what to do with this music, first releasing two 78RPM singles, then an EP in 1954. By 1957 Miles Davis had become famous enough that Capitol finally put out all of the tracks bar one, under the name “Birth of The Cool.” Was ‘Cool Jazz’ a real genre at this point? Would it ever be a proper genre? Hard to say, but if it has a foundational text, this is it. If you were to pinpoint a single genre to represent the year, however, it would probably be pop music, currently in a Hollywood musical-influenced style with no pretentions to be anything more than a commercially successful novelty. However winsomely cheesy the taste of the public might be, jobbing songwriters were ready to cater for them, in a way reminiscent of the Tin Pan Alley days of 50 years prior. “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake” – one of the best-selling records of the year – is a great example, an almost sickeningly twee song with a title in the third conditional, written by three men – middle-aged veteran songwriter Al Hoffman, Broadway writer Bob Merrill and comedy musician Al Trace – and performed by TV and radio star Eileen Barton. Within a decade this sort of thing will in theory be all in the past, but in reality will have been supplanted by a similar, if more sophisticated operation around The Brill Building. Tracklist 0:00:00 Fumio Hayasaka – Clip from Rashomon OST (Clip from Ernest Useman – Square Dance Instructions) (Clips from The Les Paul Show) 0:01:26 Perez Prado – Mambo No. 5 (Clip from The Les Paul Show) 0:03:39 T-Bone Walker – Strollin’ With Bones (Clip from Bold Venture – Blue Moon) 0:06:09 Jimmy Preston – Oh, Babe! (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 0:09:15 Dee Stone & His Melody Hillbillys – Mountain Swing 0:10:28 Red Ingle And His Orchestra – Comin’ ’round The Mountain March (Clip from The Last Date) 0:13:18 The Eddie Condon Orchestra – At The Jazz Band Ball (Clip from The Les Paul Show) 0:15:53 Margaret Whiting With Joe ‘Fingers’ Carr – Let’s Do It Again 0:18:13 Edward R. Murrow – Excerpt From The Album ‘I Can Hear It Now’ Volume 3 0:18:26 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Mood Indigo Cut 0:23:40 Philip Larkin – Coming 0:24:18 Stan Freberg – John And Marsha (Clip from Light Crust Doughboys) 0:26:54 Atanas Velyov – Bisero Kerko (Clip from Cinderella) 0:28:39 Patti Page With Orchestra Under The Direction Of Jack Rael – The Tennessee Waltz 0:31:38 Charlie Parker Quintet – Bird Of Paradise (Clip from Using Your Voice) 0:34:11 Miguel Aceves Mejía Con El Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlán – Entre Copa Y Copa (Clip from Steven Wright) 0:36:59 Nathan Abshire And His Pine Grove Boys – Chere Te Mon (Clip from BBC Archive) 0:39:36 Suchitra Mitra – Kon Khepa Srabon 0:40:37 Stella Haskil – Mes Tis Polis Ta Stena (Alleyways Of Istanbul) 0:43:47 Jean Bosco Mwenda – Masanga (Clip from Bold Venture) 0:46:44 Alwatan Musical Club – Ee, Baba Pakistani (Clip from All About Eve) 0:49:18 Percy Mayfield And Orchestra – Please Send Me Someone To Love (Clip from What to Do on a Date) 0:52:12 Johnny Otis’ Congregation; Little Esther, Mel Walker, And Lee Graves – Wedding Boogie (Clip from Uno speech) 0:55:48 Wu Yingyin – Ping Shui Xiang Feng (Clip of Mao Zedong) 0:58:44 Calvin Boze – Safronia B. 1:01:03 Sarah Vaughan – Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Clip from Celia Jordan) 1:04:03 Clara Haskil – Domenico Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonata In C Major (Clip from Much Binding in The Marsh) 1:07:08 Alick Nkhata – Shalapo (Clip from In A Lonely Place) 1:09:28 Claudio Villa Con Orchestra Dir. Dal M.O Piubeni – Luna Rossa 1:11:02 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Cuban Episode 1:12:22 The Charlie Parker Quartet With The Joe Lippman Orchestra – Dancing In The Dark (Clip from Suspense) 1:15:38 Araci De Almeida Com Quartejo Continental – Palpite Infeliz (Clip from Basil Rathbone reads The Masque of The Red Death) 1:18:15 Bill Snyder And His Orchestra – Bewitched 1:20:54 Léo Ferré – La Vie D’artiste (Clip from Andre Breton interview) 1:23:00 Spike Jones And His City Slickers – Black Bottom 1:25:29 Spike Jones And His City Slickers – Hut Sut Song (Excerpt) (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 1:25:53 Phil Harris – The Thing (Clip from Adventures of Maisie) 1:28:13 Ella Fitzgerald With Ellis Larkins – How Long Has This Been Going On? 1:31:26 Pablo Casals And Paul Baumgartner – Adagio And Allegro Ma Non Troppo 1:35:22 Wanda Landowska – Prelude Xxi In B-Flat 1:38:48 Mahalia Jackson – Just Over The Hill (Clip from Les Paul Show) 1:40:29 Les Paul – Little Rock Getaway (Clip from BBC Archive – Chair Bodgers) 1:43:08 Jussi Björling With The Swedish Radio Orchestra – E Lucevan Le Stelle 1:45:32 Édith Piaf – Hymne À L’amour (Clip from BBC Archive) 1:48:25 Yma Sumac – Ataypura (High Andes) (Clip from Adventures of Maisie) 1:51:37 Jo Stafford With Paul Weston And His Orchestra – No Other Love 1:53:32 The Louis Armstrong All-Stars – New Orleans Function (Clip from Suspense) 1:58:19 Eve Young – (If I Knew You Were Comin’) I’d’ve Baked A Cake 1:59:19 Eileen Barton – If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d Have Baked A Cake (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 2:01:37 Burl Ives – Fooba Wooba John 2:02:42 Mohammed Rafi And Suraiya – Dhadak Dhadak Dil (Clip from Light Crust Doughboys) 2:03:48 Harry Choates And His Fiddle – Louisiana Boogie (Clip from Light Crust Doughboys) 2:06:20 Hank Snow And His Rainbow Ranch Boys – I’m Movin’ On (Clips from You Bet Your Life) 2:09:07 Jerry Byrd – Three String Swing (Clip from Suspense – Blood On The Trumpet) 2:11:47 Gary Crosby – Play A Simple Melody (Clip from Suspense – Blood On The Trumpet) 2:14:40 Rosita Serrano – Cielito Lindo 2:17:34 Tex Williams And His Western Caravan – Wild Card 2:19:51 Quartetto Cetra – Nella Vecchia Fattoria 2:21:20 Chandiram Walipuria & Shanti – Laija Chhallian (Clip from Let’s Make A Sandwich) 2:22:45 Conlon Nancarrow – Study For Player Piano No. 3a (Clip from New Look At The H-Bomb) 2:24:21 The Paramount Studio Orchestra – The Comeback (Sunset Blvd) 2:27:16 Machito And His Orchestra – Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite (Clip from Batman Mystery Club) 2:32:36 Reuben Sarkisian – Hallay (Clip from Inner Sanctum) 2:35:53 Marian Anderson And Franz Rupp – Franz Schubert’s Dem Unendlichen 2:37:17 The Charles Brown Trio – Black Night (Clip from Swingtime in The Rockies Introduction) 2:38:58 Roy Brown – Love Don’t Love Nobody (Clip from Suspense) 2:41:38 Miles Davis – Moon Dreams 2:44:50 Don Byas – Stardust (Clip from All About Eve) 2:46:14 Mary Martin And Arthur Godfrey – Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep 2:49:29 Josh White And His Guitar – Wanderings 2:52:40 Atahualpa Yupanqui – Baguala (Clip from BBC Archive) 2:54:11 Laughing Eyes – Lullaby 2:55:23 Pierre Henry – Bidule En Ut 2:56:04 Pierre Schaeffer – Prosopoppe 1 2:57:56 Thewaprasit Ensemble – Phleeng Khuk Phaat 2:59:05 Harry Partch – Cloud-Chamber Music 3:02:56 Chemutoi Ketienya And Kipsigi Girls – Chemirocha 3:04:16 Udi Hrant Kenkulian – Armenian Dance (Clip from Batman Mystery Club) 3:05:55 Rosa Eskenazi – E Kardia Mou Theli 3:07:30 Dinu Lipatti – Impromptu No. 3 In G-Flat Major (Philip Larkin reading “At Grass”) 3:12:19 Prophet Powers – The Tree Of Life Is Waiting For Me 3:14:47 Muddy Waters – Rollin’ Stone (Clip from Speech – Using Your Voice) 3:16:15 The Ravens – Count Every Star (Clip from Light Crust Doughboys) 3:19:11 Guy Lombardo – Enjoy Yourself (Clip from Les Paul Show) (Clip from The Last Date) 3:21:16 N/A – Dawn Chorus, East Africa

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• 1950 Part One

  At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a placeholder to appear on the podcast feed. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website. The mid-point of the 20th century feels superficially like its fulcrum. The first half has been an upward struggle (two world wars, a great depression, a devastating pandemic) but also a tale of progress – we have gone from racist parlour songs recorded on cylinders to cool jazz LPs and proto rock & roll singles. Now it’s a smooth ride downhill through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and so on. Culture will become more free and less imposing, the cold war will gradually cool down and end, we will see Fukuyama’s end of history. Of course, for most of you, who lived through the last half of the 20th century, that will immediately ring false. It’s so reductive that it’s essentially nonsense, the joys and the horrors of the late 20th do not form a pattern easy enough to sum up in a page, let alone a paragraph. And so (this is my point, sorry) goes for the first half. Listening through these mixes I hope you’ve been able to feel how society and how art has shifted, not as a smooth process but as a tortuous web being pulled in many directions at once, and any simple narrative is in essence a lie. So if I were to say “something is in the air in 1950” or talk about the “zeitgeist”, you should know that this is probably nothing more than apophenia  – “the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things” – but this is how it is with every story anyway, you pick up a feeling and go with it. So what is the story this time? In a sense 1950 is a particularly unremarkable year for music. Jazz is stalled somewhere between bebop and post-bop. Rhythm & blues or jump blues seems to be finally winding down from the frenetic energy it had in ’48 and ’49, much as rock & roll would wind down in the early 60s. Outside of Hank Williams, Western swing seems to be taking a bit of a breather too. Even Hollywood musicals seem to be largely spinning their wheels after their golden age, but before Singin’ In The Rain led their revival a couple of years later. But sometimes you need a bit of calm to show the lay of the land around you, and you know what? There’s really something special going on here. This may still have been a duller than usual mix if it hadn’t been for the work of Michael Daddino’s project “1950: The Bomb in the Heart of the Century” originally from 1950. A playlist, initially on Spotify, but most recently on Mixcloud, it’s a lot more detailed and a lot longer than a Centuries of Sound mix, and demonstrates a good deal more work – I try to get these things out in a month, not that I have really met that goal of late, and naturally my research phase can only go so far. So instead of reinventing everything, I have used the flow of this mix (and around 50% of the music selections) as a framework, and have built everything else around it. The bomb in the title is not merely a metaphor. 1950 does seem to be the year that the Cold War really set in, especially in terms of the nuclear arms race. The USSR conducted their first nuclear test in 1949, and not long after President Truman announced the plan to develop the hydrogen bomb, which would be ready in 1952. Being confronted by the enormity of this so soon after the end of the war must have felt like whiplash, and the prospect of mutually assured destruction before the foretold 2000 years must have been terrifying to many. A couple of selections here discuss this directly. Others were still excited about this new technology. The cover image for this mix comes from the case of the “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory” – an experimental kit briefly on sale to children in 1950 which contained genuine radioactive material, a cloud chamber and a Geiger counter. For the makers, they seem to be presenting the new decade as an exciting new phase of technological progress. Tracklist (Clip from BBC at Lime Grove) 0:00:04 La Scala Orchestra (Wilhelm Furtwängler, Cond.) – Excerpt From Prologue Of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Clip from The Last Date) (Clip from Use Your Voice) (Clip from New Look at The H Bomb) 0:01:23 The Swan Silvertones – Jesus Is God’s Atomic Bomb (Clip from New Look at The H Bomb) (Clip from William Faulkner – Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech) 0:04:16 Rev. J.B. Crocker – Sermon, Hallelujah Amen (Clip from Milton Berle Show) 0:06:01 Judy Garland And The MGM Studio Chorus – Get Happy 0:08:12 Bud Powell – Get Happy 0:10:44 Judy Garland And The MGM Studio Chorus – Get Happy (Reprise) (Clip from Sunset Boulevard) 0:11:18 Maddox Brothers And Rose – Water Baby Blues (Clip from Suspense) 0:13:24 Beny Moré Con Pérez Prado – Babarabatiri (Clip from Benny Goodman introduction) (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 0:15:51 Abe Ellstein’s Orchestra With Dave Tarras – Second Avenue Square Dance (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 0:19:27 Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie – An Oscar For Treadwell (Alternate Take) (Clip from The Last Date) 0:22:12 The Dominoes – Sixty-Minute Man (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 0:23:52 Hardrock Gunter & The Pebbles – Birmingham Bounce (Clip from BBC – Hotel TVs) 0:26:44 George Sibanda – Sivele Sithandana (Clip from In A Lonely Place) 0:28:23 Mita Stoicheva – Stori Se Horo Golyamo 0:30:09 Einer Nielsen – Phantom Stimmen 0:30:28 Marjorie Mazia, B.J. Walberg, And Gary Walberg – Out West (Philip Larkin – Spring) 0:32:40 Walter Gieseking – La Cathédrale Engloutie (Clip from Using Your Voice) 0:35:57 Friedel Hensch Und Die Cyprys – Holdrio- Liebes Echo (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 0:39:05 Skeets Mcdonald – The Tattooed Lady (Clip from Benny Goodman introduction) (starts with solo harmonica + echo) 0:42:11 Red Foley – Old Kentucky Fox Chase (Clip from BBC Archive – Tottenham Pudding) 0:44:59 Pink Anderson – I Got Mine (Clip from BBC Archive – Lime Grove) 0:46:57 Moises Ribeiro Manjati And Grupo Manjacaziana – Meu Amor Era Aviado (Clip from All About Eve) 0:49:53 Lata Mangeshkar – Chhed Sakhi Sargam 0:53:14 Tito Puente And His Orchestra – Swinging The Mambo (Clip from BBC Archive – Chair Bodgers) 0:56:30 Henri Salvador – Le Loup, La Biche Et Le Chevalier 0:58:53 Clarence Garlow – Bon Ton Roulet (Clip from The Last Date) 1:01:19 Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band – Hondo Chiwutsi 1:03:19 Wynonie Harris – Good Morning Judge (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 1:06:13 Edmundo Ros And His Rumba Band – Mambo Jambo (Clip from Sunset Boulevard) 1:09:01 Quinteto Pirincho – Arrabalera (Clip from Basil Rathbone reads Edgar Allen Poe) 1:11:41 Orquesta Aníbal Troilo Con Jorge Casal – Che Bandoneón! 1:13:42 Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester – Adagio From Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 In D Major (Philip Larkin – Wants) 1:16:33 Groupe De Jeunes Filles De Bamako – Celu Mankan (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 1:17:45 The Roy Eldridge Quartet – Nuts 1:20:57 Noro Morales And His Orchestra – Up And Down Mambo (Clip from BBC Archive – Dubbing Theatre) 1:23:48 Kasagi Shizuko – Kaimono Boogie (Clip from Cinderella) 1:27:11 Carlos And Trianita Montoya – Alegrias (Clip from How to Make A Sandwich) 1:28:18 Elias Nelushi – Kama Kalinyana 1:29:28 Arsenio Rodriguez Y Su Conjunto – Anabacoa (Clip from Benny Goodman introduction) 1:32:20 Celia Cruz Con El Conjunto Sonora Matancera – Cao, Cao Maní Picao (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 1:34:01 Louis Prima And Keely Smith – Oh, Babe 1:37:03 Lalo Guerrero Y Sus Cinco Lobos – Chicas Patas Boogie (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 1:40:01 Hank Williams – Why Don’t You Love Me 1:42:20 Webb Pierce – In The Jailhouse Now 1:43:23 Bobbejaan Schoepen – Cowboy Jimmy (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 1:45:43 Sister Slocum & Her Little Brother – Whistlin’ Boogie (Clip from BBC Archive – Bristol Brabazon) 1:48:55 Lord Beginner And The Calypso Rhythm Kings – Victory Test Match 1:50:44 Dúo Los Compadres – Caña Quemá (Clip from William Faulkner – Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech) 1:52:48 Moondog – Moondog’s Symphony, Part 1 1:54:40 Bom Amberton – Nahawand No.2 1:55:00 Eliazale Kazinduki Horn Band – Nkete 1:56:33 Carmen Miranda And The Andrews Sisters With Vic Schoen And His Orchestra – Ca-Room-Pa-Pa 1:58:47 Mickey Katz And His Orchestra – Yiddish Mule Train (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 2:01:18 Roy Milton – Information Blues 2:03:12 Doc Sausage – Rag Mop 2:04:18 Tiny Bradshaw – Well Oh Well 2:06:56 Cecil Gant – We’re Gonna Rock (Clip from Basil Rathbone reads Edgar Allen Poe) 2:09:12 Jascha Heifetz And Emanuel Bay – Grigoras Dinicu’s Hora Staccato (Clip from BBC Archive – Robot Tortoise) 2:11:33 Pancras Mkwawa – Ngosingosi (Clip from Rashomon) 2:13:28 Champion Jack Dupree With Big Chief Ellis And His Blues Stars – Deacon’s Party (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 2:16:24 Stubby Kaye – Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat (Clip from All About Eve) 2:18:32 Betty Hutton And Howard Keel – Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 2:21:38 Rose Murphy – Busy Line (Clip from BBC Archive – TV Transmitters) 2:24:27 Humberto Morales Y Su Ritmo – Jungle Mambo (Clip from What To Do On A Date) 2:27:09 Tennessee Ernie Ford – Shotgun Boogie 2:29:39 Bill Monroe And His Blue Grass Boys – Uncle Pen (Clip from In A Lonely Place) 2:31:03 Hank Williams – Long Gone Lonesome Blues (Clip from You Bet Your Life) 2:33:21 Lord Kitchener With Cyril Blake’s Calypso Serenaders – The Underground Train 2:36:13 Chuy Reyes And His Orchestra – Oink, Oink Mambo (Clip from Using Your Voice) 2:38:53 Doris Day With Gene Nelson And The Page Cavanaugh Trio – Crazy Rhythm 2:41:16 Povel Ramel Och Hans Husvilla Sambaseñorer – Är Det Nån Som Har En Våning Åt Mej! (Clip from Benny Goodman conclusion) 2:44:32 Percy Mayfield – Please Send Me Someone To Love (Clip from William Faulkner – Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech) 2:47:47 James And Martha Carson – I’ll Fly Away

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• 2024 (Preview mix)

  At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a placeholder to appear on the podcast feed. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website. At the end of 2024 I suddenly found myself immersed in new music again, and while putting together a list of favourites, I thought – why not make a mix? So here it is, very little in the way of speech clips, essentially this is just three hours of pop(ish) music, which eventually I’ll come back round to. Hope you enjoy it, and 1950 is up next, no worries. Tracklist 0:00:00 Doechii – Denial Is A River 0:02:39 Sofie Royer – I Forget (I’m So Young) 0:06:40 Kiesza – I Go Dance 0:08:45 Charli XCX & Lorde – girl, so confusing 0:11:50 Billie Eilish – LUNCH 0:14:43 Eirik Hegdal & Eklektisk Samband – Vibratochess 0:17:33 Bob Vylan – Hunger Games 0:21:09 4am Kru & Papa Levi – Ribena 0:23:44 Machinedrum – ‘ZOOM (feat. Tinashe) 0:26:32 Low Poly – Automatic 0:28:47 Wilkinson & NORTH – Balance 0:31:44 Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew – The Spark 0:34:07 Selecta J-Man & MC Spyda – Foundation Style 0:38:14 james K – Blinkmoth (July Mix) 0:40:41 Sky Ferreira – Leash 0:44:43 Arooj Aftab – Raat Ki Rani 0:49:46 Blazers – Deep Waves 0:54:36 God Colony & Roy – Loss Is Not Infinite 0:58:34 Clairo – Sexy To Someone 1:01:57 Laura Marling – Caroline 1:05:09 Beth Gibbons – Floating On A Moment 1:08:04 Kelly Lee Owens – Dreamstate 1:13:10 Jane Panika & Hagop Tchaparian – Alice In Orchidverse 1:17:33 A.G. Cook – Soulbreaker 1:20:52 aespa ??? – Supernova 1:23:43 Ke$ha – Joyride 1:26:12 Javiera Mena – Entropia 1:29:21 Magdalena Bay – Image 1:32:40 Charli XCX & Billie Eilish – Guess 1:35:02 salute & Rina Sawayama – ‘saving flowers 1:38:25 Dj Brunin XM, MC Pipokinha, Bibi Babydoll – Os Novinhos Que 1:40:56 Poppy – they’re all around us 1:44:18 Ozoda – Ko’k jiguli 1:47:16 Delaporte – Subete La Radio 1:49:23 Caribou – Broke My Heart 1:52:08 Skrillex, Hamdi, Taichu & Offiah – Push 1:54:56 Charli XCX – Von Dutch 1:57:07 Mokotron – Waerea 1:58:55 Tyler, The Creator – Noid 2:01:34 Sade Abu – Young Lion 2:04:55 Paul Cousins – Thought Loops 2:08:19 Clinic Stars – I Am The Dancer 2:14:04 Mica Levi – slob air 2:18:38 Yaeji – booboo 2:22:10 Maruja – The Invisible Man 2:28:03 Blood Wizard – Devil Dressed In Disguise 2:31:18 Willow – Symptom of Life 2:34:24 Theodora ft. Jeez Suave – Kongolese Sous BBL 2:37:04 Sahra Halgan – SHARAF 2:40:59 Camila Cabello ft. Playboy Carti – I Luv It 2:42:45 Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso 2:45:36 Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! 2:49:04 Mabe Fratti – Enfrente 2:53:01 The Cure – Alone

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• Radio Podcast #25 – 1917

  Audio curator James Errington is joined by jazz historian Joe Moore to discuss the astonishing year of 1917, when a new music called “Jass” or “Jaz” or “Jazz” swept the world, changing it forever. A genuinely astonishing time for music, brought to life with contemporary archive sounds. You can also tune in to Cambridge Radio tonight at 7pm GMT and hear a “new” best of compilation for the shows for 1911, 1912 and 1913. Listening options can be found at http://cambridge.radio/ Support Centuries of Sound and access a treasure trove of bonuses at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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• At The Christmas Party Hop – Christmas Records 1955-1961

  At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. As it’s the festive season I’ve decided to use the new function on Patreon to do a couple of membership offers. Firstly I’m offering a 10% discount on all tiers, monthly and annual, just go to patreon.com/centuriesofsound and sign up with the promo code 8AA78 – Secondly, if you buy a gift membership for anyone ($5 p/m tier, annual) then I will give you a CD version of the mixes for the year of their birth (only pre-1950/1972/1989)– so cut up into CD-sized chunks each with its own artwork. For gift memberships – patreon.com/centuriesofsound/gift – then send me a message either on Patreon or by emailing james (at) centuriesofsound.com, I will get those to you within three days. Happy Holidays everyone, here is your new Christmas mix, this one covering the shorter period of 1955-1961. I have been cutting it dangerously close because there was simply so much to pick from, this being the peak period for famous records, as far as the US is concerned at least (though you will notice a few of them missing – the aim here is to make a good mix, not to tick off all the boxes, and certain favourites are, in my opinion, just a little too annoying.) I found this to be quite an odd era, there are rock & roll Christmas records of course, but there were a lot of religious records too, recorded in luxurious high-fidelity as presents for audiophiles, and some truly great jazz records which happened to have a festive theme. So, there are roughly three movements here – a half hour of pop and novelty records, a half hour of a very religious Christmas, and a little under half an hour of cool jazz – if any of these are not your cup of tea, I’ve labelled them below, so you can skip to the part you need. There will also be a radio version of this show (featuring my son Theo) broadcast on Cambridge Radio (formerly Cambridge 105) on Sunday 22nd December at 19:00 GMT, you can listen by following this link at the right time – https://consoles.radioplayer.cloud/8261297/index.html I hope you all have a great break, whatever you are celebrating around now, or even if you are celebrating at all. 2024 has been yet another tough year for many, and I hope this is an enjoyable way to finish it. Part One 0:00:00 Daphne Oram – Winters Journey (Intro) (1956) (Clip from The Apartment – 1960) 0:00:20 Marlene Paula & The Billy Van Planck Orchestra – I Wanna Spend Christmas With Elvis (1956) (Clip of Children Meeting Father Christmas – 1955) 0:02:32 Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas (1957) (Clip from “Men’s Christmas” – 1961) 0:05:01 George Jones – New Baby For Christmas (1957) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour) 0:07:31 Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (1958) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour – 1957) 0:09:57 Lenny Dee – Mister Santa (1961) (Clip of Children Meeting Father Christmas – 1955) 0:12:04 Ella Fitzgerald – Frosty the Snow Man (1960) (Clip from Lucky Strike Commercial – 1958) 0:14:37 Adam Faith – Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop) (1960) (Clip from Timex Watches Commercial – 1958) 0:16:51 Ed ‘Kookie’ Byrnes – Yulesville (1959) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour – 1957) 0:19:12 Stan Freberg – Nuttin’ For Christmas (1955) 0:21:32 Tom Lehrer – A Christmas Carol (1959) 0:24:06 Perry Como – Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1959) Part Two (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:27:31 Leroy Anderson & His Orchestra – O Come, O Come Emmanuel (1955) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:29:14 The Louvin Brothers – It’s Christmas Time (1960) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:32:31 Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn (1959) 0:34:59 Mitch Miller – Coventry Carol (1958) (Clip from Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn – 1959) 0:38:25 Nat King Cole – Away in a Manger (1960) (Clip from Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn – 1959) 0:40:16 John Klein – Gesu Bambino (1959) (Clip from Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn – 1959) 0:44:23 Johnny Mathis – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (1958) (Clip from Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn – 1959) 0:48:04 Arthur Lynds Bigelow – Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (1956) 0:48:55 Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn (1959) 0:49:49 Chet Atkins – O Come, All Ye Faithful (1961) 0:52:03 Ewan Maccoll – Christmas Rhyme (1957) 0:52:23 Sacred Harp Singers – Sherburne (1959) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:54:25 The Three Suns – Carol of the Bells (1955) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:55:47 Stan Kenton – O Tannenbaum (1961) (Clip from Night of The Hunter – 1955) 0:57:41 Percy Faith & His Orchestra – I Wonder As I Wander (1958) (Clip from The Loretta Young Show – Christmas Day, 1955) Part Three 0:59:52 Laurence Welk – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1961) 1:01:58 F Navatta, F Mingole – Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (1955) 1:04:26 Frankie Ervin & The Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers – Christmas Eve Baby (1955) (Clip from “Trying out Turkey Plucking” – 1961) 1:07:06 The Ramsey Lewis Trio – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (1961) 1:09:24 Putipu Band Of Capri – New Year’s Day Tarentella (1955) (Clip from “Men’s Christmas” – 1961) 1:11:45 Duke Ellington – Sugar Rum Cherry (1960) (Clip from “Men’s Christmas” – 1961) (Clip from “Solo Bell-Ringer” – 1961) (Clip from “Men’s Christmas” – 1961) 1:16:01 The Ramsey Lewis Trio – Christmas Blues (1961) (Clip from Borden’s Egg Nog Commercial – 1956) 1:18:59 Emile Ford And The Checkmates – White Christmas (1960) 1:21:15 Father Christmas & Players – Conclusion Of Symondsbury Mummer’s Play (1958)

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