Dec 13, 2022·edited Dec 13, 2022Liked by Robert C. Gilbert
Another home run, Robert! I've always been slightly more fond of der Bingle's protege, Ol' Blue Eyes. Probably because my folks dug him a bit more...also, my range is right in Frankie's pocket, and I spent several years performing Sinatra and other crooner tunes at nursing homes (using CD-Gs and a home karaoke machine)🎤in the 20-teens. Had to stop in 2020....something about a pandemic...perhaps you heard of it!😉
As for Conniff, I became aware and, ultimately, fascinated by him from my late '70s days in retail records. During slow parts of the day, I'd peruse the carboard-hugged vinyl, and make myself aware of where artists' records were in our store, so I could just go right there, should a customer ask. We had an "Easy Listening" section (near instrumentals and classical, as I recall) which featured 3 artists, all on Columbia Records....Conniff, Percy Faith, and Andre Kostelanetz.
In my early-20s, I was nowhere NEAR digging what they were layin' down, I hasten to add, but as one who loved my vinyl so dearly (and was corporately aware to an unusual degree---quick, ask me who the CBS Records president was in 1978!), I was curious as to what would "cause" a major label to house such disparate artists like Springsteen, Nugent, Boston, Joel, and major rock players, with the Streisands, Mathises, soul and R&B players (Withers, Rawls, and the whole Philly Internat'l subsidiary), and then also "have room" for Conniff, Faith, and Andre K.
While reading Billboard (and other trades), and making regular visits to the CBS regional sales office in NW Houston to get my weekly fix of promos (!---I remember entering their closet in August '75, and seeing, amidst all the other new releases that week, 2 feet worth of upright white label promo "Born to Run"s!!---loving Columbia's squared-off spines, I made sure to choose one with those angular lines at the top well-centered---see? Told you I was obsessed!).
I used to have CBS catalog numbers memorized, and could accurately pinpoint year of release for an album if you gave me the catalog number....off the top of my head, I recall the "Born to Run" # being PC 33795 (the 2-letter prefix was a price code, like $7.98 list price). Let's see how close I am: Yep, got it! Some places show it as JC 33795, but that was a second (or later) pressing, with a raised price.
Back to Conniff et al---Obviously, a label as massive as Columbia (and associated labels), they had the resources and the "room" to house many, many artists of all genres. Second, it was all about the publishing! Conniff, Faith, and Kostelanetz all did covers, and their music was sold to Muzak (and similar) systems the world over, so, along with record sales, publishing income was thru the roof! That's also why CBS had so many self-contained solo acts (Dylan, Joel, Bruce, etc)....they not only brought in huge record sales, but more than their share of publishing royalties!
Well, Dr. Robert, I obviously needed to get this off my chest!! What....I'm gonna put this minutiae in a post?!? Thanks for your inspiration and the space for me to expound on stuff my dad would've said belonged in my "Little Black Book of 1,001 Useless Facts"! My ex-wife once told me I needed a psychiatrist who enjoyed a challenge. Well, short of that........👍
Certainly one reason that's been advanced on why Crosby's stature has declined over the years is that he never really made that successful transition to the LP era that someone like Sinatra did. Another is that he made it look so darn easy.
Thanks so much, Robert, especially for your last sentence! You're spot on about Bing/Frank. I've always been able to short-hand Frank's vinyl travels, roughly, as '40s on Columbia, '50s on Capitol, and '60s, his own Reprise Records (on which he had the Rat Pack...Dino, Sammy, et al), distributed by Warner Bros.
Dino, in fact, discovered a young country singer, Dale McBride (whose son, Terry, has been a Nashville-based hit performer and songwriter in the '90s and beyond), in the mid-'60s, and got him signed to Reprise for one single. My mom was Dale's manager from the mid-'70s thru his death in the early '90s. Relax....a story for another time!😉
Age might also be a factor, too, as Frank was famously influenced by Bing, who was a dozen years older than Ol' Blue Eyes. Cheers, Robert, and again, a massive thank you!
I was captured by this line you wrote, "The ghosts of Christmases past lie in wait between the notes, creating a pull far greater than the sum of its musical parts." Beautiful and so true.
I always feel Christmas isn't right until Crosby sings.
Nice one Robert, Christmas wouldn't be the same without these songs. The WWII story reminds me of a song I wrote called Another Stretch in Iraq, where I mentioned the care packs sent to the theatre, which often included a miniature Christmas tree. Some years ago I donated access to all of my songs to a service which shared royalty free music for military to be able to listen to for free. My hat goes off to the entertainers who risked their lives to perform for the troops. Those performances will be highlights for those people for the rest of their lives.
I hope that your music has brought some measure of comfort and joy to those in the service.
Reading the second part of Gary Giddins biography of Crosby (a third and final part is in the works), I had no idea how close Crosby got to the front or how much he (and countless others) did to use their gifts to serve their countries. It's not called the Greatest Generation for nothing.
Another home run, Robert! I've always been slightly more fond of der Bingle's protege, Ol' Blue Eyes. Probably because my folks dug him a bit more...also, my range is right in Frankie's pocket, and I spent several years performing Sinatra and other crooner tunes at nursing homes (using CD-Gs and a home karaoke machine)🎤in the 20-teens. Had to stop in 2020....something about a pandemic...perhaps you heard of it!😉
As for Conniff, I became aware and, ultimately, fascinated by him from my late '70s days in retail records. During slow parts of the day, I'd peruse the carboard-hugged vinyl, and make myself aware of where artists' records were in our store, so I could just go right there, should a customer ask. We had an "Easy Listening" section (near instrumentals and classical, as I recall) which featured 3 artists, all on Columbia Records....Conniff, Percy Faith, and Andre Kostelanetz.
In my early-20s, I was nowhere NEAR digging what they were layin' down, I hasten to add, but as one who loved my vinyl so dearly (and was corporately aware to an unusual degree---quick, ask me who the CBS Records president was in 1978!), I was curious as to what would "cause" a major label to house such disparate artists like Springsteen, Nugent, Boston, Joel, and major rock players, with the Streisands, Mathises, soul and R&B players (Withers, Rawls, and the whole Philly Internat'l subsidiary), and then also "have room" for Conniff, Faith, and Andre K.
While reading Billboard (and other trades), and making regular visits to the CBS regional sales office in NW Houston to get my weekly fix of promos (!---I remember entering their closet in August '75, and seeing, amidst all the other new releases that week, 2 feet worth of upright white label promo "Born to Run"s!!---loving Columbia's squared-off spines, I made sure to choose one with those angular lines at the top well-centered---see? Told you I was obsessed!).
I used to have CBS catalog numbers memorized, and could accurately pinpoint year of release for an album if you gave me the catalog number....off the top of my head, I recall the "Born to Run" # being PC 33795 (the 2-letter prefix was a price code, like $7.98 list price). Let's see how close I am: Yep, got it! Some places show it as JC 33795, but that was a second (or later) pressing, with a raised price.
Back to Conniff et al---Obviously, a label as massive as Columbia (and associated labels), they had the resources and the "room" to house many, many artists of all genres. Second, it was all about the publishing! Conniff, Faith, and Kostelanetz all did covers, and their music was sold to Muzak (and similar) systems the world over, so, along with record sales, publishing income was thru the roof! That's also why CBS had so many self-contained solo acts (Dylan, Joel, Bruce, etc)....they not only brought in huge record sales, but more than their share of publishing royalties!
Well, Dr. Robert, I obviously needed to get this off my chest!! What....I'm gonna put this minutiae in a post?!? Thanks for your inspiration and the space for me to expound on stuff my dad would've said belonged in my "Little Black Book of 1,001 Useless Facts"! My ex-wife once told me I needed a psychiatrist who enjoyed a challenge. Well, short of that........👍
Certainly one reason that's been advanced on why Crosby's stature has declined over the years is that he never really made that successful transition to the LP era that someone like Sinatra did. Another is that he made it look so darn easy.
Thanks as well for the reminiscences.
Thanks so much, Robert, especially for your last sentence! You're spot on about Bing/Frank. I've always been able to short-hand Frank's vinyl travels, roughly, as '40s on Columbia, '50s on Capitol, and '60s, his own Reprise Records (on which he had the Rat Pack...Dino, Sammy, et al), distributed by Warner Bros.
Dino, in fact, discovered a young country singer, Dale McBride (whose son, Terry, has been a Nashville-based hit performer and songwriter in the '90s and beyond), in the mid-'60s, and got him signed to Reprise for one single. My mom was Dale's manager from the mid-'70s thru his death in the early '90s. Relax....a story for another time!😉
Age might also be a factor, too, as Frank was famously influenced by Bing, who was a dozen years older than Ol' Blue Eyes. Cheers, Robert, and again, a massive thank you!
I was captured by this line you wrote, "The ghosts of Christmases past lie in wait between the notes, creating a pull far greater than the sum of its musical parts." Beautiful and so true.
I always feel Christmas isn't right until Crosby sings.
Thanks so much. Big fan of your Substack!
Thank you so much for appreciating my Substack. That means a lot! Merry Christmas and/or happy holidays to you and yours!
You're welcome - best wishes to you as well for a Merry Christmas!
Nice one Robert, Christmas wouldn't be the same without these songs. The WWII story reminds me of a song I wrote called Another Stretch in Iraq, where I mentioned the care packs sent to the theatre, which often included a miniature Christmas tree. Some years ago I donated access to all of my songs to a service which shared royalty free music for military to be able to listen to for free. My hat goes off to the entertainers who risked their lives to perform for the troops. Those performances will be highlights for those people for the rest of their lives.
I hope that your music has brought some measure of comfort and joy to those in the service.
Reading the second part of Gary Giddins biography of Crosby (a third and final part is in the works), I had no idea how close Crosby got to the front or how much he (and countless others) did to use their gifts to serve their countries. It's not called the Greatest Generation for nothing.