Spotify GO! 1950: The Bomb in the Heart of the Century

http://open.spotify.com/user/swellsville/playlist/1hWfRrOTSn4uKyt0YB0hdV

001. La Scala Orchestra (Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond.): excerpt from Prologue of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung
002. The Swan Silvertones: "Jesus is God's Atomic Bomb"
003. Rev. J.B. Crocker: "Sermon, Hallelujah Amen"
004. Judy Garland and the MGM Studio Chorus: "Get Happy"
005. Bud Powell: "Get Happy"
006. Wanda Landowska: Prelude no. 21 in B-flat major from Johann Sebastian Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier I (BWV 846-869)
007. Maddox Brothers and Rose: "Water Baby Blues"
008. Beny Moré con Pérez Prado: "Babarabatiri"
009. Abe Ellstein's Orchestra with Dave Tarras: "Second Avenue Square Dance"
010. Lola Flores: "Gloria a la petenera"

011. Takis Binis, Anna Chrysafi, and Manolis Chiotis: "Ta petalakia (I sousta)"
012. Guy Mitchell; Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Mitch Miller: "The Roving Kind"
013. The Dominoes: "Sixty-Minute Man"
014. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: "Little Boy, How Old Are You?"
015. George Sibanda: "Sivele sithandana"
016. Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys: "Old Salty Dog Blues"
017. Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys: "Hot Rod Race"
018. Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five: "Blue Light Boogie, Part 1"
019. Antonio Tormo y su Conjunto: "El rancho'e la cambicha"
020. Marjorie Mazia, B.J. Walberg, and Gary Walberg: "Out West"

021. Walter Giesking: La cathédrale engloutie from Claude Debussy's Préludes, Livre I
022. Friedel Hensch und die Cyprys: "Holdrio – liebes Echo"
023. Ethel Merman and Dick Haymes and Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra and Chorus: "You're Just in Love" from the musical Call Me Madam
024. Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup: "My Baby Left Me"
025. Red Foley: "Old Kentucky Fox Chase"
026. Vocalistas Tropicais com acomp. de Regional: "Tomara que chova"
027. Moises Ribeiro Manjati and Grupo Manjacaziana: "Meu amor era aviado"
028. Lata Mangeshkar: "Chhed Sakhi Sargam" from the motion picture Sargam
029. Tito Puente and his Orchestra: "Swinging the Mambo"
030. Henri Salvador: "Le loup, la biche et le chevalier"

031. Zozefina Genovezou, Nikos Fakidis, and Yiorgos Karanikolas: "Zaxarias kai Antzoulina"
032. Pig 'n' Whistle Band: "Talkin' to You Mama"
033. George Formby: "Come Hither with Your Zither"
034. Eve Young and the Homesteaders: "Silver Dollar (Roll, Roll, Roll)"
035. Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band: "Hondo chiwutsi"
036. Wynonie Harris: "Good Morning Judge"
037. Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band: "Mambo Jambo"
038. Jorge Alberto Negrete: "San Luis Potosí"
039. Orquesta Aníbal Troilo con Jorge Casal: "Che bandoneón!"
040. Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester (Sergiu Celibidache, cond.): Adagio – Allegro from Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 104 in D major (Hob. 1/104)

041. Fats Domino: "Hey! La Bas Boogie"
042. The Roy Eldridge Quartet: "Nuts"
043. Noro Morales and his Orchestra: "Up and Down Mambo"
044. John Lee Hooker: "Rollin' Blues"
045. Carlos and Trianita Montoya: "Alegrias"
046. Rosie Hibler and Family: "Move Members Move"
047. Arsenio Rodriguez y su Conjunto: "Anabacoa"
048. Ahmed Wahby: "Wahran, Wahran"
049. Celia Cruz con el Conjunto Sonora Matancera: "Cao, cao maní picao"
050. Louis Prima and Keely Smith: "Oh, Babe"

051. Lalo Guerrero y sus Cinco Lobos: "Chicas Patas Boogie"
052. Joe Hill Louis: "Boogie in the Park"
053. Lefty Frizzell: "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time"
054. Bobbejaan Schoepen: "Cowboy Jimmy"
055. Emilinha Borba com Canhoto e seu Regional; Os Boêmios: "Paraiba"
056. Lord Beginner and the Calypso Rhythm Kings: "Victory Test Match"
057. Dúo Los Compadres: "Caña quemá"
058. Moondog: "Moondog's Symphony, Part 1"
059. Mita Stoicheva: "Stori se horo Golyamo"
060. Usted Bismillah Khan: "Sanai Gath"

061. Eliazale Kazinduki Horn Band: "Nkete"
062. Carmen Miranda and the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra: "Ca-Room-Pa-Pa"
063. Mickey Katz and his Orchestra: "Yiddish Mule Train"
064. Pupi Campo and his Orchestra: "Joe and Paul"
065. Jascha Heifetz and Emanuel Bay: Grigoras Dinicu's "Hora staccato"
066. Benny Bell: "Home Again in Israel"
067. Lonnie Johnson: "Blues Stay Away from Me"
068. Champion Jack Dupree with Big Chief Ellis and his Blues Stars: "Deacon's Party"
069. Stubby Kaye: "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" from the musical Guys and Dolls
070. Dizzy Gillespie with Johnny Richards' Orchestra: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

071. Humberto Morales y su Ritmo: "Jungle Mambo"
072. The Lou Donaldson — Clifford Brown Quintet: "Cookin'"
073. Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys: "Uncle Pen"
074. Link Davis: "Have You Heard the News?"
075. Sister Wynona Carr and Brother Joe May: "I See Jesus"
076. Lord Kitchener with Cyril Blake's Calypso Serenaders under the direction of Dennis Preston: "The Underground Train"
077. Chuy Reyes and his Orchestra: "Oink, Oink Mambo"
078. Doris Day with Gene Nelson and the Page Cavanaugh Trio: "Crazy Rhythm"
079. Povel Ramel och hans husvilla sambaseñorer: "Är det nån som har en våning åt mej?"
080. Francisco Alves: "Retrato do velho"

081. Leroy Anderson and his "Pops" Concert Orchestra: "Sleigh Ride"
082. The Budapest Symphony Orchestra with the Budapest Chorus (Otto Klemperer, cond.): Magnificat anima mea from Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat in D major (BWV 243)
083. James and Martha Carson: "I'll Fly Away"
084. Red Ingle and his Orchestra: "Comin' 'Round the Mountain March"
085. The Eddie Condon Orchestra: "At the Jazz Band Ball"
086. Margaret Whiting with Joe "Fingers" Carr: "Let's Do It Again"
087. Edward R. Murrow: Excerpt from the album "I Can Hear It Now" — Volume 3: 1919-1932
088. Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: "Mood Indigo"
089. Stan Freberg: "John and Marsha"
090. Patti Page with Orchestra under the direction of Jack Rael: "The Tennessee Waltz"

091. Hank Williams: "Long Gone Lonesome Blues"
092. Miguel Aceves Mejía con El Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán: "Entre copa y copa"
093. Nathan Abshire and his Pine Grove Boys: "Chere te mon"
094. Suchitra Mitra: "Kon khepa srabon"
095. Alfred Deller, August Wenzinger, Marianne Majer, and Gertrud Flügel: Johannes Ciconia and Leonardo Giustiniani's "O rosa bella"
096. Jean Bosco Mwenda: "Masanga"
097. Alwatan Musical Club: "Ee, baba Pakistani"
098. Percy Mayfield and Orchestra: "Please Send Me Someone to Love"
099. Johnny Otis' Congregation; Little Esther, Mel Walker, and Lee Graves: "Wedding Boogie"
100. Wu Yingyin: "Ping shui xiang feng"

101. Sarah Vaughan: "Ain't Misbehavin'"
102. Clara Haskil: Domenico Scarlatti's Keyboard Sonata in C major (K. 132)
103. Alick Nkhata: "Shalapo"
104. Claudio Villa con Orchestra dir. dal M.o Piubeni: "Luna rossa"
105. Nat "King" Cole with Orchestra conducted by Les Baxter: "Mona Lisa" from the motion picture Captain Carey, U.S.A.
106. The Charlie Parker Quartet with the Joe Lippman Orchestra: "Dancing in the Dark"
107. Araci de Almeida com Quartejo Continental: "Palpite infeliz"
108. Pete Seeger: "Come All Fair Maids"
109. Léo Ferré: "La vie d'artiste"
110. Frank Sinatra; Orchestra under the direction of Axel Stordhal: "Take My Love"

111. The Larks: "Coffee, Cigarettes, and Tears"
112. Pearl Bailey: "They Didn't Believe Me"
113. Smokey Hogg: "What in the World Am I Gonna Do?"
114. Mel Tormé with the Red Norvo Trio: "I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling"
115. Alfred Apaka with Danny Stewart's Hawaiians: "Beyond the Reef"
116. Pixie Williams with Jimmy Carter's Hawaiians: "Sweetheart in Calico"
117. Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye; Tony Alamo and the Kaydets: "Harbor Lights"
118. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys: "Faded Love"
119. Ella Fitzgerald with Ellis Larkins: "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
120. Pablo Casals and Paul Baumgartner: Adagio and Allegro ma non troppo from Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata No. 1 for viola da gamba and harpsichord in G major (BWV 1027)

121. Charles Trenet; Orchestre dir. Albert Lasky avec les Chœurs R. Saint-Paul: "Mes jeunes années"
122. Bing Crosby with Axel Stordahl and his Orchestra: "Autumn Leaves"
123. Olav Werner: "Stjernesangen"
124. Mahalia Jackson: "Just Over the Hill, Parts 1 and 2"
125. Yma Sumac; Orchestra conducted by Leslie Baxter: "Virgin of the Sun God (Taita Inty)"
126. Jussi Björling with the Swedish Radio Orchestra (Nils Grevillius, cond.): "E lucevan le stelle" from Act 3 of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca
127. Édith Piaf; Orchestre dir. Robert Chauvigny: "Hymne à l'amour"
128. Georgi Vinogradov: "Wenn ich in deine Augen seh" from Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (Op. 48)
129. Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and his Orchestra: "No Other Love"
130. The Louis Armstrong All-Stars: "New Orleans Function"

131. Elder Charles Beck: "What Do You Think About Jesus"
132. Burl Ives: "Fooba Wooba John"
133. Mohammed Rafi and Suraiya: "Dhadak dhadak dil" from the motion picture Dastan
134. Harry Choates and his Fiddle: "Louisiana Boogie"
135. Hank Snow and his Rainbow Ranch Boys: "I'm Movin' On"
136. Shizuko Kasagi: "Kaimono boogie"
137. Rosita Serrano: "Cielito lindo"
138. Tex Williams and his Western Caravan: "Wild Card"
139. Quartetto Cetra: "Nella vecchia fattoria"
140. Mitch Miller and his Orchestra and Chorus: "Tzena Tzena Tzena"

141. The Les Paul Trio: "Lover (live)"
142. Conlon Nancarrow: Study for Player Piano No. 3a [Composed 1949-1950, recorded 1977]
143. The Paramount Studio Orchestra (Franz Waxman, cond.): "The Comeback" from the motion picture Sunset Boulevard
144. Machito and his Orchestra: "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite"
145. The Robins and 2 Sharps and a Natural: "Race of Man"
146. Marian Anderson and Franz Rupp: Franz Schubert's "Dem unendlichen," D. 291
147. The Charles Brown Trio: "Black Night"
148. The Miles Davis Nonet: "Moon Dreams"
149. Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra and The Weavers: "Goodnight Irene"
150. Helmut Zacharias mit seiner Streicher-Besetzung; Anneliese Rothenberger und Detlev Lais: "La — Le — Lu"

151. Don Byas: "Stardust"
152. Mary Martin and Arthur Godfrey: "Go to Sleep, Go to Sleep, Go to Sleep"
153. Josh White and his Guitar: "Wanderings"
154. Atahualpa Yupanqui: "Baguala"
155. Laughing Eyes: "Lullaby"
156. John Cage: "A Flower," performed by the Donald Knaack Percussion Ensemble with Jay Clayton [Composed 1950, recorded 1989]
157. Abing: "Erquan yingyue"
158. Lionel Hampton and his Sextet: "Moonglow"
159. Harry Partch: "Cloud-Chamber Music" from Eleven Intrusions, performed by Harry Partch, Ben Johnston, Betty Johnston, Donald Pippin, and Bill Snead [Composed 1950, recorded 1951]
160. Chemutoi Ketienya and Kipsigi Girls: "Chemirocha"

161. Udi Hrant Kenkulian: "Armenian Dance"
162. La Niña de los Peines: "A la sierra de Armenia"
163. Uncle Dave Macon: "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy"
164. Al Jolson: "My Old Kentucky Home"
165. Dinu Lipatti: Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major from Franz Schubert's Four Impromptus, D. 899
166. Arnold Schoenberg: Psalm 130 (De profundis), Op. 50b performed by the Heidelberg Schola (Walter Nußbaum, cond.) [Composed 1950, recorded 2001]
167. Muddy Waters: "Rollin' Stone"
168. Zautra and J. Karauskas: "Jau Saulele Teka"
169. Ronnie Ronalde and Orchestra (Arturo Seffani, cond.): "If I Were a Blackbird"
170. "Dawn Chorus, East Africa" from the album Sound Patterns [Recorded in 1950, released in 1953]

*applause*

Yes!

Might just be worth me getting a spotlight subscription for this

Wow.... interesting year to pick. This is an era of culture no one ever really thinks about.

Totally. It's post-swing era but pre-rock & roll. ("Rocket 88" was released in '51.)

Comes just at the right time - a really great un-mined era. Bob Stanley opens his latest book with a chapter on this era and there's some extraordinary stuff.

cool

so great

Awesome. Great starter track too. Furtwangler's La Scala Ring has an elemental feeling of gods lurching about that I haven't heard on his later Ring cycles or anyone else's.

Is this really the 1950 LP recording of Gieseking's Debussy, not the 1953-54 well known EMI one or the 1930s 78 rpm one? I ask because I have been hankering for the 1950 Preludes recordings to come out on CD or digitally for more than a decade and as far as I knew it never has?

dog latin -- good suggestion! Based on that I forwarded it to him on Twitter and he agreed 'it sounds very me'

<rubs hands together>

The album cover with Giesking's Debussy takes says it was recorded live in Berlin on May 23, 1950. So (I'm pretty sure) it's not any of the above -- not any of his more "canonical" takes. I just really wanted to include some Debussy to bump up against "Out West." (Which you all may not realize was voiced by THIS guy: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0906918/?ref_=tt_cl_t5)

Also, Giesking's 1953-4 recordings, which for years were the only Debussy I owned, sound so...dim. It's nice to have something a little more sonically commanding from him.

OHHH it's a live one. That explains it. I knew there were some live 1950 pcs of him in that repertoire.

The ones I am salivating for are two Columbia LPs (preludes book I, preludes book II) which were iirc recorded in 1949 and released in 1950. The EMI ones of a few years later seem to have wiped these out of history but the columbias have better sound and are better played. I agree with you that the sound on the famous EMI preludes sucks shit. Remastering after remastering has not helped. Walter Legge was a terrible producer of solo piano recordings.

Gieseking's 78 rpm traversal of all 24 Preludes is currently the way to go for him in that music IMO. It was on one of those Great Pianists of the 20th Century 2cd sets on Philips which are OOP but easy to find used...

I was thinking there ought to be something from film scores but it looks like '50 was not a great year for film music with the v notable and wonderful exception of Waxman's music for Sunset Boulevard. Spotify should have a great suite from it recorded later on in stereo by Charles Gerhardt.

Really cool project!

Some background:

After finishing one for 1984 and abandoning one for 1975, I asked to do a 1950 CDR Go! all the way back in 2006. (For you ILX young'uns, the CDR GO! concept was more or less where you'd fill a CDR with as many songs from one year as you could without repeating an artist.) I chose 1950 because it was a nice round number and a year I didn't know much about. No other reason why. I have no great sentimentality for the era. So I spent a month and a half researching tejano/conjunto, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina on the internet (well, just googling music styles and performers + 1950). Eventually I grew tired -- it was monotonous work. I put it aside. Then, a few months ago, I said to myself, OMG, I do not want to die before completing this. Which is, yes, a ridiculous thing to think. Completely ridiculous, and not to be encouraged. Anyway, I dug out my old notes, bored deep, and started with everybody ever covered on the Chronological Classics label. Google Books, translation sites, etc. made everything a lot easier; plus, there's so much more in 2013 Spotify's shitstorm of lapsed copyrights than there was of the iTunes/SoulSeek of 2006. And two and a half months later, voila!

I've put together a few year-specific Spotify playlists (1994, 1997, 2003), making some discoveries along the way but rarely straying too far from my own tastes and lived experiences. But when I tried to start one for 1939, it seemed so overwhelming and unfamiliar, I gave up pretty quickly. So kudos!

this is great and i thought so before the abe ellstein orchestra kicked off - what a jammy klezmer track!

This is amazing.

Such an amazing eclectic mix. Thanks! Was jamming this in the kitchen last night.

daddino i think i love you

This looks amazing. I love this post-war era because there's so much energy and so much going on in jazz, blues, country, pop -- a lot of it headed toward convergence in "rock 'n' roll."

If I was going to add one person, it would be T-Bone Walker. Maybe "The Hustle Is On." The first time I heard him, it was like, oh, this is where Chuck Berry learned to play guitar.

The intro of "Water Baby Blues" by the Maddox Brothers & Rose sounds kind of like the Beatles' "Revolution"!

amen to all of this.

Spotify's shitstorm of lapsed copyrights

that's a book, or an EMP presentation, waiting to happen.

Nice mention of this playlist in this P4k article:
http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9887-why-the-death-of-greatest-hits-albums-and-reissues-is-worth-mourning/

good article, an instance of Pitchfork not being dumb

Hey everybody, I have an announcement about this playlist: https://twitter.com/epicharmus/status/769386571120386049

required a few clicks, but seems to work - thanks!

this playlist rules so much. thanks Michael!

epic! managed to get all five parts downloaded. a heroic work.

so good, having a great time starring my faves as i listen through. i always knew john lee hooker was a legend but hadn't really focused on him til it appeared here early on. holy moly 'rollin' blues', whoa now, that's an incredible performance, the sound of the stomping on the floor is electrifying

this playlist was what made me subscribe to Spotify and we listened to it for hours last weekend as my 84-year-old father-in-law had his moving party with all his friends from years past. thanks so much for making this one, a true joy.

This is amazing.

― etc, Saturday, 2 November 2013 10:09 (two years ago)

Even more so. Pixie Williams represent! It's not the easiest finding documentation on NZ stuff from this era, eh ...

Hey everybody. I've recreated The Bomb in the Heart of the Century as a series of Mixcloud mixes. The first two are now up:

https://www.mixcloud.com/epicharmus/mixcloud-go-1950-0112/
https://www.mixcloud.com/epicharmus/mixcloud-go-1950-0212/

Exhaustive discographical information is being posted on my Tumblr:

https://unbreakabletrust.tumblr.com