Matt Back in 1956, Mitch Miller requested that Frankie Laine record a song named "Moonlight Gambler" with the addition of Ray Conniff not on trombone but providing a whistle which would be included. Johnny Ray and Guy Mitchell had only a few months before used Ray's whistle in their hits "Singin' In The Rain" and "Singing The Blues" respectively. Ray Conniff is known more as a trombone player and a wonderful arranger but whistling had become another arrow too his bow during this period. Mitch Miller provided the horse clicking with his tongue on the roof of his mouth during the recording of "Moonlight Gambler" but when he suggested to Frankie Laine to release this as a single Frankie thought that this would not be one of his successes but a bet was made that Mitch would shave off his beard if the single did not sell a million or if Frankie was wrong he would grow a beard and wear it for the next six months. Now I always thought Frankie Laine looked good in a beard anyway and this little story shows why sometimes no matter how good an artist thinks he is, an outside viewpoint as in a great producer like Mitch Miller will know instinctively what course or style an artist should follow. Frankie Laine always respected Mitch's opinions and he even re-recorded the song in 1962 for his 2nd Western themed album, "Deuces Wild" and it was Mitch Miller's influence right behind Frankie Laine's first Western themed album "Hell Bent For Leather".

There was a new arranger and pianist working around Columbia Records in 1960 named Johnny Williams but today we know him as John Williams one of the greatest Soundtrack composers and arrangers living with "Star Wars" being his most famous and this man has more awards on his shelf than Elvis and The Beatles combined at a glance, what hasn't he won over the years for the countless soundtracks and so many classic productions in stage and screen. Here though he is just Johnny and previous to this he had been working with Henry Mancini and actually providing the piano for his classic "Peter Gunn",and after joining Frankie in 1960 on the next four albums. Johnny Williams conducts the orchestra and the chorus used throughout the entire album. Things really started for the album back in June 1958 when Frankie Laine recorded the first take of "Rawhide" and when the sessions were held in 1960, late December over five days (16,19,20th) for the album "Hell Bent For Leather", "Rawhide's" vocals on the album were given an overdub from Frankie.

"Wanted Man" is first and the story relates to a jealous murder with the posse in hot pursuit with a great spirited vocal from Frankie just putting one straight into the old west and does it get anymore western with the next, than the classic song "High Noon" which originally was a hit for Tex Ritter and Frankie in 1952 but although I would often recommend the original not so here as Frankie Laine put us right in Gary Coopers shoes with this stunning re-vamp and the chorus sounding beautifully right behind him. "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral" maybe it is the boy still in me but the marching time provided by the drums and Frankie hitting the notes, it really is a study in that old Americana from the old west that we loved. Can things get any better, well yes with the following tale "Bowie Knife" they do exactly that and for me one of the absolute standouts in the album concerning the tale of a duel in New Orleans over slighted pride and of course it gets the big Frankie Laine finish. The horses are clip clopping in the slow tempo "Along The Navajo Trail" and the side finishes off with another re-do of "The Cry Of The Wild Goose" which Frankie first recorded back at Mercury in 1950.

"Head em' up and move em' out" it's "Rawhide" which gets the album flip underway is the unforgettable theme for the television show which Frankie first recorded in 1958 with Frankie providing not only a wonderful vocal with the yips etc, that just makes things better. "City Boy" is a stage coach ride out west and followed by a song that the Sons Of The Pioneers made famous being "Cool Water" and this being another re-do from Frankie which he first recorded back in 1955. The new take on the "3.10 To Yuma" is more beautifully themed music with the chorus sounding beautifully high right behind Frankie Laine's lead vocal. "The Hanging Tree" seems to be the only obvious song with a Country instrument at the fore with the banjo getting the lead but is it, or maybe it is Tommy Tedesco's guitar tuned and played that method? The album finishes off with "Mule Train" what many people claim to have the first sound effects used with music back in 1949 when Frankie first recorded it with Mitch Miller at Mercury Records. Here we have a slightly even more spirited take from Frankie with all the whip cracks and Frankie yelling 'Get along there" with that growl one has for driving animals and it is difficult to pin point out an artist, who when he does re-do a tune he gives the song an improvement and although I do love the original takes one must give credit not only to Johnny Williams for adding his certain spice but to Frankie Laine himself as many an artist often sounds tired not so with Frankie. He sings them like his life depends on it with every new version being an improvement and sounding just an fresh as the original if not more so.

Classic album that is for sure, no it is not Jazz really but neither would you term this strictly Country music. It is a concept album of Western themed songs and one that many may lump into the Cowboy catergory but there is a lot more bounce and who else could do an album this good anyway but a great Jazz singer.

Matt You can't say Frankie Laine did not have the training to do a Gospel album, after all he had been an altar boy at his local Parish in Chicago and in early January 1953 recorded his smash hit "I Believe" with all it's Gospel connontations and around that same time all this was happening for Frankie a new vocal group had started called The Four Lads, who Mitch Miller, Frankie Laine's friend as well as being the main man at Columbia records had seen at a club and decided to use them with the vocalist Johnny Ray on his hits, "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried" in 1953 and they recorded them for nothing but not really, as they did score a one year contract for their effort from Mitch. The Four Lads comprised of Connie Cordarini (bass), Bernie Toorish (tenor), Jimmy Arnold (lead ) and Frank Busseri (baritone) and spirituals, folk and pop were all included in their repertoire of songs but at this time we are still very early days in their careers as they would still be performing and recording into the 1970's. "Frankie Laine And The Four Lads" was recorded over three sessions with the first two in June 1954 on the 26th and 27th with another session recorded on October the 27th in 1955. One interesting point is Albert Lerner is on piano for all the sessions but the line-up does change quite a bit for the last one with Edwin LeMar "Buddy" Cole replaced by Richard Hyman on organ and Vincent Terri on guitar is replaced by none other than the old twanger Al Caiola but Al would have been quite early in his career at this point with both the bass player and drummer replaced as well in that last session with this personnel comprising a quintet in number for the band which gives the vocals absolute front and centre as any good spiritual music should contain. Yes, it was back to basics for the albums construction which is one of the joys within, due to this small line-up as anything more would simply have swamped the album draining all that freshness which all the vocalists bring to every song with Old Leather Lungs himself, superbly right out front.

There is a real mix of tempos used throughout the album with usually a fairly up-tempo number followed by the slower one which brings great continual variety to the album with many being on the joyous side with "Juba-Juba-Jubalee" with it's organ introduction and Frankie Laine singing the title in repitition and before you know it we are in full gospel mode with The Four Lads singing right in between Frankie on this joyous up-tempo number. The organ is used as the main section within the bands music throughout putting us right into the church pew and the following number being a slow spiritual with a spoken prayer from Frankie within and here one hears why he was named leather lungs with the notes that Frankie hits with his beautiful and powerful voice. You need to be on your feet and clapping along with "What Would I Do Without The Lord" followed by another of the those slow beautiful numbers with Frankie stretching his lungs in "Let Me Be Ready, Lord" concerning ones death and after you will be ready for that "chariot to take you to those heavenly lands" with this rendition from Frankie and The Four Lads. One of the standouts for me from that last session is "Didn't He Moan" with it's blues/gospel influence and it is simply superb. The album's songs on the flip that deserve a mention are "Rain, Rain, Rain" which was the albums single and hit and listen to Frankie and those Lads swap the vocals around throughout the tune with both taking lead and singing backing in turns. "God's Gonna Take The Saints To Heaven" has us in a lifeboat with the saints, all the way to heaven, followed by the swing and joy of "Wa-Hoo". The next, "Aint It A Pity And A Shame" is one of it's own within the album with The Four Lads singing just halo primarily with electrifying effect right behind Frankie Laine's lead vocal. The album closes with "I Heard The Angels Singing" where one should stand, clap and sing along with this great romper of a spiritual.

Fabulous distinct album within Frankie Laine's discography where he shows us that he can sing anything with anybody. Frankie Laine was a devout Catholic all his life and this religious influenced material was a joy for him to perform and one can hear that clearly within these songs all beautifully sung in conjunction with The Four Lads. Another note on Frankie's versatilatity is three days before that last session for this album in October 1955 he recorded another last album session for his classic "Jazz Spectacular" with Buck Clayton.

Matt The title describes the album perfectly being named "Jazz Spectacular" which is what it is, with a great take on many classics from the genre with five being re-dos from Frankie Laine's previous days at Atlas and Mercury Records . One of the reasons apart from Frankie's stunning vocals this album is so spectacular is the band behind him which one could almost say was Count Basie's with many lumanaries from his past big band present and the man leading the show is none other than the beautiful trumpeter Buck Clayton. It was actually Buck's idea for the album as he and Frankie went way back to his early days with Mercury Records where Buck lead the the band which the company used to back many of it's stars for a revue which Frankie headlined. Mitch Miller did not get the job of producing the album and Irving Townsend was chosen as he had more Jazz experience. Three sessions were used to record the album with Jo Jones the great Basie Orchestra's drummer with Urbie Green on trombone for four of the songs with J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding replacing Urbie on trombone for the remainder as Jo Jones on drums is replaced by Bobby Donaldson. The orchestra has two pianists with one being Sir Charles Thompson who played with Bird (Charlie Parker) not to mention Coleman Hawkins and Dexter Gordon as well Ray Copeland is assisting Buck as the 2nd trumpet and the bassist is none other than the great Milt Hinton who was originally form Cab Calloway's orchestra. Also four saxophonists with two tenors an alto and a bass with Al Sears and Budd Thompson Sr being the two tenor players and all of them contributing magnificently. Recorded over three sessions from October the 25th to the 27th in 1955 and released in 1956 and the album did not sell all that well for Frankie but it was one of his favourites as it is mine from his discography as this is not your ordinary jazz vocal album but one that has plenty of swing, lengthy solos and best of all that New Orleans touch with the music's presentation which Buck Clayton's trumpet tone rams home.

Swing is what is first up with Frankie's take on a previous number he recorded at Mercury "S'posin" and Buck shows what a stunner on trumpet he is with the first solo he inserts which is followed by tenor sax, trombone, piano all having a quick one to do and the song swings along with Frankie Laine's exquisite vocals. Buck trumpet opens "Stars Fell On Alabama" and this beautiful shuffle of a song is sung so beautifully with Frankie's take and during this album the musicians solos that are placed within as every song on the album are jazz heaven with Sir Charles Thompson's piano sounding more traditional giving a great feel to the music with "Stars Fell On Alabama" being my favourite from side one of the record but the other three are superb with a gorgeous take of Billy Holiday's "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" followed by my "Old Flame" with the swing being applied in a large does with "You Can Depend On Me". The standard "That Old Feeling" opens up side two and the jazz just keeps coming with more swing in "Taking A Chance On Love" followed by another of those beautiful shuffle ballads "If You Were Mine" and a simply beautiful take of "Baby, Baby All The Time" which Frankie first recorded in 1945 at Atlas with a simply glorious tenor solo opening the song and Frankie Laine sings the tune even better this time around. The pick of the album for me is the last number "Roses Of Picardy" which was another re-do from Frankie's Mercury Record days and he first recorded the song in 1947 and it swung back then but this time it parctically comes of the over head bar with the punch from the band with absolutely flat out solo's from the orchestra all in quick succesion and the swing that Frankie Laine's vocals applies to the number, it does not get any better.

Frankie Laine would go back with Mitch Miller after this to start more Country themed material with even more success but that was only because so many people missed the boat by not giving this album one good listen which was obvious with the records sales. This is one beautiful Jazz vocal album presented with a Louis Armstrong approach to the proceedings with the addition of Kansas City swing by Buck and the orchestra and by repeating myself again, yep it is, "Jazz Heaven". One other note is J.J Johnson and Kai Winding were new at Columbia and the company placed them on the album for exposure but that does not matter with the stunning calibre of both trombonists but it was Columbia who pushed them to be at the sessions.

Matt Frankie Laine an absolute American singing legend is given the Bear Family box set treatment with "That Lucky Old Sun" being the first of three which will be issued over the following two years. If you are reading this review there is a good chance that you will be familar with Frankie's music and all its diversity and in this set "The Lucky Old Sun" the time span that it encompasses is from 1944 with his very first recordings at Goldseal and Beltone ( 3 in total) with all his Atlas recordings (17 in total) and finishing up with all his Mercury output right up 1951. The set was prepped by Tony Cooper and Richard Weize the founder of Bear Family records with another twenty people involved at various stages with Frankie Laine himself assisting and adding his own personal photos for the acompanying book. Todd Everett was the biographer for the hard cover Lp size book that is included which includes Frankie Laine's personel photos, concert posters, film posters, reviews from that period, movie stills, storys of other musicians who played with Frankie with of course Carl Fisher getting a mention. Not only that, the book also has the complete discography with dates, recording sessions, personnel all in order with pictures of his releases littered throughout amongst the pages which is absolutely stunning. Bear Family do state even they are little unsure for some of the very early listings due to conflicting information even with Frankie himself assisting at times. One other thing is you also get an old style picture disc that is included in the set with "Mamselle" and "All Of Me" being the songs included.

There are six discs within the box set with everyone packed to capacity for space with 153 songs starting from Frankie Laine"s very first recordings of "That's Liberty" and "In The Wee Small Hours". Another interesting point with the first disc is the inclusion of the demo for Frankie's first hit "Thats My Desire" with the last track being "Pickle In The Middle" with Artie Auerbach singing and Frankie providing backing vocals as a peanut seller. There is something about disc 1 with these early recordings with many of the songs being re-recorded later by Frankie at Columbia on his Jazz Spectacular album and to hear them in these early Jazz recordings is a true delight. Many of the recordings within would later be recorded again at Columbia and there is a difference with them and although at times there may seem a little less bounce but that is equalled up by the freshness from these wonderful early Jazz recordings of Frankie Laine. Every hit in this time span is included with even a French version of "West End Blues" which is actually track 1 on disc 2 and the hits keep coming throughout with "Black and Blue", Mamselle", "All Of Me" (the flip), "Two Loves Have I", "Shine", "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", with even "You're All I Want For Christmas and it is Jazz Vocals the lot. Many of the original hit versions have been placed on the last disc if there is an alternate or demo version of them with others being "Sunny Side Of The Street", "Georgia On My Mind" and "When Your Smiling" with Jerome Courtland from their movie soundtracks. We also get the two duets with Patti Page, yes two as only one was originally released and the other not till this set with two songs being respectively "I Love You For That" ( 2000) and "If I Were Your Baby" (1950) but they are on disc 4 which is where things take a turn for Frankie Laine as this is were he meets up with Producer Mitch Miller and his career started to take that Western touch. One should remember that way back in 1949 that the sound effect used on "Mule Train" were some of the first recordings to add these exotic touches with whips being the main addition. Of course previous to the recording of "Mule Train" we had the sets title which was a huge hit being "That Lucky Old Sun" which was recorded only three months prior to "Mule Train" and quite a few of these numbers would later be redone with Mitch Miller again as well when they both left for Coloumbia on his late Western themed albums in the sixties.

Pick of the discs is extremely difficult but I will say that disc 1, 4, 5, and 6 are equal with 2 and 3 not really far behind. Pick of the songs, some that have to be mentioned are "Roses Of Picardy", "By The River Of Sainte Marie" with all their swing and bounce or perhaps that dark blues of "Black Lace", the beautiful ballad "Your Wonderful" and all the joy, swing and bounce of "Exactly Like You". It does not get any better, complete or accurate with the Bear Family releases and this is no exception. One other note the remastering is superb with hiss, static etc removed with the sound quality being the best there is for every song. Even if you are thinking of getting into all this early Frankie Laine material you would have to purchase a myriad of old records at 78,45 and 33 rpm and thats if you could find them in a reasonable condition which would far outlay the price of the set and still there are added tracks that were never even released. This is the best thats out there in any sound format and if you do take the punt and buy this set you will sure not be disappointed and like me you will play it all over and over and not just certain areas within. Gorgeous, music from Frankie Laine at this time span but the quaility really never changed no matter what he sang it was all done beautifully and with the added bonus of the emotion that Frankie Laine placed within every number he sang.

Matt The Omni Recording Company are an independant label founded by an Australian named David Thrussell which specialise in re-releasing Country, Folk, Early Electronic and Exotica as well as anything that could be considered slightly "off the wall" with all the kooky and strange songs that predominately sprung from the sixties and early seventies. At this time for the company we are up to their 36th release although currently the catalogue would be closer to fifty at this time of the review in December 2011.Not only do they re-release the kooky stuff, Omni also release albums that were quite good and innovative as well but went nowhere.

"Rocks And Gravel" is the title for this compilation that encompasses quite a lot of Frankie Laine's Country material that he recorded at Columbia where many of these songs are what he will always be remembered as singing concerning cowboys, gunfights, stage coaches, duels, hard work, despair, joy and lost or gained loves with every word sung precisely and clear as a bell being no need for you look at lyrics as Frankie Laine was a total professional. Although the material that is included is labelled Country in all honesty it is slightly removed from that genre with the stylings, albeit the lyrics are pure Cowboy at times the music is not and actually Frankie Laine still uses his Jazz stylings in many a song with accents on certain passages and when one hears the production behind him on many of these songs which borders on Exotica at times with the sounds of whips, horses, hammers added to the backing for many of them with the added addition of a chorus bringing that Western feeling to the proceedings. That western feeling behind all these arrangements and the conducting for many of these tracks was done by a young Johnny Williams who today is more well known as John Williams and is recognised as one of the top soundtrack men around today with the film Star Wars being his most well known among many other classic movies. One great thing about this compilation is they have released seven songs that are in their single versions which have not been available since their releases between 1956 till 1964. As well the compilation has material taken from six of Frankie Laine's albums all at Columbia with not all being in his Country format with a track from "Rockin" and quite a few of the more Jazz/Popular leaning tunes from the "Balladeer" album.

Twenty eight songs are included and many of them are considered western classics and there are a few which actually are fresh takes that were done at Columbia but were originally recorded when Frankie was recording at Mercury in their original versions with "The Lucky Old Sun","The Swamp Girl"," Old Virginny", "Black Lace" and "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" being five. They are almost all here with exception of "Rawhide", "Mule Train" and "High Noon" included which is bit of a let down for people who have not heard Frankie Laine's songs in this styling but still there are plenty of absolute classics to sing along with, "The 3.10 To Yuma", "Gunfight At The O.K Corral", "Wanted Man", "Hangin' Tree" and perhaps the best for me is "Bowie Knife" concerning a duel down in New Orleans to the death and all were on the "Hell Bent For Leather" album but here we get the single versions for "Yuma and O.K Corral". Two great numbers are "Cherry Red" being more blues and "Careless Love" with it's W.C Handy origins with the addition of a superb version of "Wayfaring Stranger" but the absolute stand out track is Frankie Laine's version of "Riders In The Sky" and he sings it with a great gusto and feel with a beautiful take being the result and I still have heard none superior.

A few could have been dropped perhaps to make way for the missing ones I mentioned above but still this is a wonderful compilation of Frankie Laine's Western material from Columbia and congratulations must go to David Thrussel at Omni for releasing all this great missing material on cd and that is not just for this one but all the others in their exquiste little catalogue of forgotten albums.