Defeating boredom...one mp3 at a time!





Cole Porter songs are everywhere! Vocalists revere his witty lyrics, jazz musicians praise his melodic structure, and for 50 years most Americans could whistle or hum along with his tunes. Record companies knew that including a Porter ditty (or two...or even devoting an entire lp) would increase sales, and, as a result, every thrift store crawls with these songs, each flea market stall is rife with them, and if you see a stack of dusty vinyl at a yard sale...well, the odds are good that someone is interpreting classic Cole.







This blog is a humble attempt to offer some of the more unusual/rare/overlooked versions from the Porter canon. Most come from forgotten vinyl, some may come from other sources, none will come from official discography. I'm not here to steal from the record companies. If you see something that is available from Amazon.com please let me know and it will be removed.







I'm no expert on the "great American songbook." I grew up a rabid punk rocker who loved (and still loves) The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and all things Beefheart. My dad loved Broadway, though, and even as I ridiculed his collection of bland records, I was apparently absorbing every song on My Fair Lady, South Pacifiic, and Kiss Me Kate. I can still remember the first time I heart Porter's Lets Do It...did someone just say "Lithuanian and Lats do it?" Hey, I'm Lithuanian! Dad...lets listen to that song again. It sounded so corny when I was a teenager. These days it just sounds good.







The Porter Quarter gets its name from the simple fact that many of the records heard here were purchased for a quarter. Then it occured to me this blog might be considered as a destination...in the same way The Latin Quarter is an actual place. And it rhymes!



















Thursday, March 11, 2010

Gladys Swarthout: Begin The Beguine

My first 78 transfer...from a truly mud-encrusted disc found at Goodwill! The results are certainly listenable, especially considering the condition of the record. The "album" contained eight songs on four records, and the jacket, though dusty, cleaned up nicely. I began the restoration by submerging the record in lukewarm water and scrubbing it with a brush, drying it with an old t-shirt, and then playing/recording with a Stanton cartridge with an appropriate 78 stylus. I used a bit of pop reduction and boosted the eq to give a tad more lower end. Gladys' version of Beguine is a fantastic example of high-class, "mezzo-soprano" antiquity. Doesn't date very well, that is for sure. www.box.net/shared/zz1zlksc9b
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