- "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)." The Penguins. (1954)
Released as a "B-side," this doo wop ballad quickly garnered enormous popularity and became one of the first recordings to cross over. It climbed to the number 3 position on the rhythm-and-blues charts and reached number 8 on the pop charts. Billboard has termed the single of this song the "top R&B record of all time" measured by continuous popular appeal. The Penguins, a vocal group from Los Angeles that formed in 1954, featured high-school friends Cleveland Duncan (lead), Dexter Tisby (tenor), Bruce Tate (baritone), and Curtis Williams (bass). The recording was released on the DooTone label which was a black -owned and black-operated label.
Tuskegee Institute Choir Sings Spirituals. Directed by William L. Dawson. (1955)
This recording is significant not only for its powerful performances, but because it presents William L. Dawson’s arrangements of spirituals, which are still widely used by choirs today. Booker T. Washington founded The Tuskegee Institute Choir in 1887. Through tours, recordings and broadcasting, it reached international fame under the direction of Dawson, who led the choir from 1931 to 1955.
Messiah. Eugene Ormandy, conductor; Richard Condie, choir director. Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Philadelphia Orchestra. (1958)
The association between the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, one of the best known choral organizations in the United States, and the Philadelphia Orchestra dates to 1936. This best-selling recording of Handel's oratorio was made during a 1958 choir concert tour. It features Eileen Farrell, Martha Lipton, William Warfield and Cunningham Davis.
Giant Steps. John Coltrane. (1959)
John Coltrane’s lightning-fast runs on this debut recording for Atlantic Records have been described by writer Ira Gitler as "sheets of sound." In characteristic fashion, Coltrane plays phrases forward, backwards and upside down, exhausting the possible permutations of a motive before proceeding. These fast runs signal Coltrane’s movement away from a chordal approach to jazz in favor of a more scalar approach. Giant Steps contains seven original compositions by Coltrane, many of which have become jazz standards. [more on Coltrane here, here, here, here, here, here]
Drums of Passion. Michael Babatunde Olatunji. (1960)
Nigerian drummer Michael Babatunde Olatunji came to the United States in the early 1960's and released popular and influential drumming albums. Musicians as varied as Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, and Carlos Santana have all noted Olatunji’s virtuosity or counted him as an influence. Drums of Passion features traditional Nigerian drumming with Western choral arrangements in songs written by Olatunji. It was many Americans' first exposure to Nigerian drumming. [more here]
Peace Be Still. James Cleveland. (1962)
This enormously successful gospel recording influenced many later groups and remains an excellent example of gospel performance. Rev. Cleveland, a protege of Thomas A. Dorsey and Roberta Martin, was himself a pioneer gospel recording artist, the first to make a 'live' gospel album and one of the developers of modern gospel. Peace Be Still features keyboardist Billy Preston and the Angelic Choir of Nutley, New Jersey.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Well we didn't all that list since it is at the link.
To take this much of the text, in this case, it should be pointed out, is OK because it is a 100-percent government release. As in, no copyright.
I'll have to get back this but very cool. I was going to commend the poster for the link back to other blogcritic articles - before I saw it was EricO. :-)
2 - Eric Olsen
bolded the titles to make it more readable; yes, government source, ripe for the picking, but I did include my own input as well: that which is not indented
3 - DrPat
Well, I thank you! I would never have thought to check the list without this link and the substance posted here. It makes me feel good to realize I have more than a half-dozen of these in my own collection...
4 - Eric Olsen
glad it was helpful, the '02 and '03 lists are worth perusing as well
5 - Eric Berlin
Man, I'd love to check out those Murrow broadcasts from London circa The Blitz. Now that's some history for you.
Yesterday, I was walking along when the Ewok celebration from Return of the Jedi popped into my iPod. That song transitions into the Star Wars main theme, and I was thinking about how amazing it is, how striking, how original, how utterly... Star Wars it is. If that's not the greatest movie theme ever, I don't know what is.
6 - Eric Olsen
I love the jaunty faux-jazz of the nightclub scene in the original
7 - Eric Berlin
Are you talking about the Cantina scene? That music is fabulous. And I love the blue dude with like elephant-type hands that plays the keyboard-like instrument.
8 - Eric Olsen
yes, cantina, it's been a while
9 - Al Barger
Bad as I hate the idea of guvment as art critic, I gotta say this is a pretty sweet list. Jimmie Rodgers, the Beach Boys and Public Enemy all together. Plus some real pickin' fiends from Flatt & Scruggs and the Allman's. What more could you want?
10 - JR
Actually, it's the government as a library, maintaining our intellectual infrastructure. These are just the librarians' picks.
11 - Eric Olsen
with nominations from the public
12 - Dave Nalle
I've got 8 of those on my iPod including 2 of the albums. Not bad. Bet you''d never guess which ones I have tho.
Dave
13 - Beto Mattos
Friends!!!
Friends are with a lot of affection and pleasure that me same Beto Mattos singer and Brazilian composer request her/it this recording support, because I have a wonderful work of a lot of more success with the bankruptcy of the big ones recording in Brazil am disabled of selling my work, so much that with the great success of my album don't have cd in the market and I seek a recording one or even dealer that can help myself in this process visits my site hears some of the music hope to count with this considered company.
www.betomattos.art.br
011 (97342103
14 - Joe Arnold
Mike Johnson's "YODELING 40 YEARS" 2-disc CD
is now part of the Library of Congress' Recorded Sound collection!
What's so special about Mike Johnson's release, you ask, since there have been many, many yodeling albums containing 20 to 30 yodeling songs on them! Quite true, but none of them can boast that ALL of the songs on those releases were written by ONE person! Well we can, because all 50 of the yodeling songs on this 2-disc CD album were written & composed by Mike Johnson.
These songs will take you on a journey from Mike's raw beginnings and development to becoming Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler. Also debuting on this release are more of Mike's unique wordless yodeling songs like "Black Yodels No. 2 to 7", "Snuggle-Up Yodel", "Wild Horse Yodel", and "Yodel Round Up." Mike has written over 100 yodeling songs.
On 15 March 2007 we received a confirmation letter from the Library of Congress informing us that Mike Johnson's "Yodeling 40 Years" and "Black Yodel No.1" CDs, and related yodeling material, are now part of the Recorded Sound Reference Center's permanent collection. This is a part of the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.
Mike Johnson is also one of the 18 World Famous Yodelers featured on the "Rough Guide To Yodel" CD, singing his ever-popular "Yeah I'm A Cowboy."
Wanna hear some of those songs, go to www.indiecharts.com/yodeler
Wanna see Mike in action, go to www.YouTube.com and type the following titles into the Search Engine bar;
1. Mike Johnson's Tarzan Did! [Mike is 60 years old on this performance]
2. Mike Johnson's Wild Horse Yodel [and this one too!]
3. Mike Johnson - Mama Don't Allow No Music Round Here.
Radio DJs can download Mike Johnson songs at;
www.airplaydirect.com/music/bands/12725
Mike's Mother's Day hit "DID YOU HUG YOUR MOTHER TODAY?" is now part of the CD Baby lineup.
www.cdbaby.com/all/mikejohnson
Have a good day.
Joe Arnold, Roughshod Records
P.O. Box 100933, Arlington, Va. 22210