Comments
-
Since my parents lived in Newark, NJ where Prom (later Promenade, Guest Star, Diplomat, etc.) was located, this is the version we had in the house and I loved it. It started me on a life-long study of budget record labels. I recently completed a book about the many rock rarities that were preserved by budget record companies. If you get a chance, check out "Budget Record Rock Rarities" on youtube. Thanks again for posting "Shrimp Boats."
-
@radioman56 Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
-
Cool! You coulda fooled me into thinking this was the original!
-
@JubalCalif Thanks for tuning in! I love just about anything Enoch Light did. He was an amazing man for sure.
-
Thank you VERY much for posting this treasure of a tune! It's amazing how much it sounds like the Jo Stafford original! A very talented group, that's for sure!
-
thisis oneoof my favorites songs ty for playing it
-
@rylandheights It is amazing just how much music he made and produced in his lifetime. The Lp I found of his at the thrift store says it's the first album recorded with 35 mm magnetic film. It's called Stereo 35/MM from 1961.
-
Light did so much stuff... it's just amazing.
-
"18 Top Hits" was Light's own "soundalike" label, which he created at the time he formed "Waldorf Music Hall"; I'm certain that, by 1954, he correctly figured that he could just as easily go into the "bargain record" business and make money himself, instead of recording for someone else.
-
@sideshowtink Thank you Tink! I'm glad you like this one too.
-
@RaymondTVinyl Thanks Raymond! I'm glad it made you smile. :-)
-
very fun record!!!
-
Such a funny song!! Love the Prom label! Hahahaha!!
-
@fromthesidelines I would love to find that Lp. That sounds fantastic.
-
@fromthesidelines Yes, and he also did a bunch of tunes on the 18 Top Hits label. I have some of those too and they're covers or "soundalikes" of the hits of the day. I'll try to dig a few out and post them.
-
...and would you believe, as late as 1970, Synthetic Plastics' "Ambassador" label issued an LP of several of Enoch Light's 1952-'54 "Prom" covers (in "reprocessed stereo") because of his reputation as a record producer [at that time, he was running "Project 3" records, as he'd sold Command to ABC several years before].
-
Another 1951 "soundalike" recording by Enoch and his ensemble for "Prom", with "Sally Coe" (if that WAS her real name; Loren Becker certainly was, as he was also one of Light's key vocalists on his own "Waldorf" label, and later a production associate as well) trying to sound like Jo Stafford on her original Columbia hit record.
"Shrimp Boats" was a popular song in the 1950s. It was written by Paul Mason Howard and Paul Weston and published in 1951. Charting versions were recorded by Jo Stafford (Weston's wife) and Dolores Gray. It was also recorded by Claude Gray (a country music singer) in 1963, and by Pete Fountain, Abdullah Ibrahim, The Orioles, and Buddy Tate. It's not known if Claude and Dolores were related. There was also an episode of Ozzie and Harriet, around 1952, in which Ricky Nelson sang a parody of "Shrimp Boats". The recording by Jo Stafford was made in July, 1951 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39581, with the flip side "Love, Mystery, and Adventure". It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on November 9, 1951 and lasted 17 weeks on the chart, peaking at #2. The recording by Dolores Gray was released by Decca Records as catalog number 27832, with the flip side "More! More! More!" It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on November 30, 1951 and lasted 6 weeks on the chart, peaking at #25.