Among the many records which I heard as a kid; and I mean
like 3 and 4 years old; one of my favorites was “Rum and Coca-Cola” by the
Andrews Sisters. This was another of the piles of 78 RPM’s which my mother had.
They covered everything from opera to society bands. I think the tight
harmonies of the Andrews Sisters drew me in because I had not heard anything
like them on the other recordings; things like Frankie Laine’s “Lucky Old Sun”,
or Theresa Brewer’s barrel house “The Nickelodeon Song”. These were some of the
first records I ever heard, and I still listen to them today.
This collection of songs by the Andrews Sisters was released
as “V” discs during the Second World War. The V stood for Victory and the
recordings were made for free by the artists involved. The record companies
even distributed the finished products to the various USO canteens and Armed
Forces broadcasting stations throughout Europe and the Pacific from about 1943
through 1949.
Squeezing in time to make the recordings proved to be a
problem in scheduling. As a result many
of the selections here were recorded in the wee hours after the clubs had
closed and the performers were free to record.
“V” kits were shipped with about 20 recordings and 100
needles for the phonographs. Another thing to come out of the V disc program
was the development of the vinyl record. Due to the high volume of breakage
with the 78 RPM’s it was decided that another medium was needed.
Vinyl was in scarce supply; being used for life rafts and other war related items. But a Canadian laboratory had developed a composite they called Formvar. It had all the properties of the vinyl recordings which would replace the 78’s within the next decade, and it also had a superior sound.
Vinyl was in scarce supply; being used for life rafts and other war related items. But a Canadian laboratory had developed a composite they called Formvar. It had all the properties of the vinyl recordings which would replace the 78’s within the next decade, and it also had a superior sound.
On this disc the Andrews Sisters perform many of their
greatest hits in a medley after doing some wonderful versions of 15 standards
such as; “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”; “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”; “Lullaby
of Broadway”; “Don’t Blame Me”; and a couple of western numbers like “Down in
the Valley” and “Down in the Valley” for the guys from Texas.
Great little collection of songs from one of the best moral
boosters we had during the Second World War. Only compliant is that they did
not do “'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”. It was dropped from their act right after
Pearl Harbor as being too German; much in the same way that sauerkraut became “Liberty
cabbage” in World War One.
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