The contents of this recording are as follows (all the titles, groupings
and use of capitals are exactly as printed on the sleeve):
Let me start by saying that, apart from the title, label and track
listing, all of the above information is absolutely ficticious. You may
remember that Presto is one of the labels that cropped up a while ago when we
were discussing the numerous
Allegro-Royale issues. One of the other labels
this company used was Society. I think Presto was only used when they issued
Pinafore highlights by the Knightsbridge group,
which was really another appearance of the Allegro-Royale recording.
These people seem to have just pinched
numerous recordings and put them out under false names on their various
labels. It is a while since I looked at these records, but I remember they
were very good at crediting Martyn Green in recordings that had nothing to do
with him. I seem to remember that they only 'borrowed' the 50's Green Mikado
and the Allegro-Royale recordings for their labels, and so I was interested to hear
what they had used for this issue, and I have to say in all honesty, that I don't
know, but this album is not connected with either of their normal sources.
Putting aside the fact that this record is a sham as far as it's given
identity goes, I will now talk about the recording/s.
They date, I would guess, dates from the late 40s / early fifties. A
quick look into the discography for clues of a possible original album that
has been directly copied does not reveal anything, although the
Savoy Players
recordings (which I do not know) are a possible source. It is clearly not a
British recording; it is either American or Canadian (sorry I can't really
tell the difference).
I am fairly sure that this may be looked at in two parts:
Pinafore and Mikado, and
Pirates, Iolanthe, and Gondoliers. From the second
section, the grouping of songs seems to hint that they may be transfers of
sides from 78s or EPs, but at no time is any song directly linked to another.
There is always a break, although within each track the break is very short as
though it is all done in one go, but it might be from another record and
edited together. It is difficult to tell, as there is a small amount of
surface noise from my LP which just hides any give-away edit sounds. The band
tend to have a muted brass sound and there is an early electronic organ or
harmonium in there somewhere. The singers are competent, but I wouldn't go
much further than that.
For the first two bands it is quite a different
matter: the orchestra is a 'proper' orchestra. The stands tenor out above the
other singers, although the others are good trained voices. He is a little
like McCormack on his top notes, and he sounds a bit like a tenor matinee idol
might have sounded. Again, it is difficult to tell whether these songs have
been done in one go or edited together. The gap between each song seems to be
longer than in the second batch, and I would think that this first lot is
edited together whereas the second lot are transfers of medley records without
musical links. The chorus as well as the orchestra is much better on the
first batch.
It might help to identify the origins of these recordings by
stating two of the changes in the lyrics. There are one or two minor changes
throughout the record which for now may be overlooked, but the two most
obvious rewrites are in: a) 'A maiden fair to see,' which has '...and poor
beyond concealing /... of wealth is kneeling'; and b) 'Pour, oh pour the
pirate sherry' is sung 'Pour, oh King ...' throughout. One thing that I have
noticed is the selection of songs in each medley. They are all fairly close
to their actual positioning in each opera, I wonder if this points to these
originally being from abridged sets?
