1. Commercials (12:54)
(Tracks below are linked from earlier posts)
2. Everybody Says Don't (2:14) (The Singles Collection)
3. Cotton Fields (2:20) (Hey, Look Us Over)
4. Baby Won't You Please Come Home (2:21) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
5. My Cigarette and I (2:24) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
6. A Lot of Livin' to Do (2:23) (Hey, Look Us Over)
7. Bewitched (2:52) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
8. Little Boy Blue (2:37) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
This album, a Columbia Special Products release, completes your J's with Jamie collection from Columbia records. Sent to radio stations as a promo for The Remarkable J's with Jamie, this mono release opens with "Commercials," a trip through the group's advertising work presented as a Dragnet-style narrative. It's just the thing to get your Black Friday consumer impulses stirred into a frenzy, and it includes Jamie's gorgeous version of the Mr. Clean theme.
But wait, there's more! Stay tuned after the jump for a rundown of the Columbia releases and beyond.
Here's a rough chronology of the group's albums. It's tough to pin down exact dates, because Columbia didn't include dates on the releases, but the timeline begins around 1962:
Christmas EPs (these were private pressings, more on those in next week's post)
The Sound of Money/Momma, Momma, Momma (The Singles Collection), their first Columbia release
The Two Sides of The J's with Jamie
Yoshiko/Everybody Says Don't (single)
It's possible that there are other Columbia Special Products albums waiting to be discovered, but those would probably only add to the collection of available commercials, as most of their noncommercial tracks appear on more than one pressing.
The group also had a life after Columbia, releasing two albums for ABC Records, Jamie & The J. Silvia Singers and Encore, which will be coming your way after the holidays.
If you've enjoyed these posts, join me in a bit of thanks to Jim Maroney for the excellent rips, WFMU for the blog and bandwidth, and Jamie, Joe Silvia, Len Dresslar, and Don Shelton for these ever-enjoyable recordings.
If you're a fan of product music and happen to be in the Boston area for the holidays, I'll be playing my Fourth Annual Tribute to American Consumerism on Thanksgiving night starting at 6PM. It airs on WMFO in Medford and features such favorites as "The Saturday Night Suit," "McDonald's Flexidisc," and "Dryclean When You Care," along with my custom mix of commercial bloopers.
I gather you only link to the versions with the highest quality... Do the mono-versions do they differ anything the actual harmonics and the performance?
Posted by: Upandaway | November 27, 2008 at 02:50 AM
The commercials are fantastic. What a pity they don't make commercials like the Js with Jaime's anymore. They're a pleasure to listen to. The narrative is hilarious. I'm really looking forward to hearing the Christmas songs.
Posted by: Ivy | November 27, 2008 at 04:38 AM
This particular album was only released in mono. Some, like The Remarkable J's with Jamie, were released in mono and stereo.
Having heard both versions of that album, I haven't noticed any difference between the two. There isn't any fancy stereo separation, and the vocals sound identical.
Jim Maroney may argue that point with me, though.
Posted by: Hear It Wow | November 27, 2008 at 11:09 AM
If this sales posting is to be believed, "Yoshiko"/"Everybody Says Don't" dates from 1964. Hope that helps.
Posted by: EasyEW | December 04, 2008 at 02:40 PM