Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Lawrence Welk - Calcutta! (Dot)

This is probably one of the most common records to be found in US thrift stores.


I once used a sample in a turntable piece of Mr. Welk talking about this record (taken from a lead-in track at the beginning of another single, probably set up for radio airplay). Although I figured I knew roughly what it would sound like, I was always a little curious. Well, I guess I can tick that one off the list.

I seriously have nothing to say about the dreck on this record (seriously, a shuffle-time version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King"?), but I have a lot to say about the philosophy of record production. Even though Welk was to some degree an accordionist, he was really a musician only second to acting as a producer and resident control freak on his show and during his recording sessions. His insistence on soulless, inane and bland stylistic decisions was a wild commercial success that changed the face of popular music for the worst, and is still affecting us today. In fact, I would argue that no recognizable change was affected in commercial popular music until Britney Spears took on her "bad girl" image. Until then, every overproduced record had the clear goal of pulling as many fans as possible, at all costs. Is that really necessary?

No. Plenty of amazing artists have spread their music far and wide without cow-towing to the lowest common denominator. The effect of this has been the lowering of the bar for decades. I want to say that there is finally some degree of recovery of artistic integrity going on, but I'm biased since I've managed to surround myself with so many fantastic musicians doing good work.

Speaking of artistic integrity, see how big Welk's name is on the cover? Good ol' Lawrence didn't write or arrange a single tune on this record. I'm pretty certain that he didn't even play much if any, since he has a fantastic accordionist in his (again, uncredited) band and choir.

That's the end of my rant I suppose. Hopefully the next record won't trigger such a vitriolic response, but I'm glad to say this particular experience is over.

Oh, one good thing about the record; the back says "FEATURING FRANK SCOTT AT THE HARPSICHORD", and Frank Scott is pretty awesome at the harpsichord. I do love the harpsichord.

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