#the four aces

[disease]

THE FOUR ACES | B.O.T.A. DECK [1931, AMERICA]

#tarot #esotericism #b.o.t.a. #illustration #vintage #tarot cards #the four aces #monochrome #hands #30s #u

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #5: 1954

Entering 1954. In addition to the traditional pop standards, there's a lot of vocal quartets this year, which has been a staple of the decade already. Doo-wop, a genre of music originating from Black artists and vocal groups, is reaching one of its peaks in mainstream popularity. As with previous years, the songs compiled onto the Top 30 Year-End chart are calculated by examining the retail sales of records and sheet music, as well as jukebox performances.

More information about this blog here

#billboard poll #billboard music #tumblr poll #music poll #1950s #1950s music #1954 #kitty kallen #perry como #rosemary clooney #the crew-cuts #jo stafford #eddie fisher #the four knights #the four aces #doris day #archie bieyer

[tfc2211]

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Leroy Anderson – Sleigh Ride Mel Tormé – The Christmas Song Fred Waring – Caroling, Caroling Brenda Lee – Frosty The Snowman Sammy Kaye – It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas Very Long Silent Break Between Sides 1 & 2 Wayne King – Silver Bells The Four Aces – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Guy Lombardo – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Bing Crosby – I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day Lawrence Welk – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

#Christmas Album #An Old-Fashioned Christmas #Mel Tormé #Brenda Lee #Wanye King #The Four Aces #Bing Crosby #Sammy Kaye #Leroy Anderson

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 2nd June

Three familiar songs, but all ones I do quite like - I suspect this entry will be an exercise in comparing different versions! I'm trying to think if anything similar could even happen today. I can only think of multiple versions of Wellerman trending a while back? And that was an unusual song for multiple reasons, at a particularly weird time anyway, mid-Covid.

Unchained Melody - Jimmy Young (peaked at Number 1)

The first version of this song to grace number 1, but not the last. Weirdly I only found other versions of the song at first - it took a bit of hunting to work out which "Jimmy Young" track was the real one.

Once I found it, I did appreciate it. It starts with some more vigorous strummy guitar than I expected, which makes it feel definitely different to Al Hibbler's version from the get-go. It's got the same thing that version did, too, where the rhythms just aren't quite what I expect. They catch me off guard on various lines, and I feel really stupid, because I've just realised why! It's in 4/4, whereas the later versions I know are largely in 3/4. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't work it out with the last version!

Apart from that, the voice and the guitar do give this one a slightly country vibe, which isn't hurt by the violin that is subtly assisting. And there are also some backing singers straight from a Western soundtrack. They kind of work, especially after Jimmy sings Wait for me and they chip in with a ghostly sort of Unchain me, unchain me.

The whole thing works nicely. Maybe a bit cheerier-sounding than the slower, more soulful version? Either way, sufficiently distinct as its own thing that I can't really complain. And the backing singers are a delight.

Stranger in Paradise - The Four Aces (6)

I'm interested in seeing where this goes, since the Four Aces is a vocal group, and the last two singers were very much from the "Easy listening crooner" tradition of solo men. I suspect the style will need to change.

Well, we start with some flutes and some familiar instruments and I wond if there will be any changes, especially as the iconic "ooooh" bits begin, but then they change the theme! It goes up at the end, and I don't think I like it. I know how the tune here goes, why would you change it?!

And then the modified theme ends and the vibe changes entirely, with a double bass coming in and the whole thing picking up a swung rhythm as the singing begins. I don't know if the pivot works, but it's striking, and it does feel like it fits better with the group singing.

What I do enjoy is the oboe countermelody snaking round in the background. It's pretty, and all the other little instrumental frills are equally lovely, even if they only pop in and out sporadically.

Oh, and we shift into a different, vaguely Latin sounding rhythm on the I see your face section, before slowing it down, and returning to the first rhythm finally for the verse's return. The overall effec is a bit jerky, and it' mostly just alarming when the whole group come back for the worlds biggest ending. This is a Big Old Ending on steroids: Take my haaaaaaaaaaaaaand!

Yeah, I don't think this one works, sorry Aces.

Unchained Melody - Les Baxter (10)

Oh, we're starting with the backing singers singing Unchain me this time, and strings playing the main rhythm. It's a very soft, gentle sound, and still a little bit country, like in Jimmy's version. It also repeats twice - at one point I even began to wonder if this was going to be an instrumental arrangement.

But no, we get what sounds like multiple male voices after a few repeats and a fade-out. I can't tell if this is Les and a friend or if he's really a bandleader or the leader of a vocal group, or something. The men, whoever they are, don't sing very much, though, just one verse and done, with the whole song over in a 2:33 take that honestly feels like less.

Yeah, a bit of googling tells me that Les Baxter was an American swing bandleader who branched out into easy listening and lounge music. And this is just that, it's easy to listen to and pleasant bur a bit nothing-y. I'd put it on in the background in a lounge or whatever, so it's doing its job, I guess. The idea of music that isn't designed for really listening to is interesting to me, since it's really not what I use music for. But I can appreciate it.

I do also like the big, cinematic ending, with the choir and the clanking tubular bells, or some such percussion. It retroactively does make the whole thing feel like the song you'd get at the end of a film, a sort of victorious "I've escaped prison and am going home" track. The pathos of it all is dulled down, leaving this big, soaring ending.

I don't think I loved any of those, but none were worth disliking. I kind of wonder how the alternate universe 1955 version of me would have found them, actually. Maybe I'd have been all aboard for lots of strings and backing singing?

Favourite song of the bunch: Unchained Melody - Jimmy Young

#uk charts #1955 #jimmy young #the four aces #les baxter

[mishalogic]

It's A Woman's World

Song for the moment ... Misha

#youtube #song #music #entertainment #the four aces

[teledyn]

The Four Aces - Garbage Man (Trilon 144)

Posted in honour of those City of Toronto adverts calling for applicants in "Solid Waste Disposal" but also to demonstrate how some very great old standards make no sense when you leave out the verses!

#The Four Aces #Youtube

[d-does-art]

*crawls out of art block dungeon*

Here's a page of a comic I've been thinking of. I don't know if I'll finish it, but posting might help motivate me. Or I'll move on to the next thing, haha.   

#I still dont know how to do comics #or perspective #dont look at it too close #or at all #one piece sabo #revolutionary sabo #one piece ace #portgas d ace #one piece asl #one piece koala #one piece fan art #one piece #one piece fanart #What do you mean my text layer was off when I saved and posted??? #no? #you didnt see this #controversial opinion #but maybe you need more than four hours of sleep

[teardew]

blueberry ass nipple

#dew.png #shang qinghua #mobei jun #moshang #svsss #scum villain's self saving system #mxtx #fanart #digi #24 #im not finishing this shit. shoutout to ace tho telling me to add a collar n leash #bc thats as mcuh as im drawing this been in my drafts for FOUR YEARS #BEGONE ! THOT [MBJ]

[skialdi]

“Which sibling tried to kill Luffy?”

#asl brothers #portgas d ace #sabo #monkey d luffy #uta #asl + uta #uta one piece #one piece #one piece fanart #;; my art #skialdi art #digital art #anime art #fanart #long time no background #I love these four and this drawing is endlessly amusing to me #please enjoy them being a meme and bullying ace #when we all know what the true answer is

[onebug]

saying goodbye to my favorite neighbors :,)

#my pookie wookies #my girls for the last four years!!! #but it was not to last! #it's fine i'm fine #animal crossing #animal crossing fanart #animal crossing villagers #ac lolly #lolly #ac tammy #tammy #ac bettina #bettina #nintendo fanart #fanart

[howlonomy]

any fiesty four lovers in chat ‼️

#my art #undertale yellow #ed uty #moray uty #ace uty #mooch uty #feisty five #feisty four

[personalshredder]

the most canon accurate I've ever drawn them

#fanart #undertale yellow #uty #undertale #flowey undertale #clover uty #ceroba uty #chujin uty #feisty four #feisty five #ed uty #moray uty #ace uty #mooch uty #dalv uty #axis uty #starlo uty #martlet uty #this took so much longer than i anticipated

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #6: 1955

The sound of a decade does not change the minute the ball drops on New Year's Eve. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easier to form these cultural shifts into a narrative, even when said shifts aren't always obvious. 1955 offers us the music we've grown accustomed to over the course of this decade: traditional pop, vocal quartets, jazz standards. However, this year also gives me an opportunity to highlight some different genres that will come to shape the decade in the years to come.

The post-war 1950s saw a boom in popularity when it came to music from South and Central America. We saw this before with the inclusion of other Spanish language songs reaching the Top 30, but artists like Pérez Prado and later Ritchie Valens helped to popularize Latin music in the States. Pérez Prado is, of course, known for popularizing mambo, a Cuban genre of dance music, by incorporating big band influence. The Prado song featured on this poll is not mambo, but rather one of its descendants, cha-cha.

In 1955 year-end chart, we're seeing the first traces of a genre of music that will help define the decade's sound: rock and roll. With the inclusion of Bill Haley's Rock Around the Clock, we're seeing the first rock and roll song to top the Billboard charts. Obviously, rock and roll has existed long before Bill Haley and Pat Boone reached the top 10. Unfortunately, like many other historically Black genres, white faces typically sold better with mainstream audiences. Is this the last we'll see of record executives using white performers to market Black music to white audiences?

Foreshadowing is a literary device--

More information about this blog here

#billboard music #billboard poll #1950s music #music poll #perez prado #bill haley #mitch miller #roger williams #les baxter #bill hayes #the four aces #the mcguire sisters #pat boone #georgia gibbs

[viriborne]

Yuu and their annoying brothers friends :)

Commissions, Kofi

#twst #twisted wonderland #yuu #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #epel felmier #my yuu is 20 so i just imagine them having to deal with the immaturity of these four 16 year old boys daily

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 20 January 1955

Another busy week, as the festive, sentimental Christmas songs are swept away in favour of something a bit fresher - is it going to be more rock and roll? One can only hope...

I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango - Alma Cogan (peaked at No. 6)

Well, it's a distinctive title, though one that leaves me a little concerned for Alma's musical abilities. They're... quite different dances, really.

It starts out and it's absolutely a tango, in terms of the backing music, solidly in 4/4, with trumpet flourishes and that stompy string sound that you get - but Alma's all mixed up, singing about how "I never know what my feet are gonna do". Quite a severe issue - so is this just a song about how she has two left feet?

Nope, not at all! The reason for her fumble-footedness is more romantic in nature. She's not got issues in general - in fact, we learn later that "I've even won a prize or two" - but the issue only crops up "darling, when I dance with you". Which is either cute or implying that her love just a really chaotic dance partner!

Throughout, Alma sounds like she's mildly amused - she has a happy, warm voice, and it's glorious. It's not an all-time classic, or anything, but it's lovely none the less, how friendly and outright gleeful she sounds here.

There's also a terribly exciting orchestral break where the rhythm briefly slips into something jazzy and syncopated, which is a wonderful contrast to the tango rhythm's stompiness. I actually briefly thought they were going to turn it into a waltz - a missed trick, though I enjoyed what they did, too!

Mr. Sandman - The Four Aces (9)

Well, this is the second version of this in as many weeks, and I have to say, I think I prefer this one to Dickie Valentine's? It's still not my favourite version of the song, but there's a vintage charm that appeals.

I don't know if we've come across the Four Aces, but they're a four-man barbershop quartet hailing from Pennsylvania. Compared to the British Dickie Valentine, who's trying his hardest to sound glitzy and American and not quite succeeding, this is just a slight bit more sparkling and glam.

It starts with some very Disney-ish harps and then "Mr. Sandman" echoing at you like somebody's singing it from the bottom of a well. There's a slight clash in the harmonies, and the overall effect's just the right side of eerie.

Then we get a celeste (?) that takes over the "ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba" part. I do kind of miss the vocals doing that, to be honest, but the barbershop rendition of the song that follows is perfectly serviceable, and the "doo doooo doo doo" parts in the background are lovely and vintage.

There are also all these jammy chords throughout - the Four Aces aren't playing it safe, and it pays off. Decisions like leaning on the "Mr Saaaaandmaaaaan" line for all it's worth, or like using an urgent, driving double bass to back it all off really pay off, too, making it feel a bit more jazzy and edgy that it really has any right to be, given the G-rated, nursery-rhyme subject matter.

And then we end, with some brass and some layered echoing "Mr. Sandman"s from the backing singers. Actually, we fade into that, combined with the harps again. The effect is sort of uncanny - I like it, but you could use it basically untouched in a horror film, and it would be properly creepy.

Well, I enjoyed both of those songs. Neither are rock and roll, but they've got some of the same chaos. In particular, I enjoyed how quirky and tongue-in-cheek they both felt. In Alma's case, the song was explicitly humorous, and in the Four Aces' case, it was just a bit too cutesy and echoey to take entirely seriously. Fun times, either way.

Favourite song of the bunch: Mr. Sandman

#uk charts #1955 #alma cogan #the four aces

[thepartyishere]

aro in a "cant feel a difference between friendships and romance" way

ace in a "too trans and dysphoric to even think about sex with another human person" way

#fr tho i was dating my ex bf for four years and it felt like a friendship with extra actions unlocked the whole time #aro #ace #aroace #slippery slimey #asexual #aromantic #thats why im queer aroacespec #back to the bf he was also ace so sex was always off the table but we barely even kissed #not that i minded i dont like kissing #i need a new tag for personal talk #lore lore lore #there we go #i wont remember it tho