Songs for Swingin' Sellers - Revision history

Kurt: /* Release */

2024-09-10T03:01:29Z

Release

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:01, 9 September 2024
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	==Release==		==Release==
	[[File:1962 Peter Sellers advert.jpg\|thumb\|~~left~~\|[[Peter Sellers]]' likeness appears on a [[wanted poster]] on the album cover<ref name="liner"/>]]		[[File:1962 Peter Sellers advert.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[Peter Sellers]]' likeness appears on a [[wanted poster]] on the album cover<ref name="liner"/>]]
	''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' was released on 4 December 1959 in an eye-catching sleeve depicting "the booted and spurred feet of a man, presumably the artist, hanging from a tree above one of those record players that the adventurous might take on a picnic".<ref name="hepworth"/> The artwork appears in [[Barry Miles]], Grant Scott and Johnny Morgan's book ''The Greatest Album Covers of All Time'', in which it is speculated that the shot of a [[hanging\|hanged]] man may have been inspired by "[[Mort Sahl]]'s brand of "[[Black comedy\|sick humour]]"".<ref name="greatest">{{cite book \|last1=Miles \|first1=Barry \|last2=Scott \|first2=Grant \|last3=Morgan \|first3=Johnny \|title=The Greatest Album Covers of All Time \|date=2016 \|publisher=Collins & Brown \|isbn=9781911163367 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=31 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212121/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the packaging carries several humorous notes, including instructions to "only use needles of Burmese plywood" to play the record and to "send Grandma out of the room".<ref name="hepworth"/><ref name="liner"/>		''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' was released on 4 December 1959 in an eye-catching sleeve depicting "the booted and spurred feet of a man, presumably the artist, hanging from a tree above one of those record players that the adventurous might take on a picnic".<ref name="hepworth"/> The artwork appears in [[Barry Miles]], Grant Scott and Johnny Morgan's book ''The Greatest Album Covers of All Time'', in which it is speculated that the shot of a [[hanging\|hanged]] man may have been inspired by "[[Mort Sahl]]'s brand of "[[Black comedy\|sick humour]]"".<ref name="greatest">{{cite book \|last1=Miles \|first1=Barry \|last2=Scott \|first2=Grant \|last3=Morgan \|first3=Johnny \|title=The Greatest Album Covers of All Time \|date=2016 \|publisher=Collins & Brown \|isbn=9781911163367 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=31 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212121/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the packaging carries several humorous notes, including instructions to "only use needles of Burmese plywood" to play the record and to "send Grandma out of the room".<ref name="hepworth"/><ref name="liner"/>

Kurt: /* Contents */

2024-09-10T00:54:40Z

Contents

Show changes

Kurt: /* Background */

2024-09-10T00:40:22Z

Background

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:40, 9 September 2024
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	==Background==		==Background==
	[[File:George Martin obit.~~jpg~~\|thumb\|right\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]		[[File:George Martin obit.webp\|thumb\|right\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]
	After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>		After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>

Kurt: /* Background */

2024-09-10T00:39:52Z

Background

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:39, 9 September 2024
Line 21:		Line 21:

	==Background==		==Background==
	[[File:~~GeorgeMartin1966~~.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]		[[File:George Martin obit.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]
	After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>		After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>

Kurt at 00:36, 10 September 2024

2024-09-10T00:36:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:36, 9 September 2024
Line 3:		Line 3:
	\| type = studio		\| type = studio
	\| artist = [[Peter Sellers]]		\| artist = [[Peter Sellers]]
	\| cover = ~~file:~~ Songs_for_Swingin'_Sellers.jpg		\| cover = Songs_for_Swingin'_Sellers.jpg
	\| alt =		\| alt =
	\| released = 4 December 1959<ref name="NMEreview">{{cite journal \|last1=Evans \|first1=Allen \|title=LPs \|journal=NME \|date=11 December 1959 \|page=9 \|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf \|access-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523221430/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf \|url-status=live }}</ref>		\| released = 4 December 1959<ref name="NMEreview">{{cite journal \|last1=Evans \|first1=Allen \|title=LPs \|journal=NME \|date=11 December 1959 \|page=9 \|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf \|access-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523221430/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf \|url-status=live }}</ref>

Kurt: /* References */

2022-11-08T03:23:29Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:23, 7 November 2022
Line 116:		Line 116:
	==References==		==References==
	{{Reflist}}		{{Reflist}}

	~~{{Authority control}}~~

	[[Category:1959 albums]]		[[Category:1959 albums]]

Kurt: /* Background */

2022-11-08T03:22:17Z

Background

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:22, 7 November 2022
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	==Background==		==Background==
	[[File:GeorgeMartin1966.jpg\|thumb\|~~left~~\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]		[[File:GeorgeMartin1966.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web \|title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl \|website=BBC \|access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]
	After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>		After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone\|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news \|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ \|title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business \|last=Owsinski \|first=Bobby \|work=Forbes \|access-date=2 August 2018 \|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice\|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records\|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] — but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book \|last1=Lewisohn \|first1=Mark \|title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In \|date=2013 \|publisher=Little, Brown and Company \|isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=24 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show\|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records\|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing\|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book \|last1=Womack \|first1=Kenneth \|title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 \|date=2017 \|publisher=Chicago Review Press \|isbn=9781613731925 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 \|url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)\|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers\|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web \|title=Peter Sellers \|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|website=www.officialcharts.com \|accessdate=25 May 2022 \|language=en \|archive-date=23 May 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ \|url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book \|last1=Hepworth \|first1=David \|title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives \|date=2019 \|publisher=Bantam \|isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 \|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|access-date=25 May 2022 \|archive-date=3 June 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover \|url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2022-11-07T04:37:20Z

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en>Humbledaisy at 12:51, 5 November 2022

2022-11-05T12:51:02Z

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