The Wonder of Woolworths
The Embassy Records Story 1955 – 1962 (JASMCD2817) https://jasmine-records.co.uk/shop/uncategorised/various-artists-the-wonder-of-woolworths-the-embassy-records-story-1955-1962/
Released - 29/03/2024
Reviewed September 2024 by Jack Brown
Embassy, not a label you’ll see in the history books, a well-guarded secret, more like a well-guarded shame. However, those of a certain vintage will be very familiar with this label, & whether they care to admit it or not, will have purchased some of these Embassy 45s & even 78s. so what is it? Embassy Records was set up by Woolworths (remember them) to be sold in their department stores. You’d get two, mostly big, hits on one 78 or 45.it wasn’t even a case of two for the price of one, as Embassy records sold for around half the price of a standard 45. Of course, when an offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true. Theres normally a huge catch, & of course these were no exception. For the price, you traded originality. These weren’t the original artists performing the hits, rather the singers Embassy employed. The fact that most never went on to a main label career is cause for concern. The only singer I can think of of Embassy that went on to any sort of fame is Maureen Evans (Like I Do.) Saying all that, the releases were very popular, no doubt due to the price. The promo tells us it was one of the most successful & profitable record labels in Brittain at the time. Many sold in 10s & even 100s of thousands, many outselling the original recordings. However, you won’t find them in any chart books, given they were ineligible given the low price. Jasmine states there is a thriving Embassy collectors’ market that this will appeal to. I’m not sure about that, but I’ve always had an interest in these naff covers. So let’s see what this double-disc-set offers us.
We get a good cross section of the styles & genres Embassy covered during the years 1955 – 1962. Not every track relates to The Big Beat, but much of the releases chosen does. Looking at disc-1. It starts off with a version of the naff song (that Elvis covered, badly I might ask) The Yellow Rose Of Texas, with out-of-tune whistling. The first track which might interest us is thankfully track 2. The Green Door, a top 10 hit for American Jim Lowe, but a number one here by Frankie Vaughn & later of course Shakin Stevens. Here instead we are ‘treated’ to David Ross, as we are for the next three tracks afterwards. He gives us reasonably well-sung version, with a decent orchestra backing. His version of Singing The Blues is similar to Tommy Steele & isn’t half bad. His version of Chuck’s School Days is so naff it’s actually quite enjoyable. His version of Johnny Duncan’s skiffle classic Last Tran To San Fernando is dreadful, but three out of four aint bad as Meat Loaf didn’t sing. The Tunettes version of That’ll Be The Day made me laugh out loud, make of that what you will everybody. Safe to say, it didn’t replace Buddy as my fave version, I missed the guitar & J I’s drums. Dave Grant’s version of Ricky Nelson’s Stood Up has a naff vocal, but a fairly decent rockin’ backing. Clearly by 1958 the square British musicians were starting to catch-on to the sounds teenagers wanted. We next get two numbers from Paul Rich. His version of Marvin Rainwater’s Whole Lotta Woman is faithful if unremarkable. His version of All I have To Do Is Dream didn’t inspire anything in me. Maureen Evans version of Connie Francis Stupid Cupid I cant say I liked, but it apparently outsold the Connie original. We get our first Elvis cover courtesy of Johnny Worth, who’s actually the songwriter Les VanDyke, who wrote Forget Me Not for Eden Kane, & Somebody Else’s Baby for Adam Faith, amongst over things. His cover of King Creole is naff but enjoyable. Hal Burton’s version of Move It actually has some drive in the vocals & backing. We’re back to Johnny Worth for an uninspired version of Conway Twitty’s Its’s Only Maake Believe rounding off 1958.
Moving on to 1959. Our next Elvis cover comes courtesy of Ricky Henderson, a popular choice for both Elvis & Embassy in general. His cover of I Need Your Love Tonight is spirited, fun, & just a little bit square. Back to Paul Rich for a rare example of a non-hit in the UK cover. His version of Along Came Jones isn’t as good as The Coasters, nowhere near, the naff backing doesn’t help. His version of Take a Message To Mary from the Everly’s was never going to stand a chance to compete against the Bros velvety harmonies, it really isn’t a fair fight. Nevertheless, Paul manages to keep the moody somber tone of the Everly original. A Teenager In Love has a sweet backing, let down by a flat vocal courtesy of Ricky Henderson, who then gives us a truly dreadful version of Lloyd Price’s Personality. Johnny Worth’s version of Living Doll doesn’t fare much better, & his version of the Adam Faith breakthrough number 1 What Do You Want sounds like a man doing an OTT imitation of Adam Faith. It’s almost a novelty feel, though I doubt that was the intention. Saying all that, Johnny, or Les, can be excused as he wrote the track for Adam. One track that works surprisingly well is Bud Ashton’s version of Duane Eddy (RIP) & 40 Miles Of Bad Road. The guitar playing is good & is a fairly faithful rendition of the Duane hit. Is it as good as Duane? No of course not, but its still good fun nonetheless his version of Some Kind Of Earthquake, another Duane hit, is decent also.
Moving on to 1960. Not every track will be covered, only the ones I feel STB readers might be interested in. this album does have well over 60 tracks after all. Hal Monroe gives us a faithful fun rendition of Emile Ford & The Checkmates take on On A Slow Boat To China, & Johnny Worths version of the Steve Lawrence American hit, a hit over here for Craig Douglas, Pretty Blue Eyes is quite sweet. Back to Hal Monroe, his version of Marv Johnson’s You Got What It Takes by Marv Johnson, until recently not a favorite of mine, is no great shakes. Although I do admire his spirited rendition, he sounds like he’s enjoying himself & why not ey. Another favorite for Embassy in the early 60s , both for Elvis & others, was Bobby Stevens. The third Elvis cover is provided by Bobby. He gives a decent version of Stuck On You, although the jazzy piano really doesn’t help his case. I like it though. Other artists who would go onto minor chart success as well as recording for Embassy was Dick Jorden, who I believe was from Yorkshire. One of his chart hits I liked was Little Christine, one I really didn’t like was his cover of Eddie Cochren’s Hallelujah I Love Her So. On his version of Cathy’s Clown, the band sound positively board, though Dick’s vocal is quite nice, again not match for the Everly’s, but again who is! On disc one we get two tracks from Jean Campbell, who is now getting her very own Jamine CD. She covers Tony Fisher’s The Big Hurt, possibly the first pop hit to use phasing. Interestingly Maureen Evans, who would have probably cut the Embassy version if still contracted there, had a minor UK hit with her version, I think cut for Orielle. She gives a decent stab at Sweet Nothing’s. it’s fun but no match for Brenda Lee, again not a fair fight. The disc closes out with Bobbby Stevens giving us his crack at Johnny Preston’s Cradle Of Love, a favorite of mine. He sounds like he’s enjoying himself, as Hal Monroe did earlier, & he is provided with a decent backing this time around. No match for Johnny’s version or voice, but I like it.
Disc-2. We’re still in 1960 if anybody’s still with us. Don Duke gives us a poor version of Johnny Burnette’s Dreamin’. Steve Stnard & His Group, on the other hand, give us a nice version of Man Of Mystery, the second UK hit for The Shadows. They make the record sound even more moody & mysterious (like what I did there? Moving on) which I really liked. Onto 1961. On Where The Boys Are, the hit title song of a film by Connie Francis, Jean Campbell sounds very 1950s in both her vocals & the instrumentation. Saying that, I like it & she is a good singer. Her version of Will You love Me Tomorrow isn’t a patch on The Shirelles, but I still like it. There isn’t really a version of this track I dislike. Sadly, Kim Daily’s version of I’ve Told Every Little Star sounds a bit out-of-tune, but you can’t win ‘em all. However on this, & Bobby Stevens version of Frogman Henry’s But I Do, it should be mentioned Embassy didn’t cheap out on the orchestrations, strings & everything are thrown in. bobby is no Frogman but its still quite enjoyable. His version of Johnny Remember Me of course lacks the Joe Meek production magic but is still enjoyable. The song suits his voice fairly well, & the female wailing vocals are repeated well from the Meek version. His version of Barry Mann’s, The Viscounts had the hit in the UK, is just plain annoying. Somehow his version of The Tokens The Lion Sleeps Tonight is rather impressive, although its not a song I’m all that keen on. He manages to hit the high-notes & its very convincing. Had this been released on a major label as a competing cover, it could well have outsold The Tokens & hampered their UK top 20 success. I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded all that much, after all, they had a number one stateside. Bobby Stevens also gives us his version of Eden Kane’s Forget Me Not. As said previous, this was written by Les VanDyke, aka Johnny Worth. Not sure why they didn’t use him, maybe he thought he couldn’t sing it. A simpler explanation could be that he didn’t work for Embassy anymore. Bobby’s version lacks the vocal passion of Eden but is still ok. Don Duke doing Walk Right Back, a number one for The Everly’s on both side of the pond, is just bland. His version of Gee Wiz It’s You lacks the Shadows magic backing, but his take on Cliff is still ok. We also get a trio of duets from Embassy’s finest, Bobby & Don. Their version of The Allison’s Eurovision entry Are You Sure is convincing, as is their version of The Brook Brothers Warpaint. Their version of Hello Mary Lou isn’t. neither of them matches Ricky Nelson, & the guitar solo is just lame, not a patch on James Burton’s solo. Paul Rich isn’t as good a singer ass Gene McDaniels, or even Craig Douglas who has the UK hit, on A Hundred Pounds Of Clay, but it’s decent enough. same goes for his version of Tower Of Strength, Gene McDaniels in the States, Frankie Vaughn over here, it’s pleasant enough. Ricky Henderson hs improved a fair bit. He does a decent Elvis sound-a-like on A Little Bit Of Soap, despite it not being an Elvis record. In fact, it wasn’t a hit at all over here. The Stateside hit was from The Jarmeels, with Jimmy Justice doing the British cover. He gives us a great reading of Billy Fury’s I’d Never Find Another You, doing a fairly good impression of Billy. His version of John Leyton’s Son This Is She is no great shakes, not that good really. But two out of three aint bad, now that Meat Loaf definitely did say. The reliable Bud Ashton gives us a convincing reading of Duane Eddy’s Theme From Dixie, a UK top-10 hit.
Onto the final chapter & 1962. Paul Rich gives us a flat reading of Leroy VanDyke’s Walk
On By, though the backing does a pretty convincing Country shuffle. Red Wayne doing When My Little Girl Is Smiling isn’t a patch on The Drifters but passes without incident. Bobby Stevens, doing I Remember You by Frank Ifield might be one of the worst things ive ever heard. Bud Ashton having served us nicely with three Duane Eddy covers, turns his hand to The Shadows & Guitar Tango, a convincing reading. Again, this is one of my lesser favorite Shadows numbers, but still nice enough. Les Carl gives an odd vocal reading on the Presley number one She’s Not You, but it’s still rather nice. Les then ‘treats’ us to an impression of Cliff doing an impression of Jerry Lee for It’ll Be Me, the Lewis cover being a number two hit for Cliff in 62. Three tracks near the end of the disc are by Ray Pilgrim. I really like his version of Elvis’ Return To Sender & have played it on my show. His versions of Chris Montez Let’s Dance & Joe Brown’s It Only Took A Minute are pleasant enough too. Two surprising tracks are the two female numbers towards the end. Kay Barry gives us a cover of a top 20, but now largely forgotten, hit for Brenda Lee, It Started All Over Again. I know & like her version of Lee’s Here Comes That Feeling. Alas that isn’t on here, but this is possibly even better. The tempo has been changed slightly, Barry gives a nice vocal, & I could even see this one being played in the clubs. The closing number, by Marylyn Lee, a cover of the minor UK hit for Little Eva, & follow-up to The Locomotion, Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, is nice too. She gives us an appealing vocal, & the backing is quite convincing. It brings nicely to an end a most fun listen, having a good romp through hits of the RnR era through an alternative vantage point.
Summary:
I really enjoyed this album. It presents more than 60 hits, mostly in America first, then crossing over to the UK. The covers range from pleasant, to awful, to just plain funny. If you accept the tracks for what they are, I feel you can find some enjoyment throughout the set. However, people who always hated Embassy may want to give this one a miss. The sound, considering it’s probably all needle drops/disc-dubs is acceptable, ranging to pretty good throughout. It amazes me that no expense was spared, aside from the vocalists, sorry couldn’t resist, on the orchestrations, espeicailly on the early 60s numbers. Say what you want about Embassy, but Dixie would never put this much effort behind one of their cover Eps. For the record & to avoid getting the crap kicked out of me by the Rockabilly police, I am not for one minute saying Embassy trumps Dixie, that would be ridiculous. A final story to leave with. My grandad had ever the tale to tell. Hed ask his grandma for the latest record he liked, such as Whole Lotta Shakin Goin ON, or That’ll Be The Day (see above). He would then wind up being eternally disappointed when she would return, not with The Killer or Mr Holly, but the Embassy Woolworhts version. Not only that, he would have to suffer the indignity of being grateful for getting the record, before likely going out to purchase the real thing. Were he still here, id probably not buy him this album, unless we’d fallen out. But I really did enjoy listening to this, it was good fun.
Full track listings.
1 BOB DALE - THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS
2 DAVID ROSS - GREEN DOOR
3 DAVID ROSS - SINGING THE BLUES
4 DAVID ROSS - SCHOOL DAY
5 DAVID ROSS - LAST TRAIN TO SAN FERNANDO
6 THE TUNETTES - THAT'LL BE THE DAY
7 DAVE GRANT - STOOD UP
8 PAUL RICH - WHOLE LOTTA WOMAN
9 PAUL RICH - ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM
10 MAUREEN EVANS - STUPID CUPID
11 JOHNNY WORTH - KING CREOLE
12 HAL BURTON - MOVE IT
13 JOHNNY WORTH - IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE
14 MAUREEN EVANS - THE DAY THE RAINS CAME
15 RIKKI HENDERSON - I NEED YOUR LOVE TONIGHT
16 PAUL RICH - ALONG CAME JONES
17 PAUL RICH - TAKE A MESSAGE TO MARY
18 RIKKI HENDERSON - A TEENAGER IN LOVE
19 RIKKI HENDERSON - PERSONALITY
20 JOHNNY WORTH - LIVING DOLL
21 BUD ASHTON - 40 MILES OF BAD ROAD
22 JOHNNY WORTH - WHAT DO YOU WANT
23 JEAN CAMPBELL - THE BIG HURT
24 BUD ASHTON - SOME KINDA EARTHQUAKE
25 JOHNNY WORTH - PRETTY BLUE EYES
26 RIKKI HENDERSON - WHY
27 HAL MUNRO - ON A SLOW BOAT TO CHINA
28 HAL MUNRO - YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES
29 BOBBY STEVENS - STUCK ON YOU
30 JOHNNY WORTH - FOOTSTEPS
31 DICK JORDAN - CATHY'S CLOWN
32 JEAN CAMPBELL - SWEET NUTHIN'S
33 BOBBY STEVENS - CRADLE OF LOVE
Disc 2
1 DON DUKE - DREAMIN'
2 STEVE STANNARD & HIS GROUP - MAN OF MYSTERY
3 STEVE STANNARD & HIS GROUP - GURNEY SLADE THEME
4 DON DUKE - WALK RIGHT BACK
5 DON DUKE & BOBBY STEVENS - ARE YOU SURE
6 JEAN CAMPBELL - WHERE THE BOYS ARE
7 JEAN CAMPBELL - WILL YOU LOVE ME TOMORROW
8 DON DUKE - GEE WHIZ IT'S YOU
9 DON DUKE & BOBBY STEVENS - WARPAINT
10 PAUL RICH - A HUNDRED POUNDS OF CLAY
11 BUD ASHTON - THEME FROM DIXIE
12 DON DUKE & BOBBY STEVENS - HELLO MARY LOU
13 BOBBY STEVENS - BUT I DO
14 KIM DAVEY - I'VE TOLD EVERY LITTLE STAR
15 BOBBY STEVENS - JOHNNY REMEMBER ME
16 RIKKI HENDERSON - A LITTLE BIT OF SOAP
17 BOBBY STEVENS - WHO PUT THE BOMP
18 PAUL RICH - TOWER OF STRENGTH
19 GORDON PETERS QUARTET - TAKE FIVE
20 RIKKI HENDERSON - I'D NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU
21 BOBBY STEVENS - THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT
22 RIKKI HENDERSON - SON, THIS IS SHE
23 BOBBY STEVENS - FORGET-ME-NOT
24 PAUL RICH - WALK ON BY
25 REDD WAYNE - WHEN MY LITTLE GIRL IS SMILING
26 BOBBY STEVENS - I REMEMBER YOU
27 BUD ASHTON - GUITAR TANGO
28 PAUL RICH - ROSES ARE RED
29 LES CARLE - SHE'S NOT YOU
30 LES CARLE - IT'LL BE ME
31 KAY BARRY - IT STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN
32 RAY PILGRIM - LET'S DANCE
33 RAY PILGRIM - RETURN TO SENDER
34 RAY PILGRIM - IT ONLY TOOK A MINUTE
35 MARILYN LEE - KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY BABY
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