The Neon Beat on Radio George - 1.25.16

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 1: Louis Armstrong opens this week’s offerings with a song from Hello Dolly, “So Long Dearie”. Then listen to a lighthearted song of redemption from “the Pajama Game” sung by Patti Page. Grab a hanky for Dean Martin as he sings, “I’d Cry like a Baby.” We’ll track an early 1950’s hit http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/
for an Italian beauty from Chicago: Joni James sings, “Purple Shades.” Enjoy some requested British invasion music with The New Vaudeville Band. We’ll go to the swingin’ session album with Nelson Riddle backing Frank Sinatra singing, “You Do Something to Me” followed up with some great jazz trio with Nat King Cole. We’ll bring back Satchmo and team him up with Bing Crosby for a Cole Porter song from the 1956 film High Society. Listen to a great 1963 hit for Steve Lawrence singing a song written by Carole King. Great instrumentals by Al Hirt, Herb Alpert and the TJB, Si Zentner, and Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra. Listen to songs by Ella Fitzgerald, Les Baxter and more. Listen at:

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 2: The Marvelous Marilyn Maye storms on stage with a great Jerome Kern song that wow’d em’ on The Tonight Show. Sammy Davis takes the mic next with his 1963 hit song, “What Kind Of Fool Am I?” We’ll do a Cole Porter set with Tony Bennett singing “Night and Day” followed by Frank Sinatra with “Anything Goes.” Listen to a live recording in Vegas of Louis Prima and Keely Smith having fun on stage with “Embraceable You.” Presenting one of New York’s keepers of the Great American songbook, Jerry Costanzo and his big band with “Don’t Cha Go Away Mad.” Listen to Doris Day with a Broadway song from Pal Joey, “Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered.” Hear some film music with The Sandpipers from “The Sterile Cuckoo” and Gene Kelly with the iconic standard, “Singing in the Rain.” Hear great big band selections with Benny Goodman and Glen Gray. Dean Martin sings his hit standard, “Everybody Loves Somebody.” Listen to songs by Frank Mills, Eydie Gorme and Guy Mitchell.
See the playlists and leave comments at: http://theneonbeat.blogspot.com/

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 3: Engelbert Humperdinck launch’s this juke with his comeback hit, “After the Loving.” Tom Jones steps up next with his 1965 hit from the film, “What’s New Pussycat.” Then we remember a film starring William Holden and Kim Novak as the McGuire Sisters sing the theme from “Picnic.” Listen to another great movie theme, this one from the Marilyn Monroe film, “Bus Stop” sung by the Four Lads. Get your kicks on “Route 66” with Nat King Cole, followed up with some great big band with Harry James and vocalist Helen Forrest. Listen to Hugo Winterhalter’s RCA Orchestra backing jazz pianist Eddie Heywood for “Canadian Sunset.” You’ll hear the one hit wonder, Bruce Channel’s 1962 number one record, “Hey Baby.” Enjoy a big sky western set with Al Caiola’s “Theme from Bonanza, Loren Green’s “Ringo,” and Dinah Shore singing a song from the Bob Hope film “The Paleface.” Hear The Ames Brothers with an old Ted Weems Big Band standard, “Heartaches.” Songs with Anita Bryant, Perry Como and more.
Listen at: http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/

Neon Beat on Radio George - 1.19.16

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 1: Steve Lawrence starts this week’s offerings with a “vapour girl” backing him up for his 1959 hit song, “Pretty Blue Eyes.” Then we’ll play a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song that earned a Grammy award for singer Jack Jones. We’ll track a touching song from Frank Sinatra’s folk genre album, “Cycles.” Listen to Natalie Cole from her album dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald. Natalie sings and swings “Tisket Tasket.” (God rest ya Natalie. Catch you on the “B” side darlin’) We’ll follow Natalie up with her daddy, Nat, singing “If I May” with the Four Knights. Enjoy some Peggy Lee with “Here Comes That Rainy Day.” You’ll hear an “A and M” set with Sergio Mendez, Herb Alpert and the TJB, and The Carpenters. Listen to one of Bobby Darin’s biggest hits that he almost rejected, fearing he couldn’t/shouldn’t upstage the Louis Armstrong version of the hit. Robert Goulet performs a lush version of “The Green Years of Love.” Hear Tom Jones sing a song from the James Bond film, “Thunderball.” We’ll track records by Nelson Riddle, Debbie Reynolds, and Judy Collins. Listen at: http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 2: We open this set with a little Rat Packin’ as Frank and Sammy join up for, “Me and My Shadow.” Then we’ll “Face the Music and Dance” with a west coast jazz rendition of the song by Anita O’Day. Vaughn Monroe takes the stage next for his hit standard, “Racing with the Moon” followed up with a 1959 TV theme by Spencer Ross, “Tracy’s Theme.” Enjoy some tracks from a couple of the great period “Four” groups: The Crew Cuts with “Life Could Be a Dream” and The Four Aces with a great Harold Arlen song. Listen to some good ol’ folk with the New Christy Minstrels singing, “Green Green.” Hear Dean Martin’s 1965 hit song “In the Chapel in the Moonlight.” Frank Sinatra sings a song heard in the film, “Sleepless in Seattle.” Old Blue Eyes sings, “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.” Then listen to a great big band version of “Willow Weep for Me” by Harry James. Crank up the bass for Peggy Lee’s great 1958 standard, “Fever.” Hear hit records by Perry Como, Don Cornell and a fun little memory by Sue Thompson.
See the playlists leave comments at: http://theneonbeat.blogspot.com/

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 3: Sammy Davis Jr. launches this hour with The Count Basie Orchestra for a sweatin’-to-the-oldies version of “The Work Song.” Then Perry Como does his mid 1950’s sock-hop hit, “Tina Marie.” Listen to Harry James backing vocalist Helen Forrest with a great wartime standard, “Seems to Me I’ve Heard That Song Before.” Enjoy period instrumental hit songs by Leroy Anderson and The Mantovani Orchestra. Louis Armstrong and his band take the pulpit as we open our hymn books to “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Then we’ll bring back Harry James to back Rosemary Clooney for a great Hoagy Carmichael song, “In the Cool Cool of the Evening.” Hear the first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald, with a swingin’ version of “Let Yourself Go.” We’ll track a sentimental summer hit for Nat King Cole and the Ralph Carmichael Chorus singing, “All Over the World.” Hear Petula Clark with her hit 1965 standard, “Downtown” followed by a drive to the “Blvd of Broken Dreams” by Tony Bennet. Listen to songs with Vikki Carr, Buddy Clark, Harpers Bazaar, Johnny Mathis and more. Go to: http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/

The Neon Beat on Radio George - 1.11.16

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 1: Bobby Darin opens this week’s offerings with one of his swingin’ hits from the latter 1950’s, “Dream Lover.” Then enjoy some James Bond film music as Shirley Bassey sings, “Diamonds are Forever.” Barbra Streisand sings a song from her first 1964 album that she also performed on her TV show, “I Got No Strings.” Listen to Peggy Lee with a fun little diddy called “A Doodlin’ Song” followed up with a Perry Como favorite featuring the Ray Charles singers, “Papa Loves Mambo.” We’ll track some great instrumentals with Henry Mancini’s “Mister Lucky”, Don Costa’s “Never On Sunday”, and some swingin’ big band with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra. Listen to a track from a British short film called “The Cyclist of Belsize Park” sung by Engelbert Humperdinck. Hear some great groups like The Association, and The Four Lads. Frank Sinatra brews up a bit o’ “Witchcraft.” Hear some great Cole Porter with Ella Fitzgerald, songs by Danny Williams, Tony Bennett, Pat Boone and more.
Listen now at: http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/

On the Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 2: Tony Bennett loads the gospel gun as we kick off this hour with “Sing you Sinners.” Eydie Gorme takes the mic next singing with the angels as we remember a great old Ziggy Elman big band hit standard. Then “All Aboard” with The Glenn Miller Orchestra as we hop aboard the “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” We’ll do a little “Learning of the Blues” with Frank Sinatra. Ella Fitzgerald performs the hit standard “I Got Rhythm” followed up with a good old Nat King Cole hit record from 1951, “Mona Lisa.” We’ll team up Rosemary Clooney with Guy Mitchell for a film song called, “the House Of Singing Bamboo.” The McGuire Sisters do a jazzy little lament for papa who can’t dig them “Rhythm and Blues.” Dean Martin is next with a country song about headin’ back to “Houston” followed up with a snappy 1958 hit for Doris Day. Listen to a Victor Young standard heard in the movie, “One Minute to Zero” sung by The Lettermen. Brenda Lee will be “Comin’ on Strong” followed up by Andy Williams singing “Happy Heart.” Hear Matt Monro, Les Baxter, and the one hit wonder, “The Hollywood Argyles, “Alley Oop.” Leave comments see the playlists at: http://theneonbeat.blogspot.com/

On the Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 3: Bette Midler opens this set with a cut from her tribute album to singer Peggy Lee, “Alright Ok You Win.” Tom Jones slams on stage next for his hit song, “Daughter of Darkness.” Listen to Patti Page with her hit song that put “Ol Cape Cod” on the map. Listen to the soulful Ray Charles as he sings, “You Don’t Know Me.” Then we’ll bring in Peggy Lee for her fun hit song, “Hey Big Spender.” We’ll join up Bing Crosby with Rosemary Clooney as we land in the Big Easy for the song “Come to the Mardis Gras.” Listen to Kay Starr perform a rousing version of “Night Train” from one her most celebrated albums. You’ll hear great instrumentals with Sounds Orchestral’s version of “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” “A Taste Of Honey” with Herb Alpert and the TJB, Mason William’s “Classical Gas” ahttp://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/
nd “Jiving Around” with the Al Casey Combo. Listen to Vic Damone sing an up tempo song from “Pal Joey.” We’ll track some Burt Bacharach/Hal David with Dionne Warwick singing, “Message to Michael.” Perry Como takes us on a “Dreamers Holiday” with the Fontane Sisters. Hear songs with Matt Monro, The Kingston Trio and more. Listen at:

The Neon Beat on Radio George - 1.4.16

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 1: The Four Lads open this set and the New Year with a toe tapper from the play Gypsy, “Together Wherever We Go.” Then enjoy some great music from the golden days of MGM with Judy Garland. We’ll spin one of the hits of Les Paul and Mary Ford, “Hummingbird.” You’ll hear the song that brought home the bacon for one songwriter named John Hartford as Glen Campbell sings, “Gehttp://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/
ntle on My Mind” followed up by Anne Murray’s beautiful Grammy award winning ballad, “You Needed Me.” Listen to fine instrumental hit tunes by Bill Pursell (Our Winter Love) and Horst Jankowski (A Walk in the Black Forest.) Nat King Cole croons an old Ray Noble hit song, “The Very Thought of You.” Listen to the Marvelous Marilyn Maye, “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” (They’d prob’ly say, ‘what happened?” ) We’ll play the first major chart hit for Jerry Vale which debuted on Ed Sullivan. Hear Dinah Shore with an old big band era favorite, “I’ll Never Say Never Again”, Frank Sinatra with a good old Cole Porter song, Johnny Mathis and more. Listen now at:

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 2: Oklahoman Kay Starr launches this hour with a rousing version of the Jazz standard, “On a Slow Boat to China.” Then the Ames Brothers take the stage for their version of an old Ralph Flanagan hit song, “Ragg Mopp.” Enjoy some big band with Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra with the Cole Porter song, “Begin the Beguine.” Pack your bags as we board an airliner with Frank Sinatra singing, “Come Fly with Me.” Connie Francis sings “Sixteen Reasons” followed up with some folk music with The Brothers Four singing their hit, “Greenfields.” Hear America’s sweetheart, Annette Funicello with “O Dio Mio.” Tony Bennett performs with the Count Basie Orchestra a song about the windy city. Then enjoy some film music with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass with the theme from “Zorba the Greek.” Nat King Cole sings a toe tapper with Les Baxter’s Capitol Records Orchestra called, “Walking My Baby Back Home.” Listen to Dinah Shore with “Dear Hearts and Gentle People,” Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and lots more. Leave comments see the playlists at: http://theneonbeat.blogspot.com/

On The Neon Beat this week, Jukebox 3: Les Brown and his Band of Renown get this set underway with some great swing music, “Leap Frog.” Dean Martin is next with The Four Lads singing a Frank Loesser song from “A Most Happy Fella.” Hear Nancy Wilson with her 1964 Grammy award winning song, “How Glad I Am.” Listen to Nat King Cole with a lovely song written in part by actor, Charlie Chaplin, “Smile.” Al Martino performs a song from the film, Romeo and Juliet. We’ll spin a big band wartime favorite with Harry James and Helen Forrest, “I’ve Heard That Song Before.” We’ll follow that with Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” We’ll spin one of the Association’s all-time great hits, “Windy” followed up with a film theme from the 1966 movie “Born Free” performed by Roger Williams. You’ll hear more film/Broadway songs by Debbie Reynolds and Vic Damone. Pat Boone sings a mid 1950’s rock n’ roll hit originally done by The El Dorados, “At My Front Door.” Listen to Sarah Vaughan, The New Colony Six, The Four Preps and more. Listen at: http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/