If popular music fades out of fashion quickly, then what about the seemingly disposable music in the background of the commercials that play between popular songs on the radio? This unusual 2-CD set contains two shiny round things capable of transporting you back in time – a time that, it must be said, is barely recognizable from a 21st century vantage point. A time when commercials had to very carefully point out that new RCA color televisions were compatible with the existing black and white transmissions of TV stations. A time when brands of beer and bread did battle over the airwaves to see who could hire someone to make the catchiest, jazziest jingles. A time when Sprite was such a new thing that it required a jingle to explain what it was (and that it might be used for mixed drinks), and yet other jingles implored consumers to buy soft drinks bottled in glass bottles. And on the downside, a time when the airwaves were also choked with commercials for tobacco products.
“Someone who could make the catchiest, jazziest jingles” fortunately could simply be pronounced “Raymond Scott”, which is why the renowned bandleader amassed enough of this kind of work to merit a two-disc set. Scott was a double threat – he could bring the light jazzy sound that was in demand in the day, and then when the airwaves were so full of such commercials that entire commercial breaks started to run together in a blur, his electronic tinkering, mad-genius side came into play, putting some of the first radiophonic music into the ears of a mass audience in the United States. The Jingle Workshop‘s tracks end up being about 75% jazzy and 25% electronic, and it’s probably because the producers of this compilation didn’t want to have too much overlap with previous compilations like Manhattan Research Inc. and Three Willow Park, which were both devoted entirely to Scott’s early analog electronic music.
Some pieces – such as the “Vibes & Marimba” piece for an unknown sponsor, or the “The Tingling Tartness Of Sprite” instrumental – feature traditional instruments run through so much reverb that they land in an uncanny valley between the purely acoustic and the electronic sound that Scott was beginning to formulate in his head. The early Sprite jingle “Melonball Bounce” makes a repeat appearance here (it was also featured on Manhattan Research Inc.), representing Scott’s fully-electronic compositions.
There are some moments of unexpected sheer beauty peppered among these tracks; instrumental performances for products like Scott Family Napkins and Mastland Carpet are magnificently orchestrated and performed, as much as a testament to the players Scott hired as to his skill in composing the pieces. Scott’s wife, Dorothy Collins, features as the female vocal on most of the tracks (and busts up laughing in the rehearsal for a jingle for Esso gas stations). Whoever sequenced the album has a pretty good sense of humor too – see the one-two punch of tracks that close out the first disc: “Let’s Have a Sackful of Krystals” (for a fast-food burger chain) followed by “Ex-Lax Helps You”. If there’s one major surprise in this collection, it’s that Collins is not the only vocalist – Mel Tormé features on a couple of tracks.
A collection of radio spots and jingles from a bygone era won’t appeal to everyone, and admittedly, even though I’m a big fan of Raymond Scott’s work, I have to be in a certain frame of mind to sit and listen to it all in one sitting. The instrumental cuts are the only thing preventing The Jingle Workshop from being an 80-minute commercial break, often for extinct brands, and that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I still come away with an admiration for the sheer artistry of the extremely small, scrappy, underdog advertising production operation Scott and Collins were running.
Disc One
- When You Bake With Gold Medal Flour (Demo) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:49)
- The Taste Is Great (Tareyton Cigarettes) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:46)
- When You Shop at a Food Town Store (Vocal) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:02)
- Move Up to Schlitz – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:44)
- It’s Compatible (RCA Victor TV) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:15)
- Male/Female Scott Family Napkins Themes (Instrumental) (02:33)
- Road-Tuned Wheels (Mercury) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:59)
- It Outsells Because It Excels (Duquesne Beer) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:34)
- Hangover Dirt (Instant Fels Naptha) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:00)
- Think of a Carpet (Masland Carpets) [Instrumental] (01:02)
- Stop at the Esso Sign (Rehearsal 1) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:19)
- S-W-E-L (Swel Frosting) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:30)
- Song of the Milk Bottle Moppets (Glass Container Institute) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:19)
- So Good, So Fresh, So Southern (Mel Tormé) [Southern Bread] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:02)
- The Tingling Tartness of Sprite (Instrumental) (01:02)
- Use Vicks Medicated Cough Drops (Electronic Version) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:29)
- Stuckey’s Theme (Vocal) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:02)
- DX Super Boron (Sunray DX Oil Co.) [Demo] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Vibes & Marimba (Instrumental) (01:02)
- Miller Beer Theme (Instrumental Rehearsal) (01:20)
- Uptempo Theme With Vibes (Instrumental) (00:26)
- The Big M (Mercury) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:31)
- Be Happy, Go Lucky (Lucky Strike) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:24)
- There’s a Tingle in the Taste (Fitger’s Beer) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:45)
- Way Ahead in Flavor / Almost Like Magic (My-T-Fine Pudding) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:47)
- Scott Family Napkins Guidance Tracks – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:54)
- Melonball Bounce (Sprite) [Instrumental] (00:59)
- Go Greyhound – Leave the Driving to Us – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:59)
- Today’s Best Buy (Plymouth) [Demo] – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:29)
- Who Took the Beer? (Hamm’s Beer) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:59)
- The Fashion to Be Fashionable (Ford Galaxie) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:02)
- Dirty Carburetor #1 & #2 (Atlantic Imperial) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Bottled Soft Drinks Serenade (Glass Container Institute) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:18)
- All-Purpose Breeze (Demo) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:38)
- The Only Candy Bar (Fifth Avenue) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:30)
- Better Get Some More Beer [Hamm’s Beer] – featuring Mel Tormé and Dorothy Collins (04:07)
- Nothing Works Like Listerine – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Let’s Have a Sackful of Krystals (Krystal Hamburgers) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Ex-Lax Helps You (Demo) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:03)
Disc Two
- Lady Gaylord (Ideal Toys) [Alternate Instrumental] (01:00)
- Lilt Home Permanent (Procter & Gamble) [Demo] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:20)
- Think of a Carpet (Masland Carpets) [Vocal] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Seven-Minute Fluffy (Swel Frosting) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:02)
- Super Cheer Detergent (Procter & Gamble) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:23)
- Look for That Hotpoint Difference – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:48)
- Let’s Have a Sackful of Krystals (Krystal Hamburgers) [Instrumental] (01:00)
- The Tingling Tartness of Sprite (Vocal) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:30)
- Good News – Here’s Hamm’s Beer – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:11)
- What’s New, Bokoo? / An Unusual Name – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:04)
- Buy a Carton of Lucky Strikes – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:42)
- Right Car, Right Price (Chrysler) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:08)
- Wave Your Hair With Hudnut Care (Richard Hudnut) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:44)
- It’s the Ice-Creamiest (Russell’s Ice Cream) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:00)
- Stuckey’s Theme (Instrumental) (00:58)
- WQXI Bumper Montage – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:43)
- Use Vicks Medicated Cough Drops – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Delicate Theme (Instrumental) (00:59)
- Use Trushay – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:24)
- Tingle in the Taste (Fitger’s Beer) [Duet] – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:22)
- The Big Change (RCA Victor TV) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:36)
- Use New Instant Autocrat (Autocrat Coffee) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:31)
- Hamm’s Beer Theme (Instrumental) (00:59)
- Trushay Theme 1 (Instrumental) (00:19)
- DX Super Boron (Sunray DX Oil Co.) [Instrumental] (01:02)
- Melonball Bounce (Sprite) [Vocal] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:00)
- Stop at the Esso Sign (Rehearsal 2) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:01)
- Watch the Vibrations of a Tuning Fork (Bulova Accutron) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:25)
- Breeze Along With Ease – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:22)
- Have a Duke (Duquesne Beer) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:31)
- RCA Victor High Fidelity Theme – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:10)
- RFK, Liz & Dick, Nudity in Movies (Look Magazine) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:28
- When You Shop at a Food Town Store (Instrumental) (01:02)
- Good News – Here’s Hamm’s Beer – featuring Mel Tormé and Dorothy Collins (04:01)
- Best Looking Buys in Each Size (Mercury) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:46)
- New Sensations in Sound (RCA Victor TV) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:23)
- Make Him a Legend in His Own Time (British Sterling) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:20)
- Living Curl / They Did It! (Revlon Hair Spray) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:32)
- Lady Gaylord (Ideal Toys) [Trumpet Effects Instrumental] (00:57)
- Keep on the Go With Atlantic (Atlantic Imperial) – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:29)
- Look at That Sunbeam Bread! (Demo) – featuring Dorothy Collins (00:44)
- Tart and Tingling (Sprite) [French Version] – featuring Dorothy Collins (01:00)
- Trushay Theme 2 (Instrumental) (00:23
Released by: Modern Harmonic
Release date: December 13, 2019
Disc one running time: 40:31
Disc two running time: 41:18