Help Identifying 1960's Frank Sinatra Sound-alike Acetates

Hey Forum -

I recently acquired a number of acetates and reel-to-reel tapes from the estate of Chuck Britz, the legendary recording engineer at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, best known for his work with the Beach Boys. Unfortunately there were no Beach Boys acetates or tapes in the lot -- although rumor has it that there had been some, but Brother Records swooped in and got them before the lot was posted for sale...

Among the acetates I acquired are a couple with male singers and big band accompaniment, that I am guessing are from the period 1961 to 1964. Both are in mono. One has two songs -- one titled "Lake Tahoe," and one that I'm guessing is titled "A Little Too Deep," or "(I Got Me In) A Little Too Deep." The "Lake Tahoe" side has a Bill Putnam-era (post 1960) Western Recorders label (white, with "Western Recorders in dark blue and gold, musical notes around the rim in turquoise) with "Lake Tahoe (1st Big Band at Western)" written in pen on the label. This could either indicate that it was the first big band that Britz recorded at Western, or the first big band to use Studio 1 (which I believe was the only room at Western large enough to hold a big band). "Lake Tahoe" is a ballad, while "A Little Too Deep" is a catchy uptempo number. The voice is a little deeper and "chestier" than Frank Sinatra -- I thought maybe Tony Martin at first, but now I don't think it's him. A friend of mine postulated that these could have been songwriting demos intended for Sinatra, where a voice double was hired to make the demo sound close to Sinatra, but that's pure speculation. Plus it would have been expensive to hire a full band just for a demo. I've checked the BMI and ASCAP title searches, and I don't find any matches for those titles from that time period -- although their search engines are not the friendliest.

The second acetate is unlabeled, and is a really swinging full big band version of the 1924 Billy Meyers / Elmer Schoebel / Gus Kahn / Ernie Erdman standard "Nobody's Sweetheart Now," this time with a different male singer. I think the singer is trying to sound as close to Frank Sinatra as possible, down to the phrasing and enunciation. The voice sounds a bit like Joey Bishop, although I don't have any good singing examples of Bishop to compare against.

Are there any forum members out there who are experts on crooners of that era, that could help me identify the singers if I send them a sample?

Thanks!

Lee

 

Can’t be of any real help, but that sounds like an incredible haul. Do feel free to tell me to mind my business, but can you share any of the backstory as to how you came across them? Any amazing finds in the lot? Of course, very curious as to the BB titles that got away...

 

Honestly, it was all posted on eBay-- some as single acetates, some in lots -- just not titled in a way to draw crazy bids. The only items that went for high dollars were an 3-song acetate that may or may not be unreleased demos by the Rob Grill-era Grass Roots, and several acetates by a San Diego garage band called The Misfits (not the same band as the horror-punk band The Misfits). It's mostly pop/easy listening and country/western stuff -- but still, a lot of it with studio chatter and count-ins (on a couple I can hear Hal Blaine counting in). Oddly, the reel tapes seem to be dubs of acetates and records -- not session tapes or studio booth log tapes like I was hoping. And a bunch are on back-coated tape that was gumming up the heads of my reel-to-reel deck when I tried to play it -- those will need to be baked...