Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FOREVER AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY]
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salzmank — 9 years ago(January 24, 2017 08:50 PM)
I should probably keep quiet about this after all these months, but I just want to let everyone who helped with this question that there's a
little
bit of news, albeit nothing we didn't really already figure out on our own:
On one of the sitessoundtrackcollector.comI quoted early on, "lyncounion" posted the following on Jan. 15 (I didn't check until now):
"I'm pretty certain these are modern recordings.
"There are a number of giveaways, if you listen closely:- The arrangements of "You Do Something to Me" and "Anything Goes" do not stylistically fit the big band music of the period in that they start with a vocal verse instead of an instrumental verse. More significantly, in "Anything Goes" there are multiple instrumental verses after the vocal verse, which very conveniently occur exactly when the characters in the film start talking.
- The length of "You Do Something to Me" is barely over 2 minutes, short for a 78 of this style.
- The acoustic bass, on all the numbers, is very loud and well defined in the mix. Recording technology was not sufficiently advanced in the 30s to capture a rich bass sound like this.
- The snare fill played by the drummer at the beginning of "Anything Goes" (right after the bell rings), is uncharacteristic of the period. It's also quite loud and trebly, which wasn't easily captured in older recordings.
- In the same song, in the first measure of the verse the guitar and bass play a figure with a strong backbeat that would sound more common in the rock erarhythm sections didn't play like this in the 30's.
"I'm far from an expert on 1930's recordings or big-band music, but after listening to it on good headphones I think these are very well done fakes done by studio pros. I certainly could be wrong, but that so many people have been interested in this question and it hasn't been easily resolved makes it more likely that these vintage recordings don't actually exist. It's still a wonderful film.
"Your most humble servant,
St. John Lord Merridew."
Again, we already figured this out here; I just want to let everyone know.
Best,
salzmank
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WillEd — 9 years ago(January 25, 2017 12:14 AM)
Guess what? I found a singer who started in 1925 and it looks like in all his recordings he sings in what later became the standard. Short music into. Sings the song, short music break, then repeats the last two verses. I never heard of him until now, but he was very popular, so I think my theory before was correct. If a singer was popular enough, that is the way it went, but if the focus is the orchestra, the singer is second fiddle to that and has to wait until the orchestra starts before he gets to sing and usually does it fast, like so they can get back to the orchestra.
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salzmank — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 09:51 PM)
WillEd
So does that just support the theory that these are modern recordings?
To everyone
Thanks for your supportand some news!
I ended up dragged again down this rabbit hole because of that new Soundtrack Collector post, and now I found what I think is a new lead that, God willing, may actually result in something ofif not an answer, maybe a clearing up of some mysteries.
While most of the crew who worked on
Sleuth
have passed on, according to IMDb's
Sleuth
page, there was an uncredited re-recording mixer named Graham V. Hartstone who worked on the movieand Mr. Hartstone is still alive!
After a bit of searching, I found an e-mail address for him here and sent him an e-mail. Now it all depends on (1) if he receives the e-mail, (2) if he responds to it, and (3) if he knows who the singer was/is. This will be interesting
(I hope that, as he was the re-recording/dubbing mixer, he knows who it was.)
Now we just all hope and pray, right? -
WillEd — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 11:08 PM)
It means it could be an old recording because the modern method was sometimes used then, but I still think they are modern recordings. My gut tells me they are not authentic from that period. The singer obviously is not someone famous and you still have the problem of three Cole Porter songs from the same singer and one of the songs is from the twenties while the other two are mid thirties and the orchestra is the same in all three. The two from the thirties could possibly be A and B sides on the same record. The twenties one is harder to explain.
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salzmank — 9 years ago(January 29, 2017 04:47 AM)
And, just like that, from a bang to a whimper.
D'après
Mr. Hartstone:
"I have had this enquiry before, a few years ago and I'm afraid I wasn't able to spread any light on this conundrum. I don't know if anyone is around who worked for Palomar Pictures - there may be a paper trail showing who either paid or paid for the vocalist.
"Sorry I can't be more help.
"Kind regards
"Graham."
I suppose I am disappointed but not really surprised: the universe can't make things can't all that easy, eh? I will follow up upon Mr. Hartstone's recommendation but do not expect to find anythingand then shall leave this thread until I or someone else finds something new. So I expect this thread to go quiet once again for quite a while, but know that, if ever I do find something, I'll be back.
Best,
Salzmank