The 1955 Record Album Lonesome Echo: The Songs Are Sung By Jackie Gleason. The Album Cover Is Painted By Salvador Dali. And The Mind Boggles.

The 1955 Record Album Lonesome Echo: The Songs Are Sung By Jackie Gleason. The Album Cover Is Painted By Salvador Dali. And The Mind Boggles.

From Varifrank:

Think about it for a second.

Gleason - Dali.

Unfortunately, this is not where the weirdness ends. Heres just a partial list of things I that I find weird about this rather odd artifact from the past.

1. Jackie Gleason, made record albums where he showcased his singing. Apparently this went on for years with no intervention from the authorities.

2. Capitol Records, who would one day have the Beatles under contract, gave Jackie Gleason a contract to make these albums, which were not for comedy skits, but singing. I assume this was done for money and profit and not for laughs or as a result of the loss of a bet on the part of a record company executive.

3. People bought the albums. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Perhaps there was a shortage of rodent repellant in the 1950's.

And that's just a partial list of Varifrank's partial list. I guess that the Gleason style just isn't his cup of tea. But maybe it's not about the songs anyway:

Although Gleason's 1955 album is not nearly as well known as most others in this list, it can be seen as one of the most important. Throughout the 50s, more and more experimentation with album art was taking place, particularly in the jazz scene. While the crooners of the day still tended to favour a simple photo of themselves as their album cover, others such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Count Basie were employing artists to come up with more interesting concepts. When TV personality Gleason used a piece by legendary surrealist Salvador Dali for his album cover, it was official; the album cover was a legitimate art form. It hasn't looked back.

Comments

[Guy]

If Jackie really had been a singer, I would like to hear his version of "Fly Me To The Moon, Alice! To the Moon!"

[Guy]

First time I saw Jackie Gleason's name on one of those Ultra-Lounge CD's, I assumed he was singing also. With his big voice and personality, how could he NOT be the singer?

But no - these are albums of instrumental mood music, the type he enjoyed.
Per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Gleason#The_mood_musician he may not have been involved musically at all, instead just putting his name on the collection.