Chart entered : 14 November 1952
Chart peak : 6
Number of hits : 18
Max is the first British artist to feature ; Vera Lynn had three songs in that first chart but only added 6 more to her total so she just misses out here.
Max of course was an all-round entertainer who took his cues from music hall survivors such as Max Miller, still a big live draw in the fifties. Although he was a working class Londoner the Cockneyisms in many of his records were deliberate and, as "Cowpuncher's Cantata" proves, could easily be eliminated if he so chose.
" Cowpuncher's Cantata" is objectively a medley of three songs popularised by our old friend ( already ) Frankie Laine - "Mule Train" , "Ghost Riders In The Sky" and "Jezebel" - with a hokey introduction from Max and some mildly amusing comic interventions. It's executed with a level of affection and attention to detail that puts it in the same class as Pamela Stephenson's Kate Bush impression rather than those pop terrorists the Barron Knights. What Frankie made of it we don't know although as they both did the Royal Command Performance of 1954 he presumably got the chance to tell Max.
Given that Max lost interest in the singles market quite early on it's surprising that we don't say goodbye to him until 1989.
No comments:
Post a Comment