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King Sisters vs Andrews Sisters - Hot Chicks on the loose

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:42 am
by Eyeball
Two good sister vocal groups. Both appeared on the scene around the same time - 1937. Andrews Sisters hit big first. King Sisters never hit quite as big, but were headliners with Alvino Rey's band and at the same time issuing records with Rey that were being issued under their own name. Unusual situation and it was only b/c one of the girls was married to Alvino Rey - who played electric guitar - one of the very few big band leaders who played that instrument.

AS - vocal trio
KS - vocal quartet

AS - most of their stuff sounds pretty much the same. I used to slam them for that, but, what the hell...it sounds good and it worked big time for them. Patty is still alive. I met her a few times b/c she knew a friend of mine.

KS - gigged around with bands, joined Horace Heidt's band, then they all quit when HH fired someone one of them was going out with. Alvino Rey started his own band in 1939 and there they all were.

There were 5 girls, I recall..and one would sub for another while one of them was raising a kid or taking a break or whatever.

In the 50s they changed their style - basically from very tight harmony to the very wide harmony that was popular at the time. They were highly skilled and it sounded great. I don't know how long they continued in that style as their recording dates drop off around that time.

In the 60s, there were so many sisters with so many husbands and so many kids that they started a big 'Donny and Marie' type show that was on for years, an hour a week, I recall it was fairly D&M cum Lawrence Welk style, so I never watched it. I don't know what they were sounding like in that era.

MAIN POINT -

The Kings were far hipper than the Andrews. The extra voice gave them all sorts of options that a trio could not pull off. They were more 'swing chicks' than the AS were.

Most people have forgotten how cool they were b/c there have been almost no reissues of their work on Bluebird and Victor in the 40s. I recall one LP on the RCA Camden label, but it never came my way. Other than an LP of transcriptions that were issued on the Hindsight label, all I have seen on LP and CD have been assorted tracks on anthologies. And....I forgot about these......bootlegs on the AJAX/AJAZZ label of their 40s sides in chrono order. Most issues on that bootleg series had dreadful sound quality...and I mean really bad....high frequencies simply cut off to keep the 78 rpm transfers down to minimal surface noise.

Andrews Sisters, of course, have been reissued like crazy.

KS also did some acapella sides during the war - good stuff - 4 girls singing and swinging on their own - "San Fernando Valley" was one of them.

Anyway - if you can find some of the KS sides or even the Rey band sides, I think you will find something you will like and can spin.

The KS have an extensive web site - check it out.

http://www.danacountryman.com/KingSiste ... /Bio1.html

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Re: King Sisters vs Andrews Sisters - Hot Chicks on the loos

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:23 am
by Haydn
Eyeball wrote:MAIN POINT -

The Kings were far hipper than the Andrews. The extra voice gave them all sorts of options that a trio could not pull off. They were more 'swing chicks' than the AS were.

Most people have forgotten how cool they were b/c there have been almost no reissues of their work on Bluebird and Victor in the 40s. I recall one LP on the RCA Camden label, but it never came my way. Other than an LP of transcriptions that were issued on the Hindsight label, all I have seen on LP and CD have been assorted tracks on anthologies. And....I forgot about these......bootlegs on the AJAX/AJAZZ label of their 40s sides in chrono order. Most issues on that bootleg series had dreadful sound quality...and I mean really bad....high frequencies simply cut off to keep the 78 rpm transfers down to minimal surface noise.

Andrews Sisters, of course, have been reissued like crazy.

KS also did some acapella sides during the war - good stuff - 4 girls singing and swinging on their own - "San Fernando Valley" was one of them.

Anyway - if you can find some of the KS sides or even the Rey band sides, I think you will find something you will like and can spin.
Thanks for the info. I listened to some of The King Sisters samples on allmusic and based on what I heard there I prefer the Andrews Sisters. Maybe some of the King Sisters' better stuff isn't on those CDs?

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:10 am
by Eyeball
Thanks for the link b/c I have been digging some of the samples.

Their wirk on Capitol is from the 1950s and sounds very different than their 40s work on Bluebird and Victor.

But here seem to be 3 CDs there on AMG that have some of their 40s work for RCA. They have programmed a heavy dose of pop novelities, but there are also some good ballads nd good pop tunes, along with some Swing instrumentals that had lyrics added to them such as JERSEY BOUNCE and others.

It's all a matter of taste, but if this is the first time you have heard them...take a while. Of course, you can like both groups, but the KS have a far richer sound, more varied and better backing,


1999 Queens of Song Jasmine
2005 It's Love, Love, Love ASV/Living Era
2006 Over the Rainbow Flare

Those three are the ones you can buy me. Thank you! :)

The 1947 transcriptions are good, too, but I prefert heir pre-war and wartime work.

I like the 50s stuff, too, but it is in a very different groove alla the Hi-Lo's and the Four Freshmen.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:22 pm
by morte100
I think the important point here is that the King Sisters are clearly hotter than the Andrews Sisters.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:18 pm
by texas-eddie
morte100 wrote:I think the important point here is that the King Sisters are clearly hotter than the Andrews Sisters.
Word.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:55 pm
by Eyeball
Yet the Andrews were/are far more popular than the Kings.