The 7 Best Albums of 1953 Ranked
As the 1950s progressed past its first few years, a slight divide in its musical culture was starting to emerge. Although it would still be a few more years until the rock and roll paradigm changed the face of popular music, louder rumblings were competing against the lushly orchestrated pop music fronted by established crooners. In a year of hits from the likes of Dean Martin, Perry Como, and Eddie Fisher, Elvis Presley began his recording career and Bill Haley & His Comets made the first rock and roll single to make it onto Billboard’s national chart. And while this piece indeed has a bias towards lyrical music, advances in jazz techniques and composition were heady counters to inanity. In another aspect of the ’50s music industry I’ve already explained in this series, not unlike a broken record, the album was taking on unprecedented importance. Full-fledged LPs would not be become the norm for another couple years, and even then singles often dominated the market, but more and more artists were turning to longer forms to showcase their music. In the midst of this changing landscape in 1953, seven albums in particular stand out.
#7 — SONGS BY TOM LEHRER — Tom Lehrer
Favorite track: “The Old Dope Peddler”
Tom Lehrer is one of the great satirists of his time and his contributions feel more vital to me than those of many his peers, such as, say, Stan Freberg. On SONGS BY TOM LEHRER, his first album, the musician and mathematician (he essentially retired from performance in the early 1970s to teach and is still kicking at age 95) uses plain yet upbeat piano accompaniment to get across some of the more biting lines recorded at that time. A song like “The Old Dope Peddler,” in its frankness, is wonderful dark comedy, even as Lehrer composes a sentimental tune. The whole of SONGS BY TOM LEHRER is full of this clever dynamic, making it a rare example (at least for the time and for my taste) of a musically and humorously satisfying bit of comedy music.
#6 — LE BING: SONG HITS OF PARIS — Bing Crosby
Favorite track: “Mademoiselle de Paris”
Impressively and exclusively singing in French for one of his first non-soundtrack original albums, Bing Crosby sounds quite good on top of rich and moving orchestration ahead of a career downturn later in the decade. LE BING: SONG HITS OF PARIS fits into the mold of early original records, in that it generally coheres to our idea of a “concept album” by clearly communicating a certain mood. Taking on the melodies fashionable in France with his backing band, which provides the airy accompaniment, Crosby delivers a relaxing smoothness. LE BING is not one of Crosby’s most lasting albums, in a career that yielded at least 102, but it’s a pleasant, full experience.
#5 — STRING DUSTIN’ — The Country All-Stars
Favorite track: “Do Somethin’”
Chet Atkins was one of the greatest guitarists at this time, perhaps rivalled only by Les Paul, and before a flourishing solo career, he recorded with Homer & Jethro (and others) as The Country All-Stars. Their sole album, from what I’ve been able to gather, was STRING DUSTIN’, eventually reissued as JAZZ FROM THE HILLS in the ’90s with songs from a 1956 recording session. Whether considering the original core tracks or taking into account the add-ons (of which, I must say “Do Somethin’” is the standout), this showcase of rollicking guitar is enlivening and impressive. Atkins was later critical of his talents in his early years, but in conjunction with a suite of guitars and other instruments, The Country All-Stars deliver a bright fusion of the contemporary genre, pop, and indeed, jazz. STRING DUSTIN’ is a wonderful and underheard example of early 1950s country music.
#4 — DEAN MARTIN SINGS — Dean Martin
Favorite track: “That’s Amore”
Recording his first album a few years before Martin and Lewis would disband, Dino made his mark as a crooner of a note away from the madcap antics of his partner. DEAN MARTIN SINGS isn’t the most revolutionary work of pop music, even for its day, but it’s an undeniably satisfying bit of cheese if you’re in the mood for it. While the original ten-inch release did not carry it, I must recognize “That’s Amore” as the best track to be on the album; as with many other records, it was expanded when the 12-inch technology took root with a few other hits. Whether on its first shorter form or its follow up expansion, however, the smoothness of the vocalist anchors the early 1950s approach to pop music for DEAN MARTIN SINGS.
#3 — AN EVENING WITH BILLIE HOLIDAY — Billie Holiday
Favorite track: “Stormy Weather”
Please ignore that godawful album cover, the most unflattering thing I have ever seen, and just listen to the music to be found on AN EVENING WITH BILLIE HOLIDAY. Although much was made of Holiday’s declining career, health, drug dependence, and vocal quality, the icon was delivering a richness informed by all of those things. Her rasp on this album never overtakes her trademark sound, forged decades before, and her backing band wisely allows Holiday to shine by sparsely augmenting her somber approach. The standards selected for the album do some of the lifting for ultimate listenability, but its star does most of it for AN EVENING WITH BILLIE HOLIDAY.
#2 — RCA VICTOR PRESENTS EARTHA KITT — Eartha Kitt
Favorite track: “Mountain High, Valley Low”
When one is researching and writing about albums from this era, one runs into a lot of reconfiguration and re-releases of earlier records with extra tracks tacked on. One of the more confusing instances of this concerns the great Eartha Kitt’s earliest album(s). Ultimately reconfigured for a 1956 12-incher with, in part, the EP THAT BAD EARTHA (1954) of the same name, the eight songs on RCA VICTOR PRESENTS EARTHA KITT stand as the future Catwoman’s debut record. And what a debut. Kitt was on fire with a number of hits in 1953 and ’54 especially, and the slinking tone of “I Want to Be Evil,” the jangling exoticism of “Uska Dara,” and the passionate folksiness of “Mountain High, Valley Low” are just some of the examples of how she produced a range of emotions and vibes in packaged form. RCA VICTOR PRESENTS EARTHA KITT is a wonderfully arranged work of vocal jazz from an artist who practiced it at a mostly stagnant time for popular execution of it.
#1 — MEMORIAL ALBUM — Hank Williams
Favorite track: “Cold, Cold Heart”
As with previous inclusions of Hank Williams albums on these lists, the placement of MEMORIAL ALBUM comes with a caveat. Unlike original works, which are ostensibly my limiting factor so that various greatest hits and other compilation releases don’t clutter up the perception of music of a particular year or time, this first posthumous record for the country icon collects many of the hit singles that had not appeared on the two released during his lifetime (which also weren’t conceived as album-length experiences). Williams had died on New Year’s Day in 1953, and so the MGM record label took note of his grieving fans and surge in popularity, utilizing the growing 10-inch format to give access to all the already classic tunes. In doing so with MEMORIAL ALBUM, they just so happened to represent Williams wonderfully. The singular voice and songwriting talent the man brought to not only country music, but also a field of popular music crowded by tired sounds, resonates deeply on this record. There’s an argument to be made that the morbid and endless repackaging of “gone too soon” musical artists that would follow owes something to the approach of MEMORIAL ALBUM, but it truly celebrates Williams’ appeal and brings a host of great songs to album form, making it the single best record of 1953.
