#tim hauser

𝟹𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚢 𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚁𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜!!!

Here's side 1: "Don't Let Go" "Zindy Lou" "Chanson d'Amour" "Helpless" "Scotch and Soda" "Speak Up Mambo (Cuéntame)"

A wide sweep of smoky ballad, early R'n'R, Motown banger, '50s R'n'B, even a little mambo. And here are the original recordings:

Roy Hamilton, "Don't Let Go"

The Chimes, "Zindy Lou"

Art and Dotty Todd, "Chanson d'Amour"

Four Tops, "Helpless"

The Kingston Trio, "Scotch and Soda"

Al Castellanos and Orch., "The Speak Up Mambo (Cuéntame)"

Despite the quality of the originals, I tend to consider ManTran's covers as definitive because their individual voices and harmony singing are so good.

Coming Out was an interesting shift for the group. Their debut album had seen them attired in '30s evening wear, very déco, all black and white. Although the songs weren't particularly stiff or formal, their image was a bit icy. On Coming Out's cover, the group looks plenty warmed up, particularly Ms. Siegel.

Their image through their first four albums was created by their art designer and director Fayette Hauser, sister of Tim, who had logged her time earlier in the decade with San Francisco's Cockettes, a legendary wildly extravagant and outré drag ensemble that had featured such future luminaries as Sylvester and Divine. She published a book in 2020 about those years:

So, Coming Out—the title was resonant in 1976 as Gay Liberation, only seven years from Stonewall, was a definite Thing in the disco era—marked a major change for the band, which retired in 2023 after a half-century of music-making, as it sought to show them in a warmer, funkier light.

Bonus ManTran goodness from your sobsister, "Don't Let Go" from the band's excellent The Old Grey Whistle Test show in '77. Janis Siegel puts this over like gangbusters. Watch this, then jump to the start of the show for 40 minutes of the classic group at its peak.

     Alan Paul                                                                    Janis Siegel

      Tim Hauser                                                               Cheryl Bentyne

The Manhattan Transfer

Soul Food To Go (Sina)

The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer, "Boy from New York City"

A live performance from the Fridays TV show.

Tim Hauser of the group died today, age 72.  He's far right in the screen shot above.  He was the only member who'd sung with the original Manhattan Transfer, which only issued one album (Jukin') before dissolving and transforming into the great vocal group most closely associated with the name.

Always one of my favorite vocal bands.  I had the pleasure of seeing them at Carnegie Hall in January 1977 and at the Birchmere some 20 years later.  As quite a young sobsister, I even watched their 1975 summer replacement series, during the Great Nostalgia Boom that swept this fair nation. 

Many hours of listening pleasure, thanks to Mr. Hauser.