Jackie Gleason “Love Embers and Flame”

Or, if you will, “Jackie Gleason presents Love Embers and Flame” —while it may not be the hottest record out there, despite the odd and simmering title, it may be the most mellow record I own. Another good one, from 1962—nothing particularly oddball about it, though in some passages the strings weep a bit, the piano may be drinking, and the trumpet player is named Mortimer Sleaze. I’ll refrain from my usual, hoary, “make-out” record comment, though that’s pretty much what the short, uncredited, and excellent liner notes imply—though they just come out and say “music for f**kin’!” Also, noted is the use of “twin string orchestras”—I don’t know what that means—is it like dueling banjos? Either way, it’s subtle, lovely, complex. Twelve songs here, including “It’s a Blue World,” “How About Me,” “For All We Know,” some Gleason originals, and my favorite, “Where Are You?” I’m going to be a nerd and look up these Jackie Gleason mood records and see which ones I have. There exist from 30 to 100—nailing it down, or determining the dates is nearly impossible. I only have eight, but I keep my eye out for them—and I do have a couple that could be considered to be holy grails—the one with the Dali cover, and “Rebound”—did I have some others and lose them? Probably, like “Music for Lovers Only,” where two cigarettes smolder in an ashtray while the “lovers” are doing what? This one, of course, has a striking title—you don’t talk about “love embers” every day, but everyone can imagine the smokin’ things—and when they flame? On the cover, the woman in shadows with the x-rated expression looks like she’s being consumed by licking flames, blurry in the foreground, and that almost-a-dress isn’t going to protect her from either the fire or those cartoon eyeballs popping from the sockets of the otherwise blissed-out listener.

Addendum: I usually post a picture of the album cover on my DJ Farraginous Instagram (which no one sees) and while I was adjusting the color and saturation of this one, I noticed that, in the shadows behind the scantily dressed woman… there is a man! You can really only see his left ear, hair, and bit of his face—and it looks like he’s whispering to her, or breathing down her neck. How did I not see this before? Well, it’s really dark—and most of his face is covered in a shadow—though it’s more of a shadow than what her hair should create. So… I just don’t know. Did this appear through some supernatural means? Or did the art department purposely make it really dark—intending for you to get creeped out by it. Seeing how the woman is engulfed in flames—is this guy intended to resemble Satan? He sure looks like him! The other weird thing, when I posted the IG pic, it weirdly posted twice as dark as I’d edited—which never happens—so you can’t see the hidden guy on my post. This all leads me to believe there’s something fishy going on! Not that I believe in any of this nonsense—but if you ever see how creepy this album cover is, you’ll agree with me! I wonder if anyone has discussed this on the internet? Probably not—it’s a pretty obscure concern about a pretty obscure record—but I’ll look!

10.16.26