Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra: "When the Lights Go on Again (All Over the World)" [November 28, 1942]
The clickle-clackle piano at the beginning sounds like Philip Glass or Steve Reich, for fuck's sake! Loop it, add a synth wash or four and you'd have a Moby B-side-cum-chill-out-comp track. Then the woodwinds and horns come in after eight bars and we're back in some '40s B&W weepie in which the complicated-haired starlet looks dejectedly down while fake tropical background stays stock (hah!) still and cigarette smoke wafts in from every conceivable angle (or maybe I made that part up). That's what Trevor Bacon's vocal sounds like--functional and nostalgic. (Also, "Trevor Bacon" is the greatest name ever, damn near.) Actually, the review of a Millinder comp on jazzdigger.com put it best: "Trevor Bacon, while not much of a singer is yet quite endearing." That's the record, too. Bacon is really maudlin, but he's also into it, so you sort of dig on that aspect of it. Probably more so back then--WWII context ahoy--but it carries over to now surprisingly well. 8
[Special thanks to Peter Shapiro]