Who among the song-poem faithful could resist taking the chance to hear a song-poem called "Here Comes Ole Dirty Face"? Not me! And so I won the record at an eBay auction, and gave it a spin not long after.
Although such dedication often ends in a letdown - more song-poems are dull at best, even those with promising titles - I think this one was worth it. This is hardly a new subject for a song, but the use of "Ole Dirty Face" as the name of the lead character is a more creative move by the lyricist than you'd find in most song-poems.
As with all Cinema records, this one is credited to "The Real Pros", and in this case, I'm certain it's Dick Kent on the vocal. I don't exactly believe Mr. Kent singing this, but he's very rarely my choice to sing anything, but maybe you, the listener, will enjoy his performance more. Play:
The flip side, "A Smouldering Fire", is more of the standard issue song-poem for the era. This fits Dick Kent's style much better than the A-side, in my opinion, but it ends with one of those maddening spoken word things that are so common to song-poems.
It's also interesting to note that this record is in such complete stereo, with a great deal of separation between what's going on, on each side of the mix. That's not exactly standard practice for most song-poem records.
Download: The Real Pros - A Smouldering Fire
Play:
3 comments:
Dirty Face is good.
6/3/21:
I notice now that the music used for "Dirty Face" is the same music (of course, different version) used for "Weasels in the Chicken House", from a Major Label Records "Hit Sounds of Today" album!
http://strangemusicworld.blogspot.com/2020/05/hit-sounds-of-today-l-8057.html
7/9/24:
I now have that album on my new blog home!
https://strangemusic90.blogspot.com/2024/07/hit-sounds-of-today-l-8057.html?m=1
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