He Never Wins

Don't let the slinky piano opening figure fool you - it's not going to be some slinky, sexy, mysterious record, although the band seems to think this was a possibility. And the words to the song ("But I Never Win") here and there, suggest what might have been (although other lines are true clunkers). But then, the folks at Sterling assigned the track to the style-challenged Gary Roberts, and we end up with a quintessential song-poem record. 

Download: Gary Roberts - But I Never Win

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Ponderous is the word for the flip side, "Man on the Moon", handled by Shelly Stuart, who has not been featured on this site before. She did some good records for Sterling, although this isn't one of them. The song posits that the space program, and the landing on the moon, were the handiwork of God, rather than NASA, which seems to me quite a shortchanging of the scientists, astronauts and others who managed to achieve what they did in so short a time. We'll dedicate this to the Shuttle program, which ended earlier this summer.

Download: Shelley Stuart - Man on the Moon

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Oh, Go Not Yet!!!

Before I get to this week's feature, I wanted to alert you that I've just posted a non-song-poem offering from the Film City label - a vanity record which almost certainly features Rodd Keith on the Chamberlain, and a deeply odd record it is, too, to the WFMU blog, here. And now, on with the countdown: Today, our attention turns back to the throaty, appealing vocals of Ellen Wayne, songstress for the Tin Pan Alley label. Here's an early '60's effort, with appropriately jazzy backing, a 95 second length, and a just-short-of-ridiculous title, "Go Not Yet, Oh, Go Not Yet". This is another sound I just can't get enough of! 

Download: Ellen Wayne - Go Not Yet, Oh, Go Not Yet

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  On the flip side, we hear "(I'm) The Clown", and if anyone can tell me how the addition of parethesis helps that title (rather than just calling it "I'm the Clown"), I'd be very appreciative:

Download: Ellen Wayne - (I'm) The Clown

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In Elvis' Memory

Another "Elvis Week" in Memphis (marking the anniversary of his death) is upon us, and what better way to pay tribute than with a Song-Poem. And like the last Elvis tribute record shared here (early last year), this one is by those Cinema Record stalwarts, The Real Pros. The title of this record "The Memory of Elvis Presley", seems to me to indicate that Elvis had a heretofore unmentioned talent for remembering things, and the first line of the song "Elvis did so much to help the poor", is unproven, as far as I know, and pretty much leaves me baffled. And that last rhyme, as the song is fading out, has to be heard to be believed. Try it out for a spin! 

Download: The Real Pros - The Memory of Elvis Presley

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About that B-Side, “We Got the Blues”... Well, I find it pretty much unlistenable. Oh, and if you’re going to make a song with “Blues” in the title, it would nice to set it to a musical style that at least has some semblance of the blues, rather than a generic, badly recorded dance track with a predictable major/minor progression, and a solo section that doesn't really bother to include a solo. However, your mileage may vary:

Download: The Real Pros - We Got the Blues

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Chariots of the Gods

Time is exceptionally short this week, as I head off to a fabulous all-weekend-long activity, so I'm just going to offer today's Bobbi Blake feature, which also, unfortunately, features the absolutely terrible sound and pressing quality that MSR was noted for, at this time. Here's "Chariots of the Gods": 

Download: Bobbi Blake - Chariots of the Gods

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And a sad story indeed, is heard in this flipside, "Dear Sister":

Download: Bobbi Blake - Dear Sister

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