By Special Request

First, this week, I would like to acknowledge that today is the 40th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Amazingly, and sadly, John has now been gone nearly as long as the time that he was alive. 

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Secondly, and as (almost) always for the past many months, I have updated yet another month's worth of old posts, in this case, October of 2011. These include a very early, one man band performance on Cinema, Norm Burns failing to sound angry on a song about being angry, a great, really early Rod Rogers record on Film City, and another ridiculous Tin Pan Alley offering. 

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I received a request a few days ago from an old friend, asking if I owned a particular EP, and if so, if I could make MP3's and send them along. 

As it happened, not only due I own that very EP, it was right near the top of the pile of "these would be good to share", that sits a few feet from my record player and computer. 

So that came together nicely, and I now have two reasons to share this EP: it contains two tracks which are two good not to share, and it was specifically requested!

So here it goes!

As I've mentioned before, Air records seems to have been less than a producer of song-poem records themselves, then a clearinghouse for the works of a few disparate song-poem factories. Today's EP features three song-poems from the early days of the Globe factory, and one from Lee Hudson and his favorite singer. 

We start with my favorite of the four - "Daddy-O", by Kris Arden ("with Orch.", which all four songs tag onto the singing credit). To my ears, the folks at Globe very quickly settled into a midtempo, bland sound, but at the beginning (and occaisionally thereafter), they were capable of swinging and creating an effective rockin' beat, and that's the case here. The fact that this one features such boppin' sounds (and the "zone" number on the address) dates this one to the early 1960, probably 1962, based on the documented dates of other Air releases. 

Love that stinging guitar intro!!!

Download: Kris Arden With Orch. - Daddy-0

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Almost as good, even more rockin' but with elements of a true car crash, too, is the second track, "A Dog Gone Good Gal", sung by Sammy Marshall, under the cunningly devised aka of "Sonny Marshall". 

The backing tracks got it going on, and Sammy gives it his all, but these are among the least sing-able lyrics I've heard in some time (are there any other songs that try to fit "how we both love hot dogs with all the trimmings" into a twist-style rocker?), and I'm sure his beloved was thrilled to hear herself described as she herself having "all the trimmings". 

Download: Sonny Marshall With Orch - A Dog Gone Good Gal

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Side two starts with the only non-Globe entry of the EP, and it's a unusually weak Cara Stewart entry from Lee Hudson's production stable, featuring the song "Dakota Hills". Interestingly, as Paul McCartney would do more than half a decade later, she refers not to the Black Hills of South Dakota, but of "The Black Hills of Dakota". I've never heard anyone else, besides on those two songs, describe that location in that way, leaving out the "South". 

For me, that's about the only interesting thing here, as this seems to drag on forever. Her voice is wonderful, as always, and the echoey production is right up my alley, but even with all that, it's just dull, dull dull. 

Download: Cara Stewart With Orch. - Dakota Hills

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And finally, we're back to Globe and Sammy, er, Sonny Marshall, with the song "Walking and Crying". This is one of those mid-tempo tracks that would eventually become the hallmark of Globe, complete with the sort of "you done me wrong" lyrics that are a dime a dozen (and that's being generous) among song-poets. 

Download: Sonny Marshall With Orch. - Walking and Crying

Play:  

Thanks for the suggestion/request!