Howdy, Everyone!
Before I say anything else, let me share with you that, once I straightened up and arranged nearly all of my song-poems, I found that I had duplicates of more than a dozen 45's. And as a result, I am listing those duplicates on eBay, roughly one per day, on weekdays. So far, two are listed and have bids, and I have enough to continue listing them through at least the end of next week.
My eBay page, which is dominated by my old copies of Billboard Magazine, which I've been selling off for years, is here, and like I said, buried among all the other detritus of my collecting life (and that of other family members) will be a number of song poems.
And again, those sales are at this location.
Of more interest to most of you, I'm sure, is the set of posts that I've updated and made "Live" again today. This week's corrections were to May of 2011. During that month, I shared a very early (and sort of unusually labeled) Norman Burns entry for Mother's Day, a Judy Layne 45 on Preview (with a clear assist from Rodd Keith), a typically (and entertainingly) inept entry from "Lance" on Tin Pan Alley, and an EP on the Columbine label.
And now!!!
About two and a half years ago, I shared a record on the Howden Records label, and shared that I had acquired four records on that label. As I explained in more detail in that previous post, discerning if Howden was a song-poem label took a bit of research. Briefly the song quality and performance quality was higher than on most labels, but there was some overlap between the songwriter for all of the Howden releases, as well as one of the performers, with those on other song-poem labels. In reality, I'm guessing that this label was a hybrid of song-poem companies and vanity recordings, and that Howard Dennington, the author of all songs on the label, wrote both the music and the lyrics for his songs, then paid for song-poem companies to realize his songwriting dreams.
Today, I have the second of that Howden records I bought.
Today's share contains one release which sounds too professional to be a song-poem, as was true on some of the other sides, but also contains a track which has the obvious hallmarks of a very familiar song-poem factory. And I will say in advance that both sides of this record are beat to hell, so the sound quality is somewhat lacking - I've done some significant "cleaning up" of each side.
Let's start with the track that sounds like a "legit" release to me:
And this side features the same singer heard on both sides of the first Howden record I shared, Ella Howard. And again, "I Hear a Melody" sounds to me fully like something a real label would have really released, aimed at the actual sales and radio airplay market. It's competently made, features a cohesive and coherent melody and lyric, and I find pretty darn catchy, in both melody and arrangement. This is a pretty good record, with nothing of the "a little bit off" that one often finds in the "pretty good" song-poem releases. I'm not saying this would have been a hit, had it been intended for the legit market, just that it has the sheen of something targeted to that market.
Download: Ella Howard - I Hear a Melody
Play:
It is on the flip side of this record that any doubt of this label being related to the song-poem, whether they are also vanity records or not. This song features a singer credited as "Bill Clifford", who does not show up on any other known song-poem product. However, I believe what we're hearing are the unmistakable sound of the Chamberlin, and the style of the Film City label that was the most identified with that remarkable instrument.
What's more, "Bill Clifford" sounds tantalizingly like Rodd Keith at his most unctuous, at least at a few points. And the Chamberlin track could certainly be Rodd. But I don't actually think it's him singing, as there are more moments that don't sound like him at all, but I do find myself wondering who this is. m I overthinking this? Any thoughts?
Download: Bill Clifford - Everyone But You
Play:
8 comments:
Thanks for posting these! Fascinating stuff. The b-side sure sounds like Rodd to me, even the moments that don't, in which the phrasing is still very Rodd. I agree with you that side A 'sounds' like an attempt at a commercial record. I prefer it to the "b."
Master numbers indicate a 1968 pressing, even though Mr. Dennington copyrighted these in 1962 and 1961 respectively.
Thanks for listening - I go back and forth about it being Rodd. There is no way he was still "officially" at Film City by 1968, as his Preview sides show up by 1966, but I have records he made with the Film City Chamberlin that came out as late as 1971 (and maybe even later once which weren't dated). Maybe I don't understand how all of these labels work, but it's worth noting that none of those later Chamberlin records came out on Film City (always subsidiaries or, like this one, a small private label), and never under the name Rod Rogers. Ever since I started trying to understand this world, my assumption has been that he was under contract to Preview (and, by 1969, to MSR), and couldn't appear on the previous labels, or under his previous names. But that wouldn't preclude work that appeared elsewhere, and under ever more unlikely names.
Bob
That's definitely Rodd, and we have yet another pseudonym! Ha!
You posted this, which is the record right before "Little Rug Bug", it's the previous Matrix number.
https://bobpurse.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-new-sensation-for-68.html
Assuming your post is correct, and the record directly before "Little Rug Bug" is late 1967, or maybe even early 1968, then he was definitely picking up at least a little work from Stanton. I seriously doubt Rodd was under contract to any of these studios/labels. For one he obviously worked at Preview and MSR concurrently, and as you said, Stanton's Action. Because there is so much that sounds identical (session-wise) on both Preview and MSR, I wouldn't be surprised if Rodd was an independent contractor, with both labels giving him his workload of lyrics to work through and expecting him to deliver the end-product. That would explain why the same backing tracks pop up on both Preview and MSR and, as I said, you have the same "eras" of sound/sessions on both Preview and MSR. To my ears sounds like same studio, different labels. In "Off The Charts", Dick Kent says that "everyone wanted Rodd on a session", that he was in demand. Who is "everyone"? I'm assuming multiple song-poem labels.
A couple of things that occur to me as I type, regarding Film City/Sandy Stanton:
-According to Dick Kent (in that phone interview I sent you a while back), he (Dick Kent) would go to Sandy Stanton's houseboat studio and the two would sort of make up the song together, on the spot. Kent said he did not enjoy this method of working and says that his friend Jim Wheeler ended up doing more work with Stanton instead.
- In an interview I found on YouTube, Claudia Reame discusses recording "Afraid To Love Again" with Sandy Stanton (in 1972), even though you can clearly hear Rodd singing (and it's Rodd who is credited on the actual record). In this interview, her memory of Stanton is that he was always having to fix the Chamberlin, there was always problems with the tapes. (as we know, that Chamberlin was probably almost a decade old, by that point! (you can see the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZl12xmzp4 ) I can attest that my uncle had a mellotron in the 70s, and it was always a headache. And that was a new mellotron, bought around 1973, so one can imagine.
Why do I say all this? Because perhaps working sessions for Stanton was more "work" for Rodd than just going into a more proper studio and bang it out quickly with instruments. I wouldnt want to show up for a session in which I'm going to be paid by the song...only to find that my main instrument is wonky and not working! Who knows? We definitely never will! (ha) But quite possibly that could be why Rodd eased out of Film City, but continued working for Stanton from time to time, perhaps as a favor, or (in my opinion more probably) because he needed the money. If Rodd was burning bridges with his drug use and outrageous behavior, I could easily see a person in that position knocking on Stanton's door and asking "Hey Sandy....do you have any work?"
PS: Side A is definitely the better side. When the intro kicked off, I started singing "Run To Him" (Bobby Vee)! Could that be late-era Kris Arden? Not sure on that one, but side b is definitely Rodd. The chamberlin style is definitely his as well. If you're not sure, go listen to "I'd Rather Dream" (Film City) or "Dreams" (Preview), just off the top of my head, those are him using the same voice. One of his "unctuous" voices, as Bob says!!!
Damn, I wrote way too much! Sorry, Bob! And THANKS Bob!
Hi,
Thanks for your detailed and well thought out notes. I learned some things I didn't know before.
I think some of your comments, though, are based on me not explaining myself well. I have no doubt Rodd continued to work for whoever would have him, but I do think he probably had one contract at a time. I don't think it's a coincidence that his Film City output AS Rod Rogers slowed to a crawl and suddenly stopped just about the time Rodd Keith showed up on Preview, or that Rodd Keith stopped showing up on Preview right about the time Rodd Rogers showed up on MSR - I know he briefly showed up as Rodd Keith on MSR, too, but I'm betting the reason that changed after a dozen or so releases was because Preview owned that name, just like I'm betting that Film City owned "Rod (one d) Rogers).
So yes, he would have sporadically worked for Film City after about 1966, but none of those releases would have been as Rod Rogers, because he'd have to have retired that name (or at least that spelling), and all of those subsequent records would have a different name entirely, including those on Action, which I don't believe was part of Stanton's family of labels, since they released works by multiple labels.
Obviously, I can't "know" this, but it's certainly been my supposition for a long time, based on what I see on the labels, and what I have learned. It's certainly a cohesive explanation.
By the way, I'm thoroughly confused by the story of Dick Kent describing work for Sandy Stanton, as I'm not aware of his name (or voice) having ever shown up on a record label owned by Stanton.
No, I think you explained everything perfectly! I think I just had poor reading comprehension!
Regarding Dick Kent's comments, all I can say is that's what he says on the tape. The impression I get from the tape is that he only worked with him briefly and that his friend Jim Wheeler (who he says he now deceased) ended up doing a lot of work with him. (He also says he bumped into Sandy Stanton a few years earlier, but that he didn't know if he was still alive). I'm going to put up the interview soon, I just want to re-listen to it and make sure there's not anything I need to edit out. At one point on one of these interviews someone gives out a phone number, for instance.
I know I have stuff credited as Dick Lee & The Swinging Strings. Off the top of my head there's a song called "When They All Go To Chicago", which is on Action. (I thought I had read somewhere on the ASPMA that Action was a Stanton label, but it's been a while. I thought I saw it referred to as "Sandy Stanton's Action label" in one of the site updates....I guess I'm wrong on that one, sorry). Still when I see " & The Swinging Strings" on a song-poem record, I can only assume one thing!
Anyways, I didn't get the impression he worked for him very long.
Damn, late for work! Gotta run!
Thanks Bob,yes I also think it is Rodd,one of the things I like about Rodd is his voice, it's very distinctive,technically very good but also quite unique in its timbre .I wonder if any interviews with Debbie Davies exist that could shed some light on Rodd's sessions? I still think Rodd's story would make a great movie! Cheers
Wow ! This is definitely Rodd. Thanks for bringing yet another pseudonym & label to light.
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