Sunday, January 31, 2021

Wolf Finck's Noval Dream

Howdy, 

I have a bunch of things to start off with. First, I'd like to point out that for the second time in three posts, there was a nice little conversation in the comments about one of  my posts, in this case, the one from last week. It started with my two most frequent commenters, my "analog" world pal Stu and my online pal JW (Michael) stating their beliefs that "Bill Clifford", who was featured in that post, was, as I guessed might be the case, Rodd Keith, and this moved into a discussion of the possible reasons for his various names. You can read those comments at the end of that post. I have added Rodd's name to the post labels. 

Second, am continuing to list the duplicates from my song-poem collection, which I mentioned last week, as well. Those sales can be found mixed in with all my other items, here

Third, I thought since I've mentioned having put my song-poems into order a few times, I thought I'd show you what that "order" looks like. Here's a photo:


Each of the full boxes holds somewhere in excess of 200 45's, I think. And I have another box or more of 45's sitting on a shelf by my computer, which are the ones I feel are more likely to be shared here. 

Here's what's in the piles/boxes from left to right: 

My s-p albums
Small labels part one
Small labels part two
Favorite Labels - Film City, Fable, Sterling, Mayhams related
Tin Pan Alley
Preview
MSR (with 78's and 10 inch albums mixed in the side)

Finally, I have yet again updated another month's worth of old posts, in this case, April of 2011. That 
month, I shared both sides of a whopping six song poems, in five posts. These included a typically blah Halmark offering, a song for spring on the tiny Vellez label, yet another great late 1950's offering on Tin Pan Alley, a nice one from Cara Stewart (under an assumed name of her own), and a twin spin featuring some religious material from both Gene Marshall and Norm Burns

And speaking of blah offerings from uncredited performers....


I'm actually being a tiny (very tiny) bit unfair here. Because while "Blah Offerings" would have been a more accurate label name for Noval Records, on today's record, they actually offered something just a little exotic. For the lyrics to "Only a Dream", by Wolf Finck - who goes on the list of wonderfully named song-poets - the Noval house combo tried a slightly south-of-the-border groove. And while the results are fairly laughable, at least they tried - I don't, for example, remember a lot of Noval releases with much percussion, let alone the multiple percussionists heard here. 

Download: No Artist Named (Noval Productions) - Only a Dream

Play:  

Much more typical of Noval's work is the flip side "Trust Jesus Day By Day". Typical touches: no beat; the piano doing little more than playing the exact same melody that the singer is singing; homely and technique-free singing; and what should be the saving grace, the vibraphone. This is one of my favorite instruments ever, but even its presence doesn't save anything here, save for that lovely opening few seconds. 

Download: No Artist Named (Noval Productions) - Trust in Jesus Day By Day

Play:  




 

6 comments:

Stu Shea said...

I sure like the a-side! Great sound, even if it's only 78% competent, and the lyric! Does he actually sing about crushing her lips with his? The b-side is a snore but that intro on the vibes is prime material for sampling!

That vocalist really churns my butter--he and the vibraphone are why I really dig some of the Noval records.

Thanks for posting this!

JW said...

I thought they were going to go into "Daddy's Home" after the vibraphone intro. (in general, the Noval vibes often remind me of "Pledging My Love"!) Wow, that b-side is truly horrible, though! ("perfectly awful!")

I wonder how many extra hands on deck they had to deputize for the percussion on side a, since it sounds like they have their normal full-lineup playing along. I can't imagine they paid extra for the percussionists!

Anonymous said...

2/3/21:
I forgot all about the "Sondra Prill of the 50's", as I called her, from the Vellez record! Thanks very much for helping me relive that one!

JW said...

PS Love the pic of your collection! Look at all the Tin Pan Alleys!!!

reservatory said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
reservatory said...

That aimless meandering clack on Only A Dream could be a clave, played about as badly as humanly possible. Many thanks, of course!