Popular Teen Styles on LECTRON

Let me be the first to wish all of my readers of Happy New Year!

I continue to rehab my site. Today, I have finished correcting posts from 2007, fixing five posts from July and August of that year. Again, this was a point at which I was simply sharing items from my collection that I particularly appreciated and seemed to be rare. Youtube has subsequently changed that last aspect, but still, I'd like the site to be playable from the earliest posts on. 

During that summer, I posted a goofy, yet endearing number by Don, Dick and Jimmy, I shared a song in Swedish that I wished to know more about (and subsequently did learn more about), I let everyone hear an odd easy listening version of a Beatles hit, and shared two of my "cut-ups", which were cassette-edited popular songs made into jokes. 

And although it's redundant at this point, I have also fixed a post, from that summer, in which I shared, for the first time, my all time favorite disc that has any connection to the song-poem world, although I'm now convinced that the record in question is not a song-poem. I later shared the record again, along with its b-side, when I got my own copy, but here is the first time that I featured "What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)". 

I have also put in addendums to a couple of those posts. 

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And now, Let's Go Lectron!

Today, I have a pair of genuinely sweet and effective tracks from the teeny-tiny Lectron label, whose label describes the product contained therein as "Popular Teen Style". And never has a slogan or motto been more accurate, as these two songs are composed in the most popular of teen styles for 1963, when this record was produced. 

Both sides are credited to Mary Kaye, who did some work for the Globe song-poem factory, but the A-side is actually a performance by Mary Kaye AND Sammy Marshall. And the lyrics to "Secret Thoughts" are among the best I've ever heard in a song-poem: they do an exceptional job of describing the silent longing between a teen boy and girl, who each have romantic feelings for the other, but feel unsure of expressing them. 

The words capture this dynamic perfectly - the verisimilitude is on a level I would generally associate with professional songwriting - and the arrangement captures the sort of thing that "Paul and Paula" briefly had massive success with, right around the time of this record's creation. A genuinely sweet and affecting song and performance. 

The only flaw here is that the record appears to have been pressed in asphalt. The sound quality is abysmal. 

Download: Mary Kaye (and Sammy Marshall) - Secret Thoughts

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The flip side, "Actions Speak Louder Than Words", does indeed feature a solo turn by Mary Kaye. And again, it's in "Popular Teen Style", in this case, something of a twist beat, and it moves and grooves throughout - all 100 seconds of it. 

Again, the words here are pretty good, and they've been set in a sort of percussive manner that bounces off the drumbeat in places, an effect which I find sort of intoxicating. Mary Kaye's warm vocal really sells it, even if there are a couple of bum notes (perhaps she was sight-reading, which was so often the case in the song-poem world). 

There are some nice backing vocals which in a style that reminds me more of the later Preview label than what Globe usually came up with. I have a hard time saying which of these two tracks I like better - both are several levels better than the average song-poem. 

Download: Mary Kaye - Actions Speak Louder Than Words

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And finally, those of you who have been reading my posts for the last few years know that my family uses the Christmas Card tradition to engage in a bit of performance art each year. Previous end-of-the-year posts have other examples, and now, here is the latest in the series: 

From the left, that's me, my wife with the marshmallow in her face, then our two adult kids, and on the right, the fellow who will soon be, variously, husband, son-in-law and brother-in-law to the rest of the individuals in the photo. 

Cara and Larry and Johnny, Oh My!

Hello, everyone, and Happy Whatever You're Having!!!!

First, before today's EP, I want to update you as to the mending of the oldest posts on this site. I only updated two posts this time around, but they are chock full of interesting sounds. In both cases, they were sequels to one of my favorite WFMU posts ever - the Merigail Moreland tapes. After I posted 15 songs to WFMU, I promised to fill in the blanks on my site, by posting the rest of the Moreland tapes to my site, and then, by posting some recordings Merigail made in 1979 or 1980, which were sent to me by a relative. 

I have now "fixed" the post containing the further1953 era recordings, and the post featuring the 1979/80 recordings. 

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And now, for my third post in a row, let's have an EP!!!

The Brosh label, like the Air label two weeks ago, was an amalgam of the works of various song-poem label, and the combinations differed from release to release. Some material on Brosh actually appears in the same exact form on other labels, while in other cases, some songs (including one from today) turn up on multiple Brosh releases. 

What's fascinating to me today is that, of the three performers listed on this EP, only one of them is documented anywhere on AS/PMA, and additionally, I don't recognize the two (male) singers previously undocumented there. Perhaps I'm just not that good with voices, or maybe the fake names are throwing me off, but I cannot immediately recall having heard the voice of either "Larry Dee" or "Johnny Dale" on a song poem record before. Perhaps some wise person out there will educate me.

But first, lets hear the always lovely, and very well known voice of Cara Stewart, sounding as wonderful as ever, on "Four Open Doors": 

Download: Cara Stewart - Four Open Doors

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Now, while "Four Open Doors" is probably the best song and recording on this EP, the most intriguing has to be the one credited to Larry Dee: "Ballad of Alan Rose". This song's lyrics have a verisimilitude that certainly makes me believe it's based on a true story, but if so, it's one I've been unable to track down, in what was admittedly a cursory search. My guess is that it was a local tragedy, from the late 1950's or early '60's, as this record likely dates from around 1962 or 1963. 

Not only do I not recognize Larry Dee, I also don't really recognize the arrangement as being the hallmark of any particular song-poem factory - my best guess is Globe, but I suspect that's wrong. Also note that the female duo perform nearly a third of the song, without the benefit of a credit. 

Download: Larry Dee - Ballad of Alan Rose

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The flip side of the disc features what can only be termed raw demos, and I really wonder whether a song-poem company was involved with them at all, or if the fabulously named "E. Quattrocelli" (who submitted songs to at least two other song-poem labels over the years) simply submitted a recording of a friend playing his or her songs. 

Regardless of the back story, they are credited - I think - to Johnny Dale. I say "I think" because unlike most records, and unlike the flip side of this disc, Johnny Dale's name is added in parenthesis under E. Quattrocelli's name, rather than in bold and/or capital letters. I'm pretty sure that's a typo, rather than a co-writer credit. 

Both songs are ballads of the pain of young love, with an emoting singer accompanied by a simple guitar backing and bathed in echo. They are simple, direct and.... amatueristic. First up is "Teen Age Tears.  

Download: Johnny Dale - Teen Age Tears

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And then there is "I Should Be Crying"

Download: Johnny Dale - I Should Be Crying

Play:

Any guesses as to the back story of these last two songs, and the identity/song-poem factory for "Ballad of Alan Rose" would be welcomed.  

Damita Goes Bang Bang

 Howdy, folks!

First, I'd like to say that I recently wrote the most personal post I've ever done, which is at my other site, and was written in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of my father. I'd be honored to have any of you who are interested read it. It can be found here. 

And second, I continue to rehabilitate the earliest years of this site, and I have now addressed posts made more than 14 years ago, in November of 2007. It strikes me as likely - perhaps even definite - that most of the things I posted in the first three years at this site have long since been on YouTube, although I haven't checked. But I'm going to fix the posts anyway. 

In November of 2007, I offered up a guessing game in the form of a resolutely awful version of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", a goofy rock and roll novelty record sung by a grade schooler, a very early jazz band performance of Ragtime music, and a teen girl record (a b-side) that I've loved ever since hearing it. In addition, I have added 2021 comments to three of those four posts. 

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The exceptionally tiny "Bang Bang" label, out of Washington D.C., seems to have been the vanity project of someone named David Fitzgerald. Only two records on the label are documented at AS/PMA - today's EP makes it three - and of the eight songs on those three discs, David Fitzgerald wrote six of them, and claimed to have produced both songs on one of the singles (despite them being performed by a stalwart of the Globe song-poem factory). Even more odd is that one of the eight songs on those three 45's is a cover of "Ode to Billy Joe". 

Anyway, my Bang Bang release is, as mentioned, an EP, with all four songs written by Mr. Fitzgerald - two songs published by "Fitzgerald's Music" and the others published by "Omniscient Music" All four songs feature the main female singer from the early days of Globe, JoAnn Auburn, here appearing, as she often did, as "Damita". I enjoy all four of these tracks, to varying degrees, with the standout leading off side two. But here on side one, we'll lead off with a song that starts with a surprisingly acceptable take on mid 1960's Blue-Eyed Soul. For me, at least, the feel isn't sustained - the band is way to low in the mix, and the backup singers don't fit the mood at all, but it's more than I would have expected from Globe. Here's "Your Soul Searching Kisses": 

Download: Damita - Your Soul Searching Kisses

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"Baby I'm Your Match" follows, and is my least favorite of the four-pack. The song sort of meanders, melodically,, and the band has reverted to the sort of hackwork that I tend to expect from the Globe band. Also, the phrase is sung far more often as "I Was Your Match" than "I'm Your Match". 

Download: Damita - Baby I'm Your Match

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More upbeat Soul-flavored Rock follows, with my favorite of the record, "Hey Boy, Stay in School". Musically, this is pretty much indistinguishable from some of the other material here, but I really enjoy the lyrics, which are so very far away from anything you'd have likely found on an actual hit record - have the lyrics "The P.T.A. was right" ever been featured in another song? Also, I must say, also put me in the mind of one of my favorite figures from the song poem world, Norris Mayhams, would wrote repeatedly on this same subject, particularly this record. Additionally, I enjoy the fact that this song is 88 seconds long. 

Download: Damita - Hey Boy, Stay in School

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Damita closes out the record with "Just Yesterday's Dream". This is a very typical, 6/8 setting for Globe, but her warm, appealing voice adds enough appeal to make it listenable. But then, on the other hand, there is a tape splice at 1:43 which not only results in a glitch in the sound quality, but actually cuts out part of the song! Half of a measure is just gone! How on earth was that allowed to happen? And was Mr. Fitzgerald upset? I think I've run into the sounds of a splice a few times, but usually little or no material is actually missing. Sheesh. 

Download: Damita - Just Yesterday's Dreams

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