A Missing Link? One That No One Was Looking For?

 Greetings, song-poem fans. 

Today, I'm going to take a deep dive into a couple of the dustiest corners of the song-poem world, so if you're not well versed in the minutiae of the subject, this may be Greek to you, and it may or may not be interesting. 

Anyway, the story starts with what has to be the most mysterious of all the known song-poem labels, Noval. I've featured the label from time to time, most recently just a few weeks ago, and you can find all of the posts about Noval, including this one, in backward chronological order here. If you want to hear Noval's two greatest hits, which were on the same 45, and one of which ("Rock, Rocking All the Time") is in my all time top 25 song poem list) that posting is here. 

Anyway, even the great song-poem detective skills of those who put together the AS/PMA website couldn't find out anything about Noval - not an address, not a related label, not a time frame, nothing. The page for Noval is one of the most sparse on the site. Their records listed the songwriter, an arranger (usually "Jay" or "Fred"), and no artist, their numbering system seemed virtually random, and their records typically involved a piano, a drummer, sometimes a guitarist, and, rather bizarrely (although very appealingly to my ears), a vibraphone. 

So when this record popped up on eBay a few weeks ago I was certainly intrigued: 

Now, this looks nothing like the other Noval records, in any way, so clearly, the label name might just be a coincidence. After all, the songwriter's listed name is Cy Novak, meaning it could just be a vanity label. And yet, the record is "Arranged by Fred", who in this case has acquired a last name, "Holovnia".  And while the record sounds nothing like anything that was released on the familiar Noval label, it does contain a musical sound that is equally out of time and space with the music of the '60's and '70's, much as Noval's music did, just in a different way. 

In fact, I'd venture to say it sounds quite a bit like what the Halmark label was doing, by the late 1960's. It's got the echoey production, the stale, even moldy sounding canned backing track, and the general feel of a Halmark release, even if the vocalist herself is different than those heard on Halmark. Here's one of the sidees, "Willow Tree", sung by Arlene Martel. Have a listen and see if you share that observation. 

 

Download: Arlene Martel - Willow Tree

Play:

Okay, so maybe it's just a coincidence. But maybe not. Assuming this is the same company, this is the first Noval release to bear an address, and that address is in.... Boston, just ten short miles from the home of Halmark, in Quincy, MA. 

None of this proves anything, and I am sure that if someone has competing information, I'll eventually hear about it. And if so, you all will be the third to know (after me and my correspondent). But the trail here suggests to me that maybe Noval morphed into Halmark (or perhaps into Chapel, which preceded Halmark in the development of that label). Or perhaps the person behind Noval (Cy Novak, presumably) worked with Ted Rosen of Halmark on this release. 

But I'm now betting that there was some link between these labels and companies. And I will forgive you for thinking I'm strange, when I tell you that I find this discovery sort of exhilarating.

Here's the flip side, "Easter Time", which amuses me in a couple of lyrical turns of phrase, the first being when we're told that, during Easter Time, it's "almost spring" (huh?) , and the second being when  the writer observes that "Easter Time is Here to Stay" (again, huh?). 

Download: Arlene Martel - Easter Time

Play:  

I welcome anyone who'd like to weigh in on this.