Bad Reputations

The Arco label seems to have primarily been yet another one of the fairly tiny labels that housed the productions of the Globe song-poem factory. That's not the only thing they did - they released some really interesting records by a bandleader named Joe Noto and his "thrush" (as Billboard would have called her), Phyliss Ruby. You can hear my favorite of those records here. Those may or may not be song-poems, although the same writer I mention below wrote one of those songs, as did song-poem master Lew Tobin.

But virtually everything else I've heard on Arco seems to come from Globe. Except, I didn't think this one did. It's by a group, identified as "The Reputations", and has the lowest label number of any Arco release yet documented. For a long time, I hesitated to share it here because I wasn't sure it was a song-poem at all. 

But I saw a copy listed on eBay and listened to the songs again, and also looked more closely at the label. The lyrics are not great, the sound is remarkably close to the standard Globe bland production and antiseptic groove, and, the kicker, one of the two writers listed, Joe Brulo, paid for song-poems on another of Globe's labels, sung by Globe stalwart Lance Hill, who most definitely was a song-poem singer. 

That convinces me that this is a song-poem record. One thing still confuses me, though - the other known Arco records are all documented to be from 1956 to 1962. This one's label number pre-dates all of those, yet it sounds like nothing which would have been made during that period to me. The start of "Runaway Girl", for example, clearly is meant to remind the listener of "Oh Pretty Woman", which was released in 1964. It's all very confusing. 

Download: The Reputations - Runaway Girl

Play:

The flip side is "I'm Burning Up the Telephone", which features the classic lines "My baby went away, you see, rather suddenly", and "I even called the twilight zone" (oh, and he wants her back "rather suddenly", too), along with a couple of delightful clams from the bass player. 

Download: The Reputations - I'm Burning Up the Telephone

Play:

 

Rod and Bobbie Take Arco for a Spin

Good evening!

I have updated yet another month's worth of old, broken-down posts, in this case, July of 2009. 

That month, I shared the following: a perfectly dreadful - and highly entertaining - release on the Noval label, a confusingly titled Tin Pan Alley release, which is also missing an artist credit, an early MSR release featuring Dick Kent and Bobbie Boyle (aka Bobbi Blake), and, best of all, a fantastic and ridiculous record called "Goodness Gracious, It's Contagious" (the comments of which contain a response from a member of the songwriter's family!). 

I also posted a link to a then-upcoming song-poem event. It was a long time ago, but the link to the site and its information still works!

~~

Okay, here's a fairly odd duck of a song-poem release. If you'll click on this link to my previous posts of Arco releases here... well, at the top (for now), you'll see this post, but beneath it, you'll see the other posts from that label. And you'll hear that they feature early 1960's sounds, including some tracks which are closer to swing than to anything popular after 1955. Those found at the AS/PMA website seem to feature either acts which do not show up anywhere else, or which came from the Globe song-poem factory. 

Today's record, though, comes from much later - late 1960's, at least, features one track from Film City and one apparently from MSR (or perhaps Preview), has a quite separate numbering system from the other releases, and sports an entirely different label (although still with the same address indicated on the AS/PMA page, indicating that it is the same Arco label). 

What's more, the sound quality is dreadful, sounding to me as if the records were mastered directly off of another 45. It's a pretty standard Rodd Keith Chamberlin opus, with Rodd showing up here as Rod Rivers (with Orchestra). This record, "Don't Come Crying Back to Me", is a cute little number, and I wish I had a better pressing of it. 

Download: Rod Rivers with Orchestra - Don't Come Crying Back to Me

Play:

~~

On the flip side, we have Bobbi Blake, under the name of Bobbie Boyle (just as indicated above), with the song "I'm Just a Simple Living Girl". Here we have a fairly interesting tale, if I'm making out the words right, of a young woman who identifies as a hippy, but is strongly not interested in some of the free living, free love aspects that people assume someone who looks like her would partake in. 

Again, the crappy pressing takes away much of the charm that might have been...

Download: Bobbie Boyle with Orchestra - I'm Just a Simple Living Girl

Play:

Sammy is Such a Sandy Singer

It's been quite a while since I offered up a slice of Sammy Marshall - four months, it seems. That's understandable, I guess - while I love some of his records, the majority of them are quite "samey" and in a style that doesn't make "Samey" work. But here he is, early in his career (1962, per the song-poem database website), on the tiny Arco label. I know that label is very difficult to read, but here he is operating under the name "Sandy Singer".

In this case, he's doing one of his patented, peppy, early '60's, twist style numbers, in this case, one called "A Little Bit Early".

Download: Sandy Singer (Sammy Marshall) - A Little Bit Early
Play:

The flip side has pretty much the same beat and feel, with the addition of some stereotypical Native American drumbeats and sounds, as well as equally stereotypical lyrics referring to the same population. These aspects are pretty standard issue for the era, while and not so acceptable today. It's a story of a love affair between the singer and an Indian beauty, called "Oklahoma City, Okla".

Download: Sandy Singer (Sammy Marshall) - Oklahoma City, Okla
Play:

The Great Joe Noto/Phyllis Ruby Team

It's vacation week here, and although we're still at home (we're the ones being visited by relatives), I'm still spending next to no time online, hence this posting will be short and sweet.

I've only heard a handful of records on Arco, but I have really liked, or even loved, at least one side from each of those 45's. I previously featured my favorite Arco record (so far) about three years ago, here, and today's release has some similarities to that one.

Again, the prime billing goes to the backing band, Joe Noto and his Diplomats, with the actual star of the show, singer Phyllis Ruby, getting second billing. Honorable mention simple must go to the writer of "Hey There Baby", just on the strength of his rockin' name, Roston Ranson, Jr.

"Hey There Baby" is a wonderfully raucous approximation of Rock and Roll, although performed by a conglomeration which was clearly more at home with swing music. The instrumental bridge is very reminiscent of my aforementioned favorite Arco record, "My Lover".

Download: Joe Noto and His Diplomats, With Phyllis Ruby - Hey There Baby
Play:

For "Do You Suppose", the Diplomats provide a nice, if sparse, Rhumba beat, while Phyllis Ruby unfortunately shows some of the limits of her abilities - I think she sounds a bit over her head, although that doesn't spoil the song for me. As they do on several of their Arco tracks, the band segues into another style of music for the instrumental section (in this case, a sort of loose Swing feel), then slip right back into the Rhumba sound for the return of the vocal. A very enjoyable disc on both sides!

Download: Joe Noto and His Diplomats, With Phyllis Ruby - Do You Suppose
Play:

The Arco Label

Until recently, I had only ever heard one record from the ARCO song-poem label, but it was such a winner, that I made Arco one of the labels I routinely search for. And I finally came up with a record by the same group of artists that made the initial record that I like so much. 

Making it more difficult is the fact that there have been at least two other labels called "Arco" over the years, both of them unrelated to the song-poem game. There is little information about the Arco song-poem label at the Song-Poem archives website. Before the site was mothballed, the only information available had indicated that it was associated with the Globe family of labels, no doubt because of one Kris Arden record which had been found on Arco. 

My new find suggests another link, between Arco and the Sterling label and/or the Preview label, as the name of Lew Tobin, a significant name in both of those labels' histories, shows up on this disk. 

First off, today, I'm featuring the record I recently bought, which features the clunky billing of "Joe Noto and His Diplomats with Phyllis Ruby and the Rea Sisters". While it's not quite as good as the first Arco record I heard (which is posted, below), "The Rock and Roll Beat" has a lot to offer, including some genuinely good musicianship - I love the three part harmonies - combined with some iffy lyrical choices, and an interesting match of words about Rock and Roll combined with an arrangement which (outside of the solo section) only seems to be marginally related to rock and roll.

Download: Joe Noto and His Diplomats with Phyllis Ruby and the Rea Sisters - The Rock and Roll Beat

Play:  

  The B-side is a fairly stereotypical 1950's rock-a-ballad, in which Phyllis Ruby is actually allowed to live up to her solo billing. The song-poem website has this song listed as "Be Here, My Heart", but it's actually titled "Believe My Heart":

Download: Joe Noto and His Diplomats with Phyllis Ruby and the Rea Sisters - Believe My Heart

Play:  

  And now, for a bonus. I've shied away from featuring songs on this blog that I don't actually own on the original records, but having brought up my reasons for wanting to own more Arco records, I thought I should share that first Arco record I heard. Because I don't own this record, I cannot share a JPG of the labels. This was shared with me, along with many other song-poems from the most offbeat corners of the genre, to my eternal gratitude, by a huge song poem collector in New York, with whom I exchanged MP3's, many years ago. Thank you, again, Michael. The song in question is "My Lover", again by Joe Noto and Phyllis Ruby. This is first-rate stuff, a great set of words, a creative arrangement for the vocal section, a wonderfully peculiar vocal, and a completely unexpected moment in the middle of the record.  

Download: Joe Noto and His Diplomats with Phyllis Ruby - My Lover

Play:  

The flip side of this record is another really fun one, "Mr. Dee-Di-Jay", by Nancy Jordan and the Blue Rockets.

Download: Nancy Jordan and the Blue Rockets - Mr. Dee-Di-Jay

Play:  

ADDENDUM, January, 2022: I am VERY late in adding this picture of and an news clipping about Joe Noto, which were sent to me by a very enthusiastic song-poem fan (and fan of this blog) just over a year ago. Here are Joe Noto and His Diplomats (no word on whether that's Phyliss Ruby on the left, but I wouldn't be surprised: 

And on a sadder note, here's a 1961 obit for Joe Noto, who didn't even make it to 50 years old: