Howden Records, Part Three

Five years ago, and again 2 1/2 years ago, I shared two of four records I had acquired on the previously unknown Howden records label. As I wrote at the time, this appears to have been one of the dozens of vanity labels that Tropical Records set up, in this case for one HOWard DENington. 

The first two items I shared featured the equally previously unknown Ella Howard and Bill Clifford. Today, I'm going to offer up the third of the four items, which starts with this song: 

Betty Bond is not totally unknown. She is documented to have appeared on Tropical and a few of its spin-off vanity labels, and I featured her here once before. 

Anyway, here she is again with "Face of an Angel". I enjoy the warm band sound here, and both that sound and the chord changes strike me as a bargain basement version of some of the late 1950's and early 1960's country arrangements that I just love. I could do without the chirpy backup singers, but several moments of Betty Bond's aching vocal appeal to me. 

Download: Betty Bond - Face of an Angel

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The flip side of this record is Betty Bond's take on "It's the Natural Thing", which was also on the first Howden record I shared, sung there by Ella Howard. I'm quite partial to the Ella Howard version, entirely because the arrangement is better. I think I like Betty's vocal better, but the backing here is tinny, the backing vocalists are chirpier and less appealing here, and the track is not as interesting as  is Ella's version. You're mileage may vary. 

Download: Betty Bond - It's the Natural Thing

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Delicksious!

First, I'd like to say that that the world is suddenly a lot less wonderful, following the death on Thursday of Ron Santo. Those we call sports heroes - and he certainly was one of those - are rarely really heroes, and even with that, their time in the spotlight is usually fairly brief. Ron Santo was a true hero, as a person, if for nothing more (and there was so much more) than for maintaining a positive, infectious outlook, and a real joy in living, despite experiencing an often extremely difficult life. Baseball won't ever be quite the same without you, Ronnie. ... 

And now, on with the countdown:There were few releases on the Delicks label - two 45's and an album that I'm aware of. Everything released on the label was written by Francis E. Delaney, who appears to have been more self-aware than most song-poets, as witnessed by the name of that Delicks album, "The 12 Most Unpopular Songs" (which I'm also lucky enough to own a copy of). Today, in honor of the holiday season (and the first snowfall we've received today, in my home town), the only songs I'm aware of on Delicks to not be contained on that album. Both are sung by someone identified on the label as "Betty Bond", although I'm sure those of you more familiar than I am with female song-poem singers can tell me who she might be. And although the "Unpopular Songs" album was done through Lew Tobin's Sterling label, this single was produced through National Guild, a separate song-poem factory, run by Bob Quimby in Florida (although this record sports a suburban Chicago address - go figure). First up is a rather obvious take off on Rudolph's song, "Blinky, the Blue Nosed Snowdeer": 

Download: Betty Bond - Blinky the Blue Nosed Snowdeer

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  Apparently someone either really enjoyed this record, or took exceptionally poor care of it - it's beat to hell. Here's the flipside, "Little World of Snow":

Download: Betty Bond - Little World of Snow

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I get a kick out of the fact that this record came to me housed in a Stax Records 45 sleeve.