Cardinal Rodd

Before I get to today's songs, a bit of a backstory. Nearly four years ago, in this post, I shared an EP of Sammy, er, Sonny Marshall singing four songs by Michael Rose. Within that post, I commented that I'd already shared one of those songs, "A Little Bird", in a post nearly three years before that. I also mentioned that, although Michael Rose was listed as the composer of "A Little Bird" on the Air release, on the earlier Cardinal post, the song was credited to a different person Margaret A. Rosenberger (although I didn't provide either of their names at the time). 

Now, I have another Cardinal release and it continues the weirdness and confusion. It also features four songs credited to Ms. Rosenberger, two of which were ALSO on that earlier Sonny Marshall EP from 2020, where they were also credited to Mr. Rose. 

Rodd Keith, in his guise as Rod Rogers and with Film City's Chamberlin, performs the songs on the first side. "If I Could Have One Wish Tonight" is 110 seconds of midtempo nothingness, made into something by the creative arrangement that Rodd worked out on his one-man-band machine. From the oboe introduction to the choral oohs to the "hey-let's-make-this-into-a-long-enough-record" instrumental section in the middle - which is simply masterful for about 33 seconds - this is true demonstration of what Rodd could do with that weird machine .

Download: Rod Rogers - If I Could Have One Wish Tonight

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The second song on this side is the stronger of the two, I think. "Oh, How I Miss You", starts with a well worn idea about looking at the moon and knowing she can see it, too, but it's phrased very effectively, and the words continue to be nicely put together for much of the rest of the song, too. The tune for this one is considerably more memorable, and again, Rodd's use of voicings is again very effective. 

Download: Rod Rogers - Oh, How I Miss You

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As mentioned, the two Sonny Marshall songs on this EP were already heard, in identical versions, with different writer credits, in this post, and I am not going to repost them here. They are available in that post. I will say that "My Second Home" is the strongest track on this EP, just as Sonny's "A Little Bird" was the best song on that previous Cardinal record I shared. That's twice that Sammy/Sonny and his Globe band outshone Rodd Keith, and that's a rarity indeed. 

You Want Cloying? I'll Give You Cloying!

So the big news here is that we have a brand new, previously un-catalogued song-poem label, which appears to possibly be a vanity pressing used (created?) by one Margaret A. Rosenberger, and featuring the efforts of both the Film City and Globe song-poem factories, in each case represented on this EP by their respective lead artistes, Rodd Keith (as Rod Rogers, of course) and Sammy Marshall (identified here as two different singers, Sonny Marcell and Sammy Marshall - I have to wonder if even a single person was fooled).

And not to take away from the niftiness of all that, but Rod Rogers' features are among the most cloying, infantile songs and performances that I've ever heard on a song-poem, reaching the level of some of Dora Hall's worst kiddie offerings. That the quality of the songs and lyrics take the focus away from some pretty creative Chamberlin arrangements is even more frustrating; there's some nice stuff going on instrumentally here, but in combination with these lyrics, they just strike me as over-the-top cutesy-ness to go with the lyrics.

First up is "Kitty Cat"

Download: Rod Rogers - Kitty Cat
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And Ms. Rosenberger couldn't give all of her attention to her dear, beloved kitty, so she also provided us with a song about her two dogs, "Skip and Mitzi".

Download: Rod Rogers - Skip and Mitzi
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Turning the record over, we find "Sonny Marcell" with the only non-animal-related track on the EP, and the dullest of the four (to these ears, anyway), to boot, "A Spanish Town". At least the music sort of matches the feel of the lyrics, in a stereotypical way. The sudden double tracking, on the other hand, doesn't work at all:

Download: Sonny Marcell - A Spanish Town
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As mentioned above, Sonny changes his last name to "Marshall" in time to present one of his patented early '60's-styled rockers. Despite the presence of Rodd Keith on the flip side, this is easily my favorite of the four songs, but I am a sucker for that twist beat, and Sonny/Sammy's way with this sort of material.

Download: Sonny Marshall - A Little Bird
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