A New Image For the Old Year

Happy Almost New Year, Everyone. Let's Hope For the Best. 

When I recently solicited requests, after honoring one for Christmas song-poems, my pal and fellow blogger Sammy Reed jumped in and requested more of the female-led, very-late-period Tin Pan Alley house band, New Image. 

I dug around, and found that I have just one New Image 45 left, for which I had not previous shared the contents. So even if it was terrible, I'd have shared it, of course, having been asked so nicely. But this is FAR from terrible. In fact, there are things - wildly different things on each side - which make it a delightful record to share. 

Let's start with the side officially identified as the b-side, a religious rocker: 

This is called "One By One the Savior's Calling", and I gotta say, for all the (completely) mercenary facts behind the making of this lyric into a song and a record, this end result "works" for me as a Christian rock song several thousand percentage points more effectively than almost any serious "Christian Rock" song I've ever heard. 

It's ragged at the edges, for sure. The band shows its limitations repeatedly, not least all the places where the bass player hits the wrong notes, and the singer has more far in the areas of energy and emotion than she does in the area of accuracy (she misses far more notes even than the bass player). 

But the song is catchy as hell, and the entire arrangement fits it perfectly, at least to my ears. Most four minute song-poems seem like they'll never end, but this one flies by, entertaining from start to finish. I think (unless I'm forgetting some) that this will go to my personal top five of religious song-poems

Download: New Image - One By One the Savior's Calling

Play:

The flip side, "A Love Song" is as ridiculous, from start to finish, as the above song is memorable. The lyrics had me laughing out loud a couple of times. 

First we are told what the writer would do "if I were to write a love song", which are fun words to start a lyric for a love song. But that's just the appetizer. The following lines have to go into the short list of the most unsingable lyrics ever sent in for song-poem creation: 

The goodness of your very soul has no value in the weight of gold 

Your compassion for your fellow man overshadows your beauty within

The remaining lyrics are not as clunky as that, although "redundancy of life" comes close, but, as you'll hear, they in no way fit the parameters of what will fit into the beat of a song - or at least not into this song's construction. I give the vocalist a 9.5 for making it through this tongue-twister and anti-rhythmically structured song with her voice intact. 

Download: New Image - A Love Song

Play:

Brother Gone in San Jose

Greetings!

I have just completed refurbishing yet another month's worth of song-poem posts, in this case, April of 2013. That month's posts included a one-hit-non-wonder on Tin Pan Alley, a Chicago Cubs-related 78 on Stylecraft, another 78, this one a Globe acetate, featuring both Sammy Marshall and a really nice entry from Kris Arden, and a patriotic entry from Rod (Keith) Rogers on Film City. 

Plus, here's yet another song-poem ad, about as simple as they come, found and shared by Brian Kramp:

In the waning days of the Tin Pan Alley label, all of the songs were turned over to a band called "New Image", and they appear on the final few (documented) releases on the label, dominating perhaps the last 200 releases (I'm guessing here, as only a few dozen from this period have actually been documented, all of which are by New Image). 

The sound doesn't differ much from what the label had been putting out, for the most part, since the early '70's at least - a tiny combo with a somewhat tinny sound, playing largely blues-related three and four chord numbers, in this case with a female singer who emotion-laden vocals make it clear that she was invested in the process, but whose actual ability is not always up to the task. 

I rather enjoy "Gorgeous Day in San Jose". It's as basic as they come, but the singer's voice appeals to me (as this singer often does), and the melody is simple but effective. I am quite taken with the writer credit - "Brother Gone" - and wish I knew the story there. 

Download: New Image - Gorgeous Day in San Jose

Play:  

For the flip side, "Little Church in the Valley", the composers at Tin Pan Alley (and the members of New Image) made the interesting choice to pair the thankful and religious lyrics offered by the song-poet with a set of bluesy chords and a progression which are typical of pleading, often sexually frank songs of love, whether wanted, fulfilled or gone wrong. It's a weird mashup to my ears.

Download: New Image - Little Church in the Valley
Play:

Peppy, Short and Sweet



Man, I have genuinely lost track of time. I had no idea I hadn't posted in over two weeks. I need to get back into a rhythm.

 

Before I get to today's feature, I want to share that the date for the obnoxiously racist Halmark release featured two weeks ago has been identified as 1969. Please see the comments to my previous post for details; I have updated the post.

 



I have often found the late-era Tin Pan Alley efforts by the band called "New Image" to be half-assed in a usually uninteresting, occasionally entertaining way. But here's one I actually like as a record. It still has that oompah feeling heard on so many TPA records of the '70's and later, but in this case, the loping beat, the stripped down backing and the pleading vocalist fit the lyrics nicely, and.... I dunno, the whole thing "works" for me, even while I recognize that it's got bargain basement lyrics and a garage demo level backing. It's also over in just 106 seconds, so there's barely a welcome to be worn out. It's called "Here I Am Without You", and here it is:

Download: New Image - Here I Am Without You
Play:

But, as I find myself saying quite often, the flip side - I Want to Be the One - does not do it for me, despite being in the sort of '50's setting that would often appeal to me. I find myself tuning out, not caring much about the lyrics or the performance.

Download: New Image - I Want to Be the One
Play:

Songs for Mother and Daddy

Time is exceptionally short this weekend. As of this moment, I am the father of no (0) college graduates, yet in less than 48 hours, I will be the father of two (2) college graduates, with my younger daughter taking part in her graduation tomorrow, and her older sister doing the same on Monday.

So, rather than blather on about what I have to share for Mother's Day, I'll just say that here's a perfect song for anyone out there who is a mother, or who has a mother. It's our Tin Pan Alley friends, the band "New Image", with a song simply titled "Mother".

Download: New Image - Mother
Play:

And on the flip side, here's the same song-poet, the same band and the same label, offering up a tribute to that other parent, "A Friend is Daddy".

Download: New Image - A Friend is Daddy
Play:

What the Hell???

It's Tin Pan Alley Blowout Day here at the home of Song Poem of the Week, with six for the price of two. And the usual two are free! Was there any other song-poem label which displayed more variety during its years of operation than Tin Pan Alley? From 1950's efforts in doo-wop, they moved into the sounds of the day, taking stabs at calypso, topical song, novelty pop, and 1960's pop, among many other genre's, and plenty of hard to define releases. Beyond that, Tin Pan Alley records' lyrics can be among the weirdest I've found on song-poem records. Here, in chronological order, are three supremely odd releases. First up, an almost comical pairing of marital complaints, both from the pen of the perfectly named Larry Loco. First up, Billy Grey offers up Mr. Loco's views of Marriage, from the male perspective. 

Download: Billy Grey - Marriage

Play:  

  Then, on the flip side, Eleanor Shaw presents Larry's conception of the complaints of a woman, not only about her marraige, but about all men. The sound quality here is terrible, by the way, but the words more than make up for it.

Download: Eleanor Shaw - Man

Play:  

  Moving up several years now: Near the end of their days as a label, Tin Pan Alley stopped identifying the performers by name, and started slapping a couple of group names on their labels. The last four songs are by "New Image". First up is "Pride", with the lyrics shoehorned - no, pistol-whipped - into a rockin' backing track. I've listened to this nearly a half-dozen times, and have no idea what the hell she's singing about. 

Download: New Image - Pride

Play:  

 No such problems with the flip side, "A Girl and a Guy in Love", the problems here, instead, being the sheer banality of the lyrics (have there ever been worse or more obvious rhymes than those featured in this record?), and the barely in tune vocal.

Download: New Image - A Girl and a Guy in Love

Play:  

  Leaving the best for last, here's one of the highest numbers I've ever seen on a TPA record - meaning it is among their last releases. Beyond that, it's easily one of the most unhinged things I've heard on a TPA record (on both sides) - in both cases, my first thought, again, was "what the hell???". But I think I'll let both sides speak for themselves. Here's "Fortune Teller": 

Download: New Image - Fortune Teller

Play:  

And perhaps my favorite of the six, this little slice of Steppenwolf wannabe rock, "Lady Wildcat".

Download: New Image - Lady Wildcat

Play: