Vilma Records

 Howdy, 

Before we get to today's offering, I wanted to call attention to something written by frequent commenter Sammy Reed, in response to last week's Nita Craig 45. He has encouraged people to check out a six part story about the woman who was known as Bonnie on Preview 45's, and which also covers some of Nita's story. He explains it better in the comment at the bottom of this post. He has posts, as well, some of which are of song-poems, and they can be found here. Thanks, as always, Sammy!

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Let me say, right off the bat, that I don't think that today's offerings are particularly outstanding. However, they do represent two tracks from a label which is not on the AS/PMA website, has never been featured here, and has barely been documented anywhere online, with the exception of a listing on discogs (and, I suppose, maybe somewhere else that I may have missed). Plus, it features a song sung by the only person in the song-poem world that I have interviewed, Rod Barton: for me, and for that reason, hearing from him is always nice. 

We'll hear from Rod first, but before that, look how fun the Vilma Records label is!: 

Rod's song is "Drifting Along", and it, like the flip side, is a pretty staid, maybe even stodgy number, not terribly unlike what you'd hear on a George Liberace, Star-Crest or Noval record. Discogs suggests that this record is from 1957, and while I have no idea where they got that, it certainly seems possible, since the actual performance sounds like it's from about 1943. On the plus side, someone put in enough work on this to make it sound like it could have been an actual pop record meant for sales and hoped-for success, if not a terribly good one. 

I also get a kick out of the fact that this record fades in. 

Download: Rod Barton - Drifting Along

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By the way, the author of the lyrics to both of these songs is Paul Bostic, who may have been the mastermind behind Vilma Records (I wonder if he ever created a companion label called "Vred Records"). And Paul Bostic later had at least one of his songs worked up and recorded by Preview records, and sung by another Rod, the much better known Rodd Keith. 

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On the flip side, we have Drake Morgan, who I've featured here once before, and who appeared on the Air and Caveman labels, which AS/PMA seems to think was associated with Globe. If this is from 1957, and is a Globe production, it's fairly early, indeed, for that song-poem factory, at least as to my understanding. 

This song, Lonesome, strikes me as sounding as if it's an even older recording than "Drifting Along". I'm put in the mind of the mid 1930's, perhaps part of that is Drake's singing style, but the sentimental lyrics, specific word choices ("Gee!") and the arrangement add to that impression, as well. 

Download: Drake Morgan - Lonesome

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Switching gears about as violently as possible, perhaps akin to slamming the car into park while going 35 MPH, now I have this week's "Cut-Up". If you haven't seen my recent posts, feel free to review them to find out what I'm talking about here, and if you don't do so, prepare to be surprised. 

Anyway, a few posts ago, I featured a cut-up down with my best pal Stu, circa 1982, of "Jailhouse Rock". Whatever day that was, it was a very productive day in terms of wasting time being funny, because after completing our rearrangement of Elvis, we turned to "Da Doo Ron Ron" by the Crystals. 

Now "Da Doo Ron Ron" happens to be my favorite hit record of all time, and certainly one of my top ten tracks that anyone's ever released. As perfect a song, arrangement, production, vocal performance and overall recording as I ever expect to hear. So this was particularly fun for me. 

A couple of thoughts. 1.) Again, this is not safe for work, due to one f-bomb near the start. 2.) The name you might not be able to make out replacing "Ron" in the first verse is Chicago Cubs great Ron Santo, saying his own name. 3.) The name replacing "Ron" in the second verse is that of Ron Selle, a Chicago area native who sued the Bee Gees, eventually unsuccessfully, for stealing a song of his when they wrote "How Deep Is Your Love". 

I think everything else is understandable and, hopefully, humorous. 

Download: The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron (cut-up)

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Nancy and Rod Do It Again

Happy October!

First, for anyone who was interested in the section in my previous post about the early use of the term "Rock and Roll" in Billboard from the 40's, I encourage you to revisit the last post, and have a look at the comments, where a reader with a fantastic name has shared more information, indicating that the term was used considerably earlier in Billboard. Thanks for that!

I have also, as usual, updated another month worth of posts, in this case, April of 2012, which featured five posts (those were the days), one of which had four songs in it, for a total of 12 links fixed!. These include a largely religious Halmark EP, a silly but endearing record on Tin Pan Alley, an extremely early "Real Pros" record on Cinema, and both of song-poem records I've acquired which have picture sleeves, on on Sterling (featuring Norm Burns), and one on the tiny "Endeavor" label, featuring an instrumental song-poem. 

And speaking of tiny labels, let's bring on our friend Jerome. 

I only have a handful of records by either Nancy Sherman or Rod Barton (a singer who I spoke with on a phone a couple of times, a few years ago), but I tend to enjoy those records I have heard by each of them. And here they are, teamed up on a record which seems likely to be from 1961, based on the available information.

The opening 25 seconds of "Come On, Let's Do It Again" are not promising, but then a jazzy groove picks up, and a lounge style performance ensues from everyone involved. There's even a slinky guitar solo half way through, followed by an understated sax solo. All in all, a fun little record.

Download: Nancy Sherman and Rod Barton - Come On, Let's Do It Again
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The flip side, "I'll Always Care" is credited to The Coeds, a female vocal quartet which seems to be otherwise undocumented on song-poem records. They do an almost passable job, to the point that I'm sure some people would think this was just another failed girl group or teen record, but the harmonies turn ragged fairly often - several of the chords simply aren't quite there, if you know what I mean. That sixth chord at the end, for example, should make me swoon, but it fails to deliver.

Oh, and the song is pretty much nothing, lyrically and musically.

Download: The Coeds - I'll Always Care
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Gettin' Cozy with Bobby Barton

 

I've got a really nice pair of songs and performances for the first post of the new year, on a label which is new to me, and by a performer who might be new to me. The label is Cozy Records, and while I have no proof that this is a song-poem label, there is a record of the same song-poet writing another song for a known song-poem label. Plus, I think it's at likely that the singer, "Bobby Barton", is the same singer who usually went by the name "Rod Barton", and who made plenty of song-poem records in his day (and who is the only person from the song-poem world that I've ever been lucky enough to talk to).

 

Both of these sides are bouncy, rockin' fun. My favorite of the two, by a hair, is the slightly oddly titled "I've Got My Baby On the String" (shouldn't that be "on a string"?). For just under two minutes, the band swings, the guitarist provides tasty flavoring, and Bobby gives the lyric the attitude it deserves.

 

Download: Bobby Barton and Orchestra - I've Got My Baby On the String

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Interestingly, both of these songs seem to very much have a male perspective built into the lyrics, yet both were written by a woman.

 

The flip side, "You Gotta Quit Whistlin' At My Baby", is almost as fun. It's just a touch slower than the other song, still swinging, but with more of a bump-and-grind feel, particularly in the drums. The singer - whatever his real name - again delivers just the right attitude demanded by the lyrics.

 

Download: Bobby Barton and Orchestra - You Gotta Quit Whistlin' At My Baby

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Please be sure to note the Ultra-Sonic High Fidelity of both of these tracks.



 

 

Bring It To Jerome!

To lead off, here is yet another 1919 Photoplay Magazine song-poem ad, courtesy of ace correspondent Pete. Thanks again!

Today's post is a little unusual and a lot of wonderful. It is unusual in that these are not records from my collection (therefore, there are no label scans), and are from a label I've never featured before, or even seen. It's wonderful in that these came to me from a family member of the man who owned that label, Jerome Records of Berwyn, IL, and who has seen fit to send me three records from the family collection so far, two of which feature well known song-poem singers, and which represent at least two different song-poem factories. So first, thanks VERY MUCH to Tracy, for sending along these treasures, and here's hoping there will be more to come.

First up is Rod Barton (who is also the only singer from the song-poem world who I've been lucky enough to speak to), with the fantastically titled "Rotating Momma". Often, when there is a fantastic title, the record doesn't live up to the expectations that such a title encourages, but in this case, they are fulfilled, with a rollicking, backwoods, bluesy number, complete with cash register sound effects and genuinely odd lyrics. And then there's the fantastic vocal from Mr. Barton, making the whole thing work another 100% better.

Download: Rod Barton - Rotating Momma
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Next up is someone named Nancy Sherman, whose name turns up here and there on (mostly) the tiny labels which took their recordings from the larger song-poem factories. I'm not sure what the underlying commonality is between the Jerome, Lane and (the particularly obscure) Novart labels, but her name shows up on all three, as well as the larger Air label. This particular track, which boogies along not wholly unlike "Rotating Momma", is titled "Loverman", and it's another nice slice of blues and rockabilly flavored oddness, with some nice guitar, and a slinky lead vocal.

Download: Nancy Sherman: Loverman
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Quite a bit less interesting to me is the third offering, mostly because it comes from the bland Lance Hill, and therefore, from the Globe song-poem factory, whose work I often find bland, as well, particularly in its later years. This one is called "If I Were You", and features a generic backing and standard issue sax bleating, plus a vocal which is downright uninspired, compared with the two other tracks from the label that I sampled above.

Download: Lance Hill - If I Were You
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Again, many thanks to Tracy!

The Caveman and the Congolese

I surely wish I had more records on the Caveman label, or indeed, that there were more records released on the label to be had. Every one of the ones I've heard has been memorable, and today's record is no exception.

This record also features a singer who went by the name of Rod Barton, and a previous posting of a Barton record resulted in one of the high points of my song-poem collecting life - a couple of phone conversations with the man who sang under that name. He looked me up, based on information on this site, and cold-called me. It was great to talk with someone who was there, and his infectious enthusiasm for those days was great, too.

He quite strongly insisted that no one was being taken or scammed on the records he sang on, calling them demos - and a glance at the records he was one doesn't discount that as a possibility: today's record and the other Barton discs in my collection may well be more of the vanity variety than true song-poems. At this distance, it's hard to say.

Barton's song here, sung with a group dubbed "The Congolese", is called "The Congo Song". When I was a kid, the bedroom my brother and I shared featured an enormous piece of wallpaper on one wall which featured an equally immense map of the Earth. It had been put in by the previous owners, from whom our parents bought the home in 1961, so it featured the Belgian Congo.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember some of what I learned of the changes that took place in Africa in the 1960's, including the many different places where European colonists were thrown out, including the Congo, but my specific knowledge of the conflicts in this particular nation is sparse, indeed. And a glance at Wikipedia shows that it will take more time than I have now to correct that gap in my knowledge. But it does look like this record probably was written around the time of those conflicts - the late 1950's or just into 1960, most likely (the reference to keeping out commies helps here, too).

All that said, the lyrical conceit taken here is wholly obnoxious and offensive from a 2015 perspective, what with the mock African accent and the references to African sounding names (although perhaps the lyric is referencing actual people - I dunno). If you can get past that, which is a tall order, the track sounds pretty fun, with rockabilly piano, guitar and bass, although oddly, no drums. And Rod Barton was a greatly enjoyable singer, too.

Update, 2/23/15: A correspondent has let me know that the names in the song are real people! Charles Edward Rogers writes:

The names are indeed of real people: Patrice Lumumba, who led the Congo independence movement and was the free country's first president; Mobuto Sese Seko, who took control from Lumumba (accused of being a communist) in a coup; Moise Tshombe, who led the state of Katanga in secession from the independent Congo; and Albert Kalonji, who led another secession in the state of South Kasai.

Here's the song!

Download: Rod Barton and the Congolese - The Congo Song
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The flip side is by Jeff Samson and the Western Band and is titled "Weary River". Like "The Congo Song", it was written by Ned Williams, and both sides slide up into the correct speed for some reason, like they were mastered off of another disc that had to be brought up to speed.

This is a pretty standard issue country number, with some nice, closely miked violin, and sweet piano on the bridge.

Download: Jeff Samson and the Western Band - Weary River
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A New Year Treat

Happy New Year! I thought this celebratory occasion called for something special, an EP which only recently made its way into my collection, and which I've really been enjoying. It's a record on the Air Label, and features Rod Barton and Sammy Marhsall, with two songs from each of them. The real stars here are the two songs on the B-side, written by Harry S. Reynolds, and sung by Rod Barton, who was previously heard on this site on an acetate, doing that insane song about "Heat". First up, and best of the bunch, is "Skeleton Blues", which I'm betting will have every reader up and about, "rattling those bones":

Download: Rod Barton - Skeleton Blues

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Sounding fairly similar, and not far below in quality, is "Rock and Roll Blues". This is the sort of session I'd love to have attended: 

Download: Rod Barton - Rock and Roll Blues

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Over to Sammy Marshall's side of things - or, as he's credited here, Sonny Marshall. First up is a peppy number which seeks to keep us all humble and to offer up some insight which is always welcome at the start of January, "You Put Your Britches On Just Like I Do". I notice that Sammy never actually sings the words of the title line in the order listed on the label!: 

Download: Sonny Marshall - You Put Your Britches On Just Like I Do

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The side ends with Sammy and friends doing what sounds to me like an attempt to capture the sound of The Fleetwoods on the very brief song "You're Not Mine Any More": 

Download: Sonny Marshall - You're Not Mine Any More

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One of a Kind?

Today, something very special, a song-poem acetate demonstration disk. I picked up a handful of these recently, most of them featuring Cara Stewart and containing multiple other clues as to their song-poem origins. This one, however, is more of a mystery. Like most acetates, I'm sure it was produced in very small numbers. In fact, this may be a one-of-a-kind record. The songwriter has placed a sticker with his information over part of the name of the recording service, which I don't really want to remove, but which might be covering up the only clue as to the song-poem factory which produced the record. The two clear pieces of evidence that this is a song poem record come from the fact that the performer is Rod Barton, a singer whose work shows up on several of the smaller song-poem labels, and the fact that the record came with sheet music of the song. The song itself is titled "Heat (The Prospector's Song)", and here's that sheet music, followed by the track itself.

     
Download: Rod Barton - Heat (The Prospector's Song)

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The flip side is not labeled in any way, and someone clearly didn't want it to be mistaken for the "hit" side, as that person has drawn several large marks across the playing surface in some sort of crayon, oil marker or something similar. I believe this is also Rod Barton, singing a cappella, although the title is not clear.

Download: Probably Rod Barton - Unknown Title

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