Come See the Man! After All, Vicki Sees Him!

 Any time I acquire a song-poem record on a small or tiny label, if at least one of the songs is at all worth sharing, for any reason, I like to do so, in order to give a more full picture of the song-poem world. So it is that today, I have another record on the Vellez label of Lomita, California, where "The Songs They Play Are On Vellez"

I've offered up at least one simply marvelous record on Vellez in the past, which is heard here, and two other records, one of which was fairly interesting but bad, and the other which was comically bad. All of the Vellez tracks will pop up, in backwards order, starting with this post, if you click here. 

The "Comically Bad" previous posting featured a woman named Vicki Farrell, and what I said there, applies here, too: Here's what I wrote: 

Vicki Farrell doesn't sound like she was ready to be within two miles of a recording studio. 

It's more than a bit of a mystery as to why they utilized her, too. As you'll hear, Vellez seems to have had plenty of money to spend on musicians, and people to arrange their music. Money that other song-poem labels would have LOVED to have had, but didn't. Both sides of this record sound well made. Except for the little manner of the singer. It's not good music, but it's rendered absolutely professionally, with real strings and competent backing vocalists. 

Both songs are Christian oriented. I assume so, anyway. "Won't You Come and See the Man" never mentions Jesus, so I guess she could be singing about, oh, I don't know, Fernando Lamas or Andy Devine, but I doubt it. But she is just awful. The fact that this side seems to have been pressed slightly off center just adds to the incompetence of her vocal. 

Download: Vicki Farrell - Won't You Come and See the Man

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Incidentally, while preparing this post, I discovered that, almost nine years ago, I featured a record on the even tinier "Hit Records International" label featuring a singer just named "Vicki", of whom I was equally dismissive, saying, at the time: 

"I'm reminded of the beautiful but tone-deaf singer who Keith Partridge went crazy over in an episode of The Partridge Family - as long as he was looking at her, he couldn't hear her awful singing"

It's clear to me now: That "Vicki" and "Vicki Farrell" are one and the same. See if you agree. 

Anyway, the flip side is "I See Him", another religious ballad, this one more about God's presence all around us. Again, we have a backing which is thoroughly professional - this could be the backing to a Doris Day or Tony Martin record. Not that that's a good thing, but it is rare for the backing track on a song-poem to be this 1952 Big-Hit-On-Decca-Esque. Vicki Farrell nearly holds her own here, much more so than on the other records I've featured her on. But she's still not good. 

I think that the folks who make Hi-C could have used a bit of this song's chorus, where Vicki and guys momentarily seem to be singing about their product. 

Download: Vicki Farrell - I See Him

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Incidentally, this record was received by Billboard Magazine upon its release in 1961. That was during a period in which Billboard essentially mentioned every record they received. As you can see from this page, they felt this record had "Limited Sales Potential". 

The Color of Spring

Here's a rather awful record which seems perfect to me for the season we in the Northern Hemisphere find ourselves in. And it presents a bit of a dilemma to me, as I'm not sure what side of the song-poem story it actually fits in. It's on the tiny Vellez label, and most of the other records I've heard from this label (or those that appear to be related labels), are wonderful, idiosyncratic pieces in various 1950 genres, well made by everyone involved. The weird thing here is that the week link in this case seems to be the singer. The songs (although only one of them appeals to me as a song) sound professional - perhaps a little bit too much so for them to be song poems, but you decide - and the arrangements, orchestra and backing singers all do quite well. It's the singer, Vicki Farrell doesn't sound like she was ready to be within two miles of a recording studio. Have a listen - the Spring tie-in comes on the B-side, heard first here, "Green is the Color of Spring": 

Download: Vicki Farrell with Male Quartet and Orchestra - Green is the Color of Spring

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  The flip side, which I much prefer to the above, (and would have shared first, if not for the Spring tie-in), is a bouncy little number, with some stunning bad singing, called "Absolutely, Positi'vly Love", with, yes, an apostrophe in only the second of those two very similar words, and yes, the apostrophe in the wrong spot (lending credence to the likelihood of this being a song-poem, I suppose...

Download: Vicki Farrell with Male Quartet and Orchestra - Absolutely Positi'vly Love

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The Songs They Play Are On Vellez!

From what was undoubtedly a tiny label, Vellez, comes an irresistible bit of hillybilly rock song-poemetry. The label slogan - "The Songs They Play Are on Vellez" - seems exceptionally unlikely, as much as I wish it had been the case. 

There's a lot to love in "I'd Be a Fool to Keep On Loving You", from the start stop arrangement, to Ray Phillips' vocal, to the sound of the band, to the name of the author, the fantastically named Jimmy Manship. This sounds a bit like something Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers might have done, if he'd been around in the '50's. I am particularly fond of the no-doubt unintended noise captured right at the end of the song, after the last drum beat. 

Download: Ray Phillips, Vocal with Orchestra - I'd Be a Fool to Keep On Loving You

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The flip side, "Our Tomorrow Ended Today", has charms of its own. I noticed in passing that the sound of the band, particularly the pianist, reminded me of the record I recently posted by The Allison Sisters (on the Blue Hen Label). I was amazed, then, when I went to see if this record was listed at the American Song-Poem Archives, and found that the very next record released by Vellez, in sequence after this one, was by the Allison sisters! While that Blue Hen Allison record contained originals, the Vellez record by the Allisons contained what are likely song-poems, as one of them was written by - you guessed it - Jimmy Manship. I wonder if "Strong Chords of Love", on Blue Hen, was recorded at the same sessions as this record and the Allisons' Vellez single.

Download: Ray Phillips, Vocal with Orchestra - Our Tomorrow Ended Today

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As a bonus, here's a link to my post today at WFMU's blog, which is of another, far more ridiculous song-poem.

RATE A RECORD!!!!

Today I'm sharing three of my newest 45 rpm acquisitions. All three come from labels associated with the song-poem field, but I suspect that only one, and perhaps two, of the three. are technically song-poem records. 

That one I'm sure is a song-poem, is "Atom Dynomic Dance" by that man about town, Phil Celia. One doesn't come across a twist styled record suggesting a dance based on an atom bomb explosion every day. Not only the words strike me as some amateur's attempt to clever, but the fact that the melody (at least as sung by Mr. Celia) doesn't quite fit the chord changes, tells me that this wasn't designed to be promoted as an actual hit. The Tin Pan Alley label on the record helps, too. And is "Dynomic" even a word? Okay, everybody! "Let's Go Boom and Mushroom, Let's Be an Atom Blast...!" 

Download: Phil Celia - Atom Dynomic Dance

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Next up is Barney Spencer and the Vellaires, on the Vellez label. I have only a few records on this label, and each of them is odd in its own unique way. This is just a cute little song, pushed over that line between fun and really fun by the singer's Scandinavian accent. I have a suspicion that this one - "Beginner's Luck" - was a vanity release, but I could be wrong.

Download: Barney Spencer and the Vellaires - Beginner's Luck

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And then there is "Shakespeare Rock", by the Eligibles. Records on the sometimes song-poem related label Fable never cease to amaze me, whether they are song-poems or not. The lyrics of this one strike me as far too knowingly ironic, and it also seems too well arranged, musically, to be a throwaway song-poem. Plus, the flip side was a cover of a minor hit song. I suspect this record was meant as a deliberate joke, and whether I'm right or not, it sure as hell makes me laugh. It's well done, all the way around. I'll let you discover its charms yourselves.

Download: The Eligibles - Shakespeare Rock

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Comments welcomed and greatly appreiciated!