Red Hot Mama

Okay, right off the bat, let me acknowledge that today's record is beat to hell, and that you'll have to listen past some righteously awful surface noise. But c'mon, it's Norm! With a couple of winning tracks, ones I find quite worthy of suffering through the crackle and pop of an either over-loved or criminally mistreated and neglected 45.

First up, "Red Hot Mama". This one has slow, soulful beat, some really nice piano, and a typically wonderful vocal from Norm. There's even an actual guitar solo, something I don't remember hearing on many Sterling records. And another thing that makes this one unusual: I would also argue that this is the rare Sterling song-poem where the music reflects then-current (1971 or so) trends in music - elements of the backing track here reminds me of more than a few soul-pop records of the 1970-71 period. Stick around for the ridiculous repeating lyrics at the end of the record.

Download: Norm Burns and the Five Stars - Red Hot Mama
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On to side two, "Love Ya Honey". After a catchy, off-kilter instrumental introduction, we are treated to another superb vocal from Norm (who is probably one of my two favorite song-poem singers, along with Cara Stewart). Here, he makes magic with a really corny and repetitive lyric, and the arrangement also works wonders with what could have easily (in the hands of lesser companies by a stale performers) been rote and dull - I'm especially fond of the section from 1:50  to 2:05, where it sure sounds like there's been an extra beat or two thrown in, yet a careful counting shows that it never goes out of 4/4 time.

Download: Norm Burns and the Five Stars - Love Ya Honey
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Sonny and the Stones

Ah, yes, "It's All Over Now". Is there a better record from the Stones' earliest period? Keith's guitar break - well, I guess you some love it and some hate it, but Charlie's drumming is propulsive and the whole band just cooks. And Sonny Marcell's lead vocal is.... wait, Sonny Marcell? One of the many names of song-poem Zelig Sammy Marshall? Are we talking about the same song? The same band? Er... I guess not. This "It's All Over Now" is another early '60's Globe factory special, in this case a performance that wouldn't sound out of place on the stage of a Holiday Inn lounge, released on the tiny Jabar imprint. Let's listen in!

Download: Sonny Marcell - It's All Over Now
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And what do you have left when "It's All Over"? Well, leftovers, and to sing the excessively goopy song, "Left Over Love", again we have Sammy "Sonny Marcell" Marshall:

Download: Sonny Marcell - Left Over Love
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In the Garage with Tin Pan Alley

First, I want to mention that I recently wrote a post at WFMU's blog about a record which appears to have some song-poem connections, although it may or may not be a song-poem. It can be found here. And now, on with the countdown!

How do YOU spell the words that make up the first line of a classic children's rhyme, the ones which come before "catch a tiger by the toe"? A quick web search finds only a few minor disagreements - Virtually everyone agrees on a combination of some of the following "Eeny/Eenie, Meeny/Meenie, Miny/Miney/Minie, Mo/Moe". For Joyce and Lawrence Herren, however (and virtually no one else in the world, as far as Yahoo and Google appear to be concerned), the phrase is spelled "Enny Minnie Mighty Moe". Fascinatingly, at one point Joyce recorded the song herself, and it has shown up on at least one compilation, and can be heard in the middle of this youtube posting. 

The song isn't much, but that's a winning performance in my book. For some reason, the authors then handed off their composition to Mike Thomas, of Tin Pan Alley, who recorded it with the same collection of Garage Rock wannabes that show up on many of his records. The results were as predictable as every other TPA record of the era - minimalist backing and a lightweight vocal from Mike, which gives way to a barely competent (or perhaps you favor the phrase "borderline incompetent") garage style solo section.

The question remains - is this a song-poem as strictly defined or a vanity recording. Did the Herren's write this song, words and music, and then commission Tin Pan Alley to record it, or did Tin Pan Alley put music to their words, and only then, perhaps not satisfied with TPA's performance, Joyce recorded it herself. I would like to think that's more likely than them not liking Joyce's own inspired rendition, and seeking to improve it via TPA....

Download: Mike Thomas - Enny Minnie Mighty Moe

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On the flip side, we have a tragic story. It's of a young person who seemingly threw away everything in life, and took a plane to San Francisco, on the hopes on connecting with the sweetheart who lived there. As you'll hear, if you can stomach the rather tuneless song that long (and get through lines like "I dreamed that waiting at airport"), it didn't quite work out as planned. Stick around after he tells his story for more Guitar God in training moments.

Download: Mike Thomas - San Francisco Dream

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Rodd Keith - Country Bumpkin

I always get a kick out of Rodd Keith trying to sound like a hick, on the most countrified of his releases. And here's a prime example, a rather wonderful piece of ridiculous backwoods-speak set to music, titled "Rope Me a Good Looker". 

Download: Rodd Keith and the Raindrops - Rope Me a Good Looker

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I always wonder what the writer would think, upon hearing Rodd in hayseed mode, then putting on the other side, and hearing what was clearly the same singer (and billed as such) demonstrating, via a straightforward MOR performance, that his singing on the country number was less than honest. Such would probably have been the case here, as the flip side is the completely mainstream (and desperately dull) "It Only Takes a Moment to Fall in Love", with Rodd in unctuous, lounge-singer mode:

Download; Rodd Keith and the Raindrops - It Only Takes a Moment to Fall in Love

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Norridge Mayhams Last Gasp

Within the greater song-poem world, Norridge Mayhams has always been something of a hero to me. Not only did he do it all himself, he often did it quite well. In a career lasting over 40 years, he went from Gospel to Raunchy Blues, from Latin-tinged idiosyncratic records to straight ahead pop and rock and roll. He wrote both the words and music for most of his songs, and in the early days (through at least the late '50's) even sang on several of his records, in addition to releasing them on at least three of his own record labels. He even wrote a hit song, "We'll Build a Bungalow". One of his records, the earlier of at least two versions of his song "Mary Ann McCarthy", remains one of my three or four favorite song-poem records.

So it was with considerable sadness that I listened for the first time to today's record, which is among the last that Mayhams produced. As described at the AS/PMA site linked above, shortly after his final triumph, the 1976 double album capturing a good 15 years worth of his best material, Mayham's life began to fall apart. As heard here, just three years later (in 1979), not only has he moved on from some truly wonderful styles of music, and into the most mindless version of disco possible, but he is also expressing his grief at the death of his dear wife, Shirley. The words are actually touchingly sweet, but when paired with the stupid beat, the obnoxious synth, the out of town guitar and single trumpet notes (not to mention the crappy production), the effect is fairly depressing. My guess is that it is Norridge Mayhams himself singing here. If so, it's with (in what was probably his 70's) a shadow of the life-affirming voice from his records of two and three decades earlier.

Download: Seaboard Coastliners - Sweet Shirley 
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"Sweet Shirley" was actually the b-side. The less said about the truly mindless a-side, "Dance Dance All Night Long", the better, but here it is:

Download: Seaboard Coastliners - Dance Dance All Night Long
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By the way, at least one further Mayhams record may have been released, if the order suggested at AS/PMA is accurate, that one featuring what may be this same recording of "Dance Dance" along with a disco remake of "We'll Build a Bungalow"

WHAT A FIND!!!

Today's feature poses a question I'd never considered before: Did the Lee Hudson Song-Poem Experience Factory (basically Lee himself, with Cara Stewart and from time to time, Jeff Reynolds) work not only on the classic song-poem model, but also engage in some vanity work - recording completely developed songs by either amateur or established songwriters?

I ask because today's record, which I consider a hell of a find, seems too "finished", too self-aware and too professional a set of compositions for all but the highest end of the song-poem field, if that. It's a production, particularly the b-side, which rivals or exceeds all but the best thought out efforts of Rodd Keith, and certainly beyond anything I would have expected from Lee Hudson. Then there's the fact that it's on the Melodia label, which I've been previously unfamiliar with.

Not only that, but both songs are written by a team (the same team on both sides), with one of the two claiming publishing rights (this same team shows up on one other song listed in the AS/PMA archives). On the other hand, it has all the hallmarks of a Lee Hudson production, not to mention his two singers, so at least on that score it belongs here.

Let's start with the A-side, "Bee-Boppa-Roo". I listened to this one first, and although I thought it more polished and thought out than most song-poems, I still thought it probably fit into that world. It does, however, have unusually clever lyrics, along with the typically bopping Hudson backing, with wonderful guitar fills and peppy bassline:

Download: Jeff Reynolds with Lee Hudson's Orchestra - Bee-Boppa-Roo

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Give a listen, though, to what's on the B-side. "Doc Nut" is a different animal altogether - a genuinely funny, clever and extremely well constructed novelty record. The Hudson sound is still there, this time with accordion, and multiple Cara's on backing vocal. But those lyrics! The comic voice done by Jeff Reynolds! And that's on top of the downright lovely and winking Cara Stewart lead vocal!

Whatever its provenance, this one - were there still song-poem compilations being released - would certainly be a prime candidate for release on a CD compilation.

Download: Cara Stewart and Jeff Reynolds with Lee Hudson's Orchestra - Doc Nut

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A Missing Link?

Today's record is among the most intriguing and mysterious to me of any that I've recently posted.

Some of you will be aware of the career of Sandy Stanton, who I've rhapsodized about here, and more extensively, at WFMU. Many of his 1950's Fable releases are highlights of my collection.

After Fable made the trip from curious but often effective rockabilly into all manner of novelty records and then more solidly into the song-poem arena, Stanton has been said to have closed up shop at Fable, bought a Chamberlin, discovered Rodd Keith and started the Film City family of labels, with Rodd (as Rod Rogers) his star attraction on a wonderland of records and label designs often featuring a Chamberlin masquerading as some sort of band whose name would show up in quotes, often with "strings" being the last word of the band name.

Here's the curious part: All but a handful of Fable releases are known to have been released before the end of the 1950's, with label numbers under the four-digit mark, and Film City appears to have started up in the early 1960's. Although there is some overlap in time and billing style - AS/PMA lists four Fable records with higher numbers, all of which have the Stanton fake band names as part of the billing - I'd never heard any of them before getting this record.

And the differences between the two labels couldn't be more severe - Fable records generally feature real bands, often with a driving rock beat or solid country sound, and prominent guitars. Film City records are almost always one-man band productions, with not a single "real" instrument heard. I've always been amazed that the same person was behind both labels, and that he seemingly made the switch from one style to the other, virtually overnight.

Then comes this record, which features a modified Film City sound on the Fable imprint. It has a label number of 1250, a Fable Label design nothing like the one used in the '50's, a Stantonesque "Rockin' Strings" band name, and a singer name which turns up on no other song-poem that I'm aware of ("Bob Rogers"). It also features what sounds like an some sort of early keyboard instrument, but not like any Chamberlin record I've ever heard. The keyboard player's style certainly convinces me that it's Rodd Keith, but as to the singers.... well, the "Bob Rogers" on the first side might be Rodd Keith, but it only sort of sounds like him to me. I'm almost sure that the "Bob Rogers" on the second side is Frank Perry.

This record can't even come from the earliest days of Film City, nor right after the last batch of more typical Fable records. The ZIP code on the label demonstrates that it comes from at least 1963. The more sophisticated keyboard sound makes me suspect it's from at least a few years after that date, as well.

So did Stanton temporarily revive Fable, to release a few records, at least four years after largely shutting it down, and have Rodd Keith put together two songs (each by the same two writers), using a higher quality keyboard of some sort than the ones used on Film City records? And is that Rodd singing on the A-Side? I am curious to think what any of you reading this may think. Here is the A-side, "Rock and Roll Star".

Download: Bob Rogers - Rock and Roll Star

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And the somewhat odder b-side, "Rock and Roll Date":

Download: Bob Rogers - Rock and Roll Date

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Uncatchy Song Title Day

Time is short this week, but as always, I have at least enough of it to offer up two more slices of song-poemery. Today we have two songs featuring clunky, wordy titles, of a type unlikely to catch on with anyone. This 1974 release is on Cinema, which means that the credited artist is The Real Pros, which in this case means the same old anonymous backing band, fronted by two stalwarts of the field. First up, Bobbi Blake singing the "Let's Shake Hands With Our Neighbors":

Download: The Real Pros - Let's Shake Hands With Our Neighbors

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The flip side has Dick Kent taking over lead vocal duties, on a charming number whose title also could definitely have used some editing, "In the Deepest Depths of Lonesome":

Download: The Real Pros - In the Deepest Depths of Lonesome

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Our Colors on the Fourth - Wouldn't That Be Fun?

I have a special edition of "Song Poem of the Week" for the Fourth of July! I've scoured my collection to find something patriotic, and have settled on the always ridiculous pipes of Jimmie James, with his rendition of "Our Colors".

Near the end of Film City's run, there seems to have been a brief, post-Rodd Keith period. I say that because among those final releases, he disappears from the artist credits (as Jimmie James - sometimes Jimmy James - and a few others show up) and because there is a sudden, steep drop-off in musical creativity in those records, as well. The last few singles that I know of on the label feature downright treacly Chamberlin work, with minimal attempts at combinations of sounds, or of anything remotely interesting. The link above goes to one other Jimmie James record which I posted at WFMU, and within this post are two more Jimmie James records, among my all time favorites from my collection (Mini Girl Song and Free Love For Sale) which are from either side of the same single, and which were originally posted at the AS/PMA website.

Today's flag-honoring record is downright woozy. With it's plodding beat, Jimmie's pompous delivery, overly-flowery patriotic language, and near four minute length (despite the 2:19 listed on the label) it would have been a decent example of the ridiculous side of the art of the song-poem anyway. But the record is also pressed off-center, adding a delightfully drunk feeling to the entire proceedings. And Jimmie's next to last note is more than worth the price of admission:

Download: Jimmie James - Our Colors
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But wait, there's more! The flip side of the record, "It Would Be Fun", has joys of its own for the listener to discover, primarily in its lyrics, although there's also something to be said for a fairly catchy, if very brief, bridge section.

Download: Jimmie James - It Would Be Fun
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By the way, although Jimi Hendrix is known to have used the name Jimmy James around the same time that Film City was in operation, I think we can safely assume that this is a different Jimmie James.

A Collegiate Trip With Gene Marshall

Often when a particularly ridiculous title (or one with a truly unusual turn of phrase) crops up on a song-poem record label, the resulting song turns out to be a disappointment. I've found, though, that this doesn't seem to be the case (in my hearing, at least) for Gene Marshall records with singularly weird titles. Maybe it's something in his consistently measured, sincere reading of whatever was placed in front of him, or maybe the folks at Preview knew how to dole out the right material for the right singer.

Whatever the case, here's another example. What the hell could "Seas and Safaris - College Style" be, I thought to myself. Why, it's a fanciful description of a college semester on a cruise around the world, of course, on the good ship S.S. Universe. On a whim, I did a search, and at the risk of revealing that I'm the last one to know about this, but it turns out that this is a real thing! You can read about it here.

Lyricist Pearl Martuffi dutifully fits in the names of about two dozen ports (and any song that mentions Samoa has had an in with me ever since "The Humpty Dance" did the same), and the Preview folks place the whole thing over a nice, loping MOR track. Best of all is Gene's warm vocal. Bon Voyage!

Download: Gene Marshall - Seas and Safaris - College Style
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I cannot work up the same enthusiasm for the turgid flip side, "I Sing to Keep From Crying", although I must say that Gene Marshall again rises to the challenge, and sounds close to tears himself on the opening lines, at the point that he sings of the cause of the heartbreak in the writer's life.

Download: Gene Marshall - I Sing to Keep From Crying
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Supper Club Social Commentary

I think I'll go out tonight for my birthday. Perhaps to that Supper Club in Boston, where the star of the Sterling Label, Norm Burns, plays each Wednesday. What really makes him swell is the way he mixes the standard, smooth supper club sound with a deep social message. The last time I was there, he knocked me out with a meaningful number called "Not For Ourselves Alone". I rushed out and bought a copy. Here 'tis:

Download: Norm Burns and the Satellites - Not For Ourselves Alone

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I think maybe I'll try and get there a little late. The opening act, Shelly Stuart, is not exactly in the same league as Norm as a singer. She has a bit of trouble staying on pitch and her tone isn't all that great. Plus, the material is less than interesting. She's on the b-side of Norm's song, for some reason, with an endless meandering piece that she sang last time I saw their show, called "The Waltz of Memories". See what you think:

Download: Shelley Stuart - The Waltz of Memories

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She's a B-Bomb Baby

Time is fleeing this week, so I'll just say a few words about this week's record, which comes from Tin Pan Alley's great series of ridiculous stabs at Garage Rock from the late 1960's, many of which featured Mike Thomas. Both of these songs are winners, in a Tin Pan Alley sort of way, but clearly the weirder of the two is "B-Bomb Baby", which shoots for garage authenticity and misses at every turn, most spectacularly during the fractured guitar solo, which has to be heard to be believed. The lyrics are a treat, too!

Download: Mike Thomas - B-Bomb Baby
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The flip side, "Airplane Blues", is no slouch either - what with the way every single problem that could go wrong with the airplane does go wrong, one after another. The band (and song) are quite subdued in comparison with "B-Bomb Baby", but there are still some moments to be enjoyed.

Download: Mike Thomas - Airplane Blues
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