I have a copy of Snowbows that was sent to me by (IIRC) Phil Milsteinwho runs the "American Song Poem Music Archives". A semi-delightfullittle piece, as opposed to most of the other song poem recordings thatI've heard.
Song Poems are a fascinating bit of forgotten Americana. Back in the50's and 60's they would put ads in pulpy magazines for you to send inyour "Song Poems" (i.e. lyrics) and they would write the music, andproduce recordings of your work. People were suckered into paying themmoney for what were hastily written and recorded bits of crap. Some ofit was slightly charming crap, like Snowbows.
Anyway, they discovered that the Chamberlin (this is long before the Mseries, probably one of the Musicmaster line) made creating the littleditties much easier. No session musicians needed!
Here's a quote from the ASPMA's
website:
"Stanton also introduced tothe song-poem arsenal a pre-digital sampling keyboard called theChamberlin. Using strips of pre-recorded magnetic tape, the Chamberlinwas able to replicate any instrument in the orchestra as well as humanvoices and sound effects. Following Stanton's lead, other song-poemcompanies began using the instrument, recognizing it as aless-expensive alternative to live bands or as an efficient enhancementto an underlying band recording. Its eight-second strips of tapelimited the Chamberlin -- and its better-known English descendent, theMellotron -- to rather unnatural distortions of the instrumentssampled, although the song-poem entrepreneurs seemed hardly to havenoticed. In the hands of a sonic alchemist like Rodd Keith this conbecame a pro, his deftness and inventiveness with the instrumentproving it to have a delightfully wheezy sound all its own. SandyStanton was the LA-area distributor for Harry Chamberlin's eponymousdevice, and even sold a unit to his chief local competitor, PreviewRecords and their affiliate MSR Records."
Checkout the site. It's fascinating stuff.
http://www.aspma.com/what_is.htm
Bob S.
mellotrongirl wrote:
I heard this song just today on a just-out compilation on the Bar/None Records label titled "The American Song-Poem Christmas" and given the fact that many of these songs have a children's 1950's/1960's adult contemporary holiday theme about them, imagine my surprise when I heard what sounds like MkII strings and noodling like something off of Harrison's Wonderwall Music flailing about all through the song. I thought it might have been the Big Band Beat Optigan disc for a nanosecond, but the cool thing about this tune was that you can hear the key attacks loud and clear.Upon doing a little research (the CD's liner notes tell nothing), I gfind out the song was the flip of a single from 1977. It sounded like 1962! I thought I was on to some ancient Chamberlin gem at least.I wonder why the band was called the "Swinging Strings"? Someone trying to pull the wool over our eyes on a technicality?------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or LexmarkPrinter at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/iWZylB/TM---------------------------------------------------------------------~->To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:Mellotronists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/