Hit Records filler/B-sides: A fun (and, hopefully, enlightening) survey

 

Wow--Blogger has made things even more of a hassle.  It has added an utterly pointless extra step to uploading images from a PC.  There's some reverse-logic idea that increasing the number of necessary steps is somehow helpful to the user.  After all, the greater the number of options, the better.  In reality, no one wishes to be deluged with choices.  An intelligent scheme would consist of basic options, with advanced choices accessible upon demand.  Options are not options when they are forced upon us.  (Argggh...)

But, to the matter at hand... A visitor suggested a post devoted to the filler/B-side numbers released on Hit Records (a group which included Spar, Country & Western Hits, and Modern Sound), and this struck me as a great idea.  And this project proved to be unusually challenging (I have a MAGIX project printout for transferring the composer creds to mp3tag, along with ten pages of notes), and mostly because Hit Records typically failed to include writer credits on its LP releases (in addition to regularly omitting artist credits--even aliases).  And there was the occasional problem of title disagreement--e.g., "Up Town Down Town" vs. "Uptown, Downtown."  Yet, for all that, Spar/Hit Records operated in an infinitely less slapdash manner than most of the other rack-jobber budgets.  And, as we shall hear, it produced some of its own material (no doubt, for the benefit of direct-to-the-label royalties), and produced it well.  Its filler numbers were clearly rush jobs, but they were never less than professional and beautifully arranged and engineered.  My opinion of Hit Records "filler" has grown much kinder over the years, and my affection for the label's budget hit knockoffs has increased at the same time/rate.  Way back when, I regarded HR product as an amusing record-collecting sideline, with the occasional superb performance entering the picture--such as the "Boll Weevil"'s amazing My Bonnie.  But I've come to host high regard for HR's entire bag of offerings.

But enough intro.  Today's playlist features songs by HR personnel, most of whom were industry insiders.  Some of whom had "real" chart hits.  I decided to leave the composer tags as they appeared on HR/Spar/Country & Western Hits singles, save for shortening "J. Norris and K. Richards" to "Norris-Richards." N-R were actually Hit Records co-founder William Beasley and his wife Dorothy J.  And there was Connie Landers, who wrote and recorded as "Connie Dee" (and who was songwriter-credited at least once as "Connie Sanders"--a typo?).  Her Brill Building-esque Once a Cheater and her amusing heartbreaker ballad, Ring Telephone are first-rate filler.

Back to the Beasleys, their forte was in the area of country and western, and they wrote at least one successful number for Brenda Lee.  Their The Spirit of This Land was the very first HR single which had me wondering, "Was this an actual hit?"  No, it's a very skillful imitation of a type of conservative patriotic paean--expertly stilted, with a narrator who sounds ready to break into laughter.  Like the instrumental Tower Suite (also by JN and KR), which appeared in single form as the flip of Theme From Peyton Place, it was penned to function as a B-side complement to the hit number, and in that context, it's a gem.  Of the country numbers written on the spot by the Beasleys, I have to choose Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue as the winner, if only because of its bounce-the-stylus energy.  Their best number in this list, though, may be I'm So Lonely, an effort which channels British Invasion rock, Gene Pitney, and Neil Diamond.  

There are only (let's see) three Bobby Russell numbers--all good, with Big Windy City impressing me the most, despite the naïve and generic quality of its lyrics.  It certainly conveys the appropriate mood, and the Bacharach-esque hook is delightful and superbly ear-catching.  It hardly rises to the level of Goffin/King, but then there wasn't the necessary window of opportunity.

I have a special affection for Bergen White's efforts--in part, because of some ingenious turns of phrase.  For example, the payoff close to Another Year, the ultimate life-gone-wrong country saga.  And his hilarious, Roger Miller-esque Pay It No Mind takes Miller's sardonic-commentary style to the level of harsh mockery, with the singer/narrator delighting in the misfortunes of the protagonist, who can't so much as get out of bed without dooming his day.  Bergen's You're the Only Girl for Me is an interesting take on the Four Seasons/Jan and Dean sound, and You Make The Decisions is minimalist gold.  Back to Bobby Russell, the masterful Come On On may be the all-time best could-have-been-a-hit filler HR track.  It's astonishing that so much care was devoted to a "Let's sneak in one of our own" project.

Brilliance in context is nevertheless brilliance.  (And you may quote me.)  Coughing up acceptable filler material on short notice is an epic challenge, and the HR folks routinely met it with impressive prowess.  Here are twenty-five goodies.

DOWNLOAD: Hit Records Filler

I'm So Lonely (Norris-Richards)--Dee and Robert

You're the Only Girl for Me (Bergen White)--The Roamers

Come Back to Me (N-R)--William Randolph and His Orchestra

I'm on My Way (N-R)--Jack White

Come On On (Bobby Russell)--Dee and Robert

Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue (J. Norris)--Ed Hardin

Pardon My Living (B. White)--Bob Adams

You're Not the Same Now (B. White)--Fred Hess

Never Forget Me (B. White)--The Roamers

Another Year (B. White)--Bergen White

Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater (Connie Sanders)--Connie Dee
Pay It No Mind (Bergen White)--Fred York

A Broken Hearted Fool Like Me (N-R)--Fred York

Where You Been (Bobby Russell)--Charles Baker

Don't Come Too Late (N-R)--Bobby Russell

You Can't Trust a Friend (B. White)--Lisa French

Big Windy City (Bergen White & Bobby Russell)--Fred Hess

Hearts Are Funny Things (N-R)--Bobby Brooks

Ring Telephone (Connie Landers)--Connie Dee

That's All That's Important Now (N-R)--Ed Hardin

The Spirit of This Land (N-R)--Charlie Rogers

Uptown, Downtown (B. Russell)--Fred York

You Make the Decisions (Bergen White)--The Chellows

You Were Gone (B. Russell)--John Preston

Tower Suite (N-R)--William Randolph and the Music City Orch.

Lee