Saturday, February 12, 2011

His Last Request

I'm sure, if you're anything like me (or like song poem lyricist Marion Trautman), you've been kept up many nights by the thought of Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets", wondering, focusing, fantasizing, obsessing over one question: "But what happened NEXT?". Well, your prayers have been answered, because Rodd Keith, and the aforementioned Ms. Trautman, have teamed up to answer all of those questions, with the song "Green Beret's Last Request". I'll also mention that this record sounds to me less like a typical Preview label release, and much more like a Sterling Label record, from the band sound to the use of echo. Since dozens of Preview records from this era (although not this one) show the involvement of Sterling boss Lew Tobin, this similar sound may not be a coincidence! 

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The flip side, "Suddenly", does not, in my opinion, have a whole lot to recommend it, but the many Rodd-Heads out there may beg to differ: 

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2 comments:

Stu Shea said...

I wonder if Sterling cut the track and sent it to Rodd for the vocal or something.

KL from NYC said...

"Suddenly" has a very pretty melody, but unfortunately Rod overdoes the vocals.
It's not much different in quality from a lot of those independent adult-contemporary promo 45s from the 1960s though, is it?
If I hadn't seen the label, I would have thought it was one of those local 45s made by a lounge singer.

(I doubt Rodd Keith ever thought someone would be critiquing this on a blog years after his death.)