Tuesday 28 August 2007

Cheapo UK Labels#2 Cannon, Bacon,Diamonds and Meek?


The Ravers - Lets Dance

Another abominal feux american slab o` cheese.yes.BUT not without its charm....The Cannon label was set up by opportunist Allan Crawford(right)in the early sixties.he saw the market for cover songs probably more than most being a contributer to the offshore radio shows of the day radio Carolina and radio Atlanta.he also interestingly owned the Festival label in Australia.this label was the imprint for a formidable oz punk gem;The Black Diamonds-I Want Need,Love You
caught here in what seems to be a daytime Australian soap.



Crawford also owned the Crossbow,Rocket and Sabre labels and managed to get extra work for relatively well known acts of the time, one of them being Elvis Costello`s Father Ross MacManus who he described as thus:"My favourite singer of them all was a man called Ross MacManus, who was Joe Loss's main vocalist, and he used to always be there recording for me. Whenever we did Elvis Presley's numbers, he was magnificent and better than Presley. Elvis often used to sing off key — I don't know why he was such a worldwide success, because he was not very good in my opinion."

on my meanderings researching the Cannon label a disputable bit of trivia popped up.Frank Bacon, who recorded a handfull of songs for the Cannon is reputedly also known as one Joe Meek. Apparantly he was looking to make extra money on the side with these cover songs.as far as the production goes you will not hear any crazy keyboards or washes of echo on these recordings, but there is a tinge of the manic that would suggest Meeks touch.is the singer on the example given here, Sheila (a Tommy Roe song) really Joe Meek? i did a comparison with some of his vocal efforts and there is much difference between them.

we need an expert. anybody?

Frank Bacon(Joe Meek?)- Sheila

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re Sheila -

This guy sings in tune - Joe couldn't! (And I knew Joe!)

Simple as that!

Plague said...

Thankyou for posting. do you think there is any connection in the production at least of the artist Frank Bacon (and also The Baconeers)?

Anonymous said...

Frank Bacon is John Carter, as in at the time Carter Lewis & The Southerners. CL& S did record for Meek , but the Frank Bacon sessions were nothing to do with Meek. Crawford, owner of Cannon, also had a hand in Southern Music Publishing , where Carters songs were published.
The Bacon sessions will be on itunes very soon.

Anonymous said...

Everyone who ever heard Joe's demos could not think it's Joe singing. He could never catch a tune - it was only in his mind.

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