Spectropop - Digest Number 1043

• From: Spectropop Group
• Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003

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               SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 22 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

      1. Re: Godfrey Daniel
           From: TD 
      2. Re: Youm Youm
           From: Ken Silverwood 
      3. Re: What does 'freakbeat' mean?
           From: Scott Swanson 
      4. Re: Collectors Choice
           From: Phil Milstein 
      5. Re: Youm Youm
           From: Phil Milstein 
      6. Re: Randy's Rain
           From: Peter Lerner 
      7. Re: Out of His Head
           From: Peter Lerner 
      8. mono White Album
           From: Wayne Short 
      9. Re: Collectors Choice
           From: Mikey 
     10. Freakbeat and Other Categories
           From: Art Longmire 
     11. Beatle White Album
           From: Alan Gordon 
     12. Julius LaRosa
           From: Greet Dhont 
     13. Re Julius LaRosa   Peppermint Trolley Car
           From: Justin McDevitt 
     14. Re: What meaneth 'freakbeat'?
           From: Phil Milstein 
     15. Re: Collectors Choice
           From: Mark Frumento 
     16. Collector's Choice, Beau Brummels' "Triangle"
           From: Art Longmire 
     17. Exotica; Fantasia; Godfrey Danial; and back to Youm
           From: Country Paul 
     18. Re: Youm Youm
           From: Paul Balser 
     19. Re: mono White Album
           From: Phil Milstein 
     20. Re: Julius LaRosa
           From: TD Bell 
     21. Re: Out of His Head
           From: Steve Harvey 
     22. Re: Exotica; Fantasia; Godfrey Danial; and back to Youm
           From: James Botticelli 


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Message: 1
      Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 08:23:18 -0400
   From: TD 
Subject: Re: Godfrey Daniel

Bill Reed wrote:
> awshucks Godfrey went---at warp Jerry Lee Lewis speed--- from being
> the most powerful personality in radio-TV to dead media meat almost
> overnight. The meglomaniacal character, Lonesome Rhodes, brilliantly
> portrayed in the film "A Face in the Crowd" by Andy Griffith was
> based on Godfrey.

Phil Milstein:
> I always thought there was a healthy dose of Elvis in that character --
> in the massiveness of his fame and charisma, if not in his (the
> character's) political ambitions -- but the listed release date of 1957
> would seem to weigh against that. Still it's a brilliant (and
> underappreciated) film, ultra-insightful in its depiction of the
> motivational force of TV, and with a performance by Andy Griffith that
> will leave you shaking your head in wonder as to how he could have 
> taken himself out of the dramatic mode so early in his career.

Bill:
> LaRosa, meanwhile, went on to carve a nice recording career for
> himself. No spectropop that I can recall, however.

Phil:
> I grew up listening to LaRosa (via my parents, actually) on a daily
> basis, as a DJ on the adult-pop NYC station WNEW-AM. Don't remember 
> much about him, other than the fact that he had a great speaking voice, 
> too.

Julius LaRosa fell out of favor with Arthur Godfrey because LaRosa 
hired an agent to deal with the insufferable Arthur.  In the movie 
"A Face in the Crowd", the character Lonesome Rhodes promotes a 
presidential candidate much like Arthur Godfrey promoted Eisenhower.  
Throughout the movie, one of the esoteric ironies is the harmonica 
repeating the irony of bluesy theme  "Sittin' on Top of the World", 
a song that was a staple in the repertoires of The Mississippi 
Sheiks, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Howlin' Wolf, and Cream.  
-- TD  




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Message: 2
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:27:26 +0100
   From: Ken Silverwood 
Subject: Re: Youm Youm

David Young:
> Thanks for sharing (Bassett Hand's "Youm") on musica, Phil! It's 
> the backing track to the provocatively titled "You Can't Take My 
> Boyfriend's Woody" by The Angels and The Powder Puffs, in case 
> you didn't realize that.

Absolutely David! & the chanters in the background sound more like 
"whine, whine" than "mine, mine", perhaps to replicate the sound their 
boyfriends " woodie " makes?  Careful!

Ken On The West Coast
(still can't hear a "Youm" though)





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Message: 3
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 09:19:34 -0700 (PDT)
   From: Scott Swanson 
Subject: Re: What does 'freakbeat' mean?

Phil M.:
> Well said, and it reminds me to ask if anyone can tell me just what 
> in the hell "freakbeat" means.

It was originally invented in the '80s (by the guys at Bam-Caruso?) to
describe songs that were somewhere between the typical mid-60s British
"beat/pop/mod" sound and the later '60s "psych" sound.

Basically, it's the British version of "garage".

Regards,

Scott
(swandwn@agora.rdrop.com)



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Message: 4
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 12:53:35 +0000
   From: Phil Milstein 
Subject: Re: Collectors Choice

Country Paul wrote:
> To all interested, the new "Phil's Spectre" CD is available in the US
> through Collectors Choice.

Collector's Choice is a curious company. They seem to be mining some
sort of middle ground between the authoritativeness of some of the
"deeper" reissue labels and the broad, sweeping scope of the larger
ones. They don't seem to have their finger on any one particular style
of music, and yet consistently manage to put out some very good
packages. Perhaps their motivating concept is to fill the niches left by
the other companies, which judging by CC's output remains considerable,
despite the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, they are a
relatively new company. I have yet to hear any negative words about
their policies, practices or products -- are they really that good, or
am I simply out of the loop?

--Phil M.



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Message: 5
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 13:00:02 +0000
   From: Phil Milstein 
Subject: Re: Youm Youm

David A. Young wrote:
> Thanks for sharing that record on musica, Phil! It's the backing track
> to the provocatively titled "You Can't Take My Boyfriend's Woody" by
> The Angels and The Powder Puffs, in case you didn't realize that.

I hadn't noticed that before, but now that you mention it I can hear the
connection in my head before even going back to listen to 'em. To use a
word that didn't even exist back then, "Youm" is a very unique approach
to "repurposing."

> provocatively titled ...

And speaking of repurposing ... !

Good catches, David.

--Phil M.



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Message: 6
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:11:39 +0100
   From: Peter Lerner 
Subject: Re: Randy's Rain

> Does anybody out there knows who recorded the first version of
> Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today"?"

Bobby Darin did a nice version, released in 1967 on the "Inside Out" 
album, recorded previously, obviously!

Peter



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Message: 7
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:36:30 +0100
   From: Peter Lerner 
Subject: Re: Out of His Head

Max wrote:
> Many years ago I had a copy of "Out of his Head", a biography of Phil
> Spector (forgive me I can't remember the authors name)

The author of that excellent book was of course Spectropop contributor
Richard Williams, who can speak for himself, but is now a highly respected
sports journalist amongst other things. And it was written as long ago as
1972. Time flies.

Peter

Moderator's note:
"Out Of His Head" has just been republished by Omnibus.



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Message: 8
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:35:45 -0000
   From: Wayne Short 
Subject: mono White Album

Speaking of the mono version which I last heard in 1970,- the 
tracks were peppered(!) with lots of different improptu sounds, 
ie, adlibs on Birthday (fab Mccarteney screams).

Most memorable was the reprise or end section of Helterskelter 
which was extended and creted the sound of rampaging elephants 
beyond the call od duty displayed by the stereo version.

Different, but, just as cool.

Wayne Short



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Message: 9
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:44:34 -0400
   From: Mikey 
Subject: Re: Collectors Choice

Collectors Choice is a very curious yet a very VITAL label.

I have been told by people in the reissue biz that because of 
their catalog/direct mailings, that a major label will lower 
its normal unit gurantee when CC wants to license something. 
I think this HAS to be true, because some of the packages 
they have put out have a really, really limited appeal.

But CC puts out stuff that no one else will, and that by 
itself is enough reason to keep them in bizness.

I mean, where else are you going to find "The Limeliters" 
for Gods sake.

Bravo!!



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Message: 10
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 19:08:28 -0000
   From: Art Longmire 
Subject: Freakbeat and Other Categories

I'm like you Phil, I hear terms like freakbeat all the time and 
wonder what they mean. Of course I have a vague idea, but it's 
never been defined clearly to me. Certainly part of it may be 
that some musical categories originate in Britain and as an 
American I'm not used to hearing them. God knows if I had to 
define "acid house", "industrial", "jungle", "trip-hop", or 
"drum-n-bass" I would get a failing grade...

Unlike many others on the board I was a late bloomer when it 
came to liking music and it wasn't until I was 14 that I was 
bitten (hard) by the musical bug and began buying records and 
listening to songs carefully. I never did categorize music much 
or care about what was supposedly "cool". I just got into what 
I liked. I suppose I was a bit more tolerant about people's 
choices in music because I liked a whole range of stuff, and 
grew up in the 60s when stations played a whole range of different 
music on one station-unheard of today in commercial radio!

I would say that categories can be useful, but over-analysing music 
and being too rigid about what music fits into a given category can 
be detrimental, at least to my way of thinking. A good example is the 
Fuzz Acid and Flowers site - a great site, by the way, but sometimes 
they will describe a song as "lightweight" or "twee" and "not of 
interest to real psychedelic fans-stay away from this" - nine times 
out of ten the music they are describing is just what I'm looking for, 
and believe me I am a real fan of psych music.

So I'd say that categorizing music generally is essential, but too 
much hair-splitting doesn't help and I try to avoid it. I suppose 
back in my high school days I heard one too many hour-long lunchroom 
arguments over what was real heavy metal and what wasn't!

Best,

Art Longmire



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Message: 11
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 12:09:30 -0700
   From: Alan Gordon 
Subject: Beatle White Album

From: Andrew
Subject: The mono "White Album"
> All this talk about an alternate version of the White Album 
> led me to dig up my copy of "Rarities," released by Capitol 
> in the US circa 1981. According to its liner notes, the "mono" 
> version of the White Album (this was back when albums were 
> released in both mono and stereo) contains several different 
> mixes than the "standard" stereo version.  Two of these alternate
> mono mixes appear on "Rarities": "Helter Skelter" and "Don't Pass Me By."'

Re:  My last comment... yesterday.
Oops... sorry... as per usual... I'm a few days/weeks behind.

Is that old Rarities album on CD anywhere?

peace,
~albabe



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Message: 12
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 21:15:19 +0200
   From: Greet Dhont 
Subject: Julius LaRosa

Hi,
I'm sorry, if I offended someone by calling Julius LaRosa 
'some crooner'. Since English is not my native language 
(Dutch is, and when this incident took place, I was probably 
5 years old! ), I didn't know the full meaning of this expression. 
Thanks, Country Paul for your explanation, though...but my original 
question, whether someone knows an earlier version than LaRosa's 
(released october '66) of Newman's I Think It's Going To Rain Today' 
remains unanswered... bye. Honeydhont.



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Message: 13
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:11:21 -0500
   From: Justin McDevitt 
Subject: Re Julius LaRosa   Peppermint Trolley Car

Hello Spectropoppers, 

It has ben some time since I've posted a message to these pages, 
though I give full attention to the daily Digests which remain 
interesting and informative. 

Bill Reed wrote: 
> LaRosa, meanwhile, went on to carve a nice recording career 
> for himself. No spectropop that I can recall, however.

I last heard Julius LaRosa on a summer day in 1971, while reclining 
on the beach in Avalon new Jersey. He was the early to mid-afternoon 
DJ. Also, from this time, or maybe a year earlier, I recall hearing 
an up-tempo pop song sung by Mr LaRosa that was typical of the pop 
fare from that era. His fall from grace, as the preeminent wunderkind 
on the Godfrey show got a lot of attention.

Regarding the Peppermint Trolley Car, which of the Fading Yellow CDs
includes some of their music?  I think V3 was referenced in a recent 
post. Please verify.

Yours in peace, Justin



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Message: 14
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 15:20:30 +0000
   From: Phil Milstein 
Subject: Re: What meaneth 'freakbeat'?

Scott Swanson wrote:
> It was originally invented in the '80s (by the guys at Bam-Caruso?) to
> describe songs that were somewhere between the typical mid-60s British
> "beat/pop/mod" sound and the later '60s "psych" sound.
> Basically, it's the British version of "garage".

Sounds good to me. From Scott's description freakbeat seems to be the
U.K. equivalent of precisely what Lenny Kaye was after with his first
"Nuggets" compilation in 1972. It's not often recalled that, although it
could be argued that the result leaned more toward the garage side than
the psych, the release bore the subtitle "Original Artyfacts from the
First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968", and its stated purpose was to capture
the point-of-departure -- or, rather, overlap -- between garage and psych.

By the way, was "Nuggets" the first substantial (or important) themed
archival comp? The "theme" factor is such a postmodern concept that I
can't imagine there being too many examples prior to '72.

Freakily yours,
Phil M.



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Message: 15
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 19:29:59 -0000
   From: Mark Frumento 
Subject: Re: Collectors Choice

Phil Milstein wrote:
> I have yet to hear any negative words about [Collector's Choice] 
> policies, practices or products 

I have negative words but it probably just goes to my preference 
in reissues. In many cases CC is reissuing LPs as two-fers or as 
straight copies of the original releases. I happen to like the more 
extensively thought-out packages with researched liner notes, bonus 
tracks, great sound quality etc. I also feel that they are way over-
priced for what you get.

In one case, a CD I purchased from CC is a transfer from a poor 
quality record. It's so badly mastered and the use of noise reduction 
so amateurish that I can not listen to the CD.

No way can they be compared to Sundazed, Castle, Rev-Ola or even a 
mid-line to low priced label like BGO. They are more akin to 
Collectibles with a fancier catalog.



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Message: 16
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 21:50:28 -0000
   From: Art Longmire 
Subject: Collector's Choice, Beau Brummels' "Triangle"

I have a number of Collector's Choice CDs and most recently 
purchased the Beau Brummels' "Triangle" on the label. I had 
already had the LP for a number of years but hadn't listened 
to it much and decided to spring for the CD when I saw it a 
few weeks ago. To make a long story short, it's now a HUGE 
favorite of mine. 

Does anyone else here like "Triangle"? I first heard of it 
back in the 70s through the book Lillian Roxon's Rock 
Encyclopedia (the first rock encyclopedia, I think, but who 
was Lillian Roxon?) She described it as "the album that blew 
a million minds", but I would describe it as a subtle 
masterpiece, a sort of concept album with a folky, mystical 
feel and a variety of musical styles that all hang together 
superbly. And Sal Valentino's voice is intriguing, a really 
outstanding one-of-a-kind vocalist, although his style took 
some getting used to. I like every track on it. I hope 
Collector's Choice puts out more of the late 60s Warner-Reprise 
catalogue.

I see that "Bradley's Barn" has also been released - I've never 
heard it and I'm debating on whether to cough up the cash for 
that one.

Art




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Message: 17
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 16:14:09 -0400
   From: Country Paul 
Subject: Exotica; Fantasia; Godfrey Danial; and back to Youm

JB:
> Well, that is partially what gave birth to the Exotica/Easy 
> Listening movement of the mid 90's....[Kids] became contrarian 
> and identified the music that used to be piped into banks and 
> dentist offices and began the process of rediscovering all 
> that trashed and donated vinyl (Esquivel, Martin Denny, "Now" 
> Sound LP's, etc) and made that the sound of rebellion. 
> Reactionary music critics, mired in preconceived notions, 
> dismissed it as Republican Chic....

Funny, most of the people I knew into the "exotica" renaissance 
were my age and older. (I'm not ancient - just "established!") 
And by the way, despite the limpness of some of the material, 
most of those artists could really play and sing. Irwin Chusid 
showed an early Esquivel movie clip at an outsider music video 
show in NYC a while back, and despite the hypy staging (like a 
Busby Berkeley idea of what was cool for 50's teens), the
musicianship was exceptional and the music cooked like a master 
chef.

JB again:

> PJ O'Rourke...asked rhetorically if Baby Boomers ever in a 
> million years would have shown up on their kollij kampuses 
> wearing Zoot suits and listening to Big Bands! Feud for thought, 
> eh?

Ya got me involved, JB. From empirical observation, the ones 
listening to big bands in the 60s were jazz fans (including those 
looking for licks to steal for "horn bands" a la BS&T, Electric 
Flag, etc.; the ones wearing suits were Young Republicans!

David A. Young:

> Re: Fantasia: gotta get away:
> A great addition to the listening lounge, Harvey, and much 
> appreciated. I can confirm for you that the record was released 
> in the U.S. as you suspected, namely on Mala 562, but I have no 
> other information about it.

Agreed, David. It took about half a minute to find its groove, but 
once it had it it was a pleasure.

More David:

> I consider the song's producer, Richard Perry, to be grossly
> underappreciated, particularly in light of his tremendous success.

I know he produced the Pointer Sisters among many others. What else 
did he do in the S'pop era?

Phil M. mentioning "Godfrey Daniel" reminds me of an album by a 
group of that name on Atlantic, c. 1972 - faked-up doo-wop versions 
of progressive songs. It had a Led Zep composition among many 
others, some quite decent.  The cover was a 50s-instruments band 
set-up, shot in sepia tones.  Gotta find it in the collection - or 
can anyone add to this in the meanwhile?

David again:

> [Youm is] the backing track to the provocatively titled "You
> Can't Take My Boyfriend's Woody" by The Angels and The Powder
> Puffs, in case you didn't realize that.

I didn't - and I've been trying to trace the source ever since it 
came out.  Thank you! (Provocatively titled, indeed.)

Country Paul





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Message: 18
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 17:52:47 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
   From: Paul Balser 
Subject: Re: Youm Youm

David Young:

> Thanks for sharing (Bassett Hand's "Youm") on musica, Phil! It's 
> the backing track to the provocatively titled "You Can't Take My 
> Boyfriend's Woody" by The Angels and The Powder Puffs, in case 
> you didn't realize that.

Where can we pick up the song on a CD?
 





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Message: 19
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 16:18:36 +0000
   From: Phil Milstein 
Subject: Re: mono White Album

Wayne Short wrote:

> Most memorable was the reprise or end section of Helterskelter
> which was extended and created the sound of rampaging elephants
> beyond the call of duty displayed by the stereo version.

Now I have to wonder if that was the version Charlie Manson'd been
listening to ...

--Phil M.





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Message: 20
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:48:05 -0400
   From: TD Bell 
Subject: Re: Julius LaRosa

Dear Greet,
     
In terms of "pop culture" and show-business reality, after 
Elvis Presley's string of hits in 1956, many Americans, myself 
being one of them, referred to many popular singers as "some 
crooner".  Since the 1920s, when Bing Crosby was synonymous 
with the word "crooner", radio programs vied for the prestige 
of featuring the #1 radio crooner.  Arthur Godfrey's television 
format was nothing more than a televised radio program, and 
Julius LaRosa was his "crooner" (in show-business jargon, LaRosa 
was "The Boy Singer"!).  LaRosa could have taken any song from 
the collective repertoires of Al Jolson, Rudy Vallee, Perry Como 
or Eddie Fisher and have sung it with feeling.  However, Julius 
couldn't rock and roll.  In terms of Rock and Roll, LaRosa was 
as antique as Bing Crosby, and as Athur Godfrey's televised radio 
show was eclipsed by Dick Clark's televised dance party, Julius 
was eclipsed by younger, slicker singers like Dion DiMucci and 
Bobby Darin, who could also do what Julius could do and more!  

After hearing Frankie Lymon, Little Richard, and Gene Vincent - 
to a hip little rock 'n' roller like me - LaRosa was strictly 
from "Squares-ville" a.k.a. "Lawrence Welk City!", some crooner 
who represented the utterly bland pop charts prior to "The Rise 
of Rock and Roll", and he was another reason why we sang along 
with Chuck Berry "Hail Hail Rock 'n' Roll/ Deliver me from the 
days of old!" with feeling and conviction.     



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Message: 21
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 15:02:36 -0700 (PDT)
   From: Steve Harvey 
Subject: Re: Out of His Head

Peter Lerner wrote re."Out of his Head", a biography of Phil
Spector :

> The author of that excellent book was of course Spectropop 
> contributor Richard Williams, who can speak for himself, but 
> is now a highly respected sports journalist amongst other 
> things. And it was written as long ago as 1972. Time flies.

> Moderator's note:
> "Out Of His Head" has just been republished by Omnibus.

I just saw the reissue of this book at Border's yesterday. 
New cover and some updated photos included the arrest one.



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Message: 22
   Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 19:35:23 -0400
   From: James Botticelli 
Subject: Re: Exotica; Fantasia; Godfrey Danial; and back to Youm

Country Paul wrote:

> Irwin Chusid showed an early Esquivel movie clip at an 
> outsider music video show in NYC a while back

For those into remixes, the Esquivel remix album is due 
very soon...

JB




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