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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 15 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Soundalikes
From: Dave Heasman
2. Patsy Cline
From: Phil Hall
3. Now Hear This
From: Steve Harvey
4. Re: Lloyd Price and Harold Logan
From: Dave Heasman
5. Re: Soundalikes
From: Austin Roberts
6. Re: All This & World War II
From: Phil Milstein
7. Michael Brown, Left Banke, Stories, etc...
From: Doug
8. Re: "uptight"
From: Paul Bryant
9. Jukebox from Hell
From: Phil Milstein
10. Re: US Chart Question, Still Unanswered
From: Paul Bryant
11. Re: Bobby Vee
From: S.J. Dibai
12. Nina Simone question
From: Paul Bryant
13. Re: Orlons as Backup Singers/Cameo-Parkway Sound(s)
From: S.J. Dibai
14. Re: Peter Gallway
From: Phil Milstein
15. Johnny Cymbal,Mr. Bassman question my computer ate
From: Austin Roberts
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:34:52 -0000
From: Dave Heasman
Subject: Re: Soundalikes
Mark T:
> A rule of thumb I've found is that for any act that hits
> it big on the charts, there will be an imitator.
> Monitors (4 Tops)
I have had "The Further You Look The Less You See" by the
Monitors for over 30 years; it's on my jukebox & I play it
a lot. But due to some sort of blind (deaf?) spot I never
realised until now that it owes a lot to the 4 Tops.
Everyday something new.
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:56:30 -0000
From: Phil Hall
Subject: Patsy Cline
This tune may be slightly off-subject, but in the mid-1950's
I had 2 uncles who were country artists with their own weekly
radio show in Huntsville, Alabama. For those who don't remember,
it was a different world back then; a world where Elvis Presley
could just hop off a bus at the end of a tour and walk home.
Anyway, they knew a few lesser Nashville stars and had picked
up a demo 45 by Patsy Cline called "If You Don't Believe I'm
Leaving, Just Count The Days I'm Gone". I'm almost positive it
was on the black Mercury label. I later found out that it was
a cover of an Eddie Marshall tune.
I'd love to get my hands on a copy of it, but the president of
the Patsy Cline Fan Club assures me that Patsy never recorded
such a song, and claimed to have verification from Patsy's
husband as well. I KNOW she recorded the song; it just may not
have been released. One of my uncles also distinctly remembers
the record, although he has no idea what happened to his copy of it.
Does anyone have or remember this song?
Thanks,
Phil Hall
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 10:56:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Now Hear This
Steve Harvey:
> I always heard the line "with lovers, buggers and thieves"
Austin:
> Thought it was 'muggers'.
You say "potato", I say "potahtoe".
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:57:31 -0000
From: Dave Heasman
Subject: Re: Lloyd Price and Harold Logan
Steveo:
> I would like to know how much truth there is in the story that Mr.
> Lloyd Price agreed to share writing royalties with his subsequently
> murdered (1969) business manager Harold Logan. Someone said that Mr.
> Logan really had no part in the co-composing of Lloyd's songs. I
> wonder if anyone has any info on this.
It's certainly stated on the Lloyd Price reissue I have. Price
met Logan in the army and after hearing how Price made nothing
from "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" Logan set up Price's management. Logan
was not a musician at all, so the writing credit must have been
a way to pay his management fees. It's a pretty good one - no hit,
no money, so it must have "incentivised" Logan. And it worked. In
3 years from 1959 Price was rich enough to semi-retire, which is
more than can be said for many many more talented and long-lived
black artists - think of poor Jackie Wilson for example.
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:03:58 EST
From: Austin Roberts
Subject: Re: Soundalikes
Jerry Fuller, the great writer and producer,was also a good
singer and loved Pucket's voice because he could write the
kind of songs that he (Jerry) liked to sing (big ballads),
consequently, many great records, most of which Jerry wrote
and produced.
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:01:07 -0500
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: All This & World War II
Peter Kearns wrote:
> You mean there was actually a movie to go with it? Fascinating.
> Hmmm. Might need to do some research on this.
Michael Weldon's Psychotronic Video Guide has an interesting
listing for "All This And World War II":
"Some people still don't believe that this film was made and
think it's just a two-record boxed set with a booklet and ads
for T-shirts. The film is all old newsreel footage set to Beatles
cover songs. ... Hear Helen Reddy and The Bee Gees sing while
Hitler plans and Nazis march and kill. Amazing."
dir.: Susan Winslow
pr.: Sandy Lieberson, Martin J. Machat
1976
--Phil M.
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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:02:09 -0000
From: Doug
Subject: Michael Brown, Left Banke, Stories, etc...
I've been out of town for a couple of days, so I've been catching
up on my reading here. I've been a Left Banke fan since "Walk Away
Renee" hit the charts, so I wanted to jump in on this discussion.
Most everything I was going to say has been said already, so I'll
offer just a few things. Concerning the Stories, their second album
("About Us") is a great power-pop record. Many fans of that genre
put it the same level (or just below) of Big Star, Badfinger and the
Raspberries. Especially the first pressing that does not include the
fairly hideous "Brother Louie." That was added later, after it
became a hit. Songs like "Darling" and "Hey France" are superb.
All the Stories albums were released in Canada in the early 90's.
Also, a few bits about Harry Lookofsky, Michael Brown's dad. He's
credited on several Reparata & the Delrons records (at least the
World Artists and RCA singles I have) as "Hash Brown and his
Orchestra". The writer's credit to the flip of "Whenever A
Teenager Cries", "He's My Guy" is listed as "H. Brown, S. Jerome, W.
Jerome". If you want to see a picture of Harry, look in the booklet
of your Burt Bacharach box set (you've all got it, right?) on page
84, and see Harry's smiling face and his name listed in the photo
details.
Doug
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 13:56:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: "uptight"
Bill Craig wrote:
> The Byrds tune from early '65 "You Won't Have To Cry" by McGuinn
> and Clark contains the lines:
> "Oh you know it isn't right to put yourself uptight
> By thinkin about the things he's done before"
> Obviously used in the negative sense.
More negatives:
Beach Boys, "I Know there's an Answer" 1966:
They come on like their peaceful
But inside they're so uptight
They trip through the day
And waste all their thoughts at night
Byrds, "Mr Spaceman", 1966:
Must be those strangers that come every night
Those saucer shaped lights put people uptight
Beach Boys again, "Be With Me", 1968:
You're going out tonight
You put your real cool looking clothes on
You're getting uptight
About some little thing I said
Soooooo....looks like Stevie Wonder is the only person
ever to use uptight in its positive sense in a pop
song.
pb
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 17:43:10 -0500
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Jukebox from Hell
Country Paul wrote:
> Certainly in the Top Ten on the Jukebox From Hell. Which could
> start another interesting thread: which songs are on your Jukebox
> From Hell (records you NEVER want to hear again, but no doubt
> will be subjected to)? I'll let others go first, but offer Dionne
> Warwick's treacly "That's What Friends Are For" as a starting point.
Although there are far worse songs, I have a particular weed up
my ass over The Manhattans' "Kiss And Say Goodbye." It was #1 in
NYC for quite a spell during the summer of '76, when I was working
third shift at a Mob-run magazine distributorship in Secaucus, NJ.*
My co-workers were partial to the Top 40 WABC-AM, and, since most
of them were also "connected," I was not about to complain. 'ABC
musta played that song seven times a night, forcing me to endure
the damn thing 35 times a week, week after week after week, until
its greasy harmonies were oozing from my very pores. Even though
those days are long behind, I imagine it won't be for many more
years still until I'm able to listen to "Kiss And Say Goodbye" with
anything near objectivity.
--Phil M.
*where I learned what became of the body of Jimmy Hoffa
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 14:50:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: US Chart Question, Still Unanswered
Dan Hughes wrote:
> Paul, in the "golden age" there were three main music "chart
> creators" in the USA. All the charts were put together by the
> magazines that featured them: Billboard, Cashbox, and Record
> World. If the charts were based solely on sales reports, the
> charts would be identical. They were not; surely someone here
> can explain how each of the magazines determined chart positions.
> Rumor has it that Cashbox was run by the Mafia and that their
> charts were "fixed". When an honest man was brought in to clean
> up the magazine, he was promptly assassinated
More info on the curious world of American pop charts
comes from the introduction to the Billboard Book of
Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (2000). He says that in
1955 Billboard published 3 charts - Best sellers in
stores, Most Played by DJs, and Most Played on
Jukeboxes. The Hot 100 was introduced in August 1958
and this fully integrated the fastest-selling and
most-played records.
Note for American readers - in the UK, because in
the 1950s and for most of the 1960s there was only one
state monopoly broadcaster, the BBC, there was no such
thing as a Most Played on Radio chart, and I believe
there was never a Most Jukebox Plays chart either. So
we only had One True Chart - sales. To a British
person, a number one hit is the song which is selling
the most at any particular moment, and a No 2 is the
second biggest selling song, etc etc. An obvious
point, I would have thought, but now I see more
clearly how complicated the American charts were and
are, a point worth making.
Joel goes on to make an interesting point - he says
that by the 1990s many big radio hits were not being
released as singles, so a Hot 100 Airplay chart was
created which often was very different. In 1998
Billboard combined the radio hits and sales-only Hot
100, so now theoretically I guess a song can get to No
1 in America without having been released as a single
at all!
None of this touches on the question of Adult
Contemporary, R & B or Country charts. Further
research is required!
pb
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 00:17:56 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: Bobby Vee
Country Paul wrote:
> S.J. Dibai, thanks for the "At The Drive-In" review. Uneven
> as it seems, I'd still like to have seen it, just for the
> history value. Gee, I'd always liked Bobby Vee....
Country Paul, good to hear from you, and you're welcome.
Don't get me wrong: I've always liked Bobby Vee, too, and I
own a good deal of his work. I just thought that he didn't
sound good on "At The Drive In". Either his voice just hasn't
held up or he's another artist who tries too hard to sound like
he's still 17 instead of just flowing with the sands of time.
Take Paul Anka--his voice doesn't sound anything like it did in
his teen idol phase, but I saw him on TV a couple of years ago
and he sounded great.
S.J. Dibai
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Message: 12
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:24:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Nina Simone question
Dear Spoppers
I have a question about a Nina Simone song which is a
million miles away from the kind of thing usually
discussed here, but it was recorded in the 60s, so
that's my excuse. It's quite famous & it's called
"Four Women" (she wrote it herself and it's really
great!) The song sketches out various stereotypes of
black women. Verse one goes "My arms are long/ my back
is strong/ strong enough to take the pain/ inflicted
again and again/ what do they call me? My name is Aunt
Sarah". Verse two concerns a mixed race woman, and her
name is Siffronia. Verse three is about a hooker
(Who's little girl am I? Well, yours if you have money
to buy) and her name is Sweet Thing. Then comes the
politically aware woman of the last verse - "My skin
is brown/My manner is tough/I'll kill the first mother
I see/Cos my life has been rough/I'm awfully bitter
these days/Cause my parents were slaves"
and for the very last line Nine screams out "what do
they call me? My name is PEACHES!!!"
So - what's the significance of the name Peaches??
To my (British) ears it sounds very strange, but I
kind of think I'm missing something Americans would
understand straight away...
pb
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Message: 13
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 00:27:38 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: Orlons as Backup Singers/Cameo-Parkway Sound(s)
Stuffed Animal wrote:
> I was fortunate to interview Kal Mann a few years before he
> died.
Great! Do you have a transcript of that interview on a website
or in a publication where I can read it?
> The Orlons were definitely in
> the background on Chubby's single "Dancin' Party", along with
> Dee Dee Sharp and The Dreamlovers.
That would explain the roll call Chubby did at the end of that
record:
Chubby: Is Dee Dee here?
Crowd: YEAH!
Chubby: Are The Orlons here?
Crowd: YEAH!
Chubby: Are The Dreamlovers here?
Crowd: YEAH!!!
But something has perplexed me for years: the first question
that Chubby asks is "Is Wendell Smith here?" to which the crowd
responds, "YEAH!" But who exaclty is this Wendell Smith fellow?
I used to think that he was an obscure Cameo-Parkway recording
artist, but I haven't seen his name in any C-P discography.
> This is according to Kal;
> he said it was "like one big, happy family".
I have noticed that from 1959 to early 1964, Cameo-Parkway's records
had an identifiable sound. It's similar to Motown in the mid-to-
late '60s. Same musicians, same songwriters, same producers, same
singers on a lot of the records. It is both sad and fascinating how
all of that came tumbling down in '64 and the label spent its last
few years with no identity whatsoever, taking a chance on anything
that might give them a hit.
S.J. Dibai
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Message: 14
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:42:08 -0500
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Peter Gallway
Dave Heasman wrote:
> Ah, Peter Gallway. Made 3 good records as "Fifth Avenue Band",
> "Ohio Knox" and himself.
> Had big teeth. What happened to him I wonder.
He's still recording, and, as the saying goes, is "big in Japan."
Gallway plays a tangential role in my article on "Emily's Illness,"
which'll launch on S'pop in '04. The article will include a photo of
The Strangers, although I'm not sure it quite reveals the dimensions
of Gallway's choppers.
--Phil M.
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Message: 15
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:17:41 EST
From: Austin Roberts
Subject: Johnny Cymbal,Mr. Bassman question my computer ate
I apologise to whoever was asking about whether Johnny Cymbal
was as bright and happy as he seemed in Mr. Bassman.
Johnny, though a very gifted and complex man, was also the
funniest human being I've ever met. In the eulogy I delivered
at his funeral in the early 90s, I likened him to a gunfighter
that couldn't be beaten, with Johnny's gun being his quick wit.
He was truly the best friend I've ever had in the music business.
Best,
Austin Roberts
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