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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 25 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Jan & Dean backup
From: Doug
2. Re: Changed titles
From: Andrew Jones
3. Re: Left Banke's '70s LP
From: JB
4. Re: Jan & Dean backup
From: James Cassidy
5. Re: Bi and gay songs
From: Steve Grant
6. Re: Poor quality pressings
From: Andrew Jones
7. Re: Bi question......Not Jimmy & the Boys
From: Mike McKay
8. Re: Rundgren on Wilson / Carla T. / Shatneresque
From: Phil Milstein
9. Re: Grapefruit; Iveys
From: Eddy
10. Re: Brian Wilson's last greatest song.....
From: Paul Bryant
11. Man In The Bowler Hat
From: Bryan
12. The Misunderstood
From: Rat Pfink
13. Re: worst 45 pressing
From: Billy G. Spradlin
14. Wilson, Wilco, Wayne, Weezer and Ben Folds.
From: Peter Kearns
15. Apple books
From: Bryan
16. Re: Words and melodies
From: Paul Bryant
17. Re: Brian Wilson's influence
From: Billy G. Spradlin
18. What About Jon Hendricks?
From: Chris
19. Brian Wilson/Todd Rundgren
From: Peter Kearns
20. Hello
From: John Sellards
21. Re: Sally Go 'Round The Roses
From: Dan Hughes
22. Shelley Fabares on CD
From: Mick Patrick
23. Re: Jan & Dean backup
From: Doc
24. Melodies Rule - The Words Just "Go On"
From: Rex Strother
25. Re: The Saddest Story Ever Told
From: Billy G. Spradlin
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 03:39:06 -0000
From: Doug
Subject: Re: Jan & Dean backup
Superoldies wrote:
> I've never been able to find info of who the female vocal
> partner is on Jan & Dean's rather strange tune "It's As Easy
> As 1,2,3"...and even stranger than she has never been credited.
> Anyone know?
Jill Gibson, Jan's girlfriend at the time.
Doug
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:14:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Andrew Jones
Subject: Re: Changed titles
Phil Chapman wrote re. Manfred Mann:
> .....didn't they record the original version of "Semi-Detached,
> Suburban Mr James", changed to "...Mr Jones" for the US cover?
Manfred Mann did indeed record an early version of "Semi-Detached ...",
however they changed "Jones" to "James" because original lead singer
Paul Jones had just left the band. (I think - I know that Paul Jones
was the motivation for the title change.)
ACJ (no known relation to Paul)
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 22:08:29 EST
From: JB
Subject: Re: Left Banke's '70s LP
The same Left Banke album was released in the UK on the
Bam Caruso label, perhaps the premier '80s psych-pop
English reissue label.
JB
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:40:10 -0500
From: James Cassidy
Subject: Re: Jan & Dean backup
Superoldies queried:
> I've never been able to find info of who the female vocal
> partner is on Jan & Dean's rather strange tune "It's As Easy
> As 1,2,3"...and even stranger than she has never been credited.
> Anyone know?
I say:
Unless I'm mistaken, it's Jill Gibson, Jan's girlfriend and the
woman who "replaced" Michelle Phillips in the Mamas and the Papas
temporarily.
Jim Cassidy
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:01:30 -0500
From: Steve Grant
Subject: Re: Bi and gay songs
And all the girls in the neighborhood
Try to go out with David Watts
They try their best but can't succeed
For he is of pure and noble breed ....
-- The Kinks, "David Watts"
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:22:28 -0500 (EST)
From: Andrew Jones
Subject: Re: Poor quality pressings
Billy G. Spradlin: Thank you for finally resolving one of the minor
mysteries of my record-collecting life - why Mercury/Smash/Philips
promo 45s always broke so darned easily. When I was a kid, I received
a bunch of old promo 45s from said labels - within a few months, I
had to throw most of them away because they'd either cracked too badly
or just plain broke - and I knew I didn't treat them roughly at all.
Now I know why they didn't last.
ACJ
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:24:44 EST
From: Mike McKay
Subject: Re: Bi question......Not Jimmy & the Boys
Rich wrote:
> Another Aussie song also by Jimmy & the Boys - "I'm not
> like everyone else".
J.D. Doyle replied:
> Well, yes, it is an Aussie song, but it's not a bi or gay song.
As someone besides me has no doubt pointed out, it's in fact a
Kinks song...the B-side to "Sunny Afternoon."
Are the lyrics posted actually what Jimmy and the Boys sing on their
cover version? If so, they really mangled them. In many different
spots they're miles away from what Dave Davies sings on the Kinks'
original.
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:49:56 -0500
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Rundgren on Wilson / Carla T. / Shatneresque
Diane wrote:
> Now, here's my toss on Brian Wilson's influence: How about Todd
> Rundgren? His very melodic songs, his great harmonies, his
> arrangements, with separate "movements". I don't know if Todd has
> ever acknowledged a debt to Brian, but I feel Brian's stamp on Todd's
> writing. Anyone else see this?
Rundgren recorded a version of "Good Vibrations" on the "carbon copies"
side of his 1976 "Faithful" album, in which he demonstrated his skills
at studio mimicry. Also subjected to this treatment were "Happenings Ten
Years Time Ago," "Rain," "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine,"
"If Six Was Nine" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."
from Liz Smith's column:
> 'AND WHILE WE HAVE music on our mind, '60s pop diva Carla Thomas,
> seen to great effect in the hit documentary "Only the Strong
> Survive" (now on DVD), was pleased that 2004 pop diva Macy Gray
> will portray her on NBC's "American Dreams". The two women might
> even team up for some duets later this year. Carla's thrilled but
> has one reservation. "I wish, on the show, that Macy had sang
> something I'd written, like 'Gee Whiz'", she said. "Then, at
> least, I'd get royalties!" '
Carla's daddy didn't raise no dummies!
Roger Smith wrote:
> If Shatner admitted the album was a joke, it wouldn't be quite as
> funny. So whether or not he was serious when recording it, I think
> it's best that he continues to defend it!
Shatner's attempts to come to grips with the camp factor in his work
fascinate me, as they address some very interesting questions of
self-consciousness, in particular of the human defense mechanism which
renders a person incapable of recognizing his own essential silliness.
Shatner is, by now at least, clearly aware that his "singing" style (at
least; many people view his regular acting technique in much the same
way) is seen as the height of camp by a great many people. In fact he's
even been happy to play up that angle when it suits him, yet it strikes
me that he still doesn't understand exactly what it is about his style
that tickle people so.
The series of readings he did of lyrics nominated for Best Song (or Best
Somethingorother) on MTV's Music Awards for several years running a few
years back -- 2I Wanna Sex You Up," "You Could Have Been Mine," et al --
amply reveal this chasm of self-consciousness, in that they
simultaneously achieve much of the strangeness of his original "singing"
style as well as serve as a self-parody thereof. These latter-day
readings don't measure up to his takes on "Lucy In The Sky" and "Mr.
Tambourine Man" (nor of his less well-known yet equally bizarre TV takes
of "Rocket Man," "Taxi" and "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man"), yet
they're still pretty screwy in their own right.
--Phil M.
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 08:56:32 +0100
From: Eddy
Subject: Re: Grapefruit; Iveys
Austin Roberts asked:
> Was it Grapefruit that did "Maybe Tomorrow"?
Austin,
"Maybe Tomorrow" is by The Iveys. The Grapefruit did "Dear Delilah,"
which was their first 45 with Apple Publishing. There was no Apple
label yet. And by the time there was, the relationship with Apple had
soured so much that they went on to other pastures, in spite of the
fact that both John and Paul had been actively involved in their
career.
Eddy
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Message: 10
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:29:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: Brian Wilson's last greatest song.....
Chris Ullman wrote:
> another lost Brian Wilson "LP"/bootleg. The Andy Paley
> Sessions from the mid 1990s features not only 20-25
> Brian songs, but also a set of vocals from Carl, possibly
> the last he ever did. The record company ditched it as it
> sounded "too sixties".
This I do not understand - why would any record label
turn down original material from Brian Wilson? Hasn't
he long since become so revered record executives
would love to issue anything he wants to do?
pb
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Message: 11
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:51:39 -0800
From: Bryan
Subject: Man In The Bowler Hat
Regarding the 'Man In The Bowler Hat' album
by Stackridge, Mark Frumento wrote:
> If/when there's room I'll post a track from 'Man in the Bowler Hat'
> which sadly is out of print now.
Actually, I'm not 100% sure it's out of print --
it was reissued by Edsel in 1996 and Amazon
currently lists it as being available. Try this link:
http://tinyurl.com/ypnkb
Bryan
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Message: 12
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 20:54:25 -0500
From: Rat Pfink
Subject: The Misunderstood
Art Longmire wrote:
> Thanks for the information, I never knew that the Misunderstood
> material was licensed through Apple. I have been trying to get all
> the Misunderstood's English tracks for years without success...
There are two CDs by The Misunderstood currently available:
"Before the Dream Faded" and "The Legendary Goldstar Album/
Golden Glass", both on the Cherry Red label.
RP
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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:18:25 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: worst 45 pressing
I think the worst sounding but one of the greatest early rock
recordings is Gary U.S. Bonds'"Quarter To Three" - I have it on
original 45, on a vinyl LP and Rhino CD and they all sound like
it was recorded with the microphone stuck in a closet or under
a blanket!
> Another Doug Richard brought to my attention years ago was the
> Ides of March "You Wouldn't Listen". I have 1 clean copy and 6
> that look mint and play like crap.
I have the Parrot 45 - mine was scratched up before I bought it,
but I played it a lot until Sundazed re-issued it on their "Ideology"
CD. Strangely, it was recorded at the same studio that the New Colony
6 recorded "I Confess" and my original Centaur 45 has more "punch"
than than any CD reissue.
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Message: 14
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 12:17:14 -0000
From: Peter Kearns
Subject: Wilson, Wilco, Wayne, Weezer and Ben Folds.
Ruby wrote:
> I definitely agree with this comment about Fountains of Wayne.
> Wilco I have a bit more respect for, and can hear an influence of
> Brian Wilson in. What about Weezer?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but are Weezer the guys that did
some quite raw sounding stuff a number of years back, recorded
at home on 8-tracks etc? If so, I was impressed with their
melodic sensibility. I preferred it to their newer stuff.
They kinda conjured up the Ben Folds Five for me. Ben Folds,
now there's a talented guy that writes some great songs. I
hear Beatles and Beach Boys (and Billy) all over his stuff.
I'm not going too far off topic am I??
Peter.
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Message: 15
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:00:20 -0800
From: Bryan
Subject: Apple books
Mark Frumento wrote:
> Though it's old news to some "Those Were the Days" by Stefan
> Granados (who also compiled the CD) is a great book about Apple.
Absolutely wonderful book ...sad stories about Apple, though.
I just received another book about Apple -- "The Longest Cocktail
Party: An Insider's Diary of The Beatles, Their Million-Dollar
'Apple' Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall" by Richard Dilello --
for Christmas. Any opinions on it?
Bryan
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Message: 16
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:31:33 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: Words and melodies
Austin Roberts:
> ........but I stand by my feeling that melody must catch and
> hold the listener's attention in order for most songs to endure
> the memory test.
Rashkovsky replied:
> What about Jobim's "One Note Samba"?
Or "Subterranean Homesick Blues"?
pb
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Message: 17
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:26:36 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: Brian Wilson's influence
Diane wrote:
> Now, here's my toss on Brian Wilson's influence: How about Todd
> Rundgren? His very melodic songs, his great harmonies, his
> arrangements, with separate "movements". I don't know if Todd has
> ever acknowledged a debt to Brian, but I feel Brian's stamp on
> Todd's writing. Anyone else see this?
Todd cut a nice cover of "Good Vibrations" back in 1975-6 on
his "Faithful" album.
Billy
http://listen.to/jangleradio
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Message: 18
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 03:10:44 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: Chris
Subject: What About Jon Hendricks?
Mike Rashkow:
> What about Jobim's "One Note Samba?"
What, indeed? And what about too-little-acknowledged lyricist
Jon Hendricks, who wrote the English words for "One Note Samba"?
Hendricks is, among other things, a masterful lyricist. I fell
in love with the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross "Sing A Song of Basie"
at an early age, and one of the many reasons for loving that album
was -- and is -- Hendricks' verbal gymnastics in those witty words
he wrote for all the "instrumental" parts.
That recent book "Reading Lyrics" (authors: Robert Kimball, Robert
Gottlieb) is very much worth reading -- BUT one of my chief complaints
is the absence of any Hendricks lyrics. Could have used some Dan
Hicks and some Bob Dorough and some Leiber & Stoller, too.
Chris
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Message: 19
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 12:08:31 -0000
From: Peter Kearns
Subject: Brian Wilson/Todd Rundgren
Diane wrote:
> Now, here's my toss on Brian Wilson's influence: How about
> Todd Rundgren? His very melodic songs, his great harmonies,
> his arrangements, with separate "movements". I don't know
> if Todd has ever acknowledged a debt to Brian, but I feel
> Brian's stamp on Todd's writing. Anyone else see this?
Absolutely! Todd's banks of vocal harmonies is pure Beach Boys.
And his 1972 album 'Something Anything' is filled with nugget
after nugget of 60s influenced gems. I really don't understand
why this largely unsung album is sinfully overlooked and not
included on the greatest albums lists.
Peter.
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Message: 20
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 13:25:02 -0000
From: John Sellards
Subject: Hello
I've been lurking here for a while, and just wanted to say
hello to all. I am both a graphic designer (I did the recent
Skeeter Davis CD on Taragon, among many others for them) and
a record hound (a mono collector, by the way) who is really
enjoying the friendly communication and large amount of
knowledge in this group. This is really rather like a big
family reunion for a bunch of people who have never met,
isn't it?
John Sellards
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Message: 21
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 14:06:59 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Sally Go 'Round The Roses
Carl asks:
> Ok, was this the pressing or just bad mastering? "Sally Go Round
> the Roses" by the Jaynetts. Tuff Records was right! How could a
> song that sounded this bad on 45 ever make the top 10?
I remember reading somewhere (Burt Bacharach column perhaps, or maybe
even Walter Winchell, when the song was a hit) that there was an
electronics problem with the audio board that recorded it. A burned-
out capacitor or some such, that gave the song the fuzzy-buzz sound.
Better equipment would probably have kept the song from becoming a hit!
---Dan
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Message: 22
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 20:07:25 -0000
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: Shelley Fabares on CD
Watson Macblue:
> Incidentally, whatever happened to I Know That You'll Be There,
> recorded by Shelley Fabares with The Fantastic Baggys? I've
> been expecting to see it on CD sometime over the last few years,
> but no show. Grumble.
"I Know You'll Be There" by Shelley Fabares IS out on CD. It's
track 26 (of 60) on "Chapel Of Love and other great girl group
gems" (Castle Pulse PBXCD 353) - three CDs for less than 10 of our
British pounds. Find her sitting prettily between Marcie Blane's
"Bobby Did" and "Smart Boy" by Marilyn Britton.
Now can I get back to my chicken korma please.
Hey la,
Mick Patrick
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Message: 23
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:42:33 -0500
From: Doc
Subject: Re: Jan & Dean backup
> I've never been able to find info of who the female vocal
> partner is on Jan & Dean's rather strange tune "It's As Easy
> As 1,2,3"...and even stranger than she has never been credited.
Jill Gibson, who is a photographer who took Mama Michele's
place in the Mamas and Papa's briefly. Also Jan's main
squeeze for many years.
Doc
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Message: 24
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 08:47:18 -0700
From: Rex Strother
Subject: Melodies Rule - The Words Just "Go On"
Rodney Rawlings:
> Those who dispute the dominance of melody often say words and music
> are equally important, and in a sense this is true. Bad lyrics can
> kill the appeal and worth of a good tune (but perhaps not of a great
> tune). But all their reasonings seem based on the premise that the
> relation between the two elements is symmetrical. This is false.
I think in current popular songwriting - it is the melody
that is prominent. Of course, there are exceptions - but
the hooks can keep nonsense or cliche lyrics popular as ever.
If you doubt it - check out the lyric to "My Heart Will Go On"
from TITANIC. Cliche, boring, and outright inept in places
("Love is when I loved you" - what the hell does that mean?
"Distance and spaces between us" - both DISTANCE and SPACES?).
The list goes "on and on" - I'm sure anyone on list could have
done as well with a dictionary page tacked to a dart board.
Here's a song that sailed strictly on Celine Dion's (and Kate
Winslet's) lungs.
Rex
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Message: 25
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 20:02:04 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: The Saddest Story Ever Told
Simon:
> All too technical for me. But what I do know - to my cost - is
> that if you cue up a styrene 45 by winding it backwards it 'burns'
> the record and ruins it. And I didn't know this until I did it on
> a 45 I'd paid £160.00 for. And I don't want to talk about it.
Sad to hear that story! Most turntables at Discos and Radio Stations
have heavy tone arms with worn needles. I stay away from DJ promo
copies of singles on E-bay for that reason.
Billy
http://listen.to/jangleradio
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