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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: Swans / Alder Ray
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
2. Re: Mods and The Action
From: Sean
3. Re: Welcome the legendary Artie Butler!
From: Laura Pinto
4. Variations On A Theme Called Hanky Panky
From: Laura Pinto
5. Most Inept Act
From: Bob Wallis
6. Re: Ed & Sam Chalpin, His Father The Pop Singer
From: Mike Rashkow
7. Re: Jaynetts & other sing-a-long flipsides...and Tuff stuff
From: Jules Normington
8. Herman's Hermits In 70s
From: csasml2007
9. Re: You're Gonna Lose That Girl/Help album
From: Steveo
10. What Ever Happened to Lloyd Thaxton
From: Lloyd Thaxton
11. Re: Louie Louie
From: John Fox
12. Re: 4 Seasons drummer-Bill Lavorgna
From: C Ponti
13. Re: Grapefruit
From: Mark Wirtz
14. Past, Present And Future
From: Jules Normington
15. First Gear - "The In Crowd"
From: Tim Viney
16. Re: Welcome the legendary Artie Butler!
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
17. Re: Mistakes in Hit Records
From: John Fox
18. Re: How about brilliant tracks with ONE inept ingredient!
From: Art Longmire
19. Re: Mods & the Action & cover versions
From: Scott Swanson
20. Influence vs. Imitation
From: David
21. Welcome Lloyd Thaxton
From: Guy Lawrence
22. Re: Variations On A Theme Called Hanky Panky
From: Mike Rashkow
23. Re: Scooby-Doo
From: Guy Lawrence
24. Re: How about brilliant tracks with ONE inept ingredient!
From: Steve Grant
25. inept ingredient
From: Andy
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 12:12:43 EST
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
Subject: Re: Swans / Alder Ray
Hey Mick! Thanks for pointing me to Alder Ray's pic... there she
is! BIG hair... big voice!
So those Touch the Wall of Sound CDs are bootlegs? Oy... who knew?
I sure didn't; I inherited them! And I was in error re the Swans;
the CD mentions the Swans' "He's Mine"; I always call that song
"I Love Him" erroneously. Should probably employ brackets: "He's
Mine (I Love Him, I Love Him, I Love Him)" ; )
The CD also has a fold-out mini-poster liner picturing scans of
the labels; Alder Ray's song is mentioned as "A Little Love (Will
Go Away)" on the CD case, but the liner scan shows it correctly:
"A Little Love (Will Go A Long Way)".
And now Mick... can you supply me the Dixie Cups' grandmothers'
middle names? ; )
Thanks for your help!
Jimmy
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:21:56 -0000
From: Sean
Subject: Re: Mods and The Action
JB:
> Since my visit, another two BBC cuts from the earlier
> live set have been discovered, so now there are 10 BBC
> tracks -- apparently soon set for release by a label my
> friend was not able to tell me more about at this stage.
> All a treasure trove for any fan of The Action. If we
> are lucky this stuff will all see release in 2004.
Great news! Please keep us informed. Thanks,
Sean
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modandfreakbeat/
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:28:38 -0000
From: Laura Pinto
Subject: Re: Welcome the legendary Artie Butler!
Mick Patrick wrote:
> Welcome to Spectropop the one and only Artie Butler, Brill
> Building hero de-luxe!
Hello Mr. Butler,
Welcome to the Spectropop group. I first became familiar with you
when you did arranging for Neil Sedaka during the late 70's/early
80's. In fact, I believe you were the conductor at one of his
concerts I attended in Atlantic City circa 1981. Your name is
associated with many of my favorite recordings. I'll be sure to
check out your web site.
Laura
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Message: 4
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:41:51 -0000
From: Laura Pinto
Subject: Variations On A Theme Called Hanky Panky
Hello, fellow Spectropoppers,
In today's Mr. Music column by Jerry Osborne, the single "Variations
on a Theme Called Hanky Panky" by the Definitive Rock Choral is
discussed. Mr. Osborne states that he came across a "newsgroup
posting" (meaning the Spectropop archives) and quotes Mike Rashkow's
recollections, which I found were posted on 10/30/01.
Today's column is not yet archived on Jerry Osborne's site
(http://www.jerryosborne.com/mr.music.htm), but it probably will be
within the next couple of weeks.
It was interesting for me to learn that Ron Dante was involved with
this recording. Now I need to hit eBay to look for a copy!
Mike Rashkow's quote in full:
> ...we cut the tracks in Bell Studio B--can't remember who actually
> wrote the charts, possibly Wisner, possibly Joe Renzetti, possible
> Ron Frangipane--it's probably on the label. Had a top notch group
> of session guys--I know that Jerome Richardson a great jazz man
> was one sax, Herb Lovell was the drummer. I think Joe Macho was
> the bass. It was a bad weather day, the charts were there, but I
> don't think the arranger made it. I had made arrangements for
> Cornell Dupree (later with Aretha) to fly in from Texas where he
> was living at the time because his father was sick. He'd made it
> very late and a guy named Alan Ferguson (???) was the only guitar.
> Eddie Smith, Phil Macy or Harry Yarmark was on the board.
>
> The strings and vocals were done in Bell Studio A about a week
> later. There were a lot of voices used-- John Cymbal, Ron Dante,
> Toni Wine, Ellie Greenwich, Tommy West (Picardo), Terry Cashman,
> Dennis Minogue, and a Puerto Rican girl (she only stayed in NY for
> a few months - I have no idea what her name was). Eddie Smith did
> the overdubs I think.
>
> I remembered that Jimmy Radcliffe did the "James Brown" style vocal
> where the line "I can't stand it, I can't stand this song" was
> sung--My line parodizing James Brown--Ellie never complained.
> Radcliffe passed away several years ago. He was a good writer and
> did a lot of demo work and jingle work.
Laura
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Admin Note:
As a special treat for Laura, "Variations On A Theme Called
Hanky Panky" by the Definitive Rock Chorale (Philips 40529,
1968) has been posted to musica. Just click here to hear it:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/files/musica/
Enjoy!
The S'pop Team
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Message: 5
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:57:02 -0000
From: Bob Wallis
Subject: Most Inept Act
If you were to recall the collective works of Jan and Dean,
I think you'd have to agree they are the most consistantly
off-key singers of all time!!
Listen to "Honolulu Lulu" as an example - ouch!! The only
vocals that consistantly salvaged their songs were those
of their backup group, the Fantastic Baggys (Sloan and Barri).
Even their premiere "Baby Talk" was dismal.
BW
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Message: 6
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:29:15 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: Ed & Sam Chalpin, His Father The Pop Singer
Ed & Sam Chalpin - http://www.spectropop.com/SamChalpin/index.htm
An Addendum:
Not important at all, but one must do what one can to keep the
history complete and accurate.
Going through some old 45's I came across an ATCO 45 EP (A4514)
that contains 4 tracks off the Sam Chalpin LP. It is white label
so don't think it was marketed--likely just a DJ promo though it
doesn't state that.
Addtionally, I think the Chalpin album title was a take-off on the
Mrs. Miller, but also on a very good and very funny LP titled, "My
Son The Folk Singer" by Allan Sherman on Warner Brothers C1962.
A few years later Sherman had a monster hit with Hello Mother-Hello
Father but the LP referenced above is really tremendous--especially
to those of us who are members of the wandering tribes. Sherman,
a comedy writer by trade, wrote great parodies of well known folk
songs and they are killer crisp and precise plays on the originals.
Example: From "Streets Of Miami" (Streets of Laredo), in which he
tells the tale of a disagreement between two partners in the garment
business, this line.... (spelled phonetically as he sung it ) ---
um gung to da Funtenblue, podner it's modner and I'll charge to the
firm sixty dollars a day.
As they say, "maybe you had to be there", but I'll bet there are 50
people reading this that either own or have heard this LP; and
venture that half will now go and find it to listen to it again--
which is what I'm going to do right now.
Di la,
Rashkovksy
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Message: 7
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 06:14:54 +1100
From: Jules Normington
Subject: Re: Jaynetts & other sing-a-long flipsides...and Tuff stuff
Artie Butler asked about Tuff sing-a-long flipsides:
> I would be very interested in knowing what other 7" Tuff records
> you speak of.
Sorry about this as I have to admit missing the original question,
but if it's any help, it was only 7 of the first 9 Tuff 45s (300
series/post-Chess Tuff, that is) that had the "Instrumental Backing
Track" B sides (for some reason the 4th Jaynetts 45 [TUFF-377] "No
Love At All" had a another pretty good song on the B, "Tonight You
Belong To Me"):
TUFF 369 THE JAYNETTS - "SALLY..."
TUFF 370 THE HEARTS - "DEAR ABBY"
TUFF 371 THE JAYNETTS - "KEEP AN EYE ON HER"
TUFF 372 THE POPPIES (comprised Jaynetts members) - "JOHNNY DON'T
CRY"
TUFF 373 THE CLICKETTES (members of the Hearts and Jaynetts) - "I
JUST CAN'T
HELP IT"
TUFF 374 THE JAYNETTS - "Snowman, Snowman Sweet Potato Nose"
TUFF 375 THE CORSAIRS - "Save A Little Monkey"
TUFF 378 THE PATTY CAKES (actually the Jaynetts) - 'I UNDERSTAND
THEM (A LOVE SONG TO THE BEATLES)"
...the experiment lasted a mere year (way longer than it ought to
have) and they dropped the format (by early '64) for the next 30 or
so 45s the label managed...mind you the later output contained some
very fine northern soul killers between '65 and '67....Bobby Treetop
(where'd he get a name like that???), Kendra Spotswood, E. Rodney
Jones, the great Vicki Anderson wandered in for one 45, Little Joe
Romans, Jimmie Raye...jeez, their hit rate for absolute (though-
admittedly-obscure-but-what-the-hell) classics post-Jaynetts would
outdo almost ANY other label...maybe even Motown included....'
course I don't want to step on too many toes with that call...but
HEY!
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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:24:17 -0000
From: csasml2007
Subject: Herman's Hermits In 70s
One of my great curiosity it's about who was lead vocals
in some singles that the Herman's Hermits did in the 70s.
I've got two singles from 70's:
Ginny Go Soflty - Blond Haired, Blue Eyed Boy
I'm In A Lonely Situation - Blond Haired, Blue Eyed Boy
I'm almost sure that Karl Green was the lead vocals in
"Ginny Go Softly"
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Message: 9
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 09:44:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Steveo
Subject: Re: You're Gonna Lose That Girl/Help album
Paul Bryant wrote:
> Okay - interesting -- you give two examples of off-key
> backing singing, My Sweet Lord and You're Gonna Lose
> That Girl. I'll put up my hand and say I honestly never
> heard these as off-key at all! So here's the perfect forum
> to ask the question - what does everyone else think?
Peter Kearns wrote:
> Honestly, I still can't listen to 'You're Gonna Lose That Girl'
> without a shudder. The very first one right at the start is
> the main offender. Actually 'Help' in general has always seemed
> to me to be somewhat of a backward step after the slickness
> compared of 'Beatles For Sale'. Probably the only example of
> this in the Beatles ouvre. Anyone agree??
Peter,
Honestly,(as Carl Wilson used to say all the time) "Your'e
Gonna Lose that Girl" is terribly out of tune vocally when
the track first comes in, but they pull up to it. It's
annoying as "he*l" but much worse on the stereo version.
Beautiful production tho and John's voice is great!!!
Steveo
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Message: 10
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 18:43:11 -0000
From: Lloyd Thaxton
Subject: What Ever Happened to Lloyd Thaxton
Hey, this is great. Thank you Stu Phillips for cluing me in.
Since letting you know I have joined the Spectropop group
I've received some great e-mails. Love it.
Questions I get most:
(1) Are there any tapes of the show
and is there a DVD in the works?
(2) What ever happened to Lloyd Thaxton?
(3) Can you tell us any stories about the
artists you had on your show?
(4) Whatare you doing now?
If you are really interested I'll post an answer.
Don't want to bore anyone. Not my style.
Between 1961 and 1968 The Lloyd Thaxton Show was on for one
hour five days a week, 52 weeks a year. I had a guest on each
day. It's hard to name a 60s act I didn't either introduce or
have on the show. It was a great era to be associated with.
Most recent saddest moment: the passing of Bobby Hatfield of
The Righteous Brothers. I introduced them to TV 40 years ago
and had the honor to introduce them again recently at their
Hollywood Bowl concert to 18 thousand fans. Wow, what a night.
What a great reunion. I was so glad I got to see Bobby again.
I will miss him. However, I know Bill will carry on the tradition.
Most recent HAPPY moment: Hearing from you.
Check my most recent work on http://www.stuffhappens.net
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 14:17:38 EST
From: John Fox
Subject: Re: Louie Louie
previously:
It's a little misleading to say the drummer "lost the beat".
I agree with Mike. The issue with the drumming is that for
all of the vocal verses and choruses, it's probably the
greatest, most powerful drumming ever on any rock song--great
beat, fantastic fills. However, during the guitar solo, for
some reason, the drummer chooses to take a solo as well, rolling
around on the tom-toms and hitting cymbal crashes on odd beats,
and the song comes close to falling apart (plus distracting from
a classic guitar solo). How he ever gets back on beat is beyond
me, and maybe that's why the singer comes in too early!
John Fox
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Message: 12
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 20:20:41 -0000
From: C Ponti
Subject: Re: 4 Seasons drummer-Bill Lavorgna
Paul Bryant wrote:
> Speaking of the 4 Seasons, can anyone tell me who the
> fantastic drummer was on such songs as "Dawn (Go Away)"
> and "Walk Like a Man"? I'd like to celebrate this (to me)
> unknown hero.
I was told it was Bill Lavorgna. He is a was a hero among NY
players and everyone tried to replicate things he did. The
Lovin' Spoonful specifically was much influenced by him and
in the studio it was often asked, "what would Bill Lavorgna
do here"?? His fills on the fade of "Dawn" are insanely wonderful!
C P
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Message: 13
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 15:27:22 -0500
From: Mark Wirtz
Subject: Re: Grapefruit
Mark Frumento:
> Scott is right. The US album lists a track called "Give it
> One More Try". The problem is that the track refered to is
> an instrumental. Though I don't know for a fact (until I
> hear the US version) I believe it is the same track as
> "Theme for Twiggy" from the UK album. It kind of makes
> sense that they would rename the song for the US market.
>
> I'll forward the song to you. It would be interesting to
> find out if it's a backing track that you produced (since
> Melcher takes all the production credits). However, it
> doesn't sound like your work at all.
re: the pretense "One More Try" (now that I have heard it):
THAT track is an insult to Grapefruit's talents, and
even at my "cheesiest", I didn't revel quite THAT deeply
in muzak mediocrity.
Amused,
Mark :)
P.S. THIS was produced by THE Terry Melcher??
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Message: 14
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 07:34:03 +1100
From: Jules Normington
Subject: Past, Present And Future
Artie Butler:
> I really loved working with Shadow Morton.
> He made records that were like mini movies. They had a
> sense of drama. He was great to be in the studio with.
> I would love to work with him again.
Artie...no problems...Mick will get that sorted right away....
PLEEEEEASE!!! May I suggest getting Gemma Hayes, Beth Orton, and
Heather Nova into the studio with these two mavericks immediately!
Or to be hopelessly obscure find Lonny Evans of UK Blondie
soundalikes Spacemaid, and the girls from the Tuesdays ...they were
two of the best modern girl-group sounding artists I've ever heard.
(But that's the subject of another post down the track.)
MICK!!!
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Message: 15
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 20:39:31 +0000
From: Tim Viney
Subject: First Gear - "The In Crowd"
Howard;
> I'd be interested to know which other Motown record they
> recorded for sure! Another interest of mine is 'British
> cover versions'. I have a decent collection of them, but
> still on the search for many more! Has anyone heard or
> have details of First Gears version of Dobie Gray's
> 'The In Crowd?
"The In Crowd" by First Gear is available on the Castle label
2CD "Jimmy Page and his heavy friends" (NEECD 486). The record
was produced by Shel Talmy and Jimmy Page contributed guitar
during his time as a session musician.
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Message: 16
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:11:00 EST
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
Subject: Re: Welcome the legendary Artie Butler!
Yes sir, welcome aboard! Thanks for your posting... and
don't be surprised if any of us ask you if you happen to
know the Shangri-Las' middle names ; )
Jimmy Crescitelli
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Message: 17
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 15:48:04 EST
From: John Fox
Subject: Re: Mistakes in Hit Records
Here are three real mistakes in a top 10, a top 5 and even
a #1 hit:
Whole Lotta Loving/Fats Domino--the piano solo clearly hits
some clinker notes near the end.
Please Please Me/Beatles--On one well-played version, John
and Paul sing different words in harmony on the last verse
(one sings "I know" and one sings "Why do"). They fixed
this on another version.
Sugar Shack/Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs--The keyboard fill
completely misses a note in the third verse.
I'm sure all you minutiae-loving Spectropoppers have many more!
John Fox
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Message: 18
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 21:09:38 -0000
From: Art Longmire
Subject: Re: How about brilliant tracks with ONE inept ingredient!
Billy G. Spradlin wrote:
> Since Im on a 4 Seasons Kick:
> On their 1966 LP cut called "Comin' Up in the World". Frankie
> gets a frog in his throat and his voice goes horse on the line
> "It's YOUUURE Love.." With Bob Crewe's and the Seasons high
> production standards I wonder why it was never fixed (punched-in).
> Or how about the cough in the middle of The Beach Boys "Wendy"?
There's also a cough in James Brown's "Mother Popcorn". But James
can even cough in a funky way!
Art Longmire
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Message: 19
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:12:40 -0800
From: Scott Swanson
Subject: Re: Mods & the Action & cover versions
Howard:
> Has anyone heard or have details of First Gears
> version of Dobie Gray's 'The In Crowd?
The First Gear's version was released in January 1965 --
hot on the heels of Dobie Gray's version. It was produced
by Shel Talmy and has a similar feel to some of the 'mod'
tracks he produced for The Who around this time.
It's more fast-paced than Dobie Gray's version (diminishing
the "soulness" somewhat, I suppose), with male backing vocals
(instead of female), no horns, and lots of guitar (including
some nice-yet-unnecessary fills toward the end courtesy of Jimmy Page).
Hope this helps,
Scott
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Message: 20
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 21:17:45 -0000
From: David
Subject: Influence vs. Imitation
With all of the debate flying around recently regarding
influence and imitation, I thought I'd throw online one
of my favorite, Beach-Boys-stylized-but-still-quite-good
instrumentals. Musica's full, so I put it up at:
http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/bn/villageonthesea.mp3
Tell me which category you think this falls into.
-David
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Message: 21
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 21:32:11 -0000
From: Guy Lawrence
Subject: Welcome Lloyd Thaxton
Welcome to Spectropop Mr. Thaxton! As others have said,
let rip with some anecdotes! Of course, Lloyd was also
a recording artist in his own right releasing three singles.
My vinyl to mp3 set up is out of action at the moment so can
anyone else upload one of them to Musica for our enjoyment?
Guy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TweedleeDumsDrive-In/
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Message: 22
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:43:47 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: Variations On A Theme Called Hanky Panky
Thanks to Laura for her informative post re Jerry Osborne.
I'll be running to find the site in a minute but I also want
to thank the S'pop team for playing the record up to musica.
The arranger was actually Sammy Lowe. At the time that I
wrote the original post I was a full time RV'er traveling
and all my records were in storage so I had no reference.
That's still no excuse for not remembering the man--he did
a great job.
He "got it" right away and he had the capability to do the
whole thing.
Di la,
Rashkovsky
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Message: 23
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 21:52:27 -0000
From: Guy Lawrence
Subject: Re: Scooby-Doo
Bob wrote:
>Who recorded the Scooby-Doo theme song, notable particularly
>for the tune--Austin Roberts did you work at all on this?
>Was it just Hanna-Barbera studio singers--and who penned it?
The Scooby Doo theme was written by David Mook, who worked
mainly in the TV and advertising field but whose name I've
seen on one or two pop records, and Ben Raleigh whose name
will be well known to those Spectropoppers with an eye for
the small print. I'd sure be interested in finding out who
sang on it - I've always thought it sounds exactly like the
1910 Fruitgum Company. David Mook was also involved in the
Banana Splits records alongside such recently mentioned names
as Irwin Levine and Jimmy Radcliffe.
Guy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TweedleeDumsDrive-In/
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Message: 24
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:14:27 -0500
From: Steve Grant
Subject: Re: How about brilliant tracks with ONE inept ingredient!
1) The Rolling Stones, I'm Free. Charlie Watts completely
loses it, briefly.
2) Fairport Convention, Matty Groves. Sandy Denny totally
loses the beat, also briefly.
Not sure these really qualify as "inept ingredients." More
like "major glitches that didn't get edited out".
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Message: 25
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 22:24:33 -0000
From: Andy
Subject: inept ingredient
The one song that really irks me, the very begining of
the 4 seasons "Let's Hang On" ..... it sounds like they
never got the tape machine up to speed when cutting the
master for pressing. is there a version available on
CD that has this opening corrected.
andy
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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