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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: BST: '69 ---> '75 / Beatles & SNL
From: Phil Milstein
2. Emitt Rhodes
From: Kim Cooper
3. Roy Hamilton
From: Peter Richmond
4. Re: My Mistakes
From: Mike Rashkow
5. Re: Sock it to me!
From: Trevor
6. Re: Weirdly grooved records
From: Mike McKay
7. Re: Sergio Mendes comp
From: Michael Coxe
8. Re: Weirdly grooved records
From: Robert R. Radil
9. Songs that quote others / Penn / 10cc
From: Peter Kearns
10. More On Commercial Music
From: Art Longmire
11. musical epochs
From: Bill George
12. Re: My Mistakes
From: Robert R. Radil
13. Re: I Can't Quit Her
From: Robert R. Radil
14. Re: "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"
From: Robert R. Radil
15. Re: Weirdly grooved records
From: Paul Bryant
16. Re: Wyman the Songwriter
From: Rat Pfink
17. Re: Same Song?
From: Paul Bryant
18. Cilla Black vs. Dionne Warwick
From: Paul Bryant
19. Bobby Vee
From: Bob Celli
20. Question for Al Kooper - "Fly Away"
From: Bob Celli
21. Re: Elvis Sun Session tapes
From: Dan Hughes
22. Pearly & the Grass Roots
From: Dan Hughes
23. Mina
From: Michael Edwards
24. Re: Monkees / 6Ts TV songs
From: Javed Jafri
25. Re: Cigarette Jingles
From: Trevor Ley
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 16:30:30 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: BST: '69 ---> '75 / Beatles & SNL
Steve Harvey wrote:
> While watching a bootleg video of Woodstock outtakes I
> was impressed by Fielder's bass playing and BST in
> general. They seemed to be better musicians than more
> of the Woodstock acts and alot more professional.
BST must've fallen quite a ways in just a few years, from the heights
of Woodstock to the time I saw them. In a county-wide radio contest in
1975, my high school (OHS, in Ofay, NJ) won a free BST concert by
supplying the most Milky Way candy wrappers per capita. I imagine our
interest, besides downing all those yummy chocobars, was primarily in
the thrill of the hunt, as only about half the school bothered to turn
out for the show.
Stewart Mason wrote:
> The famous story along these lines is that Neil Innes
> appeared on Saturday Night Live during one of Eric
> Idle's first host slots, in 1975, dressed as the
> white-suit-era John Lennon and singing "Cheese and
> Onions" (which of course later appeared in the Rutles
> film): this performance quickly showed up on several
> bootleg LPs as a lost Lennon outtake!
Another famous story involving SNL and The Beatles had them coming very
damn close to a spontaneous reunion on the live program. According to
the legend (which I believe came from one of the participants himself),
McCartney was visiting Lennon at the Dakota, in their first
reconciliation following the How Do You Sleep travesty. As chance would
have it, that same night Harrison was the musical guest on SNL, probably
on a night that his friend Eric Idle was hosting (Idle and Michael Palin
were both frequent SNL hosts in the show's early years). Lennon and
McCartney settled in to watch. SNL producer Lorne Michaels opened the
show by making an on-air offer to The Beatles to reunite (presumably on
some future episode) on his show -- I think the punchline was that, in
an atmosphere when one impresario had recently offered $1 billion for a
Beatles tour and the Secretary General of the U.N. had pleaded for them
to do a tour to benefit U.N. charities, Michaels's cash offer was for
something like $25,000, maybe even less. At any rate, as McCartney and
Lennon saw this they joked among themselves that it'd be a gas if they
actually turned up then and there and performed (allowing, of course,
for the fact that without Ringo this would've amounted to an incomplete
reunion, but what the hey). After a while -- and I imagine there were
probably a few intokes of a relaxing herb at play -- they actually did
go downstairs, grab a cab and head over to the NBC studio, but by the
time they got there the show was already over.
Caveat: the above story is from my leaky memory, and so a few -- hell,
perhaps even all! -- of the facts might not quite jibe with reality. But
what the hey.
--Phil M.
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 13:56:50 -0800
From: Kim Cooper
Subject: Emitt Rhodes
Austin's comments on the grinding atmopshere at Dunhill while Emitt was
under contract to them were illuminating. Jeez, didn't Jay Lasker's mama
ever read him the one about the goose that lays the golden eggs?
Kim
--
Scram
http://www.scrammagazine.com
Scram #18 out now with Emitt Rhodes, the Ramones, Marty Thau, Smoosh and
more.
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 21:54:24 -0000
From: Peter Richmond
Subject: Roy Hamilton
Paul asked:
> According to the notes on the Elvis Presley 60's box set, the
> (unnamed) song that Elvis gave to Roy Hamilton was written by
> Dickie Lee who was apparently disappointed not to have his song
> recorded by Elvis. In any case, "Angelica" had already been
> recorded and released by many people, including Barry Mann and
> Scott Walker, and didn't need to be given by Elvis to anyone.
> But in that case, what was the title of the Dickie Lee song?
As far as I am aware Paul, Roy Hamilton only recorded two tracks at
the session, both Mann/Weil songs, "Angelica" and "Hang Ups".
All sources I have ever seen indicate that it was "Angelica" that
Elvis gave up so Roy Hamilton would record it, as you rightly stated
it had been recorded by many prior to this, I have somewhere a
version by Oliver produced by Bob Crewe on Crewe records. None of the
three singles that Roy Hamilton had released on AGP Records had a
song written by Dickie Lee.
Bill Reed wrote;
> Also I have kept an eye open for the Roy Hamilton LP produced by
> Moman and also mentioned in these parts the last few days, but have
> never been able to find it. Hard to come by? Rare? Pricey?
Unfortunately as far as I am aware Bill, there was no resulting album
from the Roy Hamilton sessions at Chip Moman's AGP Records, just the
following three singles.
AGP 113 The Dark End Of The Street/100 Years 1969
AGP 116 Angelica/Hang Ups 1969
AGP 125 It's Only Make Believe/100 Years 1969
Peter Richmond.
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:01:25 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: My Mistakes
Previously:
> I dont know how Dante, Austin or Rambeau feels, but when I hear
> my old records, all I hear are the mistakes !!!! Weird, huh ?
That is God's truth.
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 22:03:33 -0000
From: Trevor
Subject: Re: Sock it to me!
Howard:
> A while back I was listening to a radio prog. when they played
> a record from the 50s where the phrase 'Sock It To Me' was used.
> I sure some Spectropoppers will know!
Not sure what the record is, Howard, but if I had to make a stab, I'd
say James Brown or Wilson Pickett.
For those who may not have the recall of us "old f...rts, the phrase
repaeated a bunch in Aretha's "Respect" and was popularized also by
the "Laugh-in" tv series. Lots of fun having a quick video hit of
Nixon saying it.
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:26:16 EST
From: Mike McKay
Subject: Re: Weirdly grooved records
The one I remember reading about, though I've never seen it, was
an LP by The Knickerbockers. It had the word "Sync" in the title
and I believe was tied in with our own Lloyd Thaxton. I'm sure
another S'Popper will supply the full information, if he/she hasn't
done so already.
Mike
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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 14:46:30 -0800
From: Michael Coxe
Subject: Re: Sergio Mendes comp
Phil Milstein asks:
> Can anyone recommend a good Sergio Mendes/Brasil '66
> compilation -- preferably one still in print?
FOUR SIDER, actually a single cd version of the 2-lp
hits collection from the late sixties is a great start,
in print and cheap. 21 songs, though a bit heavy on the
US pop covers. Some reviewer called Mendes the bossa nova
Bacharach - apt!
I see there is now a 2-CD import with 48 songs called
THE VERY BEST OF, which covers a wider timeline (66-71),
but at 3 times the cost of 4-Sider.
michael
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:08:46 -0000
From: Robert R. Radil
Subject: Re: Weirdly grooved records
Tom Taber wrote:
> It would have been a great way to do a 4 song EP. I wonder
> if a CD could in theory be made the same way?
No.
Bob Radil
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:20:15 -0000
From: Peter Kearns
Subject: Songs that quote others / Penn / 10cc
In Michael Penn's 1997 ballad 'I Can Tell' from the album 'Resigned',
after the line "I can tell when I'm without you', the string section
quotes the 16th note lead-in from Nillsson's version of Ham and
Evans' 'Without You'.
And as for 'I'm Mandy Fly Me'; it's gotta be one of the greatest
singles of the 70s. A glorious collage of moods you just don't hear
in the top 40 anymore.
Peter.
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:22:16 -0000
From: Art Longmire
Subject: More On Commercial Music
I mentioned cigarette commercials in an earlier post and wanted to
say thanks for the info on music used the Kent commercials-I can even
remember the animation used in the original ad! Amazing, the memories
that a simple musical theme used in a commercial can bring back.
In the 1960s many commercials had a big influence on me, long before
I got into buying records. One commercial I heard frequently in the
mid-60's was a song used in ads for the Girl Scouts-this had a
delightful, folky melody and was one of my favorite commercial
themes. Quite unexpectedly I came across a copy in the 1980's-it
turned out to be a song called "The Growing Up Tree" and was issued
on a 45 in the mid-60s, on a record label owned by the Girl Scouts.
The lyrics can be found at the link below:
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Glade/8851/s7_78.htm
Another song I remember first hearing in a commercial was
Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" in an ad for some kind of
women's product-shampoo? Anyone remember this? Anyway, it featured a
gorgeous gal with long flowing hair walking through a field-that's
all I can pull up in the old memory banks.
Yet another commercial I saw many times as a kid featured the
song "Let's Hang On" by the Four Seasons-I think this was animated
too, but I'm not sure. I recently researched this on a Four Seasons
website and found out-after more than 30 years-that this commercial
was for Beechnut chewing gum.
It's interesting that young people these days frequently discover
songs that we are familiar with through television commercials. I
know several people who have told me that they discovered Nick Drake
through the "Pink Moon" TV commercials from a few years back.
Art Longmire
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 18:05:30 EST
From: Bill George
Subject: musical epochs
I'm still WAY behind in my reading. It seems like while I'm reading
one digest, three more come in! HELP! Anyway, someone recently wrote:
> the steep decline in singles in the early 70s.
I think this must be relative to when you grew up. I first started
listening to music and buying singles in the early 70s, and it is
one of my favorite periods. Of course, now I think most of the
current hits are horrible, and how can anyone think otherwise. But
my neice and nephew would disagree with me, I'm sure. So for someone
who grew up in the 50s or 60s, probably the 70s weren't as good, and
the 80s worse. But for me, I have very fond musical memories of the
70s. As much as I enjoy music from the 60s and 70s, I will never have
the same associations with it that I do the 70s because I wasn't there.
- Bill
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Message: 12
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:31:20 -0000
From: Robert R. Radil
Subject: Re: My Mistakes
> I dont know how Dante, Austin or Rambeau feels, but when I hear my
> old records, all I hear are the mistakes !!!! Weird, huh ?
Not weird at all. You're hearing it from a totally different, unique
perspective. You were there at the recording.
One thing to keep in mind. Although you may be aware of possible
imperfections that you may desire to go back and fix, if possible,
these are the recordings that the public has grown to be fond of,
regardless of imperfections. To go back and fix recordings, perhaps
for a CD re-issue, might please the creator of the recording, but it
wouldn't be what the public remembers.
One example is "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. The remix on CD is
technically superior to the original LP mix but I prefer the original
because that's what I remember hearing back in 1971.
Bob Radil
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Message: 13
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:40:50 -0000
From: Robert R. Radil
Subject: Re: I Can't Quit Her
Was "Just One Smile" also a single? Was it the follow up or did it
precede "I Can't Quit Her"? Was "I Love You More Than You'll Ever
Know" released as a single?
Bob Radil
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Message: 14
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:48:21 -0000
From: Robert R. Radil
Subject: Re: "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"
I just checked the CD last night. That *had* to be it. I must have
quickly glanced at the label and played the first cut I saw, not
realizing the CD has 2 versions, unlike my copy of the LP.
Bob Radil
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Message: 15
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 15:56:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: Weirdly grooved records
Tom Taber wrote:
> I'm looking for more examples of records that had
> two or more grooves on a side
How about "Jimmie Rodgers' Puzzle Record" released
circa 1932? A 78 rpm single (obviously) with two or
three grooves, just like the somewhat later Monty
Python album. Jimmie was a weird groove pioneer as
well as a country music pioneer.
pb
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Message: 16
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:00:13 -0500
From: Rat Pfink
Subject: Re: Wyman the Songwriter
Steve Harvey wrote:
> While on a Stones kick I've been reading a lot of
> biographies on them. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was born
> with a riff that Wyman was playing on piano when Mick
> and Keef came into the room. It wasn't a case of Bill
> adding a bassline to their music, but them adding
> lyrics and a chord progression to his riff. And yet he
> got no credit. If he had not started with that riff
> there would have been no song.
I you read that in one of Wyman's own books I wouldn't
put too much faith in it. The general concensus is that
his memory of past events doesn't quite jive with reality...
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Message: 17
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 16:01:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Re: Same Song?
Mike McKay wrote:
> There are tons of songs besides "Twist and Shout"
> and "La Bamba" that have the same I-IV-V chord
> progression. Because they do doesn't make them all
> the same song.
I have a theory that Green Onions is the same song
(tune) as Wipe Out, and the latter is DEFINATELY the
same as The Ox (an instrumental on The Who's first
album) and probably the same also as Hanky Panky. Or
the other way round. Anyone tell me I'm wrong?
pb
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Message: 18
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 16:21:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Bryant
Subject: Cilla Black vs. Dionne Warwick
Previously:
> ...there are plenty of others too that made the grade -
> McCartney's brilliant It's For You and Step Inside Love,
> Bacharach's Alfie [a good example of the soft-to-loud-in
> -a-single-bound approach!]
I hesitate to say this, in fact here goes my credibility
right now, but Cilla's version of Alfie is loads better
than Dionne Warwick. It's because she's a worse singer.
This masterpiece of a song is the 60s pop equivalent of a
Shakesperian monologue. The character singing the song is
a not unintelligent but slightly naive young woman trying
to work out some profound, difficult moral problems
(question - which other 1960s pop song fits that
description? Answer - The Shoop Shoop Song!!). Hal David
gets the tone of the lyric absolutely right - "something
even non-believers can believe in" is an inspiration. The
naivete appears right at the end - "when you walk let your
heart lead the way, and you'll find love any day" - yeah,
sure. She kind of knows that's stupid but she wants to go
on believing it anyhow. She wants to be the kind of person
who does believe it even though she knows that by now she
probably isn't. And Cilla absolutely captures this, in a
way that Dionne so absolutely doesn't, with her unaffected
vocal perfectionism. There you go. Next week : why Lulu was
better than Aretha Franklin.
pb
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Message: 19
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 01:23:51 -0000
From: Bob Celli
Subject: Bobby Vee
CP,
I first met Bobby Vee at the Saints and Sinners club in Mayfield
Hts, Ohio in 1973, right around the "Sunny Day" time period. I had
a chance to chat with him before the show and he updated me on what
he had been doing since I lost track of him around 1970. I was
surprised when he told me that he had released "Signs" as a single.
He explained that it was the "B" side of the Five Man Electrical
Band's single and Dallas Smith (who produced both acts at the time)
thought it might be a good song for him to do. Well you know the rest
of the story. The song caught on for Five Man and was a huge hit. He
did go on to tell me that a few of the Five Man Electrical Band
members played on the Sunny Day album, Les Emmerson, Ted Gerow et al,
and a very interesting story involving comedian Steve Martin. There
was a song on the album called "Hayes" which called for a Banjo
player. Steve was friends with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the time
and they asked Bobby to audition Steve for the part. Bob said Steve
was a good player but the song just wasn't suited for his style of
playing so they didn't use him. Steve was much better suited to
comedy as we all soon found out! Btw, Bobby did perform Bucky
Wilkin's "My God And I" and "Hayes" at that show and did a great job
on them. You also mentioned "Every Opportunity". Bobby told me that
the guys from the FMEB did the background vocals on that track and
that he felt they were one of the tightest vocal groups he'd ever used.
Bob
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Message: 20
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 01:27:56 -0000
From: Bob Celli
Subject: Question for Al Kooper - "Fly Away"
Al,
I was wondering if you did the demo on "Fly Away" and if you remember
the circumstances on how Bobby Vee ended up with the song. As I
mentioned in another post, "Fly Away" was one of the highlights of
the "Look At Me Girl" lp and in my opinion showed just how versatile
Bobby Vee was as a recording artict.
Bob Celli
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Message: 21
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:31:41 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Elvis Sun Session tapes
Mike sez (of the Elvis tape):
> ...but there are plenty of artifacts on display at the Rock 'n' Roll
> Hall of Fame (guitars, articles of clothing, etc.) that are well beyond
> any useful life. Nevertheless, they remain intact, as opposed to being
> hacked to pieces for profit.
But Mike, let's look at it from the other side: You speak of the public
being cheated. Not at all! Let's face it, what percentage of Elvis fans
will ever go to Cleveland when they've got Graceland in a much prettier
state? I live just two states away from Cleveland, and I doubt that I'll
ever make the trip.
Well, do the math! If the tape is a standard 7-inch reel, it has 1200
feet of tape. When cut into 2-inch lengths, it will supply 7,200
museums! Now with equal distribution (which admittedly can be tricky),
you have 360 genuine Elvis tape shards for each state in the union! So
nobody would have to drive very far to visit one of them. Doesn't that
make a lot more sense than to keep the whole thing in one place where
nobody wants to go anyway?
Incidentally, news reports said a 2-inch strip will sell for 270 pounds,
which is about $500.00. Okay, 500 bucks times 7,200 two-inch strips
equals somewhat over 3 1/2 million dollars. Certainly even Cleveland
wouldn't have paid that much!
Hacked to pieces for profit? How dare you make that accusation! I mean,
if that was their game wouldn't they have gone for, say, half-inch
strips? Still plenty big enough to see, even from the back of a small
crowd, and they'd make $14 million.
And if they put a 1/8 of an inch square piece of tape on Collectors cards
(like baseball cards with bat slivers) they would make $56 million. I
think this proves profit was not a consideration.
Now if I could just get ahold of Rolf Harris' tanned hide.....
---Dan
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Message: 22
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:40:47 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Pearly & the Grass Roots
Mike sez:
> ... that song [Days of Pearly Spencer] was a hit in New Zealand -
> in 1967. It was done by a local band called the Avengers....
Just to be a completist, it was also on the third (think it was the
third) Grass Roots album, Feelings.
---Dan, who suspects ringers were substituted for the real Grass Roots
after the third album, when they switched from cutting-edge Sloan/Barri
folkrock to poppy fluff....
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Message: 23
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 04:32:44 -0000
From: Michael Edwards
Subject: Mina
Julio writes:
> I think I have (Mina's) Spanish version of "Grande, Grande,
> Grande" somewhere. Personally, I donīt like it very much,
> it is too seventies style for my taste, but I can play it to
> musica if you are interested.
Yes I am
> Now that we are talking again about Mina, let me recommend
> to you a rather forgotten 1966 track by her, "Breve amore",
> composed by the great Piero Piccioni. The original version
> of the song was included in the soundtrack of "Fummo di Londra".
> The version in the film was sung in English by Julie Rogers,
> and titled "You Never Told Me", although, oddly, the version
> included on the record of the original soundtrack of the movie
> released in 1966 didn't include Julie's version but Lydia
> MacDonald's. My favourite version is by far Mina's.
I do not have any of these so please bring them on. You are a
very fortunate man, Julio, to have so many of Mina's recordings.
One other Italian song recorded by Julie Rogers: "Tar And Cement"
on UK Philips in 1968.
One other Italian song not yet mentioned: "Volare" by Bobby Rydell
on Cameo from 1960.
Mike
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Message: 24
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:03:21 -0800
From: Javed Jafri
Subject: Re: Monkees / 6Ts TV songs
previously:
> I agree that "D.W. Washburn" wasn't exactly a high point in The
> Monkees' career, much preferring Davy's crisp little tune, "It's
> Nice To Be With You" that also charted as the B-side. But what
> does 'the Canadian "She Hangs Out"' mean? Did this killer "Pisces,
> Aquarius ..." kickoff chart in Canada? Or am I, like, WAY off?
Clark Besch answered part of your question but let me just add
that She Hangs Out reached # 1 here in Toronto as the B-side to
A Little Bit Me. A great double-sided hit for the Monkees in the
early spring (?) of 1967.
Javed
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Message: 25
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 01:49:59 -0000
From: Trevor Ley
Subject: Re: Cigarette Jingles
previously:
> Anybody remember "A silly millimeter longer" for a cigarette
> called "101"? Apparently, that extra millimeter wasn't enough
> to sell the cigarette, but the jingle was very catchy.
John Fox:
> It should be catchy--it's to the tune of "La Bamba"!
It was Benson & Hedges....still smokin' 'em.
Trevor Ley (koff, koff!)
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