Spectropop - Digest Number 1391

• From: Spectropop Group
• Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004

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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: Spector sessionography
           From: Eddy Smit 
      2. Re: Jimmy Olson's Blues
           From: Bill Reed 
      3. Re: new 78 retro turntables
           From: Steve Fuji 
      4. Re: Not Lame releases
           From: David Coyle 
      5. Re: Blue Cat oddity
           From: Austin Powell 
      6. smiley faces sometimes (WMCA good guys sweatshirt)
           From: Tommy 
      7. Re: Downey soft
           From: Al Kooper 
      8. Re: Info on Austin Roberts
           From: Steve Fuji 
      9. Re: Ed Rambeau Shindig appearance #2
           From: Chris A. Schneider 
     10. Re: Horizon - Tribute
           From: Clark Besch 
     11. Re: Shindig: live or Memorex?
           From: Ed Rambeau 
     12. Re: Questions from new Spector bio
           From: Frank 
     13. Re: The Royal T
           From: That Alan Gordon 
     14. Re: surprising originals
           From: Paul Bryant 
     15. Carl Wayne
           From: Jim Shannon 
     16. Witches & The Warlock / Wellington Arrangement
           From: Mark 
     17. Re: SH not HP
           From: Mike McKay 
     18. Re: Sedaka's back-ups
           From: Julio Niño 
     19. Re: b/w c/w
           From: Robin Miller 
     20. Re: The Groops
           From: Frank 
     21. Re: Good & Plenty
           From: Orion 
     22. Re: Four On The Floor
           From: Al Kooper 
     23. Kenny O'Dell to Musica
           From: Clark Besch 
     24. Re: Wellingtons
           From: Mikey 
     25. Re: F&B Bryant Rarities
           From: Steve Harvey 


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Message: 1
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 09:01:58 +0100
   From: Eddy Smit 
Subject: Re: Spector sessionography

Phil M. inquired:
> Anyone know of a Phil Spector sessionography -- I mean 
> of his performing work, either as guitarist, pianist, 
> vocalist, etc.?....Any guidance toward that end would be 
> most Spectorifically welcome!

Phil on maracas on the Rolling Stones: Not Fade Away, Little By Little and 
Play With Fire.

Eddy



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Message: 2
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 20:19:50 -0000
   From: Bill Reed 
Subject: Re: Jimmy Olson's Blues

Mark Hill wrote:
> There must be a different actor/singer also named Jack Larson and this 
> information confusing the two has been incorrect for years. I think that 
> is the case, as the entries at Internet Movie Database are all jumbled up. 

Talk about synchronicity! My flatmate was on the phone with Jack 
Larson at the very minute I was reading the Spectropop query. I 
printed it out, scrawled "This Just In" at the top and shoved it in 
front of flatmate.

And Larson answered him: It turns out that, by choice, Larson had 
only a very limited acting career, and went on to become one of the 
most respected librettists in the world of Modern American Opera. So 
when a Lars somebody came along and wanted to use the name "Jack 
Larson" as an actor, JL no. 1 had no objections.

In retrospect, he regrets his taxonomical generosity. Not only for 
the confusion that ensued and echoes down to today (vide this very 
S'pop query), but also resulted in a few more problems that Mister 
Larson would probably just rather forget.



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Message: 3
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:17:51 -0000
   From: Steve Fuji 
Subject: Re: new 78 retro turntables

Phil Milstein wrote:
> Speaking of 78s and turntables, has anyone had any experience with
> those new 3-speed turntable boxes being sold at Restoration Hardware
> and the like?

Most of these phonographs do not have the correct size stylus for 78rpm
records to play properly. 78s require a 3-mil stylus, stereo LP's use a
.7-mil, and mono LP's use a 1-mil. New turntables with a single stylus
almost always are using the .7-mil stylus.

Steve Fuji



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Message: 4
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 07:45:18 -0800 (PST)
   From: David Coyle 
Subject: Re: Not Lame releases

The British Invasion set advertised via the Not Lame website is actually
two CDs that were released by Varese Vintage last year, "25 Hits Of The 
British Invasion" and "American Roots Of The British Invasion." There is
another box out now called "The British Invasion", which is one of those 
3-CD boxes that have a total of 50 tracks altogether, yet nonetheless 
merited a full-page ad in "Rolling Stone" recently.

"Kind Of A Drag" by the Buckinghams was reissued on CD by Sundazed 
a few years ago, along with all the other Bucks LPs. This is the reissue 
described.

These are not Not Lame products. The site may merchandise them, but 
that's all. Just wanted to clarify that.

David



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Message: 5
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 20:42:55 -0000
   From: Austin Powell 
Subject: Re: Blue Cat oddity

Andrew C. Jones wrote:
> Okay, many of us know Blue Cat as the R&B-oriented sister 
> label of Red Bird. But I have a Blue Cat promo single (BC 105) 
> which contains two "adult-pop" songs, "Real Live Girl" b/w 
> "Deep Down Inside," by British popster Bruce Forsyth. (Each 
> side is "A Pye Records U.K. Recording.") Anyone know how 
> Blue Cat came to release this single? 

Pye Records won the rights to Red Bird and Blue Cat, issuing "Chapel Of 
Love" and the Jelly Beans' single "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" on their Pye 
International label in May '64, before giving Leiber-Stoller-Goldner their 
own identity in the U.K.  When the Red Bird label was launched in the 
U.K., the releases carried the same catalogue number as their U.S. 
counterparts, though in fact very few U.S. Red Birds were issued here. 
When Blue Cat came along, they were issued in the U.K. on Red Bird 
but with a numbering system starting with "BC". Pye would've offered 
Red Bird some of its British productions, though why George Goldner 
would have picked a Bruce Forsyth track is a mystery to me, -- though 
history would suggest Goldner cared little for his boss's feelings, so it 
may have been a "sop" to his British licensee.
 
Austin



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Message: 6
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 15:12:41 -0000
   From: Tommy 
Subject: smiley faces sometimes (WMCA good guys sweatshirt)

Hello 'poppers in the metro NYC area -- WMCA radio played a lot of 
our favorite tunes back then, and gave away those famous good guy 
sweatshirts. I believe these are currently being reproduced by someone. 
Does anyone have an address/phone number/EMA so I can contact 
them? I need that smiling face again.

Thanks,
Tommy



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Message: 7
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 05:34:54 EST
   From: Al Kooper 
Subject: Re: Downey soft

> Downey was also the home to The Carpenters, but that's another story.

And the Blasters!!!!! Phil Alvin & Karen Carpenter used to date in ... 
(just kiddin'!!!)

Al Blooper




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Message: 8
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:40:12 -0000
   From: Steve Fuji 
Subject: Re: Info on Austin Roberts

Austin Roberts wrote:
> Steve, Welcome aboard. It's a great site!
> Arkade was put together by Dunhill producer Steve Barri who 
> wanted to create a group (3) that wrote and sang well together 
> and could write for his other acts too.

Austin,

Thanks for the info. I bought both "Sing Out The Love" and "The 
Morning Of Our Lives" when they came out and I remembered them 
getting a lot of airplay in the Los Angeles area, so I was surprised 
to later find out that they did not make top 40 nationally. They were 
among my favorite singles of that era, even though they were quite 
different from each other stylistically. The liner notes on your album 
on Chelsea that has "Something Wrong With Me" made a reference 
to Arkade and also said that you had been a member of The Buchanan 
Brothers. I didn't know until then who any of the singers of Arkade 
were. 

It is interesting to find out that the writers of "Sing Out The Love" 
also wrote for The Grass Roots, since the song is very similar to many 
of their hits. I wondered if Steve Barri had intended for Arkade to 
be a similar type of act, since The Grass Roots were very successful 
for him and P.F. Sloan. I also recall seeing it performed on TV, 
probably on "Boss City", which was one of the shows produced by 
93/KHJ. Do you recall doing such an appearance?

It is so great to get information about these beloved records from 
the people who made them. I am very impressed with the number of 
successful record industry people on this site. I worked in the record 
industry from the late '70s through the '80s, but never got close to 
anything resembling a hit.

I'm looking forward to future postings from you.

Thanks,
Steve Fuji



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Message: 9
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 07:51:08 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
   From: Chris A. Schneider 
Subject: Re: Ed Rambeau Shindig appearance #2

Ed Rambeau wrote:
> To view my 2nd appearance on the SHINDIG Show from 1965 with
> guest host Hedy Lamarr go to:
> http://66.34.56.217/shindigshow2.wmv

Hedy Lamarr as a guest host on SHINDIG???

'Scuse me while my neo-Viennese senses are still reeling ...

Chris "Call Me Tondelayo" Schneider







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Message: 10
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 15:57:12 -0000
   From: Clark Besch 
Subject: Re: Horizon - Tribute

Artie Wayne wrote:
> Thanks to my friend Allan Rinde, the world [or at least a 
> couple of interested Spectropoppers] can hear the record I 
> produced by Horizon, a "tribute" to the late Brian Jones, 
> which Neil Bogart bought over the phone: 
> http://artiewayne.com/tribute.html 

Artie, the song sounded pretty wild, but it kept dropping out on
me every 3 seconds, so it was impossible to get any idea of what 
was going on, other than someone doing a good job belting out a 
vocal that could have been used in "Jesus Christ: Superstar" and 
a Gregorian Chant backing style.  Is there any way to post this to 
musica?  

Thanks, 
Clark



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Message: 11
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 13:07:35 EST
   From: Ed Rambeau 
Subject: Re: Shindig: live or Memorex?

Country Paul wrote:
> What a treat, Ed; very nice performances. Yeah, you do look 
> young, but you had a very mature delivery. (But oh, that shirt 
> in the second C&C!) My question to you: how much was live 
> (I gather your lead vocals were) and how much was pre-
> recorded -- the track? the background singers?

The vocals were all live. The track was pre-recorded. The background 
singers were on the track. And the shirt is gone forever.  

LOL, Ed. 



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Message: 12
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 18:29:47 +0200
   From: Frank 
Subject: Re: Questions from new Spector bio

Martin of Denmark wrote:
> Can anyone here attest to this piece of info? It is completely new to
> me. As far as I'm concerned all the Checkmates tracks clearly bear
> the Spector touch. The only stuff on there, which to some extent
> differs a bit would be the Hair songs, but still. ...

Don't know about the Checkmates story but anything can happen. Anyway 
I still think this LP is the most underrated LP I know. As for the Dion track 
it's available on the CD edition of Born To Be With You.

Frank



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Message: 13
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 16:14:27 -0700 (MST)
   From: That Alan Gordon 
Subject: Re: The Royal T

C. Ponti, thanks for the kind words about the Magicians. Sundazed 
put out a nice CD several years ago, I think you might like it. As far as
royalties and statements, well this is a family chat room, I could go on
for days talking about "proper" statements. I will leave you with this
one story. When I signed a writer's contract, as part of the deal I was
leased a Cadillac. Years later I would always refer to this car as one
of the rarest, most expensive Cadillacs ever -- I called it my RECOUP
DeVILLE!! I was still paying for it for over 25 years!!!!! 

Best. 
that Alan



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Message: 14
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 04:47:59 -0800 (PST)
   From: Paul Bryant 
Subject: Re: surprising originals

Phil X. Milstein writes:
> I'm working up a list, for an eventual compilation, of "surprising" 
> original versions.

I nominate "Twist & Shout" by the Isley Brothers, it's so feeble! Very 
surprising, when I finally got to hear it.

pb



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Message: 15
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:42:54 -0000
   From: Jim Shannon 
Subject: Carl Wayne

Checked out the Carl Wayne site the other day and noticed a long list of 
artistic achievements over the years, in film, music and theatre. He has 
been touring with his band The Vikings. One of my favorite songs by
The Move was "Blackberry Way". I noticed it was released as a single 
in the UK, but no reference to the U.S. Does anyone know if it was the 
follow-up to "Night of Fear" on Deram?

Jim Shannon



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Message: 16
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:41:52 -0000
   From: Mark 
Subject: Witches & The Warlock / Wellington Arrangement

Does anyone know anything about either of these groups?

Witches & The Warlock: I just discovered one of their singles on the 
Sew City label. Very Supremes sounding. I'm not a big soul fan except 
for the Motowny-sounding stuff, and this song is definitely in that category.
Does anyone know how their other records are?

Wellington Arrangement: Four singles (seven cuts) on Decca in the late 
'60s with great songs and great harmonies. Outstanding sunshine pop.



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Message: 17
   Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 17:36:44 EST
   From: Mike McKay 
Subject: Re: SH not HP

Dan Hughes wrote:
> I seem to remember Hit Parader being heavier on articles and features,
> Song Hits being thinner with not as much extraneous stuff.
 
This is correct. Song Hits was mostly lyrics with a few brief articles thrown 
in. Hit Parader had longer, more in-depth articles.

This is particularly true in the "glory years" of HP (roughly 1965-67), when 
Jim Delahant was the editor. Everyone goes on about "Crawdaddy," but 
the fact is that Hit Parader during those years was absolutely the first mass 
circulation magazine to take rock 'n' roll music seriously and talk about 
something other than band members' favorite colors or what kind of girls 
they liked to date.

I treasure each of my well-worn copies from this era. Absolutely wonderful 
articles about the Lovin' Spoonful, Byrds, Hollies, etc. -- intelligently written, 
great interviews that focused squarely on the music ...

And, just for laughs, there's one HP moment I'll always remember ... so well 
in fact that I can quote it verbatim. When it was announced that Jeff Beck had 
left The Yardbirds and was forming a new group with Rod Stewart as their lead 
singer, HP's "London correspondent" wrote, "All I can say is God help him with 
Stewart aboard ... a real Grade-Z singer"!

I've always wondered if anyone has bothered to remind him of this statement 
over the years!

Mike



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Message: 18
   Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:37:37 -0000
   From: Julio Niño 
Subject: Re: Sedaka's back-ups

Simon White wrote:
> Who were the girls backing Neil Sedaka on his high octane 
> dance drama "Let The People Talk"?

Simon, according to the Bear Family Neil Sedaka´s box set, the 
vocal chorus in "Let The People Talk" were Emily Houston, Delia 
Warrick and Toni Wine.

Chao. 

Julio Niño.





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Message: 19
   Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:20:07 -0000
   From: Robin Miller 
Subject: Re: b/w c/w

Phil X. Milstein wrote:
> I was about to ask if "c/w" is even still in use, but then I 
> remembered that NOTHING having to do with flipsides 
> is, present company excluded, still in use ...

Strangely, some of the old terminology remains common in the UK. Boy-
band Busted (appearing recently on TV chart show Top Of The Pops) 
performed the second track of their no.1 CD-single, and it was introduced 
by the presenter as "the B-side"...!  



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Message: 20
   Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:25:04 +0100
   From: Frank 
Subject: Re: The Groops

On Midnight Cowoby you hear the American Groop. They had a single
"The Jet Song ... When The Weekend's Over", plus an incredible rare LP 
on Bell. They were much softer then the Aussie Groop. Aileen Thomas 
was a member of the US Groop. Haven't heard of The Groop Ltd. before.

Frank




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Message: 21
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:56:46 -0600
   From: Orion 
Subject: Re: Good & Plenty

S.J. Dibai wrote:
> Yesterday I stumbled upon an LP by an enigmatic male-female 
> duo with the ridiculous names of Douglas Good and Ginny Plenty.

I don't know who they are, but I have their LP and it is really pretty good 
stuff. Just kick back, put the LP on the turntable and take a step back in
time. Ahhh yes, grab a box of  "Good N Plenty".

Orion




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Message: 22
   Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 00:40:13 EST
   From: Al Kooper 
Subject: Re: Four On The Floor

Steve Harvey wrote:
> Any chance of hearing Four On The Floor when the 
> Rekooperators play the Dennis Flyer March 13?

Yeah, two: "slim" and "none."

Al "Man of Few Words" Kooper



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Message: 23
   Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 16:39:52 -0000
   From: Clark Besch 
Subject: Kenny O'Dell to Musica

With the talk about the Rose Garden and Kenny O'Dell's writing with 
Austin Roberts, I thought I'd post one of my fave 45s by O'Dell. "No 
Obligations" apparently got "No Respect" when it was released in 
August 1969, perhaps getting lost between Woodstock, "2525" and 
the moon walk. Not surprising, since he'd had several Vegas records 
following up "Beautiful People" and "Springfield Plane" before the 
label imploded into its parent company, White Whale. Despite all 
this, I thought Kenny had a few good songs then, including the Rose 
Garden's hit "Next Plane to London".

"No Obligations" is not all that much different vocally from the John 
Beland song I posted last month. There were so many good writers 
and singers that never got their just dues. Luckily, Spectropop gives 
us the chance to present some of our faves of these to people who 
appreciate the underappreciated.

Now, about Rose Garden's "If My World Falls Through". If memory 
serves me I don't think it was a Kenny O'Dell song, but if I come across
my copy again before someone else posts it, I'll try to post it. Good song. 

Take care, 
Clark



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Message: 24
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 14:57:37 -0500
   From: Mikey 
Subject: Re: Wellingtons

Thanks, Ed, for that great Shindig Info.

A little note for Spectroppers: The Wellingtons were the group that 
recorded the theme to "Gilligans Island". A very good, and very popular,
vocal group, especially for studio work.

Mikey



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Message: 25
   Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 15:42:12 -0800 (PST)
   From: Steve Harvey 
Subject: Re: F&B Bryant Rarities

Frank,

Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, now there's a Bear Family project 
in the making. Check out "Still In Love" ("look at Papa lookin' 
at Mama, they're still in love"). I've got it on a CD by The Wicked 
Picketts. They are like an alt-country band from the NW, I think. 
Great tune, but I don't know who did it originally. They do a 
great instrumental version of "Sukiyaki" ala Duane Eddy, and a 
cover of Yoyo Oh-no's "Walking On Thin Ice". It came out in 
1995 on Rounder. Well worth seeking out.



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