________________________________________________________________________
SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
________________________________________________________________________
There are 20 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Latest Four Seasons Fanzine
From: Ken Charmer
2. Re: Murray the K
From: Paul Levinson
3. Re: Val McKenna
From: Peter Lerner
4. Re: Pied Piper/Changin' Times
From: David Coyle
5. Re: Nashville Combos of the '50s-'70s
From: Austin Roberts
6. Speaking of hippies - Robin McNamara!
From: Laura Pinto
7. A Thumbs-up for Al Gorgoni
From: Paul Evans
8. Re: Back to Mono
From: Bob Celli
9. Re: Barney Kessel, R.I.P.
From: Gary Myers
10. Re: Four Freshmen
From: Gary Myers
11. "Tu Seras Mi Baby" in Musica.
From: Julio Niño
12. Barney Kessel now playing in musica
From: David A. Young
13. Re: Barney Kessel, R.I.P.
From: Bill Reed
14. Back to Mono / Hippies, etc
From: Dave O'Gara
15. Re: Nashville Combos of the '50s-'70s
From: Gary Myers
16. Re: Hollies -- mono vs. stereo
From: Billy G. Spradlin
17. Bobby Vee Session Photo with Barney Kessel et al
From: Bob Celli
18. Re: Barney Kessel
From: Gary Myers
19. Lawn Guyland; Bobby Vinton on Diamond; Song Hits and Mike Clifford
From: Country Paul
20. Ambrose; Jeff Starr and WNRI; obscure girl groups; Chuck Foote?; Terry & The Tunisians; Eight Feet; Tex & The Chex
From: Country Paul
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 09:50:26 +0100
From: Ken Charmer
Subject: Latest Four Seasons Fanzine
Hi everyone,
The Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons UK Historical Group have just
published their latest free Newsletter (No 41) for Spring 2004 on
the website http://www.btinternet.com/~seasonally/ Enter via the
download ticket. Lots of old articles and historical comment. Please
note this web site 'may' close by the end of June due to relocation
of the web editor to Spain. We will however reinstate the site as soon
as possible.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 17:32:35 -0000
From: Paul Levinson
Subject: Re: Murray the K
Clark Besch wrote:
> He also successfully meshed the NYC Brill building/Spector pre-
> Beatles with the Beatles and post-Beatles era, which was not easy
> to do.
I think Murray's development of "attitude" sets and segues, first on
WOR-FM in the mid-60s, and then during his brief return on WNBC-AM in
the early 70s, may have been among his most original contributions to
radio. Rather then playing songs in a random order, or mixing fast
and slow music, or even playing a set all by the same group (as other
FM stations did), Murray liked blocks of music that were thematically
related. For example, when I worked with Murray at WNBC, I put
together a 45-minute "Law and Order" set (of course, years before the
TV show), which included "I Fought the Law," "Take a Message to Mary,"
"Gotta Get a Message to You," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," etc.
In effect, what these sets did is transform the radio station into an
art form and the dj into an artist, in which "colors" were the songs,
blended in particular ways. (I wrote about this a little later in one
of my first scholarly articles, "Toy, Mirror, and Art: The
Metamorphosis of Technological Culture," 1977. Top-40 rock 'n' roll
radio was a mirror of music; Murray's segues were an art.)
All best,
Paul
www.sff.net/people/paullevinson
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 21:13:01 +0100
From: Peter Lerner
Subject: Re: Val McKenna
astro4004 wrote in response to news of a Barbara Ruskin website:
> If only Val McKenna had some web-savvy family members to do the
> same for her.
Well I know of no website for Val, but I did sight in her in the
performing band of lovely Scottish chanteuse Barbara Dickson a few
years ago. Yes, the same Val playing, I recall, bass guitar.
Peter
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 13:36:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: Pied Piper/Changin' Times
Yes, Kornfeld and Duboff were the Changin' Times, and their version
of "Pied Piper" is the original. Much more garage folk/rock than
what St. Peters did with it.
David
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 18:31:51 EDT
From: Austin Roberts
Subject: Re: Nashville Combos of the '50s-'70s
Nick Archer:
> There's a great web site that I stumbled upon - Nashville Combos
> of the 50s-70s, at http://nashlinks.com/sixties.htm Chip Curley,
> a combo member, put up the site. Many pictures, and don't miss the
> bands' business cards at the bottom. I especially like "The
> Ministers Of Sound- Specialists In The Field Of Music".
Hi Nick,
The first pop combo from Nashville (around 1957 I think) was the
Casuals (featuring Buzz Cason, who sang the hit Look For A Star as
Gary Miles). The Casuals became Brenda Lee's backup band. Incidently,
Buzz just had a book released called Living The Rock And Roll Dream.
Austin Roberts
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 14:07:55 -0000
From: Laura Pinto
Subject: Speaking of hippies - Robin McNamara!
Hi S'poppers,
I can't get over the timing of S.J.'s post about hippies. Just last
night, I finally got the long-awaited interview with Robin McNamara
(the "ol' hippie" himself!) up on my site, Oldies Connection. Robin
is the real deal, and if anyone can answer questions about the hippie
movement, he can. In fact, he does, as you can see by accessing this
page:
http://lpintop.tripod.com/oldiesconnection/id49.html
Robin is best known as the singer of the 1970 Top Twenty hit "Lay a
Little Lovin' On Me," but some people who only know him from this
tune are unaware that he was also in the Broadway production of "Hair"
from 1968 to 1971.
The article is accompanied by new photos of Robin, taken by yours
truly. Robin is still very active in the music business, as you'll
read in the interview.
Enjoy,
Laura
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 15:24:19 -0000
From: Paul Evans
Subject: A Thumbs-up for Al Gorgoni
Art,
A thumbs-up for Al ..................
Along with Charlie Macey, Al Gorgoni was one of the first guitarists
that I ever worked with in the New York studios. Not only has he
always been a terrific picker, he's always had a great studio
attitude and was always fun to have on a session.
Paul Evans
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 17:01:25 -0000
From: Bob Celli
Subject: Re: Back to Mono
I've been sitting back and reading all the posts in regards to the
stereo-mono controversy. I agree that mixing has everything to do
with how good a song sounds in the end. The idea that some things
sound better in mono on record may be true but I would venture to
say that the only reason for that is that the stereo mix (if
available) was poorly done. In reality when I go to a "live"
performance by a solo artist or a group, that performance is in
stereo, is it not? If you closed your eyes, you would certainly
hear music and vocals coming from different sources thus creating
a panorama of sound. When I listen to my recordings at home whether
through speakers or headphones, a soundstage is created to hopefully
duplicate that "live" performance. The Mamas & Papas vocals that
have been discussed here recently, should not have been mixed as
they were, because they would not sound realistic. They certainly
would not sound like that if you were sitting in the concert hall
during one of their shows. I recall buying a Gary Lewis hits package
on Liberty in the mid sixties and being dismayed at how poorly mixed
it was. I was used to the early sixties Liberty recordings by Bobby
Vee, Gene McDaniels, Johnny Burnette, et al mixed by Eddie Brackett
and Jim Economides. They were great sounding records and really
created an illusion of being "in the studio". For a short period in
the mid sixties it seemed like the engineers didn't know what to do
with all the extra tracks they had access to and hence a lot of
poorly mixed music showed up!
Bob Celli
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 10:01:17 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Barney Kessel, R.I.P.
> Barney Kessel, 80, a Guitarist With Legends of Jazz, Dies
I had the opportunity to see Kessel on an off-night gig he did
at PJ's in Hollywood around '65 - '66. Besides the great playing,
he was also funny. He told a joke for which I don't remember the
punch line, but which included a line about a guy walking along
"whistling 'Little Brown Jug' and other PD tunes."
gem
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 10:21:41 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Four Freshmen
Previously:
> Did you ever hear any of the stuff that the 4 Freshmen did on
> Liberty in the late 60's? LP's included "Memphis", "Everyday
> People", "It's Not Unusual", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", etc.
> One LP was arranged by Mike Melvoin, IIRC.
Brian Chidester:
> Are you saying that you like those records?
Sure! I love hearing stuff like that done in ways that you wouldn't
expect, and I love hearing artists do songs - in their own style -
that you wouldn't expect them to do.
> ... most jazz afficianados find the Liberty Four Freshmen records
> to be the nadir of the group's recorded work.
Maybe some of those afficiandos need to loosen up a bit. I've
always been jazz-oriented (I began playing in pre-r'n'r days), and
I guess I like more jazz than the average pop/rock fan/musician,
but more pop/rock than the average jazz fan/musician.
Here's another example that might polarize some of those on either
side: the Lloyd Price version of "Misty".
gem
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 19:14:58 -0000
From: Julio Niño
Subject: "Tu Seras Mi Baby" in Musica.
Hola Everybody.
I have played in musica "Tu Seras Mi Baby" by Tony Jackson and The
Showmen (an alias for the Spanish singer Micky backed by the Spanish
instrumental combo Los Relampagos). The song is an extremely rare
Spanish version of "Be My Baby". I don't know why but I like the track
very much. It was released in 1964 in an EP issued by the Spanish
Brandy Fundador, as a publicity item. Fundador was a very rude liquor,
and according to its publicity slogan was, "Cosa de Hombres" (a man's
thing). The slogan must have came from the feverish mind of a gay
publicity creator.
Chao.
Julio Niño.
PS: I love the sumptuous "You Can't Lose Something You Never Had",
played in musica by Simon.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 12
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 00:22:22 -0000
From: David A. Young
Subject: Barney Kessel now playing in musica
Hi, gang,
It's become something of a Spectropop tradition to honor recently
deceased luminaries of interest to the group by sharing a bit of
their musical legacies in our listening lounge. Though sad to say
farewell to Mr Kessel, I'm happy for the occasion to spin the two
sides of his 1963 Reprise single 'Diamonds'/'TV Commercials' for
your pleasure. (Anyone know whether this was his only pop release?
Though he played many pop sessions, his renown as a solo artist is,
of course, as a jazz musician.)
The A-side seems to bridge the gap between the Jack Nitzsche and
Duane Eddy releases of the period, while the flip features Darlene
and The Blossoms (it doesn't say that anywhere, but it's obvious) on
a cute novelty, especially fun given that Barney was working as a
session man on many TV commercials at that point.
Aw, play it, Barney!
David
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 13
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 04:58:59 -0000
From: Bill Reed
Subject: Re: Barney Kessel, R.I.P.
Dave Thompson's Phil Spector bio "Wall of Pain" quotes a 1956 Letter
to the the Editor of Down Beat mag from teenage Phil that was printed
in its 11/14 issue, which reads in part:
"Just finished reading your article. . .'Garrulous Sal'. . .and am a
little disappointed that, when naming his favorite guitarists,
Salvador left out the name of Barney Kessel, who in my opinion holds
the title of greatest guitarist.
"Salvador mentioned Howard Roberts, a very fine jazz guitarist from
the West Coast, and also mentioned the state of California, where
Kessel is most well-known. Yet he failed to say a word about the man
whose style of guitar is copied so much, but never equalled, and is a
favorite of jazz fans everywhere.
"This I cannot understand. Maybe you could ask Salvador, who I think
is also a fine guitarist, just why Kessel does not rate. Sure wish
you could ease my pain and have a story about Barney in one of your
future issues"
Phil Spector
At the time, Spector was an unconstructed jazzbo, with his visionary
Wall of Sound barely a gleam in his eye. The Down Beat letter led to
a meeting between Spector, still a student at LA's Fairfax High, and
Kessel. The latter would become, only a few years later, a key player
of PS's studio "Wrecking Crew."
Bill Reed
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 14
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 21:00:20 -0000
From: Dave O'Gara
Subject: Back to Mono / Hippies, etc
Catching up on a few earlier posts..As a former AM radio DJ on an
Oldies station, it used to kill me when people said they would only
listen to the FM stations playing oldies so they could hear the songs
in stereo. I always countered with the argument that in all
probability they came to know and love the songs in mono on AM
radio. Now that I play these songs on a great sounding FM station, I
have to say that I also enjoy the stereo sound. But I do agree with
many earlier posts that bad stereo mixes serve no good purpose...
Ed S. mentioned Dick Bartley. I was listening to American Gold this
weekend and heard Dick play the Beach Boys "Help Me Rhonda", the one
with the instrumental lead-in. I have a version that starts with a
cold vocal open on one of my vinyl Beach Boys Lps and it got me to
wondering which version was original. The one Bartley played today
seems to have a more pronounced lead guitar throughout compared to my
version. Anyone know which version was the one that hit #1 back
in '65?
And finally, SJ made mention of hippies in Philly back in the early
60's..don't know the answer to his particular question but I do know
that Dobie Gillis was NOT the hippie on the old show. The hippie was
Maynard G. Krebbs, as portrayed by Bob "Gilligan" Denver. And one bit
of Maynard G. Krebbs trivia: In one episode, Dobie asked Maynard what
the G. stood for, and Krebbs answered, "Walter." Now that's a hippie
answer!
Dave 0'
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 15
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 15:36:02 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Nashville Combos of the '50s-'70s
Austin Roberts:
> The first pop combo from Nashville (around 1957 I think) was
> the Casuals...
Austin, How far back to you go in Nashville? I'm trying to find
a Maurice White (aka Marty Wyte, and no connection to the EWF guy)
who recorded there from about '58 - '61. I visited that website
http://nashlinks.com/sixties.htm and I've sent the same question
to them.
Gary Myers / MusicGem
http://home.earthlink.net/~gem777/
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 16
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 08:13:52 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: Hollies -- mono vs. stereo
> The Hollies are one of my all-time favorite groups as well, but
> this situation was NOT redressed on the 3-CD 30th Anniversary set.
> For this comp, the early stuff was mixed into true stereo, but just
> as with The Mamas & Papas, they spread the vocals all across the
> stereo spectrum instead of massing them.
I have that 30th anniversary CD, and I thought the remixes of many
songs missed the mark many times. I didnt like the way the vocals
were spread out and sometimes they were louder or softer than the
original mix. Ron Furmanek also decided to remove all the reverb and
compresion that was on the original recordings and remix everything
"clean" like a modern digital recording. Most of the remixes had
cleaner sonic range but no punch! I read somewhere on the web the
Hollies themselves were never happy with the remixes so they never
included them on later reissues.
My only guess why there is such a wide varience in Hollies stereo
mixes is because most EMI stereo mixes were done by a group of staff
engineer, usually without the supervision of the groups producer or
the artist. The Hollies didnt have the luxury of time like the
Beatles did in the studio and many sessions were rush jobs.
I wish EMI's backing tracks would have been recorded live on two
channels and the lead vocal/solo/backing vocals recorded on the other
two and mixed in the center. Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Ditty Ditty" is a
good example of this kind of mix.
Billy
http://listen.to/jangleradio
(all stations in MONO, I'm not a stereo-only snob!)
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 17
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 10:33:38 -0000
From: Bob Celli
Subject: Bobby Vee Session Photo with Barney Kessel et al
I've posted a photo taken at United Studios circa 1961 at a Bobby Vee
recording session. People in the photo are from left to right, Jim
Economides, Snuff Garrett (kneeling) Arnold Mills (Bobby's manager),
Bobby Vee, Ernie Freeman, Tommy Allsup, Barney Kessel and Red
Callendar (standing with Bass) Just out of the photo on the right next
to Kessel was Howard Roberts.
Bob Celli
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 18
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 10:46:23 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Barney Kessel
David A. Young on Barney Kessel:
> Though he played many pop sessions, his renown as a solo artist
> is, of course, as a jazz musician.
He is also the co-writer of Rick Nelson's "You're My One And Only Love."
gem
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 19
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 01:28:34 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Lawn Guyland; Bobby Vinton on Diamond; Song Hits and Mike Clifford
Larry Lapka on Long Island mentions:
> The Vagrants, The Rascals (via New Jersey), Mountain, Vanilla
> Fudge, Stray Cats, Twisted Sister, Taylor Dane....
Also The Illusion and The Good Rats. In the heart of our era, wasn't Marcie
Blane (Marcia Blank) from Long Island as well? And cheers to TD Bell for
mentioning the Aquatones. But Al Kooper suggests including Queens; perhaps
not - they have a different inferiority complex all their own! :-)
S. J. Dubai:
> I recall reading Bobby Vinton's recollections of the [Mr. Lonely]
> --how Epic didn't believe in him as a singer and they considered
> Greco to be a "real" singer, so they released it by Greco and kept
> Vinton's record in the can for a while.
Right around the time it hit, Vinton had another hit on Diamond, "I Love You
The Way You Are." Apparently a master purchase, it was released to cover the
big one on Epic. They didn't even have a flip side on Vinton, so they put
something miscellaneous there!
Phil M:
> Some weeks back I attempted to load scans of some articles from the
> Feb. 1962 issue of "Song Hits" magazine to the Photos page of our
> Yahoo site.... I've posted it to my own site, at
> http://www.aspma.com/temp/SongHits; there you'll find articles about
> and photos of The Paris Sisters, The Tokens, Jerry Butler, Dick &
> Dee Dee, Ann-Margret..., The Marcels, Donnie Brooks, Patsy Cline,
> Gene Krupa and Mike Clifford.
What a treat, Phil - thanks a for all the extra effort! TI thought the Mike
Clifford article was sort of odd; hadn't he already had his biggest hits on
UA in '60 and '61: "Close To Cathy," "What To Do With Laurie" and "Danny's
Dream"? The latter two were even more beautiful that "Close." There was also
another very pretty track, "One By One The Roses Died," which was originally
an Italian hit, if I'm not mistaken. The guy had a very flat voice (he hit
the notes, but had no vibrato), but, at least on UA, he had great material.
Bit parts:
Hugo M., re: phantom girl groups:
> Adorables -- several nice 45s on Golden World. Also sassy black girls.
"Be" (on Golden World) smokes! It think it was even a low-charter.
Mac Joseph, no info on Billy Abbott & The Jewels' "Groovy Baby," but thanks
for dropping the name of one of my favorite lower-chart hits on Parkway!
Country Paul
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 20
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 00:30:19 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Ambrose; Jeff Starr and WNRI; obscure girl groups; Chuck Foote?; Terry & The Tunisians; Eight Feet; Tex & The Chex
Dave O'Gara:
> Were there really five versions of Ambrose?
No - "part 5" was a put-on. The one version is the one you know. The piano
jazz trio backing the recitation is a nifty little song in its own right.
Does anyone know if the jazz track was ever released without the vocal?
> In the late sixties a fairly well-known Massachusetts DJ named
> Jeff Starr played a taped version (always late at night) with
> "his" commentary edited in after Linda's lines. It was a highlight
> of his show....
Was that the same Jeff Starr who worked at WNRI, Woonsocket, RI in the early
60's? He had a '49 Ford (I think it was) painted black with a star in a
circle on the door, which he called the Starrmobile; he took to record hops
and the like. There was another jock on that station - Quincy Jay - who was
really talented, and unusual in that his "hook" was talking very quietly
while other top 40 personalities in the area were screamers or closer to it.
Assuming we're tapping the same pipeline here, do you know what happened to
Quince?
Haven't seen two of my favorite obscure girl groups mentioned yet:
Iridescents, "Three Coins In A Fountain" (Hudson, early '60's) - fine
doo-wop version from New York (femal leader, not sure about the group)
Cheer Leaders, "That's The Way With Love" (Encore 1402, 1962) - very sweet
and soft; Gary Paxton involvement
And a couple of off-the-wall ones to add to the list:
Velveteens, "Please Holy Father" (Stark) - two versions of this; the first
was almost Shaggsian in its awkwardness and innocence, not to mentionits
fidelity - it was rumored to have been cut in a church basement in
Springfield, Mass. The second, also on Stark, as I remember, was slicker,
better recorded, and "corrected" some awkward chord progressions from the
first version, but wasn't as much fun.
Cal Raye & The SweeTeens, "Lovely Lies" (1962-63)- four versions exist,
three on a local label whose name I forget; the first, with a spoken intro
(with a HEAVY Providence accent) was a hit in their hometown, Providence,
RI. Two more followed without the intro, and a slicker solo version came out
on Hollywood (I think - pressed on purple vinyl). Cal was a guy; the backing
was all female.
Frank, re: girl-group B-sides:
> The Chantels - I'm The Girl (with that "Junior Prom Of The
> Dead" groove that I love so much)
Almost everything they recorded on End has that wonderful slow pounding 6/8
groove. Apparently it was writer/manager Richard Barrett or sometimes Dave
"Baby" Cortez (Dave Clowney) playing the keyboards. By the way, Richard
Barrett wrote the beautiful "Summer's Love" backed by The Chantels on Gone
5060 (flip: "All Is Forgiven"). There is also an exceptional cover by Tony
Rice (Princeton 101, 1962) which is well worth checking out, and Barrett
also re-recorded (1963?) it on Crackerjack, dist. by Sue, which I also
remember as being really good.
Mike Rashkow, re: Fuzzy Bunnies (awhile back):
> Foote (aka Chuck Alden) was guitar and vocals
Was this the same person as Chuck Foote who recorded the beautiful "Running
Out Of Kisses" on Soncraft in the early 60's? If so, do you - or anyone -
have any info on it? It's one of my all-time faves!
Gary Myers, thanks for the Bernie Schwartz info.
Fred Clemens, re: Phil M.'s obscure girl groups:
> The only one I can identify is the Terry and the Tunisians
> record,"Tom Tom". If I'm correct, it's on the Seville label,
> and the other side is called "The Street" (THAT'S the side I
> like it for!!!)
Me too - it rawks! Anyone know: Did they ever do anything else? And was that
doo-wop back-up group a one-off with Terry, or do they have a history?
Ian Slater, re: obscure girl groups:
> Eight Feet - Bobby's Come A Long Long Way
It's good (I know Al Kooper is involved with this), but the flip side, "What
Am I Without You," is a gorgeous folkie-influenced track and a personal
fave.
Hal Muskat:
> Imagine how absolutely elated to find this list AND a
> reference from Alan Gordon, the bands drummer(?), to Tex
> and The Chex.
I seem to remember a 45 by this group, "Be On The Lookout For My Girl," on a
light blue label, which I somehow think is Newtown, the same label that The
Blue Belles started out on. Is this true - or am I dreaming*?
Country Paul
* which was the title of the first A&M 45 in the US by The Strawbs, and a
superb song in its own right.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
End
