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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 14 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Americanized Bossa Nova
From: Al Kooper
2. Re: Multiple versions
From: Michael Fishberg
3. Re: Americanized Bossa Nova
From: Joe Foster
4. Re: Nancy & Lee 3
From: Frank Jastfelder
5. Re: Cheap CDs source
From: Paul Woods
6. Re: Multiple versions
From: Al Kooper
7. Re: The Water Is Over My Head
From: Al Kooper
8. The Water Is Over My Head
From: Kingsley Abbott
9. Re: new CD - Nancy & Lee 3
From: Peter McCray
10. Halos to Musica
From: Clark Besch
11. Timothy redux
From: Phil X Milstein
12. Re: multiple versions
From: Phil X Milstein
13. Re: Ronnie Dove
From: Gary Myers
14. Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
From: Martin Roberts
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:55:48 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Re: Americanized Bossa Nova
> Were there any other Americanized Bossa Nova acts from the mid-60s
> who aren't remembered today?
Well I gotta Bossa Nova skeleton in my closet. On Child Is Father To
The Man I wanted to cover my favorite song at the time "Without Her"
by the brand-new mysterious Harry Nilsson. But the arrangement on his
recording was untouchable, so I came up with the Bossa Nova idea for
our arrangement. And later, Jack Jones nicked our arrangement on Kapp.
I believe. I never ventured into Bossa Nova territory again, but I do
remember corrupting Eydie's record and singing to close friends:
"Blame it on your Jewish Mother!!!".
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 01:05:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Fishberg
Subject: Re: Multiple versions
Previously:
> Can someone explain the reasoning behind a double release of the same
> song at almost the same time?
Ooh, this is ahot subject! Here too in the UK it occurred. There are
many examples to cite - I'll give just one - "Only 16". This was of
course a big Sam Cooke hit, but was covered here by Craig Douglas and
Al Saxon. Interestingly, Douglas had the #1 hit version, and it both
launched his pop career (The Singing Milkman From The Isle Of Wight)
and that too of the fledgling Top Rank label. But it was not all
"spoilers". As well as using existing hits from the U.S., it also
served to conserve precious foreign exchange at a time when restrictions
applied to sending dollars out of our country. By covering a record,
the foreign originator's (licensee and singer) dues were severely cut
back.
Another, and far more interesting element comes from that touched on by
you. The covering by a white artist of a blaack aartist's hit. It was
not uncoimmon when a black singer had a hit, to have it covered by a
white artist (there were no 'croissovers' in the 50's) - frequently from
the same label - with exactly the same arrnger and conductor!
No doubt other Spectropop will expand on this hugely fascinaating topic...
Michael Fishberg
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 09:05:30 +0100
From: Joe Foster
Subject: Re: Americanized Bossa Nova
> And she is from Latin America anyway, quite possibly Brazil. But
> Trio Janeiro, which was just reissued by Rev-ola & Bossa Rio.
> I think you mean Triste Janeiro.
**That's the one....and I have both Wanda de Sah and The Carnival
coming up, if that helps! www.revola.co.uk I especially like Triste
Janero....some kids from Texas who should have had a garage band, but
wanted to be Brasil '66.....I just love the insane ambition of it....
it works though!
Joe
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:10:20 +0200
From: Frank Jastfelder
Subject: Re: Nancy & Lee 3
For more details about the album check out www.nancysinatra.com. There´s
also a duet album in the can called "To Nancy, with Love". Produced by
Brit-Pop legend Morrissey and featuring a bunch of contemporary artists.
It´s gonna be released this summer. Does anybody attend her concert in
London btw?
Frank
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 09:17:51 +0100
From: Paul Woods
Subject: Re: Cheap CDs source
Howard told us:
> Don't know if anyone has heard of this great source of CD's at
> bargain prices, so I'd like to recommend you give them a try. ...
> Send SAE (or International reply coupons) for his catalogue, there
> are lots of great CD's at good prices on it: FINBARR INTERNATIONAL
> (CD DEPT), Folkestone, Kent CT20 2QQ, UK. (Yes, the address is
> complete).
Definitely seconded! In fact, I almost wrote to recommend them a
month or so back when someone on this list was asking for sources of
doo-wop music and early rock and roll. Finbarr specialises in this.
I sent off a few stamped addressed envelopes for catalogues, as
requested, quite a few years back, and _still_ get them regularly even
though my supply of envelopes has long expired (though, of course,
I've purchased many a fine CD from them in the meantime!)
Best wishes,
wudzi
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 04:46:32 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Re: Multiple versions
> This one is directed to members of the promotion/record industry. Can
> someone explain the reasoning behind a double release of the same
> song at almost the same time? "Help Me Girl" was released in late '66
> by both The Outsiders and The Animals, each on a different label. I
> always thought the Animals' version was better.
"Cover battles" were a fixture of the fifties and sixties. Probably the
most egregious was the Gladiolas/Diamonds contest on "Little Darling.
Gladiolas had the original, raw version. Diamonds slicked it up and beat
the hell outa the Glads. Indie versus major had a lot to do with that.
But, I used to enjoy looking at the battles on the Top 100's in Billboard
& Casshbox magazine. In those days, both versions would chart, with the
winner usually at least 30 points ahead. Those wrere the days, my friend.
How about a thread of famous cover battles ?????
Al Kooper
PS Now that I've had a bacxkwards think, the wackiest were the black versus
white records with Pat Boone & Georgia Gibbs kicking Fats Domino, Little
Richard and Etta James' asses. No justice in the Naked City.
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 04:50:08 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Re: The Water Is Over My Head
JJ:
> Just picked up the FABtastic Eddie Hodges 45 "Love Minus Zero" b/w
> "The Water Is Over My Head"(UK Stateside, '65). Is this the original
> version of "The Water ..."? The Rockin' Berries did a great version,
> the same year, but since it's a US written track, I assume Hodges
> recorded it first. True?
I believe The Berries got it from The Hodge. Tokens did a nice one too
on that song on BT Puppy in the States.
Al Kooper
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:55:52 +0100
From: Kingsley Abbott
Subject: The Water Is Over My Head
The water was also over The Tokens' heads - a very fine album track
version that can now be found on Varese's recent collection The Very
Best Of The Tokens 1964-67 (Varese 302 066 547 2). I LOVE that song
Al. Nice comp that includes a couple of lesser known ones like
Breezy and You're My Girl, plus some commercials.
Kingsley
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Message: 9
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 22:21:04 +1000
From: Peter McCray
Subject: Re: new CD - Nancy & Lee 3
Phil M.:
> if you have any suggestions for online ordering from afar, I'm sure
> many of us would welcome it. Even a label name would help.
The CD was released on Warner Bros here at the end of April. The way
Nancy told it on the radio interview I heard, she doesn't have a
recording contract these days, that she (and maybe Lee) had self-
financed this album, and the guys at Warner Music set-up in Australia
had heard of the project and liked what they heard. So they released
it here, and any further release internationally would depend on how
it sold in Australia.
I have seen it in stores here, and it can also be picked up online.
Sanity is quite a big music chain here with a huge online setup, as
well as standard storefronts. The link to their site to get hold of
the Nancy & Lee 3 CD is:
http://www.sanity.com.au/product.asp?intProductID=549747&intArtistID=187451
Incidentally, I also came across a link to another radio interview that
Nancy did here recently in support of the album (different to the one I
heard), and maybe a few people could be interested. This interview is
at http://www.abc.net.au/perth/stories/s1091628.htm
Hope all this helps!
Peter
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Message: 10
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 14:40:38 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: Halos to Musica
Well, there was plenty of room on Musica and I decided to "unvacate"
some of it. Now playing for Dusty or Flirtations (of fans of that
sound_ fans, "Just Keep On Loving Me" by the Halos on Congress from
mid 65, if I remember correctly. I first heard this cool record
from a friend's radio tape off WLS in Chicago. I tracked down the
artist from a radio chart from California and then hunted down the
45. They had at least 3 or 4 45s on Congress. I am not sure who the
Halos were, but they had a great sound on this one. Enjoy! Clark
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Message: 11
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:20:34 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Timothy redux
I believe I have found the final coffin-nail in the story of The Buoys'
"Timothy." Wayne Jancik's 1998 (rev. from 1990) "The Billboard Book Of
One-Hit Wonders," a fascinating (if not 100% accurate) collection of
anecdotes about every record by every artist to hit Billboard's pop Top
20 between 1955 and 1992, includes an interview with Rupert Holmes, in
which he explicitly details the meaning and motivation of "Timothy."
Because this story has been the subject of a lot of interest and
discussion here over the past year or so, as well as to give you a taste
of the book's approach, I'm including the complete text of Jancik's
"Timothy" entry. There is also a group photo, which I can post to the
photos section if there's any interest.
Dig,
--Phil M.
--------------------------------------
THE BUOYS: TIMOTHY
(Rupert Holmes)
Scepter 12275
No. 17, May 1, 1971
"'Timothy' is not about cannibalism,' said Florence Greenberg, owner of
Scepter/Wand Records, in an exclusive interview. "The writer assured me
it was about a mule, or something. Frankly, I don't know of the record.
It must have been done in the office without me. I can't remember the
thing at all. I must have been out of the country to let that thing out."
Cannibalism! Surely a song about the bodily consumption of a poor fellow
narned Timothy would not be tolerated on the top reaches of Billboad's
Hot 100. A call to Rupert Holmes -- the tune's creator, and previously a
writer/arranger for artists like the Drifters, the Platters, and Gene
Pitney -- seemed in order.
"The Buoys were from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and were so named to
conjure images of cleanliness, like Lifebuoy soap. Michael Wright, a
junior engineer at Scepter Recording Studios, discovered them. Mike and
I were buddies, so he came to me for advice. He really liked the group
and wanted to record them, but he told me that Scepter didn't take the
group seriously. I said, 'I think you should record a song that will get
banned -- that way, you can take the Buoys to another label and say,
"This is the band that everyone is talking about!" Mike asked me if I
could write some thing that would get the group banned.
"I wasn't going to write about drugs, and everything that could be said
on the air about sex had been said already. At the time, I was working
on an arrangement of '16 Tons' for Andy Kim, in this kind of 'Proud
Mary' guitar groove. In the other room there was this TV on. The show
was 'The Galloping Gourmet', with Graham Kerr. I started singing the
lyrics: 'Some people say a man is made out of mud / A coal man is made
out of muscle and blood / Muscle and blood and skin and bones.' I
thought, 'God, that sounds like a recipe.' I said, 'Yeah, muscle and
blood and skin and bones: bake in a moderate oven for three hours.'
That's it! Cannibalism and mining.
"I just turned out this story song about three boys who were trapped in
a mine. And when they're pulled out, there's only two of them left. They
don't know what happened to the third one, but they know that they're
not hungry anymore!"
The Buoys -- which consisted of Fran Brozena (keyboards), Chris Hanlon
(guitar), Gerry Hludzik (a.k.a. Joe Jerry, bass), Bill Kelly (lead
vocals), and formerly of Glass Prism, Carl Siracuse (drums) -- gathered
in the studio. Rupert played piano on the track. Bill Kelly sang lead.
Scepter issued the disk and no one noticed, not even the label, for 14
months. A part-time promo man at the company finally took it into his
own hands to drum up interest in the disk, particularly on college
stations. In short order, gatherings of the "Timothy for Lunch Bunch"
were being reported in university tabloids.
"The label copped out on the cannibalism" said Holmes. "They started
this rumor that Timothy was actually a mule, so it wasn't so bad for
these survivors to eat him. I was offended at the very idea of this pure
defenseless mule being eaten. To this day, people come up and ask me,
'Was Timothy a mule?' I tell them, 'No, he was a man -- and they ate him."
The group formed in the summer of 1964 in Wyoming, Pennsylvania; they
were first the Escorts, then the Moffets. When Bill Buchanan, DJ at WBAX
in Wilkes-Barre, became their manager, they were relabeled The Buoys.
Their line-up changed some. With the brief addition of Bob O'Connell
(keyboards) in 1969, the Buoys got the chance to affiliate with Michael
Wright and to record for Scepter.
The Buoys followed their Top 40 hit with other tall tales of death and
what not. There was "Give Up Your Guns" (#84, 1971), about a Tex-Mex
showdown, followed by "Bloodknot," about some reform-school ritual. Both
were written by Rupert, who likewise penned most of the tunes for the
Buoys' 1971 Portfolio LP. After Scepter folded in 1972, the Buoys and
Rupert signed with Polydor, where two further singles were issued
("Don't Try to Run" and "Liza's Last Ride"). Holmes, however, wrote
neither of these numbers and neither was noticed by the media, even a
mite. One final effort, "Don't Cry Blue" -- produced by Michael Kamen,
of the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble -- was put out by Ransom in 1977.
With an ever-changing line-up, the Buoys name carried on into 1987.
Rupert Holmes continued writing, producing, and arranging. He also
launched a solo career that eventually led to chart success -- with
singles like "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" (#1, 1979) and "Him" (#6,
1980), and the "Partners In Crime" album (1980). His 1986 Broadway
musical, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," won five Tony Awards, including
Best Musical. The following year, the Jets topped the Adult-Contemporary
charts with his "You Got It All."
In 1978, Bill Kelly and Gerry Hludzik resurfaced as Jerry Kelly with an
album on Epic, "Somebody Else's Dream"; two years later, as Dakota and
with a self-titled LP on Columbia, they worked as the opening act for
Queen's "The Game" tour. A second album was issued in 1984. Dakota
called it quits in 1987. Kelly and Hludzik had success as producers of
Jimmy Harnen's "Where Are You Now?" Both continue as tunesmiths; two
Hludzik compositions have been cut by the Oak Ridge Boys.
Incredibly, it is reported that the Buoys' follow-up flop, "Give Up Your
Guns," became a Top 10 hit in Holland in 1979, after extensive use in a
tire commercial.
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Message: 12
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 11:45:38 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: multiple versions
Dan Hughes wrote:
> In the fifties, it happened with just about every hit. Every big label
> had a stable of singers, and whenever a new blockbuster-to-be song was
> written, every label put out a version by one of their artists.
I think this phenomenon was a vestige of the pre-recording era, where
"hit" songs were measured by sheet music sales, and families would
create their own musical entertainment in their parlors. When the record
industry began, some performers were able to build loyal audiences for
their releases, yet the song itself was still usually a more important
ingredient to a record's popularity than the sound or name of the artist
doing it. Thus, competing versions of the same song was a common
industry strategy. Over time the balance between the dominance (in
driving sales) of performer to song shifted, but it wasn't until the
arrival of The Beatles, which initiated the dynamic of a large number of
star performers composing their own material, that the phenomenon of
near-simultaneous release of more than one version of a hitbound song
finally collapsed. With singers now more often than not doubling as
their own composers, the association of singer with song is complete.
--Phil M.
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Message: 13
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:13:41 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Ronnie Dove
Dave O'Gara:
> ... wondering if any of our contributing artists have ever worked
> with Ronnie Dove?
I never personally worked with him, but I saw him sit in with the
Knickerbockers at the Red Velvet in Hollywood in late '65 and sing
"Right Or Wrong". (Many of the guests for the Shindig Show would come
in there at the time).
Then, circa 1974, we worked opposite him at Harrah's Tahoe. He sounded
good and had a young band backing him. The one odd thing was an older
guy playing rhythm guitar. He sat in the back and was the only one
reading charts (and all of Dove's songs were pretty simple). He was
pretty much un-needed and I guessed that it must be someone whom Dove
was more or less supporting, maybe a relative or someone who helped him
in his early days or something like that.
gem
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Message: 14
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 09:00:57 +0100
From: Martin Roberts
Subject: Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
A bit later than usual, work getting in the way with play, but
Gary Crosby's Gregmark release, "That's Alright Baby" is playing
on the home page, http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/index.htm
The penultimate Hazlewood/Nitzsche track and the only release(?)
to feature Phil Spector, Jack Nitzsche, Lee Hazlewood and Lester Sill
sharing a record label. The label maybe of more interest than the
music but check it out!
Martin
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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