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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Manzarek's organs; lead singers who didn't always sing lead
From: Charles Ulrich
2. on what basses?; Albert West; Underbeats; Rascals
From: Country Paul
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:48:55 -0700
From: Charles Ulrich
Subject: Manzarek's organs; lead singers who didn't always sing lead
Joe Nelson wrote:
> As the seventies and eighties progressed and the synths took over it
> became easier to fit more sound/sounds into a small space and the
> music became more varied, but you could really identify a group by their
> organ sounds -- the Rascals' trademark Hammond, Manzarek's Farfisa ...
Actually, Ray Manzarek of the Doors first played a Vox Continental, and
later a Gibson G-101.
Mike McKay wrote:
> Others in this same category -- i.e., bands with a member who played
> percussion only (or less) and yet was not the primary lead singer:
In the Monkees, Davy Jones sang lead considerably less often than Micky
Dolenz.
--Charles
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:25:39 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: on what basses?; Albert West; Underbeats; Rascals
Alan Zweig wrote:
> The Doors at least had a bass player on the records. Does
> anyone know why bands thought they didn't need bass players?
One less mouth to feed! Traffic had Steve Winwood's left hand on the
equivalent of a couple of lower octaves of a Fender Rhodes piano. More
seriously: quite a few '50s hits lacked a bass -- "Honest I Do" by The
Innocents, "You Cheated" by The Shields and "You" by The Aquatones come
immediately to mind. (Interestingly, on their new CD, "You" has a bass, but
several other songs don't seem to.) In the '50s, a lot of bass parts never
got down below the range of the lower strings of a guitar; it was a
technological issue, but I forget if it was because of the tape or the
grooves of a record.
And then there's a smash hit where there shouldn't have been a bass: The
Capris' "There's A Moon Out Tonight" (Planet, 1958; Old Town, 1969). Listen
to the bass player: he knows four notes, at least two of them unrelated to
the chord and the others misplaced! But the record is great anyway ...
Bob Celli wrote:
> I just posted a country version of ["Run To Him"] to musica,
> by Albert West. I don't know much about him but he also did
> "Halfway To Paradise".
There's a picture of (an) Albert West (same one?) at
http://mysterytrain.freewebpage.org/albertwest.html and a discography at
http://www.albertwest.nl/htm/index.htm (Anyone know Dutch? There's a bio of
him in that language.) Neither "Run To Him" nor "Halfway To Paradise" appear
in the "discografie," but "Ginny Come Lately," Tell Laura I Love Her" and
"Put Your Head On My Shoulder" all do, so it could be the same guy. (All
were recorded in the 1970s.) Listening to one of the samples at
http://www.albertwest.nl/htm/luisterfragmenten.htm , it could be the same
guy. (The 58 seconds of "Ginny Come Lately" were very nice, though not quite
up to Brian Hyland's gorgeous original.) Prior to his solo career, he was
also in a group called The Shuffles.
Shawn wrote:
> Gus Dewey of The Gestures and Tom Nystrom of The Underbeats passed
> away within the past few months. Anyone familiar with Soma Records
> will know of these groups.
The Underbeats' "Sweet Words of Love" is a very cool American-made British
invasion record, despite only a nodding familiarity with a consistant tempo
(it ends at least 25% faster than it begins, but is still a fine song). Sorry to hear
of their passing.
Al Kooper wrote:
> The Rascals passed on Musicor.
Makes sense to me. I don't know if the label would have known what to do
with them. I see Eddie Brigati occasionally; I'll try to remember to ask him
about his recollections of that situation.
Stephane Rebeschini, thank you for the Pete Records discography. Very
hip-mellow label.
Country Paul
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