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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 7 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: The 4-Evers
From: Mike Miller
2. Re: Like Someone In Love
From: Chris A Schneider
3. Maurice Williams a deux
From: Phil X Milstein
4. The Hollywood Jills
From: John Grecco
5. Re: Kenny Hollywood
From: Kingsley Abbott
6. Re: Shadows & Reflections
From: MJ
7. Utopia / Eric Records / Barry McGuire / Mauds
From: Clark Besch
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 09:25:52 -0400
From: Mike Miller
Subject: Re: The 4-Evers
Justin McDevitt wrote:
> I would appreciate any background information on this group
> who, > according to Ron have a 33-track CD comp of their music
> released on > Magic Carpet records. An initial search on Amazon
> did not net any results, though I will keep on looking.
I read your post about the Four Evers. They were a very good group,
with roots in the doo-wop era, late 1950s. In the mid 1960s Bob Gaudio
of The 4 Seasons and Al Kasha became involved with some of their
productions, and they scored their biggest hit, "Be My Girl", written by
Gaudio. On some songs, they sound a lot like The 4 Seasons, but on
others they have their own special sound. A very underrated group.
The CD you mention is occasionally available from an eBay power seller
called "Legends of Doo Wop". It is operated by a doo-wopper himself,
Steve Horn of The Five Sharks. Look on his website from time to time.
He also goes by the name of "lawofboca".
Good luck.
Mike Miller
doowopdaddy
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 00:17:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris A Schneider
Subject: Re: Like Someone In Love
Bob Celli wrote:
> Never heard it by Bing, but I did hear Sinatra's version.
Do let me recommend, to Bob Celli and Gary Myers and all others
interested, the Chet Baker version from the mid '50s. Exquisite.
Let me also specify, since no one seems to've done it so far, that
the composer for this song was James Van Heusen and the lyricist
Johnny Burke. They were resident songsmiths for Paramount through
much of the 1940s. The song itself was written for a picture called
"Belle Of The Yukon" that no one seems to care for very much.
Original singer: young Dinah Shore.
"Sometimes The Things I Do Astound Me,"
Chris
P.S. The Bjork version of "Like Someone In Love" is worth searching
out, too.
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:13:02 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Maurice Williams a deux
Found another interesting factoid in the Billboard Book Of One-Hit
Wonders. According to author Wayne Jancik, Maurice Williams wrote both
"Stay" and "Little Darlin'" within a couple of days of each other. He was
only 15 y.o. at the time, and wrote them both about the same girl. Quite
a productive week, at least for a high school kid.
--Phil M.
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 20:02:52 -0000
From: John Grecco
Subject: The Hollywood Jills
Hi all,
Thanks to Julio Nino for the info on the "Little Frankie" song. I was
surprised at how fast I got a reply on that one!
Wanted to ask the Spectropop experts about another girl group record
that came out in the '60s. I'm trying to find the writer and publisher
information from The Hollywood Jills 45, "He Makes Me So Mad". I
believe this came out around 1968, on Capitol. If anyone has a copy
of the old 45 and can check out the info for me, I'd appreciate it.
All the best,
John Grecco
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 22:51:17 +0100
From: Kingsley Abbott
Subject: Re: Kenny Hollywood
Whilst I don't doubt the wisdom of Kenny H being Geoff G on the record,
as there are a number of clues that solidly point that way, I do have a dim
memory of an ad for the record that showed a thin-faced blond boy (def.
not GG or Bolan) as Kenny. He looked a bit like Brian Setzer from The
Stray Cats. It could be that Joe and Geoff simply cut the song and had
a new "protégé" lined up to be the face if it hit -- not Joe's usual style,
but just possible ...
Kingsley
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:23:54 -0400
From: MJ
Subject: Re: Shadows & Reflections
Wendy Flynn asked:
> The Action of England released the single "Shadows & Reflections"
> in '67. This is written by Larry Marks and Tandyn Almer. This was
> also recorded by another artist but who?
Eddie Hodges, and also The Jackpots.
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:07:19 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: Utopia / Eric Records / Barry McGuire / Mauds
Al Kooper wrote:
> I always thought Frank Gari's "Utopia" was the classic cutesy-wootsie
> teen idol record -- saccharine beyond belief. If played today, it
> would cause a few guffaws, I believe. However, I still own it.
I've always felt oldies stations would embrace this record as it does
Lesley Gore or other teen records. Despite its' top 30 charting, the
song got played like crazy and I loved it growing up. I would guess the
fact that it was virtually impossible to find in the years since its
release would add to the problem. I was surprised later to find Frank
even had other hits. Thank God that Eric Records finally got it onto Cd
a few years ago. It's on one of their great "Hard to Find 45s on Cd"
series. If you don't know about these, they have lots of great obscure
songs you forgot but were hits in the early 60's and late 50's. "Utopia"
is on Volume 7, as is a "synched up" stereo "Sukiyaki" that sounds pretty
good too. The recently mentioned Everything is Everything version of
"Witchi Tai To" is on Volume 6. I just got Volume 3 of their new "Teen
Time" series and it has more great 45s from that period. Heck, I have
many of the 45s, but never knew the stories. The booklet has great info
on all the releases including Mark Dinning's great "Top 40, News Weather
& Sports", the non-edited version. As always, the sound is superb. If
you like the early 60's Dot catalog of hits, you'll like this one!
http://www.ericrecords.com/
Dan Hughes wrote:
> Dunhill seemed to be pretty loose with B sides. I bought the 45 of
> Eve of Destruction when it was released, and the flip side was Try To
> Remember. But on later pressings the B side became What's Exactly the
> Matter With Me. I asked Barry about it, but he didn't seem to remember
> much. As far as I know, Barry's version of Try To Remember (from the
> musical The Fantastiks) is not available anywhere else--just that
> early B side.
I'm just guessing, but I would think the early B side here was showing
his "New Christy Minstrels" daysand when "Eve" started to take off,
someone decided to part with that section of Barry's career and get a
more folk/protest era song on the flip, making him seem more hip??
Don H. wrote about Carole King's demo "A man without a Dream":
> Also The Mauds, Ben E. King and Lovelace Watkins. I've done a lot of
> research and these are the only ones I know of.
The Mauds version is a strange one. If you're like me, you might have
the DJ copy. If so, you'll find the Mauds sound almost like Chipmunks
on it. For some reason, RCA mistakenly speeded the track up more than
any radio station would dream of sppeding a 45 up! Sounds very odd when
the flip, "Forget it, I Got It" (a minor hit by Ambergris) has the group
singing at "normal" speed. Making the story stranger, my friend Jeff
Lind has a store copy and the Goffin-King side has the speed corrected,
thus giving us, basically, 02 different Mauds versions!
Take care, Clark
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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