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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 17 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
From: Martin Roberts
2. Re: The Debs Cover Tony Hatch
From: John H
3. Has anyone ever seen this movie?
From: Louis Wendruck
4. Re: Brill Building questions
From: Artie Wayne
5. Re: Brill Building questions / quick covers
From: Joe Foster
6. new photos added
From: Rob
7. Re: Brill Building era
From: Al Kooper
8. UK covers
From: Frank Murphy
9. Ronettes on What's My Line ?
From: he4ler
10. All About Amber / "The Sun Is Gray" / Robert Wagner's "Chico's Choo Chao", etc.
From: Julio Niño
11. Re: more on Triune
From: Peter Lerner
12. licensing and just deserts
From: Alan Zweig
13. Re: Ann-Margret
From: Louis Wendruck
14. Re: "A Summer Song"
From: S.J. Dibai
15. the Golden Throats of Rod & Rock
From: Phil X Milstein
16. Re: arcane background singers
From: S.J. Dibai
17. Re: The Brigati Curse
From: S.J. Dibai
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 18:39:55 +0100
From: Martin Roberts
Subject: Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
Hard to keep up with all the wonderful new things on Jack Nitzsche's
Magical World! Let's start with Magazines...Nitzsche On The Rack at
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/magazines.htm#sylviesimmons
Famed rock journalist and author Sylvie Simmons has made an
apparently unpublished (at least in its entirety) interview
available for the site. It was conducted at Jack's home while
Sylvie was the LA correspondent for Sounds (a defunct UK rock
weekly) and KERRANG! in June 1981. The interview covers what
Jack Nitzsche was doing then, plans for the future and his work
with Phil Spector, Neil Young, Rolling Stones, movies etc. etc.
It's an essential read, click on the typed Q&A sheet to be taken
to the first of the five page interview.
And then there's Record Reviews...Nitzsche's Musical World
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/recordreviews.htm#parissisters
Scroll to the bottom of the Paris Sisters article for a mini review
of "The Paris Sisters Sing Everything Under The Sun" (Eric Records) CD.
This has already deservedly been recommended on the site. Adding my
two penny's worth in the form of a label scan and a link to the Eric
Records site for further information and purchase
And mustn't forget the Home Page
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/index.htm
The record playing this week is Roosevelt Grier's "To Her Terrace"
(RIC), written by Resnick - Young, Produced by Bobby Darin and arranged
by Jack Nitzsche.
I'm shamelessly copying Country Paul's previous wheeze of a musical
trailer for a new article. Rather than the Front Porch, next week's
piece will cover Rosey and other celebrities' recordings with Jack.
Martin
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:32:21 -0000
From: John H
Subject: Re: The Debs Cover Tony Hatch
Previously:
> Going through a box of recently purchased old 45s tonight I came
> across a copy of the Tony Hatch penned "The Life And Soul Of The
> Party" by The Debs on Mercury (72566). Flip side is "My Best
> Friend". Produced by Joe Venneri. Both sides are nice; pleasant
> little bouncy white girl pop fluff. Any info available on this
> group?
Originally recorded by the likes of Petula Clark and Mally Page,
Pet's version wasn't released as a single in the States because
her label didn't think listeners would know what the title meant.
(Perhaps they were right, seeing as how I've never heard of the
Debs!)
-John H.
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 19:01:43 -0000
From: Louis Wendruck
Subject: Has anyone ever seen this movie?
I have posted a photo of a movie poster in Spanish called "El Gran
Espectaculo A Go-Go" in the Photo section of Spectropop at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/6r384
Can anyone identify this movie? It has David McCallum, Petula Clark,
Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner, Joan Baez, Bo Didley and the
Modern Folk Quartet.
Do you know the name of this movie in English?
Is it available on video or DVD?
Thanks,
Louis Wendruck in West Hollywood, California
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Message: 4
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 10:42:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: Artie Wayne
Subject: Re: Brill Building questions
Kerryanne.......How ya' doin'? I started writing and working for
publishers during the early sixties and learned the value of
recordings from countries other than the United States early on.
I had my first international hit in Austrailia with "4,003,221
tears from Now" [Raleigh/Wayne] by Judy Stone (which was secured
by an American publisher George Pincus). My second international
hit was "Queen For Tonight" [Raleigh/Wayne] which was written for
Helen Shapiro at the request of Arnold Shaw at E.B.Marks music.
Before the English invasion hit the U.S. I was getting many records
from aggressive publishers, that included covers by the Rockin'
Berries, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes etc. After the invasion,
I wrote songs for many artists directly, including the Troggs,
the Fortunes, the Magic Lanterns, Cilla Black etc.
If you check out my website http://artiewayne.com/ there's a complete
discography and dozens of stories and pictures that you might find
interesting.
regards,
Artie Wayne
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Message: 5
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 09:51:54 +0100
From: Joe Foster
Subject: Re: Brill Building questions / quick covers
Previously:
> I am wondering how someone like Helen Shapiro in England would have
> had access to songs by Jeff Barry and Bacharach...........
Will Stos:
> I'm not terribly sure, but it seems sometimes writers would seek out
> such artists. Dusty Springfield was able to look through songs for
> her albums. A lot of times it seems British artists recorded these
> songs after a US act had recorded it first..........
**I would think that the sub-publisher in the UK would tout these
songs....B. Feldmans got scads of European covers of Dylan songs
happening, some of them quite unlikely....Freddy Bienstock at Belinda
Music looked after Hill & Range, Lieber and Stoller, and Phil Spector
...and on and on...that's what publishing was about, getting covers,
getting plays....I'm sure there are experts in the field among us who
could take it from here much more effectively than me.....
best
Joe
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:20:22 -0000
From: Rob
Subject: new photos added
Photos added at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/photos
Sonny & Cher and Dylan (just for fun).
The cool Mark Eric soft-pop gem, Everly Brothers and
Arthur (topics of recent discussion).
Rob
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Message: 7
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 06:24:23 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Re: Brill Building era
Previously:
> In a related note, my work occasionally takes me to the Brill Building
> - 9th floor. I was there the yesterday. It's the offices of Broadway
> Video - very nicely done. As far as I know, only the bathrooms have not
> changed.
I am obsessed with the fact that not much went on in the Brill Building
in the 60s. King-Goffin, Mann-Weil, Sedaka-Greenfield, Tony Orlando and
the entire Aldon crew, Scepter Records, Beltone Records, January & Arch
Music, Teddy Vann, Feldman-Goldtein & Gottehrer, Brass, Kooper & Levine,
were all at 1650 BROADWAY, a building without a name. The only things
going on at The Brill Building were Leiber & Stoller, Greenwich & Barry
and Bacharach & David. No slouches, they, but they were far outnumbered
by the minions at 1650 B'way. It's revisionism to call King-Goffin music
Brill Building songs, but because of the media, the truth will die with
me and a few others. A shame......
Old Anti-Revisionist
Al Kooper
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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 11:35:24 +0000
From: Frank Murphy
Subject: UK covers
Will Stos:
> I'm not terribly sure, but it seems sometimes writers would seek out
> such artists. Dusty Springfield was able to look through songs for
> her albums. A lot of times it seems British artists recorded these
> songs after a US act had recorded it first.
> ........Does anyone know what the turnaround time for these covers
> was? I've often read on this list that acts like Dionne Warwick were
> beaten to the British charts by domestic remakes. Did UK labels have
> people "on the inside" scouting out releases, or would they wait until
> a song became popular in the US before cutting a competing version?
> If there were some artists who had consistent success, would they
> immediately cut a cover version?
There was often a three month gap between a record hitting the US
charts and its release in the UK. Check out the sleeve notes to the
Beatles #1 album or the Rolling Stones London years singles sets and
you will find examples of this.
British Music publishers of American material also got a bigger cut
from a UK recording than from the UK issue of an american recording.
British record companies employed good A&R who like their American
counterparts could spot a song on an indie label and get it recorded
by a major artist. The UK record companies were not doing anything
different from what the American majors did in the fifties with
covers of black R&B hits.
Dionne is still complaining on UK tours of Cilla Black beating her
out with "Anyone Who Had A Heart". Dionne's ire would probably be
better directed at Pye who issued Wand/Spectre material in the UK.
And I think if you examine the time line of the issue of Dionne's
record in the States, its UK release and Cilla's release - there
was no chart race.
The real losers in this were British songwriters.
FrankM
reflections on northern soul Saturday's two thirty pm
http://www.radiomagnetic.com or listen to an archive show
http://www.radiomagnetic.com/archive/rnb.php
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Message: 9
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:34:57 -0000
From: he4ler
Subject: Ronettes on What's My Line ?
With the surprise revelation this week on the Game Show channel
that this was the first of two appearances by the Supremes on
What's My Line, did the Ronettes ever appear on this show or any
of the Spector artists?
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Message: 10
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 15:07:28 -0000
From: Julio Niño
Subject: All About Amber / "The Sun Is Gray" / Robert Wagner's "Chico's Choo Chao", etc.
Hola Everybody.
Today it's resentlessly hot here in Madrid. I've been dreaming the
whole day of a new Ice Age. I've tried all my old tricks to forget
the heat like listening to Christmas songs, but no results.
I've been reading Amber's article about the Doris Day twofer CD.
Who is Amber?. Is she really a girl, or not exactly? I bet she's
confined for something like being a member of a mad group of
ecology terrorists, threatening people notorious for hairspray
abuse in the fifties and sixties, such as pop and movie stars,
because of their part in the destruction of the ozone layer.
Changing the subject, I don't know if she is Nathalie Wood or not
but I love the stylish "The Sun Is Gray" played in Musica by Phil
Milstein. Talking about Nathalie reminds me that I've been searching
for a long time the song "Chico's Choo Chao" by her husband Robert
Wagner. Could somebody inform me about that track? Is it out on CD?
Thanks.
Finally, my two favorite songs these last days are "Heartbroken
Memories" by Sheila Ferguson and "If You Ever Need Me" by Margaret
Mandolph. Discovering songs like these makes me feel somehow new
and happy.
Chao.
Julio Niño.
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 16:57:35 +0100
From: Peter Lerner
Subject: Re: more on Triune
Gary Myers wrote:
> Triune was the collective name for the three partners (or whatever
> their relationship was) in Tide Records ...
I wrote:
> That's interesting. I have a couple of 45s on Triune by the bright
> country-crossover singer Lynda K. Lance.
Gary responded:
> You mean Triune is the name of the label? I'm sure there is no
> connection with the Tide people.
I've looked at the 45s now - on the Triune label. One of them is
dated 1972 and the label's address is Hendersonville, Tenn.
Producer on both is Joe Melson and arranger is Ron Oates. One of
the songs is published by Gary Paxton Music and what did I find
next in my dusty 45s box? Another 45 by Lynda on the Gar-Pax label.
Hope this helps!
Peter
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Message: 12
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:13:20 -0400
From: Alan Zweig
Subject: licensing and just deserts
Shawn
> but now everyone wants their $$ for its use, and deservedly so.
"Deservedly" is a relative term. They deserve something but perhaps
they don't deserve as much as they usually ask for. Many many
potentially interesting films are simply not made because of what
people think they deserve. Or the films are made but they can't
really tell the story they want to tell because some people think
they deserve more. Then you see the film and you think "They really
missed the story there". And it's really just that they couldn't
afford to tell the story.
If you wanted to make a film about most of the artists discussed
on this list, even if the artist themselves were cooperative, you
probably couldn't afford it. The budgets for music-oriented
documentaries are just not that high. So you wonder why no one's
making a film about this or that artist. It's because they deserve
themselves out of the market.
AZ
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Message: 13
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 18:51:01 -0000
From: Louis Wendruck
Subject: Re: Ann-Margret
Dave O'Gara wrote:
> I'm looking for some info on the following girl singer singles.
> Since I've only heard them and not been able to look at a label
> for writing/producing credits, I'm hoping someone here can help:
> What Am I Supposed to Do - Ann-Margret
Laura:
> I have the Ann-Margret box set (1961-1966) and can help with that
> part of your question...........
Also, try to get the great book written by the multi-talented
Ann Margret: "Ann-Margret - My Story", an autobiography by
Ann Margret with Todd Gold.
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Message: 14
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 20:15:16 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: "A Summer Song"
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least one CD on which
that alternate version of "A Summer Song" (the one with C&J
singing solo on the first two lines) was released: Repertoire's
'Sing For You/Second Album' comp. It's a great CD for C&J fans
because not only does it have the duo's first two British LPs
(although with the weak mixes of "Like I Love You Today" and
"From A Window", buried strings and all) but it also has a lot
of rarities not available elsewhere. A truly interesting one is
"The Nearness of You" which they did as a parody. The Repertoire
CD has the first, and somewhat sloppy, take of it. There is a
'proper' take, but it was issued only on the extremely rare
'5 + 10 = 15 Fabulous Hits' LP in 1965. The story of that album
is too complicated to summarize in this message, but maybe it's
worth starting a new thread about if anyone besides me actually
has a copy of it!
The Repertoire CD also has the original version of "Your Mama's
Out Of Town" (mistitled "Your Mother's Out Of Town"), a rather
bubblgegummy version of which was included as a bonus track on
the 'Distant Shores' CD. The version on the Repertoire CD is
much raunchier and, in my opinion, better.
S.J. Dibai
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Message: 15
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 19:58:37 -0400
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: the Golden Throats of Rod & Rock
Karen Andrew wrote:
> I may be totally off here but this reminds me of another album
> called "Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off!"
Karen's reference to "Golden Throats" prompted me to play a
similarly-styled version of "Love Of The Common People" by
that unforgettable pop duo of Rod McKuen & Rock Hudson --
aka "Rod & Rock" -- to musica:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/files/musica
"Enjoy",
--Phil M.
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Message: 16
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 20:37:31 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: arcane background singers
Brent Cash:
> And to me, in the mid-'60s, the "fifth Kink" would be Rasa
> Davies (no sleeve credits that I know about). Supposedly
> she's harmonizing on Waterloo Sunset-era things.
Self-described "Kink kronikler" John Mendelssohn claims she's on
earlier records than that: "You Really Got Me", "Sunny Afternoon"
etc. She was singing on the Kinks records even before she married
Ray Davies.
S.J. Dibai
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Message: 17
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 20:33:36 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: The Brigati Curse
Steve Harvey:
> A couple of years later Eddie Brigati is singing and the
> Rascals singles are doing too much. Felix sings one and it's
> a hit. Now Felix is the lead. Must be the Brigati curse.
Eddie sang lead on their first single "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My
Heart Anymore". It was a middling national hit. Felix sang lead
on their second single "Good Lovin'". It was a #1 national hit.
So it's not like they tried a few times with Eddie before giving
Felix the spotlight. And bear in mind that Eddie sang lead on
"How Can I Be Sure", while Felix and Eddie shared the lead on
"It's Wonderful" -- so Eddie was not totally pushed out of the
center of attention, and his mark is on some of their classic
records. And to be truthful about it, I feel that Felix was a
better lead singer. He had a better voice, a definite presence,
and his vocals projected true showmanship. Eddie sounded more
vulnerable as a lead singer, making him less suited to the group's
songs, and he actually added more to the group's backing vocals.
So I don't think Eddie was cursed. I think they just did what
worked best for them. I will admit I haven't heard the album tracks
on which the lead vocal duties are more spread out -- but I've read
that Gene Cornish was a lousy lead singer.
By the way, as I'm sure some of you already know, "I Ain't Gonna Eat
Out My Heart Anymore" was the subject of an unlikely cover version
by The Primitives, the British R&B/Mod band who relocated to Italy
and became big stars. It was their Italian market/language debut,
and it was simply called "Yeeeeeeh!" As ridiculous as this may seem,
their record of it is grrrrrrreat! (And a hit in Italy.)
S.J. Dibai
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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