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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 10 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Cowsills' We Can Fly
From: Steven Prazak
2. Smile
From: David Ponak
3. Re: research inquiry; All Night Workers
From: Don H.
4. Re: Dickey's Rocky
From: Bob Rashkow
5. Re: Smile and Smiley Smile
From: Steven Prazak
6. Re: Benny Gordon
From: Davie Gordon
7. Re: Dickey's Rocky
From: mantanhattan
8. Amy Mala Bell labels
From: Davie Gordon
9. Re: Duh! Sunshine Company distortion "meant to be there"!!!
From: Art Longmire
10. Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
From: Martin Roberts
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 11:37:34 -0400
From: Steven Prazak
Subject: Cowsills' We Can Fly
Just picked a two-fer of the first two Cowsills elpees on CD and was
amazed at the quality of the tunes and production of the second album,
We Can Fly. What a progression from their first one! The liners,
though, are pretty chintzy with the details. I'm assuming relatively
few Cowsills actually play on the thing, but I just don't know. Can
any S'popper fill me in on the musicians at work here?
Steven Prazak
Atlanta, GA
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 09:48:54 -0700
From: David Ponak
Subject: Smile
Okay, I've been lurking until now, but I can't stop myself from putting
in my two cents on the Smile debate going on here. First off, yes, an
"official" Smile sessions box set from Capitol would be a great thing,
but let's face the facts: nearly all of that material has been released
by subsequent reissues, box sets, and bootlegs. Most of us already have
it (in great quality).
The point of this reconstruction of Smile is to hear an approximation of
the finished work, and they've done it masterfully. They've done the
right thing by recreating Smile from scratch in the studio. Another "Pet
Sounds Live" type release would have been a let down, and going back and
trying to "finish" the original sessions with new performances would have
been wrong, if not downright disastrous. Let's face it, we'll never
"really" hear the real, completed Smile, but this new record is as close
as we'll get, and it's a masterpiece in its own right. I've heard the
finished record, and I have a feeling that even the biggest nay Sayers on
this list will be changing their tune once they listen....
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:37:39 -0000
From: Don H.
Subject: Re: research inquiry; All Night Workers
I have posted "Honey And Wine" by the All Night Workers to musica.
Didn't know there were two groups with that name.
DonNJ
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 15:33:36 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: Dickey's Rocky
I've gotta tell you, I first heard Dickie Lee's "I Saw Linda Yesterday"
in the 70's on a short-lived but very good oldies station here in
Chicago, WFYR. This station DID play lots of the Top 30 stuff because
this was sometime before the Age of Radio Buyouts. In fact they even
had DJs but I dare say for the most part, most of them weren't required
to have love for, or knowledge of, the music they were spinning
(apologies to anyone on the group who may have DJ'd there at that
time!!!); they just had to have pretty dynamic on-air voices. One of
them, Curt Johnson, was a year ahead of me at high school in Skokie.
Anyway now I've finally gotten to my point: I found out just how
talented Lee is when I heard this record for the first time. I realized
at that time that he didn't just sing sickies; that he could rock and
roll too. This was long before I discovered that Dickie had his roots
in rockabilly!
Thanks. Bobster
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 11:29:56 -0400
From: Steven Prazak
Subject: Re: Smile and Smiley Smile
Mark Wirtz:
> Has anybody involved in all these lively "Smile" debates considered
> the fact that ALL classical music recordings/performances are "re-
> performances" and newly generated recordings?...
What a refreshing perspective! That concept actually elevates the Smile
tunes to classic, or perhaps even "classical" status. And deservedly so
from where I sit!
Rob:
> ...but does anyone else find Smiley Smile an interesting listen,
> albeit somewhat frustrating?
As a follow-up to the mighty Pet Sounds, "frustrating" barely scratches
the surface. As an island unto itself, though, Smiley Smile is a
fascinating and rewarding collection deserving of many repeat visits.
Funny, though, as the unreleased Smile was deemed too weird by some of
those in power and influence at the time, yet the released Smiley easily
out-weirds it. Actually, the only lasting frustration I get out of
Smiley Smile these days is its absurd brevity! Does it even crack 25
minutes?
Steven Prazak
Atlanta, GA
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:59:57 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: Benny Gordon
Simon White wrote:
> I'm appealing to Spectropoppers out there in the vain hope that one
> of you will have some information on a gentleman called Benny
> (sometimes Bennie and sometimes with "The Soul Brothers") Gordon ...
> smaller labels including ... Estill which seems likely to have been
> his own label... Does anyone have any info on him or the Estill label?
I'm inclined to agree that Estill was his own label - if I remember
rightly the Estill single was picked up by Jamie/Guyden for national
release.
The album, on Hot Biscuit (the only album on the label ?), is an
elusive one, I've never seen a copy or even a scan of the cover. Since
it was issued with no single I'd imagine its promotion was negligible.
I have a partial discography of the man - I'll post it in the next day
or so.
I seem to remember him gaining the unfortunate accolade of "The Worst
Soul Singer Ever" in Black Music, a much missed IPC priduced magazine
from the seventies.
Davie Gordon (no relation)
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 20:04:18 -0000
From: mantanhattan
Subject: Re: Dickey's Rocky
Dickey Lee is a former Memphian and a graduate of Memphis State
University where he also played football - a very good player, by the
way.
I have always mistakenly thought that Dickey Lee wrote "Patches".
Boy was I surprised to learn that this was a Barry Mann-Larry Kobler
penned hit.
I was also surprised to learn that as far back as 1957 Dickey Lee was
producing records alongside Cowboy Jack Clement at Sun:
http://www.tsimon.com/dickeylee.htm
The Dickey Lee Page says he moved to Beaumont, Texas in 1962 and
began writing country songs which is when he scored with George
Jones' cover of his "She Thinks I Still Care" - a masterpiece of
melody and lyrics.
Songs approaching this calibre in any genre of music -but
particularly in the field of Country- are few and far between.
Heck -ol' Merle Haggard himself couldn't have written one better.
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:08:22 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Amy Mala Bell labels
Thought I'd draw your attention to the Yahoogroup I run devoted
to the Amy-Mala-Bell group of labels which covers those labels and
the multitude of labels they distributed.
The URL is http://www.yahoogroups.com/groups/amymalabell
I'd particularly draw your attention to the files section where
you'll find spreadsheets containining details of AMB group releases
in matrix number order - useful for dating those mysterious one-off
singles.
It's still very much a work in progress but I'm quite pleased
with progress so far.
Davie
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Message: 9
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:04:56 -0000
From: Art Longmire
Subject: Re: Duh! Sunshine Company distortion "meant to be there"!!!
Orion wrote:
> Speaking of Rev-Ola, I purchased a CD from then by the group The
> Sunshine Company. It sounds like it was made from LPs for sure,
> as track 11 has the sound of the needle picking up and about 6
> or 7 seconds of distortion ...
Dee:
> ... "Track 11" is the song "I, To We, And Back Again." The "sound of
> the needle picking up" and subsequent distortion is *meant* to be
> there - it's on the original LP, and also on the Collectors' Choice
> Sunshine Company CD (they did their own comp, with a slightly
> different track listing). It's meant to mimic the "drop" of a
> record onto a turntable and the beginning of a song . . . it's PART
> OF THE RECORD . . . conceptual musical art from the 60's! ...
Thanks for clearing that up, I have the Collector's Choice CD and
always thought that the sound of the turntable was a mistake that had
been left in!
Art Longmire
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Message: 10
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 08:00:54 +0100
From: Martin Roberts
Subject: Jack Nitzsche at Spectropop update
Currently a small queue of folk are pushing and jostling to
visit The Jack I Knew page. First in line is Leslie Knauer,
known particularly to our Australian, European and South
African cousins for a pair of magnificent hits in the late
70s with the group Promises:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/friends.htm#leslieknauer
I was made aware of Leslie via Sylvie Simmons' interview
with Jack during which she quizzes him on producing the group
Promises. I hunted around and found that the lead singer
Leslie was happy to talk about the recording sessions and
working with Jack:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/magazines.htm#sylviesimmons
Before the previously un-broadcast sections of Karel Beer's
radio interview are played on the site, the original is being
repeated. Don't miss it:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/radio.htm#bbcoxford
The links on the Previous Record of the Week page have been
upgraded to include label scans. Catch up with what you've
missed:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/indexpastrotw.htm#top
Finally this week's ROTW is a musical treat in the form of
the Ronettes' "Girls Can Tell". Not on CD, it's only release
was on a UK album in the mid-seventies. It's great...and I'm
not the only one that thinks so:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/index.htm
Martin
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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