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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 14 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Zombies
From: Al Kooper
2. Easy Does It
From: Al Kooper
3. Samples and steals, how do you feel?
From: Al Kooper
4. Re: Northern Soul & Beach Music
From: Michael Coxe
5. Re: Tommy Vann & The Professionals
From: Gary Myers
6. Re: Looking For Jaynetts
From: Michael Coxe
7. Unit 4 + 2 singles; new Sloan-Barri ditty on musica
From: Frank Young
8. The Argonauts from Boston
From: Niels
9. Re: Dickie Lee / Lee Arnold / The Ravers
From: Ed Salamon
10. Brill Building
From: Phil Hall
11. Re: Dan Fogelberg
From: Clark Besch
12. Elliot Kendall
From: John Kirby
13. Re: Odessey and Oracle / Al Kooper's Garden
From: S.J. Dibai
14. Re: Samples and steals, how do you feel?
From: S.J. Dibai
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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 18:41:10 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Zombies
Rob:
> Did a Zombies search in the message archive and saw that 6 months
> has gone by since Mr. Al Kooper has been thanked for helping bring
> the still amazing Zombies Odessey and Oracle LP to a wider audience.
> Thanks again Mr. K!
You're welcome, Rob. I am as big a fan as you are of that band. When
they play live or are interviewed, 09 times out of 10, THEY STILL
thank me. They certainly put the nice in Zombie. ........ wait a
second....what a weird band that would be, The Nice & The Zombies !!!!
Too many keyboard players!!
AK
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 18:36:47 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Easy Does It
Eddy:
> Easy Does It was released *before* the Landlord soundtrack. So wasn't
> the Landlord version the re-recorded one?
Colin Escott told me Dylan & I made two separate trips to Nashville to
record Blonde on Blond because he read the session sheets. If he knew
that sessions sheets could be created if acetates were ordered and no
session took place or mixing was done perhaps we wouldn't have all HIS
revisionism. EDDY, TRUST ME!!! The Easy Does It version is the re-record.
John Hall of Orleans fame played a blistering ending guitar solo on the
original version, only available on the Landlord soundtrack.
Al 'not senile YET' Kooper
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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 18:50:30 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Samples and steals, how do you feel?
Me:
> The Love Theme from The Landlord was sampled by JayZ two albums back
> and helped get my master bath renovated.
Joe Nelson:
> On which note I've meant to revisit an old post: Those who are exposed
> regularly to teenagers are aware that the Archies' (hi Ron!) "Sugar
> Sugar" was somewhat sampled and liberally borrowed from on the current
> hit "Nasty Girl" by Nitty. I was going to approach Ron Dante privately
> about this re: how he feels to hear such a cute song "dirtied up" so
> badly, yet it seems to me that Andy Kim and Jeff Barry are probably
> going to see more money from this one track than they've gotten in
> years. So a show of hands: given the popularity of both sampling and
> "tribute theft" (for lack of a better term), how does the list feel
> when older songs get twisted up for representation to a contemporary
> audience that may or may not know the originals?
I had among others, The Beastie Boys sample Flute Thing as well as the
Jay Z sample. Not a rap afficionado, I don't "understand" either cover
and cannot sit down and voluntarily enjoy either one. But I do applaud
The Beasties for pioneering the paying of people who were sampled and I
thank Jay Z for the attention, but his accounting left a lot to be
collected.
White Al Kooper
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Message: 4
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 23:08:21 -0700
From: Michael Coxe
Subject: Re: Northern Soul & Beach Music
Andy wrote:
> Myrtle Beach, SC is still a "HUGE" beach music spot. They live and
> breathe this stuff.
Steve Harvey:
> That explains why it was the setting for the film "Shag". (English
> readers may stop smirking now!)
Myrtle Beach just happens to be the largest beach resort metropolis
north of Florida. Insufferable like Honolulu is insufferable. You can
dance to Carolina style beach music on a regular basis throughout the
Carolinas - coast to mountains, & up & down the coast itself from
Delaware to northern Florida. I say dance because it's meant to be
danced-to as opposed to doing the stand (as the very-un-beach Swinging
Neckbreakers call it). In North Carolina we called it the Bop, never
Shag. This Shag thing must be revisionist, or some insidious South
Carolina plot, just the sort of thing to expect from a state where at
14 you could marry your 2nd cousin ;> .
On a contemporary note, The Tams are about ready to issue their first
*new* record in ages called "Main Squeeze". Keep an watch @
http://www.thetams.com if interested.
- Michael, Raleighite for the 1st half of my life.
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Message: 5
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 18:41:30 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Tommy Vann & The Professionals
Pres:
> Have you come across any mention of Tommy Vann & The Professionals?
Vaccarino's book (sorry for the previous misspelling) devotes nearly
1-1/2 pages to Tommy Vann & the Echoes, and T.V. & the Professionals.
He says Vann returned to Baltimore and did some club gigs in the 90's.
gem
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Message: 6
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 23:18:49 -0700
From: Michael Coxe
Subject: Re: Looking For Jaynetts
Billy G. Spradlin wrote:
> I'm looking to hear the Jaynettes' instrumental b-sides, and any rare
> non-LP singles the group recorded as The Z-Debs, Hearts, Patty Cakes,
> Clickettes and Poppies. If anyone can help please e-mail me off list.
I've heard a couple of the instrumental b-sides and they sound like
the same recording with a poorly executed attempt to remove the vocals.
I.e., you can hear faint vocals.
As for the alternatively named singles, I urge anyone possessing such
sounds to please post to musica.
The Jaynettes' "Pick Up My Marbles" is a slice of heaven.
- Michael
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Message: 7
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 23:21:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Frank Young
Subject: Unit 4 + 2 singles; new Sloan-Barri ditty on musica
To S. J. Dibai's query about the quality of Unit 4 + 2's singles,
they follow a classic pop music pattern: first label=good, second
label=yecch. The nine singles U4+2 waxed for Decca from '64 to late
'66 all have their moments. The first two are rather wussy folk-
flavored efforts, with the second one showing some pop songwriting
potential, despite the intense whininess of both songs.
>From "Concrete and Clay" on, their singles are a strong, original
body of work. Their best single, IMHO, is "You've Never Been In Love
Like This Before"/"Tell Somebody You Know." It's a perfect example
of British pop c. 1965. Other gems from this period include "Hark"
and "Baby Never Say Goodbye."
When they left for Fontana, they were starting to get way into MOR
leanings, and while U4+2 were never gravel-voiced teddy boys, the
Fontana material makes the earlier Decca singles seem positively
rugged.
Brian Parker and Tommy Moeller were great pop songwriters. I'm
certain their work must have influenced Elvis Costello.
****
Now go to Musica and hear Shelley Fabares' classy rendition of the
Phil Sloan folk-rock gem "See Ya 'Round On The Rebound." This is one
of Phil's best lyrics, and it deserved better than its banishment to
B-side and album filler territory.
Frank
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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 09:34:44 +0200
From: Niels
Subject: The Argonauts from Boston
One more question up for this great group. This one might prove
difficult, but I'll try anyway. I'm looking for info on Paul
McDonald of The Argonauts, which was a British Invasion band from
Boston around 1965 and 1966. The group made one vox organ
dominated demo produced by Barry Tashian of The Remains at Ace
Recording Studio in Boston. I'd like to know what happened to
Mcdonald.
Niels.
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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 15:33:22 -0000
From: Ed Salamon
Subject: Re: Dickie Lee / Lee Arnold / The Ravers
Joe Nelson:
> Yet my brother insisted Lee recorded the song that way in tribute
> to his employer,while I said it was a re-recording made to give WHN
> an exclusive.Well, the record proves me right.It seems to me putting
> WHN's call letters in from the start would have doiomed the song
> outside of New York, but I have to ask: did anyone else play this
> record?
Thanks for being one of WHN's 1.6 million listers (said because
current conventional wisdom says NY can't support a Country station,
which is total BS).
The custom version of "Trucker's Christmas" was recorded and "released"
at the same time as the national version. The record was done by Gary
Allen and Gene Knight, two former members of the Tempos (a Pgh area
group best known for "See You In September"), then working for Kirshner.
My buddy Joe Rock (Skyliners, Jaggerz, Johnny Daye, etc.)hooked me up
with them. I still have the WHN custom tape we dubbed the cart from, as
well as several copies of Lee's nationally released record. Lee is now
in the Country D J Hall of Fame at the Nashville Convention Center,
where I drop by frequently to dust his plaque.
When I was acting GM at top 40 10-Q in LA for a short time in the late
70's, I found that The Ravers on Zombie had done a similar custom Xmas
record for them, re-lyricing "There's Gonna Be A Punk Rock Christmas
This Year" to "TGBA 10-Q CTY", mentioning all the jocks. Unlike Lee's
record, this one was pressed on vinyl. probably as a givaway.
Unfortunately we could no longer play the record on 10-Q, as some of
the Jocks had changed, whereas Lee's was played on WHN for a number of
seasons.
Ed Salamon
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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 19:38:31 -0000
From: Phil Hall
Subject: Brill Building
Have you ever wondered what the inside of the Brill Building looks
like? I've just posted a picture of the entrance hallway to the
Brill Building, taken last Friday. There was a guard there;
presumably because of the Republican convention, but he was around
the corner when I snapped the shot.
Phil H.
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Message: 11
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:38:59 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: Re: Dan Fogelberg
Eddy wrote:
> With the recent postings on Dan Fogelberg, I thought I'd let you
> know that he has cancelled his fall tour due to advanced prostate
> cancer.
This is a sad thing that I hope Dan Fogelberg can get thru. His
music was some of my favorite music in the late 70's and early 80's
and I saw him live around 1980/1 here in Lincoln. He certainly had
60's roots remembered with his remake of Hollies/Keith's "Tell me
to my Face" in fine form as well as the Coachmen 45 I posted
recently. If I remember correctly, he did "Day Tripper" as an
encore at the concert I was at, oddly enough. With Laura
Brannigan's death yesterday, we don't need Dan added. Laura was
YOUNGER THAN ME! That's always a strange thought, like when Randy
VanWarmer died last year at I believe, 44. It's one thing that Elmer
Bernstein died at his age, but when 80's singers start passing, that
seems really strange to me. Anyway, I hope Dan gets well. Clark
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Message: 12
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:24:23 -0000
From: John Kirby
Subject: Elliot Kendall
Elliot Kendall wrote:
> I'll admit it, I'm a lurker. I scour the text of Spectropop to find
> topics of my liking or to discover a new release by some obscure,
> undiscovered 60s soft pop legend, rarely contributing commentary of
> my own --
I have the great great pleasure of calling Elliot Kendall my friend...
In the few years I have known him Elliot has astounded me as a
consumate musician, an authority on 60's music, a raconteur and a very
valid member of LA's music community who is always welcoming visiting
musicians and introducing them to everyone he can. But more than
anything else he is one of the best friends I have ever made in my
life......A LURKER, you are not my friend you deserve to be up there
with those artistes you constantly champion... Elliot you are one of
those rare people in the music industry...100% GENUINE.
JK
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Message: 13
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:27:16 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: Odessey and Oracle / Al Kooper's Garden
Robert wrote:
> Did a Zombies search in the message archive and saw that 6 months
> has gone by since Mr. Al Kooper has been thanked for helping bring
> the still amazing Zombies Odessey and Oracle LP to a wider
> audience.
A timely message, Rob, because this morning I was just thinking
about some idiot I used to know who taught a course on the history
of rock. God only knows how that came about--he got at least half of
his facts wrong, one example being his assertion that Eric Burdon
got "Odessey" released in the US! I repeat, Eric Burdon! Of course
it was Al Kooper, and the band's US publisher Al Gallico has been
credited as well. I may have said on S'Pop that I don't
like "Odessey" as much as The Zombies' earlier work, but it would
still have been a damn shame if the album had never seen release in
the US.
A question for Al Kooper: Al, you've said that you went to the UK,
bought 40 LPs, and "Odessey" stood out "like a rose in a garden of
weeds." Do you recall what some of those "weeds," er, other LPs were?
S.J. Dibai
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Message: 14
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:51:15 -0000
From: S.J. Dibai
Subject: Re: Samples and steals, how do you feel?
Joe Nelson asked:
> given the popularity of both sampling and "tribute theft" (for
> lack of a better term), how does the list feel when older songs
> get twisted up for representation to a contemporary audience that
> may or may not know the originals?
Excellent question. I'm about two weeks shy of my 23rd birthday, so
this topic hits home to me because the contemporary audience of
which you speak consists largely of people from my generation. And
as a member of said generation whose tastes tend toward the retro, I
can say with passion that I loathe the excessive sampling and
outright stealing that takes place in today's music.
When hip hop first started out and people began sampling, it was an
alternative form of expression. It may have been questionable in
terms of copyrights and ethics, but at least it was merely a
practice with limited range. It was sort of a modern-day response to
musique concrete--taking pre-existing sound recordings and making
something new out of them. But like all alternative forms of
expression that become popular, hip hop became co-opted into the
mainstream, commercialized and mass-marketed, and elements of it
oozed into other forms of music.
As a result, we have ended up with way too much sampling, way too
many hits (in several genres) that borrow a main riff, rhythm track,
or chorus from an oldie. It's sickening. It points to the lack of
originality and creativity that pervades the entertainment industry
today. It took a once meaningful form of artistic expression and
turned it into something crass. And, most annoyingly, young people
hear these songs and most of them haven't got a clue that what
they're hearing is really an old song in revamped form. It happened
to me. When I was younger I didn't know that "Can't Touch This" was
actually "Superfreak" or that "Gansta's Paradise" was based on a
Stevie Wonder song. I just thought, "Hey, this sounds good" and was
shocked--and lost some appreciation for those hits--when I learned
that they were ripoffs.
As you pointed out, the upshot is that the writers of the original
songs do make money off of this stuff. But wouldn't recognition be
great, too? Wouldn't it be good for the kids listening to these
recordings to know what they're really digging? And is it just me or
do I sound a lot older than my age right now???
S.J. Dibai
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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