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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 8 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Quarternotes; Eight Feet; Davis Sisters; "Dionic" sounds
From: Country Paul
2. Re: Dean & all the Reeds
From: Eddy
3. Re: " But I Don't Care"
From: Claire Francis
4. Re: There were tears in my eyes.....
From: Joe Nelson
5. Scooby Doo
From: Joe Nelson
6. Re: Florence Ballard song
From: Stephanie
7. Re: All's Quiet on West 23rd
From: Davie Gordon
8. "I Love New York"
From: Mick Patrick
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:39:55 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Quarternotes; Eight Feet; Davis Sisters; "Dionic" sounds
Davie Gordon asks about the Quartnernotes on Boom. I'm unfamiliar with that
record, but there was an instrumental band called The Quarternotes (also
called The Quarter Notes) from the Buffalo, NY area who hit on Wizz with
"Record Hop Blues" in 1959.
Ian Slater re-introduces a discussion of Al Kooper-produced Eight Feet,
"Bobby's Come a Long, Long Way"/"What Am I Without You?" Like Al, my
favorite side is the folky flip, but "Bobby" gets its stompin' in. Al, did
they record anything else is either (or other) genre, please? (And what a
great group name! Who came up with it?)
Ian also mentions The Davis Sisters' "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know."
I have a copy of the original DJ 45 on a very good RCA pressing, and the
recording is just amazing. If girl-groups and hillbilly music had merged,
this would be the result. It's zen-simple and eloquent - the ladies just
kinda stand there and sing their hearts out. Yeah, it's early for the S'pop
era, but the performance still makes my hair stand on end.
Mikey wrote:
> Just since we're on the topic, I have a whole bootleg CD of Dion sound-
> alikes called "So Why Did You Sing Like Me, Dion?"
Austin Roberts:
> Greatest Dion sound-alike, in my opinion, was the one-hit wonder, number
> one record Little Star by The Elegants, circa 1958. What a great record!
Agreed. Another of the best: Dean Christie's only hit, "Heartbreaker," on
the new Ace comp "Teenage Crush 4". Two more on the same album: "Dickey
Lee's "I Saw Linda Yesterday" (the track is "Dionic"; the vocals are more
country-pop) and Tommy Boyce's early "I'll Remember Carol." Also, Laurie
Records, trying for another "I Wonder Why," issued Dino & The Diplomats'
"I Can't Believe," which was like the original re-written sideways.
Country Paul
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 13:01:37 +0200
From: Eddy
Subject: Re: Dean & all the Reeds
Phil X Milstein:
> Was he related to John Reed, of Warren Beatty's "Reds" fame?
No idea about that, but the answer may pop up in the biopic that
Tom Hanks is apparently working on, with approval from Dean's wife.
It may also shed some light on his rather unexpected popularity in
South America. Apparently Dean re-located to Argentina based on
that success, but got deported because of his political views. It
was an invitation to come to the Leipzig film festival that made
Dean go over to the GDR, where he met his wife to be and found a
more friendly political environment. Btw, it just so happens to be
Dean's birthday today (Sept 22)!
Eddy
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:24:02 EDT
From: Claire Francis
Subject: Re: " But I Don't Care"
Hola Julio, I am happy that you love the "summer storm" of my record
"But I Don't Care".
Love & Light,
Claire Francis
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:04:10 -0400
From: Joe Nelson
Subject: Re: There were tears in my eyes.....
Claire Francis:
> Thank you for playing my song in your music room. My whole family
> sat there with tears in their eyes as we listened. "But I Don't
> Care" was so much of a thrill to produce, write, arrange and record.
> I forgot for a moment in time just how great the thrill was. Thanks
> for bringing in on home to me.
I know the feeling. My own fling with the music biz was equally
fleeting and (if you can imagine it) even more obscure. As a teenager
(1981), I played bass briefly in a group called New York. At one point
a deal with A&M (USA) was supposedly imminent, but it never happened.
We pressed a couple of records on our own, and eventually fell apart.
As I got into computers and digital audio archiving as an adult, the
old New York records were high on my "to do" list as nobody knew for
sure where the tapes were. (Our producer lives down the road from me.
He has access to second generation safety copies, but most of the
masters are missing in action and I have one that I destroyed
inadvertently due to "sticky shed" issues that I wasn't familiar
with.) I got the records to 90+% master quality and put MP3's on my
computer.
In those days of classic Napster, Audiogalaxy et al I shared
everything, and the New York records and some of my later solo demos
ended up in the stew. Those were the days: both programs were great
places to find rarities and it was a damned shame they got shut down
because a bunch of teenage punks wanted to get the latest Linkin Park
without paying for the CD. Anyway, I was on Audiogalaxy one day on one
of my usual hunts, and suddenly the New York records started
uploading. Someone out there knew who we were and found my MP3's. Then
my demos started uploading - proof that this person knew something
about the band and wasn't just prodding around for strange music that
seemed interesting.
As AG had no chat program and didn't ID users, I had no way of
contacting the person and finding out who they were and what/how they
knew about the band. Probably just an old member - but for one brief
moment I felt like someone who had that shining moment of glory and
not just like an ordinary kid who's singer's dad decided to blow some
money to get his son's voice on vinyl.
Joe Nelson
(looking for a box of Kleenex...)
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:13:10 -0400
From: Joe Nelson
Subject: Scooby Doo
As I write this, my 4 year old is watching an old episode and they're
playing Austin Roberts' classic "Daydreamin'". I know that's him
singing, but I had to ask: did HB speed up your voice on these things?
Joe Nelson
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:29:09 -0000
From: Stephanie
Subject: Re: Florence Ballard song
Jason de Sah:
> Hi, I'm kinda new to the group and I was wondering if anyone can
> tell me which CD has the song "Save Me A Star" by The Supremes on
> it. It has Flo on lead and it was released on a Supremes compilation.
It's on "The Essential Florence Ballard" and you can get it from Amazon.
Stephanie
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:34:53 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: All's Quiet on West 23rd
Dave O'Gara wrote:
> I recently did a search for All's Quiet on West 23rd Street by Julie
> Budd and ended up with a copy (mp3) of the song by Jet Stream instead.
> Were they out at the same time, and did the competition from the two
> prevent either from becoming the hit I think it should have been?
They weren't in competition as the Jet Stream version was released a
long time before Julie Budd's version. The Jet Stream (Smash 2095) was
released at the end of May '67. Julie's version was issued on MGM 13925
in April '68.
There's a later version by the Jades on Liberty from Aug '70, and I've
a nagging memory of a UK version from '68 but can't recall the artist.
If I remember rightly the Jet Stream were essentially a side project of
the Third Rail, the group made up of Joey Levine, Artie Resnick and
Artie's wife, Kris Resnick.
There's probably more info. in the booklet for the Third Rail's CD but
I can't lay my hands on my copy.
I agree it should've been a hit.
Davie
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Message: 8
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 21:48:16 +0100
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: "I Love New York"
Claire Francis:
> I wrote a song with Herbie Hancock called "I Love New York"...
Indeed you did, as recorded by Marva Josie. Great song. Great record.
To prove it, I've posted the track to musica for all to hear. Just
click here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/files/musica/
Details are: Marva Josie "I Love New York" (U.A. 888, 1965) Arranged
and Conducted by Horace Ott. Produced by Norman Blagman. Written by
Herbie Hancock and Claire Francis.
Claire, I notice that BMI have you listed by several different names:
Claire Francis
Claire Lynne Francis
Claire Brightwater Francis
Claire Kamerling
Presumably, amongst these various monickers are your married and
maiden names, correct? If so, which one's which, please?
I see that, in addition to Herbie Hancock, you co-wrote songs with
several other collaborators: Luchi De Jesus, Richard Hill, John
Hawkins, Frank Cameron, Marva Josie herself and Wayne Mills among
them.
I'm sure we're all looking forward to hearing some cool stories about
your days in the record biz.
Hey la,
Mick Patrick
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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