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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 12 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Little Eva: A Quiz With A Moral
From: Mick Patrick
2. Re: (Miss)Toni Fisher; ALP
From: Austin Powell
3. Re: Beatles pre-Capitol US release sequence
From: Lloyd Davis
4. Re: "As Long As There's Love" by The Youth; Les Surfs
From: Julio Niño
5. Re: ALP
From: Davie Gordon
6. Re: "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe"
From: Davie Gordon
7. Re: Les Surfs
From: Kingsley Abbott
8. Re: Les Surfs
From: James Cassidy
9. Re: Razor's Edge
From: Tom Diehl
10. Re: Beatles, hold the Ifield
From: Tom Diehl
11. Re: Les Surfs
From: Phil X Milstein
12. Claire Francis and The Vikings
From: Al Quaglieri
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 20:58:01 -0000
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: Little Eva: A Quiz With A Moral
Wanna win five free groovy CDs? Know your Goffin/King onions?
Read on . . .
Art imitates life. Legend has it that Little Eva was the
inspiration behind several of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's
compositions. Prior to recording their 'The Loco-Motion',
Eva had worked as the couple's live-in nanny, cutting demos
of their songs for their publishers, Aldon Music, on the
side. The Crystals' notorious 'He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A
Kiss)' and Gene McDaniels' 'Point Of No Return' are just two
examples of Goffin/King numbers that were built around phrases
Eva had used in conversations with them about the ups and
downs of her relationship with her boyfriend, James Harris.
Pounced on by Don Kirshner for the inaugural release on
Aldon's Dimension label, 'The Loco-Motion' had steamed to #1
in the summer of 1962, hanging around on the Hot 100 until
October. Untypically for the times, the company waited until
the disc had completed its 16-week chart journey before
unleashing Eva's follow-up. 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX' made its first
appearance on the charts in early November, rising to a peak
of #12 seven weeks later. Together with Steve Lawrence's 'Go
Away Little Girl' and 'Chains' by the Cookies, it provided
Goffin and King with a tally of three songs in the penultimate
Top 20 of the year. Eva and James celebrated by getting
married that same week.
In 1967 Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote '(You Make Me Feel
Like) A Natural Woman', constructing the song around a title
suggested to them by Aretha Franklin's producer, Jerry Wexler.
He received a co-writer credit and a share of the royalties
for his efforts. Point made?
Name the Little Eva tune in question. Yep, it's easy. That's
why the most ***entertaining*** and ***interesting*** correct
answer wins. Your CDs await.
Hey la,
Mick Patrick
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:25:04 -0000
From: Austin Powell
Subject: Re: (Miss)Toni Fisher; ALP
Barry Margolis wrote:
> I'd like to compile a complete (Miss) Toni Fisher discography.
Don't know of a discography, but Harkit Records in the UK has a rather
nice 27-track CD with much of her Signet, Big Top, Capitol stuff. Her son
Michael Shanklin helped out with the project.
Phil Chapman asked:
> What do you recall about the label 'Alp', a Polydor subsidiary?
ALP was owned by Andy Lothian, but Polydor MD Roland Rennie may
have been a partner in the excercise. It was a Polydor-distributed label.
In the early '80s Andy Lothian lived in Dundee and was in the financial
services business, and I might add was very successful.
Austin P
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 14:14:45 -0500
From: Lloyd Davis
Subject: Re: Beatles pre-Capitol US release sequence
Mike Edwards wrote:
> I wonder if it was Harry's playing on this 45 (a huge hit in the
> UK that year) that encouraged the Beatles to include the
> harmonica intro on "Love Me Do". It is often cited that Delbert
> McClinton, the harmonica player on Bruce Channel's 1962
> hit, "Hey Baby," was the influence. Certainly the Beatles
> went on to issue an LP with Frank Ifield in 1964.
Hard to say whether the harmonica on Ifield's "I Remember You" influenced
the Beatles' "Love Me Do," as the Ifield single came out in July 1962 in the
UK, while a harmonica was part of the Beatles' arrangement of "Love Me Do"
when they attempted it at a test session (with Pete Best on drums) at EMI in
June 1962.
We can be certain, though, that the Beatles/Ifield LP was not a collaboration.
It was opportunism on the part of Vee Jay Records. Both Ifield and The Beatles
recorded for EMI (Ifield for Columbia, the Beatles for Parlophone). Both
were initially rejected by Capitol in the USA, and both were picked up by
Vee Jay.
VJ released two singles -- "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" and "From
Me To You"/"Thank You Girl." Both stiffed.
VJ had received a master tape of the UK "Please Please Me" album, and
planned to release a 12-song LP (dropping the unsuccessful first single).
But VJ had apparently been missing royalty payments, and EMI's US agency,
Transglobal Music, pulled the plug on VJ's rights to release new Ifield
product. It also demanded that VJ cease and desist releasing Beatles
material. Easy enough to do, since it wasn't selling, so the LP was scrapped.
Since "I Remember You" had charted #5 in Billboard, Capitol exercised
its right of first refusal on Ifield's next single, "I'm Confessin'." Almost
simultaneously, Capitol again rejected a Beatles single, "She Loves You."
The Ifield single hit #58, while "She Loves You,"picked up by Swan, barely
made a dent in the marketplace.
Everything changed once Capitol launched its Beatles campaign in December
'63. "I Want To Hold Your Hand," on Capitol, charted. A week later, "She
Loves You" entered Billboard's Top 100. Both hit #1. Capitol issued the
"Meet the Beatles" album.
VJ remembered it had the LP master in its vault. It tried to sneak
"Introducing The Beatles" onto the market. Capitol filed a series of
injunctions, which VJ kept managing to have lifted. It wasn't long before
VJ found out that two tracks, "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You," were
published by Ardmore & Beechwood, owned by EMI. Those tracks were
then removed from the album, replaced by "Please Please Me" and "Ask
Me Why."
While the lawyers duked it out over the album, VJ tried to repackage the
four songs it KNEW it had the rights to: the first two singles. It bundled
these up with eight Ifield tunes (all 12 tracks were studio recordings) and
released the works as a "live" album. It also issued a new 45, "Please Please
Me"/"From Me To You," the A side hitting #3, the B side reaching #41.
VJ ultimately won the right to continue pressing, selling -- and, ad
nauseam, repackaging -- the Beatles masters in its possession through
October '64. By that time, VJ/Tollie had released the Fabs' first 14 songs
on three albums, ten singles, and an EP.
Lloyd in Toronto
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:18:15 -0000
From: Julio Niño
Subject: Re: "As Long As There's Love" by The Youth; Les Surfs
Hola Everybody.
I want to thank Phil (and of course Claire for producing it) for playing to
musica "As Long As There's Love," by The Youth. I love it. I agree with Phil
that the singer sounds suspiciously like Jackie Edwards. I like very much
Jackie's voice, it has that combination of lassitude and intensity that is
characteristic of many Jamaican singers. The mix of the Spectorian backing
voices and the singer's soulful voice is electrifying. The rhythm and strings
lines also remind me a little of some of Jackie's soul songs such as the
marvelous " I Feel So Bad."
Changing the subject, I'm a very easily influenced guy and the mention
of Les Surfs in some posts these last days made me want to revisit their
songs. I had forgotten how much I like them. My favorite song by them is
"Toi tu m'as tou donné." The Spanish version of "Stop" amuses me a lot,
the lyrics are so so camp nowadays and the girl sings them so innocently
that it always makes me laugh my head off.
Plop.
Chao.
Julio Niño.
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:36:33 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: ALP
Phil Chapman asked:
> What do you recall about the label 'Alp', a Polydor subsidiary?
ALP was an acronym for Andy Lothian Productions. They had a national
distribution deal with Polydor.
Davie
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:49:24 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe"
Dave Monroe wrote:
> I just spun Wind's version of "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" last night!
> Anyone have any info on either Wind or Mr. Bloe?
Austin Powell replied:
> DJM Records' arranger Zack Lawrence went into the studios and did a
> cover version of the instrumental track, releasing it under the name
> Mr. Bloe and subsequently making # 2 in May 1970.
Austin, thanks for the background info. For years I've been thinking that
Win's record was a cover version. I thought the title was a London reference
to the active ingredient in those funny smelling cigarettes, i.e. "Groovin'
With Mr. Blow." Not that I know anything about that sort of thing, you
understand :)
Was "Blow" a common term in the U.S. for certain substances?
On much the same topic, the B-side of one of Spooky Tooth's U.S. singles
was titled "Spooky Blow" -- was this a retitling of a UK track? It doesn't
show up in anything I've read about the group.
Davie
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 20:41:08 -0000
From: Kingsley Abbott
Subject: Re: Les Surfs
Peter Andreasen wrote:
> Les Surfs have 3 CDs out on Magic Records, easy to buy directly
> from their website.
Whilst in Barcelona last year I found a Spanish singles collection of theirs.
It includes Spanish versions of Be My Baby (curiously credited to Spector/
Greenwich/Barry/Mann), My Best Friend (credited Mann/Apell/Mapel), Don't
Make Me Over, and El Crossfire (credited as My Best Friend). It is on the
(undoubtedly cheap) Graffiti label (32-777), and cost the equivalent of about
£2 or $3. 14 tracks in all. The group didn't look to be very tall -- in fact I'd guess
contenders for the shortest group of all time ... unless you know differently?
Kingsley Abbott
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Message: 8
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 16:05:06 -0500
From: James Cassidy
Subject: Re: Les Surfs
... not to be confused with Les Garcons de la Plage, who, of course,
were the major French competitors to the Rutles.
Jim Cassidy
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Message: 9
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 21:05:46 -0000
From: Tom Diehl
Subject: Re: Razor's Edge
James Botticelli wrote:
> Guess what I got as a late holiday gift? The Razor's Edge -- "Let's
> Call It A Day Girl". The original 45 on Pow! Records.
Of course, that group of Razor's Edge was no relation to the other group
called the Razor's Edge from about the same time period, with their
songs War Boy and Gotta Find Her on Kingston records (of course,
this was reissued on Diamond records, under the name Pat Farrell &
The Believers, and while some copies of the Diamond 45 read War Boy
(at least on promos), some apparently were issued as War Baby,
although I've never seen any as such.
Tom "always hunting for Diamonds" Diehl
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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 21:08:18 -0000
From: Tom Diehl
Subject: Re: Beatles, hold the Ifield
Mike Edwards wrote:
> Certainly The Beatles went on to issue an LP with Frank Ifield in 1964.
The Frank Ifield and The Beatles LP together is pure coincidence. It's just
studio tracks thrown together because they were on the same record label.
The Beatles did do I Remember You (with harmonica part being similar)
at the Star Club in Germany, as the recording of it was issued on the
live album from there released in the '70s. I think that too is just pure
coincidence, though, as it was Delbert who taught John Lennon in person
how to play the harmonica.
Tom Diehl
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Message: 11
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:38:29 -0800
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: Les Surfs
Frank wrote:
> Again, they were huge in France at the time. The novelty aspect of the
> group plus their great repertoire choice made them an immediate hit.
Les Surfs look so teensy in the several Scopitones I've seen 'em in ("If
I Had A Hammer" comes most immediately to mind) that they might as
well be called "Les Smurfs." But, also like Smurfs, they ARE awfully cute.
--Phil M.
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Message: 12
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 08:53:25 -0500
From: Al Quaglieri
Subject: Claire Francis and The Vikings
Scott Swanson wrote:
> I think that another member of The Vikings -- Mike Fraser --
> is the same Mike Fraser who later went on to become one of
> the top engineers/mixers in the rock biz.
I bounced this to Mike, who thought it was pretty amusing, but incorrect
nonetheless. Sez Mike, "I know I have Viking in my blood, but I didn't
know I was in the band!" Fraze also invites you to his new website, at
http://www.redroad.ca/
Al Q
NY
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