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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 21 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Help with the Emotions!
From: Mick Patrick
2. Re: My Musical Sons And Daughters-In-Law
From: Phil X Milstein
3. Re: West Side Story
From: Joe Nelson
4. Re: Larry Welk
From: Irving Snodgrass
5. Tracks in musica
From: Country Paul
6. Hit; X
From: Country Paul
7. Clark's LA charts; Mad/The Dellwoods; Time, oh time
From: Country Paul
8. Debby Woods
From: Rob Trenner
9. Re: Jimmy Webb Productions
From: Richard Havers
10. Re: Jimmy Webb/"Earthbound"/5th Dimension
From: Anthony Parsons
11. Re: "Baby It's You"
From: James Botticelli
12. Re: help with The Emotions
From: Davie Gordon
13. Re: Jana Louise
From: Davie Gordon
14. Athena label from Nashville?
From: Jon Christopher Pennington
15. Re: Jimmy Webb/"Earthbound"/5th Dimension
From: Brent Cash
16. Re: Hit Records stereo singles
From: Billy G Spradlin
17. Re: Don Grady / Palace Guard
From: Mike Dugo
18. Re: Larry Welk's birthplace
From: Michael Thom
19. Re: Nightriders 45
From: Claire Francis
20. Historic Muscle Shoals Recording Studio Closes
From: Bill Swanke
21. Re: Farmer's Daughter 45?
From: Eddy Smit
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 22:16:14 -0000
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: Re: Help with the Emotions!
Einar Einarsson Kvaran:
> Not exactly Good News, Clark. The Emotions do not appear
> in the "Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959 - 1968" box set.
There's a very good reason for the Emotions' non-inclusion
on the 1959-1968 box set -- they didn't join the label until
the following year!
They are, however, present on "The Complete Stax/Volt
Singles, Volume 2, 1968-1971", and on "Volume Three". But
you don't have to be rich enough to afford 10-CD box sets
to enjoy the Emotions, because they are included on more
CDs than anyone in their right mind could be bothered to
list, some of which one may read about here:
http://tinyurl.com/6vrv4
Then, of course, there are the group's pre-Volt releases,
when they went by other names.
Hey la,
Mick Patrick
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 18:27:38 -0500
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: My Musical Sons And Daughters-In-Law
Mikey wrote:
> Don Grady was Robbie Douglas, on My Three Sons.
When the producers started bringing women into the Douglas household
in the show's later years, they chose Tina Cole, one of the singing
King Cousins, to play Robbie's wife Katie. (In fact, Grady left the
show early (perhaps for his music career), leaving Tina/Katie behind
to play the wife whose husband was always away "on business.") For
the wife of middle* son Chip, they chose Ronnie Troup, the daughter
of pianist/songwriter Bobby Troup (from an earlier marriage than his
one with Julie London). Steve Douglas's stepdaughter was played by
Dawn Lyn, sister of Leif Garrett. Thus, My Three Sons wound up with
some "relatively" musical daughters, perhaps fitting in that Fred
MacMurray began his career as a sax player in swing bands.
--Phil M.
http://www.aspma.com/probe
*Technically Chip was the youngest son, but a cast transition in the
middle of the show's run left him the 'tweener. The new youngest son,
the four-eyed Ernie, was adopted by the Douglases when they moved
from the Midwest to California, but that fact, in best Brady Bunch
tradition, was quickly swept under the rug, leaving him before long a
full-blooded Douglas. Ironically, the stepbrothers Chip and Ernie were
played by a pair of real-life brothers, an interesting turnabout from
all the TV "siblings" who look nothing alike.
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:42:19 -0500
From: Joe Nelson
Subject: Re: West Side Story
Dave Monroe:
> If ONLY someone would cut Natalie Wood's (or, at any rate,
> whoever's doing her singing for her) songs out of WSS.
> Especially "I Feel Pretty." Downright ridiculous.
It has its place. My wife was in a comedy club some years ago
and at one point the guy on stage went into a spot in his act
where he pantomimed the song in drag. In that context, lip-
synching to Natalie was the ONLY way to do the song justice.
Joe Nelson
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:09:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Irving Snodgrass
Subject: Re: Larry Welk
Phil X Milstein wrote:
> Believe it or not, Welk was born and entirely raised in the U.S.
> However, he grew up in an isolated enclave of German immigrants
> in, I believe, Nebraska......
Try North Dakota.
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 21:41:18 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Tracks in musica
"Uncredited (Bradley RS) - Low Grades.mp3" is playing in musica
at the moment; as I'm still 10 days behind, I'm wondering if
anyone has posited that this may be The Orlons. Also, is anyone
familiar with the Orlons' alter egos, Zip & The Zippers, whose
"Where You Goin', Little Boy" (Fairmount) got some healthy airplay
in Providence, RI? Did they record more under this name besides
that single?
Also in musica: Alicia Granados - Mantenga Limpio Su Corazón.
She was only 12? Where did she get that mature voice?
Which reminds me of another mature voice, Dodie Stevens, who was
also 12 or so when she hit with "Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces" -
and then, nothing. Curiosity got the best of me, and I checked
out what happened to her at
http://www.familysweeps.net/dodie_stevens_oldies.html
Awful writing style, but I gather the facts are true. Basically,
she's a lounge singer these days (or at least In The Days When
This Post Was Written - In This Style). Talk about peaking early....
And one more comment re: The Nightriders, "Your Friend," also in
musica. This was a big surprise! Claire, I'm assuming you produced
the B side as well as the A. How did you come upon this wonderful
but obscure Roemans song? I confess to liking the original better,
but this is very credible, too. Thanks for the post!
Country Paul
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 21:59:54 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Hit; X
David Gofstein wrote:
> Is there a site out there with the story of HIT Records and
> other sound-alike or knock off labels?
Ray replied:
> Yes, here:
> http://capitolsoulclub.homestead.com/HitListing.html
> and here:
> http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/Stage/7799/hitrecords.htm
They sure invented some great (!?) names for their artists:
Alpha Zoe (actually kinda cool), The Dacrons, Harvey Frolic (!)
and Ricky Dickens, among others - and then, once the Beatles hit,
The Bugs, The Doodles, The Beasts and The Beagles (the last three
with Bobby Russell). (I also note Paul Urbahns name at the second
site. Good work, Paul, and thank you for the further note here.)
Javed Jafri:
> I dug a little more and this is what Timothy White writes in
> "The Nearest Faraway Place" about the X version: " A small
> quantity was pressed on Robert and Richard Dix's X Records
> label under the catalogue X-301."
RCA also had an "X" label, named after the code-name for the
project that led to the creation of the 45. I recently was at
the Sarnoff Center and Museum in Princeton, NJ, and got to hold
the first 45rpm commercial pressing made, which is in their
collection along with samples of all the various colored vinyl
categories that RCA pressed in its first year. I'll get it
developed (yep, it's film, not digital), and try to scan it
into the pictures section soon.
Country Paul
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 01:04:17 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Clark's LA charts; Mad/The Dellwoods; Time, oh time
Re: Clark's LA chart comments: he mentions "'Soul Surfer' by
Johnny Fortune (4/6/63)...." His "Dragster" was a significant
airplay and sales record in Providence, RI. Was this a hit
anywhere else? I didn't know he had other records out. Was
there an album? By the way, who was he? (I doubt his birth
certificate said "Fortune" - or did it?)
> "Surfin' Hootenany" by Al Casey was next (7/13/63)....
This was actually played on WFMU this afternoon (2/22/05)!
Sounded great.
> California's hereos, the Beach Boys, had not been out of
> #1 since "Surfin'" (except for "10 Little Indians" and
> "Farmer's Daughter" which did not chart on KFWB at all!)
Was "Farmer's Daughter" a single? I knew "Indians" was, but I
thought that was the only "lapse" between BBoys #1s at that time.
Austin Roberts writes:
> I can't remember if I put this in here earlier, but, I've got a
> friend on the coast (west) who wrote 'Saved By The Bell', some Andy
> Griffiths, Green Acres, Gomer Pyle etc. He also wrote, a long ass
> time ago, 'IT'S A GAS' for Mad Magazine.
Pres replies:
> When I saw the artist listed as "Alfred E. Neuman" I assumed
> there was a MAD tie in somewhere. Pretty cool record, though.
It was on an album of Mad songs credited to a group called The
Dellwoods. Anyone know anything about them? Were they a real group?
My favorite track from the album was the heartfelt ballad "I"ll
Never Make Fun of Her Mustache Again." (For the record, Dellwood
was a major dairy company serving the New York metro area, where
mad was headquartered.)
Phil M:
> Now that I think of it I'm not sure why record companies would
> bother listing times on their stock copies at all! Would a home
> listener choose a 2:10 record over a 2:50 one in order to save
> 40 seconds to make an appointment?
For home tapers, perhaps - before it became a big bugaboo. I know
that's how I used it (but mostly for sequencing singles I'd already
bought).
Country Paul
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Message: 8
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 18:10:44 -0000
From: Rob Trenner
Subject: Debby Woods
I am trying to locate any material, including records on Debby
or Debbie Woods. Recorded on the Epic label in the early to mid
1960's. Can anyone Help? Thanks,
Rob Trenner
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 20:13:56 +0000
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Re: Jimmy Webb Productions
Jon Cook wrote:
> The recent Jim Webb discussion brought to mind something I've
> always wondered about. Can anybody tell me how good the reunion
> album he did with the 5th Dimension is? 'Earthbound' is out of
> print and I can't find anything about it on the Net. If posters
> have info on the Supremes album he did, that would also be greatly
> appreciated. Thanks for all the great music you've all introduced
> me to.
The Supremes album is a gem. Quality will always out and Jimmy's great
arrangements and his impeccable production bring something special to
this album. 'Where Can Brown Begin' is particularly good, as is 'I Keep
It Hid'. I used to have 'Earthbound' - before a catastrophic calamity
necessitated a vinyl fire sale. It was Ok, but was not something that
compared with the likes of 'Magic Garden'.
Richard
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Message: 10
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:03:01 -0600
From: Anthony Parsons
Subject: Re: Jimmy Webb/"Earthbound"/5th Dimension
Jon Cook wrote:
> Can anybody tell me how good the reunion album Jimmy Webb
> did with the 5th Dimension is? 'Earthbound' is out of print ...
The Fifth Dimension was my favorite group when I was in high school,
and I absolutely love the Earthbound album. It's not as commercial as
their previous material, but it does have a couple of songs that should've
been hits but weren't. Magic In My Life, with probably the best Florence
LaRue lead ever, was issued as a single but went nowhere. Walk Your
Feet In The Sunshine is about as happy a tune as you'll ever hear. When
Did I Lose Your Love was the only Marilyn lead and has a very poignant
performance from her.
Most of the songs were written by Jimmy Webb, but there are covers of
Lennon/McCartney's I've Got A Feeling, Jagger/Richards' Moonlight Mile
(excellent!), and the prologue version of the title cut is a medley with George
Harrison's Be Here Now. Magic In My Life and a hot dance tune, Don't Stop
For Nothing, are credited to a J. Johnson. The only cut I don't like is a Webb
tune called Lean On Me Always, which has a rather tortured vocal by Billy
Davis Jr. Another minor criticism is that some of the tunes are overlayed
(meaning the intro comes in before the previous song has finished fading),
and these overlays tend to be a bit too long which is distracting, but I can
see what Jimmy was up to with this ploy.
Overall, it's a really great album and deserved a better fate than it got. I'd
love to see it reissued on CD. I suggest you check out used record stores.
You can probably find a copy for pretty cheap. Years ago, I bought a
second "safety" copy for a buck! If there are any other Fifth Dimension
fans out there, I'd love to hear your take on this LP.
Sincerely,
Antone
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Message: 11
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:38:25 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: "Baby It's You"
Bob Rashkow wrote:
> Not too crazy about Gary & The Hornets' 1969 version (way post
> "Hi Hi Hazel"), but I like the B-side "Tell Tale" a lot. It pre-dates
> the kind of stuff The Osmonds were doing in the early '70s but
> with an infinitely better arrangement -- although I doubt it would
> have charted.
Funnily enough I just digitized a 1980 recording of "Baby Its You" by a girl
group called Dolly Mixture. It rocks a little too much for my ears but when
the subject of your CD-R is "Stuff From '77-'84 That Sounds Sixties" you
include it..
JB
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Message: 12
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 23:39:57 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: help with The Emotions
Clark Besch wrote:
> Hi, altho this isn't usual S'pop chatter, I am looking for help.
> I just found out a co-worker is brother to the Emotions, the
> sister group who won a Grammy for "Best of my Love" in 1978.
> I have a lot of material on their 70's days, but am looking
> for any 60's material--videos, radio charts, pictures, etc.
Before they signed to Stax (through the auspices of Pervis Staples of The
Staple Singers), The Emotions had a handful of local Chicago releases,
one on Brainstorm and three on Twin Stacks, a label that was distributed
by Amy-Mala-Bell.
Their sixties' history is pretty hazy. I get the impression they didn't really
work much before joining Stax. I've yet to see a promo photo from their
Twin Stacks days -- in fact photos of them before they moved to Columbia
aren't that easy to find. Even their first album didn't even have a photo of
the group.
I'll do a bit of digging and see if I can come up with anything, but it seems
to me asking your co-worker might a lot more fruitful than anything we
could do.
Davie Gordon
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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 23:22:06 -0000
From: Davie Gordon
Subject: Re: Jana Louise
Kees van der Hoeven wrote:
> Jana Louise recorded a few 45 for Dot in 1964/65 and 1 LP
> "Dixie Cup of Sand". After that, I could find no recording
> activities.
Hi Kees,
I was going to refer you to a great John D. Loudermilk website, only to
discover that you most likely know about it already, since it's your project :)
I'll see if I can find anything on Jana. Congratulations on your site -- a
superb piece of work.
http://members.chello.nl/~k.vanderhoeven/JDL.html
Davie Gordon
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Message: 14
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:43:19 -0800
From: Jon Christopher Pennington
Subject: Athena label from Nashville?
Continuing the discussion of Nashville pop, I think Athena Records was
a Nashville label. The label released the Feminine Complex LP "Livin'
Love," which should be of interest to most people on this list. The Feminine
Complex was an all-girl band out of Nashville with a Nancy Sinatra-meets-
The Standells kind of sound, but also with some poppier tracks. Gil Trythall
also did two interesting "country Moog" records that were some of the
better cash-ins on the '60s Moog craze. Can anybody else think of any
other LPs or 45s on Athena that are worth mentioning?
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Message: 15
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:11:53 -0000
From: Brent Cash
Subject: Re: Jimmy Webb/"Earthbound"/5th Dimension
Jon Cook wrote:
> Can anybody tell me how good the reunion album Jimmy Webb
> did with the 5th Dimension is? 'Earthbound' is out of print and
> I can't find anything about it on the Net.
To me "Earthbound" is like a friend you haven't seen in years, whose
voice still sounds the same but who has something vaguely different
about their personality.
It is a 1975-sounding record, with then-popular studio musicians such
as Harvey Mason and some pre-Toto guys where, for example, Hal Blaine
and Larry Knechtel used to be.There is some ARP synthesizer where
sitars once roamed, and no Bones Howe, Bob Alcivar, etc. in sight.
There's about 50% new Webb tunes, and some great (as usual) choices
for covers, one of which, the almost unrecognizable "Moonlight Mile," is
the highlight for me.
So, in spite of this being a Jimmy-dominated LP, garnished with a prologue
and epilogue (a la "The Magic Garden"), the effect is less "gorgeous,
full-on" soft pop and more "mid-'70s contemporary" with varying moments
of the "old" sun peeking through.
Best wishes,
Brent Cash
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Message: 16
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 06:42:05 -0000
From: Billy G Spradlin
Subject: Re: Hit Records stereo singles
Paul Urbahns wrote:
> Hit singles started stereo in 1964. That's when Compatible mastering
> became available at the Columbia Studios disk mastering facility.
All the stereo Hit 45s I have in my collection were pressed on vinyl, instead
of cheap shellac (hard plastic). Who did Hit Records' pressing?
Also, were some stereo 45s made after late 1967 (like The Lemon Pipers'
"Green Tamborine") cut this way? I have several 45s from the late '60s
that have "Compatable Stereo" on the label.
Billy
http://listen.to/jangleradio (in compatable MONO)
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Message: 17
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:00:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Dugo
Subject: Re: Don Grady / Palace Guard
previously:
> And let's also not forget that cute, talented Don Agrati, Mouseketeer,
> Robbie Douglas, and Yellow Balloon-er, was also a sometime
> member of the fabulous LA pop group The Palace Guard!
This is not actually true. It's often been reported as such, due to The Palace
Guard backing Grady on a single (and being billed, too), but he never
actually performed with the band and was never a member.
Mike
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
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Message: 18
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 02:43:07 -0600
From: Michael Thom
Subject: Re: Larry Welk's birthplace
Irving Snodgrass wrote:
> Try North Dakota.
It was indeed North Dakota. Several years ago there was an infamous
pork-barrel addition to a federal spending bill which allocated some
$568,000 to build a memorial to Welk in his hometown in North Dakota.
Such-a sweet pork!
Michael Thom
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Message: 19
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 06:31:09 EST
From: Claire Francis
Subject: Re: Nightriders 45
Country Paul wrote:
> This was a big surprise! Claire, I'm assuming you produced
> the B side as well as the A. How did you come upon this wonderful
> but obscure Roemans song? I confess to liking the original better,
> but this is very credible, too.
Hi Country Paul:
It was a big surprise to me as well, especially since the record sold for
$151 on eBay last week! I did in fact produce the B-side, and although
I would like to tell a good story about how I came upon Roeman's song,
I can't. When I heard this record for the first time in 40 years the other day,
(thanks to the great folks that keep sending me MP3s so that I can recall
my work), I remembered the words and the music to the B-side immediately,
and started to sing them as if I last heard them just the other day.
I loved the song, it had meaning to me. I loved producing the A-side as
well, which by now everyone knows was co-written by the great Artie Wayne.
It was so much fun and really jumpin'. I loved singing on "It's Only The Dog"
as well. You can hear my voice in the background -- I'm the one hitting the
harmony notes and singing as loud as I possibly could. I think I might
have had a pint of ale ... or two ... during that session!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love & Light,
ClaireFrancis
http://www.clairefrancis.com
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Message: 20
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 13:27:10 -0000
From: Bill Swanke
Subject: Historic Muscle Shoals Recording Studio Closes
from Billboard:
-----
Historic Muscle Shoals Recording Studio Closes
by Christopher Walsh
New York - Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the Alabama facility where artists
including The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson,
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger recorded classic songs, has closed.
The studio, owned since 1985 by indie blues label Malaco Records, closed
last month; a film production company is in the final stages of purchasing
the building.
Musicians Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Barry Beckett and Roger Hawkins,
known collectively as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, founded Muscle
Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Ala., in 1969. A Rolling Stones session
at Muscle Shoals featuring sideman Jim Dickinson, who played on the Stones'
"Wild Horses," is featured in the film "Gimme Shelter," which documents
the band's tumultuous 1969 U.S. tour.
In 1978, the facility moved to a 31,000 square-foot building, also in Sheffield.
Malaco Records principal Wolf Stephenson explained that he and his partners
were more interested in acquiring Muscle Shoals Sound Publishing, a
catalog that includes "Old Time Rock And Roll" and "Torn Between Two
Lovers," than the recording studio.
"To be quite frank with you," Stephenson told Billboard, "the only reason
we bought the studio was, the banks we were dealing with wouldn't loan
us the money on the publishing company; they didn't have any idea what
it was. It was just a stack of paper to them."
The two-room facility was used extensively by Malaco artists, Stephenson
added, but the last four years saw a sharp decline in outside projects. "When
computer and hard-disk recording really got cheap and better at the same
time, it just knocked the socks off a lot of studios, (Muscle Shoals) included.
It was just a very difficult thing to compete with."
Muscle Shoals was put up for sale on Internet auction site eBay in 2004.
The asking price of $650,000, which included the building, property and
equipment, yielded no serious offers, Stephenson said. The studio's two
Neve consoles have been sold to studios in Detroit and Los Angeles.
Reuters/Billboard
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Message: 21
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:52:18 +0100
From: Eddy Smit
Subject: Re: Farmer's Daughter 45?
Country Paul asked:
> Was "Farmer's Daughter" a single? I knew "Indians" was, but I
> thought that was the only "lapse" between BBoys #1s at that time.
I know of no US 45 release of the Beach Boys' Farmer's Daughter. It was
released as a 45 in Germany in 1963 (Capitol 22933), c/w Hawaii. Of
course, in the US there was the 45 version of Brian Wilson doing his bit
as Basil Swift and the Seagrams, c/w Shambles, produced by Nik Venet
and Danny Hutton on Mercury 72386 (1965).
Eddy
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