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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 17 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Samona
From: Simon White
2. Re: Frankie Avalon
From: Bob Rashkow
3. Re: The Boxer
From: Joe Nelson
4. Bobby Hebb's Sunny
From: Jim Fisher
5. Re: This Week's Finds
From: Gary Myers
6. Re: This Week's Finds
From: Phil Milstein
7. Re: Sunny by Bobby Hebb
From: James Botticelli
8. Re: The TAMI Show
From: Lex
9. What's in a name?; fair "Vibrations"; Paul Anka; a diversion: modern-rock radio
From: Country Paul
10. Re: The rise of The Rascals
From: Artie Wayne
11. Paul Simon's "Works In Progress 2
From: Ed Salamon
12. Hurricane Smith
From: Ken Silverwood
13. Re: Paul Simon a/k/a Jerry Landis
From: Artie Wayne
14. Bobby Sherman
From: drmark7@juno.com
15. Re: This Week's Finds
From: Bob Rashkow Blub1256ber@aol.com
16. Re: (Young) Rascals
From: Bob Radil
17. Jordan & Wayne
From: Laura Pinto
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:33:18 +0100
From: Simon White
Subject: Re: Samona
Gary Myers wrote:
> Again, I may be way off, but what I remember is Samona Cooke,
> on Epic about the same time as Peterik.
I was going to chip in on this- I have two Samona Cooke 45s:
"Subway" on U.S. Epic written by The Gibb Brothers and one on UK
Mercury, a version of The O'Jays "One Night Affair", backed with a
version of "You To Me Are Everything" originally being a hit for
the UK's very own Real Thing.
Simon
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 16:32:02 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: Frankie Avalon
I have a weakness for anything he [Frankie Avalon] sang with
Annette, and also "Why?" and "Ginger Bread."
Bobster
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 21:03:36 -0400
From: Joe Nelson
Subject: Re: The Boxer
Phil M. wrote:
> Of all the times I've been in NYC, I have never seen a single
> whore on any part of (the very long) 2nd Avenue. Are there other
> references in "The Boxer" that identify the story's locale as NYC?
> If not then perhaps he was singing of another city, one whose
> 2nd Ave. really was a hot bed of the low life.
As I and others pointed out the line is "Seventh Avenue", not
"second", but what I've wondered through all this is whether
Phil might have been confusing the song with Artie's solo hit
"Second Avenue".
Joe Nelson
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 19:16:13 -0700
From: Jim Fisher
Subject: Bobby Hebb's Sunny
I've heard it said a few times over the years that Sunny - great
tune - was written as a Thank-You to God for all the things mentioned
in the song. Though I add that I've never actually seen a quote from
Mr. Hebb himself that verifies that interpretation. I've just listened
to it again and it is feasible. Anyone else ever heard that idea?
Jim.
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 19:20:02 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: This Week's Finds
James Botticelli:
> Sounds Of Sunshine ... Who WERE these guys, anyway?
IIRC, they were the Wilder Bros. Phil Milstein, didn't you
and I swap some info on them a few yrs ago?
gem
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 03:24:43 -0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: This Week's Finds
James Botticelli wrote:
> 3. The Shades Of Blue: With This Ring / Lonely Summer (Impact).
> The followup to "Oh How Happy", complete with miked-up
> xylophone a la that rekkid. B-side penned by Edwin Starr.
"With This Ring" is likely the same song as the Platters' song
of that name (did I say that right?). I believe Starr also wrote
"Oh How Happy" -- did he record his own version of it, as well?
> 4. The Sugar Shoppe: Privilege / Poor Papa (Capitol). From
> the movie "Privilege", penned by John Paul Jones, of Manfred
> Mann maybe? Nice.
I'm confused on this one. The soundtrack version of "Privilege"
was sung by Paul Jones, who also starred in it. And, he and Mike
Leander (the producer) co-wrote it. Paul Jones was indeed
formerly of Manfred Mann, but not to be confused with John Paul
Jones, soon to be of Led Zeppelin. The soundtrack album was
on Uni.
> 5. Sounds Of Sunshine: Make It Happen / Nature Boy (Ranwood).
> Another fabulous soft pop male vocal. Nice melody, with the
> "B" side being the Eden Ahbez nugget. Who WERE these guys,
> anyway?
I believe they were the Wilder Brothers, led by Warner Wilder.
(Actually I can't swear he was the leader, but he's the only one
whose name I recall at the moment!) They had a long recording
career, most prominently with X and then Verve in the '50s. They
also had a studio in the L.A. area (in fact one of the earliest
indie studios there, if I'm not mistaken), where they produced
the early Dick & Deedee sessions. Most of the Sounds Of Sunshine
records were on Ranwood, and so I wonder if the Wilders'
association with Welk extended to them appearing on his TV
show.
--Phil M.
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:43:23 -0400
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Sunny by Bobby Hebb
Bob Rashkow wrote:
> "Sunny" as originally done so successfully by Bobby Hebb has
> grown on me over the years. When I first heard it I really
> didn't think that much of it. Now I truly believe it to be
> one of the best "one-hit wonder" tunes as well as just an
> absolutely brilliant and MOVING piece of music from the mid 6Ts.
> I never used to, but now whenever I hear it in my car I turn it
> way up. It's the kind of song no one would dream of trying to
> sell today. Which makes it all the more special and great.
A while back I compiled Two Dozen Sunnys!, a tribute to
Bobby Hebb of covers of his tune. And thanks to Phil Milstein
I now have nearly Three Dozen!
JB/still thinkin' bout "Caravan"
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Message: 8
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 03:52:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lex
Subject: Re: The TAMI Show
Richard F:
> I saw somewhere that a European DVD was recently released
> with portions of the TAMI Show and portions of the TNT Show.
> It appears that licensing problems are preventing the TAMI
> Show from being released in its entirety.
I have a copy of that DVD.They were selling for $10.00 here
in Australia. Here is the companies link:
http://umbrellaentertainment.com.au/Item.php?CatNo=DAVID0168
Also do a search for the DVDs they have in music. I have a
couple filled with old TV appearances from the 50's from
various sources. Pretty amazing stuff.
Lex
http://www.theshangri-las.com
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Message: 9
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 12:07:31 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: What's in a name?; fair "Vibrations"; Paul Anka; a diversion: modern-rock radio
Clark discussed name changes, including Paul Revere & The Raiders.
Wasn't there a Nashville act in the late 60s either named Quantrell
Rader or called Quantrell & The Raiders?
By the way, lest my review of the now-closed "Good Vibrations" on
Broadway come off as too negative, we had a pretty good time while
there, but sadly, most of the laughs were at the show, not with it.
Nonetheless, I'm glad to have caught it before it went away.
Rob Pingel, I appreciate your defense of Paul Anka's many
accomplishments, and I do enjoy his early recordings, many of
which I own on original pressings. However, I personally found
his recordings grew increasingly irritating to me, and I find
the sexism of "You're Having My Baby" grossly offensive. But
lots of people have become incredibly popular without my help;
to list some of them would offend several group members, so I
won't. Besides, it's just one person's opinion. As for "Puppy
Love," I agree withyour comment that "Anka delivers it with a
naked angst that would make Johnny Ray seem downright subtle."
The values one takes from that comment define the issue. I do
not deny Anka's talent, or the classically-trained Sedaka's for
that matter; I just have my opinions about it. I do, however,
respectfully disagree with your advocacy of Anka's potential place
in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, because after some of his early
records (Diana" and "Midnight" come quickly to mind) his music
strayed far from rock and roll.
Not of our era, but an interesting read: this article about the
death of modern-rock radio is from today's (4/28/05) New York Times:
http://tinyurl.com/8gs2q . Note: this URL has a limited shelf-life -
catch it now.
Funny how "big radio" (i.e. Clear Channel, Infinity, etc.) divides
and subdivides the audience, and then freaks out when the small
subdivisions they've created don't deliver a big enough audience.
Yet some modern-rock stations continue to be successful with the
format. Maybe it's because they employ local people of the target
age group and interests to do what they know and love. I care less
about who owns a station than I do about having local control and
live people with their brains and hearts in gear running the place.
The best stations I worked for met these qualifications and
thrived for as long as they continued to do so.
Country Paul
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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 11:34:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Artie Wayne
Subject: Re: The rise of The Rascals
Clark...How ya' doin'? I'd like to share a Rascal story with
you and our Spectropals.
When Gene Cornish and were going out with the same girl, I
discovered the Young Rascals were rushing into the studio to
record "Good Lovin'", a song they had been performing live.
In the meantime I was in the Scepter records studio co-producing
my friend Artie Resnick and Rudy Clarks song with the Kingsmen.
I remember, it was a friday night and Jerry Wexler, the head of
Atlantic called me up as we were doing our final mix.
For five minutes he tried to convince me to abandon our record
and let his hit the market without facing a cover fight. I told
him that I honestly felt we had a number one record and if we
had a fight on our hands...so be it!
On the way home from the studio, Murray the "K", the Hottest DJ
on New York's WINS, played an exclusive...the new single by the
Young Rascals, "Good Lovin'"!!!
The rest is history...for them.
regards,
Artie Wayne
http://artiewayne.com/
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Message: 11
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 20:46:50 -0000
From: Ed Salamon
Subject: Paul Simon's "Works In Progress 2
previously:
> Paul produced Tick Tock by Richie Cordell on Rori. It got some
> play in Pittsburgh and I bought it when it was new. Many years
> later, I met Richie through Tommy James, and Tommy had a lot of
> fun teasing Richie about the record when I brought it over to
> Tommy's house one day. Richie remembered it being top ten
> somewhere in the northeast (Providence?), and says Paul sang
> background on his record.
....and speaking of Jerry Landis, he does a version of
"Tick Tock," an uptempo doo-wop track, that's mighty credible.
Ed Salamon
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Message: 12
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:13:55 +0100
From: Ken Silverwood
Subject: Hurricane Smith
>From James Botticelli
> 8. Hurricane Smith: Oh Babe, What Would You Say / Getting To
> Know You (Capitol). A bit of a novelty, but a hook-driven thing,
> and this copy's pristine stereo so I'm groovin' to it.
This was a top ten hit in the UK about 1972. Mr Smith was, in fact,
Norman Smith who IIRC was an engineer at EMI records, working on
many of the early Beatles records and, I think, Pink Floyd.
Ken On The West Coast.
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Message: 13
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:55:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Artie Wayne
Subject: Re: Paul Simon a/k/a Jerry Landis
Country Paul...How ya' doin'? When I first met Jerry
Landis a/k/a Paul Simon he was performing many songs
in that later became Simon and Garfunkel records.
By day he worked as a songplugger at E.B.Marks music
and by night he played at various folk clubs in New
York's Greenwich Village. Although I was enjoying the
success of my my first hit as a writer and producer,
"Meet Me at Midnight Mary" [Raleigh/ Wayne] by Joey
Powers...I was months away from making any money from it.
Jerry [Paul] suggested that I put together a set with
some of my folkier songs and some of his,and start
playing on the folk circuit. For good measure I threw
in three showstoppers from Bobby Darin's "Earthy"
album that I knew were crowd pleasers. Paul backed me
up with his 12 string guitar at Gerde's Folk city, the
Cafe Wha'? and at the Bitter End [where we once were
joined by Jim [Roger] McGuinn, who knew some of the
set because he was Bobby Darin's guitarist!]
I was hoping to get a gig at one of these clubs...but
all I got were offers to record. I was already
recording for Liberty records...my first record,"Where
Does a Rock and Roll Singer Go", had bombed out and my
A+R man and friend Ed Silvers was looking for material
for my second record.
He came to see us play one night and flipped out over
me performing one of Pauls songs,"He was my Brother"
to a standing ovation. It was about the Freedom
Riders, who were risking their lives to de-segregate
public transportation in the American south of the
60s
A few weeks before Ed Silvers had marched on
Washington with Martin Luther King and had witnessed
his, "I Have a Dream" speech. Still fired up, he set
up a meeting with Al Bennett, who owned Liberty Records.
Ed had Paul and I play the song live for Al in his
office. Although he was from the south, I don't think
Al dropped me from the label because he was predjudiced
[Did I mention that I'm black?]...but because he would
rather promote singers like Bobby Vee and Gene McDaniels
...pop singers without political agendas.
Paul and I were disappointed, but Ed was ready to quit
Liberty Records over it. I told him I appreciated what
he was willing to do, but it wouldn't solve anything.
I was becoming more and more disenchanted with the
American Music buisness, that's when I decided to go
to London with Paul on a tour of small folk clubs to
promote an album of demos that were about to be
released....but that's another story!
regards,
Artie Wayne
http://artiewayne.com/
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Message: 14
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 01:01:59 -0400
From: drmark7@juno.com
Subject: Bobby Sherman
Larry Lapka writes:
> I was wondering if someone could direct me to any CD of Bobby
> Sherman's pre-Metromedia output.
Dr. Mark adds:
> No knowledge of a CD of Sherman's early stuff. And I've looked
> myself. Somewhere in my collection, I have a red white and
> blue-labeled 45 with the following:
BOBBY SHERMAN- Happiness Is (Vocal version) Pre-Metromedia.
Probably mid-60s. This was the jingle for KENT cigarettes. Which
came first?... The KENT jingle or "Happiness Is", as a song? And
who recorded it first?
There was an instrumental version by RAY CONNIFF, A version by
PAUL EVANS (Paul was the writer. He wrote THE KALIN TWINS- "When"
and BOBBY VINTON's "Roses Are Red") and there's an LP "Happiness
Is" by DEAN MARTIN, but that song is not on the LP! (Is this the
same "Happiness Is" as recorded by The Association?)
The title "Happiness Is!" was probably inspired by the popular
Charlie Brown book, "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy."
Mark Hill
The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ drmark7@juno.com
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Message: 15
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 00:34:12 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow Blub1256ber@aol.com
Subject: Re: This Week's Finds
Good job, Jimmy Bee--& check out The Sugar Shoppe's LP (which
I would guess hasn't been put on CD yet) with some other good
soft-pop stuff such as "Baby Baby" (probably not the same song
by The Cinderellas although I understand there are approximately
10 songs with that title from the 6Ts alone!), Bobbie Gentry's
"Papa, Won't You Let Me Go To Town With You?" and a groovy flower
anthem to end the album, "Hangin' Together." Sidelight: Victor
Garber, lately a character actor in Hollywood, was a member of
the foursome.
Bobster
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Message: 16
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 17:37:48 -0000
From: Bob Radil
Subject: Re: (Young) Rascals
Phil Milstein:
> By the way, another group that shortened its name due to
> public acclamation was Chicago (Transit Authority).
Perhaps, but it was before their first LP. On the liner notes it
says they toured as "C.T.A" and ends with "call them Chicago".
Their 1st single in 1969, "Questions 67 & 68", simply credits
"Chicago".
Bob Radil
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Message: 17
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 22:08:23 -0000
From: Laura Pinto
Subject: Jordan & Wayne
Hi all,
My latest eBay acquisition is a "Not For Sale" (but obviously well
played) single by Jordan and Wayne, from 1962. The 45 is on Diamond
Records, #D-111. Label color is sky blue with a white line drawing
of a faceted diamond. The plug side (D-111A) is "Find a Little
Happiness", penned by Jordan-Wayne-Sardo, and the flip (D-111B)
is "The Big House", composed by Vance-Jordan-Wayne. As many of you
know, the 'Jordan' in the duo is Danny Jordan, pre-Detergents, and
the 'Wayne' is, well, someone I think drops by the Spectropop group
from time to time (hi, Artie!). Both sides were produced by Danny's uncle, Paul Vance.
The record has a lot of pops and cracks but is a good listen
nonetheless. I enjoyed both sides, to the extent that I could hear
them what with two parakeets singing along with both tracks, very
enthusiastically ... and LOUDLY! (Next time, I'll use my headphones.)
Laura
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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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