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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 25 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: "Superstar"
From: Bob Rashkow
2. Re: Luther Vandross RIP
From: Richard Havers
3. The Oldies Butchers
From: John Fox
4. Morning Girl (Neon Philharmonic), later
From: Skip Woolwine
5. Re: Obie Benson. R.I.P.
From: Kingsley Abbott
6. The British Walkers
From: Simon White
7. Re: Chicago Bands
From: Max Weiner
8. Re: help required
From: Clark Besch
9. Re: John Kongos
From: JR
10. Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
From: Phil X Milstein
11. Re: John Kongos
From: Phil X Milstein
12. Re: The British Walkers
From: Stephane Rebeschini
13. Re: The British Walkers
From: Steve Harvey
14. Eternally Jamming Fountains of Candy
From: Country Paul
15. Re: "Superstar"
From: Margaret G. Still
16. Re: The British Walkers
From: Doug Richard
17. Re: The British Walkers
From: Bob Witkin
18. Re: John Kongos
From: Dave Monroe
19. Heidi Bruehl "Berlin" recording question
From: Frank Jastfelder
20. Re: The British Walkers
From: Jeff Lemlich
21. Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
From: James Botticelli
22. Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
From: Eddy
23. Question on "The Tokens"
From: Larry Bromley
24. The REEL Jimmy Haskell
From: James Botticelli
25. Timi Yuro´s MercuryTracks; "Il Treno"
From: Julio Niño
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 13:46:48 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: "Superstar"
I'd be willing to bet Cher did a fabulous job on "Superstar", but I'd
be even more curious to hear Bonnie Bramlett's--I went through a
Delaney, Bonnie and Friends phase in '71 when they were kicking
around the charts. Particularly with Dave Mason's "Only You Know & I
Know." It was a great year for country-rock and crossovers. (Of
course, Cher's prediction about her career was wrong. She just keeps
bouncing back--forgive the pun--over and over & sounds just as fresh
and exciting as she did 40 years ago when it all began for her.)
Bobster
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 09:39:42 +0100
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Re: Luther Vandross RIP
Richard Williams wrote:
> The first time Luther Vandross headlined in London - at the Dominion
> Theatre, I think, around 1983 -- he brought an A Team band including
> Nat Adderley Jr on keys and Yogi Horton on drums. It was a wonderful
> concert, including the arrangement of "A House is Not a Home" (from
> Luther's first solo album) which I consider to be the most
> imaginative non-Bacharach arrangement of a Bacharach/David song I've
> ever heard.
That's a great call Richard! The brilliant Marcus Miller on bass too.
Luther also did an excellent reading of 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' in
1986. He always cited Bacharach as one of his earliest and most
important influences. In the up tempo department his 90s recording
Power of Love (Love Power) which combined a song he co-wrote with
Marcus Miller with the Sandpebbles 'Love Power' is wonderful. If you
need an emotional uplift this is just perfect.
Richard
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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 08:27:00 EDT
From: John Fox
Subject: The Oldies Butchers
Bob Rashkow writes:
> "Susan" by the Buckinghams, like "Too Much Talk" by Paul Revere
> and the Raiders and many other late 6Ts oldies, is a victim of
> oldies-station editing. Along the same lines, does anyone know how
> these versions of songs we all hear on oldies stations came to be?
> These are not just shorter versions of longer album cuts, they're
> the original singles that have been cleavered:
"Devil With The Blue Dress" missing the first 4 lines of the last
verse (coming it with "...Wearing her pearls..."). "My Boyfriend's
Back" missing the last line of the repeated last verse (with no more
words after "...save my reputation...") but with an instrumental solo
added that wasn't even there in the 1963 single. "We Gotta Get Out Of
This Place" with a totally different sound and some changed lyrics.
And I know there are more...
John Fox
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 09:22:12 -0500
From: Skip Woolwine
Subject: Morning Girl (Neon Philharmonic), later
Frank J said:
> Skip, totally agree with you. Tupper really is a genius. Maybe you
> can ask him about the singles that appeared in the mid 70s under
> the Neon Philharmonic name. I'm not sure what Tupper's involvement
> was. And I wouldn't say it's Don Gant singing on them. Or his voice
> has changed significantly over the years. The engineer though is
> still his brother Ron Gant. Can find only one of the two singles I
> have at the moment. It was released on Hickory Records in 1975 but
> has the London Records logo above (maybe they picked it up
> nationally??). Producer was David Kastle. A-side "Long Distance
> Love" is an enjoyable though lot more commercial song then Tupper's
> oeuvre in the 60s. It's written by Ray. Williams. The b-side
> "Makin' Out The Best I Can" is written by Tupper Saussy. More about
> the fascinating character Tupper Saussy at
> http://www.tuppersaussy.com/
Frank J, I copied your post and forwarded it to Tupper Saussy himself
(I even spelled Saussy correctly this time). Within a few hours, he
responded with this:
Tupper Saussy:
"David Castle was a good friend of mine; I helped him get a job at
Acuff-Rose back in the early seventies. When Warner Bros. dropped
Neon Philharmonic, David believed there was a future for the group,
even without the partnership of Don and myself. I think I owned the
name, and I sold it to David for a buck or something like that. He
produced a couple of sessions with me singing fairly new songs, "She
Cares for Me" and "Makin Out the Best I Can" for release in his
native Canada. The Canadian government subsidized certain
productions made by Canadians, which he was, and I think this
provision enabled an economical release of the singles to the world
market from Canada. I have no idea how well they did, but I would
imagine poorly. The "Long Distance Love" piece I had nothing to do
with: I've never heard it, and certainly didn't write it. As you
probably know, Warner Bros/Rhino Records released all the archived
Neon Philharmonic recordings in a $40 collectors' CD last year.
Warner/Rhino owns the tracks; I have no idea who owns the name. And
I doubt it makes any difference. Where David Castle is now I have no
idea, but would enjoy being in touch with him once again. Thanks for
the contact, and I hope to run into you on the streets of Nashville
soon. Cheers, Tupper "
...so the Moth confesses!
Skip Woolwine
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 11:44:29 +0100
From: Kingsley Abbott
Subject: Re: Obie Benson. R.I.P.
I was so saddened to read of Obie's passing. I had brief contact with
him on some of the early Four Tops UK tours in the sixties, and he
was always out-going and full of smiles for everyone around him -
always the man to stay that little bit longer to chat.
Kingsley Abbott
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Message: 6
Date: Sun, 03 Jul 2005 18:13:42 +0100
From: Simon White
Subject: The British Walkers
Hello Spectropoppers and hail fellows and fellesses well met.
I'm after information partly at least on the lead vocalist of "The
British Walkers", one Bobby Howard. I've done the usual internet
searches and to be honest they have given me a headache.
Now more to the point. There is a 1966 45 on the UK imprint of the
Sue label entitled "Sh'mon" Parts 1/ 2 and credited to "Mr Dynamite".
Apparently it also exsists on a US 45, namely MR. DYNAMITE -Sh'mon,
Pt.1/Pt.2 - Soultime 001 Information says this was The British
Walkers. However, legend surrounds the Sue 45 with claims that it is
a British recording.
Does anyone have either the Soultown 45 or any other 45 by "The
British Walkers"? ( I have the Sue 45) Were they in fact, British?
If not, was Bobby Howard British? I need to hear any other 45 with
Bobby Howard's voice on it to compare it to "Mr Dynamite". The voice
on 'Sh'mon' has suddenly started to sound very familiar to me.
Thanks in advance.
Simon White
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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 08:50:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Max Weiner
Subject: Re: Chicago Bands
While we're on the subject of Chicago Bands, let's not forget the
Shadows of Knight. They had more than their 15 minutes of fame, too.
max
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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 16:01:33 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: Re: help required
Roberto wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to Spectropop and I need somebody's help to identify 2
> songs that I have. They are Italian covers of 2 American songs, and
> I'd like to know who did the originals and if you know where I can
> find a copy of the originals (also on re-issues). I only know that
> one is a Van McCoy song, while the other was composed by a R.W.
> Matthews. Since I don't seem able to upload the files to Musica, my
> friend Phil Milstein kindly offered to host the 2 tracks on his
> website: http://www.philxmilstein.com/probe/index.htm
Roberto, sorry I can't really help, but maybe my comment will spur
someone's memory of another song? Both are good renditions of
whatever song they are. The "Il Treno" song reminded me a little
of "Big Spender" but it is not that song. The "Caro Johnny" song had
a backing track that I thought sounded very much like Nat Adderly's
"The Work Song". Maybe someone added lyrics to it??? Anyway, good
luck and let us know what you find. BTW, Phil...cool site!
Clark
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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 16:56:39 +0100
From: JR
Subject: Re: John Kongos
Dear Country Paul, I think you were right to think John Kongos had
the talent to be a significant contributor to the singer songwriter
genre. I hadn't really thought I was commenting on his "mental state"
but without doubt he was not keen on being seen on stage alone or as
a real front man. I never saw him smile at an audience that I can
remember.
I was once in his studio, years after we had split as a band and I
had a new career in Advertising and Marketing. He played me a song
which had "HIT" written through it like a vein of gold. I said that
it was terrific and should at least be given to someone else to
record and he said, "It's not finished, I want to improve it!". Of
course it is probably still in his huge archive. Unless he thought he
was going to score a bullseye he wouldn't let anything go. I am a
marketing man and know that one should play the percentage game. You
have to throw it at the wall or none of it will stick!
I consider his eclipse to be a small tragedy of his own making. Even
now his own website carries NO PHOTOGRAPH of John Kongos, what does
that tell you? As Kris Kristofferson once said a great and wasted
talent.
JR
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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 14:11:54 -0400
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
Richard Havers wrote:
> That's a great call Richard! The brilliant Marcus Miller on bass
> too. Luther also did an excellent reading of 'Anyone Who Had A
> Heart' in 1986. He always cited Bacharach as one of his earliest
> and most important influences. In the up tempo department his 90s
> recording Power of Love (Love Power) which combined a song he co-
> wrote with Marcus Miller with the Sandpebbles 'Love Power' is
> wonderful. If you need an emotional uplift this is just perfect.
Did Vandross come out of a group setting, or was he a solo act from
the beginning of his career? Also, as he seemed to have been around
for about as long as I can remember, approximately when did he start
his career?
--Phil M.
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Message: 11
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:22:55 -0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: John Kongos
Country Paul wrote:
> Fascinating story, Jack; thank you for posting it. I have two
> Kongos LPs, the one that came out in the US on Janus, and the one
> with as-close-to-a-hit-as-he-had-here "He's Gonna Step On You
> Again," which led me and several of my friends to believe he would
> become the "next Elton John." ...
Kongos's follow-up, "Tokoloshe Man," was no slouch, either. These two
records, along with a stack of others that Hackensack, New Jersey's
WWDJ very pointedly picked up to position themselves as a looser
alternative to the clear-channelled and tight-listed WABC, thrilled
the hell out of me during my junior-high years, and still sound great
today. Wherever he is, and whatever he's doing these days, I hope
John Kongos is enjoying his life.
--Phil M.
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Message: 12
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 21:11:27 +0200
From: Stephane Rebeschini
Subject: Re: The British Walkers
Simon White a écrit:
> I'm after information partly at least on the lead vocalist of "The
> British Walkers", one Bobby Howard. I've done the usual internet
> searches and to be honest they have given me a headache.
Bonsoir Simon, The British Walkers were a Washington DC group (first
based in Virginia). You can find a good entry about them here:
http://www.soybomb.com/BorderlineBooks/us6070s/
Bobby Howard also often recorded with Link Wray and released a solo
LP as "Mordicai Jones". I have the "I Found You"/"Diddley Daddy" on
Try, and they sound US, not British! I hope that helps.
Stephane
http://www.octopusmusic.fr
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Message: 13
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 11:23:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: The British Walkers
The British Walkers? Weren't they on that lp on Musicor with Gene
Pitney and Teddy and the Pandas (with the fake audience applause
dubbed in)?
Steve Harvey
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Message: 14
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 15:26:28 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Eternally Jamming Fountains of Candy
S. J. Dibai:
> Another goodie in this vein is Billy & the Essentials' "Babalu's
> Wedding Day," which was a big local hit in 1966. That one was
> originally by The Eternals.....right?
Yes. The Eternals, by the way, are still performing with their
original lead singer in the New York area - and sounding great!
Sorry I was off on the date of Bobby Gregg's "The Jam," which was
indeed 1962.
David Coyle:
> Fountains Of Wayne had a hit with "Stacy's Mom" from their
> third album, appeared as the Hollies on "American Dreams" and
> have just released a 2-CD set of b-sides and live cuts. They've
> done pretty well and their albums have consistently been good.
If you haven't yet checked it out, the Fountains' second album,
"Utopia Parkway," is outstanding, too.
> I know that after the movie came out, Mike Viola tried his best to
> make his band's records as un-Wonders-like as he could, which was
> probably not a help.
Too bad - the Wonders songs from the movie were outstanding, IMO.
Country Paul
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Message: 15
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 19:41:56 -0000
From: Margaret G. Still
Subject: Re: "Superstar"
Dave Heasman wrote:
> I'm sure you know ("Superstar") was originally sung by Bonnie
> Bramlett, and the lyrics were changed for Karen C from "sleep with
> you again" to "be with you again".
Richard wrote:
> I didn't so thanks for that. Was it on a Bonnie B. solo album or
> Delaney and Bonnie?
Rick H. wrote:
> The pre-Carpenters history of "Superstar" aka "The Groupie Song":
> 1/70 "Superstar (Groupie)" / Delaney & Bonnie & Friends / Atco 45
> 9/70 "Superstar" / Rita Coolidge on "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" LP
> 10/70 "Superstar" / Cher / Atco 45 ("I knew my career had gone down
> the toilet when Karen Carpenter had a hit with that song...")
> The song was based on an idea by Rita Coolidge, is allegedly about
> Eric Clapton and The Carpenters' version was inspired by Bette
> Midler's about-to-be-released album rendition.
Here's a little more info from my 45 labels:
Delaney & Bonnie and Friends featuring Eric Clapton
Atco 6725 ( prod. Delaney Bramlett ) ( promo )
Comin' Home / Groupie ( Superstar )
(note that "Superstar" is the 'B' side- songwriting credits are "B.
Bramlett - L. Russell"- and that Eric Clapton is named)
Cher
Atco 6793 ( Promo 1- sided ) ( Muscle Shoals )
Superstar
(this Muscle Shoals production was released on the Rhino CD "3614
Jackson Highway" LP reissue as a bonus track) AND Cher unfortunately
also uses the "BE with you again" variant.
Best,
Margaret G. Still
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Message: 16
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 19:46:49 -0000
From: Doug Richard
Subject: Re: The British Walkers
Simon White wrote:
> Does anyone have either the Soultown 45 or any other 45 by "The
> British Walkers"?
I have the following:
I Found You/Diddley Daddy - Try Records TR-502 (Dist. by Crusader
Records, Hollywood Calif.)
(A-side is Howard-Buchanan, B-side is the Bo Diddley song)
Produced by Bobby Howard and Roy Buchanan (A Chartbuster Production)
"I Found You" is a great Mersey styled raver. I've read somewhere
that the Roy Buchanan listed is the now-deceased guitar great. It
seems I also heard that there may some type of Link Wray involvement
with this record, which I always assumed meant it was a product of
the Washington D.C. area. I belive that there is also a British
Walkers record on Cameo, thought I have no idea if it's the same
group or not.
Doug
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Message: 17
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 16:13:26 EDT
From: Bob Witkin
Subject: Re: The British Walkers
The British Walkers also recorded "Shake" for Cameo-Parkway.
Bob Witkin
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Message: 18
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 13:42:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dave Monroe
Subject: Re: John Kongos
Phil X Milstein wrote:
> Kongos's follow-up, "Tokoloshe Man," was no slouch, either....
I'm presuming he got a cut of whatever pile of money Happy Mondays
made off their cover of "Step On" (as they abbreviated it). They also
covered "Tokoloshe Man" for that Elektra 40th anniversary compilation
(new acts on the label doing old songs released by it; can also be
found as the b-side of their "Judge Fudge" single).
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Message: 19
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 22:31:03 +0200
From: Frank Jastfelder
Subject: Heidi Bruehl "Berlin" recording question
Hello British Spectropoppers,
I need your help for a current compilation I'm working on. I'm
looking for informations about Ernest Maxim. He's the songwriter of
the song "Berlin" which German actress Heidi Brühl recorded most
probably in London, ca 1968. The song only came out on a 7" backed
with a beautiful version of the Nichols/Williams song "The Drifter".
But back to my question. Has anyone an idea of who Mr. Maxim is?
There a few hits on google relating to some instrumental recordings
done by Ernest Maxim and there's an Ernest Maxim who was a TV
producer in the UK. It's probably the same. Any ideas of whom I'm
talking?
Btw, infos on the recording are welcomed as well. It was produced and
arranged by Keith Roberts and released on Philips in 1969.
Thanks
Frank Jastfelder
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Message: 20
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 20:55:30 -0000
From: Jeff Lemlich
Subject: Re: The British Walkers
Simon White:
> I'm after information partly at least on the lead vocalist of "The
> British Walkers", one Bobby Howard. I've done the usual internet
> searches and to be honest they have given me a headache.
Simon, After the British Walkers, Howard sang lead for another
Washington-D.C. area group, The Sweet. Not the UK rockers, but a
blue-eyed soul group that recorded the Northern soul spins "Broken
Heart Attack" and "Got To Have More Love" for the Smash label.
Jeff Lemlich
http://www.limestonerecords.com
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Message: 21
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 16:39:22 -0400
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
Phil X Milstein wrote:
> Did Vandross come out of a group setting, or was he a solo act from
> the beginning of his career? Also, as he seemed to have been around
> for about as long as I can remember, approximately when did he start
> his career?
Just got back...surprised at this news. But he was with Bionic Boogie.
Sang "Hot Butterfly" always his finest at this address.
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Message: 22
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 08:32:08 +0200
From: Eddy
Subject: Re: Luther Vandross, R.I.P.
Phil X Milstein
> Did Vandross come out of a group setting, or was he a solo act from
> the beginning of his career? Also, as he seemed to have been around
> for about as long as I can remember, approximately when did he
> start his career?
I don't know if that was *all* he did, but he used to sing on jingles
and did a LOT of backing vocals. I once saw him on tour backing David
Bowie (circa mid-70's). He's also on Bowie's Young Americans album,
where he even has a co-writing credit on one track (Fascination).
Eddy
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Message: 23
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 21:42:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Larry Bromley
Subject: Question on "The Tokens"
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a Fourth of July
concert with Jay and the Techniques, Tommy Roe and two of the
original Tokens. Along with their own songs, including "The Lion
Sleeps Tonight", they sang hits they had produced for other musical
acts. Notable by their absence were hits by Tony Orlando and Dawn,
which I remember had label credits, including songwriting by Margo,
Margo, Medress and Siegel, AKA The Tokens, at least the earliest hits.
Any idea as to why those Dawn hits might have been left out?
Age is a number that tells
how long you have lived in this world,
not how to live in it.
Larry Bromley
good day!
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Message: 24
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 18:45:19 -0400
From: James Botticelli
Subject: The REEL Jimmy Haskell
The REEL Jimmy Haskell: http://www.dustygroove.com/new6.htm
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Message: 25
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 23:30:00 -0000
From: Julio Niño
Subject: Timi Yuro´s MercuryTracks; "Il Treno"
Hola everybody,
Today I spent the whole morning (morning in my holiday schedule means
from two p.m. on) listening to the recently released compilation of
Timi Yuro´s Mercury tracks. It contains the complete LP "The Amazing
Timi Yuro", composed mostly by "Timiyurized" standards, and, the most
interesting tracks for my taste, some songs that were released in
singles by Timi on Mercury. My favorites are "Teardrops Till Dawn"
arranged by J. Nitzsche, and the two sides of a single with songs
composed and arranged by Teddy Randazzo, concretely "Get Out Of My
Life" and "Can´t Stop Running Away". The first one was also recorded
by Little Anthony and The Imperials and it was included in their 1965
LP "Going Out Of My Head", arranged and produced by T. Randazzo. I
have a certain fixation about comparing Timi Yuro and Little Anthony
versions of the same song since, some time ago, when I began to be
interested in oldies songs, somebody recorded me a cassette that
included Timi´s and Little Anthony´s versions of "Hurt". During some
time I thought that L. Anthony was a girl and Timi a boy. Later I
lost my innocence and discovered the truth, but both became
associated in my defective mind, and comparing their voices always
revives in me some diffuse sexual feeling. I´ve being searching among
my records for a Little Anthony´s version of "Can´t Stop Running
Away", but I couldn´t find it. Could anybody tell me if Little
Anthony recorded a version of this song?. Thanks.
Changing the subject, Roberto Lanterna asks about the American
originals of two Italian songs, "Il Treno" and " Caro Johnny". I
can´t help him but I want to thank him for introducing me to
Rosalba´s "Il Treno", I love it. It has something anomalous for a Van
McCoy song, when I close my eyes I can´t imagine Van singing it.
Chao.
Julio Niño.
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