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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 11 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Mark Wirtz & Jan Panter
From: Scott Swanson
2. Re: Donna Marie
From: Phil X Milstein
3. New Orleans R&B Pioneer Willie Tee Live In NYC For Hurricane Katrina Benefit
From: Steve Greenberg
4. Re: I Ain't Got Nothin' At All
From: Tom Diehl
5. Re: The Mob
From: Gary Myers
6. Re: Diamond and Neil Diamond
From: Tom Diehl
7. Johnny Worth, John Schroeder and Norrie Paramor
From: Mark Wirtz
8. unknown artist on Teenage Opera sampler
From: Michael
9. Re: Diamond and Neil Diamond
From: Regina Litman
10. Re: Kim Fowley's "Lights"
From: Mark Wirtz
11. Soledad Miranda´s secret
From: Julio Niño
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 08:02:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Swanson
Subject: Re: Mark Wirtz & Jan Panter
Mark Wirtz:
> So far as I remember, songwriter/producer Johnny Worth (or was it
> John Schroeder? Nope, that's for whom I arranged the "Dale Ann"
> session... whew...) asked me for a release of Jan (Panter)'s
> contract, so that he could produce her as one of his first artists
> for Pye Records.
Mark, I had been under the impression that you produced "Scratch My
Back", but I don't recall where I got that info! I've never seen the
original 45, but a demo copy has the name "VANDYKE" stamped on it --
likely short for Les Van Dyke (Johnny Worth's pen name):
http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildata.php?itemnr=4004824220
By the way, does anyone know if this "John Schroeder" is the same guy
who wrote Neil Christian's "A Little Bit Of Someone Else"?
Regards,
Scott
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 09:54:45 -0400
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: Donna Marie
Diane K. Sutter wrote:
> Yes! Right you are again, pres! It is Donna Marie. Thank you!
> God, I haven't heard that in years!
You might enjoy Laura Pinto's Donna Marie website, at
http://laurapinto.tripod.com/donnamarie . (If you get the login
prompt, just click Cancel.) There are also lots of posts about her
-- and a few from her -- in the S'pop Archives. Find the search
window in the upper left corner at http://www.spectropop.com .
Dig,
--Phil M.
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:12:21 EDT
From: Steve Greenberg
Subject: New Orleans R&B Pioneer Willie Tee Live In NYC For Hurricane Katrina Benefit
Dear Friends,
I hope you can join me on Saturday night, September 24th, for a
really special benefit performance by New Orleans R&B pioneer Willie
Tee, in support of Hurricane Katrina's victims. Along with so many
others, Willie Tee's house was destroyed in the hurricane's aftermath
and he has lost both his home and most of his possessions, including
all of his musical instruments. Still, he is coming to New York to
perform support of other Gulf Coast evacuees. 100% of money raised by
this event will go to Musicares, who have been providing direct and
immediate cash assistance to affected members of New Orleans' vast
music community.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Willie Tee's recorded works
or have never seen him perform at New Orleans Jazzfest, please know
that he has made some of the most beloved R&B records ever to come
out of the Crescent City, including his 1964 Top 20 hit on Atlantic
Records, Teasin' You, and one of my favorite singles of all time,
Walkin' Up a One Way Street. He is an accomplished keyboardist who
has performed with Dr. John, Joe Sample, Weather Report and of course
his brother, the great saxophonist Earl Turbinton. Willie also had a
small part in last year's Oscar-winning motion picture Ray!
This concert is a rare treat for New Yorkers: Willie Tee has not
performed in NYC since 1972, when he appeared at Carnegie Hall with
the Wild Magnolias, the legendary Mardis Gras Indian group whose
records he produced. Backed by a surprise backing band and featuring
guest DJs, this September 24th performance promises to be an
exhilarating evening for an urgent cause.
Sincerely,
Steve Greenberg
President, Columbia Records
WHERE:
Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction,
34 Avenue A (between 2nd and 3rd streets),
NYC
WHEN:
Saturday, September 24th doors open at 11 p.m.
REQUESTED MINIMUM DONATION:
$30 at the door (cash or checks payable to Musicares)
Please RSVP TO: Jennifer.Grossbach@sonybmg.com
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:46:24 -0000
From: Tom Diehl
Subject: Re: I Ain't Got Nothin' At All
Chris wrote:
> Last year there was a song on musica - male vocal - with a title
> like "I Ain't Got Nothin' At All" ... I saved it to disc but ...
> I didn't write down the artist and title. Can someone help me?
The artist is a fellow named Bob Allen, the song is alled "Everbody's
Got A Little Something". It was released on Diamond Records D-197-A
in 1965. The song was written by Ronnie Dove and Johnny Thunder. I
have no idea who Bob was, or if he was any relation to fellow Diamond
labelmate Christy Allen. The Bob Allen song is great, this past
summer i re-transferred the song from my 45 to my computer and
cleaned it up and re-eq'd it a bit, i dont remember how it sounds
compared to the MP3 i had posted here at Spectropop way back when....
which is the version you got.
Tom "Diamond Hunter" Diehl
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 10:29:33 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: The Mob
Previously:
> I'm not altogether certain that the Colossus "Mob" ("I Dig
> Everything About You") is the Chicago group that recorded several
> years earlier on Mercury
Yes, they are, and their membership included fellow S'popper Jim
Holvay (as well as an old Milwaukee friend, "Big Al" Herrera - also
his brother "Little Artie" in the original lineup).
gem
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 18:28:07 -0000
From: Tom Diehl
Subject: Re: Diamond and Neil Diamond
Regina Litman:
> ... When I heard that this Neil Diamond guy who had had a few hits
> of his own by then and was also riding the top of the charts with
> the Monkees songs he had written wrote and produced some Ronnie
> Dove songs, I wondered if he was the label owner who had decided to
> try his hand as a performer, too.
Neil Diamond was not related to Diamond except for having those few
songwriting/producing connections. Back From Baltimore and its flip
side came out in mid 1967, peaking at #87 in december of 67, though
all 3 songs were recorded by Ronnie in two sessions in 1965 (note
that Neil produces only two of the three songs, the two were done in
one session and the other in a second) and it's possible other songs
were recorded but never released...however the tapes disappeared in
the 70's and no new recordings from Ronnie's entire Diamond era have
surfaced with the exception of some then unreleased stereo mixes on
vinyl in the 70s and 80s and a song getting released for the first
time on a japanese cd in 1988.
Tom "Diamond Hunter" Diehl
(thats Diamond Records, not Neil Diamond)
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Message: 7
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 03:25:20 -0000
From: Mark Wirtz
Subject: Johnny Worth, John Schroeder and Norrie Paramor
Scott Swanson:
> I had been under the impression that you produced [Jan Panter's)
> "Scratch My Back", but I don't recall where I got that info! I've
> never seen the original 45, but a demo copy has the name "VANDYKE"
> stamped on it -- likely short for Les Van Dyke (Johnny Worth's pen
> name)
You are correct. Vandyke stands for Johnny Worth's Les Van Dyke
pseudonym. Guess, my memory served me right on this one in the end.
> By the way, does anyone know if this "John Schroeder" is the same
> guy who wrote Neil Christian's "A Little Bit Of Someone Else"?
Was he the "Pied Piper" guy? Bloody good record that was! I don't
recall the track you're asking about (though I sure would love to
hear it!), but John Schroeder wrote a bunch of great stuff for Helen
Shapiro.
That makes me ponder, by association, a question that has haunted me
for many years -- why, oh, why is one of the UK's most influential,
creative, arranger/producer's of the 60's -- Norrie Paramor - not
more remembered and celebrated? Think... countless hits with Cliff
Richard, The Shadows, Helen Shapiro, to name but a few of his
milestone productions... Wasn't Norrie, in fact, the one who REALLY
pioneered the Abbey Road Studio Rock sound and merely paved the way
for the rest of us that followed in his footsteps?? To me, Norrie
has always stood tall as UK's Don Costa, or Quincy Jones (though not
as Jazz-rooted)!
Give the man a hand, for crying out loud...!
Cheers,
Mark
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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:02:23 -0000
From: Michael
Subject: unknown artist on Teenage Opera sampler
Hello Mark,
First I´d like to thank you for your fascinating music. Redescovering
it in the last two years was one of the greatest music gems the
internet could give. I found it by chance looking for the man behind
Keith West (In fact, Keith West was the man standing in your shadow).
I have a question about the unknown artist on the "Fantastic
story..." collection. He was the vocalist who sang "Love will always
find a way" (the demo of the instrumental version "Theme from a
Teenage Opera").
In the booklet of this sampler is written that you can´t remember the
artists name. Living in Germany, I´m rather familiar with German 60´s
Schlager. The voice of the artist in the upper mentioned song reminds
me of Roy Black´s voice, a popular German vocalist of the Sixties.
This man wasn´t satisfied singing German Schmaltz and did like to
expand his repertoire to anglo-american music. Could it be that he was
the artist on that demo?
It would be nice if you could give me an answer.
Michael
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 23:22:43 -0000
From: Regina Litman
Subject: Re: Diamond and Neil Diamond
Tom Diehl wrote:
> Neil Diamond was not related to Diamond except for having those few
> songwriting/producing connections. Back From Baltimore and its flip
> side came out in mid 1967, peaking at #87 in december of 67, though
> all 3 songs were recorded by Ronnie in two sessions in 1965 (note
> that Neil produces only two of the three songs, the two were done
> in one session and the other in a second) and it's possible other
> songs were recorded but never released.
Thanks for this information. I should have been more explicit in
saying that I quickly became aware that Neil had no connection to the
label. After all, why would he have been recording for a label called
Bang? (Unless he owned that one, too, which I know now is hardly the
case - it was owned, or mainly owned, by Bert Berns, and the four
letters of the label's name came from initials of the four guys who
financed it, with the B standing for Berns.)
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Message: 10
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 05:01:55 -0000
From: Mark Wirtz
Subject: Re: Kim Fowley's "Lights"
Karl Ikola wrote:
> Was Kim upfront with you, or did you already know, that "Lights"
> (later titled "Lights The Blind And Lame Can See" on his "Good
> Clean Fun" LP from '70) borrowed the melodic hook from the Hep
> Stars' "Wedding"?
Hello Karl, If the Hep Stars were a Scandinavian band, then, yes, I
recall Kim playing me something they had recorded, pointing to a
specific passage, raving, "I want THAT teenage hustle in my record!"
And Kim gets what Kim wants. Kim was my guru - the only person I ever
recognized as one beside US Producer Jimmy Bowen later in my career.
I was in awe of both. Besides, Kim (wiry, freaky, 6 foot twenty), and
I (preppy, impish, five foot eight), were like a sitcom... a
veritable reincarnation of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, for sure!
Of all the recording sessions I have worked on in my life, none stand
out as much as the sessions I worked on together with Kim Fowley --
notably the live Helen Reddy "Happy Girls" session at the Beach
Boys' "Brother" studio in Santa Monica. That was the absolute
highlight in my life as a session arranger/conductor. The sizzle,
excitement and energy that charged that session could have lit up
Manhattan. (Even though fictionalized, I described not only the glory
of, but also the crazy mayhem surrounding that session in my
"Sisyphus Rocks" novel.)
By the way, since you are so interested in Kim, did you know that, in
1965-6, Mr. Fowley was the undisputed "coach" and head writer of a
most interesting group of songwriters at London's Ardmore & Beechwood
(EMI's music publishing company), who, for a magical time, made up a
miniature, UK equivalent to New York's "Brill Building" family of
writers (our idols back then)?
Housed upstairs in Oxford Street's HMV building, and under the helm
of A&B chief Sydney Broffman, the following hung out almost daily,
writing, dreaming, messing around, playing and singing: Kim Fowley,
Brian Henderson, Liza Strike, Cat Stevens, Derek Lawrence, Bob Crewe
(A&B was his UK publisher and satellite office) and yours truly...
And, well, for an hour and a half, or so, Lennon and McCartney. (It
was here where Sydney Broffman heard the demos that the Beatles had
cut in the building, which prompted him to sign "Love, Love Me Do"
and "P.S. I Love You," as well as call his friend George Martin at
EMI's nearby Manchester Square office, urging him to sign the band.
George did, then called HIS friend, publisher Dick James, and
recommended that he sign Lennon and McCartney to an exclusive
publishing contract. And so happened one of the biggest goofs in UK
music business history.)
Ironically, two years later (by which time everybody had scattered
and I had become an EMI producer), Cat Stevens played an audition set
for EMI in search of a record deal. Kim had pestered me to attend (as
did he), pushing me to sign Cat. I showed up, but, as supportive
as I felt of Cat as my buddy and former stable mate, as a producer I
passed on him.
Frankly, I didn't have a clue about what I could possibly have done
with his highly original, yet obscure, material. Kim screamed at me
that I was wrong and that Cat would be giant and I would regret my
decision. Turned out Kim was right and I was wrong, big time. I kick
myself to this day not to have recognized the commercial potential in
Cat's material, though I never regretted my decision - I would have
been the totally wrong producer for Cat, anyway...
There -- end of Kim Fowley fix.
Best,
Mark
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:42:44 -0000
From: Julio Niño
Subject: Soledad Miranda´s secret
Hola everybody.
Yes, Soledad Miranda, the enigmatic queen of B-Blood (not because
she had a particular preference for that blood type, but because
she was the star of some cult B-movies about vampirism and horror,
surrounded by a morbid eroticism, especially some of Jess Franco´s
films like "Vampyros Lesbos" or "Count Dracula") had a dark and
unconfessable secret in her past. It wasn´t a secret of crime or
insanity, but something much worse: For a brief period she was a
yeyé girl.
Yes, In the mid sixties, Soledad recorded Two EPs for the Spanish
label Belter (a flamenco label semi-recycled in a yeyé factory,
infamous for its trashy yeye-explotation sound that is often
referred to as Beltersound). And even worse, in those years
Soledad´s voice and look contrasts violently with her later image
of a mysterious and tormented pale beauty: She sounded like a dumb
happy go lucky girl and, this could be traumatic for her fans, in
one of the EP covers, she was even dyed blonde.
As I wrote in a previous post, Soledad´s most appreciated track
among yeyé aficionados is her crazy "Pelucón" (big wig, meaning
in this case a person that is so perfectly combed that he seems
to wear a wig), included in her first EP on Belter, in 1964; a
neurotic and fun track about the tension between the ye-yé
dedicated followers of fashion and the traditionalists, square
people. Soledad sounds totally unbalanced which is of course part
of the fun.
I´m have played "Pelucón" in musica for everybody to enjoy.
Chao.
Julio Niño.
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