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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 11 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Shivaree
From: Marc Miller
2. Re: American Bandstand Original Dancers
From: Steve Harvey
3. Re: cache as cache can
From: Phil X Milstein
4. Re: Red Bird Questions
From: James Botticelli
5. Wilson Pickett Dies of Heart Attack at 64
From: Ray
6. Rhino party review; more Howard Boggess
From: Country Paul
7. Red Bird Records - the Rest of the Story
From: Randy Poe
8. Rudy Clark
From: Norm D.
9. Re: Red Bird Questions
From: Randy Poe
10. Re: cache as cache can
From: Randy Poe
11. Wilson Pickette obit
From: Country Paul
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:16:58 -0800 (PST)
From: Marc Miller
Subject: Shivaree
While browsing the AB site, I came across this schedule
for Shivaree: http://www.tv.com/users/TomAlger/profile.php
Marc
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 20:19:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: American Bandstand Original Dancers
Previously:
> Eddie Kelly and Bunny Gibson?
I help run a swing dance in Philadelphia. A few years back
a number of the original Bandstand dancers came in and I
got to dance with Bunny Gibson. I think she got married a
few years ago.
Steve Harvey
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:35:03 -0500
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: cache as cache can
Randy Poe wrote:
> When I opened the first box and realized what it was,
> I immediately determined - considering the environment
> and the length of time they'd probably been sitting there -
> that this was probably the largest collection of blank tape
> in the world.
Have the tapes turned out to be in better condition than you
feared?
--Phil M.
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:43:49 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Red Bird Questions
Randy Poe wrote:
> a tape marked "seagulls" (yep, from "Remember [Walkin'
> in the Sand])
Great story Randy...Wasn't the 'seagulls' portion of
"Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" taken from an already
existing sound effects record? That's what I recall
reading or hearing.
JB
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 22:53:41 -0000
From: Ray
Subject: Wilson Pickett Dies of Heart Attack at 64
Wilson Pickett, the soul pioneer best known for the fiery
hits "Mustang Sally" and "In The Midnight Hour," died of
a heart attack Thursday, according to his management company.
He was 64.
Chris Tuthill of the management company Talent Source said
Pickett had been suffering from health problems for the past
year.
"He did his part. It was a great ride, a great trip, I loved
him and I'm sure he was well-loved, and I just hope that he's
given his props," Michael Wilson Pickett, the fourth of the
singer's six children, told WRC-TV in Washington after his
death.
A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Pickett — known
as the "Wicked Pickett" — became a star with his soulful hits
in the 1960s.
"In the Midnight Hour" made the top 25 on the Billboard pop
charts in 1965 and "Mustang Sally" did the same the following
year.
Pickett was defined by his raspy voice and passionate
delivery. But the Alabama-born picket actually got his start
singing gospel music in church. After moving to Detroit as a
teen, he joined the group the Falcons, which scored the hit
"I Found a Love" with Pickett on lead vocals in 1962.
He went solo a year later.
Ray
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:53:09 -0600 (CST)
From: Country Paul
Subject: Rhino party review; more Howard Boggess
Previously:
> Back in October, Rhino Records unleashed "One Kiss Can Lead
> To Another: Girl Group Sounds - Lost And Found", their highly
> acclaimed 120-track 4CD box set. A few weeks later they threw
> a wonderful gig at the Cutting Room in New York to mark its
> release. S'poppers from as far and wide as Seattle, New
> Jersey, London and the Big Apple itself spontaneously
> converged on the venue to witness some of their girl group
> idols in action. Read David A. Young's report of the event
> here:
> http://www.spectropop.com/recommends/index2006.htm#Rhino
Great review, David. It was a pleasure seeing all of the
Spectropoppers you mentioned - and of course your smiling self
- and reading what you wrote flashed me back to that night. It
was a priceless, timeless, once-in-a-llifetime event, and it
was a privilege to be there in the company of the magical music
and of my wonderful friends.
Artie Wayne, thanks for the reply re; Howard Boggess. As you
remember him, was he more of a pop- or album-oriented guy?
Just curious.... Also, does anyone else have any info on him?
Country Paul
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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 02:02:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Randy Poe
Subject: Red Bird Records - the Rest of the Story
Okay, here's Part Two of the Red Bird Stereo Masters Saga...
Now, as many of you know, rights to the Red Bird and Blue
Cat labels are owned by the Singletons in Nashville, and
have been for many years. So, the Red Bird/Blue Cat tapes I
found in the Brill Building attic technically belonged to
them. However, there were also hundreds of reels of tape
that weren’t Red Bird/Blue Cat masters (for example, Mike
and Jerry’s original demo of “Is That All There Is?” etc.
etc.), so I took all of the tapes to L.A. when we moved out
here in early ’89.
Since we didn’t own the rights to the Red Bird/Blue Cat
stuff, I wasn’t looking to make it public knowledge that I
had the tapes in my possession. My intention was always to
give John and Shelby the tapes that were rightfully theirs,
but I wanted to be able to go through everything first and
pull out demos by Jeff and Ellie, Leiber & Stoller, Neil
Diamond (who was signed to one of L&S’s publishing
companies in the early ‘60s), and everything else that
wasn’t Red Bird or Blue Cat.
I told ONE PERSON, who shall remain nameless since he’s
still a close friend of mine – and a name that every one
of you would certainly know. I told him in the strictest
of confidence, and he swore to me that he’d never tell
another soul.
Within a week, I got a call from a guy at a record label
in England saying, “I hear you’ve found the long lost
stereo masters of the Red Bird material.”
Anyway, the word was out. The next thing I knew, a guy I’d
never heard of from here in L.A. called me and said, “I
heard about the tapes you found. I have a large film and
tape library. My specialty is cataloging collections. I’ll
be happy to go through the tapes and put together a list
of everything you have.” I checked the guy out, found him
to be reputable, honest, and an expert in his field. Plus,
since we were busy setting up our new office and hiring
people, etc., I called him and told him to come over. He
came over with a van, took everything to his place, and
began listening to the tapes, cataloging everything,
calling me every few days with his latest incredible find
(such as the tape of the seagull noises – including
conversations between Jeff and Shadow, trying to figure
out just where they should go in “Remember Walkin’ in the
Sand”). He also confirmed that many of the Red Bird/Blue
Cat tapes were, indeed, the stereo mixes that hadn’t been
heard since the dawn of time (if not earlier).
Meanwhile, I finally found a storage room for the tapes.
When I called him to see if he was done with his project,
he said there was a slight problem. The guy whose tape
machine he was using had “borrowed” a few of the tapes.
And, of course, what this guy had taken were the stereo
mixes of the Red Bird and Blue Cat recordings, as well as
a few other choice items.
When I threatened to call the cops, my cataloger told me
to give him a couple of days. Sure enough, a couple of
days later he called me up and gave me an address. I sent
a guy who was about 6’2” and a couple of his big buddies
to the address. Sitting in the lobby of the building were
several boxes containing the tapes. My boys picked them up
and brought them to my office.
By this time, word was out seemingly everywhere about the
stereo masters. I got a call from the guy who was running
Tarragon Records, saying he wanted to put the Red Bird
stuff out in stereo, on CD, for the first time. I told him
I had possession of the tapes, but didn’t have the right
to lease them to him. So, he went to the Singletons,
licensed the right to release various Red Bird masters,
got mono copies from the Singletons, and then used the
stereo masters for Tarragon’s Red Bird compilation.
Now, while all of this was going on, I went to Mike one
day and said, “Look, I understand why you sold Goldner
the Red Bird and Blue Cat stuff, but why did you also sell
him the Daisy and Tiger masters?” Mike sat there for a few
moments, rubbed his chin, and said, “We didn’t sell him
Daisy and Tiger. We still own those.”
I said, “Well, the Singletons have sure been licensing them
out to a lot of third parties for a long time now.” Mike
said, “Get ‘em back.”
Seventeen years later, my memory might be a little faulty,
but it seems like it was only a few days later that I got a
letter from John Singleton that read, “We understand you
might have tapes that belong to us. If you do, please send
them to us.”
I wrote back saying, “What a coincidence. I understand you
have tapes that belong to us, too. Let’s swap.”
So, I boxed up all of the Red Bird and Blue Cat masters and
sent them off to the Singletons. A few days later I
received a small box with one 7” tape in it, labeled “‘Go
Now’ - Bessie Banks – dubbed from disk.” Needless to say, I
wasn’t amused.
One quick point of clarification: several recordings that
were released, primarily on Blue Cat, were originally
released on Daisy or Tiger. I took the position that L&S
had leased said masters to Blue Cat, and therefore,
anything that was first released on Daisy or Tiger was
still owned by L&S. The Singletons agreed.
Luckily, Bob Irwin from Sundazed called me and said he
wanted to reissue the Daisy/Tiger masters. I managed to
find a few tapes of Daisy/Tiger recordings - including some
alternate takes - in the newly cataloged boxes. Between
those tapes and perhaps others (from sources unknown to me),
Bob was able to put together the CD “Leiber & Stoller
Present the Daisy/Tiger Story.” I’ll never know how he did
it, but the sound on that CD is magnificent. The cleaned-up
version of “Go Now” is far superior to any other version on
CD I’ve ever heard.
As far as the stereo versions of the Red Bird/Blue Cat
recordings are concerned, along with the Tarragon release,
I believe they’ve since popped up on Collectables. The
Varese Vintage CD might also be the stereo mixes, although
I haven’t heard the album.
In answer to the John Hammond question, my understanding
is that he recorded several sides planned for release on
Red Bird, with L&S producing. (In the liner notes of a
reissue on Edsel Records, John himself says he was signed
to Red Bird at the time. That makes sense to me – as
opposed to Tiger – since Tiger mainly released singles in
around ’61 – several years before the Hammond sides were
cut). The musicians were Robbie Robertson, Charles Otis,
Bill Wyman, Jimmy Lewis, Rick Danko, and our own Artie
Butler. I don’t believe any of those sides were actually
released on Red Bird. In fact, I believe they were all
released as part of an Atlantic album called “I Can Tell.”
Just a couple of weeks ago Jerry told me that Dylan came
to the sessions, sat quietly in the control room, and
never said anything to anybody – but the next thing Jerry
knew, Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko had become members
of Dylan’s band.
Randy
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:12:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Norm D.
Subject: Rudy Clark
The recent discussion about the original version of "It's In
His Kiss" prompts this enquiry. This song was written by
Rudy Clark, and I'd like to know more about this man. I've
been trawling through some of the archives to find out more,
but he isn't included in the S'Pop writers and producers list.
So, could someone point me in the direction of a discography?
And whose idea was it to include a tuba on James Ray's "If
You Gotta Make A Fool...."? Or a banjo on "Got My Mind Set
On You", for that matter? Two instruments hardly associated
with R&B....
Apologies if this has already been extensively covered and
I've managed to miss it.
Norm D.
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 02:13:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Randy Poe
Subject: Re: Red Bird Questions
James Botticelli wrote:
> Great story Randy...Wasn't the 'seagulls' portion of
> "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" taken from an already
> existing sound effects record? That's what I recall
> reading or hearing.
That's what I've heard, too. I suspect they dubbed it onto
tape and went from machine to machine.
Trying to spin a sound effects record at exactly the right
moments would've been pretty tough to pull off. In any event,
as I wrote in my most recent, ridiculously long email, one
can actually hear Jeff and Shadow talking about where the
seagull sounds are going to go on the record.
I also heard that the motorcycle on "Leader of the Pack" was
a real motorcycle. Some of these things take on mythological
proportions. It makes for a great story, but if you've ever
spent 60 seconds on a motorcycle inside a closed garage, you
know the carbon monoxide builds up really fast. I can't
imagine anybody bringing a motorcycle into a recording studio
and revving it up like that without the singers suffering
some serious lung damage right before they're supposed to
start singing.
But, I wasn't there. Perhaps Mr. Butler was in attendance
for the recording of "Leader of the Pack"?
Randy
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 02:29:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Randy Poe
Subject: Re: cache as cache can
Phil X Milstein wrote:
> Have the tapes turned out to be in better condition than you
> feared?
Oh yeah. Big time. I was absolutely amazed. When Bob Irwin did
the "Leiber & Stoller Present the Daisy/Tiger Story" on
Sundazed (see my "Rest of the Red Bird Story" post that's
about the length of a small novel), he had to bake the tapes.
He called me up to tell me most of the tapes I sent him were
the consistency of uncooked spaghetti on a reel. My
understanding of the tape baking process is that they're
heated up to make them go through the tape machine. In the
case of the Daisy/Tiger Story, it definitely worked.
Randy
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:06:58 -0600 (CST)
From: Country Paul
Subject: Wilson Pickette obit
I don't know the source, but this is the best Wilson Pickett
obit I've seen thus far. I first knew of him when "If You
Need Me" was released on Lloyd Price's label, Double L, and
I got my copy from Lloyd Price himself. I like both hit
versions, although I preferred Pickett's.
RIP.
Country Paul
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January 20, 2006
Wilson Pickett, 64, Soul Singer of Great Passion, Dies
By JEFF LEEDS
Wilson Pickett, the soul music pioneer whose insistent wail
turned songs like "In the Midnight Hour" into hits, died
yesterday in Virginia. He was 64.
The cause was a heart attack, Margo Lewis, his manager, said.
She added that Mr. Pickett had spent the twilight of his
career playing dozens of concert dates a year, but had finally
started an extended hiatus last year as his health began to
worsen.
Still, Mr. Pickett, who lived in Ashburn, Va., had enjoyed a
series of accolades as he approached retirement. His first
album in more than a decade - 1999's "It's Harder Now" - was
honored with a Grammy nomination for best traditional rhythm
and blues vocal performance. In 2000, he picked up three W. C.
Handy Awards from the Blues Foundation, including one for
comeback album of the year.
At the close of 2004, however, "we sort just said, 'Let's take
a year off,' and eased him out of the responsibility of having
to think about gigging," Ms. Lewis said. "It wasn't necessary
for him financially."
Mr. Pickett had long since cemented his legacy; his shift from
gospel music to rhythm and blues and soul led to a string of
1960's classics, including "Mustang Sally," "Land of 1,000
Dances" and "634-5789."
Born in Prattville, Ala., Mr. Pickett was one of 11 children;
he told interviewers that he had suffered an abusive childhood.
As a teenager he moved to Detroit, where he formed a gospel
band, the Violinaires, that performed in local churches.
But his chance at pop fame emerged in 1961, when he was invited
to join the Falcons, an R & B act that had already scored a Top
20 hit, "You're So Fine."
While the Falcons enjoyed modest success, Mr. Pickett struck
out on his own, recording the song "If You Need Me." His
performance hit the market at roughly the same time the soul
singer Solomon Burke released his own version. Still, both
treatments sold well, and Mr. Pickett soon had a contract with
Atlantic Records.
He quickly cranked out a series of hits, including one of his signature songs, "In the Midnight Hour." Most of his songs were recorded in either Memphis or Muscle Shoals, Ala., which at the
time were the hotbeds of soul recording activity in the South.
His sidemen included Southern musicians like the guitarist Steve
Cropper (who co-wrote "Midnight Hour" and other songs with Mr.
Pickett) and, later, the guitarist Duane Allman of the Allman
Brothers.
He soon found himself with the nickname "Wicked Pickett" -
which has been described as a reference both to his screaming
delivery and to his offstage behavior.
He continued to record songs that would become part of the soul
canon, including "Funky Broadway" and "Everybody Needs Somebody
to Love." He also earned a reputation as one of music's most
compelling live performers, delivering stage shows in which he
mixed gospel-tinged solemnity with funk stylings that evoked
James Brown.
Through the 1970's, Mr. Pickett reached beyond his own
repertory, covering songs by Randy Newman ("Momma Told Me Not
to Come"), Steppenwolf ("Born to Be Wild"), the Beatles ("Hey
Jude") and even the Archies ("Sugar Sugar").
Like other soul performers, he found his star beginning to wane
with the advent of disco and other genres in the 1970's. He
enjoyed a revival of sorts in 1991, when he was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His music also featured
prominently in the film "The Commitments," about a start-up
Irish band seeking its fortune in soul music.
Reflecting on his career years after his chart performance had
begun to slip, Mr. Pickett said he had once harbored mixed
feelings about abandoning his gospel roots, fearing that "if
you leave God and go to the devil, you're going to go to hell,"
as he told Rolling Stone. "You see, I wanted to sing gospel,
but I wanted to make me some money, too."
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