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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Rascals
From: James B Gerwitz
2. Party / Dickinson / musica / Vontastics / more
From: Country Paul
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 21:17:50 -0800
From: James B Gerwitz
Subject: Re: Rascals
Dan Hughes writes:
> "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" was played by a LOT of garage
> bands, and the reason I bought their first album.
Plenty of those garage/bar/college bands changed one word of the title,
which made the tune popular among the beer boys in my neck of the woods
around Buffalo, regardless of how high the song went on the charts. Eddie
also sang a fine loungey/wedding band version of "More" on the COLLECTIONS
LP, some slow dancin verses mixed with rockin Hammond from Felix. Of course
in those days "More" was filler compared to all their other killer stuff.
tonawanda jim
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2002 02:02:06 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Party / Dickinson / musica / Vontastics / more
Admin wrote: "Spectropop's very own Elisabeth Kurtis is throwing
> her own bash, Slow Fizz - A Night Of Girl Group Heaven - in
> Manchester, next Saturday, Nov. 9th. All Spectropoppers are
> invited to attend, free of charge. Some members will even be
> manning the turntables. If London was too far to travel, why
> not hop in the car 'up north' and join us."
My car would have a hard time driving across the Atlantic, so I'll have to
be there in spirit and look forward to the possible NYC gathering. The
pictures from the party look like you had great fun - now I can put faces to
some of the names. Thanks for the post.
Mikey wrote about "a solo LP on Brunswick, caled "Little Joe Pesci Sure Can
Sing." Could he? Anyone heard it?
Javed notes: "How about Gene Clark of the Byrds as another example of the
lead singer who was not always the lead singer?"
My favorite Byrd. The original mix of his first solo album with the Gosdin
Brothers has some of the best "Byrdsmusic" ever. (Avoid the hollow second
mix. I think later reissues have the original.)
Martin Roberts: I second checking out Pam Dickinson's "Bad Boy" on musica. I
may have been the first to bring it up on the list, as it has been a longtime
fave of mine. I like the simplicity of Carole King's original, but it sounds
like a demo to my ears compared to Ray Stevens' work with Ms. Dickinson.
For grins, I did a Google search for any bio info; found none,
but did find two non-Monument 45's on someone's auction list:
GAMBIT 1109 PAM DICKINSON FUNNY AGE (shown as being on the KQV Top
450 12/21/63 and 1/4/64)
WHIRL 82894 PAMELA DICKINSON TAKE AN OLE COLD TATER (from '65; the old
Little Jimmy Dickens country hit; wonder if there's a relationship)
Steve Harvey wrote: "Eddie sang 'I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore,'
but I'd hardly call it a hit, at least by 'Good Lovin'' proportions."
Steve, it was initially much bigger in New York than elsewhere; that
big "yeah" still fills dance floors with people of a certain age group
- oops, us!
Steve continues, "Nothing on Eddie, I've always liked his singing." Me, too;
and he still "has it." His is always the defining voice of the Rascals to my
ears. I must also confess, I pefer the Olympics' "Good Lovin'" to the
Rascals.
One more mea culpa: I had mistakenly credited "Compared to What?" to
Gil Scott-Heron. His album, with its lead track, "Johannesburg," was
contemporaneous with Gene McDaniel's "The Left Reverend Eugene McD" which
had a version of the song that got a lot of airplay at WHCN in Hartford, CT.
(Hope no one got too upset.)
Singing Bodies: they are kidding, right? And Miss Toni Fisher's
"Gloomy Sunday" is equally painful, but differently.
Don't ask why, but somehow three Vontastics 45's wound up in my collection.
All were sent directly by Chess, the distributor, and are either DJ copies
or first commercial pressings on St. Lawrence Records:
1007 - Peace of Mind (wr. Raymond Penn)/No Love For Me (wr. Bobby Newsome)
(noted as "r&b hit, late '65")
1014 - Day Tripper (wr. Lennon & McCartney)/My Baby {wr. Bobby Newsome)
(noted as "hit, summer '66")
1023 - You Can Work It Out/Never Let Your Love Grow Cold (both wr. Bobby
Newsome) (noted as "no hit 12/66")
I made the notes on the sleeves at the time. If it charted anywhere or got
lots of local airplay somewhere, I deemed it a "hit." While I've never
worried much about chart positions, CashBox and for a while Record World
were also authoritative sources, although Record World's charts always had
the least credibility *rumor had it they could be "influenced") and
Billboard ultimately emerged as the standard. CB & BB used different
methodologies. One (I think CB) fudged airplay into consideration when
weighting their listings.
More later,
Country Paul
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