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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 18 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. New at Spectropop
From: Team Spectropop
2. Re: The Ladybirds' Maggie Stredder
From: Carole Gibson
3. Re: Chuck Jackson
From: Shawn Baldwin
4. Re: Spoonful covers
From: Phil Chapman
5. Eddie Brigati; Vacels
From: Country Paul
6. Covers of Elvis' songs
From: Mike Edwards
7. Joan B. meets Uncle Phil
From: Team Spectropop
8. Spoonful covers; Wonders; musica music; Jamies
From: Country Paul
9. Re: Spoonful covers
From: Ron
10. Re: Elvis covers
From: Richard Tearle
11. Re: Carrie Nations
From: Phil Milstein
12. Re: The Ladybirds' Maggie Stredder
From: Phil Milstein
13. Happy Holidays
From: Artie Wayne
14. Re: Girls in Glasses
From: Tony
15. Re: Elvis covers
From: Steve Harvey
16. Re: Elvis covers
From: Erik R. Bluhm
17. Re: The Dickens / NRBQ
From: Matt Conway
18. Re: music & emotions revisited
From: Peter Lerner
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 08:43:02 -0000
From: Team Spectropop
Subject: New at Spectropop
Dear Members,
By special request, the following rarities are now playing
at Musica:
JOAN BAEZ "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (live, from
the movie The Big TNT Show, with piano accompaniment and
music direction by Phil Spector).
HAL MILLER "Blessing In Disguise" (Amy 920, 1964, written
by Bob Crewe & Charles Calello, arranged by Charles
Calello, a Bob Crewe Production).
TONY & JOE "Where Can You Be" (Era 1083, 1958, rare early
Phil Spector composition).
RONNIE SPECTOR "I Love Him Like I Love My Very Life"
(unissued acetate, c.1971, written by Phil Spector, Toni
Wine & Irwin Levine, produced by Phil Spector & George
Harrison).
Simply click below to listen to all four tracks:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/files/musica/
Our ever changing New At Spectropop section presently
contains:
Whatever happened to Baby Jane & the Rockabyes? The
story of the "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window"
group by John "Girl Groups" Clemente:
http://www.spectropop.com/BabyJane/index.htm
When Van Met Kenni - The Sandy Sheldon Story, as told
by Kendra Spotswood to Mick Patrick. Van McCoy's muse
tells her own story:
http://www.spectropop.com/SandiSheldon/index.htm
Surf music guru Stephen J. McParland has two new books
out. Kingsley Abbott has reviewed them for us:
http://www.spectropop.com/recommends/index.htm#SoundWaves
Nick DeCaro - Big In Japan. A study in self-effacement
by Bill Reed:
http://www.spectropop.com/NickDeCaro/index.htm
Does British Sunshine Pop exist? Yes, says Mark Frumento,
and the "Ripples" series is where to find it:
http://www.spectropop.com/recommends/index.htm#Ripples
Jack Nitzsche At Spectropop. An entire website devoted
to the legendary arranger, renowned for his work with
Phil Spector, the Stones, Neil Young and many others.
Featuring a complete Discography and much, much more.
The brainchild of, and updated regularly by Martin
Roberts:
http://www.spectropop.com/JackNitzsche/index.htm
Enjoy,
The Spectropop Team
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 21:18:03 +0000
From: Carole Gibson
Subject: Re: The Ladybirds' Maggie Stredder
Hi Mick,
Maggie Stredder did publish a book, just a very small one,
around 100 pages. It's called The Girl With The Glasses and
although I got mine off Maggie, it says on the back cover
that you can get it from:-
Showbiz Publications
PO Box 692A
Surbiton
Surrey KT5 8DZ
It was £7.50 when I got mine.
Carole x
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 16:29:39 -0600
From: Shawn Baldwin
Subject: Re: Chuck Jackson
Previously:
> I just picked up his Motown LP...Excellent LP with one real prominent
> fingerpopper "What Am I Gonna Do With You".
I had forgotten all about Chuck recording for Motown! Shawn
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Message: 4
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 08:30:14 -0000
From: Phil Chapman
Subject: Re: Spoonful covers
Billy:
> I did a search for the song ["You Didn't Have To Be So Nice"] on
> Gracenote and Mark Wirtz recorded the same song on his "Go-Go
> Music Of The Mark Wirtz Orchestra And Chorus" CD.
Yes he does, in his quirky unmistakable style that has the sixties
stamped all over it. No lead vocal, the tune is carried by female
tones purring "ba daya da b' daya ba..." etc.
The 'Go Go Music...' CD also contains a Bacharach-style rendition
of "Don't Do It, Baby", a Ted Daryll/Chip Taylor song recorded by
Dusty Springfield (as "Don't Say It Baby", arr. Ray Stevens) on
the flip of "Your Hurtin' Kinda Love". Is there a U.S. recording
of this song, anybody?
Who are the girls on your version, Mark?
Thought I'd better mention Julie Driscoll's version of "I Didn't Want
To Have To Do It", surely one of the best covers of this tune?
Phil
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Message: 5
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 01:04:36 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Eddie Brigati; Vacels
Happy Holidays to all, and thanks, Admin Team, for the
Christmas presents.
Had the opportunity to go to a Christmas party with Eddie Brigati (formerly
of the Rascals) this week. He's doing great, looks good, and is in fine
signing voice. He and his wonderful significant other, Susan, with whom I
freelance for the same production company, sang a few songs with the very
talented one-man band who was providing the music for the evening. She has
the voice of an angel, by the way; he "sounds just like himself", even a
little more soulful. He sang a couple of new songs he composed in recent
times - said he has a couple of hundred "in the bank", waiting to see the
light of day. One was a particularly nice "power pop" ballad (don't remember
the name); he's definitely composing in a contemporary and more
soul-oriented direction. He also did some Rascals material - Good Lovin',
Mustang Sally, It's A Beautiful Morning - and I had the pleasure of singing
backup with him on a couple! I also told him about Spectropop and gave him
the URL; hope he checks us out! We plan to talk again early next year.
Re: Karl Baker's post from early December, the Vacels had an earlier doo-wop
record - New York area semi-hit, at least - called "Lorraine" (not the same
as "Darling Lorraine" by the Knockouts) under the name Ricky & the Vacels.
Great side, collected on "Golden Era of Doo-wop: Best of Fargo Records," on
Relic (if you can find it, or call Relic Rack in Hackensack, NJ). I only
know they were from Long Island, NY. Fuzz, Acid & Flowers cites two Kama
Sutra 45's (they predated the Lovin' Spoonful on the label), but omits the
doo-wop connection:
http://www.borderlinebooks.com/us6070s/fuzz.html?http://www.borderlinebooks.com/us6070s/us60stop.html
Also, from Both Sides Now's "Kama Sutra/Buddah Story":
"Kama Sutra hit the national pop charts with its first two releases:
'You're My Baby,' a neo-doo wop number by a vocal group called the Vacels that
topped out at #63 that summer [#36 on the WMCA Good Guys survey, July 7,
1965 -Paul], and 'Do You Believe in Magic,' the extraordinary first single
release by John Sebastian and the Lovin' Spoonful....[T]hey recorded the
first version, for instance, of Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your
Window" before he did and their two singles on Kama Sutra were quite
decent[.]"
And on a related topic, RIP Zal Yanofsky. I had a chance to see the Spoonful
live at their peak both on the charts and in performance - and yes, I
believed in magic. This is a group sadly underserved in the oldies pantheon.
(I'd love to see what Steve Harvey comes up with forhis covers CD.)
"r13dodo" writes:
> ...I'm compiling a list of pop songs about ecology or pollution
> from the 60s/70s. Anyone have suggestions?
Start with various versions of "What Have They Done To The Rain",
a/k/a/ "Just A Little Rain" is by Joan Baez. And thanks to Artie Wayne
for mentioning Dorsey Burnette's still powerful "Tall Oak Tree."
Another underserved artist on the oldies scene....
Country Paul
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 03:00:39 -0000
From: Mike Edwards
Subject: Covers of Elvis' songs
Artie Wayne writes:
> Although it was "Dangerous" to cover one of Elvis' songs....
> a few became big hits...including "Suspicion" by Terry
> Stafford, "Wooden Heart" by Joe Dowell, "Girl Of My Best Friend"
> by Ral Donner and "Lonely Blue Boy" by Conway Twitty."
We can add a few more to this list:
Billy Fury's "Because Of Love". Elvis recorded this Ruth Batchelor-
Bob Roberts song as part of the soundtrack from "Girls! Girls!
Girls!" in 1962. Billy released it in the UK and took it to # 18. The
big song from this film was "Return To Sender".
Deane Hawley recorded "Pocketful Of Rainbows" on Liberty in 1961 and
got a # 93 hit. Elvis' version was on the soundtrack from "G I Blues".
Cliff Richard recorded "Angel" during his 1964 US visit. Elvis cut
his version of this Sid Tepper-Roy Bennett for the soundtrack (albeit
an EP) of the 1962 film, "Follow That Dream". Cliff's big beat
version, with the Jordanaires on back-up vocals, never got further
than his "Cliff Richard" album released in the UK in April 1965.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 08:25:03 -0000
From: Team Spectropop
Subject: Joan B. meets Uncle Phil
David A. Young wrote:
> Speaking of music dubbed from videotape, I sent a copy of
> "The Big TNT Show" to our Team and requested that they make
> Joan Baez's live recording of "You've Lost That Lovin'
> Feelin'" (piano accompaniment and overall musical direction
> by Phil Spector) available to the group via musica, so watch
> for it there soon!
Thanks to David, our resident expert in all things Spector,
the Joan Baez track is now available at musica for all to hear.
Click below to be transported back to 1965:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/files/musica/
Enjoy!
The Spectropop Team
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 02:50:43 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Spoonful covers; Wonders; musica music; Jamies
Most prominent Spoonful cover to my ears - and not yet mentioned as I play
catch-up again - is the Critters' beautiful "Younger Girl"; they had the hit
45 on Kapp.
Patrick Rands wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone would be interested in getting a list
> together of songs that quote a part of a Beatles song.
The ultimate one to me would be Barclay James Harvest's "Titles" -
wall-to-wall Beatles titles and hooks. It stands as a solid song on its own,
too; of course, consider the source! Nilsson's "You Can't Do That" is a
close second. And the Chartbusters' "She's The One" has McCartney's countoff
to "I Saw Hewr Standing There."
Did I (or anyone) ever mention here that in the movie "My Big Fat Greek
Wedding," produced by Rita Wilson (Mrs. Tom Hanks), the wedding band is
playing "All My Only Dreams" from Mr. Hanks' "That Thing You Do"?
Incidentally, unlike the recent citation (I forget by who), I thought the
Wonders' music in that film was superb, and "That Thing You Do" was one of
the rare rock movies that actually "got it," even if some of the other songs
weren't quite there. (The Mitch Miller takeoff is, however, spot on!)
Ah, those musica Christmas presents; thank you for all of them and more.
Some comments: Tony & Joe's "Where Can You Be" had me scratching my head on
first playing, deep into it on the second - a flawed gem. Jackie DeShannon's
"Jimmy Baby" sounds like Brenda Lee meets Dick & DeeDee; one could draw from
many worse sources! A treat - thank you! Ronnie Spector's "I Loved Him..."
is more of everything one could hope for. I got sidetracked to the Terry Day
track, which proves we're not always perfect, and the Paris Sisters' "Bully"
underscores the genius of Phil Spector in hearing who they REALLY were
through that close-harmony stuff. But the misses are as interesting as the
would-be (and real) hits, sometimes moreso.
Jeff Lemlich mentioned The Jamies, creators of one of my all-time faves,
"Summertime, Summerime", the only big hit in almost-perfect baroque
four-part harmony. There's more about them than I knew before at two sites
with conflicting stories of the group's origins. At
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,556602,00.html?artist=The+Jamies
This AMG bio bases the group in New York. What little I remember of
their story put them in Boston, as this entry from DirtyWater cites:
http://www.dirtywater.com/a2z/j/jamies/ - Anyone know anything else about
these folks, especially if there's any collection of their material, album
or CD?
Phil Milstein: re: Wildweeds, you're very welcome!
Country Paul
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Message: 9
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 11:16:50 -0000
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Spoonful covers
Country Paul wrote:
> Most prominent Spoonful cover to my ears - and not yet mentioned as
> I play catch-up again - is the Critters' beautiful "Younger Girl";
> they had the hit 45 on Kapp.
Don't forget the Gary Usher produced version of "Younger Girl" by the
Hondells.
Ron
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Message: 10
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 13:27:48 -0000
From: Richard Tearle
Subject: Re: Elvis covers
I thought Suspicion was Elvis' cover of Terry Stafford's original???
I'm sure Spectropoppers will know, but I seem to remember an unknown
artist called Joe Cocker releasing an Elvis song, but I can't remember
which one!! And of course David St Hubbins and Nigel Tufnell sang
Heartbreak Hotel a capella in Spinal Tap!
Cheers, Richard
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 21:46:11 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Carrie Nations
> Yeah, except that it wasn't about money but because Barbra Streisand
> had some deal where no one from her record company was allowed to
> record for any other record company, or something like that, and
> since Lynn was still signed to a different label than the one the
> soundtrack was on, she couldn't be on it.
Another mystery is why Lynn Carey wasn't in Beyond The Valley ... as an
actress. She certainly fit Russ Meyer's bill in every way.
--Phil M.
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Message: 12
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:36:47 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: The Ladybirds' Maggie Stredder
Carole Gibson wrote:
> Maggie Stredder did publish a book, just a very small one,
> around 100 pages. It's called The Girl With The Glasses
I thought Carole Shelyne was The Girl With The Glasses. Were
there both British and American Girls With Glasses?
--Phil M.
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Message: 13
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:25:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Artie Wayne
Subject: Happy Holidays
First of all I'd like to wish all of you the happiest of holidays. This
has been a very exciting year for me.....I finally recovered from a
spinal operation....during which time I learned to play synthesizer and
got back to writing songs after a twenty year hiatus. I just finished co-
producing a new act...the "TEKMONKEYS" with Alan O'Day and I've returned
to writing my long "Threatened" auto-biography, "Where does a Rock and
Roll Singer Go?"
I want to thank all the Spectropoppers for your encouragement......and
all the stimulating communiques....to me and to each other. You've made
many musical moments of my life live again!!!
warmest regards, Artie Wayne
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 14
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 18:04:01 -0000
From: Tony
Subject: Re: Girls in Glasses
Carole Gibson wrote:
> Mick, Maggie Stredder did publish a book, just a very small one,
> around 100 pages. It's called The Girl With The Glasses
Phil Milstein:
> I thought Carole Shelyne was The Girl With The Glasses. Were
> there both British and American Girls With Glasses?
Carol Shelyne was best known as the dancer with the glasses on the
mid-60s US TV show Shindig. She was from California, and also did
other bit parts in those beach movies. She was never a Ladybird :-)
Besides Maggie, I also read that another member of the Ladybirds was
Gloria George.
Tony
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 15
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 10:06:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: Elvis covers
No, Elvis' version of "Suspiscion" was a flop that Terry Stafford
turned into a hit. Viv Stanshall still had the best version ("Give me
some token of your love . . . have it on my desk in triplicate by
Monday.") It was Ral Donner's "Girl of My Best Friend" that Elvis heard
and turned into a hit. Bryan Ferry does a nice version of that one. Now
who did "Burning Love" first, Elvis or Arthur Alexander?
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 16
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 10:24:29 -0800
From: Erik R. Bluhm
Subject: Re: Elvis covers
Didn't Frijid Pink do Heartbreak Hotel as well?
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 17
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 13:56:49 -0800 (PST)
From: Matt Conway
Subject: Re: The Dickens / NRBQ
Phil Milstein wrote:
> The Dickens were an NRBQ offshoot, whose one and only record was
> the unreleased (and promos-only) Scepter pressing.
...are we taling Joey Spampinato of NRBQ fame? Just curious. Please
bear with me as I'm catching up by way of digest all past messages.
Love this group!
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 18
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 21:48:53 -0000
From: Peter Lerner
Subject: Re: music & emotions revisited
Re Phil Milstein on music and emotion: Just to add something. Only UK
readers will know the TV soap "Brookside" - the best by far! It's not
doing too well and is now relegated to a Saturday afternoon slot. Anyway,
yesterday was their Xmas edition, with lots of characters leaving /
missing / mourning others. As the camera cut from one lonely person to
another, without dialogue, the background music was Matt Monro's "Softly
as I leave you". Never a track I liked ..... until now. The juxtaposition
of visuals and music was worthy of the best movie directors - in my
humble opinion anyway.
Peter
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End
