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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 17 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Shirley Ellis
From: S'pop Team
2. Re: Telephone Songs
From: Ken Silverwood
3. Re: Telephone Songs
From: Phil Milstein
4. Re: Telephone Songs
From: Dan Hughes
5. Re: Soul and Insipidation
From: Stuart Miller
6. Re: Dave Dee etc.
From: Stuart Miller
7. Re: Oz originals & covers
From: Lindsay
8. Re: Superman songs
From: Gregg Luvoxx
9. Re: Brian Wilson Productions / American Spring
From: Watson Macblue
10. Re: WHAT IS ROCK AND ROLL? You tell me.
From: Mike Rashkow
11. Re Dave Dee D, B, M & T / Gary & the Hornets
From: Lapka Larry
12. Re: Telephone Songs
From: John Clemente
13. Faux Shangri-las
From: John Frank
14. Rock n Roll according to Wittgenstein!
From: Stratton Bearhart
15. Re: Chris Lucey AKA Chris Ducey AKA Bobby Jameson?
From: Claus
16. Re: Telephone Songs
From: Frank
17. Re: Ten Seminal Rock'n'Roll Songs
From: Mike Rashkow
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 19:29:03 -0000
From: S'pop Team
Subject: Shirley Ellis
Three - six - nine,
The goose drank wine,
A Shirley Ellis CD review is now online!
Clap, slap...errr......click here:
http://www.spectropop.com/recommends/
The line broke,
The monkey got choked,
And they all went to heaven in a little row-boat!
Enjoy!
The S'pop Team
Spectropop: Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 19:32:13 -0800
From: Ken Silverwood
Subject: Re: Telephone Songs
What about "Operator" by either Mary Wells or Brenda Holloway,
"Sylvia's Mother" by Dr.Hook or "Hello This Is Joannie" by Paul
Evans.
Ken On The West Coast
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 14:35:55 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Telephone Songs
Rex Strother wrote:
> For songs based on a telephone call, include "Your Most Valuable
> Possession" by Ben Folds Five on their album "The Unauthorized
> Biography of Reinhold Messner". It's a funny, melancholy sweet
> instrumental featuring an answering machine message from Ben Fold's
> dad rambling on (probably drunk) about something he saw on the news...
Along those lines there is "Providence," on Sonic Youth's Daydream
Nation album.
--Phil M.
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 13:33:35 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Telephone Songs
My poser:
> Okay, gang, thinking caps on--what telephone song spent
> 3 weeks at #2 in Billboard's Hot 100, and 14 weeks at #1
> on Billboard's country chart?
Phil M:
> Hello Darlin', by Jim Reeves I believes.
Phil, you got the artist right, but the title is
"He'll Have to Go."
---Dan
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 20:07:25 -0000
From: Stuart Miller
Subject: Re: Soul and Insipidation
Richard,
I have 3 copies of "Soul" on various Righteous Bros records
and they all say produced by Bill Medley. It was their first
single on Verve, I presume without Spector so it could have
been that Medley fancied getting as close to what they had
left as possible. And he couldn't have been more successful,
although these days I do tend to cringe when Bobby does the
monologue in the middle. But great, great talent, both of them,
either individually or together. Check out the web site:
http://www.righteousbrothers.com/
Stuart
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 20:17:40 -0000
From: Stuart Miller
Subject: Re: Dave Dee etc.
When I went through my "revisionist" period of the 60s some
many years ago, I reappraised a number of groups whom at the
time I found boring or uninteresting, and indeed Dave Dee was
one of them. From a distance of a few decades further on, they
were much better than my immature and rather focussed musical
tastes from back then allowed them to be.
But I did indeed take to DBMT at the time and although Dave Coyle
mentioned "Mr. President" which was a fine record, my favourite
from back then was "Tonight Today" which I thought was outstanding,
and indeed I was listening to it again only a couple of days ago.
I thought after Dave Dee left and they were freed from the more
restrictive path of their then producers and became more creative,
that they turned out some excellent music which inevitably went
largely unappreciated.
Stuart
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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:13:15 -0000
From: Lindsay
Subject: Re: Oz originals & covers
Norman: At least in the case of the three Artie Wayne songs
I mentioned in my last post, Festival records in Sydney seems
to be the common element. Judy Stone, Ray Brown & Marcia Hines
all recorded for Festival or affiliates (Festival, Leedon and
Mushroom respectively).
My guess is that there was some kind of connection between
Festival & an American publisher. (Not being an industry insider,
guessing is all I can do.)
Lindsay
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 17:58:34 -0800
From: Gregg Luvoxx
Subject: Re: Superman songs
"O Superman" by Laurie Anderson
"Superman" by Robyn Hitchcock
('Superman, Superman, crunchy little Superman')
Gregg
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:45:33 -0800 (PST)
From: Watson Macblue
Subject: Re: Brian Wilson Productions / American Spring
Stratton Bearhart writes:
> The one shining difference for me is Brian's involvement in
> 'American Spring', and I wonder how much of Brian's quality input
> to that particular production project was due to its nature as a
> family affair, with wife Marilyn as vocalist.
If engineer Steve Desper is to be believed (and I suspect he is), the
awful truth is that Brian's contribution to this album was - Steve's
word - tiny. Steve said that the strongest memory he had of the
sessions (other than Brian's infrequent and unproductive visits to the
studio) was amazement at David Sandler's skill in imitating Brian's
production style. The album was made when Brian was in his first
really bad coke-and-heroin phase, from which some of us would argue he
has never really recovered; his main function for the Spring album was
simply brand recognition by the customers. Marilyn Wilson herself has
grudgingly admitted as much. (There was also the problem, at the time,
of Brian's growing obsession with her sister - hence "My Diane" on the
MIU album. As always with the Beach Boys, "family" is a multi-edged
weapon.)
Anyone who doubts Sandler's ability at forging the Brian sound should
listen to Snowflakes, which has never been touted as a Brian production,
but is as Brian-ish as all Hell. It can be done; elsewhere, we've been
reading how Bill Medley managed to produce an astonishingly convincing
knock-off of Spectorsound for "Soul and Inspiration".
Watson
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:58:45 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: WHAT IS ROCK AND ROLL? You tell me.
Phil Milstein on the words Rock and Roll:
> My solution is to use these words most guardedly, and reserve those
> usages for situations where the exact definition won't be as important
> as the general sense I'm trying to impart. Thus, while I appreciate
> Mike's challenge, I, for one, am not gonna go there.
Excellent decision and a great answer--but how about the 10 building
blocks??
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 20:59:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Lapka Larry
Subject: Re Dave Dee D, B, M & T / Gary & the Hornets
Dear David Coyle and Bob Rashkow;
As far as Gary and the Hornets, the only thing I have from them is the
Smash single "Hi Hi Hazel", which barely made the Top 100. They released
several singles around this period, and like The Robbs, I wonder if
anybody will every get them all together and release a compilation.
DDDBMT I stumbled upon once again. I have two of their albums, the U.S.
release "Time to Take Off" and a European LP called "Listen," which has
many of their hits on it. After looking for an MP3 for "Bend It," I came
upon about 20 other songs of theirs--all of their British A sides, a few
Bs, and even a Dave Dee solo Xmas song.
The more I listen to them, the more I like them. They were doing
something completely different with many of their songs--I hear some
early World-type tunes, such as "Zabadak," and yes, I do hear some
Monkees-like bubblegum, like "Hideaway."
There's lots of junk, too, but their music is quite endearing.
On the Robbs again, thanks for all the interest. I'll get all the MP3
disks out over the next two weeks or so.
Larry Lapka
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Message: 12
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 01:17:35 -0500
From: John Clemente
Subject: Re: Telephone Songs
Hello All,
I'd like to add my telephone songs to the apparently growing list:
Please Ring My Phone - Starlettes - Checker 895, 1958
Hold Me, Touch Me - Carolyn Bernier - Private Stock, 1978
Last Night Changed It All - Esther Williams - Friends & Co. 130, 1980
Ring A Ting A Ling - Crystals - Michelle 4113, 1967 (I heard this years
ago, and vaguely recall phone ringing at the start of the song. I could
be wrong.) There has to be more somewhere.
Regards,
John Clemente
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Message: 13
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:58:54 -0800
From: John Frank
Subject: Faux Shangri-las
Greetings to Spectropop! I was off-line for about a year and return to find
the nice little mailing list has become a cultural phenomenon! In a place
where terms like "Lesley Duncan," "Mina", "Ginny Arnell," "Nino Tempo", and
"Tracey Dey" are casually bandied about, I know I'm home! Nice to be back.
In my not-so-humble opinion, of all the inhabitants of Girl Group Planet,
The Shangri-las reign.
Spector and Motown both spawned a lot of "copycat" singles -- releases that
took the sound as a jumping-off point and tried to make a reasonable
fascimile, resulting in a lot of great music (and a lot of crap). The
Shangri-las, too, spawned copycat records that tried to capture the
melodrama and sometimes the attitude of the Shangs. I'm listing some I've
identified, and would welcome more! I'd like to track them down and make a
compilation. I'm particularly interested in original songs ('60s vintage
only, please), but am also accumulating a listing of covers, parodies and
answer songs. Here's what I've got so far, except the ones I've forgotten to
list. Help, please?
Originals:
Nightmare - Whyte Boots
Condition Red - Goodees
What A Lonely Way To Start The Summertime - The Bittersweets
Sally Bad - The Utopias
The Boy Who Took My Heart (Took My Mind) - Marie Applebee
Terry - Twinkle
The Hero - Bernadette Carroll
Covers/Remakes:
Remember (Walking In The Sand) - Skeeter Davis
The Dum Dum Ditty - The Goodies
Rebel Without A Cause - The Bunnies ("The Dum Dum Ditty")
Sophisticated Boom Boom - The Goodies
So Soft, So Warm - The Nu-Luvs ("Dressed In Black")
Dressed In Black - The Pussycats
Parodies:
Leader Of The Laundromat - The Detergents
Answer Songs:
???
By the way, I've found myself with an extra copy of "Where The Girls Are",
volume 4. Anyone want it? The first person who e-mails me off-list gets it.
John Frank
(who is still amazed that Ann Sidney's "The Boy In The Woolly Sweater" made
it to at least #8 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Despite the bad review in "That
Will Never Happen Again", I love it!)
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Message: 14
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 07:14:35 -0000
From: Stratton Bearhart
Subject: Rock n Roll according to Wittgenstein!
I agree with Mike, the search for a clear definition may elude us...
For a cerebral attempt at answering this question some Spectropoppers
may find Wittgenstein's resemblance theory in art helpful...
Bascially he asserts that there cannot be a closed concept of what
constitutes 'art' because of 'its' diversities. Instead he suggests we
apply an open concept of art where we recognise overlapping resemblances
between various mediums, not unlike seeing the genetic connections in
the faces of family members.
This is explored in depth here:-
http://www.project-aristotle.com/web/index.html
I think it's interesting to apply this to theories about what makes
Rock n' Roll a term for many categories of music even if only to make
things more flexible, so not to be too hard on ourselves!.
Stratton Bearhart
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Message: 15
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 07:35:18 -0000
From: Claus
Subject: Re: Chris Lucey AKA Chris Ducey AKA Bobby Jameson?
Thanx for posting this interesting subject... few years ago I did
the former review of the Chris Lucey album on Borderline in "Fuzz
acid and flowers". Ever since I've wondered who did the backing on
the album. I haven't read the notes on the Rev-Ola reissue and
therefore don't know if they mentioned the line-up?
Best, Claus
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Message: 16
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 08:46:58 +0100
From: Frank
Subject: Re: Telephone Songs
Can't remember every songs cited but these two should be first on any list :
Chuck Berry : Memphis Tennessee
Johnny Otis : Telephone Baby
Sorry if they've already been listed.
Frank
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Message: 17
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:11:10 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: Ten Seminal Rock'n'Roll Songs
I didn't copy over Kingsley's response, but it was beautiful and
enlightening. And not less were Milstein's and Tony's--so great to
have it all said so well.
BUT, c'mon Kingsley and Phil, no cop outs--give us the list...I am
amazed and excited by Tony's inclusion of Glenn Miller, Rosemary
Clooney, and other unique choices. Terrific!
Rashkovsky
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