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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 25 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Telephone songs
From: Eddy Smit
2. Re: More Superman-Related Requests
From: Eddy Smit
3. Re: Telephone songs
From: Mikey
4. Re: Telephone songs
From: Bill Craig
5. Re: Telephone songs/Little Richard concert /What Is Rock And Roll
From: Simon White
6. Re: Elvis' SunDays
From: Mike Rashkow
7. Re: Telephone songs
From: Andres Andres
8. Re: Telephone songs
From: Frank
9. Re: Telephone songs
From: Mike Edwards
10. Telephone songs
From: Tony Waitekus
11. Little Richard TV commercial
From: James Cassidy
12. Elvis after Sun
From: Mike Edwards
13. Macca/slap-bass
From: Stratton Bearheart
14. Re: Off The Hook
From: Richard Havers
15. Re: Telephone songs
From: Dan Hughes
16. Re: Telephone songs
From: James Botticelli
17. Re: Off The Hook
From: Simon White
18. Re: Elvis after Sun
From: Richard Havers
19. Re: Macca/slap-bass
From: Steve Harvey
20. RE: Elvis after Sun
From: Robbie McCabe
21. More McCartney
From: Alan Gordon
22. Re: Top Ten Rock 'n' Roll Tunes
From: Peter McDonnell
23. Re: Tracey Dey
From: Mike Miller
24. RE: Macca/slap-bass
From: Robbie McCabe
25. Elvis' Package
From: Steve Harvey
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 07:52:17 +0100
From: Eddy Smit
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Bill Craig
> Has anyone mentioned The Stones "It's Off The Hook"?
> Cool song. Did they write that? I can't remember.
Yes, it's a Nanker-Phelge thing.
Did we mention Blondie's Hanging on the telephone yet ?
Eddy
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 08:04:26 +0100
From: Eddy Smit
Subject: Re: More Superman-Related Requests
And there's a Dutch group called Lois Lane.
Eddy
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 07:54:01 -0500
From: Mikey
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Andrew Jones:
> We're probably coming close to ending the Telephone Songs
> thread, but here's one last contribution: "Echo Valley
> 2-6809," on Wayne Newton's "Daddy Don't You walk So Fast"
> album.
Yea, but it wasn't Wayne's song, it was first on The Partridge
Family "Scrapbook" LP. BOTH LPs produced by Wes Farrel, that
was the connection.
Mikey
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 12:58:46 -0000
From: Bill Craig
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Bill Craig wrote:
> Has anyone mentioned The Stones "It's Off The Hook"?
> Cool song. Did they write that? I can't remember.
Simon:
> The first 45 I ever went out and bought with my own money !
Simon, Was that a single in the UK? A side or B side?
Also, is it an original?
Thanks
B.C.
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 13:41:52 +0000
From: Simon White
Subject: Re: Telephone songs/Little Richard concert /What Is Rock And Roll
Andrew Jones wrote:
> And all this talk about "What is Rock & Roll?" and mentions
> of Little Richard reminds me: The man himself is scheduled
> to perform this weekend at a casino in a town near here. The
> ads say it's gonna be one of his last concerts. Don't think
> I'll be able to make it, though.
Andrew I'm soooooo jealous. Try and get to see him ,he still
puts on a mean performance and knocks his contemporaries for
seven [one more than six]. And he's still pretty.
I've kept quiet on the subject until now because I'm totally
biased on the subject of Ricardo Wayne Penniman and have to
bite nearly all the way through my tongue when I read anything
that approaches criticism - Louis Jordan indeed! ;-)
For me Richard is the be all and end all.
He makes my big toe shoot up in my boot.
He makes me go UUUHH and he makes me go OOOOH.
My interest in music started with him at four years old when
'Heebie Jeebies' was my favorite song and it hasn't dimmed in
forty years. My ten Desert Island Discs would be nine by the
Georgia Peach and Jackie Lee's "The Duck" for variety.
To bring the Telephone Game full circle, the first song I
mentioned in the posting that prompted all these long distance
calls was 'Every Night About This Time' by The Upsetters who
were Richard's backing band and featured Mr Penniman incognito
on vocals during his first gospel retirement.
Where did Rock and Roll start? The same place it ended....
Little Richard.
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 08:46:06 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: Elvis' SunDays
Steve Harvey:
> Love the Sun stuff, but Elvis never did anything like
> "Heartbreak Hotel" before or afterwards.
I wouldn't carp with Heartbreak Hotel, not bad at all and
very unique record, but c'mon..."cryin all the time" "never
caught a rabbit". Give me a personal break - that is weak.
RCA cleaned him up, brushed him off, took away his soul and
made him acceptable to THE PARENTS of white American girls.
That is what they wanted and that is what they got. His Sun
sides are classics; world shaking and paradigm defining.
These things are very subjective, I respect your viewpoint,
but I disagree and I would like to hear from some others on
the issue - this is getting more interesting.
Return To Sender, Teddy Bear, Jailhouse Rock, etc. etc. Fluff
for the masses.
I think it is enlightening that when he was on Sun, no one was
sure if he was black or white and he was getting play on R&B
stations and made the "Sepia" charts. That wasn't ever the case
after they shipped him to the New York boys. Who was his producer
on RCA? If the records were great everyone would know that.
I don't.
Respectfully,
Rashkovsky
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 16:49:29 +0300
From: Andres Andres
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
I think ALL I'VE GOT TO DO by The Beatles from the "With The
Beatles" LP wasn't mentioned yet.
Andres
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Message: 8
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 15:06:16 +0100
From: Frank
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Another last one :
Bobby Darin : "Was There A Call?"
Frank
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Message: 9
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:11:56 -0500
From: Mike Edwards
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
David Bell writes:
> Just thought of Little Miss Dynamite's "Ring A My Phone".
> Great early track from the diminutive songstress."
With the second name he has, I imagine nobody knows telephone
songs better than David.
A member recently mentioned the girl who was asking her Dad
could she have a 'phone in her room. That was Robin Clark's
"Daddy, Daddy" (Capitol, 1961), which was reissued on one of
the A-side girl group compilations from Japan in the mid 90s.
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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 06:22:56 -0800
From: Tony Waitekus
Subject: Telephone songs
How about "I Don't Love You No More" by Jimmy Norman.
Tony Waitekus
WHTS/All Hit 98-9
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Message: 11
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:12:19 -0500
From: James Cassidy
Subject: Little Richard TV commercial
Perhaps I'm a little dense, but I don't "get" the Sprint
PCS TV commercial currently running in the States that
features Little Richard. For those of you who haven't
seen it, the scene takes place in a bowling alley where
members of a bowling team are apparently playing or practicing.
Little Richard appears as himself, dressed in the bowling team's
uniform. He cries out ("Good golly, Miss Molly!") that the shirt
and shoes are not his. Someone with a Sprint PCSvision phone
(w/built-in digital camera) takes a picture of him, and talks to
the person receiving it on the other end. The spot ends with LR
crying out "Who took the picture of Little Richard?"
What's the gag here - that Little Richard would be on a bowling
team? That he's embarrassed to be caught on camera wearing a
bowling team shirt? Both? Neither? I'm flummoxed.
Jim Cassidy
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Message: 12
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 15:05:25 -0000
From: Mike Edwards
Subject: Elvis after Sun
One of the old chestnuts that keeps getting trotted out
whenever the history of Rock & Roll is discussed is that
Elvis didn't make any good recordings after he left Sun
Records.
Not true. While the quality of his records declined after
1963, the material he put out in the six or seven preceding
years was as good as anything that came out of the radio.
He used:
--Top quality writers: Pomus-Shuman, Leiber-Stoller, Otis
Blackwell, Don Robertson etc
--Legendary session musicians, studios and producers
--The best back-up vocalists of their day, the Jordanaires.
He spawned imitators, one of whom, Ral Donner, had a pretty
credible career in his own right.
I do not give an opinion on this (humble or otherwise) as the
facts speak for themselves. Elvis sold boatloads of records
all over the world during this period
Mike Edwards (whose broken heart is still for sale)
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Message: 13
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 16:19:41 -0000
From: Stratton Bearheart
Subject: Macca/slap-bass
Bill Black's instrument was played by McCartney in the
documentary for Paul's "Flaming Pie" album. He sang a
snippet from "Heartbreak Hotel" and slapped the aforementioned
bass with a degree of competence.
Stratton Bearhart
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Message: 14
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 20:06:53 +0000
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Re: Off The Hook
Bill Craig wrote:
> Has anyone mentioned The Stones "It's Off The Hook"?
> Cool song. Did they write that? I can't remember.
The Stones 5th UK single was Little Red Rooster b/w Off The Hook
(Decca F.12014). It came out on Friday 13 November 1964. Both songs
were recorded 2 September 1964 at Regent Sound studios . Produced by
Andrew Oldham, Engineered by Bill Farley It made No.1 for 1 week.
It is credited to Nanker Phelge, the name adopted by the Stones when
the whole group shared in the writing royalties (a rare event).
Dave Thompson was at the session on September 2. Known to the band as
Scottish Dave as he had met them when they toured in Scotland. He moved
to London and ended up living in Brian’s flat. "I did some lyrics for
that, like 'Phone disconnected cause she couldn't pay the bill', and
Bill said 'Why not make it Unpaid bill'"
Richard
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Message: 15
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 14:00:10 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Howsabout Dr. Hook's first hit single Sylvia's Mother, and
(from the Mothers of Invention debut album) Suzie Creamcheese
(What's Got Into You)?
--Dan
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Message: 16
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 15:27:27 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Frank:
> Another last one :
> Bobby Darin : "Was There A Call?"
Bobby Darin: "If A Man Answers (your phone, then honey we're through)"
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Message: 17
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 20:57:22 +0000
From: Simon White
Subject: Re: Off The Hook
Bill Craig wrote:
> Simon, Was that a single in the UK? A side or B side?
> Also, is it an original?
'Twas indeed. The 'A' was 'Little Red Rooster' which is the
side I bought really. I was very young and liked the idea it
was about a chicken. I thought of it as an aural cartoon with
the dogs howling in the farmyard and such. I was 7 I reckon.
I liked 'Off The Hook' more in the end. I bought "19th Nervous
Breakdown" later too because it sounded like a proper Rock And
Roll record to me.
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Message: 18
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 20:30:25 +0000
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Re: Elvis after Sun
Mike Edwards wrote:
> One of the old chestnuts that keeps getting trotted out
> whenever the history of Rock & Roll is discussed is that
> Elvis didn't make any good recordings after he left Sun
> Records.
> Not true. While the quality of his records declined after
> 1963, the material he put out in the six or seven preceding
> years was as good as anything that came out of the radio.
Hear Hear!! He even made some good ones after '63. 'From Elvis
in Memphis' for one. Now before anyone takes issue with me, it's
just my opinion and the only opinion that counts when it comes
to saying what one likes and what one doesn't is one's own.
Richard
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Message: 19
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 16:18:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: Macca/slap-bass
Stratton Bearheart wrote:
> Bill Black's instrument was played by McCartney in
> the documentary for Paul's "Flaming Pie" album. He sang
> a snippet from "Heartbreak Hotel" and slapped the
> aforementioned bass with a degree of competence.
I'll have to search that one out. I never knew he
could slapbass. Wonder if he taught himself or had
somebody show him (and who?). As Van would say,
"thanks for the information".
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Message: 20
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 18:43:28 -0500
From: Robbie McCabe
Subject: RE: Elvis after Sun
Mike Edwards:
>One of the old chestnuts that keeps getting trotted out
>whenever the history of Rock & Roll is discussed is that
>Elvis didn't make any good recordings after he left Sun
>Records.
>Not true. While the quality of his records declined after
>1963, the material he put out in the six or seven preceding
>years was as good as anything that came out of the radio.
I think the problem is that with Elvis, many feel that once
Col. Parker got a hold of him and signed him to RCA, that he
"sold out" by taming his sexuality and making him more
presentable to Mom and Dad. (Although Elvis being shown on
TV from the waist up singing something as benign as "Teddy Bear"
caused such a ruckus, imagine if he had been singing something
like "Baby, Let's Play House"?). I don't think it was so much
the decline of his music that contributes to this myth, it is
the fact that Elvis was becoming "safe". The guy that your
daughters were hot for was becoming a squeaky clean Mama's boy.
The sales do point to his immense popularity, but his street cred
(to use a punk/alternative music fan phrase) was shot to hell
courtesy of Col. Tom.
Rob
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Message: 21
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 13:52:14 -0800
From: Alan Gordon
Subject: More McCartney
Steve Harvey:
> What made McCartney's bass patterns so great were the chord
> progressions of his songs....
Steve sir,
With a great deal of respect, I disagree, sorta.
My impression of Paul's basic playing, on all of the instruments
that he was quite proficient on, was that his playing served the
song the same way a great writer or actor or director or
cinematographer, etc., serves the story. It seems to me that his
playing on his own songs was a just a wee bit more perfunctory than
on George's or John's. ( But that may be because, most of the time
he didn't write his own songs on bass.)
I've always felt that what made the Beatles great was the strong
sense of competition between them. Paul may have played more
elaborately on his fellow Beatle's songs to leave his bass-playing
mark on an already great song. Some of which had very pedestrian or
even uncreative chord patterns. But, in my humble estimation, it's
not what you build things with, but rather how you build it.
"Rain", for instance, is fairly typical of your basic 3-chord
Rock/Blues/Pop progression ( I IV V ) in the key of "G." Fairly
basic, except that John holds the high "D" and "G" notes through all
three chords... a folk "trick". But the bass playing... good lord.
Probably my favorite "psychedelic" musical experience... and I never
took acid. As a young punk I used to play the right channel of the
stereo version at pretty extreme volumes in my "rigged" headphones,
to get another experience of the music that I loved. I had home-made
a very amateur mixing apparatus, so besides the normal "mix", I could
listen to either of the stereo tracks with both ears in my headphones,
or even play them with flipped phase which would sometimes cancel out
the instruments and voices in the dead-center.
> The Beatles stuff traveled in and out of keys.
While this is technically right, I never really heard most of those
songs as having modulations. But that's probably because Paul was
so amazingly adept at weaving these gorgeous/rockin' melodies that
were so seamless in his choice of notes, that they never seemed to
change keys. I think most people hear changes like whole step 2 chord
progressions (Bo Diddley, early Kinks, Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," etc.)
as being very melodic. The same goes for the inclusion of Major II and
VI chords in 3 or 4 chord progressions. And I think The Beatles are
instrumental in our acceptance of these tonalities... but that's probably
because Paul grew up on those wonderful show tunes of the 40s and 50s.
> When recording Macca always put the bass on last so the chord
> progression some what dictated his choice of bass notes.
This is certainly "mostly" true, after a certain period, but a song
like "Come Together" was virtually live in the studio, and would
probably be not much more than a cool rip off of a 3 chord Chuck Berry
song, if not for the arrangement and the amazing bass line.
> Interesting songs make interesting bass patterns.
'Tis true... but the inverse is also very true.
I also respectfully disagree with Mr. Bearheart. I think Paul is
every bit as good as all of the players you mentioned (as I am
listening to "If I Needed Someone" on San Francisco radio station
The Drive).
I also think Paul's playing, even on The Beatles earliest records
was only remotely "tea chest bass" style (I assume you mean
rudimentary bass-work like playing the root then dropping to the V).
Although Paul was obviously (and admittedly) very influenced by
Brian Wilson's playing, he was getting pretty "lyrical" and wild
(Rain etc. May 1966) before Pet Sounds (May 1966)
peace,
albabe
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Message: 22
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 13:15:17 -0800
From: Peter McDonnell
Subject: Re: Top Ten Rock 'n' Roll Tunes
My Top Ten Rock n' Roll tunes:
1. Boom Boom--John Lee Hooker
2. Mess Around--Ray Charles
3. Who Do You Love?--Bo Diddley
4. Smokestack Lightning--Howlin' Wolf
5. Train Kept A-Rollin'--Johnny Burnette
6. Long Tall Sally--Little Richard
7. Maybelline--Chuck Berry
8. Blue Suede Shoes--Carl Perkins
9. Summertime Blues--Eddie Cochran
10.Whole Lot Of Shakin' Goin' On--Jerry Lewis
Sorry, I can't put Elvis on this list. He was the greatest, but I can't
find the one song of his that would make the list.
friscopedro
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Message: 23
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 16:31:35 -0500
From: Mike Miller
Subject: Re: Tracey Dey
Hello all,
I believe that you can get in touch with Tracey Dey. I once
looked on the internet, and a found she lived in Canada, I
think it was near Toronto, and she was working in the
business world. She had even sung at a convention or special
meeting that was held in whatever field she is working in.
I hope you can make contact. she had a very good voice, and
it is a shame that she never had that "one big hit". It is
too bad that so many artists from this period did not make it
bigger. Certainly some of her material was top-notch and she
had very strong production at least for a while. Some of her
best was "Jealous Eyes", "Hangin' On To My Baby", "Blue Turns
To Grey", "Gonna Get Along Without You Now", "I Won't Tell"
and my personal favorite, "Any Kind Of Love"
Mike Miller
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Message: 24
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 18:45:22 -0500
From: Robbie McCabe
Subject: RE: Macca/slap-bass
Stratton Bearheart:
>Bill Black's instrument was played by McCartney in the
>documentary for Paul's "Flaming Pie" album. He sang a
>snippet from "Heartbreak Hotel" and slapped the aforementioned
>bass with a degree of competence.
I believe Sir Paul also used that bass on the sessions for
"Free As A Bird" and "Real Love". I do remember seeing him
playing a stand up bass in the "Real Love" video.
Rob
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Message: 25
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 16:33:05 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Elvis' Package
Well Mike, to each his own. Sure Sam Phillips is
better known than the RCA cats (Steve Sholes -
producer or just the guy who signed him to RCA?) who
produced him. Sam Phillips' label was a pioneering
label back in the day (along with Chess, Atlantic,
Specialty). I think he's known for all the people he
discovered more than as a producer. To me the magic of
the Sun sides Elvis did is more the Blue Moon Boys
than Sam. After all, they were the ones who were
fooling around when Sam hit record. There is lots of
music I like where I couldn't tell you the producer.
Doesn't mean they are any less enjoyable.
As for the RCA stuff I seem to recall a number of his
hits (All Shook Up, Don't Be Cruel, Return To Sender
and my fav, non-hit, Paralyzed) were written by a
black writer by the name of Otis Blackwell. Do you
think that Sam Phillips wasn't packaging a sound for
the white audience when he did the 5 Sun singles? What
is soulful is a debatable thing. I know some mistaken
souls that have told me Hank Williams wasn't soulful.
I know better.
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End
