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______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________
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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. Re: Montanas
From: Norman
2. Re: Rose Garden
From: Jeffrey Glenn
3. Re: Merseybeat wannabes
From: Lindsay Martin
4. RIP - Edwin Starr
From: Michael Edwards
5. American Breed/Cryan Shames/Montanas/American dreams
From: Clark Besch
6. Re: Gordian Knot
From: Patrick Rands
7. Adam Faith
From: Michael Edwards
8. Rose Garden now in musica
From: Jeffrey Glenn
9. Susan Maughan Jazz Records?
From: Jeffery Kennedy
10. Re: The Montanas
From: David Coyle
11. Re: The Cryan Shames
From: Tim Viney
12. Re: Montanas
From: Dan Hughes
13. Kind of a remix
From: Charles G. Hill
14. Re: Cranking up the speed
From: Laura Pinto
15. probing Proby
From: Phil Milstein
16. Buckinghams
From: Bob Rashkow
17. The Liquid Room 4/6/03
From: David Ponak
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 18:45:43 +0930
From: Norman
Subject: Re: Montanas
Re: Rob Stride
The Montanas
I had never heard of the Montanas until I was given a set
of those great hits of the sixties CDs, you know the ones
re-recorded by one or more of the original group (usually
the one member who couldn't sing).
I was surprised to hear how well regarded they are in the USA.
John Woodhouse runs a great site dealing with British groups
from Birmingham (Midlands of England). He runs it out of Canada
and it is really worth a look. There is a very "groovy" pic of
the group featured at: http://www.brumbeat.net/
Re: Ciao Baby
Didn't Lynne Randell have the penultimate version of that song?
Norman
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 07:34:28 -0700
From: Jeffrey Glenn
Subject: Re: Rose Garden
Bobster:
> Didn't "Here Today" actually show up on the 'Next Plane To
> London' LP? Would love to get the 45 that never got on there,
> all the same. Jeff G, this is same title different song from
> the Brian Wilson composition, right?
The Gene Clark song "Till Today" is on the LP, while the group
original "Here's Today" is the B-side of the non-LP 45.
"Till Today" is early country rock similar to several songs on
Clark's contemporary WITH THE GOSDEN BROTHERS LP. "Here's Today"
- IMHO their best track - has a bit of a jazzy feel and some nice
guitar work (think of a folkier version of "Undun").
I'll post both sides of the non-LP single as space allows.
Jeff
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 18:44:51 +1000
From: Lindsay Martin
Subject: Re: Merseybeat wannabes
Then there was the Melbourne band who called themselves The
Flies. Kind of appropriate for an Australian summer, I guess.
From what little I heard of them, they weren't half bad, and
featured Ronnie Burns, who went on to a successful solo career
and can be heard on Nuggets II singing a Brothers Gibb song,
"Exit Stage Right".
Lindsay
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 16:18:57 -0000
From: Michael Edwards
Subject: RIP - Edwin Starr
As I am sure most of you are aware Edwin Starr passed away
on April 2nd. Some of his songs truly met the definition of
Spectropop; "Stop Her On Sight", Headline News" and the Shades
Of Blue's "Oh How Happy" being solid examples.
We are currently playing the Shades Of Blue's "Lonely Summer",
which Edwin wrote, at Eddie Rambeau's fan club site. You can
all listen at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rambeau_fan_club/files/Music/
An extensive tribute to Edwin can be found at:
http://www.chatbusters.com/edwin_starr/obituary.htm
Congrats to Rik Williams and his team for a fine job done in
preparing this.
Mike Edwards
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 06:21:36 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: American Breed/Cryan Shames/Montanas/American dreams
Wow, what a deal! 3 of my fave 60s bands mentioned in one
page!!
Number one, I wrote the CD liner notes for both the American
Breed and Cryan Shames CDs spoken of in these pages. The Cryan
Shames were my favorite 60s band growing up in the 60s (outside
the Fab 4). David Coyle did a great job of describing them in
short form. They are still performing--and even more cool,
performing all their 60s 45s!! J.C. Hooke still fronts the band
http://www.cryanshames.com from booking and original membership.
Altho' Tom Doody (original lead singer) still performs with them
occasionally, long-time Chicago DJ Bob Stroud now sings lead--and
they sound great! Hooke is phenomenal on percussion for them still!
If you get to Chitown, I suggest you see them. You can listen to
Bob Stroud's 20 year running Sunday Morning radio show, "Rock 'n
Roll Roots" on http://www.wdrv.com from 9-noon central time.
You'll hear the Chicago area hits of the day fer sure!
Which brings me to the American Breed Varese CD. The stereo
versions of Breed songs were chosen for the CD in all cases.
"Bend Me" does suffer from the stereo being too wide and maybe
not mixed well. But, it is the way it was originally mixed.
The above-mentioned Bob Stroud has released thru his radio
stations in Chicago over the past decade, 04 volumes of various
hit original versions that were made for sale with proceeds to
charity in the Chicago area. In those have come first time U.S.
legit releases on cd of "L.A. Goodbye", "Superman" by Ides of
March, "Little Miss Sad" by the 5 Emprees, "Midnight Hour" by
Michael & Messengers, and "Summer Sun" by Jamestown Massacre
among others! A nice mix of "Bend Me" with drums and vocals
centered in stereo may be on upcoming volume 5, so cross your
fingers, I guess. By the way, the Breed's first single "I Don't
Think You know me" is quite different from 45 to Lp version.
The 45 has little horns on it and fades at the end. The Lp has
horns and cold ending. The Cd compromises (?) by having stereo
Lp version fade like the 45. So, you never know what happens
when Cds come out, I guess.
As for speeding up songs, I agree with all the comments I read
on the subject. One of the funniest is the great mid-70s 45
"Highfly" by John Miles that was a hit in Chicago. The DJ 45
had the mono side much faster than the stereo side of the same
45!!!! Maybe FM radio wanted slower versions and AM has always
known for speeding up 45s. Funny they did it for you on the DJ
45 in this case!!
I have loved the Montanas since 1968! What great powerful pop
music!! Their 45s ran from 1964 to 1972! Much of their best
and several great unreleased songs have shown up on a recent UK
Cd which is still available from outlets. I suggest you find it
and buy it! You won't regret it! I'm still wishing "Run to Me"
will show up in stereo someday like "You've Got To Be Loved" has
on a Dick Bartley compilation Cd. They did a great version of
it for the BBC too live!!
Is it me, or has the TV show "American Dreams" become a bummer to
watch? So many negative social issues in each show. Yes, they
happened, but all in such a short amount of time to one family??
Reminds me of the "Sixties" made-for-TV movie awhile back.
Despite the Vietnam War, which has been touched on slightly in
"Dreams", I had a great childhood in the 60s and didn't have all
these things happening to my family! I like the Bandstand thing
the best, I think. This past week, I could not tell what year I
was in! Worst for dating music for the show that I've seen in the
series by far. Mid-64, I guess? I liked the portrayal of the
Zombies and Brenda Holloway, however, if she can be on this show,
let's get Keith, Rose Garden and other mid-30s charters on there
too! I like the show, but it needs to get back to a positive
approach to the 60s. It wasn't all negative!! The Cryan Shames
prove that!!
Take care,
Clark Besch
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 16:48:32 -0000
From: Patrick Rands
Subject: Re: Gordian Knot
Scott:
> I didn't think the review was that critical since it says
> some nice things about the LP. The price is high, but as
> far as I can tell, this is an exceptionally rare album and
> this copy is in great shape. I couldn't locate a second copy
> anywhere on the web ...
Hi Scott,
I suppose I should be more specific about what I meant about
your reviews. It just seems you are not coming from a soft rock
aficionado perspective which gives your reviews a certain
pedestrian (read as rock-n-roll) slant. On the Canterbury Music
Festival review you only seem to like their upbeat songs, a sign
that you aren't into the more delicate introspective side of soft
rock / sunshine pop. You also don't seem to even dig the Tokens.
You totally slam the Gordian Knot LP (one star???). I think the
best songs on that lp are way above "at least listenable". There's
nothing wrong about where you are coming from, but it's what I meant
when I said "grain of salt" and it's worth noting.
As for the prices, you might be right - especially if the LPs are
as clean as you claim. I did a search at past ebay auctions and
the Gordian Knot LP sold for anywhere between $9.99 to $31.00 -
many of the auctions had multiple bids too. Methinks someone needs
to hop on a CD reissue if those were indeed people looking for the
LP.
I still think those prices are too high, considering how many copies
of this LP are floating around. $10-15 seems more like it - but what
do I know? In regard to the Canterbury Music Festival lp, you are
right it is scarce, but $350 seemed pretty steep, I'd think it would
be more around $200. It's a shame that the Canterbury Music Festival
master tapes have disappeared, the cd was reissued in Japan recently
from a vinyl source, from what I understand.
I too write music reviews, but you have to realize that I love this
stuff - check out my recent Rev-Ola reviews:
http://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2003/3_25/index.htm
:Patrick
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 16:50:12 -0000
From: Michael Edwards
Subject: Adam Faith
The tribute to Adam Faith on this site states that:
> He came through in the pioneering days of pop music and he
> really was a big icon along with Cliff Richard - they were
> the first wave of the British version of the pop music world.
As with Cliff Richard, Adam's early UK successes met with
indifference in the US. He didn't chart here until 1965 when
"It's Alright" got to #31 as part of the British Invasion. No
doubt some of the failure was due to a complete lack of consistency
in the pattern of his US releases. His early US 45s were released
on a diverse bunch of labels such as Capitol, Dot and Cub. His 1960
US album "England's Top Singer" came out on MGM with a note saying
that "perhaps the best indication of his fame is the fact that in
England he currently outsells the world-famous Elvis Presley by a
considerable margin". Lack of us label consistency was also a problem
for Cliff Richard and the Beatles prior to "IWTHYH".
Some US artists did pick up on Adam Faith. Bobby Vee covered "What
Do You Want" in 1959 and Fabian did the same with "Made You" in 1961.
The latter (Adam's version, that is) is a firm favorite of respected
UK DJ, Bob Harris. As everything Adam recorded is out on CD, none of
his stuff can be played to musica. So let's give it up for Fabian and
the Fabulous 4 as their version of "Made You" plays in musica as a
tribute to the late Adam Faith.
Enjoy and RIP Adam,
Mike Edwards
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 17:17:05 -0000
From: Jeffrey Glenn
Subject: Rose Garden now in musica
Both sides of the non-LP "If My World Falls Through"/
"Here's Today" 45 (Atco 45-6564, 1968) have been played
to musica. Enjoy!
Jeff
http://lostjukebox.tripod.com
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Message: 9
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 17:19:33 -0000
From: Jeffery Kennedy
Subject: Susan Maughan Jazz Records?
UK singer Susan Maughan is probably best known for her
cover version of Marcie Blaine's "Bobby's Girl." However,
I recently noticed that two jazz LPs she recorded for Philips,
"Swingin' Susan" and "Sentimental Susan," have been reissued
on CD in Japan. I had no idea she made jazz records. Are these
pre-"Bobby's Girl" recordings? Has anyone heard them? What's
the word? Private replies are fine.
Jeffery Kennedy
San Francisco
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Message: 10
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 11:25:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: The Montanas
There was a CD on Sequel called "The Montanas: You've
Got To Be Loved". Much of the CD is what we call
"sunshine pop", while some of their earlier tracks are
very Merseybeatish, particularly "Ciao Baby" and
"Goodbye Little Girl". I guess they were one of those
groups who really found their sound when they started
getting into the harmony pop.
The flipside of "You've Got To Be Loved" was
"Declaration Of Independence", and said single was on
the Independence label (red, white and blue with a
snare drum on it, odd choice of label for a group that
came late in the British Invasion era). In contrast to
the a-side, it was an odd piece of psychedelia,
matching Dylan-like wordplay with garage chords and a
bit of country influence.
Besides putting in their contribution to the British
pop sound, their "That's When Happiness Began" was a
prime example of "freakbeat", picked up by several
American garage bands of the time.
Not everything after "You've Got To Be Loved" matched
that single's pop perfection, but they had a pretty
good run. Not sure what happened to the various
members after the Montanas split (ca. 1970), but I
think the booklet for the set I have explains more
detail than I can place at the moment.
David
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Message: 11
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 19:10:14 +0100
From: Tim Viney
Subject: Re: The Cryan Shames
David Coyle:
>"Sugar And Spice" is a classic, of course, but a case,
>I think, of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I still
>prefer the Searchers original (written by Tony Hatch,
>wasn't it?).
Sugar And Spice was indeed written by Tony Hatch (under the
psuedonym Fred Nightingale) for The Searchers as the follow-up
to their UK No.1 "Sweets For My Sweet".
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Message: 12
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 21:23:59 -0500
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Montanas
Bob Rashkow wrote:
> The Montanas charted in the US with the marvelous "You've
> Got To Be Loved".....but not nearly as high as it should....
Rob Stride:
> If the Montanas charted it must have been very low because
> they are not in Billboard's Top Forty Chart Book?
The song peaked at #58 in Billboard in the spring of 1968.
Probably woulda' done a lot better on a major label, but it
was on Independence--which I've never heard of. It did get
to #11 on WLS and #23 on WMCA....
---Dan
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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 17:40:18 -0500
From: Charles G. Hill
Subject: Kind of a remix
Mike Edwards testifies:
> I have always stuck with my 45 version of "Kind Of A Drag"
> which was issued as a 45 on USA. The Bucks switched to Columbia
> but I was always wary that a version of "Kind Of A Drag" that may
> appear on Columbia albums would be a re-record. I could not
> imagine anything topping that frenetic blend of lead vocals, back-up
> vocals and organ that made it such an instantaneous and spectacular
> 45. I didn't buy the Legacy CD that came out in 1991 for the same
> reason. I just checked the reviews of that CD in amazon.com and one
> reads:
> "Unfortunately, Columbia decided to re-mix the song, "Kind Of A Drag."
> It lacks the punch of the original mix. Does anyone out there know
> where I can find the original mix of their best song???"
Columbia has never, to my knowledge, tried to pass off a remake
as the original; however, the stereo mix that they issued upon
acquiring the band's contract is decidedly weak, with horns
blaring all through the instrumental break. The Legacy mix cuts
those horns down to size and puts the organ back up front where
it belongs. I think it still has more kick in mono, but this
is the best stereo version yet.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 14
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 23:00:10 -0000
From: Laura Pinto
Subject: Re: Cranking up the speed
Charles G. Hill wrote:
> Didn't Andy Kim complain that Jeff Barry (or someone)
> speeded up his Steed material?
Not only were Andy's Steed recordings sped up (with Jeff at
the production helm), but Ron Dante's Archies vocals and
Robin McNamara's tracks as well. Robin guested on a local
(for me) oldies station a little over a year ago, and he
explained that the speeding-up process not only raised the
pitch of the singers' voices but also cut down on the length
(running time) of the 45s, making them more attractive for
airplay.
From what I've heard, Andy had one heck of a time when he
was making personal appearances in those early days, because
he sounded nothing like the Steed recordings. You can tell
immediately by comparing, say, "Baby I Love You" with "Rock
Me Gently," which came out 5 years later.
Laura
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Message: 15
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 13:18:47 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: probing Proby
Excellent P.J. Proby interview (from '97) available on ye olde
WWW, at http://www.abel.co.uk/~savoy/HTML/pjpeop.html
Key phrase: "By now Proby had so many hellhounds on his trail
they were hunting in packs."
Enjoy,
--Phil M.
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Message: 16
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 13:00:49 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Buckinghams
Even tho' my personal favorite of the Buckinghams' hits is
"Back In Love Again" (coincidentally the last record of
theirs to chart nationally--super intro!!!) I will Amen
Mike Edwards re "Kind of a Drag", one of the most exciting
records to come out in 1967 with superb harmonies and hypnotic
driving sound dominated by that great organ. (Fuzz, Acid and
Flowers offers referrals to several CD comps that celebrate
"The Chicago Sound" of the mid to late 6Ts; it wasn't just
the Shames, the Buckinghams, the American Breed, and the New
Colony 6, of course)
Rob Stride, you're right! "You've Got To Be Loved" only got to
#58 (sigh) on the national charts. Which explains why I only
got to hear it a couple of times on good old Super CFL--very
exciting Spring that was.
Bobster
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Message: 17
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 13:16:02 -0400
From: David Ponak
Subject: The Liquid Room 4/6/03
The Liquid Room, (usually) hosted by David Ponak (me), airs
every Saturday night from Midnight to 3AM (PDT) on 90.7FM KPFK
Los Angeles, as well as streaming at http://kpfk.org.
The Liquid Room 04/06/03 (Only 2 hours do to the daylight
savings time switch!)
1.The Association/Come On In
Birthday (WB)
2.Chisato Moritaka/Tokyo Rush
This Summer Will Be More Better(Zetima-Japan)
3.Heaven 17/We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing
Penthouse And Pavement(Caroline)
4.Black Box Recorder/These Are The Things
Passionoia (One Little Indian-UK)
5.Super Casonova/Sunshine Underground
Eternity Now
6.The Coral/See-Through Bergerac
Don't Think You're The First (single b-side) (Sony-UK)
7.The Walker Brothers/Deadlier Than The Male
Portrait (Mercury-UK)
8.The White Stripes/I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
Elephant (V2)
9.Wire/Map Ref. 41N93W
154 (Restless)
10.Dimitri From Paris/La Vie
Cruising Altitude (Victor-Japan)
11.Ananda Shankar/Jumping Jack Flash
Ananda Shankar (WB)
12.Rotary Connection/Ruby Tuesday
Rotary Connection (Cadet Concept)
13.Karminsky Experience Inc./Assignment Istanbul
The Power Of Suggestion (PO-UK)
14.Nana Kinomi/Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa
60's Cutie Pop Collection: Suki Suki Edit (King-Japan)
15.Jumping Jacques/Double Francoise
Avalon (Petra Srl-Italy)
16.Cody ChesnuTT/Serve This Royalty
The Headphone Masterpiece (Ready Set Go)
17.Kahimi Karie/Trapeziste
Trapeziste (Victor-Japan)
18.Brian Eno/The Fat Lady Of Limbourg
Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy (EG)
19.Seksu Roba/Moon Song
Pleasure Vibrations (Eenie Meenie)
20.Marc Eric/Night Of The Lions
Mid Summer's Day Dream (Rev-Ola-UK)
21.Sweet Robots Against The Machine/The End Of A Love Affair
Towa Tei (Avex-Japan)
22.Bobby Hughs Combination/MC Arthurs Break
Nhu Golden Era (Stereo Deluxe)
23.Emitt Rhodes/Come Ride, Come Ride
The American Dream (A&M)
24.Chara/Beautiful Day
Yoake Mae (Sony-Japan)
25.Lemon Jelly/Soft
Nice Weather For Ducks (XL-UK)
26.Tom Jones/Promise Her Anything
Lounge Legends (Universal-Germany)
27.Riviera/I See The Morning In Your Eyes (Strauss Remix)
Sound Of Garden 2 (Philter-Japan)
28.Paul Williams/Mornin' I'll Be Movin' On
Someday Man (Reprise)
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End
