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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 15 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Oldies radio/Andrew
From: Stewart Mason
2. Carter-Lewis
From: Mark Frumento
3. Susannah and cigars
From: Alan Gordon
4. Re: 60's oldies are becoming a vanishing breed
From: Jimmy
5. Re: L. Buckingham
From: Scott
6. Banned songs; oldies; Cindy Ellis found
From: Country Paul
7. RE: 60s inspired CDs
From: Delia Barnard
8. Rag Dolls
From: Natasha McNamee
9. BANG THE DRUM RAPIDLY
From: Mike Rashkow
10. New WSAI, Cincinnati
From: John Fox
11. Al Hazan - Annette Tucker
From: Rex Strother
12. Song Information Needed: "Still"
From: Mark Frumento
13. List of Spector Covers from 60s, 70s onwards
From: Rob Stride
14. Re: The Del-Vetts
From: David Coyle
15. Re: Banned songs
From: Roger Smith
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 21:36:21 -0400
From: Stewart Mason
Subject: Re: Oldies radio/Andrew
Ronnie Allen writes:
> I keep hearing more and more that 60s oldies are gradually
> in the process of being totally phased out on oldies
> stations throughout the country.....there are younger people
> in authority making decisions who are totally not into 50s
> and 60's music at all... It's troubling enough to me that
> so many oldies stations have for so long stuck to the same
> rotation of generic oldies ad infinitum while ignoring many
> other oldies that were as big on the chart and at least just
> as good. But what's even more troubling is the thought that
> the folks in charge of today's oldies radio are more and more
> totally writing off an entire generation of music lovers.
As a somewhat younger-skewing member of Spectropop, I look
at oldies radio and its version of pop music history from a
slightly different perspective. Unlike many of us, I wasn't
there at the time (I was alive for exactly the last six months
of the '60s, and my earliest musical memories are from the
circa-'72/'73 AM radio playlists), and that's both limiting
and oddly freeing. I discovered '60s pop music first from
my older sisters' singles collections and later, as a high
school student in the mid-to-late '80s, courtesy of the MTV-
led Monkees revival: I bought the Rhino reissues of the albums,
and then I worked my way through the rest of the Rhino reissue
catalogue courtesy of the descriptions printed on the inner
sleeves. Coming at the '60s from this direction, it mattered
little to me where these songs placed on the Billboard charts
at the time -- if FOREVER CHANGES and TURTLE SOUP hadn't been
huge hits, well, that was clearly the fault of the radio
and the audience, not the bands!
But unfortunately, this fondness for '60s pop wasn't entirely
common among members of my generation, and frankly, part of
the reason for that is because oldies radio stations across
the country have, by and large, sucked. (Note: I realize that
there are some genuinely good oldies radio stations out there
-- Albuquerque's Big 98.5 and Oklahoma City's KOMA come
immediately to mind -- but I'm referring to the uninspired
satellite stations that you'll find in every market.)
According to these stations, there are about 10 Beatles songs,
about six Rolling Stones songs, about three Monkees and Beach
Boys songs, and one or two songs per Motown star. You're lucky
if you hear a single Who song, you *might* hear "You Really
Got Me", but the Kinks are otherwise invisible, and the groups
that were really influential but never had a hit, like the
Velvet Underground? Yeah, right.
Man cannot live on "Dancing in the Street" alone, but oldies
radio has only itself to blame for failing to get younger
listeners interested in their playlists, because those playlists
have been calcified to death over the years. The program
directors seem to be utterly uninterested in music from
*any* era, which is sadly typical of program directors in all
genres. An oldies radio program director who had half a clue
would recognize that merely adding a few fresh tunes -- in
addition to, mind, not instead of -- the usual Motown Monday
and Beatle Brunch playlists would catch the ear of people who
don't normally listen to the radio. And in every city, that's
the largest demographic. More people DON'T listen to the radio
than do...haven't the consultants thought to ask why that is???
Think about it. "The kids" today are mad for the likes of
the White Stripes and the Hives. Hasn't it occurred to anyone
that this means "the kids" would get off on Love's "Seven and
Seven Is," the Creation's "Making Time," or the Shangri-Las'
"Train From Kansas City"? But they don't know that these songs
exist, because they never hear them on the radio! And that's
not the audience's problem. It's radio's problem.
Naturally, if anyone knows of any PD openings at struggling
radio stations in the Boston metro area, I'm available to
single-handedly swoop in and save them...
In other news, I've just heard the latest album by Andrew (known
to Spectropoppers everywhere as pop historian extraordinare
Andrew Sandoval), HAPPY TO BE HERE. It's his best effort yet,
with the orchestrated '60s sunshine pop influences of his
earlier work in service of a much stronger batch of songs.
Zombies/Bee Gees/Gary Zekley fans take note...oh, and the
Cyrkle's Tom Dawes sings and plays bass on one track. It's
on the estimable Bus Stop label:
http://www.busstoplabel.com
S
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 02:14:53 -0000
From: Mark Frumento
Subject: Carter-Lewis
I don't often go the home page of this site but now that
I have... it's good to see Carter-Lewis and the Southerners
pictured there.
For fans of John Carter's work there's good news: RPM is
releasing a two CD anthology in August or so. I think
Kingsley A. mentioned this last year. Good news for UK
harmony pop fans.... or any harmony pop fan for that matter.
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 19:42:05 -0700
From: Alan Gordon
Subject: Susannah and cigars
Tom Taber said re."Cuddly Toy":
> As Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
So who is this know-it-all "Freud" fella?
Monkees historian?
Steve Harvey wrote re Susannah Hoffs + "Cuddly Toy":
> Did you try to claim the dinged car was yours, but
> you'd be willing to forget it all if only she'd. . .
> we're ready for the story about skinnydipping with
> the Go-Gos now.
Oh fine. Now lets all make fun of the guy who used
to have hair. Actually I met Charlotte Caffey at a
weird 50s party in L.A. sometime in the very early
'80s. But there wasn't any dipping involved... 'cept
the chips.
Ronnie Allen:
> ....So sad that 60s oldies are becoming a vanishing
> breed
I'm with you Ronnie. It's sad. We still have one '60s
oldies stations here in San Francisco (KFRC). No 50s
stations anymore. Been a while too, I think. I under-
stand that there is "Oldies" stuff on them new-fangled
satellite radio stations. I heard they have very specific
kinds of stations, so maybe.
One cool thing we do have is a "Swing" station (KABL)
that plays (obviously) a lot of '40s and early '50s music.
It does play a little contemporary Swing, and some odd
things that they must think are Swing. Poor deluded folks.
peace, love, peter max, santana,
albabe
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 23:08:55 EDT
From: Jimmy
Subject: Re: 60's oldies are becoming a vanishing breed
Ronnie,
I totally agree. The 1970s? They make me yawn and become
physically bored. There will never be another year like 1963.
Ever.
==Jimmy==
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 23:30:00 EDT
From: Scott
Subject: Re: L. Buckingham
Country Paul asked:
> Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift Of Screws" - where did you hear
> it? Can it be found anywhere? Off-list reply is fine.
Actually I'd be interested in this as well, off-list.
Scott
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 01:34:10 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Banned songs; oldies; Cindy Ellis found
So I get to the Shirelles' website (hosted by Beverly Lee,
by the way) and there's a link to a story in the Toronto Sun
that "Soldier Boy" is one of 100 songs pulled off the CHUM
playlist due to "sensitivity" over the war! Read about it at
http://www.theshirelles.com/Toronto.pdf. (Truth is really
becoming stranger than fiction these days.)
But it gets weirder: according to the Sun, US megalithic
multi-station owner Clear Channel not only banned anti-war
songs, but even cleared its playlist of people who died in
plane crashes (!), like Rick Nelson and Buddy Holly, and even
restricted the Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian"! (Golly, Mr.
Channel, thank you for protecting my sensitive ears! :-( )
Ronnie Allen:
> Nowadays the term "oldie" seems to refer to music of the
> 70s, the 80s and even the early 90s!
We are indeed "aging out," Ronnie, and our music is being
relegated to the 1000-watt AMs where "middle road" pop was
shunted 10 years ago. It's as if we who have made it to our
peak earning and spending years are being disposed of as
irrelevant for the sin of allegedly "not being reachable"
by advertisers who feel that we are beyond switching brands
of their products. Our "last best hope" should be internet
radio - but that too is being regulated out of existence, or
at least into unwarranted submission to stiff fees. So our
listening on the net to out-of-print or boutique recordings
is getting caught up in the crackdown of trading mainstream
in-print product. (Of course, if commercial radio was doing
a better job....but that's another discussion.) I think the
mission of "us old guys" (ouch, it hurts to say that, but that's
how we're perceived) is to offer our knowledge to as many of
the next generations as are willing to listen - not to resurrect
the past, but to understand, learn from and build on to it.
Luckily, I like many kinds of music, new, "oldie," and older;
but to lose any part of my repertoire leaves a hole.
Enough philosophy, except to thank Neil Hever and Rob Stride
for turning us on to newer music that embodies the soul and
spirit of the older. (And don't forget my friend Alice Bierhorst,
http://www.alicebierhorst.com - part '60s, many parts of lots
else.) Aside from the archives of S'pop-type tracks being
seemingly endless, thanks to our erudite contributors, the new
stuff in the classic spirit "keeps it green" from the current
side as well.
Grail found: Thanks to some outside help, I found 3 additional
songs by Cindy Ellis ("Do You Think of Me," Laurie, 1959-60 in
the US) on a clean original Polydor 4-song EP with a nice picture
cover. That's the good news. The other news is that despite Ms.
Ellis' excellent voice, the other tracks are rather weak. (Maybe
the lyrics are wonderful, but I don't understand German.) She
covers "Fever" in the Peggy Lee version, but with some big band
horns doing fills; the other two songs are by the same writer
as the hit, but not of the same quality; plus, they are VERY
middle-road. Nonetheless, it's interesting having Bert Kaempfert's
first productions, and to hear how - and how quickly - he "got it"
and developed into the top-notch arranger he became.
Country Paul
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 10:08:53 +0100
From: Delia Barnard
Subject: RE: 60s inspired CDs
I can also recommend the Mooney Suzuki for a kind of
uptempo blend of Zombies/Kinks/Rolling Stones type sounds!
Delia
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Message: 8
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:03:27 +0100 (BST)
From: Natasha McNamee
Subject: Rag Dolls
I'm trying to find Rag Dolls mp3s and other oldies,
and I'm finding nothing!! Help!!
Natasha
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 08:55:28 EDT
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: BANG THE DRUM RAPIDLY
Go here. You'll love this site:
http://drummerworld.com/index2.html
Rashkovsky
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Message: 10
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 09:28:10 EDT
From: John Fox
Subject: New WSAI, Cincinnati
Ronnie Allen:
> So sad that 60s oldies are becoming a vanishing breed
I'm happy to report that there is a "new" WSAI in Cincinnati,
at 1530 on the AM dial (50,000 watts but still a relatively
weak signal due to its position on the "right end" of the dial).
The station plays songs from 1955 to about 1967, has a huge
playlist, plays obscure oldies, has lots of all-request shows,
and brought back a number of old DJs including the legendary
Dusty Rhodes.
John Fox
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Message: 11
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 08:49:00 -0600
From: Rex Strother
Subject: Al Hazan - Annette Tucker
I happen to know that Al Hazan and Annette Tucker stay in
regular contact via phone and email.
Martin - I bet if you ask Al Hazan real nice (hey, get up
an email campaign!), he might encourage Annette to check out
Spectropop and possibly make herself available for questions
about her many songwriting credits.
Rex
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Message: 12
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 16:26:32 -0000
From: Mark Frumento
Subject: Song Information Needed: "Still"
I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the song "Still"
written by Burton/Plummer? I think the song is also known
as "I'm Still In Love With You."
Other than the obscure 60s beat band version I have I can
only find reference to versions by Lavern Baker and Roy
Orbison. The song I have sounds like an early to mid-60s
soul song. It reminds me a lot of "I Can't Stand Up For
Falling Down."
Any additional information (i.e. original version) and/or
an mp3 would be much appreciated. Please contact me off list
if you can help.
Thanks
Mark F.
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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:22:48 -0000
From: Rob Stride
Subject: List of Spector Covers from 60s, 70s onwards
I wonder if anyone can help me? Is there anywhere that I
can get a list of artists that have covered songs produced
or written by Phil Spector?
I know there must be an incredible amount because some time
ago I started collecting covers of "Be My Baby" & "Baby I Love
You" and was really amazed just how many versions of those two
songs that there were out there. I'm sure that somewhere there
must be a definitive list but I dont know where to look.
Can anyone help?
All the best
Rob
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Message: 14
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:21:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: The Del-Vetts
"I Call My Baby STP" is a pretty good song, although
I'll agree that it does nothing to match "Last Time
Around." There's another Del-Vetts tune on that
Sundazed comp (I think it was a b-side of one of the
aforementioned songs), "That's The Way It Is," which
is too close to sounding like "Set You Free This Time"
from the second Byrds LP. While the Del-Vetts are
fairly remembered mostly for "Last Time Around," I'm
sure they were a pretty great live band, adept at many
styles, be it folk-rock, garage punk or hot-rod music.
They were just one of those bands whose recorded
output didn't really do them justice more than once.
David
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Message: 15
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 16:23:22 -0400
From: Roger Smith
Subject: Re: Banned songs
Country Paul wrote:
> But it gets weirder: according to the Sun, US megalithic
> multi-station owner Clear Channel not only banned anti-war
> songs, but even cleared its playlist of people who died in
> plane crashes (!), like Rick Nelson and Buddy Holly, and even
> restricted the Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian"! (Golly, Mr.
> Channel, thank you for protecting my sensitive ears! :-( )
View the full list of songs at:
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/radio.htm
-- Roger
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