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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 11 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: The Lemon Pipers
From: Ron Sauer
2. Re: nnillssonn... what's the Point?
From: Roger Smith
3. Re: Lemon Pipers
From: Art Longmire
4. Re: Alder Ray / Bouquets
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
5. Re: Lemon Pipers
From: John Fox
6. Re: Roy Orbison at MGM
From: Art Longmire
7. Nilsson/Todd
From: Alan Gordon
8. Re: The Lemon Pipers
From: David Coyle
9. Badfinger
From: Alan Gordon
10. It comes in threes...
From: David Coyle
11. Re: R.I.P. Tony Jackson
From: David Coyle
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 11:44:40 -0000
From: Ron Sauer
Subject: Re: The Lemon Pipers
David Coyle wrote:
> I don't know how many other Sabres became Lemon Pipers
> or whether it was a straight transition from one group
> to the other.
Here is my memory of how Ivan Browne became a Lemon Piper:
Another local Southern Ohio group at the time was Tony and
the Bandits. They had a record on the Flo-Roe label called
"A Bit of Alright." They won a local "Battle of the Bands"
winning a major label contract (Coral Records which reissued
"Bit of Alright"), and an appearence on Shindig. I believe
the finals of the contest were broadcast locally during the
Shindig time slot. BTW, the band they beat was Carl Edmondson
and the Driving Winds. Carl produced Lonnie Mack, and 2 of Clubs.
A while after all that, Tony (whose full name slips my mind)
left the Bandits and Ivan left the Sabres. Ivan joined the
Bandits and thay became the Lemon Pipers. Tony joined the Sabres,
and they kept the name of Ivan and the Sabres. I believe Ivan
and the Sabres later evolved into Sixth Day Creation and had a
record on Laurie called "Cherry Pie".
That's what I remember. I'm open for addition or correction.
I tried to get verification of all of that from a local DJ.
He said it sounded right but he couldn't remember.
Ron
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 08:56:27 -0400
From: Roger Smith
Subject: Re: nnillssonn... what's the Point?
> Where did you get your info, ma'am?
The best place to learn any Nilsson news is the Harry Nilsson
mailing list: http://www.harrynilsson.com/nilssonweb.html
You can also visit the site at: http://www.harrynilsson.com/
Generally I have any news related to Nilsson on the front page.
So you'd expect to find information about the Point DVD on the
home page. But, since there's probably some legal wrangling
going on over the DVD, I decided to avoid getting involved by
simply removing all mention of the DVD and video from the web
pages.
> http://www.harryfest.com/article24623.html
> There is a small amount of info concerning pre-orders
> at this site, but that's all I could dig up.
Ooops, I thought I had removed all mention of the DVD :-)
In case you missed my previous message on the subject, Fred
Wolf Films and Harry Nilsson's estate don't consider the
Pacific Family Entertainment DVD and video tape to be legitimate.
But BMG Special Products is working on a DVD of "The Point!"
-- Roger
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 19:19:34 -0000
From: Art Longmire
Subject: Re: Lemon Pipers
Stewart Mason wrote:
> Unlike the majority of Buddah albums, this one is actually
> entirely listenable throughout.
Ken Bell:
> OUCH!! I think I felt my bubblegum POP! Can't tell you why
> but even as an oldster, I still enjoy that good ole bubblegum
> music. Chewy, chewy, chewy baby.....
Hey, Ken
I'm with you, I love bubblegum music and actually wish I had
paid more attention to it when I was a kid! Only trouble is,
I have lots of problems keeping the groups straight - who
recorded what and so on. I've been reading the correspondence
on the Ohio Express and still haven't figured whether there
were one or two versions of Beg Borrow & Steal...
I have a solo 45 by Joey Levine on the Earth label from about
1970 and wonder if he recorded an entire album. Although a
full length LP with a voice as nasal as his might be a little
hard on the ears...
Art Longmire
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 10:40:07 EDT
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
Subject: Re: Alder Ray / Bouquets
John Clemente and all: Thanks for the input! I'm gonna hope
that Tootie is Eva, just to settle my mind:-) And the
Victorians: I always thought they were the Blossoms...
Re the Dream Babies LP: this is great. Grab it !!!!!!!!
==Jimmy==
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 16:25:12 EDT
From: John Fox
Subject: Re: Lemon Pipers
David Coyle:
> I have a 45 on the Prism label (based out of Dayton,
> OH) of Ivan and the Sabres, "Just Let Her Go" b/w
> "It's Not Like You." Both very good mid-'60s
> Beatlesque pop, but notable for being led by Ivan
> Browne, who later sang on most of the Lemon Pipers
> hits and album tracks. The voice is definitely the
> same, although he added a little more vibrato and a
> slightly higher pitch during the LP days.
> I don't know how many other Sabres became Lemon Pipers
> or whether it was a straight transition from one group
> to the other.
First of all, David, I have been looking for "Just Let Her Go"
for a long time. Any chance of getting me a cassette of it?
Please write me off-list.
Now, about the Lemon Pipers - Ivan Browne came from Ivan & The
Sabres (who actually continued for several years with that name
but without him). The rest of the Lemon Pipers came from another
area group (I think from Oxford/Miami University) called Tony and
the Bandits, led by Tony Brazis. I have one of their singles on
the Flo-Roe label, an incredible British Invasion thing called
"It's a Bit of Alright". The Lemon Pipers took their name from
Lemon-Monroe High School where some of them had gone.
Bill Bartlett of the Lemon Pipers is still in the Cincinnati area.
His band, Ram Jam, had a hit in the 70s or 80s with "Black Betty".
Bob Nave (player of the green tambourine) remained a jazz disk
jockey for many years. Tony Brazis went on lead a band called
The Chosen Lot, which had a small local single called "Time Was"
(David or anyone, if you have that one, the same offer applies).
And I consider "Turn Around and Take a Look" (which did bubble
under the Billboard Top 100) to be more progressive rock than
bubble gum. As the Pipers went further into Buddah-land, they
were bubble-gummed worse and worse.
John Fox
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 19:04:33 -0000
From: Art Longmire
Subject: Re: Roy Orbison at MGM
Jeff Lemlich:
> "Southbound Jericho Parkway" is a remarkable single. It's
> pretty much a Neon Philharmonic record, but with Roy on vocals
> instead of Don Gant. Gant moved to the producer's chair for
> this one, while Tupper Saussy gets credit for the arrangement,
> which sounds like it hopped off the first Neon Philharmonic
> album
Richard Hattersley:
> Sounds like they were going after a bit of the "Macarthur Park"
> market what with it being very long.
> It's a fantastic record but realistically I don't know why MGM
> thought it might be a hit. I wish record companies these days
> were that willing to stick their neck out and put out such a non
> commercial, albeit artistic, product.
Hello Richard,
I haven't heard the "South Jericho Parkway" record by Roy, and
it sounds fascinating. I have both of the Neon Philharmonic LPs
and never knew there was a connection with Roy Orbison. Also I'm
a big fan of Webb's "Macarthur Park" and definitely am interested
in records influenced by it (it always bugs me when people say
that they hate this track!)
The situation with Roy's MGM sides reminds me of a similar case
with the late 60's work of the Everly Brothers-to me songs like
"Bowling Green" and "Empty Boxes" and others from that period are
some of their best work, but its their late 50's-early 60's stuff
that gets all the attention.
Art Longmire
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:13:43 -0700
From: Alan Gordon
Subject: Nilsson/Todd
Michael Edwards wrote:
> The most interesting was Barbara Lewis but it was a comment
> by Mike Gibbins of Badfinger, referring to their song "Without
> You" that was a #1 for Nilsson in 1971, that caught my eye.
> A nice story when you consider the tragedies that befell some
> of the members of that group!
I'm glad they quoted Mike as opposed to Joey Molland.
Unfortunately, especially for his own image, Joey likes to sorta
take credit for co-writing the "Without You" hit, even though it
was drafted as two distinct and separate songs by Tom Evans and
Pete Ham - as the demos which have been officially released,
"conclusively" show. It's most unfortunate in that Joey need
not infer any writing talent by accrediting himself with "Without
You", since some his songs are significant highlights of Badfinger's
talented output... and just pretty darn creative too.
There is a book being worked on about Joey and Badfinger by the same
fellow that wrote: "A Dream Goes On Forever" about Todd Rundgren. I
don't really have high hopes for it in that Joey is very involved
and if it's anything like the Todd book...
I don't like being this critical, but if you're a Rundgren fan, I
would avoid "A Dream...". It's mostly a cut and paste job from all
the interviews and articles about Todd and Utopia, over the years.
I guess if you haven't read these articles, it's nice to have it all
in one place, but the redundancy, bad spelling, crooked syntax, and
just plain old horribly bad editing is hard to wade through.
peace,
albabe
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:30:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: The Lemon Pipers
Until recently, the "Green Tambourine" album was
available as a "Collectors Classic" CD reissue on the
Buddah label, with one bonus track. Now, the Buddha
label, a subsidiary of BMG, has "Best Of The Lemon
Pipers," which combines tracks from both albums. Also,
the British label Camden had a 20-track "Best-of" which
also had songs from both albums. Pretty much the whole
album has been available on CD for quite some time.
David
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Message: 9
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 13:59:33 -0700
From: Alan Gordon
Subject: Badfinger
Norman wrote:
> A good book about Badfinger is by Dan Matovina (1997), 'Without
> You, The Tragic Story of Badfinger'.
Just as an aside: Dan is a good friend of mine, and a most
honorable soul who wrote a very open-minded and exceedingly thorough
account of the doings and misdoings of Badfinger and their close
and not-so-close compatriots.
The situation around the band's finances is a horrible example of
the most criminal of rip-offs I've ever read. It's a very sad, but
very good read. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is
a fan of Badfinger!
I'm sure that the future publication written by Joey and friend
(see previous post by yours truly) will be a bit one-sided, as Joey
and his gal have taken every opportunity to slam Dan and his book.
http://www.mindspring.com/~crimson3/
peace,
albabe
And now back to our regularly scheduled S'Pop adventures...
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Message: 10
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:46:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: It comes in threes...
It's always morbid to think about, but just last night
I was playing my copy of "The Glory Of Love: The 50s"
in tribute to Ed Townsend, whose "For Your Love"
appears on the disc.
I checked my e-mail today to find out that Tony
Jackson passed away, which means the inevitable spin
of "The Searchers Pye Anthology," "Live At The
Star-Club," "The Iron Door Sessions," or "The Swedish
Radio Sessions." Not to mention Jackson's tracks with
the Vibrations.
Which leaves me to wondering, whose CD is going to end
up in "R.I.P. rotation" next??
David
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Message: 11
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:39:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: R.I.P. Tony Jackson
This is sad, sad news indeed. I'm nearly at a loss for
words as I've been a ravenous Searchers fan for about
a decade. Two of my favorite members have been
non-members since the '60s. Chris Curtis and Tony
Jackson were both distinctive voices in the early days
of the Searchers, and it was Tony's high-pitched
vocals that cemented their harmonies and provided an
instantly and interestingly recognizable lead on
versions of songs such as "Twist And Shout" and "It's
All Been A Dream."
As unlikely as it would be, a semi-reunion, however
shortlived, of Tony with the Searchers would have been
a dream come true. His solo career yielded a number of
Merseybeat classics too, such as his definitive
version of "Bye Bye Baby" and his freakbeatish take on
"Fortune Teller."
If I'm not mistaken, isn't Tony the first of the
classic Searchers lineup (and subsequent ones) to pass
on? The Searchers have been extremely lucky, in an age
where the Who and the Beatles are now down to two
surviving members each.
Tony's contribution to the Searchers and the Liverpool
scene will never be forgotten. I only wish we had
gotten to hear him rock out on "Let's Stomp" sooner.
He will be missed.
David
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