_______________________________________________________________ S - P - E - C - T - R - O - P - O - P _______________________________________________________________ Volume #0117 July 14, 1998 =============================================================== Also available on 4 & 8 track tape cartridges and Musicassettes Subject: Re: Can't Forget the Velvelettes Sent: 07/12/98 1:20 pm Received: 07/12/98 11:22 pm From: David Feldman, feldXXXX@XXXderables.com To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com >We can't forget about the Velvelettes either. I rank the Motown >girl groups that I know of from best to worse as the Marvelettes, >the Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, and then the Supremes. >Not that the Supremes were bad or anything, but if you go track by >track with the 3 big Motown girl groups on any one of their >compilations, the Marvelettes will always come out on tops with >quality, not necessarily commercialism. Will, I only have the Velvelettes' singles. What else is out there that you would recommend? There are two main reasons I'd place the Supremes over M&V. One is their higher quantity of great songs (sure it isn't M&V's fault that they weren't given first dibs on Holland, Dozier, Holland's "A" material). The second, and this was quite a surprise to me, is how much better the Supremes were live. They were absolutely terrific live, whereas M&V couldn't reproduce their sound live. Without a doubt, though, IMO, the best Motown group live were the 4 Tops. The Tempts were better showmen, but the Tops, somehow, were able to do recreations of their most complex harmony arrangements, notably "Bernadette" and "Reach Out I'll Be There." And of course, when you have Levi Stubbs singing "Ask the Lonely" or "Baby I Need Your Loving," you are close to heaven. Some of the other great Motown singers, such as Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson, were clearly masters of the studio and not in their element live (although I've heard great recordings of Gaye live, I never saw him measure up to the genius of his recordings when I saw him live). I'm glad to see another Marvelettes fanatic here. I can't overemphasize how much pleasure they've given me in the last few years. Dave Feldman CD of the Month: It's a tie! Belle & Sebastian: "If You're Feeling Sinister" Billy Bragg & Wilco: "Mermaid Ave." Word of the Week: "blasphemous" Lyric of the Week: Woody Guthrie: "I said little girl, it's plain to see, there ain't nobody who can sing like me. She said it's hard for me to see, how one little boy got so ugly." Best Time Killer of the 90's: Filling out the UPDATED gender survey at "http://www.imponderables.com" --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Subject: Re: the songs of...brian hyland?? Sent: 07/12/98 5:10 pm Received: 07/12/98 11:22 pm From: Marc Wielage, XXXX@XXXtrax.com To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com CC: Jeffrey Thames, KingoGrXXXX@XXXom Jeffrey Thamesasked on the Spectropop List >oh, i have *got* to hear this ["So Long Marianne"]! >is there a comprehensive hyland collection out there that >would have it, in addition to all the familiar hits? ------------------------ ------------------------ The only one I'm aware of is BRIAN HYLAND'S GREATEST HITS on MCA MCAD-11034, which has the following tracks: "Get the Message" (2:43 mono - sl. hiss) "Ginny Come Lately" (2:50 stereo - G sl. hiss) "Gypsy Woman" (2:34 mono) "Holiday for Clowns" (2:33 mono - sl. hiss) "I'm Afraid to Go Home" (2:41 mono - sl. hiss) "If Mary's There" (2:39 stereo - sl. hiss) "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" (2:22 stereo - VG 2-tk stereo) "The Joker Went Wild" (2:42 stereo - G sl. hiss) "Let Me Belong to You" (3:03 stereo - G sl. hiss) "Run, Run, Look and See" (2:37 stereo - sl. hiss) "Sealed with a Kiss" (2:38 mono) "Stay and Love Me All Summer" (2:38 stereo - sl. hiss) "3000 Miles" (2:40 stereo - hissy / nar. sep.) "Tragedy" (2:53 stereo) "Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)" (2:18 stereo - sl. hiss) No "So Long Marianne" (which made it to #120 on the BUBBLING UNDER charts in 1971), as far as I know, but it's a decent collection. --MFW -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -= Marc Wielage | "The computerized authority =- -= MusicTrax, Ltd. | on rock, pop, & soul." =- -= Chatsworth, CA | XXXX@XXXtrax.com =- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Subject: Solid Gold Sent: 07/12/98 8:54 am Received: 07/12/98 11:22 pm From: CLAUDIA CUNNINGHAM, TPXXXX@XXX.net To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com I wonder if anyone remembers the Castells? They were hot in the late 50's with two songs: "Sacred" and "So This is Love". They kind of sounded like the Lettermen. Also, from my old record collection I found a couple others: " Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" by Guy Marx, and "Selfish One" by Jackie Ross AND..."I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" by Barry and the Tamerlanes (sounds very Brill Building to me!) AND..."Mixed Up Shook Up Girl" by Brenda and the Tabulations. Great stuff! Every time I dig into my vast collection I just get madder and madder that I can't turn on an oldies station and get this stuff. I'd probably stand on my head and spit nickels if I ever turned on an oldie station and heard, "It's Good News Week" by Hedgehoppers Anonymous or "Where Does Love GO?" by movie actor Charles Boyer from 1965....these things are like manna from heaven. I also came across Noel Harrison's version of "A Young Girl" later recorded by Cher, not to be confused with "Young Girl" by the Union Gap. Does anyone remember Billy Stewart's soul hits like "Sitting in the Park" or "Summertime"? Trying to reason with the station managers is like corresponding with an empty coal mine or an aching void, as we have said before. So I will just content myself with listening to my records and longing for the good old days...when men were men, and wimmen were two bucks!.....Claudia --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Subject: oldies solution? Sent: 07/12/98 10:46 pm Received: 07/14/98 12:44 am From: Mark Landwehr, mslXXXX@XXXbs.com To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com Jamie LePage wrote: >dumb oldies radio is better than none, >and if corporate radio improves numbers with dumb playlists, the >oldies market grows and the collectors market is better served with >releases such as Stax, Spector, Pet Sounds, Who and Motown boxes. > I agree completely with that...But, although the oldies listener would get a "sampling" of the oldies available, that's all it would get. One wonders how many people would be converted into the collecting market - Maybe they would just because they're tired of hearing the same thing over & over...I, for one, would like to hear more of the music that would make me say "Oh, wow, I haven't heard that song in years." That's the kind of reaction I was always going for back in the "good ol' days." The best, I think, anyone can hope for nowadays is that an oldies station will play the usual "safe" stuff PLUS those songs that were regional hits. I used to play "Wait a Minute" by Tim Tam and the Turn-Ons...It never cracked the Top 75, but where I worked it was a smash hit regionally - Ya gotta keep those songs in your rotation - If a listener can hear even one "Oh, wow" song an hour, you've got 'em hooked, and oldies radio will be that much better for it. Let's hope the brain-dead management personnel of these stations someday get the message... --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Subject: Chess questions Sent: 07/13/98 7:16 am Received: 07/13/98 8:08 am From: Ron Bierma, ELRONXXXX@XXXom To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com In a message dated 7/9/98 11:41:55 AM, you wrote: < > Scott, I was under the impression that the former owners of the Chess catalogue, the Robinsons of Sugarhill fame, had licensed the catalogue to death in the 70's, including to Charly. If this is true, what were the terms (length of license) of the deal and just because MCA bought Chess (or finagled-depending who you want to believe) doesn't mean that the previous licensing agreements are void, does it? Just curious... Ron --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Subject: The Knickerbockers Sent: 07/13/98 11:51 am Received: 07/14/98 12:44 am From: Matthew Kaplan, TweeXXXX@XXXom To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com Claudia wrote: > Does anyone remember Johnny Charles' old East > Coast band, the Knickerbockers? To that David Feldman wrote: > Who could forget them? although I know they are from > New Jersey, I think of them as a West Coast band. The Knickerbockers were from Bergenfield, New Jersey...let us just say one of two good things to come out of BerField, the other being the famed jazz label Prestige Records. The band was named after Knickerbocker Road which was a street just one block away from where I grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. Matthew Kaplan --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- End
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