Spectropop V#0149

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   Volume #0149                       September 19, 1998   
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Explanatory notes for the interested and informed Listener





Subject:     Maybe everybody else already figured this out, but...
Sent:        09/18/98 1:41 pm
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Frank Youngwerth, FMXXXX@XXXom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com


<>

I saw him play a club gig recently, and when I asked him about the
subject, he insisted that he played on Beatles records. This led me
to do some web research, and my conclusion is that somebody at Atco
probably hired him to sweeten (toughen?) several of those pre-EMI 
tracks the Beatles cut in Germany with Tony Sheridan and Bert 
Kaempfert.


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Subject:     Re: Curt B/Ballroom CD
Sent:        09/19/98 3:44 am
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Jamie LePage, le_page_XXXX@XXXties.com
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

Dan Murphy, daniXXXX@XXXa.com wrote:

>	Does anyone have information about the following CDs?
>3.	A Creation/Rev-Ola UK release of Ballroom/Sandy Salisbury tracks

Hi Dan,

The Ballroom CD will be issued on September 28 in UK (CREV058CD). 
22 tracks in all, comprised of what was to be the Ballroom album 
and 11 bonus tracks of outtakes and demos from pre-Ballroom to 
post-Millennium. Familiar titles include Spinning Spinning 
Spinning, Musty Dusty, Another Time, Keeper of the Games, the 
Island, Milk & Honey.

Ballroom was Boettcher's first attempt at becoming an artist in 
his own right. After the Association work, reportedly Steve Clarke,
Gary Usher and Brian Wilson persuaded him to do his own 
recordings. Most of the Ballroom stuff was recorded around the 
time Boettcher was working with Tommy Roe.

Coincidentally, I spoke with Joe Foster about this release just a 
few days ago. Joe is doing the research. He told me that two 
Ballroom tracks are missing and despite best efforts could not be 
found. These are the original version of 5 a.m. (the same track 
that ended up on Millennium but in an earlier mix) and a song 
called "Lead Me To Love" which Joe described as a Bacharach-like 
pop number featuring lead vocal by Michelle. He was raving about 
both of these tracks and lamenting their absence from the release.

Talking with Joe about this historic Boettcher release reminded me
of the passion our archivists all seem to have in common. People 
such as Brad Elliott, Alec Palao, Andrew Sandoval, Mark Lewisohn, 
Elliot Kendall, Russ Wapensky, Dom Priore, Joe Foster... We owe 
great thanks to their commitment to researching and accurately 
documenting the history of these recordings for posterity. They 
are the professionals, but they are first and foremost fans of the
music just like the rest of us. Without them and labels like 
Sundazed, Varese, Rhino, Rev-Ola, RPM and Repertoire, our 
treasured recordings would be in the hands of corporate 
unit-shifters who don't have a clue (and the bootleggers). Kudos 
to our pop historians! You guys are the greatest!!!!!
--
le_page_XXXX@XXXties.com
RodeoDrive/5030

P.S. A toast to Freda Payne, who turns 53 today! 


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Subject:     Phil & Ronnie
Sent:        09/18/98 1:28 am
Received:    09/18/98 8:25 am
From:        R Teyes, RTeXXXX@XXXom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

To All My Philles Pals:

Phil is trying to work out a deal with Ronnie (actually their 
lawyers) out of court as per my resources...he wants to avoid 
court as the Crystals are the next on the list to sue for money...
Darlene Love will NOT testify on his behalf as per the New Yorker 
Mag...seems Love won the suit and Phil wants to use her as a 
witness re: the He's A Rebel" voiceover instead of the Crystals; 
hence, his argument is that the backup Ronettes didn't always sing
background...may be true, but then legally Phil should have 
eliminated their name from the Philles labels they didn't sing on...
we all know Cher, Sonny, Nino et al did backup on a lot of Phil's
stuff but their names are NOT on the labels as such so legally 
speaking, (I'm not a lawyer) they cannot sue for payment.

Re the Herb Alpert material:
I have most of Herb's collection on A&M. This is a must for all 
Philles fans as most of Spector's musicians, arrangers, engineers,
etc. played in these LPs. Most of Alpert's material was recorded at
Gold Star also...before they built their own studio (A&M). It is 
important for us to also know that Lani Hall, Alpert's wife, was 
friends with Ronnie Spector and Lani visited Phil's mansion to 
see Ronnie in the late 60s and early 70s. Tho' Phil may have kept 
Ronnie a virtual prisoner, there were special people he allowed in
his mansion; besides Mrs. Beatrice Bennett, Ronnie's mom...I can 
get Alpert's LPs for any fan interested, but these are used...write
me.

To John Rausch from Ohio (The Fabulous Ronettes Webmaster)
I would take these 5 lps: Presenting the Ronettes, 02 of Phil's 
Rare Masters LPs on the International label, my personal Chopin LP
and Lucecita Benitez' Genesis LP.

Robert the Ronettes Hound (rteXXXX@XXXom)

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Subject:     Re: Chico and the Egyptians
Sent:        09/18/98 10:36 pm
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Doc Rock, docroXXXX@XXXcom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

Another great version of "Chico's Girl" was on Philips 40147 by 
Susan Barrett!

And I'm pleased that the Shumba did not disappoint. Had this been 
a #1 national hit (as it was locally), who knows what influence it
would have had on the Top 40 GG sound!

Doc


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Subject:     Re: the dreaded NR stamp
Sent:        09/18/98 10:36 pm
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Doc Rock, docroXXXX@XXXcom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

> What does an 
>"NR" stamped on a record label mean?

I always believed it meant "No Return." Distributors got records 
from companies (like Liberty) in large quantities. If the song was
not a big hit, the distributor was potentially stuck with dud 
records. But the companies would take back the extras and credit 
the distributor.

On the other hand, companies, or even distributors could sell dud 
records to dime stores for the cut-out bins. Those were stamped NR
because they were not eligible for return. If they were not stamped, 
they could be returned as duds over and over again!

Instead of NR, more often the records were "cut out," a little 
hole was drilled or made with a hot metal rod to mark them 
ineligible for return.

When I was interviewing Dick St. John for Liberty Records, the 
book, he told me about a Dick and Deedee record, a follow up to 
"The Mountain's High."

"We heard from disk jockeys stories of underground warehouses 
around the country with bootleg records. In fact, years later 
someone told us about a record we [Dick and Deedee] had that came 
out right after 'The Mountain's High' but before 'Tell Me.' It was
called 'Goodbye to Love' It was a complete disaster, it didn't sell
three copies. It had a duck call on it, and it was pretty awful! We
tried to make it like 'The Mountain's High' to have another hit, 
but it didn't happen. But, in anticipation of its happening, 
Liberty pressed many copies and shipped them out.

"Well, the bootleggers got a hold of this new record and, thinking
it was going to be a big hit like 'The Mountain's High,' pressed up
their copies! [When it was not a hit], all the returns came back to
Liberty! They said that it was the first time that they had ever 
gotten more of a record back than they had ever pressed up! They 
couldn't figure it out, where had they all come from? That just 
showed you that there was a big bootleg operation going on in 
addition to what was being reported legally."

Back to Doc Rock. I have a copy of "Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)" 
which looks like a 1964 bootleg, because the Liberty logo is 
imperfect.
Doc


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Subject:     Another story about cut out/NR Records
Sent:        09/18/98 10:36 pm
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Doc Rock, docroXXXX@XXXcom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

Another story about cut out/NR Records:

When a record company gets a surplus of old 45's or LPs that it 
cannot sell, either because they never were hits or they had 
outlived their popularity, they would "cut" those records out of 
the catalog and sell them at two or three for a dollar retail per 
LP or five or ten cents per 45. The term "cut out" can also refer 
to the holes that are cut out of the record label or the record 
jacket, either with a drill or a hot metal rod. Or the end of an 
LP cover might be clipped. This way, no one can mistake them for 
current product and try to make unauthorized sales. Ken Revercomb 
recalls cut-outs. "I was in charge of getting rid of all the old 
surplus Liberty product. Non-hits. As a matter of fact, I made a 
career of selling cut-outs. All through the glory years at Liberty/
Imperial, I gave I don't know how many gold record awards out. 
But I never got one until I got rid of 11 million records and they
gave me a platinum one for sales in excess of 11 million!" Getting 
rid of 11 million records without making noise, especially 
non-hits, is not easy. If it gets around that there are so many 
dud records coming out, it hurts the company's goodwill. So Ken 
Revercomb would devise schemes to get rid of records through 
non-music outlets. "I went to used car lot in Tucson. Why Tucson? 
If I failed, I didn't want anyone to know about it. And if I were 
successful, I also didn't want anyone to know about it!" Ken made 
a deal with Harry's Used Cars. For $100, Ken would put $1,000 
worth of non-hit cut-outs in each car. After all, there wasn't one
car on the lot Harry wouldn't discount $100. "You gamble the ad and
I'll gamble the records. We advertised $1,000 worth of music with 
each car purchase for Harry's blow-out sale over Labor Day." The 
$1,000 was actually $80 at cut-out prices, so Ken would make $20 
each car. Was it a success? "Three days later we had emptied his 
lot. It was like a Hitchcock movie, there was nothing but a few 
candy wrappers and light bulbs in the place. I said, 'Geeze, Harry,
we did it! We gotta get more cars!' Harry said, 'The hell with 
you! I been trying to get outta here for four years.' So I went 
to Wichita, etc. I mean I got rid of a ton of records like that! 
It was that kind of thing that I did." As it turned out, there was
one thing that was a lot better than cut-outs that Ken tried like 
the Dickens to sell, but try as he might, he never could manage 
to succeed. "I probably worked harder on Willie Nelson than on any
other act that we had. I had him for five years and couldn't give 
him away. Do you believe that?"


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Subject:     trumpet scare
Sent:        09/18/98 1:27 pm
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Frank Youngwerth, FMXXXX@XXXom
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

<>

Wow, what a provocative notion! I wonder if she really meant (or 
perhaps really stated?) Herb didn't play on his *sessions*. 
Implying that he could well have always overdubbed his parts 
afterwards.


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Subject:     Girl Groups etc
Sent:        09/18/98 9:13 am
Received:    09/19/98 1:10 am
From:        Stos, William, wsXXXX@XXXtyenet.com
To:          Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com

>Got a copy of a great record that I can't stop listening to. 
>Absolutely knocks me out. Chico's Girl by "the Girls" issued on 
>Capitol. 

Have you ever heard of a vinyl comp called Girls In the Garage? I 
don't have it, but apparently it has that track plus stuff like 
the Whyte Boots' "Nightmare," and others. My pal Sheila Bergel 
hasn't stopped raving about it.

>The other side that I really can't stop playing over and over, 
>thanks to Doc and Will Stos, is Tammys' Egyptian Shumba. Will 
>wrote "Egyptian Shumba still hasn't died down." Not around here 
>either, brother! This is one of the wildest GG records, maybe THE 
>wildest GG record I ever heard!

Actually, Doc deserves all the credit for that one. If it wasn't 
for him I wouldn't have even known it existed. What else did the 
Tammys record? Also, another song with similar screams, albeit 
more soulful, is an aptly named cut from the Chiffons fourth album,
My Secret Love, called "Soul." It's more slow in tempo, but it 
can pack a punch!

Here's a question to other Girl Group-a-holics. Did the Angels 
ever record anything similar to their song, "Jamaica Joe"? That 
song is so cool! I love the part where they go "hey, hey, hey, 
umph!"

One last thing. I was watching the Girl Groups: Story Of A Sound 
video a couple of nights ago, I just bought it, and I was knocked 
dead by the Shangri-las' performance of "Give Him A Great Big Kiss."
Mary Weiss drove me wild! I know a lot of you on this list think 
Ronnie Spector is the biggest thing since sliced bread, and 
granted she has that sort of playin' hard to get look that can 
make you drool, but Mary's facial expressions when she sings are 
incredible! I heard that fans used to rush the stage whenever they
played, and now I can see why! Too bad I wasn't 30 years older, or
she wasn't 30 years younger! (Whistle) Whoo!

Will (the Shangri-las soon-to-be stalker) just kidding! : )


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