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Volume #0225 February 12, 1999
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Represented globally
Subject: The Minx
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: Keiko Kondo, koXXXXXXXXrading.co.jp
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Hi Andrew,
I saw your note about Minx, so I watched video again last
night (it's made from poor condition film). The story
was so strange but the music was good. Reminds me of Serge
Gainsborough films.
I saw the Cyrkle playing HARLOW'S night club "Murry the Why"!!
Sounds like Monkees "I'm a Believer". Especially organ. I should
get soundtrack album but cannot find it.
btw, my friend played me your CD. I like it and sounds like
Byrds sometimes.
You now working on Monkees and Beach Boys reissue? I hope you
make Cyrkle reissue CD someday.
Soft Rock rules! (Vanda too)
KK
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Hello! & a teensy addition to The Cyrkle/what about them?
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: Michael Coxe,XXXXXXXX.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
First of all, hi!! I've been a Spectropop reader since Sept. 98,
but only now am I making my inaugural post. You all have
assembled quite a crew here. I'll do my best not to diminish the
signal-to-noise ratio.
Bio stuff: I run another mailing list called the Audities-List,
of which many of you here are longtime members, and which was an
outgrowth of the former pop/power-pop magazine called Audities
(RIP). Born in the early 50's in North Carolina, raised primarily
on southern soul/beach music and 60's rock-n-roll and
transplanted to San Jose, CA in 1978 in time to catch the * new*
wave of bands emerging from punk's carcass.
Not a musician, though I flirted with trumpet while managing my
high- school friends' soul band (does anyone remember "Love
Power" by The Sandpebbles? - our band played that). Not a writer
or specifically a collector, mainly a fan of the music and the
stories surrounding it.
Much of the music mentioned on this list is new to me, and I'm
sure I don't have to tell you how exciting it is to discover
(and rediscover) new music that just happened to be recorded and
released 30-40 years ago. A most humbling but exhilarating
experience.
----
To add only a little to Mr. Sandoval's in-depth account, I had
remembered a story of the Cyrkle being Simon & Garfunkel's
backup band on at least one tour. To verify, I turned to my
sometimes trusty friend the internet and found this to be only
partially true. The fact (as cribbed off this web site:
< members.xoom.com/Evalina/cyrkle.html >) is that Tom Dawes alone
accompanied them (on bass) in '65 and out of that arose the
offer of "Red Rubber Ball".
Thanks for reading,
- Michael Coxe
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: The Cyrkle
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: Jamie LePage, le_page_XXXXXXXXties.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Andrew Sandoval wrote:
>Terrific records like...Reading Her Paper rank above and
>beyond the great "soft pop" of the era and are very classy
>productions a la the Left Banke (great arrangements and
>orchestrations).
Couldn't agree more. Reading Her Paper is a great personal
favorite, for precisely the reasons you mention.
>Producer Charlie Calello was in charge of their later singles
>which included some great early Bee Gees covers (Turn Of The
>Century/Red Chair Fade Away).
Just wanted to point out Charlie Callelo's involvement here is
another link between Diane Renay/Four Seasons/Girl Group sound
and the music of the so-called soft rock genre to which so many
of the Brill era writers/producers/arrangers migrated.
...and yeah! Those Bee Gees covers are indeed very good!
Thanks for posting, Andrew.
--
All the best,
Jamie LePage
<http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/5030>
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Millennium's "The Begin"
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: Ron Weekes, WeekXXXXXXXX.edu
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
I've got the Sony issue of this CD, the complete LP with four
bonus tracks. I know Rev-ola has reissued this CD but I think it
has 22 track's instead of Sony's 16 tracks. Can someone tell me
what the additional tracks are? I'm not sure if I want to pay
big bucks for six more tracks.
I know Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher are discussed from time to
time on this list. This is my preferred order of Usher/Boettcher
collaborations:
Sagittarius: Present Tense
The Ballroom: Preparing for The Millennium
The Millennium: Begin
I also have a copy of Sagittarius' "Blue Marble" on cassette.
Wish someone would release it on CD. Not having the liner notes,
I'll assume that Boettcher was involved. Am I wrong? My favorite
Usher "pop" release has to be Celestium's "Sanctuary." That's
another one I wish was on CD. My cassette from vinyl dub is okay.
I'd like to find the liner notes to this one.
For those you know me, I got through an Usher related message
without talking about his surf and hot rod era...oops, I lied!
Ron Weekes
The Surf and Hot Rod Sounds of Gary Usher Web Page
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Studio/8242
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: One Flat Jan
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: James Cassidy, casswriXXXXXXXXlink.net
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Doc Rock wrote about Jan & Dean:
>Jan also had trouble singing high notes. So he would slow down
>the track for songs such as "You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy"
>while recording his vocals. That made the high notes easier to
>reach. Then for the release, the normal speed was restored, and
>Jan sang higher!
Unfortunately, not high enough on that particular number; "You
Really Know How To Hurt A Guy" features one of the flattest
notes ever committed to tape on the last word of the line "the
ones that you like are really not your *kind*"!
Jim Cassidy
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Playin' Hard To Get
Received: 02/11/99 4:04 pm
From: Jack Madani, Jack_MadXXXXXXXX12.nj.us
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Have purchased "Playin' Hard To Get: West Coast Girls" (Ace
CDCHD 559), an Ace compilation of 28 tracks from the Challenge
label. Includes six Blossoms tracks and two Donna Loren tracks;
and then the unexpected treasures begin popping up. Groups I'd
never heard of like the Galens (who at times sound remarkably
like the Paris Sisters), Dorothy Berry, Renee Medina, Yvonne
Carroll, the Delicates, and the Francettes. Tracks that are full
blown faux-spector, or which clearly are meant to sound like
Lesley Gore, Barbara Lewis, Skeeter Davis, or Connie Francis. My
personal favorite is Chinese Lanterns by the Galens, which has
this groovy "oriental" riff that reminded me a little bit of
Nancy Sinatra's You Only Live Twice. Some of these recordings
sound like they could only have been recorded at Gold Star.
I've played this disc a zillion times in the past four days but
have only glanced at the booklet. This disc is a total winner.
Anyone else heard of this compilation?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Madani - Princeton Day School, The Great Road,
Princeton, NJ 08540 Jack_MadXXXXXXXX12.nj.us
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred."
--Henry Cabot Henhouse III
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--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Re: Curt Boetcher (was: Eternity's Children)
Received: 02/11/99 9:01 am
From: Ron Weekes, WeekXXXXXXXX.edu
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Tobias wrote:
<
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