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Volume #0264 May 17, 1999
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a new stereophonic sound spectacular
Subject: Asking....
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: Carol Kaye, caroxxxhlink.net
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
for prayers for the late Tommy Tedesco's grandson namesake
-- he's had a setback and now a liver transplant is
forthcoming.
This little newborn baby is a fighter, his father Denny
Tedesco told me (Denny btw has a film in the can of many
of us, interesting discussions of our dates, talking about
all our 60s dates, the music & stars etc.). We're hoping,
fingers and toes crossed, with a lot of heavy prayers for
this little guy who means a lot to us all......thank-you,
I'll keep you posted.
Carol Kaye http://www.carolkaye.com/
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Subject: Webb, 5D, and Greenwich
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: David Feldman, fexxxnderables.com
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
Monsieur Le Page had many interesting things to say. So
let me quote them and add little of substance:
>
> A few thoughts on Jimmy Webb and the Fifth Dimension:
>
> I have a CD (of rather questionable origin) called the
> Jimmy Webb Songbook (Real Music RMD-1004). It apparently
> is mastered from vinyl, but the sound is good enough for
> me and the track listing is wonderful.
{My only question: why no "Wichita Lineman?" To me, that's
the indispensable Webb/Campbell song.
Otherwise, it's a fab album, and if It really ends with
the 5D's "Rosecrans Blvd., it's even cooler. I
participated on a Jimmy Webb chat on Prodigy right before
the release of "Ten Easy Pieces." Few folks turned out for
it, so he answered all of my questions. The one of most
concern to me, though, was the story behind "Rosecrans."
The plotline of the song, as you might guess, was a
figment of his imagination, but he made it clear that he
got the idea for the song while driving south on the San
Diego Freeway (passing the Rosecrans Blvd. exit sign many
a time) while visiting a flight attendant who he implied
relieved him of his virginity. I'll never think of the
song quite the same way again.
Webb was most articulate and very funny and charming.
I love much of Webb's work with Garfunkel, too. And if
there were justice in the world, some of his idiosyncratic
ballads, like "Crying in My Sleep" and "Scissors Cut" would
be classics now.
I'm currently recovering from a nasty flu. One of the
symptoms is a clogged Eustachian tube. My hearing is about
60%, and a loss of much of high-end frequencies, which is
great when you are trying to kill the sound of jackhammers
outside your apartment, but not so great when listening to
new CD's. I assume one of the symptoms of a blocked
Eustachian tube is NOT hearing instruments when none are
there.
So what's the deal with the remastering of songs Ellie
Greenwich's "I Can Hear Music: The Ellie Greewich Story."
I own the Raindrops' singles. I own "Let It Be Written,
Let It Be Sung." The implication in the liner notes is
that the material in the CD is cleaned up versions of
existing records. But that isn't the single version of
"The Boy You Can't Forget" on the CD; that's a bastardized
version of my beloved "Maybe I Know" (which I prefer to
Leslie Gore's). All of the stuff from "Let It Be Written"
sounds awful. What's the deal with these arrangements?
In happier news, I finally bagged "The Flowerpot Men" in
the same stash. That's the next CD going into the player.
Dave Feldman
CD of the Week: "Utopia Parkway" (Fountains of Wayne)
Movie of the Week: "Go"
Word of the Week: nonce
Best Time Killer of the 90's: Filling out the UPDATED gender survey at
"http://www.imponderables.com"
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Subject: Twiggy-P5-Innocence-Tradewinds
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: Jack Madani, Jack_Mxxxk12.nj.us
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
>I've just finished reading Twiggy's
>autobiography, and I can only recommend it warmly to
>anyone interested in the sixties and the London scene.
>and Pizzicato Five's cover of
>the Beach Boys' "Passing By".
Har! I wish I could hear THAT.
And, tying Twiggy into this post, the first P5 thing I
ever heard was a tape that my sister-in-law had of a tune
that was called something like Twiggy Meets James Bond or
something. Like a collage of John Barry, Sergio Mendes on
speed, and Specs Nitzschke (I really oughtta learn how to
spell that last name). That one track sold me on the whole
Pizzicato Five trip.
As for the Innocence, there's a pair of Innocence tracks
on a Kama Sutra Singles cd compilation, vol.2 I think. The
disc is short on time, but easy to find real cheap (under 5
bucks, e.g.).
As for the Tradewinds, I have heard some others of their
cuts, including a groovy Club 17 and a boss Girl From
Greenwich Village ("she drives a Mercedes, and scares the
old ladies"). A Tradewinds comp cd would be a very cool
thing.
jack "a new stereophonic sound spectacular" madani
n.p. Cast Your Fate To The Wind, the Sounds Orchestral
version, on www.on-air.com. This was the version of that
song that I remember always hearing at the dentist's
office when I was a kid, instead of the Vince Guaraldi
original.
whoah!!!! NOW n.p. Good Timin' by the Beach Boys on
www.on-air.com!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Madani - Princeton Day School, The Great Road,
Princeton, NJ 08540 Jack_Mxxxk12.nj.us
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred."
--Henry Cabot Henhouse III
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Subject: J Webb
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: A Cross-eyed Puppet Named Igor, wuxxxet.se
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
With all this talk about the 5th Dimension.....what are
your opinions about Jimmy Webb's "Ten Easy Pieces" which
came out a couple of years ago? I think it's a damn good
record, although it disappointed me that he left out Up Up
And Away! I mean, that's really His Song. It's interesting
to listen to the original version and then these stripped
down takes. It's almost like listening to what McArthur
Park or Wichita Lineman must've sounded like when Webb had
just written them, sitting in front of his piano thinking
"yeah!" :)
Did you know, btw, that Jimmy Webb has his own webpage?
Not only his official homepage, but he runs it himself! I
can't remember the URL right now but I'll post it if
anyone hasn't visited his site.
Tobias
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Subject: Anders & Poncia - From Girl Group to Soft Rock
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: Jamie LePage, le_pagxxxities.com
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
Tobias wrote:
>...The Innocence self-titled record. Not an abrasive
>musical element in sight, just pure bliss....vocal harmony,
>acoustic guitars, vibraphone, major 7th chords, the
>occasional string arrangement
>The Innocence apparently used to be called The
>Tradewinds and my friend included two of the 'Winds' songs.
>One of the tracks, the brilliant New York's A Lonely
>Town, sounds like a lost Beach Boys surf song (it's from
>the Cowabunga surf box, is the rest of that compilation as
>good?)!
You've discovered one of my personal favorite writer/
producer/artist teams, Toby. Anders & Poncia started out
as Brill Building writers, penning for girl groups like
the Ronettes. I believe Hill & Range publisher Paul Case
signed them and introduced them to Spector after hearing
their group the Videls. Together, the four of them penned
"Ringo, I Love You" for Bonnie Jo Mason. The record
stiffed but Bonnie Jo found fame soon enough as 1/2 of
Sonny & Cher. (I wonder why this record date wasn't touched
on in the recent Sonny & Cher TV movie? Not that the record
was all that important, it's just that the script made it
seem as though Spector never recorded Cher.)
After their very productive stint with Phil (check out
"Stumble & Fall" by Darlene Love!), A&P signed on with
Leiber & Stoller's Red Bird label and released three
singles as the Tradewinds. All great sides, but only "New
York's a Lonely Town" was a chart success. The B-side,
"Club Seventeen" is clever, and the second single, "Girl
>From Greenwich Village" is almost as good as "New York's a
Lonely Town". Their third single, however, "Summertime
Girl", was different. It starts in what might be judged as
a Surfer Girl/West Coast ballad type groove, but as soon as
it hits the latter part of the first verse, it turns into
pure East Coast pop with major 7 chords and a Charles
Calello-like vocal arrangement. It was a sign of things to
come. (You might know Summertime Girl from the cover version
by Salt Water Taffy, a single on Metromedia produced by Rob
McBrian. Rob apparently was the engineer on the Tradewinds
sessions and suggested the song to Salt Water Taffy).
Anders & Poncia moved to Artie Ripp's label Kama Sutra, and
somehow they were able to include the New York's a Lonely
Town master on the Kama Sutra Tradewinds album. As much as
I adore that record, it was out of place on the Tradewinds
"Mind Excursion" album. Music was changing so rapidly at
the time that the surf sound was decidely dated by the
time the psychedlic "Mind Excursion" hit the airwaves.
I recommend all three Red Bird singles by the Tradewinds,
and both the Tradewinds and Innocence Kama Sutra albums.
There is another release too, called "Anders & Poncia
Rarities", and it is essential. It has the Anders & Poncia
single "So It Goes", "Sunrise Highway" single by Peter
Anders, a great version of "Down When It's Up-Up When It's
Down" by Lou Christie, and, arguably the best Innocence
track ever, "The Day Turns Me On".
>From Brill Building Girl Group to psyche-soft pop, Anders
and Poncia, in a very short span, recorded a suprising
number of top notch pop records.
Sooper highly recommended!
All the best,
Jamie
N.P. (I Just Go) Wild Inside (Spector/Poncia/Andreoli) - The Barons
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Subject: Old Tune, New Words
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: WILLIAM STOS, xxxet.com
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
I recently listened to the Caravelles "You Are Here," and
finally put my finger on where I had heard that song
before, Robin Ward's "Winter's Here."
Not being alive back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, I was
wondering how common it was to use a tune and write new
lyrics to it. Darlene Love recorded "Christmas Baby Please
Come Home," and "Johnny Baby Please Come Home," and the
Saphires did it with "Slow Fizz," and "Baby You've Got Me."
What other examples are out there?
Will
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Stereo/mono/phasing
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: Doc Rock, docxxx.com
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
Want to have some fun and hear your old records a new way
while learning about things being out of phase?
Everyone has played with their stereo records (and CDs) by
turing the balance control all the way to the left or the
right and listening to the details of each channel. It's
fun to eliminate one side completely and play mixing
engineer. (That's why Spector hated stereo -- the ability
it gave the fan to mess with his wall.)
Many of you have also flipped the stereo-mono switch on
the amp to mono while playing a stereo record and heard
the center material move up slightly in the mix. Also fun.
Well, here is a variation on all this. Get a spare phono
plug wire. That's the wire used to connect your turntable
or CD player to your amp. Cut it in two. Use a knife to
remove the insulation at the two cut ends and bare the
wires. There will be two wires inside the one, probably
one in the center and the other around that one. Now,
twist the bare wires back together. But instead of
reattaching the center to the center and the outer to the
outer, switch them. Attach the center wire from one half
to the outer wire of the other half, and vice versa. This
is called splicing.
Now unhook one channel of your turntable, CD player, or
tape deck from your amp. Use the newly spliced wire to
reconnect that one channel. Now you have two channels,
left and right, that are out of phase! (Just like the
Mamas and Papas stuff we've been discussing.)
Last, play a stereo record or CD or tape. Anything will do,
but it is best of the lead vocal is in the center of the
stereo mix. First, listen with the stereo mono switch in
the stereo position. Sounds normal, eh?
Now flip the stereo mono switch to mono. Voila! The lead
vocal (or whatever was in the center) disappears!
'Cause it was out of phase!
(If your amp does not have a stereo-mono switch, you can
use a y-connector to get mono.)
Don't worry. This won't damage your equipment -- or your
ears! But you can have fun singing along with the
vocal-less tracks! (There may also be a 60-cycle hum, but
that's OK, too.)
Doc
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Subject: Sweetening on Mamas And Papas
Received: 05/16/99 10:18 pm
>From: Paul Urbahns, Pauluxxxcom
To: Spectropop List, spectxxxities.com
In a message dated 5/14/99 3:10:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
spectxxxities.com writes:
> The good
> news is that the original mono 45 version (with the horns
> and extra verse at the end) is now on CD from Varese
> Sarabande's "On The Radio Volume 3". I wonder why they
> left the horns off when they mixed it in stereo for the
> "Deliver" album. Wierd.
I always thought the album came out first and they
sweetened the track for single release because It would
not have done anything if issued as the album track.
It was a common practice in the 60s.
Paul Urbahns
pauluxxxcom
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