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Volume #0274 June 15, 1999
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Radio Caroline - The all day Music Station
Subject: I'm Cryin' too
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Ron Bierma, ELRONxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
In a message dated 6/13/99 2:19:33 PM, spectroxxxxies.com writes:
>I seem to recall someone else having a crack at that
>tune (Crying) in the late 70's (?) and also turning
>in a feather-weight version. It became a hit I think.
That was ole Don "the day the music died" McLean's entry
into the country charts. It may have even crossed over to
the pop charts.
El
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Subject: John's Children again--Stewart & Jamie
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: haoleboy, kxxxxoy.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Jamie LePage wrote:
> btw, love the White Whale single by Brit band
>John's Children "Smashed! Blocked!"...
Stewart & Jamie,
I was a heavy T-Rex collector in the sixties and seventies.
I had "Smashed! Blocked!" in my collection for a time
until another collector gave me an obscene amount of money
for it. Why do I keep thinking Marc Bolan & John's
Children????
kana
Eddie Would Go!
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Subject: John's Children
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Jamie LePage, le_page_xxxxies.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Stewart Mason wrote:
>I own John's Children's THE LEGENDARY ORGASM ALBUM, a
>reissue on Cherry Red of an album released by White Whale
>in 1968. ORGASM is 12 studio cuts covered with tapes of
>hysterical screaming (legend has it that the screaming is
>from A HARD DAY'S NIGHT) to simulate a live album.
I have this Cherry Red release as well. It is such a
dismal album. Its "legendary" status seems to have been
achieved through the stories of Napier Bell using screams
from the Beatles' movie soundtrack and the fact that this
obscure British band's sole LP release was only released
in US on White Whale. When I wrote "I know little about
White Whale," I actually had the Orgasm album in mind. How
in the heck did White Whale end up with John's Children?
>Cherry Red reissued the album, with both sides of the
>"Smashed Blocked"/"Just What You Want, Just What You'll
>Get" single appended.
But I am nearly certain the B-Side on the US White Whale
single was not Just What You Want..., it was something
out-of-character for the band, almost a novelty song.
Anyone recall the title? I don't think I have seen it on
any CD reissues.
>...listening to this song twice in a row right now, no
>way is this Hal, Carol and company.
You are right; this is NOT a typical Hal Blaine, Steve
Douglas, Carol Kaye Gold Star sound. I agree with your
analysis of the production, too, but I DO believe the
"legend" that this particular example of freakbeat came
from the session players of Los Angeles (this part of the
legend is congruous with Napier Bell's faking a live album
due to his belief that the real band was incompetent). I
have seen both stories printed as fact several times;
particularly in Brian Hogg's unambiguous telling of these
stories in the liner notes to JC's "Midsummers Night's
Scene" comp.
>Whoever is playing this record is either extremely stoned
>or borderline incompetent. This is not a bad thing, as
>it's a wonderful example of freakbeat, as appealing in
>its way as anything by the Creation.
I always heard the extremely-stoned-to-the-point-of-
incompetence feel of the record as contrived and
orchestrated. I guess I reached that conclusion by
comparing Smashed! Blocked! to recordings by REALLY stoned
and incompetent musicians. ;-) Also, as endearing as the
rest of the John's Children recordings are, nothing else
the band did approached the production sensibilities in
Smashed! Blocked! I really hope someone on the list can
provide a bit more background on this unique recording.
Finally, I have to agree with Stewart again. John's
Children and Creation have similar yet distinctive appeal.
Each of these bands produced only a small body of works,
but each in its own way was among the best of the genre.
Jamie
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Subject: Landlocked
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Ron Bierma, ELRONxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
In a message dated 6/13/99 2:19:33 PM,
spectroxxxxies.com writes:
>The person selling Landlocked claims it's pristine vinyl
>from Brother Records. How? I didn't think any of them made
>it to production. A cleverly disguised boot?
I have this album. It is definitely a boot. It may say
Brother on the label, but it is not a legit release.
El
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Subject: Re: Soft rock essentially Californian?
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: DJ JimmyB, DJJimmyxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
In a message dated 6/13/99 3:20:13 PM, you wrote:
>BTW, is it a coincidence that soft rock essentially is a
>Californian type of music?
On one hand I'd have to agree. But preparing a broadcast
devoted to this sound has made me think about that one
hand washing the other. I see Soft Rock as having a
pendulum-like application. On the Left Side (repping the
Left Coast) you see the Folk-Rocky Mamas & Papas type and
on the Right Side you see the Blue-Eyed Soulful type like
Keith, Buckinghams (admittedly from Chicago), even SOME
Four Seasons. The sound seems to run the gamut between
those two types of sound with Pure Pop influenced by rock
right in the middle. I have found the best stuff to be the
obscure albums by failed groups trying to cash in with
both a soft rock sound and an alternative culture look,
with overly-hippie type song titles.
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Subject: Re: Randy/Elephant 6/etc.
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Stewart Mason, flamixxxxom
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Tobias asks:
>Oh yes! Again, Harpers Bizarre did a wonderful version of
>Snow as well, but I haven't heard anyone else's recording
>of the song. Hey, why did so many artists cover Randy
>Newman in the sixties? When you think about it, he was
>totally unknown until Nilsson recorded his album of Newman
>songs in..was it 1971? Newman must've had a lot of music
>industry contacts because his first album sold only a
>thousand copies when it came out!
Specifically, Harpers Bizarre recorded Randy's music
because their producer/mentor, Lenny Waronker (son of
Simon, head of Liberty Records, and father of Joey, Beck
and R.E.M.'s drummer, and the lovely Anna, former singer
in That Dog) has been Randy Newman's best friend since
they were kids.
More generally, so many people covered Randy Newman's
songs because that was his job -- he wrote songs for
Metric Music, which I believe was owned by Liberty Records
(his pal Lenny's influence again).
http://www.randynewman.com
has a great article elaborating Randy's 60s career, at
Metric and elsewhere.
>BTW, I've been spinning non-stop the new Apples in Stereo
>CD recommended on this list (by I forgot who?). It is a
>fantastic example of the 60s sound, and the song
>Strawberry Delight (I think it's called, it's out in the
>car) would have been a smash FM song in 1967-69 era - WOW!!
>I LOVE this kind of stuff! This Schneider fellow from
>The Apples produces Olivia Tremor Control, and other music
>from his studio in Denver named Pet Sounds. He also has an
>early, adorable sounding, pre-Apples CD called Marbles.
That was me -- glad you're enjoying it! The Apples in
Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control are only the start of it.
Other bands in the Elephant 6 Recording Company collective
include: Neutral Milk Hotel, The Minders, The Music Tapes,
Beulah, Of Montreal, Secret Square, and Black Swan Network,
along with Robert's solo CD as Marbles. The music ranges
from Apples-like psych-pop (Secret Square, starring Apples
drummer/singer Hilarie Sidney, The Minders and Beulah) to
more challenging stuff (OTC, NMH) to fringey experiments
that either work or don't (just about everything else). If
HER WALLPAPER REVERIE catches your fancy, the other three
Apples CDs, The Minders' HOORAY FOR TUESDAY, Beulah's WHEN
YOUR HEARTSTRINGS BREAK, Olivia Tremor Control's BLACK
FOLIAGE: ANIMATION MUSIC and Neutral Milk Hotel's IN THE
AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA are the next most accessible
releases.
And I cannot believe a conversation about 60s hotties has
gone on for days and not one person has mentioned
Elizabeth Montgomery! What is *wrong* with you people?
Oh, and one final note: if the people who own the
publishing to Love's "She Comes In Colors" don't sue the
pants off Madonna for her current single, then copyright
law is officially meaningless.
Stewart
****************************FLAMINGO RECORDS**************************
Stewart Allensworth Mason
Box 40172 "How many 'He's Dead, Jim' headlines
Albuquerque NM 87196 do you suppose we'll see?"
www.rt66.com/~flamingo
**********************HAPPY MUSIC FOR NICE PEOPLE*********************
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Subject: Total Heart Throb True Confessions
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Jimmy Cresitelli, Jimmyxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Patty or Cathy, you ask? Definitely Cathy. Somehow she was
... prettier. Sweeter. I've got a couple of Patty's LPs,
too... really couldn't sing, so they quadruple-tracked her
! Her description of the records she made, in her book "
Call Me Anna," are hilarious. Shelley and Annette weren't
much better, but back then we were buying dance records,
not voices... go figure! I also saw that Patty Duke reunion
show... I thought it was pretty dismal, sad to say. That
totally sophomoric script! How labored. And Pop-o looks
the same; good old Uncle Martin! It's nice to know that
some things never change.
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Subject: Tuesday Weld...
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Robert Charles-Dunne, xxxxt.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Hey, hey y'all:
About 25 years ago I did an interview with Alice Cooper,
in which he used the word 'sexy.' I asked for his
definition, to which he IMMEDIATELY replied: "Tuesday Weld
in a dirty slip." Some things are hard to forget...
Check her out with James Caan in "Thief." Her character
was a hard-as-nails babe who'd been around the block a
number of times, but she still conveyed the same guileless
beauty... even without the dirty slip.
Robert Charles-Dunne
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Subject: Kam Nelson
Received: 06/15/99 1:04 am
From: Andrew Spellman, spellxxxxcom
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Anyone from the LA area remember the show _Groovy_ with
Robert W. Morgan hosting? Ah, to return to the halcyon
days of Kam Nelson dancing to "Crystal Blue Persuasion"
with the TV camera poised just below the hem line!
Sorry for retro un-PC-ness! :)
spellmax
>What is this, True Confessions? I nominate Barbara Eden..
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