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Volume #0280 June 25, 1999
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Viva-tonal Recording - The Records without Scratch
Subject: Daniel from Zagreb: Dobro Dan !
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Jimmy Cresitelli, Jimmyxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Dobro dan and Welcome-- nice to see such a distant
correspondent on the list! My top ten from the good old
days, in no particular order except for my # 1:
1. Da Doo Ron Ron-- The Crystals. A classic; Spector
achieved a kind of aural perfection with this little gem.
2. Ooh Chang-A-Lang-- The Orchids. It storms and churns
along relentlessly...
3. Oh Donnie-- The Secrets. A cool number from one of the
best girl groups ever.
4. I Wonder Why-- The Chiffons. To me, this song IS the
sound of 1963.
5. Little Boy-- The Georgettes. Chirpy and simple, but has
never left my listener's psyche for some odd reason.
6. Then He Kissed Me-- The Crystals. More perfection from
Phil and La La.
7. Usher Boy-- Merry Clayton. Features Merry tearing up a
movie theatre with that voice and that attitude, looking
for her boyfriend...
8. I Only Want to Be With You-- Dusty Springfield. A
winner.
9. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me-- Dusty Springfield.
Another winner.
10. The Boy I'm Gonna Marry-- Darlene Love. Take me to
church, Darlene!
Daniel, this list of mine is flexible, and changes easily,
but these are the 10 that first came to mind today. Hope
all is well in your country. I hope and pray that peace
will guide the Balkans completely one day.
Hvala!
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Subject: Re: top-10 list
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: DJ JimmyB, DJJimmyxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
In a message dated 6/22/99 7:35:36 PM, you wrote:
>Please, would you be so kind and make top-10 list your
>favourites songs and artist from the Sixties.
Welcome to the list and I hope your show survives. Asking
me to name my top-10 all timers from the 6T's is beyond my
ability to do. It changes week to week as I still buy 5-10
used LPs weekly and always find something new and exciting
that I've never heard before. As long as this continues my
mental health will remain somewhat intact......
Jimmy Botticelli
"Jimmy's Easy" airs on WMBR-FM, 88.1 in
Cambridge, MA USA on Tuesdays at 6-8am EST.
WMBR can be heard on its website at www.wmbr.org
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Subject: earl vs. hal
Received: 06/23/99 8:48 am
From: Jack Madani, Jack_Madxxxx2.nj.us
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
spectroxxxxies.com writes:
>BTW, I wanted to clarify it that it was Earl Palmer (not
>Hal Blaine) who cut the "Hold Me Thrill Me" on drums for
>our Mel Carter hit.
>
>I got that mixed up but just got the verification from
>Russ Wapensky (see my Message Board for some hits by Earl
>Palmer, Jan & Dean stuff too) who has the authentic
>Musicians Union studio musicians' contracts on his data
>base.
Carol, I bow to your superior knowledge, but it *does* say
in Hal's book that it was Hal. I also add that that
gradually crescendo-ing eighth note sequence that happens
so often in HMTMKM does seem to be of a piece with other
things Hal has done. However, if you say the contracts
indicate it was Earl Palmer, then I believe you.
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Subject: la la la and wo wo
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: james fisher, JHFAxxxxnet
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Dave Feldman's description of Bobby Rydell's Forget Him as
a "boy's girl group song" is perfect....I think Bobby might
have been even more popular, and longer-lived, in Australia
than he was here,along with Del Shannon and perhaps Gene
Pitney.We just loved 'em. These guys were still hot
tickets down there even after those long-haired, scruffy
looking Englishmen had come along and chased them off the
charts here in the US...the above trio were eclipsed --at
least for a short time--by another American import--Crash
Craddock ("All the way from the USA!!!!" the posters used
to boast and that alone would get you an audience,the
local talent being just a bit too, well, local.) ...my
question is---does anyone even remember Crash?? I'm told
he went over to Country after the boom lowered but I mean
from his old rock' n' roll days,around '61/'62. He was
going to be the Next Elvis but he sank without a trace and
had vanished even before The Beatles came along to deliver
the coup de grace...I hope some Spectropopers remember him
...Doc?
Regards,
Jim
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Subject: Pionerrs of Rock 'n' Roll
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Jimmy Cresitelli, Jimmyxxxxm
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Shelby Riggs, this sounds great! It reminds me back in the
early 70s, when the groups began touring the "oldies
circuit," and the lists of them appearing in the New York
papers... some shows were called "Battle of the Girl
Groups," for example, and would feature the Crystals,
Chiffons, Chantels, Del Rons, etc. all on one bill... I
have an original ad somewhere. Your show is on a much
larger scale, of course. Maybe we can gather together a
"Spectropoppers Bus" and all go out there together! Now
will check out your site... good luck!
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Subject: Re: Joanie
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Brad Elliott, surfxxxxline.net
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxIES.COM
CLAUDIA CUNNINGHAM wrote:
>What has become of Joanie Somers, she of "Pink Shoe Laces"
>and "One Boy"?
>
>The last I heard she was on a Coke jingle about 25 years
>ago!
As far as I know, Joanie's last recording was a duet with
Beach Boy Mike Love -- "Paradise Found" on his 1981 solo
set, LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE. No joke!
Surf's up!
Brad
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Subject: Re: Lilys
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Stewart Mason, flamixxxxom
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Dave Mirich wrote:
>Stewart, I'm surprised that you didn't mention the Lilys
>when you were talking about the Elephant 6 stable of
>groups with the '60s pop sound. It is an exceptionally
>well done first effort. I guess with a singer from England,
>you can't go wrong;)
As Tobias pointed out, Kurt Heasley -- who for all
intensts and purposes *is* the Lilys -- is actually from
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also home of the group Suddenly,
Tammy!, whose 1995 album WE GET THERE WHEN WE DO is highly
highly recommended to fans of early-70s soft pop; mostly
because of leader Beth Sorrentino's beautiful and
prominent piano, the easy comparison is Carole King's solo
work.
However, The Lilys' most recent album is actually their
sixth release, following IN THE PRESENCE OF NOTHING (1992),
which features most of Suddenly, Tammy! as Heasley's
backing band, A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMAZING LETDOWNS (1994),
ECCSAME THE PHOTON BAND (1995), BETTER CAN'T MAKE YOUR
LIFE BETTER (1996, reissued 1998 in the UK) and SERVICES
FOR THE SOON TO BE DEPARTED (1997). The first three are
quirky guitar-pop in a fairly standard '90s indie fashion,
but it sounds to me like sometime just before he started
writing BETTER CAN'T MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER, Kurt Heasley
discovered freakbeat. BETTER is a dead-on recreation of
flower-power London, mixing THE WHO SELL OUT, SOMETHING
ELSE BY THE KINKS, and the early singles by the Move and
the Creation so completely that you can't tell where one
influence ends and the next begins. If those names mean
anything at all to you, you'll want to hear BETTER CAN'T
MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER.
Our UK friends have probably heard this album even if they
don't realize it: the single "A Nanny In Manhattan" was
used in a Levi's ad there in 1997 and quickly became a Top
5 hit as a result.
Stewart
***************************FLAMINGO RECORDS*************************
Stewart Allensworth Mason "I've been doing things that would
Box 40172 make Caligula stand on a chair
Albuquerque NM 87196 and go eek."
www.rt66.com/~flamingo
*********************HAPPY MUSIC FOR NICE PEOPLE********************
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Subject: Re: Spectropop V#0279
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Derrick Bostrom, bostwoxxxxerve.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Spectropop List, of spectroxxxxies.com, wrote, on 6/22/99 4:35 PM:
>To me it
>seems like as if the Al Jolsons and Fred Astaires of yore
>didn't have the constant pressure to "score a hit" and
>then release a just as successful "follow-up" hit, and on
>and on and on....
Perhaps not, but you can be the songwriters did.
Back then, the biz was more focused on sheet music than it is now!
Derrick Bostrom
bostwoxxxxerve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bostworld/
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Subject: Re: the concept of hits
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Big L, bixxxxmail.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
The Babushka Lady said:
>We talk a lot about hits on this list...
>...has the music industry always been as focused on making
>hits as it seemingly has from the sixties and onwards. Do
>you older listees (50 or older) remember if the term "hits"
>was used so extensively during yr childhoods? To me it
>seems like as if the Al Jolsons and Fred Astaires of yore
>didn't have the constant pressure to "score a hit" and
>then release a just as successful "follow-up" hit, and on
>and on and on....that whole concept, or frame of mind,
>begun with rock in the late fifties, as far as I can tell.
>..it was obviously there from the beginning but it wasn't
>as cynical, perhaps
I think the concept of charts and hit songs really didn't
take off until after WWII. I know there were hits before
that, like Artie Shaw having a hit with "Begin The Beguine."
However, what really spurred it on was the evolution of
Top 40 radio in the early and mid fifties. There were
charts before that, but with Top 40, it became more
important to actually MAKE the Top 40 to get airplay.
Making the Top 20 was better, and every artist had his
eyes set on te Top 10. Top 40 radio became sort of a
competition. If a group had a big hit, there was pressure
to follow it up with another one. Hits are what sold
albums. If it was good to have one big hit on your album,
then two was even better. You had groups that made lots of
hits, like the Beach Boys, putting out an album every six
months. It wasn't good to have TOO many hits on the album,
so as soon as two or three were in the can, an album was
rushed out.
I think that as the 70s wore on, hits became less
important. There was now FM radio, where songs that
weren't hits could get played. There was a fracturing of
"rock" and "Top 40" into lots of little niche formats. I
remember very well "K-108" in Sacramento, which was my
favorite station. It was a soft, or adult rock station.
When an album came out that fit the genre, they selected
two or three songs from it that they were going to play.
Thus, I heard cuts from Gerry Rafferty's "City To City"
album, like "Mattie's Rag," "Island," etc. that I would
never had heard on the AM Top 40s. Result - Gerry sold
another album.
I drifted away from Top 40 and contemporary radio in the
80s, so I really can't comment on much after that. I know
that "hits" can get played for six months now on CHR
radio. I find that concept extremely boring, as I find
contemporary music. The excitement of Top 40 radio was
waiting to hear the countdown, to see who would hit #1, to
hear the next "Pick Hit," the newest "Projection." 14
weeks was a marathon chart run in those days, and records
that made it to #1 were usaully the only ones that lasted
that long.
Anyway, that's my take on it.
==
Big L Check out my Radio Legends pages at:
bixxxxmail.com http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/9816
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Subject: VDP
Received: 06/25/99 1:08 am
From: Jamie LePage, le_page_wxxxxies.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com
Hey all,
British friends Corrine and Andy came into town today,
and I hooked up with them this afternoon at a local record
store. I was OK at first, just bought the new Ultra Lounge
comp from Capitol. But as time went on, I ended up spending
over $100 on stuff. Crazy. I hate it. I love it. Can't get
enough of it.
I got the Honeybus best CD on See For Miles. I had the
Honeybus album on tape, but I just had to get this on CD.
I Can't Let Maggie Go is essential. Additional purchases:
Os Mutantes' Everything is Possible (super highly
recommended by Brian Wilson musical director, Wondermints
member and Spectropopper Darian Sahanaja); Psychedelic
Sound of Blossom Toes, Volume 2 (which appears to be their
second album - 08 tracks); and The Medium is the Message by
Marshall McLuhan.
Anyway, afterwards we all went over to see Van Dyke Parks
play tonight. Just incredible. The high point for me was
his own version of Heroes and Villians. Hearing him do
this, I realized just how much he had to do with the
construction of the song. It almost seemed like a VDP
original rather than a BW song to which he set lyrics. He
also did Orange Crate Art which was fantastic. Another
highlight was a song called Cowboy. Country western meets
Hawaiian exotica. Brilliant! I was delighted that he
performed The All Golden as well. I hoped he would do
Come to the Sunshine, but who is to complain?!?
After the show Van Dyke sat down and talked with us for a
while. I mentioned his wonderful website put together by
fellow Spectropopper Don Richardson, and he was very
enthusiastic about it. If you haven't checked it out, by
all means please do. A labor of love, Don - you are the
greatest!
Van Dyke's backing band was legendary bassist Leland Sklar
(second only to our own Carol Kaye) and guitarist Grant
Geissman. Just a trio, and yes I missed the strings, but
as a three piece they were very relaxed and played well
together.
So there I am hanging out with Corrine, Andy, Leland and
Van Dyke Parks. I live for moments like these. It just
doesn't get any better.
Coming to you live from the Tiki Room - Aloha!
Jamie
n.p. Ultra Lounge
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