Spectropop V#0284

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   Volume #0284                              July 1, 1999   
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This recording may be played on Monaural or Stereo equipment




Subject:     Elusive Butterflies
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 21:19:03
From:        DJJimmyxxxxm
To:          Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com


I have recently re-developed a fascination with Bob
Lind's "Bright Elusive Butterfly Of Love". Not only are
the lyrics charmingly and naively 6T's
Hippie-Sensibility bordering on the exploitative, but the
melody and arrangement of the song are in a room of their
own. I have begun a search for cover versions of this
particularly confusing/endearing song. So far I have
found Jane Morgan doing a "standard"-style presentation
of it. Not only is it reduced to absurdity as a Peggy Lee
type tune, Jane Morgan's outfit on the LP cover makes her
appear as a male transvestite with the ultra-platinum
hair and the dark, nearly black eyes! Draped in Faux
White Fur, she seems to be headlining a TV act in
Provincetown  (on Ol' Cape Cod). The other version I
discovered is The Lettermen's interp. on the LP "Hurt So
Bad" on Capitol which features the gentlemen of letters
out of their trad v-neck sweater garb with hair now
growing BELOW their ears! The whole LP cover screams,
"There's something happening here.." (but what it is, i
am quite sure, the Lettermen are unclear about). My
question, and I do have one, is, Does anyone know of any
other covers of "Elusive Butterfly"? And if not, does 
anyone know of any other bizarre cover versions of pop 
songs? Perhaps we can start a thread.

Jimmy Botticelli

"Jimmy's Easy" airs on WMBR-FM, 88.1 in Cambridge, MA on
Tuesdays from 6-8 a.m. To hear WMBR on the web in real
time, download Real Audio (its free) and go to
www.wmbr.org

--------------------[ archived by Spectropop]--------------------

Subject:     Doc Rock/Diane Renay - fanzines
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 12:07:06
From:        "WILLIAM STOS" 
To:          "Spectropop List" 

Doc Rock wrote:

>Well, I  for one have been keeping a log of commercials that 
> use oldies. I started keeping track in 1978.

What would you say is the most popular song used in
jingles?  My guess would be Wild Thing. 

Diane Renay wrote:

>I would like to ask about the Girl Group Gazette and the 
>other oldies publications you mentioned. What are these? I 
>have never heard of them.

The Girl Group Gazette and other publications like Cha
Cha Charming, and Philately and That Will Never Happen
Again are fanzines.  They cater to groups of music
collectors who can't get enough of a certain kind of
music, in this case, girl groups/Spector/oldies.  They
have articles about artists, styles, etc.  They usually
have a lot of hard to find info and memorabillia.

Actually, you are pictured in the first issue of Cha Cha
Charming on the back cover.  It looks like the photo used
on your album cover.  Inside there is another phot of you
while Sheila B (author/editor of Cha Cha Charming)
writes:

"Another blonde with a similar name [to Diane Ray], Diane
Renay had two national hits, released an album, and
disappeared soon after putting out a number of
unsuccessful teenpop discs.  While Miss Ray had a mad
crush on a lifeguard, Miss Renay gave her heart and soul
to the sailor.  On the cover of her 1964 LP "Navy Blue,"
Diane appears dressed in a sailor suit gripping onto a
lifesaver.  Surprisingly the whole sailor gimmick worked
as "Kiss Me Sailor," and "Navy Blue," were her only two
songs to chart nationally. Fortunately for Diane, she got
to work with Bob Crewe (of the Four Seasons) who produced
and wrote some smashing records for the girl groups.
Crewe was responsible for most of Diane's best records
("Unbelievable Guy," Watch Out Sally," "Kiss Me Sailor")."

I'm not sure about the other fanzines, but Cha Cha
Charming was very well done.  You can find Sheila's small
web page at http://www.chachacharming.com
 Her latest

passion is Japanese pop and 60s Japanese girl groups, but
the second issue of Cah Cha Charming has more girl group
stuff too.  I couldn't tell you about those other
fanzines because I have yet to order them, although Mick
Patrick runs Philately and That Will Never Happen Again,
and he is an incredibly reliable source for girl group
info!

Glad to see you back Diane!  Hope your husband is doing
well.  The biography I wrote for you a while back will be
put up on my page along with my next series of updates!

Your pal, 

Will


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Subject:     First 8 bars
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 12:17:40
From:        "WILLIAM STOS" 
To:          "Spectropop List" 

And Diane,that`s interesting what you mention about using
the first 8 bars=no royalties.

Here's something a little interesting.  On my radio
station, we're allowed to play the first 30 seconds of a
song without writing it down on our playlists.  How long
are most commercials?  30 seconds!  This could mean a
company could get away with using a song and not paying
any royalties!  I don't know about other stations, but it
seems pretty silly to me.  My intro music (Out To Getcha
by the Mayfield Players is never listed thoguh I play
part of it every week).  Hmmm... any thoughts.

Will


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Subject:     whereabout of Bones Howe
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 13:48:14
From:        delila lacevic 
To:          spectroxxxxies.com


As of about 18 months ago, Bones had an office at Rondor
Music in LA where I met him briefly - nice guy!  He was
working on soundtracks/movie consulting, that sort of
thing.  On the walls of his office were loads of gold
records - the Association, Fifth Dimension in particular.
You might try Rondor Music (sorry, don't have the number
handy) - although I vaguely remember hearing that he was
no longer there.  But they're generally pretty nice about
providing info, and as I'm sure he has an office
somewhere, they would probably give you a new number.
Good luck!

John


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Subject:     Re: Bones Howe
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 19:13:58
From:        docroxxxxom
To:          spectroxxxxies.com

>Does anybody know of the current whereabouts of Bones Howe?

I can give you his address and phone.  Write me,
DocRoxxxxom

Doc


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Subject:     Bones
Received:    07/01/99 2:28 am
From:        Carol Kaye, carolkxxxxink.net
To:          Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com

Mike White, 

I've just let Bob Alcivar know about your request. Bob 
arranged most of the 5th Dimension (if not all) hits for 
Bones back in the 60s.....a wonderful man, also a great 
arranger (did some of the Manhattan Transfer, also I 
worked for him for his great arranging (vocal and band) of
the "Let It Be" Bud Shank lp in 1968 and movie "Butterflies
Are Free". You should be hearing from him, am trying to get
him on this list too. He expressed interest in it at lunch 
today. Good luck.

Bob Alcivar's email is: balcixxxxink.net his website
is at (new site): http://www.alcivarmusic.com/


Carol Kaye http://www.carolkaye.com/


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Subject:     novelty exotica vs. "serious" exotica and VDP
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 15:49:00
From:        wuo0xxxx.se (Stig O'Hara)
To:          Spectropop List 

Jamie LePage wrote:

>I agree with you, but remember this Tiki Sampler is just
>what it claims to be: a sampler. There are many solid CD
>reissues that do justice to the genre. Besides, if the
>novelty aspect loops in enough "new" fans, it will help
>justify more exotica reissues. No market - no release.

Yes, but who says the public would rather go for the
novelty stuff than the "serious" music? I mean, you are
definitely right in a way. Novelty artists like The Mike
Flowers Pops probably did help Burt Bacharach and Jimmy
Webb become popular again in the '90s (remember, it
wasn't many years ago people would laugh at you if you
said you liked Bacharach!) and a lot of people probably
wouldn't have come across that type of music otherwise,
but...hmmm, when you think about it, it's not as if the
innovators of the genres this list is dedicated to made
really difficult music. That's why I don't really
understand yr point in this case. You don't need novelty
exotica to form a platform for Martin Denny or Bacharach,
both are already "easy listening" enough in most people's
ears! Besides, few people could tell Bacharach apart from,
say, (*shudder*), Klaus Wunderlich. It's the same type of
music in the minds of most people: easy listening

Sorry about the rant :)

Actually, if you are reading this, Brad Elliott, if you
ever get around to interview Brian Wilson some more for
the BB reissues, it'd be great if you could ask him about
Martin Denny/Arthur Lyman/Les Baxter. People are always
going "oh, Phil Spector and The Four Freshmen" when they
talk about Brian's influences but listening to Pet Sounds
and most notably Smile, it IS obvious Brian must've
listened to some of these exotica artists! It'd make an
interesting footnote in the reissue-booklet atleast :)

I'd love to hear Carol Kaye's opinion about these exotica
artists as well. I know you come from a jazz background
and a lot of people in the jazz world thought the likes
of Martin Denny and Les Baxter were "sell outs"...you
know, they supposedly made cheesy commercialized watered
down jazz...not that I'd agree with that, though!

[VDP] 
>such an outburst. So instead I yelled out "Do 'Come to the
>Sunshine'!" (just kidding).

You should've done that! Man, I was *so* let down when
the Song Cycle reissue came out and CTTS wasn't
included....I never understood that, why all his sixties'
singles were left off...

Tobias


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Subject:     Re: commercials 
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 12:34:36
From:        Stewart Mason  
To:          Spectropop List 

Robert Charles-Dunne wrote:

>The second issue, and this one REALLY burns ME up, is the 
>Vege-matic method employed to cull just the bits of a song 
>they want to use, and what is excised in theprocess. A 
>couple of blatant examples of late: Tampax is using The 
>Zombies' "Time Of The Season" as a backdrop to pop-
>festival footage that ends with the payoff 'Tampax Was 
>There,' or words to that effect. Trouble is, Tampax has 
>managed to erase a couple of lines of lyric in its hurry 
>to hit the verse and stay within the 30 second time frame. 
>Same with a recent Kinks song, in which several pre-chorus 
>lines were lost, all for the sake of brevity.

These can be annoying, yes, but what about the Budweiser
ad from a couple years ago that used the Ramones'
"Blitzkrieg Bop," not-so-subtly excising that troublesome
"Shoot 'em in the back now" line?  I can only imagine
what the pitch session for this ad was like: "Okay, we're
going to get the Jewish Anti-Defamation League on our
case about this and they won't care that at least half
the band are Jewish themselves.  Hey, what if we just
used the Sex Pistols' 'God Save the Queen'?  It's not a
commercial for the UK market, so it's not like she'll
ever *see* it..."  You really have to wonder what people
are thinking sometimes.

At least it was Budweiser using the song.  If Coors had
been using "Blitzkrieg Bop," they not only would have
left the song intact, they would have made "shoot 'em in
the back now" the tag line for the entire campaign.   (Note: unless, like me, you grew up in Colorado in
the 70s, you might not remember the antics of those wacky
John Birchers the Coors boys, but that's a long story and
one not entirely appropriate for this forum.)

I guess it comes down to not only if the song is being
used appropriately, but if it's being used *right*.  You
might have seen the new AT&T ads for their 00 Info
function, kind of like a national version of 411.  The
commercial's tag is a re-recording of the chorus of
Pilot's "Magic."  Now, "Oh oh, it's magic" is a perfectly
logical tag for a service where you dial 0 twice and get
a number for anyplace in the country without knowing the
area code, but to those of us who have memories of and
feelings for the original, to hear something other than
"Oh oh OH, it's magic" sounds jarring and weird, which
makes us say, "hey, that's not right," which clears the
commercial right out of our short-term memory.  It's
counter-productive.

Stewart

***************************FLAMINGO RECORDS*************************
                                 
Stewart Allensworth Mason     
Box 40172                     "New Mexico: We stuff our dead
Albuquerque NM 87196           governors into fireworks displays!"
www.rt66.com/~flamingo        
                                 
*********************HAPPY MUSIC FOR NICE PEOPLE********************


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Subject:     TV Jingles and "The Glass Bottle" 
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 17:47:41
From:        "James F.  Cassidy"  
To:          spectroxxxxies.com


All this talk about TV commercials and pop songs brings
to mind one of the weirder intersections of pop and
commerce, The Glass Bottle, which some US list members
may remember from around '68/'69 (?).

US glass manufacturers decided to put out a TV spot aimed
at youth to promote glass bottles as a superior beverage
container (vs. aluminum cans). They apparently figured
they could win the kids over by putting their pitch in
the mouths of a fictional musical group called "The Glass
Bottle" (the people were real; only the group was fake),
an appropriately ethnically diverse bunch of long-haired
(but neat!) young people in bellbottoms, headbands, Afros,
etc.

In the commercial, the group sang a sincere, deeply felt
tune extolling the virtues of glass.  The spot must have
appeared often, because I still remember both the tune
and the sublimely ridiculous lyrics:

"Soft drinks taste great in a bottle (BKGD: It's uncanny)
You see the color in front of your eyes, (BKGD: It's
uncanny) It's such a snap 'cause you can re-cap them, And
bottles come in every shape and size!

ANTHEMIC CHORUS: It's uncanny how many ways bottles are
really sayin' something! It's uncanny how many ways
bottles are sayin' something great!"

The weirdest part of all is that they even went so far as
to put out a Glass Bottle album, which I remember seeing
in cutout bins.  No, I never heard it, and I can't
remember if it included "You Cap-tivate Me," "Spin the
Bottle," "Twelve Ounces of Joy," or other such tunes.

Jim Cassidy


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Subject:     Brian Wilson on A&E 
Sent:        29 Jun 1999 09:36:22
From:        chuck  
To:          spectroxxxxies.com

I caught the Brian Wilson 2 hour special on A & E last
week and I was very pleased with how they handled it.  I
especially enjoyed Van Dyke Parks being interviewed today
and in scenes from the Smile sessions.   Over all they
went into a lot of objective detail about Brian.  At the
end they spoke of his recent releases and forgot to
mention VDP's album Orange Crate Art where Brian sings
the songs.

It was a wonderful surprise last year to have VDP release
his live album.  I really enjoyed VDP doing songs off of
Orange Crate Art.  Jamie you are so lucky to share
conversation with him.  My favorite VDP album is Tokyo
Rose and my favorite song by him is the Datsun car
commercial off of a Warner Bros sampler album in the
early 70's.

Easy listening in the Big Easy Chuck


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Subject:     Pet Sounds & Pet Sounds
Received:    07/01/99 2:28 am
From:        Jamie LePage, le_page_xxxxies.com
To:          Spectropop List, spectroxxxxies.com


Hey all,

I just received the brand new Pet Sounds reissue and have a
few comments.

First, this has to be the definitive edition. Of course, the
Sessions Box is wonderful, and I refer to it rather often,
but for the pure essence of the album, this single disc edition
is tops. The wonderful liner notes are written by (fellow 
Spectropper) Brad Elliott. Not opinionated or one-sided,
they give details that music fans most often can only dream 
about, and they are written in the style of a true music 
historian. I must say it's a little spooky to see Brad's notes
formatted in (basically) the same graphic lay out used for 
David Leaf's notes on the first Linett reissue, though!

The inclusion of the original unedited mono mix and the 
edited and remixed stereo mix make the debate over which 
is preferable an insignificant point. Take your choice. 
Better yet, have them both. Lately I have been listening 
to the tracks Let's Go Away for Awhile and Pet Sounds 
(thanks to Toby's comparing them to Baxter and Denny). Now 
with two complete versions of each on this CD, I am 
listening all over again. These two instrumental tracks 
are among my fave Brian tracks. And I'll be darned if that
isn't Carol Kaye playing E-bass on both of 'em!

I noticed from the liners that Andrew Sandoval did the
transfers (as he has on the recent BB reissues). That's 
always a reassuring credit when deciding whether to buy a 
reissue CD. As usual, good work Andrew!

It won't be long until Brian Wilson comes to my neck of
the woods to play with Jeffrey and the Wondermints, and 
I am rather excited after reading all the great reviews 
of his recent East Coast shows. Now with the new Pet 
Sounds, it's "Back to the Beach!"

Aloha, Baby!

Jamie
n.p. Four Freshmen and Five Trombones - Angel Eyes


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