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Spectropop V#0372
From: The Spectropop Group
Date: 01/17/00
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Volume #0372 January 17, 2000
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a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free
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Subject: Soft Rock / Soft Pop
Received: 01/17/00 2:40 am
From: Timothy
To: Spectropop List
I have read with interest the Soft Rock debate over the
last few issues. The Searchers' "Sounds Like Searchers"
album (issued as "The New Searchers L.P.2 in the States)
could be easily classified as soft rock although they were
more usually classified as 'Merseybeat' in the U.K. and
'British Invasion' in the U.S. (not unsurprising since they
came out of Liverpool at the height of the Merseybeat /
Beatle boom).
In those days, drummer Chris Curtis was mainly responsible
for the musical direction of the band. After he left the
band in early 1966 he went into the production side of the
music business. He did a lot of work with Paul and Barry
Ryan and was responsible for their version of "I Love How
You Love Me".
Subject: Green Tambourine
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: Spector Collector
To: Spectropop List
I'm afraid that rather than solve Nat Kone's
"still-nagging mystery" regarding "Green Tambourine," Paul
Leka, The Lemon Pipers, and Peppermint Rainbow, I'm just
going to add another layer to it by mentioning that the
backing track is used yet again on Mrs. Miller's recording
of the tune on her Amaret Records album "Mrs. Miller Does
Her Thing." Just thought you'd like to know.
David
Subject: Hey Hey Hey! Ba-Ba-Bah-Bah! Boom! Boom! Crackin' Up!
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: jake tassell
To: Spectropop List
Hi
I'm going to hang wide of the 'Sunshine Pop' debate, apart
from to say this:- I'm not 'against' anything and I
actually like a lot of Ba-ba-ba-da Generation type discs
(I'm also a very big fan of 'Hey Hey Hey!' records too -
never heard a bad one, but that's another mood and genre
apart entirely, mood and genre hounds). I do prefer things
a little more on the Promethean side though (Prometheus -
Ancient Greek - stole the fire from the Heavens and was
thusly punished by Zeus who had him chained him to a rock,
while a giant bird pecked out his liver - much like our
holy prophet of the reverb - Saint Phillip!) but that's my
headset - you all go ahead and enjoy (or whatever the Latin
equivalent is).
The subject of Carol Kaye's bass-line on 'I Was Made to
Love Her' came up a couple of Spectro's ago and for an age
I've been meaning to make comment on what a delight it was
to hear it in all its naked, viscous, sculptural glory on
Carol's Website (and 'Bernadette' - I might add). These
awesome slices of hyper-rhythmic, horripilation-inspiring
(horripilation -a contraction of the cutaneous muscles
causing erection of the bodily hairs and goose-flesh; from
the Latin 'horrere' - to bristle, and 'pilus' - hair) bass
boom-boom are true ultra-vitalist gymnastic wonders that
sound even better in the raw than they did on the records.
Not sure if the 'Phil'-umentary is going to be shown in
the UK. Either way, let's hope it's not yet another one
where they round up anyone who ever crossed swords with
the guy and then waste one hour and thirty minutes pouring
bile, acid and sewage over his career, his methods, his
marriage, his character and his records in his eternally
conspicuous absence (these arguments always miraculously
vapourise when they have to play the records though!),
Which reminds me...
One thing I want to ask Spectropoppers is something I
asked The Joe Meek list a short while ago and got some
surprisingly interesting and very thoughtful responses to,
and that question is:- Why is it that so many of the key
figures (Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Joe Meek, Syd Barrett
etc.) in really 'out there', 'beyond it all', pioneering,
'I-can't-believe-I'm-hearing-this' type pop-music;
completely lose it, crack up or go mad after producing
their best works? I'm not convinced by the drug argument
and I don't think I've ever read a satisfactory
explanation of this phenomenon in any rock mag, book, or
TV documentary. I, for one, think this is the important
question about Phil Spector, about the nature of the pop
muse, about creativity in general and I'd welcome some
feedback on this.
Also how the *@%£**@ did Enya creep into all this???!!!
Jake 'I Can't Believe I'm Hearing This' Tassell
Subject: Re: We've all gone soft...but hopefully not in the head
Received: 01/17/00 2:40 am
From: Buffalo Bill Barnacle
To: Spectropop List
Jamie wrote:
>"Soft Sands" by Chordettes may be the very first
>record that embodies all the elements of soft pop. A great
>personal favorite. In the same vein but a bit later, let's
>not forget the British duo Caravelles. Neat stuff.
But if we should be really strict, shouldn't soft pop as a
genre exclude music made outside North America? 95% of
these bands remained seemingly uninfluenced by the gritty
British R&B invasion. Which is one of the reasons I like
this kind of music, because it revolted - non-violently
and with a smile, of course :-) - against that kind of
music. It is almost as if The Rolling Stones, so called
power trios and amphetamines never existed.
>>"Move with the Dawn" by Mark Eric
>
>Is this from the "Midsummer's Day Dream" album on Uni's
>Revue label? I've not heard Move With the Dawn, but I have
>heard "Laura's Changing"
"Laura is changing/she's almost a teen/she's starting to
act mature..."
LOL! That's another thing I like about soft pop, the
incredibly naive lyrics. All these groups were in their
twenties, at least, but many wrote lyrics like they had
barely kissed a girl...who knows? Maybe the soft pop genre
was invented by lonely men who couldn't find a date for the
prom :-)
>(new sub-genre=soft surf rock??).
It's not so much a sub-genre as one of the roots...the
essential 1965-68 soft pop music was pretty much one part
surf music, one part Brill Building, one part American
folk music and one part studio explorations. Do I sound
like a music critic on repeat?
And as for whoever it was who put Phil Spector and Enya (I
mean, ENYA!?!?!?!) in the same sentence....jeeeez!! Just
don't ever do it again, or I will have to inform a couple
of my friends in the poor side of town that some legs need
to broken, ok?
Il Padre T.
Subject: a lily white sound
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: DJ JimmyB
To: Spectropop List
In a message dated 1/16/0 12:16:47 AM, you wrote:
>"I'm Hypnotized" by Little Anthony & the
>Imperials - pure soft sunshine as per the above!
I'm curious, is this a Teddy Randazzo piece? And can soft
soul fit as a genre into Sunshine Pop? I don't believe so.
Somehow I get the impression that Sunshine Pop is a lily
white sound and Little Anthony, soft though he sang,
cannot be put into this category due to the soulfulness of
his work. What compilation, LP or whatever can this track
be heard on??
Thanks,
Jimmy Botticelli
still tryin' to nail down that Sunshine definition after
all this time
Subject: Thru Spray Colored Glasses
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: DJ JimmyB
To: Spectropop List
In a message dated 1/16/0 12:16:47 AM, you wrote:
>Dino, Desi & Billy (Dig "Thru Spray Colored Glasses" by
DD&B!).
Until you hear it by "The Match" Beyond belief...Truly...
Jimmy Botticelli
Subject: Re: American breed
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: Nat Kone
To: Spectropop List
At 02:21 PM 1/16/00 +0900, John Frank wrote:
>
>I haven't heard the one by American Breed. Will have to
>check it out. Anyone into uploading mp3s??
Since I'm the one who mentioned this version, I'm sorry to
say I don't have the technology for mp3's or CDR's either
for that matter. Still using good old-fashioned cassettes.
But this may be the year...
Nat
Subject: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sunshine
Received: 01/17/00 11:07 am
From: Jamie LePage
To: Spectropop List
Nat Kone wrote:
>some of my favourite soft pop bands were jumping on a
>bandwagon, though the wagon may not have had a label at
>the time. At least that's the impression I get from bands
>like Love Generation and Sunshine Company. Or maybe I'm
>just distracted by their names. But they give the
>impression that one week they were a Lettermen-clone and
>the next week they grew their hair and flashed peace signs.
I suppose many of these vocal groups were aspiring singers
fortunate enough to make a few records before returning to
jingle work, singing in the church choir or doing Top 40
in Holiday Inn lounges. But as usual, the labels certainly
jumped on the (ill-fated) bandwagon. How? By trying to sell
what was essentially adult contemporary pop music dressed
up in Nehru collars and love beads. Target the market that
bought "Never My Love" with more of the same. It should
have worked, and probably would have under the old rules.
But the youth market had come of age and rock albums were
eclipsing pop 45s as the most profitable music carrier.
The record companies said: Dig more of these groovy
vocal harmonies," but the amps were pretty much all turned
up and it was all move-over-Rover-let-Jimi-take-over.
Nobody paid much attention to bababada anymore.
The "over 30" generation wasn't interested in sunshine pop
either, but it wouldn't have helped anyway. Easy listening
pop channels of the day might have tested a Roger Nichols
Trio single or played a track off Nilsson's Pandemonium
Shadow Show, but it was too late for the EZs too. FM and
underground would sentence most of them to life as talk
radio or news channels in a few years.
We are left, then, with a relatively small body of works
produced in a short period of time - sort of unofficially
called sunshine pop. Many of these records failed
commercially and were doomed to obscurity, so it is
inevitable that the "underrated producer" is often lauded
in sunshine pop discussions. Thankfully though, there are
enough fans of this music for the reissue labels to pay
attention (A word of praise and thanks here to listers
directly involved in the production of these sunshine
reissues).
Much sunshine pop relied on old school production methods,
session musicians, pop arrangers & Brill style songwriters.
Sweet Talking Guy by the Chiffons is a good example of the
"link" between the Brill-driven girl group sound and
sunshine pop. I think of sunshine pop as the very last
venue for our Brill-era writers, producers and arrangers,
before everything went all singer/ songwriter-ish in the
70s.
I hope those of us who appreciate sunshine pop do
recognize the irony in much of this, though. A lot is
pretty darn funny. Here's a snip from the "even too sweet
for Kingsley" Love Generation:
"She touched me
(Feelin' groovy)
She put her hand on mine right there
She touched me
(Feelin' groovy)
I still can feel a tingle where she touched me
(Feelin' groovy)
A sparkle, a glow, yeah
Feelin' groovy"
Officer, arrest that man!
Jamie "Speak softly and carry a big stick" LePage
Subject: Twinn Connexion & Love Generation
Received: 01/17/00 2:40 am
From: Jill Mingo
To: Spectropop List
Oh, fellow Spectropoppers,
With all this talk about the Love Generation and sunshine
pop, it has saddened my heart that in fact to this day I
have yet to find any Love Generation LPs that didn't cost
a small fortune as I live in the UK and this stuff just
isn't easy to find. If anyone has any for sale at not too
steep prices, please email me direct.
And as for the Twinn Connexion, does anyone else know
anything about this band and where I can also lay my paws
on the LP?
I'd sure appreciate it.
x Jill "Without love in my generation" Mingo-go
Subject: Hunter S Thompson
Received: 01/17/00 2:40 am
From: Bobby Lloyd Hicks
To: Spectropop List
Someone sent me this and I thought I'd pass it along.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money
trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and
pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There's also a negative side."
--Hunter S. Thompson
End
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