http://www.spectropop.com/
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Volume #0406 April 10, 2000
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The Exciting NEW Way to Enjoy the Music You Want
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Subject: Aussie Websites for Good CD Comps
Received: 04/10/00 6:33 am
From: John Frank
To: Spectropop!
Mention by Lindsay Martin of The Overlanders' "Don't It
Make You Feel Good", and where to get it, reminded me that
this might be a good place to ask if anyone knows of good
websites to try to find Little Pattie's "He's My
Blond-Headed Real Gone Wompie Stompie Surfer Boy". What
comps is it on? Where can I purchase one of them? I've
been looking for it since I first heard of it a couple
years ago.
John
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Subject: Combusted
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: DJ JimmyB
To: Spectropop!
In a message dated 4/7/0 11:25:55 AM, you wrote:
>The song for the film is actually sung by Miss
>Lily Banquette, she of a group called Combustible Edison,
Sadly defunkt, but as Combustible Edison leader Thee
Millionaire said, "We did our job."
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Subject: Ellie Gee -- Spector Connection??
Received: 04/10/00 6:33 am
From: John Frank
To: Spectropop!
I'm trying to find out the answer to something that came
up on the Usenet newsgroup I'm on. One of the regulars
there got a copy of a tape from a friend called "Spector
In The Studio". At the end of the tape, seemingly tacked
on, was a song called "Red Corvette". I've identified it
as the 1961 Ellie Gee (Greenwich) record. What I'd like to
know is if Phil had anything to do with the production of
it, or if it's on that tape simply because of the
Spector-Greenwich connection of a couple years later.
Anybody?
John
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Subject: Free Design related
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: Nat Kone
To: Spectropop!
Don't know the details but...
A never released solo record by Chris Dedrick, from around
1973 (?) is going to be released. I believe it will be a
local label here in Toronto where Mr.Dedrick currently
resides. This is about as close to a scoop as I could ever
get with this group so I thought I'd go for it even though
it's just a rumour I heard from a friend of the guy who
might be putting out the record.
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Subject: The List: Last for Truth
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: DJ JimmyB
To: Spectropop!
In a message dated 4/7/0 11:25:55 AM, you wrote:
>The other day I was watching VH1's "The List," and they
>were debating about the best girl groups. I was all
>excited about this one, until one smart journalist
>mentioned The Ronettes, and all the other panelists were
>like "Who??? What's the Ronettes?"
The problem with "The List" is this: almost all the
"guests" on the "panel" are self-serving show biz cynics
trying to grab a little extra exposure. They come what i
call the "Hey Dude, I'm An Off The Wall Rock 'N' Roll
Animal" culture where brazen humorless vulgar witless
repartee is the only norm they seem to know when the
camera is trained on them. Knowledge is not a
prerequisite. Besides most of them are under 30 and we
all know you can't trust anyone under 30 to tell you where
Tennessee is much less who The Ronettes are.....JB
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Subject: Secret Love
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: john rausch
To: Spectropop!
Jimmy C wrote:
"At the film's end I
read the end credits, and learn that the incandescent
Lesley Gore herself has helped pen "My Secret Love."
...I saw the movie a few times and always assumed the
Kelly character was supposed to be loosely based on Lesley
Gore. The song Secret Love, I had always assumed was a song
recorded by Doris Day? I didn`t catch the end credits you
mention. Thanks.
Also want to agree with Sheila when she wrote: Spectropop
can be deceiving- after being on this list for awhile I
start to think that EVERYONE obviously knows who the
Ronettes are, and they were HUGE! But most of the
music-buying public has no clue, and that's the audience
that Hollywood needs to catch in order to make money with
"High Fidelity." .......
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Subject: Re: "River Deep"
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: imponderables
To: Spectropop!
Jake Tassell says:
>Of course, even a brilliant artist can "overproduce," too.
>To my taste, for example, "River Deep" falls into that
>category,
>
>I can't agree there I'm afraid. However; A personal
>aesthetic is a personal aesthetic, so there's no argument
>to be had here.
>
>My feeling about the matter is that a certain
>'over-vividness' is the hallmark of all great pop music
>(if this was written on every record company office wall
>I'm damn sure I'd spend a lot more money on new music). I
>believe that pops' essential function is to be a pure
>font of life-giving and spirit-affirming forces in a
>mechanised, pressurised (and now computerised) world, and
>that it is in pop's nature to be larger than life. I
>also believe that Messrs Spector and Wilson were two
>people that understood this more than most and the burden
>of this knowledge is reflected in their careers and some
>of the things we know about their lives.
Although we might disagree about the relative merits of
RDMH, I couldn't agree with you more about everything else
you said. And I think you have put your finger on why I
enjoy rock and roll and R&B and gospel so much more than
jazz. I tend to prefer music that wears its emotions on
its sleeve. I prefer "hot" to "cool."
I'm a sucker for artists/producers who are ambitious and
nakedly emotional, and I agree that more songs have been
ruined by artists afraid of not being perceived as hip or
cool than by aiming too high.
>
>'River Deep Mountain High' is the moment in pop history
>when the artist understands his function and his mission
>fully, and without fear of personal risk exercises his
>capability to turn that font into a mighty torrent.
>There's no case to answer over wantonness or musical
>vandalism here (Albert Goldman - eat my sock) and I've
>waxed on about this before on this list :- One of the
>many remarkable things about 'River Deep - Mountain High'
>is the discipline involved in every aspect of the
>arrangement, production and performance, and the sublime
>and delicate balancing of incredibly huge (and positive)
>forces.
The problem here is a visceral one -- I can appreciate
what you are saying intellectually, but the end product
leaves me cold (relatively speaking of course). Do you
have any ideas why RDMH was a relative failure? Or why it
was so popular in England?
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Subject: High Fidelity and other adventures in sound
Received: 04/08/00 9:48 am
From: Jamie LePage
To: Spectropop!
First, thanks to all who expressed opinion on High
Fidelity. I realize the characters are going to be
discussing records off Rolling Stone's "Best 100 albums of
all times" rather than Cinderellas or Paris Sisters B-sides,
and as Keith D'Arcy wrote, "Why fill the movie with
songs that cannot be found outside collector's circles?"
Well, exactly. The whole soundtrack/film cross-promotion
aspect would be lost and I doubt anyone here kids themself
into thinking it could (or should) be any other way.
In talking about the soundtrack, Stewart Mason wrote "Beta
Band, whose prog-pop-jazz-funk oddities sound like
Hatfield and the North crossed with Beck..." Wow! Hatfield
& the North on Spectropop - that's gotta be a first! My Egg
LPs will probably remain in storage for at least a few more
years, but I do occasionally dig out the Dave Stewart/
Barbara Gaskin album with that great cover of It's My
Party. Anyway, it made me think that while this list's
disciplined focus is loosely a decade of great pop,
undoubtedly each of us has a much broader base of favoured
music. For instance, as I write this I am listening to a
wonderful collection of Les Paul and Mary Ford and
thinking how Paul's early use of tape echo sounds so
similar to that of Joe Meek and even early Pink Floyd...
Jake says about D. Feldman's RDMH post "I can't agree
there I'm afraid. However; A personal aesthetic is a
personal aesthetic, so there's no argument to be had
here." This is a truth Spectro-listers seem to respect,
fortunately. I am always interested to read varying
opinions, at least on this list, because I end up with a
little bit more to think about on any given subject. Just
to throw my own tuppence into the RDMH discussion, Dave
wrote that Spector "buries the song, and it's a GOOD SONG..."
Even co-writer Jeff Barry has said as much in at least one
of the Spector bios, and many if not most people agree with
this; it is an often quoted reason for the record's
relative failure in U.S. at the time. I am sure it won't
surprise Dave that this record is one of my faves, along
with its baby sister I'll Never Need More Than This, and
if forced to make a choice I'd take the muddier mono
singles over the stereo mixes. As strong as the _song_
RDMH itself is, I think the Easybeats version sounds
embarrassingly tiny next to I&TT, and don't even get me
started on Eric Burdon's version! Talk about overreaching
one's grasp!
Dave then name-checks Danny Hutton's Funny How Love Can
Be. What a great, great record, and for the very reasons
Dave mentions. Dave, have you heard the original by the
Ivy League? Hearing that one makes you realize just how
far Hutton's version is "overproduced in a thrilling way."
The Ivy League original is litle more than a slow, vocal
harmony ballad (albeit a good one). Another wild remake of
an Ivy League original, of course, is Sagittarius' My World
Fell Down, itself quite an overproduction in a thrilling
way, doncha think? That two West Coast producers/artists
within a stone's throw of Brian Wilson would cover songs
by the relatively obscure Ivy Lague seems to be more than
a coincidence. Anyone know how these two songs made their
way into the hands of Hutton and Gary Usher?
The "everything but the kitchen sink" approach remains a
most appealing trait of many pop records of the 66-68 era.
Just to namecheck a few more...Smashed! Blocked! by John's
Children, Excerpt from a Teenage Opera by Keith West,
Something I Got To Tell You by Glenda Collins, Green
Tambourine (and Jelly Jungle) by the Lemon Pipers, Sweet
Talking Guy by Chiffons, Make Believe by Wind, Fakin' It
by Simon & Garfunkel, and of course Strawberry Fields,
Walrus, Rich Man, Good Vibrations and Heroes & Villians.
One method often used at this time to provide a framework
for embellishment was to de-emphasize the 2 & 4 backbeat
so prevelant in rock and roll, by either emphasizing every
quarter note of the measure (Bob Crewe did this a lot, for
example) or by placing percussive emphasis on beats
between the quarter notes of a 4/4 rhythm (Brian's use of
percussion on PS is a good example).
Finally, I just want to join John Rausch, Sheila B, Jack
Madani and the others in saying the threads here recently
have been most fascinating. Thanks to all.
Rockin' on Bandstand,
Jamie
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