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There are 5 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Jill Gibson
From: "Ian Chapman"
2. ultimate pop culture experience
From: Bobby
3. Phil Spectors Writing Credits
From: paulurbahn
4. Mann/Weil
From: "Ian Chapman"
5. Fresh Air
From: "James F. Cassidy"
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 18:03:29 +0100
From: "Ian Chapman"
Subject: Jill Gibson
Jason Penick asked:-
>What I'm trying to
> locate are any other sessions that maybe out there,
> including (hopefully) a version of "How Can I..." with
> Jill singing.
Hi Jason,
I'm fairly certain that "It's As Easy As 1,2,3,"/"Jilly's
Flip Side" (Imperial 66068) was Jill's only 45. You can
of course also hear her singing along with Jan on the Jan
& Dean version of "It's As Easy As 1,2,3".
Regarding the Yellow Balloon's version of the song, "How
Can I Be Down", here's what Gary Zekley said about Jill
in an old interview from "Dumb Angel Gazette":-
"Jill Gibson had a little apartment over a garage in
Westwood, and she came up with the introduction to "How
Can I Be Down" on her guitar; she just started singing
"...how can I be down, whenever you're around me and I
feel you, making me high..." We used to get stoned
together and try to write songs. She was going with Lou
Adler, and I was married....I used to go over there and
we'd try to write...and we worked on a couple of things.
She had a *phenomenal* gift for melody, and she came up
with "how can I be down, whenever you're around..", that
line, that phrase, and I wrote the rest of the song. She
phrased it much differently than I did. I loved her
phrasing, but I could never get it, I mean I can't sing
like certain people can sing, I just don't hear the
phrasing."
And about "It's As Easy As 1,2,3", Gary says, "Now, that,
there's a part in there that I took for one of the songs
on the Yellow Balloon album...."please won't you go away,
you know that I can't stay, summer is here and I want to
be free.." THAT'S her writing, isn't that good writing?
We did one other thing together, I can't remember what it
was. I thought "It's As Easy As 1,2,3" was an amazing
song."
There was also quite a bit of interesting coverage on
Jill in Michelle Phillips' autobiography.
I wonder, Jason, if your friend may also have any info on
another Jan Berry session - not by Jill, but another girl
singer, apparently named Pixie, on a girl-group number
called "I'm Dying To Give My Love To You". A few very
bad taped copies of this were in circulation many years
ago. Sound quality was poor, taken from a bad acetate,
but there was enough to hear what an great track it was.
Ian
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 08:23:45 EDT
From: Bobby
Subject: ultimate pop culture experience
I received this from Skip Heller last week:
"I went bowling Sat night at a small gathering hosted by
Phil Spector. Phil autographed my box set. Hal Blaine
was there, and brought his own mariachi trio. He didn't
play with the trio -- he just hired them and brought them
with. I asked to sit in just as they were packing up.
It was a most interesting gathering. Spector arrived in
a stretch limo and was met at the door of the bowling
alley by two henchmen. He was wearing a black suit with
bell bottom trousers circa 1974, platform shoes (also
circa 1974), and a Jheri curl toupee. He also wore huge
black aviator shades. One of the arcane little bits about
Spector one never gets to hear is that he is actually a
very friendly, charming fellow. He's also incredibly
sharp. I noticed he remembered everybody's name without
having to think for a second about it. But there is also
something slightly removed about the guy, as if he is,
before anything else, alone. It's almost like these
gatherings are his periodic visitations to the world of
people. He works the room, says hello to everyone, chats
briefly, but never really enters any kind of in-depth
conversation, except with his pair of henchmen, or his
daughter.
Mostly, I stood around talking records with Dr Demento (a
lovely fellow), but every so often I'd stare back at
Spector. Because of the shades, I could never tell if he
noticed me doing this. But one never spends an evening
in the company of a famously elusive beast without
looking twice "
blh
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 23:34:08 EDT
From: paulurbahn
Subject: Phil Spectors Writing Credits
Jack wrote:
> I'm still not so sure about his contributions to those
> songs where his name is the third one on the songwriting
> credit.
As I understand it there is no fixed order for the
credits all share equally. Many times the writer no
longer gets money but don't know how that works on
Spector's hits.
One thing for sure, on Phil Spector label releases Phil's
name is usually listed first.
I guess I'd do the same.
Paul Urbahns
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:57:51 +0100
From: "Ian Chapman"
Subject: Mann/Weil
Hi everybody,
Just to let you know Barry & Cynthia did a great
interview with Spencer Leigh in the July issue of the UK
Record Collector magazine. Far too long to reproduce
here, but a here's a couple of eyebrow-raisers:-
Cynthia says that, although Phil Spector made a great
record of "Uptown", there were a couple of notes in the
original melody that the singer (of the Crystals) didn't
hit and she and Barry were crushed by this, so they
persuaded Phil to go in the studio and do it again with
Little Eva. He supposedly did so to humour them, but
stuck with the Crystals' version for release. Hmmm,
okay......
Cynthia also laughs with embarrassment about her singing
abilities when Spencer mentions he has heard her demo of
the song "The Home Of The Boy I Love" (as originally
released by Lori Martin). She claims that she and Barry
didn't write the song, but she sang the demo for
somebody else. But copies of the record are credited to
Mann/Weil, so........?
Regarding "We've Got To Get Out Of This Place", Cynthia
says she was furious to find that Mickie Most's version
with the Animals left out the second verse and changed
some of the lyrics, and she wanted to stop the record's
release in the US. But their publisher, Don Kirshner
said it was going to be a hit and he wouldn't stop a hit.
(By the way, Barry's fab original version *has* been
legitimately released, it's on Diamond's "Red Bird Sound
Vol. 4 - Dressed in Black")
And their comments about Phil echo what has been said
previously in Spectropop, that they "have only the
warmest feelings for him". As for writing, they say
that it was Phil who initiated "Walking In The Rain", as
he already had the sound effects and suggested they
write something around them!
Ian
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 09:28:16 -0400
From: "James F. Cassidy"
Subject: Fresh Air
John Frank wrote:
>Terry Gross not only celebrates jazz heritage;
>she's also had some fine interviews with people from the
>rock/pop/r+b era, too, and they're not always with the usual
>suspects.
I concur. Off the top of my head, she's done some
memorable interviews with:
Bobby Vee
Brian Wilson (the best was the '88 interview)
Nick Venet (talking about Bobby Darin)
Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (interview/performing)
Arthur Alexander
... and many more.
You can order tapes and transcripts of the programs at:
http://www.freshair.com/tapes.html
I've never ordered one, so I can't vouch for the
service or quality. Unfortunately, they don't have an
alphabetical listing of guests, just a search engine,
so you need to know what you're looking for.
Jim Cassidy
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
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