________________________________________________________________________
______________ ______________
______________ ______________
______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________
______________ ______________
________________________________________________________________________
Spectra-sonic-sound ...the ultimate in High Fidelity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are 3 messages in this issue #44.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Brian, Lennie Breau
From: Carol Kaye
2. spector box set status?
From: Jack Madani
3. For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her
From: LePageWeb
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 06:15:41 -0700
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: Re: Brian, Lennie Breau
>From the Motherlode dates about April 1969 in Toronto, I
had met the great Lennie Breau, and invited him to my
house to stay while he was working out here in Hollywood.
Needless to say, practically every fine guitarist was at
Dontes to hear Lennie, the place was packed -- George Van
Eps, Howard Roberts, Barney Kessel, Dennis Budimer, Tommy
Tedesco, you name them, they were all there to pay homage
to Lennie. Dennis quickly copped Lennie's brilliant
harmonics-style of playing for some nice studio things.
I can remember driving my Benz up and down the Laurel
Canyon road, having a good conversation with Howard
Roberts, Gibson's Bruce Bolin (who works for Fender now),
and Lennie in the car......only to be caught by a
motorcycle police man near Sunset Blvd. who was trying to
catch me since the start of the ride from Ventura Blvd.
to give me a speeding ticket -- anyway, Lennie came down
to some of my recording dates, including a couple of film
calls. He wanted to move to LA but not to do studio work
tho' he said. He just wanted to play his jazz.
The Motherlode, after that great hit of theirs, had a few
minor things on the charts from what we recorded then,
and did well with that record. They still play "When I
Die" on the radio in Canada quite a bit. That was really
a joyful time in Toronto, I enjoyed working there so much,
recording, and the group was comprised of hugely-talented
people, another plus.....no more "Hollywood shuck and
jive of *being* some group who pretended to cut their own
records" -- these guys could really play, compose, and
were fun to work with on their recordings.
I was a guest of Nancy Sinatra's in a good box seat to
hear and see Brian at the Hollywood Bowl. The place
really filled up. David Leaf tho't it was around 12,000
people.
I tho't it all suffered from a poor sound mix for quite
awhile, no bottom nor mid-ranges, just top end for the
longest time, but it finally got good after awhile.
That's when the applause got going more too - you have to
hear it right to be moved by music even Pet Sounds. You
sure have to give Brian, the Mints, and Jeff Foskett
credit for some fine vocal sounds, and the music became
better with the better sound mix. Nancy was really
moved, and almost dancing to the music while Michael
Lloyd and I commiserated about the "mix" at first, etc.
-- we enjoyed it.....
Perry Botkin says the Bowl never gets a great sound mix,
but I've played there twice and heard Ella Fitzgerald
there, and it was pretty good. Think it depends upon the
music (as like what Perry says....they tend to do poor
mixes on the rock styles, I'd sure agree on that one, and
they finally got it together that night, nice night for
Brian). Michael Lloyd and his wife Patty were there as
well as pianist Don Randi and Hal Lifson, manager of both
Jackie DeShannon, and Nancy Sinatra. Watch for Jackie
DeShannon's CD coming out, she's doing an autograph
signing here in Hollywood's Tower Records, "You Know Me",
first thing she's put out in years, Friday Oct. 6th at
7PM, and appearing also at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go Oct. 9th.
The best part for me was when Brian picked up the bass,
it all of a sudden started to really groove then, even
tho' the sound on both basses wasn't very good --
note-definition was definitely lacking (a 25 cent piece
of foam underneath the strings to slightly mute the
strings' over- and under-tones would have solved that in
a flash on both basses - I play with a hard pick, so my
muting is a doubled-up piece of felt-muting on top of the
strings, works every time, live or recorded).
We saw Jan Berry (with his wife Gertie) backstage, Don
Randi and I did....was very nice to see him again. Quite
a few people stopped by our box to say hello, was very
nice....David Leaf, who just got back from London and
Florida, shooting a documentary on the Bee Gees was also
there.
Another huge achievement for Brian, who was very happy
backstage about the turnout -- he and Melinda were being
swamped with so much happening, was very happy for them
both! Jeff Foskett was wonderful and Darian of the Mints
did a good job as did the symphony led by Charles Brown
(name?), but even there, the mix was very strange. Guess
I'm spoiled by hearing Pet Sounds, the Bob
Alcivar-arranged version recorded by the London
Symphony.....Brian's music is timeless, that London CD
really brought tears to my eyes, as to the depth of the
beauty of Brian's music.
Carol Kaye http://www.carolkaye.com/
More on Brian Wilson's September 24th performance at Hollywood Bowl
http://www.spectropop.com/go2/petsounds.html
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 21:19:41 -0400
From: Jack Madani
Subject: spector box set status?
Collector's Choice Music has listed the Phil Spector box
set as being on sale as a "closeout." Is something up
with the Spector box? Is it going out of print or
something?
jack
Phil Spector on CD
http://www.spectropop.com/hspectorboot.html
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 03 Oct 00 02:46:38 +0900
From: LePageWeb
Subject: For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her
Listening to Rewind LP by Jimmy Webb/Johnny Rivers
tonight.
Sandwiched between Rivers' cover of Baby I Need Your
Lovin' and a great Spectropop fave Rosecrans Blvd., "For
Emily..." gets lost. But it is a great track on its own.
Use of celeste is a plus, especially in conjunction with
the use of harpsichord and flute. Great combination of
instruments.
The lyric seems so suited to Rivers, I wonder if Paul
Simon at this point was writing specifically for other
artists. Rhythmically the track falls apart in the fade;
regrettable, of course, but it segues into Rosecrans Blvd!!!
Who can fault it? What a great record. Go back and listen
again. You'll appreciate it.
N.P....Rewind by Johnny Rivers
Jamie "what a groovy day" LePage
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
End
Spectropop text contents & copy; copyright Spectropop unless
stated otherwise.
All rights in and to the contents of these documents, including each element embodied therein, is subject to copyright
protection under international copyright law. Any use, reuse, reproduction and/or adaptation without written permission of the owners is a violation of copyright law and is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.
