________________________________________________________________________
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______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________
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Supporting the initiative to send Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry to the
Rock n Roll Hall of Fame - Read about it in an essay by Don Charles
http://www.spectropop.com/hjeffandellie.html
New! Jeff Barry at Spectropop!
http://www.spectropop.com/hjeff_barry.html
New! The Raindrops at Spectropop!
http://www.spectropop.com/gg/raindrops.html
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There are 8 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 108:
1. Re: The Screw
From: James A. Crescitelli
2. Re: The Crystals - The Screw
From: Billy Spradlin
3. Sittin' on The Screw on eBay
From: "GSPECTOR"
4. Motown LP artwork
From: Jamie LePage
5. RE: Rainy Daze
From: Jon Pruett
6. Leader of the Pack Ellie Greenwich story
From: Phil McNeill
7. 1650 Broadway
From: Rex Patton
8. Playlist for "Casa Nostra" 2.16.01
From: James Botticelli
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:10:13 EST
From: James A. Crescitelli
Subject: Re: The Screw
YIKES! : ) Sorry y'all... "bootleg" in my original post
re this subject was a poor choice of wording. Anyway,
thanks Paul: I hadn't realized that "The Screw" had been
"re-issued." I listened to it again the other day... it
sorta grows on the listener! And it's obvious, via the
innocence and simplicity of the backing vocals, that
those poor little Crystals had NO idea what they would be
contributing to!
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 20:22:33 -0000
From: Billy Spradlin
Subject: Re: The Crystals - The Screw
The "Screw" (which Goldmine's 45 Record Guide called
"one of the most spiteful records in rock history")
appeared on a bootleg CD called "Phil Spector's Flips
and Rarities". The only caveat is that theres a bad skip
about 2 1/2 minutes into the song, and some of the
remastering of several songs is very tinny or harsh
sounding, but that's par for the course of many boots.
I made a MP3 of "The Screw" and did some digital editing
using Sound Forge, fixed the skip and cleaned up some
little "clicks and pops".
Billy
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 07:18:02 -0700
From: "GSPECTOR"
Subject: Sittin' on The Screw on eBay
> There's a blue-label copy of The Crystals' "The Screw"
> on eBay... "
This is where I buy all my Phil Spector items. Just type
in Spector and you will be surprised at what you will
find. I have seen things from Software to books by Judges
all named Spector.
I have bought contracts, 45's, LP's, and CD's there. I
have also meet some very nice people buying wth Ebay.
You can always find a ton of things by Ronnie and Phil
Spector as well as anyone else named Spector.
I hope someday to see my twin brother's artwork on Ebay.
>From the Keyboard of:
Gary P. Spector
Not just another P.S. fan.
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:49:22 -0000
From: Jamie LePage
Subject: Motown LP artwork
Hi all,
Back from a short trip away from the internet and
catching up on Spectropop messages. Great topic about
Motown LP sleeves and the more general topic of
packaging black music to sell to whites.
Kingsley wrote:
> whilst there may have been a glimmer of truth in the idea
> of not featuring black faces early on, Motown soon became
> very proud to say to the world "Here We Are!"
I guess the Gordys were deliberately grooming these black
urban kids to sell to the white public. In essence,
dressing them up for whitey. At a time when Sonny and
Cher were doing the fur vests and long hair, Motown acts
were dressed for Vegas showrooms. Later in the decade, as
social issues tugged at white America's conscience, "I'm
black and I'm proud" became a political banner marketable
to whitey, and the Gordys were more than happy to sell
Marvin and the Temps "statement" records to the same
white kids who a few years earlier were doin' Mickey's
Monkey. The difference of course being that when it was
the latest dance craze it was just fun music, and btw
just happened to be exciting, fresh, creative and well
crafted. Not a hint of any pretense of "art" anywhere.
The cartoon monkey on the Miracles' album reflects that
early Motown spirit, just as the later Motown spirit was
reflected in the pseudo psychedelic/black awareness
covers of the late60s/70s.
Feldman adds:
> I don't think this was an accident. Even when a black
> artist was on the front cover during this period, the
> lighting tended to be dark and done w/weird color
> filters. I've never seen this subject discussed
> before; I'd be extremely curious about what Berry Gordy
> or Ahmet Ertegun's comments would be.
Let's ask em! ;-) Well, if we could, we would probably
get two different viewpoints judging from the different
styles of the two organizations, Perhaps naively I
believe Ertegun started out wanting to market black
music to white America from a true love and
appreciation of jazz and R&B. Regardless of
motivation, however, the desired result was the same
and the obvious precedent of such marketing is Nat King
Cole, always dressed impeccably and photographed in a way
to make his complexion appear to be pale. His movements
were restrained and his vocal styling too was colorblind.
David Gordon, whose analysis on this topic was amazing,
wrote:
> Saying that many early Motown covers featured white
> people is an interesting quote but it's greatly
> exaggerated.
David, you are far too kind to this guy!
When Paul queried the record exec about the quote, he
replied:
"There were several early Temptations, Four Tops,
Smokey & the Miracles, Contours ... to name a few of
the releases.
Sounds like "I, er, um" to me. Yeah, there "were
several early Temptations, Four Tops, Smokey & the
Miracles." There was even *one* Contours. I think Paul
knew that much already.
The question was which album had blue-eyed go-go dancers
etc., and the guy failed to even namecheck the Isleys!
(btw, the Contours' sole 1962 album most definitely has
six black males in suits doin' the mashed potato and the
twist on the cover.)
I'd like to know in what context this exec made the
comment. Why are we being so secretive? Who was it and
why was he talking about Motown selling black music to
whites? In any event, he got it WRONG. Dig the 1961 "Hi!
We're the Miracles" LP sleeve, or Mary Wells' Two Lovers
and other Great Hits" sleeve from 1963. They are
brilliant! Far more interesting and less manipulative
than later 60s and 70s Motown sleeves.
Good to be back!
Jamie
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:50:41 -0800
From: Jon Pruett
Subject: RE: Rainy Daze
It was probably either "That Acapulco Gold" or "Fe Fi Fo
Fum". I just saw a copy of it on ebay myself. They were
a great psych band out of Denver, Colorado. Worth
tracking down...
-jon
-----Original Message-----
>From: Freeman Carmack
You know how a fragment of a song becomes a quest like
SIDDHARTHA? I was listening to an aircheck from KBLA, dated
6/16/67, the last hour before a brief format change, and
heard a snippet from a song that I haven't heard since the
late 60s; I thought I caught the name Rainy Daze. I
thought I remembered a psychedelic band by that name-the
only line that made the cut for the aircheck went
"...Patterned wings of butterflies".
If anyone can reply, I'd appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Freeman Carmack
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:11:17 -0000
From: Phil McNeill
Subject: Leader of the Pack Ellie Greenwich story
I saw the play last night in Richmond, England, and a
couple of things puzzled me. How come it claims Greenwich
wrote Remember Walking In The Sand when the label says it
was written by Morton only? How come it claims Jeff Barry
was shocked by Leader Of The Pack, when he actually wrote
the prototype for it Tell Laura I Love Her? It was a
pleasant enough play, but the downgrading of the roles of
Messrs Spector and Morton seems petty.
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 14:17:59 -0500
From: Rex Patton
Subject: 1650 Broadway
Just a message to those who might make a pilgrimage to
the Brill Building sometime - I hate to disappoint you,
but the Brill Building wasn't home to Carole and Gerry,
Jeff and Ellie, Barry and Cynthia, the Neils (Diamond
and Sedaka) and the others. The Brill Building, at 1619
Broadway, was home to the Broadway tunesmiths who had
been there for years. The writers you're thinking about
were ensconced across the street at 1650 Broadway where
Aldon Music (among others) was located. As Doc Pomus put
it "I always hear stories about the Brill Building being
the home of rock and roll. It just wasn't true! It was
the home of the old, stodgy Broadway guys and they hated
us." The Brill Building had been used for musical
purposes the longest so the name became a generic for the
two buildings.
Marc Wielage wrote:
>
>> I went up to NYC with a group of middle schoolers to see
>> a couple of plays (Les Miserables matinee, and then an
>> evening performance of The Fantasticks) as part of a
>> "mini-course" on theatre. We were walking down into
>> Times Square, when all of a sudden what do I run into but
>> the Brill Building! I stopped and touched the wall and
>> spent 10 seconds of silence paying tribute.
>
>>-----------------------------------------<
>
>Yeah, almost the same exact thing happened to me back in
>1994. A friend of mine and I had taken a trip to NY as a
>vacation, and we had just gone by the Ed Sullivan Theater
>on Broadway (1697 Broadway, as a matter of fact). The
>following day, we went by a friend of mine's recording
>studio, which was just a few blocks away.
>
>Imagine my surprise when we were looking at the street
>numbers, trying to find the right one, when I realized,
>"holy crap! This is the Brill Building!" I believe that
>was 1600 Broadway, or close to it. There was a small
>brass plaque commemorating the spot. Man, that really
>gave me goose bumps, knowing the history of that place.
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Message: 8
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 15:30:52 EST
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Playlist for "Casa Nostra" 2.16.01
"Casa Nostra" Airs on WMBR-FM 88.1 Cambridge at MIT
Fridays at Midnight
Streams in Real Time
http://wmbr.mit.edu
Hit the "listen" link
Plays Mood and Groove music from The Space Age to The
Bass Age
Della Reese-Come On-A-My House-Cha Cha Cha LP
Flabby-Baluba Shake-E Allora Mambo OST
George Romanis-8 On The Lam-OST
Brass Impact-Baubles, Bangles & Beads-Brass Impact
Sam Paglia-Nightclub Tropez-Nightclub Tropez
Stereo DeLuxe-Blue Rita-12"
Bella Donna-House's Echo-House's Echo
Ripple-Ripplin'-Ripple LP
Gershon Kinglsey-Scarborough Fair-Music To Moog By
Kai Winding-China Nights-More
Clebanoff Orchestra-Mima-Lush, Latin, And Bossa
Laila Amerzian-Singapore-Expresso (siesta)
Ursala 1000-Jackie Go!-Shake EP
Sunny Face-Voodoo Mood-Temptation
Seksu Roba-Cha Cha Moon-Seksu Roba
Lalo Schifrin-Aftermath Of Love-Bullitt OST
Friends Of Distinction-Its Sunday-Highly LP
Pizzicato 5-Barry White Meets Dionne Warwick-Great White Wonder
Malente-Pertig-Spirit of Malente
Boys From Brazil-Bom Bom De (Los Chicharrons remix)-12"
Dogliotti-Canmdombe-Mondo Bossa
Boricua All Stars-Boricua House Party-7"
Fantastic Plastic Machine-Bachelor Pad-FPM Megamix
Sophia-Femme Femme-Nymphomania 2
Monday Michiru-How Deep Is Your Love-Monday Michiru EP
Armando Trovajoli-Sun City-Erotica Italia
Balanco-Intrigo A Franco Forte-12"
Thanks for reading, James Botticelli
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