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For maximum enjoyment store in protective envelope when not in use
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There are 10 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 134:
1. The Secrets' recordings
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
2. Terry Black
From: Glynis Ward
3. Re: No Big Deal For The Laurie Chiffons
From: Billy G. Spradlin
4. Re: spector box set
From: "GSPECTOR"
5. Spector box set
From: john rausch
6. Re: Chris Montez
From: Carol Kaye
7. Re: Chris Montez
From: "Randy M. Kosht"
8. Re: Chris Montez
From: LePageWeb
9. Re: Gerry Goffin
From: Andrew Hickey
10. Journalists and "the show must go on"
From: Carol Kaye
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 21:15:24 EST
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
Subject: The Secrets' recordings
As far as I know-- and Doc can probably confirm this via
his Secrets article, which I don't have handy at the
moment-- they only had 4 singles (8 sides) recorded...
each of which, incidentally, is memorable.
"Don-Don-Don-nieeeeee...... Don Don DON!!"
It's archived on the Spectropop site...
[ http://www.spectropop.com/go2/secrets.html
]
They're a great group; the songs and vocals are
phenomenal. Too bad the girls were ripped off like so
many others; when they address this issue in that article,
you can tell how much class they have by the way they
answer.
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 10:32:24 -0500
From: Glynis Ward
Subject: Terry Black
Terry Black was a house recording artist for ARC who had
a few records passed along for US release. "I (Who Have
Nothing)"/"Baby's Gone" is on ARC, recorded in 1966. The
Candian Records Discography has it listed as his second
to last single release.
This book is not 100% accurate, but they have this ARC
stuff pretty much nailed down. It looks like this 45 was
a Canadian only release.
Glynis
shesaidyeye, Feline Frenzy & The Canadian 60's Garage Band Webpage
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 18:15:25 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: No Big Deal For The Laurie Chiffons
> Nobody seems to know anything about the Big Deal
> Chiffons that did a version of "Tonite's the Night".
Thanks for clearing that up. I have seen several
discographies and record collector books where it's
listed as the groups first 45. If anyone has it please
make a MP3, I would love to hear it.
Now I'm wondering if the group that recorded "Doctor Of
Hearts" for Reprise is the Laurie or Big Deal group.
Billy
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 03:48:45 -0700
From: "GSPECTOR"
Subject: Re: spector box set
> Hello,
>
> This may seem like an obvious question, but I was
> wondering how good the "Back to Mono" Spector box set
> was. is it better to buy that or to buy the individual
> cds?
>
> any help is greatly appreciated
>
> -jennifer
Hello Jennifer.
This is an easy question. The Back to Mono set is the
better buy for many reasons.
1st- You get some very hard to find hits.
2nd- It is a lot cheaper to buy this set then to piece
it together at an Oldies record store.
3rd- You get your choice of formats to choose from.
Either 4 CDs or 4 Cassettes.
4th- You get a very nice big soft covered 1/4" thick
book that has a lot of really interesting things in it.
5th- You also get a Button that says "BACK TO MONO" to
wear. And yes it is the exact same button PS wears.
These are just a few of the reasons but the bottom line
is, I think you will be very happy with the set. I know I
am. If cost seems to be a factor you can check out Ebay.
That's were I get my 45's, LP's, CD's and one 8-track.
Thanks to the people there, my small collection is
growing.
Also welcome to this site. It is full of very nice people
and you never know who you might meet.
>From the Keyboard of:
Gary P. Spector
Not just another PS fan.
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 5
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 11:17:32 -0500
From: john rausch
Subject: Spector box set
For Jennifer,
The Spector box set is great if only to have most
everything all together. The accompanying book is really
nothing more than a song lyrics book.
Spector/ABKCO concurrently released a best of the
Crystals/Ronettes/Darlene Love as 3 individual cds, each
with 3 bonus tracks not on the box set.
And speaking of Spector. I want to mention to the group
that Mark Ribowsky book "He's A Rebel" has been reissued
and is now available in its entirety from the original
'90s version that was taken off the market due to some
legal reasons with Mr. Spector. So if you didn't get it
first time around it is available again.
John Rausch
Phil Spector`s Wall Of Sound @
http://members.tripod.com/~rauschj/
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 6
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 11:54:32 -0800
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: Re: Chris Montez
Chris Montez is a talented singer, howbeit having a high
voice.....he is a good guitar player too, having come
over here and we've jammed some jazz on guitars. He's a
wonderful talent, I'm playing guitar on his early things
like "Let's Dance" and bass later on most of his things
including "Call Me", there's no reason why people should
be surprised that he recorded....he is a fine talent and
really great guy too. Looks almost the same today as he
did back then and he's still the same person. He's
touring a lot and has a ton of fans out there.
Claudine Longet was a very nice person, I'm playing bass
on her things but wasn't a real singer I'd probably
say.....Tommy Tedesco was full of the devil sometimes
and I had forgotten on an Andy Willams date that I was
playing a guitar overdub (I always played bass on his
things in the 60s and early 70s) and the mike was really
close. So Tommy asks me "what do you think of
Claudine's singing?"
Hahaha, Tommy knew I'd be honest and so I said: "well
she's a nice gal but she sure can't sing" (blowing the
account with that outspokeness) knowing full well that
Andy would hear it in the booth and so I didn't work for
Andy for a short time, not until Pet Clark insisted on
having me on their duet things a little later and I got
back in his good graces -- Andy was very very gracious
to me when I saw him in 1992 backstage in Denver
too....he was musing about those days recording at
Columbia, how great it all was etc. but he told me "am
on my way to living and performing in Branson soon".
Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 7
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 08:57:27 -0800
From: "Randy M. Kosht"
Subject: Re: Chris Montez
Hi, Alan:
You wrote:
> I love the two or three Chris Montez records I've
> had...[f]rom the "Call me" period.
Are those singles by Chris Montez or albums? I first
heard of him via "Call Me" and was totally unaware of
his 1962 smash "Let's Dance" until about a year after I
started buying his A&M sides.
> ...he did classic crooner stuff...[b]ut I'm still
> somehow surprised he made records. Is there a story
> there?
The story is, he was inspired musically by Ritchie
Valens, and was originally signed as a rock & roller in
the early '60s; he appeared on a concert bill in England
(1963) with Tommy Roe and the Beatles. "Let's Dance"
has been reissued a couple of times in the U.K., that's
how big it was. When he signed with A&M Records, Herb
saw him, as one reviewer has claimed, as kind of the
"Frank Sinatra for those who don't trust anybody over 30."
Thus the crooner stuff, which I loved on its own level.
With the apparent backing of Pete Jolly on piano and
John Pisano on guitar (both uncredited on the LPs), and
arrangements by Nick De Caro and Herb Alpert, and
production by Tommy LiPuma, Chris is now being seen as a
pop-jazz singer on those recordings... and I'm told he
plays pretty good jazz guitar.
Unfortunately, there are just the four albums on A&M
(Chris was literally the beginning of my interest in A&M,
along with Herb's recordings). His U.S. recorded output
is sparse since then, except for reissues. In the '70s
there was an album on Caytronics, and in 1983 he
reappeared on AyM Discos (A&M's Latin division) with an
all-Spanish LP, "Cartas de Amor." The title track is a
re-working of Ketty Lester's "Love Letters" done in a
style reminiscent of "Call Me." The rest are new songs;
the album is great and highly sought after by Chris fans.
The B-side of "Call Me," an original by Chris and
produced by Marshall Lieb, is "Go Head On." It's a
rocker, in vivid contrast to his smoother material.
And on a personal note, I will add that I finally met
him in '87 and he was as nice a person as I always hoped
he'd be.
Hope this helps...
Randy Kosht, A&Mania
Publisher, "A&M Records: The Discography"
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 11:47:25 +0900
From: LePageWeb
Subject: Re: Chris Montez
AZ wrote:
> I love the two or three Chris Montez records I've
> had...from the "Call me" period...but I'm surprised
> other people did".
Hi Alan,
What surprises me is not that others liked his A&M
records, but rather that he radically changed his style
>from the earlier Ritchie Valens-esque "Let's Dance"/"Some
Kind of Fun" Latin rocker. Then again, Valens' "Donna"
was one of the earliest soft pop hit records, so maybe
Chris's later "LA bossa" style was also inspired by Valens,
though his A&M style was perhaps more contrived than
his Monogram-era style. His A&M records often featured
that "party in the studio" effect. Earlier records with
that effect by Frank Guida and Phil Spector worked well,
but it seems a bit overused on Chris's A&M records
(merely a slight distraction - Chris Montez' records
are great favorites).
Considering other A&M records of the time by Claudine
Longet, Roger Nichols, Sandpipers, and Sergio Mendez, we
can conclude that what we now collectively refer to as the
"A&M Sound" was heavily A&R'd by the label chiefs (a
similarly heavy-handed A&R team was concurrently forging
their "Burbank" sound on the other side of Barham with
acts like Harpers Bizarre, Mojo Men and Little Feat).
> I guess I don't expect singers with such "slight"
> voices - if that's the right word - to get signed or
> to do the kind of material he did.
>
> Is there a story there?
Although I don't know the details (if anyone does,
please post them), I imagine the story of how he was
signed to A&M is not the stuff of Hollywood legends;
probably something along the lines of "jaded LA Latino
rocker gets second stab at stardom under the auspices of
fellow LA muzo Herb Alpert." What intrigues me is how
British producer/writer Tony Hatch placed Call Me with
Montez. Even here, though, I suspect it is a fairly
uneventful song plugging story.
> Yeah, If he'd done stuff like "Sweet Pea" or sugary
> novelty material, maybe it would have made more sense.
> But he did classic crooner stuff.
It isn't all that surprising if you consider that a
characteristic of both the Burbank sound and the A&M sound
was the tendency to include covers of standards.
Conversely, neither school catered to the market for
sugary bubblegum-type material.
> Like I say, I love the records. They're literally like
> nothing else I have or I've ever heard. In their own way
> they exist in this world of their own, sort of like Scott
> Walker if that's not too much of a stretch.
LOL! Well, there is no doubt Scott's records exist in a
world of their own, but it might be just a wee bit of a
stretch to compare Plastic Palace People to Call Me! ;-)
Thanks for bringing this up, Alan. It made me pull out the
Montez discs and I've been listening all morning. Great
stuff.
All the best,
Jamie
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 9
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 17:06:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Andrew Hickey
Subject: Re: Gerry Goffin
> As a devoted fan of '60's pop music I've often
> wondered why we never hear anything in the way of
> interviews or quotes from Gerry Goffin.
He's interviewed in the excellent book 'Songwriters On
Songwriting' by Paul Zollo (Da Capo)
=====
Subliminal message:
Buy the new Stealth Munchkin album -
www.geocities.com/stealth_munchkin
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 10
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 23:25:33 -0800
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: Journalists and "the show must go on"
Something that a journalist reported in the LA Times
today about how Michael Jackson's career "could be
adversely affected because he refused to sing at a recent
Awards show as urged by a few in the audience for him to
do so", just struck me as being incredulously crass.....
Michael Jackson was on a cane, with either a sprained or
broken ankle (and believe me I'm barely recuperating from
a sprained ankle myself that hurt as badly as when it was
broken years ago -- 4 weeks and I'm barely able to get
around with a cane....and with all this pain do I feel
like singing?)......and Jackson, a lifetime dancer, might
be facing the end or a curtailment of his dancing career
because of this injury as a relatively young man....and
the journalist predicted that because he said "no" to
singing, that that might mean his career is going
downhill -- ???
This kind of thinking, and using of stars just for a
story idea is not only insulting, cold, and uncaring, but
totally bespeaks of some of the inanity that people who
are biggies in the music business go through with some
journalists.....I'm remembering a lot about what Brian
Wilson had to go through in the past too, but he was
good.....he sensed when journalists didn't give a whit
about him, just went for the story and he'd put them on
in the way he could do (us studio musicians know all
about his sense of subtle humor) -- and he'd say anything
to get rid of that journalist....unfortunately, sometimes
it all backfired tho' as they'd literally print every
word he said as "the truth" (am chuckling here and yes,
Brian doesn't do that anymore)......
Having been interviewed by 100s of people -- radio, TV,
online, magazines, newspapers, films, book writers -- I
know exactly what everyone goes through. Yes, there's
many fine writers with good integrity but there's also a
good chance of some real bad guys too, or at least
inexperienced ones just out for the story with no respect
for the artist (fierce competition for a story?)....and
that writer's negative opinion of Michael Jackson because
he wouldn't spontaneously perform to please a few in the
audience, really struck a nerve with me.
Gimme a break, the guy is facing possibly the end of his
dancing career...and yet like robot or something on a
string, they expect him to perform singing-wise (?) and
then wrote some trash because he wouldn't
perform.....with no consideration of how badly he felt
about his injury or how much pain he was in - this
evidently didn't matter to the journalist.
I'm glad Jackson said "no" -- it belies the fact that he
is thinking straight, concerned about his health (like
the journalist wasn't). Maybe we need a few more Calif.
black-outs to put in perspective that the news media
doesn't have the power they think they have, especially
when it comes to this type of exploitation.
Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/
[Ed. Note: A search of the LA Times website found the
following March 21, 2001 article by Times Pop Music
Critic Robert Hilburn about Michael Jackson and the 16th
annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction dinner held
on March 19 at the Waldorf-Astoria. Whether this is the
article to which Ms. Kaye refers is unconfirmed.
http://www.latimes.com/print/calendar/20010321/t000024358.html
]
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
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