________________________________________________________________________
______________ ______________
______________ ______________
______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________
______________ ______________
________________________________________________________________________
Teenage Symphonies To God
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are 8 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 139:
1. Brian Wilson/Smile
From: Freya
2. Connie Stevens PS
From: "Jack Madani"
3. Re: Keen Records
From: bryan
4. P. Spector Box set.
From: "GSPECTOR"
5. Re: Bobby Vee
From: Carol Kaye
6. Re: Secrets
From: "Brad Elliott"
7. re:: Dion
From: Goran Kraft
8. Getting Oriented with Connie & Ronnie
From: LePageWeb
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 09:38:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Freya
Subject: Brian Wilson/Smile
Firstly is there anyone here who could make me a copy
of smile. I used to have a copy on tape but it's
missing amongst all the turmoil in my life!
Also what is anyone's opinion of the solo Brian Wilson
material that came out? I'm much more a Brian Wilson
fan than a beach boys fan, if you understand what I
mean.
Lastly, did anyone hear the BBC Radio 2 special on
Brian Wilson. I was trying to fix my little radio
thing and I knocked it out of tuning and when I was
tuning it back in I came across the programme which
was great because I had wanted to hear it.
Did anyone else find it a bit annoying? It was great
to hear bits of smile being played but people kept
saying the most outrageous things and you could tell
they were beach boys people and that they didn't
understand Brian Wilson at all. They were saying that
Smile was too elaborate and would have been a disaster
anyway and that Brian was just too far into it. What
utter rubbish. Smile would have blown everyone away.
oh well.
love
Freya
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 13:56:02 -0500
From: "Jack Madani"
Subject: Connie Stevens PS
It just occurred to me, regarding "Little Miss
Understood." I'll bet dollars to donuts there's a Perry
Botkin credit, either songwriting or production, in
there somewhere. Sure hope someone can either confirm
or deny.
jack
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:16:17 -0800
From: bryan
Subject: Re: Keen Records
Hi Carol, and all you Spectropoppers,
I talked to Fred Smith on the phone (this happened
because I ended up writing the notes to Del-Fi's Little
Caesar & the Romans re-issue in '98). He was super
nice....I really enjoyed talkin' to him. In fact, he
lived right off Fountain, in West Hollywood, not far from
Del-Fi's offices. Very talented guy... I've since written
about a few vocal groups that Fred was involved with --
the Olympics for one -- for allmusic.com and it amazes me
all the people connected with Del-Fi in one way or
another...people like Jackie Lee (Earl "Chip" Nelson) and
Barry White and on and on...It really seems that L.A. was
such a small town back then, and everyone in the music
biz knew each other on one level or another.
Last year I spent most of my final days at Del-Fi helping
Bob Keane (or Keene if you prefer) write his
autobiography, and there's so many good stories...this
will definitely be a book all of you will want to read if
you wanna get an idea about the L.A. indie label music
biz from the late Fifties and throughout the 60's...
Bryan
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 06:32:21 -0700
From: "GSPECTOR"
Subject: P. Spector Box set.
Greetings everyone.
When I saw the question of: Should I buy the Phil
Spector's "Back to Mono" set or try to buy the 45's?
Which is better?
I was very surprised with all the answers though most
have said no (which is fine) and then explain what's
wrong with the CD set from other songs fans wanted to
favoring vinyl over CDs but not that the CD set is bad.
I am sorry, but if the set is that bad that you could
not recommend it to someone who just wants to start a
quick collection, I wish someone would say so. I have
both the CD and LP set and every Year I play the
Christmas CD that comes with the CD set. I have about 5
copies of the Christmas LP but I prefer the CD because
it is easier to program in my Stereo as well as my
Computer.
My point is this. My favorite car is the 1931 Rolls
Royce Phantom II but I would not recommend it over
anything on the road today because of practicality.
I have always promoted my father's work because I like
it regardless of the format as long as I can hear the
music. Trust me, I never see any money for my efforts.
Are all the fans here actually selecting the records
over CDs because of quality or nostalgia? Just curious
especially since record players are almost impossible to
find new. I bought the last one in a Montgomery Ward 2
Years ago and it had a 5 CD tray. Haven't seen much
since.
After reading some of the comments, I get the feeling I
would need to hit all the oldies stores and camp out on
Ebay to get the kind of collections that were mentioned.
I still think that the Back to Mono set shows enough
variety to make it well worth the price then as the
Years go buy pick up the 45's when you can.
Well, here's to many more years of good tunes.
>From the Keyboard of:
Gary P. Spector
Just because you're Rich,
Does not make you Happy
and
Just because you live with someone,
Does not make you close.
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 09:41:49 -0800
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: Re: Bobby Vee
> Did Bobby Vee ever really get "respect" after his early
> rock n roll success?
Bobby Vee was one of many many similar-type singers we
recorded for out here in LA in the 60s, nice
guy....fairly good music....there was a lot of
competition for his style of pop-singing tho'...there
were quite a few of those types of singers out here in
LA in the 60s we were recording for.
Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 04:28:40 -0600
From: "Brad Elliott"
Subject: Re: Secrets
Ian Chapman wrote:
> BTW, does anyone have any info on the Secrets who
> had a release on Red Bird 10076?
I've never heard the single, but it ought to be straight
teenage rock 'n' roll. The group is one of the first
entries on the resume of Max Weinberg, drummer for Bruce
Springsteen and the Conan O'Brien Show.
Brad
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 18:16:59 +0200
From: Goran Kraft
Subject: re:: Dion
The re-issue program for Dion's 70's material is well
on it's way on ACE records this year. And the very fine
3-cd box on Right Stuff just came out. Now we are just
waiting for the four gospel albums that has never been
released on CD.
Goran Kraft
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 8
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 15:34:58 +0900
From: LePageWeb
Subject: Getting Oriented with Connie & Ronnie
Jack wrote:
> For a long time the only recording by Connie Stevens that
> I knew of was "Lost In Wonderland," which if I remember
> right was produced by David Gates. It's a swell little
> slice of girlgroup Spectropop.
Yes, David Gates, and yes, a swell little slice.
> [Connie's music seemed] rather more like old fashioned
> orchestrally-backed recordings of standards.
I had that impression too. It is one thing that often
separates female vocalists from the girl groups sound.
With a few notable exceptions, female vocalists with a
few great singles often recorded albums full of MOR
covers. Girl Groups albums were often not much different,
but they tended to stay in their genre.
> ...her Hank Williams Songbook album, on the Globe
> label...has a mess of bonus cuts that...all of a sudden
> turn into gold. Cuts like Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry,
> Little Miss Understood, Now That You've Gone, and even a
> groovy version of the classic They're Jealous Of Me...
The examples you used to illustrate your point are
brilliant! Thanks for those! It was with great delight
that I heard Connie Stevens' Now That You've Gone,
because I had only heard the song before on the
(exceptional) 1995 album "Doopee Time" by the Doopees. I
found out about the group when someone mentioned their
cover of "How Does It Feel". The first time I heard this
Ronettes cover I laughed out loud when lead vocalist
Caroline Novac came in on the second verse. Anyway, I
fell in love with Caroline and her vocal on Now That
You've Gone, and since then I have wondered where the
song came from. Now I know. Doopees arrangement is
identical to Connie's version, recorded at the exact same
tempo and in the same key. I guess they perfectly matched
the tempo and key in order to fly elements from the
original recording into their version, but I could be
wrong about that. ;-)
Here's someone else's review of the Doopees album I got
>from Erik.Boralv's acid jazz list:
> Doopies "Doopie Time"
> Catalog #: Fun House FLCF-3594
>
> Yann Tomita, wielder of steel pan and transistor radio
> produces mysterious band "Doopies" led by the equally
> mysterious "Caroline Novac". Its CUTE!!!! :) This is not
> an "idol pop" cuteness, however, this is pure
> unadulterated, unfiltered CUTENESS extract, just add
> water. Doopies are the remedy for a country whose
> appreciation for things cute is nearly religious, in an
> era where "idol pops" are stigmatized by a very manic,
> nerdy image, and the world around seems particarly
> devious and anarchic, this rather odd album seems almost
> abnormally sane.
I don't know if I agree with all that stereotype about
being cute, devious, anarchic or abnormally sane, but I
do like the Doopees album very much. It is very, very
strange (btw, the "correct" spelling is Doopees ).
> Little Miss Understood...sounds like something that had
> been meant for Lesley Gore, and Connie manages to sing it
> exactly in the Lesley style, complete with doubletracked
> vocals and darkly wobbly timbre on the low notes. When I
> heard this song I thought, man, here's a track that got
> shopped to Lesley who must have turned it down, so the
> producers went to the B-list and got Connie Stevens.
That's exactly what it sounds like!
All the best,
Jamie
--------------------[ 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.