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Project 3 Records have achieved Total Sound!
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There are 13 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 307:
1. Free Design
From: Richard Havers
2. Gidget vs. Karen
From: Ron Buono
3. Cameo "boots"
From: Doc Rock
4. Re: Big Hurt Sound
From: Jane Wade
5. Re: Big Hurt Sound
From: Jane Wade
6. JEAN DuSHON: THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
From: Mick Patrick
7. Quincy Jones autobiography
From: Matt
8. Quincy Jones
From: Carol Kaye
9. Margo Guryan
From: "Ken Levine"
10. George Harrison Rest in Peace
From: LePageWeb
11. Toni Fisher, Wayne Shanklin, Carol Connors & more
From: "Paul Payton"
12. Re: Free Design
From: Scott
13. Carol Connors
From: Brian Chidester
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________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 17:41:52 +0000
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Free Design
Hi all
I just wanted to say that I have been listening to Free
Design most of today while working. In particular the
track called Love Does Not Die from 1973 is
amazing....just beautiful.
I would recommend anyone who has not got it to beg, buy
borrow or purloin a copy.
I say this for absolutely no reason whatsoever other than
it is wonderful!!
Best Wishes
Richard
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 12:44:27 EST
From: Ron Buono
Subject: Gidget vs. Karen
In a message dated 11/29/01, Spectropop writes:
> But the best thing about that darn show was the theme
> song: Johnny Tillotson singing a Bobby Darin knockoff
> of a Riddle/Sinatra knockoff. 35 seconds of pure
> swingin' mainline hardcore.
Hey Jack-
I TOTALLY agree with you! And thanks for clearing up for
me who sang that groovy theme song. I've always wondered
who the kool kat was. We can start another huge debate
here, but in my humble opinion, it rates second only to
the Beach Boys theme to the short-lived TV show "KAREN".
Anyone remember THAT piece of gold?
ron
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 17:48:08 -0500
From: Doc Rock
Subject: Cameo "boots"
>In answer to Michael Gessner's inquiry about the Cam-Park
>CDs, I've been told that they are bootlegs. Supposedly
>ABKCO is not involved, but how can those CDs contain
>unreleased material unless someone had access to the
>vault? Sounds like someone is making money but getting
>around the issue of compensating the artists. Steve
>Caldwell of The Orlons has been working very hard to get
>his material legitimately re-released and he is not happy
>about these CDs.
>John Clemente
Many labels made deals with overseas companies iin the
'60s to release their material outside the US, primarily
for US service members. A small market, too small for the
US companies to serve. They'd send over copies of master
tapes, often including all tracks from flip sides and LP
cuts to unreleased material and unreleased takes. Now,
over 30 years later, those tapes still exist, and
ownership has been transferred from company to company
over the years. Hence, we have non-US CDs by the Kalin
Twins, Carl Dobkins, Jr., Brian Hyland, and tons of
others that, while not totally kosher and not paying
proper royalties, are not really bootlegs -- they have
inherited the rights to the material.
Doc
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 06:32:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Jane Wade
Subject: Re: Big Hurt Sound
--- Michael Rashkow wrote:
>
> Are you referencing "phase shift cancellation"--sounds
> like wind swooshing through the music? If so, maybe I
> can provide some help.
Michael, yes that's it! Do tell. Jane
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 06:34:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Jane Wade
Subject: Re: Big Hurt Sound
Thanks so much....and to Michael, whose note I read
previous to this. I guess this answers the question. Jane
--- Monophonius wrote:
> I have an article from Modern Recording magazine
> Feb/Mar 1976 issue in which Larry Levine is
> interviewed. The piece is called THE MEN BEHIND THE
> WALL OF SOUND. In it, Levine is asked about "The Big
> Hurt":
>
> Larry Levine: Then I cut Tony Fisher's "The Big Hurt"
> in 1958.
>
> Modern Recording: "The Big Hurt?" I remember that
> record! It was really a strange-sounding record in its
> day. Didn't it have a phasing effect in it?
>
> Levine: Well, yeah! But it didn't originally start out
> that way. It was recorded 3-track and mixed. Wayne
> Shanklin, the producer, loved the mix but didn't think
> that Tony's voice was out far enough. He wanted me to
> run a simultaneous copy--run the two copies
> together--in order for her voice to be doubled and
> more out front. I told him it wouldn't work, that the
> machines wouldn't hold in sync. It didn't, but he
> loved it. The phasing was very effective on the
> "gliss" that was being played by the strings. So then
> I recorded each 8-bar signature, allowing the machine
> that was running faster to start a little later--and
> then, in catching up and passing, the phasing would
> happen. I did this with each section of the song and
> then edited the pieces together. It was an
> accident..that worked!
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 00:29:23 +0000 (GMT)
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: JEAN DuSHON: THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
Greetings,
Previously on Spectropop:
> Just a thought on the Spector/Ronettes settlement - it
> took two to make THAT sound, Ronnie's voice and Phil's
> production. Listen to the earlier May Records stuff, like
> "Memory," my favorite track of the lot - she's great, but
> the production doesn't keep up with her.
Yes, I agree, the Ronettes would have probably amounted
to NOTHING without Phil Spector. Let's face it, their
Colpix and May output was just not special. But they
still deserve to be paid whatever royalties copyright
law dictates.
However, it takes more than a few castanets, too much
echo and a "Be My Baby" riff to make a good record. Too
many Spector fans seem blind to this fact. Not every
record WITH those ingredients is necessarily a good one.
Similarly, a disc without "the Spector sound" is not a
bad one. How boring to continually equate quality with
Spectorishness. The two are not mutually exclusive.
> And then there are lesser talents -
> Jean Du Shon's Spector-produced "Talk To Me, Talk To Me"
> is very fine stuff - a derivative, of course, like
> another Maxine Brown, but a good one. I have a follow-up
> 45 on Lenox by the same artist - very forgettable, right
> down to the titles - and it hurts from bad production,
> sounding like a 6th rate Shirelles outtake (that cheesy
> early-60's Scepter-Wand sound badly reduced).
Hmmmmm, (takes very deep breath) I'm all for diversity of
musical taste. It's kinda fascinating how one can enjoy
a piece of music someone else dislikes. I also applaud
outspokenness. However, I MUST speak out in defence of
an artist I admire who I feel has been unjustly written
off.
I feel JEAN DuSHON had more talent in her pinkie than
Ronnie Spector had in her entire body. So Jean was not
an artist of the girl group genre. Does that mean her
music was less valid? Only to the musically blinkered.
To imply she was a lesser talent based on such little
evidence is an insult to a woman who had a long career in
the music biz and made some excellent records. Her Lenox
disc was one of her best.
So the Scepter sound was "cheesy", was it? Go listen to
some Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown or Dionne Warwick
records and say that. The Scepter/Wand family of labels
used the best session-players on the New York scene.
They were one of the prime outlets for the Brill Building
songwriters Spectropoppers admire so much. The Scepter
sound was magnificent, huge and dramatic, the epitome of
uptown sophistication. Don't be misled, Jean Dushon's
Lenox single was one of her best BECAUSE it had the
Scepter sound. She really was an excellent artist.
While I'm in the mood, here's a little something else I
wrote for a CD booklet a couple of years ago......
Jean DuShon, whose "Feeling Good" is a current club
favourite here in London, is one of those artists whose
recordings appeal to soul and jazz buffs alike. This
stylish New York-based singer debuted, inauspiciously, in
1960 with "Is It Wrong To Be Right" for ABC, following
which she released a great version of Little Willie
John's "Talk To Me, Talk To Me" on Atco. It was
produced by an ambitious newcomer named Phil Spector.
Next came top class and currently in demand singles on
the Okeh and Lenox labels. In 1964 Jean signed with the
Chess subsidiary Argo where she released her first LP
"Make Way For Jean DuShon" on which she was backed by
the Herman Foster trio. Her second long-player for the
label, "You Better Believe Me", found her sharing
billing with the illustrious Ramsey Lewis Trio, while
her third, "Feeling Good", released on Chess' new Cadet
imprint and her most soulful by far, saw her teamed with
a variety of big name arrangers and musicians. Things
went quiet for Jean following the issue of two non-LP
Cadet 45s, "For Once In My Life" and the sensational
beat-ballad "As I Watch You Walk Away", an obscure
British song first cut by Pye artist Martha Smith. Jean
returned to the label eight years later as featured
vocalist on two tracks on Jack McDuff's 1974 LP "Fourth
Dimension". The early 1990s found her performing with
the band of Bill Doggett in New York where she is
presently playing club dates in preparation for a
comeback.
MICK PATRICK
PS: WANTED WANTED WANTED
I urgently need a nice mint(ish) copy of "The Girl Who
Stopped The Duke Of Earl" by DOROTHY BERRY (Little Star).
Can you help?
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 19:40:29 EST
From: Matt
Subject: Quincy Jones autobiography
Hey everyone,
I just thought I'd share with you all my findings in Q:
The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. Listen to what he
says about our very own Carol Kaye!!
"Nicole Barclay, Gladys Hampton, the Fender bass player
Carol Kaye, the trombonist and arranger Melba
Liston--these were women who could do anything and leave
men in the dust."
Way to go, C.K.
Matt
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 03:07:28 -0000
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: Quincy Jones
I knew Melba, played the Women's Jazz Festival with her
in 1979 at Kansas City Mo, wonderful woman. Quincy had
told me a few times about her and he's sure right about
her, she was great and a wonderful woman. We hung
together one night and she told me about her arranging
days at Motown-LA in the 60s too....she was kind of
crippled up in 1979, living in Jamaica at that time, but
later moving to NYC where she passed away sadly about 2-3
years ago. Fine trombonist.
Quincy hired me for his films and a few record dates back
in the 60s, he knew (like other musicians of his time)
that women were fine musicians, no problem and was simply
GREAT to work for, always. I just saw him again at his
chat with Don Heckman at the Skirball Center about 2-3
weeks ago - just excellent....funny, informative, warm
and just wonderful, and hadn't seen him since 1976 (but
talked with him on the phone) before that.
We hugged big-time and he and I had a few words, great to
see him and he looked good......I think he's enjoying his
celebrity and he should, he worked very hard, composed
some great scores, and wrote some great music always.
Some of the things I worked for him on:
Pawnbroker (lead jazz guitar and elec. bass), rest are
elec. bass -- Slender Thread, Heat Of The Night, To Sir
With Love, In The Heat Of The Night (also did the Ray
Charles single-record too), New Centurions, The Getaway,
The Hot Rock, McKenna's Gold, Walk Don't Run, In Cold
Blood and all of the TV film show "Ironside". Also the
theme of the first Bill Cosby TV show, "Hikky Burr" both
the TV show and the other recorded single on this,
semi-hit...is now on the SmackWater Jack lp...and the
Chump Change that I believe is on that same lp, others
too.
Last I recorded for Quincy and just heard it at Skirball,
sounds good...was the hit single with the Brothers
Johnson, "I Heard That", did the multiple guitar things
riff on that, sounds a little like a synthesizer but
much-better on guitar --funny how a real instrument beats
the synthesizer any time -- I recorded the multi-guitar
parts at super-slow speed in 1976 at A&M Recorders.
Q had just had his aneuryism surgeries at that time and
had told me it drastically changed his outlook on
life....but was his usual chipper self. Q has always
been gracious, full of humor and kidding, and really
loved being "one of the guys", still is that way....I'm
very happy for him, wonderful person, and genius talent.
He's a good man.
Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/
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Message: 9
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 23:12:01 -0800
From: "Ken Levine"
Subject: Margo Guryan
Am I the only one who's heard of and loves Margo Guryan??
If Claudine Longet could actually sing and write and
produce she might be Margo Guryan. And Margo has no
felony charges (at least none that I know of).
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 17:43:27 +0900
From: LePageWeb
Subject: George Harrison Rest in Peace
The slant of course is that another Beatle has died.
I've just heard the news - it still hasn't hit all the
newswires. So before I get jaded by the inevitable media
blitz...
He sang "Take Good Care Of My Baby" on the Decca Audition
tapes. His "All Things Must Pass" epitomizes 1970 wall of
sound. Tandoori Chicken, Try Some Buy Some...and a whole
lot of other great things that truly enriched my life.
Thanks, man.
Jamie
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 01:34:38 -0500
From: "Paul Payton"
Subject: Toni Fisher, Wayne Shanklin, Carol Connors & more
Peter Lerner wrote: "Speaking of Toni [Fisher], I've
bought several of her subsequent 45s, but only West of the
Wall stands out as at all worthy - the first protest song
of the 60s?"
Possibly - and an underrated one at that. By the way, the
sound Jane Wade refers to is "phasing," which can be done
with two turntables playing the same record almost
simultaneously so that the soundwaves cancel themselves
out. With strong-motored broadcast-quality TT's, you can
vary the speed of one slightly with pressure from your
finger to get the rising and falling phased sound. By the
way, the phasing effect was quite the novelty when I
worked in the '70's at WHCN in Hartford, CT, a commercial
(!) progressive/freeform station in that era with three
turntables which allowed us the luxury of phasing records
"live" on the air for additional psychedelic impact (while
always having something cued up for afterward).
Thinking of Wayne Shanklin, he also produced much or all
of the Art & Dotty Todd Era recordings. As an early
overdub group with female lead, do they qualify in this
discussion group? (I know Dotty Todd died within the past
year....) They never equalled "Chanson D'Amour" - too many
vocal gimmicks cluttered up potential hits otherwise
suited to their style - but their vocal "stack" was lush
and beautiful.
Which puts me in mind of Bill and Doree Post - they had a
45 called "Wait For Me" (may have been a B-side) which was
sweet as syrup but really lovely. I think they were known
on the west coast more than here in the east. Didn't they
also have a hit on Crest called "Valley High"? Any info,
anyone?
To Brian Chidester: is that the Storytellers with Annette
K/Carol C who did "Only Time Will Tell" (on Dimension, I
think)? Beautiful Spectors-3-like background on the chorus,
too. Jamie LePage: THANK YOU for the discography. I would
crave a CD like the one you suggested, especially if the
above and "Angel My Angel" are typical of her post-Teddy
Bears output. And yes, PLEASE add Spectors 3 tracks. (Was
she in that group too?)
To David Ponak, what is the source of Brute Force's "Vicky"
(label, year)? I know it's not on "Confections...."
Thanks to everyone for the excellent and informative
contributions. My want list grows daily!
Country Paul
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Message: 12
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 04:44:29 EST
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Free Design
There are a series of Free Design LPs ... though all have
the same general sound.
They're an acquired taste, especially to folks who a more
mainstream rock taste. Because of that weird MOR sound,
it's easy to see why they're gained a certain cult status
among lounge lovers.
They're mentor Enoch Light also put out some oddball
stuff.
Scott
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 13
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 18:25:59 EST
From: Brian Chidester
Subject: Carol Connors
> I have "Listen to the Beat" on a comp CD and it's
> pretty good although different from the Teddy Bears
> style.
Yes, different, but very cool. Which CD is it on?
> You Are My Answer / My Diary COLUMBIA 41976
"My Diary" is very dainty. Very cute. Kind of reminds
me of the Ginger & The Snaps sides.
> Listen To The Beat / My Special Boy COLUMBIA 42155
Much more Spector/Nitzsche-ish. Big sound.
> What Do You See In Him / That's All It Takes COLUMBIA
42337
Never heard that one. Would love to. Anyone got it?
> Yum Yum Yamaha N.T.C. 3131
When I listen to this one, I kinda think it sounds like
a Yamaha commercial. "We're havin' fun, fun, fun in our
yum, yum yamaha."
> Never / Angel My Angel CAPITOL 5152
> Big Big Love / Two Rivers ERA 3084
> Tommy Go Away / I Wanna Know ERA 3096
I don't have any of these either. Wow! I'm really
losing bragging rights.
> My Baby Looks But He Don't Touch / Lonely Little Beach
> Girl MIRA 219
These sound like Ronettes imitations. Very "Be My
Baby"-ish. I love these the most.
> And, I guess Annette Bard's "Alibi" is also Carol
> Connors???
Would seem so. You got it?
> That's a grand total of 17 tracks!
Not just yet. Bryan Thomas told us about two more she
did with a Del-Fi group that included Arthur Lee. Then,
you have to add to that:
"When Two People" b/w "Time Will Tell" -- The
Storytellers. Those two songs are written by S. Barri/C.
Connors. Steve Barri sings the verses and Carol Connors
sings the choruses.
Also:
"Go Go G.T.O." -- Carol & Cheryl. Another killer 45
that has the same song on both sides.
Then, on the Swingin' Summer soundtrack, besides Carol's
groooooooovy title song, she also wrote "Red Hot
Roadster," which, let me just say - for those who have
never heard "Red Hot Roadster," I think it is the best
song the Rip Chords ever recorded. Don't know who the
Rip's were on this track, but it is totally genius.
Carol also wrote a song called "Masked Grandma" for the
California Suns. She didn't sing on it, as it sounds
all male, but the songs is a cool comedy pastiche song,
with contemptible lyrics: "She's the little old lady
just a little meaner than the little old lady from
Pasadena."
Also, Carol sings two songs from The Girls On The Beach
movie -- "Why Do I Love You So?" and "We Wanna Marry A
Beatle." Then add "The Book Of Love" from Catalina
Caper and the song she does from the movie Red Line 7000,
and you have a compilation that is nearing 25, I'd say.
> I've heard only five of these 17 tracks. Only five!
Which five?
> Sure would be nice to hear some of the others if
> those with bragging rights would care to play them
> for us... 'tis the season doncha know. Feliz Navidad.
> Give the gift of music, my *musica* pals! ;-)
Jamie, I'm defintely willing to play them and make
copies for you. But, why don't we try and complete the
Carol Connors collection and make a big compilation?
Sounds like a plan to me. If anyone has any of these
songs or any others we don't know about, please write
me at the above email address and we'll work something
out. By the way, I've got those three movies in my
collection, but my copy of Red Line 7000 isn't very
good. I haven't been able to find a copy that is not
dubbed, so if anyone has a good copy of that movie,
that would be really good, as well.
Hang 10!
Brian Chidester
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