________________________________________________________________________
______________ ______________
______________ ______________
______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________
______________ ______________
________________________________________________________________________
quality listening on either stereo or monaural phonographs is assured
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are 17 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 345:
1. Young Holt
From: James Botticelli
2. Re: Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth
From: Kim Cooper
3. Al Kooper-Rare & Well Done
From: "David Ponak"
4. Re: ANYTHING FOR A SONG
From: Richard Havers
5. Re: Riff pioneers
From: Billy G. Spradlin
6. Re: Riff pioneers..R Dean Taylor
From: Dan Hughes
7. R, DEAN TAYLOR
From: "Warren Cosford"
8. Re: Riff pioneers
From: "John Lester"
9. Re: Young Holt
From: Simon White
10. Re: Chi Lites and Temptations
From: "Vincent Degiorgio"
11. Re: Angelica / La Musique
From: "John Lester"
12. R Dean Taylor/The Collectors
From: "Javed Jafri"
13. California Montage's Greatness
From: James Botticelli
14. Chi-Lites vs. Tempts
From: "David Feldman"
15. Re: R, DEAN TAYLOR
From: "John Lester"
16. Re: Motown's Velvelettes
From: "John Lester"
17. Mustaches Bizarre / This Week's Model
From: James Botticelli
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 15:19:36 EST
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Young Holt
In a message dated 1/10/02 jack madani writes:
> Soulful Strut (Young-Holt Trio)
> I've never heard the Barbara Acklin original,
> but I know the Swing Out Sister remake very well, to
> the point where I'd forgotten how great the
> Young-Holt Trio instrumental version was. Until I
> heard it on the radio day before yesterday. What a
> groovy, funky, jazzy bassline.
Being the proud owner of 8 YH LP's, I'm right now in the
midst of doing a CD-R of their best material...and the
Barbara Acklin original is just Barbara singing over the
YH bed...More Brunswick Chicago Soul
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 19:21:39 -0800
From: Kim Cooper
Subject: Re: Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth
Thank you to the folks who've picked up David Smay's and
my recent book "Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth," and
to David for mentioning Scram magazine, where indeed a
number of the book chapters first appeared.
We have a new issue of Scram due out in February, which
will include a very interesting, never-before-published
1971 interview that Gene Sculatti did with Gary Usher.
And Usher's colleague Dick Campbell has kindly
contributed some personal recollections, and photos from
his private archives.
Scram can be found at some newsstands and chainstores, or
you can order directly from us. For details see
http://www.scrammagazine.com.
In further bubblegum news, Southland Spectropoppers may
want to leave March 23 open on their calendars. We're
throwing a second Bubblegum Ball, to feature Ron Dante
>from the Archies backed up by the sparkle*jets UK (who
will also be doing their Jackson 5 impression!),
glamsters Marizane channeling the spirits of psychedelic
gum via the Lemon Pipers, Banana Splits, etc., and
Teacher's Pet as the Bay City Rollers. This will again
be held at the mid-city Los Angeles roller rink World on
Wheels--skating and live bubblegum for one low price.
'scuze all the plugs, but I thought folks might be
interested.
-Kim
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 18:57:49 -0500
From: "David Ponak"
Subject: Al Kooper-Rare & Well Done
I just got the Al Kooper "Rare & Well Done" double disc
set on Sony Legacy. One disc consists of rarities, the
other is a career overview anthology. There are a few
amazing soft rock moments on this that make it well worth
aquiring:
"Autumn Song"-Incredible Brian Wilson-esque pop tune.
Actually a new recording of a lost 60's tune.
"New York's My Home (Razz-A-Ma-Tazz) aka The Street
Song"-Jazzier but still soft rock
"Making Plans For Nigel"-great XTC Cover
"You Never Know Who Your Friends Are"-Amazing Pet
Sounds/Good Vibrations homage from 1969.
Some of his material gets way too deep into "blues rock"
terrain for my taste, but the good stuff is really great.
A cool set.
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 23:52:19 +0000
From: Richard Havers
Subject: Re: ANYTHING FOR A SONG
Hi Bob
Montage was by the Piccardy Singers on the OST, although
I have never heard their version.
If you are interested some info on Jefferson
Jefferson
Hits 1
Weeks on Chart 8
Born Geoffrey Turton (b.11.3.44) and educated at Turves
Green Secondary Modern School, Northfield, Birmingham, he
began his musical career with a Birmingham rock'n'roll
group, making his debut with them at Hopwood Village Hall
in '61. As The Rockin' Berries the group worked a lot in
Germany during '62/63 before securing a recording
contract with Decca and releasing Wah Wah Woo, written by
group members Clive Lea and Chuck Botfield. Terry Bond
and Roy Austin completed the five-piece line-up that
subsequently toured the U.K. with P.J. Proby
While with the Rockin Berries Turton enjoyed chart
success with songs like He's In Town. Which reached No.3,
I Didn't Mean To Hurt You and Poor Man's Son, which
climbed to No.5.
In September '68 Turton left the group to go solo,
releasing the wonderful Montage written by Jimmy Webb. He
seemed to have second thoughts as he joined Sight and
Sound early in '69, only to leave almost immediately to
have a solo top thirty hit with the Paul Ryan song Colour
Of My Love (No.22) in the spring. There were no further
hits despite staying on the Pye label into the early 70's
and releasing singles like Kenny Young's Spider.
In the 90's Turton was back with the Rockin' Berries
touring Britain and Europe.
Pye 7N 17634 Montage/Did You Hear a Heart Break Last Night
1968
Pye 7N 17706 The Colour Of My Love/Look No Further
1969 22
Pye 7N 17810 Baby Take Me in Your Arms/I Fell Flat On My Face
1969
Pye 7N 17855 Love And All The World/I've Got To Tell Her
1969
--
Best Wishes
Richard
Message: 5
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 04:34:17 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: Riff pioneers
--- In Spectropop, John Lester wrote:
I agree with you Billy about the bassline [of Velvelettes'
"A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In the Bush)"] but we do
differ cos I actually consider it to be an exceptional
song too.
Well I have always thought the song was a rewrite of "Too
Many Fish In The Sea" or "Needle In A Haystack" (I think
it might have the same writers - I need to check my "Hard
To Find Vol 2" Mowtown CD). Motown was great at recycling
ideas for songs over and over (but they did a great job at
it!)
BTW has any of the Velvelettes material besides "Needle in a
Heystack" appeared in stereo?
> Did Motown ever make a 45 that sucked....yeah, well I
> though that about "Where did our love go"...but hey, who
> am I to make judgements!!!
I'm thinking of the "Hitsville USA" era Motown here, not
the mid 70's to 80's when they were desperate for hits and
released junk by Charlene and Bruce Willis.
Actually I have always liked "Where Did our Love Go" (BTW
count how many times they sing "Baby Baby") I think why so
many Motown fanatics diss the Supremes is because of too
much oldies airplay. I twist the dial everytime I hear the
"Baby Love" (the first bubblegum R&B song?).
Message: 6
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 21:38:47 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Riff pioneers..R Dean Taylor
Robert Conway says of Indiana Wants Me:
> The sirens and police megaphone was just way too much
> over the top for my taste....
I was a rock DJ when that song was a hit, and I didn't
think it was over the top quite enough....So when I
played it, I augmented the sirens and gunfire with
grenades, bombs, explosions, screams, and several other
choice bits of havoc from the radio station sounds
effects library. Very satisfying....
---Dan, http://members.soltec.net/~dan
(spiffy home page)
Message: 7
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 21:04:37 -0500
From: "Warren Cosford"
Subject: R, DEAN TAYLOR
> I agree entirely. I picked up the R Dean Taylor
> collection not long ago (mostly so I could finally
> hear "There's A Ghost In My House", which is
> endlessly referenced in various accounts of the
> Northern Soul scene),
All these R. Dean Taylor posts inspired me to pull out my
"I Think, Therefore I Am" LP which includes everything
mentioned recently on Spectropop except "There's A Ghost
In My House".....which I've never heard but would really
like to.
Gotta See Jane was a Great Record. Because I worked in
Radio, I heard it when it was first released in Canada in
'68 or '69.....but it wasn't played on any Radio Station
in Canada that I knew of. In 1970, I moved from
Winnipeg to work at CHUM Toronto. When the 30% Canadian
Content Regulations came into effect in 1971, all of
Canadian Radio was scrambling to find records which
qualified. Someone mentioned that Dean was a Canadian,
he was from Toronto apparently, and of course we knew he
recorded for Motown because Indiana Wants Me had been a
hit. So I brought in my copy of Gotta See Jane and we
added it. I imagine something similar happened at CKLW
Windsor, the station known as The Big 8, which at that
time was the #1 station in Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo.
Gotta See Jane was on The CHUM Chart for 10 weeks
beginning March 1971 and reached #1.
I don't know how it did on CKLW, but beginning May 1971
it was on the Billboard Charts for four weeks, peaking at
#67.
Dean also charted on CHUM with "At the High School Dance"
in 1961 and "I'll Remember" in 1962 both on the Barry
Label. His first appearance on The CHUM Chart on Motown
was 1966 with "Let's Go Somewhere".
Warren Cosford
Message: 8
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:00:06 -0000
From: "John Lester"
Subject: Re: Riff pioneers
> Bob Conway wrote:
>
> OK, I finally got up from the 10-count I took for the R.
> Dean Taylor. Here's another then: The Messengers on
> Rare Earth...I must admit I bought the LP on the chance
> that they might have been Michael and the Messengers and
> also because I liked the rounded LP jacket.
>
Ha ha ha ha ...I bought that album for ALMOST the same
reason...tee hee
Message: 9
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:08:51 +0000
From: Simon White
Subject: Re: Young Holt
James Botticelli wrote on 10/1/02 8:19 pm:
>
> Being the proud owner of 8 YH LP's, I'm right now in the
> midst of doing a CD-R of their best material...and the
> Barbara Acklin original is just Barbara singing over the
> YH bed...More Brunswick Chicago Soul
James ,
isn't "California Montage" one of the most wonderful
pieces of music ever ?
Well I like it !
Message: 10
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 19:11:35 -0500
From: "Vincent Degiorgio"
Subject: Re: Chi Lites and Temptations
I gotta back James here. My feeling is that Eugene Record
is one of the most underrated composers of his time. It's
a shame that they would be considered in stepchild status.
The Chi Lites deserve a better fate..
Vince
James Botticelli wrote:
> So you're saying that late 6T's/ early 7T's Chi Lites the
> Temps II?
> The very closest they ever came was the overlapping
> similarities between "Just My Imagination" and "Oh
> Girl".
Message: 11
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 23:36:21 -0000
From: "John Lester"
Subject: Re: Angelica / La Musique
Ted T wrote:
> For those in the group who haven't checked out the
> French charts recently, Barry and Cynthia are back at
> the very top. The theme song of top-rated local TV
> show "Star Academy" is "La Musique" (French version
> of Barry's "Angelica" single) and it has gone
> straight to number one in France (instant "double
> platinum" according to my knowledgeable daughter).
I quite enjoyed that Star Academy.....the French have to
choose between the guy and the girl this week....Mario
and Jennifer......
Now I would not call those people singers...well not yet
anyway!!
Message: 12
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:03:44 -0500
From: "Javed Jafri"
Subject: R Dean Taylor/The Collectors
>From: "Robert Conway":
> The sirens and police megaphone was just way too much
> over the top for my taste. Sorry for my opine but IWM is
> just too typical of the prefab pop being cranked outin
> the early seventies. My all-time hate was "Seasons in
> the Sun" which might have been sung by the folksinging
> dude on the frat-house steps in Animal House. My
> reaction exactly Mr. Blutarski.
The best 45 by R Dean Taylor in my opinion was his pre
Motown Canadian hit At The High School Dance. I never
cared for Indiana Wants Me or Gotta See Jane and have to
agree that they exemplify the downward spiral taken by
Top 40 radio by the middle of 1969. Seasons In the Sun is
a great example of the blight and I would add In The Year
25/25. Unfortunately the list does not end there.
Now let's go back a few years to the peak of the top 40
era and I will throw in another example of an obscure
soft-rock gem.The record is Looking at A Baby by the
Collectors. They were a Vancouver area group that
released 2 albums and a few singles circa 1967-68 and
then evolved into Chilliwack. The single charted here in
Toronto and I believe was top 20. I have not heard very
much else by the group save for an album track on CBC
radio but their albums might be worth investigating.
Javed
Message: 13
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:37:47 EST
From: James Botticelli
Subject: California Montage's Greatness
> isn't "California Montage" one of the most wonderful
> pieces of music ever ?
It is.....I wish I'd found about it here...It came to me
via an Kent UK compilation, the title of which I forget
Message: 14
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 01:02:00 -0500
From: "David Feldman"
Subject: Chi-Lites vs. Tempts
Jimmy B said:
> So you're saying that late 6T's/ early 7T's Chi Lites
> the Temps II?
I must not have been making my point clearly. My main
argument was that Brunswick tended to react to what
Motown was doing, particularly in the early 70s, and the
Chi-Lites, IMO, were not particularly served well by it.
I daresay that the Chi-Lites were better represented by
"Have You Seen Her," "Oh Girl," and "Love Uprising" than
"Give More Power to the People" (although I have to admit
that it was a middling success) and especially "We Are
Neighbors." Brunswick also failed in its later attempts
to stick Jackie Wilson with arrangements/productions that
his operatic voice wasn't suited for. When Brunswick
tried to mimic Motown, it usually failed. When it felt
comfortable going its own way (early-mid Jackie Wilson,
Tyrone Davis, Young-Holt Trio, Barbara Acklin, the
Artistics), it was at its best.
Brunswick just didn't seem to have an artistic center,
the way Motown, Stax-Volt, Scepter, or Philadelphia
International did.
Message: 15
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:41:25 -0000
From: "John Lester"
Subject: Re: R, DEAN TAYLOR
Warren Cosford wrote:
> All these R. Dean Taylor posts inspired me to pull out
> my "I Think, Therefore I Am" LP which includes
> everything mentioned recently on Spectropop except
> "There's A Ghost In My House".....which I've never
> heard but would really like to.
Warren
Treat yourself to that R Dean Taylor compilation
then...only £5.50 from Jim Stewart
(www.soulsearchingplus.co.uk) plus postage.
BTW, "Lets Go Somewhere" is in STEREO (FIRST TIME EVER)
and is not like the 45 mix at all, it has the Andantes
ALL over it and dearest Kim's "duet" vocal is almost
mixed out of it
I am sure you will also like the out and out Motown
stomper "Just Like In The Movies"!!!
Message: 16
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:26:50 -0000
From: "John Lester"
Subject: Re: Motown's Velvelettes
Billy G. Spradlin wrote:
> BTW has any of the Velvelettes material besides
> "Needle in a Haystack" appeared in stereo?
Ooooo....someone is actually ASKING a question about the
Velvelettes......makes a change, I normally have to force
people!
The Velvelettes have three of their 45 top sides issued
in stereo on the UK Debutante release "This Is Northern
Soul" Volume 2 (530-814-2)....Lonely Lonely Girl Am I, A
Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush) and These
Things Will Keep Me Loving You. "Needles" and "Saying
Somethin" are only available in stereo on deleted
compilations nowadays but rest assured I will continue to
fight to make them available at the earliest opportunity.
Spectrum were supposed to complement the US "Very Best Of"
mono versions on their UK compilation with stereo
versions and that was how it all seemed to progressing
until I heard the finished product. A few choice words
were said to be heard from this household...and can still
be heard, I might add........but I console myself with
the fact that 4 never before issued tracks got out "Love
Is Good", "Don't Beat Around The Bush", Cal's personal
favourite "Save Me (My Ship Of Love Is Sinking)" and my
own personal email moniker "TheBoyfromXtown". Missing
because of the limitation of tracks on Spectrum CD
releases were "Long Gone Lover", "Your Heart Belongs To
Me" (both done on the Supes) "(We've Got) Honey Love",
and "I'm In Love (And I Know It)" (2 Martha tracks)
(Don't tell Miss Gardiner about the left out Smokey
tracks please.......)
By the way, whilst I have the soapbox stand, on "Love Is
Good", Cal was told to pinch her nose to sound like
"Diana Ross" - a bit of a change from "He Was Really
Saying Something" when she was told to sound like the
"Supremes". (He Was Really Saying Something was thus
also recorded SEPARATELY in a more "Baby Love" mode - if
I EVER get an invite to a gathering again, remind me to
bring it along)
For Marvelettes and Wanda Rogers fans (I know you are out
there).........Wanda also did "Love Is Good" (sorry lads
but it lacks the fire that Cal put into her version!)
If you want to know what SOME record compilers do in
their spare time, check out the Supremes Box set booklet
to find out how many "baby's" are in "Where Did Our Love
Go"!!!!!!!! And BTW, Spectropop's star, Monsieur Beach
might care to check out the alternative version of "The
Happening" on that box set....he might actually decide it
aint that bad a song after all.
Time for me to get off the soap box........or am I being
pushed......aaaaaghhh!
Message: 17
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 15:15:21 EST
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Mustaches Bizarre / This Week's Model
Stewart wrote:
> If "moustaches signify hard," what were Dickie
> Scoppettone and Eddie James doing in Harpers Bizarre?
for every rule there's ...
also, I was making light of Alan's point which he himself
probably has a chuckle over about generalizing about the
music based on the image. But I know that you know what
we both mean, EVEN if we're wrong!...
Alan wrote:
> Last week they were the New Christy Minstrels but they
> got themselves a hot guitar player and kaftans and now
> they're "psychedelic".
Well said, in this case, trumps Well done !
Cheers, JB
End
