________________________________________________________________________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ S P E C T R O P O P ______________ ______________ ______________ ________________________________________________________________________ featuring radio and recording favourites ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are 24 messages in this issue of Spectropop. Topics in this Digest Number 354: 1. Janie Grant on the air Thursday January 17th!!! From: "Ian Slater" 2. Checkmates Ltd From: Paul Underwood 3. Kit Kats From: "Kingsley Abbott" 4. Re: CD Towers From: "Javed Jafri" 5. Re: Archies And Josie & The Pussycats news From: "Don Charles" 6. Various From: Michael Rashkow 7. RE: Partynoise From: "Keith Beach" 8. Re: It ain't fair From: "Robert Conway" 9. Re: Archies And Josie & The Pussycats news From: "David Parkinson" 10. Re: Kenny Young From: Luis Suarez 11. Re: Fake Party Songs/Farmer John, etc. From: "Robert Conway" 12. Re: Kit Kats From: "Mike Arcidiacono" 13. Re: Fake Party Songs/Farmer John, etc. From: "Javed Jafri" 14. I see the lights I see the party lights From: "Javed Jafri" 15. Re: I see the lights I see the party lights From: "Mike Arcidiacono" 16. Re: brian wilson London From: Chris 17. Re: I see the lights I see the party lights From: Andrew Hickey 18. musica/Janie Grant/Diane Renay From: LePageWeb 19. Re: Checkmates Ltd From: "Frank" 20. Re: Fake Party Songs From: Michael Coxe 21. Re: I see the lights I see the party lights From: "Frank" 22. Re: Checkmates Ltd From: "Keith Beach" 23. Re: Kit Kats From: "J.H. Ket" 24. Jeff Barry's Greatest Hits From: "Don Charles" ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:21:29 -0000 From: "Ian Slater" Subject: Janie Grant on the air Thursday January 17th!!! To supplement this broadcast, I've posted a picture of Janie onto the Photo Albums - Miscellaneous photos folder. This illustrated a short interview in the USA "Rock & Roll Songs" Magazine from January 1963. The 2 pics in that magazine are the only ones I've seen of her. Unfortunately, the broadcast is about 2.00 a.m. here in the UK - strong coffee in the morning! Ian Slater > entire one-hour Janie Grant interview which originally > aired on Thursday, December 6th, 2001. > > Rebroadcast Date: Thursday, January 17th, 2002 > Rebroadcast Time: 9:00 PM E.S.T. > Originating station: WBCB-1490-AM (Bucks County, PA) > Internet Access: http://www.wbcb1490.com > > The rebroadcast of the interview will actually begin > promptly at 9:05 PM, immediately following the national > news. > > > Janie talked about several of her recordings, all of > which we played in their entirety in the following > order): > > "Triangle" > "Romeo" > "Roller Coaster" > "Oh Johnny" > "That Greasy Kid Stuff" > "Tell Me Mama" > "My Heart, Your Heart" [time zone converter: http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/worldtime/ ] --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 2 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:44:01 +0100 From: Paul Underwood Subject: Checkmates Ltd It's nice to know I'm not the only one who listens to the Hair anthology suite with a degree of pleasure, (but then I also love the Leonard Cohen album). One thing that always surprised me was how well Sonny Charles sang on the whole album, whereas another (later) album I have by the Checkmates is so ordinary. I always thought, for no good reason, that it was someone like Merry Clayton on Proud Mary (at that time she was on everyone's records). I also recall reading that Proud Mary was initially an eight-minute-long recording: there is a funny noise half-way through the track: was it a bad edit? One other thing: did the Checkmates initial single "Baby don't you get crazy" ever exist? I remember reading an interview with John Sebastian in which he talked about going to chez Spector to ask him to produce the song, but did anything ever come of it? Paul --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 3 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:09:59 -0000 From: "Kingsley Abbott" Subject: Kit Kats Good to see appreciation of the Kit Kats...To add a few bits - Their "Won't Find Better Than Me" (great song) did manage a UK release in 1966 on London (as The Kit Kats). There is a very nice live video of them performing this song in a smallish club added to the end of the double CD of theirs on Jamie 4008. . Its really atmospheric, and i reckon they must have been a great group to have seen live then. A couple of years ago I spent a delightful evening in Cambridge with Frank Lipsius and his family. Super nice guy Frank now runs Jamie/Guyden, still with help from his dad Harold who was the original sixties boss. He told me that he had loads of Kit Kats' material - enough for a 4CD set!! His revitalised company is puttting out some very nice compilation re-issues, including some great Philadephia early 60s Doo Wop (Ernie & the Halos,.Billy & the Essentials, Anthony & the Sophomores etc). I'd recommend "Philly Doo Wop Classics" JG 4006, which also includes The Kit Kats version of "Puddin'n'Tain". Well worth checking out. Kingsley Abbott --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 4 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 19:46:41 -0500 From: "Javed Jafri" Subject: Re: CD Towers Justin wrote: > reading through your track list was intriguing since as > Alan states, it brings together music from different > genres and eras Thank you Justin and Alan for the kind words about my comp tape. I have been making these types of tapes for years for my personal listening pleasure in the car. They represent some alternative type of Top 40 with selections taken from lower charted hits or records that just "bubbled under" or records that should have been hits in the perfect pop world. My record collection is comprised of a lot of 45's and compilations and many of them are songs that made the second half of the hot 100. In terms of obscurities like the Gordian Knot or Forever Amber my CD/Vinyl collection is sadly lacking but what I do have are cassette copies of such material made by a dear collector friend of mine. I like to mix eras and genres but still have the music flow in a way that makes some sort of sense. Somewhat like the golden era of the progressive free form stations like the one that Country Paul used to work at. Javed --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 5 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 16:46:35 +0000 From: "Don Charles" Subject: Re: Archies And Josie & The Pussycats news Lou Perlman, eh? His involvement will certainly ensure the kind of critical hostility The Archies have traditionally attracted! Don Charles > >NEW YORK, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Archie Entertainment >Co-Chairman Michael Silberkleit, Lou Pearlman and >ZelnickMedia principal Strauss Zelnick today announced >the creation of a joint venture to launch real life music >groups based upon The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats >comic book character music groups... >Silberkleit: "...with Lou's help, [these groups] are sure >to be loved by kids, young and old, just like the >Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC." > >"I am proud to be associated with ZelnickMedia and Archie >Entertainment. I hope to have as much fun developing >these projects as the public will have watching and >listening to them," said Lou Pearlman. > >Strauss Zelnick, ZelnickMedia said: "The Archies and >Josie and the Pussycats have long and successful legacies >and the opportunity to work with Lou on this new venture >is exhilarating." --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 6 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 20:28:21 EST From: Michael Rashkow Subject: Various Re: More Magic Lamp In a message dated 1/16/2002, Peter writes: > "Joe Osborn was one of LA's leading studio musicians Yes. Good a bass player and had a very nice Old English Sheepdog. Or maybe that was Max Bennett---Carol, which one had the dog? I can't remember anything anymore. Of course Chips had the Toni. Re: Toni Wine, Carol Bayer In a message dated 1/16/2002, richard havers writes: > > Talking of Carol Bayer, does anyone know if it was > > her who co-wrote the Shadows Of Knight/American Breed > > classic "I'm Gonna Make You Mine"? The credits read > > (Bayer/Carr/D'Errico). What was the origin of this > > track? > > Yes it is the Carole Bayer....as far as any more info is > concerned I am stumped. > Billy Carr is likely the man and Jamie Carr is a name he sang under. Did a lot of demos and jingles and backgorunds. Had a good pop/rock sound harder than Dante and Kenny Karen. Re: The Illusion In a message dated 1/16/2002, Don writes: > > Chuck Alden went on to join a Long Island band the > > Illusion who had a Mitch Ryder produced single on > > Dynovoice then moved to Jeff Barry's Steed label... > > That's Chuck ADLER who was a member of The Illusion. > Maybe a different guy? The Illusion's chart singles were > "Did You See Her Eyes," "How Does It Feel?" (both > co-written by Jeff Barry), "Together," and "Let's Make > Each Other Happy." There were only three Steed album > releases by the group: THE ILLUSION, TOGETHER (AS A WAY > OF LIFE) and IF IT'S SO - although there may have been an > unreleased LP. I didn't see this first post, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Chuck Alden. As to the Illusion, I'm not sure if it was the same group or not, but at one time Ellie Greenwich and I auditioned a band from Long Island at Associated Recording. They didn't knock us out, and they went on to sign with Jeff Barry. I always thought they were The Illusion---and in either event, I was later told that when this particular group auditioned for us, a young man named Billy Joel was playing keyboards. I don't know that, but maybe someone else can jump in here and fill. Re: Fake Party Songs In a message dated 1/16/2002, David writes: > How about "A Quarter to Three" and the wonderful > intro to the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You?" and that Marvin Gaye thing--can't think of the title... "I was out at a party...." Re: Jack Nitzsche - KHJ In a message dated 1/15/2002 , Ken writes: > I think I have a copy somewhere on reel to reel. If I > can find it and transfer it you're absolutely welcome > to a copy. 15 ips half track no dolby is my preference--and thanks Re: Kenny Young In a message dated 1/16/2002, Peter writes: > > I seem to remember Mr Young came to live and work in > > England and Wales! in the 70's early 80's so would > > assume Rockfied record him. Personally I'll stick to his > > writing, arranging and producing for so many Girl Group > > classics!! Kenny Young was a friend of Mikie Harris and Jeannie Thomas and used them on his demos in NYC during the mid 60's. I recall that he went to England about '69,/'70 --I heard it was to "work" with Mickie Most. I believe his real name was Murray Gitlin or something like that. Very nice, kind of shy guy--loner, private person. Wrote alone, worked alone. I previously mentioned too that I'm pretty sure he wrote "Arizona" Rashkovsky --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 7 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 13:54:01 -0000 From: "Keith Beach" Subject: RE: Partynoise Partynoise Does Trini Lopez 'If I had a hammer' count? keith beach --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 8 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:32:26 -0600 From: "Robert Conway" Subject: Re: It ain't fair How about the two Neils? Bob Conway Ken Levine writes: >Doesn't it seem odd that the two best singers of the Brill >Building composers (Ellie Greenwich and Barry Mann) didn't >have big recording careers while other less, well "gifted" >singers did? --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 9 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:03:01 -0800 From: "David Parkinson" Subject: Re: Archies And Josie & The Pussycats news Don Charles wrote: > Lou Perlman, eh? His involvement will certainly ensure > the kind of critical hostility The Archies have > traditionally attracted! It seems a shame (although somewhat fitting) that N'Sync are slated to appear in Star Wars Chapter II: Attack Of The Clones, when there are going to be some perfectly good Archies and Pussycats available. Now THAT I would go see. Are you listening, Lou?? David --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 10 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 19:14:14 -0000 From: Luis Suarez Subject: Re: Kenny Young So the US Kenny Young is the same as the UK Kenny Young? With both Under The Boardwalk (co-written with Artie Resnick) AND Fox (with Noosha Fox) under his belt?! --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 11 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:38:57 -0600 From: "Robert Conway" Subject: Re: Fake Party Songs/Farmer John, etc. I don't believe that anyone has mentioned the Premiers' "Farmer John"--a great three-chord rave-up about the girl with the champagne eyes. Billy G. Spradlin wrote: >One of my favorites is a southern "frat party" version of >"In The Midnight Hour" by a group called "The IN" on >Hickory, with some nice shreaks at the beginning of the >record and in between verses. > >Another great party croud is on the "live" side of Paul >Revere & The Raiders "Here They Come" LP! --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 12 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:37:24 -0500 From: "Mike Arcidiacono" Subject: Re: Kit Kats Since we're on the subject of the Kit Kats, let me point out that my friend Tom Moulton remixed the Kit Kats material for the 2CD set that came out last year. Tom told me he really loves the group, so that job was a labor of love for him. Mikey --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 13 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 22:01:10 -0500 From: "Javed Jafri" Subject: Re: Fake Party Songs/Farmer John, etc. Robert Conway wrote : > I don't believe that anyone has mentioned the Premiers' > "Farmer John"--a great three-chord rave-up about the > girl with the champagne eyes Actually it was mentioned along with the Swingin' Medallions "Double Shot of My Baby's Love" and speaking of the Medallions I think their other hit "She Drives Me Out Of My Mind" also featured some party noises and what about Jimmy Soul's "If You Want to Be Happy" a very Gary US Bonds type of song. Hey this is a fun thread. Javed --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 14 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:15:31 -0500 From: "Javed Jafri" Subject: I see the lights I see the party lights OK here is another party background song. "She Comes to Me" by the Chicago Loop on Dyno Voice from 1966. Javed --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 15 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:17:56 -0500 From: "Mike Arcidiacono" Subject: Re: I see the lights I see the party lights geezz...no one has mentioned the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann" yet!! mikey "Javed Jafri" wrote: > OK here is another party background song. "She Comes to > Me" by the Chicago Loop on Dyno Voice from 1966. --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 16 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:20:27 EST From: Chris Subject: Re: brian wilson London I' m going tuesday night Chris --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 17 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:57:46 -0800 (PST) From: Andrew Hickey Subject: Re: I see the lights I see the party lights --- Mike Arcidiacono wrote: > geezz...no one has mentioned the Beach Boys "Barbara > Ann" yet!! I was going to mention that - and indeed the whole Beach Boys Party! album - but thought it was too obvious... also no-one's mentioned the audience noise on Sgt Pepper, though I don't know if that counts as it's meant to sound faked... ===== Cat Satisfaction Survey, number 1 in Pop on Ampcast.com . Buy it now from http://www.stealthmunchkin.com "Better than Looking Back With Love" - Dave Manning, Ridgefield Press --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 18 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 15:30:20 +0900 From: LePageWeb Subject: musica/Janie Grant/Diane Renay Hi all, There has been some great listening here lately and I just wanted to say thanks to those who play some of their obscure records for us. I just got finished listening to Bruce's No Gold in California. Interesting - not what I expected. Starts with a "Concrete & Clay" groove that segues into an Eagles-like two line chorus before venturing off into a Beach Boys vocal section - but BB circa Surf's Up rather than All Summer Long. I hear more Bruce Johnston than Brian Wilson. Lot of tricky chord changes in there too which reminded me a bit of the Sunrays. As to the Byzantine Empire tracks - WOW! Snow Queen is excellent, and stands up to Roger Nichols version in its own unique way. In fact, all the BE tracks I've heard are wonderful! Bruce, you wondered out loud if the band made a mistake in not going for a harder "live" sound rather than compromising by trying to make a commercial hit - well who knows what would or could have happened, but I for one am very happy to have heard these Byzantine Empire records finally. Pixies 3 - Love Me was a treat to hear too. It's not on Growin' Up Too Fast comp, but Justin - this compilation is really a great starting point with hits and non-hits alike. It has a few choice Pixies 3 tracks and some tasty Diane Renay stuff too. Sooper highly recommended. And hey! That Kit Kats record, which I had never heard, is GREAT! The groove reminds me a lot of Kind of Boy You Can't Forget. What compression! Cathy Brasher, Carol Connors, Factotums, Lettermen, Margie Day...I really enjoyed hearing each one of these. Thanks everyone. Anyone else listen to the Janie Grant special on internet radio today? Besides Triangle, Romeo, Greasy Kid Stuff and Tell Me Mama, Ronnie Allen played several Janie sides that I had never heard before. Diane Renay special coming up on the same station http://www.wbcb1490.com on Monday night 21st Jan at 10:00 p.m. EST. Ronnie said he is going to play several from Diane's new self-released CD entitled "Diane Renay Sings Some Things Old & Some Things New." All the best, Jamie --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 19 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:13:58 +0100 From: "Frank" Subject: Re: Checkmates Ltd Paul wrote: > It's nice to know I'm not the only one who listens to > the Hair anthology suite with a degree of pleasure, Hi Paul, "A certain degree of pleasure" is an understatement. I always loved this production. As a matter of fact I love the whole LP. And for years this was #1 on my most wanted CD, until I finally got it. > I always thought, for no good reason, that it was > someone like Merry Clayton on Proud Mary I share your opinion and also favored the Merry Clayton possibility. Especially because this part was typical of the kind of backing vocals she was often asked to perform (with Bobby Darin for instance). > another (later) album I have by the Checkmates is so > ordinary. I also agree with you about the other Checkmates Ltd recordings, very very strangely uninteresting! > I also recall reading that Proud Mary was initially an > eight-minute-long recording: there is a funny noise > half-way through the track: was it a bad edit? I never noticed the bad edit noise on Proud Mary, I'll check it out and see if I can hear anything though it wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that even the Hair side was longer than what came out. > One other thing: did the Checkmates initial single > "Baby don't you get crazy" ever exist? As for the Checkmates single, I never even heard of it, so I can't help you on this one. Cheers` Frank --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 20 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 00:20:01 -0800 From: Michael Coxe Subject: Re: Fake Party Songs A few more: "Soul Finger" by the Bar-Kays, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" by Jr Walker & The All-Stars, "Say Man" by Bo Diddley (first record I ever owned) and especially "If You Want To Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul. Did anyone mention "Barbara Ann" (pick a performer)? Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" - even more a hoot when considered of this genre. Not of the Spectropop era but one of the greatest fake party records ever was "Lay Your Love On Me", a Mike Chapman/Nicky Chinn studio creation under the name Racey circa 1979 & a massive hit in Australia. - michael --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 21 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:45:09 +0100 From: "Frank" Subject: Re: I see the lights I see the party lights What about "Hey Dean, Hey Jean" by Jean and Dean ? Or was it mentioned already ? Frank --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 22 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:49:40 -0000 From: "Keith Beach" Subject: Re: Checkmates Ltd > > One other thing: did the Checkmates initial single > > "Baby don't you get crazy" ever exist? > The story, as much as I know, Jonathan King (British songwriter, performer, egomamiac, ...now in jail for unspeakable acts) was in the States and met Phil Spector. He was played the first recording by Phil's new signing (Sonny Charles and The Checkmates Ltd). The track opened with hundreds of strumming mandolins, and was called 'Baby don't you get crazy'. Jonathan thought it was wonderful. Later when 'Love is all I have to give' was issued instead (also opening with hundreds of strumming mandolins) Jonathan was asked if that was the song he'd previously heard. He was adamant that it wasn't...if was definitely called 'Baby.....' Of course by then it was discovered that 'Baby ...' was scheduled as A&M 1006, but never issued. I don't recall how we knew that it was a John Sebastian song (I found his own version of it on an album a few years later, but it seems a very unlikely song for Phil to do with The Checkmates - depending on the arrangement of course). Big mystery eh? Something to do with not good enough for his comeback production maybe? Phil's Box Set would have been an ideal time for him to reveal it to the world. Of course there's a lot of material still in the vaults that we might get to hear sometime. Gary, how about quietly borrowing the key from Dad and letting us hear them all? BTW, what's the state of play with Nancy Sinatra and Phil dating? keith beach --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 23 Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 10:02:17 +0100 From: "J.H. Ket" Subject: Re: Kit Kats > My favorite track by them is "That's the Way" which > answers the question "What if Phil Spector produced the > Tokens, Randy & The Rainbows or The 4 Seasons? (with > Jerry Lee Lewis on Piano)" After listening to "That's the way" the song and sound keeps "spinning like a windmill in my mind" for hours. A great Folkrocker!! I cured myself by listening to "The Mojo Men-Should I cry". You can hear it at musica for anyone who suffers the same problem. Hans Ket --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- Message: 24 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:09:31 +0000 From: "Don Charles" Subject: Jeff Barry's Greatest Hits Anyone who knows me also knows that Jeff Barry's work is an obsession of mine. The first article I wrote about him focused on his production work, which I've collected for many years. For the record, here's a list of what I consider to be the 25 greatest Jeff Barry productions, though they're not necessarily my personal favorites. All were hits on either a US or UK chart, and of course, some had co-producers (i. e. Ellie Greenwich, Shadow Morton, etc). Without further ado . . . 1. Sugar, Sugar - The Archies 2. Baby, I Love You - Andy Kim 3. Cherry, Cherry - Neil Diamond 4. How'd We Ever Get This Way? - Andy Kim 5. Jingle Jangle - The Archies 6. Bang-Shang-A-Lang - The Archies 7. Be My Baby - Andy Kim 8. Shoot 'Em Up, Baby - Andy Kim 9. I'm A Believer - The Monkees 10. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You - The Monkees 11. Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom 12. (Sha La Boom Boom) Heavy Makes You Happy - Bobby Bloom 13. The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget - The Raindrops 14. Iko Iko - The Dixie Cups 15. Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) - The Shangri-Las* 16. I Wanna Love Him So Bad - The Jellybeans 17. Chapel Of Love - The Dixie Cups 18. Leader Of The Pack - The Shangri-Las 19. So Good Together - Andy Kim 20. Hold On, Baby - Sam Hawkins 21. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Neil Diamond 22. Lay A Little Lovin' On Me - Robin McNamara with the cast of "Hair" 23. Thank The Lord For The Night Time - Neil Diamond 24. Did You See Her Eyes? - The Illusion 25. Shilo - Neil Diamond *Jeff Barry vocally creates all the seagull noises on this record, using cupped hands and an echo chamber! Attention, Laura Pinto: Got any additions or corrections to this list, LP? Don Charles --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------- End