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This is the new design in today's music
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There are 10 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 397:
1. Laurie 45's
From: "Jeffrey Glenn"
2. The Majority?
From: Mark Frumento
3. Re: Novelty records
From: "William Jackson"
4. tribute album?
From: Bryan
5. I'm ready for LUST
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
6. Re: Grapevine
From: "John Lester"
7. Albert loves Rebecca...
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
8. Re: Tokens at the Tail End of their Career!
From: Carole Gibson
9. Laurie 45's - Dean Parrish
From: Simon White
10. Chris Isaak
From: Will George
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 15:38:45 -0800
From: "Jeffrey Glenn"
Subject: Laurie 45's
Some time ago I had posted that I had included several
good late 60's (and early 70's) Laurie 45's in my Lost
Jukebox series, and one of you (Joe Foster, to be exact)
requested that I make a list of them with a mind towards
a possible CDR or two. What follows is that list. All
of these 45's belong to either me or David Bash (and
some we both have). For the full credits on the songs
you can find them in the complete Lost Jukebox Track
Listings in Spectropop files. And I can also play any
of these at musica.
(Mikey A. requested that I list what Lost Jukebox each
was on - that info for each side is in parentheses
following the year. If I didn't use a side it's noted;
also if I haven't used a side yet but intend to it's
listed as "pending.")
The Dum Dum Song/Love Unreturned - The Red Coats, Laurie LR 3319: 1965
(A-33/B-42)
- The A-side is a terrific Herman's Hermits knockoff, even down to the
vocal; the B-side a nice Mersey style ballad. There is now a Red Coats CD
out with these tracks.
I'll Never Love Again/Try Your Luck - The Four Coins, Laurie LR-3331: 1966
(A-100, B-Pending)
- Both sides good midtempo folk/pop with nice harmonies.
I Still Love You/Stop, Look And Listen - Les Girls, Laurie LR 3368: 1966
(A-97, B-Not Used)
- Great 1966 girlgroup stuff! And I'm sure Rashkovsky would agree.
Sugar Snow Puff/Yes Sir, That's My Baby - Lorre Wyatt, Laurie LR 3389: 1967
(A-1, B-Pending)
- A-side is pure bubblegum (how could it not be with a name like that); the
B-side is a bubblegum version of the standard.
Heard You Went Away/Call Out My Name - Proctor Amusement Co., Laurie LR
3396: 1967 (A-35, B-54)
- The A-side of this is one of my favorite 60's soft pop songs (originally
released regionally in Florida on Scott 168 prior to being picked up by
Laurie); the B-side's a good pop/rocker written by Chuck Conlon of The
Nightcrawlers
Don't Stop The Carnival/Like My Girl - The Sound Investment, Laurie 3398:
1967 (A-57, B-72)
- The A-side is great soft bubblepop (again, with a name like that how
could it not be); the B-side is a cool midtempo bubble-garage hybrid with
great organ.
Bye Bye Baby/The Things You Do To Me - The Symbols, Laurie 3401: 1967 (A-26,
B-70)
- A lot of you probably already know this stuff since it's now out on CD;
great British harmony pop.
A Thousand Devils (Are Chasin' Me)/Today (I Got A Letter) - The Fifth Order,
Laurie LR 3404: 1967 (A-25, B-33)
- The A-side is a great uptempo pop rocker with great harmonies and
harpsichord; B-side is jangly folk-rock with more great harmonies.
Come, Come/Theme From Come, Come - The Congregation, Laurie 3410: 1967
(A-24, B-30)
- The A-side is a very wimpy (and I mean that in a postive sense) slice of
soft pop; the B-side is an instrumental version of same
I'm On My Way - Dean Parrish, Laurie LR 3418: 1967 (A-67)
- Interesting combination of things going on here - very Motownish track
with fuzztone and orchestration reminiscent of that on lots of soft pop
songs. Really good!
It Takes All Kinds/I'm Still Hung Up On You - The Central Nervous System,
Laurie 3421: 1968 (A-97, B-Pending)
- Good uptempo pop rockers (no more coffee for the drummer on the A-side
though, please!). But their next A-side (see below) would be sheer genious.
Why Can't You And I/White And Frosty - The Whether Bureau, Laurie 3431: 1968
(A-11, B-15)
- A-side is a cool moody midtempo number with nice harmonies; B-side is a
cool moody slow number.
Ten Story Building/City Lights - The Cardboard Zeppelin, Laurie LR 3433:
1968 (A-39, B-48)
- Both sides are great examples of 60's soft pop; the A-side especially. A
big favorite of mine.
Mary And John/I'm Down Girl - The Boys From New York City, Laurie LR 3434:
1968 (A-29, B-37)
- Nice midtempo orchestrated pop/rock on the A-side; B-side is uptempo
garage-tinged pop/rocker.
Goin' To California/A Little Bit Harder - Boys From NYC, Laurie LR 3443:
1968 (A-Pending, B-87)
- Good midtempo pop/rock on these two.
Rocky Ridges/I'd Like To Know - The Castels, Laurie 3444: 1968 (A-32, B-68)
- A-side is really good soft psych; B-side is a good slow midtempo pop
tune.
Alice In Wonderland/Something Happened To Me - The Central Nervous System,
Laurie 3446: 1968 (A-29, B-35)
- The A-side here might be one of the best soft bubble psych things ever
recorded, and with a great trippy ending to boot; B-side's great pop/rock.
Melodies/All The World Is Mine - The Best of Friends, Laurie LR 3450: 1968
(A-61, B-50)
- Both sides are catchy pop/rock, with the B-side being the better of the
two.
Wake Up, Jimmy/Tinsel And Ivy - The Montage, Laurie 3453: 1968 (A-15, B-86)
- Great Left Banke-style soft pop, obviously. Now available on Sundazed's
CD.
Groovy Girl/A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That - The Waterproof
Tinker Toy, Laurie LR 3457: 1968 (A-37, B-57)
Groovy Girl/This And That - The Waterproof Tinker Toy, Laurie LR 3457A: 1968
(A-37, B-68)
- Two different versions of the same 45. A-side is a nice blue-eyed
pop/soul ballad. The first B-side is a cool midtempo bubblegum track; the
second is simply the track to the same song.
Purple Haze/The Dolphins - Dion, Laurie 3478: 1969 (A-19, B-36)
- Dion's folky rethinking of the Hendrix tune is great; B-sides a nice
version of the Fred Neil song.
The Church On The Corner/Happiness Is Holly - The Sound Of Six, Laurie LR
3486: 1969 (A-98, B-Pending)
- Both sides are great catchy pop/rock with the A-side especially having a
great building arrangement. Another big favorite of mine.
The First Cut Is The Deepest/No, No, No, No - Danish Lost & Found, Laurie
3492: 1969 (A-20, B-15)
- A side is a good pop version of the Cat Stevens song; B-side is a good
horn-driven pop/rocker.
Animal/Love, You Possess Me - Gerard, Laurie LR 3507: 1969 (A-64, B-45)
- A-side is a good cover of a somewhat screwball Tokens song; B-side a
great ballad with definite ODYSSEY AND ORACLE overtones.
Happy Days In New York City/My Friend Is Here - Kent Lavoie, Laurie LR 3526:
1970 (A-39, B-52)
- This is Lobo before he was Lobo, and if you like the Lobo stuff, you'll
like this too.
Tra La La La Suzy/Stop The World (From Tumbling Down) - The Yellow Brick
Road, Laurie LR 3532: 1969 (A-14, B-18)
- A-side is a good bubblegum version of the Dean & Jean hit; B-side is a
terrific organ-based bubblegum ballad.
Walk On/Memorial To The Forgotten - Reindeer Army, Laurie LR 3537: 1970
(A-7, B-12)
- A-side is a catchy pop rocker; B-side a good soulish ballad. Pat & Lolly
Vegas wrote the A-side and also recorded it themselves.
She's My Girl - The Yellow Brick Road, Laurie LR 3542: 1970 (A-37)
- Another catchy pop/rocker.
Eloise/A Sleep Within A Dream - Heavy Breathing, Laurie LR 3563: 1971 (A-29,
B-40)
- A-side is a catchy piano-based early 70's pop/rocker; B-side is a
terrific pop/rocker with baroque verses.
Some Kinda Wonderful Girl - Gary Sommers, Laurie LR 3570: 1971 (A-37)
- Catchy horn-driven early 70's pop/rocker.
Good Vibes/It's A Beautiful Day - Polymers Children, Laurie LR-3580: 1971
(A-95, B-99)
- A-side is good early 70's organ-based rocker ala "Hold Your Head Up" but
better; B-side is similar and nicks "A Whiter Shade Of Pale."
Then I realized that there were other examples of cool
Laurie singles on CDR's that another friend has burned.
I don't have any other info on the following other than
what's listed. If anyone wants more info I can contact
my friend and get it. I can also play these to musica
(after cleaning them up with SoundForge - the transfers
on these are pretty dicey, but they do clean up OK):
Our Hearts Will Never Hurt Again - Birds Of Paradise
- A terrific Toys knockoff, probably in the wake of "A Lover's Concerto."
My Little Donna - The Yellow Brick Road
- Good bubblegum nick of "Sugar, Sugar" probably putting this in 1969.
Magic Carpet - Boots Walker
- Nice catchy late 60's soft pop.
It's Better This Way - Sundae
- Great bouncy late 60's soft pop, and like any self-respecting soft pop
song contains it's fair share of "ba-ba-baas."
Foreign Intrigue - Hey Baby Stay
- This is stereo, so it's probably from at least 1970; nice Gary
Puckett-type midtempo pop tune.
Psychodelic Situations - Jimmy Curtiss
- Yes, that Jimmy Curtiss. Pretty cool bubblegum tune, though it's not
particularly psychadelic (or psychodelic, for that matter!). Jimmy sounds
like Lou Christie on the choruses.
Come Back Baby - The Sound Investment, Laurie 3442: 1968
- Great poppy followup to their 1967 45 "Don't Stop The Carnival" above.
Lady Godiva/(Rooty Tooty) - Pooh and The Heffalumphs, Laurie 3281: 1964
- Lovin' Spoonful fans will know this (or they should if they don't!). A
great Jan & Deanish hot rod tune about Lady Godiva driving a '38 Ford ("Put
'em down, put 'em down, Lady G"!). Great arrangement using bells! And
check out the credits:
Produced by Erik Jacobsen
Gary Chester-Drums and Boo-Bams
Felix Pappalardi-Bass & Organ
John Sebastian-Guitar
Jerry Yester-Guitar
Lead Vocals-John Sebastian & Jerry Yester & Felix at the end
Background Vocals-Jerry Yester, Henry Diltz, John Sebastian, and a hired
Bass singer
This should keep everyone busy for awhile!:-)
Jeff
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 04:05:02 -0000
From: Mark Frumento
Subject: The Majority?
Speaking of great songs of the Bee Gees performed by
other artists The Majority springs to mind (they did, as
someone else I think pointed out, the great song "All Our
Christmases"). I've asked on other boards about this band.
Other than the smattering of songs on compilations, have
they had a proper reissue of their material? Anyone
familiar with these guys beyond what has made it on CD?
I'd love to know more.
So far everything I've heard by them is top notch. One of
those bands that transends nationality and classification
- sometimes it's clear that they are a British act but
overall they seem to have been, along the lines of the
Montanas, primarily a harmony group. A darn good harmony
group at that.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 04:59:43 +0000
From: "William Jackson"
Subject: Re: Novelty records
I don't know how long this thread has been going on (new
here) but does anyone know "Cinderella" by Jack Ross? In
fact does anyone know where I could get a copy of it
since mine's chewed. The audience laughter on that
record is too hilarious; I've always wondered if it was
real live laughter (unenhanced)....
>From: Will George
>My favorite by far is "Delicious" by Jim Bacchus and
>Friend. Who is the friend?? It's impossible to listen to
>it without laughing hysterically and continously. For
>anyone who hasn't heard it, it is simply a man and a
>woman drinking champagne and declaring it delicious over
>and over as they get more and more intoxicated. Lots of
>party noise in the background as well! Too much fun.
>
>Bill
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:00:23 -0800
From: Bryan
Subject: tribute album?
Someone just asked me if I had heard about a Phil Spector
"tribute album", and I hadn't heard of any label putting
one together. Has anyone else?
Bryan
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 01:13:36 -0500
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
Subject: I'm ready for LUST
Jim Cassidy asked:
> Doesn't "I'm Ready for Love" by Martha and the Vandellas
> (1965) feature that same rhythmic pattern?
Very similar. And didn't "I'm Ready For Love" inspire
"Lust For Life" by Iggy Pop, now heard ad nauseum on tv
commercials?
Jeff Lemlich
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 08:13:45 -0000
From: "John Lester"
Subject: Re: Grapevine
> This info comes from Gladys Knight's autobiograpy,
> "Between Each Line of Pain and Glory."
I respect what you say there........but experience of
working on Motown projects over the years has taught me
GOLDEN RULE NUMBER ONE and that is to talk to the writer
or producer BEFORE the artist
If Gladys was given Grapevine a year before....who knows
maybe the Miracles were given it a year before too.
Writers and producers, Norman Whitfield and Barrett
Strong would be much more of a reliable source for this
information than our dear Gladys. However, don't put
that as a put down of her book cos I want to say that
that book was fabulous reading, one of my favourites of
them all
John Lester
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 01:23:03 -0500
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
Subject: Albert loves Rebecca...
Mark Frumento wrote:
> Was listening to the Flo and Eddie song "Rebecca" and I
> do think I hear a distict 4S take off there... the whole
> middle eight is Valli all the way. Where is goes "go
> home, tell your father's friends..."
I'll always been partial to the original version by
Albert Hammond. A pure pop masterpiece. Albert's son's
group, the Strokes, played a show here recently, and I
really felt old thinking I'd rather see his old man in
concert!
Jeff Lemlich
P.S. Other Hammond composed pop gems: "Follow The
Bouncing Ball" by the Hondells, and "One Night Stand" by
the Magic Lantern.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 08:41:04 +0000
From: Carole Gibson
Subject: Re: Tokens at the Tail End of their Career!
All this talk of the Tokens reminded me of a tale I was
told by a close friend of Dusty Springfield. Apparently
in the early sixties she was involved with an Italian guy
who was a member of "the group who sang The Lion Sleeps
Tonight" and he "broke her heart". Anyone elaborate on
this little snippet?
Carole x
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 9
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 11:50:09 +0000
From: Simon White
Subject: Laurie 45's - Dean Parrish
Jeffrey Glenn at wrote on 25/2/02:
> I'm On My Way - Dean Parrish, Laurie LR 3418: 1967 (A-67)
> - Interesting combination of things going on here - very
> Motownish track with fuzztone and orchestration
> reminiscent of that on lots of soft pop songs. Really
> good!
As I'm sure some members will know, this is one of the
LEGENDARY records on the Northern Soul scene! So full
of atmosphere and expectation, it hurts.
>
> I Still Love You/Stop, Look And Listen - Les Girls,
> Laurie LR 3368: 1966 (A-97, B-Not Used) - Great 1966
> girlgroup stuff! And I'm sure Rashkovsky would agree.
And of course also done by The Chiffons. We were talking
about this very record the other night. The recently
late great Hoagy Lands "Friends And Lovers" nearly
shares a backing track with it. The Chiffons back Hoagy
on "The Next In Line" on Laurie [ also legendary
northern soul ] so it all goes round in circles.
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 10
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 19:57:35 EST
From: Will George
Subject: Chris Isaak
For anyone interested in current music with the "classic"
sound, I can recommend Chris Isaak's latest CD, Always
Got Tonight. Especially the tracks "Cool Love" and "I
Notice the Ring." Retro in a modern way of course, but
should appeal to listeners who enjoyed Swing Out Sister's
latest.
Bill
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
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