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Other albums you will be sure to enjoy
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There are 14 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 401:
1. Grass Roots- Who Were They ?
From: "Javed Jafri"
2. Re: Grass Roots
From: Jeremy
3. Re: Grass Roots
From: Dan Hughes
4. Re : Grass Roots
From: Ron
5. Re: Grass Roots
From: David Goodwin
6. More Bob Crewe on CD
From: Patrick Rands
7. NRBQ: their other projects
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
8. Word from Jay Siegal of THE TOKENS
From: "DJ Steve"
9. Re: new Lesley Gore
From: Will George
10. Upcoming three-hour Bobby Vee interview show
From: Ronnie Allen
11. Byrds - Quadraphonic
From: "Javed Jafri"
12. Dan Folger
From: Will George
13. Small but dangerous sect taking over websites
From: Michael Rashkow
14. Merseybeats USA
From: Rachel
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 20:29:03 -0500
From: "Javed Jafri"
Subject: Grass Roots- Who Were They ?
--- In spectropop "Norman" wrote:
> For years I laboured under the impression that Steve
> Barri and P F Sloan recorded Where Were You When I
> Needed You as the Grass Roots. And. that it is their
> version that made it to the charts.
>
> But further reading and visiting
> http://home.att.net/~souldeep69/index.html seems to
> imply that I could be wrong. I suppose only PF Sloan
> knows.
>
> Barri and Sloan were supposed to have pulled in a group
> called The Bedouins to become the Grass Roots. Bill
> Fulton's vocals replaced P F Sloan's on "Where Were You...".
>
> The big question is which version was released as the
> single?
If Alec Palao is still on the list he can demystify the
whole early Grass Roots saga but I will give it a shot
>from memory. The original version of "Where Were You" was
indeed a Barri/Sloan studio creation with Sloan taking
the lead, When the song became a hit they needed a band
to tour (and record) and enlisted a San Francisco area
band called the Bedouins with Fulton on lead vocals. The
first Grass Roots album contained a mixture of the
Sloan/Barri material as well as songs using the Bedouins.
The Fulton version of the group released a version of
"Ballad Of A Thin Man" as a single. The lead vocal of the
Sloan version of "Where Were You" was re-recorded but not
by Fulton.
When the Bedouins bid farewell Slaon and Barri enlisted
yet another group, The 13th Floor. an L. A. bar band to
become the new Grass Roots. Their lead singer was of
course Rob Grill and his lead vocals replaced Sloan's
original on subsequent greatest hits packages as well as
single re-releases so it is ironic that most oldies
stations that played the song never played the original
version (I think Dick Bartley was an exception).
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 23:48:51 -0000
From: Jeremy
Subject: Re: Grass Roots
>From what I understand (and I could be wrong), Sloan and
Barri WERE the Grass Roots for the majority of that first
album (Where Were You When I Needed You). Apparently the
hit version does feature Sloan; in any event, they
definitely did go back and recut the lead vocal with Rob
Grill, over the same backing track. THAT version is on the
16 Greatest Hits tape I own; which version has been used on
subsequent best-ofs, I do not know. The only song I know
Fulton sang on was the GR version of "Ballad of a Thin Man."
Of course, the Grill-led Grass Roots did recut several
Sloan-Barri songs Sloan either put out on his own albums or
demoed at the time-- songs like "Melody For You," "Lollipop
Train," "I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth," etc. As much
as I like Grill as a frontman, in 99% of those cases I
prefer's Sloan's original versions.
Jeremy
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 09:53:47 -0600
From: Dan Hughes
Subject: Re: Grass Roots
Norman, try playing the original vinyl single version and
the original vinyl album version together and see if you
can detect any changing in the timings and phrasings of
the vocal. I've always thought it was Sloan on both the
album and the single, too.
By the way, I remember seeing the Grass Roots on the Lloyd
Thaxton show when their first single (Mr. Jones) came out.
I loved the song (I loved Dylan). Since this was before
the release of the first album, the group I saw--4
guys--must have been the Bedouins? I always thought it
was Sloan, Barri, and two ringers.
But at the time I didn't know Sloan was involved with the
Grass Roots (I too loved Eve of Destruction and Sins of A
Family--in fact Eve of Destruction was the first album I
ever bought), nor did I know what Sloan looked like. I'm
guessing, though, that Thaxton asked each band member his
name, and if one of them was Sloan I would have remembered
that. Wish I had a video of that appearance!
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 18:28:10 -0000
From: Ron
Subject: Re : Grass Roots
I too was always under the impression that "Where Were You..."
was sung by P.F.Sloan. However,I read on one web site that
there are actually three different Grass Roots versions of
that song; Bill Fulton singing lead on the single, P.F.
Sloan singing lead on the album of the same title, and Rob
Grill on the "Golden Grass" version. The Rob Grill lead is
obvious. I pulled out my single and compared it to the CD
issue of the "Where Were You..." album and could find no
difference. My next step will be to pull out the vinyl LP
and see if there is a difference. Supposedly the Bill Fulton
version is also on the "All Time Greatest Hits" CD. I don't
have that one. Through another group I have just forwarded
the question to P.F himself. I'll let you know what the
response is.
Ron
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 5
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 18:25:23 -0600
From: David Goodwin
Subject: Re: Grass Roots
>I have a great copy on Rock Graffiti Volume 2 (ABC
>Records DXL2 - 7201) 1978 . I'd like to believe it is
>the Sloan-Barri version. I'll play Sins of A Family
>again and see if I can match the vocals on Where Were
>You... . I think it's a foregone conclusion that the
>musos are the same.
Bizarrely enough, Sins of the Family was re-done by the
"real" Grass Roots as well (well, redone is a strong
word...they overdubbed and remixed Sloan's demo, keeping
his original lead vocal, but adding Rob Grill at certain
points).
Re. Where Were You, I've only ever heard two versions: the
"early" version (shows up on Anthology, etc.) and the
"later" version (the re-done Let's Live For Today album
version, with Rob on vocals). From the evidence provided on
tracks like Ballad of a Thin Man (which presumably features
the "real" Bedouins vocals), I'm tempted to believe that
Sloan's version IS the one availible on CD.
-D
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 6
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 09:28:50 -0500
From: Patrick Rands
Subject: More Bob Crewe on CD
On Fri, 01 Mar 2002, Mike Arcidiacono wrote:
> If you're talking about "The Dynovoice Story" yes, it did
> come out. I was lucky enough to get a copy. soon after,
> bob crewe found out about it and demanded payment for the
> use of his picture on the front......
And I guess this would explain why other Bob Crewe label
recordings haven't seen the light of day on CD. The Lesley
Gore singles come to mind. Someone would have to cover one
of her songs a la Lady Marmalade to pull off that
re-release :) Isn't the Glitterhouse soundtrack for
Bob-arella getting reissued? Or is that a foreign boot?
Patrick
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 01:40:40 -0500
From: "Jeff Lemlich"
Subject: NRBQ: their other projects
Mark Frumento asks:
> There are a few other groups on the tape: The Sacred
> Frowns, The Breathers & Hoopy Ferguson and the Wild Dogs.
The Breathers was drummer Tom Staley's band in the early
80s. Brian Wilson was clearly one of their influences.
The "Hoopy" Ferguson single was from around 1971, and was
indeed NRBQ's Steve Ferguson.
Staley was from Ft. Lauderdale, and played in a local
band called "Bartocks Mts." before joining the Q guys.
Frankie Gadler was from Miami.
Jeff Lemlich
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 04:12:30 -0500
From: "DJ Steve"
Subject: Word from Jay Siegal of THE TOKENS
I FWDED some of the TOKENS posts to Jay Siegal. He was
happy. Here is his short note.
"Thanks for the kind words. Maybe Rhino someday" Jay
Siegal
He was responding to this: "Let's hope Sundazed or
Rhino treat us to a boxed set!"
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 9
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 21:57:20 EST
From: Will George
Subject: Re: new Lesley Gore
The Box Tops doing Blondie's Call Me sounds great! Leslie
Gore sounded pretty good too. It would have been
interesting to hear Peter Noone change White Wedding to a
major key, making it really jaunty and happy sounding.
What an interesting CD!
Bill
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 10
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 23:38:25 EST
From: Ronnie Allen
Subject: Upcoming three-hour Bobby Vee interview show
Attention all Bobby Vee fans .....
I am pleased to announce that on Wednesday March 13th from
9 PM to Midnight EST I will be hosting a three-hour
live-by-phone interview with Bobby Vee, unquestionably one
of the most popular recording stars of the 60s.
The show, like my Dale And Grace show from Thursday
evening, will air on M-PAK Radio. And if you caught that
show you found out that it was Bobby Vee who once saved
the life of Dale Houston (of Dale And Grace). The URL is
http://www.MPAKRADIO.com.
Bobby had a total of 14 Billboard top-40 hits and I will
be playing ALL of them on the show in chronological order.
He had a total of 38 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and
I'll also be playing several of those additional charted
records which didn't make the top-forty. Plus much much
more.
Bobby also will have many great stories to share relating
to specific songs and his recording and performing career
in general ..... a career that has now spanned more than
forty years. And of course you'll find out what he's doing
today. He most certainly has not retired!
I will be communicating with Bobby in the next few days to
discuss the upcoming show.
With that in mind I invite any of you who are interested
to please e-mail questions that you would like me to ask
Bobby on the show. When you do so please let me know if
it's okay to mention you by name if I use your question.
Also if you know of a fascinating Bobby Vee story
(particularly one that is NOT generally known by the
public) that you think would be of interest to our
listeners please let me know that as well.
Thanks in advance!!!
Ronnie Allen
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 11
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 20:41:44 -0500
From: "Javed Jafri"
Subject: Byrds - Quadraphonic
>From: "richard russell"
> Does anyone know if Quad versions of the Byrds reunion
> LP or any of McGuinn's albums were released? I've seen
> that there's a Quad version of Souther Hillman & Furay,
> but haven't heard it. Anyone know if the Quad mixes (if
> they exist) are radically different from the traditional
> stereo versions?
> Richard
>
I'm reposting a question here from the Byrds list because
I don't know the answer but thought the knowledgeable
folks here might know. I will take the answer back to the
Byrds list.
Javed
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 12
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 21:46:13 EST
From: Will George
Subject: Dan Folger
Has anyone ever seen anything by Dan Folger on CD? Did he
actually release any records? I have a poor quality copy
of his song "Tell Her For Me", which is excellent. I'd
love to get a better copy. (It came from an LP set called
"High School Rock and Roll" or something similar. Some
great tracks on those records.)
Bill
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 13
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 17:03:46 EST
From: Michael Rashkow
Subject: Small but dangerous sect taking over websites
In a message dated 2/26/2002, Bob Rashkow writes:
> Bob Rashkow, henceforth
Welcome to "The Bobster" Bob Rashkow. Amazing, another
Rashkow in the same group---and never even heard of each
other before. The only sites I previously know of that
have two Rashkow's in them are cemeteries.
Double your pleasure, double your fun
mail from two Rashkow's instead of just one.
Rashkovsky
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
Message: 14
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 09:00:59 +0200
From: Rachel
Subject: Merseybeats USA
Stewart Mason wrote about a band called "Merseybeats usa":
> "They were from Louisville KY, and not only Steve
> Ferguson in the band, so was the 'Q's Terry Adams.
> When the Merseybeats USA broke up in1967 Ferguson and
> Adams left from Kentucky to Miami"
Mark Frumento added:
> "They released two singles on the local Top Dog lebel
> in Louisvulle", and "The material is quite good
> folkish beat/pop
That is a surprise to learn that a band had adopted a
familiar band's name in that time, especially a name
which refered to a specific time and place (The
Merseybeats, from Merseyside, Liverpool, are named after
the local pop newspaper with a special permition of its
editor, Bill Harry), even though the band's singles
usually covered American ballads.
The Merseybeats broke up one year before the Merseybeats
USA so I guess the name was given when the Merseybeats
were still working. The Merseybeats had also a folkish
beat-pop style, especially in one of their best
recordings, the cover to "Fools like me."
It was also surprising because the Merseybeats never had
a great success in USA. Their first single to release in
America while they did their first and last American tour
("Last night (I made a little girl cry)") didn't do well
in the American charts.
Was there any link between the bands or was it a gesture
(to the band or to the Liverpool beat scene in general)?
Was it common to adopt known bands name?
thanks,
Rachel
-------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]-------------------
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