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Spectropop V#0416

  • From: The Spectropop Group
  • Date: 05/09/00

  • 
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       Volume #0416                             May 9, 2000   
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               THE PERSONALITY SOUND of the SIXTIES
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    Subject:     Studio Engineers
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        Don Richardson
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    Any of the contributors/participants/readers of the list
    also happen to have been a studio engineer in the '60s? 
    I'm looking to hear from someone that was on that side of
    the glass.  I just have a few background questions on
    equipment as well as the LA studios used during the
    period that I need as background for a short interview.
    
    I didn't want to clutter up the list with missives about
    2, 03 , 04 track machines that few would be interested in. 
    So if you are willing to help, please contact me
    privately.  I'll be happy to post the interview to the
    list when it is finished.
    
    --Don
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Echo-Plex - Nancy Sinatra
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        Carol Kaye
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    The Echo-Plex was somewhat a much-used box in movie work
    early 70s.  I first used it for Brian Wilson on the bass 
    -- but doubt if anything got recorded permanently with it,
    he was looking for new sounds, hence I tried the Echo-plex
    and Gibson Maestro box, with steam, clave, octave-doubling
    effects late 60s into the 70s in films such as "Airport"
    -- you hear both those things on the theme and also on Big
    Jake as I recall.
    
    Percussionist Emil Richards also widely used the Echo-Plex
    especially with his famous water-gongs, which he'd hit and
    then lower into the water -- they were for those horror
    movies, weird scary effect.  One day out at Fox, he broke
    us up by laughing into the mike on his vibes while the
    Echo-Plex was on, and his laughing was so contagious, we
    couldn't stop laughing (the whole band) and they had to
    take a long break....cost the studio about 1 hour of time,
    someone would start giggling as soon as the take was
    rolled.
    
    Bud Shank (and later Tom Scott) was another one who used
    sax through the Echo-Plex successfully - we'd set our
    rates of speed at the same speed (you had to synchronize
    with the beat which was always the click-track we'd hear
    in our earphones).  Was a noisy box the Echo-Plex was, but
    was the best echo of its day.  
    
    Carol Kaye 
    http://www.carolkaye.com/
    
    PS.  What'd you all think of the wonderful Nancy Sinatra
    "Movin' w/Nancy" special?  I tho't she was great with Dino,
    Sammy, her Dad, and her "Friday's Child"...she's as
    beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside too, was
    just a joy to work for, but oh....those tinny clicky bass
    sounds they got in the booth, totally the opposite of my
    regular bass sounds, but that's what they wanted.  Billy
    Strange always wrote some exciting charts.  You missed me,
    I'm sitting just in back of where you see Billy in the big
    studio part with Frank - the nice scenes with her and her
    Dad are for real, there was a nice love-bond between them
    which was beautiful.  
    
    Nice to see an offspring love her parent and hold him up
    with such love and regards, how refreshing -- a "new"
    thing:  loving and respecting your parent in our business!
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Re: chris montez
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        claudia
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    
    > Tobias, yes, I'm playing on all of Chris Montez's things 
    > of the 60s, guitar on his 1st hit of "Let's Dance", and 
    
    Oh my god..
    I am so excited to see Carol Kaye's email.
    I am such a huge fan of Chris Montez and you Carol !!!
    
    My first exposure to Chris was listening to him do Let's
    Dance on a very hot trip to North Dakota in 1963.
    
    When I first heard the song,I was nuts about him from
    then on. I have all his albums and 4 cd's.
    
    To this day..I just adore his voice.
    
    Carol,you are just a goddess!
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     From the haul of Montez 
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        DJ JimmyB
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    
    In a message dated 5/7/0 2:43:51 AM, you wrote:
    
    >As far as I know 
    >there are no Montez releases with these hits together with
    >his A&M sides.
    
    I just picked up the Japanese "A&M Remasters" of his best
    sides (27 in all I think) and I have to say its superb.
    Pricy, but superb. I got it at Other Music in NYC. I
    passed on two other obscure A&M reissues and am now
    kicking myself. Does anyone have a discography of this
    label excluding Herb, Jules and the CTI combo platters? 
    
    Thanks in advance.
    
    Jimmy Botticelli
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Chris Montez
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        Scott Bauman
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    Jamie LePage wrote:
    
    > One final note, Call Me was definitely NOT the Chris
    > Montez blueprint. Years before Call Me, Montez was a
    > Latino rocker with two big hits - Let's Dance and Some
    > Kinda Fun, both rockin' little rekkids that share nothing
    > with the later Montez sides cut for A&M. As far as I know
    > there are no Montez releases with these hits together with
    > his A&M sides.
    
    There is a CD entitled "Let's Dance!  Chris Montez
    All-Time Greatest Hits" on Sandstone Music (which appears
    to be part of DCC).  It contains 21 tracks -- 11 Monogram
    recordings (including Let's Dance and Some Kinda Fun) and
    10 A&M recordings (including Call Me, The More I See You
    and Time After Time).
    
    If you're just looking for the A&M tracks, I recommend the
    import CD "Chris Montez: Master Series" with 20 A&M
    recordings.
    
    -- Scott
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Montez, A&M and an old person speaks up
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        Viceroy Fizzobottom
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    Carol Kaye wrote:
    
    >Tobias, yes, I'm playing on all of Chris Montez's things
    >of the 60s, guitar on his 1st hit of "Let's Dance"
    
    I hope it's not the same "Let's Dance" that David Bowie
    recorded in the Eighties...
    
    > About the way he did those standards sometimes tho',
    > having been a stone-cold bebop jazzer, it was kind of
    > hard to play those jazz tunes in the pop vein for me at
    > times....
    
    The standards are what got me to buy this Best Of,
    particularly "I Will Wait For You" which happens to be
    Michel Legrand's main theme to "The Umbrellas Of
    Cherbourg" [if you haven't watched this movie, do so!!!].
    Funny how any kind of music can be Montezised.
    
    
    Jamie LePage, God's gift to soft rock, wrote:
    
    >Welcome, little brother, to the A&M Sound. Granted, not all
    >A&M releases fall into the same pattern, but enough do
    >that a definable sound can be attributed to the name A&M.
    
    Thanks, that was a great summation of the A&M sound, but
    I already knew most of it! :-)
    
    Can anyone recommend the Liza Minelli "Best Of" on A&M?
    I've only heard her version of "Leaving On A Jet Plane"
    which is fantastic [and *that* is an A&M sound you can
    bring home to your mother!]...
    
    >What are the common denominators? For one, great
    >songwriting and song selection (the R in A&R). Bacharach/
    >David come up quite often, Lennon/McCartney and Brian
    >Wilson covers show up regularly,
    
    What Brian Wilson covers on A&M are you thinking of?
    Because I only know of Nick De Caro's "Caroline No" and
    The Four King Cousins' "God Only KNows"...Hugo Montenegro
    did Good Vibes, but he wasn't an A&M artist as far as I
    know.
    
    >and of course there were the Almo staff writers 
    >like Roger Nichols to furnish material to the A&M artists.
    
    .....Randy Newman was covered fairly regularly too, which
    is funny when you think his sarcastic lyrics would clash
    with the A&M artists' "image"...
    
    >Sandpipers, Bacharach, Claudine Longet, Small Circle of
    >Friends and Chris Montez typify the sound - a decidedly
    >"young adult"-oriented approach.
    
    I have to say, though, that Montez' music is more raw and
    less orchestrated than the others. He got those Baja
    Marimba Band arrangements (Julius Wechster played on
    Montez' sessions, no?), but not the strings and brass and
    multi-harmony backing vocals....
    
    >All I can suggest to you, Toby, about the A&M sound is:
    >Don't expect to be challenged, or overwhelmed. It's easy,
    >light, and wonderfully appealing.
    
    Exactly. Cotton candy for dinner 24/7! :-)
    
    >One final note, Call Me was definitely NOT the Chris
    >Montez blueprint.
    
    Maybe "blueprint" isn't the word I was looking for, but I
    meant that nearly every song on his Best Of sounds like a
    "Call Me" clone. Which is fine with me.
    
    
    Lastly, Bob Hanes cautioned me:
    
    >I won't even try and explain why you're naive about the biz 
    >these days, it just ain't that simple.
    
    Well Bob, you old Sixties radical, it's better to be
    young and naive than old and wise...or *just* old :-)
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Gourmet Gorme
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        DJ JimmyB
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    
    In a message dated 5/7/0 2:43:51 AM, you wrote:
    
    >The name is Eydie Gorme
    
    And a must have LP for all is her Bossa Nova LP from 1963
    on Columbia. The absolute worst track is "Blame It On The
    Bossa Nova". All other tracks are excellent bossa early
    6T's standards given swingin' bossa arrangements with her
    sassy vocals capping them off. And what a blouse she
    sports on thee cover....JB
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Jeff & Ellie's studio
    Received:    05/09/00 12:17 am
    From:        WASE RADIO
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    Hey Phil:
    
          I would believe that most of the other Raindrops
    songs except for "What a Guy" was done at Mirasound. 
    According to the Alan Betrock book "Girl Groups-Story of
    a Sound", Mirasound was considered "Jeff and Ellie's"
    studio.  I believe most of  Neil Diamond's Bang hits was
    recorded at Dick Charles or possibly A&R studios in New
    York.  But I know he did not record at Mirasound or even
    Bell Sound studios.
    
     Happy listening :):):):):):):):)
     Michael G. Marvin
     WASE radio
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    
    
    Subject:     Re: Spectropop V#0415
    Received:    05/07/00 4:47 pm
    From:        Michael Godin
    To:          Spectropop!
    
    Hi everyone. Just wanted to share with you all that I am 
    proud to let you know that Sunday, May 7th is the 3rd 
    Anniversary of Treaure Island Oldies Show on the Internet.
    Considering the length of time audio has been available on 
    the 'Net, Treasure Island Oldies Show is one of the 
    pioneer and long running shows. I extend a warm invitation
    to you to listen live beginning at 6 p.m. Pacific time at 
    www.TreasureIslandOldies.com.
    
    Thanks very much and I enjoy being a member of Spectropop.
    
    Michael Godin
    Host
    Treasure Island Oldies Show
    www.TreasureIslandOldies.com
    
    
    --------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
    End
    

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