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featuring radio and recording favorites
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There are 12 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 130:
1. Re-mastered Beach Boys
From: Watson
2. Re: New Old Beach Boys records again (and again)
From: Billy G. Spradlin
3. old fashioned echo
From: "Jack Madani"
4. Re: Jackie DeShannon a Ladybug???
From: Tony Leong
5. BARBARA LEWIS?
From: "radiopro"
6. Re: Sonny
From: Billy G. Spradlin
7. Re: Sonny
From: Stewart Mason
8. Re: PBS
From: Scott Swanson
9. AARP GG on PBS
From: "Jack Madani"
10. .PBS fundraisers
From: alan zweig
11. Re: Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band
From: "Mike Arcidiacono"
12. Sonny Bono
From: john rausch
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 17:02:47 EST
From: Watson
Subject: Re-mastered Beach Boys
Yes, yes, yes, but are they remastering the liner notes?
Do we get soulful ol' man Fugue-Like Feel again?
Had to ask.
Watson
incredible ... amazing .... dynamics ..... aaaaargh
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 08:02:59 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: New Old Beach Boys records again (and again)
> The question is, after buying the original LPs and the
> 45s, and then buying the same recordings on both the
> 2fer CDs AND the box sets, do I really need to buy them
> all over again? I think I should be entitled to a BIG
> discount and just get the upgrades! ;-)
>
> Jamie
I wished Capitol had a exchange program, It would be
refreshing to see a major label do that. But doing it
would be like giving CD's away. About the only thing you
can do is sell the old ones off (Used CD stores, E-bay)
or give them as a gift to someone who only thinks of the
Beach Boys as "That Surfin' Band". I would also wait for
some online/retail store to discount them.
I have only bought the "Today!/Summer Days" CD and I
thought it sounded brighter (a little more tape hiss)
but less noise processed than the 1990 version. The
Sonic Solutions "No Noise" processing did a good job of
eliminating hiss and some static pops on those old tapes
but tended to muffle the high end and caused some
"breathing" on songs that had low volumes.
The snare on "Then I Kissed Her" jumps out of the mix
like I never heard it before, and they fixed the nasty
splice on "Do You Want To Dance" right before the guitar
solo. My only gripe is that they didnt get rid of the
static pops on "The Litle Girl I Once Knew"! The remixes
on the CD sound exactly as the 1990 CD to my ears.
I'm very happy that these 2-Fers are back on the shelfs.
They introduced me to a lot of great Beach Boys music I
never heard before.
Billy
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 10:36:23 -0500
From: "Jack Madani"
Subject: old fashioned echo
spectropop writes:
>"Dave had designed two chambers that were angled, so that
>they were two geometric shapes that would fit side by
>side. These were the chambers that Phil Spector would
>make famous. Inside the chambers, we put a little
>eight-inch speaker and a RCA flat ribbon microphone to
>capture the echo and bring it into the board.
Boy, this clears things up for me. It's like a mental
block with me, trying to understand how echo chambers
were used. So check me on this, please:
1. there was an actual "chamber," a room or space of
some sort, where there was a great sounding echo in it.
2. then a speaker was put in the chamber.
3. then a microphone was also put in the chamber.
4. then the microphone was used to record the echoing
sound generated by the chamber as the speaker played the
music.
5. then the sound from the microphone was fed back into
the mixing board, and the echo was added to the
recording's mix.
Is this right?
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 21:58:15 EST
From: Tony Leong
Subject: Re: Jackie DeShannon a Ladybug???
Hi guys, thanks for the info on the Ladybugs group(s).
Another noteworthy group was the LA Mexican girl group
The Sisters. In the liner notes, of the Del-fi's CD, it
listed Rosella Arvisu as the main singer, and her sister
Ersi was the alternate lead.
Ersi later went on to sing briefly with El Chicano about
1970 (??). However, on the cd is a marvelous unreleased
track "His Name Was John", which only features a lead
vocal. Any idea which Sister was singing that song. A
friend from LA said that Ersi currently works for a
mailing service. Does anyone know what Rosella or Mary
are up to these days?? Still singing?? The Sisters,
like so many other regional girl groups (Reparata and
the Delrons anyone??) were terribly underrated.
Tony Leong
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Message: 5
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 15:10:21 -0500
From: "radiopro"
Subject: BARBARA LEWIS?
> Does anyone know how to contact 60's singer, Barbara
> Lewis? Her recording of Van McCoy's "Baby I'm Yours"
> immortalized the song. You see, I'm Van's sister and I'm
> trying to keep his legacy alive by promoting and
> publishing his music copyrights. It is my hope that I
> will someday be able to contact Ms. Lewis just to thank
> her for recording that song.
>
> Mattie Taylor
> Van McCoy Music, Inc.
> http://www.vanmccoymusic.com
Hi Mattie:
This might be a good lead. This is John Clemente's
e-mail address John wrote Girl
Groups: Fabulous Females That Rocked the World that was
just recently published.
[http://www.spectropop.com/gg/girl.html]
I now also have a contact who has Barbara's phone number.
Please e-mail me privately.
Cheers
WC
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Message: 6
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 08:14:53 -0000
From: Billy G. Spradlin
Subject: Re: Sonny
I love the early Cher albums for Imperial, especally
"The Sonny Side Of Cher" which has a huge production and
a fine choice of cover material. (and another bonus -
Sonny doesnt sing on any of them!)
EMI released a two-fer CD with the "All I Want to Do" LP
back in the early 90's. It's out of print now but well
worth looking in the used CD/Cutout bins for.
One of my all-time favorites that Sonny wrote for Cher
is "Where Do You Go", which deserves a cover version by
someone like Matthew Sweet. Great Melody and production.
Billy
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Message: 7
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 02:54:33 -0700
From: Stewart Mason
Subject: Re: Sonny
Jon Cook asked:
>I was wondering why there hasn't been more discussion on
>Sonny Bono and his efforts. Too popular, perhaps? Or
>maybe too obvious? I think of him as Spector's most
>loyal disciple, as he adhered to Phil's formula even
>more than Brian Wilson. Did anyone else purchase the
>Sonny solo album from Rhino Handmade besides me?
I did, and I'm endlessly glad that I did. INNER VIEWS
is...well, fascinating. In any number of ways.
Basically, it's an album that makes you wish Sonny
were still alive for no other reason than so you could
sit him down and say, "Now, seriously. What the hell
were you thinking?"
Frankly, most of the album would fit in perfectly well
on a Sonny and Cher album, but the two bookend tracks
are just two of the most utterly warped attempts at
pseudo-psychedelia I have ever heard. The 13-minute (!!!)
"I Just Sit There" is a hoot, featuring some
completely inept sitar playing and the deathless
couplet "Your mother's cooking sturgeon/Your sister's
still a virgin." The closing "Pammie's On A Bummer"
is much better known, a justifiably famous anti-drug
parable that you just can't listen to without saying a
heartfelt "oh, wow" at least once.
Now, this may sound like I'm doing some kind of lame
hipster "so bad it's good" routine on this album, but
I can't stand that concept. No, this is music that's
engaging on any number of levels--not least because
aside from the sitar, it's all *really* well done,
some of Sonny's best arrangements and production
ever--and yet also has just enough inexplicable
elements to it that you can't listen to it without
thinking, "Sonny thought this was a good idea. Why?"
For Sonny completists, the remainder of the disc
contains both sides of all of Sonny's Atco singles,
plus outtakes. Some of this stuff is excellent,
including a terrific version of Tim Hardin's "Misty
Roses" and what I consider to be the definitive
version of Bob Lind's oft-recorded "Cheryl's Goin'
Home." Last I looked, Rhino Handmade still had some
left, but you better hurry!
Stewart
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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 01:28:32 -0800
From: Scott Swanson
Subject: Re: PBS
James Botticelli writes:
> Last month they had Barry Manilow--this month the Girl
> Groups (it WAS good to see them, I'll admit!) Who's next?
> Shaun Cassidy?
No, but Donny Osmond is tomorrow night! :-/
The irony here is that they only show the good stuff
(Donny Osmond aside) when they need money. But that's
no incentive for us -- why should we give them money
when we know they'll take away the good stuff for
another three months?!
If anything, they should do the opposite -- FLOOD the
airwaves with the "high minded stuff" and then tell us,
"We're not showing the Girl Groups special until you
make a donation!" ;-)
Regards,
Scott
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Message: 9
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 10:47:55 -0500
From: "Jack Madani"
Subject: AARP GG on PBS
spectropop writes:
>How come PBS, the prissy gatekeepers of highbrow
>culture in the United States, continues to trot out pop
>culture performers everytime they fundraise? This is an
>insult to pop culture as far as I'm concerned.
I gave up trying to understand such cultural sneering
years ago.
However....
...I was more concerned with the anemic quality of the
musical backing. Oh sure, the blue-gel spots were very
artistic, as were the Tara-style drapes hung behind the
musicians. But c'mon, the glory of the recordings we
love so well is *not* just in who was singing the tune,
but rather in the complete gestalt of the record
production as an entirety. Leaving aside the whole
question of how Phil Spector treated his vocal artists
on a personal as well as economic basis (a large thing
to leave aside, I grant you), from a musical perspective
I can totally understand how he would not be too
concerned with who was the person singing lead on a
particular track. Does it really matter if it's the
Crystals or Darlene Love singing? Not nearly so much as
who was twiddling the knobs in the booth.
I think the only moment where the music really came to
life in that PBS special was on "Then He Kissed Me,"
when near the end you could hear the horns playing that
throbbing "dit did-it" pattern over and over.
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Message: 10
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 17:54:25 -0500
From: alan zweig
Subject: PBS fundraisers
James Botticelli wrote:
>
>How come PBS, the prissy gatekeepers of highbrow
>culture in the United States, continues to trot out pop
>culture performers everytime they fundraise? This is an
>insult to pop culture as far as I'm concerned.
Speaking of PBS, maybe someone here can help me with
this.
The other night PBS showed a Dean Martin biographical
thing called "That's Amore" which consisted almost
entirely of musical performances from his show. At some
point he did this really slowed-down version of "You're
nobody till somebody loves you" and it was the first
time I ever liked that song.
But other than that and a similarly slow version of
"I've grown accustomed to your face", almost every song
was another example of the kind of song I always hate.
Like "That's Amore" for instance.
When he was singing a song I enjoyed, I could really
appreciate the qualities of Dean's voice. It was quite
unique. I can't think of another crooner of the era
that sounded like him. It was almost bluesy.
But he sang so many songs I didn't like.
And I like most of what you might call the American
standards songbook. I know this topic isn't completely
"poppy" but I thought someone here might be able to
explain to me some reasons for my own taste in pop music.
Most of Dean Martin's material on this show - and even
on the records I've heard - remind me of "novelty
material".
I know I've asked about novelty material before.
But it's one of my obsessions I guess.
Does anyone know what I'm asking?
AZ
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 19:59:24 -0500
From: "Mike Arcidiacono"
Subject: Re: Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band
"Glenn Sadin" wrote:
> Steve Hoffman has had an interesting
> career; after the MACB project, he went on to write,
> produce, perform on and sing most of the musical
> soundtrack for the hilarious "Lancelot Link Secret Chimp"
> kiddie show in 1969/70. I have the rare soundtrack LP,
> and it is fantastic late '60s hard bubblegum. I am also
> about 90% sure that the same Steve Hoffman was the
> reissue producer for DCC Compact Classics in the '80s
Nope, Sorry Glen. I just asked DCCs Steve Hoffman
about that today, and hes NOT the same guy. He knows
the guy tho!!
Mikey
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Message: 12
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 22:23:44 -0500
From: john rausch
Subject: Sonny Bono
Jon Cook wrote:
> I was wondering why there hasn't been more discussion on
> Sonny Bono and his efforts.
I for one think Sonny has been underrated, I love many of
his Atco productions and even the 70s Kapp releases. A
great talent, and so very Spector-like in his productions.
I know Miss Kaye had some nice words on Sonny`s behalf
once before. Although I haven`t heard the Rhino LP,
perhaps you can give us a "review" Jon?
John Rausch
Phil Spector`s Wall Of Sound @
http://members.tripod.com/~rauschj/
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