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There are 6 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 208:
1. Re: Poni-Tails
From: Tom Waters
2. Re: Modern Folk Quartet
From: Al Quaglieri
3. FILMS ABOUT THE ERA
From: "Warren Cosford"
4. Re: The Meantime
From: LePageWeb
5. Connie Landers
From: Will George
6. Re: Connie Landers
From: Mike C
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 01:05:15 -0400
From: Tom Waters
Subject: Re: Poni-Tails
Re: Jane Wade's question on the Poni-Tails:
The Poni-Tails are one of my favourite girl groups of all
time. My first e-mail address was named after them a few
years ago. Their first single, released in 1957, was
called My Wild Heart. Joy Layne (a Teresa Brewer
soundalike) also cut a version which split airplay and,
ultimately, Joy's version charted higher. Of course, the
Poni-Tails biggest hit was Born Too Late, a timeless
recording I can't get enough of. The flip side, Come On
Joey Dance With Me (which is also a strong song) was the
a-side, but as often occurred back then, some disc jockey
decided to play the b-side and a new hit was born. The
Poni-Tails followed Born Too Late up with some really
good efforts such as Early to Bed and it's flip Father
Time, but they never had another massive hit. That being
said, they did chart with a song called Seven Minutes in
Heaven which I don't find to be one of their stronger
efforts. In 1959, they recorded an absolutely beautiful
version of I'll Be Seeing You which conjures up memories
of malt shops and sock hops. This single also charted.
In 1960, the Poni-Tails released yet another great 45,
Before We Say Goodnight backed with Come Be My Love. The
a-side is another dreamy ballad perfect for a starlit
summer night and the flip is a snappy little tune. Sadly,
the Poni-Tails gave up soon after and retired from the
business. Their lives became quite normal afterwards
(being housewives and the like, I think). They were
asked several times to participate in revival shows but
always refused. The last I heard, there are two
surviving members.
Be warned that there is a pseudo-Poni Tails group out
there posing as the real thing. In fact, they have even
recorded a CD containing mostly songs of other girl
groups. They have a somewhat skimpy clothing type image,
whereas the real Poni-Tails looked as innocent as they
sounded. I have a very lovely picture of the Poni-Tails
in Roman style dresses looking up at the heavens. Of
course, all three members wore pony-tails! I really wish
I could find a video clip of them singing because I have
yet to see one. Also, it is a shame that there are no
readily available CDs of their recordings in circulation.
Tom
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 06:02:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Al Quaglieri
Subject: Re: Modern Folk Quartet
WB 45's
5387 It Was A Very Good Year/Road To Freedom
5481 If All You Think/Love Of A Clown
5623 Every Minute Of The Day/That's Alright With Me
Dunhill 45's
4025 Night Time Girl/Lifetime
4137 Don't You Wonder/I Had A Dream Last Night
LP discography:
http://www.tctv.ne.jp/members/m-site/mfq/
Al Q.
NY
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 09:49:11 -0400
From: "Warren Cosford"
Subject: FILMS ABOUT THE ERA
Jimmy Crescitelli wrote:
> I heartily concur... I LOVE "Born Too Late!" And ya know
> what's a great companion piece to it? From the 70s, a
> song called "Oh, What A Night For Love," performed by
> Jeanne Thomas Fox. It's played over a scene in "The Lords
> of Flatbush," 1974, where Frannie (Maria Smith) and Chico
> (Perry King) are getting down to business, except she's
> so swathed in petticoats that it takes them forever. VERY
> funny. You can hear them muttering and fumbling, and all
> the while this sweet song is playing. The soundtrack was
> composed, arranged, and conducted by Joe Brooks. Henry
> Winkler and Sylvester Stallone also star in it. If you
> grew up in the 50s in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn,
> complete with hairhoppers and teenage girls sporting
> three-hundred-dollar engagement rings... this flick is
> for YOU.
Sounds like a great film Jimmy. I'm going to put it on
my "to find" list. Here's a tip for you. Philip
Kaufman's screen adaptation of Richard Price's novel
"The Wanderers" is a 1979 film about Italian-American
teens growing up and out in the '60s. I'm moving right
now and have it in storage so can't give you much detail
about it in terms of cast et al, however, it's set in
the Bronx and is chock full of wonderful music with a
bittersweet storyline about the "passing of an era".
Cheers,
WC
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Message: 4
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 02:21:27 +0900
From: LePageWeb
Subject: Re: The Meantime
On Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:36:17 -0000
"Donny Hampton" wrote:
>
> I just got to hear Ellie Greenwich's rare single "Friday
> Kind Of Monday" (issued under the artist name "The
> Meantime") courtesy of Mick Patrick's latest WHERE THE
> GIRLS ARE (Volume 4) compilation. A very atypical
> Barry/Greenwich production, and very melancholy, too,
> despite the liner notes description of the track as an
> upbeat number. Ellie sounds really out of it here - her
> vocals have none of the exuberance found on her earlier
> Raindrops sides.
Hi Don and all,
Yeah! This is a great track!
I sure know what you mean about Ellie typically being
more exuberant! I was recently compiling a list of ten
songs full of tension, longing and despair, and trying
to find one by Jeff and Ellie was really tough! I
finally settled on "You Don't Know", which I guess is
just about the moodiest track Ellie ever recorded (that
I know of anyway).
Friday Kind of Monday (which in any event has a
decidedly upbeat lyric) sounds to me like it's aiming
for a nonchalant, detatched kind of cool (Ellie does
Mary Weiss, anyone?). Like in '63 it would have been
girl group "Oowee, baby I love you" but in '67 it was
all folk/rock "turn me on" and "brand new bag". And dig
Ellie's hypnotic multi-tracked BGs! Wow! It's as if
Ellie was attempting to singlehandedly do the Mamas and
Papas or something. I suppose this is a New York session,
right? Wherever it was cut, it's an endearing record.
I find girl group records from '66 and '67 intriguing
because the era had passed and the acts were
struggling to remain contemporary - there aren't too
many of 'em but they sure are cool. In the movie Grace
of My Heart, after the character Denise Waverly moves
to the West Coast, she goes to see former Brill
colleague Cheryl Steed on the set of a "Where the
Action Is" type of TV show. There are three girls in
mini skirts and go-go boots singing with deadpan
expressions - THAT'S what this Ellie track reminds me
of. Cool, baybee.
With other tracks like Groovy Kind of Love by Patti
LaBelle and Big Town Boy by Shirley Matthews,
WHERE THE GIRLS ARE (Volume 4) is a real winner.
Jamie
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Message: 5
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 13:46:59 EDT
From: Will George
Subject: Connie Landers
In a message dated 7/13/01 5:29:42 AM, spectropop writes:
> Ricky Page did a ton of records as did Connie
> Landers their two main white girl singers.
Ugh! I have a recording of Connie Landers doing an
odious job with "Heart In Hand." Really off-key and
whiney. I had no idea she actually had a "career." Did
she only do cover tunes?
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Message: 6
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 23:21:20 -0000
From: Mike C
Subject: Re: Connie Landers
And did I read here a while ago that Connie Landers was
aka Connie Dee? I own Connie Dee singing a *Hit* record
song entitled "Ring Telephone". One of the worst things
I've ever heard, but I love it and still play it: "Here
I sit..all alone by the TV...(and the hook on the
end)....Telephone don't break my heart!.....Telephone
don't break my heart. . . . .
Mike C.
In spectropop, Will George wrote:
> I have a recording of Connie Landers doing an
> odious job with "Heart In Hand." Really off-key and
> whiney. I had no idea she actually had a "career." Did
> she only do cover tunes?
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
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