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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 25 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Top Rank Listings
From: Ken Silverwood
2. More doin's in Gnashville
From: Ed Salamon
3. Re: Kyu Sakamoto
From: Bill Reed
4. Re: Bobby Vee to Musica and a question to the songwriters on S'pop
From: Dave O'Gara
5. "It"s Got To Be A Great Song"
From: Will Stos
6. Re: Shoji Tabuchi
From: Phil X Milstein
7. Re: more on Triune
From: Gary Myers
8. Nervous Breakdown
From: Phil X Milstein
9. Re: Shadows & Reflections
From: JB
10. Re: The Hollywood Jills
From: David A. Young
11. "A Summer Song"
From: ACJ
12. "Go Go Radio Moscow"
From: ACJ
13. Re: "A Summer Song"
From: Steve
14. please help me identify this song
From: Kerry Anne Sammut
15. Re: now playing: Wood
From: Frank
16. Re: 4-Evers; Steve Allens
From: Al Kooper
17. Re: Shoji Tabuchi
From: mantanhattan
18. Re: Shadows & Reflections
From: Greg O.
19. Re: Peppermint pop
From: Bob Rashkow
20. Re: the Hollywoods Kenny and Anton
From: Austin Powell
21. Re: Larry Bright; Ersel Hickey; Top Rank
From: Country Paul
22. Re: Maurice Williams a deux
From: Michael Fishberg
23. Re: Mike Clifford
From: Steve
24. Re: "Go Go Radio Moscow"
From: Phil X Milstein
25. Re: Shadows & Reflections
From: Clark Besch
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:03:40 +0100
From: Ken Silverwood
Subject: Top Rank Listings
For a Top Rank label listing, this link proves successful:
http://www.btinternet.com/~davemct/singles/top_rank/top_rank01.html
Ken On The West Coast
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 21:57:45 -0000
From: Ed Salamon
Subject: More doin's in Gnashville
Al Kooper is not the only S'popper with Nashville on his calendar
this week:
NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 9, 2004 -Magic Guitar: Jimi Hendrix in
Nashville, a panel discussion exploring Jimi Hendrix's musical
apprenticeship in Nashville in the 1960s, is scheduled for 2 PM
Saturday, July 24, at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's
Ford Theater.
Panelists include Hendrix's musical mentors, band mates and pals.
Confirmed to participate are longtime friend Billy Cox, who was a
member of Hendrix's Band of Gypsys; Nashville guitar legends Johnny
Jones and George Yates; Nashville blues queen Marion James;
commanding rhythm & blues singer Frank Howard; and Teddy Acklen Jr.,
son of the owner of the famous Del Morocco Club, where local R&B
favorites and visiting stars played to sold-out houses in the years
following World War II. The panel, moderated by broadcaster,writer
and R&B collector Ed Salamon, supports the Museum's 2004-05 major
exhibition Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues,
1945-1970, which is presented by SunTrust.
Hey Al, I'll come to your gig, if you come to mine.
Ed Salamon
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 21:53:09 -0000
From: Bill Reed
Subject: Re: Kyu Sakamoto
Previously:
> (PS. to Mr. Tsuji: Is the difference between "Ue O Muite Aruko" and
> "Ue Wo Muite Arukou" the difference between "I Look Up When I Walk"
> and "I Shall Walk Keeping My Chin Up"? When you get the chance to
> someone who actually can answer these questions authoratively, you
> tend to take advantage of the situation - JRN)
The former is the correct literal translation, but to my way of
thinking the latter better conveys the sense of the song's sentiments.
BTW before Kyu Sakamoto hit as a solo artist he was very popular with
the group Danny Iida and Paradise King who had a hit with U.S. covers
including Jimmy Jones' "Good Timin'" (on which KS sang).
Bill Reed
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:37:21 -0000
From: Dave O'Gara
Subject: Re: Bobby Vee to Musica and a question to the songwriters on S'pop
Bob Celli wrote:
> A question arises out of this to the songwriters on S'pop. When a
> song is included in a medley, and perhaps only a verse is recorded,
> is the writer due full compensation as if it were the entire song
> recorded?
Not exactly an answer to this question, but during an in-studio
interview with the late Dickie Goodman, the natural question to ask
was about royalty compensation for using the bits of hit songs that
he was so famous for using. IIRC he said that using less than 8 bars
of music by an artist did not require any payment. When he told me
that, I no reason to question the fact. But I'll throw it out to you
singer/songwriter/publishers..was that an accurate answer? Or is
there more to it?
Dave 0'
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 01:50:16 -0000
From: Will Stos
Subject: "It"s Got To Be A Great Song"
I just heard "It's Got To Be A Great Song," by the Tiffanies. Anyone
have the details on this one? It sounds like a rip-off (or homage) to
the Toys" Concerto. Did it come out shortly after? How many of these
classical knock-offs did well enough to chart (or at least get played
enough for anyone to remember them)?
Will : )
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 18:23:42 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: Shoji Tabuchi
mantanhattan wrote:
> Are you familiar with a Japanese country/western artist from the
> 1960s-1970s named Shoji Tabuchi? Back in 1972 Target Records
> (distributed by Mega Records) released a Japanese-language country
> version of "Sukiyaki" complete with pedal steel and wailing fiddles
> (T13-0153). The B-side is a Japanese/English cover of Bob Wills'
> "San Antonio Rose".
Curiously for an entertainment town known mostly for its Nashville and
'70s TV variety show castoffs, the single biggest draw of the Branson,
Missouri strip is the Japanese fiddler Shoji Tabuchi, who stars with his
American wife and their several spawn. More information can be found
ever so easily -- just google up "shoji branson" and I'm sure you'll
come up with at least 10,000 hits, a good five or six of which will be
useful.
Dig,
--Phil M.
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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 20:38:24 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: more on Triune
Gary Myers wrote:
> Triune was the collective name for the three partners (or whatever
> their relationship was) in Tide Records ...
Peter Lerner:
> That's interesting. I have a couple of 45s on Triune by the bright
> country-crossover singer Lynda K. Lance.
You mean Triune is the name of the label? I'm sure there is no
connection with the Tide people.
gem
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Message: 8
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 18:05:05 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Nervous Breakdown
Was listening to my Legendary Masters: Eddie Cochran album the other
night when I noticed, for the first time, that the writing credit for
"Nervous Breakdown" was not to E.C. but rather to one Mario Roccuzzo. I
don't recall encountering this name before, and wonder if he had any
other credits to his name. I did a Google search on the name and came up
with a longtime Hollywood character actor, who I assume to be the same
Mario Roccuzzo. There was an e-mail like (via his agent), but so far he
hasn't responded to my inquiry about his songwriting career.
The song's publishing credit was also of some interest. Along with Hill
& Range, the song was co-published by Elvis Presley Music. My
understanding is that that company amassed its catalogue for the primary
function of being recorded by Elvis -- does that mean that "Nervous
Breakdown" was originally slated to be cut by him, yet somehow "fell" to
Cochran instead? Or did the administrator(s) of E.P. Music also promote
its catalogue to other artists (apart from "sloppy seconds" of
subsequent cuts after Elvis already had his way with the material)?
Dig,
--Phil M.
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 19:14:15 EDT
From: JB
Subject: Re: Shadows & Reflections
OK, how 'bout the version by The Jackpots (who the heck were they?)
-- on any comps or CDs?
JB
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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 03:35:28 -0000
From: David A. Young
Subject: Re: The Hollywood Jills
John Grecco asked for label info for The Hollywood Jills' Capitol
single, and since his book has been so helpful to me, I'm only too
happy to oblige:
The A-side of Capitol 2176, from mid-1968, is "A Good Thing Baby,"
written by Cleo-Pearlie; the flip (the title John quoted) is "He
Makes Me So Mad" by Sax Kari. Both sides are published by Tune-Kel
Publishing Co., Inc. and produced by Joe Banashak. The two songs are
each eminently S'pop-worthy and sound anachronistic to me for such a
late release; I prefer "...Mad" by a slight margin.
David A. Young
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Message: 11
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:04:53 -0400
From: ACJ
Subject: "A Summer Song"
Here's one of two questions I've asked recently in other forums, without
getting much response. So I'll try them here.
The version of Chad & Jeremy's "A Summer Song" that I usually hear on
the radio has both voices singing together all the way through. Bt I
have a different version on an old vinyl album here at home; it sounds
exactly the same as the radio version, but with this difference ... the
lower voice begins solo, singing "Trees / Swaying in the summer breeze /
Showing off their silver leaves / As we walk by," then the higher voice
overlaps the "by" with "Soft," then continues on alone with "Kisses on a
summer's day / Laughing all our cares away / Just you and I." Then both
voices join together, and it's exactly like the radio version.
Anyone know the history of this second version, and why it's never
played on the radio?
ACJ
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Message: 12
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:10:50 -0400
From: ACJ
Subject: "Go Go Radio Moscow"
Now, the second question: Does anyone out there know about a single
called "Go Go Radio Moscow" by Nikita the K? I have it on an old bootleg
album; it's supposedly a Radio Moscow show with a Murray the K - style
DJ, station jingles, concert and contest promos, and brief parodies of
"Tell It to the Rain" by the Four Seasons, "Georgy Girl" by the Seekers,
and "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" by the Blues Magoos. Anyone know who
created / performed on this record? Thanks.
ACJ
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Message: 13
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:47:14 -0000
From: Steve
Subject: Re: "A Summer Song"
Andrew C. Jones wrote:
> The version of Chad & Jeremy's "A Summer Song" that I usually hear
> on the radio has both voices singing together all the way through. But
> I have a different version on an old vinyl album here at home;
This information comes directly from a Chad & Jeremy website:
"The alternate take of "A Summer Song" was first issued in 1974 on Sire
Records "History of British Rock Volume 2", and is discernable from the
standard take in the first two lines, which are sung by Jeremy and Chad
separately."
I presume that the two different version were recorded at the same time,
but, as usual when compilations are made, different versions of old
favourites turn up. It makes collecting vinyl so much more interesting,
don't you agree?
Cheers,
Steve in Australia
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Message: 14
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 04:40:59 -0000
From: Kerry Anne Sammut
Subject: please help me identify this song
I had this song on a long lost rock'n roll album and it wont stop singing
the tune in my head until I can identify it I hope you can help I have been
a fan of the girl group Brill building empire for years and I am almost
certain it did not come from there- possibly english or Australian a big
maybe for jo stafford It may be called "Tell me what he said"
but any ways the words I can remember go like this
"Ive lost him and I dont know how
he's going with another now
"he'll be at party on Friday night
Id go there my self..but it wouldnt be right."
chorus
"But if you see him there
please tell him that I care
I want back again
dananana(forget the words here)
Tell me what he said"
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Message: 15
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 07:22:37 +0200
From: Frank
Subject: Re: now playing: Wood
Phil Milstein wrote:
> However, with Wood having recorded so few music vocals against
> which we could compare "The Sun Is Gray," I don't see how one
> could fairly judge it not to be her.
As I wrote, I merely said I was "extremely dubious". I've always been a
big fan of Natalie Wood, and I know her voice quite well. Just as there was
no doubt she was not singing in West Side Story, she also was dubbed in
all of her other films, with only a very few exceptions (one being "Let Me
Entertain You" in Gypsy, although she was dubbed for most of the other
songs).
As for Penelope, it is true that the soundtrack LP clearly indicates that "The
Sun Is Gray" is sung by Natalie Wood, but that does not make it true. It is
probably Jackie Ward, who dubbed for Wood in all the films (other than
West Side Story) in which she had a song to sing. And the fact is that the
voice does sound like Jackie Ward, and not at all like Wood.
Of course, that would not be the first time something written on a record
is not 100% true!
Frank
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Message: 16
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 08:03:20 EDT
From: Al Kooper
Subject: Re: 4-Evers; Steve Allens
previously:
> I heard Noel Harrison's version of Suzanne as well as a great Four
> Seasons sound-alike 1965 track by a group called the 4-Evers.
> I would appreciate any background information on this group who,
> according to Ron have a 33-track Cd comp of their music released on
> Magic Carpet records. An initial search on Amazon did not net any
> results, though I will keep on looking.
There is a Spectropper on here who is close with Steve Tudanger, an ailing
member of the 4-Evers. At first I was just a fan of their two singles on Smash,
Say I Love You and You're My Girl. And then they actually, by coincidence,
cut one of my songs called Stormy. I have everything on vinyl, but don't
have that CD.
lineup of Blonde on Blonde/Gnashville band:
> The Band / Long Players are: Bill Lloyd (guitar), Steve Allen (guitar),
> Garry Tallent (bass), Al Kooper (organ), John Deaderick (piano), Steve
> Ebe (drums)
> Is that Steve Allen from 20/20?
No, nor is it Steve Allen from the Steve Allen show. It's a new Steve Allen.
Plays mighty fine guitar as well
Al Kooper
Enjoying himself in Nashville
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Message: 17
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 14:57:15 -0000
From: mantanhattan
Subject: Re: Shoji Tabuchi
Phil Milstein wrote:
> Curiously for an entertainment town known mostly for its Nashville
> and '70s TV variety show castoffs, the single biggest draw of the
> Branson, Missouri strip is the Japanese fiddler Shoji Tabuchi, who
> stars there with his American wife and their several spawn in a red-
> white-and-blue entertainment spectacular. More information can
> be found ever so easily -- just google up "shoji branson" and I'm
> sure you'll come up with at least 10,000 hits, a good five or six of
> which will be useful.
The Google suggestion proved enlightening. I found the following
article on Shoji: http://tinyurl.com/6lxen
That article triggered a recollection: While living in Texas, I actually saw
this very same guy back in 1967-8 on the old ABC-TV Joey Bishop late
night talk show. (Ever heard Joey Bishop's country album? Singing was
not his strong suit.)
As I recall from the TV appearance, Shoji was all decked out in Nashville
cowboy-drag Nudie threads, and made a big impression on my Panther
Hall- dwelling, honky-tonk loving Texas cousins. I'd wondered if Shoji
Tabuchi was the same guy I saw all those years ago -- but then again
how many fiddle-playing Japanese honky-tonkers could there be?
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Message: 18
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 04:10:47 -0000
From: Greg O.
Subject: Re: Shadows & Reflections
Wendy Flynn wrote:
> There's another version out there on MGM which I think predates
> The Action.
Speaking of The Action, the original five members played a mod festival
called "Modstock" in May in North London. Highlight for me: "Shadows
And Reflections". They don't write 'em like that anymore.
Greg O.
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Message: 19
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:50:05 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: Peppermint pop
Superoldies wrote, re Peppermint Rainbow & Peppermint Trolley Co.:
> Does anyone know if either of these groups has a comp?
> Trolley ought to by now!
Right, and it should absolutely include the fabulous Sloan-Barri penned
"Lollipop Train," from their 1966 Valiant period. Why that record never
made it I'll never know. How many LPs did the Peppermint Rainbow do?
I'm given to understand they only did one, although they released at
least three singles from it.
Bobster
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Message: 20
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:09:31 +0100
From: Austin Powell
Subject: Re: the Hollywoods Kenny and Anton
This from John Repsch's book on Joe Meek (Woodford House Publishing,
1989):
-----------------------
As for Joe's Anton Hollywood recordings, he might as well have been selling
last week's newspapers: no one wanted to know. It seems Anton's main
stumbling block was not so much the tunes he was playing as the rather
irregular accompaniment he was giving them, beating time by stamping
his foot on the floor and letting out from the back of his throat "an uncanny,
groaning, wailing sound. When he was asked to play without stamping or
groaning he found he couldn't. Eventually poor old Anton was getting
nowhere so fast Joe forced him to give up thr ghost in favour of Geoff
Goddard, songwriter.
-----------------------
Goddard had originally auditioned for a music publisher as a Russ Conway-
style "honky tonk piano player" -- seems like Meek recorded several
instrumentals with Goddard/Anton Hollywood but generally failed to
place them with any label.
If Goddard was Kenny Hollywood ("Magic Star", Decca December 1962),
he was also recording under his own name and being released on HMV
in 1961 as well as '62 and '63.
Not sure if that confirms or contradicts the notion -- the book makes no
mention of Kenny Hollywood, only that Goddard was Anton Hollywood.
Probably just means the situation is as bewildering as was Meek's whole
life! The book's a great read, though.
RPM have four Joe Meek CDs in their catalogue, collecting up all manner
of Meek oddities, but no Anton or Kenny Hollywood tracks appear on them.
Austin P.
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Message: 21
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 01:50:36 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Re: Larry Bright; Ersel Hickey; Top Rank
I'm several days behind again, so if I'm asking questions after the fact,
please forgive me.
S. J. Dibai to Gary Myers:
> I noticed that there's a Larry Bright compilation CD out there.
> Gary, since you seem to know a lot about Bright, would you
> recommend it? "Mojo Workout" is a great early rock 'n' roll
> tune, but I don't know about a whole CD.
I, too, am interested in knowing more. I have Bright's version of The
Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" on Original Sound, and he sounds like
an old black bluesman -- maybe Slim Harpo's bass-baritone cousin, but a
photo shows a young white teen-idol-lookin' guy. Is everything he did in
that deep blues groove? What's the story behind the man, please?
Artie Wayne:
> [Ersel Hickey] wrote and sang "Bluebirds Over The Mountain"
> [the shortest record in the history of rock]. A lot of people
> thought he was going to be the "next Elvis" but he just wanted
> to be the first Ersel!
Actually, "Bluebirds" was 1:20; The Womenfolk did a dreadful version of
Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" (more famous by Pete Seeger) that scraped
the bottom of the top 100 in 1963. It was 1:03 long. Not rock, but charting
pop. Does that count? :-)
Michael Fishberg:
> You can see Freddy Cannon and all the rest of the Top Rank
> (UK) "canon" at:
> http://www.btinternet.com/~davmct/singles/top_rank/top_rank01.html
Couldn't get to the site -- BT Yahoo (which it is now) kept shilling for
themselves. Is there another URL, please?
Country Paul
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Message: 22
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 02:24:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Fishberg
Subject: Re: Maurice Williams a deux
Phil Milstein wrote:
> Found another interesting factoid in the Billboard Book Of One-Hit
> Wonders. According to author Wayne Jancik, Maurice Williams wrote
> both "Stay" and "Little Darlin'" within a couple of days of each other.
> He was only 15 y.o. at the time, and wrote them both about the same
> girl. Quite a productive week, at least for a high school kid.
Our label, Harkit Records, will officially reissue "Stay" later in the year,
as a vinyl-only LP via TKO in the U.K. The original cover art shows a pair
of (white) teenagers (the guy, I am told was Al Silver's assistant!) holding
hands, she wearing a charm bracelet. Could this allude to Maurice W.'s
original group name of "The Charms"?
http://www.harkitrecords.com
Any interesting contributions on Maurice & The Zodiacs (Charms to
be duly credited) for back cover notes are welcomed!
Michael Fishberg
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Message: 23
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 07:42:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steve
Subject: Re: Mike Clifford
Does anyone know of a Mike Clifford song called "Not With You?
- Steve
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Message: 24
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:19:44 +0000
From: Phil X Milstein
Subject: Re: "Go Go Radio Moscow"
Andrew C. Jones wrote:
> Now, the second question: Does anyone out there know about a single
> called "Go Go Radio Moscow" by Nikita the K? I have it on an old bootleg
> album; it's supposedly a Radio Moscow show with a Murray the K - style
> DJ, station jingles, concert and contest promos, and brief parodies of
> "Tell It to the Rain" by the Four Seasons, "Georgy Girl" by the Seekers,
> and "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" by the Blues Magoos. Anyone know who
> created / performed on this record?
Sounds like a follow-up (albeit a long-delayed one) to "Russian Bandstand,"
a 1959 release on Argo attributed alternately to Nikita The K and to Spencer
& Spencer. By either name, I believe the actual person behind the record
was Dickie Goodman, the inventor and master of the "break-in" format.
I can't remember which songs were excerpted in "Russian Bandstand,"
but if interested I could dig it out and listen again ... or, if it qualifies, play
it to musica.
By the way, Andrew, I'm curious if "Go Go Radio Moscow" used, as you
suggest, "cover version" snippets, or, as per Goodman's usual style, the
real things.
Dig,
--Phil M.
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Message: 25
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 06:14:16 -0000
From: Clark Besch
Subject: Re: Shadows & Reflections
JB wrote:
> Where can we hear the version of Shadows And Reflection by
> The Byzantine Empire? Has it appeared on any comps?
I can try posting this song when I get time to record it and there is some
room in musica.
Clark
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