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Volume #0255 April 12, 1999
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Danny D. Thanx Thee
Subject: Maxwell Davis, Steve Douglas
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Carol Kaye, carolkXXXXXXXXlink.net
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
>As for the West Coast, the only 2 names that come
>immediately to mind are Maxwell Davis and Steve Douglas.
>Perhaps Carol Kaye can provide more info on the West Coast
>guys? Also, Carol, did you get to play with Taylor, Sears
>or Wright?
>Marc
I worked on quite a few early dates for Maxwell Davis here
in LA, late 50s and early 60s, played guitar for him on his
soul recordings. Nice man, very down-to-earth...fine
producing talent but never rose very high in the ranks for
some reason. Still, I think he had some good hits as I
recall. Very respectful, decent person.
Steve Douglas was a sax man (the #1 what we called
"chicken sax"), actually the #1 rock sax soloist on the
early 60s recordings, working for Phil Spector, Brian
Wilson, was on 100s of recordings then.
He died about 1990, rushing to get to a studio call from
no. Calif. and died unfortunately, right there in the
studio (was a smoker, had heart problems).
I knew Steve well, worked with him all the time, great guy,
witty sense of dry humor.....dependable - fine studio
musician. Not really a jazz sax player but good commercial
sax, certainly good rock player (was on the road w/Dune
Eddy, Ricky Nelson, etc.), and he did a couple nice albums
of his own.
See my website for hundreds of names of producers,
arrangers, etc. I worked for, plus the names of the
hottest studio musicians too (about 150 of them out of
350), contractors, studios and engineers names on my
website under "Biography".
Yes, I worked with Sam Taylor, kind of a funky guitar
player, nice guy - a character, up at Fantasy Records
about 1975 in Berkeley Calif, was a commercial funky
project. Don't know the other two you speak of.
I knew many from the east coast who migrated out here to
LA for work in the studios....we were the capital of
recording then, and film work was very lucrative also.
Only the finest of studio musicians could work film dates
(very strict business, you had to not only read well but
to create well too, nothing was tolerated such as being
late on the dates, talking much - this was not loose like
a lot of record dates were, and certainly NO mistakes were
allowed in the music of the movie scores and TV film scores)
....so I met and still know many fine jazzers from the
east coast, some of whom moved back east. I don't keep in
touch with the commercial musicians that much, am a jazz
musician.
Carol Kaye http://www.carolkaye.com/
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Subject: Peter & Gordon-Hot Cold & Custard
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: David Marsteller, davebXXXXXXXXflin.org
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Andrew Sandoval wrote:
> Peter & Gordon have loads of fabulous recordings, perhaps
> their greatest album is Hot Cold & Custard issued in 1968
> in the US only. It is one of my Top Ten favourite albums
> of all time. It is a sophisticated pop harmony record, not
> too soft and not too psych - just classy, well written
> songs. It is a must find! Gordon's solo catalog has some
> high points as well but is very patchy. All of P&G's
> singles are recommended but their albums (especially US
> versions as reissued by Collectables) are haphazard
> quality wise. Find Hot Cold & Custard today!!!!!
Andrew, I just got a copy of Hot, Cold & Custard last week.
It is really good (and scarce). Any chance Rhino could
be coaxed into issuing it on CD? Apparently, Collectables
has no intention of doing so...
Dave
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: RE: Peter & Gordon
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Sean Anglum, SAngXXXXXXXXadoCollege.edu
To: 'Spectropop List', spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Andrew Sandoval wrote:
> Peter & Gordon have loads of fabulous recordings, perhaps
> their greatest album is Hot Cold & Custard issued in 1968
> in the US only. It is one of my Top Ten favourite albums
> of all time. It is a sophisticated pop harmony record, not
> too soft and not too psych - just classy, well written
> songs. It is a must find! Gordon's solo catalog has some
> high points as well but is very patchy. All of P&G's
> singles are recommended but their albums (especially US
> versions as reissued by Collectables) are haphazard
> quality wise. Find Hot Cold & Custard today!!!!!
Yes! I too feel it might be their very best collective
long-player. The single from the LP, "You've Had Better
Times", went nowhere (Capitol didn't even bother with a
picture sleeve for it)....but it is a great tune. At the
time it was rumored that Mr. McCartney had a hand in the
production and/or instruments on the single.
Curious...wouldn't have been the first time Macca worked
with'em, you know?! And Peter was very tight in the Beatle
camp at the time ('68, I think..) as he was the first A&R
guy for Apple. "Discovered" James Taylor, etc. A buddy of
mine even received a reject "thanks, but no thanks" letter
from Peter on Apple Stationery. Very Cool! Anyway, it's
nice to know that that LP turned somebody else on as much
as me! Is there any hope of it ever seeing the light of
day as a CD release....other than on Collectibles (ugh!)???
And why didn't EMI release it across the pond?? Anybody?
Spectropop lives!!! Keep up the great posts everyone!!
Raised On Records,
Sean Anglum
sangXXXXXXXXadoCollege.edu
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Subject: Re: Bernadette Peters' records
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Doc Rock, docroXXXXXXXXcom
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Ian Chapman, iandXXXXXXXXlnet.co.uk wrote:
>Bernadette Peters had a single on UA in '62, "Charm
>Bracelet"
I have a 45 with PS of Ms. Peters doing a KILLER version of
"Dedicated to the One I Love."
Doc
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: ANYONE
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Doc Rock, docroXXXXXXXXcom
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Carol Kaye wrote:
>We got so good, we knew we could take ANYONE off the
>streets and we could make them into stars if they could
>barely carry a tune. Now, yes, that's egotistical, but
>true.
Well, let's not get carried away. For every hit record, be
the artist talented or not, and be the musicians
professionals or kids, there were hundreds and hundreds of
flops. I take your point, and tend to agree, within reason!
Doc
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Subject: Ikettes on Phi-Dan
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Jamie LePage, le_page_XXXXXXXXties.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Will Stos wrote:
>There never really was one group of Ikettes. Who
>produced the Phi-Dan track? Is it at all Spectorish?
Hi Will,
Both sides of Phi-Dan 5009, Ikettes' Watcha Gonna Do b/w
Down Down, were produced by Ike Turner. The only
resemblance to Spector is the percussive accent which, to
my ears, hints that the sides were recorded at Gold Star.
Musically, though, this is R&B, not Girl Group pop. The
quasi-Ikettes' vocals are impassioned, but the songs sound
like throwaways and the productions are unimaginative. If
you like the non-Spector Ike & Tina sides, you might like
these two sides as well, but for my tastes, which run more
toward pop, Phi-Dan 5009 is dwarfed by the two on either
side of it: namely the Anders & Poncia penned and produced
"When I Get Scared" by the Lovelites (5008) and the Botkin,
Jr/Garfield produced Lovers Wonderland by the Sugar Plums
(5010). Both of these are must-hear sides for the "Spector
and Associates" fan.
Speaking of Phi-Dan and Mr. Danny Davis, I just picked up
the Meet Ginny Arnell album (Marginal MAR 088) and in the
liner notes it says: "M-G-M artist and repertoire man
Danny Davis heard of Ginny, auditioned her and signed her
to an exclusive contract with this label." Is this Danny
Davis the same Danny Davis as the Philles promo man who
was also the latter half of Phi-Dan?
Carol, you must remember Danny Davis. Any interesting
anecdotes?
All the best,
Jamie LePage
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Recent soft rock findings....
Sent: 04/14/19 12:13 am
Received: 04/11/99 10:46 pm
From: Dame Edna Hoover, wuo0XXXXXXXXt.se
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXXXXXXties.com
Hi all!
My name is Tobias and I'm sure some of you know who I am
from Pet Sounds-l and from this list (got signed off when
I switched email-suppliers). I'm 115 years old, eat your
children for lunch and come from Mars. Anyway, I got rid
of old junk that I never listen to last week and got these
fine records in a trade with a record store:
The Fifth Dimension - Living Together Growing Together.
Most of the songs are great, backed up by the entire
Wrecking Crew (no Carol Kaye in sight, though) and seems
to be more in a Philadelphia-soul kind of way rather than
the Broadway-styled Jimmy Webb stuff they used to do.
There's a "lost" Bacharach track on it which I've never
even heard of before: Let Me Be Alone. It's really great
so I wonder why it's so obscure....did any other artists
cover the song?
The Millennium - Begin. You all know about this one. I
never got around to get hold of it until now. I told a guy
who used to hang out with the Millennium in the sixties to
join this list, gave him the sub-info today...if you are
already here, Kana, tell the list about the party at
Mulholland in LA!
Laura Nyro - Stoned Soul Picnic, The Best Of...A two-CD
album, but I have only heard the first one yet. Great
stuff so far! I can't believe her own recordings never
charted when other artists turned the same songs into huge
hits!
The Collage - s/t. Wow, *this* is one hidden motherBLEEPer
of a soft rock classic! :) The sleeve is really cool as
well, they obviously tried to look like Mamas & Papas: two
girls (one blonde, one darkhaired) and two boys. Lots of
sweet sugary harmonies and sweet sugary arrangements...the
only thing I have against this record is that it's perhaps
too sweet and sugary! Nonetheless, great covers of Curt
Boetcher and Roger Nichols material. What can you soft
rock experts tell me about this, to me, unknown group?
Rodgers&Hammerstein - South Pacific OST. Only mentioning
this here because it's where the original Happy Talk
(covered by Harpers Bizarre) is from. The rest of the
soundtrack is pretty good but the vocal performance sounds
quite dated.
I got hold of some other stuff as well (including a
soundtrack with the Association) but I'll mention that
some other time.
T.
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