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Volume #0381 February 1, 2000
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"taking a leap and experimenting with a sound"
Subject: David Bash's list
Received: 02/01/00 12:54 am
From: Kingsley Abbott
To: Spectropop!
It was very interesting to read David's list of
unavailable albums. Quite a few on the list have been
mentioned in conversation with Joe Foster of Revola, so
all is not lost! Revola's future is a little under
question with the shrink down at Creation following Alan
Mcgee's departure. However, Joe thinks that things will
keep going - In other words, the eclectic release pattern
that we have come to love from Revola should continue. I
personally dread the thought that all future music will be
accessed through the internet. OK, some, most even, but
like with real ale, decent bread, and any other aspect of
our lives that we have grown to love and value, there
should always be room for specialist 'real' releases!
Campaign for Real Records anyone?? CRR! Any further
thoughts Joe??
Of David's list, the CDs I personally would most like to
see, in order I guess, are 5th Dimension's first two
albums as a twofer, The Critters "Touch 'n' Go (with one
or two from their last album maybe), the Tommy Roe one,
Elephant Candy and maybe The Robbs (although I'm biased on
this one as it contains a version of "Violets of Dawn"
which Fairport used to do in the early days). As a slight
PS to the last little bit, I still have some stock left of
my book "Fairportfolio" abot the 1967/9 era of a great
English Band! Anyone interested, just mail me directly.
Also, my thanks to Carol for her very kind words - fair
made me toes twinkle!
Kingsley Abbott
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Subject: ***Misty Mirage***
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Jamie LePage
To: Spectropop!
BIG, BIG news for Curt Boettcher fans (you know who you
are)...
On March 25, Dreamsville Records (Japan) will release a
new compilation of previously unreleased Curt Boettcher
recordings called Misty Mirage. This is not a boot. It's a
legitimate release of recordings made by Boettcher up to
around the time of Sagittarius' Blue Marble album.
Musicians performing on the album include Lee Mallory,
Sandy Salisbury, Ron Edgar, Jerry Scheff, Ben Benay and
Mike Melvoin. All recordings are produced or co-produced
by Boettcher and engineered by Keith Olsen.
I just heard a little bit of this album, and what I heard
is sure to please every Sagittarius/Millennium fan. There
are some magical moments. The first track, Tumbling
Tumbleweeds, is absolutely brilliant. A dreamy,
kaleidoscopic take on Sons of the Pioneers' 1934 hit song,
featuring swirling layers of Curt's trademark high tone
vocal chorus work.
The CD will have 18 tracks, featuring Curt's never before
released versions of I Just Want To Be Your Friend and The
Know It All (Millennium), You Know I've Found a Way and
Another Time (Sagittarius), Misty Mirage and Astral Cowboy
(Michele) and That's the Way It's Gonna Be (Lee Mallory).
The only two tracks on the CD that have been previously
released are Share With Me and Sometimes, both sides of an
obscure Boettcher 45 on Together (co-produced with Gary
Usher). The CD is rounded out with a couple of Levi's
commercials and studio session outtakes. I understand Dawn
Eden is writing the liners for this too.
Less than two months away. I can't wait.
Jamie
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Subject: My name is Spot
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Nat Kone
To: Spectropop!
I don't see anyone on this list talking about their
"recent finds" like on the other list I'm on so I won't
tell the story of how I'm getting all these records I've
been picking up in the last week or so...
But I have been filling in a lot of holes and making a lot
of discoveries. And today's featured discovery is the
Sunrays.
A bit of soft pop, a bit of Beach Boyesque "surf." The
record's called "Andrea" and supposedly that was a "hit."
The guy who sold it to me said the hit was "I live for the
Sun."
And they're both good songs. But the one that kills me is
"A little dog and his boy", the opening verse of which is:
"My name is Spot
I am a dog
My master is Billy
He collects frogs"
Yes, the song is sung by a dog and it's an ode to lost
youth, I guess. Spot looks toward the future when he and
Billy will no longer run along the beach together. And the
chorus of "Me and Billy / Just he and me / Although he's
got lots of friends / He doesn't forget me" will break the
coldest of hearts.
I just cracked a sealed copy of The Gainsborough Gallery,
whoever they are (no connection to Serge, unfortunately.)
So far they don't sound too soft poppy but they might be
silly enough to love.
Nat
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Subject: ...and speaking of Cake...
Received: 02/01/00 12:54 am
From: John Frank
To: Spectropop!
Nat Kone wrote:
>Speaking of recently found records, what can you tell me
>about this apparent girl trio on Decca, called "The Cake"?
I've always clearly heard Cher's voice in their classic,
"Baby That's Me"? Is it? Or did one of the group merely
sound like her? (I've been wondering this for years and
would really like to know if my suspicion is true.)
Factoids leading me to believe it *could have been* Cher
is that Charlie Green and Brian Stone managed both Cake
and Sonny & Cher; also both acts' first albums were
recorded at the same studios. (This is just from memory --
I no longer have The Cake album to compare.)
Thanks.
John
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Subject: Various
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Joseph Scott
To: Spectropop!
Hi all,
Stewart, my understanding is that Dave Hassinger was the
Electric Prunes' producer and main guy, and at the point
we're talking about he brought in Axelrod as arranger;
session musicians including Howard Roberts, Carol Kaye,
and Earl Palmer played on Release Of An Oath, '68, and
there continued to be a bunch of young guys who toured as
the Prunes and sang on the records, a la Beach Boys etc.
etc. etc.
Nat, I didn't say that either.
Lindsay, Leon Russell expert Steve Todoroff has written
that "Russell handpick[ed] the songs as well as the studio
musicians to back [Gary Lewis]."
Peace,
Joseph Scott
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Subject: Re: gary Lewis
Received: 02/01/00 12:54 am
From: claudia
To: Spectropop!
> musicians lead me to admit to my weakness for the recorded
> works of Gary Lewis and the Playboys. (Anyone else...
Absolutely love them.
To this day...I play their music and sing along every time.
Their songs were infectious...you just had to sing along. I
remember the day I first was able to buy their stuff on
cd...I was thrilled.
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Subject: Gary Lewis
Received: 02/01/00 3:38 am
From: David Ponak
To: Spectropop!
Hey, no guilt is necessary when mentioning one's affection
for the output of Gary Lewis and The Playboys. These are
great records, regardless of the vocal abilities or Mr.
Lewis himself. In fact, "Jill" and "Girls In Love" qualify
as soft-pop classics in my book.
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Gary Lewis... Carol Kaye!
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Lindsay Martin
To: Spectropop!
After mentioning Gary Lewis and studio musicians and Carol
Kaye in my last posting, I thought to check Carol's site
and, sure enough, there it is: "This Diamond Ring, Just My
Style etc. - Gary Lewis and Playboys".
I should've guessed! Is it too late for a New Year's
resolution, namely, "Check Carol's site before I send
anything"?
Lindsay
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Subject: Patti Page rocks
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Frank Youngwerth
To: Spectropop!
Another notable Gary Lewis credit would be Al Kooper, who
co-wrote "This Diamond Ring" as sure as he played organ on
Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." I like plenty by Gary Lewis
& the Playboys--"New in Town" is a great overlooked track.
Somebody's playing some amazing bass on that one.
I finally got around to playing a 1966 Columbia 45 I'd
picked up recently by Patti Page. I thought "Till You Come
Back to Me" must have been the Stevie Wonder song Aretha
spun into gold, but I was wrong. Still, it's a fine 4
Seasons-ish stomper (the drum fills and quarter-note
triplets give away Hal Blaine's presence, and the
hard-picked bass sound like Carol), with the "Old Cape Cod"
gal coming through at times like Karen Carpenter. This
is a pretty hip Ernie Freeman production for its time.
I think the very existence of Spectropop says plenty about
the validity of a lot of once-dismissed-as-pathetically-
square-or-wimpy music. However, I don't care for Andy
Williams' "God Only Knows"--give me "Can't Stand Losing
You," "Music to Watch Girls By," or "Happy Heart." Guess I
just like my Andy with a beat.
Frank Youngwerth
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Subject: don't shoot the messenger
Received: 02/01/00 12:55 am
From: Nat Kone
To: Spectropop!
>From: Carol Kaye
>..I know this must hurt your perceived images of
>our business.
>Yes, Hal Blaine, myself others did some of those....don't
>blame the "messenger"....the public will have a lot of
>heartbreak out there when they "find out." It took 2-3
>years for the Beach Boys fans to accept that studio
>musicians did their favorite hits.
I can't speak for the Beach Boys fans but I don't get the
idea that we're all having our bubbles burst. When I was a
kid, just starting to buy records, for the most part I
didn't know what the groups looked like, what their names
were, who played what.
I guess in some cases, like the Animals and the Stones, I
probably assumed it was the band playing on the records
but obviously - if I thought about it, which I didn't - I
knew that Simon and Garfunkel or Petula Clark or Tom Jones
had a bunch of musicians whose names I didn't know, playing
on theirs.
And when I first started to hear about the studio
musicians who played on all the Motown hits for instance,
I remember thinking that was cool. Jamie Jamerson (is that
his name?) was a bit of a star to me and my friends, just
like Teenie Hodges and his brothers became "stars" when we
started to listen to Al Green and other Hi records.
And at some point we started to hear about songwriters and
the Brill Building and how many of our favorite songs were
written by Goffin and King or Mann and Weil. And knowing
about Phil Spector didn't ruin my image of pop music
either.
I suppose if we'd found out that EVERYTHING we liked was
written, sung and played by a bunch of people we didn't
know, that might have affected us. But far from having our
bubble burst, I remember a certain pleasure in finding out
little facts about studio musicians and the process in
general.
Now I have to admit that a lot of this is a blur. I was a
bit older when I knew of Leon Russell and Mac Rebenack as
"solo" artists and started to find out about all the
records they had played on. They were stars to me at that
point so it wasn't simply a case of celebrating a studio
musician.
But I remember that when I started to hear about how
records were actually made, even if there might have been
some disappointment, at the same time there was an
excitement at having "secret knowledge" revealed.
I think for a lot of us this started around Dylan's
records, especially Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde. And a
lot of that had to do with the fact that Mike Bloomfield
and Al Kooper were stars in their own right with us. But
we loved those stories about how Al ended up playing organ,
even though he came with the intention of playing guitar.
It didn't make me love Dylan or that record any less, to
find out that the organ sound was an unplanned "accident".
The Monkees were also part of the story. I remember
hearing that Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were "real"
musicians and I'm sure I was pulling for them to win the
right to play on their own records. Certainly it was more
"romantic" to think about the members of the band rather
than the studio musicians. But knowing the Monkees were
the "prefab four" or that they didn't play on their
records, didn't stop us from loving "Pleasant Valley
Sunday".
I can't deny that knowing the real story and the
indispensable role of studio musicians changes the
romantic view of sixties pop but ultimately I don't think
it changes much. I suspect I still hold onto a few
romantic notions and maybe there's a bubble or two I
wouldn't want burst.
But I loved "Green Tambourine" and I still do and the real
story of how it came about is no less interesting than the
image I supposedly held when I first heard it. At the
heart of it, there's still one person or a group of people
taking a leap and experimenting with a sound.
Nat
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