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Spectacular - Retro - Pop!
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There are 6 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 177:
1. from Vinnie Bell's son
From: Carol Kaye
2. The Archies
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
3. Re: Hullabaloo on VHS and DVD
From: Marc Wielage
4. Hullabaloo
From: Paul Urbahns
5. Songs of Greenwich and Barry
From: "Donny Hampton"
6. Something Young
From: Jeffrey Glenn
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 09:46:30 -0700
From: Carol Kaye
Subject: from Vinnie Bell's son
This is from Ed Bell, Vinnie Bell's son. Vinnie has
long been the #1 studio guitarist in NYC and knew of our
Monkees dates out here in LA too, but they have always
mentioned about all the Archies' dates being cut *only*
in NYC. Vinnie also did some Motown dates in the 60s cut
in NYC and also knew of our Motown dates cut out here in
LA from '63 on too. I had written Ed about the recent
mention on this list:
> Dear Sweet Carol,
> I have to show Vinnie your Email. I've spoke about Gary
> Chester on numerous posts to you.
>
> Vinnie and Hugh McCracken played guitar on Sugar Sugar.
> It was cut in NY with the great Gary Chester on drums. I
> believe it was a Don Kirshner date. Sal Ditroia might
> have also played guitar on that record. The singers were
> Toni Wine and Ron Dante. This is another situation where
> the group was formed after the song was a hit. The
> studio people were essentially the same ones who did the
> Monkees dates in NY. LOVE ED
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 04:32:24 EDT
From: Jimmy Crescitelli
Subject: The Archies
Ahhhh yes! What a record. The first time I danced was to
"Sugar Sugar" in Laraine Elder's garage in Bay Ridge.
There must have been fifteen of us boys and girls jammed
in there, with barely room left over for her portable
Victrola. I guess we were doing some variation of the
Twist, the dance that never died. (They still do it at
weddings, right? 41 years on now?) Everybody loved that
record on my block... it really was considered something
new and cool and different!
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 02:03:00 -0700
From: Marc Wielage
Subject: Re: Hullabaloo on VHS and DVD
Mike Arcidiacono commented on the Spectropop group:
> Yes, that's true. And not only SHINDIG, but also
> Hullabaloo (except for the last few episodes which
> were done in color) and Hollywood A Go GO. One
> problem was that these shows were recorded on One
> inch videotape, but in a format called "C". Around
> 1970, most networks switched video formats (which
> they would do many times since), and those "C" tapes
> would not play on the current machines. so, the
> executive braintrust figured "why pay storage fees on
> these old "C" tapes" , and threw out most of them.
>----------------------------------------<
Not quite. The broadcast video format used by all the
major networks from about 1956 to 1980 was 2" quadruplex,
invented by Ampex. 1" C was kind of a hybrid of the 1"
Ampex A format and the non-lettered Sony 1" format of the
late 1970s, which was compromised by SMPTE as 1"C around
1979. So all the great rock shows of the 1960s started
out on 2" tape.
What is correct about your message is that 2" videotapes
are very hard to playback nowadays, and that only a
handful of machines can play them back -- along with
skilled technicians who know how to coax the tapes to
play. A friend of mine, Paul Surratt over at Research
Video in LA, specializes in this kind of work, and 90% of
what he does is restoring classic music performances of
the 1960s and 1970s for MTV, VH1, and clients like that.
They go through hell and back trying to save a lot of
these shows.
And it's also true that a lot of 2" tapes were thrown out
over the years. Most of the networks and production
companies spent a lot of time copying the tapes over to 1"
(or even the later digital formats), but a lot has been
lost, and even more tapes have yet to be transferred.
(The stories I could tell you on how many shows have been
lost... it would blow your mind, like what happened to
the first 2000 Carson TONIGHT shows at NBC.)
The 16mm kinescopes out there are pretty wretched, and
there's not a lot you can do to clean them up, period.
That's my business -- video mastering -- and
unfortunately, a lot of it is a garbage in/garbage
out situation.
--MFW
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-= Marc Wielage | "The computerized authority =-
-= MusicTrax, LLC | on rock, pop, & soul." =-
-= Chatsworth, CA | =-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 17:29:21 EDT
From: Paul Urbahns
Subject: Hullabaloo
Jamie wrote:
> Other oddities include Soupy Sales hosting an episode
> in which his sons appear (Tony and the Tigers), and
> Jerry Lewis hosting when the Playboys are on (Gary and
> Jerry dueting on a cover of Help - gulp!) Freddie and
> the Dreamers seem to be on every other episode. Good
> god, were they even on the charts for more than a
> couple of weeks?
Yes but that is what is so fantastic, they left the stuff
in, including the Top Pop medley where the guest stars on
the show sing other peoples big hits. Rhino issued some
Shindig highlights but just a collection of songs is
boring, just like the bonus tracks on these DVDs they
just seque one lip sync into another.
Paul Urbahns
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 12:50:26 +0900
From: "Donny Hampton"
Subject: Songs of Greenwich and Barry
I'm sitting here holding a rare prize in my hands - the
PolyGram Music promo CD of Jeff and Ellie's greatest
song hits "Songs of Greenwich and Barry". For the
booklet alone, it was worth the steep price I bid for it
on eBay (though as usual, Jeff Barry's post-Ellie
achievements are underplayed in the text). Some great
photos, too.
Jamie wrote:
> I don't have the comp right in front of me but I recall
> it being very uneven with attempts to fill in the gaps
> with new interpretations of the songs by contemporary
> alternative bands, a concept that doesn't even work on
> paper much less on disc.
The track selection? Well . . . I agree with you that
some of the more alt-rock versions of songs are
disrespectful to Jeff and Ellie's original intent. Jason
Falkner's version of "Baby, I Love You" had too much in
common with The Ramones' version, which I'm not crazy
about; I would have much preferred The Beach Boys' hit
single of "Then I Kissed Her" than the TripleFastAction
track; U2's reputation notwithstanding, they can't
compete with Darlene Love's original reading of
"Christmas;" and the Crash Test Dummies' cover(???) of
"Da Doo Ron Ron" was so horrible, I almost became
physically ill listening to it! What were they thinking?
The main problem with the way these '90s acts came at
Jeff and Ellie's songs is that, too often, they drained
the joyfulness out of them. (Notable exceptions were The
Minus Five doing "People Say" and Fuzzy's take on
"Chapel Of Love" - though I'm not saying I liked them).
I doubt Ellie appreciated them doing that, and I know
for a fact that Jeff dislikes ironic and/or satirical
performances of his hits. Still, a CD featuring nothing
but alternative rock interpretations of their classics
is a valid concept, and it should happen - in order for
these songs to stay alive in the public consciousness,
new generations of artists have to make them their own.
Listening to this CD has made me realize how much I'd
like to hear a tribute album to Jeff and Ellie by
contemporary artists. What I'd really like (and I've told
Jeff so) is a tribute album recorded by country acts.
Why? Because the country singers will at least have
respect for the melodies, and they'll also be less likely
to tamper with the joyful quality of the lyrics.
Of course, there's still room for a compilation of Jeff
and Ellie's songs made up entirely of interpretations
>from the '60s, '70s and (possibly) '80s . . . but please,
no more mixing bizarre alt-rock versions with classic
versions. That idea just doesn't work for me at all.
Don Charles
PS: I know it'll never happen, but my other dream is
that ABKCO will someday release a compilation titled
"The Best of Spector, Greenwich and Barry." With
UNRELEASED tracks! Well, I can dream, can't I?
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 14:02:46 -0000
From: Jeffrey Glenn
Subject: Something Young added to Spectropop Files
After David Bash mentioned that he had a copy of
Something Young's great and very rare 45 "Oh, Don't Come
Crying Back To Me"/"The Words I'm Seeking" up on ebay, he
received some requests....
Well, I've just finished [recording] them...(and these
were made from David's copy of the 45, which was in NM
condition).
Have fun - they're great songs!
Jeff
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