THIS BLOG'S ABOUT MY FAVORITE 7" SINGLES. ALL KINDS, ALL GENRES. AND ANYTHING ELSE: INFO, STORIES, CHARTS, CLIPPINGS, ETC. EVERY SONG IS CONVERTED FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION TO MP3. AND NOT ONE THAT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND YOU SEEKING OUT. ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WHO DON'T WANT THEIR MUSIC HEARD HERE – JUST LET ME KNOW, AND DOWN IT WILL COME. CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.
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Do not mistake this British band as the resident pop group on the US HULLABALOO show from ‘65 – ‘66. They did appear, six times to be exact, but were only coincidentally sharing a similar name. Admittedly their second album, THE HULLABALLOOS ON HULLABALOO would confuse even the most attentive. Alas, the band’s name was indeed spelled differently than the program’s. So no – they were not the house band.
As with just about every group in those days, we saw their pictures way before getting to hear the music. I was too young to be aware of all the Buddy Holly similarities they shared, so to me, they were completely original. I vividly remember seeing the sleeve to ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’ in a local shop and being instantly smitten. Bleach blond, all four – this was even more radical than The Pretty Things, who had the longest hair yet. Hullaballoos’ drummer Harry rivaled any member of The Pretty Things to date, not only in hair length but color too, hence out doing them in my book. My parents were aghast to find I planned to bleach my hair as well. It never happened – not yet that is.
Despite endless stories of infamous thievery directed toward Roulette Records, they did get their singles distributed and heard. ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’ got played a bunch initially.
Listen: Did You Ever / The Hullaballoos
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The followup, ‘Did You Ever’ was played slightly less, but performed more than any other song on US television.
Listen: Learning The Game / The Hullaballoos
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Unfortunately, ‘Learning The Game’, my favorite of the four, was not played at all in my hometown. The single made it to the Bubbling Under Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #121 during a short two week run, so some play obviously was achieved. Once I got my copy, I cherished it all the more.
Listen: I Won’t Turn Away Now / The Hullaballoos
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The very hard to get fourth single and sleeve, ‘I Won’t Turn Away Now’ is classic British beat. Little Steven played The Hullaballoos recently. I was in the car and thought, justice after all these years. God bless Sirius.
In the early 80’s, when I started working at Elektra, the lure of free phone calls to the UK were too much to pass up. I called Hull directory information, and secured two of the four Hullaballoos’ phone numbers. Ultimately, I only spoke with Andrew Woonton. Initially our conversation proceeded as follows:
“Hi is this Andrew Woonton?”
“Yes, who’s calling?”
“My name is Kevin, from Elektra Records in New York and I was wondering, were you once a member of The Hullaballoos?”
“Uuuuuum, aaaaah, yes why?”
I launched into being a fan, but later in the conversation he revealed his initial hesitation. Turns out he was still getting calls from creditors wanting payment for hotels, vehicles and other expenses obligated some 20 years prior by Roulette on behalf of The Hullaballoos.
Did this band get what they deserved in any way. No. In fact, their youtube footage recently had the audio removed, apparently by the song publishers. Come on, cut these guys a break.
And I’m still miffed at not seeing the shows they shared with The Zombies and The Nashville Teens back in ‘65 at the Brooklyn Paramount.
Listen: Just What You Want – Just What You'll Get / John's Children
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Listen: Desdemona / John's Children
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Listen: Smashed! Blocked! / John's Children
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Listen: Come And Play With Me In The Garden / John's Children
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Listen: Go-Go Girl / John's Children
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True story: In the early 80’s, I did a weekly 2 radio hour show called Import/Export for the mainstream rock station in Rochester, WCMF. It was tucked away at midnight on Tuesdays, and in today’s market it’d be deemed as a ’specialty show’, where all the bands/records that are left of center and on the way up, get a weekly spin. It was loads of fun.
When the station decided to leave the building they’d been housed in since the 60’s to a much smaller location, their massive record library needed to be eliminated due to space restrictions. Oddly, instead of inviting the staff to help thin it out (take whatever you want – we’re about to toss it anyways), give it away to the needy, or super serve their listeners with a free for all, they instead chose to rent a dumpster and fill it daily until the massive library was eliminated. How nice of them.
On that particular Tuesday, I left the station somewhere around 3am, as I’d always stay awhile and visit with Roger McCall, who was my co-host and did the normal overnight shift that followed. I just couldn’t resist having a look into that dumpster. I must tell you, the area and parking lot were a touch daunting anyways. Being in a very quiet part of town, and not the nicest either, I always made a quick dash to the car.
In fact, I vividly remember getting in, starting it and just staring at the dumpster heaving with records – the junkie in me came out. Suddenly of equal concern was getting caught. Seriously. There was a security camera affixed to the entrance area to allow the dj’s a look at who rang the bell before buzzing them in – and there had been a stern directive that no one was to pilfer through the discarded records. Nonetheless, I got out of the car, approached the dumpster, opened the heavy lid, and the very top album, I swear, was ORGASM by John’s Children.
Now if you’re a collector, you are well aware that this is a very, very valuable record. In 1967, it was pressed up promotionally, a result of their one and only US single ‘Smashed Blocked’ becoming a hit on the west coast, even a Top 10 in LA – as well a ‘Bubbling Under The Hot 100′ Billboard item (#102). Needless to say, the album title caused more resistance than it was worth and White Whale, the label, cancelled it’s release – hence it’s collectibility to this day.
I was purely convinced it was a set up – I was as critical and lippy of that station’s shit playlist then as I am of current US radio’s charts now. But fuck it – I wasn’t leaving this baby behind. By the time I arrived home, I was comforted in realizing there wasn’t a person at the station, other than Roger, with a thread of knowledge about credible music, not to mention something so obscure, and hence would never have known to place this album top of the heap to frame me. I slept soundly that night.
A few years ago, Vicki Wickham rang and asked if I’d like to join her and Simon Napier-Bell, one time manager of John’s Children, and later Marc Bolan who was in the band’s lineup, for a lunch. Vicki is the best at these things – she’s fed my record habit for ages and is always looking out for me. It was a quite fun hour – Simon, in New York for a few days, was only too happy to talk about his time with the band, providing I buy lunch, which I did. But sadly he informed me that when leaving the UK for Thailand, he tossed ‘boxes’ of 7″ singles by John’s Children as well as Marc Bolan ‘A’ labels. It was a pretty sobering moment.
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True story. I know you will think this is a lie, but I swear on a stack of Ramones albums that it is not.
UK manager Dennis Muirhead paid me his yearly visit at Columbia Records in the late 90’s. We’d met back in ‘85 when I’d first joined Elektra and he always stopped by when he came through town. One of his clients at the time was Stuart Coleman. Stuart lived then in Nashville and had produced many successful country acts, but had prior UK hits with Shakin’ Stevens. Dennis gave me a package including all his producers latest discographies which I browsed while catching up. I noticed Stuart had started his career in the 60’s with The Shadows. So I said to Dennis, hey this guy goes back a bit, is he English? Affirmative. I proceeded to say I wish these fellows would list all those really early engineering jobs they would have started out doing prior to that first producer opportunity. “I mean, Dennis, he could have worked on something obscure like…..Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours or something”. I just grabbed that fun, eccentric example out of my head.
Dennis looks me square in the eye and says “He was IN Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours”. Silence. Neither of us could believe what had just transpired. “You’re not kidding are you, well call him now”. He suggested one better, that I ring his place asking for him as a member of the band, which I did. I let Stuart know fairly fast that Dennis was there with me, and we had a very nice chat. I mailed him this jukebox tab, he autographed it and sent it straight back.
As for the group, I was interested because of the name. When I saw their first single ‘Mirror Mirror’ entering the UK charts, I had to hear them asap. But it wasn’t to be for ages. Even though released Stateside, it was nowhere to be heard or found. WMCR, the little station that gave me all those unwanted promo singles at the time, weren’t serviced by London, parent company of Parrot Records – home to Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours. Damn. I was jonesing by the time their second single hit. ‘Don’t Stop Loving Me, Baby’ limped into the UK Top 50 at #50 for one week. I love a good followup flop usually more than the previous hit, so this was reaching fever pitch.
Finally I was successful, finding it in a 25¢ bin at The House Of Oldies on Bleeker Street in NYC when my Aunt Nancy invited me along to visit some relative for a few days. I got a ton of London titles there – The Cryin’ Shames, Lulu & The Luvvers, The Gonks, Hedgehoppers Anonymous and Jonathan King among them – all nice orange swirl promos. This is a great double sider. Not overly special but a solid British staple. Actually, just tonight I realized some similarities to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich thereby explaining a lot of it’s appeal for me.
Listen: Will Ya / Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours
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The B side ‘Will Ya’ is my favorite of the two, but just. That timid but still wildish fuzz solo is the tie breaker. Mike Goldsmith picked me up the stock copy pictured, only a few months ago, at Academy Records in Brooklyn. I had never seen nor heard of one being pressed as it seemed likely this would never have made it beyond the promo stage – but here it is.
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It’s well known that Aretha Franklin and her family’s musical beginnings were in Gospel. Yet in early 1960, she signed with John Hammond at Coumbia, a historically well respected A&R executive, but oddly a musical mismatch for Aretha. Despite initially scoring a few semi-hits on the Billboard Pop and RnB Singles charts, those initial results began a slow downward spiral of misjudged A&R song choices, bland jazz leaning arrangements, tiringly safe, and quite frankly, dull results. However, by the end of ‘66, with little commercial success in those six years with Columbia, they threw her on the scrapheap, a policy that insensitively continued and in fact grew exponentially during my time there.
As the story goes, desperate for a sound of her own, she signed with Atlantic Records to work with producer Jerry Wexler. By ‘67, Aretha Franklin issued her first Atlantic single, ‘I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)’, a blues ballad that eliminated the safe musical stench Columbia forced her way, and introduced listeners to her original Gospel influences. Recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and produced by Wexler, the song became her true breakthrough single, reaching the Hot 100 Top 10 and holding the #1 spot for seven weeks on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart. In fact, the B-side, “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”, charted on the R&B side as well, and again introduced a more Gospel element to Franklin’s developing sound. It also set a pattern for ballady bluesy B sides ahead.
Her next single, ‘Respect’, written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, instantly became her signature tune for life, reaching #1 on both the RnB and Pop charts—holding the top spot on the former for a then record eight weeks. In the next eighteen months, she released a number of singles we all know and love: ‘Baby I Love You’, ‘Chain of Fools’, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’, ‘The House That Jack Built’ and ‘Think’, to name the cream of her early successful, now decidedly upbeat run.
Part of all that fun in the spotlight was, behind the curtain, Columbia’s attempt to ride Atlantic’s successful coat tails by releasing what sure did sound to me like records parallel with her now current sound – from their vaults. Finally, at least, Coumbia was doing some work on her, and doing it pretty well. With just about everyone from the label then now long gone, it’s impossible to ever know if it was astute planning or random desperation.
A first of these, ‘Take A Look’, was a good vault find, and to be fair, probably previously released as an LP track. It was during that summer (‘67 – read past post on WMCR to understand) when the little local station, WMCR, was in the full-on groove of giving me all their non-easy listening singles during my regular Friday night visits to their studios. And I ended up loving it, as I did “Ain’t No Way’, B side of ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ – both interestingly recorded and performed in an almost identical style.
Listen: Mockingbird / Aretha Franklin
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Despite the play to piggy back onto Atlantic’s marketing spend toward making Aretha Franklin a household name, ‘Mockingbird’ was a great choice on Columbia’s part to compete with, yet actually compliment the groove her hits were in.
Written by Inez & Charlie Foxx, who had a Top 10 of their own with it in ‘63, Aretha shined on ‘Mockingbird’. Had it been released at the time, things may have turned out differently. A great song, it did Carly Simon no harm when she took it to #4 in ‘74.
Listen: Soulville / Aretha Franklin
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This was originally an A side Columbia issue (reaching #121) in ‘64, then reissued in ‘68, coinciding timewise with ‘Think’, where it dragged it’s way to a tired #83. But I admit, I picked up the original as a closeout (it’s pictured above) on it’s title alone. In fact it was to be my first Aretha Franklin single, price: 10¢.
Although Columbia tried issuing a few more 7’s, none charted and basically they retreated, tail between legs.
God knows where I got this – probably wrote away for it being the record collector I was at 8 years old. Still have a few Fontana 7″ mailers from that time period as well. I would write to this person, Claranelle Morris, at Fontana’s main office in Chicago back then, pestering her about The Herd and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. She’d send photos, bios, sometimes even a single. I guess she figured you couldn’t hear or buy them in the sticks of the Syracuse suburbs, so give the kid the record already. We’re going to toss them anyways. Thank you Claranelle. To go back and police the Fontana dumpsters – if only.
It was years later, when I finally got a break to get into the business (Howard Thompson gave me my 1st A&R job at Elektra – without him, I’d still be struggling), that I discovered as soon as a record isn’t current, being worked at radio or believed in (at Columbia, my last label job, this often happened within a few weeks: Charlie Walk in particular convinced many he was quite good at A&R, he’s now unemployed) – off to the dumpster went the product, and many times off to the scrapheap went the act’s career.
But let’s not lose focus……so I found this catalog in one of the many trunks of ’stuff’ I’ve saved over the years. It’s just like new, man, I wouldn’t mind a box lot of many of the titles here. Of course, I loved the English groups back then, but also had a jones for Gloria Lynne. It wasn’t only because she was on Fontana (which was always a favorite label – Suzanne King made me a great Fontana T Shirt for my birthday one year. She lives in Chicago now – visit the Fontana building Suzanne. It was at 35 E. Wacker Drive.). Gloria Lynne had a bunch of records on Everest prior. I had a copy of ‘Indian Love Call’ from that period, given to me in one of the Saturday morning piles of singles my uncle, a jukebox operator, would drop off instead of trashing when I was very young, about 5-6. It’s probably the reason the record collecting gene was dangerously awakened in my DNA.
I paid attention to Gloria Lynne singles. I often heard them on the radio playing in the local barber shop where I’d get my haircut as a little boy. Must have been an AC station of it’s day, way before it’s then output turned into bachelor pad, lounge, hipster stuff decades later.
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‘Honaloochie Boogie’ was the first record I heard upon arriving in London, June ‘73. My Aunt Tess collected me at Heathrow, we went back to hers, where she prepared me a traditional English fry-up, and then went to meet Uncle Mick at the pub. It was playing when we walked in. I was more excited about racing toward the jukebox than catching up with my relatives. Very wrong.
I knew of the single, it was one of many I planned to hear/acquire while there. Things were off to a great start.
Prior, I had really tried to love Mott The Hoople. Those four albums on Atlantic (Island in the UK) were a bit of a struggle for me – they just felt a little prog rock bloated. My roomates loved BRAIN CAPERS, and so did I. Well liked, not loved, that is. Suddenly the stars lined up for Mott and they were working with David Bowie. New sound and new label (CBS). They segued onto the glam bandwagon pretty seamlessly, no easy feat considering they weren’t young or thin or androgynous. Overend Watts, like Chris Squire from Yes, always looked pathetic in crotch high silver platforms and pastel colors. Plus ‘All The Young Dudes’ was, let’s face it, all about Bowie. Most importantly, they were now making singles.
The initial one from the second album, first post Bowie, was this. And it ignited a run of strong, quite fantastic records to follow: ‘Roll Away The Stone’, ‘The Golden Age Of Rock ‘n Roll’, ‘All The Way To Memphis’ to be exact. I guess ‘Honaloochie Boogie’ is the least heard and appreciated. Maybe it was the moment for me – not sure. I can tell you this, along with Wizzard ‘See My Baby Jive’, Thin Lizzy ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ and at least one Slade single, it was on every jukebox in every pub in London that summer.
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‘A record to cleanse the palate’ I believe was the Melody Maker review in a sentence. Very true. This one sat around for a while prior to picking up any notice in the States, but Columbia clearly smelled a hit from the get go. You could always tell when a picture sleeve was involved prior to 1977. I have a feeling a lot of people might remember the first time they heard it. The immediate response was ‘play it again’, a handy reaction when that initial listen is from your radio.
Forest Hills native Jeff Wayne’s fantastic production (he went on the score WAR OF THE WORLDS) could easily double as incidental music to a James Bond film. You simply don’t hear records this unique very often.
The local oldies station was having a 70’s weekend recently, replaying old Casey Kasem chart countdowns and this came on. Sounded more modern than anything on the modern rock station.
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During the summer of ‘74 – summer ‘75, I worked at Discount Records, then a northeastern chain, owned by CBS, and heavily stocked in catalog. Most record shops in those days carried lots of….records. This was a time when all the excitement happened right there in the store as opposed any of the other shops competing for the youth dollar.
Today it’s known as an Apple Store. Both had genius bars, well no, that’s a lie. Record shops had counters populated by genius record experts. Same difference.
There were a couple of co-workers who relentlessly hogged the turntable, seemingly for the sole purpose of playing Earth Wind & Fire’s newest album, OPEN OUR EYES. I cringed at it’s polish having preferred their previous two Warner Brothers albums. They were way less refined and more street dirty. After all, leader Maurice White had started his professional career in ‘69 as a session drummer at Chess, eventually joining The Ramsey Lewis Trio. Then something happened, literally in mid song, I realized I absolutely loved ‘Mighty Mighty’. It was the last track on one of the sides as I recall, and had just been released as a single. How perfect. It’s been a staple ever since.
Listen: Drum Song / Earth Wind & Fire
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So once my guard was down, I started noticing a bunch of things in there, like LA’s latin sound, which War had coined a year or two prior, sentimentally grabbing my attention via a first visit in ‘73. Plus new to me, African beats. Miriam Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata’, shockingly a pop hit several years earlier, was my only exposure at that point. B side of ‘Mighty Mighty’ and album track, ‘Drum Song’ became a favorite even. I was officially a fan.
Listen: Kalimba Story / Earth Wind & Fire
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Was I happy when ‘Kalimba Story’ was released as a 7″. It was almost too good to be true, being my other favorite from the album. I’ve noticed kalimba on every record they’ve ever made, at least all the ones I know.
Listen: Sun Goddess / Ramsey Lewis And Earth Wind & Fire
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Full circle to ‘75, when Maurice White reunites with Ramsey Lewis to record what would become a #1 Urban classic. These guys had really hit their stride.
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I’ve been meaning to get a dedicated section on this blog for ‘Songs That Should Have Been Singles’. Some day, one day, as The Seekers once sang.
So now I have to decide, if something was pressed up on 7″ for promotional use only, is it a single? Or is a single a record that was actually released on 7″ for the public to buy? The plot thickens, given that some labels in the 60’s would promo a single to radio, then only press retail copies if it felt like airplay was possible. Feel free to discuss but I’m thinking if I can hold it as a 7″ piece of plastic, then yes it is a single.
One such promo only 7″, in a classy, almost UK type sleeve, was the (unfortunately) unedited version of The Psychedelic Furs ‘Forever Now’ (the over produced, ‘dynamic and percussively textured middle breakdown’, to quote a wordy journalist from the period, should have, in my opinion, been zapped). Despite that, the track is possibly one of their best. To hear the guitars REALLY pop, wear headphones. I’ve been listening to it almost exclusively since seeing the band for the first time in years, a few weeks back. I will not leave it so long ever again.
It’s always helpful to look great as well as sound it. Richard and Tim Butler indeed look exactly the same as they did thirty years ago. It defies logic. As importantly, they sound fantastic. Despite being the only two originals left, those integral parts Vince Ely and Jon Ashton created on this song are well reproduced in person.
And it’s those bits that make this recorded version so vital. Drummer Vince Ely flawlessly provides incredible swing underneath it all as a result of an interplay with Tim Butler’s bass that’s impeccable. John Ashton’s razor sharp guitar tones make his anthemic playing powerful and perfect. Then there’s Richard Butler’s classic vocal inflections and one of a kind lyrics: “everybody’s busy listening and pulling blinds”, beautifully marrying David Bowie with John Cooper Clarke.
‘Forever Now’ was the last song of their final encore that night, proceeded by the crowd jaw dropper, an unexpected ‘She Is Mine’. The end to a perfect evening. Only the goodnight kiss from Marianne Faithfull could top it.
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Listen: The City / Mark – Almond
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I was lucky enough to see one of the early shows John Mayall did in support of his then brand new album TURNING POINT, basically himself, Jon Mark, Johnny Almond and Steven Thompson. A fantastic drumless lineup – so different at the time. If you have the album, well the live show was exactly the same. A perfect evening.
Always on the move musically, John Mayall soon reinvented himself, possibly due to the formation of Mark – Almond. They too, were a super good act live. Several of the songs from their first two albums on Bob Krasnow’s Blue Thumb label were progressive radio staples, including ‘The City’. It was frankly shocking to hear it on a JetBlue flight recently via their Sirius radio feed. It had been years since that came out of any radio. Got to hand it to Sirius, they play a lot of great stuff.
Learn something everyday: I was completely sure ‘What Am I Living For’ had charted, even peaking in 30’s/40’s on Billboard’s Top 100. Not so. Never even entered. I heard it often as a current during the summer of ‘72. It was a high point of the live show as well.
Mark – Almond double billed often with plain and simple guitar bands during their 4-5 year run. Despite the company, every audience listened and appreciated their undeniable musical superiority. Jon Mark, the consummate acoustic, 12 string player, with Johnny Almond at his side, swaying to the music, eyes closed. His seemingly euphoric state took up almost as much stage time as his playing, which by the way, was superb.
Listen: Solar Level / Johnny Almond Music Machine
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Prior to the John Mayall association and subsequent Mark – Almond period, Johnny Almond made a few albums for Deram’s jazz leaning long player roster (along with the likes of Henry Lowther, The John Cameron Quartet and The Mike Westbrook Orchestra). All highly desirable now, primarily for their sampling potentials, it’s interesting to think that the label would actually release singles from said endeavors, which even more oddly, I ended up liking a lot.
Listen: Night Comes Down / Jon-Mark
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Jon Mark, in fact, started years earlier, playing guitar on various Marianne Faithfull singles, like ‘Come And Stay With Me’ and ‘Summer Nights’. It was during that period (‘65) that he too recorded a version of the Shel Talmy written ‘Night Comes Down’, which I post a few days back by The Mickey Finn in a much more psychedelicized style.
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A hybrid version of Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile from 1970. Actually, Dave Edmunds had just broken up Love Sculpture and John Williams, that band’s bassist, came along to play on his solo album, which was preceded by, and also included, the single ‘I Hear You Knocking’. That single in the UK credits the artist as Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile, yet in the US, as with the UK and US album, it’s simply credited to Dave Edmunds. Add to that, Terry Williams (no relation to John) plays drums on the aforementioned recordings.
Ten years later, Terry is still playing with Dave and now, Nick Lowe is as well; and their band is called Rockpile. Confused? Then re-read the above.
Well this was probably their biggest hit, and despite the proven pop songwriting talents of both Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, ‘Teacher Teacher’ was actually written by Eddie Phillips and Kenny Pickett, flawless higher forms of life behind The Creation, as both members and songwriters. Glad to know they earned some money in the end. They sure could write a tune.
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One of the best UK singles from this millennium, no lie. The background vocals are lifted, or influenced, beautifully from The Creation. Whether by design or simply by growing up hearing all but formula AOR music on the radio – it doesn’t matter. Great call.
I picture it here, even though I despise colored vinyl. I mean, seriously, I really hate it. Add to that, a sticker on the outside plastic sleeve (above top) affixed crooked. Makes my skin crawl. Records should be as God made them, black. But if it’s the only way to get a 7″ of ‘Ruby’, I will adjust. There’s always Lexapro.
Drummer Nick had the best haircut in rock, identical to Andy Bown’s of The Herd until this recent US tour. Not to worry, it should grow back fine. Turns out we know each other from years ago, when I signed Overseer to Columbia. Nick worked at the studio in Leeds where the album was made, and shared a house with Rob Overseer as well. Small world.
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This one’s from the latest batch of Kent 7’s, released by parent company Ace Records on a regular basis. Roger Armstrong has kept me up to date on these since single number one. They’re all still shelved together as a series – I’ve yet to have the courage of filing them separately like just about every other single I own.
Hey, this is the third Tobi Lark Kent single to date. In the current world, that’s a configuration privilege reserved for superstar artists. Does Beyonce even get three singles on 7? No.
‘Sweep It Out In The Shed’ was a very favorite from the DETROIT DANCERS comp CD, and it’s an absolute joy to have on a single. Not expecting it made for even more fun when I opened the package. It’s the kind of song someone should have found Aretha back in ‘66 during her hitless Columbia streak. Or it could have worked just as perfectly being a Muscle Shoals production had Atlantic made the suggestion a year or so later. But to be honest, I’m glad no one did.
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Larry Williams is seldom respected as an original bad boy of RnR, but he should be. Legend has his underworld activities stretching back prior to these initial recordings. He eventually bit the bullet, literally, a victim of a suicide, although street legend claims otherwise. Having served time in the early 60’s for drug dealing, he hooked up with Johnny Guitar Watson upon release (see previous posts), to sleaze out late night Hollywood (maybe a fantasy, but I want it all to be true) and make some of the most seminal Northern Soul tracks known to man for Okeh. I was thrilled when The Mooney Suzuki, who I looked after while at Columbia, recorded in the same studio on Santa Monica Boulevard that he and Johnny made those very sides in. I literally thought about it constantly while there – I was pissing in the same toilet as the dynamic duo. No one else seemed to apprciate my excitement, not even Sam and Tyler from the band, who totally know their stuff.
Prior to all that, he wrote ‘Bonie Maronie’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’, ‘Slow Down’ and ‘She Said Yeah’ – my favorite, as recorded and performed by The Rolling Stones on HULLABALOO:
‘Short Fat Fannie’ goes back to pre Northern, pre Johnny Guitar Watson and pre jail time. It was actually one of his hits (#31 RnB / #35 Pop) in ‘57 and comes courtesy of the Tony King Collection.
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At the height of Janis Joplin’s popularity, Columbia realized they had the entire Bessie Smith catalog down in the basement of 51 W. 52nd Street just collecting dust. Janis had name checked her endless times in the press and on TV (Dick Cavett) as her primary influence. Us rabid fans couldn’t get hold of that first double reissue, ANY WOMAN’S BLUES, fast enough. I became obsessed with the first three songs on Side 2: ‘I’m Wild About That Thing’, ‘You Got To Give Me Some’ and ‘Kitchen Man’. They are primal and hilariously suggestive, just like Janis. I played them repeatedly. In fact, some of Janis’ vocal inflections are so similar – well it’s actually rather eerie. To my severe disappointment, none of the three made it to 7″ single, but just for fun (I’m assuming, as Columbia couldn’t possibly have thought a hit awaited), ‘Empty Bed Blues’ was indeed issued on the handy single format. Musically, the calamity of the noisy Salvation Army meets Dixieland band aside, it’s the voice that deserves close attention. Were Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin one in the same?
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Isn’t it a riot that this was released as a single? Who on earth was ever going to play it? The edits are classic.
Listen: Down On Me / Big Brother & The Holding Company
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There are two things about Janis Joplin that annoy me. Neither are her fault, in fact she seemed to be forever a victim – it’s true. Firstly, there is so little footage that really captures her power – AND that the media uses. The clips on a short lived US pop music show, Music Scene, are the best ones. That was with her Kozmic Blues Band lineup. Then to be fair, the Ed Sullivan and Dick Cavett shows were great as well. But the media always use that shit footage from the Monterey Pop Festival, when she hadn’t yet exploded vocally or visually. By the time she left the Bay area and was playing nationally, her voice was rasp and tortured; and she was visually a ball of color and fire. So heads up: seek out some of the aforementioned performances. The second is Clive Davis. Why people line up to credit him with her success sickens me. Sure he signed her band. And yes, he’s done a lot of things. His resume looks way better than mine (He let Ray Davies make 2 awesome Kinks albums, SLEEPWALKER and MISFITS, signed The Patti Smith Group and let her make 2 great ones initially as well, plus gave both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop shots on Arista). But ‘masterminding’ the break up of Big Brother & The Holding Company is not a creative stroke on genius and is definitely unforgivable. How fucking ‘dumb’ can you be, or is it ‘money hungry’ I should be using here? Even that wouldn’t make sense. Their CHEAP THRILLS album soared to #1 in the Billboard charts and it was a blisteringly perfect document of her and the band’s magnetism. This was the ultimate acid rock group of all time. They were raw and ragged but had swing, a lethally positive combination. Listen to James Gurley’s solo on the version of ‘Down On Me’ I’ve posted. By the time this was released (after her death), Clive didn’t even have the courtesy to credit the band on the label. I assume the plan was to polish her for mainstream acceptance. Please. The whole point was the show. Big Brother & The Holding Company live were an experience I’ll never forget. It was October 11, 1968. Syracuse University presented the band at The War Memorial, but you had to be a student to get in. I wasn’t an SU student, in fact I was a little boy – no way could I even pass for a college kid. My friend Denny and I BEGGED a security guy to let us in – bless him cause he did! Changed my life. These two pictures are from that night, snapped with my crap camera. I wish I had the negatives as the prints are fading. Check out how little equipment is up on stage. Still it was loud and out of control. Fantastic. Luckily, Janis played my town many times – I got to see all her line ups through the years. She was so amazing. It’s not because I was young and impressionable – she was truly a living legend. And the lasting effect she had over everyone, not just me, proves it.
Listen: I Put A Spell On You ('66) / Screamin' Jay Hawkins
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Listen: Voodoo / Screamin' Jay Hawkins
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Listen: Heart Attack And Vine / Screamin' Jay Hawkins
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“Let me tell you one thing, a leopard don’t change it’s spots”. That’s what Screamin’ Jay had to say about Little Richard’s then recent denouncement of drugs and sex. This was 1985, and he’d done his first NY show in a long, long time at some short lived venue near Chinatown. He was at a career low. After the performance, he and his wife came out to the front bar for a drink with Eric and Mel, and Corinne and I. The four of us were about the only folks who showed up. We’d looked forward to it for weeks. How could this be? Didn’t matter to him, his show was crazy. Came out of the coffin – the whole 10 yards. We sat for a good hour, Eric and I just pouring questions on him, learning that he kept all his stage props at his son’s (he’s rumored to have upwards of 55 children) place in NJ when not in use – and that included the coffin. I was enthralled with Little Richard since seeing him on The Dick Cavett Show in the late 60’s at which time he was making a bit of a comeback, having just signed to Reprise and was more flamboyant than ever. Just hysterical – really camp and out of control, most likely cocaine fueled. By ‘85, Richard’s whole MO was about finding God and denouncing his old ways. So I asked Screamin Jay if he knew him, and had he really given up all those fun things. And that was his response.
Having been ripped off royally for publishing and record royalties when ‘I Put A Spell On You’ was originally released in ‘58 (it’s rumored to have sold 1M copies – for which Screamin’ Jay say zilch), he decided to re-record it for US Decca in ‘66, giving it an Otis/Bar Kays soul review rave-up. Not a widely known version, it’s here for a listen.
Around ‘74, he did a one-off for RCA, ‘Voodoo’. No info on this or if any other tracks were recorded. Who at RCA would have signed him, and why? But thanks still.
In ‘93, his version of ‘Heart Attack And Vine’ (from a UK album BLACK MUSIC FOR WHITE PEOPLE) was used in a Levi’s campaign and charted at #42 in the UK. It was his only ever chart entry there or anywhere. At least he got to experience some justice.
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Despite the colored vinyl (I hate the stuff – records should be black the way God made them), this single, well this band actually, are so good I had to be honest. I play this often. I liked, never loved, Echo & The Bunnymen – and many of the similar bands of that time. Occasionally a single would become essential. Is it fair to say Galsvegas harken back to that period sonically, I think so. That’s ok it’s been long enough now – 20-ish years. Maybe a more accurate comparison should be The Skids. Yes, The Skids. They puked up great 45’s .
The new Glasvegas single, ’Flowers & Football Tops’ is equally seminal. I’ll post it the very second a 7″ gets released.
Nice one Ollie Hodge for taking a chance on signing them. Makes everybody look good.
Listen: Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down) / Tim Rose
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Listen: Hey Joe (Single Mono Mix) / The Jimi Hendrix Experience
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According to some, it’s this Tim Rose arrangement and slow version of ‘Hey Joe’ that manager Chas Chandler brought to his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, as a template for their recording.
I played Tim’s version recently, and thought I’d do some research. By the way, the fast, jangled, garage band version popularized by The Leaves is not part of this discussion. Tim Rose, Hendrix and The Creation all did the slow, haunting one, full of mystery. In my research travels, I read that Chas and Jimi may have, in fact, gotten their idea from The Creation, who were playing this arrangement of ‘Hey Joe’ in London clubs late ‘66, exactly when Hendrix and Chandler entered the studio to record that first single. Although The Creation never released a 7″ of ‘Hey Joe’, it was an album track, and I’ve posted it below. Also for reference, I’ve posted the original mono single mix from Hendrix. The version is the one you know, but that mix is magic, even though this copy has been played hundreds of times, it still sounds larger than life.
My introduction to ‘Hey Joe’ was indeed via the Tim Rose rendition. Interestingly, the songwriting is credited differently on all three labels above (click to enlarge). Somehow, this was a hit on my hometown station, WOLF (see chart). Check my past posts to see what great music this station played. I hate to say they may have been one of the last great US radio stations. Scary.
The story of ‘Hey Joe’ is full of twists and turns, and now with so many participants deceased, one of great myth. Read about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Joe
Listen: Hey Joe / The Creation
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