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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I’ve had this single for decades. It’s the version of ‘A Little Bit Of Soap’ that introduced me to the song in ‘66. I know The Jarmels actually had the big success with it several years earlier, but I was in diapers. Now, when I occasionally hear it on an oldies program, it’s always that Jarmels version – which for me doesn’t compare to this. I guess it’s Brenda Reid, The Exciters vocalist, that makes the difference, as she has exactly the kind of voice I love. The Exciters were clearly a Brill Building type of act, having covered songs written by/been produced by/signed by so many of it’s familiar names: Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Bert Russell, Lieber & Stoller and Bert Berns.
In the 80’s, while working at Elektra, Bob Krasnow our chairman had signed Bert’s daughter, Cassandra Berns, and put me in charge of A&R-ing her project. This turned into a real stroke of luck as I got to spend time with the Berns family down in Atlanta and heard many stories of the great days at Bang Records (the label he formed with Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler). His widow (he passed away in ‘67) Eileen proceeded to run their record and publishing business.
Eileen was an absolute firecracker. I liked her so much, especially when she generously walked me through their studio complex, littered with 50’s and 60’s jukeboxes, which I’m guessing Bert had collected; then into a big closet full of 45’s and said, “Take whatever you want”. Now that is just not what you tell a record junkie.
Bang and Shout (Bang’s offshoot label) obscurities galore and indeed, where this copy originated. Wisely, she had future Bang artists cover this, and many of their catalog’s songs, with continued success. ‘A Little Bit Of Soap’ charted twice more in later years by Nigel Olsson and Paul Davis (both on Bang). One winter’s Saturday easily ten years ago, I gave it a spin for old time’s sake and was suddenly bitten by The Exciters bug which is not, by the way, treatable.
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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.
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After their first few singles, and by ‘76, Queen officially resided in the ‘not friendly to punk rock’ space. Their music and image fitted totally with the helium sound and mustached look of US AOR radio – so not only did my attention wander, but in fact they were now considered the enemy.
Well I was wrong and my defiance softened. To be fair, they admittedly had singles all along that were secret pleasures. The video for ‘I Want To Break Free’ was a riot and a lot of our crowd realized, these guys are actually okay. Plus who is anyone, least of all me, to deny ‘Under Pressure’ or ‘Radio Ga Ga’?
Vividly remember that moment I sat up and really took notice. It was on an uneventful Saturday evening, watching SNL, as Queen literally unleashed one of TV’s best ever live music performances. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, with the added keyboardist (anyone know who that is?) decimated any previous prejudice. A mad dash to the wall shelf followed, checking the Queen 7″ collection – and the filling-in process began the very next morning, bright and early, when I hit the garage sales then moving on to The Record Archive’s backroom.
I turned to Corinne, jaw dropped, spurting out some exclamation. She was nonplussed by Queen during those days, exactly like the rest of us, but in her typical smooth one-up way simply said, and this is an exact quote: “I always loved Queen”. Right.
Listen: Find My Way Back Home / The Nashville Teens
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Last night’s season premier of MAD MEN ended with The Nashville Teens’ ‘Tobacco Road’, their one decent sized US hit. It reminded me I should share this story.
Back in the late 80’s when I worked A&R for Elektra, a guy came to play me his demo. Nice kid, worked at Colony Records a few blocks away on Broadway. In the 60’s, it was a haven for every release available, and the whole back wall was a 45 only counter manned by several employees – and open until 2AM. Always a hubbub of activity, the clerks were constantly juggling customers and going into the back, searching for whatever single you desired, and usually returning with it in hand.
Problem was they sold everything at list price – then 99¢. Seemed a fortune at the time, so you had to have unsuccessfully scoured all other shops before taking that plunge. I used to coax my Aunt Carm into the shop every summer when she’d take me on my yearly pilgrimage to the city.
Anyways this fellow and I get to talking, and I ask if they still have all those 7′ singles in the back sorted by label (which is how they did in the 60’s – you needed to know which label and preferably it’s catalog # as well). “Yes, they’re still set up that way”. So I tell him some of my favorite ones: Deram, London, Sue, Fontana.
A few days later, he comes back to Elektra. I get a call from the front desk informing me he’s upfront. What the fuck does he want – the demo wasn’t great and I told him so already. Turns out he thought I was a nice guy, and wanted to encourage me to let him return with new songs – so he just grabbed all the old stock on those labels and brought them over as a present. A heart stopper of a moment.
‘Find My Way Back Home’ (on the short lived blue swirl label with the WHITE instead of BLACK London logo) was one of many, many jems.
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I posted only a week or so back about X, but you can never have too much of a great thing.
Let me tell you one thing. We are very, very lucky, because X still exist and tour regularly. In fact, they may be more powerful live than ever. The original lineup (Exene Cervenka, DJ Bonebrake, John Doe and Billy Zoom) has been reunited for several years now and are doing deservedly great business. There’s a lot of sense in sticking out that long stretch that usually ends in ‘legend’.
Now X certainly are legends. So many reasons: right up there with Johnny and Ivy resides Billy for greatest guitarist – flawless and razor sharp at every given moment. DJ still the powerhouse metronome, Exene the most magnetic and perfect female front person of her generation, and John, one of the greatest voices ever with those ‘desert at night’ tones only Jim Morrison rivaled. When singing or harmonizing together, John and Exene would actually create a 3rd voice – their timbres meshing so uniquely. Two singers, three voices. Pretty unique. And as writers, forget it. Yes living legends. More honest, hard working, appreciative and generous people you will not find.
Back in the Elektra days, I was very lucky to be their A&R guy, making several albums with them, and over both lineups (after Billy left in ‘86, Tony Gilkyson joined, fitting the bill effortlessly – incredible player as well – and guitarist on this track – then Tony left around ‘97 and Billy rejoined to present). A&Ring them was a two fold experience: always rewarding, always frustrating.
Rewarding because at the studio, you knew this was the best place in the solar system to be – watching John and Exene thru the control room window mastering a vocal take on one mic live. Wow – it still gives me tingles.
But frustrating knowing how the promotion department would have a difficult time with programers, and most likely accept defeat easily while sharing a $100 bottle of wine with some PD.
Like all the greats, X couldn’t get their fair shake from radio. Bob Krasnow loved this track when he heard it. He walked into my office late one evening around 9 pm. We were all still there – everyone stayed late. It was a company full of people who loved their jobs and glowed in the success of the label that all had contributed to in some way. No one ever got fired. We never worried about that. So Bob says “I hear you brought back some new X ruffs from LA – I want to hear them”. I handed him an unfinished version of ‘See How We Are’ on cassette and he left.
This track was actually started at Capitol Studios on Hollywood Blvd and it was haunting wandering around those halls with Exene, talking about the legends in framed pictures, that had recorded there prior. It was that work-in-progress version I had given him, and I knew the song was ace. Sure enough, ten minutes later he’s back at my door. “This is fucking incredible, they are the voices of rebellion. This, Kevin, is important stuff”.
I can hear his words as plainly now as when he spoke them, God love him. Words from the guy who had produced Ike & Tina Turner and Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, and now in praise of X. For whatever reason, we released ‘4th Of July’ as the first single from the SEE HOW WE ARE album – against Bob’s instincts. He thought that was too commercial, too formula when played up against ‘See How We Are’, but the radio department felt it was more palatable, singable, like Springsteen (actually, it was all those things and yes, it too should have been a hit). He said, “You always have to put your best foot forward, you only get one chance”.
He was right. Even though as Chairman, I don’t know why he didn’t force the team to go for this single – but he didn’t. Although released as a 12″ to radio, the commercial 7″ was cancelled. Only a handful of finished sleeves (pictured) and three test pressings were made (I think Howard or Alago got the third). I have the other two – you always need a safety copy.
A dealer recently asked how much one was worth to me (he wanted desperately to buy it). I said “It doesn’t have a price tag but for everything else, there’s Mastercard”. He got nasty, called me an arrogant cunt. Seriously, he did. Not exactly the way to get that second copy off me despite his admittedly accurate description.
Listen: Highway 61 Revisited (Again) / X
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Thanks to reader Mark Deming, his suggestion to also post ‘Highway 61 Revisted (Again)’ was a superb one. All this time, I thought it had come out as a bonus reissue track or part of a cd comp – wrong. So here it it for all X fans to worship, as I do.
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If a ‘4th Of July’ post on the 4th of July appears overly clever and obvious, I understand. But the clever idea came from local rock station 101.9 WRXP. I was a few blocks from home, fired up the car radio and on it came:
This fucker sounded so good – plus I love X so much and thought – any reason to honor them is just fine by me.
Man, was I lucky. Got hired by Howard at Elektra and X were the first band I got to work with. Dream come true? Never even dreamt that one in my wildest – so yeah, pretty amazing.
You couldn’t find a better bunch of people. Not only the band, but every last person involved with them as well.
Bob Krasnow, our chairman, always supported X, loved their music and rightly saw them as the label’s most important political poets.
Getting them on the radio was a very different story. Although the band got some love from the alternative rock team, when it came time to take them to the next level, more mainstream exposure and opportunity, the brakes were always applied by Dave Urso, your typical old school 80′ sleaze ball promotion head. Yes, he pretty much put a lid on their career, sort of – X still play to bigger crowds than ever and he……..uh…….
Funny thing, it was the first, but not the last time I witnessed the head of promotion actually run the company, despite the chairman thinking he was the guy in charge. You see, the way it worked was as follows: the chairman would need to decide where to put the financial investment to pay off radio for play – and would get that ultimate guidance from the top radio guy. So you tell me, who’s driving that plane?
Now, of course, the public has a much stronger voice. A local station doesn’t want to play a song – no problem. Their audience flocks to myspace and hears what they want. Gone are the days when the traditional gatekeeper is in charge. How fun.
It may only be once a year, but at least X get one play. If Bruce Springsteen had written and/or recorded this classic instead of Dave Alvin, it would’ve been a monster.
Never say never I like to think. Who has the publishing on this? Maybe they need to get off their ass, find it a placement, try to keep their job.
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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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Like so many bands popping up around the country circa ‘64 – ‘65, all imitating Britain’s Invasion, The Sir Douglas Quintet appeared. Unlike those others, they had a recognizable sound (perfectly part Bo Diddley, part Pretty Things) and could both write and find great songs. The band never released a bad single on London Records’ imprint Tribe. They eventually moved to Smash/Philips where their greatness, and the occasional hit single, continued.
‘The Tracker’, followup to their debut smash ‘She’s About A Mover’, was a real favorite despite it’s national stall at #105 in July ‘65 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under The Hot 100 chart.
I recall seeing them on SHINDIG, Doug Sahm (Sir Douglas) doing a mean Phil May imitation vocal on ‘The Tracker’ while holding an oversized magnifying glass, kind of roaming around the stage as though following footsteps visible when enlarged, Sherlock Holmes style. Not only did they have the sound down, but the look as well.
Listen: Blue Norther / The Sir Douglas Quintet
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‘Blue Norther’, the B side, with it’s rather haunting patent Sir Douglas Quintet formula (not to be taken as bad), I like to think is about the train line and totally conjured up nighttime images of a freight winding it’s way through some dark mountain woods or the Texas desert, assuming there is one there.
Listen: In Time / The Sir Douglas Quintet
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Quickly released that September, no doubt in hopes of refuelling interest after their huge debut, ‘In Time’ stiffed completely. Shame, just listen to it’s perfection. No other US band quite captured their flawless mixture of Texas and England, a recipe that should’ve easily worked. To my knowledge, only KNAC in Salt Lake City charted it for a week in October at #63 – otherwise, klunk
Listen: The Story Of John Hardy / The Sir Douglas Quintet
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For the flipside of ‘In Time’, as with Manfred Mann’s rendition of the Lomax/Lomax written ‘John Hardy’ (it too a B side of ‘Sha La La’), the ever present influence of The Pretty Things, marraccas particularly. prevailed. The band’s more folk blues ‘version’, retitled ‘The Story Of John Hardy’, songwriting mischievously credited to Doug Sahm, succeeded in establishing yet again that sound so unique to this band.
Many years later, Doug Sahm formed The Texas Tornadoes and signed to Warner Brothers. I saw him in the office one day (my company, The Medicine Label, was a WB label) and he graciously filled out a jukebox tab for me. It was a chance meeting, so I wasn’t prepared with B side info. I couldn’t remember it, neither could he.
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Listen: Do You Believe / Swamp Dogg
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I vividly recall my first look at the RAT ON! sleeve, his only album for Elektra from which both these single sides come. I thought, this is gonna be terrible.
There was nothing more I loved doing than checking every last record that came into our college station. I would sit for hours, well into the night, and instead of studying my class work – I studied records. Cataloging, suggesting cuts for airplay, deciding what to call into the labels for extra copies of, basically to fatten my collection. iIt was great being both MD and PD of a college station – loved it.
First listen, it went into the same space as Dr. John, meaning musical in a bit more grown up way, not unlike the occasional jazz or blues album that struck me, or The Crusaders, The Meters, The Blackbyrds and yeah, Dr. John.
I got slightly more interested when a 7″ showed up shortly thereafter. I loved this guys voice, and his name, terrific. Both sides segued nicely with ‘Wash Mama Wash’, a Dr. John single I liked playing on the occasional late, late shift I’d sit in for once in a while.
Gotta admit though, despite my liking of Swamp Dogg, I didn’t exactly did follow up accruing the next few releases, which I recall being on the Brut label. I just wasn’t interested in certain record companies as a kid, stuck up, knew it all – an early version of a Pitchfork contributor. Well, a word to the wise, wrong attitude – a lesson learned later in life having to backtrack filling in gaps in the colllection. The Swamp Dogg gap being one in particular.
Listen: Did I Come Back Too Soon (Or Stay Away Too Long) / Swamp Dogg
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Above: Jukebox Tab filled out by Swamp Dogg
Come ‘74, Swamp Dogg is suddenly on Island, with a seriously happening album HAVE YOU HEARD THIS STORY?. I dug into every last track, could sing any one of ‘em for you on a dime. And the sleeve, in one way, another mess: out of focus shot of a very unkept Swamp Dogg in a very unkept room, surrounded by records and books, perched atop a bean bag chair. Yet in another way, completely inviting and totally descriptive of the music inside. His talent for some twisted lyrics, actually clever slants on slightly sleazy subjects drew me in further.
“Did I Come Back Too Soon (Or Stay Away Too Long)’ Have a listen. Can’t be said any better, kinda funny yet very true. Always take care of your partner. And again, that signature voice.
Listen: The Mind Does The Dancing / Swamp Dogg
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A second UK single from the album, and pressed promo only, this was a hard one to track down, Plus it’s an edit, even more necessary. The full 7:20 album version gets cut to 5:30, not that much of a radio friendly timing, but seems this was more aimed at clubs, given the disco leaning beat and a vocal that doesn’t come in until 2:22. Besides, Island UK only did five singles with this label design and the USA catalog number prefix, all aimed seemingly at clubs. Given the time period, Swamp Dogg wasn’t far from Ike Turner’s musical path, wah-wahs and revue horns still in place.
For fun, a press release below that was inside the album’s radio station shipping envelope, wisely saved. I had a habit of sticking all these type things inside the sleeves, making for sometimes fascinating reading nowadays.
Swamp Dogg indeed has many releases, starting in 1970. Prior, he used his real name, Jerry Williams. Well actually Little Jerry Williams until, I’m assuming, he grew up.
Nice closing trainspotter bit here: Jerry Williams co-wrote and had studio involvement with, to me, Inez & Charlie Foxx’s greatest ever single (and them’s big words as they had many): ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days’. Well in fact, one of the greatest soul singles of all times, posted elsewhere on this blog if you care to have a listen. Go ahead, start the first day of the rest of your life.
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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Michael Alago signed Nina Simone to Elektra in ‘92, and I’m pretty sure she made her last studio album as a result. Michael, at that point, was very friendly with her, having been an ardent fan for several years. Nina was living in LA at the time, and during October of that year, she and Michael were together doing pre-production in some studio off Hollywood Blvd.
I was in town for The Cramps as they were preparing FLAMEJOB for my label, Medicine, and had timed the trip around a three day run The Ramones were doing at The Palladium (10/14 – 16, to be exact). It was a fun one.
Both Micheal and I, as well as Johnny Ramone, Arturo Vega (The Ramones’ career long light & design guy) and Monte Melnick (their tour manager), all shared birthdays within days of each other in that exact time frame, so Alago decided to have a pre show dinner party at The Hollywood Athletic Club to celebrate all five, as well as his Nina/Elektra signing.
By then he was having a slightly difficult time getting her to record the songs he wanted. On that particular night, it didn’t help that I was enamored with her Philips period stuff. She and I sat across from each other at this long table. With Nina right next to Joey, she just got into deep details about her time with that label as soon as we asked. It was fascinating info, I was even interested in what she could recall about the actual Philips offices, which surprisingly was a lot. Plus the details of the studios, her engineers and the small, small recording budgets of the day.
‘Four Women’ was a much played and loved single then as now, and after a LOT of champagne on her part, I suggested she re-record it for the new album. Michael at that moment was sort of standing behind her in his constant buzzing around, good host style, and just whipped his head toward me, eyes bugging and frantically hand motioned behind her head to STOP. Panicked and pissed all at once, he kept up this silent communication, but too late, she was now on a ‘Four Women’ roll. Her assistant, like Nina with back to Michael, opinioned that it was timely, and might be a good idea. So fuck it, I threw in, “and you should make a videoâ€. Nina announces loudly “Michael, I want to make a video for ‘Four Women’â€.
This was about to go very wrong when he seamlessly circles round behind me and says, “Before you forget, you should get Nina to do your jukebox tab now, and you know Nina, if we redo ‘Four Women’, Philips will just try to reposition their version and not pay you like they still don’tâ€.
Good move Alago, as that’s all she needed to be reminded of. End of idea, end of dinner and onward to The Ramones show (with signed jukebox tab in wallet), sans Nina.
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I heard this a few months back on Radio 1. Don’t ever dismiss a seminal act, they all go through if-y patches. So is the case with The Prodigy. For whatever reasons, all of their original label partners (XL, Elektra, Maverick) decided to throw them on the scrapheap. Well from the outside looking in that’s what seemed to happen at least.
Suddenly, the band was signing to Cooking Vinyl, an unlikey fit. Out comes the new album, from which
‘Invaders Must Die’ is from – and bang – straight to #1 in The UK. And man did this jump out of the radio and deserve such a result.
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I like to think this 1972 re-recording, produced by Tony Visconti, was inspired by The Move, who cut a very British version on their album SHAZAM, from 1970. By then, Tom Paxton had moved to London, so it’s not too far fetched to assume he’d heard theirs, and realized what a powerful song he’d written. I must say, when I got this single, and saw the Tony Visconi production credit, I was all set for a repeat of the dramatic, orchestrated style he’d applied to David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. But no, it’s actually quite similar to his original from ‘64 on Elektra.
You don’t see or hear this version much, sadly, you don’t hear either version much. Despite the similarities of both, it’s hard to ignore the song’s brilliance.
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Listen: I Do Love You / The Mickey Finn
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Often confused with the bongo player from T. Rex, this is actually a band, not that person. The Mickey Finn’s career highpoint, according to most, was a two single association with producer Shel Talmy. And if you want to have your heart freeze for kicks, check out his discography.
Out of that came ‘Night Comes Down’ / ‘This Sporting Life’, their only US release via World Artists. Seems Shel Talmy had some juice there, having produced a few big hits for Chad & Jeremy. Although not listed on the above discography, I do believe he also produced The Moments version of Ray Davies’ ‘You Really Got Me’ for the label. The Moments were Steve Marriott’s first band, predating The Small Faces. That single, as with The Mickey Finn release, are stupid rare, making them very fun items to have and hold.
I got an unsolicited call from Shel Talmy many years back, I think when I was either at Elektra or Island. He had moved to LA, and was looking for work, still in that has-been stretch, not yet having graduated to legend status. I foolishly didn’t follow up, not necessarily with getting him some work, but neither forging a friendship, something I do regret.
Of lesser notoriaty is the band’s ‘66 single “I Do Love You’. And I’m not sure why. Even amongst those who live for all things underrated, this is very underrated. It starts out noticeably similar to ‘Heart Trouble’ by The Eyes Of Blue, and then proceeds to a perfect groove a la The Foundations. I’d give anything to know how many copies would have been pressed of a single like this.
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Listen: Black Jack Davy / The Incredible String Band
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Acquired taste. Okay, I agree. During the late 70’s folk boom and the accompanying blind acceptance of, I didn’t know what to make of some of these acts. I don’t think anybody did. The Incredible String Band were English so I put the time in to find some positives. I mean everyone needed a few essential folk genre bits for the collection. And they did have some happening album covers. Seems they released several in very short order – so many that I never ended up buying one out of confusion. Then I LOOKED UP came out and started to get a few plays on the local college station, Syracuse University’s WAER. I took the plunge and bought. My two, by far, favorite tracks (‘This Moment’ and ‘Black Jack Davy’) were A and B sides in the UK. How handy.
Shortly thereafter, the SU Concert Committee booked them into a weird part chapel/part venue joint on campus. It was usually reserved for jazz events, don’t remember the name, but I did see The Soft Machine there. Most likely, they could be considdered jazz if you stretched it – and I’m glad they did – wow, great show.
Anyways, The Incredible String Band were spectacular. Featured the expanded (Mike and Robin plus girlfriends Rose and Licorice) lineup from I LOOKED UP and the about to be released U. In hindsight, the girlfriends were a bit of a Spinal Tap move sans tambourines. Still, we loved it.
Whoever Black Jack Davy was, many a song has been written about his folklore reputation. This version is not to be confused with other excellent ones of the same title by The Gun Club, Steeleye Span and The White Stripes.
And the above ‘This Moment’ (3:19), to my knowledge, is a 7″ vinyl only version. Every LP and CD contains the full 6:09 minute take.
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It could have been awful, and left a nasty void, had John Lydon not delivered as powerful and contemporary a debut single for his new band as this. Do you remember the video that accompanied it? Equally great.
Johnny Ramone always planned to quit before the band got “fat, bald or lazy”. Despite everyone coaxing he and Joey back to the stage after their ‘96 retirement, they did leave a timeless image of themselves, just as John planned, by never doing so. Whether by design or not, The Sex Pistols are in the same boat.
Lydon often hung out with Michael and Howard at Elektra around the time ALBUM was released in ‘86. What a fucking hysterical guy. No question, he was a great night out.
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Nothing like the sight and sound of Shirley Murdock making her way down the hallway at Elektra to visit Bob Krasnow – kitted out in high, high heels and tight, tight dress. She brought it to a whole new level. About twenty minutes after said sighting, my phone rang – Bob wanted me in his office. I couldn’t believe Bob had remembered my infatuation with her. By this time, they’d been joined by her producer, Roger Troutman, famous for his WB/Reprise band Zapp and his own solo hit, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’. I was in heaven and Kras with that big smile on his face.
Her debut single ‘Truth Or Dare’ didn’t get the props it deserved, and admittedly the 80’s production dated fast, with a revival yet to be planned. But man, what a track.
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Listen: The Guitar Man / Bread
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I was filing a box of singles last weekend that I’d been avoiding for ages, with no recollection of how I ended up owning them even. Mostly likely Graham Stapleton saved these for me from his stockpile of 70’s promos, back when he dealt with all the BBC dj’s and pop press music critics. Check out past posts for more details.
They were all UK A labels – and the reason for avoiding them was not what you think. It’s because I knew it would eat up an afternoon to get through the 30 count box, once I started cleaning and playing them all. As it turns out – I had a great time.
Amongst them were two Bread 7’s. Like everyone, I had my nose in the air toward this band at the time. Yes, they looked like shit, and were no match for glam or The Kinks. But guilty pleasures were indeed a few of their songs at the time. I have to say, ‘The Guitar Man’ sounded pretty great on Sunday. In hindsight, these sit perfectly with any Glen Campbell or Jimmy Webb record probably considered more politically correct still.
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The nice thing about double A promo singles, up until the late 70’s, was you got an otherwise unobtainable mono mix on one side. Being a mono collector, these are now coveted.
I hated Phoebe Snow when this single was current. I went to see The Pretty Things in Niagara Falls during their SILK TORPEDO tour, and Carol Hardy, who worked promotion for Atlantic at the time, took me backstage to meet the band. I’d already booked them two years earlier at my college (in ‘73), which unbelievably was during their first ever US tour. Can you believe this seminal band didn’t tour here until ‘73! Still I was well up for hanging out with them. John Povey, Phil May and I got to talking about current favorites, and they proclaimed their love of ‘Poetry Man’ and Phoebe, who they’d not heard until arriving Stateside. I was mortified. How could The Pretty Things liked this record? Didn’t change my mind. I proceeded with nose in the air towards her for years.
But my tastes changed and one day, I just had to hear Phoebe Snow. Just like that. Snap.
Now I worship her voice, it’s huge and thunderous. I love all her Shelter Records releases. Leave it to Denny Cordell, bless him.
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In the mid 80’s, when Bob Krasnow reinvented Elektra into THE most credible label, as it once was in the 60’s, he basically cleaned house employee and roster-wise. The LA folk rock period of Jackson Browne and The Eagles had pretty much seen it’s day – so Bob slashed both staff and roster, moved the operation to NY and started hiring. Bringing Howard Thompson in as head of A&R gave me my shot. Suddenly I was working with my best friend and for Bob.
Bob hated coporate rock, and it was no secret Motley Crue made that roster cut due exclusively to serious sales power. It was at an A&R meet in New Orleans that Bob premiered the two new tracks he’d just gotten to his team. ‘Wild Side’ was one. It sounded fantastic. I still fantasize about the ‘East LA at midnight’ lyric, and the minor key thing gives it that dark edge not uncommon to The Doors. As the song was playing, I couldn’t help but laugh – as you do when something is so over the top – not at all in a dismissive, condescending way. It caught Bob’s eye – and he had the exact same reaction. We knew it was all rediculous but we loved it. I’ve never stopped including this one as a favorite.
You just don’t get record guys like’ The Kras’ anymore. We all loved him – still do.
