Here comes another chapter in my attempt to reconstruct Vinnie Bell's path in the recorded music industry before his first single and debut album were released in 1960.
The last time I treated you with "Silently b/w Barracuda", a 1958 single by The Gallahads (...still available here), now it's time to dedicate a post to the mysterious - at least for me - The Overtones and their "Smoke Rings b/w Hawaiian Haze" 7" record released in 1959.
This single features Bell's guitar mastery and also credits him for co-writing one of the two instrumentals on offer.
For a detailed biography of Vinnie Bell, I suggest that you read this other post of mine.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information about The Overtones... I am sure that some kind and gentle soul will come up with something relevant to fill the gap, thanks for your help as usual!
"Smoke Rings b/w Hawaiian Haze" was released by ABC-Paramount with catalogue number 45-10053 sometimes in late September / early October 1959. The copy in my possession comes in a plain white sleeve, but at the time of release it was probably offered in a company sleeve similar to the one that I tried to faithfully reconstruct as the opening image of this post.
Although the record was reviewed in the October 5, 1959, issue of Billboard - and also mentioned in an ABC-Paramount ad on the same magazine a few weeks later - I never happened to see any actual copy of the officially released version, just promotional items like the one I'm offering here... Chances are that this release is extremely rare, or that it never passed the promotional stage.
On Side A we find Vinnie Bell performing the lead part - on what sounds almost unmistakably like a steel guitar - in the smooth "Smoke Rings", a song written in 1932 by Jazz musician Gene Gifford and lyricist Ned Washington. In 1937 the tune became the radio theme song for the Casa Loma Orchestra, a popular American dance band; you can listen to this version here. Strangely enough, the Billboard ad points to «an unusual electronic harmonica solo» which is nowhere to be found...
Side B offers "Hawaiian Haze", a song written by Vinnie Bell (as Vincent Gambella, his birth name) and one Johnny Brown, which was copyrighted on "21 September 1959". In my opinion the flipside is as interesting as the main piece, with Bell probably overdubbing himself on various parts, including the mandolinlike main melody. Nowadays, the term "Hawaiian Haze" indicates a popular strain of Marijuana, I can't help to wonder if it had the same meaning back in the days when this instrumental was recorded...
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Brian Lawrence Bennett was born in Palmers Green, North London, on February 8th, 1940. His interest in music dated from an early age, and as a small child he used to listen to radio broadcasts from the Aeolian Hall. Soon he was hooked on the sounds of Glenn Miller and the other Big Bands of the era.
He became fascinated by drums and percussion and lists Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson and, especially, Buddy Rich as his early musical heroes. By 1953, Brian had saved up enough money to purchase a rudimentary drumkit and he practiced constantly. Before long he was performing regularly with his school orchestra and youth club big bands.
He began playing professionally even before he left school, with his own Tony Brian Trio and The Esquires Dance Band. He also began composing music and writing songs from the age of fourteen onwards.
Brian's initial background was in Jazz and Swing, but by 1956 - the year he left school at sixteen to play drums in a Ramsgate skiffle group performing for holiday makers - he was equally adept at playing Rock'n'Roll. «It wasn't originally by choice», recalled Brian, «but there were more and more jobs being offered and I didn't want to turn them down!».
A teenage prodigy, he became the house drummer at the legendary 2i's Cofee Bar - now known as the birthplace of British Rock'n'Roll - in London's Soho, backing artists like Tony Sheridan, Terry Dene, Vince Eager and Vince Taylor, and from there he earned a regular spot on the Jack Good's legendary TV music showcase Oh Boy!.
By 1959, Bennett was regarded as one of the top Rock & Roll drummers in England and one of the most sought-after percussionists around. That year he joined The Wildcats, the backing band of Rock & Roll singer Marty Wilde. He remained with Wilde for two years, also playing outside live gigs with stars such as Tommy Steele, and in 1960 he embarked on the legendary tour featuring Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Marty Wilde.
When Marty embarked upon a career in films and musicals, The Wildcats evolved into The Krew Katsand cut a brace of fine instrumentals, including a stunning version of Chet Atkins'"Trambone". After a brief stint as an orchestral pit drummer, in October of 1961 lightning struck for Bennett's career when Tony Meehan - then regarded as the top drummer in England - quit The Shadows, who were then the top Rock & Roll British band as well as the backing group for Cliff Richard, the top singer in the field.
The opening was one of the most coveted in the country - The Shadows were regularly topping the charts in their own right, and their concerts with Richard were riotous affairs, huge sell-outs in front of hordes of screaming fans across England - Bennett was offered the spot. He accepted and was with the group across a string of hit singles and albums, lasting through their intended official breakup in 1968, on the occasion of the group's tenth anniversary as a professional band.
His drumming talents were but one aspect of his monumental musical contribution to the band. He wrote or co-wrote over 100 tracks for them, as well as over 20 compositions for Cliff Richard... He also earned his first Ivor Novelloaward for composing the title theme to the movie "Summer Holiday", which starred Richard and the band - he also contributed songs to their subsequent movies, up through "Finders Keepers".
A favourite feature for the audience at any Shadows' concert was always his drum solo, with "Little B" - a must showcase for every Beat-Drummer in the pre-Beatles era - perhaps being the best known and highly regarded piece which has inspired countless drummers over the years and is still performed now by budding young drummers at Shadows' music clubs throughout the U.K.
Many drummers back then considered each new Shadows' record as a drum lesson - learning how to play the fills in classic tunes such as "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" and "Foot Tapper".
In 1967 Bennett released his first solo LP exploring Jazz and Easy Listening territories with the aptly entitled "Change of Direction", which was followed in 1969 by "The Illustrated London Noise", a return to Rock and Funky music.
Following the 1968 "farewell"Shadows concert, he participated along with lead guitarist Hank Marvin and bassist John Rostill in the band's brief 1969 reunion for a tour of Japan.
With The Shadows on extended hiatus, Bennett turned to other areas of music. He'd already developed some insights into the mechanics of music through his work as a songwriter, and he took a correspondence course in arranging and orchestration that, when added to his natural ability as a composer, ended up reshaping his whole career. He'd always provided vocals on the Shadows' own recordings, and now he re-established his performing credentials on the piano as well as the vibraphone.
He became Cliff Richard's musical director and formed The Brian Bennett Orchestra touring the world including the first Western rock concerts performed in Russia. Even more important, amid the string of hit albums with Richard that followed, he also started writing music for movies / television and part of this huge load of work was published on many library records by specialized labels like KPM Music and Bruton Music.
In 1977 he published his third proper solo album, "Rock Dreams", available here and credited to the Brian Bennett Band, which was followed the next year by "Voyage - A Journey Into Discoid Funk", a Disco/Funk opus that was recently remastered and re-released on vinyl and digital download. 1979 was also a busy year for Bennett, who was commissioned a Disco album by EMI; the result was "One Step Ahead", the subject of this post, credited to the Heat Exchange project.
From the 1990s to 2000, he was in demand more than ever and he composed music for the long-running series "The Knock", "Nomads of the Wind", "Global Sunrise", "Living Britain", "Dirty Work", "David Jason In His Element" and Hansjörg Thurn's film "The Arpist".
In 2009 and 2010 Cliff Richard and The Shadows embarked on a 50th anniversary tour with 36 shows in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. More recently, Bennett wrote with his son, Warren, 24 episodes of the award-winning TV series "New Tricks". He also recorded and produced an album with Cliff Richard and The Shadows.
In 2015 he worked on a musical called "Soho" and the music for a production called "Starchild". His latest album, entitled "Shadowing John Barry - New Recordings for Guitar and Orchestra", was released in February 2016... Although he will always be associated with The Shadows, playing drums for them is merely one aspect of a glittering musical career.
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"One Step Ahead" contains the following tracks:
01. You're Gonna Love This (7:07) 02. Shake Down (6:55) 03. Love Is the Reason (7:58) 04. One Step Ahead (6:25) 05. Check It Out (5:52) 06. Lost On You (7:04)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl and CD re-issue in September 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
"One Step Ahead" was released in the U.K. by EMI with cat. number EMC 3306 sometimes in 1977. The album was also released on cassette with cat. number TC-EMC 3306 and spawned a 12" single that featured "Shake Down" b/w "You're Gonna Love This" (12EMI 2988); edited versions of the same tracks were also released as a 7" single (EMI 2988).
In 1994, the album was re-released on CD by See For Miles Records under their C-Five Records inprint. The booklet offers precious information about Bennett and the album. The original notes were compiled by Rob Bradford, the following is a slightly edited and updated version:
«In 1985 Brian Bennett was delighted when he was commissioned to provide the complete score for the film "Terminal Choice". «Basically», he remarks, «I got that job because it was financed and set up in America. To the Americans, I was just another composer and they judged my music purely on its own merits. That was great. No preconceptions, you see? The majority of Americans have never even heard of The Shadows». In conversation it's a theme he returns to over and over again. The dangers of being musically typecast or pigeonholed. He cites many instances where he feels that his music has been dismissed as out of hand. Something along the lines of: "Brian Bennett? Isn't he The Shadows' drummer? We're looking for a musician, a composer - not a drummer!" In actual fact, playing drums for The Shadows for almost thirty years is only one facet of Brian's immense musical talent. His contribution to The Shadows was monumental and he will always, inevitably, be associated with them. However, Brian's other musical ventures have been both numerous and varied and his output of music as a composer has been truly prodigious.
Brian was always much more than just a beat group drummer. He studied the violin and musical theory for many years and successfully completed a course on orchestral arranging. In 1967 he released "Change of Direction", thus making him the first Shad to release a solo album. It was to be the first of many such projects. During the '70s Brian became a top session drummer as well as beginning his prolific output of library, TV and film music.
Heat Exchange was a commission that Brian undertook in 1979. He'd heard that EMI were looking for an album in the style of the then current Funk / Disco craze. «It all sprang from the New York club scene,» recalls Brian, «The Bee Gees struck lucky with "Saturday Night Fever" and then everyone went disco crazy. But one of the true originators was a guy called Sylvester. He was my starting point.» Sylvester James, Jr. was the doyen of disco music singers; his biggest hits were "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and "Dance (Disco Heat)".
As ever, Brian assembled a talented team of musicians including: Rickie Hitchcock (guitar), Les Hurdle (bass) and Mike Moran (keyboards). The vocalist we are not at liberty to divulge. I can tell you that he was British and has had chart success in his own right... «Guaranteed anonynimity was one of the conditions he insisted upon. He only did it as a one-off, for the money. But, I have to say that he was utterly brilliant. I've a feeling that Cliff Hall was on some tracks as well. For "Shake Down", I got Chris Lawrence to play the bass line. He had a genuine, groovy, pumping funk-disco style. I'm no lyricist. I enlisted a guy called Dave Jordan. He and I were on the staff of ATV music. He was someone I knew from weekly team meetings. I also had a brass section on there. I was thinking of stuff like Earth, Wind & Fire... Isaac Hayes and so on. I'd go over the scores with them... make suggestions... while we were all sitting around with drinks. All very relaxed. I wanted a party atmosphere. Then, they'd just cut it... live in the studio... hit a groove. I was delighted with it. When the whole thing was completed, I took it to Stirling Sound Studios in Manhattan to get it cut and mastered, to achieve that big 'Tuff' sound. Another thing that's worth mentioning is that all the drumming and percussion is yours truly. By that I mean that there are no drum machines, drum boxes, samplers, synth drums or whatever. No effects at all.»
It certainly does sound remarkably authentic. So authentic that it would have surely been chart material if given to a 'name' disco act to cover. This wasn't pastiche, it was Brian composing in a definite style. I asked Brian if he was pleased with the end product, particularly with regard to its authentic Disco style. «I was quite pleased with it. As a composer, you should be able to adapt to any particular style. Very few people realised it was me. It had the words 'Produced by B.L. Bennett' somewhere on the sleeve, in very small print. That was deliberate. The reviews were great in that they said things like... 'A tight set obviously recorded by top New York session men.' Great. It just goes to show that some critics don't know who they're listening to, or what they're talking about!»
"One Step Ahead", original rejected front cover artwork reconstruction
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My copy of the album contains some notes - handwritten by the previous owner on the Side 2 center label - about the musicians featured on the recordings. Some of them are confirmed by Bennett himself in the interview that is quoted on the 1994 CD re-release; unfortunately the name of the singer remains a mystery... The picture above is based upon a tiny image included on the booklet of the aforementioned CD album.
Here's the credits and personnel list of "One Step Ahead":
Les Hurdle: bass Chris Lawrence: bass on "Shake Down" Rickie Hitchcock: guitar Mike Moran: keyboards Cliff Hall: additional keyboards Dave Lawson: additional keyboards Frank Ricotti: percussion Brian Bennett: drums Vicky Brown: backing vocals
All songs by Brian Bennett, except "Lost On You" written by Brian Bennett and William Bennett.
Lyrics on "Shake Down", "Love Is the Reason" and "Check It Out" by Dave Jordan.
If you have any other useful information about Brian Bennett, Heat Exchange and "One Step Ahead" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Oh me, oh me I hate the morning after the night before I know I can't take it anymore I know I've said it once or twice before I hate the morning after the night before
These bloodshot eyes now realize those Mai Tais were the devil in disguise If I could only find a way to stop this pile-driving pain I promise that I'd never, ever, do it again Do it again, do it again
Do it again, do it again Go ahead, do it again
Oh me, oh me I hate the morning after the night before I know I can't take it anymore I know I've said it once or twice before I hate the morning after the night before
I feel the crutch of Planter's Punch Martinis are no substitute for lunch If I could only find a way to get this pain to leave my brain I promise that I'd never, ever, do it again Do it again, do it again Do it again
Do it again, do it again C'mon, do it again
Oh me, oh me I should have just stayed in bed...
[from the lyrics of "I Hate the Morning (After the Night Before)"]
Here we are at last, very close to the end of the loooong series of posts I dedicated to Dick Jensen since October 2011. A lot of visitors of this blog have been requesting "The Writer" so many times, but two facts prevented me from offering it until now.
First of all I had to find a decent copy of the album and that hasn't been an easy task, believe me. This record is usually quite expensive on the second-hand market and most of the copies come with an autograph / dedication on the front or back cover, and the cover itself often suffer from ring wear...
At last, some three years ago I was lucky enough to purchase a sealed and untouched beautiful copy, but another factor delayed the publication of this post: my love/obsession for Chronology. If you're a recurring visitor of this blog I'm sure that you noticed that it is something I really care about and I always try my best to post according to that.
So, my apologies to all who have been requesting this album for so long: if you've been patient until now, I am sure that you will be satisfied with my digitization and remastering of such a precious gem.
Next in line in the following months will be the "Honolulu Girls / On the Beach" 7" single, which was released in the early '80s. I've always thought that it was the last Dick Jensen music release but I was wrong: only a few months ago I discovered with my greatest surprise that in 1985 he also released "True Spirit of Aloha", a religious album which is mentioned on a couple of Hawaiianwebsites.
Unfortunately I never had a chance to see a copy available for sale and I don't even know how the cover looks like... Since I am not a religious person I must admit that I am not particularly interested into it, but the parasitic completist that lives inside of me will never be satisfied until he's able to buy a copy. If you read these lines and can help him, I'll be glad to forward him your message... (8-)
Ok, enough said, here come the usual biographical notes. If you enjoy this post (...and the album...) don't forget to let me know about it in the comment section, thank you!
Jensen was a live musical performer of the Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Gospel genres. A native Hawaiian athletic song stylist and a prime mover of nightclub shows inspired by Little Richard, whose "white hot soul" electrified audiences with his belting voice and imposing physical performances. Jensen earned the sobriquet "The Giant" because of his tall stature, but he had a talent to match that nickname. His signature on-stage style incorporated strenuous dance moves similar to those of Jackie Wilson; he was noted for his glide - a proto-Moonwalk - well before Michael Jackson made it fashionable; just have a look at this clip on YouTube.
Jensen's music career began in 1959 and during the next fifteen years he moved back and forth between the Continental U.S. and Hawaii several times. He soon established himself as a singer in the Islands and in 1965 he got a contract with Loma Records.
During the late '60s / early '70 he often performed at several hotels and casinos and guested on many TV shows. His first album, entitled "White Hot Soul" (...available here...) was released in late 1969.
His potential as a national mainstream recording artist resulted in a contract with Philadelphia International, one of the top Soul music labels of the early 1970s. His "Dick Jensen" album was released in early 1973, but unfortunately sales were low and Jensen's tenure with the legendary label was very short...
Dick Jensen as he appears on the back cover of "The Writer"
Jensen returned to Honolulu around 1974 or 1975 and quickly re-estabilished himself as a local showroom star with engagements at the Hula Hut and at the Empire Room on the Oceania Floating Restaurant; the latter was jammed night after night for eight years.
Jensen's signature number, a fanciful comic story about the Lone Ranger and Tonto in which he single-handedly created all the voices and sound effects, was always a highlight, and every bit as impressive as his singing, dancing and overall showmanship... You can catch a glimpse of this performance - and much more - in the tribute video available on YouTube.
So, what do you do if you're a first class performer, you've written new songs but you find yourself without a recording contract? For some reason Jensen thought the best option was to self-release his own fresh material on a private label created on purpose, the evocative Record Club of Honolulu.
Produced and arranged by Don Costa for his Don Costa Productions Inc., "Giant of Hawaii" (...available here...) was released sometimes in mid/late 1976. Around the same time, a single containing two cuts from the album, namely a mono version of "Cloudy Mornin'" on Side A and a stereo version of "Love Shack" on the flipside, also appeared. The single, whish was probably aimed at radio promotion and rarely shows up for sale nowadays, is available here.
In 1978 Jensen had a small part in a TV movie entitled "The Islander". I desperately tried to find a copy of this movie or at least more information about it, but all I could come up with is this short synopsis.
During 1979 Jensen worked on a new album with Bartolome 'Bart' Bascone, a veteran Island musician, conductor, composer and arranger best known for his novelty song "Who Is the Lolo (Who Stole My Pakalolo)", which Don Ho recorded and made a radio hit in 1977. On a side note, Bascone also released twoalbums of his own compositions which are quite worth investigating... But now let's move on to "The Writer".
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"The Writer" contains the following tracks:
01. I Hate the Morning (After the Night Before) (3:24) 02. You Keep Turning Me On (3:06) 03. Windward Lady (3:32) 04. Wanna Get in Your Pants (6:12) 05. Our Last Aloha (5:19) 06. Better Slow Down (3:28) 07. Lady Love (3:28) 08. Kong Chiki Kong (3:50)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in October 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Please have a look at the comments for the download link.
"The Writer" was probably released sometimes in late 1979 on Giant Records, which I strongly suspect was nothing else but another one-off label created by Dick Jensen, just like the previous Record Club of Honolulu. I lean toward the late 1979 release date because on the spine is written "(C) 1979 Giant Records", even if the catalogue number assigned to this album is GRS 1980. My opinion is that the album was printed at the end of 1979 but it was given that catalogue number to make it look more fresh when it was first marketed during the next months.
The record comes in a sober black and white sleeve. Both on the front and back, Jensen is portrayed with an acoustic guitar, wearing comfortable light-coloured clothes and sandals. The image on the front cover gives a sense of calmness and looks like it was printed on a canvas; more probably it is not a photograph, but a sketch based on a photograph or something like that. In the picture on the back cover we notice that Jensen is wearing a medallion. It looks like a lion, but since he was born under the Aries sign it could also be a ram. Whatever it is, I guess it was much important to him since it can be seen in many other pictures that date back to the late '60s, a lucky charm maybe...
The cover is in deep contrast with the one featured three years earlier on the previous LP. Even the choice of the album title looks more meditative. The message that I perceive is that, due to the fact that at the time Jensen was widely acknowledged both as a singer and a performer, he also wanted to be recognised as an author. Of course this is my personal interpretation and I could be completely wrong. As a matter of fact, the album featured almost solely songs that he had written (seven out of eight) and this was happening for the first time in a long career.
Anyway, including a contagious Disco track and a few other lively Soul and Funk numbers, the album is not completely laid-back as the cover would suggest... Just like for the previous "Giant of Hawaii", most of the copies of "The Writer" that are usually put up for sale on eBay or similar websites are signed with a big marker by Jensen himself and often come with dedications. This undoubtedly means that most copies of the album were sold directly to people at his live shows as a souvenir of the performance: Jensen probably took the time to have a word with the audience and sign his records after the show...
Dick Jensen 1969/1979: the medallion is still the same...
Side 1 opens with "I Hate the Morning (After the Night Before)", whose lyrics you can read at the top of the post. It is a simple number but it is probably significant for what concerns Jensen's habits at the time. Almost two decades in the show-business were starting to take their toll and The Giant was caught in between the need to lead a quieter existence and the temptations of nightlife.
"You Keep Turning Me On" is one of the most fascinating tracks on the album, and a work of class for sure. The gentle percussion underlayer keep the rhythm moving, while the string machine creates a compelling atmosphere. The phased female backing vocal are just the icing on the cake and there's not a single note too much in this perfect piece, great!
We keep sailing along with "Windward Lady", another piece that wouldn't have made a poor showing on an album that Jensen could have released on Philadelphia International if they didn't decide to drop him. As I wrote elsewhere, I can only imagine what he could have done if only the label had kept on supporting him. Although Jensen's voice was not deep and smooth as Lou Rawls', his late '70s releases come to mind. Here's the lyrics to this beautiful song which I'm pretty sure Jensen dedicated to his wife at that time:
Windward lady, she's a special lady and she never lets me down Windward lady, she's a special lady with both feet on the ground
We leave two lives so differently me and my music, her and the family She keeps them strong, I sing my songs that lady does no wrong
Windward lady, she's a special lady and she never lets me down Windward lady, she's a special lady with both feet on the ground
Some days we share with family and friends breaking bread together again After all it is said and done she's still number one
Windward lady, she's a special lady and the world should know she's the one, she's the only one and I love her, and I love her so I love her so, I love her so I love her so, I love her so
She's a windward lady, she's a special lady she's a windward lady, she's a special lady
"Wanna Get in Your Pants", the last track on Side 1 seems to have been recorded - or at least mixed - in a completely different manner than the rest of the album. The original mix was almost mono compared to the other tracks and I had to invest a lot of energies and time to come up with a version that is more coherent with them. Maybe a 12" single has been taken in consideration at a certain point, who knows... Anyway, I guess that the title says it all, this is a commercial Disco affair with repetitive and explicit lyrics that also offers long instrumental parts and breaks.
Side 2 starts with "Our Last Aloha", which is the only song included on the album that was not penned by Jensen himself. The music and lyrics for this number were written by Bart Bascone, who also co-produced "The Writer". The song was originally included on Bascone's debut LP entitled "Makapuu", which nowadays has become such a rarity. Luckily enough, South Korean label Big Pink Musichas re-issued the album on CD in 2013 and copies can still be found for a decent price. For his version, Jensen has slightly changed some lines and has also added a short rappin'à laIsaac Hayes... Here's the lyrics of this song:
Aloha means 'I love you' Aloha also means 'Goodbye'
Baby, I lost it a long time ago that love I had for you but I found the courage to tell you how I feel and say what is really real
Maybe I should have left you all by yourself to settle your mind without me Too many times I just followed you around swallowed all the pride I had
Baby, this is our last aloha this is our last goodbye this is our last aloha the feeling has finally died
I treasured everything about you 'cause loving you, loving you, is all I ever knew But baby, you just kept pushing me away pushing me, until all I have to say is goodbye
This is our last aloha this is our last goodbye this is our last aloha the feeling has finally died
Aloha goodbye, goodbye the feeling has finally died
Oh, this is our last aloha this is our last goodbye this is our last aloha that feeling has finally died
This is our last aloha this is our last goodbye this is our last aloha
The album proceeds with "Better Slow Down", a song which is arranged and played in an almost Funky manner, with slapped bass and Clavinet in the background, sort of... I am not sure if I got the lyrics' meaning right - Jensen's voice is not that clear in this piece - but it may be about not running too fast in a new relationship or the need of a breath of air during a sexual intercourse which might end too soon or... who knows!
Once again, with "Lady Love" I can't help but think about the albums that Lou Rawls cut with Philadelphia International during the same period that Jensen self-released "Giant of Hawaii" and "The Writer". There's no justice in this world... Interestingly enough, a song with the same title was recorded by Rawls himself a couple of years earlier, uhm... Could it be that Jensen was somehow inspired by Rawls' original? Who knows... and who cares, because this is another example of perfection and for sure one of my favourites from the album. One of the best songs that The Giant has ever recorded and produced during his career, full stop.
The album closes with "Kong Chiki Kong", a piece which - according to the original liner notes - was inspired by Sammy Davis, Jr. who was befriended by Jensen back in the days of his tenure in Vegas during the late '60s / early '70s. The song is an uptempo number which feature the only electric guitar solo on the album.
To end this post, here's the original credits and personnel list as they're printed on the back cover of "The Writer":
Music and words by Dick Jensen, except "Our Last Aloha" by Bart Bascone.
Musicians include: Kata Maduli - bass John Rapoza - guitar Glenn Goto - keyboards Mike Kennedy - drums Vernon Kalama - percussions
(Backing vocals and horn section are uncredited...)
Produced by Dick Jensen. Co-produced by Bart Bascone.
Thanks to Sammy Davis, Jr. for inspiring "Kong Chiki Kong" and to Don Costa for the thought.
Thanks to my lovely wife, Judy, for giving me my space to do this album.
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The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!
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More information about Dick Jensen is available here:
I'm currently compiling a Dick Jensen biography, the first part of this work-in-progress covers the period 1942-1972 and is available here.
I'm also trying to compile a Dick Jensen exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.
Last but not least, I'm also trying to build a collection of Dick Jensen pictures and memorabilia, my work-in-progress is available here.
All my posts dedicated to Dick Jensen on this blog are available here.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
If you have any other useful information about this post, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
This is the short final chapter in my attempt to reconstruct Vinnie Bell's path in the recorded music industry before his first single and debut album were released in 1960.
Previous posts have featured "Silently b/w Barracuda", a 1958 single by The Gallahads (...available here), and "Smoke Rings b/w Hawaiian Haze" by The Overtones, another 7" record released in 1959 (...here).
Now is time to take care about the elusive The Spacemen and their "Jersey Bounce b/w Blast Off", which was also released in 1959.
The center labels of this release include the line "with Vinnie Gambella, guitar" on both sides, and Bell is also credited for the co-writing of "Blast Off" on Side B.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information about The Spacemen, except the fact that they released another single the same year... It would be great if someone out there could shed some light on this group, thanks for your help as usual!
For a detailed biography of Vinnie Bell, I suggest that you read this other post of mine.
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Here's the track list for this 7" single:
01. Jersey Bounce (2:36) 02. Blast Off (2:46)
Both tracks were remastered from vinyl in November 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.
Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.
"Jersey Bounce b/w Blast Off" was released by Felsted Records US with catalogue number 45-8578-V sometimes during the summer of 1959.
All the websites that offer information about this record usually present "Blast Off" as Side A and "Jersey Bounce" as Side B. In my opinion this is incorrect because matrix numbers and the other reference numbers on the labels suggest the contrary: they are respectively ZTSP 60857-1 and FD 286 for "Jersey Bounce" and ZTSP 60858-3 and FD 287 for "Blast Off".
The copy in my possession comes in a plain white sleeve, but I guess that at the time of release it was probably offered in a company sleeve. I searched the web but I couldn't find any Felsted sleeves... I speculate that, being operated from London Records in New York, records in the Felsted catalogue may have been released with a London company sleeve similar tothose thatyou cansee here.
The record was reviewed in the August 30, 1959, issue of Billboard and - although confined in the 'Moderate Sales Potential' column of the 'New Pop 7" Records' section - Bell's guitar work was praised. Here's a transcription for "Jersey Bounce": «Effective guitar solo treatment of the catchy oldie. Good juke wax.» and "Blast Off": «Solid guitar solo work on haunting instrumental theme. Spinnable.»
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
«The Startling Sounds of the Brave New Music World!... Singular, synthesized composition that heralds the future art of Sound-Expansion! This is the new sound of music: amazing, melodic electronic music played on the Moog synthesizer. These are not just the decorative sounds you usually hear from a synthesizer. These are compositions, specifically created for the synthesizer by Dick Hyman... Fascinatingly rhythmic melodies that move music in a fresh, exploratory direction. Dick Hyman's electronic themes provide an incredible, ear-opening glimpse into the new directions for popular music: music that may soon make every kind of music we have known before seem obsolete. The future comes vividly alive in the grooves of this record because Dick Hyman, Command Records and the Moog synthesizer play it not like it is, but like it will be.»
[from the back sleeve notes of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman"]
Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]
Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]
Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darindid it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a jazz pianist and organist. [3]
Hyman is best remembered among the Spage Age Bachelor Pad Musicaficionados for his 1963 album with Mary Mayo - who provided otherworldy wordless vocals - the aptly entitled "Moon Gas" masterpiece, which was already covered here on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo. As promised long ago, now it's time to take care about "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular, «a cult-classic and a standout in the infancy of synthesizer album recording in its sophistication and original composition for the instrument.» [2]
"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" inner gatefold
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following liner notes are included in the inner gatefold of "Moog - The Electric Elclectics of Dick Hyman". They describe the Moog Modular synthesizer to the uninitiated and illustrate the way Hyman approached this work, highlighting a few technical and musical details.
«The Moog synthesizer is a musical instrument that is still so new that not even those who have developed it know what its full musical potential may be. Synthesizers have been used in recording studios before this, of course. They have often added freaked out electronic sounds to whatever a musical group produces with its regular instruments. They have provided decoration, color and feeling. But now Dick Hyman has harnessed these provocative electronic synthesizer sounds. He uses the Moog synthesizer as a musical instrument - a total musical instrument - playing it three ways: unaccompanied, with accompaniment from live musicians, and even with accompaniment from a robot instrument. "My objective is to humanize electronic music," said Dick, "as well as to humorize it and to play it as a full performance instead of a collection of unearthly sounds."
"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", original inner sleeve shows Command goodies...
What is a Moog synthesizer? To the non-technical eye it consists of two short organ-like keyboards, and three cabinets with panels which contain knobs and jacks similar to a telephone switchboard so that various elements in the synthesizer can be linked or "patched". When he sat down to play the synthesizer, Dick Hyman says he felt as though he were inside an airplane cockpit. His link with reality was the fact that he has played all sorts of keyboard instruments from the piano and the organ to the Ondioline and the Ondes Martenot. As a result, he not only had confidence in his approach to the two keyboards but he had some experience and knowledge of the kinds of sounds he wanted to produce, particularly from his experience with electronic organs. "I had to approach it as an organist," he said. To me, the synthesizer is like a super-organ because it includes everything that the different kinds of electric organs can do. The difference is that it can produce only one note at a time." Dick could work the keyboard - but that's only part of the operation of a synthesizer. It also has to be programmed - the linkages have to be made by patching to create the types of sounds that the performer wants. This requires someone skilled in the technical operation of the synthesizer. So, while Dick Hyman manipulated the keyboard, Walter Sear, technical specialist in Moog equipment did the programming, or patching.
"I would suggest the sound that I wanted," Dick explained, "and Walter would set it. Or he'd suggest a sound that he thought would fit in with what I was trying to do. Sometimes we'd stumble on something interesting while we were on the way to something else. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"...and more goodies on the back!
Some of the pieces Dick played were composed before he reached the studio. On these set pieces, he used live musicians along with the Moog - Art Ryerson and Jay Berliner on guitars, Chet Amsterdam on Fender bass, and Buddy Salzman, drums, with Dick on honky-tonk piano. Other selections were improvised in the studio. Dick constructed his improvisations from the sounds of the synthesizer, just as a sculptor might be inspired in his creation by the texture of the stone he was working with. "I found," said Dick, "that it was much more interesting to create freely on the synthesizer in this fashion than to bend the machine to any preconceived ideas I might have had. In playing my prepared compositions, I had more control over the final result than in any other recording situation I've been in but because the instrument is so new and so unexplored, the final results were more unrelated to what I started out with than anything I've done before. The pieces that were developed in the studio, when I just went ahead and explored the instrument, went much more quickly. I'd say to Walter Sear, 'Surprise me with some sounds.' And he'd patch in something and I'd start to play whatever it suggested. That was the most fun." In addition to the Moog synthesizer, Dick also used another electronic instrument on some pieces: a Maestro Rhythm Unit, a robot drummer that is normally used by organists in cocktail lounges to provide accompaniment. It is an electronic box decorated with push buttons marked "samba", "rhumba", "tango", "foxtrot", "rock and roll", "go-go", "boogaloo", ad infinitum. You push the button to get the desired rhythm and then adjust the machine to the specific tempo you want. The rhythm unit can be fed directly into the Moog synthesizer so that the unit's rhythmic aspects can be turned into tonal aspects.»
"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" contains the following tracks:
01. Topless Dancers of Corfu (3:03) 02. The Legend of Johnny Pot (2:01) 03. The Moog and Me (3:03) 04. Tap Dance in the Memory Banks (2:34) 05. Four Duets in Odd Meter (4:32) 06. The Minotaur (8:33) 07. Total Bells and Tony (2:03) 08. Improvisation in Fourths (2:26) 09. Evening Thoughts (3:25)
The following bonus track is taken from the promotional 7" single issued for radio stations, Command-ABC Records RS 45-7499 / RS 45-4126, pictured below:
10. The Minotaur (Short Version, Mono) (3:32)
All tracks were remastered in December 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Here's the complete credits and personnel list of the album:
Dick Hyman - Moog Modular synthesizer, Lowrey organ, Honky-Tonk upright piano, Maestro rhythm unit, Echoplex tape delay unit, whistling Art Ryerson - guitar Jay Berliner - guitar Chet Amsterdam - bass Buddy Salzman - drums
All titles composed by Dick Hyman and published by Eastlake Music, Inc. (ASCAP).
Produced by Dick Hyman.
Associate Producer: John Turner
Synthesizer Programming: Walter Sear
Mastering: George Piros
Cover and liner design: Byron Goto and Henry Epstein
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Recorded towards the end of 1968, "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" was released by Command-ABC Records sometimes in early 1969 with catalogue number 938-S. A few sites mention a January release, and as a matter of fact, the album entered the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart on April the 19th. At the same time it was also released as an 8-track tape with catalogue number 803-938.
"Topless Dancers of Corfu" was chosen for single release, backed with "The Minotaur". This was the very first single featuring a Moog synthesizer to chart, reaching #27 on the Billboard R&B Singles and #38 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The public elected "The Minotaur" as their most favourite track, and a special single aimed at radio stations containing both an edited and a full version was also released. In some countries "Topless Dancers of Corfu" was confined to the flipside, replaced by the full version of "The Minotaur".
Subsequent pressings of the LP also included a «Featuring the Full Lenght Version of THE MINOTAUR» hype-box on the front cover. Driven by the appeal of this track, the album peaked at # 4 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and #30 on the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart.
Hyman's memories about the recording of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the subsequent "The Age of Electronicus" are available in a great piece written by Thom Holme for the Bob Moog Foundation website. Pictures of a Moog Modular system very similar to the one used on these albums are available here.
The following track-by-track commentary is a slightly edited version of the original liner notes included in the inner gatefold of the album.
Side A opens with "Topless Dancers of Corfu". Greek music, which, along with Indian music, were two of the influences on Dick Hyman's musical creativity at the time the album was recorded, is the basis for this piece. This is one of the selections that Dick composed in advance, one on which he used a live rhythm section. Because the Moog Modular synthesizer can play only one note at a time and has only two keyboards, overdubbing was necessary to create fully harmonized melodies. ln the overdubbing process, Dick threw in some double speeded effects which reproduce as a high, bird-like sound. The sudden, rising, whistling sounds are unique to the synthesizer. "When you play the synthesizer keyboard as though it were a piano or organ, funny things happen,"Dick said. "On a piano or an organ, if you're playing staccato and you hold a note for a second, it will fade away downward. But if you play a note in the same fashion on the synthesizer, it goes up. It's weird."
On "The Legend of Johnny Pot"Dick Hyman plays Lowrey organ as well as the synthesizer, backed by the live rhythm section on this bi-tonal and bi-rhythmic piece. The second tonality and the second rhythm were created when the Lowrey organ (the xylophone effect) was dubbed over the Moog synthesizer which produces the bell effect, the flying saucer sound and the bass line. The title comes from the whimsical but actual news report about a traveling adventurer who planted marijuana in fields all across the country and then sent letters to his friends telling them where he had planted it so that they could harvest it when it had grown.
Years ago, Dick Hyman established himself as a whistler when he made the first hit recording of "Mack the Knife". The tune then was still known by its original title, "Moritat", and Dick's whistling gave it a fascinatingly, exotically lonely feeling. On "The Moog and Me", a track that comes right halfway the first side of the album, he whistles and plays both piano and the synthesizer, accompanied by the Maestro Rhythm unit. "This," he said, "is the ultimate attempt to humanize the Moog." Notice the series of timbre changes he achieves in the synthesizer, somewhat similar to the effect that Jimi Hendrix used to get by using the wah-wah pedal on his guitar. And listen, too, to the breaks that Dick takes by turning off his rhythm unit briefly. This is done with a foot pedal. "With the Rhythm Unit you get perfect time,"Dick commented, "but it has no initiative. Of course, this has its advantages. It doesn't talk back to you and it doesn't insist on having its own solos." Some elements from this track, most notably the whistle that serves as the lead-in, were sampled by Beck for the song "Sissyneck" on his 1996 album "Odelay".
Advertisement for the album taken from a 1969 issue of Billboard magazine
For "Tap Dance in the Memory Banks"Hyman turns to improvisation - something created by sitting down at the keyboard of the Moog synthesizer and composing with the materials at hand. The materials in this case include, in addition to the synthesizer, the Maestro Rhythm Unit. In feeling his way toward the finished composition and performance, Dick used the rhythm unit with the knobs turned so as to filter out certain elements. When he added a brass sound to this, he stumbled on the idea of turning the piece into a tap dance. "One of the early titles for the piece was 'Fred Astaire Meets Hal', the computer in the film 2001,"Dick explained. "The rhythm unit is set on 'tango' with most of the elements filtered out. This dancer, however, is no Astaire. He sounds a little bit klutzy."
"Four Duets in Odd Meter" is made of four brief selections that were developed from a book written by Hyman, entitled "Duets in Odd Meter and Far Out Rhythms". Each duet is separated by four portentous strokes on a gong. In the second duet, Dick uses the 'instant atonality' that is possible on a Moog synthesizer. "Because the Moog can divide the keyboard into any units you want, not just the usual half tones,"Dick explained, "the entire system of musical values becomes mixed up. A diatonic composition automatically comes out atonal." The third duet is changed by adding reverberation to each note. And in the final duet, Dick uses an Echoplex, a tape loop machine which plays back a note within seconds after it has been played so that the performer can use a note he has already played as part of his immediate total sound.
Side B starts with "The Minotaur" which, as already pointed out, was successfully released as a single and helped to boost the album's sale. Four elements are involved in this remarkably rhythmic and melodic improvisation. First is the Maestro Rhythm Unit which, instead of being set for a single rhythm, is blending two: a bossa nova and a waltz ("It comes out as a sort of oriental ¾."Dick Hyman commented). To this is added a drone effect, like a tamboura, played by the synthesizer. Then a bass line is laid in, also on synthesizer. Finally, the synthesizer produces the melody line. The style is a mixture of Indian and Greek musical influences: the basic set-up is drawn from the Indian mode while the germ of the idea for the solo melody came from a Greek record in Dick's collection. Because the robot drummer can become monotonous, Hyman played his bass patterns in such a fashion that it sounds as though the drummer is picking up ideas from the bass (although, in actuality, Dick's bass line anticipates the drummer). When the various tapes involved were being mixed, Hyman established the rate at which the melody moves back and forth between the speakers by actually pacing back and forth in the studio while the engineer worked his pots.
The Tony in "Total Bells and Tony" is Tony Scott, a jazz clarinetist, with whom Dick Hyman played on some of his earliest jazz jobs. The original idea for the piece was to base it on layer upon layer of bells - at least, bell sounds as created by the synthesizer. To give the bells a cascading effect, the Echoplex tape loop was used. Then Dick added a clarinet sound on the synthesizer. "When I heard it," he said, "it sounded rather like the way Tony Scott played, particularly when he made some recordings with Japanese musicians." In addition to playing three tracks of bells and one clarinet track, Dick also dubbed in a bass clarinet track which, like all the other tracks, was improvised on the synthesizer.
"The Minotaur / Topless Dancers of Corfu" single, French edition, front cover
The performance in "Improvisation in Fourths" is unique in that it is not only totally improvised but it was done with no overdubbing. This is the Moog synthesizer, pure and unaltered. The basis of the piece is the fact that a compound tone can be built on a Moog Modular somewhat in the same way as it is done on a Hammond organ. But while a Hammond can only be set for harmonic tones, the Moog can be set for any interval the performer desires. In this case, Dick Hyman set the synthesizer on fourths (but he did not use all the fourths because they did not all work as he had expected them to). The effect that is produced is very much like a flutter-tongue flute in jazz.
The original album ends with "Evening Thoughts", a mood piece where the Lowrey organ is mixed with the Moog synthesizer. "One of the problems of the synthesizer,"Hyman pointed out, "is the difficulty of maintaining specific characteristics. A sound that is supposed to be wind sighing through the trees may turn into a storm and then into the sound of surf." This shifting of character can be heard in the decorative effects that accompany the melody, which is played first on the Lowrey organ and, in the middle, in theremin-like fashion on the Moog synthesizer. In back and through the melody glide the sounds of bird calls, a gentle tinkling and a 'white noise' that might be a breeze but which, as you listen to it, could just as well be surf. That's one of the chances you take with the music of tomorrow.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album: enjoy "Topless Dancers of Corfu", "The Legend of Johnny Pot", "The Moog and Me", "The Minotaur", "Total Bells and Tony" and "Evening Thoughts"!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Dick Hyman, "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the Moog Modular synthesizer is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Pancy Lau (Lau Fung Ping, 劉鳳屏 or 刘鳳屏, also referred to as Liu Feng Ping) was born sometimes in the late 40s / early 50s in a family of musicians; her father Lau Bak Lok (劉伯樂) - also known as Tin Ngai (天涯) - was a well-known Cantonese Opera Star. He was her very first music teacher, and guided her through the entertainment world.
Her career started when she was around 8 or 9 years old singing Cantonese Opera. As a teenager she transitioned to singing songs she enjoyed: Pop music. During the early 60s she participated two times in the Sing Tao Daily Singing Competition in Hong Kong with no significant results.
In 1965 at last she won the Mandarin section of the 6th edition of the contest with the song "三年" (Three Years). Upon winning the competition, she became a resident singer at the prestigious Golden Crown Night Club (金冠).
Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司), commonly known as TVB, commenced broadcasting in Hong Kong on 19 November 1967. Pancy Lau was one of the first musical artists who participated in the popular show "歡樂今宵" (Enjoy Yourself Tonight), which was the longest running variety show in Hong Kong's television history.
In 1968 Fung Hang Records Co. (風行) released her debut album entitled "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳". The album was the first in a long series of recordings that continued for more than fifteen years, and is the subject of this post.
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in January 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Since in a few years she released so many records - and none of them included a release date - it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output. "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳" is her debut album and was probably released sometimes in late 1968 by Fung Hang Records Co. (風行) with catalogue number FHLP 1001.
Mono versions of four songs included on this LP (tracks 4, 7, 8 and 11) were also released as a 7" EP that I have already covered some time ago. Moreover, four songs (tracks 2, 4, 7 and 8) were also later included on Pancy Lau's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), an awesome record released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) which will be the subject of a future post.
Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this album, translation of the song titles is approximate in most cases, but anyway...:
The title track of the album, 01. "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), was also performed by 江鷺 (Kong Lo) and 鍾玲玲 (Betty Chung), I'm not sure about who was the original performer...
02. "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies) was originally a Japanese song recorded by 李香蘭 (Shirley Yamaguchi) in 1940 (available here). Mandarin versions were later recorded by 美黛 (Mei Dai), 張露 (Chang Loo) and many others.
Unfortunately I could not find anything about 03. "你不妨等一等" (You Might As Well Wait)...
04. "阿里郎" (Arirang) is one of the most famous Korean traditional folk songs. In its original form it has been sung for more than 600 years: who would even think about it listening to the swinging version presented here? There's plenty of versions available on YouTube.
05. "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts) is a popular Taiwan song; it was performed by many female singers, including 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, one of China's seven great singing stars, available here) and 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng, an '80s live version is available here) who remembered that this was the very first song her mother taught her to sing as a child.
06. The sweet "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade) derives from a Japanese song originally recorded by 渡辺はま子 (Hamako Watanabe) in 1941. The Mandarin version was popularized in the early '60s by 紫薇 (Zu Wei, available here); it was also performed by 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen Lan) and many others.
I wasn't able to find any relevant information about 07. "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), except that it was also performed by 凌霄(Ling Seow)...
08. "負心的人" (Heartless Person) is the theme song from the movie of the same name. The original version was performed by 汤兰花 (Tang Lan Hua, available here); other versions were later performed by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, here) and 崔萍 (Tsui Ping, here).
Once again, I've nothing to report about 09. "隨風飛去" (Fly Away With the Wind), maybe someone out there can offer some help?
10. "天涯歌女" (The Wandering Songstress) is probably one of the most well-known songs on this album and Wikipedia has a very informative page about it. The original version was performed in 1937 by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, available here) in the movie "馬路天使" (Street Angel).
11. "花好月园" (Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon) is a classic Chinese song from the late '40s that was originally performed - once again - by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan); you can listen to the original version here. The song has been covered by many divas of the Chinese classic and pop music industry with each imparting their distinct flavour to the song. A lot of versions are available on YouTube.
With the closing number, 12. "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile), the album almost turns into a tribute to 周璇 (Zhou Xuan). Here'a a link to her original version.
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies), "阿里郎" (Arirang), "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts), "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade), "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), "負心的人" (Heartless Person) and "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile)!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Pancy Lau is available here:
As a last note, I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!
Ying Hua, best known by her stage name of Sakura Teng, was born in Muar, state of Johor, Malaysia, in May 1948. She grew up there, where she received her education in Chinese and English, but has always been mistaken for a Singaporean as she had been living in the republic until the mid '80s.
During her years in school, Sakura won many singing competitions as well as many public speaking awards. Despite being a top student, and having decided to become a singer, at the tender age of sixteen she quit school and moved to Singapore.
Her music career began in 1965, when she was just seventeen, at the now defunct New World, an amusement park located in the central area of Singapore.
On her path to fame, Sakura was lucky enough to meet Su Yin (舒雲), a.k.a. Henry Foo, a Singaporean singer, songwriter and lyricist, who was also the A&R manager for the Chinese section at Columbia / EMI.
He immediately recognized her potential, and in 1966 she was signed by the label. Her first 7" EP was an instant hit: it sold 25,000 copies and became the first in a very long series of successful releases which lasted until the early '80s.
Interestingly, her stage name is actually a literal translation of her Chinese name, which means 'cherry blossom' in Mandarin. Apparently she was given the nickname when she started singing Japanese numbers in Chinese during her early stage performances.
One side of the original inner sleeve shows many EMI Records goodies by local artists...
Sakura recorded many fabulous Mandarin covers of popular English songs and she was part of the pioneers who launched the Rock Movement in Singapore. Along with Rita Chao, with whom she joined forces on many recordings during the late '60s, they were both known as 'A Go-Go Queens of the Sixties'.
Sakura and Rita began performing as a double act in 1967, as both singers were doing well and EMI felt that pairing them would give both their careers a boost. Together they toured Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, building a fan base at each port of call.
On stage, Chao usually played the part of the impish naif, while Sakura was the more mature half of the duo. They split up in the mid '70s but are still fondly remembered.
...the other side shows only international artists, with the exception of The Quests and The Surfers
During her heyday in the '60s and '70s, Sakura cut more than fifty records and she also came to be known as the 'Yodelling Singer' for her vocal 'trademark'.
She still is one of the most popular female Mandarin singers, and during her career she also recorded songs in many other languages including English, Japanese, Cantonese and Malay.
In 1985 Sakura relocated to the U.S.; since then she has quit recording but she kept on performing live until 2013, when she definitively retired at the age of 65.
Sakura and The Quests in session as they appear on the back cover of the album
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"Sakura Goes Boom Boom With The Quests" includes the following tracks:
01. 檸檬樹 (Lemon Tree) (3:03) 02. 我愛牛郞 (I Love Cowboy) (2:57) 03. 我要輕輕地告訴你 (Aku Kechewa) (3:23) 04. 什麼道理 (Stupid Cupid) (2:52) 05. 牧童之歌 (I Don't Care If Tomorrow Never Comes) (2:53) 06. 做一對小夫妻 (I Need You) (3:10) 07. 真友愛 (Michelle) (2:37) 08. 心事放不下 (Morning Town Ride) (2:33) 09. 歡樂今宵 (2:12) 10. 隔壁的姞埌 (Boom Boom) (3:33) 11. 可愛的春天 (My Bonnie) (3:00) 12. 提醒你 (Like I Do) (2:20)
All tracks were remastered in February 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.
Preceded by three singles - allavailablehere on Stereo Candies - Sakura's debut album was released sometime in early 1967 by Columbia / EMI in Singapore with catalogue number 33 ESX 602.
The front cover features a colourful and slightly psychedelic background drawing with dominant yellow and pink tones, with a superimposed picture of Sakura wearing a gold and black suit with impressively large sleeves... Of course I know the old proverb that says you can't judge a book by its cover, but even if I didn't know anything about this release I am sure I couldn't help but falling in love with it at first sight.
As the title clearly says, on this album Sakura is accompanied by The Quests, a legendary Singaporean group which was very active during the mid-late '60s, both as a backing unit - most notably for Sakura herself and Rita Chao - and as performers in their own right with a very long series of singles and four full-lenght albums.
Interestingly enough, the bottom part of the back cover includes a Max Factor ad: "Sakura also goes Bazaaz with Max Factor". I'm not sure about what 'bazaaz' means but I suppose it is used as a sort of magic word. A quick search led me to this page where I found an original Max Factor ad taken from a late '60s magazine - the one you can see above - which uses the same lettering chosen for the title of the album, as written on the front cover, and also features similar background drawings.
It never occurred to me that somehow the cover design of this album could be tied to a large international promotional campaign, but I easily guess that this is exactly what happened. This is another reason why I love doing these write-ups: there's always something else to be learned about a record, or more tiny details to discover, even after I had it in my shelves for years.
As a last note, according to Discogs the copy in my possession is not a first edition, it is a reprint made sometime after the EMI record factory in Singapore was established in June 1967. This second edition is easily identifiable from the black center labels, while the first has green labels which are also marked as "Made in Austrialia".
"我愛牛郞 (I Love Cowboy)", entitled "我愛牛郞 (Cowboy Sweetheart)" on a previous EP, is a Mandarin cover of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart", a Country and Western song written and first recorded in 1935 by Rubye Blevins, who performed as Patsy Montana. You can listen to the original version here.
"我要輕輕地告訴你 (Aku Kechewa)" is a slow number written by Syed Ahmad Vinton, who played drums with The Antartics. The song was originally recorded with Malay lyrics in 1966 by Eddie Ahmad, with accompaniment provided by The Antartics themselves. The version recorded by Sakura has Mandarin lyrics and halfway through the song it offers a great solo by The Quests' lead guitarist Reggie Verghese.
"什麼道理 (Stupid Cupid)" is one of the wildest pieces included on the album. The song was written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka, and became a hit for Connie Francis in 1958. Verghese adds tons of distortion to his guitar sound, turning the original number into one of Sakura's best covers. Here's the original version for your reference.
Another picture of Sakura and The Quests in session
"牧童之歌 (I Don't Care If Tomorrow Never Comes)" is another Mandarin version of a famous song written and originally performed by American Country singer-songwriter Hank Williams; you can listen to the original version by clicking here. Back in 1966, this was Sakura's first published song to feature her trademark yodelling.
I am sorry but I can't tell you much about "做一對小夫妻 (I Need You)", the last track on the first side... Its simple title doesn't help, and the only related result I could find is this hilarious clip on YouTube; it seems that the song is the same... In his book "Beyond the Tea Dance", Joseph C. Pereira asserts that this is a cover of a Beatles track written by George Harrison... Maybe he's right, but I can't find any similarity at all between these two songs: anyone can help about this?
Side B starts with "真友愛 (Michelle)", a cover of the classic Beatles tune... Do you really need a link to the original version of this song?!? C'mon...
"心事放不下 (Morning Town Ride)" was originally a lullaby written and performed by Malvina Reynolds in 1957. The song was further popularized by The Seekers, who recorded it for the first time in 1964 bringing it to the charts in late 1966. Here's a link to their version.
"歡樂今宵" is supposed to be an original composition which should translate with "Happy Tonight", but I wasn't able to find any information about it, maybe someone out there can share some?
"隔壁的姞埌 (Boom Boom)" is a Mandarin cover of a song written by American Blues singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker, who recorded it in 1961. Musically, it is another wild piece that uses fuzz distortion in the same vein of "Stupid Cupid".
Approaching its end, the album includes two of the oldest recordings made by Sakura with The Quests that originally appeared on her debut EP back in 1966, where the accompanying band was mysteriously credited as Sounds Anonymous...
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "檸檬樹 (Lemon Tree)", "我愛牛郞 (I Love Cowboy)", "什麼道理 (Stupid Cupid)", "牧童之歌 (I Don't Care If Tomorrow Never Comes)", "做一對小夫妻 (I Need You)", "隔壁的姞埌 (Boom Boom)", "可愛的春天 (My Bonnie)" and "提醒你 (Like I Do)"!
As usual, I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!
«SPECIAL NOTE TO THE CONSUMER AND RECORD REVIEWER: this album contains recordings by VINNIE BELL, at this writing New York's busiest studio guitar player. It is designed to show-case Vinnie's electronic genius and his musicianship. The album is based on the contemporary, popular, instrumental approach to recording. This is not a JAZZ recording.»
It's high time for another chapter in our series of posts that celebrate leading American session guitarist and pioneer of electronic effects Vincent 'Vinnie' Bell.
One of the two or three greatest guitar geeks of the Space Age Pop era, Vinnie Bell will go down in musical history as the inventor of the 'water guitar sound' that was a big fad in instrumental recordings during the '60s.
Used most prominently on Ferrante and Teicher's 1969 Top Ten cover of the theme to "Midnight Cowboy", and on his own rendition of the "'Airport' Love Theme" in 1970, the effect became one of the most-copied technique among guitarists until the wah-wah pedal became standard equipment in the '70s. Among the other essential records that feature his trademark sound, we should at least mention Dick Hyman / Mary Mayo's "Moon Gas", released in 1963 and available here on Stereo Candies..
Born in Brooklyn in 1935, Bell started to learn to play the mandolin when he was four years old according to the old method: solfeggio and a good swat for every mistake. Then, at eight years of age came the switch to guitar, and at the ripe maturity of twelve years the start of his professional career.
Trained by teachers like Carmen Mastren, who taught him the rhythm guitar, and Tony Mottola, who taught him the basic all-around fundamentals and made him his protégé, Bell also studied under Everett Barksdale and Mickey Baker.
Long before any company commercially produced guitar effects pedals, Vinnie Bell was tinkering and inventing with his own electronic custom effects pedals for his guitars. He constantly invented new effects using fuzz distortion and wah-wah pedals, before anyone else had them. This gave him an edge over most other guitarists in the '60s recording world, and producers loved to bring him on their sessions to get his unique guitar effects. Bell soon became an in-demand session guitarist. The list of artists who benefited from his work is huge and includes Louis Armstrong, Simon and Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Donovan, The Mamas & The Papas, The Four Seasons, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bobby Darin and many more...
My copy of "Whistle Stop" comes with an original Verve company inner sleeve, yippee!!!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"Whistle Stop" contains the following tracks:
01. Moonglow (2:02) 02. Night Train (2:41) 03. Fever (2:29) 04. Dawn (2:09) 05. Bellzouki (2:12) 06. What'd I Say (2:57) 07. Last Stop (1:39) 08. Trainman's Blues (2:23) 09. Shindig (2:06) 10. Whistle Stop (2:13) 11. Memphis (2:18) 12. I Have But One Heart (1:59) 13. The End of the Line (1:47) 14. Tramp Song (2:07)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in March 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Please have a look at the comments for the download link.
Here's the complete credits and personnel list of the album:
Probably recorded sometime during the last months of the previous year, "Whistle Stop" was released by Verve with catalogue number V6-8574 (stereo) and V-8574 (mono) around January or February 1964.
The album cover features a picture by famous American photographer Todd Weeb, which depicts a small train station in Domingo, some sixty kilometers south-west of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Luckily, there is a road just near the rails, and Google Maps can help to give a more precise idea of where the picture was taken. Of course at least 55 years has passed, the small station is not there anymore, but I think I have recognized the old water tower...
Both the album title and its cover clearly imply that this work is focused on the railroad, and at least five of the tracks also explicitly refer to trains, trainmen, stops, stations and lines. A nice theme, I would say, and one that also vaguely inspired Bell on his previous solo effort.
Anyway, curiously enough the author's name is spelled as Vinny Bell on the front cover, spine and center labels, but he is referred to with the more usual Vinnie Bell on the back cover and in the liner notes... The same liner notes identifies this as Bell's «first recording as a soloist», which is not the case since his debut album was released no less than three years earlier, in late 1960.
In the page dedicated to the album on the super cool Spage Age Pop website, the reviewer points out how apparently the label was trying to «distance itself from its own artist» by including on the back cover the "Special note to the consumer and record reviewer" that you can read in full at the beginning of this post, warning them that «this is not a Jazz recording»... I can't help but agree with him, also when he writes that «Whistle Stop is, arguably, Bell's best album by far.»
In November 1963, "Whistle Stop" was preceded by a 7" release credited to Vinny Bell and The Bell Men. This included the title track on Side A and "Shindig" on the flipside. In Italy the songs were switched and the record was given the picture cover that you can see below. In Australia the songs included on the single were "Moonglow" and, once again, "Shindig". On such occasion they were credited to Vinnie Bell; pictures of this release are also available below.
...while the public in Australia was offered a "Moonglow / Shindig" single
The following is a slightly edited version of the liner notes written by Warner Fredericks that are printed on the back cover of "Whistle Stop":
«Better open the window and get ready to toss out every idea you’ve ever had about what a guitar should sound like. Because from the moment the stylus touches the first groove of the record inside this sleeve every guitar you’ve ever heard will become part of the past tense of your life. Vinnie Bell’s new recording as a soloist, composer, leader, arranger is a straight-off blast into the future of guitar music.
Look at the line-up of tunes: "Night Train", "Memphis", "What’d I Say", "Bellzouki", "Dawn", "Trainman’s Blues", "Shindig", "Fever", "Last Stop", "Moonglow", and the title tune - "Whistle Stop". Every one of them is dressed up in sounds you’ve never heard before - sounds no one has ever heard before on record. Sure you’ve heard train sounds - but who ever heard a trombone moan come out of a guitar? Listen to the moving bass line on "Moonglow". Or, who ever dreamed of making a violin come singing out of a guitar - or a French Horn, or cello, or pipe organ, or a baritone sax?
Vinnie Bell - he’s the dreamer behind this fantastic array of new sounds that come roaring, sighing, singing out of an instrument that once used to hang around in the background of folk songs and blues. Vinnie, a superb musician and a natural born inventor, got the idea a few years ago that there was a terrific, rockin’ orchestra hidden inside the curved frame of his guitar. He was determined to pry every instrumental sound loose he could discover - or invent.
Remember when Paul Anka took off with “Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine”? - a gold-mine of an LP. The guitar was Vinnie’s, the same guitar you will hear on "I Have But One Heart". He could bill himself like an old-time private detective, “The Eye That Never Sleeps”... He’s too busy - playing, composing, inventing.
Recently, he counted down the Top Fifty singles in the best-seller charts and discovered to his happy amazement that he had played guitar on thirty-two of the recordings! He averages close to twenty recording sessions a week in the New York studios; single dates, LP dates, TV commercials, radio commercials, movies, network TV shows... And he is a consultant for Danelectro in the engineering and development of new guitars, amplifiers and guitar attachments - both acoustical and electronic. "Bellzouki" is named after a patented device of Vinnie’s that he based on the terrific Greek bouzoukee sound. (Remember the sound track of Never On Sunday? That was a bouzoukee.)
Vinnie is originally a Brooklyn boy, born just about a mile from Coney Island. He’s a family man (“When I get to see them”) with a son and two daughters, all under 9. Married ten years, he and his wife went together for 9 years before they decided to take the final step. Vinnie’s training was informal - “But, with some really good teachers,” he says, “Tony Mottola and Carmen Mastron. Tony taught me the basic all-around fundamentals, and Carmen taught me rhythm guitar. Then, fellows like Everett Barksdale and Mickey Baker taught me a lot more later on. They’ve got something special.”
Incidentally, Everett Barksdale plays on this date and helps Vinnie make his debut as a combo leader on records. Barksdale plays bass guitar and gives the album a terrific drive. He sounds like he’s playing a bass fiddle - but most of the time it’s a Danelectro bass guitar that Vinnie helped research and develop. The other players in Vinnie’s group are: Paul Griffin, electric piano and electric organ; Al Gorgoni, rhythm guitar; Gary Chester or Buddy Saltzman on drums. Vinnie arranged three of the tunes and the others were scored by Claus Ogerman and Charlie Calello, both outstanding arrangers.
Vinnie has adapted, modified, invented, experimented, dreamed... Sometimes people are likely to think that a guy so obsessed with perfection is a little out of this world - a little touched. Vinnie’s certainly way out in a world of his own - a world of vibrant, exciting, rocking new sounds. And indeed he is touched - with genius.»
Side A starts with "Moonglow", a popular song written by Will Hudson and Irving Mills with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. There is an abyss between the first version of the song recorded by Joe Venuti in 1933 and Bell's version, but the original melody is still quite recognizable. As I already wrote, this tune was released as a single in Australia.
On "Night Train"Bell emulates a variety of train sounds with his guitar, a trick that he already applied to "Sentimental Journey" on his debut album, but in a completely different way. This song was written by Jimmy Forrest with added lyrics by Lewis C. Simpkins and Oscar Washington. compared to Bell's rendition, the original version recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1952 is much slower and creates a completely different atmosphere. James Brown also recorded his own version of the song in 1961, turning it into a Funky number with different lyrics.
"Fever" was written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell. The song was first recorded in 1956 by American R&B singer Little Willie John, and topped the Billboard R&B chart when it was released as a single in April the same year. Bell aptly takes the original vocal line and builds his soloing on it with a lot of expressiveness. His trademark water guitar sound is scattered all over the track and it takes the lead along with an heavy reverb during a break halfway through the song, making it one of the best cuts on the album.
Well, I tried my best but I couldn't find any relevant information about "Dawn" a song written by one Robert Robinson... It's a real pity because this is probably the most scintillating track on "Whistle Stop" and I would have been curious to learn something more about it and listen to the original version... Maybe someone in the know could shed some light about it? Thank you! Anyway, once again I agree with the reviewer at Space Age Pop: «"Dawn" stands out in its compact intensity. It starts revved up and keeps the pedal to the metal right to the last note. Bell's fuzzed-out tone is pretty remarkable to hear, given that it's just 1964. It's the kind of track that blows the dust out of the speakers and leaves compilation makers wondering how to possibly follow it up.»
The album proceeds with "Bellzouki", the first of three compositions co-written by Bell himself with Wandra Merrell Brown that appear on the record. As per title, the song makes good use of the Bellzouki, an electric 12-string guitar that Bell had invented and perfectioned for Danelectro just months early. Bell's creation was inspired by the Bouzouki, a Greek string instrument, and I easily guess that this is one of its very first appearances on a record.
"What'd I Say" was written by Ray Charles, who also recorded it in 1959. Bell's version is pretty tight just like the original, and although it doesn't introduce new elements we can still appreciate the precision of his mighty touch.
First side finish with "Last Stop", the shortest number on the album. This instrumental was written by Phil Ramone and Cathryn Williams, and having being copyrighted just in December 1963 I believe that it is an original piece of music created on purpose for the inclusion on this LP. Bell's guitar introduces the track with its imitation of a steam whistle and then proceeds solidly to the end, making this a favourite of mine.
Side B opens with "Trainman's Blues", another instrumental written by the Bell-Merrell duo. As the title clearly implies, this is a Blues number augmented by Bell's tremolo and distortion effects. At times I feel like he's about to dive into a devastating solo along the lines of the one played by Marty McFly / Michael J. Fox in one of the best scenes of "Back To the Future", but instead he always manage to keep the train on the track, just to use a metaphor which suits both the song and the album.
"Shindig" is an instrumental written by Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch and brought to success in 1963 by their band, The Shadows. Bell adds a touch of his water guitar sound, but his version - althought being more powerful, in my opinion - remains mostly faithful to the original.
"Whistle Stop" is the third number written by Bell and Wandra Merrell Brown, this time also aided by Phil Ramone. It would be interesting to know the name of the anonymous whistler who gives this distinctive touch to a rather simple bluesy track... Since Bell had often collaborated with Dick Hyman - who is also well-known for his whistling ability - I wouldn't be surprised if it was really him, but of course this is just mere speculation... As I already wrote, apart from being choosen as the album's title, this cut was also released as a single. This was not a wise choice in my opinion, and the album has stronger tracks that could have served that purpose better.
"Memphis" is a famous song written by Chuck Berry, which was first released in 1959. Somehow Bell's version differs from the original and I must admit that I was not able to recognize it at first listen. The chord progression seems to be the same but the distinctive vocal line is completely absent and is not replaced by any instrument, making it difficult to draw a connection with the original composition, at least for me.
"I Have But One Heart" is a popular song composed by Johnny Farrow and Marty Symes. The song is an adaptation of a traditional Neapolitan song entitled "O Marenariello", and was first recorded by Vic Damone in 1947. Bell brings the song back to its original Southern Italy context by aptly playing most of it on a mandolin and using a very clean and gentle guitar sound.
"The End of the Line" is another short instrumental written by the Ramone-Williams duo, and I assume from its copyright date that, once again, this is an original number created for the album. Bell's guitar is at its best and this track - although not sharing any striking similarities - somehow reminds me of Perrey and Kingsley's "Swan's Splashdown" from "The In Sound from Way Out!", a 1966 album that also features an unaccredited Vinnie Bell on guitar, uhm...
"Tramp Song" brings the album to an end. The original version of this track is entitled "Tramp-Melodie" and comes from the original soundtrack written by German composer Martin Böttcher for the 1963 movie "Der Schatz im Silbersee" (The Treasure of the Silver Lake). It may seem an odd choice, but the orchestral movements of the original are faithfully reconstructed by Bell on his guitar, making it a perfect closure.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album: enjoy "Moonglow", "Night Train", "Fever", "Dawn", "Bellzouki", "Shindig", "Whistle Stop" and "The End of the Line"!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Vinnie Bell and "Whistle Stop" is available here:
If you have other useful information about this post, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
As promised just a few months ago, here comes what could possibly be one of the last posts in the long series that I dedicated to Dick Jensen since October 2011. Well, I must admit that I am contemplating the idea of gathering together all his singles, so there may still be room for one more big post dedicated to him here on Stereo Candies sometime soon.
Oh, and I have not yet completely resigned myself to live without a copy of Jensen's "True Spirit of Aloha", a religious album (...vinyl? ...cassette? Who knows....) that was released in 1985, after he became a born again evangelical Christian minister. This release is mentioned at least on a couple of Hawaiianwebsites and could easily be seen as the Holy Grail for all Jensen's die-hard fans, namely Me, Myself and I.
If you happen to have any information about such release and, who knows, even a copy for sale then I would love to hear from you, really!
A rare early/mid '80s picture of Dick Jensen, sorry for the awful quality!
Jensen was a live musical performer of the Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Gospel genres. A native Hawaiian athletic song stylist and a prime mover of nightclub shows inspired by Little Richard, whose "white hot soul" electrified audiences with his belting voice and imposing physical performances. Jensen earned the sobriquet "The Giant" because of his tall stature, but he had a talent to match that nickname. His signature on-stage style incorporated strenuous dance moves similar to those of Jackie Wilson; he was noted for his glide - a proto-Moonwalk - well before Michael Jackson made it fashionable; just have a look at this clip on YouTube.
Jensen's music career began in 1959 and during the next fifteen years he moved back and forth between the Continental U.S. and Hawaii several times. He soon established himself as a singer in the Islands and in 1965 he got a contract with Loma Records.
During the late '60s / early '70 he often performed at several hotels and casinos and guested on many TV shows. His first album, entitled "White Hot Soul" (...available here...) was released in late 1969.
His potential as a national mainstream recording artist resulted in a contract with Philadelphia International, one of the top Soul music labels of the early 1970s. His "Dick Jensen" album was released in early 1973, but unfortunately sales were low and Jensen's tenure with the legendary label was very short...
Jensen returned to Honolulu around 1974 or 1975 and quickly re-estabilished himself as a local showroom star with engagements at the Hula Hut and at the Empire Room on the Oceania Floating Restaurant; the latter was jammed night after night for eight years.
"Giant of Hawaii", Jensen's third album (...available here...), was produced and arranged by Don Costa for his Don Costa Productions Inc. The record was released by Jensen himself in mid/late 1976 on a personal label created on purpose, the evocative Record Club of Honolulu.
In 1978 Jensen had a small part in a TV movie entitled "The Islander". I desperately tried to find a copy of this movie or at least more information about it, but all I could come up with is this short synopsis.
During 1979 Jensen worked on a new album with Bartolome 'Bart' Bascone, a veteran Island musician, conductor, composer and arranger best known for his novelty song "Who Is the Lolo (Who Stole My Pakalolo)", which Don Ho recorded and made a radio hit in 1977. "The Writer" (...available here...) was probably released the same year on Giant Records, another one-off label created by Jensen himself.
During the early '80s Jensen appeared on The Mike Douglas Show when it was broadcast from Hawaii, and guested on a few episodes of Magnum P.I.
Around the same time, a new single appeared out of the blue on, ehm, Bluewater Records, and - as you already guessed - "Honolulu Girls / On the Beach" is the subject of this post
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Here's the track list for this 7" single:
01. Honolulu Girls (3:18) 02. On the Beach (3:04)
Both tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in April 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.
Please have a look at the comments for the download link.
"Honolulu Girls / On the Beach" was released on Bluewater Records with catalogue number BW 1040 sometime in the early '80s. Unfortunately only very few information about this Hawaiian label run by legendary Tom Moffatt is available on the Internet.
My copy comes in a simple white paper sleeve and I guess this is how it was originally released. Date of publication is not written anywhere on the center labels, neither there are hints about it in the run-out grooves... Anyway, according to Discogs, other Bluewater singles with a lower catalogue number were released in 1980 and 1981, so I guess that a 1982-84 release date is correct.
Both tracks on the record were produced by Frank Day. No other credit is available, but I suppose that they were written by Jensen himself, or at least the lyrics seems to suit his style and suggest that he has to be credited for them.
The songs share a very similar musical structure and include extended saxophone solos. Unfortunately, like many other music recorded in the '80s, they seem quite dated now and they don't share the same freshness of other material recorded by Jensen during the previous decade.
Anyway, once again they showcase common themes of the life on the Islands and are a testament to the author's positive personality and attitude.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Honolulu Girls" and "On the Beach"!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Dick Jensen is available here:
I'm currently compiling a Dick Jensen biography, the first part of this work-in-progress covers the period 1942-1972 and is available here.
I'm also trying to compile a Dick Jensen exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.
Last but not least, I'm also trying to build a collection of Dick Jensen pictures and memorabilia, my work-in-progress is available here.
All my posts dedicated to Dick Jensen on this blog are available here.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
If you have other useful information about this post, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
There's not a street that you can walk You've got to watch just who you're talkin' to They're out to get 'ya Can't turn your back on a smiling face Next thing you know, there ain't no trace of you And this I bet 'ya Some people lose and some folks win It's a matter of what they do
Are you man enough? Big and bad enough Are you gonna let 'em shoot you down When the evil flies and your brother cries Are you gonna stay around? Someone needs a friend Just around the bend Don't you think you should be there? Are you man enough when the going's rough? Is it in your heart to care?
There's no pretending it goes away With every step that you take you pay your dues And I ain't lyin' You got to struggle to see the light Somebody's lookin' to steal your right to choose And they don't stop tryin' It's like a jungle outside the door And it's keepin' you so confused
Are you man enough? Big and bad enough Are you gonna let 'em shoot you down? When the evil flies and your brother cries Are you gonna stay around?
Gotta keep your eye on the passers-by Better watch your step Cause you never know when the knife will go And they ain't missed yet The strong survive, they stay alive They're always cool But they never teach you that in school
Are you man enough? Big and bad enough Are you gonna let 'em shoot you down? When the evil flies and your brother cries Are you gonna stay around? Someone needs a friend Just around the bend Don't you think you should be there? Are you man enough when the going's rough? Is it in your heart to care?
Are you man enough? Big and bad enough? Are you gonna let 'em shoot you down?
One of Motown's most consistent hitmakers and its longest lived lineup (over four decades), the Four Tops were the most stable vocal groups to emerge from the label in the '60s, charting with scores of upbeat love songs featuring Levi Stubbs' rough hewn lead vocals.
The Four Tops were a product of Detroit's North End: Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir sang together in a group while attending Pershing High School. Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton were boyhood friends and attended Northern High together in Detroit too. At the insistence of their friends, they performed at a local birthday party and decided to remain together christening themselves The Four Aims.
Roquel "Billy" Davis, who was Lawrence Payton's cousin and sometimes sang with the group as the fifth Aim, sent a demo tape to Chess Records in Chicago. They were sent bus tickets and invited to audition.
It seems that Chess was more interested in Davis' writing skill than the group. However Davis' persistence ended up with them being signed to Chess Records. In 1956 they changed their name to Four Tops to avoid confusion with the The Ames Brothers, another well-estabilished vocal group.
Over the next seven years, the Tops endured unsuccessful tenures at Chess, Red Top, Riverside Recordsand Columbia Records. Without any hit records to their name, they toured frequently, developing a polished stage presence and an experienced supper club act. In 1963, Berry Gordy, Jr., who had worked with Roquel Davis as a songwriter in the late '50s, convinced the Tops to join the roster of his growing Motown record company.
Gordy had them record "Breaking Through" for his experimental Workshop Jazz subsidiary. Later that year they were finally directed toward contemporary soul. Under the wing of Motown's top production and recording team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Four Tops were launched with "Baby I Need Your Loving", which went to #11 in 1964.
Over the next eight years The Four Tops appeared on the charts almost thirty times, and Levi Stubbs became an international star and an influence on singers from the '60s to the present time.
Like many other Motown acts, the Four Tops became popular in major nightclubs around the world. In 1967 they had hits with "Bernadette", "7-Rooms of Gloom" and "You Keep Running Away". By now, the Tops were the most successful male Motown act in the U.K. (...in the United States, they were second to The Temptations...), and began experimenting with more mainstream pop hits.
Without Holland-Dozier-Holland, the quality of the Four Tops' output began to decline, and hits became less frequent. The group worked with a wide array of Motown producers during the late 1960s, including Ivy Hunter, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Norman Whitfield and Johnny Bristol, without significant chart success.
Their first major hit in a long time came in the form of 1970's "It's All In the Game", produced by Frank Wilson. Wilson and the Tops began working on a number of innovative tracks and albums together, echoing Whitfield's psychedelic soul work with The Temptations.
In 1970, with its well thought out originals and expertly considered covers, their "Still Waters Run Deep" LP was of the earliest Soul concept albums. It also served as an inspiration for Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic album "What's Going On", whose title track was co-written by "Obie" Benson.
In early 1972 the Four Tops recorded "Nature Planned It" with producer Frank Wilson, it was their last Motown album for more than twenty years. This release was the subject of a previous post on Stereo Candies, just have a look here if you're interested.
During that year, Motown started relocating to Los Angeles and all its artists had to move as well. Many of the older acts opted to stay in Detroit, including The Funk Brothers backing band and the Four Tops. The Tops departed Motown for ABC-Dunhill, where they were assigned to songwriters-producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter.
Moving to another label rejuvenated the group's career and when "Keeper of the Castle" was released as a single in October 1972 and it became their first Pop Top 10 hit since "Bernadette" in 1967, with "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" also entering the Top 10 in a short time.
Four Tops as they appear on the back cover of "Live & In Concert"...
Following the success of the "Keeper of the Castle" LP (...enjoy it here...), in 1973 the Four Tops returned to the ABC Recording Studios under the supervision of Steve Barri with the same team of musicians, arrangers and producers, to work on their 19th full-lenght studio album entitled "Main Street People".
The album (...available here courtesy of yours truly...) was released by ABC-Dunhill in September 1973. Just like their previous effort, it was produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who were also responsible for writing about half of the tracks.
"Are You Man Enough", the theme song to the movie "Shaft In Africa", turned out to be the first of three hit singles to emerge from "Main Street People"; it reached #2 on the American R&B chart and #15 on the American Billboard chart. The infectious "Sweet Understanding Love", which would be the group's last Top 40 Pop Hit for ABC, and the equally catchy follow-up "I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind" both had a feel remarkably similar to some of the Tops' work for Motown.
In late 1973 / early 1974 the group was busy at the ABC Recording Studios again working on their third album for the label. "Meeting of the Minds" was finally released by ABC-Dunhill in a colourful and slightly psychedelic cover in April 1974; it was the Tops' third consecutive album produced by Steve Barri, Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter.
"Meeting of the Minds" (...available here...), was the last true Soul album recorded by the Four Tops before the advent of the Disco era. The album spawned two singles in the U.S.: "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" reached the R&B Top 10 in early May peaking at #3, while the midtempo "Midnight Flower" peaked at #5 in the Billboard R&B Chart during autumn. A third single, "The Well Is Dry", was released in the U.K. only, to coincide with a British tour.
Cashing on the late success of the "Midnight Flower" single, a live album was released in October 1974: the aptly titled "Live & In Concert is the subject of this post.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"Live & In Concerts" contains the following tracks:
01. Intro and Countdown (0:33) 02. Are You Man Enough (3:14) 03. Love Ain't Easy To Come By (3:23) 04. Medley: Love Music / Reach Out (I'll Be There) / Standing in the Shadows of Love (4:23) 05. Midnight Flower (3:39) 06. Baby I Need Your Loving (4:38) 07. Keeper of the Castle (2:53) 08. I Am Your Man (9:32) 09. Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got) (3:07) 10. One Chain Don't Make No Prison (3:10) 11. I Can't Help Myself (3:11)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in May 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Before burning this album on CD-R using the provided CUE file you must convert the original FLAC audio file to WAV format using an appropriate software. Please have a look here if you need some help.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.
"Live & In Concert" was released by ABC-Dunhill sometime around October 1974 with catalogue number DSD-50188. At the time of this writing, it is the only mid-'70s Four Tops album that has received a CD release.
I must admit that in the first place it almost escaped me that such re-issue omits the introduction by Jay Butler, the brief instrumental piece that follows and a great rendition of "Love Ain't Easy To Come By".
In addition to that, the tracklist has been reworked in a different order which doesn't flow as naturally as the original... But the real reason why I decided to remaster this album is because the audio on the CD sounds a little bit muffled, and the stereo image is narrower when compared to the original album...
The CD was released in 1995, and even if it appears to be sourced from the original masters I guess that they used too much de-noise on it, or maybe the analog-to-digital conversion had not been optimal for some reason, who knows... Today I am not surprised anymore by big record labels' lack of care and ridiculous process/quality control.
Here's the credits and personnel list of the album as they appear on the back cover:
The original liner notes don't give away any information about when and where the album was recorded, but I guess that the tracks were selected among the best takes recorded at various concerts during the previous months...
The following short review of the album was included in the 12th October 1974 issue of Billboard:
«Super set from one of the most popular groups of the past decade, including a group of stunning live performances of some of their greatest hits, both from the older days and some of the more current ones. Backed by a superb big band, the members trade off lead vocals as skillfully as they do on record, and this is one live LP that is more than simply a greatest hits. It really does capture the excitement of a live show.»
Following the introduction by Jay Butler, a long-time Detroit broadcaster, and a short instrumental "Countdown" composed by Gil Askey, the Tops aptly begin their concert with "Are You Man Enough", a funky track with Shaft-style wah-wah guitars. Well, this should come as no surprise since it originally served as the theme song for the movie "Shaft In Africa"... The original studio version was released as a single in May 1973, and it's quite strange to read in the interview at the bottom of this post that Levi Stubbs didn't want to release such an amazing track...
As mentioned before, "Love Ain't Easy To Come By" was not included in the 1995 CD re-issue of this album and since it is one of the best cuts I can't help to wonder why... The original version, which also featured strings, was included just a few months earlier on "Meeting of the Minds", the latest Four Tops studio album at the time when "Live & In Concert" was released.
In 1974, the vastness of the Tops' repertoire would surely have deserved the release of a double live album, but we are going to have to make do with a single LP and this is the reason why we are served an old trick called 'medley'. "Love Music", taken from the more recent "Keeper of the Castle" album is effectively fused together with two of their most successful hits of the '60s, "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "Standing in the Shadows of Love", which are both rejuvenated with a faster tempo, funky elements and assorted percussion.
Coming closer to the end of Side A, the Tops introduce with sincere enthusiasm their «latest recording» and perform a stellar version of "Midnight Flower". Composed by McKinley Jackson and Reggie Dozier, this is probably the group's most well known track from this period and it was their newest single when "Live & In Concert" was released.
The task of closing the first part of the album is excellently accomplished by "Baby I Need Your Loving", which had been the Four Tops' debut single back in July 1964. This is one of those immortal songs that I could never get tired of.
Side B opens with "Keeper of the Castle", the title track from the first album released in November 1972 at the begininng of their ABC-Dunhill tenure. The song is a strong social commentary on a man's role in a relationship, and the original version was also successfully released as a single peaking at number 10 on the U.S. Pop Chart and number 7 on the R&B Charts. This live rendition is just a little bit less polished than the studio version and in my opinion this adds to its appeal.
A veeeeeeery long version of "I Am Your Man" follows. This mellow slow number is culled from "Nature Planned It", the last album the Four Tops released on Motown in 1972. Composed by Ashford & Simpson, the song has been also previously released on Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers'self-titled album in 1968. This live version is quite peculiar because in its ten minutes duration Stubbs adds an interesting soliloquy that describes the vicissitude of a man who... Well, I won't spoil it here, you should listen for yourself!
"Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)" rivals the original recording included on the "Keeper of the Castle" album, and it's one of the shiniest gems in this precious trove. I am not stuck in the past, but you can't even imagine how dearly I'd like that songs like this were still produced today...
"One Chain Don't Make No Prison" is performed in an abridged version which omits most of its distinctive guitar parts and, althought being well executed, it is somewhat disappointing, but not enough to ruin the global valutation of this album, which is fairly high as far as I am concerned.
The LP ends with "I Can't Help Myself", one of the Tops' most well-known hits. The song was written by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and was the group's first #1 single on the R&B charts in June 1965.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "Are You Man Enough", "Love Ain't Easy To Come By", "Midnight Flower", "Keeper of the Castle", "I Am Your Man", "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" and "I Can't Help Myself"!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following interview was conducted by John E. Abbey with Levi Stubbs in Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom, sometime in November 1974 during a Four Tops European tour. Levi discusses some of the then recent Tops releases and their situation at ABC-Dunhill... The interview was published on issue #150 of Blues & Soul magazine in December 1974.
The recent European tour by the Four Tops, their first in quite a while, gave us ample opportunity to discover what the fantastic four have been up to of late. It really isn't enough just to see their name climbing the American charts every three months with an almost monotonous regularity, because there has always been a unique sort of vitality within this group that has kept them at the top for far longer than they would have dared to hope for almost twenty-one years ago, when they began their life together as the Four Aims in their native Detroit.
However, for almost an exact half of their existence, they were unknown outside of their home town and by the time they signed with the home town family-style Motown company in 1964, they had become as we know them today, the Four Tops.
What is it that keeps four guys together through infinite bad times as well as good for that long? And how many people stop to consider how long twenty-one years is and during that time, there has been no change in the group's line-up?
How many people do you have working in your office/factory who have been with the company for that amount of time, for example?
«I guess it does have to be some kind of record,» the group's distinctive lead singer, Levi Stubbs, told me from the hotel suite that the group was staying in at romantic Stockton-on-Tees, where the foursome played to capacity crowds at the local but sumptious Fiesta Club for a full week. «It is a kind tribute to each of the four of us as people and, do you know, there has never been a time during that span that one of us has seriously considered packing it in or going solo. Sure, I've considered going solo but I know that in my heart I'll always be a Top and that my future lies with the other three.»
This prompted me to ask Levi what the thinking was behind the recent release of two singles by Lawrence Payton as a solo artist on Dunhill.
«Well, it's easy,» he half laughed, «Lawrence both produced and conceived those tracks on our last album, "Meeting of the Minds", and they really are in a completely different direction from the one that the group is heading in, so we really didn't mind the company releasing them under his name.»
What would have happened if either of the records had 'stuck' and given Larry a hit?
«Oh, he'd have stayed in the group but we would have had to add the song to our regular repertoire with Lawrence taking over the solo,» Levi put forward the suggestion. «There have been times when I have thought of doing a record on my own and the group discussed it and that was the decision that we worked out at the time.»
In all truth and honesty, the album of "Meeting of the Minds" has not been one of the Tops high spots in a star-studded decade and I was impressed to hear Levi being honest enough to concede the point.
«It's not our best, I'll agree,» he admitted, «but then we had to work with new producers and we felt obliged to give them a fair crack of the whip and allow them to get across what they felt they wanted. But there are some tracks on there that I do like, especially the one that has been released here in England, "The Well Is Dry". And, of course, I like "Midnight Flower" and then there's "Right On Brother". But we are very honest about what we do and what we record and we try to be sincere with people about our opinions.»
Since the Tops switched from Motown to ABC-Dunhill, they have been firstly very successful and then, of late, slightly less. Are they satisfied with their situation now at Dunhill?
«The thing that we all like so much is the freedom that is allowed to us»" Levi quickly stressed. «It has allowed us to get involved in production and song publishing and into other aspects of the business that have always bypassed us. It has given us the insight to get more involved in the business end of it all so that we are no longer just singers or performers. It's a kind of protection for the future, you might say. As we are today, we can go on for another five or six years but then we will have to think about our future and everything we are learning now will stand us in good stead.»
During their two years plus at Dunhill, they have won two Gold Discs - for their first release, "Keeper of the Castle", and for "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)". And we understand that "Are You Man Enough" is about to turn Gold and give them a third plaque for their wall. And yet Levi freely admits that he never wanted "Are You Man Enough" to even be released.
«Well, I'll stress that this is only my personal opinion,» he underlined, «I felt we had far better in the can, but the company felt that because it was from the movie, "Shaft In Africa", and because the movie was about to be shown nationwide, it would have to be now or never so they went with it. Sure, it was a big hit but I'll always maintain that there was even better in the can waiting for release.»
Now, following the relatively poor showing of the "Meeting of the Minds" LP generally, the group is waiting for a while until they start work on their next album.
«I guess you could say we are having to look for a new concept before we start recording again,» Levi admitted. «It will probably be into the new year before we are ready but we'll be trying for our best and biggest album of all time when we do.»
And taking note of the promises that the Four Tops have kept in the past, I for one would bank my money on that being another promise that they keep.
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]
Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]
Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darindid it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a jazz pianist and organist. [3]
Hyman is best remembered among the Spage Age Bachelor Pad Musicaficionados for his 1963 album with Mary Mayo - who provided otherworldy wordless vocals - the aptly entitled "Moon Gas" masterpiece, which was already covered here on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo. His seminal album "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular, was also covered by yours trulyhere and its follow-up "The Age of Electronicus" is also going to be featured very soon.
In the meantime it's time to take care about another precious little gem...
Bearing catalogue number 45-4136, the "Strobo / Lay, Lady Lay" promotional 7" single was released by Command-ABC Records sometime around mid 1969, probably in July or August. Housed in a company sleeve, the record offers exclusive mono tracks that are not featured on the two aforementioned Hyman's Moog albums released the same year.
Available in two different versions, a commonly found item coming with the usual black and white promo labels and a rarer variant with coloured center labels, the single was not commercially released, at least as far as I know.
The choice of using exclusive promotional tracks seems odd to me... Maybe these pieces were intended for a cancelled release, who knows... Anyway, I'm glad that they exist in some form and I can't help to wonder if other material recorded around the same time was shelved and/or lost.
This article informs us that, after taking part to the realization of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and "The Age of Electronicus", WalterSear did not program the Moog Modular used on these new recordings, he just rented out the synthesizer to Hyman.
I managed to create pseudo-stereo versions of these pieces, they will be available soon as bonus tracks to my remaster of "The Age of Electronicus".
So, on Side A we find "Strobo", an original number written by Hyman himself. In a similar fashion to the hit "The Minotaur", recorded in late 1968, the track is built on the top of a dense rhythm played by the Maestro Rhythm Unit, a primitive drum machine, probably feeded through an Echoplex.
Some people describe this music as Proto-Techno and others even catch a glimpse of Drum 'n' Bass in its skittering beat. Whatever your view on the subject is, "Strobo" was pretty ahead of its time and its shrill keyboard lines undeniably have a futuristic charm.
The flipside presents an instrumental version of "Lay, Lady, Lay", a song written by Bob Dylan originally released months earlier on his "Nashville Skyline" album. Hyman replace the original vocal lines with the Moog, giving the song a very strong imprint. The acoustic rhythm section in the background adds to the value of this cover, creating a somewhat pleasant alienating effect.
As much as I enjoy "Strobo", I must admit that this piece induces me in a compulsive state, and I can't help to press the repeat button again and again...
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Stroboo" and "Lay, Lady, Lay"!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Dick Hyman, "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" and the Moog Modular synthesizer is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Sheep Records was a Swiss underground label specialized in Garage-Rock, Surf, Lounge and other Rock'n'Roll oddities. Run by Christian Müller from Zürich, along with friends Andi Frick and Andreas Egi, it was active from 1996 to 2004 and published about 30 releases, mostly on 7" vinyl singles.
In october 2006, after about two years of hiatus, all the contents of the now defunct Sheep Records website were deleted from the Internet, and replaced with a blank page announcing that "Der Kebab ist gegessen" ("The kebab is eaten"), a last goodbye and a reference to the label's cataloguing system that included the prefix "kebab" for vinyl releases and "gigot" for CD releases.
Recorded and mixed the previous year, the album was released in January 2002 in CD format with cat. number Gigot 021 and as a vinyl LP with cat. number Kebab 021. Tracks order for the two formats was a little bit different, with the CD release also containing one bonus track not included on the LP.
"Opiumparty" features mostly original material from a band that, at the time of release, had already reached maturity and could easily craft their compositions using many different elements. Two covers are also included of the album: "Ca Plane Pour Moi", a 1977 hit-single by Belgian musician Plastic Bertrand (...here's the original version), and "Beim Hully-Gully Bin Ich König", a 1964 original by East German combo Die Sputnicks.
The short Sheep Records press-release presents the record with these words: «This is the third album by the East German combo Los Banditos. Their sound is an explosive mixture of 60's beat, surf, twang, rock'n'roll, garage, trash, easy listening & love, sex & crime mixed up with some future sounds from the 21st century. In other words: the perfect soundtrack for wild dance parties.»...
01. Nackt Im Taxi (3:25) 02. Oh Mädchen Komm (3:19) 03. Was Kann Ich Tun (3:11) 04. Monika Und Janette (2:55) 05. Ca Plane Pour Moi (3:32) 06. Hot Rod Sally (2:15) 07. Mittagsruhe Im Polizeirevier (3:40) 08. Ytrapmuipo (4:38) 09. Cairo (4:11) 10. Hochzeit In Bristritja (2:55) 11. Kalaschnikow (2:01) 12. China Strip (3:12) 13. Illuminatis (7:44)
bonus track
14. Beim Halligalli Bin Ich König (Ultramono) (2:58)
All tracks were remastered in July 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
For my remaster of this album I used audio tracks sourced from the CD release, but the tracklisting reflects that of the LP release - which I thought is the best - with the cover of Die Sputniks'"Beim Hully-Gully Bin Ich König" offered as a bonus track.
Please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Here's the complete credits and personnel list of the album:
Django B.B. Silbermann: bass and vocals Com. Rodriguez Flamingo: guitar, keyboards, organ and vocals Superjoe Paco Louis: effects and percussion Jiri Buschnik: drums Mr. 2000 Volt: guitar and sitar
Recorded at Elektronik Tempel Studio, Saalfeld, in January 2001.
Recording engineer: Dr. Jens Leuschner
Mixed at Superstar Studio, Saalfeld, in July 2001 by Mr. 2000 Volt and Django B.B. Silbermann
Mixing engineer: Dr. Don Eck
Produced by Steffen Gräf.
Mastered by Dan Suter at Echochamber, Zürich.
Artwork by Franco and Django B.B. Silbermann.
Additional musicians:
Johannes Schrantz: violin and viola on "Cairo"
Miss Zero: vocals on "Nacht Im Taxi" and "Hot Rod Sally"
Almuth Eger: vocals on "Mittagsruhe Im Polizeirevier" and "Illuminatis"
Thomas Uhlmann: clarinet and transverse flute on "Hochzeit In Bristritja" and "Illuminatis"
Greetings and thanks to: Slf-Clubhaus + Salem, Claudia&Michael@x-vision, Sabine 1+2, Sandra, Monika + Jeanette, Fam, Leuschner, Fifty Foot Combo, Flaming Sideburns, King Khan, The Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Robert and The Roboters, Ray and The Rockets, Die Sputnicks, Yucca Spiders, S. Jansen, Wassu + Nina, Jana, Andrea, D. Siegesmud, Revolverblatt, East-Club Heiko + Jaqueline, Unique, Wild at Heard, Kassa + Rose Tom, Under Pressure, Lutz + Hans, Villingen-Gang, Siggi + Moni, Kradhalle, Françoise, B. Parrish, Phil Dirt, Norman, Steve, Sheep Records, Artkontor, Matthias Rutishauser U.V.A......
The following short reviews of "Opiumparty" are sourced - and translated - from the web:
«Sweet 60's Beat combined with 70's Fuzz, Eastern patterns, Surf, organ and - before all - great melodies. Their explosive soft-sex-rock-sound with warm organs, catchy guitar licks and some very expressive analog-stuff-shows, makes Los Banditos a very creative and therefore interesting band. This Bandito album is already their third and has instrumentals (with some additional and very welcome female "lalala's") but also songs with vocals. Whether they are sung backwards, Elvis-like, or with maniacal laughter, it sure makes "Opiumparty" a highly varied album.» - Karl Ruddel / Highvintage.net
«60's Instrumental and Surfbeat paired with Erotic Movies and Italo-Western soundtracks - wrapped up with as much glamour as possible - is the sound of Los Banditos. The fact that the quintet from Jena blends this mixture with original vintage equipment from the former East Germany gives the stylish bandits not only a distinctive sound, but also a certain charm. In comparison to their two previous albums, their Surf Music sound is kept more in the background in favour a of a more mature approach that includes occasional vocal numbers and East German "Big Beat" folklore, which would perfectly suit any spy movie from the '60s. If you are into this this sound cocktail, the album is really worth your money. Sexy party music for sexy people - even without opium.» Achim Lüken / Ox-fanzine.de
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Here's a short Los Banditos biography as found here:
In 1996 the band was founded as a trio in Jena, Germany. The Banditos first specialized in Surf, but soon enough line up and musical competence were steadily broadened, so that four years later we're facing a five-headed gang that is still celebrating its music on a solid Surf base and is unmistakeably inspired by the East-German "Big Beat" bands of the early Sixties (yes, this term did exist already 40 years ago), but is integrating the sexy groove of the Sixties/Seventies Soul into its music, performing classical R'n'B vocal pieces and with the help of the DJ, who is a regular band member, creates an own version of Post Easy Listening Pop. This mixture is produced on original vintage GDR-equipment: Musima de Luxe guitar, Musima Billant 76 bass and Weltmeister T/O 200.5 organ.
The Banditos' live gigs turn out to be a challenge for your dancing as well as for your laughing abilities. Glamour is served in family packs and the prescribed combination of musical drugs, namely Sixties Beat, Surf, sound tracks of spy thrillers, Spaghetti Westerns and blue movies, Black Soul, Las Vegas Glamour, Shadows melodies and brave postmodern Pop makes even the death move. At the latest with their interpretations of "Je t’aime… moi non plus" and "Oh Tannenbaum" (whose melody is also the state hymn of Maryland) every hall goes wild.
But of course the Banditos are not only game for popular party tunes. In the first place elegance and understatement are dominant. In an adequate atmosphere it is not unlikely that an Los Banditos concert takes up to three hours. And there's not one moment of boredom included. Their own compositions, titled "Fremder Planet" (Unknown Planet), "Porno Uschi" (Porn Uschi), "Unbekannte wilde Frau" (Unknown Wild Woman) or "Zwischenfall im Orbit" (Incident In Space) don't have to hide behind their versions of classics or obscurities.
Self evidently, the Banditos are now all year around on tour, not only at home, but also in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Danmark. Their divine "Sex" video clip ran several times on Viva; Arte broadcasted a complete concert and they have been hired to write the music for Karen Finleys thestre play "The Theory of Total Blame". Of course they appear also frequently in the radio, in fanzines and the press. Some samples? Spex: "Best Surf/Instrumental record of approximately the last 18 month."Flying Revolverblatt: "Fantastic Instrumental sound between Surf &Easy Listening."Ox: "The heroes of Trash Surf Beat… were the only ones who managed to make the 700 lethargic bastards move."
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "Nackt Im Taxi", "Was Kann Ich Tun", "Hot Rod Sally", "Ytrapmuipo", "Cairo", "Hochzeit In Bristritja" and "Illuminatis"!
The original clips for "Hot Rod Sally" and "Hochzeit in Bistritja" are also included as a bonus.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Los Banditos are still rocking after more than twenty years since their foundation, and their latest album "Apokalypse Der Liebe", released in 2016, is another heartfelt addition to their catalogue.
The Sheep Records story will continue in the next months. All your inputs are more than welcome, if you want to get in touch please write to stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Piccola mia, dormi ancora che è presto dormi ancora, il sole è lontano Piccola mia, no, non voglio svegliarti voglio solo accarezzarti
Il sole è nato, ancora addormentata la tua pelle è tutta sudata La casa è di amici, il letto ad ore fatto apposta per fare l'amore
Ho diciassett'anni, tu se il mio grande amore voglio darti la mia vita, il mio colore Voglio spiegarti che non so come amarti vorrei dirti mille cose, vorrei toccarti
Voglio svegliarmi insieme a te voglio volare insieme a te voglio ridere e giocare Voglio, voglio, quante cose voglio non riesco mai ad accontentarmi
Parlare con te mi fa sentire più grande un posto mio e tuo è solo un sogno Il sole và via, la sera si avvicina e siamo solo un bambino e una bambina
Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti su una stella voglio portarti Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare andare avanti e non tornare
Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare andare avanti e non tornare...
Keep on sleeping my little baby, it is still early keep on sleeping, the sun is faraway No my little baby, I don't want to wake you up I just want to caress you
The sun is born, you're still sleeping and your skin is all sweaty At a friend's place, a bed by the hour tailor-made for making love
I am seventeen years old and you're my great love I want to give you my life and my colours I want to explain you that I don't know how to love you I would like to tell you a thousand things, I would like to touch you
I want to wake up with you, I want to fly with you I want to laugh and play with you I want, I want, I want so many things I can never be satisfied
Talking to you makes me feel more grown up a place of our own is just a dream The sun has gone away, the night is getting closer and we're still a little boy and a little girl
I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you I want to take you on a star I want to run away with you, I want to run away move forward and never come back
I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you I want to run away with you, I want to run away move forward and never come back...
[from the lyrics of "Occhi di Luna" / "Moon Eyes"]
Well-known Italian musician, composer and director Andrea Liberovici was born in 1962 in Venice, where he spent his youth before moving to Genoa.
Son of Sergio Liberovici (one of the most active musicians in the Italian music scene after World War II and founder - along with Michele Straniero - of the Cantacronache group, prime movers of the folk music revival and important representatives of the new political song movement in Italy) and of Margherita Galante Garrone (better known as Margot, singer-songwriter and also part of the Cantacronache), Andrea grew up in a stimulating environment and easily followed his parents' footsteps.
Liberovici studied composition, violin and viola at the Venice and Turin conservatories, acting at the Scuola del Teatro Stabile in Genoa and singing with Cathy Berberian at the International Festival in Montalcino.
Anyway, legend has it that he discovered Rock music when he was twelve years old, while on holidays in London, after attending a Rolling Stones concert. So, feverish of rock, he didn't hesitate a moment to join a few groups that used to play in pubs in the city. Back in his home town, Liberovici bought the whole Stones discography and spent the winter listening to therecords inside and out. During his next holidays he flew again to Londonfor three months and, just like most of the artists on the road, he earned a living playing violin in the London Underground and found a roof occupying houses with other youngsters like him...[1]
More recently, his music has been performed by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Toscanini Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra and others. These works have also been presented and produced by landmark cultural institutions such as Teatro di Roma, La Fenice in Venice and Salle Olivier Messiaen in Grenoble.
«I was born in Giudecca (...one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon...) and I spent my entire youth in the city, studying at the Conservatory. I was a curious and restless spirit, before my sixteenth birthday I released my first album, "Oro"(..."Gold", already covered here...), which included songs of a transgressive nature, entirely composed by me, which were born from precocious musical experiences I had along with friends of mine when I used to play in the streets. The venetian producer Ermanno Velludo, also a great engineer, took care of production. A milanese producer passing by Venice produced the following album "Liberovici" (1980), but from that moment I decided to change direction, in controversy with the power of the record labels that often constrain the creativity of an artist.»[2]
«Our home, in Venice, was populated by artists; the full Living Theatre lineup used to pay a visit. My playmate and buddy-buddy, both as a child and as an adolescent, was Serena Nono - daughter of Luigi - now a painter. She was my next-door neighbor and her home, as you would easily guess, was just as full of music and of meetings. Let's say that I was very lucky! My anarchist-creative spirit was not censored, but indeed profoundly encouraged by the people around me (friends, relatives and strangers).»
«I always played a bit of everything, before and during the Conservatory: from guitar to piano and flutes. I started the Conservatory when I was in junior high school and attended it, more or less, until the age of sixteeen. In the meantime I began to record and release my first albums, so I left the Conservatory for about one year. I took it up again when I was eighteen for three years, no longer in Venice but in Turin, studying violin and viola. Later in Turin I continued the study of the instrument and also began to study composition. I never finished the Conservatory and even if for a long time I felt this interruption as a sort of personal failure, now I'm proud of it.»
«My true icons were Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and then Patti Smith. I was fascinated by their singing style.»[3]
«I think that "Oro"is a small declaration of absolute candour and amazement. I wrote it, lyrics and music, at the age of fourteen, but this wouldn't mean much. Indeed, generally speaking, the more you're young and the more you're inclined to refer to models. Instead I think that this album was, although born of many influences, very personal and, therefore, inevitably sincere. I love it very much. It's one of my creations that I love the most.»
«The "Liberovici" album was the beginning of disaffection. Music-industry executives, producers, press agents... At the age of seventeen I was touring Italy as a young star, with driver, fans, etc., and living in a Milan hotel suite. Above all I had no creative autonomy. My every intuition was examined, sifted through and censored. I still remember with horror the fights to the death (I was not easy to tame), with hunger strikes, locked inside the toilets of my record company, because they had rejected a song or mine or, even more serious, because they were putting on me an image that didn't belong to me. I even dared to refuse, with great dismay of the executives, the chance to go to San Remo festival. I literally told them to fuck off and I escaped to London to play my violin in the subway to survive.»[3]
«I've been very lucky with my parents. All three. My mother Margot, an author, singer and puppeteer, my father Sergio, a composer and teacher with whom I lived for just a short time, and Giovanni Morelli, a musicologist who passed away some years ago, with whom I grew up. It was a wonderful family that deliberately throwed me into a magic potion cauldron, just like Obelix, filled with music and theatre. I came out from that pot (...at one point I was about to drown...) with many efforts and also with a great indigestion. Once digested, I found myself in the cauldron again, but with a joyful gratitude for those wonderful flowers who have placed me in the world and that have chosen art literacy from the world for me.» [4]
01. L'eroe e l'eroina [The Hero and the Heroin] (3:46) 02. Ammorissimmo Mmio [Suupeer Loovee of Mmine] (3:04) 03. Padre Pio [Father Pio] (2:03) 04. Ciuff ciuff [Choo-Choo] (3:04) 05. Carino carina [Cute boy, pretty girl] (3:58) 06. Tira tira tira [Pull pull pull] (6:34) 07. Vorrei [I Would] (4:47) 08. Occhi di Luna [Moon Eyes] (4:26) 09. Uh caramellina uh uh [Uh Little Candy Uh Uh] (3:03)
All tracks were remastered in July 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files. For my remaster of this album I used audio tracks sourced from the rare CD re-release.
Please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Recorded the previous year, "Liberovici" was released by CGD in Italy sometime in early 1980, probably in January, with catalogue number CGD 20194. The album was re-released on CD sometime during the mid-90s, probably in 1996. Although not a limited edition, this digital version has been unavailable since many years and rarely surfaces on the second hand market.
I came into possession of my vinyl copy of the album in 1987. It was part of a stock of LPs given to me by my older brother, who in turn had got them as a gift from someone else who wanted to get rid of them... Sigh, poor discarded and homeless vinyls, how can people treat you with so much cruelty? My little babies, I'll keep you warm and safe...
Ehm, in 1987 I was 17 years old, just the same age that Andrea Liberovici was in 1979 when he recorded this provocative second album and I couldn't help but identify with many of the verses of the songs included on it.
Given the young age of the musician, and aware that the LP was simply entitled with the author's surname, at that time I thought that "Liberovici" was his first and only album... Since I had enjoyed that record so much, a great joy filled me one year later as I discovered that Andrea had released his debut LP back in 1978: "Oro". I already dedicated a post to it and I almost can't believe that more than five years have already passed since I promised to offer you his second effort...
The difference between the two albums is clear right from the cover: while Oro" showed him offering a beautiful smile under a huge pair of glasses, a guitar over his shoulder and a nice "No Nukes" button, on "Liberovici"Andrea appears almost emaciated, gazing at us with a mixture of challenge and resignation.
Andrea Liberovici, feature on 'Albo Varietà Motori' issue 14, April 1980
L'Altritalia has already written the perfect review of this album and I truly hope they won't mind if I include it here below. I completely agree with them about the nature of "Liberovici", which in my opinion is absolutely not a trash album.
«Ridicule can be tragic, and tragic is often sublime. Andrea Liberovici was 18 in 1980. Son of Sergio, composer and etnomusicologist, he was kind of an infant prodigy, having released his first album "Oro" (Gold) in 1978, at the age of 15. This first effort was sort of an end-of-course essay for a precocious, brilliant child musician who had studied at two different conservatories and had a great talent for theatre as well. The work of a teenager trying to impress the world, attempting to be profound and provocative, while he mostly sounded naive, and eventually innocuous. The music is a mash up of Canterbury-like pop with rockish rushes and some avant tricks. The whole album is actually interesting, but the one track that stands out is "Risotto", which is also a strong link, both musically and lirically, to his incredible second record. Liberovici came out just at the beginning of what was later called riflusso (“reflow”): after more than twenty years of massive political engagement, the revolutionary movement was rapidly disbanding, and collective issues were soon replaced by individual commitment. La marcia dei quarantamila (“The march of the the forty-thousand”) is a milestone in Italy's contemporary history. More than 40.000 employees and managers from FIAT demonstrated against trade unions power and for a “return to order” in the factories. Restoration was coming. In the meantime, heroin consumption was reaching a peak, and terroristic attacks got more and more indiscriminate and useless. The conflict was still there, but became a private issue. Something for your analyst, if you could afford one. Or something to sing at, if you were a musician. The album reflected this end-of-an-era climate, being hysterical, confused, disturbing. It summarized seventies' glam, funk rock, new wave, cantautore style in a way that was already pure eighties' postmodernism. The lyrics as well were a collection of the past decade's alternative culture slogan and clichés: drugs, sex, new social and family relations, spirituality. Everything's fluorescent and overilluminated; exaggerated and yet stylized. The boy took the risk of turning himself into a comics' character. And in a way he was a comics' character: look at him on the cover. But the thing is, he sounded totally serious about what he was doing. Serious and intransigent as only a young man can be. It's the same attitude that made great Cannibale and Frigidaire, two of the most important and influential italian magazines of those years, and the people from The Great Complotto. Even when he dedicated to Padre Pio– now a saint – a love song which somehow reminds of “Je t’aime, moi non plus”, it was not comedy. There's a no-way-out feeling here, a sense of loss and hate which rescues even the most embarassing moments. In the end, i disagree completely from pals at Orrore a 33 giri. [...their review of "Liberovici" is available here...] This is not a trash album. It’s a great piece of contemporary art.»
William Marino, Dave Summer, Stefano De Carli, Giancarlo Brambilla: guitars Michael Fraiser: keyboards Michael Brill: bass Andy Surdy, Fabio Amodio: drums Tullio De Piscopo, Claudio Bassani: percussion Bruno De Filippi: harmonica Pierluigi Muccioli, Claudio Pascoli, Giovanni Capriolo: horns Ornella Cherubini, Eloisa Francia, Marina & Monica Balestrieri: backing vocals
Backing vocals in "L'eroe e l'eroina": Rockstarter, Mixo and Silvio Puzzolu
If you have any useful information about Andrea Liberovici and "Oro", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
«Enjoy a wild, all-out performance of “Puppet Man” featuring Julio Ruggiero on Fender bass, Bernie Glow and Mel Davis on trumpets, Dick Hyman on electric organ, Arnie Lawrence on alto sax. Experience the new Beatles hit “Let It Be” starring the solo performances of Derek Smith on piano, Bob Tricarico on tenor sax, Dick Lieb playing the Moog.
Travel on the “Marrakesh Express” featuring Vinnie Bell on guitar, Arnie Lawrence on alto sax, Billy LaVorgna on drums. Hear beautiful “Scarborough Fair” with unbelievable Moog excitement. Reminisce with “It Was a Very Good Year” starring Arnie Lawrence, sax; Bob Alexander, trombone; Al Klink, flute - all three using new electronic equipment which adds fantastic “sound expansion” to their great performances.
These and many other provocative hits make “Permissive Polyphonics” a new, highly personalized experience in listening excitement. Every explosive advance in modern arranging and modern instrumentation has been explored in this fascinating album.»
[from the back sleeve notes of "Permissive Polyphonics"]
Hey, long time no see! Another long hot summer is gone and autumn has begun... Almost two months are already passed since the last post, so it's high time for something new here on Stereo Candies.
Before I start rambling on this mindblowing Stereo-4 Quadraphonic version of Enoch Light and The Light Brigade's "Permissive Polyphonics", I would like to express my gratitude to Steve K., a follower of this blog who donated his precious and pristine copy of the album so that we all could enjoy: thank you Steve!!!
So, for those who may not be aware of his importance, let's start with a short biography of Enoch Light just slightly adapted from those available on Wikipedia and Space Age Pop:
Enoch Henry Light (18 August 1905, in Canton, Ohio– 31 July 1978, in Redding, Connecticut) was a classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer.
As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through at least 1940, Light and his band primarily worked in various hotels in New York. For a time in 1928 he also led a band in Paris. In the 1930s Light also studied conducting with the French conductor Maurice Frigara in Paris.
Throughout the 1930s, Light and his outfits were steadily employed in the generally more upscale hotel restaurants and ballrooms in New York that catered to provide polite ambiance for dining and functional dance music of current popular songs rather than out and out jazz.
At some point his band was tagged "The Light Brigade" and they often broadcast over radio live from the Hotel Taft in New York where they had a long residency. Through 1940, Light and his band recorded for various labels including Brunswick, ARC, Vocalion and Bluebird.
He broke up the band toward the end of the 1940s and went into management, working for several record companies before becoming president of Waldorf Music Hall Records in 1954. Later on, as A&R (Artists and Repertoire) chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he had several successes with Dixieland and Honky-tonk piano albums.
He sold Grand Award to AB-PT (...then ABC Records...) and formed Command Records in 1959 with the specific aim of capitalizing on the emerging market of stereo fanatics. His music was intended for older audiences, presumably because he saw them as more-serious audiophiles who had more money to spend on high end stereo equipment, as opposed to most popular music of the time, which was generally intended for teenagers and young adults. Light is credited with being one of the first musicians to go to extreme lengths to create high-quality recordings that took maximum advantage of the technical capabilities of home audio equipment of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He fully explored left-right channelization without stooping to tricks like ping-pong effects, and his experiments had a huge influence on the whole concept of multi-track recording that would become commonplace in the ensuing years.
"Permissive Polyphonics" inner gatefold, left panel
Light was a meticulous engineer and put as much effort into the quality of his recording equipment and production systems as into the music itself. He tested a number of New York studios before selecting. Doing so, he arranged his musicians in ways to produce the kinds of recorded sounds he wished to achieve, even completely isolating various groups of them from each other in the recording studio.
The first of the albums produced on Command Records, "Persuasive Percussion", became one of the first big-hit LPs based solely on retail sales. His music received little or no airplay on the radio, because AM radio, the standard of the day, was monaural and had very poor fidelity. Light went on to release several albums in the Persuasive Percussion series, as well as a Command test record.
The Command album covers were generally designed with abstract, minimalist artwork that stood out boldly from other LP jackets. These pieces were usually the work of Josef Albers. Light was so interested in the sound of his music that he would include lengthy prose describing each song's sounds. In order to fit all of his descriptions on to the album sleeve, he doubled the size of the sleeve but enabled it to fold like a book, thus popularizing the gatefold packaging format.
During his years at Command, he pioneered many recording techniques such as the use of 35 mm magnetic film instead of magnetic tape, thereby reducing the effects of "wow" and "flutter". These recordings were released under the "35MM" series, starting from "Stereo 35/MM" released in 1961.
"Permissive Polyphonics" inner gatefold, right panel
In 1966, Light sold the Command record label to ABC Records. Unfortunately the quality of the Command LPs released after Light's departure deteriorated until ABC discontinued releasing new material on the label in 1971. The Command name was then used by ABC on quadraphonic LP releases from the ABC, Dunhill, Westminster and Impulse! catalogues and on double album compilations and special anthologies from Command's catalogue until 1976, when the label was officially retired.
After the sale of Command Records, Light launched a new label called Project 3 and continued recording. Light produced several successful big band albums with an ace-group of studio musicians, many of whom were veterans of the greatest bands of the Swing Era who were still regularly working in New York's television and recording studios.
Released as Enoch Light And The Light Brigade, the arrangements used on those recordings were transcribed note-for-note from some of what were the hallmark original recordings. The arranging reconstructions of these now "classic" arrangements were completely reconstructed by arrangers Dick Lieb, Dick Hyman, Tony Mottola and Jeff Hest.
Among Light's later works, also released as Enoch Light and The Light Brigade, we'd like to mention at least two gems that benefited of the then recently invented Moog synthesizer, namely "Spaced Out" (1969), and "Permissive Polyphonics" (1970), the subject of this post.
"Permissive Polyphonics" contains the following tracks:
01. Marrakesh Express (3:13) 02. Let It Be (3:54) 03. Easy Come, Easy Go (3:35) 04. Puppet Man (3:10) 05. Prelude For Young Lovers (2:26) 06. It Was a Very Good Year (2:38) 07. Mas Que Nada (3:12) 08. Monday, Monday (3:25) 09. Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay (3:09) 10. Scarborough Fair (2:26) 11. Michelle (3:08) 12. Pass and I Call You (4:20)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in September 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.
"Permissive Polyphonics" was released on Project 3 Total Sound in 1970. I wasn't able to discover the specific recording and publishing dates, but since the original version of the most recent song on the album, The Beatles'"Let It Be", was released as a single in early March 1970, I guess that a mid-year release date is fairly correct.
The album was made available in three formats: LP, Reel-To-Reel and 8-Track Cartridge. In addition to the classic Stereo mix, the album also received the Quadraphonic treatment and, according to the thread going on in this forum, different quadraphonic mixes exist.
I must admit that I'm not an expert on this matter, and just reading the discussion linked above I came down with a big headache... Anyway, the quadraphonic version of "Permissive Polyphonics" that I'm offering in this post is the "Stereo-4", also called "EV" or "EV-4".
I haven't had the chance to listen to the other quadraphonic mixes of the album, but according to Steve K. - who, as you may remember, is the donor of the vinyl record that I used for my remaster and also a great fan of this album - this is by far the superior mix.
Catalogue number is "50-2019" in the top right corner on front of the sleeve, "PR5048SD" on the spine and "PR 5048 QD" on the center labels. Five writings differentiate the cover of this particular version of the album from all the others:
- "Realistic" is printed in the top left corner; - "Processed in STEREO-4™" is printed below the "this is the NEW stereo." blurb that also appear on the top left of cover (...which in turn is also usually written on a white sticker, and not directly printed on the cover...); - "TM" is written just above the end of the album title, suggesting that it is a trademark; - "Allied Radio Shack - A Tandy Corporation Company" is printed in the bottom left corner, making it clear that this item was sold through the old RadioShack chain of electronics stores; - "20 TO 20,000 CPS AUDIOPHILE SERIES" is printed in the bottom right corner.
By the way, there is no trace of this version of the album among the many listed in the pertinent Discogs entry; it may be that it's a bit of a rarity or... Who knows.
A credit for the album design does not appear anywhere in the sleeve notes. It's a pity that the author of the simple but effective artwork featured on the cover is left unknown, but it happens sometimes...
As far as I am concerned, this album sounds great and for once please allow me to say that I'm completely satisfied with the results of my remaster: the vinyl was almost flawless, the original mix is superb and I was able to get rid of all the usual vinyl-related imperfections without compromising: mission accomplished!
As author of all the arrangements of "Permissive Polyphonics" and player of the Moog synthesizer parts used on all its tracks, Lieb's interview is particularly interesting because offers first-hand commentary about the album. It also makes it clear that, contrary to what many believe, The Free Design were not involved as vocalists on this project.
The following liner notes and track-by-track commentary are taken from the inner gatefold of the album. Audio previews of all the tracks are also included along with a detailed credits and personnel list at the bottom.
Oh, and since we are on the subject: the track-by-track commentary on this particular version of the LP is slightly different from the one that was included on the regular stereo copies: it omits a few details about the position of the instruments and also doesn't mention Bob Haggart's participation to the recordings.
Here we go:
«This new Enoch Light album integrates most of the new discoveries in the field of electronic music and exploits them through the highly personalized and professional work of many of the world's finest musicians.
Enoch Light has consistently been a pioneer in recording innovations. He produced the first really significant musical stereo recording "Persuasive Percussion", and has participated in the development of many new recording techniques. These include multi-microphone placement, recording on 35 mm. magnetic film, the use of special microphones which complement the characteristics of the various orchestral instruments and experimentation with the Dolby system and with the Neumann automatic mastering lathe equipped with the SX68 cutter head.
In selecting the songs for this album we have taken advantage of the great changes in modern popular song composition and combined these wonderfully fresh, inventive ideas with the newest of recording techniques. We do hope that this album will give you great pleasure and that you will enjoy the musical excitement which motivated all of us at these recording sessions.»
We're off and running on the Marrakesh Express, with the Moog synthesizer supplying the train whistle effect. Vinnie Bell's electric sitar presents the tune. This exciting arrangement is spurred on by the swinging jazz of Arnie Lawrence's electric alto sax, Billy LaVorgna's great drumming and Julio Ruggiero's driving bass. The vocal group takes over in the second chorus, complemented by the power-packed horn ensemble. The Marrakesh Express roars out of sight with Arnie Lawrence wailing again on electric sax.
Gospel-style piano, played by Derek Smith, opens this arrangement, answered by the soulful tenor sax of Bob Tricarico and a brass choir. The Moog is featured melodically in a variety of timbres in this version of the Beatles' classic. Also featured is the vocal group "speaking words of wisdom" against a driving rhythm section and insistent horns.
Marimba, Fender bass and drums establish a rhythmic figure and are joined by the delightful combination of three alto flutes and one bass flute. Phil Kraus' marimba and Dick Hyman's electric harpsichord takes up the rhythm and introduce the vocal group. The Moog is again heard in a featured melodic role, followed later by a "shuffle" feeling and a sumptuous flute solo by Don Ashworth.
Vinnie Bell's guitar is pitted against a wailing sax section before the brass make their introductory statement. The Moog states the first chorus of the tune, punctuated by hard-hitting brass figures. A climactic explosion on the Moog is heard before the brass take over. This arrangement also features great organ fills by Dick Hyman behind the chorus and some fine jazz by Arnie Lawrence on electric alto sax.
Once the atmosphere is set by Dick Hyman on electric harpsichord, three flutes and an English horn engage the brass section in a cascading dialog. The theme of this piece (taken from Chopin's "Prelude No. 4") is first stated by the voices. The beautifully interweaving melodic lines cushioned on a flowing, rhythmic accompaniment add to this sensitive orchestration by Dick Lieb.
A recurring motif by the Moog structures the introduction and sets the verses off from each other. Electronically amplified horns are featured: Arnie Lawrence on alto sax, Bob Alexander on trombone and Al Klink on flute divide the solo work, each with his own inspired jazz flavoring. And notice how the electronically produced lower octave adds such a new spatial dimension to the normal sounds of their horns!
Trumpets and the Moog join the happy jazz samba set by the rhythm section in anticipation of a luscious bass flute solo by Don Ashworth. Trumpets play the first chorus over the soft cushion of four flutes, vibes and voices. The arrangement also features a "swing" chorus. Reverberation fills the air as the tune fades out.
The "wah-wah" guitar of Vinnie Bell is featured along with piano, bass and drums in the introduction. The tune itself starts as a duet between Vinnie and the voices. A full sounding horn ensemble adds "punch" to the arrangement, as does an exciting "double-time rock" section. Later on Urbie Green's trombone is heard soaring over the ensemble as the tune goes in to a fade ending.
The "white-noises" of the Moog are used to punctuate organ, bass and drums before they are joined by Vinnie Bell's guitar. The explosive brass chorus is followed by Walt Levinsky's alto sax solo. After Bob Rosengarden's drums do some fancy shuffling, Urbie Green's commanding trombone makes the first statement of this Otis Redding tune. The vocal group is again featured in some "soulful" swinging.
Bass and drums start on the left (in 5/4 meter!) and swing across to the right where they are joined by the drone sounds of Vinnie Bell's guitar, the vibes and the organ. The Moog takes up the melody, moving rapidly through the speakers with a unique timbre. The ensemble swings into a jazz waltz, as the voices enter on the third chorus, complemented by four saxes (who later switch to three alto flutes and one bass flute for some jazz figures). The Moog (played by arranger Lieb), flutes and voices follow each other as the arrangement fades to an end.
Bells, voices, bass and organ build a pyramid of sound after which the four flutes pile up for a similar pyramid. Bernie Glow (right) and Mel Davis (left) - an incredibly matched pair of giants! - engage in a beautiful and seemingly effortless flugelhorn duet on the melody. This arrangement also features a subtly blended vocal group and very sensitive flute playing.
Pun intended! Bach's "Passacaglia in C minor" is at the core of Dick Lieb's writing here. Bass, drums and guitar pave the way for an explosive ensemble. The Moog takes over and announces the Bach theme which will be the basis for some very clever variations in the "top" part of the band. Featured in this arrangement are Vinnie Bell, Dick Hyman (with a remarkable solo on organ) and some really hard swinging musicians and singers!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Here's the complete credits and personnel list of "Permissive Polyphonics":
Dick Lieb: Moog synthesizer Dick Hyman: organ, harpsichord Derek Smith: piano Vinnie Bell: guitar, electric sitar Julio 'Julie' Ruggiero: Fender bass Bob Haggart: Fender bass Billy LaVorgna: drums Bob Rosengarden: drums Phil Kraus: marimba, vibes Al Klink: flute Don Ashworth: flute, bass flute Bernie Glow: trumpet, flugelhorn Mel Davis: trumpet, flugelhorn Arnie Lawrence: sax, alto sax Walt Levinsky: alto sax Bob Tricarico: tenor sax Bob Alexander: trombone Urbie Green: trombone
Arranged by: Dick Lieb
Executive Producer: Enoch Light Associate Producers: Tony Mottola / Jeff Hest
Recording Engineer: Donald Hahn Mixing: Chuck Irwin Supervising Engineer for 4 Channel Mixing: John Eargle Mastering: Phil Austin
If you have any other useful information about Enoch Light and "Permissive Polyphonics", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
«Joe Carlton, Command Records president, is moving on several roots to advance the field of electronic pop music. He is proposing to guitar companies that they manufacture a guitar synthesizer which, he believes, will be the perfect device for electronic rock. On another level, he is working with key chains such as E. J. Korvette, Sears, Roebuck, Whitefront and others to establish a separate category for electronic music, with separate browsers and racks. Carlton added: "We have plans for a synthesizer which will go beyond Moog. The present Moog synthesizer, both monophonic and polyphonic, is based on a keyboard instrument approach... But the biggest contribution of the rock musicians derives from their guitar rather than keyboard technique... Use of a guitar synthesizer would be superior to the present method of taking a hard rock performance on conventional guitar and putting it through the keyboard synthesizer." Carlton, who has produced such hits as "Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the single "The Minotaur", says that this music, because it is new and futuristic, appeals to all young and old and black and white. He added, "As electronic music comes to the fore, as it becomes more familiar, people will recognize its artistic values." He pointed out that the sounds of Stravinsky, Charles Ives and other pioneers were initially attacked but today they are celebrated. "This is the beginning of the world of electronic music," he said.»
[from "Carlton's Electronic Pop Music Campaign on Move", Billboard, August 9, 1969]
Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American Jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with Jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]
Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]
Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darindid it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a Jazz pianist and organist. [3]
So, here comes the last chapter in Hyman's Electronic / Experimental triptych. The 1963 masterpiece "Moon Gas", credited to him and Mary Mayo, was covered on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo some time ago. More recently it was the turn of the seminal "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", an album of original compositions and improvisations recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular. Now it's time for "The Age of Electronicus", his second - and last - Moog album on Command Records. More of Hyman's recorded output will be featured on these pages in the future, now let's take care of this primordial little jewel of Electronic Pop Music.
"The Age of Electronicus" inner gatefold reconstruction
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following liner notes, written by Dick Hyman and entitled "Working with the Moog Synthesizer", are included in the inner gatefold of "The Age of Electronicus". They give a hint about how the album was made - basically by recording one different sound at a time on a multitrack reel-to-reel system that you can see pictured on the inner gatefold of the album, probably an Ampex AG440-B - and the way he approached this work.
«It is a lot of work; it is painstaking, repetitive, and even frustrating work. And yet the results, when they come off, are a kind of music, very much worth all that effort. I began working with the Moog Synthesizer when Joe Carlton, the head of Command Records, assigned me to produce the album prior to this one, "Electric Eclectics". Walter Sear, the expert programmer with whom I work, initiated me into the electronic intricacies of Synthesizer sound, and gradually I learned some of the things that the Synthesizer can do.
The Moog Synthesizer is a new instrument and, like many new things, it is somewhat misunderstood. I think of it as a super-organ which offers the player vast new possibilities in tone production, and which at the same time requires him to organize his thoughts in a serial way, as opposed to creating an entire performance at one sitting. In other words, it is not all done at once. Successive lines of tones are recorded in conjunction with a multi-track recorder. The Synthesizer is not analogous to a player piano, nor will it make up its own arrangements. It is very much a played device, and the programming which is involved relates to the production of individual tones (their timbre, duration, attack, decay, etc.). It is the arranger-composer, not the Synthesizer, who groups these tones into the desired musical organization exactly as he would do if he were playing a conventional instrument or writing a score.
Another common misunderstanding about the Synthesizer is the notion that it is a perfect substitute for all instruments and types of orchestras which have preceded it in musical history. The Synthesizer is not about to replace any of these instruments or orchestras. It is not nearly as efficient, although it can do some pretty imitations. An orchestra sounds more like on orchestra than a Synthesizer can, and a lot more quickly and economically too. But when the Synthesizer is used to create its own thing, the new aural events are remarkable for both the player-arranger and the listener. The new sounds (unlike those which any orchestral instrument can produce), the unexpected alterations of the old sounds, the convenience of being able to play them on a keyboard and have them recorded directly on a multi-track recorder — these are the factors which encouraged an imaginative and programmatic approach to the arrangements in the present album.»
"The electronic soul of Command", reconstruction of a double-page spread advert originally published on the August 9, 1969 issue of Billboard
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"The Age of Electronicus" contains the following tracks:
01. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (2:48) 02. Give It Up or Turn It Loose (3:13) 03. Blackbird (3:12) 04. Aquarius (2:49) 05. Green Onions (7:53) 06. Kolumbo (7:42) 07. Time Is Tight (3:08) 08. Alfie (3:44) 09. Both Sides Now (3:04)
All tracks were remastered in October 2018 from the original vinyl records, except "Give It Up or Turn It Loose", "Kolumbo" and "Time Is Tight" which were remastered from the expanded CD version of Hyman's "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman". They are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Coming just months after the successful "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", "The Age of Electronicus" was released by Command-ABC Records in August 1969 with catalogue number 946-S. The album was also released as a Reel-To-Reel stereo tape with catalogue number X 946, and was preceded by a 7" single containing two of its most favourable tracks, namely the covers of the well-known "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The M.G.'s and "Aquarius" by The 5th Dimension.
When the LP was released, the previous "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" was still in the Billboard Top 100 LP Chart. Surprisingly, "The Age of Electronicus" failed to repeat the success experienced by its predecessor, even though everything was apparently made to enhance its accessibility and Pop charm.
Coming in a colourful gatefold cover, "The Age of Electronicus" was released as part of an Electronic Pop Music series which, as you can see from the Command Records advert featured in this post, also included Walter Sear / The Copper Plated Integrated Circuit's "Plugged In Pop" and Richard Hayman's "Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine". Both these albums will be investigated at a later date here on Stereo Candies.
The main difference between Hyman's two Moog albums is that "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" is entirely made of original compositions and improvisations created by Hyman himself, while "The Age of Electronicus" is mostly based on the re-elaboration of successful Pop tunes with the only exception of "Kolumbo", a more experimental track someway similar to the now legendary "The Minotaur", also by Hyman: that was the track which got picked up by radio stations months earlier and was fundamental to the success of the previous album, becoming the very first single featuring a Moog synthesizer to chart.
Another significative difference between the albums is that the tracks on "The Age of Electronicus" don't feature any regular instrument except Billy LaVorgna's great drumming on selected tracks: most of the sounds are generated by the Moog and a few other devices as detailed on the album credits and the liner notes that follow.
The album only spent 11 weeks in the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart - peaking at #110 - and the poor performance of the "Green Onions b/w Aquarius" single, which peaked at #126, didn't help the LP to reach the success I think it deserved. Furthermore, by the time "The Age of Aquarius" was released, record shops were also offering many other Moog albums and, despite the hype and curiosity surrounding the all-new electronic instrument, without the help of another groundbreaking single the record failed to make a difference.
Hyman's memories about the recording of "The Age of Electronicus" and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" are available in a great piece written by Thom Holme for the Bob Moog Foundation website. Pictures of a Moog Modular system very similar to the one used on these albums are available here.
The following track-by-track commentary is a slightly edited version of the original liner notes included in the inner gatefold of the album.
Side 1 opens with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", originally by The Beatles. The song features a not-quite piccolo sound, a sort-of bass clarinet sound, and a spitting-tobacco kind of sound in which the timbre changes as an individual tone is sustained. A Baldwin electronic harpsichord provides the plectrum effect. The rhythm section, recorded after the Synthesizer tracks were completed, is composed of Billy LaVorgna on drums and the arranger on triangle. The by-play among the three 'horns' is the result of recording each line separately on the multi-track recorder and is particularly effective here in giving the impression of the kind of playful communication three musicians might have with each other.
"Give It Up or Turn It Loose" is an experiment in Electronic Soul, specifically that of James Brown, whose recording is the basic model for this arrangement. The excitement of James Brown's singing and dancing is expressed electronically by the Synthesizer in swooshes, sweeps, and explosions of what engineers call, ironically, 'white noise'. Live drums play along with the Maestro Rhythmaster, a metronome-like mechanical drum device.
"Blackbird" is arranged as an electronic orchestration of the Beatles' recording. The Synthesizer elaborates on the original sparse elements and dwells unexpectedly on a section of bird calls. The sound of the Baldwin electronic harpsichord was fed through the Synthesizer to provide the moving tenths.
"Aquarius" demonstrates the Synthesizer's impression of how the Inhabitants of Saturn might perform the hit song from the musical "Hair". It should be emphasized that the inhabitants of Saturn are an extremely smooth-skinned race, but they do their best. Bill LaVorgna, however, who is quite hirsute, is added on drums. The arranger plays electronic harpsichord and Lowrey organ in addition.
"Green Onions" takes as its premise the classic recording by Booker T. & the M.G.'s and goes on from there. The organ-like sound of the first soloist becomes unexpectedly slippery as the Synthesizer's portamento possibilities are explored. The second and third soloists join in until a feeling of New Year's Eve in Times Square reaches us. After some frantic polyphony, we return to Booker T. in Memphis. (Lowrey organ, drums and electronic harpsichord added).
Side 2 starts with "Kolumbo", an original number created by Dick Hyman. This track was performed simultaneously on the Synthesizer and the Maestro Rhythmaster, the mechanical drum device, the tones of which were fed through an Echoplex tape reverberation unit. Not only the duration and the frequency of reverberation but the fundamental rhythms were altered during the improvised performance, so that there is an effect of a battery of African drummers following an improvising soloist. The listener can provide his own scenario of what seems to be a musical battle, as a second soloist abruptly materializes, challenging the first man. At the end, the original soloist states a brief epilogue, packs up his horn, and splits.
"Time Is Tight", a song by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, begins with a banjo-like effect obtained by running the sound of the electronic harpsichord through the tape reverberation unit. The Synthesizer states the melody by means of a sine wave programmed to develop an increasingly wide vibrato. (There is a resemblance to a certain type of girl singer who used to work with the big bands). The other 'soloist' is expressed by use of a pulse wave programmed to incorporate a gradual timbral change. Live drums are added.
In "Alfie" the melody undulates over a shifting landscape as the two moons of Mars inscrutably look down. The title translates into Martian as, "What's it all about, Alpha Centauri?" This is my favourite track from the album, it took hours of work to properly clean it from but it was worth every single second!
"Both Sides Now", the Joni Mitchell song, developed into a program piece which postulates what might happen if a bagpiper wandered into an orchestral performance of some characteristic nineteenth century music. The Synthesizer constructs a cartoon symphony, playfully adding to its impression of standard instrumentation a honky-tonk piano (actually the electronic harpsichord). "After an elaborate exposition", as Deems Taylor would have explained, "the main theme returns in a grand Wagnerian finale, our undaunted bagpiper skirling above the orchestral tutti". As mentioned here, this is Hyman's favourite track from the album.
"Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" promotional single, Side A
My remaster of "The Age of Electronicus" also includes three bonus tracks:
"Green Onions (Single Edit, Stereo Version)", as the title implies, is an edit of the longer version originally included on the album. In brief, the structure of this edit is the same that was released as a single but uses a stereo mix instead of the mono mix.
"Strobo (Simulated Stereo Version)" and "Lay, Lady, Lay (Simulated Stereo Version)" are enhanced versions of the tracks that originally appeared on the "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lady" promotional single released in late 1969, which I have already featured here months ago. Basically, I tweaked the Eq of the left and right channels of the mono versions and used the subtle differences between them to assign different pan positions to groups of frequencies achieving a pseudo-stereo effect. This is the first time I experiment with such possibilities, so I would be quite pleased to know what you think about the result.
Here's what I wrote about these two tracks in the original post:
"Strobo" is an original number written by Hyman himself. In a similar fashion to the hit "The Minotaur", recorded in late 1968, the track is built on the top of a dense rhythm played by the Maestro Rhythm Unit, probably feeded through an Echoplex. Some people describe this music as Proto-Techno and others even catch a glimpse of Drum 'n' Bass in its skittering beat. Whatever your view on the subject is, "Strobo" was pretty ahead of its time and its shrill keyboard lines undeniably have a futuristic charm.
"Lay, Lady, Lay" is an instrumental version of the song written by Bob Dylan which was released months earlier on his "Nashville Skyline" album. Hyman replaces the original vocal lines with the Moog, giving the song a very strong imprint. The acoustic rhythm section in the background adds to the value of this cover, creating a somewhat pleasant alienating effect. As much as I enjoy "Strobo", I must admit that this piece induces me in a compulsive state, and I can't help to press the repeat button again and again...
If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
You say it's your birthday It's my birthday too, yeah They say it's your birthday We're gonna have a good time I'm glad it's your birthday Happy birthday to you
Yes we're going to a party party Yes we're going to a party party Yes we're going to a party party
I would like you to dance - Birthday! Take a cha-cha-cha-chance - Birthday! I would like you to dance - Birthday! Dance!
I would like you to dance - Birthday! Take a cha-cha-cha-chance - Birthday! I would like you to dance - Birthday! Dance!
You say it's your birthday It's my birthday too, yeah You say it's your birthday We're gonna have a good time I'm glad it's your birthday Happy birthday to you
It's time for another post concerning a record included in the impressive ECHK / S-ECHK series published in Southeast Asia by EMI / Columbia starting from the second half of the '60s up to the early '70s.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to discover much information about Pietro Attila and The Warlocks, but as usual I'd like to share them with you. Most of the details were sourced from the description of this clip on YouTube and the booklet included in the "Steam Kodok" CD compilation... Here we go:
Pietro D'Angelo was born in Sicily, Italy, sometime during the late '30s. He spent the first part of his life in his native island mastering the tenor saxophone; here he got married and also had a daughter. During the late '50s / early '60s he moved to Hong Kong and made his base there.
Later he adopted the stage name Pietro Attila and his charactheristic 'bald dome and pony tail' look. He came to Singapore in 1968 with a foreign edition of The Warlocks and they did gigs in local clubs.
At some point, the group went back home but Pietro stayed and formed a new edition of The Warlocks comprising mainly Asian musicians. They got signed by EMI and in 1969 they released an album, "Something In the Air", and an untitled EP of exclusive tracks, which is the subject of this post. A single with two cuts taken from the album ("Something In the Air" and "Dizzy") was also released the same year.
Subsequently, the group changed again. In the early '70s, drummer Lim Wee Guan performed with Pietro and The Warlocks for six months at the New Latin Quarter nightspot in the Akasaka district in Tokyo after The Quests split. Thereafter he moved on with them to Guam for another six months.
«After The Quests broke up, I was still playing with other groups. I was with this group called The Black and White Rainbow which had Robert Suriya on lead. After that, they joined up with Pietro and The Warlocks and then they asked me whether I could travel and I thought why not, I had nothing on so I joined Pietro with Robert and Colin Rozario. So we went to Japan, we stayed there for about six months, then from there we went to Guam. After that, I found the music was getting too commercial and I wasn't getting anywhere so I came back. The group later broke up and Pietro left Singapore. I think it was about 1973.»
The "Pietro and The Warlocks" EP was released by EMI /Columbia in Singapore sometime in 1969 with cat. number ECHK 625. I assume that this was the group's debut release and that their album entitled "Something In the Air" - which will be the subject of another post in the future - was released months later. Of course it could also be the other way round, who knows...
Also, in this post I always refer to the group as Pietro Attila and The Warlocks, as they are credited on their LP release, but their name is spelled as the simpler Pietro and The Warlocks both on this EP and their "Something In the Air b/w Dizzy" 7" single excerpted from the album...
Anyway, the EP comes in a colourful cover that portrays the group in stylish suits and medallions on the front, while on the back an emphasys is given on Pietro, who seems to hold the band in his hand giving the impression of a caring but authoritarian leader.
Side 1 opens with a wild rendition of The Beatles'"Birthday" which is re-entitled as the more popular "Happy Birthday". The original version, which is no less full of energy, was recorded in September 1968 and was included on the remarkable White Album a few months later.
A cover of the popular Bacharach-David song "This Guy Is In Love With You" follows. The original was recorded by trumpeter Herb Alpert in early 1968. In this recording Pietro Attila's English pronunciation is not exactly perfect and clearly shows some limits...
If you have any other useful information about Pietro Attila and The Warlocks or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
«What other duo-pianist can boast that they have played together since the age of six? Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were fellow prodigies at New York’s famous Juilliard School of Music, and even while students they appeared as a team. After graduation they gave a few joint recitals, then decided to take time out to prepare a really distinctive repertoire. Together they returned to Juilliard, this time as fellow members of the faculty, and spent all their spare hours for the next year or so working over the standard pieces and cleansing them of every last hackneyed cliché. Their professional debut as a team took place quite a distance from the concert hall, for they bowed in as a popular piano duo at New York’s sophisticated penthouse night club, Spivy’s Roof. They were such a hit with the starlight crowd that they went on to more cosmopolitan boites like the Blue Angel, the Little Club and the Ritz-Carlton Terrace. Since 1947 they have been crisscrossing the country annually, winning laurels everywhere for what The New York Times called their "prodigious technical feats." Radio and television audiences know them for their guest stints on Piano Playhouse, and the Firestone, Telephone, and Carnation hours...They have also appeared with leading symphony orchestras throughout the country. Their gift for blending the classic with the modern and the "heavy" with the "light", their extraordinary sensitivity, their technical perfection — these are just a few of the reasons why one stern Manhattan critic, echoing the national consensus, called Ferrante and Teicher "the most exciting piano team of our time".»
Here we are again, approaching that particular time of the year when we all become good and exchange gifts... Even though I don't have a 'rule' to post a Christmas record every month of December, this time it's my pleasure to introduce a masterpiece by Ferrante & Teicher which has never been re-issued on CD, and whose digital version available on the market comes with no less that an indecent amount of clicks, crackles and even... Skips!!! And what other month would suit better an album titled "Adventure in Carols"?
For this remaster I also ventured in a territory in which I'm still experimenting to find my way: the 'simulated stereo' effect. In some of the most recent posts I already offered a few pseudo-stereo tracks derived from original mono recordings, but for this post I decided to process the entire album.
Basically, I tweaked the Eq of the left and right channels and used the differences between them to assign different pan positions to certain groups of frequencies. As I said, I'm still in an early stage and I would like to know your sincere opinion, so don't be shy and let your comments flow!
Some quite rare and particular releases are going to be featured on the blog in 2019, I will try to post at least one record each month and I beg you to believe that I really can't do better than this. I also have a couple of requests to honour and I'll try my best to keep my word as usual.
If you enjoy what you read and/or listen on this page then please let me know about it: leave a comment or get in touch, my e-mail address is written at the bottom of each post.
Have fun and a Merry Christmas! Now let's move on to Ferrante & Teicher and their immensely creative "Adventure in Carols"!
Arthur Ferrante (September 7, 1921, New York City - September 19, 2009, Longboat Key, Florida) and Louis Teicher (August 24, 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - August 3, 2008, Highlands, North Carolina) met while attending the prestigious Juilliard School of Music; both were child prodigies, and they struck up a fast friendship, performing together as a duo even while they were still in school.
After graduating as piano majors, by 1943 they both joined the Juilliard faculty, while developing a distinctive style of their own during their spare time. In 1947, they became a full-time concert act, at first playing nightclubs, then quickly moving up to classical music with orchestral backing. A switch to popular songs and standards by the likes of Kern, Porter, Gershwin, and Rodgers made them mainstays in the pops-orchestra field.
At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the string beds, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. By adding paper, sticks, rubber, metal bars, chains, glass, mallets, and other found objects, the duo was able to produce a variety of bizarre sound effects that sometimes resembled percussion instruments, and other times produced an outworldly and dreamy, almost electronic sound well before synthesizers were commonly used in recordings. The treated piano works of John Cage influenced their early work, but they had their own unique sound.
Here's how the pair described this musical transition: «...it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strips, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we fell that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.»
However innovative and exciting their work was, however, it was tough to translate into commercial success. Their concerts were as likely to be held in gymnasiums, churches, cafeterias, and ballparks, as in concert halls. Much of what they earned went into new motors for their delivery truck. «If our wives hadn't worked,» Teicher once said, «we never could have survived...»
"Some tracks from "Adventure in Carols" were previously released on "Xmas Hi-Fivories"... (front cover)
People who associate Ferrante & Teicher only with the Easy Listening music they produced from the early '60s onwards, are often startled to hear their prepared piano works of the '50s. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. In fact, throughout this period, the duo was accused of using more than just pianos to generate these sounds, and they had to produce the following affadavit to convince Columbia Records before the label released their first single:
«Divers persons upon hearing records of "Susanna's Last Stand" and "Caravan" and subsequent recordings by Ferrante and Teicher have asserted, implied or otherwise made known that such recordings were made by the use of various sundry instruments other than two pianos. Upon our solemn oath and undertaking we hereby assert, acknowledge, testify and state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that the only instruments played by Ferrante and Teicher in connection with the recordings of such compositions were two pianos. - Howard Scott and David Oppenheim, 24 Dec 1952.»
...a 10" album issued on Westminster back in late 1954. (back cover)
In 1959, their ABC-Paramount producer, Don Costa, moved to United Artists and got Ferrante & Teicher signed by his new label, where they quickly began to tailor their sound to a more mainstream audience. Costa was sent the scores from the United Artists movie "The Apartment" and thought that the main theme would have sounded good on twin pianos. In brief, the "Theme from 'The Apartment'" single went up to #10 on the charts.
At their next gigs they started dressing alike, donning flashy tuxedos, horn rim glasses and wigs. They added dramatic flourishes to their performances, did comedy bits in between songs and billed themselves as The Grand Twins of the Twin Grands. Their bookings increased and their salaries skyrocketed. Their United Artists contract called for at least three albums a year, but they often recorded more: a flood of Ferrante & Teicher LP was released over the course of the '60s, with around thirty of them reaching the Pop charts up through 1972.
They maintained a heavy touring schedule, playing more than a hundred concerts a year at the height of their popularity. They also managed to release one final Top Ten single in 1969 with their cover of the theme from the movie "Midnight Cowboy", which featured the distinct 'water guitar sound' of Vinnie Bell.
Ferrante & Teicher's voluminous recording pace tailed off during the '70s, although they did continue to put out albums on a regular basis. In 1979, they left United Artists to form their own label, Avante Garde, the title perhaps an ironic nod at their early days as serious pianists. They stopped performing and retired in 1989, setting up homes near each other in Sarasota, Florida.
The Lounge / Exotica revival of the '90s helped renew interest in their experimental early recordings, and led to the first-ever issue of "Denizens of the Deep" (Varese Sarabande, 2001), a 1950 set of treated piano instrumentals meant to evoke sea creatures that constituted their first recorded work, which went unreleased at the time due to the perceived lack of commercial potential. A few simple embellishments were added to the archival recordings in order to complete their original concept for the pieces. This was their last release.
Ferrante & Teicher as they appear on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols", 1956
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
My remaster of "Adventure in Carols" contains the following tracks:
01. Sleigh Ride[original mono] (2:55) 02. Good King Wenceslas[original mono] (2:00) 03. What Child Is This?[original mono] (2:39) 04. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer[original mono] (2:06) 05. White Christmas[original mono] (3:33) 06. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town[original mono] (2:06) 07. Christmas Song[original mono] (3:28) 08. The First Nowell[original mono] (2:22) 09. Silent Night[original mono] (2:16) 10. Jingle Bells[original mono] (3:01) 11. Adeste Fideles[original mono] (3:03) 12. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen[original mono] (1:58)
Bonus tracks:
13. Sleigh Ride[simulated stereo] (2:55) 14. Good King Wenceslas[simulated stereo] (2:00) 15. What Child Is This?[simulated stereo] (2:39) 16. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer[simulated stereo] (2:06) 17. White Christmas[simulated stereo] (3:33) 18. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town[simulated stereo] (2:06) 19. Christmas Song[simulated stereo] (3:28) 20. The First Nowell[simulated stereo] (2:22) 21. Silent Night[simulated stereo] (2:16) 22. Jingle Bells[simulated stereo] (3:01) 23. Adeste Fideles[simulated stereo] (3:03) 24. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen[simulated stereo] (1:58)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in December 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
"Adventure in Carols" was released by Westminster in November 1956 with catalogue number WP 6021. As per title, the album includes twelve Christmas carols which were performed by Ferrante & Teicher on two prepared / treated pianos. The LP comes housed in a playful sleeve that depicts a futuristic scene that involves Santa Claus being launched on a rocket by a team of other Santas. My copy of the album also includes a Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records.
Eight of the twelve selections - namely "Sleigh Ride", "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "White Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Silent Night", "Jingle Bells", "Adeste Fideles" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" - were already been released by Westminster two years ealier on the 10" album "Xmas Hi-Fivories" with cat. number WL 3044. You can see the original cover (front and back) a few paragraphs above.
I really have no idea if the four exclusive tracks on "Adventure in Carols" were recorded at the same time of those previously issued on "Xmas Hi-Fivories" in 1954, or if they were still 'fresh' at the time of release, so to speak...
The recording volume on the original album is quite low, and the music is rich in dynamics and contrasts. It wasn't easy to restore the beauty of the quieter parts, but I guess I found the right compromise between clicks/crackles removal and clarity. This resulted in a increasing of the background noise that I didn't attenuate to preserve the 'pureness' of the higher frequencies.
As I wrote in the introduction to this post, it is my pleasure to present "Adventure in Carols" both in the original mono version and in a all-new 'simulated stereo version'. However, don't expect anything mind-blowing: the differences are subtle and the treatment is in line with the spirit of the original recordings, it adds a little bit of 'movement' to them without creating unpleasant artefacts.
The following is a slightly edited version of the liner notes that are printed on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols":
«If you are looking for something different in Christmas music - if your Christmas office parties or gatherings at home have been too much the same for the past few years, and you would like to introduce a refreshing new note into the proceedings - let pianists Ferrante & Teicher take you on an "Adventure in Carols".
The paths along which this talented team will lead you bear the old names with which you are familiar ("White Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and others just as popular...) but the names, plus the famous melodies, are the only things about this recording which bear any resemblance to any other version of these carols you may have heard.
For this recording Ferrante & Teicher arranged the carols for two pianos - or should we say that they arranged two pianos for the carols? Actually, they did both - for, if playing conventional pianos in the conventional manner did not produce the effect the boys were after, they worked on both music and pianos until they got just what they wanted.
A Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records
Westminster’s studios never had seen anything like the session that produced this unique recording. All over the country, of course, audiences for years have seen Arthur Ferrante or Louis Teicher rise from his bench in the middle of a performance and address himself to the innards of his Steinway - alternately muting, plucking, strumming and beating the strings.
Nor does either of them hesitate to use his elbows, forearms or knuckles to elicit a desired chordal effect - not to mention an assortment of wooden and metal gadgets designed to give the pianos a new personality altogether.
These unorthodox and sometimes gymnastic doings are not calculated to amuse. They are an integral part of the team’s very special arrangements. Their goal always is to achieve the maximum tonal contrasts and to simulate orchestral color as vividly as possible within the limitations of pianistic dynamics.
But no concert audience ever saw what Westminster’s engineers saw - or ever heard what has been captured on this recording. It’s not a single recording, to start with, but a double one - no pun intended. The boys played everything through once, then donned earphones and went over the same ground again, interpolating all manner of fancy figurations and fugal folderol.
What with a profusion of microphones stationed over the keyboard, the gadget-laden strings and the paired celestas, the results herewith are unlike any pianism, duo or otherwise, that you have ever experienced. It is as if Santa had, at last, discovered high fidelity. After so many years of hearing the same old tunes played the same old way, Old Nick undoubtedly would join everybody else in welcoming these new Christmas sounds.»
If you have any other useful information about Ferrante & Teicher and "Adventure in Carols", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Pancy Lau (Lau Fung Ping, 劉鳳屏 or 刘鳳屏, also referred to as Liu Feng Ping) was born sometimes in the late 40s / early 50s in a family of musicians; her father Lau Bak Lok (劉伯樂) - also known as Tin Ngai (天涯) - was a well-known Cantonese Opera Star. He was her very first music teacher, and guided her through the entertainment world.
Her career started when she was around 8 or 9 years old singing Cantonese Opera. As a teenager she transitioned to singing songs she enjoyed: Pop music. During the early 60s she participated two times in the Sing Tao Daily Singing Competition in Hong Kong with no significant results.
In 1965 at last she won the Mandarin section of the 6th edition of the contest with the song "三年" (Three Years). Upon winning the competition, she became a resident singer at the prestigious Golden Crown Night Club (金冠).
Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司), commonly known as TVB, commenced broadcasting in Hong Kong on 19 November 1967. Pancy Lau was one of the first musical artists who participated in the popular show "歡樂今宵" (Enjoy Yourself Tonight), which was the longest running variety show in Hong Kong's television history.
In 1968 Fung Hang Records released her debut album entitled "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳". The album was the first in a long series of recordings that continued for more than fifteen years.
Following two EPs entitled "水長流" ("Water Flows Long") and "山前山後百花开" ("When the Flowers Bloom On Mount Qian Shan"), Pancy Lau's second album was finally published in late 1969. "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), contained twelve songs, including the eight tracks already released on her previous EPs.
The record was a huge success with no less than four editions published - and sometimes also bootlegged - by different labels in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. At the time, a lot of popular music was coming from being featured on television or were theme songs from television drama series. The album, however, did not need any push from the media to become an instant hit, as it contained enough fresh material to estabilish itself as a modern classic.
As I already wrote many times, it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output, but since the first owner of the EP that is on offer in this post has written a purchase date on the back cover (27-12-69), I can confirm that this particular record was released in 1969, probably towards the end of the year.
All the songs on this EP were included on Pancy's second album "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), and two of them were also previously included on her debut single back in 1968... Since this EP was released on Life Records (麗風) in Malaysia, it is my opinion that it was aimed at the local market to help popularize Pancy Lau outside of Hong Kong during the 'Mandarin Pop phase' of her career.
I can't tell if this is a rare release but, as a matter of fact, her singles released on Life Records (麗風) have been more difficult to obtain, at least for me, than those on Fung Hang Records Co. (風行). As a trivia, please allow me to tell you that I purchased this single from a Mexican record shop and it is probably one of the records in my collection that has travelled the most!
All music on this release is played by 太陽神樂隊 (The Apollo), an Hong Kong prolific studio band that reached a cult status in the region during the late 60s / early 70s. Their name has probably been borrowed from the Teisco / Kawai manufactured Apollo model guitar from that time period. They recorded a lot of instrumental albums, a few of them for New Wave Record Co. (新風) - which are also on offer here on Stereo Candies - and most of them for Life Records (麗風); they were also featured as a backing band on countless releases by popular singers like Teresa Teng (鄧麗君), Frances Yip (葉麗儀), Stella Chee(奚秀蘭), etc.
Young was a key-figure in the Hong Kong music scene of the late 60s / early 70s; with his arrangements he also had the merit to introduce and popularise Classical music to the younger generations. He arranged for many famous bands and singers and released countless albums with his prolific and versatile projects The Apollo (太陽神樂隊) and Oscar Orchestra (奧斯卡管弦樂團).
Koo was also a famous composer and arranger, and one of the most respected authors of Cantopop songs; he is considered the Godfather of Hong Kong pop music. During his career he has created more than 1.200 original compositions and many of them have become classics, including various themes of popular TV series.
Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this EP:
"快回頭望一望" (Quickly Take a Look Behind), which was also Pancy Lau's second album title track, is one of her signature songs written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting). During the years it has been covered many times and has become a karaoke classic.
"姑娘的心意" (A Maiden's Heart) is an adaptation, with lyrics by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), of a song imported from Japan. The original was popularized by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari) and the Mandarin version was also successfully performed by 張露 (Chang Loo).
"不如不嫁了" (How About I Don't Get Married) seems to be an original composition and I wasn't able to find any other information about it, except the name of its authors: lyrics by 馮美葆 (Feng Mei Bao) and music by 曹嘈 (Cao Cao).
I guess that "為甚麽" (Why?) is probably another original composition written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), sorry but I wasn't able to find any other relevant information about it....
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered EP, enjoy!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Pancy Lau is available here:
Best known as a member of I Gufi (The Owls) - an Italian musical and comedy ensamble - actor, singer, comedian and writer Roberto Brivio was born in Milan in February 1938.
Son of a man from the Brianza area and a Friulian woman, he dedicated himself to theatre after graduating with famous actress Esperia Sperani, from the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, in 1959.
At the beginning of the '60s he joined the Compagnia dei ragazzi dell'Angelicum and started producing a series of 7" singles for children and prose LPs for La Voce del Padrone and Ricordi.
Among these we'd like to remember at least his Italian adaption of Nigel Kneale's "The Quatermass Xperiment" (L'astronave del Dottor Quatermass), which will hopefully be the subject of another post here on Stereo Candies in the future.
In 1962 he opened the Teatro del Corso in Milan, which he successfully managed for a few years.
Around the same time he started writing for the Italian TV and radio, and also produced his first comedy / chanson records for the Columbia label under the alias Roberto Bi. These included some early examples of his gallows humor, which he will expand later on during his experience with I Gufi.
In 1964, the meeting with Lino Patruno and Nanni Svampa, later joined by Gianni Magni, gave rise to the aforementioned musical group. In those years, I Gufi helped to create a form of musical cabaret in Italy, often using the Milanese dialect in their productions.
Their debut album, entitled "Milano canta" (Milan Sings), was released by Columbia in February 1965, and was the first in an astounding series of twelve successful LPs which were produced by the group in just four years.
During his tenure with I Gufi, Brivio was credited for writing about 50% of the band's repertoire in collaboration with his musical partner Ario Albertarelli.
Until their disbandment in 1969, the group regularly performed in theatres throughout the country and also arrived on television, managing to pass through the tight stranglehold of censorship thanks to their use of dialect.
Shortly after, along with Augusto Mazzotti, formerly one of his classmates at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, Brivio debuted at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan with a new play entitled "Fantascienza" (Science Fiction).
Following this effort, a selections of songs probably excerpted from the play were collected on the first Brivio solo album, the aptly entitled "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza" (13 Science Fiction Songs). The album was released by Columbia in early summer 1969 and will be a succulent subject for another post quite soon.
During the same year, a 7" single entitled "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) b/w "Glass" was also released, and is covered in this post.
"Salve eroi della Luna / Glass" was released by Columbia / EMI in Italy with cat. number SCMQ 7155 / 3C 006-17196 M sometime in 1969. The matrix numbers in the dead wax area are marked "2-10-69", so I easily guess that the single was published towards the end of the year.
The records comes in a cover that superimpose a picture of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Alden Armstrong and Michael Collins - the crew of the successful Apollo 11 mission that brought the first men on the Moon in July 1969 - on a drawing by cartoonist Ferruccio Alessandri that originally adorned the cover of "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza", the album released by Brivio a few months later. On the back we don't find much of interest, just a small coupon that can be cut out to be used inside juke-boxes.
As both the cover and title imply, "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) is a ballad that solemnly celebrates the conquest of the Moon. The song was written by Brivio along with his long-time collaborator Ario Albertarelli and is a tribute to the "...fearless, brave, immortal, generous..." men who accomplished such extraordinary feat.
On Side B we find "Glass", a more hilarious track that had already appeared months earlier on Brivio's debut album. This is another Brivio-Albertarelli composition that focuses on the effects of lack of gravity during space flight, comparing them to the signs and symptoms of drunkenness. The lyrics make an elegant and effective use of all sort of onomatopoeias and Brivio's prowess as an actor clearly emerges. The last line "Non c'è serietà senza gravità." (There is no seriousness without gravity.) effectively summarises the concept expressed in the song.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Roberto Brivio and I Gufi is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Roberto Brivio and "Salve eroi della Luna / Glass", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Scott Walker has joined the great majority today. I truly regret that the final chapter in the trilogy of posts dedicated to his lostalbums could not be posted here on Stereo Candies before this mournful event... Anyway, I promise that it will be soon.
Rita Chao, best known to her Mandarin-speaking fans as 凌雲 (…Ling Yun, Ling Ying or Seow Mei-Mei, depending on your preferred source of information…), was born in Singapore, probably sometimes in 1949 or early 1950; she grew up there, where she received her education.
Anyway, according to some reports, her family originated from the city of Hangzhou (杭州), which is located in the Zhejiang Province (浙江省) in Eastern China, not so far from Shanghai (上海).
Rita, the youngest of six children with three brothers and two sisters, started singing at the tender age of 8 and was already working as a singer and actress at 14. At school she was not very interested in her academic studies, instead she excelled with performance arts: singing and acting.
Luckily enough, she was born in a family of artists: her grandmother, Zhao Yongchun (趙永春), was a known Chinese Opera singer, and her mother Jing Yu Xian (荊玉仙) was a Chinese Opera singer too. Growing up in this environment allowed her to be familiar with life in the entertainment business, and helped to mentor her future career.
Her parents and relatives saw her potential as an artist quite soon, and decided to pull Rita out of school to follow the Opera troupe on their performances. Rita was given chances to perform Chinese Opera on stage and her performances were very good.
It is unclear when and where Rita embraced Pop music... However, at the end of 1965 - when she was just 15 - while touring Malaysia with her former group, she joined a band called Super XX.
In the meantime Zhao Yongchun, determined to turn her beloved granddaughter into a star, increased her vocal training, became her manager and successfully arranged for her to perform in various nightclubs in Singapore.
Rita was discovered on the local entertainment scene by Su Yin (舒雲), a.k.a. Henry Foo, a Singaporean singer, songwriter and lyricist, who at the time was also the A&R manager for the Chinese section at Columbia / EMI.
In 1966 she was signed by the label and released her very first 7" EP. On this record, she was paired with the top guitar band from Singapore, The Quests. The EP sold over 50.000 copies, and for Rita it was instant stardom.
During those days Rita met Sakura Teng (櫻花). As the story goes, Sakura was already a star singing at various Cabarets throughout South East Asia. On one occasion before going on stage, Sakura and Rita were backstage talking; they instantly clicked and started singing together. Sakura thought they had a very distinctive sound and that night she decided to add a segment to the show in which they would sing a duet. Obviously, they received a stunning reaction from the public and decided to join forces...
Well, probably that is just the romantic version of the story...: since both singers were doing quite well, it is an easy guess that EMI felt that pairing them would give both their careers a boost. In 1967 Rita and Sakura began performing as a double act and constantly toured Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, building a fan base at each port of call.
During her heyday Rita Chao recorded many great Mandarin covers of popular English songs and she was part of the pioneers who launched the Rock Movement in Singapore. Along with Sakura, they were both known as 'A Go-Go Queens of the Sixties"; in those days, they used to perform at the now defunct New World Amusement Park and they both lived in Jalan Besar.
Rita's career lasted about ten years. In 1975, when her last solo album was released, she declared in an interview that she was about to make a movie in Hong Kong and that she was tired of singing all the time... In 1980-81 she briefly returned on the scene releasing two albums with Sakura, just before disappearing completely.
For more than three decades there has been no news about her in the media, only during recent years unconfirmed information appeared on the Internet that she may have been suffering from a psychiatric illness that required long-term treatment.
In early February 2015 the news about her death spreaded: Rita's 90-years-old mother confirmed that the former singer passed away in July 2014; she has been suffering from colon cancer for about three years when she died at the Singapore General Hospital surrounded by her mother, brothers and sisters. Her ashes were scattered at sea after a short wake and funeral attended by family and friends. The family did not inform show business friends as they wanted the past to be forgotten...
Most of the information included in this post was translated by our best friend Brian (...thank you!!!) from a rare article found in the May 19, 1970 edition of "Hong Kong TV Magazine" available in this post on the great macaenese5354 blog.
I am also in debt with Joseph C. Pereira, whose books "Apache Over Singapore" and "Beyond the Tea Dance" are a constant and invaluable source of information and inspiration, thanks!!!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
"Rita Chao With The Quests" includes the following tracks:
All tracks were remastered in March 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.
Rita Chao as she appears on the front cover of the album
Preceded by four stunning 7" EPs - allavailablehereonStereo Candies - Rita Chao's debut album was released sometime in early/mid 1967 by Columbia / EMI in Singapore with catalogue number 33 ESX 603.
The album comes in a lovely flipback laminated sleeve with a two-colour printed matte back. The front cover uses a flipped picture of Rita Chao that earlier graced her 我不能沒有你 (The Boy Next Door) EP, while the back offers a slightly psychedelic collage of four different pictures that portrait her in three different outfits, including the one she is wearing on the front cover.
The vinyl copy in my possession is a first pressing with green labels that was manufactured in Australia, probably just weeks before EMI's Singapore pressing plant came on-line in June 1967. The second pressing has black labels similar to those that you can see in the post I dedicated to Sakura's debut album.
The colours on the front cover of my original copy are quite pale in comparison to the reconstruction that I'm offering in this post. You can catch a glimpse of the original cover in this picture available on the Stereo Candies Instagram account. I thought that somehow my copy was defective, or that maybe it had been exposed to direct sunlight for a long time but, as I was searching the Internet prior to compile this post, I discovered that other copies bear the same defect... The other record that appears in such picture is an infamous sounding bootleg that exploits this same cover, but features a different tracklisting that also includes tracks released a few years later.
As the title clearly implies, on this album Rita Chao is accompanied by The Quests, the legendary Singaporean group which was very active during the mid-late '60s, both as a backing unit - most notably for Rita herself and Sakura - and as performers in their own right with a very long series of singles and four full-lenght albums. It's about time that I also start taking care of their recordings, but that's another story, so let's move on to the usual track-by-track commentary...
Side 1 opens with "隔壁的冤家 (The Boy Next Door)", a song written by Johnny Madara and David White that was originally performed by American girl group The Secrets in 1963. The same year the song was turned into a huge hit in Singapore by The Crescendos, you can listen to their version own by clicking here.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information about "薄情郎 (He's Untrue)", I would believe that it is an original composition, but the presence of a Mandarin + English title seems to prove the contrary... Maybe some reader of this blog can shed some light on the subject? Anyway, this track features Reggie Vergese in top form offering a great performance on acoustic guitar, including a mandolin-style solo.
"別纏住我 (Only Friends)" is a Mandarin cover of "Ton meilleur ami", a song originally performed by French singer and actress Françoise Hardy in 1962. An English version of this song was popularized in Singapore by Heather and The Diamond Four.
The very short and lively "搖搖搖" (Shake, Shake, Shake) was originally included in the 1966 movie "何日君再来" (Till the End of Time),which was a huge success in Singapore and launched the acting career of the young 胡燕妮 (Jenny Hu). The voice singing the original tune belongs to Chinese singer and dubbing artist 静婷 (Tsin Ting); you can watch the original music number here.
The original version of "愛人你變了" (I Know) was written by Robert Suriya of Naomi & The Boys and was included on the band's second EP released in 1965 by Philips. "快樂誕辰" (Happy Happy Birthday)was also included in the same EP, and is a cover of a 1957 Doo Wop number by The Tune Weavers (...original version is here).
Side 2 starts with "去年今天 (Lonely Heart)", a Mandarin cover of The Thunderbirds'"My Lonely Heart", one of the most popular original compositions in the history of Singapore Pop Music, which was written in 1966 by Harvey Fitzgerald - the band's lead singer - and Gerry Pasqual, their manager. The magic of the original version is reinforced by Rita's memorable performance and the evocative Mandarin lyrics would send shivers down the spine of the coldest human on Earth. This is a M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E!!!
While the "atmosphere" of all the other covers on the album is rather faithful to the original, this rendition "小姑娘 (Let True Love Begin)" - a 1961 number by legendary pianist and singer Nat King Cole - is clearly marked with Rock'n'Roll elements which are not present in the original. This song was written by Mark Barkan along with Sandy Baron and George Eddy. Another interesting version recorded by The Crests in the early '60s is linked here for comparison.
The album ends with "我不能沒有你 (Wooly Bully)", a cover of a popular song originally recorded by novelty Rock'n'Roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Wikipedia offers much more information about the song here, and you can listen to the original version courtesy of YouTube. Another clip that shows the band performing a playback on TV is also available here.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
More information about Rita Chao is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Rita Chao and "Rita Chao With The Quests", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Long time no see! There hasn't been any new posts here on Stereo Candies since late April... Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way and priorities change. I am still not calling it a day, but I won't be able to keep you entertained with at least one post each month like I did for about eight years, so expect only random posts from now.
Thanks to whose who worried about me and sorry if I wasn't able to reply to your messages and comments. A new post about Dick Hyman's "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." is coming very soon, probably there won't be any other new post until Fall sets in. Hope you will enjoy your Summer, have fun!!!
«The dynamic genius of Dick Hyman, who has found unbelievably resourceful ways of using the organ to express the pulsing drama, the fun and the soaring beauty of today's vivid, new music, goes to work on the explosive themes inspired by the lurid adventures of the whole contemporary coterie of espionage agents: not only 007, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., Honey West, the Liquidator and their familiar colleagues but eyebrow raising surprises such as Agent Double-O-Soul.
Breathtaking, dazzling, sinuous and sensuous... ...bursting with driving rhythms... ...sparkling with humor that is sometimes sly, sometimes wildly exhilarating.
That's the inimitable Dick Hyman formula as this master of the modern organ combines the miraculous resources of this amazing instrument with a brilliant group of guitarists and percussionists to lure more excitement from these themes than anyone suspected was in them.»
[from the back sleeve notes of "The Man From O.R.G.A.N."]
Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American Jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with Jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]
Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]
Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darindid it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a Jazz pianist and organist. [3]
After taking care of Dick Hyman's Electronic / Experimental triptych consisting of the 1963 masterpiece "Moon Gas" - credited to him and Mary Mayo, and covered both in mono and stereo - and the two supercool and fresh - still fifty years later! -1969 Electronic Pop / Moog seminal albums"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and "The Age of Electronicus" (...available respectively, here and here...), it's now time to deepen our exploration of the large Hyman catalogue by dealing with The Great TV and Movie Spy Themes as offered on the gorgeous "The Man From O.R.G.A.N.". So, put on your shades, hat and raincoat and let the journey begin!
"The Man From O.R.G.A.N." inner gatefold reconstruction
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The following liner notes, written by an unknown author, are included in the inner gatefold of "The Man From O.R.G.A.N.". They describe the evolution of both the characters and the music that Spy Movies underwent through since the early days of the genre, and delve into the tricks Hyman adopted to achieve some of the particular sounds featured on the album, which were performed on two different models of Lowreyorgans.
«The indestructible James Bond and the other fictional espionage agents who have come along in his glamorous wake have inspired a set of television and movie themes which pick up where the earlier private eye themes of the Dragnet and Peter Gunn vintage left off. Just as Bond, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Honey West (to pick three quite different types) represent a more fantastically larger than life breed of agent than such relatively earthbound operatives as Gunn or the laconic sergeant of Dragnet, the music that goes with today's agents has far greater scope and range than the earlier private eye themes did. No longer is it enough to be sombre or menacing or broadly mysterious. Today's themes can also be tongue-in-cheek or completely dominating, exotic or explosive, gentle to the ear or blindingly intense.
"The Man From O.R.G.A.N.", original inner sleeve shows Command goodies...
Dick Hyman's explorations of the musical possibilities of the Lowrey organ, - explorations which have constantly added to the world's knowledge of what this unique new instrument is capable of (documented in his series of Command albums) - have made him familiar with the ways in which this organ can supply an inimitable sense of excitement for all kinds of music. Most particularly, he knows more about how to use it to create the tension and exhilaration that are an inherent part of so much of the music that gets people out on a dance floor these days. That very contemporary sound can be heard all through his unusual interpretations of these spy themes. But, since Hyman is a highly imaginative musician, every one of these pieces has unique, personal touches that come not only from his own musical creativity - the use of unexpected styles and tempos, for instance - but they carry an undercurrent of humor that is particularly appropriate in view of the element of fantasy inherent in the incredible activities of these agents. One of the advances that Dick Hyman makes in his development of the Lowrey organ in this collection comes through his use of a second organ, the Lowrey Theater Model, on two selections - on his integration of "The Third Man Theme" with the "Danger" theme and on "The Cat". Some aspects of the Lowrey Theater Model cannot be transferred to a recording. In design, it is a miniature version of those huge consoles that once rose out of the lower depths of movie palaces. The various tabs used for selecting special sound effects light up in multi-colored hues when they are put to use, just like those movie palace organs did. This, of course, you cannot see on a record. The aspect of the Lowrey Theater Model that can be heard on a disc is that, like those mighty movie theater monsters, it can simulate a wide array of sounds that are not available on the usual contemporary electronic organ. There is a marimba tremolo, the sound of wood blocks, of bongos - all of which Hyman uses for fascinating effects on these selections. On his regular Lowrey organ, Hyman ranges from a cathedral sound to the plaintive cry of the Nashville sound. He builds his arrangements on styles as varied as the Bossa nova, a 5/4 beat and an overwhelmingly hard-driving twist. Working with him is a three-man guitar section made up of Tony Mottola, Al Casamenti and Bucky Pizzarelli, a three-man percussion section - Osie Johnson, Bobby Rosengarden and Phil Kraus - and a one-man bass section, Bob Haggart.»
"The Man From O.R.G.A.N." contains the following tracks:
01. The Liquidator (2:38) 02. The Third Man Theme & 'Danger' Theme (3:33) 03. The Man From O.R.G.A.N. (2:19) 04. Theme For 'Honey West' (2:28) 05. Theme From 'I Spy' (2:16) 06. A Man Alone (3:21) 07. Thunderball (2:44) 08. Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2:23) 09. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2:32) 10. The Cat (2:43) 11. Theme From 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold' (2:56) 12. Agent Double-O-Soul (2:52)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in May 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Coming about halfway in the long series of albums that Dick Hyman released on the label, "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." was published by Command Records sometime around February 1966 with catalogue number RS 891 SD. The album was also made available as a reel-to-reel tape with catalogue number RS 4T 891.
All the Internet sources that offer information about this LP seem to place it in 1965, but I don't believe this is correct, even thought such date is printed on both the front cover and the back sleeve of the album...: the film "Thunderball" - whose theme is included on the album - was premiered in the U.S. no earlier than 21 December 1965 and the first adverts for "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." started appearing on Billboard in the first months on 1966... The 'Command New Direction / New Sound 66' ad that you can see below was published on the 4 March 1966 issue, so I would say that February 1966 is probably the most accurate release date.
As in the best Command tradition, the LP comes in a sturdy gatefold sleeve that offers plenty of information about the recordings. Some copies of the album - including mine - boast an oval red sticker with track titles affixed to the front cover. The artwork in uncredited in the liner notes, but the front cover lower right corner is unmistakeably signed Charles E. Murphy, who at the time was Command's Art Director.
Half of the tracks on "The Man From O.R.G.A.N."were also released as a 7" EP which featured the same title and cover. Oddly enough, for the German market the album was completely repackaged and had its original title changed to "Organ Tricks" thus omitting any reference to the theme that inspired it...
The following track-by-track commentary is a slightly edited version of the original liner notes included in the inner gatefold of the album.
Side 1 opens with "The Liquidator", a big, bright, driving theme for the film of the same name, written by Lalo Schifrin. On this number, Dick Hyman uses a rising, ringing sound in the introduction that is one of the basic musical techniques devised for background on radio mystery dramas. Notice the vast freedom with which he swings out on his organ as the piece builds in intensity and how his use of breaks under the organ serves to increase that intensity to a degree of almost unbearable exultation.
Hyman decided to combine "The Third Man Theme& 'Danger' Theme" not only because they seemed to go together in a very natural fashion, but because he had been impressed with the use made of montaging themes on The Defenders, a television series on which he has occasionally played. It was not until Hyman brought his arrangement into the recording studio that he learned from Tony Mottola, who plays guitar in Hyman's group and who wrote the "Danger Theme", that this was actually inspired by "The Third Man Theme". At the time Mottola wrote it, early in the Fifties, "The Third Man Theme" was at the height of its popularity. Yul Brynner, who produced Danger (this was before Brynner became famous as an actor and singer in The King and l) wanted a theme that was similar to The Third Man but he didn't want to use a zither, because that was the instrument in The Third Man, and he felt piano and organ were too usual. This led to the choice of a guitar and, when Mottola came up with the now familiar "Danger Theme", he became the guitarist on the long-running series. All through the changes in tempo in this arrangement by Hyman, Mottola is playing "Danger" on his guitar while Hyman, on organ, stays with "The Third Man". Hyman uses the Lowrey Theather Model organ here, creating the carousel effect with it and achieving the atmospheric fogginess during the shift in tempo through a discreet use of tremolo.
Written by Dick Hyman, "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." is the only original composition on the album. Hyman's keen ear for irony has led him to represent this fictional espionage agent in a Southern style. The Nashville sound seemed to him to be right for this piece primarily because it would catch the listener off guard by being the very opposite of what might be expected. Then, too, its brightness serves as an interesting contrast to the minor quality of most spy themes.
"Command New Direction New Sound '66", an advert published on the March 4, 1966 issue of Billboard
"Theme For 'Honey West'" follows. The feminine quality of Honey West, played by Anne Francis on television, is suggested by Hyman's treatment of her theme. Over an easy, bouncy introduction, the organ comes on in low, sinuous fashion, then suddenly rises to a lovely lyrical passage. The tinkling 'swoosh' that crops up several times toward the end is a Chinese bell tree, ministered to by Phil Kraus.
According to Hyman, "Theme From 'I Spy' is a bit of scored confusion - «sort of like Charles lves.» Although the 'I Spy' television series, in which Bill Cosby and Robert Culp are starred, usually uses Hong Kong as a locale, Hyman subtitled this arrangement 'A Tone Poem of a New York Traffic Jam' («My experience has been with New York traffic»", he explained). To supplement the confusion and clamor that Hyman and his group create instrumentally, simulating auto horns and a hubbub of nervous clamor, he added three girls to contribute some "oo-oo" accents to the melee. The other voices you hear are Tony Mottola («Move over!») and Bob Haggart. Guitarist Al Casamenti churns a real ambulance siren and Phil Kraus caps the production by chiming out "Adeste Fidelis" and "The Bells of St. Mary" in keys that have no relation to anything else that's going on.
Closing Side 1, Hyman's bossa nova treatment of "A Man Alone" - from the film 'The Ipcress File' - is a distinct departure from the usual espionage themes... With Tony Mottola supplying an introductory bossa nova beat, underlined by the insistent rhythm of claves combined with a Chinese wood block, Hyman's organ moves into the melody in a richly romantic fashion. All through this piece, he makes very distinctive use of the warm, deep sounds of his organ, building an atmosphere that is broad and expansive over the usually miniaturizing effect of a bossa nova rhythm.
Side 2 starts with "Thunderball". The theme of the then most recent James Bond film roars out of Hyman's arrangement with a brilliant dramatic flair. The beat provided by guitars and percussion is intense and relentless, augmented by a beanbag ashtray held close to a microphone and tapped to create an effect somewhat like maracas. The galloping guitars are led by Al Casamenti who admitted that his right hand felt as though it was going to fall off before he got through three minutes of this driving pace. The high, piercing passages on the organ are played by the piccolo attachment - Hyman uses it to get something akin to the unworldly sound of an Ondioline.
"Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", also from Thunderball, takes note of the name by which James Bond, because of his most egregious activities, is known in some sections of Europe. Both the breathless voice and the response to it by triangle and tympani were directly suggested by the lyric. «There is a sibilance in the title that appealed to me», Hyman declared. The result is, he says, «a sort of singing song title.» The singer, incidentally, is Dick Hyman.
The German edition of the album was re-titled "Organ Tricks" and completely repackaged...
Hyman plays the theme from "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." in the same way that it was done on the air (at least, the way it was sometimes done - the television version occasionally changed a bit). It is played in 5/4 time - even the gun-shots are orchestrated in that tempo. Although 5/4 is an extremely difficult tempo to maintain on this tune because the melody does not fall into it naturally (and consequently it is more apt to be played in 4/4), Hyman has stayed with the original tempo because it gives the tune the nervous, syncopated feeling it must have to achieve its dramatic effect.
"The Cat", Lalo Schifrin's composition for a movie called "Joy House" can be listened to from a variety of angles. On the surface, it is a superb and lively bit of music for twisting. Just under the surface, though, you will find Dick Hyman's sense of humor at work. "The Cat" was a big hit for Jimmy Smith, the jazz organist who is noted for his hip use of funky sounds. Hyman felt that he could create a striking example of 'camp' by applying an old fashioned sound to Jimmy Smith's funky way of playing the music. To get that sound, Hyman used the Lowrey Theater Model organ and, while he was at it, he threw in occasional sounds of wood blocks and bongos from the organ's array of extra effects. He did this even though he had live bongo and wood block players with him in the studio. But using the synthetic sounds, he felt, added to the 'camp' quality of the piece.
Even more of a departure from the espionage mood than the bossa nova treatment of "A Man Alone" is this sensitive and thoughtful approach to the "Theme From 'The Spy Who Came In From the Cold'", a tune which reminded Hyman of a Chopinnocturne. The music box effect with which it opens is produced by Hyman at the organ, using a piccolo sound with a great deal of reverberation added. The range of the organ is suggested by the sonic distance from this small, close-up effect to the huge cathedral sound which he later switches to. The gentle, subdued guitar passage is played by Tony Mottola.
The ringer "Agent Double-0-Soul" does not come from either a movie or a television series, and it is further evidence of Hyman's sly humor. He first heard the piece on a record by Edwin Starr which was brought to Hyman's attention by his 14-year-old daughter who keeps him au courant on musical matters directed at the teen set. Initially he was amused by the title but then it struck him that «this was a blues commentary on the whole James Bond scene.» So he shot the works on it: The Girls are back again to give a proper shouting quality to the roaring beat. There is the sharp, insistent rhythm of two drum sticks whacked together. And when Hyman decided that a pianist was necessary to carry out the total effect properly, Tony Mottola laid down his guitar and made his recording debut on piano.
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The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!
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More information about Dick Hyman and "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "The Man From O.R.G.A.N." - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Rita Chao, best known to her Mandarin-speaking fans as 凌雲 (…Ling Yun, Ling Ying or Seow Mei-Mei, depending on your preferred source of information…), was born in Singapore, probably sometimes in 1949 or early 1950; she grew up there, where she received her education.
Anyway, according to some reports, her family originated from the city of Hangzhou (杭州), which is located in the Zhejiang Province (浙江省) in Eastern China, not so far from Shanghai (上海).
Rita, the youngest of six children with three brothers and two sisters, started singing at the tender age of 8 and was already working as a singer and actress at 14. At school she was not very interested in her academic studies, instead she excelled with performance arts: singing and acting.
Luckily enough, she was born in a family of artists: her grandmother, Zhao Yongchun (趙永春), was a known Chinese Opera singer, and her mother Jing Yu Xian (荊玉仙) was a Chinese Opera singer too. Growing up in this environment allowed her to be familiar with life in the entertainment business, and helped to mentor her future career.
Her parents and relatives saw her potential as an artist quite soon, and decided to pull Rita out of school to follow the Opera troupe on their performances. Rita was given chances to perform Chinese Opera on stage and her performances were very good.
It is unclear when and where Rita embraced Pop music... However, at the end of 1965 - when she was just 15 - while touring Malaysia with her former group, she joined a band called Super XX.
In the meantime Zhao Yongchun, determined to turn her beloved granddaughter into a star, increased her vocal training, became her manager and successfully arranged for her to perform in various nightclubs in Singapore.
Rita was discovered on the local entertainment scene by Su Yin (舒雲), a.k.a. Henry Foo, a Singaporean singer, songwriter and lyricist, who at the time was also the A&R manager for the Chinese section at Columbia / EMI.
In 1966 she was signed by the label and released her very first 7" EP. On this record, she was paired with the top guitar band from Singapore, The Quests. The EP sold over 50.000 copies, and for Rita it was instant stardom.
During those days Rita met Sakura Teng (櫻花). As the story goes, Sakura was already a star singing at various Cabarets throughout South East Asia. On one occasion before going on stage, Sakura and Rita were backstage talking; they instantly clicked and started singing together. Sakura thought they had a very distinctive sound and that night she decided to add a segment to the show in which they would sing a duet. Obviously, they received a stunning reaction from the public and decided to join forces...
Well, probably that is just the romantic version of the story...: since both singers were doing quite well, it is an easy guess that EMI felt that pairing them would give both their careers a boost. In 1967 Rita and Sakura began performing as a double act and constantly toured Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, building a fan base at each port of call.
During her heyday Rita Chao recorded many great Mandarin covers of popular English songs and she was part of the pioneers who launched the Rock Movement in Singapore. Along with Sakura, they were both known as 'A Go-Go Queens of the Sixties"; in those days, they used to perform at the now defunct New World Amusement Park and they both lived in Jalan Besar.
Rita's career lasted about ten years. In 1975, when her last solo album was released, she declared in an interview that she was about to make a movie in Hong Kong and that she was tired of singing all the time... In 1980-81 she briefly returned on the scene releasing two albums with Sakura, just before disappearing completely.
For more than three decades there has been no news about her in the media, only during recent years unconfirmed information appeared on the Internet that she may have been suffering from a psychiatric illness that required long-term treatment.
In early February 2015 the news about her death spreaded: Rita's 90-years-old mother confirmed that the former singer passed away in July 2014; she has been suffering from colon cancer for about three years when she died at the Singapore General Hospital surrounded by her mother, brothers and sisters. Her ashes were scattered at sea after a short wake and funeral attended by family and friends. The family did not inform show business friends as they wanted the past to be forgotten...
Most of the information included in this post was translated by our best friend Brian (...thank you!!!) from a rare article found in the May 19, 1970 edition of "Hong Kong TV Magazine" available in this post on the great macaenese5354 blog.
I am also in debt with Joseph C. Pereira, whose books "Apache Over Singapore" and "Beyond the Tea Dance" are a constant and invaluable source of information and inspiration, thanks!!!
"Hanky Panky" was released by EMI /Columbia in Singapore sometimes during 1967. It is one of the most sought after Rita Chao EPs, and therefore one of the most expensive. As far as I know, two different editions of this record exist: the main difference between them is the background colour of the front cover, which is available in blue (here) and purple (the copy on offer in this post); the back cover also uses some different colours for the lettering and the label's logo. Once again, the backing band duties are performed by The Quests and all numbers were also included on Rita's debut album. Now let's have a closer look at each track.
I wasn't able to find any information about "薄情郎 (He's Untrue)", I would believe that it is an original composition, but the presence of a Mandarin + English title seems to prove the contrary... Maybe some reader of this blog can shed some light on the subject? Anyway, this track features Reggie Vergese in top form offering a great performance on acoustic guitar, including a mandolin-style solo.
Side 2 starts with "去年今天 (Lonely Heart)", a Mandarin cover of The Thunderbirds'"My Lonely Heart", one of the most popular original compositions in the history of Singapore Pop Music, which was written in 1966 by Harvey Fitzgerald - the band's lead singer - and Gerry Pasqual, their manager. The magic of the original version is reinforced by Rita's memorable performance and the evocative Mandarin lyrics would send shivers down the spine of the coldest human on Earth. This is a M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E!!!
I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!
Jimi Tenor was born in 1965 as Lassi O. T. Lehto in Lahti, Finland. The resemblance to the youngest member of The Osmonds, Little Jimmy Osmond, earned him his nickname of Jimi in the early '70s.
Just like his older brother Marko, Jimi had a passion for music. He studied for many years at a music institute and can play flute, piano and saxophone; his skills were further implemented by his work experience as the saxophone player for various bands.
At 16 he was the youngest member of Pallosalama (Thunderball), an orchestra which used to tour Finland with a sort ofSaturday night dance shows for older people. This act was very popular then and also appeared on the Syksyn Sävel (Melody of Autumn), a song contest on Finnish Television.
Later on he was part of the Pop-Rock group Himo (Lust) as a saxophone and keyboards player. In 1986 the band gained some success in the Finnish Rock Championships and released a self-titled album along with a few singles on the Amulet and Cityboy labels. Tenor was also responsible for the music and lyrics of a couple of the band's songs.
Other groups in which Jimi was involved in the mid-80s include The Cherry Pickers, Iloinen Poika Milloin (Happy Boy When) - a band founded by his brother - and... Shaman!
Jimi Tenor and His Shamans were founded during 1986; this new project was an experimental evolution of the more ordinary Rock band Shaman. At the time, Tenor had recently discovered the Industrial sound of Einstürzende Neubauten and Test Dept., and - as a twist of fate - had accepted a new job in a mayonnaise factory.
The group consisted of Ilkka Mattila (guitar), Toni Kuusisto (bass) Niklas Häggblom (trumpet), and Enver Hoxha (real name Hannu Mäkelä, atonal alt bass), with Tero Kling playing drums as an added member. Jimi was the lead singer, played tenor saxophone and - just like all the other members of the band - banged on empty oil barrels, a trademark of their sound both in studio and live.
Matti Knaapi, a graphic designer and inventor, allowed the band to embrace a more experimental sound helping Jimi to create special equipment in the form of self-built musical instruments bearing names like Vera (an automatic trombone), Sirkka (a man-sized mechanical drum machine), Melukone (a noise machine) and The Liberace (a peculiar-looking stainless steel object which is hard to describe).
In late 1987, after a series of concerts in Finland, Jimi Tenor and His Shamans debuted with their first single. "X-Rays / Still In Love" was released by the band on their own JTS / Shamans label with catalogue number JTS 2001, probably a reference to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odissey" since the catalogue numbers of the other releases of their label hint at various science fiction movies and books.
As the band's popularity grew, their second single "Closer / Some Fun" was published in early 1988 by Euros Records, which - according to the relevant Discogs entry - was a Finnish label specialised in Rock music active from 1983 until the early '90s.
In early 1988 Euros also released "Total Capacity of 216,5 Litres", the band's debut album. Entitled after the peculiar characteristic of the beloved barrels which most of the band members used to play both live and in the studio, the record offered eleven tracks that showcased the Shamans' ability at combining Industrial paraphernalia with more accessible elements, and included a few numbers that wouldn't have made a poor showing in one of the albums that Jimi Tenor released at the beginning of his solo career during the mid '90s.
The following year Sonic Records expressed their interest about releasing a Shamans single, but something went wrong along the way and "Fight / Crisis" - the subject of this post - ended up being self-produced by the group sometime in 1989.
As already mentioned, this single was originally planned as a Sonic Records release, but it looks like the band disagreed with the label about the publishing schedule at the time the record was supposed to be pressed, so they decided to self-release it. Despite the 'JTS 2010' catalogue number on the cover, the engraving 'Sonic-4' survived among the end grooves of the record itself.
Some copies of the single - including the one that is offered in this post - came in a transparent plastic sleeve with simple black and white photocopied cover/insert, other copies didn't have any kind of artwork except the center labels. Despite the title "Crisis" comes first on the cover, the actual Side A is identified as "Fight" by the catalogue number 'Sonic-4-A' in the end grooves. By the way, there's no actual mention of Jimi Tenor on the cover, only the word 'Shamans'...
"Fight" is a fast song with a circular and obsessive structure, where assorted percussion and simple bass lines keep on repeating the same patterns. Vocals are delivered in a mantric style, urging the listener to 'fight for survival'... All instruments are played in a percussive way, except the horns which provide melodic lines and also offer short bridges in the completely instrumental second part.
"Crisis" is a slower number with a more complex and balanced arrangement. The instrumental build-up in the first section in a fine example of perfection and Ilkka Mattila's reverbered guitar short solo deserves a special mention. This is a love song and the lyrics express the need to split up when a relation goes wrong, but also the fear of the uncertainty that's coming next...
Here's the credits and personnel list for these recordings as elaborated from the photocopied insert included with the record:
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
