MusicMaster Oldies

New Oldies - Why Am I The One by Mary Frances

2012-01-30T11:05:00.000-06:00

Tracking down information about Mary Frances made me feel like a kitten chasing a laser pointer. I ran into way too many dark alleys and dead ends on the information superhighway. But tracking down the record itself was even more challenging. Don't believe me? Just try to find a copy of this for sale anywhere in the world. Try to find a record store, dealer, or collector who even owns a copy of it. Go ahead, I'll wait.

I needed this Mary Frances record to complete my collection of Canadian records that appeared on the 1050 CHUM radio charts in the 1950's and 1960's. Although I eventually found them all, this was one of the very last ones to join my collection. I found it in a storage unit in Canada that was filled with at least a hundred thousand 45's. Out of all those records, I only found one that I needed for my collection. This one. Both sides of this single were listed on that chart, making it a double-sided hit. It debuted on the chart on 8 July 1961, and lasted only one week at #44.

Here's Why Am I The One by Mary Frances on Chateau 123 from 1961:

Now here's the flip side of that single, Everybody's Got Somebody:

Now that I owned the record, I wanted to find out more about Mary Frances. A Google search is pretty much useless. That name is so common, you get millions of useless hits when you search for it. I assumed that 'Mary Frances' was just her first and middle names, but that doesn't help much! Eventually, I found a bit more information about her, but it sure wasn't easy.

At first I thought she might be Mary Frances Penick, the girl you know as Skeeter Davis, best known for cutting one of the most definitive 1960's oldies ever made, The End Of The World, in 1963. But it would have been impossible for Skeeter to have been the Mary Frances on those Canadian music charts. By the time the Canadian record was made, Skeeter was already working with the legendary Chet Atkins, cutting hit records in Nashville under the name Skeeter Davis, and touring the country with Ernest Tubb. Alright, that's fine. Once I figured this out, I was one step closer to my goal. I still didn't know who Mary Frances was, but at least I had ruled out one candidate.

While researching another artist, I happened upon a small news item in the 10 October 1960 edition of Billboard Music Week that mentioned Mary Frances, announcing that she had joined the regular cast of a musical variety television show called Country Hoedown on CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). That show began in 1956 as a summer replacement for On Camera on Saturday evenings, but moved to Friday evenings when it became a regular series. It ran for nine years, ending in 1965. The host was Gordie Tapp, a Canadian entertainer who also played a couple of characters on the show called Cousin Clem and Gaylord. The show featured some of Canada's best performers on a regular basis, including Tommy Common, Tommy Hunter, the Hames Sisters, and the Singing Swinging Eight square dance group with caller Johnny Davidson. Mary Frances made her debut on that show when it began its fifth season on 30 September 1960. I found a few other mentions of her in later editions, but was only able to learn that she was a brunette. Another piece of news about her appeared in the 9 January 1961 edition. She would record several original Western songs written specifically for her by Les Pouliot, musical arranger for Country Hoedown. An article in the Montreal Gazette from 29 September 1961 noted that Mary Fran, formerly known as Mary Frances, would be returning for the show's sixth season. One final mention of Mary Fran simply listed her name in the show's credits on 13 October 1961. Whatever happened to her after that is a complete mystery to me!

Now that I knew she had changed her name, I thought that would help me find later information about her. No dice. Searching for Mary Fran produces even more useless information than Mary Frances! At one point I found an actress and singer named Mary Frances, also known as Maria Frances, and who later began using her real name, Paca Gabaldon, who appeared in several foreign films and later started appearing in Italian pin up magazines in the nude! I actually thought I'd figured out what became of Mary Frances, until I realized that in order for these two women to be the same person, Mary Frances would have had to be just twelve years old when she appeared on Country Hoedown and cut this record. That was obviously not the case. Needless to say, if anyone reading this knows anything about Mary Frances, a.k.a. Mary Fran, please let me know!

Someone named Mary Fran cut a record on D 1258 in 1964 called Tic-Tac-Toe b/w I'm Tired Of Waiting. I'm still trying to track down that record because it could be a later release by Mary Frances.

I've spent fifty years tracking down obscure records like this one. But you can enjoy them all without working so hard. Just listen to MusicMaster Oldies as often as you can. You'll hear songs from the 1950's and 1960's that you never even knew existed, and some that money simply cannot buy. If there's a record you've been trying to find for a long time, let me know. Odds are I either own it, or I can find it for you!

New Oldies - Cookbook by The Damnation Of Adam Blessing

2012-01-27T12:28:00.001-06:00

If you ever wondered why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in Cleveland, Ohio, this might give you a clue. Even the Cleveland bands that didn't make the big-time were incredible.

The Damnation Of Adam Blessing were a bunch of guys from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, who were only a couple years older than me. Although their records did very well locally, for some very strange reason they never found national success. Only one of their singles, Back To The River, ever appeared on Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100 chart, peaking at #102 in November 1970. That record did slightly better on Cashbox reaching #85. If you lived outside the Cleveland area, these guys could be the greatest rock band you've never heard!

The group was formed in 1968 when two local groups, Society and Dust, agreed to join forces. As seen from left to right in the above photo, the group's original lineup included Ray Benich on bass, Jim Quinn on guitar, Bill Constable (aka Adam Blessing) on vocals, Bill Schwark on drums, and Bob Kalamasz on guitar. These guys wrote a lot of their own material which featured some incredibly poetic lyrics. Artistically speaking, they were far more advanced than the other local bands, and even many of their contemporaries anywhere in the country.

The Damnation Of Adam Blessing played a ton of gigs all over the Cleveland area, often opening for The James Gang featuring Joe Walsh. I think I saw them perform at The Plato club in downtown Cleveland, but thanks to various chemicals, I don't completely trust my memories of the late 1960's and early 1970's!

When United Artists signed the group they released their debut album in 1969 called The Damnation of Adam Blessing. Then they went on tour opening for The Faces featuring Rod Stewart. They've also toured with Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Sly And The Family Stone, Traffic, The Byrds, Uriah Heep, Alice Cooper, The Stooges, and Grand Funk Railroad. When they played the Cincinnati Pop Festival at Crosley Field on 13 June 1970, some 70,000 fans got so excited after their nearly hour-long rendition of You Got Me Floatin', they broke down a snow fence and rushed the stage that was set up near second base. This temporarily stopped the show. They also went to Los Angeles in 1970 to do a gig at the legendary Whiskey A Go Go club.

In 1970, the group made a second album called The Second Damnation, which produced their only charted single, Back To The River. Bill Schwark left the band and was replaced by the brother of Adam Blessing, Ken Constable. The group's third album, Which Is Justice Which Is The Thief, was released in 1971.

The group changed their name to Glory in 1972 and released one final album with the same name on Avalanche Records, a subsidiary of United Artists. You can find all of their material on an Italian compilation from Akarma.

Here's Cookbook by The Damnation Of Adam Blessing from their 1969 debut album, which was also issued as a single on United Artists 50912:

Here's the flip side of that single and another cut from their debut album, a very nice slowed-down version of the classic Morning Dew, written by Bonnie Dobson and Tim Rose:

Here's the record that did sneak into the charts for them, Back To The River by The Damnation Of Adam Blessing from their second album, The Second Damnation, from 1970, which also issued as a single on United Artists 50726:

David Spero, Executive Vice President of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, brought The Damnation Of Adam Blessing back for an incredible encore performance on 27 September 2000. The guys proved they can still play some kick-ass rock!

You'll hear many incredible local rock bands from all over the country, and all over the world, on MusicMaster Oldies. Tell your friends. Tell your children! I wouldn't want our kids to grow up without some appreciation of the folks who helped music evolve from Crooners and Big Bands, into R&B, Rockabilly, Rock and Roll, Disco, Country, Heavy Metal, Modern Pop and Hip Hop!

New Oldies - !aaaH-aH yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT by VIX noelopaN

2012-01-27T00:41:00.002-06:00

Am I crazy, or does this sound like Russian to you?

This is the flip side of They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Ha by Napoleon XIV, a novelty song that has been called one of the worst records ever made. Maybe I'm just nuts or something, but I loved this song when I first heard it, and I still think it's really fun today. The flip side was just the same song running in reverse. Even the label was a mirror image, with just a couple of exceptions. This may not be your cup of tea, but you can't deny that it's a very strange piece of pop music history!

Napoleon XIV was actually a professional songwriter named Jerry Samuels who started writing songs when he was 16 years old. Jerry was born on 3 May 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. The first song published with his name in the composer credits was called To Ev'ry Girl To Ev'ry Boy (The Meaning Of Love) by Johnnie Ray on Columbia 40252 in 1954:

He actually wrote this song with Sol Parker, even though it's credited to B. Parker. That's Sol's father, Barry. The same thing happened on Jerry's second published song, The Only Girl I'll Ever Love by Johnnie Ray on Columbia 40324 in 1955. The first song written solely by Jerry Samuels was So Rich And Yet So Very Poor by Tommy Mara on RKO Unique 377 in 1956. The biggest hit he wrote, but did not sing, came in 1964 with The Shelter Of Your Arms by Sammy Davis Junior, which peaked at #17 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Also in 1956, Jerry started recording his own records. His first was Puppy Love by Jerry Samuels on Vik 0197. By the way, there were at least 19 completely different songs recorded using the title Puppy Love in the 1950's and 1960's, which may be some kind of record! Jerry also recorded a Break-In novelty record called The Trial under the name Jerry Field And The Lawyers on Parkway 801 in 1958:

In 1959, he recorded Dancing Partners using the name Jerry Simms on RCA 7483:

He used that same name on Treasure Supreme on Dual 501 in 1961. He's also rumored to be singing under an assumed name on Gruesome by Mike Evans on A&M 837 from 1967:

I suspect he's also the artist on Medical School Talkin' Blues by Dr Douglas Greer on Reprise 0524 from 1968. But his biggest hit came in 1966 when he made They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Ha! on Warner 5831. That bizarre novelty record shot up the charts, peaking at #3 on Billboard's Hot 100, and #1 on Cashbox. It also went to #7 in Canada on 1050 CHUM, #4 in England, #7 in Ireland, #13 in Australia, and #22 in Germany. The record dropped off the charts like a lead balloon after an avalanche of protests forced Program Directors to take it off the air.

He filled an album with more songs about insanity in that same year, then followed up with a second single from that album called (I'm In Love With My) Little Red Tricycle on RCA 5853. He was working on a second album for Warner called For God's Sake Stop The Feces in 1968, but it was never released.

He made one more novelty record in 1973 as Jerry Samuels again with I Owe A Lot To Iowa Pot b/w Who Are You To Tell Me Not To Smoke Marijuana on J.E.P. 1175.

Jerry is 73 now, but still running a talent agency in New York City.

Speaking of Crazy, did you know there was a little flaw in Crazy by Patsy Cline? When that track was recorded in Nashville, Patsy came in too early near the end of the song. This was fixed in the editing process, but her voice "leaked" into the instrument pickup microphones. You can hear it faintly in the background if you listen carefully. I've made it easier for you by jacking up the volume on that part. You should easily hear it at 2:29, right near the end:

You may think I've lost my mind, but I don't think 120,000 oldies provides enough variety. That's why I'm adding 100-200 new songs from the 1950's and 1960's to the MusicMaster Oldies mix every week. If I can keep up this pace, and I don't get myself committed to the Funny Farm, you could listen forever and never stop hearing something you've never heard before. Scary, right?

Oh, one last thing before I forget (too late, I did forget it!) They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haaa was not the first song of this kind. Let's dial the time machine back to 1947. Here's Hooray Hooray I'm Going Away by Beatrice Kay on Columbia 37922:

Totally sick and certifiably demented, eh?

New Oldies - Your Driver's License Please by Bobby Please

2012-01-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

It's a beautiful day in Southern California so I thought we could go for a drive. Let's put the top down, hit the coast highway, and see what this baby can do!

Bobby Please was from Los Angeles. He co-wrote this song with Joe Saraceno who got into surf music in 1962 and became a producer for The Ventures and The Mar-Kets. The voice of the cop on this record is rumored to be Eddie Cochran! Here's Your Driver's License Please by Bobby Please on Era 1044 from 1957:

This next record is actually a tenor sax player named Teddy McRae. He was born in Philadelphia in 1908 and played with some of the jazz greats, including Chick Webb, Red Allen, Ella Fitzgerald, Teddy Wilson, Cab Calloway, Jimmie Lunceford, Lionel Hampton, and Louis Armstrong. He and Eddie Wilcox formed their own record label, Raecox, in the 1950's, but that venture did not last long. By 1955 he was working with Champion Jack Dupree and recording a few sides for Groove Records. Here's Radar by Mr Bear And His Bearcats on Groove 0150 from 1955:

Arlen Sanders was a disc jockey on KRLA in Los Angeles from 1956 to 1963. He had moved on to KEZY in the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim by the time he made this record. (I once applied for the job of Program Director of that station!) From there he went to KIEV in 1967, then KFOX (1972-1977). He passed away in 1994 at the age of 64 after suffering a stroke. Here's Hopped-Up Mustang by Arlen Sanders And The Pacifics on Faro 616 from 1964:

Kenny Karen was born in Troy, New York in 1944. When he was just two years old his family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He joined the church choir and began writing his own songs when he was just 11 years old. He went to New York City in 1959 to persue a career in the music industry. He signed as an exclusive singer-songwriter with Al Nevins and Don Kirshner in 1961. As a demo singer, he actually recorded the first (demo) versions of songs like Alfie, This Guy's In Love With You Hello Dolly, and Promises Promises. He even recorded demos for some Elvis Presley movies. He became a jingle singer in 1966 and has sung on over 15,000 jingles since then, including ones for McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Budweiser, Pabst, Miller, Pepsi, Coke, and many many more. Here's Oh Susie Forgive Me by Kenny Karen on Columbia 42264 from 1962.

Vernon Green was born in 1937. He wrote a song called The Letter in 1954 that contained a bit of nonsense in the lyrics, "The puppetutes of love." This line was picked up by Steve Miller in The Joker and we heard it as "The pompatus of love." When asked about this line, Vernon said that "puppetutes" was a word he made up to describe a secret lover, a paper doll that would be his everything and bear his children! Vernon died the day before Christmas in 2000 in Los Angeles. Here's Speedin' by Vernon Green And The Medallions on DooTone 364 from 1955:

You've heard of Them with Van Morrison, right? Well, these guys are not them ;-) This Them is a garage rock group from Cincinnati, Ohio. Here's Don't Look Now by Them on King 5967 from 1964:

I'd like to continue our drive, but it appears we've got a flat tire! There were actually two different groups recording as the Del-Vikings at the same time. The original group was formed in 1955 by five members of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original lineup was Clarence Quick, Kripp Johnson, Don Jackson, Samuel Paterson, and Bernard Robertson. They signed up with the tiny Fee Bee label and recorded the classic hit, Come Go With Me in 1957. Because they were all under 21 when they signed that contract, it was easy for them to get out of the deal. They moved to Mercury Records in 1957 under the direction of their manager, Alan Strauss. Kripp Johnson, however, was still bound to his contract with Fee Bee (which was later distributed by Dot Records), so he stayed with that label and formed another group, who also called themselves the Del Vikings! William Blakely, a friend of Clarence Quick, joined the group to take Kripp's place in the new lineup on Mercury. Meanwhile, Kripp formed a new group for Dot as the Dell Vikings. For some strange reason, they also changed his name to Krips Johnson at that same time. Confusing, right? Having two groups recording with the same name was causing confusion, so Mercury filed a lawsuit claiming ownership of any name that sounded like Del Vikings, regardless of the spelling. Kripp's group briefly became The Versatiles, but broke up shortly afterward. Chuck Jackson, who had been a member of the Dot group, went on to have a very successful solo career. After the Dell Vikings on Mercury broke up, Kripp pulled them together again, forming the Del Vikings on ABC-Paramount. The core of the original group was back, but they failed to produce any hit records and split up again in 1965. This particular record features the Mercury version of the group. Here's Flat Tire by the Dell Vikings on Mercury 71390 from 1958:

The confusing story of the Del Vikings, Dell Vikings, Del-Vikings, and Dell-Vikings is very well sorted out by Marv Goldberg. You can read all about it by clicking here.

Now that we've got too many points on our license to legally drive, let's all head for the ocean and catch some waves instead! If you like "Car Tunes" you will find over a thousand of them waiting for you on MusicMaster Oldies. Cruise on over sometime!

New Oldies - Don't Give Up Hope by Four More

2012-01-24T10:47:00.000-06:00

The guy who sold this record to me claimed it was a bootleg, so he was willing to sell it for just a few bucks. Quite some time later, I found another copy of the record, but this one actually was a bootleg. It was now obvious that the first one I got was an original, and that means it's worth a little bit of money. You could probably count the number of legitimate copies of this record that exist on one hand!

The band is from Corpus Christi, Texas, even though some sources have incorrectly claimed they were from twenty miles south in Kingsville. The group was formed in October 1965 and featured Jerry Chandler on vocals and rhythm guitar, Kenny Chandler on vocals and bass, Mike Burrows on drums, and Chuck Carter on lead guitar.

Rare records sometimes lose a lot of value when they're released on a compilation CD. That'll probably be the case for this one too. That's a shame, but at least that allows more people to find and enjoy the music. But if you want the actual vinyl in your hands, expect it to set you back at least a couple grand.

Here's Don't Give Up Hope by Four More on Fairchild 1001 from 1966:

Here's the awesome flip side, Problem Child by Four More:

Some people say they also recorded as The Chosen Ones, but the only records I've ever seen by a band with that name came from Topeka, Kansas. The members of that group were "chosen" from auditions, which is how they got their name! They made just one record, as far as I know, and that was a custom pressing "vanity" album on Audio House 267 released in 1967. Wanna hear a sample of it? I thought you might...

Here's As As Tears Go By by the Chosen Ones (of Topeka) on Audio House LP 267 from 1967:

If you like this kind of music, keep your digital dial set on MusicMaster Oldies all the time!

R.I.P. Jamesetta

2012-01-23T11:21:00.000-06:00

With her husband, Artis Mills, and two sons, Donto and Sametto, at her side, Etta James left us last Friday in a hospital in Riverside, California. She was 73 years old. She had been suffering with leukemia for almost a year and had also been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008. Her passing was a monumental loss for R&B fans all over the world. We can only thank God that her music will live on forever.

To say that Etta James had a rough life would be a serious understatement. She was born Jamesetta Hawkins on 25 January 1938 to a 14-year old mother named Dorothy. Her life was scarred by heroin addiction. She had been arrested for forgery and cashing bad checks. Etta's husband took responsibility for her drug use when the two of them were arrested shortly after getting married in 1969. Etta never knew her father, but speculated that he was the legendary pool player, Minnesota Fats. Etta's mother, who she called The Mystery Lady, ran around with various men and frequently left her in the hands of caretakers. She called one of the couples who took care of her Sarge and Mama Lu. She began singing with the Echos of Eden choir at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles after receiving vocal training from James Earle Hines, who started working with her when she was only five years old. During this time, Sarge kept trying to get the church to pay him for Etta's singing, but they never did. Sarge would wake Etta up in the middle of the night and force her to sing for him and his all night poker buddies, who were all drunk at the time. If she refused, Sarge would beat her. Etta was a bed-wetter, so she often had to sing for the men while soaking in her own urine.

When Mama Lu died in 1950, Etta's real mother took her to the Fillmore district in San Francisco. She loved listening to doo wop music, which inspired her to start her own group called the Creolettes. When she was 14, she met bandleader Johnny Otis, who took Etta under his wing and helped launch her professional career. He changed the name of her group to The Peaches, then twisted her name around to put her in front of the group. She became Etta James And The Peaches.

Johnny Otis helped Etta get signed to Modern Records where she made her first record. It was an Answer Song based on Work With Me Annie by The Midnighters, written and sung by Henry "Hank" Ballard, which was itself inspired by a 1953 recording called Get It by Hank Ballard when he was with a group called the Royals. Etta's version was released with the title The Wallflower, even though that term is never sung in the lyrics. This was done to avoid censorship because the word "roll" was common slang at the time for having sex. In fact, the FCC had originally objected to Hank Ballard's record because of its overly sexual lyrics. But once that record crossed over to become a huge favorite with white teenagers, the FCC was trumped by public demand for the record. If you think about that while you listen to these songs, it makes them even more interesting and entertaining!

Here's The Wallflower by Etta James And The Peaches on (78 RPM) Modern 947 from 1955:

The male vocalist on this record is actually Richard Berry, the guy who wrote and first recorded the frat rock classic, Louie Louie!

And here's Work With Me Annie by The Midnighters on Federal 12169 from 1954:

This Hank Ballard song was a #1 R&B hit that crossed over to reach #22 on Billboard's Hot 100. Etta's answer became a #1 hit on the R&B charts, but never made it on the "white" charts. That's because Mercury Records quickly released their own version of the song as Dance With Me Henry sung by Georgia Gibbs, which became a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100. That makes this record fall into another category on MusicMaster Oldies which I call Black And White. It's where the record industry literally screwed black artists by having white artists cover their hit songs to capitalize on record sales to white teenagers. Aren't we all glad that those days are gone?

So you can compare the Black vs White versions, here's Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower) by Georgia Gibbs on Mercury 70572 from 1955:

Hank Ballard actually followed up Etta's answer with an Answer Record of his own, which he called Henry's Got Flat Feet (Can't Dance) on Federal 12224 in 1955. How come don't we have fun with records like this anymore?

There are currently over 50 Etta James tunes playing on MusicMaster Oldies, but I'm in the process of adding more. There are also 863 different Answer Songs being played, with more on the way!

New Oldies - Help For My Waiting by The Dorians

2012-01-22T23:39:00.000-06:00

The Dorians were John Unger on vocals, Bill Loop on guitar, Bob Nixon on bass, and Mike Bets on drums. The group was formed in 1968 in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada by Bob Nixon and John Unger, who had been a member of Small Town Boys and The Living Ends. They released a single called If I Were 21 And You Were 24, but it got very little attention. In 1969, Ray Charles band member Floyd Jones heard the group and suggested they record Psychedelic Lipstick. That became a hit for them overseas. The group also released this song, written by Floyd Jones and John Unger. It got a lot of airplay in certain areas of the United States and Canada, but it failed to appear on any national charts.

Here's Help For My Waiting by The Dorians on GM 707 from 1969:

This song was reissued for national distribution in 1970 on Big Tree 110. You're much more likely to locate a copy of it on that label.

The group's name comes from ancient Greek mythology. They were a tribe of warriors who conquered lands all across and around Greece. They were most likely responsible for much of Greek architecture, and introduced the use of choral lyrics in Greek Tragedy.

You like garage rock? You'll hear over 6,000 garage rock records on MusicMaster Oldies, most of them recorded between 1965 and 1967.

New Oldies - Daydreams by Charlotte O'Hara

2012-01-21T23:36:00.001-06:00

There's a wild and crazy story behind the girl singing this song. I'll tell you all about it. But first, lets hear today's New Oldie. This is Daydreams by Charlotte O'Hara on Ava 126 from 1963:

The girl singing this song is actually Charlotte Ann Matheny from Los Angeles. She was a regular backup singer for Phil Spector at his recording sessions.

She was also very active in the "song poem" world. That's where a production company, for a fee of course, will turn poems that you've written into songs and publish them on a single. After recording this song as Charlotte O'Hara, she began cutting more records using different names, such as Bonnie Graham, just Bonnie, Bonnie And Nita (with her very close friend Nita Garfield), and Bonnie And The Treasures. Yes, Charlotte was, in fact, Bonnie of Bonnie And The Treasures, even though Ronnie Bennett of the Ronettes has often claimed that SHE was Bonnie in that group.

Ronnie Bennett, of course, was married to Phil Spector from 1968 to 1974, becoming Ronnie Spector. If you have any doubt that Phil Spector was capable of shooting a woman in his home, you will put away all doubts if you read about Ronnie Spector's personal life. You can get a nice idea of what Phil was like as a husband and a person by clicking here.

Bonnie And The Treasures recorded a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil called Home Of The Brave and released it in 1965 on Phil Spector's Phi-Dan label. It was produced by Jerry Riopelle and arranged by Nick DeCaro. If you listen to the song, you will clearly hear the famous "Wall of Sound" production that was characteristic of Phil Spector. Despite the fact that Phil Spector owned the label, the production of THIS Wall of Sound record was all Jerry Riopelle's work.

Here's Home Of The Brave by Bonnie And The Treasures on Phi-Dan 5005 from 1965:

Very shortly after this record was released, and unaware of the fact the song had already been recorded by someone else, producer Steve Douglas recorded the same song with singer Jody Miller and arranger Billy Strange, releasing it on Capitol 5483. Possibly due to the fact that Capitol had more "capital" to invest, along with an established nation-wide promotional network, Jody's version became a much bigger success, peaking at #25 on Billboard's Hot 100. The same song by Bonnie And The Treasures topped out at #77 and only survived five weeks on the charts.

Here's Home Of The Brave by Jody Miller on Capitol 5483 from 1965:

Both labels thought they had an "exclusive" when they released the song. In fact, the Bonnie And The Treasures version was almost certainly issued first. But the success of Jody Miller's version, and the fact that both versions debuted on the charts in the same week, led many in the industry to think Jody Miller's version was the original and that Bonnie And The Treasures had copied it. This really irritated Phil Spector, who we now know is a man you dare not irritate! He reacted by taking out ads in the trade magazines to make sure everyone knew his label's version was the original.

Despite her many attempts, Charlotte failed to get any more of her own records on the chart. This really frustrated her. She was especially annoyed that a song like Me And You And A Dog Named Boo by Lobo, which she detested, could become a big hit. Actually, I have to agree with her. Charlotte's work is considerably better!

Charlotte did become an accomplished composer. She and Keith Colley wrote Love Bells which was a hit for The Galens in 1963. Charlotte and her friend Nita also wrote We're Here To Entertain You for the Jackson Five, along with other songs for Jean Knight, Bobby Bland, and Jermaine Jackson. If you want to read a lot more about Charlotte, click here.

Sadly, Charlotte's career and life were both cut short by breast cancer. After the cancer spread to her brain, she passed away in 1976 while still in her 30's.

If you like Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, you'll hear every single record he ever produced on MusicMaster Oldies, along with many other records that tried very hard to imitate that sound throughout the 1960's!

New Oldies - Bopper 486609 by Donna Dameron

2012-01-20T13:43:00.003-06:00

I had two copies of this record, until I sold one of them to a man claiming to be the son of The Big Bopper. After asking him many questions, I am convinced that he was telling me the truth. He even invited me to attend one of his shows in northern Wisconsin. This man's name was Jay Perry Richardson, and he was born two months AFTER the death of his famous father. He's been performing as The Big Bopper Junior, doing concerts with a Buddy Holly impersonator named John Mueller, often on the same stages where his dad once performed with Buddy Holly.

He told me he'd been searching for a copy of this record for a very long time. He had a recording of it, but not the original vinyl pressing. According to him, the lady singing this song was actually his mother, Elise Richardson! Both sides of the record were written by The Big Bopper and published by Glad Music and Big Bopper Music.

Here's Bopper 486609 by Donna Dameron (probably Elise Richardson) on Dart 113 from 1959:

And here's the flip side of that single, a song called Big Love:

The Big Bopper's father was born Jiles Perry Richardson on 12 October 1905 in Beaumont, Texas. In 1930, Jiles, then a 24 year old oil rig worker, married 20 year old Elise Stalsby. They had their first child, James Gilbert Richardson, on 28 October 1932 in Beaumont. James died on 12 December 1995 in Pasadena, Harris County, Texas.

The family moved to nearby Sabine Pass, Texas and had their second son, Jiles Perry Richardson Jr on 24 October 1930. He became known as The Big Bopper.

Sabine Pass in Jefferson County is a small town just on the Gulf of Mexico at the Louisiana-Texas border, about ten miles south of Port Arthur (birthplace of Janis Joplin) and 20 miles south of Beaumont.

A third child, Cecil Allen Richardson was born on 1 August 1934 back in Beaumont. He got married to Billie Carter and died on 30 August 1989 after living his entire life in Beaumont.

Jiles junior was nicknamed "JP" to distinguish himself from his father. His friends started calling him "Jape" instead. After he was born, the family moved back to Beaumont where JP graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947. He studied law at Lamar College while working a part-time job at KTRM radio. He joined the U.S. Army in 1955 and worked as a radar operator at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. After being discharged, he returned to Beaumont and began working full-time at KTRM radio. A new dance craze called The Bop was really popular at the time, so he started calling himself The Big Bopper on his radio show. He had a passion for writing songs, and he soon became Program Director of the radio station. A couple of his early compositions would later become big hits, such as White Lightning and Running Bear.

A guy named Harold "Pappy" Dailey, who was Promotions Director for Mercury Records, heard The Big Bopper sing and offered him a contract with the label. His first recording, Beggar To A King, wasn't very successful. He finally hit the big time with Chantilly Lace, which peaked at #16 on Billboard's Hot 100 and stayed in the Top 40 for 22 weeks. All the while, he was still working at KTRM radio.

He took time off from that job to go on the road to perform with Buddy Holly And The Crickets, Ritchie Valens, and Dion And the Belmonts. The midwest concert tour, organized by the GAC agency, was called The Winter Dance Party. On the eleventh night of that tour, after finishing a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly decided to charter an airplane to fly to the next show in Moorhead, Minnesota. He'd been traveling by bus for over a week, and it had already broken down once along the way. He was exhausted and his clothes were all dirty. Buddy's plan was to arrive in Moorhead early enough to get his clothes washed and catch up on some badly needed sleep.

Roger Peterson, a 21-year old pilot, agreed to take the singers to the airport in Fargo, North Dakota, the nearest one to Moorhead. A blizzard was on the way, and Roger was tired after working a 17-hour day, but he agreed to make the trip anyway. Buddy Holly's bass player, Waylon Jennings, was supposed to travel with them, but offered to give up his seat to The Big Bopper who was suffering with the flu at the time. Buddy yelled to Waylon, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Waylon shouted back, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" That exchange would haunt Waylon Jennings for many years to come.

Buddy Holly's guitarist, Tommy Allsup, flipped a coin with Ritchie Valens for the one remaining seat. Ritchie won that coin toss. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper, climbed on board the red and white, single engine Beech Bonanza about 30 minutes past midnight on 3 February 1959.

Roger got clearance to take off from the tower, but was not warned that the blizzard was quickly approaching. Snow was blowing across the runway, but the sky still looked clear. Just a few minutes after taking off, the four-passenger plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield at over 220 miles per hour. It flipped over on impact and threw the passengers into the air. The bodies landed several yards from the wreckage and remained there for ten hours as big snow drifts formed all around them. Nobody could reach the crash site until the next morning.

Buddy Holly had just married Maria Elena six months before his death and she was pregnant at the time. She learned of her famous husband's death from a news report on the radio. That traumatic experience probably contributed to her miscarriage shortly afterward. It was that incident that made it standard practice from then on to keep the names of victims from the press until after family members had been notified.

Here's a recording of a radio news report that aired shortly after the accident:

I've personally visited the lonely spot where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. I've also toured the Surf Ballroom at 460 North Shore Drive in Clear Lake, Iowa. If you have the chance to go there, I highly recommend it. It's literally a museum of 1950's music with the walls covered with records and memorabilia. Every year on the anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, they have concerts there and a vinyl record show. The crash site itself can be difficult to find. It's not marked very well, which has always seemed strange to me.

I can't leave without sharing a couple tribute songs with you. This one is fairly well-known, having peaked at #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 very shortly after the accident. This is Three Stars by Tommy Dee With Carol Kay And The Teen-Aires on Crest 1057 from 1959:

Here's a much lesser-known tribute song that also came out just after the accident, but this one did not appear on the charts. Here's Gold Records In The Snow by Benny Barnes on D 1052 from 1959:

You'll hear this Donna Dameron single on MusicMaster Oldies, along with every song ever recorded by The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and Ritchie Valens, and literally dozens of tribute songs honoring these three legendary rock and roll pioneers. You'll also hear plenty of great stuff from Dion and the Belmonts and even Waylon Jennings.

Every year some of my crazy friends and I take a 1000+ mile drive searching for places that are part of the history of rock and roll music. We particularly like to visit crash sites, which are often very difficult to find or located on private property. We like to find people from the area who were alive when the crash happened, interview them, and see if we can learn anything new. Just to give you an idea how crazy we are about this, we've already visited the crash sites of Ricky Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Chase, Buddy Holly, Jim Croce, Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with dozens of other places. I'll dig up our pictures and put some future posts together for you!

I like to think of MusicMaster Oldies as an ongoing tribute to the music of the 1950's and 1960's. It's a musical museum you can visit any time you like!

New Oldies - A Walk In The Black Forest by Salena Jones

2012-01-19T12:02:00.002-06:00

A Walk In The Black Forest really is my personal favorite 1960's oldie. The song was written and performed first as an instrumental by Horst Jankowski as Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt. It was issued as a single on Mercury 861 in Europe, and on Mercury 72425 in the United States in 1965.

Amazingly, it was not a chart hit in Horst's own country, Germany. It peaked at #12 on Billboard's Hot 100, and did slightly better on Cashbox, reaching #9. It was a #11 hit on 1050 CHUM in Toronto, Canada. It was a #5 hit on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey in Chicago. It as a #1 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, and also topped the charts in Australia. It fell just short of the top in England, peaking at #3 there. It peaked at #10 in Ireland. With all that success around the world, it's difficult to imagine the song having trouble charting in Germany. Maybe they were all buying the album that contained the song, Traumklang Und Rhythmus Mit Horst Jankowski, which was released very late in 1964 on Mercury 610104 in Germany. The song also appeared in America on an album called The Genius Of Jankowski in 1965. The single and the album both sold over a million copies.

Horst Jankowski was born in Berlin, Germany on 30 January 1936. He grew up surrounded by political changes and World War II. As a young adult following the war, he studied classical piano at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin. The name "Hanns Eisler" was added to that school's name in 1964 to honor the passing of that composer, who was also one of that school's first professors. He played jazz piano in the 1950's and became the bandleader for singer Caterina Valente, a French-born singer who charted 60 hits in Germany, but only one in America, The Breeze And I (Andalucia) issued on Decca 29467 in 1955.

After the success of A Walk In The Black Forest, Horst released many more albums. His only other single to appear on Billboard's Hot 100 was called Simpel Gimpel, which peaked at #91 later in 1965. However, a total of seven of his songs charted on Billboard's Adult Contemporary review. Despite limited success in the United States, he never had another chart hit anywhere else in the world. He went on to compose and perform easy listening music for Sonoton in Munich, one of the largest independently owned production music libraries in the world. Horst Jankowski died of lung cancer on 29 June 1998 at the age of 62.

A Walk In The Black Forest was covered by more than a dozen other artists throughout the 1960's, including Herb Alpert, Floyd Cramer, Bill Justis, Marty Gold, Russ Conway, Roger Williams, Billy Vaughn, and many others. However, it was almost always covered as an instrumental. I say "almost" because at least one cover of the song was made with lyrics added.

Here's the vocal version of A Walk In The Black Forest (Our Walk Of Love) by Salena Jones on Columbia (UK) 7818 from 1966:

Salena Jones was born Joan Elizabeth Shaw on 29 January 1944 in Newport News, Virginia. By coincidence, she and Jorst almost shared the same birthday! She first took the stage name Joan Temple and began singing around her home town. She ventured to New York City and took a shot at a talent contest at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem singing September Song - and she won! She began singing regularly at the Village Vanguard. In the mid-1960's, she moved to Europe where she sang in Paris and London as Salena Jones. In 1978, she made a visit to Japan and fell in love with that country, and they fell in love with her too. She released twenty albums on JVC Records in Japan that were all top sellers in the Far East.

Last I heard, Salena Jones was still performing and currently living in London. Ironically, there was another singer named Joan Shaw who had performed at New York's Apollo Theater in the early 1950's and became a popular R&B singer throughout the 1950's. As far as I know, there's no relation between the two women. There was also a girl named Joan Temple who made a couple of Teener records on the Prep label in 1957. I can't say for sure if there's any relation there, either. But I'll keep digging because, well, that's what I like to do!

Now, please enjoy the very first 45 I bought with my own money when I was twelve years old and living in Cleveland, Ohio. Here's A Walk In The Black Forest (Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt) by Horst Jankowski And His Orchestra on Mercury 72425 from 1965:

You'll hear every version of this song that I've ever managed to find if you listen long enough to MusicMaster Oldies. You'll also hear many vocal versions of well-known instrumental hits too. I'll try to feature more of them here in the coming weeks.

New Oldies - All The Words In The World by Jimmy Clanton

2012-01-18T13:38:00.001-06:00

People are listening to MusicMaster Oldies every day in more than eighty different countries. Today's New Oldie takes us on a little trip around the world through the language of love.

Here's All The Words In The World by Jimmy Clanton on Philips 40161 from 1963:

Let's sample a few other songs you probably already know, but maybe with lyrics you've never heard before!

Here's Turn Turn Turn by Mary Hopkin on Apple 1801 from 1968. Anyone know what language this is? Gaelic maybe?

Here's My Girl by Nancy Sit on Life 2019 from 1968. She's from Singapore, singing in Chinese. She didn't sing this as My Guy, not that there's anything wrong with that...

Here's Pemuda Pemudi Sekarang by Kelsom And Plastic Deers on Libra EP 001 from 1969. Sounds like a garage rock cover of No Time by The Guess Who, doesn't it? From Malaysia, this is probably sung in Bahasa Malaysian, but it's all Greek to me...

Here's Sad'n Var Det Ikke I Halvfemserne by Matadorerne (from Denmark) on Metronome 1656 from 1966. 1960's music in sung Dutch.

Here's Dans Le Temps by Petula Clark on Vogue LP 759 from 1965. A French version of one of my all-time favorite 1960's tunes. The French title translates to English as In Time:

Here's Schoen War Die Zeit by Brian Hyland on Philips 320 028 from 1962. You know the song as Sealed With A Kiss, but the German title translates to English as Beautiful Was The Time:

Here's some Hawaiian Love Talk by Annette Funicello on Buena Vista 384 from 1961:

Here's Ding Dong The Witch by The Fifth Estate, an international hit that these guys sang in English, Japanese, Italian, French, and German. Released on Stateside 2034 in 1967 (or Jubilee 5573 in the United States). This is the Italian version:

Here's Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa by Nana Kinomi And Leo Beats on King LP 430 from 1968. It's a cover of I Love You by People sung in Japanese:

Here's Nie Wiem Sam by Polanie on Muza LP from 1967. Garage rock in Polish:

Here's Fiebre by Los Johnny Jets. These guys are from the Northeastern state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. Their first album was called Juvenil. This is a Spanish garage rock cover version of Fever from 1965:

You will hear over 1000 1960's pop songs sung in languages other than English on MusicMaster Oldies, with more being added every day. This was fun. We'll have to do it again soon!

New Oldies - A Letter To Hayley by Billy Kidd

2012-01-16T12:05:00.005-06:00

This comes from another category of cool records you'll hear on MusicMaster Oldies, songs about celebrities. This one was written in 1962 by an 18-year old kid named Ivan who then recorded the song under the name Billy Kidd. Of course, there's an interesting story behind the song!

Ivan (aka Billy) had just finished watching a very interesting 1961 British movie called Whistle Down The Wind. It tells the story of a bearded fugitive who hides in the barn at a home in Lancashire where three children live. The police come around searching for the guy, a man named Blakey who is wanted for murder. But the kids mistake the man for Jesus, influenced by Bible stories they'd heard recently in Sunday School. The oldest child, a girl named Kathy Bostock, is determined to help Blakey evade the police, so he allows her to continue thinking he really is Jesus. Word spreads to other children around town that Jesus is living in Kathy's barn. Kathy's father hears about it too, then figures out what's going on and calls the police. About a hundred children from all over town converge on the barn. Kathy believes that she's let Jesus down and sneaks into the barn to apologize to Him. He forgives Kathy, who then begs him to promise she'll see him again. Reluctantly, he makes that promise. Then, realizing he's trapped, he throws his gun out of the barn and surrenders to the police. The children all start going home, but two very young ones ask Kathy to let them see Jesus. She tells them she's sorry, but they missed him, but not to worry because he will be back. The movie is filled with religious allegory and symbolism.

This movie was based on a novel written by Mary Hayley Bell. In the movie, the part of Kathy is played by Mary's daughter, 15-year old Hayley Mills. When 18-year old Ivan Ulz (his last name rhymes with Jewels) saw Hayley in the movie, he fell deeply in love with her. He came up with the idea to write this song about her, hoping she would hear it and fall in love with him. It was the first song he'd ever written, but it would not be his last. The song was picked up by Lar Bell Records, owned by two members of the Four Preps, Glen Larson and Bruce Belland. The Four Preps were no strangers to novelty records about celebrities, having made some themselves.

Here's A Letter To Hayley by Billy Kidd (aka Ivan Ulz) on Lar Bell (no number) from 1962:

Ivan's song got some local airplay, but failed to chart nationally. When the Beatles exploded across the music scene in America in 1964, the Four Preps took Ivan's song and turned it into a song about the Fab Four instead. Most of the old school groups in America held a bit of a grudge against The Beatles, blaming them for making it much more difficult for them to make hit records, and maybe a bit jealous of them for the effect they had on their own girlfriends. You can hear that attitude in many of the songs "about" the Beatles from 1964 and 1965, including this one. This song only peaked at #85 on Billboard and #88 on Cashbox, but it did better in some regions. It showed up at #46 in Canada on 1050 CHUM in Toronto, and #35 in Chicago on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey.

Here's A Letter To The Beatles by The Four Preps on Capitol 5143 from 1964:

Ivan Utz became a folk singer and songwriter. He's also known for making some important connections in the music business. He helped Rickie Lee Jones get her first contract with Warner Brothers. He brought an unknown comic up on stage during an open mic improv at Coffee And Confusion in San Francisco. That man's name was Steve Martin. He introduced a bongo player named Michael Clarke to some friends in Los Angeles, who made Michael their drummer when they formed The Byrds.

In 1980, Ivan turned his talents toward children's music. He's written about 200 songs that have been recorded by folks like Hoyt Axton, Glen Yarborough, Suzy Bogguss, Valerie Carter, Rod McKuen, just to name a few. He and musician-producer Lowell George co-wrote Heartache, which became a 1990's hit for Suzy Bogguss. When he's not hanging around Greenwich Village in New York City these days, you could find him in central California performing for young children and their families. Oh, and he never did get a chance to meet Hayley Mills!

Glen Larson of the Four Preps became a television producer who worked with Quinn Martin on The Fugitive. He helped create The Six Million Dollar Man, and went on to create several other shows including Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, and Magnum PI. Bruce Belland wrote television scripts, produced several game shows in the 1970's, and eventually became a network executive.

You will hear over 1500 songs about The Beatles and cover versions of their songs on MusicMaster Oldies. There are also about 800 songs about the music industry, either talking about what it's like to be in the business, or poking fun at other celebrities. I'll feature some of the better ones here in the coming weeks and months!

New Oldies - You're A Very Lovely Woman by Merry-Go-Round

2012-01-15T12:28:00.002-06:00

Today's New Oldie was a very minor chart hit, reaching #94 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #96 on Cashbox in September 1967. It was a pretty big hit in some areas, particularly in Southern California, which is why you probably remember hearing it on the radio. It also found a home on some oldies stations, usually when that station's Program Director grew up in an area where the song was popular.

The Merry-Go-Round was founded by the group's lead singer, Emitt Rhodes, a critically acclaimed songwriter and recording engineer who could also play a wide variety of instruments. Emitt had been the drummer for a group called The Palace Guards. He pulled this group together with a couple of friends, Gary Kato on guitar, Mike Rice on bass, and Doug Harwood on drums, and began rehearsing the band in his garage. Emitt brought in Joel Larson to replace Doug on drums. Joel had been a member of The Bedouins from San Francisco, the group that became the original lineup of The Grass Roots. Songwriters P F Sloan and Steve Barri came up with the concept for The Grass Roots, Lou Adler, who was heading the new Dunhill label at the time, selected The Bedouins to become that group's original members after an audition at the Whiskey A Go Go in San Francisco. Later, when the Grass Roots original lineup changed, Joel was the only original member to stay. Emitt also brought in Bill Rinehart to replace Mike on bass. Bill had been lead guitarist for The Leaves. Emitt took their demo recordings around and landed a contract with A&M Records, which resulted in two hit singles.

I've always been fascinated with this song, but I found it quite difficult to understand the lyrics. One day I decided to decode them by starting, stopping, and replaying parts of the song dozens of times. To save you from that same fate, I'll include my interpretation of the lyrics below.

Here's You're A Very Lovely Woman by Merry-Go-Round on A&M 863 from 1967:

Here's my interpretation of the lyrics. Let me know if you think I've got anything wrong here!

You're a very lovely woman but I think I better turn you down this time.
'Cause you've used all of your charms on me and I kinda miss the things I left behind.

A girl who loves me, is thinkin' of me, and all my friends...
but you're a lovely woman, (a very lovely woman), lovely woman (a very lovely woman).

And now you ask me to forget the things it took me long to get and find.
And go away with you again and follow you in sin and drink your wine.

I've made my mind up, I will not wind up, my life in sin,
but you're a lovely woman, (a very lovely woman), lovely woman (a very lovely woman).

And though even though you're lovely, the world is ugly, so come back no more.
For all that you have to offer, is not enough, to ruin my life for, or...

You're a very lovely woman, very lovely yes you are.

And though even though you're lovely, the world is ugly, so come back no more.
For all that you have to offer, is not enough, to ruin my life for, or, oh...

You're a very lovely woman but I think I better turn you down this time.
'Cause you've used all of your charms on me and I kinda miss the things I left behind.

A girl who loves me, is thinkin' of me, and all my friends...
But you're a lovely woman, (a very lovely woman), lovely woman (a very lovely woman).
Lovely woman, (a very lovely woman), lovely woman (a very lovely woman), lovely woman.

Linda Ronstadt had a #70 chart hit when she did the song in 1971 with the lyrics changed to work from a female perspective. It's an Answer Song on MusicMaster Oldies. It's also a song you should play for anyone who tries to claim Linda Ronstadt never made a rock song!

Here's (She's A) Very Lovely Woman by Linda Ronstadt on Capitol 3021 from 1971:

You're A Very Lovely Woman was actually the second chart hit for Merry-Go-Round. It didn't do as well as their first, a song called Live, that peaked at #63 on Billboard and #57 on Cashbox. That song, in my humble opinion, has lyrics that are even MORE difficult to understand! So, I took the liberty to decipher them for you as well.

Here's Live by Merry-Go-Round on A&M 834 from 1967:

And here are the lyrics, as I understand them, should you care to sing along:

Oh you're, the kind of girl, who's got their self, all wrapped in a ball.
Oh, you think ya live, but how can ya, locked up in four walls?

If you've gotta go you better live your life before you pass away, don't waste a day.
All your life's been spent locked in your room, you never had a chance to roam, away from home.

So, you're gonna go, don't fatigue, don't waste any time.
Fool, in life fatigue, is worth a million, and soon you will find.

If you've gotta go you better live your life before you pass away, don't waste a day.
All your life's been spent locked in your room, you never had a chance to roam, away from home.

Live, live, live, live.
Live, live, live, live.

Now, do what you want, go where you want, it's all up to you.
Fool, in life a rule, is just to do, what you wanna do.

If you've gotta go you better live your life before you pass away, don't waste a day.
All your life has been locked in your room, you never had a chance to roam, away from home.

If, ya don't know now, what life's about, go on now and live.
And if, you don't know how, it's not so hard, just let go and live.

If you've gotta go you better live your life before you pass away, don't waste a day.
All your life's been spent locked in your room, you've never had a chance to roam, away from home.

Live, live, live, live

I love watching the MusicMaster Oldies audience grow bigger every day. I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting from new listeners, too. Thanks for listening, and thanks to all those who are following this crazy blog. Keep those cards and letters coming!

New Oldies - Soupin' Up Your Motor by Linda Laurie

2012-01-14T11:49:00.000-06:00

Linda Laurie was born Linda Maxine Gertz on 26 May 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. She made her first record, Sun Glasses by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters, with her friend Linda Yellin when she was just 17 years old and the two were still attending Abraham Lincoln High School. It was issued on Big Top 3003 in 1958. The flip side is Undivided Attention simply credited to The Knott Sisters.

Linda Laurie is one of several artists who made a bunch of great Teener records, but never got on the charts with any of them. That's not to say she never made a chart record, however. The second record she ever made, and the first one to bear her name as the artist, reached #52 on Billboard's Hot 100 in March 1959. It was a bizarre novelty record that she made in 1958 on Glory Records, then personally shopped it around to radio stations. It got a lot of airplay on the East Coast, particularly in the New York City and Philadelphia areas. To say this record was strange would be an understatement. It's a spoken-novelty record with heavy Brooklyn accents. It features Linda Laurie as a girl walking through a dark subway tunnel with her boyfriend, Ambrose, an almost perverted-sounding older guy whose deep voice was also done by Linda! Although it was tagged "Part Five" there were never any earlier versions.

Here's Ambrose (Part Five) by Linda Laurie on Glory 290 from 1959:

It was so unusual that it landed her a guest appearance on To Tell The Truth on 10 February 1959 where two of the four panelists managed to guess her identity.

Over the next five years, Linda lived in New York and made several more records, mostly Teener and Novelty records. Although she never hit the charts again with her own material, her records have become very popular with collectors.

Today's New Oldie is the flip side of a collector favorite called Prince Charming. This one is about a frustrated young girl whose boyfriend seems to like working on his car more than spending time with her.

Here's Soupin' Up Your Motor by Linda Laurie on Rust 5022 from 1961:

Here's the A-side of that single, Prince Charming by Linda Laurie:

Linda also cut some records to follow-up her only chart hit. They include Forever Ambrose and Return Of Ambrose. There was even a record about Ambrose made by another group, Jimmy And The Valentines on Cub 9024 in 1959. It was called Just Keep Walkin' by Ambrose. Linda also made one of my favorite Answer Songs when she cut Stay-At-Home Sue, a response to Dion's Runaround Sue.

Linda Laurie relocated to the West Coast and started writing songs for other artists such as Bobby Vinton, Sonny And Cher, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, and Love Unlimited. Her biggest claim to fame came when a song she wrote and recorded herself got covered by Helen Reddy and became a #3 chart hit in 1973. That song was Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), and I play Linda's version as one of the many Original Versions of Hits you'll hear on MusicMaster Oldies. Linda also wrote the theme music for the Saturday morning show, Land Of The Lost, which was later used in the 2009 movie version starring Will Farrell. It was even covered by Everclear. I Did It For Love, the disco song she wrote for Love Unlimited in 1977, was sampled on several hip hop songs in the 1990's, like It's All About The Benjamins by Puff Daddy (on an extended remix for DJ Clue's Holiday Holdup mix tape in 1996), Money In The Bank by Swizz Beats, Miss You by Mariah Carey, and The Gang by Shyne.

Linda Laurie became Executive Director for Theatre Of Life For Children, an community-based organization dedicated to providing multi-cultural access to performing arts for children. She was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 68 on 20 November 2009 in Santa Barbara, California.

New Oldies - The Ballad Of The Yellow Beret by Beach Bums

2012-01-13T10:52:00.000-06:00

This song is a combination of five different MusicMaster Oldies categories: Novelty, Political Protest, Answer Song, Garage Rock, and Future Superstars. The group behind this record was Doug Brown And The Omens, one of the many local rock groups and future superstars that appeared regularly at The Hideout in Southfield, Michigan back in the 1960's. This song doesn't promote the military service, but that doesn't mean it's not patriotic. It's actually a rare case of a novelty record that takes aim at those who protested the Vietnam war back in the 1960's.

Here's The Ballad Of The Yellow Beret by Beach Bums on Are You Kidding Me 1010 from 1966:

The song is a parody of The Ballad Of The Green Berets by Barry Sadler, a huge hit in February 1966, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cashbox, and Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, as well as #2 on the Country charts. It even climbed to #4 in Canada (CHUM Toronto) and Germany, #5 in Australia, and #24 in England. It sold over two million copies in just the first two weeks. It was issued on RCA 8739 very early in 1966.

Barry Sadler was actually a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Special Forces (known as the Green Berets). He served in Vietnam until he injured his leg in a booby trap.

The Ballad Of The Yellow Beret wasn't the only Answer Song based on Barry Sadler's hit. There were several others in 1966 including He Wore The Green Beret by Nancy Ames on Epic and also by Lesley Miller on RCA. There was also The Son Of A Green Beret (A Child's Ballad Of The Green Berets) by Craig Arthur on Holton. There was even a budget cover of the song credited to Herb Eaton on Hit 242.

The Beach Bums fall into the Future Superstar category because it's also an early appearance of Bob Seger. In fact, it's the second commercial record to feature Bob Seger on vocals.

Here's the first time Bob Seger appeared on a commercial release. This is TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Friday) by Doug Brown (with Bob Seger) on Punch 1008 from 1965:

Most of the songs coming out of the Hideout groups were issued on Hideout/Punch label, although Ballad Of The Yellow Beret used Are You Kidding Me as the label name, and gave composer credits to D. Dodger (Draft Dodger), even though the song was written by Bob Seger. Of course, the lawyers had to get involved. When RCA and Barry Sadler heard this parody, they threatened a lawsuit, forcing them to withdraw the single from the market. For that reason alone, they're pretty hard to find these days.

Right after making the Ballad Of The Yellow Beret, Doug Brown helped Bob Seger produce the first record to carry Bob Seger's name, a gritty garage rock "death" song about urban crime called East Side Story by Bob Seger And The Last Heard. That was a song Bob had written for The Underdogs, who failed to do much with it. Bob's version is awesome, however! It was first issued on Hideout 1013.

Bob Seger called his first group the Last Heard, basically meaning the latest group featuring members of other local groups, The Omens and The Town Criers. Former Town Criers members who formed The Last Heard included Carl Lagassa on guitar, Dan Honaker on bass, and Pep Perrine on drums. East Side Story was very popular in the Detroit area, enough to catch the attention of Cameo-Parkway Records, who issued the song for national distribution on Cameo 438. They followed this up with a few more singles from Bob Seger And The Last Heard, the last one being Heavy Music, a song that might have become a big hit had it not been for the fact that the company suddenly went out of business shortly after its release.

Of course, Bob's career survived. He got picked up by Capitol Records and changed his band to Bob Seger System. He made a record called 2 + 2 on Capitol in 1968 which didn't make it on Billboard's charts, but it did manage to show up at #90 on Cashbox.

He finally hit the big time with Ramblin' Gamblin' Man in 1969, which hit #17 on Billboard, #22 on Cashbox, and #12 in Canada on CHUM in Toronto. What you may not know is that Bob's friend Glenn Frey played acoustic guitar and sang backing vocals on Ramblin' Gamblin' Man!

I'm also very fond of the last single credited to Bob Seger System, a song called Lucifer 1970 which also appeared on his Mongrel album. In 1971, he dropped the word System and recorded as simply Bob Seger. In 1976, he changed the name once more to Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band and went on to turn several pages of rock history.

You'll hear all of these songs and many more like them on MusicMaster Oldies. If a song touched any part of the charts from 1955 to 1970, I'm playing it, along with even more B-sides and singles that never got anywhere near the charts, even though many of them should have!

New Oldies - Why? Marianne by The Falkons

2012-01-11T21:03:00.000-06:00

Here's a fun "talking" Teener for you. It almost sounds like the narrator is recalling the past when he talks about 1964, but this record was actually made in 1964. He's just talking about how he WILL remember 1964 from now on.

The Falkons were from Sturgis, Michigan, which is extremely close to the Indiana border. The group was named after one of the band members, John Falkenstein. The other members were Steve Stockwell, Keith Mohamado, Al Covey, and Roger Aldrich. It's pressed on the small Fujimo label out of Elkhart, Indiana.

Here's Why? Marianne by The Falkons on Fujimo 2521 from 1964:

I could keep posting a Teener record every day and it would take over 50 YEARS for you to hear them all. There are 18,818 Teener records on MusicMaster Oldies right now, with more being added almost every day!

New Oldies - Our Little Tragedy by Lawrence And Johnson

2012-01-10T16:11:00.003-06:00

In 1956, a couple of guys in New York City had a cool idea. Let's write a script that uses short samples of famous songs to answer questions from a narrator. The Break-In record was born. Those guys were Richard Dorian "Dickie" Goodman and Bill Buchanan, and their idea raised legal issues that resurfaced later when hip hop records started using samples of musical hooks in them, like when a piece of Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie ends up in Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Does using a small piece of someone else's song in your song infringe the other person's copyright? Good question! In the case of Buchanan and Goodman, the issue was settled out of court.

Dickie Goodman got his fun side from his dad, Saul Goodman, who worked for General Electric as an attorney. His dad was all business at work, but he got crazy funny when work was finished. Dickie attended New York University, but he dropped out to write and sing his own songs, and hear them played on the radio.

Bill Buchanan was struggling as a music publisher in New York when Dickie met him. He shared the same golden voice with the top radio disc jockeys. Dickie and Bill worked on some songs together and tried to get publishers interested in them. They hung out at Hanson's Drug Store, a place in the Theater District that was a famous meeting place for aspiring comedians at the time. In 1956, Dickie had an idea to do a disc jockey show that was interrupted by reports of a flying saucer invasion, just like the infamous War Of The Worlds radio show Orson Wells directed and narrated for a Mercury Theater Of The Air episode that aired on Halloween, 30 October 1938, over the Columbia Broadcasting System network. The difference, however, would be that the folks being interviewed by the news reporters would be represented by excerpts from hit songs.

Using the War Of The Worlds broadcast as a guide, they crafted a script that ran about four minutes. Dickie would play the part of news reporter John Cameron Cameron. Bill would play the disc jockey in a tounge-in-cheek parody of Alan Freed. Bill's part was punched up by having him screw up the names of the artists. The samples came from hit records, so everyone already knew the artists' names. Hearing Bill botch them on the air would be fun. For instance, he follows a sample of The Great Pretender by The Platters referring to them as The Clatters.

They shopped the record around to the radio stations in town but nobody seemed interested, until they played it for Jack Lacy at WINS radio. He gave it a couple of spins, as did Alan Freed himself, who came on the air right after Jack signed off. The next day, the two were sitting in producer George Goldner's office at Roulette Records, waiting to play their novelty record for him. Before he had a chance to hear it, someone who worked for George came bursting in asking about this cool record they played last night on WINS that talked about Elvis and men from outer space. Demand was building fast, and George knew exactly what to do next.

The record was called The Flying Saucer by Buchanan And Goodman. It was split into two parts spanning both sides of the single. George decided to put the record out on a novelty label called Universe Records and let Roulette's distribution chain get it out across the country. After the first couple thousand singles had been pressed, they learned of a conflict with that label name. Dickie, Bill, and even George and several of his staff members, sat up all night hand printing the letter "L" on the records, changing the name to "Luniverse" records. Subsequent pressings were printed with the new name, but you can still find some of those hand-repaired pressings out there if you search hard enough!

Here's The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 and 2) by Buchanan And Goodman on Luniverse 101 from 1956:

The Roulette distributors started shipping it, but it ran into trouble when both NBC and ABC radio decided not to play it. They were concerned that listeners might mistake it for an actual invasion, just like what reportedly happened in the original 1938 Orson Wells broadcast. In parts of the country where the novelty was played, supply was unable to keep up with demand. In some cases, the scarcity of available pressings almost doubled the retail price.

The copyright issue became a really big deal for the publishing companies, but not so much for the record companies involved. They were actually enjoying increased sales volume of the sampled songs. Audience demand for the sampled songs actually forced DooTone records to reissue Earth Angel by The Penguins, which had been out of print for a while when Flying Saucer was released.

The solution to the problem grew out of the fact that all songs sampled were licensed by BMI or ASCAP. A settlement was reached where the publishing houses would divide equally a 17 precent share of the 89 cent sale price for each copy sold. This cleared the song for play across the country on radio stations and jukeboxes.

The publishers assumed this would be a one-time fad record that wasn't likely to be repeated anytime soon. They were wrong. The Flying Saucer sold over half a million copies in just three weeks. It became a #1 hit in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Louisville. It peaked at #3 on both Billboard and Cashbox, even reaching #4 on the R&B charts. With a smash record like that, imitators are sure to follow - and they did. In fact, Buchanan And Goodman themselves cashed in with several follow-up Break-In records of their own. Disc jockeys all over the place started making their own versions. This prompted the publishers to demand higher royalties and put the whole matter back in the hands of lawyers. Distribution of another Break-In called Dear Elvis, credited With Love From Audrey, on Plus 104 in 1956 had to be halted after the royalties were increased. Some 30,000 copies had already been sold, and the song made it up to #87 on Billboard, before Plus Records was forced to give the masters to the publishers who promptly destroyed them!

When Buchanan And Goodman released their first follow up Break-In, Buchanan And Goodman On Trial, which was clearly an inside joke referring to the legal troubles they were forced to endure, things really heated up - big time! The pair were sued by four record companies this time, Imperial, Chess, Modern, and Aristocrat. They were also sued by two of the sampled performers, Smiley Lewis (aka Overton Lemon), and Antoine "Fats" Domino. In a Hail Mary play by Dickie's attorney, who was actually his father Saul Goodman, the judge was persuaded to take a copy of the record home and listen to it. It worked like a charm. The judge, Henry Clay Greenberg, came back to court and denied the injunctions sought. He wrote that he was not able to determine if the defendants had exceeded the bounds of fair competition. He'd later say that the record was simply satire, a comic parody of the record business.

Here's Buchanan And Goodman On Trial by Buchanan And Goodman on Luniverse 102 from 1956:

The story ends sadly, however. On 6 November 1989, Dickie Goodman shot and killed himself at the home of a relative in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He'd gambled away all of his money, lost his wife, and was being chased relentlessly by bill collectors. Bill Goodman, who later worked in the Brill Building with Howard Greenfield, and who wrote the hit song Please Don't Ask About Barbara for Bobby Vee, ended up working in a jewelry store in Texas. He died on 1 August 1996 of complications from cancer.

But I didn't set out to tell you about Buchanan And Goodman. There are two things I wanted to tell you about today. The first is that it's very possible that Buchanan and Goodman were not the first guys to make a Break-In record. They were certainly the first ones to have a HIT Break-In record, for sure. I've found at least one from 1956 that might pre-date The Flying Saucer. I can't know that for sure, and I haven't been able to find anything at all about the origin on this record.

Here's The Trial by Jumpin Judge And His Court on Jumping 5000 from 1956:

We have to fast-forward to 1963 to find today's New Oldie, which is yet another example of a Break-In record. This one was a mystery to me until recently, when I finally uncovered some good information about the guys who made it.

It was the creation of Phil Jaglowski (aka Phil Lawrence) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with friends Denny Johnson, Russ Selby and (I think his brother) Bill, along with a couple of girls, 12 year old Lin Otherlyn and her 11 year old friend Mary. They recorded songs in Phil's parent's living room on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. This is a great example of a "home brew" Break-In record, which gives you some idea how big this craze got to be back then. This record features samples of some rather obscure songs, some of which were made by small local bands. Most of these kids ended up in local bands. It was pressed on Carol-Ray, a label created by Phil. Little Lin ended up singing with Tom Carter And The Ramrods, then in her own band, Lyn And The Invaders. It's really a lot of fun digging up information about local bands from the 1960's!

Here's Our Little Tragedy by Lawrence And Johnson on Carol-Ray 1204 from 1963:

Here's the flip side, an instrumental called Washtenug:

These guys cut an earlier record, a rough garage rocker that's also a lot of fun. It's been noted by some that this song bears some resemblance to Flying by The Beatles, a song that was made many years later.

Here's Moon Beams by Lawrence Company on Carol-Ray 1201 from 1963:

You'll hear 144 Break-In records on MusicMaster Oldies, with more being found every so often. Check it out! There are lots more "novelty" records as well. I'll feature some other types in the coming weeks.

New Oldies - Ballad Of Billy Brown by Mort "Doc" Downey Jr.

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to post a "Teenage Death" song and hope to post more of them in the near future. The popular ones, of course, are Teen Angel by Mark Dinning and Tell Laura I Love Her by Ray Peterson. But there were MANY more!

Listen to this song, and pay attention to the girl singing in the background. She's not credited on the label, but I think I know who she is! Here's Ballad Of Billy Brown by Mort "Doc" Downey Jr. on Magic Lamp 517 from 1964:

Pulling together background information about an obscure record can be really challenging. Maybe that's why it's so much fun! You can get a lot of information these days by doing a Google search. But that doesn't help you find NEW information. For that, you've got to talk to record collectors and dealers, check out rumors, track down and interview people who may have been involved, and sometimes, just do a lot of listening.

The background of this particular song is fascinating.

Sean Morton Downey Junior was born on 9 December 1932 in Los Angeles. His father, who was often referred to as The Irish Nightingale, was a very popular singer in the 1930's and 1940's. Both adopted a stage name by dropping their first name, Sean. His mother, Barbara Bennett, was an actress, singer and dancer. His famous parents had built quite a fortune, so Mort grew up surrounded by fame and high society. Mort was actually raised next door to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts! (Robert Downey Jr. is not related, by the way.)

In 1951, Mort went to New York University. He became a disc jockey and program director at WPOP in Hartford, Connecticut. He continued working in the radio business for a while, moving around the country to work at KAFY in Bakersfield, KDEO in San Diego, KRIZ in Phoenix, KJR in Seattle, and WFUN in Miami, where he was rated the number one DJ in town.

Here's a little sample of what Mort sounded like on the radio in 1964, while working at KDEO in San Diego:

While working in radio, Mort stayed active in the music business. He wrote several songs, starting with one called Money Marbles And Chalk, which he wrote when he was just sixteen years old. He wrote ten more songs between 1948 and 1953 that were recorded by big stars like Eddie Fisher, Patti Page, Sammy Davis Jr., Pat Boone, Billy Joe Royal, and Johnny Tillotson, who became one of Mort's good friends. Mort recorded several of his own records between 1959 and 1964. The earliest one I own is on Bull Dog 105 featuring A Tear Fell In The Chapel and Through The Tender Years. His name is credited as Shawn Downey on that record. He also cut Love Bug and Rags To Riches as Morton Downey Jr on Contender 1317 in 1959. He made another record in 1961 on Wye 1010 featuring Three Steps To The Phone with I Beg Your Pardon using the name Morton Downey Jr And The Terrytones. In 1962, he cut a record on Personality 3506 called Little Miss USA with Football Freddy, this time with his name spelled Mortin Downey.

Finally, in 1963, he ended up working with the very small Magic Lamp record label, owned by a very prominent bass player in Los Angeles, Joe Osborn, who ran the Magic Lamp studios out of the garage of his house. Magic Lamp only lasted 12 months, but during this time Joe Osborn also produced several other artists. Mort cut this record at that studio.

Mort also claimed to have written Pipeline by the Chantay's and Wipe Out by the Surfaris, but this is disputed by the former members of those bands. However, Pipeline is credited as produced by "Downey Records" and was first recorded on the Princess label. Mort claims he sold that song to Dot Records for $14,000. There's also a good chance that Mort was involved in the making of
Cinnamon Cinder (It's A Very Nice Dance) by the Pastel Six on Zen 103 in 1963. The Cinnamon Cinder was a chain of nightclubs started by KRLA disc jockey Bob Eubanks. It spawned a television show called The Cinnamon Cinder Show where local acts performed live, usually backed by the "house" band, one of which was The Pastel Six. This record is also credited as produced by Downey Records on the label. Have a listen to the song and see if you can hear Mort Downey on it:

Joe Osborn produced several other artists, including a young drummer named Mickey Jones, who went on to become a member of The First Edition backing future Country singer, Kenny Rogers. Mickey's 1966 single on Magic Lamp 705 is called I Can't Live Without You by Mickey Jones And The Triumphs. That record, a Beatles-meets-Beach Boys uptempo pop song, features an uncredited female singer in the background. That voice is none other than Karen Carpenter, well before her and her brother Richard became famous as The Carpenters! I'd play it for you if I could, but I haven't found that record yet. If you have a copy, I'd sure love to hear it!

Richard Carpenter loved music, and he encouraged his kid sister Karen to join him in the music business. The Carpenter family had moved from New Haven, Conecticut to 13024 Fidler Avenue on the south side of Downey, California in June 1963. This is the house where they lived.

Richard entered California State University when he was seventeen. Karen was still in high school. She loved sports, but hated gym class. She was able to substitute Band for Gym, and also joined the school's choir to avoid Geometry! She marched in the drum line with her glockenspiel, but soon became extremely fond of the drums. Her parents bought her a drum set and she became addicted to it. She played so often, her mom had to keep a stock of Band-Aids for her overworked fingers.

On 13 May 1966, Karen Carpenter was officially signed to Magic Lamp records and cut her very first record on that label. Only 500 copies were pressed, with brother Richard, who wrote both sides, playing keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and no doubt Karen on drums. That record, on Magic Lamp 704, is worth around $4,500 today!

Here's I'll Be Yours by Karen Carpenter on Magic Lamp 1966:

And here's the flip side, Looking For Love:

Now, you may want to listen to Ballad Of Billy Brown by Mort Downey again. Although that record was made two years earlier, it's VERY possible that the uncredited female voice on there is also a very young Karen Carpenter. This is an unsubstantiated rumor. But, if it's true, that would make THIS song the very first time Karen Carpenter appeared on a record!

After Magic Lamp went bankrupt, Joe Osborn let Karen and Richard continue to use the studio to record demo tapes. They teamed up with four other student musicians from Long Beach State to form a band called Spectrum, performing at the Whisky A-Go-Go. A member of Spectrum, John Bettis, continued working with the Carpenters on all their later recordings, helping Richard compose many of their songs. Eventually, Karen and Richard were discovered by Herb Alpert, who signed them to his A&M Records label, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Karen Carpenter passed away on 4 February 1983 from complications of anorexia. She had been struggling with her weight from the time she was a child. Her rapid gains and losses took a toll on her body, and finally poisoned her heart.

Mort Downey left radio in the late 1960's and headed to Washington D.C. to get involved in politics. He became a political activist and consultant. He worked in the Justice Department under Bobby Kennedy. He fought to get answers from politicians, which led him to national television appearances in the 1970's with Phil Donahue. He spent time in Africa helping refugees in Biafra. He also started an ABA basketball franchise, the New Orleans Buccaneers. He helped found the WBO professional boxing organization. He even tried to establish the World Baseball Association in 1974, but the WBA never played a single game.

Mort's passion for politics reached a peak in 1979 when he ran for President in the Democratic Primary. That's very ironic, when you consider how much he turned against that party shortly afterward! He returned to radio in the 1980's, but now as a talk show host. He worked in Orlando, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Sacramento. He was a pioneer of controversial talk radio, setting the stage for folks like Rush Limbaugh, who actually replaced him on KFBK radio in Sacramento, and who went on to find great success when his show was syndicated nationally. Mort was fired from that job in 1983 after telling an "ethnic" joke about an Asian member of the City Council. He never apologized for that joke.

Mort went to Seacaucus, New Jersey (a place where I lived for a while around that same time) to start a very controversial local talk show on WWOR TV. His catch phrase was "Zip it!" He'd chain smoke during the show, blow smoke in his guest's faces, and call them "pablum puking liberals." He tried to anger his guests, sometimes provoking them to get into physical confrontations. In fact, he once riled up Roy Innis of CORE to the point where he shoved Al Sharpton into his chair, knocking him to the floor!

Sean Morton Downey Jr. died on 12 March 2001. He'd been battling lung cancer since 1996 and underwent several surgeries. He lost all but two-thirds of his one lung. A medical mistake also cost him part of his windpipe. Despite these hardships, he never stopped planning new projects.

You'll hear lots of interesting records like this on MusicMaster Oldies. If you hear one that you've never heard before, and you really like it a lot, let me know. I'll post something about it for you!

New Oldies - I Want That Boy by Sadina

2012-01-08T11:30:00.001-06:00

The opening of this record, with one high school girl whispering to another about a boy she likes, always reminds me of Leader Of The Pack by The Shangri-Las from 1964. But the object of this girl's affection isn't a motorcycle-riding bad boy. He's a good kid who doesn't hang around with the trouble-makers. This is a really sweet Girl Group song that I think could have easily been a timeless sixties oldie, just like Leader Of The Pack.

Here's I Want That Boy by Sadina on Smash 1979 from 1965:

Sadina was really Priscilla Mitchell who was born on 18 September 1941 in Marietta, Georgia. She started singing at an early age, and cut her first record, Out Of My Dreams b/w Every Girl, on Wonder 107, when she was seventeen years old. Her first name was spelled Pricilla Mitchell on that first record (without the "S").

Around that same time, Jerry Reed, had just finished cutting a few tracks at NRC Records in Atlanta, a label that had just been founded by Bill Lowery and Boots Woodall. He met Priscilla at a show in Lithia Springs, Georgia. He began dating Priscilla, who he liked to call Prissy, and two years later, while Jerry was serving in the U.S. Army, the two got married. Jerry, of course, became the famous singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer. Priscilla became a mom!

Jerry and Priscilla had two daughters, Charlotte Elaine ("Lottie") and Seidina Ann. Seidina was born in 1960, so she was just five years old when her mother recorded I Want That Boy, using a slight variation of her name for the artist credits. Priscilla cut one more (excellent) record on Smash as Sadina, Teen Years b/w It Comes And Goes, also in 1965.

She went over to Mercury Records in that same year where she sang several duets with Roy Drusky, including a cool song about cheating called Yes Mr. Peters that became a #1 Country hit in May 1965. She cut a couple of albums with Roy, along with five solo singles released on Mercury. But she never managed to find a hit record as a solo artist. That was a tragic oversight, if you want my humble opinion!

Priscilla and Jerry stayed together until he passed away at home on 1 September 2008 after a battle with emphysema. He was 71 years old. Jerry Reed Hubbard was born on 20 March 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia. He's buried in Nashville. Both of their daughters were married, becoming Seidina Hinesley and Charlotte Stewart, and blessed Jerry and Priscilla with two grandchildren.

MusicMaster Oldies combines all styles of music from the 1950's and 1960's. That's why you'll hear the Girl Group sound of Priscilla as Sadina, along with her duets with Roy Drusky, and even Jerry Reed and Roy Drusky solo records. It's a crazy mix when you can hear Roy Drusky and Jimi Hendrix on the same station, but I think it works. How about you?

New Oldies - Everybody's Gonna Say by Listen

2012-01-07T11:07:00.001-06:00

The next time you find a little stash of vinyl 45 RPM singles in a resale shop somewhere, it might be worth taking the time to dig through them. That's how I found two copies of this record one day. If you know the song, no matter how good it is, chances are that record isn't worth very much. If it was a big hit, there are probably far too many copies in circulation for it to be rare. It's the ones that you don't recognize that demand special attention.

But most of the ones you don't know aren't worth much either. That's because they're not very good. The best way to prospect for gold in the vinyl record bins is to bring along a portable record player and play the obscure ones you find. If they sound really good, you may have found something valuable. But it's not always possible to play them.

If you can't play them, try reading the labels carefully. First thing to consider, what label is it on? If you find one on Chance or Grand, it could be a valuable Doo-Wop record. If you find one on Orlyn, it could be a valuable Garage Rocker. Anything on Shrine is probably a very expensive Northern Soul record. I'm now playing records from 7,660 different labels on MusicMaster Oldies. The most common are RCA, Columbia, Capitol, and Decca, but those four only account for about ten percent of the total archive. This record is on Columbia, so it might not have been that interesting. Then again, there are some very valuable Columbia singles out there, so you can't just assume it's worthless. If it's an obscure label, see if it tells you where it was made. That's another valuable clue. Look at the publishing company names. Some companies specialized in a certain genre of music. The name of the producer or arranger, if listed, can also tell you something about what kind of song it is.

Don't forget to look at the names of the composers. On this particular record, you would have seen the names Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere under the title You Better Run. Those guys are better known as The Young Rascals, who later shortened their name to just The Rascals. In fact, You Better Run is a cover version of a top 20 Young Rascals hit from 1966. A cover of a rock hit is usually very promising.

But there's something even more interesting on the other side of this record. Under Everybody's Gonna Say, you would have found the name Robert Plant among the composer credits. Yeah, THAT Robert Plant! This is early work from Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. Oh, and by the way, he's singing lead on both sides of this record! The record number tells you it came from 1966, which is a full two years before The New Yardbirds were formed, which evolved into Led Zeppelin in 1969. The words "Recorded In England" on the label now make it necessary to buy this little piece of plastic. This record was first issued in England on the CBS label. It was pressed on Columbia for distribution in the United States, but it never made it on the charts. The store stock copies had a red label. The ones with a white label were promotional copies pressed for free distribution to radio stations.

I got my two copies of this record, both in like-new condition, for a quarter each! I still have one of them, but I sold the other one for $300. I probably could have held out for more. Almost makes you want to run out to the Goodwill Store and start diving into the used record bins, doesn't it?

Here's Everybody's Gonna Say by Listen on Columbia 43967 from 1966:

And here's the flip side, a cover of the Young Rascals hit, You Better Run:

I call these records Future Superstars, and you'll hear a whole lot of them when you "listen" to MusicMaster Oldies. I'll feature some more of them in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

New Oldies - Rock And Roll Record Girl by Bobby Poe And The Poe Cats

2012-01-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

After the legendary Sam Phillips of Sun Records heard Bobby Poe And The Poe Cats, he wanted to put this song out on a record. But the song was very similar to the #1 hit song Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy, written by Jack Stapp and Harry Stone, first released on Decca 46205 in 1950, and licensed by Acuff-Rose publishing company. Sam had to jump through a bunch of legal hoops to get permission from Wesley Rose. By the time the song was cleared for publication, Sam had given up on it. A disc jockey in Dallas named Jim Lowe snapped it up and issued it on his own White Rock Records label. It was immensely popular all over Texas, climbing to the number one spot on regional charts.

Here's Rock And Roll Record Girl by Bobby Poe And The Poe Cats on White Rock 1112 from 1958, a serious slice of Rockabilly that would probably set you back about $250 if you wanted to buy an original copy!

For those of you who want to compare the two songs, here's Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy by Red Foley on Decca 46205 from 1950:

Bobby Poe cut one more record for Jim Lowe under the name Bobby Brant And The Rhythm Rockers. After that, he quit recording his own songs and started managing other artists instead. His first client was Big Al Downing, who had been the only black member of Bobby's Poe Cats (and played piano on this track). He moved to Washington DC and picked up another former Poe Cat, lead guitarist Vernon Sandusky, now a member of The Chartbusters. That band had a hit in 1964 with She's The One which peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview for People Magazine, actor Tom Hanks revealed that The Chartbusters had a lot of influence on the making of his film, That Thing You Do.

Let's spin that one right now. Here's She's The One by The Chartbusters on Mutual 502 from 1964:

Bobby Poe also managed The British Walkers, which featured guitarist Roy Buchanan. Roy had been playing with Dale Hawkins, doing the solo on My Baby. After that he played with Dale's cousin Ronnie Hawkins, giving guitar instruction to Ronnie's guitar player, Robbie Robertson. Roy can be heard playing bass on Ronnie's version of Who Do You Love. According to an unconfirmed legend, Roy turned down an offer to join The Rolling Stones!

Check out Shake by The British Walkers on Cameo 466 from 1967, a cover of Sam Cooke's big hit. This version snuck into Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100 touching the #106 slot:

Bobby Nelson Poe was born on 13 April 1933 in Vinita, Oklahoma. His Poe Cats worked as the first backing band for Wanda Jackson, the Rockabilly Queen. They toured together, and can be heard on Wanda's early Capitol releases, including Let's Have A Party.

Bobby Poe, Wanda Jackson, Big Al Downing, and Vernon Sandusky are all members of the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame.

Bobby Poe started suggesting and recommending songs to radio programmers in 1968. He published a tip sheet called Bobby Poe's Pop Music Survey and even began an annual music convention that became very popular with radio programmers. After twenty five years of running those conventions, Bobby retired in 1996. He founded the Grand Grove Opry in Grove, Oklahoma to showcase Country music talent. Those shows were broadcast on KITO radio in Vinita.

Bobby Poe died at his home in Grove, Oklahoma on 22 January 2011 after battling throat cancer for two years.

New Oldies - I'm Sure Going To Miss Her by The Chellows

2012-01-06T00:43:00.001-06:00

It's time I took you into the mysterious world of Hit Records. This was a "budget" record label based in Nashville. It was founded by Ted Jarrett and Bill Beasley to sell cover versions of hit songs at reduced prices. The singles they sold were priced at 39 cents, or about half the price of the other labels.

These two guys ran another budget label called Spar Records. It was on that label that Bobby Russell made his recording debut with a Nashville teen garage band called Bobby Russell And The Beagles. It was 1964, the year the Beatles hit it big in America. Clearly the "Beagles" was intended to trade off the success of The Beatles. His first record featured Roll Over Beethoven backed with Right Or Wrong on Spar 740, both cover versions of hits by Chuck Berry and Ronnie Dove, respectively.

Bobby Russell was born in Nashville on 19 April 1940. He's a singer and songwriter, probably best known as the guy who wrote hit songs like Honey, The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, and Little Green Apples, which earned him the Song Of The Year Grammy Award in 1968. That was the same year he hit the pop charts singing his own song, 1432 Franklin Park Circle Hero, which peaked at #36 on Elf 90,020. He also had five of his own singles hit the Billboard Hot Country charts, with one of them, Saturday Morning Confusion, crossing over to the pop charts on United Artists 50786 from 1971. Bobby was married to singer and actress Vicki Lawrence from 1972 to 1974.

Behind the scenes at Hit Records lived three hard working musicians: the aforementioned Bobby Russell, along with Buzz Cason and Bergen White. Every record on the Hit Records label was supposed to be credited to an imaginary artist. Basically the names were made up. I say "supposed to be" because a few records were made using the artist's real name, and at least one was made that accidentally used the name of the group who made the original recording. Oops.

They would also bring in session musicians and singers to help make these records. There was certainly no shortage of available talent in Nashville! Specific information about who played on which records ranges from sketchy to non-existant. But we do know that some heavy hitters were involved, such as Boots Randolph, Bill Pursell, Jimmy Wilkerson, Billy Sherrill, the Anita Kerr Singers, the Margie Singleton Singers, the Jordanaires, Ray Stevens, Jimmy Buffett, Ricky Page, and many others. The arrangements were often done by Bill Justis and Bergen White. They were not note-for-note copies of the originals, just close approximations. Nothing was improvised, however. The musicians followed the sheet music, using the famous Nashville Numbering System.

One of the artists who appeared on Hit Records, without being credited, was Sandy Posey, who had her own hits with Born A Woman and Single Girl. Some artists who appeared on Hit Records using their real names were Herbert Hunter, Peggy Gaines, Earl Gaines, Bobby Cash, Connie Landers, Dick Martin (of the Rowan And Martin comedy duo) Sammie Moore (Sam of Sam And Dave), and even Bobby Russell himself.

Hit Records also published albums. In fact, this song also appears on the Current Hits Volume 27 album. Often, the fake names used on the album tracks were different that the ones used on the singles, even though they were exactly the same recordings.

This record is NOT a cover of the Gary Lewis And The Playboys hit song, Sure Gonna Miss Her. This is, in fact, the original recording of that song, written and sung by Bobby Russell a full year before the song became a hit. On rare occasions, a Hit Records single would be released with one original song on it, instead of the usual cover of a current hit. This original recording was made by Bobby Russell as a demo recording, intended to shop the song around to see if it could be sold to some big recording star and turned into a hit. Leon Russell and Snuff Garrett produced most of the Gary Lewis records which were issued on Liberty Records between 1965 and 1970. Someone liked this demo well enough to get Gary Lewis to record it.

Here's I'm Sure Going To Miss Her by The Chellows (actually Bobby Russell) on Hit 187 from 1965:

Gary Lewis was the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, best known now for his fundraising telethons to raise money to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy. His real name was Gary Harold Lee Levitch and he was born on 31 July 1945. His famous father, who had been born Joseph Levitch in 1926, legally changed the family name to Lewis when Gary was just two years old.

Gary Lewis And The Playboys came together in Los Angeles in 1964 and became regulars at Disneyland. You might be thinking that Gary's famous dad had something to do with launching his career, but that's not the case. The group didn't let anyone know who Gary's father was when they auditioned for that job.

Gary Lewis And The Playboys got picked up by Liberty Records in 1965 and immediately began producing hits, with the help of great producers and session musicians. His first big hits were This Diamond Ring, Count Me In, Save Your Heart For Me, Everybody Loves A Clown, She's Just My Style, and then their version of this song, retitled as Sure Gonna Miss Her, issued on Liberty 55865 in 1966.

After the Gary Lewis And The Playboys version hit the charts, Hit Records needed to issue a cover version. So, Bobby Russell recorded an updated version, this time using an arrangement that was much closer to the hit version. This time the record was credited to Ed Hardin, but it's most likely Bobby Russell singing. Of course, there's a good chance Buzz Cason is on here as well.

Here's Sure Gonna Miss Her by Ed Hardin on Hit 247 from 1966:

Here's a little bonus for you. The Lennon Sisters appeared regularly on the Lawrence Welk Show and recorded several albums of cover versions of hit songs. In 1967, they put out an album called Somethin' Stupid on Dot that included a cover of Sure Gonna Miss Her. But, since they're all female singers, they changed the lyrics to sing the song from the girl's perspective. The title became, Sure Gonna Miss Him. It's kind of a nice "answer" to the Gary Lewis And The Playboys version! Have a listen:

I'm planning to revisit the Hit Records label several times over the coming months, mainly because there is a lot of interesting stuff to talk about! I could get carried away writing about this particular label. In fact, I once entertained the idea of writing a book about it. You see, I happen to own at least one copy of every single ever published on Hit Records, from 001 to 355, plus all the extra stuff they published on Holiday Hits. I also own at least one copy of every single issued in Canada on Hit Records, which did not contain the same songs or use the same numbering system. In fact, some confusion arose because the Canadian pressings started using numbers in the 200 range to avoid confusion with the Nashville issues. However, once Nashville reached the 200's themselves, they started to make Hit Record singles that carried the same number as an earlier Canadian pressing. Needless to say, this confused the heck out of collectors for awhile, me included! I also own at least one copy of every Hit Records album ever pressed. In the record collecting world, this is called "Running the Label" and I have Run the Hit Records label completely. I even own some of the extremely rare inserts and sleeves that came with these records. I've contemplated auctioning off the entire collection to a single buyer, but I frankly have no idea where to start the bidding

Of course, you'll hear every single record ever made on the Hit Records label on MusicMaster Oldies, along with hundreds of songs from other "budget" labels like, Tops, Bell, Twin Hits, and many more.

New Oldies - Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers

2012-01-04T14:44:00.000-06:00

What's this? I know what you're thinking. This is a very well known piece of rock history. But, did you know that the version you heard on the radio was NOT the original version of the song? The Chambers Brothers first recorded this song in 1966. It was released as a single on Columbia 43816, two years before it became a #11 hit in 1968. The updated version was issued as a single on Columbia 44414. The original version is a bit different, with a gritty garage rock feel. Have a listen:

Now, if you have the time, here's the "long" version of Time Has Come Today from the Chambers Brothers 1968 album, The Time Has Come. This full eleven minute version was played on progressive rock stations, but it was way too long for the hit music stations. Columbia knew that, which is why they edited it down to 4:46 for the single. Light up, sit back, and peace out with the Chambers Brothers from Los Angeles:

If you've got the time, we've got the oldies. Someone asked me recently why I never play the long version of certain songs, like this one, or Light My Fire by The Doors. Actually, I play every version I can find. Listen to MusicMaster Oldies any day at about 5:04pm Central Time and you'll always hear what I call and "Epic" song. Basically, that's any song that runs longer than ten minutes. You may not think there were many songs like that in the 1960's, but you can listen for over a month without hearing the same one twice!

New Oldies - Sukiyaki by The Blue Diamonds

2012-01-03T03:09:00.001-06:00

The original hit version of this song, sung in Japanese by Kyo Sakamoto, is one of my all-time favorite oldies. This version is sung in English, but it is not even close to a translation of the original.

The Blue Diamonds are an example of Indo-Rock. At one time, Indonesia was a Dutch colony. This is music made by the people of Indonesia, but influenced by the rock and roll hits coming out of America. The group was centered on two brothers, Ruud de Wolff, born on 12 May 1941, and Riem de Wolff, born on 15 April 1943. Both boys were born in Jakarta, Indonesia, although Jakarta was called Batavia back then.

They had a lot of success covering hits by The Everly Brothers. Their biggest hit was Ramona, a cover of a song that was written for a 1927 movie starring Dolores del Rio. She never actually sang the song in the movie, but she did sing it at promotional appearances. Ramona was a #1 hit for The Blue Diamonds in 1960 in both Holland and Germany, and a #2 hit in Belgium and Norway. It sold an unprecedented 250,000 copies in the Netherlands, and over one million copies in Germany, where a German version was heard. The English version even made it up to #72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America. They even recorded a Spanish version of the song that became a big hit in Spain, Mexico, and elsewhere.

Besides playing in Indonesia, they toured all over the world in the 1960's, including Europe, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, but never in America. They continued performing until November 2000. Ruum passed away only a month later at the age of 59.

Here's Sukiyaki sung in English by The Blue Diamonds on London 10032 from 1963:

For comparison, here's the hit version heard in the United States. To say this song was a smash hit is a serious understatement. It went to #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Cashbox. It was a #1 crossover hit on the Adult Contemporary charts, and it even climbed to #18 on the R&B charts in America! It peaked at #4 in Canada on the 1050 CHUM survey in Toronto. It was #2 in Australia in Germany, and #6 in the UK. The biggest success, of course, was in Japan. Once when I was demonstrating MusicMaster at a trade show in Las Vegas, I was playing this song in our booth. Some Japanese businessmen were passing by, and they stopped to listen to the entire song before walking on.

Kyu was actually a nickname. It means "nine" in Japanese, which was an alternative way to read the kanji character that represented his given name, Hisashi. Kyu had a pretty tough life. He was forced to migrate from his home in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, to escape American bombing of Tokyo during World War II. His parents were divorced while he was still attending junior high school. He played trumpet in his high school band, and joined a Japanese pop group called The Drifters in 1958 as a singer. The song we know as Sukiyaki was actually called "Ue O Muite Arukō" and it was written by Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura. The owner of Pye Records in England was visiting Japan and heard the song. He decided to bring it back to England, changing the name to Sukiyaki to make it easier for English speakers to pronounce. Kyu got married in 1971 to a Japanese actress named Yukiko Kashiwagi and they had two daughters, Hanako and Maiko.

Sadly, Kyu Sakamoto died when JAL flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka crashed on 12 August 1985. All 15 crew members died. There were 509 passengers on that flight. Only four people survived. Kyu was only 43 years old at the time.

Here's the version heard in America of Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto on Capitol 4945 from 1963:

If you want to sing along (I do), here are the Japanese lyrics. Below that, I've included the actual English translation. As you can see, it's clearly quite different from the version sung by The Blue Diamonds.

Japanese Lyrics:

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
omoidasu harunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

ue o muite arukou
nijinda hosi o kazoete
omoidasu natsunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

shiawase wa kumo no ueni
shiawase wa sora no ueni

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru

(whistling)

omoidasu akinohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

kanashimi wa hosino kageni
kanashimi wa tsukino kageni

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru

(whistling)

English Translation:

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Remembering those happy spring days
But tonight I'm all alone

I look up when I walk, counting the stars with tearful eyes
Remembering those happy summer days
But tonight I'm all alone

Happiness lies beyond the clouds
Happiness lies above the sky

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone

(whistling)
Remembering those happy autumn days
But tonight I'm all alone

Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars
Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone

Thanks for listening to MusicMaster Oldies. I'm trying to build up a bigger audience, so please let your friends who are fans of the oldies know about it. Thanks!

New Oldies - Süß Ist Sie by The Searchers

2012-01-02T13:59:00.001-06:00

Germany experienced the British Invasion before it reached the USA. Remember, The Beatles had been playing in The Cavern in Hamburg before anyone in America knew who they were. So it makes sense that some of the British Invasion hits you heard in America were actually recorded for the German market first. Here are a couple of examples.

I'm pretty sure the title of this song is grammatically incorrect in German. It literally translates into Sweet She Is. Assuming they meant She Is Sweet, the words should probably be in the opposite order. But the point is, this song was released in Germany several months before it showed up on the other side of the Atlantic. You know the song as Sugar And Spice and it hit the American Hot 100 in May 1964, peaking at only #44, issued in the United States on Liberty 55689. The English version, released on Pye 15566, was a #2 hit in England in October 1963 and a #6 hit in Ireland in November 1963. It even peaked at #39 in Australia in December 1963. The German version was issued in 1963 on Vogue 14116. It missed the Top 50 in Germany, however.

Here's süß Ist Sie by The Searchers on Vogue 14116 from 1963:

The Searchers did have chart hits in Germany starting with a #44 peak for Sweets For My Sweet in May 1963, followed by Needles And Pins in March 1964 which went to #8 there. But the Germans heard both the English version and a German version called Tausend Nadelstiche, which basically means One Thousand Needles.

Here is Tausend Nadelstiche by The Searchers on Vogue 14130 from 1964:

Usually the German version was made after the English version, specifically to extend the success of a British (or American) hit into the German market. Such was the case with this record by Millie Small, My Boy Lollipop. She was born in Jamaica in 1946. She was known as Little Millie Small in many parts of the world, just Millie Small in America, and just Millie in Germany. You've heard the song in English, no doubt. Here's the German version of My Boy Lollipop by Millie from Fontana 267-376 in 1964:

Many people don't know that this song was actually a cover of a 1956 song that was originally written as My Girl Lollypop by Robert Spencer of the Doo-Wop group, The Cadillacs. It was first recorded and released as a single by a fourteen year old girl street corner singer from Coney Island in Brooklyn named Barbie Gaye. The story behind the song is pretty interesting. Click HERE to check it out. Here's My Boy Lollypop by Barbie Gaye on Darl 1002 from 1957.

Alan Freed played the heck out of this song on WINS Radio in New York, which helped it make his Top 25 playlist. Brill Building legend, Ellie Greenwich, loved the song, and the singer, a whole lot. In fact, she even chose the name Ellie Gaye when she tried to launch her own recording career. If you ever find a copy of an album called Ted Randal Presents TV Record Hop on RCA from 1958, you'll find a couple of songs on there credited to Ellie Gaye. That's Ellie Greenwich, the girl who wrote a ton of hits with Jeff Barry throughout the 1950's and 1960's. You know, little throw-away tunes like Da Doo Ron Ron, Then He Kissed Me, Chapel Of Love, Maybe I Know, Hanky Panky, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Be My Baby, Leader Of The Pack... I could go on and on!

Here's Ellie Greenwich as Ellie Gaye singing Cha Cha Charming from that TV Record Hop album from 1958:

You'll hear hundreds, maybe thousands, of versions of English and American hits sung in other languages, like German, French, Spanish, and many more, when you listen to MusicMaster Oldies. You'll even hear a version of My Boy Lollipop sung in Chinese by Sakura And The Quests from Singapore. Got any requests?

New Oldies - Valerie by The Starlites

2012-01-01T12:26:00.002-06:00

Is it possible for a really sad song to make you laugh? You should probably listen to the song before I tell you anything about it. Here's Valerie by The Starlites on Fury 1034 from 1960:

The Starlites were from New York City, where this song became a regional hit. It did not make the national charts, however. Lead singer Jackie Rue is backed up by Alton Jones (first tenor), George Lassu (second tenor), John Felix (baritone), and Billy Montgomery (bass). Of course, like most harmony groups, the membership probably changed a bit through the years. These guys regularly moved from one group to another. As they say, they were looking for an echo. Most of these guys started out standing around a flaming garbage can, drinking cheap wine, and trying to harmonize with each other. The better ones ended up with recording deals. Record companies sent people out to prowl the streets and parks looking for fresh talent all the time. Doo-Wop was hot, and the public just couldn't get enough of it. That sells records. Unfortunately, most of the money made from those records never made it back to the artists. A lot of them lived their entire life just above the poverty line. Still, it was better than having no job at all.

Fury Records was owned by a Harlem hustler named Bobby Robinson who owned a record store. Back then, it was fairly common for record store owners to get into the recording business. Street harmony groups would stand outside the shop and sing, hoping to bust into the recording business and make a little cash. Bobby Robinson also ran many other labels, including Fire, Everlast, Enjoy, and Red Robin. He probably produced more group harmony classics than anyone else in New York City. He worked with a ton of groups with names like The Teenchords, The Channels, The Charts, The Kodaks and The Rainbows. If you can think of a one-word name for a group, there probably was one using that name somewhere! You may need to tack on the number of guys in the group, however, making names like The Four Coins, or The Five Pennies. You get the idea. Bobby also worked with many well-known solo artists like Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Tarheel Slim, Lee Dorsey, and Wilbert Harrison.

The Starlights added the lead singer's name shortly after making Valerie, becoming Jackie And The Starlites. They cut a few more records on Bobby's Fury label before that company went bankrupt. In fact, They Laughed At Me, the last record they cut on Fury, also issued on Fire, featured Jackie Rue laughing hysterically instead of crying! The guys then moved to the Hull label where they tried to emulate the Latino groups that were really hot at the time, like The Drifters. They didn't have much success after that.

The earliest record I have by The Starlites is on Peak 5000 from 1957. It's not a "crying" record like Valerie, but it's really good. Check out Missing You by The Starlites:

Somewhere in the middle of all this, a couple of guys were arrested for murdering a 73 year old man named Emil Markussen in an Upper West Side apartment. The two young men were identified as J. Carl Moody and Henry John Hicks, and both were said to be members of The Starlites. If they did work on some of the Starlites records, I don't know which ones. Information about who sang on which records was not very well maintained and most of the people involved in making these records are now dead. But we keep trying to dig up new details anyway!

I've heard that Jackie Rue never lived to see the 1970's. He died of a heroin overdose.

Now the good part. Valerie was really big in New York City and it had an impact on many people. Lou Reed played the song when he sat in as a guest DJ on WPIX-FM in 1979. It was played very often on the jukebox at a shop called Let It Rock on King's Road. That shop was owned by Malcolm McClaren, who eventually changed the name to Sex. It's the place where The Sex Pistols came together for the first time! Frank Zappa loved the song so much he did a cover version of it on his 1970 album, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, but he toned down the crying bit considerably on his version.

Jackie And The Starlites performed around New York City, and the surrounding area, like in the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia. They actually took top billing over Ike And Tina Turner! The venue wanted to bill them above James Brown and His Famous Flames, but James Brown didn't like the idea at all.

There are a whole bunch more "crying" and "laughing" records out there. You'll hear them all on MusicMaster Oldies if you listen long enough. But when you're playing a quarter million records, some of them don't come around very often. I think you'd have to listen continuously for over a year to hear them all. Can you stay awake for 8,760 hours?

I've been trying to post a new song every day on here. It reminds me of the days in my record shop when we'd play cool records for the folks who hung around there all the time and became our good friends. Maybe I can open a new shop here in San Diego and get back to doing fun stuff like that!

New Oldies - Superman by The Clique

2011-12-31T11:39:00.000-06:00

You probably already know the hit version of this song made by R.E.M. in 1986. It was the last song on their Fables Of The Reconstruction album. Michael Stipe didn't really love the song, so he sang backup on it and had bass player Mike Mills take the lead vocals. Ironically, this song became the most memorable track on that album. Believe it or not, the song did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it did climb to #17 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.

The song was written by Gary Zekley and Mitchell Bottler and produced by Don Gehman, who had previously worked with John Mellencamp. While on tour to promote the new album, Gary Zekley joined R.E.M. on stage when they performed his song on 21 October 1986 at the Northern Illinois University in De Kalb. You may have also heard the R.E.M. version of Superman on a couple of television shows. It was used in a CSI:NY episode, along with an episode of Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman. Of course, there's also the song called Superman by Lazlo Bane, an alternative rock group from Santa Monica, California, that was used as the theme for the Scrubs television show. That's a different song, I know. Maybe I can do a future blog post about the other songs that were made in the 1950's and 1960's that referenced The Man Of Steel. There were several of them!

Did you know that Superman was a cover of an original song made by The Clique, the group that brought us the #22 hit, Sugar On Sunday, back in 1969? Did you also know that Sugar On Sunday was also a cover of a song first recorded by Tommy James And The Shondells on their Crimson And Clover album. Tommy James actually produced The Clique's hit version of the song.

After the break-up of a group from Beaumont, Texas, called The Lavender Hour, a few of their members pulled a new band together, calling themselves The Clique. They were Jerry Cope on drums, Tommy Pena on bass, and Sid Templeton on guitar. They recorded a single on Cinema Records called Splash 1, a cover version of a single by Roky Erickson's 13th Floor Elevators. The Clique improved on the original by speeding up the tempo and adding a fuzz guitar. The record was picked up for national release by Scepter 12022. The record showed up on Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100 at #113.

The Clique made a follow up single in 1968 called Gotta Get Away / Love Ain't Easy on Scepter 12212. After that song failed to chart, Scepter pulled the plug. The group was then picked up by White Whale Records, the label that was built around the success of The Turtles. It was there that the band hooked up with record producer Gary Zekley, who had once been a member of the group backing up Jan And Dean. The records he made with The Clique featured lead singer Randy Shaw backed up by professional session musicians from Los Angeles.

Here's the original version of Superman by The Clique on White Whale 312 from 1969:

Here's that first song from The Clique that became a Bubbling Under hit. This is Splash 1 on Cinema 001, later issued on Scepter 12202 in 1967:

Now let's go back even farther. This was the first release by the band that evolved into The Clique. This is I'm Sorry by The Lavender Hour on Tribe 8323 from 1967:

My favorite garage rock track from The Lavender Hour appeared on their second record. Here's I've Gotta Way With Girls by The Lavender Hour on Steffek 1929 from 1967:

To complicate things a bit, there were a couple of other groups known as The Clique. You'll hear all of them on MusicMaster Oldies, of course. One of them is from England. Another is from Australia. There's even another garage rock group from Champaign, Illinois, who called themselves The Cliques. The Cliques was also the name of a 1956 doo wop group lead by Jesse Belvin and Eugene Church. If you've heard of any other "Clique" groups, let me know. You can become an official member of the MusicMaster Oldies clique! I'm not playing the later cover versions of songs that originated in the 1950's and 1960's, but I am considering that. Maybe I'll come up with some kind of special feature that pairs the original with a modern remake. Who would love hearing that?

New Oldies - The Cat by The Sting Rays

2011-12-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

This garage rock group comes from Rochester, Minnesota, just southeast of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The members included John Paulson on sax, Dave Spittell on guitar, John Spittell on bass and vocals, and Rob Thompson on drums. After a while, the lineup changed a bit. John Paulson's brother Tom took over the drums. Jim McBean replaced John Spittell on bass, and brothers Gene and Brian Peters were added on guitar, bass, and backing vocals.

This record was made by The Sting Rays in 1967. A year later, 15 year old sax player John Paulson left the band to join another local garage rock group called The Apostles. But his career path would eventually lead him to play a key role in the production of Oscar winning movie scores! You see, John went on to create software that is used by many music production houses in Hollywood, and as a learning tool for music teachers, college professors and professional composers all over the world.

John Paulson has always loved music. He enrolled in the University of Minnesota to play in that school's famous marching band. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in music education. He worked as a teacher for a year, then entered the prestigious Eastman School of Music in New York to earn his Master's degree. He came back to Minnesota to spend the next several years teaching music at the Wayzata Public Schools. He loved to teach kids about classical piano and Mozart, and his class in electronic composition was probably the first and only class teaching that subject at the high-school level. He could see how technology would soon transform the way music was being made and taught. He taught himself to write computer code in the 1980's when personal computers were just getting started. He worked on his software at home, while he and his wife raised their two children. In 1982, his software had grown into a side business, leading him to quit teaching to develop a company called Springboard Software to sell his software aimed at early childhood learning. He took Springboard public in the 1980's and left in 1990 to form another company. That company was founded around a product called Vivace. Eventually, the company name became MakeMusic and the product became known as SmartMusic. A subscription to this product gave teachers and students access to thousands of music titles and practice exercises.

I'm pretty sure I've found the same John Paulson who played with The Sting Rays, but I haven't confirmed this yet. If this is the same guy, he and I share extremely similar backgrounds. While he was developing music software on his kitchen table in the early 1980's, I was developing my own music scheduling software on my kitchen table. If my information is correct, John is only slightly older than me, and we both ended up running our own music-related software companies.

I knew none of this when I picked up my copy of The Cat, however. But I loved this song the first time I heard it. In fact, it's one of those rare songs that I find myself playing a couple more times when I first hear it, just because I appreciate it that much. I remember running off to fetch my kids to share it with them. I especially thought they'd like the cute lyrics about a cat that just keeps coming back. Believe it or not, I'd never heard that story before. But they had!

I was shocked to learn that this song was based on a very old song written in 1893 by a guy named Harry S. Miller. It started as a folk song and became a popular children's song. It was first recorded as a "race" record in April 1924 by Fiddlin' John Carson. It makes sense that John Paulson would turn this into a garage rock record, considering his fascination with music. The song is often used to teach children the concepts of rhythm and tempo, which are especially compelling when played in a minor key. It's usually sung in 2/4 time, with one weak beat followed by one strong beat. Considering this song's extensive history, I was a bit embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard about it before hearing this version. After all, I was supposed to be the music expert in the family! As it turns out, my kids know more about making music than I ever will. I'm basically a professional listener!

So let's get to it, shall we? Here's The Cat by The Sting Rays on Welhaven 8852 from 1967:

Since discovering this cute tune, I've made it my mission to find hundreds more like it. You'll hear them all on MusicMaster Oldies. If you think you know one that I've missed, by all means, share it with the class!

New Oldies - Purr Kitty Purr by Sid King And The Five Strings

2011-12-29T09:59:00.003-06:00

Ever wonder what records Buddy Holly listened to before he started making his own music? Here's one of them! If these guys weren't the first Rockabilly act, they were certainly one of the first. They were hailed by Billboard Magazine as the Top Ranked Show Band in 1956. These five cats from Dallas did shows with Pat Boone, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and even Elvis Presley. If I had a time machine, I'd hop in and take a trip first to the 1950's to catch some Western Swing at the WFAA Shindig, then to one of the Big D Jamboree rockabilly shows at the Sportatorium in Dallas. These days I have to get my Western Swing fix at the Station Inn on Monday Nights in Nashville. But where can you go for some good old fashioned Rockabilly? Somebody tell me, please!

Sidney Erwin was born in Denton, Texas in 1936. He had already formed a Western Swing group called the Western Melody Makers by the time he was 16. He got a record deal with Starday and cut a record called Who Put The Turtle In Myrtle's Girdle on Starday 146 in 1953. in 1956, Sid changed the name of his band to Sid King And The Five Strings and began cutting Rockabilly sides for Columbia Records.

This is one of my favorite Sid King records. Get your dancing shoes ready! Here's Purr Kitty Purr by Sid King And The Five Strings on Columbia 21489 from 1956.

From Western Swing to Rockabilly to Country and Western, you'll hear it all on MusicMaster Oldies! Y'all come back now.

New Oldies - Polar Bear by Nancy Carole with The Bel Chords

2011-12-28T08:43:00.000-06:00

I know absolutely nothing about Nancy Carole. My hunch is that she turned out to be a law professor in New York City, but that's based on some really sketchy research data. I may be way off. But I'm still looking for her! If you know who she is, please let me know!

This is another cute teeny-bopper girl song that I know will drive my son crazy. I love this record. Maybe that's because my oldest daughter loves polar bears so much. Oh, by the way, many people have been concerned lately that climate changes might make the polar bears extinct. That's not at all true. The global polar bear population is five times bigger now than it was 50 years ago. But this song isn't about polar bears. It's about love.

Have a listen to Polar Bear by Nancy Carole backed up by The Bel Chords on UI 500 from 1963:

Don't let the oldies become extinct! Listen to MusicMaster Oldies as often as you can, and please tell all your friends. The oldies are depending on people like you for their survival!

New Oldies - Never On Saturday by The Allan Sisters

2011-12-27T12:16:00.002-06:00

My son insists that songs like this sound like fingernails on a blackboard to his ears. He's amazed when he meets my record collector friends who are huge fans of Teeners and Girl Groups. They, like me, can't get enough of this stuff.

The Allan Sisters are Coralie and Jackie Allan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Jackie started singing when she was just seven years old. After her sister joined the act, they began doing shows in Alberta. They moved to Toronto in search of a recording contract. Jackie married a musical arranger from Country Hoedown on CBC Television named Art Snider.

They cut their first record in 1963, a song called Larry that made it up to #35 on the 1050 CHUM Top 50 in Toronto in early 1964. The record was first issued in Canada on Art Snider's Chateau label. This song, Never On Saturday, was the flip side of that single. This is Never On Saturday by The Allan Sisters on Shell 314 from 1963:

The girls landed a regular gig that lasted a decade singing on The Tommy Hunter Show, a musical variety show that aired across Canada on CBC Television. They left the show in March 1977 and went on tour across Canada. In 1983, the girls went their separate ways and stopped performing together, a move that disappointed many of their fans.

Coralie, who was married to a singer and guitar player named James "Jamie" Nolan until his death in 1987, did a couple of solo shows, but soon dropped out of the music scene to find work in the business world.

Sister Jackie went on to pursue a solo career singing country music as Jackie Allan And Tribute. You could hear her often at the Bar-K in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Coralie left the music business completely. Sadly, Jackie's solo career was cut short when was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away on Christmas Eve in 1985.

After Jackie's death, Coralie joined Splendid Entertainment and started singing at dinner shows and cabarets around Muskoka, Toronto, and even into the northeastern United States. She moved to North Vancouver in 2000 to take care of her daughter, Darcia Gayle Nolan, who had been diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter passed away in 2005.

Whether you like this kind of music or not, you're bound to hear hundreds of songs from the 1950's and 1960's that you will love, and that you've never heard before, when you listen to MusicMaster Oldies. Let me know if a particularly good one finds you!

New Oldies - I've Got It Bad by The War Lords

2011-12-26T12:09:00.004-06:00

The War Lords were from somewhere around Chicago, probably south, like in the Champaign-Urbana area. This record came out in 1966 on Thor 810T-0759. This song was written by T Jacobs and J Popelka. The Flip side is a song called "Real Fine Lady" that is also very good (and available on compilation CD's). Both promo (white) and stock (red) copies were issued. Less than ten of these are known to still exist. If you find one, it's worth well over a thousand dollars.

Now you know everything I know about these guys! If you have any more information about them, I'd love to hear it. In the meantime, why don't you hear something from them? Here's I've Got It Bad by The War Lords:

Hope you're enjoying the variety on MusicMaster Oldies! Stay tuned. There's even more cool stuff coming in 2012.

New Oldies - I Don't Wanna Know by Bernadette Carroll

2011-12-24T11:19:00.001-06:00

You've heard of the Jersey Boys, right? Get ready for the Jersey Girls - Sixties Style!

The year is 1959. The place is Linden, New Jersey. Bernadette Carroll auditions to become a member of a new girl group being put together by arranger Tom DeCillis. She gets the job, along with Barbara Allbut, Barbara's sister Jiggs (Phyllis), and Lynda Malzone. The new group is called The Starlets and their first record is PS I Love You released on Astro 202/203 in 1960. The song makes the Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 chart at #106. The Starlets went on to make a second record on Astro, without Bernadette. She left the group to launch a solo career. Her first solo record was My Heart Stood Still / Sweet Sugar Sweet on Julia 1106 in 1962, a label owned by Tom DeCillis.

Tom brought in Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi of the Four Seasons to make her next record, Nicky / All The Way Home I Cried, which was sold to Laurie Records and was released, credited to simply Bernadette, on Laurie 3217 in 1963. The backing singers on that record were actually a group from New Jersey who called themselves The Brooks Four, but also recorded as The Four Winds and The Teammates. Bernadette managed to score her first national hit with her next record, Party Girl on Laurie 3238 in 1964, written by Ernie Maresca and Lou Zerato, and featuring her full name on the artist credits. Party Girl went to #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, #55 on CashBox, but did much better in some regions, going to #8 in Chicago on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey. Flip that record over and you get this song, I Don't Wanna Know:

Bernadette had four more releases on Laurie, but none of them ever became chart hits. In 1964, a group called The Rhythm Ramblers recorded a tribute to her called Pretty Bernadette. The flip side of that rare record features another Bernadette track called Heavenly. If you find this one, on Cleopatra 5, it's probably the most collectible Bernadette record of all.

Even while she was trying to launch a solo career, Bernadette would team up with the Allbut sisters to work as union background singers for other artists. She also teamed up with Denise Ferri and Peggy Santiglia to sing background vocals for folks like Kitty Kallen, Patty Duke, Connie Francis, Bobby Hebb. You can even hear Bernadette and her friends singing in the background on some Frankie Valli hits, The Proud One, You're Ready Now, and Cry For Me. You'll also hear them singing background for several Lou Christie songs on MGM, including Lightning Strikes and Rhapsody In The Rain.

In 1968, Bernadette took over as lead singer for The Angels and recorded four songs with them on RCA 9612 and RCA 9681. She also spent that year touring with the group. She also toured with the folk group who called themselves The Serendipity Singers and are best known for their hit, Don't Let The Rain Come Down.

Speaking of the Angels, you all know their big hit, My Boyfriend's Back, right? Bernadette wasn't with the group when they made that record in 1963 on Smash 1834. The lead singer on that record was a former member of The Delicates, Peggy Santiglia, who had sung jingles for WINS Radio in New York and performed on Broadway. The other two girls in the group were none other than Bernadette's former singing partners with the Starlets, the Allbut sisters, Barbara and Phyllis (Jiggy). The Starlets had tried to get record producer Gerry Granahan to sign them with a major label. At first, he didn't go along with the idea. Phyllis went to college to become a teacher, and sister Barbara was accepted into the Julliard School to become an arranger. A short time later, Gerry Granahan had second thoughts. While listening to an audition the girls had sung for him, he realized they had hit potential and called them back into the studio to record. That song was 'Til, and it became the first hit for The Angels on Caprice 107 in 1962.

My Boyfriend's Back came several records later. It was released on Smash 1834 in 1963, with this strange song on the flip side. This is called (Love Me) Now and you may not believe what you're hearing when you play this side of the record! It sounds like someone drops a metal tray on the floor part-way through the song. After that, you start to hear someone throwing stuff all around the studio. It's not happening in time with the music, and it certainly doesn't sound like it belongs there. This is STILL a mystery to me. It's clearly NOT just a mistake they either didn't catch, or chose to ignore. This was clearly intentional! Give it a listen and see what you think.

It makes me wonder if anyone ever bothered to flip over My Boyfriend's Back to play the other side. Aside from the strange noises, it's not a bad example of the Jersey Girl Group Sound! I would have loved to ask producers Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer, or arranger Leroy Glover, what they could tell me about this unique and unusual recording!

I play them ALL on MusicMaster Oldies. Listen long enough and you'll hear everything that ever charted between 1955 and 1973, plus tens of thousands of records that either charted somewhere else in the world, or never charted at all. It's the ultimate oldies mix. If you have any friends who love the music from this era, please turn them on to this!

New Oldies - Optical Sound by The Human Expression

2011-12-23T10:51:00.001-06:00

The cool thing about psychedelic music is that you can get high from it without using any drugs. The trick is being able to relax completely. That's the magic that makes music sound better when you're stoned. But you can get there through meditation instead, and it works exactly the same way. Don't ask me how I know this, just take my word for it!

Time for a dose of psychedelic sixties from a band called The Human Expression. These guys cut three records before breaking up following a poor choice of songs for their third single. This is from the group's second single, a solid slice of psych with a clever title, Optical Sound.

The group came from Westminster, California, just east of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, just south of Long Beach, in the Los Angeles metro area. I could write a ton of stuff about this band, but you're much better off reading about them here on CDBaby.com where you can also buy their music. There's another good write-up about them on 60sGarageBands.com.

They made two versions of this song, one that appeared on promo copies of the single (white label), and another that was used on subsequent stock pressings (red and black label). If you find either one of these original singles, you might hold out for a couple grand if you decide to sell them. Most people don't sell them once they own one! I've heard that less than ten copies of this record have been found, but I don't know if that's counting the one I have in my collection! When you're checking out their other tracks, be sure to check out Every Night from their first single. It's my other favorite song from them!

Here's Optical Sound from The Human Expression on Accent 1226 from 1967:

If you're in the mood to get high on more psychedelic sixties music, I can fix you up. My stash is your stash. MusicMaster Oldies is the only drug you need! Don't bogart it, my friend. Share it with your friends, please!

New Oldies - You're My Girl by Jimmy And The Spartans

2011-12-22T19:31:00.001-06:00

Most pressings of this rare Teener have a typo on the label, spelling the title as "Your're My Girl." I don't know much about Jimmy And The Spartans. The lead singer sounds too young to even be in high school! They were probably from somewhere near Memphis, Tennessee. I believe that's the case because they recorded on the Satellite record label which was founded in a Memphis garage in 1957 by Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton. They moved the studios into an old movie theater, where the sloping floor contributed to their unique sound. In 1961, very shortly after this record was released, Satellite Records became Stax Records, and music history was about to change in a very big way. Although Jim and Estelle were both white, Stax Records helped launch the Southern Soul and Memphis Soul sounds.

Estelle and Jim
The house band was none other than Booker T And The MG's. This became the home of soul superstars like Otis Redding, Sam And Dave, Wilson Picket, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Albert King, and behind-the-scenes legends like Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn. They created a subsidiary label called Volt Records. Atlantic Records had first publishing rights to anything recorded on Satellite, then Stax. The Blues Brothers movie is basically a tribute to Stax Records and the sweet soul music they brought to life. The Stax sound was really born with the very NEXT record they released AFTER this one, Last Night by the Mar-Keys.

Here is You're My Girl by Jimmy And The Spartans on Satellite 106 from 1961:

If you know anything more about these kids, please let me know. In the meantime, there's an incredible archive of Teeners and Soul music waiting for you on MusicMaster Oldies. Enjoy!

New Oldies - Action Woman by The Litter and The Electras

2011-12-21T13:55:00.000-06:00

Get ready for a Battle-of-the-Bands! We're going to let a couple of Minnesota garage rock groups from the 1960's play the same song for you, then you get to decide which one is better. You can also have fun trying to figure out which of these bands recorded the song first.

First up, from Ely, Minnesota, less than ten miles from the Canadian border, surrounded by national forests and several of Minnesota's famous 10,000 lakes, here are The Electras:

The Electras started at Ely Memorial High School in 1961 by a couple of new kids in town named Bill Bulinski and his younger brother Earl who had both been playing guitar for about four years and wanted to start a band. Bill put a help-wanted ad in the school newspaper looking for a bass player. A kid named Gary Omerza answered the ad first, but he didn't play bass. Instead, he was an accordion player! Nevertheless, he was invited to join. After adding upright bass player Fred Godec they started rehearsing. Their first gig was at John's Bar where they snuck in some uptempo songs between the polkas and waltzes. But they lost that job when a local priest didn't like the idea of teenagers hanging around in a bar.

Bill played lead guitar while brother Earl handled rhythm. They added Len Erickson on the drums, and a female singer named Kaye Spalj, and started practicing some songs by the Ventures, with Kaye singing some Brenda Lee tunes. In 1962, the group played in the cafeteria on Halloween at the John F. Kennedy Junior High School. The band evolved over the next few years. Jerry Fink replaced Len on the drums. In 1965, Tim Elfving joined as the band's lead singer. They hired a manager, Chuck Novak, and talked Gary into learning the Farfisa organ to replace his accordion so they could do some cool songs by Paul Revere And The Raiders and The Animals.

The band was ready to cut their first record. Chuck went to the Dove Recording Studio in St. Louis Park (on the west side of Minneapolis) to see Warren Kendrick, a local record producer and songwriter. Warren loved their sound and started writing some songs for them. They had their first local hit with a song called 'Bout My Love that briefly charted at #39 in Minneapolis on the WDGY Radio Top 40. Warren signed them to his own Scotty label and cut another record called This Week's Children which climbed to #12 on WDGY. They followed this up with Dirty Old Man which became a bigger hit around Minnesota and sold over 5000 copies in the area. But the end came quickly when Bill got drafted. In July 1966, he was in the Army and their manager, Chuck Novak, joined the Navy. They were both replaced by Harvey Korkk from Ely who booked the band and picked up the lead guitar.

Warren Kendrick started shopping around for a national distribution deal with a major record label. He rejected several offers because he wanted to retain publishing rights for the songs. Finally, he made a deal with Columbia Records. It was looking good for The Elektras from Ely, until they ran into more trouble. It turns out there was a prep school band from Aurora, Colorado called The Elektras who pressed 500 copies of a vanity album in 1961. That band, by the way, featured future Presidential candidate John Kerry on bass. For some reason, this prompted Warren to change the band's name to Twas Brillig without even telling them. In February 1967, Columbia released Dirty Old Man and This Week's Children by Twas Brillig on Date 1550, a subsidiary label. But the company didn't put much effort into promoting the record. When lead singer Tim Elfving got drafted, Columbia lost interest in the band and The Electras, aka Twas Brillig, were done.

Here is Action Woman by The Electras on Scotty 6720 from 1967:

This song was written by Warren Kendrick, the producer who took The Electras under his wing, published their first records on his own Scotty label, and got them signed with Columbia/Date. Warren was a high school math teacher in Minneapolis who got into the music business in 1965 when he and some friends cut a novelty record called Beer Bust Blues as The Scotsmen. Warren issued that record on his Scotty label and started looking for other bands to record. He was a creative musician who loved to mess around with the traditional chord progressions, which is quite apparent on this track in particular.

Warren also recorded a band from the Minneapolis area (Robbinsdale) called The Litter, featuring Jim Kane on bass and moog moog synthesizer, Tom Murray on drums, Dan Rinaldi on guitar and vocals, Bill Strandlof on lead guitar, and Denny Waite on organ and vocals. The Litter recorded Action Woman in January 1967.

Here's Action Woman by The Litter on Scotty 6710 from 1967:

The Litter made several singles and albums which sold well in the Minneapolis area, but never really broke out nationally. Warren Kendrick created a subsidiary label called Warick to issue some of their records. He continued recording, writing songs, and producing records into the early 1970's. He sold his four-track recording studio in 1971 and moved to Omaha where he became a computer technician and teacher.

So, which band wins? That's up to you to decide. That's the fun part of listening to these old records! You want more? All you have to do is fire up your Internet browser and listen to MusicMaster Oldies on Live365. It's also available on several Internet radios (I use a Logitech clock radio in my bedroom and kitchen, and a CC WiFi Radio from the C. Crane company at my office), as well as TiVo DVR and the Roku Internet TV receiver.

I'll leave you today with a little bit of fun stuff. Here's Beer Bust Blues by The Scotsmen from Minneapolis (featuring Warren Kendrick) on Scotty 1803 from 1965!

See you tomorrow!

New Oldies - Boofo Goes Where Santa Goes by Linn Sheldon

2011-12-19T12:47:00.001-06:00

"If anybody calls, tell them Barnaby said hello. And tell them that I think you are the nicest person in the whole world... Just you."

Those were the words Linn Sheldon used to close his "Barnaby And Friends" children's show in Cleveland from 1957 to 1990. It was on Channel 3 for the first ten years and moved to Channel 43 in 1967. I was four years old when Barnaby first appeared, and I remember watching it fairly often. He started out as an elf with pointy ears and a straw hat who lived in a place called The Enchanted Forest. His show featured Popeye cartoons, which I really loved back then (and still do), and a character called Woodrow The Woodsman played by Clay Conroy (J. Clayton Conroy), who ended up with his own spin-off children's show.

I had the amazing pleasure of working with Linn Sheldon in my first radio job. I was the producer and engineer for a half-hour show he did every weekday afternoon on WSUM-AM in Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I helped build that radio station from the ground up in the spring of 1975. If you're interested, you can read more about my early radio background on Avast Ye, Pirate Radio Dead Ahead. If you check out WSUM Radio, now called WCCD-AM, on Wikipedia, you'll even see my "air" name, Joey James, listed as one of the disc jockeys who started that station. Linn's radio show was aimed at adults and it always featured an interesting story. Linn Sheldon had lots of interesting stories to tell! He also made a ton of personal appearances, mostly to cheer up sick children in hospitals around Cleveland.

Linn Richard Sheldon's own childhood was pretty rough. He was born in Norwalk, Ohio on 20 September 1919, and spent much of his youth either homeless or in foster care. He joined the Army during World War II, and became a nightclub entertainer. In 1948, he became one of Cleveland's pioneer television entertainers. Later in life he hosted a morning television talk show on WUAB Channel 43. He also made public his struggle with alcoholism when he sought treatment in 1975. He passed away on 23 April 2006. He was 86 years old.

Not many people know that Linn Sheldon made a Christmas record! It was released on Cosmic 707 in 1958. Here's Boofo Goes Where Santa Goes by Linn Sheldon:

And here's the flip side, Rabbits Have A Christmas by Linn Sheldon:

You'll hear these songs on MusicMaster Oldies every year around Christmas, along with a whole bunch of obscure Christmas songs, many of which you've probably never heard before.

"If anybody calls, tell them Barnaby said hello. And tell them that I think you are the nicest person in the whole world... Just you."

New Oldies - Ole Father Time by Selvin Johannes

2011-12-18T14:16:00.001-06:00

Nobody seems to know much about this guy even though this song has become really popular. You'll find it on compilation CDs and YouTube, but never with any information about the artist. I've done a bit of tracking and here's what I found. None of this is confirmed, but it's as accurate as possible given what I've had to work with. Needless to say, if you know anything about Selvin Johannes, or you ARE Selvin Johannes, please contact me!

I think this is a recent photo of Selvin. He was probably born in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, and may still be living there. This song was written by Winfield Scott in 1963, but it was covered in 1964 by two female singers, Millie Foster in New York City, and Helen Shapiro in London. It was the B-side of a cover of Fever that was a #38 UK chart hit for Helen Shapiro. This song was never a chart hit, which you will think is an amazing oversight when you hear it. Billboard Magazine reviewed this song on 8 June 1963, giving it the maximum rating of four stars. This makes it pretty clear that Selvin's version was the original.

That makes this record fall into many different categories on MusicMaster Oldies. It's considered valuable by collectors of Northern Soul, Teeners, and Belgian Popcorn. Not too many songs fall into ALL of those categories! It's also an Original Version, which simply means this was the first recording of a song that was covered by other singers. It has a bit of the "Wall Of Sound" production quality that was the signature sound of Phil Spector, even though probably he had nothing to do with this record.

So here we go with Ole Father Time by Selvin Johannes on Decca 31502 from 1963:

For the sake of being complete, here is the Helen Shapiro version on Columbia (UK) 7190 from late 1963, early 1964:

And finally, the Millie Foster version on TCF 4 from 1964:

And, for those of you who like to sing along, here are the lyrics!

When the clock begins to chime,
It is only Ole Father Time,
Warning us, it's getting late,
But Father Time is gonna have to wait.
For we can't rush a love like this,
With a single little goodnight kiss.
How can I let you say goodnight,
Until my arms have held you good and tight.

So let him wait (Father Time),
Oh let him wait a minute (Father Time),
So let him wait a second now (Father Time),
Oh what's his hurry?
Can't he see you're still, in my arms?
We don't care about him and his alarms.

He can tick, and he can tock,
Chasing seconds all around the clock.
Now he's gonna have to stand right still,
Until I kiss you and I get my fill.

So let him wait (Father Time),
Oh let him wait a minute (Father Time),
So let him wait a second now (Father Time),
Oh what's his hurry?
Let him wait!

(Repeat to the end)

New Oldies - The Countryside by Jim Henson

2011-12-17T17:33:00.000-06:00

Yeah, this is the same guy who created The Muppets, but he made this record many years earlier!

Aside from the history behind the artists, there's something very significant about this record for me, personally. Back when I was using last-minute "Sniper" bids on eBay to buy whatever records I wanted, something very strange happened. I put my usual $1777 bid on this record and expected to own it when the auction ended. I actually thought I'd win it for about ten dollars, since it's not listed as being that expensive in the record collecting price guides and nobody else seemed to be watching or bidding. When the auction was over, I was shocked to find that I had NOT won the record! It got sold to another bidder for $1778! Both of our bids came in within two seconds before the auction closed. That means that someone else was using the same Sniper strategy as me, and whoever it was used a higher bid than my "oh wow nobody will ever go this high" maximum. I was at first unhappy that I'd lost the auction, but then relieved that this other bidder didn't bid something just under me. I might have ended up buying this for well over a thousand dollars! I felt sorry for the guy who did win. But then something happened. The seller contacted me with a "Second Chance" offer. This can happen when the winning bidder backs out of the deal and the seller is allowed to offer it to the second-highest bidder, usually for the amount of that person's bid. He offered it to me for $1776, but I counter offered with $10 instead! We negotiated back and forth and I ended up getting it for under $100. Honestly, I don't really know how much it's worth. It's SO rare that it almost never appears for sale or auction anywhere.

Jim Henson was born on 24 September 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi. He was raised as a Christian Scientist in Leland, Mississippi. His family moved to the Washington DC area as a teenager. As a senior at Northwestern High School, Jim took a job with WTOP-TV creating puppets for the Junior Morning Show that aired every Saturday morning. He had thoughts of becoming a commercial artist, which was his major at the University of Maryland. In his freshman year, Jim was asked to create puppets for a five-minute show on WRC-TV called Sam And Friends. This was the beginning of The Muppets, even including an early prototype of Kermit The Frog! He asked classmate Jane Nebel to assist him. She would eventually become his wife! Jim made some good money from the work he'd done for television, so after graduation he took off for several months to travel around Europe and study the very artistic puppets created there. In 1959 he was back in America. He and Jane got married and had five children between 1960 and 1970. He developed The Muppets characters just AFTER making this strange novelty record. He was earning money making commercials for television. One such commercial, for Wilkins Coffee, featured a frog puppet named Wilkins, who evolved into Kermit. In 1963, Jim and his wife moved to New York City and Muppets Inc. was born.

Both sides of this record credit "With Frank Sinatra's Orchestra." But that's most likely a joke, since Frank didn't have his own orchestra and no orchestra is used on these tracks. Both sides were written by Jim Henson and published by B F Wood Music.

Here's Countryside by Jim Henson on Signature 12023 from 1960:

And here's the flip side, a song called Tick-Tock Sick. Toxic, get it?

And now you know a little bit more about the man behind The Muppets. Sadly, James Maury Henson died of a severe strep infection on the morning of 16 May 1990, just a week and a half after he began to experience symptoms. He was 53.

Thanks for the many requests, everyone! The ones you've suggested that I'm not already playing on MusicMaster Oldies are being tracked down right now. I'll get them on the air as soon as I can!

Here are some cool links with more information about Jim Henson and his Muppets:

http://geekscape.net/jim-henson-1936-1990-saying-goodbye-20-years-later.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson

New Oldies - I Need Your Lovin' by The Vikings

2011-12-14T12:03:00.002-06:00

I'm sure you'll find many copies of this record laying around at secondhand shops and garage sales -- NOT! I think there are two of them known to exist, but I don't know if mine is the second or third.

The Vikings were three brothers and a friend from a very small town in Ohio called Champion, just north of Warren. That's between Cleveland and Youngstown, but closer to Youngstown. They recorded the two sides of this record at the WAM Records studio in Youngstown. WAM stands for "Words And Music" and it was a spin-off of the Dusi Music Center in Youngstown. This label became a legendary home for garage rock group collectors, much like the coveted Orlyn label out of Chicago, but they also recorded their fair share of polkas, gospel, and pop records. The operation was formed in 1962 by Bill Warner with the help of a disc jockey from WHOT Radio in Youngstown. It was built in a one-story wood frame building on the near south side of Youngstown. In 1967, the name was changed to United Audio and Gary Rhamy came on board after graduation from college as an engineer. He bought out the company in 1971, built a new facility, and changed the name once again to Peppermint Recordings.

This record was issued in 1965. Here's an example of the midwest's finest garage rock, I Need Your Lovin' by The Vikings!

Let me know if you have any requests, and keep listening to MusicMaster Oldies. Don't touch that dial!

New Oldies - If You Fall For Me by Frank (Farmer Boy) Townsend

2011-12-13T11:27:00.006-06:00

Most of the records I've posted so far are available somewhere. If you can't actually buy the original vinyl (which is true of most of them), you can at least get the songs on compilation CDs, or find the music on YouTube or Rhapsody. But not this one!

There's nothing particularly special about this record as far as the collectors are concerned. But, it does have a special meaning for me. When I was trying to collect every single record that ever hit the 1050 CHUM Top 50 charts between 1955 and 1971, this was the very LAST one I was able to find -- and that was no simple task! CHUM-AM was the top hit music station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada back in the 50's and 60's. Their music chart was thought to reflect the music sales all across Canada. If I could get a copy of this record, I'd own every single one that ever made it onto that chart. I finally found the original 45 offered for sale on eBay.

Back when I was snapping up bargains on eBay (when you still could), I was a very early expert "Sniper." For those of you who don't know, this means putting in a bid at the very last second before the auction closes, which doesn't give others enough time to bid against you. I was a sneaky sucker, too. First, I would never bid at all until the last second. Nobody knew that I was interested in a particular record until I'd already won it. Second, my last second bid was usually very VERY high. The way eBay works, you can bid a million dollars, but you win the item for some small increment over the previous bid. If a record (like this one) was posted with a starting bid of $5.00, and you bid $20.00, and nobody else bids on that record, you'd win it for $5.50. The overbid just allowed you to automatically beat someone who tried to out-bid you. For example, if I'd made that $20.00 bid, then someone else bid $10.00, I'd still be the winner of the auction. But that other bid would have driven my cost up from $5.50 to $10.50. See how it works? I'm sure a LOT of people know this trick now, so I wouldn't count on it working as well as it did for me.

Since I really wanted this particular record, I put my "standard high" bid of $1777.00 on it! I won it for about ten bucks. I think only one other person put in a bid. That just goes to show you how LITTLE demand there is for this record.

Now that seems strange to me, really. This isn't a terrible record, and it has a lot of historical value, especially to wrestling fans. This was somewhat of a novelty item. It was the only "hit" record ever made by "The Singing Wrestler" known by Canadian wrestling fans simply as "Farmer Boy" who appeared many times at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. He was also pretty well known in Minnesota where he was considered the top "babyface" wrestler behind Verne Gagne. Frank teamed up with Butch Levy to win the International tag titles from Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills, also known as "Murder Inc." Frank was also an early masked gaijin star in Japan who called himself "Killer X." Gaigin (外人) is a Japanese term that refers to someone who isn't Japanese. Frank also teamed up with Don "Man Mountain" Campbell, who also went by the name Big Luke Brown.

But Frank Townsend was not a Canadian by birth. He was born in 1933 on an 80-acre farm in Camden, New Jersey. The family also owned a tobacco plantation in North Carolina that had belonged to the Townsend family since 1789. Frank went to school at nearby Haddenfield High. Of course he was on the wrestling team at school and won the state wrestling championship. When he was 18 he stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds. He'd look down at his tiny mom and ask her, "Hey mom, where'd I get all this beef?" He also liked to sing, and joined the Haddenfield Choral Society. I have to assume that nobody made fun of him for that!

His mother wanted him to pursue a singing career, but his father advised him to go to college and become a civil engineer. Instead, Frank joined the U.S. Marines when he was 19. Stationed at Paris Island, Frank won several shooting competitions. He became a huge gun fan. He also participated, reluctantly, in some wrestling exhibitions. He never really enjoyed doing those. He was torn between being a singer or a wrestler, and his friends all told him he was good at both.

After three years in the Marines, he left the service and took his shot at a singing career. He cut two records for RCA Victor, this one, and another called Baby I've Got A Crush On You that the record company believed could be a hit. The records were issued in Canada on the Regency label. But Frank's wrestling pal, Buddy "Nature Boy" Rogers, convinced him to become a professional wrestler. Buddy said, "Boy, there are a million singers out there, but not very many wrestlers who can stand up in the ring and give the customers a song!" Frank would always regret passing up a career in music. Instead, he became Farmer Boy from North Carolina. He started out wrestling in Ohio, usually wearing a torn denim jacket smeared with dirt to enhance the farm boy image.

In a radio interview during his first year on the wrestling circuit he was asked if the sport was really all about acting. He didn't appreciate the question. He agreed that the guys put on a show for the audience, but, he said, "We've got to wrestle too! That's our job, isn't it?" The interviewer asked him if wrestling matches were fixed and Frank replied, "People are entitled to think what they want about wresting. They pay their money. They can think what they want." But he went on to say, "Well, the best man always wins a wrestling bout 99 times out of 100."

Frank Tunney was the big boxing and wrestling promoter who arranged all the matches in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. Tunney told Farmer Boy that he'd pay between $150 and $600 for each preliminary bout, and if he could make the grade he'd get 30% of the gate, plus bonuses. He could make $50,000 a year, which was huge money in 1956!

On his way to one of his first bouts at the Gardens, a couple of pretty girls asked him for an autograph. Then they asked him if he was going to sing. He said, "I might." They requested he sing Around The World from the movie, Around The World In Eighty Days. Sonja Hrynchak was Frank's girlfriend and he'd always leave a couple of tickets for her at the box office. He thought often about getting married to her. He saved most of the money he made, opting to buy a Ford instead of the Cadillac he really wanted. Most of the other wrestlers stayed at fancy hotels when they came to Toronto. But Frank stayed with some friends who lived on Martin Grove Road. He had to have his clothes tailor made, but he never paid a lot of money for them. His only real extravagance was a $50 pair of alligator shoes! Frank would only have a bit of soup before each bout, but he'd take Sonja out afterward for a big steak dinner.

Frank Townsend died too young. He was killed in a boating accident on 15 May 1965 at the age of 32.

To make a long story short (too late), here's Frank "Farmer Boy" Townsend singing If You Fall For Me from Regency 663 in 1957, a song that barely made it on the CHUM charts, peaking at #47 (it never made the charts anywhere else). This song was incorrectly listed on the CHUM Top 50 as "If I Fall For You" but this was the actual title:

And here's the flip side, Find A Love For Me:

I really didn't have time to write all this today, but I did it anyway. I'll try to keep these posts brief from now on! Hope you're enjoying all the music on MusicMaster Oldies!

New Oldies - Do I Love You (Deed I Do) by Frank Wilson

2011-12-12T11:06:00.000-06:00

Considered the most collectible Northern Soul record in the world, only three copies of this song on the original Soul 35019 pressing are known to exist! But if you want to cash in on this, you have to find an original -- not a reissue. Good luck!

In the 1970's, Tom Dieperro, a music historian at Motown, was asked to research this record and received an original that had never been played. He met with a record producer and legendary Northern Soul dealer named Simon Soussan and gave him a pile of records to review, including this one. Simon recognized the potential of this record and began sending acetate copies to the UK clubs, changing the artist's name to Eddie Foster. This was a common practice for Simon when passing on yet-unknown Northern Soul discs. In this way, he could control any search for the original records.

It was a huge hit for the Northern Soul crowd, which raised curiosity about the artist's real name. They finally learned the truth in 1978 when Simon sold his collection to a musician from Weybridge in Surry named Les McCutcheon, who is often referred to as Les Mac. Northern Soul collectors did not place a high value on the record at first, which was standard practice for releases on the Motown label.

Les sold the record to a disc jockey named Jonathan Woodcliffe, who became one of the top collectors in the UK, and a Northern Soul record spinner as well. Jonathan then sold the record to Kev Roberts, who kept it in his collection for more than a decade. Kev, thinking the value of the record had topped out, sold it to Tim Brown, possibly the world's biggest Northern Soul dealer, for £3,000. Then Tim got an offer to buy the record for £15,000 from Kenny Burrell!

This single was scheduled for release by Motown Records just a couple of days before Christmas in 1965. Instead, the flip side, Sweeter As The Days Go By, was recorded by Marvin Gaye but never released. This song, Do I Love You (Deed I Do), was recorded by Chris Clark and issued on VIP 25034 in 1966. What would have been Frank Wilson's vocal debut was quietly stopped, and Frank even convinced Berry Gordy to destroy every copy that had already been pressed for promotional release. Frank Wilson made a nice career as a song writer and record producer. Today, some say he's working with a church somewhere in Northern California.

If you find a copy of the original record, let me know. I might give you a couple of bucks for it ;-)

Here's Do I Love You (Deed I Do) by Frank Wilson on Soul 35019 from 1965:

I've got many boxes full of Northern Soul treasures waiting to be added to the hundreds that you'll already hear on MusicMaster Oldies. Transferring music from vinyl to digital is a time-consuming process, but I consider it a labor of love (or, as they'd say in the UK, a labour of love).

New Oldies - Queen Of The Starlight Dance by Larry And Mike

2011-12-11T11:21:00.000-06:00

Why are so many great songs from the 1960's shrouded in mystery? I've been trying very hard to figure this one out, but I haven't learned much about it yet. I'll tell you what I do know - it's a really nice record!

This song was written by Lou Duhig and Ruby Berry, who also wrote songs for Bonnie Guitar, The Castells, Ronnie Deauville, Tony Wilde, and a folk group called The Moments out of Nashville, among others. Their biggest claim to fame, at least from what I can find, was the hit song Doll House first recorded by Donnie Brooks. Most of the songs they wrote were released on the Era label between 1957 and 1964. This could be one of their last major compositions.

The Picadilly record label was a subsidiary of Jerden out of Seattle, Washington, which was founded in 1960 by Jerry Dennon and Bonnie Guitar, and not to be confused with the Piccadilly label from England. Bonnie had previously founded another record company, Dolphin, which later became Dolton, and was the home of The Ventures. Era Records, however, was located in Hollywood, California. In 1957, Bonnie Guitar recorded a song called Frantic Party that had been written by Lou Duhig and Ruby Berry. That could explain how they ended up writing this song for Bonnie Guitar's Picadilly label. Bonnie released a lot of her records on the Dot label, which had been founded by Randy Wood in Gallatin, Tennessee, but moved to Los Angeles in 1956. Well, that's probably the connection between Seattle and Los Angeles, but it's all just speculation.

There's a chance, although unlikely, that "Larry" of Larry And Mike is actually Larry Verne, the guy from Minneapolis who had the hit novelty song, Mister Custer, on the Era label in 1960. If you listen to both records, you might hear some similarity in the voice, once you disregard the embellished southern accent on Mister Custer.

Anyway, here's Queen Of The Starlight Dance by Larry And Mike on Picadilly 500 from 1963:

If you actually know who Larry And Mike were, by all means, please let me know. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the musical treasures on MusicMaster Oldies and tell all your friends about it!

New Oldies - Get Off Of My Roof by Jerry And The Landslides

2011-12-10T12:10:00.001-06:00

That song I posted yesterday either ripped off the Rolling Stones (without giving Mick Jagger and Keith Richard any composer credits), or the Rolling Stones ripped off that record when they wrote Satisfaction. The two records are far too similar to just be a coincidence. Somebody did something wrong, we just don't know who did what to whom. Today, I've got another Rolling Stones related item that is not anywhere near as mysterious. It's just fun!

For many years, this record was a complete mystery to me. But, thanks to the Internet, I've learned a lot about it now. If you live on the east coast, you may already know Jerry. His real name is Jay Worsham, and he played the spokesman on some very crazy TV commercials for The Bedding Barn.

Jay Worsham was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before graduating from high school, he moved to Arkansas, California, and then Connecticut. He has a bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic University.

Jay got started in broadcasting as a radio announcer. Later, he became a TV weatherman in Hartford, Connecticut. He had three kids with his first wife, and they liked to visit Disney World two or three times every year.

After a divorce, he married again and became a TV weatherman in Florida. Still doing zany commercials, he took a creative writing course at the local college and got hooked on writing. His first novel was a fantasy called The Knotted Sword which he tried to sell to the big publishing houses. His book was being rejected without even being read, and he's convinced that his "query letter" was the problem. If you're going to submit your book to a publisher, make sure the letter you send with it is very well written!

Jay gave up on writing novels for ten years. During this time he moved on from television to work as a reporter, editor, and columnist at a south Florida newspaper. After his daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1994 in Loxahatchee Groves, just west of Palm Beach, he wrote a second novel called Florida Freeze: A Rick Fortune Adventure. This time he decided to publish it himself.

Music was always a hobby for Jay. He learned to play the trumpet in high school. Later he took up the saxophone and piano. Jay recorded this song while he was working in a recording studio in New York City. It was in that studio where he had a chance to work on a recording session with Jimi Hendrix about a year before he became famous. The backing instrumental track was laid down by some unnamed musicians from Long Island which, supposedly, never actually met Jay!

Here's Get Off Of My Roof by Jerry And The Landslides on PPX 441 from 1965:

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm playing Christmas songs once or twice every hour on MusicMaster Oldies, just like they did on the radio back in those days. I think that's better than playing all Christmas music because it's a bigger treat when those songs are played. Hope you like it!

New Oldies - The World Ain't Changed by Warden And His Fugitives

2011-12-09T09:27:00.000-06:00

This is yet another totally unknown garage rock group. All we know is that these guys are from San Bernardino, California. Do you know who they are?

When you listen to this song, you're sure to hear the similarity to Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. At first, you'll assume that these guys just ripped it off. But that's not how some people see it. Both songs were released in the summer of 1965. Which came first? Of course, the odds are this song copied the Stones and not the other way around. But can you be sure?

So, here we go with The World Ain't Changed by Warden And His Fugitives on Bing 302:

There are thousands more where this came from -- on MusicMaster Oldies!

Thank You Mike Hill

2011-12-08T11:09:00.000-06:00

John Lennon once said that as a teenager, "Elvis was bigger than religion in my life." A friend of John's who also attended Dovedale School lived nearby and had this huge collection of American R&B records. John would go there often to have lunch. One day, his friend turned him on to something a bit different, a record he'd bought in Amsterdam. It was Little Richard singing Long Tall Sally, and John was really knocked out when he heard it. In his mind, he began to blend the sounds of early Elvis and Little Richard. The name of the kid who planted these seeds in John Lennon's incredible mind was Mike Hill.

That's all I can say today.

And the track that really knocked me out and made me an 11-year old Beatles fan...

We miss you, John.

New Oldies - Tennessee Toddy by Marty Robbins

2011-12-07T10:33:00.001-06:00

You know Marty Robbins, the multi-talented Country and Western singer who liked to do "story" songs like his big hit, El Paso, in 1960. He was born Martin David Robinson in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale in 1925. He had a rough childhood. His dad was an alcoholic who never held a steady job. His parents were divorced when he was only 12 years old, but not until they'd had ten kids. He joined the Navy when he was 17 and ended up in the Pacific during World War II. That's where he learned to play guitar and write songs. His Pacific travels also introduced him to Hawaiian music, which he would love for the rest of his life.

After the war, he returned to Phoenix where he hosted a Country music TV show. Little Jimmy Dickens made a guest appearance on his show, and then helped Marty get a recording contract with Columbia. He became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry shows in Nashville.

He married 18-year old Marizona Baldwin in 1948 and had two children, Ron and Janet, who had her own singing career. He wrote a song about Marizona called My Woman My Woman My Wife, which became one of his many hits, and won him a Grammy for the Best Country Song of 1970.

Marty also loved to drive race cars, and was a big fan of Dodge Chargers. In fact, he drove in 35 NASCAR races, including the Daytona 500 in 1973. He even drove the pace car in the 1967 Indy 500 race.

He even ventured into acting, playing himself in a racing movie, Hell On Wheels, in 1967, and then a musician in Honkytonk Man, the Clint Eastwood movie from 1982. He never got to watch himself in that film, however. He died of complications from heart surgery on December 8, 1982, exactly 29 years ago tomorrow. His widow passed away in 2001.

Let's dial the clock back a few years, though. Marty's first Country hit was a song called I'll Go It Alone from 1952, which went right to number one on the Country charts. His first pop hit, Singing The Blues, made it to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. A year later, he'd have a #2 pop hit with the classic, A White Sport Coat.

This song, Tennessee Toddy, never made it on any of the charts. In fact, neither did the flip side, Mean Mama Blues. To put things in perspective, Elvis Presley had just been signed by RCA at this time, after recording his five singles on Sun Records in 1954 and 1955.

I think this is a great rockabilly song with some really clever lyrics. Give it a listen and you'll see what I mean. Here's Tennessee Toddy by Marty Robbins on Columbia 21477 from 1956.

I could keep posting great uncharted music like this for many years and never run out of material. You can hear them all on MusicMaster Oldies! Check it out sometime. I hope you like what you hear.

New Oldies - The Story Of Bonnie by The Count Victors Featuring Danny Harrison

2011-12-06T10:05:00.000-06:00

It's time for another Teener ballad! This one comes from Danny Harrison of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Bob, Terry, Freddy, and Danny

The group started out as The Teen Lords in 1961 and became the Count Victors when Danny Harrison came on board as lead singer. Danny is backed up by Bob Dixon on bass, Freddy Munro on the piano, and Terry Lathangue on drums.

This song was a big local hit in Peterborough, and managed to climb to #33 on the 1050 CHUM charts in Toronto. It was issued in the USA on Rust 5034 in 1961, but failed to make it on the Billboard Hot 100. You're more likely to find the Canadian release on Barry 3050, actually.

This song was written by Gary Hansler and Roy Bacon, guitarist and lead singer of the original Teen Lords band. Danny Harrison released lots of records in Canada, but only three of them charted, all peaking in the 30's. His other Canadian hits were Peepin' 'N Hidin' (Baby What You Want Me To Do) on Coral 62324 in 1962, and Blue Souvenirs on Coral 62411 in 1964. Peepin' 'N Hidin' was his only record to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching only #91.

The Story Of Bonnie by The Count Victors Featuring Danny Harrison:

You can hear thousands of songs like this on MusicMaster Oldies. Tell your friends!

New Oldies - Hey Conductor by Sonny Flaharty And The Mark V

2011-12-05T12:17:00.000-06:00

Here's a record that probably would have had great success nationally -- had it not been banned by some radio stations who felt the lyrics encouraged drug abuse. There's an excellent story about this group, including a link to an interview with the band's drummer, on Garage Hangover.

Here's Hey Conductor by Sonny Flaharty And The Mark V on Philips 40479 from 1967:

This is one of the thousands of "Garage Rock" records you'll hear on MusicMaster Oldies. If you have a favorite obscure song from the 1950's or 1960's, add a comment and let me know the artist and title. I'll let you know if I'm playing it!

New Oldies - Need Mine Too by The Claytons

2011-12-04T11:27:00.000-06:00

And the hits just keep on coming, except none of these songs were ever hits. Here's another nice song from 1966 by a mysterious group called The Claytons. All I know about these guys is that they're from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They might by the same Claytons who did a cover of Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth on Columbia 44941 in 1969, but that could be a different group. Despite my attempts to find these guys, they remain completely unknown. I'm assuming that the group consisted of at least two people, probably brothers, with the last name Clayton. If you know anything about them, please let me know!

The flip side of this record is a garage rock track called Puttin' Me On, and it appears on at least three compilation CDs. But this side is actually my favorite. It's a good "teener" song with very good lyrics.

Here's Need Mine Too by The Claytons:

MusicMaster Oldies is gaining more listeners from all parts of the world. Most of the listeners are in the United States, but there are also people listening in 76 other countries! So, here's a shout out to all the oldies fans in Canada, Germany, Mexico, U.K., Brazil, Sweden, China, Malaysia, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, France, Qatar, Belgium, Norway, India, Italy, and many more! Thanks for listening. I'd like to think that the love of music is the one thing that everybody on Earth has in common.

You can now listen to Live365 on your TiVo and Roku players. There's also a Live365 app for both the Android and iPhone. Get it on your phone and, like me, you can listen to MusicMaster Oldies in your car, along with thousands of other interesting Internet streams.

Got any requests?

New Oldies - Almost by Billy Barrix

2011-12-03T14:47:00.000-06:00

Most collectors consider this to be the most valuable rockabilly record. Billy Barrix is from Nashville, Tennessee. He also recorded as Curley Barrix. This song was issued on Chess 1662 in 1957. If you find a copy that's not a bootleg it could be worth over $10,000! Some people claim that this song was first issued on the Shreveport label, but none of the big rockabilly collectors have ever seen that pressing.

When you hear this song for the first time you will either love it or hate it. Let's just say that Billy's singing style is different. You'll know what I mean when you play it. Here's Almost by Billy Barrix:

The flip side is a rework of Elvis Presley's hit, Baby Let's Play House from 1955. Elvis does some similar "hiccups" on that track, but nothing like Billy Barrix did on Almost! Baby Let's Play House was actually recorded first in 1954 by Arthur Gunter on Excello 2047, and may have been inspired by Eddy Arnold's 1951 hit, I Wanna Play House With You.

Here's Billy Barrix singing his version called Cool Off Baby:

Got any requests?

New Oldies - Oh Lord Why Lord by Los Pop Tops

2011-12-02T11:49:00.000-06:00

This was issued on Calla 154 for American distribution in 1968. This one did make it up to #78 on the Billboard Hot 100, #93 on Cashbox, and #35 on the Billboard R&B chart. The melody is based on Pacheibel's Canon in D Major. Actually, many hits from the 1960's were based on variations of a Classical music theme. I should do a blog post about that one day!

The group includes José Lipiani, Alberto Vega, Ignacio Pérez, Julián Luis Angulo, Enrique Gómez, Ray Gómez and lead singer Phil Trim. The group is from Madrid, Spain, but the lead singer was born in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. He and Jean Marcel Bouchety wrote the song.

These guys had a bigger hit in 1971 with a song called Mammy Blue, which became a Top 10 hit in Europe, and Japan, and a Top 100 hit in Canada and the USA.

The lyrics are very interesting. They reflect the passionate struggle for racial equality that was really starting to reach its peak in the late 1960's. Thank God, the message is obsolete today. We've come a long way!

Here are the lyrics so you can follow along as you listen to Oh Lord Why Lord by Los Pop Tops!

I've searched the open sky,
to find a reason why,
Oh Lord, why Lord.

The color of my skin,
is said to be an awful sin,
Oh Lord, why Lord. Oh-oh.

No I cannot understand,
no I'll never never understand,
Oh Lord, why Lord.

I've got to live and live, and give,
much more than I can give,
Oh Lord, why-y-y-y-y-y Lord.

In this world, you made so sacred,
I only find problems and hatred,
(Oh Lord, why Lord).

I just can't seem to find any place,
my every move is so unsafe,
(Oh Lord, why Lo-o-ord).

[Guitar and Piano bridge)

Why this long and bitter strife,
must go on for equal rights,
(Oh Lord)
Why can't there be some harmony,
(Why lord)
Instead of contant agony.

I just can't help but cry,
for the tears won't stay inside,
(Oh Lord, why Lo-o-ord).

I feel the weight,
of their everlasting hate,
yet I still live with hope and faith,
(Oh Lord, why Lord).

I wear the chains,
but nothing ever seems to change,
(Oh Lord, why Lord).

I ask no special kindness,
I ask not for a crown.
I only ask, for some justice Lord,
to restore what's right from wrong.
So now you've learned my sadness,
in a story and a song.
Oh Lord, why Lord. (sung with chorus)

{Note: Parts inside (parenthesis) are sung by the chorus. In the last verse, the word "ask" is pronounced "axe".}

This is just another example of the extreme range of material you'll hear on MusicMaster Oldies. If you have any requests, let me know. If you want to know we play your favorite 1950's or 1960's oldie, just ask. I should be able to tell you when to listen to hear it!

New Oldies - You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies by Dana Valery

2011-12-01T13:15:00.002-06:00

I sold a promo copy of this record that had never been played for $800. If you find one today, you should hold out for at least $1000.

This is an example of Northern Soul, which is named for the dance clubs in the Northern U.K. who became quite competitive searching for gems like this. What they were looking for was to out-do the other clubs with songs that would get people up on the dance floor and moving. But the trick was that these songs had to be pretty obscure. They could be performed by very well-known artists, but not their big hits. They were searching for great B-sides that were overlooked by radio stations.

Once one club found a really great track, the other clubs had to have a copy of the record too. Then the customers got involved, trying to find the really cool songs they'd heard at the club last night. This brought about a sudden surge in the value of many American 45 RPM singles, some of which were not even considered rare. If there was a great Northern Soul track on the flip side of a big hit, there were plenty of copies of that record to be had. Even so, the demand for that record shot way up, as did the price. Record buyers came to America searching for these records, and especially searching for new ones that nobody had found yet.

One strange side-effect of this was that people who were searching for these records just to get the hit side were having trouble finding them, and paying a lot once they found a copy. Today, you can find lots of Northern Soul compilation CDs for sale, so you don't need to pay a lot of money to buy the songs. However, the records themselves are mighty scarce, so they're still worth a bit of money.

Dana Valery was born in Milan, Italy and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived in London until moving to New York where she enjoyed a successful career on Broadway, television, and live concerts, touring all over the world. She'd often perform with her brother, the late Sergio Franchi. Today, however, her occupation has radically changed. She's now running a healing practice performing Cell Memory and Intuitive Readings to find the root cause of her clients' illnesses.

This song never got much attention when it was released. Promo copies were sent to several radio stations where the Program Director or Music Director might give them one listen, sometimes only hearing the first several seconds before taking the needle off and tossing the record into an archive, never to be played again.

The song was written by Paul Simon and first appeared on the flip side of the Simon And Garfunkel hit, Fakin' It, in 1967 on Columbia 44232. Dana Valery actually recorded and released this version first, on Columbia 44004. The flip side features a nice soulful ballad called Having You Around, but that's not the side the Northern Soul clubs were after.

By the way, there's a very good chance that's Paul Simon singing backing vocals on this track. So here you go, get ready to jump up on the dance floor as we spin You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies by Dana Valery:

You'll hear more than 2,000 Northern Soul songs on MusicMaster Oldies, mixed in with everything else, including the Kitchen Cinq, a garage rock group from Texas!

New Oldies - The Way It Used To Be by Billy And The Kids

2011-11-30T12:18:00.000-06:00

Here's a nice Teener ballad from a completely unknown group. They were probably from East Los Angeles. The song was written by Steve Gold, who was probably a member of the group. Steve co-produced this with someone with the last name Colburt. If you know anything at all about this Billy And The Kids group, please let me know.

These guys should not be confused with the garage rock group out of Wenatchee, Washington who recorded on the Julian label around 1965-1966. That's a totally different group. There was also a group out of New York called Billy And The Kid who recorded on Decca in 1966, also a different group.

Needless to say, this is a pretty expensive record! Here comes Billy And The Kids doing a song called The Way It Used To Be on Lute 6016 from 1961.

MusicMaster Oldies plays everything! It's a mix of Rock and Roll, Pop, Teener Ballads, Country, DooWop, Soul, R&B, Northern Soul, Belgian Popcorn, Electronic, Folk, Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Surf Instrumentals, Jazz, Lounge, Novelty, Big Band, Be Bop, Swing, Psychedelic, Funk, Polka, Celtic, African, Christmas, Cajun, Blues, Classical, Middle Eastern, Gospel, Children's Music, Reggae, Motown, Crooners from the 20's, Bluegrass, Spoken Word, Broadway Show, TV and Movie Soundtracks, Dixieland, Beat, and more. All on the same station? Yeah! If you listen for a while, you WILL hear something very interesting that you've never heard before.

Got any requests? Tomorrow I think we'll explore some very rare and expensive Northern Soul. Stay tuned!

New Oldies - Until by The Premiers

2011-11-29T10:37:00.006-06:00

Here's a vocal group from Austin, Texas. Not much is known about these guys. It was issued on Echo 6013 possibly in 1960. Echo was a "vanity" label, meaning that anyone could pay to have records pressed up from their own tapes. It was operated by Ray Poole out of his Austin Custom Recording Studios. If you find a copy of this record in really good condition, it might sell for around $1000 or so to collectors.

Listen to Until by The Premiers:

When you listen to MusicMaster Oldies, you'll hear thousands of "new oldies" like this one. Mixed with them you'll also hear every record that ever hit the charts in America from 1955 through 1973, along with the top charting records from England, Germany, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. There are 60's songs from other places too, such as Japan, China, and several different countries in South America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, and even Africa. You'll even hear some very special music from as far back as 1911, either original versions of 50's and 60's hits, or the biggest selling records of all time. It's a mix of every style of music too, from Rock to Pop, Country, Rhythm and Blues, and much more. I know you'll hear more Novelty records than you can find anywhere else (because for some of them I own the only copy known to exist!) Please give it a listen and, if you like it, tell all your friends!

Every time I hear this song by the Premiers it hauntingly reminds me of a much different tune from the 1990's by a Milwaukee group, The Bodeans, called Still The Night. The similar part is the chant that is sung by the audience. It's always fun to see these guys perform live! I think I first saw them at Summerfest. If you get a chance to attend Summerfest in Milwaukee, I highly recommend it. Lots of music and fun.

OK, wait, I've got one more! You'll hear that same "Wha-ooh" chant in this song too. Here's Why Did You Do This by Sheri Drake With The Vernonaires on Hilltop 1877 from 1962:

Got any requests?

New Oldies - Open Up Your Door by Richard And The Young Lions

2011-11-28T12:20:00.002-06:00

This song only made it up to #99 on the Billboard Top 100. It did slightly better on Cashbox, reaching a peak of #70. It was issued on Philips 40381 and hit the national charts in September 1966. I'm from Cleveland, which is one of the regions where this song got a lot of airplay. In fact, it made it up to the top of the charts in both Cleveland and Salt Lake City. It also got a lot of airplay in Seattle, Detroit, and Vancouver.

The group is from Newark, New Jersey. They were originally called The Emeralds, then the Original Kounts, and finally became Richard And The Young Lions after they were "discovered" by Larry Brown and Bob Crewe Productions.

The band features Richard Tepp on vocals and tambourine, Bob Freedman on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Marc Lees on lead guitar and backing vocals, Norm Cohen on drums, Ricky Rackin on guitar and bass, and Jarry Raff on piano. Sadly, lead singer Richard Tepp passed away in 2004 from leukemia. This wasn't their only record, but it was the only one that got on the charts, making them a "One-Hit Wonder" group.

One interesting aspect of this track is that the drummer, Norm Cohen, is using an African hair drum. That's the instrument you hear making the really loud "thumps" in this song! It was also the first song to ever use a "fuzz box" on Ricky Rackin's bass guitar!

I'm sure a lot of you have heard this song before. But for those of you who haven't, you're in for a real treat! It's state-of-the-art rock from the 1960's. So open your doors and windows, crank the volume up to eleven, then sit back and enjoy Open Up Your Door by Richard And The Young Lions.

You can hear this song and thousands more great oldies on MusicMaster Oldies. If you have any requests, either for a particular song, artist, or style, please let me know!

New Oldies - I Cannot Stop You by Cherry Slush

2011-11-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

This song appears on several compilation CDs so there's a good chance you've already heard it. But, just in case you haven't discovered it yet, it's my New Oldie for today.

This was issued in 1968 on USA 895. These guys were from Sagniaw, Michigan, and mentored by Dick Wagner, a key player in the Michigan rock scene. He wasn't a member of Cherry Slush, but he's responsible for the excellent guitar hooks and harmonies on this track. He also wrote this song and produced this record.

Please enjoy I Cannot Stop You by Cherry Slush!

Of course, you can hear this song on MusicMaster Oldies, along with thousands of other great tunes. Live365 is also available on your TiVo and ROKU players, or you can find the Live365 App for your smartphone.

If you'd like me to feature a particular artist, song, or type of music, please let me know by leaving a comment.

New Oldies - Subject Of My Thoughts by Sandy Coast

2011-11-26T11:11:00.000-06:00

I've neglected this blog far too long. Let me try to make amends by posting a song a day for as long as I can. This is only possible if I keep the information about the song very brief. If you'd like to provide addition information, please do so by leaving a comment. Thanks!

I'll start off with this gem from Voorburg, Holland. This was issued on Delta 1158 in 1966. The Sandy Coast started in 1961 as the Sandy Coast Skiffle Group. They became the Sandy Coast Five, Sand Coast Rockers, and then just Sandy Coast. The core of the group was Hans Vermeulen and his brother Jan. Other members through the years included Onno Bevoort, Will Morkus, Charles Kersbergen, Marianne Nobles, and Henk Smitskamp (who later ended up working with Shocking Blue. Hans and his brother Jan formed a new group called Rainbow Train after Sandy Coast disbanded in 1974.

I hope you like this one as much as I do! You'll hear this song on MusicMaster Oldies, along with a whole bunch of other great music from the 1960's and 1970's from all around the world!

New Oldies - I Never Knew What Love Was Like by Al Hartley And The Heartbeats

2011-04-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

I've only been able to find out a little bit about this guy, but I'm still digging. He was born around Athens, Georgia, probably around 1940. His real name is Allen Hartley Turpin. The members of the Heartbeats were Richard Turpin, Mike Castellon, Butch Bohannon, and Ronnie Hurley.

Al became well known for playing in the Big Hugh Baby Hops, which were put on by WFOM dee jay Hugh "Baby" Jarrett. Hugh had been a member of the Jordanaires, the group that backed Elvis Presley, up until around the time Elvis joined the Army. Donny Whitehead played saxophone for the Heartbeats for a while. He had been a member of the Jesters, and also played with Judge And Jury and the Embers in the Athens area.

This song was written by Richard Turpin, probably Allen's brother, who was also the drummer with the band. It was released on Hermitage 773 in 1962 and is worth around $75 to Teener collectors today.

If you can add anything else to this story, please let me know. I can tell you that this is NOT the famous Al Hartley who made comic books, nor is it Al Hart who recorded a single for Mercury records. Al Hart was "The Voice of KCBS News" in San Francisco for over 50 years. I'm hoping to track down more info about Allen Hartley Turpin through his grandson, who has a few videos posted on YouTube showing off his talents as a self-taught piano player. If that information is correct, he apparently inherited some of his grandfather's musical talent!

New Oldies - You Know by The Huns

2011-03-30T11:58:00.045-05:00

The Huns were a popular local band from Concord, North Carolina. The members included Bill Turner on guitar and vocals (who also wrote this song), Bill Towery on keyboards, Terry Lacefield on guitar, Dean Coley on bass (whose father managed the group), and Johnny Reece on drums. Both sides of this single are excellent. This song, called You Know, was actually the flip side of the single:

They recorded this single in 1966 in the Arthur Smith Studios in Charlotte, the same place where James Brown recorded Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag. The record was released on Pyramid 6646, and a clean copy is worth a few hundred bucks to collectors today!

The top side of this single features a song called Shakedown, which the Huns allegedly stole from another local band called the Tamrons!

According to Keith Stacy, bass player for the Tamrons, the band was practicing one day at the home of lead guitarist Lloyd Pettus and his brother Ted who played drums for the band. The Huns came over to watch and heard them do an original song they called Genie. The Huns must have really loved that song because they rushed into the studio and recorded it first, changing the name to Shakedown. Needless to say, the members of the Tamrons were pissed! They stormed over to (Huns bass player) Dean Coley’s place and stood outside calling the guys out for a street fight!

I'd like to invite you to help us test out a new online music service called Blendella. There are currently three channels, Hits, Nashvillage (Country), and EuroHeart. More channels will appear soon, along with some fun stuff. Create a login and you'll be able to help pick the upcoming songs. Your votes combine with the other listeners and the songs with the most votes win. Let me know what you think! http://beta.blendella.com/