Month: July 2009

Guess the 45 Flip Side

The A-side of this single by a British band went to #1 in the US in 1966, and it sounds nothing at all like the lovely little ditty on the B-side.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/WaitForMeBaby.mp3]

D.F. Rogers says, “Needs more megaphone!” You are correct, sir! The song “Wait For Me Baby” is the flip side of the New Vaudeville Band’s megahit with a megaphone from 1966, “Winchester Cathedral”. I’m always amazed by how a 40+ year old piece of plastic that was beat on when new can sound so good. I doubt there were many original Rudy Vallee records from the 20’s that were playable in ’66.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/WinchesterCathedral.mp3]

The YouTube player has the New Vaudeville Band performing the song, with the first tune, “Peek A Boo” being more interesting because it’s not familiar. (From there it’s an easy leap to Tiny Tim and to Robert Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders.) Then Petula Clark sings “Winchester Cathedral” followed by a more familiar performance of her own hit, “This Is My Song.”

The original “Winchester Cathedral” LP, in my hands at this moment, doesn’t have “Peek A Boo”, so I had to find it elsewhere.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/PeekABoo.mp3]

New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band, 1966

The Death of Ron Decline

Do I have anything good to say about the late Allen Klein? No, I don’t. He was an opportunistic, dishonest, unscrupulous scumbag. Eric Idle and John Belushi were dead-on with their Ron Decline parody in “The Rutles”. Hey look, there’s Al Franken, the new senator from Minnesota, with his old comedy partner Tom Davis.

The first LP I ever bought with my own money was “Let It Be” the day it was released, and I immediately noticed that Apple Records had become “an abkco managed company”. Even as a kid of fourteen I was suspicious of what that meant.

In this picture the second scan is from an 80’s British LP copy of “Let It Be”, and you’ll notice that the name Harold Seider is missing. Seider was Klein’s attorney, and later he was John Lennon’s lawyer.

An ABKCO managed company

Since “Let It Be” I have tried to avoid Allen B. Klein Company products, with the only exceptions being on vinyl. As a consequence, my Rolling Stones collection is minimal. One of the exceptions is the Stones outtakes LP, “Metamorphosis”. I bought it for a couple of bucks in college as a cut-out, only a year after its release in 1975.

“Metamorphosis” has a some tracks worth noting, including the Dylan-influenced “Memo From Turner” and a good alternate version of “Out Of Time”. The best song, I think, is “Each and Every Day of the Year”. Unfortunately, it’s in fake stereo that includes phase shifting as well as frequency separation, so it sounds lousy if forced into mono.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/EachAndEveryDay.mp3]

Gloria Stuart Looks Back…

Happy 99th birthday to Gloria Stuart! Next year she’ll be the same age as the elderly character Rose, who she played in “Titanic”. James Cameron wanted Gloria to have the role after hearing her audio commentary for the LaserDisc edition of the 1932 film, “The Old Dark House”. Watch the video (taken from LD) to see a little of what inspired Cameron.

[MEDIA=47]

Gloria’s story about having to change clothes is funny. One obvious reason for doing that was James Whale, who was gay, simply thought it was a good idea to show her off for sex appeal. Being the age that she is, Gloria isn’t shy about speaking freely, as you can see at this link . You can hear Gloria’s commentary for “The Old Dark House” in the DVD edition of movie. Note: The last real-life survivor of the Titanic disaster, Millvina Dean, died about a month ago.

Monty Python’s Boston Radio Connection

Another Monty Python Record

On January 1, 1967, an FCC ruling went into effect that required major market radio stations — those with an FM frequency that was simulcasting their AM signal — to broadcast alternative programming at least half the time on FM. What resulted was a sweeping change in the radio business. From the late 60’s into the early 70’s, there was a shift from singles played on AM, to albums on FM.

In a way, it was timely that my family moved from Connecticut to Massachusetts only a few weeks after Herb Oscar Anderson quit 77 WABC in September, 1968, because the times had indeed a’changed. (Note: HOA’s site auto-plays audio.) Anderson was still #1 in New York, but songs such as this one drove HOA away.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/Fire.mp3]

“Fire”, a top 10 hit on AM radio in Sept. ’68, was the first song I heard on WBCN-FM in Boston, which had switched formats from Classical to Underground music six months prior to my arrival in Massachusetts. Four years later, in 1972, I heard a record on WBCN that had a huge effect on me. This is exactly the point where I picked it up…

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/MontyPython.mp3]

… and after that bit I heard “The Argument Clinic” and I was hooked. Eric Idle’s Money song pre-dates the Euro, but it correctly predicted that “everyone must hanker for the butchness of a banker,” because that’s the world we had until last September.

That was the first time I encountered Monty Python, and I felt as though a bullet had hit me between my ears. I LOVED those guys. And I mean I LOVED them, like they were the Beatles. But I was lucky to have heard them, because ‘BCN was just about the only place where Python had a home in America at the time. There’s an excellent little documentary called “Monty Python Conquers America” that tells of WBCN’s role in paving the way for Python. I’ve stitched together the pertinent bits.

[MEDIA=46]

I didn’t look all that different from that young DJ in the stock footage, and I know that Gates control console well from my own radio days, but it couldn’t have been BCN’s, because it’s monaural.

Something that isn’t pointed out is that before Monty Python, WBCN had played Firesign Theatre records, and I think those guys deserve credit for creating a new generation of comedy record fans. Not only that, Firesign Theatre albums were intricate and fully produced, as were the Python records, making them eminently re-listenable, like a Rock record.

Lía Pamina

Lovely Lía Pamina

Now that I’m in contact with Prudence Bury, I’d like to take a moment to once again say thanks to 60’s retro comment writer Janis, otherwise known as Lía Pamina. Months ago, Lía, who lives in Spain, provided Prue’s maiden name and its correct spelling, and that made all the difference in my search for one of the quintessential women of the Sixties.

Lía is a big fan of singer-songwriter Margo Guryan, who wrote the song “Sunday Morning” by Spanky and Our Gang (not to be confused with “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”).

Lía has made a couple of videos featuring Guryan songs. She’s cleverly animated “Love Songs”, with some illustrations by Roy Lichtenstein, and she performs “Timothy’s Gone”. Great job on both, Lía! You can hear Guryan’s original recording of “Timothy’s Gone” on her MySpace page at the link above.