Author: DOuG pRATt

Shelley Angel

Watching daytime re-runs of The Donna Reed Show as a kid during summer vacations made me an admirer of Shelley Fabares.

“Johnny Angel” was recorded a couple of times by others before Shelley turned it into a #1 hit.

“Johnny Angel”, as performed by Shelley and produced by Stu Phillips, is an excellent example of the importance of studio production in capturing the right sound for a song to turn it into a hit record. The effect here seems to almost be a nod to Roy Orbison.

In February of 1962, Shelley, Paul Peterson and I went into United Recording, and together we recorded four sides. “Johnny Angel” with Shelly and “She Can’t Find her Keys” with Paul. The recording engineer was the legendary Bones Howe. — “Stu Who?”, by Stu Phillips, page 125

In 1966, Bones Howe engineered this #1 record by The Mama’s & The Papa’s. It was produced by Lou Adler, Shelley’s first husband.

That same year, Howe was the producer behind this fantastic Turtles single.

CSNY in NY

Does making a complete album available on YouTube make it less likely that people will buy it? The data seems to indicate otherwise.

I bought the 2-LP set of Rhino’s new album, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Live At Fillmore East, 1969 that comes with a digital download. You can stream it here for free, thanks to Rhino. I assume this has an expiration date.

Here’s another one from the ad hoc quartet. Their greatest, the classic Deja Vu.

Gotta Assemble ’em All!

Face Front, frantic Marvel fanboys! The Avengers are here, along with Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner.

Monday: Captain America / Tuesday: The Hulk / Wednesday: Iron Man / Thursday: Thor (of course) / Friday: Sub-Mariner

All of the Marvel Super Heroes theme song records from the 1966 cartoons are out, and I’ve got ’em! They’re assembled here in this YouTube playlist, presented in the order the characters appeared daily in the syndicated TV series.

An album version will be released on Record Store Day next week.

https://13thdimension.com/sneak-peek-inside-the-merry-marvel-marching-society-album-coming-for-black-friday/

Bose Buys McIntosh!

McIntosh MA5300 integrated amp, $6000

That’s McIntosh Labs in Binghamton New York, not Apple’s line of Macintosh computers. McIntosh dates back to 1950s-era hi-fi tube amps, and this is big audio news that’s coming from out of nowhere.

I frequently drive past the Bose headquarters, and the chairman of the Bose board lives near here. As a privately held company, he must have approved, if not initiated, this very surprising move to acquire McIntosh.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/19/bose-buys-mcintosh-storied-maker-of-high-end-luxury-audio-equipment.html

If I were to lose all sense of financial perspective and buy a McIntosh product that I don’t need, it would be the integrated amp in the picture. As it is, I own only one Bose product, the now-discontinued Wave Music System I bought in 2008, that I continue to use every day.

Stop & Stop

I was about to leave to visit a Stop & Shop, in search of a particular item that I can’t find at my usual supermarket. Then I saw this TV report.

It’s very unlikely the non-food item I’m looking for will be out of stock, assuming it’s something that’s normally carried at the store. If all else fails, there’s Amazon, of course. I might explain later what it is, and why I’m searching for it, depending on how the story turns out.