Category: Music

A very favorite album from my post-college Western Massachusetts years.

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.

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.