This is a follow-up to my previous (Oct. 10) Top Hit Tunes offering, which seems like a very redundant point, especially since I designated this as "More..." I haven't been myself lately. I'm not sure who I've been. Maybe my driver's license will give me some clue...
In fact, back in June I did an even earlier Top Hit Tunes post which featured sides from the Enoch Light period. Today's post is post-Enoch. These six-selection EPs were all pressed on junk vinyl, and while the EPs from the Light period (Waldorf Record Corp., 18 Top Hits, early Top Hit Tunes) weren't pressed on prime vinyl, they were far less noisy than these. Have I thoroughly confused myself yet?
Todays' fakes are from 1960 and 1961, a period I don't remember firsthand, as my earliest Top 40 recollections are from 1962. Therefore, many of today's numbers were unknown to me until now. But some were already familiar as oldies: Little Egypt (originally the Coasters), Little Devil (Neil Sedaka), Last Date (Floyd Cramer--country), You Talk Too Much (Joe Jones), Mother-in-Law (Ernie K-Doe), Crying (Roy Orbison), the King-Goffin gem Halfway to Paradise (Tony Orlando, but which I first heard on a Bobby Vinton LP), and Don't Be Cruel (the version by Bill Black's Combo). For some reason, I thought I knew Summer's Gone, but I don't--I must have been thinking of some other Summer title. Summer's Gone is the disaster of the set, and I have no idea why the fidelity is suddenly so pinched at the close. It's nothing that I did. At any rate, while "Arthur Poem" is a better singer than Paul Anka (who did the original), he's almost definitely under-rehearsed, and of course the audio disaster at the end ruins everything. Otherwise, a classic cover. (Cha-dunk, crash!)
I still haven't decided whether or not I'd heard New Orleans before. Or, if so, when. I'll get back to you if I figure it out. Ta Ta; When We Get Married; Let Me Belong to You; Let's Go, Let's Go; and Bobby Rydells' Good Time Baby (I neglected to capitalize 'Time' on the ID tag), Don't Worry, and Please Love Me Forever were all news to me. Never on Sunday, however, falls into the melody-everyone-has-heard category, and Dedicated to the One I Love and A Little Bit of Soap seem like hits that would be universally familiar, if only by their titles. I find the playlist, as experienced in one sitting, pleasant but drab, though there were some superb pre-Beatles rock and roll hits of the 1960s, especially in the 1962-1963 period. The Top 40 was just slouching a bit when these particular fakes were faked.
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor, as many of you know, was a "skiffle" version of the 1924 Does Your Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight, and this fake doesn't sound all that different from the real hit. Oh, and I'm just now (10/28, 12:14 AM) remembering that I wanted to mention the extreme fuzz tone on Don't Worry, which is a surprisingly good approximation of the distortion that occurs on the Marty Robbins original. Thanks to RobGems68 for mentioning it. Buzzsaw guitar tones probably go back to the 1940s (just guessing)--that is to say, distortion of its type must be as old as amplified guitar technology. Each "legendary" instance of same is accompanied by a similar tale--loose vacuum tube, damaged amp, defective fader in the studio, etc. Famous recordings feasting the sound include Howlin' Wolf's 1951 How Many More Years (lead by Willie Johnson), Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88 of the same year (lead by Willie Kizart), and the guitar sound on The Johnny Burnette Trio's 1956 The Train Kept A-Rollin' and Link Wray and His Ray Men's 1958 Rumble. I'm sure there are many more instances.
Again, post-Enoch Waldorf sides here, his Waldorf labels having been purchased in late 1959. I've previously established a post-Enoch Pickwick-Waldorf connection (say that twenty times!), and in fact the first five numbers in the set are from a Bravo EP--an EP which I'm assuming had a corresponding Top Hit Tunes release. A pretty safe assumption, I think, but still an assumption...
These were evidently all originally sold as sets, and the numerical suffixes tell us the disc number. For instance, Top Hit Tunes THC--11-3 was the third disc in (I guess) set 11. If any of these came in envelopes (which is likely, since these were almost definitely mail-order items), then I've yet to see a Top Hit Tunes envelope, though I have plenty for the Bravo label.
Fun stuff, even if a little mild musically, and lovingly restored by me. Took some work. A lot, actually. And whoever came up with "Sunny and the Moonlighters," "Bernie Bridges," "The Star Glazers," and "The Up Beats" should have gotten an award.
DOWNLOAD: More Top Hit Tunes
A Little Bit of Soap--Unknown (Bravo PEP-210-6)
Let Me Belong to You--(Same)
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor--(Same)
Crying--(Same)
When We Get Married--(Same)
Please Love Me Forever--Sunny and the Moonlighters (Top Hit Tunes PH-603)
Baby Blue--The Up Beats (Same)
Mother in-Law (sic)--Gary Mitchell (Same)
Never on Sunday--The Tonalaires (Top Hit Tunes THC-10-1)
Ta Ta--Elliot Sweeney (Same)
I Feel So Bad--Bert Summer (Top Hit Tunes PH-70-3)
Every Beat of My Heart--The Calumets (Same)
Little Devil--Bernie Bridges (Same)
Halfway to Paradise (Goffin-King)--Matt Marina (Same)
Little Egypt--The Freckles (Same)
You Talk Too Much--Freddie Freeman (Top Hit Tunes THC-11-2)
Summer's Gone--Arthur Poem (Same)
Let's Go, Let's Go--Phil Regano (Same)
To Each His Own--The Dreamers (Same)
Diamonds and Pearls--Eddie and His Friends (Top Hit Tunes THC-11-3)
Good Time Baby--Pete Studer (Top Hit Tunes PH-60-1)
Don't Be Cruel--Happy Harry (Top Hit Tunes THC-11-3)
New Orleans--The Southerners (Same)
Last Date--The Star Glazers (Same)
Dedicated to the One I Love--The Bleecker Street Regulars (Top Hit Tunes PH-60-1)
Don't Worry--Jerry Frankman (Same)
Lee
16 comments:
Rock critics love to slam the post-rockabilly, pre-Beatles interregnum, but like you I think it has much to offer. You ought to seek out the original of "New Orleans" - it's one of the best records of its era, with the wonderful Gary (U.S.) Bonds and the uniquely tinny sound that was a specialty of the Guyden record company. Just made for the small transistor radios of the time and their uniquely tinny speakers.
I'll look for it on YouTube--thanks. I've most probably heard it before--I'll find out. Interestingly, a lot of records that were eq'd for radio and for cheap stereos didn't have much in the high end, and too much in the low. I guess the notion was that the sets and radios would give the records a tinny enough sound, in any event--and the purpose of the bass boost is obvious. My few mono Beatles LPs, including "Revolver," are acoustically dead. The graphic version of the files in my MAGIX program look like a very wide, unmodulated line--flat on the tops and bottoms.
Thanks for the share, appreciated
Monkey D. Sound--You're welcome!
RobGems68 Wrote:
For Your Information:
"Ta Ta"-originally by Clyde McPhatter-Mercury Records#71660-#23 On Billboard,1960.
"Make Me Belong To You"-originally by Brian Hyland-ABC-Paramount Records #10236-#20 on Billboard,1961. (This one sounds quite creepy to me, especially the line "Tie me down, make me behave" sound pretty S&M-quite risky for 1961 radio play.)
"New Orleans"-originally by Gary "U.S." Bonds-LeGrand Records#1003-#6 on Billboard,1960.
"Please Love Me Forever"-originally by Cathy Jean & The Roomates-Valmor Records#007-#12 on Billboard, 1961
"I Wish We Were Married"-originally by Ronnie & The Hi-Lites-Joy records #260-#16 on Billboard, 1962.
"Don't Worry"-originally by Marty Robbins-Columbia Records#41922-#3 on Billboard's Pop Charts, #1 on Billboard's Country Charts, 1961.
I hope that clears it up for you.
RobGems68 wrote:
One more to list:
"Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" originally by Hank Ballard (from Detroit, Michigan)-King Records#5400-#6 On Billboard's Pop Charts, #2 On Billboard's R&B Charts,1960.
I'll look for any more information, if you need some, thank you.
RobGems68,
Thanks, though I had looked up the originals--just decided not to note all the artists being copied, since the emphasis is on the (sometimes lousy!) fakes. And, since these had to be big hits to end up being copied by the cheapies, I figure interested folks can get the data easily. I'm fascinated by the fuzz tone on the fake version of Robbins' "Don't Worry," and I was going to make a special mention of it--but I forgot! This post sat around for about a week before I wrote the essay.
Read the Wikipedia piece on "Don't Worry," and it seems that fuzz tone always happened by accident, whether it's "Rocket 88," "How Many More Years," or the Robbins side. It's almost like a standard folk narrative. Slashed speaker cone, loose tube, and (this time) a faulty fader.
I think I have that particular Ballard side, though the sound of it doesn't stick in my memory.
I look away for a second, and a giant post appears! Thanks for the fake music, Lee. I thought Ike Turner played lead on Rocket 88, but maybe it was just his band playing on it. I'll have to look up the specifics.
I'd thought it was either Turner or Pat Hare, but apparently it was Willie Kizart. The Wikipedia piece includes the ridiculous claim, which I've heard elsewhere, that a shuffle beat (instead of a straight-ahead 4/4) disqualifies a record from being r&r, that it makes the record r&b. R&b, of course, was actually a chart designation for records popular with the African-American audience, and not a specific style (which explains why Bing Crosby's White Christmas made the r&b charts). And, if a shuffle rhythm disqualifies a record as r&r, then sorry about that, Jerry Lee Lewis, Danny and the Juniors (At the Hop), and who knows how many others. People don't think these statements through before (or after) they make them.
Thanks for the latest fakes Lee - - as usual, great fun. You stated you didn't remember "Please Love Me Forever". I was only familiar with the Bobby Vinton 1967 version. This fake is a pretty close clone of Cathy Jean & The Roommates version (which I had never heard until I looked it up on YouTube). The original version was a B-side for Tommy Edwards in 1958. You cleaned these fakes up really well - thanks for your hard work and a fun listen. Burt
Burt,
You're welcome! Thanks for the nice words and the Edwards information. I worked on these over about five days--then they sat for nearly the same amount of time. I've discovered it's best to write the essays right away, even if I don't post them immediately, as I quickly forget what I was going to say.
Hi Lee, again your comments are just priceless. So are these fakes. I found them really good. Thanks for the great work. Bryan
Bryan, Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the nice words.
Many thanks for the music Lee!
Not Ronnie & The Hi-Lites - I Wish We Get Married, actually
The Dreamlovers - When We Get Married (Heritage 102) 1961
The "Unknown" group version was also released on the Bravo! EP 70-2 as by The Bear Cats.
Krobigraubart,
Thanks for the Bravo EP-70-2 i.d. I see that I earlier featured The Bearcats doing "Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong" on Top Hit Tunes PH-70-2 (Oct. 10, 2020 post). Yet, in the confusion that is Waldorf's cross-releases with Pickwick, the common "70-2" catalog no.'s don't equal the same release. Very strange, but not surprising.
I found your YouTube posting of Bravo! PEP-201-6-D. The D suffix is a bit weird, since it would suggest side D of the sixth disc in the set, which doesn't compute. But then things often fail to compute with these budget issues--logic wasn't their forte. Do you have any idea why the post-Enoch Light Top Hit Tunes was co-releasing the same stuff with Pickwick? That mystery continues to plague me, as I can find no explanation anywhere. Either Pickwick was providing the masters (which seems probable), or Top Hit Tunes was sharing masters with Pickwick (Bravo/Hurrah/Grand Prix).
Great to see the (fake) group titles crossing labels, too. Will check out your YouTube page. Thanks again!
krobigraubart,
I see you used my Bravo "Little Bit of Soap" track--thanks for giving me the plug. Feel free to borrow whatever you wish when it comes to cheap label "fakes"--the more listeners, the better!
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