So, I had a post nearly ready to go, but then I got a request for this LP (This Month's 16 Top Hits) at the Brand "X" Records Facebook page, and that struck me as such a good idea, I switched projects. The rip turned out mostly okay, with the first side sounding fabulous, and the second side sounding... well, not quite so terrific. Some needle wear and, therefore, some distortion, but nothing too grave. (I tried a higher VTF with my Stanton 500 cartridge--3 grams--but in vain.)
And a public reminder that vinyl grooves are much more likely to be damaged by 1) a worn stylus and/or 2) tracking error than high tracking force. Seriously. We Boomers were fed the urban legend that tracking force is the main consideration--the lighter, the better. In fact, if the VTF is too low, the needle bounces around in the groove. And, obviously, that's not good for the integrity of the groove walls.
At least one of these tracks--Surfin' Safari--appeared on a Top 30 Tunes EP, which was a Pickwick product, and so I'll take a chance and name Pickwick as the source for all of these. And the performances are well above par, with even Safari perfectly decent. And the Beach Boys rarely received competent budget covers, so this is a track to be savored. Things start with the famous bossa nova hit (listen for the Bo Diddley beat!) Desafinado, which is so well performed, it's almost suspect! And the vocals throughout the LP are competent to outstanding, from James Hold the Ladder Steady (a John D. Loudermilk song employing a melody commonly used for Jacob's Ladder) to Susie Darling to He's a Rebel to the Bacharach-David Only Love Can Break a Heart. Though the latter is an early Burt/Hal hit, the earliest Bacharach budget fake was probably 1957's The Story of My Life (superbly faked on Top Hit Tunes).
All of these do justice to the originals, and, in addition to the surprisingly good Safari, there are expert imitations of Next Door to an Angel, Limbo Rock, Mr. Lonely, and Popeye. Hard to believe the same outfit later dumped on us the record-settingly awful fakes of Help Me Rhonda and Good Vibrations, the former appearing on Hurrah! Pops and A.R.C. EPs. Maybe a "Why bother with quality?" ethic had taken over by that point.
And... Here's where things get weird, as they so often do with rack-jobber material. Namely, this Canadian "Allied Record Corporation" may very well not be the famous Allied Record Corporation (different address, for one thing). Furthermore--and this is just my intuition; no proof--this Allied label seems related to the American A.R.C. (Allied Record Company) mentioned above (and shown below). As in, a different Allied Record Company than the Los Angeles label. Just a hunch, but I strongly suspect a link between this LP and my A.R.C. EPs.
Further proof (though possibly circumstantial) resides in the Premier 16 Top Hits of the Week albums, which seem to be a continuation of this concept. And Award AS-16-1 (Premier) includes in its 16-track lineup a stereo version of the dreadful Rhonda fake. Dual-channel awfulness! I posted the Award LP in 2019 (see above link).
Allied Record Corporation, Premier, Pickwick, and a possibly alternate Allied Record Corporation--wow. All swapping tapes. Could Pickwick have been the chief supplier of fake-hit masters? No, that would be too easy...
DOWNLOAD: This Month's 16 Top Hits (Allied TM-2)
Desafinado
James Hold the Ladder Steady
Next Door to an Angel
Limbo Rock
Susie Darling
That Stranger Used to Be My Girl
Workin' for the Man
Mr. Lonely
All Alone Am I
He's a Rebel
I Remember You
Only Love Can Break a Heart
Popeye
Surfin' Safari
Warmed Over Kisses
Close to Kathy
Lee
7 comments:
The earliest Bacharach/David fake hit? Wow. You are THE historian, Lee, pinpointing landmarks such as this. I don't think people appreciate your expertise on such a subject. Which sounds like a subject nobody cares about. Until they do. It's one of the reasons why I love your site and I love the web. If there's something you need to know, you can find it, unearthed by somebody who's taken the time to care and research it. The great public encyclopedia! Thanks so much.
Diane,
Thanks for the nice words!
I think "The Story of My Life" must be the first Bacharach song I remember hearing - the great Marty Robbins was and is a favorite.
Buster,
It's a marvelous song, and Marty is wonderful on it--and it almost seems like a deliberate follow-up to "A White Sport Coat." But I suspect this is solely because Ray Conniff gave it a vastly similar arrangement. Conniff probably figured he could cash in on the success of "Sport Coat," but "Story" totally succeeds as its own number. One budget-cover mystery is why "Magic Moments" never (to my knowledge) enjoyed a rack-jobber knockoff, but I think it's due to the highly unusual song structure. "Moments" is in a classic verse/chorus format, but the verse mainly functions as a setup for the chorus--it's not a proper verse, being simply a series of repeated musical phrases. Not a remotely easy song to cover, and my guess is that the budget people simply passed on it.
Lee,
That's an interesting question, about "Magic Moments," one of several catalogue songs of the time (we did this, then we did this, then we did one more thing, etc.). The verse is almost spoken, so I wonder how hard it could be for the soloist. The choral backing is another matter.
hopefully you can somehow eliminate the big ad that is kind of preventing me to checking this album out. I do want to listen to it, yet I can't get in for some reason. Thanks in advance.
musicman1979,
Darn--sorry about that. I didn't realize, since I don't see ads in my own account. There must be some way of sidestepping it. A different browser, maybe?
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