You have a choice: I Love that West Coast Sound, by The Jalopy Five or That West Coast Sound, by The Jalopy Five. That is, you can go by the front jacket or the back. And, of course, some of these are not by the Jalopy Five (a Hit Records alias, anyway), which means I'll have to track down the original artists and dates by referring to the Hit Records singles. Easily accomplished with 45cat and Discogs.
And, good grief, Blogger must be on its last legs. It took me several minutes to get those two images in their proper place AND properly enlarged. Blogger simply doesn't want to cooperate. Oh, and I'd initially inserted the cover and label images, in that order. And Blogger displayed them in reverse order. Of course. And, in other news, I've taken to snapping "live" label shots, since my new Epson printer has, at best, a one-centimeter depth of field. If I want in-focus images, I have to go the Canon route. But I shall spare no effort to get these fake sounds to you. For real. That is my (more or less) sacred pledge.
The liner notes discuss "The British Sound," "The Detroit Sound," and "The Nashville Sound," noting in delightfully redundant fashion that "each is distinctive within itself." That's like calling something "unique in its singular way." Anyway, in case you weren't paying attention, this LP features "that" West Coast sound, and my first response was, "Cute blonde." My second response was, "Hit Records never did a good job with the California sound." And, as a rule, it did not--Its Beach Boys knockoffs are typically lacking. But here we have some actually decent imitations of Jan and Dean, the B. Boys, and the Mama's and the Papa's, as the latter (for some reason) called themselves.
And, good grief, Blogger must be on its last legs. It took me several minutes to get those two images in their proper place AND properly enlarged. Blogger simply doesn't want to cooperate. Oh, and I'd initially inserted the cover and label images, in that order. And Blogger displayed them in reverse order. Of course. And, in other news, I've taken to snapping "live" label shots, since my new Epson printer has, at best, a one-centimeter depth of field. If I want in-focus images, I have to go the Canon route. But I shall spare no effort to get these fake sounds to you. For real. That is my (more or less) sacred pledge.
The liner notes discuss "The British Sound," "The Detroit Sound," and "The Nashville Sound," noting in delightfully redundant fashion that "each is distinctive within itself." That's like calling something "unique in its singular way." Anyway, in case you weren't paying attention, this LP features "that" West Coast sound, and my first response was, "Cute blonde." My second response was, "Hit Records never did a good job with the California sound." And, as a rule, it did not--Its Beach Boys knockoffs are typically lacking. But here we have some actually decent imitations of Jan and Dean, the B. Boys, and the Mama's and the Papa's, as the latter (for some reason) called themselves.
Did producer (and California Street cowriter) William Beasley say, "Let's assemble our more passable efforts in this area"? Was that premeditated, or is the track selection just a lucky accident? Whichever the case, Sloop John B is a totally acceptable copy of the Beach Boys hit, Surfer Girl (even though it changes the melody in spots!) features unusually tight Hit Records harmonies, and Ride the Wild Surf beautifully captures the Jan and Dean sound. I'm impressed. California Girl(s), on the other hand, falls in the middle range of okay. It's hardly the worst budget Beach Boys copy, but the famously awful Pickwick effort, The Surfsiders Sing the Beach Boys Songbook (1965), set the budget-knockoff bar at a record low! (An LP best experienced with a licensed therapist on hand.)
The filler tracks are fun--California Street in particular (cowritten by producer William Beasley as "Richards"). And Bergen White's She's Come of Age has more than a slight touch of Brian Wilson, meaning that Bergen, as usual, took his pen-a-flip-side-as-quickly-as-possible job seriously. I really should devote a post sometime to Hit Records filler numbers.
And I took the liberty of correcting California Girl (maybe the cover model is that very girl), though I otherwise retained the credits as displayed. At least Hit Records' errors were consistent from front to back, and label to cover. There's a certain integrity, there.
Really, much better than we might expect from a dollar-bin special. And the engineering, as ever, is gorgeous. Below I've given the 45 rpm credits and dates, though all the mp3 tags read "The Jalopy Five," and the composer fields are blank--both in concurrence with Modern Sound's layout (or lack thereof).
The filler tracks are fun--California Street in particular (cowritten by producer William Beasley as "Richards"). And Bergen White's She's Come of Age has more than a slight touch of Brian Wilson, meaning that Bergen, as usual, took his pen-a-flip-side-as-quickly-as-possible job seriously. I really should devote a post sometime to Hit Records filler numbers.
And I took the liberty of correcting California Girl (maybe the cover model is that very girl), though I otherwise retained the credits as displayed. At least Hit Records' errors were consistent from front to back, and label to cover. There's a certain integrity, there.
Really, much better than we might expect from a dollar-bin special. And the engineering, as ever, is gorgeous. Below I've given the 45 rpm credits and dates, though all the mp3 tags read "The Jalopy Five," and the composer fields are blank--both in concurrence with Modern Sound's layout (or lack thereof).
Sloop John B--Jalopy Five, 1966
Monday Monday--Jalopy Five, 1966
California Dreaming--Jalopy Five, 1966
California Girls--The Chellows, 1965
California Street (Dorothy Jean and William Beasley)--Johnny and the Jalopy Five, 1965
Ride the Wild Surf--The Roamers, 1964
Little Old Lady From Pasadena--The Roamers, 1964
Hey Little Cobra--The Roamers, 1964
Surfer Girl--Jalopy Five, 1963
She's Come of Age (B. White)--Bobby Brooks, 1965
Lee
