We’ve come to the end of the line of our look at Dunhill Records, and typically on Saturdays I like to feature songs that were below the Top 40 line on the Hot 100, an album cut, or were non-charting singles. Today is no different, as we turn to a progressive British jazz/blues/rock band named Colosseum.
While Dunhill didn’t sign Colosseum directly, their American releases were issued on Dunhill through an arrangement with UK’s branch of Fontana Records. Apparently Mercury, Fontana’s US distributor, passed on Colosseum. An outgrowth of the Graham Bond Organization and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Colosseum was formed by drummer Jon Hiseman and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith who played with both bands. I was just talking to someone last week about Heckstall-Smith’s performance novelty of playing two saxes simultaneously.
In addition to Hiseman and Heckstall-Smith, Colosseum featured James Litherland on guitar and lead vocals, Tony Reeves on bass, and Dave Greenslade on keyboards. You may remember Greenslade’s name as he fronted a band of the same name in the 1970s. Their 1969 debut LP, “Those Who Are About to Die Salute You,” took its name from what gladiators would say to Caesar before entering in a contest to the death.
Written and originally recorded by Graham Bond, “Walking in the Park” was the first single from this LP. The placement of this song on the album was interesting. Fontana led the album with the track and Dunhill placed it at the end of the album. Either way, the single failed to chart in either the UK or the US.
“Walking in the Park” also featured sideman Henry Lowther on trumpet. The song has a killer arrangement with Litherwood’s powerful vocals and lead guitar, Greenslade’s organ, and the horns of Heckstall-Smith and Lowther. Buckle-up, as this one really moves.
Having formed in Los Angeles in 1969, the band Smith had no members who bore the most popular English language surname. Having been discovered in 1969 by Del Shannon, he brought Smith to ABC/Dunhill, a label to which he had been signed earlier in the same year. Although the group released four singles and two albums before they disbanded, a remake of the Shirelles’ classic “Baby it’s You” was their first single and their only hit record.
It has been said that Shannon came up with the new arrangement of the composition penned by Burt Bacharach, Mack David, and Luther Dixon (under the name of Barney Williams). Lyricist Mack David was the older brother of Bacharach’s frequent songwriting partner Hal David. The sha-la-la vocals from the original and The Beatles version were replaced by an organ riff from Larry Moss. With the heavier arrangement, Smith’s version was perfect for 1969 and beyond. Joel Sill and Dunhill staffer Steve Barri produced the recording.
“Baby it’s You” appeared on the album “A Group Called Smith” and peaked as a single in November 1969 at #5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. “Baby it’s You” showcases the incredible talent of Gayle McCormick and its sad that she never ever was to reprise her career as she had the pipes. Just listening to where she screams “Baby!!!” near the end of the song sends chills up and down my spine. After Smith, McCormick released three solo albums and several singles, but none achieved the acclaim of her first single with Smith. McCormick died earlier this year on March 1 from cancer.
While it wasn’t Three Dog Night’s biggest hit, “Pieces of April” from November 1972 was one of two singles from their “Seven Separate Fools” album and one of my favorite songs of the band. I guess I remember this song, as this was released during my senior year in high school. Of all of the acts on Dunhill Records, Three Dog Night had to be the label’s most popular.
Written by Dave Loggins (remember “Please Come to Boston”), it was originally an album cut on his 1972 album “Personal Belongings”; Vanguard later released it in January 1973 to compete with Three Dog Night’s version. Loggins later re-recorded the tune and released it as a single on Epic in 1979. While neither single charted in the Hot 100, Loggins’ second version peaked at 22 on the adult contemporary charts.
As for Three Dog Night’s rendition of this ballad, it only peaked at #19 on the Hot 100. I would have expected it to have charted higher, but a November release is always a gamble. Chuck Negron was lead vocalist on this cut.
Day four of our look at Dunhill Records brings us a release from September 1968 with the newly reconstituted ABC/Dunhill records imprint. “Magic Carpet Ride” was Steppenwolf’s fifth single release and their second Top 5 record. Like the previous hit, “Born to Be Wild,” “Magic Carpet Ride” was certified as a gold single for one million units sold. It was the only single released on their second LP – which was appropriately titled “The Second.” The single peaked at #3.
Co-written by Steppenwolf’s guitarist/vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve. Moreve, an original member of the band, left Steppenwolf after recording “The Second.” He rejoined the band in 1978, but was killed in an automobile accident in 1981 prior to John Kay and Steppenwolf’s recording of the album “Wolftracks” in 1982.
One of my favorite parts of this song is Goldy McJohn’s organ parts. I always thought that he used a Hammond organ, but McJohn stated that his instrument of choice was a Lowrey. Of course, he had this beast connected to a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet that provided a Doppler effect to the organ’s sound. McJohn’s staccato style of playing gave a percussive feel that added to the heaviness of this recording.
The single mix, in my opinion, is much better than the album version. It has a different lead vocal track and the overall instrumental balance is better. Typically, I prefer the album mixes, but there are always exceptions. I provide both versions so you can choose which on you like.
Suggested by Lou Adler, president of Dunhill Records, and put into fruition by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri in 1965, The Grass Roots became one of the top hit making bands to make their mark with the label. Originally called The Grassroots, it was formed as a studio band with an ever changing lineup until 1967. The name change occurred during the new band’s first year.
Having submitted a demo to Dunhill, a LA based band named the 13th Floor became the permanent version of the group. The band went through three bassists until Rob Grill was enlisted into the incarnation of The Grass Roots that most of us know. He was the band’s primary lead singer in addition to playing bass.
In 1968, the band recorded their biggest hit, “Midnight Confessions.” The band was a four piece during this period and also featured Warren Entner on guitar/keyboards, Creed Bratton on lead guitar, and Rick Coonce on drums. When Bratton left the band in 1969, Dennis Provisor was brought in on guitar and Terry Furlong joined the band on keyboards. By 1971, The Grass Roots enlarged to a six piece combo with Brian Naughton as additional lead guitarist. Other line-up changes occurred in 1972 and 1974.
While the band performed the song in concert, there is no indication that The Grass Roots per se played the instruments on the actual recording. While the band provided the vocals, instrumentation was supplied by The Wrecking Crew. The legendary bass line, which was later played live by Rob Grill, was actually performed by Carole Kaye who contributed to hundreds of recordings.
“Midnight Confessions” charted at #5 during the summer of 1968 and was their only single to be certified gold.
During 1965, Dunhill Records signed one of their biggest acts, The Mama’s and the Papas. This new vocal group was led by John Phillips who, along with his wife Michelle, had been in the folk group The New Journeyman.
Enter Denny Doherty and later Cass Elliot from the Mugwamps and this new group spent several months in the Virgin Islands honing their craft and working out the intricate harmonies that made them successful and became the inspiration for a half a dozen other popular vocal groups.
Brought to Dunhill by their friend Barry McGuire, the band was signed by Lou Adler. Their first single, “Go Where You Want to Go,” was released to radio in November 1965, but there is no evidence that this debut single ever was released commercially. If so, it failed to chart in any trade publications.
While I’m speculating here, it may be that Adler felt that “California Dreamin’” was a better selection for the public as winter was approaching and it was released on the heels of “Go Where You Want to Go” with the same picture sleeve photo. Since they were an unknown act at the time, it took a couple months for radio to gravitate towards the song – plus releasing a new artist before the Christmas holiday was not wisest decision. But it eventually became the first their of several top 10 hits. It also was certified as a gold record.
“California Dreamin’s” follow-up, “Monday, Monday,” is today’s selection. Why? It’s Monday. This was the band’s most popular song. It was their only #1 record, second of two gold singles, and it won the Grammy for best pop vocal by a duo or group.
Having grown up with the mono version on AM radio – the place where we used to hear the hits – I find it difficult to listen to Lou Adler’s stereo mix on this song. I know, this is how many records (ad nauseam) were mixed for stereo – put the back-up vocals on one side, the instruments on the other, and if you’re lucky the lead vocal might be in the middle.
However, a good many records had all the vocals to one side. I think there was an unwritten principle that this practice illustrated the aural width of a recording – let’s get as much separation as possible and it might sound live. I am certainly glad that by the late 60s, this practice began to wane. The instrumentation for this song was provided by The Wrecking Crew, a loose collection of LA studio musicians who played on a bazillion records and who had a fluid line-up. John Phillips sang lead on this number.
Now that we’re back on track with the blog, we can resume with our features. Since it’s the fourth week of the month, we turn to our Fourth Week Label Feature. For this week, I’ve chosen Dunhill Records. The company was conceived in 1964 by Lou Adler and several others as a production house for Johnny Rivers. It did not become an actual label until spring 1965.
While it is commonly cited that the label’s initial release was by Adler's wife Shelley Fabares, this is incorrect. Two singles were issued a month prior to Fabares’ recording: Ray Whitley’s “I’ve Been Hurt” and Ritchie Weems and the Continental Five’s “Natural Born Man.” These two singles were numbered D-201 and D-202 respectively.
With Dunhill’s third release (Fabares’ “My Prayer” cataloged as D-4001), the label began a distribution deal with ABC-Paramount Records – later simply known as ABC Records. Two years later, Adler sold his shares to ABC and this created the subsidiary label: ABC-Dunhill Records. Dunhill would be inextricably linked to ABC throughout its 10-year run.
By 1975, ABC began consolidating its subsidiaries under the ABC Records’ umbrella and Dunhill was no longer an active imprint. Within four years, ABC’s record holdings were purchased by MCA and subsequent releases used its imprint. Geffen Records now controls the Dunhill catalog. This week will look at seven releases from Dunhill and ABC-Dunhill.
Numbered as D-4009, Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” was actually Dunhill’s twelfth release and not the eleventh as one may surmise. This was because two P.F. Sloan singles that were subsequently issued shared the D-4007 catalog number and the same B-side.
Written in 1964 by P.F. Sloan, “Eve of Destruction” chronicled the unrest in the world during the mid 1960s that dealt with war, suffering, and racism. According to McGuire, he recorded the song on a Thursday and it was on the air the following Monday. McGuire’s recording was Dunhill’s first Top 40 hit and it quickly ascended to the number one slot during the fall of1965. The song hit apparently hit a political nerve at the time.
The double strike on the tom-tom found only in the intro and the first verse provides a subliminal sound effect of artillery fire that accentuates the message decrying war. The lyrics played on the real fears of nuclear annihilation – “if the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away. There will be no one to save with the world in a grave.” Sloan’s lyrics also points at hypocrisy found in America with the line “hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace.”
McGuire later re-recorded “Eve of Destruction” on his second Contemporary Christian release “Lighten Up.” It was released on Myrrh Records in 1974 - a label that was part of ABC's holdings of Word Records in the 1970s. Being the album’s lead track dispels the rumors that McGuire eschewed the song once becoming a Christian. He still performs “Eve of Destruction,” but often modifies the lyrics to be applicable to the unrest of the present world.
Today is a day of celebration. Six years ago today I began this blog on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was one of the better decisions I’ve made as I have rekindled friendships and made a number of new ones over the six year period. The last two years (especially last year) with the change in jobs, I’ve not kept up with the blog. In 2015, I’ve had long gaps without new posts. Hopefully, that will change.
Before we get to the stats, our final selection to celebrate the music of Deram Records, we bring you an album cut from Ten Years After fourth album for the label: “Ssssh.” In all, Deram released seven Ten Years After albums – five studio, one live, and a compilation album. “Ssssh” was their second album from 1969 and a number of cuts got some album airplay, no singles were issued from the album to my knowledge.
Until the 1971 hit on Columbia, “I’d Love to Change the World,” singles were just a nuisance that the record company released hoping that mainstream radio would pick up on it. With the exception of “I’d Love to Change the World,” it didn’t work and Deram had no hit records from Ten Years After.
To remedy that, we turned to the final cut on “Ssssh” and an Alvin Lee tune – “I Woke Up this Morning.” It really showcases how great a guitarist Alvin Lee was. Even as great a talent as Lee was, he needed a solid band and Ten Years After fulfilled that need. The band was rounded out by Leo Lyons on bass (always a joy to watch), Chick Churchill on keyboards, and Ric Lee on drums. Great stuff for a Saturday – rainy or otherwise.
RBTG’s Sixth Anniversary Retrospect
Like I had reported with every other anniversary, I took a look backward on how we are doing visitor wise. I began this blog on September 26, 2009, but did not start monitoring the visits until October 16, 2009. Currently, we have 95 declared followers of the blog – the same number as in March 2015 when we had our 1600th post. There are many others who have visited frequently without declaring themselves as followers.
As noted above, we have not been vigilant in maintaining posts, but that hasn’t affected our overall numbers. With over 1600 posts, people have been visiting anyway even without new material that was forthcoming.
The cumulative statistics for the blog are listed below:
Variable
Statistic
Unique Visitors
190,254
Times Visited
213,983
Number of Pages Viewed
298,652
People Visiting 200+ Times
3,188
People Visiting 101-200 Times
1,557
People Visiting 51-100 Times
1,486
People Visiting 26-50 Times
1,418
Number of Visitor Countries Represented
191
The Top Ten Visitor Countries
Since our 1,600th post, three new countries were added to the list: Tajikistan (in Asia), Cuba (in the Caribbean), and Chad in Africa . The Top 10 countries remain the same; however, former tenth position Spain knocked Netherlands out of the ninth position.
Rank
Country
Visits
1
United States
105,359
2
United Kingdom
18,120
3
Canada
11,490
4
Germany
9,847
5
France
7,228
6
Australia
5,213
7
Italy
4,428
8
Brazil
4,224
9
Spain
3,416
10
Netherlands
3,397
As always, I want to take this time to thank all of you for your support of this site and the encouragement to keep going forward. Thanks again for Reading between the Grooves.
While the name Junior Campbell won’t mean much for our American audience, it will for the folks in the UK. His only American Top 40 hit was with Marmalade and it was “Reflections of My Life” from 1969 on London Records – Decca Records Ltd.’s American counterpart. Campbell not only sang lead, but also played guitar and keyboards. “Rainbow,” which was a Top 5 release in Britain, made it to #7 on the American A/C chart, but only hit #51 on the Hot 100.
In Britain, both Marmalade and Junior Campbell had numerous hit records. In 1971, William Campbell, Jr. broke from Marmalade and embarked upon a solo career on Decca/London’s subsidiary Deram Records. His second single, “Hallelujah Freedom” from 1972, was his most successful solo recording. While it charted at #10 in the UK, none of his solo recordings charted in the US. Campbell provide piano, guitar, electric piano, and lead and back-up vocals. The recording won the Best British Single of 1972 – which is why we’re including it here.
Day Five at our look at Deram Records takes a trip down the pop music memory lane with a hit from 1969: White Plains’ “My Baby Loves Lovin’.” Like their label counterparts The Brotherhood of Man, White Plains initially started as a session group that morphed into a performing group. Like The Brotherhood of Man, Tony Burrows was one of its vocalists.
In addition to White Plains and The Brotherhood of Man, Burrows’ lead vocals can be heard on several other hit records. These include the following: Edison Lighthouse’s “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes,” The Pipkins “Gimme Dat Ding,” and First Class’ “Beach Baby.” Three of his recordings with different groups were on the charts simultaneously and the public never noticed.
Recorded in October 1969, “My Baby Loves Lovin’” was released in January 1970. Being the most popular record for White Plains, from which Burrows left shortly after the song’s release, “My Baby Loves Lovin’” peaked at #9 in the UK and at #13 in the US.
For our Wordless Wednesday song from Deram Records, it was a competition between Whistling Jack Smith’s “I was Kaiser Bill’s Batman,” which charted at #20, and Procol Harum’s “Repent Walpurgis,” which failed to chart. Duh!!! Well, if you know me well enough, you would have guessed “Repent Walpurgis” won that battle. Since I had previously featured the band’s only hit on Deram, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” I had to cull something else from their debut LP.
In Britain, only the “Whiter Shade of Pale” single was released on Deram Records. Their self titled debut LP would be the first release on the newly resurrected Regal Zonophone label – a subsidiary of EMI. In the US, the first Procol Harum LP was issued on Deram and led with “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and eliminated “Good Captain Clack” from the LP’s lineup. Additionally, the song order varied between the transatlantic versions, but “Repent Walpurgis” was the final cut on both.
Written by organist Matthew Fisher, “Repent Walpurgis” is one of the more powerful tunes on the album. Fishers’ overdriven Hammond Organ, Gary Brooker’s piano, and those guitar leads from Robin Trower just conjure up all kinds of images. Fisher felt the song was full of angst and that he thought it should be named “Repent.” One of his band mates said it reminded him of Walpurgis Night – or witches night that occurs prior to St. Walpurga’s Day on May 1. So they combined the thoughts into the title “Repent Walpurgis.”
While the name was ominous, so were the inspirations for this instrumental as they spanned centuries and continents. The primary progression of the tune featuring Cm, Ab/Eb, Dm7b5, and G was directly inspired by the chorus of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons 1967 single “Beggin’.” The piano interlude came primarily from Bach’s “Prelude 1 in C Major” from “The Well-Tempered Clavier.” This is prog rock at its finest.
Alternate Stereo Version
Here’s an alternate take of “Repent Walpurgis” that was shelved until the 1999 release of “Pandora’s Box: The Unused Procol Harum Stereo Versions Plus.” Unlike the original and shorter version, the alternate take is in true stereo not the rechanneled stereo found on American Deram release. While Fisher plays some different organ counterpoint, “Repent Walpurgis” also features more and heavier guitar work by Trower. It becomes quite the jam towards the end when someone whistles to signal to Trower and bassist Dave Knights to wrap it up and they do. It is a rather nice version in its own right.
The Four Season’s Inspiration
To make this feature complete, I found it necessary to add Frankie Valli and the Four Season’s “Beggin’.” Written by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina, the single peaked at #16. Although it had a respectable chart showing, it lost in the airplay wars with Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” that charted at #2 and was released two months after “Beggin’.”
One of my favorite bands of all time is The Moody Blues; and thus, it makes them my favorite Deram Records’ act. The classic version of the band released three LPs on the Deram imprint until moving over to their own label, Threshold Records, in 1969. The three Deram albums were “Days of Future Passed,” “In Search of the Lost Chord,” and “On a Threshold of a Dream.” The latter was the inspiration for their new label’s name.
In addition to three albums, five singles appeared on Deram. Being that it is Tuesday, we’ll feature their second seven inch release – “Tuesday Afternoon,” or as it appears on “Days of Future Passed” as “Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?).” Justin Hayward, who wrote the tune while sitting in a field playing his guitar, had originally named the song “Tuesday Afternoon”; however, producer Tony Clarke wanted a name that fit with the concept album “Days of Future Passed.” So, it was changed for the time being.
While the album was released in 1967, the “Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)” single was not issued until 1968. It was the second single from “Days of Future Passed” with the first, “Nights in White Satin” only making it to #103 with the original 1967 issue. When reissued as a single five years later in 1972, “Nights in White Satin” peaked at #2 and was the band’s highest charting single in the US.
While “Nights in White Satin” did well both times in the UK (#19 and #9), it was not their biggest British release – “Go Now,” with the original lineup, peaked at #1, while the biggest song with the classical version of the band was 1970’s “Question.”
As for “Tuesday Afternoon,” it was not released as a single in the UK and only made it to #24 in the US. This is a pity, as it remains one of the band’s most enduring performances both in terms of airplay and their live performances. “Tuesday Afternoon” is a song that has held up well over its 48-year existence. It just has so much. The clear, ever present vocals of Justin Hayward and the fantastic bass of John Lodge that is occasionally punctuated by Mike Pinder on the piano’s bass register.
Speaking of Pinder, the Mellotron makes this tune – this new sound adds to the overall texture of “Tuesday Afternoon,” as well as numerous Moodies’ recordings to come. I would be remiss if I forgot to also credit Ray Thomas’ flute, Graeme Edge’s drums, and the London Festival Orchestra under the direction of Peter Knight. It just doesn’t get much better than this. “The trees are drawing me near; I've got to find out why. Those gentle voices I hear explain it all with a sigh.”
Although not credited on the album,“Tuesday Afternoon” is paired with a John Lodge composition “(Evening) Time to Get Away.” Here’s the complete album track from “Days of Future Passed.”
Our second look at Deram Records features the precursor to the Electric Light Orchestra – The Move. Released in December 1966 as the ninth single for the label, “Night of Fear” charted in the UK at #2 in January 1967. Like most of The Move’s single releases, it failed to chart in the US. Only “Do Ya,” which was released in 1972, made a dent in the American charts – and it was barely a ding with its peak at #93.
“Night of Fear” draws from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and you can see that Roy Wood was thinking about a mixture of rock and classical music well before ELO. The song features Carl Wayne on lead vocals and Trevor Burton, Ace Kefford, and Roy Wood on back-up vocals.
This is a great little tune and it can only be conjectured why it never charted in the US. Perhaps being on Deram was part of the problem. In 1967, it was still a very new label; and frankly, many of the Deram releases never charted in the US or the UK. Most that did still get oldies play. Enjoy this nugget from the past.
It’s the fourth week of the month, and as we have in the past, we’ve featured independent and smaller subsidiary record labels. For the next few days, we’ll look at Deram Records a subsidiary of Decca Records, Ltd., a UK music concern now owned by Universal Music Group. In the US, Deram was managed under London Records (Decca Records, Ltd.’s US label) from 1966 to 1980. The Deram imprint in the UK is still active.
As a youngster, I thought the label was pronounced as Dee-Ram. As I grew older, I figured that couldn’t be correct and thought it might be pronounced as Deer-am. I was wrong on both accounts. A few years ago, I heard an interview with one of the label’s former artists who called it Deh-ram.
Deram was an abbreviation for Decca Panoramic Sound and the “Deh-ram” pronunciation sounds correct with this in mind. The idea was to provide a more natural sounding stereo mix in the recordings and several of the label’s offerings were mixed this way; however, not all releases were examples of the Deramic Sound. For example, Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was a mono release in the UK and issued in fake stereo in the US.
In addition to Procol Harum, Deram had the distinction at one time of also having The Moody Blues, Ten Years After, David Bowie, The Move, and Cat Stevens on the label. Of those six, The Moody Blues and Ten Years After had a modicum of multi-year successes with Deram. Procol Harum and The Move left the label, as they were not officially signed to Deram per se. Their management company signed a contract with the label and eventually moved the two groups over to EMI’s subsidiary Regal Zonophone.
The Move recorded two singles (“Night of Fear” and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”) and Procol Harum released an album (in the US) and single (“Whiter Shade of Pale”) for Deram. Of its other well known artists, both Cat Stevens and David Bowie failed to have hits with Deram in the US. The reason will become obvious after listening to some of these early recordings.
For our first look at the label, we turn to the British vocal group known as Brotherhood of Man. While the band released a number of records beginning in 1969, it did not have a fixed lineup until 1973. Like many other groups of the era, it was a studio creation without an actual identity. Their only Top 20 American hit, “United We Stand,” featured Tony Burrows, Sue Glover, Sunny Leslie, John Goodson, and Roger Greenway on vocals. The single was released in the US in March 1970 and its positive message resonated with youth on both continents.
Brotherhood of Man did much better on the UK charts than they did across the pond. While “United we Stand” only charted at #13 in the US on the Hot 100 at #15 on the A/C charts, it did slightly better at #10 in the UK. Their only other US hit, 1976’s “Save Your Kisses for Me” went to #1 in the UK and on the US A/C charts; however, it only peaked at #27 on the Hot 100.
Brotherhood of Man had two additional #1 records in the UK, but neither charted in the US. Like “Save Your Kisses for Me,” all were hits after they left Deram. Incidentally, all of their recordings on Deram listed the band as “The” Brotherhood of Man. After leaving the label, the definite article in their name was dropped.
Stiff Records have always catered to a different type of artist and Lene Lovich certainly fits that mold – if there can be a mold for being unique. While Lovich never had a large following in the US, her songs generally got club play and placed her on the dance charts. She had greater success in her adopted home of the UK than in the land of her birth – the US.
Our feature today is the unusual but captivating 1982 recording “It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz).” Mein Schmerz can be translated as “my pain” – can you beat that for a pet name – probably. I remember this release probably from the equally unique video on MTV.
Speaking of the video, the uniform of the soldier has me baffled. It appears to be in the style of the West German Army to some extent. The badge at the top of the soldier’s breast with the crown is definitely British, but it is too difficult to discern which unit or service to which it belongs. The first medal is the Russian Cross of St. George. The second medal appears also to be in the Soviet style, but I could not find a corresponding medal to the one he is wearing. There is also a decidingly Spanish theme in the dress of Lovich’s two characters. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I typically look for such things in movies and videos. It’s a blessing and curse to be obsessed with the minutia.
OK, back to the minutia of this tune. While Lovich did better in the UK than in the US, “It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)” appeared on two US charts – her only tune to do so. It placed at #25 on the dance chart and unusually so on the rock (AOR) chart at #51. This is not a song you would typically find being played on album radio, but apparently the MTV play influenced a handful of influential stations to add this song. It charted at #68 in the UK on the pop charts.
One thing I like about this tune is the campy synthesizer hook that sounds strangely like the ocarina part from the “The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly” – only faster. Mein Schmerz.
As I said during our first post chronicling Stiff Records, the label’s biggest hit in the US was Ian Gomm’s 1979 classic “Hold On” that I featured several years ago as a “one hit wonder.” While Gomm was signed to Stiff/Epic in North America, Stiff was not his UK record label – that was Albion Records who was distributed in the UK by Arista. In a number of other countries, Gomm appeared on Arista’s sister label Ariola and on Victor in Japan.
Although not released as a single in the UK on Albion, it was Gomm’s second US single and follow-up to “Hold On.” Additionally, it was the second cut on his first US album “Gomm with the Wind.”
Billboard in November 1979 gave a glowing review of the single by stating, “Bright uptempo rocker reinforced by driving percussion and crisp horn flourishes make this an excellent followup [sic] to ‘Hold On.’ Clean harmonies and modulations in the arrangement underscore the hook.” Unfortunately, Billboard’s comments fell on deaf ears and “Hooked on Love” failed to make it into the Hot 100 or even the “Bubbling Under” category.
Billboard mentions the song’s modulations – and there are two. The tune starts in the key of “C” and modulates to “D.” Just before the fade, it modulates again to “E.” This is a great little song with a swing beat, but alas the modulations were not enough to carry this tune. Again with CBS doing the promotion as this was a Stiff-Epic release, they may have had other Epic and Portrait artists that they were pushing harder at the time. So goes the music business.
Brinsley Schwarz Original
Americans who had the opportunity to hear Gomm’s recording of “Hooked on Love” were first exposed to this song in 1979. Gomm’s former band, Brinsley Schwarz, recorded the song first in 1973. “Hooked on Love” appeared as the lead track on the band’s LP “Please Don’t Ever Change.”
It also shared the B-side of the single “Country Girl” with “Surrender to the Rhythm” that was released in 1978. Unfortunately, United Artists decided not to release either the album or the single in the United States – probably due to their lack of a following here. The 1978 release of the single might have been in response to Brinsley Schwarz members Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm’s solo careers that were just starting.
I attempted to find a studio version of the original, but couldn’t. We will have to settle for a very nice live rendition by Brinsley Schwarz that was from the “Old Grey Whistle Test” presumably in 1973 or ‘74. Their version was slightly slower, had only one modulation from “C” to “D” and has a bridge that is missing from Gomm’s solo version.
In addition, there are no “horn flourishes,” but rather some nice Hammond B3 work by Bob Andrews. Note, Nick Lowe is present on bass – another Stiff artist in the UK, but alas he was signed to Columbia in the US and we will not be featuring his music this week. Pity – maybe some other time.
One of the earlier members of the Stiff Records stable was Eric Goulden who is better known as Wreckless Eric. His first recording for Stiff, “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World,” appeared as the second track on the UK compilation “A Bunch of Stiff Records” in April 1977. For the few who purchased this early Stiff release, it was an introduction to Wreckless Eric and others who had been signed by the fledgling company.
As a single, “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World” was officially released in the UK in August 1977 and his debut, self-titled LP followed in March of the next year. Unfortunately, Eric’s first two LPs were not issued in the US; however, Stiff created what amounted a compilation of Eric’s singles and B-sides on an LP titled “The Whole Wide World” in 1979 to break him into the US market. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Additionally, “Take the Cash (K.A.S.H.)” and not “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World” was released as his first US single.
With this album, Stiff continued their humor in numbering their releases as they had started in the UK. UK singles were prefixed with BUY and Nick Lowe’s “So it Goes” was cataloged as BUY-1. UK EPs were prefixed with LAST and albums primarily issued with SEEZ with occasional use of GET, DEAL, ODD, SOUNDS, MAIL and custom numbering for artists such as GOMM. LENE, and ERIC. On Stiff’s self distributed releases in North America, USE was used primarily for albums and OWN for singles. Wreckless Eric’s first American album and single were numbered as USE-1 and OWN-1 respectively.
As for “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World,” it is amazing that Eric could do so much with two chords – the tonic “E” and the subdominant “A.” While Wreckless Eric played guitar on this cut, it also features Nick Lowe on guitar and bass and Steve Goulding on drums. While “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World” failed to chart in the countries
where it was released as a single, it has become Goulden’s best known
recording and was featured in three films: “That Summer” (1979), “Me
without You” (2002), and “Stranger than Fiction” (2006).
A vinyl single of “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World” was finally issued on Stiff/Razor & Tie in the US during November 2013. The single included the original British picture sleeve and catalog number (BUY-16). It was about time, albeit it was 36 years too late. It’s a shame that this tune isn’t better known as it truly is a classic example of the music of the late 1970s. I am also featuring a rare acoustic version of the tune which is very nice as well.
Day three in our excursion into the catalog of Stiff Records and we remember one of my favorite bands on the label: “Any Trouble.” I’m not sure how I got to know this English band, as none of the stations where I worked played their music. I think I found their debut LP, “Where Are All the Nice Girls?” in a stack of discarded records at WCIR in 1981 and took it home. “Where Are All the Nice Girls?” was on my turntable for a season – until it was replaced by another latest and greatest discovery.
“Second Choice” was the band’s second single and was the second cut on their album. While I didn’t like every song on this LP, there were some really stand-out tracks such as “Second Choice,” “Playing Bogart,” “Foolish Pride,” and “No Idea.” As always, veteran producer John Wood did an excellent job in molding and capturing the sound of the musicians.
As I listened to the album this morning, the variety of styles used by Any Trouble was amazing; however, I quickly grew tired of Clive Gregson’s vocals. Not that he is a bad singer – on the contrary, he is quite good. I think a few other vocalists would have made this album a bit more palatable 35 years later. As they say variety is the spice of life and a couple other lead vocalists would have added to the musical variety of the songs.
While the four tunes I mentioned earlier still capture my ear, I doubt that today I would list “Where Are All the Nice Girls?” in my top list of albums; however, with that said, I could listen to “Second Choice” every day and not get tired of it. Too bad it wasn’t a hit. Its Ska based rhythms still sound good today. Thanks guys for the memories of discovering this LP In 1981.
Probably the most atypical of Stiff Records’ recording artists was the 16 year-old singing wonder Rachel Sweet. In 1978, Sweet was signed to Stiff-Columbia and may have been the only artist on this version of the Stiff Records label. Her first US single from her 1978 album “Fool Around,” was a cover of the Del Shannon composition, “I Go to Pieces.”
Peter and Gordon had the original hit with the song which peaked at #9 in the US in early 1965. It was the first hit for the duo that hadn’t been written by The Beatles and the third biggest US hit for Peter and Gordon.
Rachel Sweet’s 1979 release didn’t do nearly as well. While if failed to chart in the US, it barely made it into the Australian Top 40 by peaking at #36. While “I Go to Pieces” was Sweet’s debut single on Stiff in the US, it was not the case in the UK. Her remake of Carla Thomas’ “B-A-B-Y” was released first in the UK and made some headway at #35; however, when released as her second Stiff-Columbia single in North America, it too failed to chart.
Sweet’s only US hit proper was a duet with Rex Smith in 1982 after she left Stiff, but was still under contract with Columbia Records. This remake of Robert Knight’s “Everlasting Love” peaked at #32.
While Sweet’s version of “I Go to Pieces” was a fitting introduction to American audience, her talent and the excellent production of this pop single was not enough to put her into the winner’s circle. A number of reasons could be attributed to this. By 1979, musical tastes had changed and pop music was challenged by disco and new wave on the Top 40 front.
Stiff was still an unknown label in the US and because the label was largely regarded as a punk/new wave label this too may have impeded her success. With the co-marketing of Stiff and Columbia, the Columbia promotions department may not have pushed this single to radio as they might have with an artist just signed to Columbia proper.
Finally, some have suggested that, despite her colossal talent, her young age may have been negatively received by radio programmers who were catering to young adult women as the key demographic. We may never know, but enjoy it anyway.
Is it possible that I haven’t made a post in nearly three months? I guess so. My life had some changes beginning in April and the blog was the furthest from my mind at the time – so I took an extended vacation for several months. Several friends have commented directly to me regarding the absence of posts, so I decided today to get back to it.
The decision of today’s post and those for the remainder of the week was determined primarily due to the fact that this is Father’s Day. In addition, it is the first day in the fourth week of the month when I generally feature record labels. The challenge being is to find a song related to fathers that I haven’t already used. Second, the song needed to have been released on a label that I hadn’t featured as of yet. Third, the label had enough US releases in order for me to find seven releases in order to feature.
The task was to find an appropriate Father’s Day related song – and I selected Ian Dury and The Blockheads’ “My Old Man.” Although the song about Dury’s absent father isn’t the most positive of songs about dad, think of others that also came up in that list: Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” The Temptations “Papa was a Rolling Stone,” and Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” These were some of the selections that were also considered – and all had negative connotations. Dury’s record at least discussed their reconciliation and depicted his dad as a working stiff.
Speaking of stiff, Dury’s label was Stiff Records. I hadn’t featured this independent label out of the UK - so it rose to consideration. Founded in 1976 by Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman (professionally known as Jake Riviera), Stiff billed itself as “the world’s most flexible record label,” and it was.
While it was able to capitalize on signing new acts in the punk and new wave genres, it also signed several pop and dance artists as well – but these were not the label’s primary thrust. Stiff’s mantra was that it offered “today’s music – today.” Originally active from 1976-1986, Stiff rebooted in 2007 and have had several releases since that time.
The third criterion was difficult at best, as the fourth week label feature must be issued on the American version of the label. Had I opened it up to the Stiff’s British stable of artists, I would have had more than enough to spare. Stiff was not as successful in the US and their few charting singles testify of this.
Additionally, several of the better Stiff (UK) artists, such as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, had been signed to major labels in the US – and were disqualified for being featured this week; however, I have managed to find seven releases for this week. Most, however, were relatively innocuous in the scheme of American popular music.
I cannot verify this, but I believe that Ian Gomm’s “Hold On” was the only Stiff (actually Stiff-Epic) release to chart in Billboard’s Top 40. Unfortunately, I’ve already featured “Hold On,” so I have picked one of Gomm’s lesser known US singles for this week. In addition to releasing singles and albums on its own label that was both independently released as well as distributed by Arista in the US, several artists were co-signed to CBS and appeared on the Stiff-Epic and Stiff-Columbia labels. Since these were Stiff releases, they will be featured this week.
As for Ian Dury and The Blockheads’ “My Old Man,” it was an album cut in most of the world from Dury’s debut LP from 1977: “New Boots and Panties!!” Dury’s first single, “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” and which garnered some album play in the US, was not on the first version of the UK album; however, it was added (but not credited) to releases in 1978 in the UK. “My Old Man” made it as a B-side of “Wake Up and Make Love with Me” single in Australia – this may be the track’s only single release worldwide. The standout aspect of this track is the excellent saxophone work by Davey Payne.
I’m glad to be back and I hope you’ve had a happy Father’s Day – if that fits.
Associate Provost and Professor of Mass Communication at Alderson Broaddus University and an adjunct faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University.
Graduate of Marshall University, West Virginia University, Southern New Hampshire University, Kentucky Christian University and Mountain State University.
Dissertation on institutional rebranding (see newriver.net) was the 2009 international winner of the Alice L. Beeman Dissertation Award for Outstanding Research in Communications and Marketing for Higher Education Advancement and was the 2008 Leo and Margaret Goodman-Malamuth Outstanding Dissertation Award for Research in Higher Education Administration.
Placed as a winner in five Active Industry Research Contemporary Hit Radio "Pick the Hits" competitions from 1983 through 1987. Each competition had 31 winners. Placed 2nd (1st among radio participants), 6th, 10th (twice), and 21st in the five competitions.
Awarded 14 gold & platinum records and an international sales award from various record companies. Winner of 30 Public Relations awards.
