Yesterday we featured a couple of tracks from the brand new Denny Flannigan CD "Don't Need No Reason To Party". Flannigan, as many of you know, was a former member of The Moonrakers, probably Denver, Colorado's most famous (and best-loved) local band of the '60's.
We also featured a track by co-Moonraker Veeder Van Dorn a while back, who recently recorded his Beach Boys Tribute song "Three Brothers, A Garden And Love." Well, there's NO question how influential The Beach Boys were to The Moonrakers ... yesterday, we featured The Moonraker's version of "Be My Baby", featuring Carl Wilson on guitar and co-produced by Brian Wilson ... and now we just received a nice note from Van Dorn along with a track he's been playing around with ... what he calls "The Moonrakers Edge Remix" of The Beach Boys' tune "Getcha Back". (This is one of MY favorites, too, Van Dorn! Believe it or not, it actually came out in 1985, not 1972, when The Boys Of Summer took this up to #25 on the Cash Box Chart!!!) We've got BOTH of these tracks for you today in Forgotten Hits ... proving again that MANY of these artists we grew up loving are STILL making GREAT music today!
As you know I have a Beach Boy Tribute song out now called "Three Brothers, A Garden, and Love" ... and it's selling pretty well on eBay with a lot of interest coming from Japan. I thought you might like to hear the attached "remix" or what they call a "treatment" that I produced ... (not for sale ... just 'for fun') ... it's one of my all time Beach Boys favorite songs called "Getcha' Back". The song only went to number 34 or so back when it was released, and then just disappeared, and when I heard it again recently on a compilation CD after all those years, I got excited about it all over again. I'll bet you remember always turning the radio WAY up when it came on back then. I don't remember the exact year but I think it was around 1972. I sang along with it and added some extra vocal and drum tracks and adjusted it a little ... if you play the 'original' and then play my 'remix' you'll notice some differences. If they put it out now, with my new 'Moonraker Edge' on it, I think it could be a BIG hit for them now, like it SHOULD have been back then. What do YOU think?
Veeder Van Dorn
The Original Moonrakers
Formerly managed by Roger Christian
The Moonrakers were all the rage in Denver back in the '60's ... although they never officially had a national hit, their records always found their way to the top of the KIMN Charts ... and they seemed to be the opening act for virtually EVERY big name that passed through town. (Yesterday we featured a vintage newspaper clip from the time they opened the show for The Dave Clark Five!)
Watch for more Moonrakers tracks next time we do our Local Hits / Show Me Your Hits Series ... and don't forget to send us YOUR nominations for some of the biggest regional hits that the rest of the country missed out on! Meanwhile, it's great to hear that both Denny Flannigan and Veeder Van Dorn are still out there making GREAT music after all these years!
REMINDER: We just received an "official" confirmation from Mr. C. that they ARE going to replay the episode of The Flip Side Show on which we appeared last December. If you're able to check it out, please do so ... here's a Listen Live Link: Click here: The Flip Side Radio Show - Home
It airs this evening from 7-8 PM Central Time.
