Thursday This And That

Felix Cavaliere’s biography “Memoir of a Rascal” is now officially out and available … I’ve already added this title to my “must read” list.  A brand new album from Felix will be released this summer.  (kk)

 

Hi Kent,  

Wednesday, March 23, 2022, marks my 30th Anniversary as an employee of Record Research.  I still remember, with great anticipation, walking up the stairs to my office that very first day.  30 years later, I still get that same excitement going to work every single day. 

Growing up, my two music / chart idols were Casey Kasem and Joel Whitburn.  I never got to meet Casey, but I'm very fortunate to get to work for Joel's company.  Some of my favorite times are when we're sitting around Joel's home office desk, chatting about music and charts.  A few years ago, I made a video detailing my journey.  To my surprise, it now has well over a thousand views.  You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxDt3qRv-jk

I've also enjoyed reading Forgotten Hits over the years.  I'm learning something new all the time.

Keep on rockin'!

Paul Haney

Record Research

Congratulations on hitting the big 3-0!!! 

In honor of Paul’s 30^th anniversary you can now purchase Joel Whitburn’s “Comparison Chart” book for THIRTY DOLLARS OFF for a limited time.  (This is an absolute MUST HAVE volume for ANYONE out there who follows the charts of the Forgotten Hits Era.)  Pick up your copy today!  (Or, at THIS great price, pick up a spare!)  kk

https://www.recordresearch.com/books/the-comparison-book-1954-1982/

 

Kent,

I want you to know that when the record originally came out, for whatever reason, I always referred to the song as TOWN WITH PITNEY by Gene Pity. Go figure! I just did that ... no particular reason why.

Now as for some television commercials or ads being made into records, Kent, the first thing that came to my mind was Buchanan & Goodman's THE BANANA BOAT STORY from 1957 on Luniverse. Would that be considered to be one?
Larry Neal

I suppose that might even be considered the FIRST one … of the rock era anyway!  (kk)

 

 

It was just pointed out to us that we left off a track from when the commercial cross-overs discussion first began.  Here, courtesy of FH Reader Sam Ward, is an early Thom McCann shoe store commercial that uses the Dickey Doo and the Don’t’s hit “Click Clack” as its song basis.  (kk)

>>>Robin Luke Told Cousin Brucie That He Used His Sister’s Name, Susie, Not To Make Any Of His High School Girlfriends Mad.  I Don't Believe Him.  The Story I Heard Was That He Sang It About His Sister, Who Was Very Sick At The Time.  All You Have To Do Is Listen To The Lyrics -- "I STOOD CRYING ALL NIGHT LONG" … "I STOOD WATCHING ALL NIGHT LONG" … "HOPING THAT YOU’D RETURN TO ME."

Also, Happy 81st Birthday To Vito Picone, Lead Singer Of Elegants.  "LITTLE STAR" #1 Hit In 1958.  Vito Said That Gene Roddenberry Told Him That He Thought Of "Star Trek" After Hearing "LITTLE STAR" On The Radio.  (FB)

>>>That "Star Trek" story's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard!!!  (So what ... you'll believe Vito's story about The Elegants' hit "Little Star" ... but you won't believe Robin Luke ... the guy who WROTE "Susie Darlin'" ... when he tells you what the song is ... and is NOT about?!?!)

kk …

I Don't Know Robin Luke … I Speak To Vito Picone On FACEBOOK.  Why Would Vito Lie About Talking To Gene R About "Star Trek?" --- To Promote A Song From 1958?  Everything Robin Luke Told You, He Said To Cousin Brucie.  He Added That Lots Of His Friends In The Music Business Went To Work At McDonalds In 1964 (thanks to The Beatles.)  Robin Quit The Business and Went Back To School. 

If You Were Writing A Song About Your High School Girlfriend, Would You Use Those Lyrics? 

People Tell Different Stories To Different People All The Time.

After 20 Years Of Doing FORGOTTEN HITS, You Should Know That Better Than Anybody!

FB

It just seems like a convenient afterthought to tie “Little Star” (which has absolutely NOTHING to do with space travel or visiting other planets or pointy ears or interracial kisses) to the “Star Trek” television series.  One might even go so far as to say “It isn’t logical.”  But it probably makes for a good lead-in as part of Vito's entertaining concert patter.  (I mean seriously, what OTHER hits do The Elegants have to talk about???)

But I say you’ve got to believe the songwriter … HE’S the one guy that knows what he was writing about … and if Robin Luke has been telling the SAME story for the past forty years, denying that the song was written about his sister, then I’ve got to believe him.

By the way, not only did Robin go back to school, he became a Professor at a large university for the next forty years.  When we talked in 2010, he was retiring his post (and thinking about going out and doing some oldies shows again!!!)   

Now, in all fairness, what other song does Robin Luke have to talk about in concert???  Again, it all makes for good show biz chatter.  (kk)

Here in Lincoln, Nebraska, like Mike M said, "Dont Say You Don’t Remember" was top 5 the first time around in 1971 on KLMS and I bought it then, too. 

KLMS also aired the 1978 History of RNR version at that time.  I still have the documentation that Drake-Chenault sent the station somewhere ... quite an impressive press kit.

Clark  Besch

 

Kent,

I would like to say some more, if I may, about THE HISTORY OF ROCK & ROLL, hosted by Humble Harv Miller.

I discovered it one night by channel surfing in my apartment. What was unusual to me at the time was that the station I discovered it on was a day timer, 800 KJEM. Now here is what I didn't understand … at the moment, station KJEM 800 on the AM dial programmed Country and Western music, years later, it was known simply as Country.

Now stupid me, I thought that the announcer was doing the show "live."  I actually thought that he was in the studio doing his show.  I drove down to the station and the guy doing the board "op" let me in. That's when I discovered that the show was pre-recorded and there were more hours to come.  And, somewhere in my home, I have those 48 hours. Why this type of show was being broadcast on a "Country" station boggled my mind. 

One other story I have to tell you ...

One night along this time period, I was again channel surfing on my radio and I stopped and heard a commercial about a 1958 Chevrolet car. Was I hearing right? Did he say 1958 Chevrolet? Then it went into a record, BOOK OF LOVE by the Monotones. I thought I was in Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE!  (Remember that episode on TWILIGHT ZONE about a man who had an old radio that was playing music from the 1930's?)  Anyway, I called the station up and it turned out to be a "pirate" radio station with two guys broadcasting not far from my home ... and what I was hearing over my radio turned out to be the CRUISIN’, 1958 LP with DJ Jack Carney, from when he was with station WIL in St. Louis.

Now I don't know how these guys went on with their station, but it was done illegally according to FCC.  I have no idea how much longer they stayed on the air. My one and only experienced listening to a "pirate" radio station.

Incidentally, I have all the Cruisin' LP's and really, the one by Jack Carney is one of my favorites.

Larry Neal

 

Getting back nto the History Of Rock And Roll, I understand that the original KHJ version of the piece, before it was even syndicated to the other RKO General stations like WRKO in Boston and CKLW in Windsor Ontario, was that Robert W. Morgan did the very first reading for KHJ's version, and all the other RKO General stations got the Humble Harv Miller version. 

Believe it or not, I have a two hour aircheck in real time of Jerry Butler and Mark Elliot on KHJ Los Angeles from May 7, 1971, the day that their normal afternoon drive disc jockey, Humble Harv Miller, was mysteriously absent from the airwaves.  But suddenly it became clear why Harv Miller was not on the air.  On the 5:40 PM KHJ 20-20 News,  Harv Miller's activities of the previous night and early that morning ended up being the lead story on that KHJ 20-20 newscast. 

Now, you've got to admit that that's something you don't hear very often, a Disc jockey murdering his wife as the lead story of that very radio station's newscast.

Sam Ward

 

Hi Kent,

I am currently doing a detailed search of your Top 3333 Classic Rock list and I have a question.

You have listed “The Abbey Road Medley” at #575 and "You Never Give Me Your Money" at  #2589.  Other sources I've checked consider "You Never Give Me Your Money" as part of that medley.

Could you tell me the reason behind listing it separately on your countdown?

Thanks for your time.

Ed #1

There are really TWO separate medleys on the B-Side of "Abbey Road" ...

"You Never Give Me Your Money" is a stand-alone piece as far as I'm concerned.  It starts on its own and comes to a complete conclusion ... a distinct ending … and you'll usually hear it played that way on the air.

The first medley kicks off immediately thereafter with "Sun King" ... and runs through "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Polythene Pam" and "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window," which also arrives at a complete conclusion.

Then, the medley we're referring to kicks it ...

This seems to be the one you hear all the time ...

"Golden Slumbers" into "Carry That Weight," then back into a short reprise of "You Never Give Me Your Money" ... and then back to "Carry That Weight" ... which then morphs into "The End."  (Some might even include "Her Majesty" as part of this one ... but we didn’t … when the ballot first got posted, we listed the specific songs making up the “Abbey Road Medley” as we just described them above.)

Honestly, even some 53 years later, there are an awful lot of radio stations that air Side Two of "Abbey Road" in its entirety ...

But then even if you do this, you STILL have to consider "Here Comes The Sun" as a stand-alone piece ... and a significant one at that.  In fact, George scored the two highest charting Beatles songs in our TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL-TIME Poll ... #14 with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and #19 for "Here Come The Sun" ... not bad for a guy who lived in the shadows of Lennon and McCartney for his entire Beatles career!  (kk)

https://classicrockessentials.blogspot.com/

Thanks.  Maybe they're referring to the reprise of the song in the medley.  Who knows.

George Harrison wrote some of the best songs, a little more cerebral than the Lennon-McCartney songs, I think.  I remember reading the lyrics along with "Awaiting On You All" when I heard George sing:

"The pope owns fifty-one percent of General Motors, and the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us."

That was not what was printed on the lyric sheet.  haha

Ed #1

 

LOTS of press for the Beatles Exhibit currently going on at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum in Cleveland (and running thru November of this year.)  We just may have to make another trek down there to check it out!  (kk)

https://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/beatles?utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=gensub&utm_term=Visit&j=90424&sfmc_sub=7164090&l=122_HTML&u=4869206&mid=514010833&jb=3049&utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GenSub&utm_content=The+Beatles%3a+Get+Back+to+Let+It+Be+Landing+Page+

 

Here is an updated announcement regarding the new Beatles / Celebrity Top 10 Book …

Beatles Festival Promoter Charles F. Rosenay!!! is Planning  a New Beatles Book and Looking to Reach Out to Rock and Pop Celebrities 

Charles F. Rosenay!!! is known to Beatles fans for all his promotional efforts and productions over the past four decades. Since 1978, he has presented Beatles conventions and festivals across the U.S. His first book, The Book of Top 10 Horror Lists, is a collection of top 10 lists of favorite monster movies, books, and other themes from 100 celebrities, many of whom are rock & rollers, singers, musicians and pop-culture icons. It is available from www.BookOfTop10HorrorLists.com 

The follow-up is a similarly themed collection, The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists, wherein 100 celebrities and music notables will be offering their top ten Beatles-related lists. Many favorites are committed to, or already have, submitted their lists, including Ron Dante, Gary Puckett, Billy J Kramer, Joey Molland, Felix Cavaliere, The Flirtations, Bobby Rydell, Elliott Easton, Freda Payne, Deana Martin, Tommy (Cheech &) Chong, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Bo Donaldson, Jeremy Clyde, Dennis Dunaway, Carmine Appice, Cousin Brucie, and Dick Cavett.

The website is www.BookOfTop10BeatlesLists.com. 

Charles is putting out a call to all Forgotten Hits readers. He is looking for emails or contact info of pop/rock singers and musicians to invite them to include their lists in the upcoming book. If you fit the bill, or are friends with anyone you can recommend from the entertainment world to be in this book, please call Charles at (203) 795-4737 or email BookOfTop10BeatlesLists@gmail.com. Anyone providing a lead will be credited in the book.  Thank you.

Speaking of books, here’s even MORE praise for Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s new Jimi Hendrix book, quickly become the DEFINITIVE work on the topic …

Hi Harvey, 

Andy Pearson here from 'Fear & Loathing' fanzine / website … http://www.fearandloathingfanzine.com/books--fanzines.html

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  Strangely enough, I've been listening to a lot of Hendrix recently. His music just doesn't get old! I grew up in Canterbury and got to know Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine), who was another humble soul, much in the way that Hendrix was described. I'd sometimes bump into him in the City Centre and while we were chatting, college students would be walking past him wearing Hendrix or Pink Floyd t-shirts, but never even thinking that this 'old guy' had once been a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and had played on Syd Barretts' solo albums (let alone his work with Soft Machine.) But I doubt that ever bothered him

This is, by far, the best book I have read about Hendrix. It’s the most enjoyable, the most convincing and the most informative, because it tells the story from the grass roots. 

JIMI HENDRIX - VOODOO CHILD

by Harvey Kubernik and Kenneth Kubernik (published by Sterling)  

There are already over 300 books published about Jimi Hendrix. 

I’ve read a few which gave me the facts, so to speak, but this new title takes a different approach and in doing so, makes the whole tale so much more real. It’s an ‘oral history’ of the Hendrix phenomenon rather than just another appreciation or documentary and, instead of being the work of a journalist about an artist he may never have seen or met, this book concentrates on the people who were there at the time and the impressions that Hendrix left in his wake. 

This book is all about the real Jimi Hendrix ‘experience’ (the effect not the band) and the incredible impact that he still has, even fifty years after his untimely death. This is, by far, the best book I have read about Hendrix. It’s the most enjoyable, the most convincing and the most informative, because it tells the story from the grass roots. 

Again and again, fans, friends and fellow musicians tell us of how Hendrix was such a likeable, humble and down to earth guy, and yet when he took to the stage, his talent was immense, challenging boundaries that had yet to be imagined. Other guitarists (Clapton, Page) had defined how far the instrument could go at that time, but Hendrix was more interested in what came next.

There’s an almost-innocence, yet true intent to the way he unleashed the potential of noise and corralled it to his command. In some ways, it’s more difficult now to appreciate how much Hendrix achieved in such a short space of time but a book like this puts it in a better perspective. 

Think of it this way; he was working as a regular session musician up until 1966, before moving to London and forming the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the ensuing four years, he released three sonically ground-breaking albums with the Experience, headlined at Woodstock, was banned by the BBC (always a mark of credibility), formed the ‘Band of Gypsy’s’ and released a live album, and eventually recorded ‘The Cry of Love’ LP before his untimely and unexpected death in 1970. 

In less than four years, he had changed the musical landscape and made an artistic statement that remains valid to this day. And all this from a black guy playing in a white guys’ world! In so many ways, this should never have happened, but in so many other ways, it was perfect. If you want to know what Hendrix really meant, read this book. The fans, friends and colleagues tell the true story. Perhaps there’s yet more that you can learn about Jimi Hendrix, but for now, this book will tell you what really matters.

I agree with the sentiments favoring the original recording (I call it the "garage" version) of "Valleri."  The 1968 hit remake suffers from unnecessary horn annihilation … they should have employed the fuzztone guitar instead.

A group from the Syracuse, New York, area that performed in clubs as Ed Wool & The Nomads moonlighted under a few other monikers for various record labels.  They are in fact, the guys who masqueraded briefly as the Pineapple Heard.  The guys recorded a faithful version of "Valleri" for the Diamond record label in the fall of 1967, no doubt to try and cash in on the AM radio popularity of the unreleased Monkees tune at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg1NoDSRl1A

As a life long Monkees fanatic, I also tried in vain to source the television version of "Valleri."  It wasn't until I attended a record convention in the late 1980s (the places where all types of geeky collectors flock to) that I came across a bootleg Monkees LP, titled Monkeeshines.  It had several TV-only recorded tunes on it; at $25 bucks it was my bargain score of the year. 

Finally, the hit and miss quality Collectibles reissue record label released the TV version of "Valleri" with "All The Kings Horses" on the B side as part of the box set of Monkees 45s n 1995, so now I FINALLY have BEST version the song on a 45. with an equally great B side, too.  Colgems should have released these songs one after the other, they would've all charted high nationwide.

I wonder which version of "Valleri" Micky Dolenz prefers???

And to my ever-burning question - WHY was a lousy song like "D.W Washburn" even recorded? 

Mike Markesich

When we first ran our Boyce and Hart series way back when, we featured the Pineapple Heard version of “Valleri” … ABSOLUTELY released to cash-in on the popular success of the unreleased Monkees track. I asked Bobby Hart if he and Tommy had anything at all to do with that recording and he told me no … and that they weren’t even aware of it at the time.  Other than the fuzz guitar intro that kicks it off, it really is a pretty watered-down version of the tune.  (kk)

Hey Kent ...

It sounds like Sam Ward went through a lot of frustration in order to get the original version of Valleri by the Monkees. Wow ... an amazing story in frustration.

Finally in 1990 he was able to get the record. Geez.  Sometimes the remix or remastered cds leave something to be desired in listening pleasure. It's not quite the same as one might have expected.  I had an experience like that when I bought a copy of the remastered "Grass Roots Greatest Hits."  In this case, the vocals were too far in the background and the instruments were the foreground. It sounded off.  New and improved leaves something to be desired.

Regarding the Beverly Bremers "Don't Say You Don't Remember" tune, I always felt bad for Beverly. Apparently, she felt used by this guy and was seeking his recognition that she was a person with feelings.  I guess he couldn't respond to her.

A lot of great shows coming up in the Chicago area now that covid is gone.  Thank God.  Take good care, Kent.  

Sandy

Believe me, a WHOLE bunch of us were searching high and low for a copy of “Valleri” in 1967 after it aired on The Monkees’ TV show, made all the more frustrating in that radio was playing the heck out of it yet you couldn’t actually BUY it anywhere.  (Colgems really dropped the ball on that one … it would have been an absolute #1 smash had they released it at the time.  When it finally came out a full year later in rerecorded form, I remember thinking at the time “What’s the point?”  But naturally, I bought it anyway … and it DID finally go to #1 nearly everywhere around the country … except in Billboard, that is, where it peaked at #3.  It topped both the Cash Box AND the Record World charts for two weeks, certainly a better reflection of the times than “Dock Of The Bay”’s four week run at the top of the Billboard chart only. (kk)

More of The Monkees here …

MICKY DOLENZ's SOME OF SHELLY'S BLUES HITS THE UK CHART 
“Some Of Shelly's Blues" from Micky Dolenz's new EP (released Friday via 7a Records) Dolenz Sings Nesmith – the EP - is a new entry at #29 on the Heritage Chart in the UK.

The Heritage Chart in the UK had “Different Drum” at #1 when the full album came out last year.

Dolenz who performed his first show of 2022 Saturday night in Michigan is prepping a full tour for next month and then hits the road with Felix Cavaliere.

Hi Kent:  

I believe the 1st version of "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" was by The Toys from around June of '65. Also, Jamie Lyons (who had the #1 hit on the WDOT chart you featured the other day)was the lead singer for The Music Explosion.

Ken Freck

The first version I was aware of was the one that The Four Seasons cut … now I’ve just GOT to hear the one by The Toys!  (This song doesn’t lend itself well to a wimpy rendition!  ? and the Mysterians and Smash Mouth put just the right amount of garage into their arrangements.  (Of course, ? had to put just enough “96 Tears” elements into their version in order to get it played!)  kk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euTaVsCiO3M&list=RDeuTaVsCiO3M&start_radio=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OBv2WlZxzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqzyi-5An50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xCkg2pWmAw

 

A little bit of Beach Boys rumor to heighten your Friday …

From Scott Paton, who wrote that excellent concert review of Al Jardine, Friends and Family Show a couple of weeks ago.  (We can’t WAIT to see them in May when they land at The Des Plaines Theatre … this will be our first show there at this new venue!)

 

Just as Al Jardine let it slip in advance regarding the Beach Boys 50^th Anniversary Tour, in a recent post he made on Facebook wishing Mike Love a happy birthday, Al's greeting indicated that there will be a 60^th reunion, too ... although by the time they could get that scheduled, it will actually be the band's 62^nd Anniversary. 

Also, at the show I attended last month, Al indicated that another Beach Boys box set of rarities is tentatively targeting a November release.  Included will be their 1972 Carnegie Hall concert that has been widely bootlegged for decades, but in very poor quality.

The surviving "Boys" are certainly getting to enjoy some much-deserved victory laps!

Scott Paton

We missed the 50^th Anniversary Tour … broke our hearts … but a 62^nd Anniversary show when all the guys are in their 80’s???  I’m not so sure I really wanna see that!  (lol)  I dunno … maybe it makes sense … they started the group when they were seniors and now they’re all seniors again!  They’ve gone from Beach Boys to Beach Men to Beach Seniors right before our very eyes … but the music and the magic will outlive all of us. 

Do I really want to see it presented in an unflattering way?  I don’t think so.  I’d rather hang on to the memories at this point.  (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … the only one of them who can still sing is Al … and he seems to get the fewest chances!!!  That’s why I’m so excited to see this Friends and Family show in May!)

After the way the whole fiasco ended last time … Brian virtually being fired from the band that never would have (or could have) existed without him … the second “comeback” album dropped … Why on EARTH would he want to team up with Mike Love again … especially when he’s got his OWN stellar band to perform with???  I just don’t get it.

I wish them well … but maybe I’ll just invest that money in their 62^nd Box Set of Rarities instead!  (kk)

EDDIE COCHRAN

Harvey Kubernik sent us this interesting piece on Eddie Cochran to share …

Eddie Cochran at Gold Star Studio

By Harvey Kubernik © Copyright 2022

A 1957 photo of American singers Little Richard, Alis Lesley and Eddie Cochran in Australia grace the cover of Bob Dylan’s next book The Philosophy of Modern Song that will be published by Simon & Schuster in November, 2022.   Both Bob Dylan and Eddie Cochran recorded at the landmark Gold Star Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. 

Paul McCartney, as a 15 year-old, performed a version of Cochran’s record “Twenty Flight Rock” as the first song when he auditioned for John Lennon on July 6, 1957, in Liverpool, England.

Time to examine Gold Star’s audio legacy and Eddie Cochran.  

There it sat, another anonymous cinder block facade in the working class section of Hollywood, far off the map of celebrity homes. But discerning eyes and ears knew that, behind this unprepossessing veneer, there lurked an authentic powerhouse of star-making capacity. This was Gold Star Studios, ground zero for transforming the fervid imaginings of pop music’s visionaries into three intoxicating minutes of backbeat and hum.

Like Merlin’s apprentices, Gold Star co-owners and engineers Stan Ross, Dave Gold, and Larry Levine presided over this exercise in alchemy, where inspiration and perspiration produced hit after hit. Their clients included Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Jack Nitzsche, Phil Spector, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Sonny and Cher, Cher as a solo artist, Buffalo Springfield, Charles Wright, Ike & Tina Turner, Stewart Levine, Hugh Masekela, Gloria Jones, the Righteous Brothers, Chan Romero, Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys, Iron Butterfly, the Cake, Harry Nilsson, Arthur Lee, Jimi Hendrix, Dr. John, the Chipmunks, Chris Montez, H.B. Barnum, Buffalo Springfield, Dick Dale, Bobby Darin, Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnette, Bob Dylan, Clydie King, record producers Charlie Greene and Brian Stone, Thee Midniters, Boris Karloff, Harold Batiste,  Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, Donna Loren, the Sunrays, Mark Guerrero, the Murmaids, Jackie DeShannon, the Ramones, Concrete Blonde, the Watts 103^rd Street Band, Shel Talmy, Led Zeppelin, Duane Eddy, Kim Fowley, Marlon Brando, the Band, the Seeds, the Monkees, the MFQ, and the Turtles. 

“Gold Star felt and sounded different from any other Los Angeles studio,” explained Howard Kaylan, Turtles’ co-founder, to me in a 2013 dialogue. “You could literally smell the tubes inside the mixing board as they heated up. There was a richness to the sound that Western and United, our usual studios, never had. Those two rooms sounded clean, while Gold Star felt fat and funky. Perhaps we were all reading too much of the Spector legacy into the room, but I don’t think so. Our recordings from Gold Star always just sounded better to me. I miss that room.”

Stan Herbert Ross was born in Brooklyn in 1929. At age fifteen, he moved with his parents to Los Angeles, where his father worked as an electrician in Hollywood. He enrolled at Fairfax High in 1946 and began writing a music column in the Fairfax Colonial Gazette called “Musical Downbeat.”

As a teenager, Ross worked at Electro-Vox for four years and studied recording from a pioneer of modern disc recording, Bert B. Gottschalk. Ross made one hit record there: “The Deck of Cards” by T. Texas Tyler. Following this apprenticeship, Ross was ready to set up his own shop.

In a 2000 interview with me, portions of which were published in my 2014 book Turn Up The Radio! Pop, Rock and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972, Ross described the history and mystery of the Gold Star atmosphere. “Gold Star used to be a dentist’s office,” he said. “We started pulling teeth a different way.” Built in 1950, Gold Star endured at 6252 Santa Monica Boulevard until a fire destroyed the property in 1984. Upon closing that year, the property became a mini-mall.

“Gold Star was built for the songwriters,” Ross said. “They were fun, wonderful people to be around — Jimmy Van Heusen, Jimmy McHugh, Frank Loesser, Don Robertson, Sonny Burke.”

Johnny Crawford’s “Cindy’s Birthday,” Dobie Gray’s “The In Crowd,” and Chris Montez’s “Call Me” were Gold Star creations. Global music cult hero Scott Engel (later Scott Walker) first cut his teeth at Gold Star doing a variety of menial tasks while attending Los Angeles High School and playing bass with the favorite band on campus, the Routers. Phil Spector produced his 1958 - 1966 sessions inside Gold Star. Brian Wilson was a regular Gold Star visitor. In that room, he produced the Beach Boys’ “Do You Wanna Dance,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” the original version of “Heroes and Villains,” and “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” which featured the first usage of a theremin on a pop recording. A tiny portion of the first session of “Good Vibrations” was also tracked at the studio.

Stan Ross was behind the console for Jewel Akens’ “The Birds and The Bees,” the first use of chorused guitar and was a favorite 45 rpm of Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones, which provided the sound of a guitar plugged through a Leslie speaker, giving it an organ-like effect. Cream’s “Badge,” and the Beatles’ “Let It Be” later fused the string-to-Leslie air-pumped speaker innovation. Kit Lambert mixed and mastered the Who’s “Call Me Lightning” and “I Can See For Miles” in the facility. Jody Reynolds’ “Endless Sleep,” one of Bob Dylan’s all-time favorite records, and “Jungle Hop” by Don & Dewey were waxed at Gold Star.

"We used Studio A. Eddie Cochran used our Studio B, down the stairs by the parking lot,” recalled Stan Ross. “I cut ‘Tequila’ there, by the Champs. I did a whole lot of Eddie Cochran’s records, including “Summertime Blues,” “Twenty Flight Rock,” and “C’mon Everybody.” The vocal of Ritchie Valens’s “Donna” was recorded at Gold Star. The backing track was done up the street at Bob Keane’s studio. [He] owned Del-Fi Records.

“[The studio’s echo chamber] gave it the Wall of Sound feel. Dave [Gold] built the equipment and the echo chamber. We had so much fun with that echo chamber; it never sounded the same way twice.

“Gold Star brought a feeling, an emotional feeling. Gold Star was not a dead studio, but a live studio. The room was thirty by forty feet. It was all tube microphones. We kept tubes on longer than anyone else, because we understood that when a kick drum kicks into a tube, it’s not going to distort. A tube can expand. The microphones with tubes were better than the ones without the tubes, because if you don’t have a tube and you hit it heavy, suddenly it breaks up. But when you have a tube, it’s warm and emotional. It gets bigger and it expands. It allows for impulse. We didn’t use pop filters and wind screens — we got mouth noises. Isn’t that life?"

No story on Gold Star would be complete without citing resident recording engineer Larry Levine. Levine joined Gold Star in 1952 and engineered albums for Eddie Cochran, the Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher and Dr. John. Levine won a Grammy in 1965 for his work on “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. He reunited with Spector in the late 70s, working on albums by Leonard Cohen and The Ramones.  Levine engineered The Ramones’ End Of The Century with Boris Menart and assisted by Bruce Gold. 

“I used to have a theory, and I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but part of the reason we took so long in actually recording the songs was that Phil needed to tire out the musicians, or they got to the point where they were tired enough so they weren’t playing as individuals,” he underlined in a 2002 interview we collaborated on that appears in the liner notes I wrote for the 2002 expanded CD edition of End of the Century. 

“But they would meld into the sound more that Phil had in his head. Good musicians start out and play as individuals and strive to play what Phil wants. As far as the room sound and the drum sound went, because the rooms were small, with low ceilings, the drum sound, unlike other studios with isolation, your drums sounded the way you wanted them to sound. They would change accordingly to whatever leakage was involved.

“As a matter of fact,” Levine continued, “Phil once said to me the bane of his recording existence was the drum sound.  A lot of people attribute to echo to what Phil was doing. The echo enhanced the melding of ‘the wall of sound,’ but it didn’t create it. Within the room itself, all of this was happening and the echo was glue that kept it together.”

Herb Alpert later recruited Levine as chief engineer to design A&M Records’ Studio B, modeled after Dave Gold’s “compact” studio blueprints, developed and first installed at Gold Star.    

Before he managed Van Halen for the first five years of their career, music business veteran and agent Marshall Berle, who signed the Beach Boys to the William Morris Agency in 1962, attended Fairfax High School with fellow classmate Phil Spector and encountered Eddie Cochran at Gold Star one afternoon in 1960. “I met Eddie at Gold Star just before he died,” marveled Berle in a 2014 conversation we had. “In those days, instead of using a drum, he sometimes utilized a cardboard box or suitcase. He’s in The Girl Can't Help It movie.”

“There's no soundtrack album to it,” emphasized record producer and author Andrew Loog Oldham in our 2006 interview. “The Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran sequences aren't just slotted-in videos. I saw it before I saw Eddie play live. I saw them on-screen, and later in the UK at a personal appearance. Both galvanized me. Dark-haired guys didn't interest me, only blondes, because I could be it.

“I heard the Gold Star recording of ‘To Know Him Is to Love Him’ that Phil [Spector] and Stan Ross did with the Teddy Bears in the UK. It made an impact because of the use of the room. The usage of tape delay. You knew something was going on, even if you didn’t know what it was. Later, I recorded the Rolling Stones’ ‘Not Fade Away’ - or let’s say ‘Little Red Rooster.’ You realized, by recording in similar mono circumstances, in London’s Regent Sounds as opposed to Gold Star, or wherever Phil did ‘To Know Him is To Love Him,’ what the room brought to the game. Maybe one of the things that drew me to the record was that there was a subliminal audio text from Eddie Cochran records, Eddie had already recorded ‘Summertime Blues’ at Gold Star.

“Eddie Cochran. A great one for sure,” volunteered Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats in a 2022 email. “We always say Eddie is the greatest rock star ever!”  

During 2014, I interviewed record producer, songwriter and former deejay on the Little Steven Underground Garage SiriusXM channel Kim Fowley about Eddie Cochran and Gold Star. 

“I went to Gold Star my first day in Hollywood, on February 3, 1959. It was the day Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in an airplane crash in Iowa. I took it upon myself to take their place. I thought that they had passed the baton on to me from beyond. I thought it was my turn to take over.

“I met the legendary rockabilly cats Johnny and Dorsey Burnette in 1959. It was during that day in Hollywood at Gold Star, around a Champs recording session I was covering for Dig magazine. I was their campus correspondent and [was] invited to have lunch with Dorsey and Johnny, who were in to play on a long-forgotten B-side of a Champs single. Dave Burgess was the producer, who later produced Jerry Fuller. The Burnette Trio were a band. In those days, pre-Beatles, you didn’t sing and play at the same time and write. There was a songwriter, the musicians, and there were the singers. Three different components who performed on the record.

“So, Gold Star got me going. A year later, I was number one in the world. I produced ‘Nut Rocker’ in 1960 under the name B. Bumble and the Stingers on Transworld Records. I wasn’t allowed to be in the room at the session, so I took a walk. René Hall was on guitar and bass, Al Hazan on piano, and Jesse Sailes was the drummer. I was just the publisher and the writer. I was 22 years old. I had a partnership with Gary Paxton. He was a hillbilly genius who worked with a Hollywood child. One hustler and conceptualist. One musical and vocal guy. We did well, did work together, and we quit. We were both damaged goods, but interesting people in terms of what our product was.

“I then met Eddie Cochran and songwriters Sharon Sheeley, Jackie DeShannon and Eddie's record producer and co-writer, Jerry Capehart. 

“I scored in 1960 with the Hollywood Argyles’ ‘Alley-Oop’ on Lute Records. [They] were the white Coasters, with a black backing group that no one ever saw. Gary Paxton did the lead vocal, Sandy Nelson did the caveman yell, and a girl who was tall with red hair, who was dating Gary, was the high voice on the record. I was co-publisher and co-producer. Bill Parr was the engineer. “We did ‘Alley-Oop’ at American Recording Studio. The session recording had keyboardist Gaynel Hodge, a member of the Hollywood Flames who sang with the Platters and co-wrote ‘Earth Angel’ for the Penguins, as well as Harper Cosby, who was on Johnny Otis’s ‘Willie and the Hand Jive,’ [and] drummers Sandy Nelson and Ronnie Selico, who worked with the Olympics and is heard on ‘Big Boy Pete.’ Ronnie was also on the Marathons’ ‘Peanut Butter.’ He later went with Ray Charles and Shuggie Otis, and is on Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats album.

“I learned that you had to have black people with white people on my sessions to get the groove. We then marched into Gold Star, [which] had mastering facilities, and Stan Ross mastered the record. Stan proclaimed it was going to be a number-one record. He was right.

“As a visitor to Gold Star, it was the epicenter of teenage rock ’n’ roll recording culture in 1959. If you were in Memphis, Tennessee, you would knock on the door of Sun Records. If you were in Detroit, Michigan, you would knock on the door at Motown. But in 1959, I went to Gold Star. ‘Here I am. Let’s see if I get accepted.’ If you got accepted, you were off and running. You start at the top, and I did. So, I will always be grateful.

“If a kid had a hundred dollars, he could cut a hit record at Gold Star if he saved it or got his friends and family to pitch in with band members. I later worked with their engineer, Doc Siegel, as well. You could go in there and not get intimidated, and you had equal footing with the legendary guys. I saw Eddie Cochran work at Gold Star. He invited me in to watch, listen, and learn,” Kim revealed.  

“I also attended Eddie’s session for ‘Sittin’ in the Balcony’ that came out on Liberty. In 1960, I was throwing shows on Sunset Blvd. for teenagers at Jimmy Maddin’s venue, The Summit, later The Red Velvet. At night, deejays Frosty Harris and Jimmy O’Neill, who were on KRLA, would come down. I was the last guy to book Eddie Cochran in America before he died. He came out and did ‘Three Steps to Heaven.’ He died three weeks later in England.

“Go ask Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and Pete Townshend about Eddie Cochran,” instructed Fowley. “I already have,” I responded.

“Their bands have done Eddie’s tunes on stage,” Kim underscored. “His catalogue has been covered by the Rolling Stones, the Move, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Sex Pistols, the Stray Cats and Lemmy Kilmister. The Who cut ‘Summertime Blues.’”

Courtesy of the Roger Steffens Archives

TUESDAY THIS AND THAT ... And Quite An Interesting One At That ... Or At This ... Or ...

See, this is why I love doing Forgotten Hits …

You learn something new all the time …

Even AFTER all this time!!!

(And that includes ME!!!)

Check out these first three postings today …

kk …

Robin Luke Spent His Birthday Talking To Cousin Brucie.

He Wrote "SUSIE DARLIN'" when he was 16 Years Old and His Sister Was 5 Years Old.

It Was Recorded In His Hawaii Apartment. He Sang It Into A Multi-Track Tape Player, Using The Bathroom For An Echo Chamber. 

Robin Told Brucie He Used His Sisters Name, Not To Make Any Of His High School Girlfriends Mad.

I Don't Believe Him.

The Story I Heard Was That He Sang It About His Sister, Who Was Very Sick At The Time.

All You Have To Do Is Listen To The Lyrics -- "I STOOD CRYING ALL NIGHT LONG" … "I STOOD WATCHING ALL NIGHT LONG" … "HOPING THAT YOU’D RETURN TO ME."

Happy 81st Birthday To Vito Picone, Lead Singer Of Elegants.  "LITTLE STAR" # 1 Hit In 1958. 

Vito Said That Gene Roddenberry Told Him That He Thought Of "Star Trek" After Hearing "LITTLE STAR" On The Radio.

Trivia For Your Readers:

What Two Movies Did Vito Picone Briefly Appear In?

FB

That "Star Trek" story's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard!!!  (So what ... you'll believe Vito's story about The Elegants' hit "Little Star" ... but you won't believe Robin Luke ... the guy who WROTE "Susie Darlin'" ... when he tells you what the song is ... and is NOT about?!?!)

We talked to Robin Luke about “Susie Darlin’ back in 2010 … and he told us that all those stories about the song being written about his sister being sick or dying is a bunch of bunk.  (He even told us that his birthday is really March 20^th … and NOT March 19^th as it is shown in any number of publications.  In fact, we even got Joel Whitburn to change this information in his Top Pop Hits book since it was being confirmed by Robin Luke himself!!!)

I think you’ll find these three pieces very interesting and informative.  (Now, of course, I didn’t listen to Cousin Brucie’s show … but even without hearing it, I’m betting that WE got more of the story directly from the source here in Forgotten Hits some twelve years ago!!!  Just sayin’!!!)

Check ‘em out and see what you think …

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2010/12/robin-luke.html

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2010/12/susie-darlin.html

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2010/12/still-more-on-susie-darlin.html

>>>You mentioned a very interesting song today, Don't Say You Don't Remember, by Beverly Bremers.  A friend of mine who has unfortunately passed on, pointed out to me that that song was recorded in May of 1971, and I don't know why there was such a delay in releasing the song.  I heard that she tried to get it released in the summer of 1971, but it just didn't happen.  (Sam Ward) 

>>>I can’t say for sure but this might be a case where it was first recorded for a minor label that summer but wasn’t picked up by a major label (in this case, Scepter Records) until later.  It premiered on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart the week ending December 18^th, 1971, and peaked at #15 there in early 1972 during its 16 week chart run.  (kk)

As you might remember from a previous discussion in Forgotten Hits, "Don't Say You Don't Remember" on Scepter 12315 debuted on the June 19, 1971, Super Chart at #100 (and appeared on the "Next Ten" list for several other weeks at that time, based on its appearances on the Cash Box and Record World charts.  (Meanwhile, it spent six consecutive weeks on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart, beginning with the issue dated June 12, 1971.)

– Randy Price

 

"Don't Say You Don't Remember" was only released on Scepter Records in May, 1971. It was never issued on a smaller label. It just took seven months to eventually make the Hot 100.

My local station, WAVZ, made Beverly's song a pick hit on May 22, one of the first (now) documented stations to add the song on their weekly Top 60 playlist. It climbed the chart to eventually peak at #2 for two consecutive weeks in July, blocked from #1 by Chase with "Get It On" and then, the Grass Roots with "Sooner Or Later".  

I bought "Don't Say You Don't Remember" when it came out and always recall it among the tunes aired during the summer of 1971.  It ranked #74 for the year of 1971 on the New Year's Eve countdown. (I still have my handwritten, scribed while broadcast copy of that chart.)

WNHC, another local station, also aired the song, and it went to #3 during the same July time frame.

If you check the ARSA radio chart archive website, you can see "Don't Say You Don't Remember" faired pretty well on the stations that aired the song in the summer of 1971 … most were at least top 20.

WAVZ even added the song again, when it began picking up traction nationally in January, 1972, but it only lasted a few weeks, peaking at #33. I guess the staff there had a short memory!

A version of the song was first issued by the Goggles, recorded for a children's TV show, in February of 1971.  The Goggles’ 45, on the Audio Fidelity label, preceded Beverly's rendition on a 45rpm release, even though both were recorded at the same time, according to Jerry Osborne, writer of the Mr. Music column:

https://www.courierpress.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/01/19/mr-music-songs-strange-journey-through-charts/96728674/

Mike Markesich

Wow, you’re not going to get a better timeline explanation than the one Jerry Osborne has outlined above!  Amazing.

The only thing I can add to this conversation is The Goggles’ version of this tune … which I never even knew existed until I read all of the above!!!  (kk)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-lu6pXImM

And check out THIS back story …

>>>Have you ever had a relapse of memory? I haven't located them yet, but I am supposed to have on cassette the complete History of Rock and Roll, which I taped over my radio. Now I am talking about the early 1970's which, I believe, was originally some 48 hours long. I can't remember offhand the DJ who did the series. He has probably passed away by now. Not getting into any sordid details, but I believe he went to prison for a homicide he did. Know who I mean? His name is on the tip of my tongue, but my tongue isn't long enough to see. (lol). Incidentally, a few years later the series would be expanded to some 52 hours.  (Larry Neal)

 

>>>The original series was a Drake-Chenault production.  (Thanks to FH Reader David Lewis, I was able to relisten to the entire broadcast a few months ago, as well as the Canadian version that preceded it.  They both definitely sound dated … but are still entertaining and informative to say the least.  Keep in mind that prior to these programs, nothing like this had ever been attempted before.  Gary Theroux, who writes the current editions airing now in circulation all over the world, was involved with the first series as well and conducted a number of these interviews himself.)

It was Bill Drake who narrated the original series, which first launched in 1978.  (20/20 hindsight shows this era of the ‘70’s as being the make-up of Classic Rock Radio today!  At the time, it was too new to even mention!)  You are correct in that Drake passed away in 2008 and Chenault died in 2010.  (kk)

 

Kent,

I also remembered a little while ago who did the voice over for the early 1970-ish History of Rock and Roll. It was DJ Humble Harv Miller, who I believe was working at the time for KHJ out in California, then known at the time as "Boss" radio.

Larry

 

I’m thinking that must have been something else … or perhaps their own version of the series (???)  Maybe they offered it up to various stations to dub in their own narration (???)  All I know is that Bill Drake is the one who narrated the nationally syndicated version.  (kk)

 

This whole idea puzzled me … so I reached out to Gary Theroux for a much clearer understanding of how all of this transpired way back when.

 

And here’s what he told me.

(Turns out Larry and I EACH had some part of the story right … now Gary ties up all the loose ends!)  

 

Read on …

 

Hi, Kent -

The 1969 version of THE HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL was assembled at KHJ in Los Angeles and then syndicated out, first to the RKO General stations and then others.  Some stations, though, wanted their own local hosts of the show -- so the program elements plus a script were sent to those stations.  The results were uneven at best.

Humble Harv narrated the most popular syndicated version, which is what I heard broadcast over WLS in 1970 when I was a college freshman and airchecked it.  It inspired me to create my own version of the concept, "The Evolution of Rock" series, for my ISU campus station WGLT.  Little could I imagine then that six years later Bill Drake would hire me to completely rebuild, from scratch, the "rockumentary."  

My first choice for host was, of course, Humble Harv.  However, when I told that to Drake, he explained that Harv -- unbeknownst to me -- was a murderer!  According to Bill, while Harv was on the air over KHJ, his wife used to call the studio line and then set the phone down on their bedroom end table so the sounds of her noisily "entertaining" other men could torment Harv.  One day in 1971, Harv pre-recorded his show and, while it was being broadcast, returned home and caught his wife in the act.  Shots rang out, his wife was killed and the next thing anyone knew Humble Harv was in prison. 

After his release, Harv tried to restart his radio career and partially succeeded, even hosting a syndicated doo-wop show he sent me some samples of.  He had a great, compelling voice and certainly knew the material, but Drake refused to re-hire him.  Drake-Chenault's general manager (or should I say "mangler") demanded that I hire radio DJ Jerry Carroll, who at the time was starring in a series of over-the-top Crazy Eddie TV commercials.  Jerry had a knack for rattling off the names of electronic components which almost made their names make sense ("the Sansooie X-11 two-ten A interface with stereo doo-hickies and custom B-O filters...")  Over my objection, Jerry was brought in and actually voicetracked a couple of sample hours (which still exist in my archives.)  The problem was that when Jerry read real coherent copy, he used the same style he had on his annoying hard-sell TV spots, rendering every line of my scripts meaningless!  I sat with Bill while he listened to the results and four minutes in, Drake said, "Get rid of this guy."

We were working on a tight deadline and needed a replacement fast.  I offered up a few names, including Wink Martindale's, but Drake turned the idea of Wink down because of Wink's association with a rival syndicator, Watermark.  Finally, as Bill had been voicing station IDs for most of Drake-Chenault's client stations, I said, "Well, why don't YOU just narrate it?"  Bill broke into a huge grin and replied, "I was waiting for someone to ask."  And that's how Bill Drake became the narrator.

The irony, of course, is that after I acquired the rights to the HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL trademark, the first person I invited in as narrator was Wink Marindale -- a role he fulfills beautifully today.

Bill Drake and I remained good friends for the rest of his life and even served together on the board of The Hit Parade Hall of Fame.  (So did Wink Martindale.)  As it turned out, I was the last person Bill e-mailed before leaving home for the hospital for the final time.    

Gary Theroux

"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"

 

photo: Bill Drake, chief engineer Mark Ford and Gary Theroux 

in Gary's office at Drake-Chenault Enterprises (1978) 

 

Now you’re not going to find oldies content like THIS anywhere else!!!  (kk)

1972 Survey - March 21st - CALIFORNIA

We're covering them all ... moving from state to state ... in this year-long journey of re-examining the pop music charts of 1972.

Today's stop ... California ... and the KHJ Chart dated March 21st, 1972!

Neil Young holds at #1 and our latest fave, "Suavecito," moves into the #2 spot ... 

But the biggest news in The Top Ten this week is Donny Osmond's 12-point leap from #17 to #5 with his latest, a remake of Paul Anka's former #1 Hit, "Puppy Love."

"I Gotcha" by Joe Tex is up six places (from #14 to #8), after having already topped the chart in a couple of other cities we have previously visited.  And holding the #10 position is a song called "Louisianna" by Mike Kennedy, a song that will only climb to #62 in Billboard.  (This one didn't chart here in Chicago at all.)

Other big movers this week include "Don't Say You Don't Remember" by Beverly Bremers (#13 to #9), "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done," the new one by Sonny and Cher (#21 to #13), "In The Rain" by The Dramatics (#22 to #14) and "Taurus" by Dennis Coffey, which jumps 12 places from #28 to #16.

New on the chart this week is "Back Off Boogaloo" by Ringo Starr, which premiers at #30.