The Classics came from Chatham, New York, a town about 30 miles southeast of Albany. I live not far from the village and my daughter goes to the local public school, so I’ve been very interested in learning more about this band. Donnie Mettauer was the only member’s name I knew of until a comment below noted Richie Muller played bass and Rich Fiero drums.
In March of 1966 the band released four songs on a Rite-pressed 7″ EP with the Ram Records label. I’ve heard all four songs and can attest to the veracity of the old G45 description:
The four songs cover a lot of ground stylistically from the cute pop-fantasy (not psych) of “Pink Cats” through sweet harmony pop (“I Don’t Wanna Be Around”), and a restrained, double-speed rendition of the “Bo Diddley” classic. However, it’s “Mean Woman” that we’re here to talk about…a chunky, chugging riff-driven garage mover further propelled by clean stuttering electric lead lines, rumbling toms and call-and-answer vocals. A stunning release, rare as hen’s teeth.
In June of 1966 the band traveled to Nola Recording Studios at 111 West 57th St. in Manhattan. Also known as Nola’s Penthouse Studio or “The Penthouse Sound Studios of V.J. Nola” on the early acetate labels, the studio was a capacious room that opened circa 1940 on the 17th floor of Steinway Hall. The studio was owned by Vincent Nola and his son Tommy Nola. It closed in February 2014 due to construction to extend the building’s height.
Almost no one has heard any of the four songs the Classics cut on two unreleased demos recorded at Nola. I’ve been fortunate to hear one, “The World Can’t Take Time” which was backed by a song called “Bright Orange Clown” on one of the discs. The second demo has “Little Bo Peep” / “Baby Baby”.
There has been talk of a re-release of all eight songs, but so far nothing has come through. It seems Don Mettauer has passed away.
There weren’t many bands in the Columbia County area in the 1960s. There were the Del-Tones led by David Osborn with members including Rick Piester, Jerry Porreca, John Frentino, John Rundell, Peter Post and Richard Leavitt, and the Fownds (or the Founds) from Hudson who had two releases on Reeb. Another notable single is by the Kynds, also partially based in Hudson. The Kynds recorded at a studio in Kinderhook run by Earl Kennett, but I have yet to find any other recordings from that studio.
I’d appreciate any more information about the Classics.
John Does is an appropriate name for this group because nothing was known about them until Ron Domilici sent in a scan of the promo sheet seen at top. The band does one of the very best versions of “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”.
I don’t know where the John Does learned their version of the song, it was done by many artists in the early ’60s. The alternate title “One Kind Favor” was used by Peter, Paul and Mary on their live album in ’64, and this may have been their source.
On the flip is “I’ll Never Take You Back”, an original by Roy R. Fernandez. The instrumentation is the same, but it lacks the mood, production quality and intensity of “One Kind Favor”. Strangely this side has a much different RCA master number, T4KM 8798 comparted to T4KM 2383, though both seem to be from the second half of 1966.
The promo sheet lists the group name as The John Doe, and the members of the group as:
Roy Fernandez – guitar Bill White – bass John Farion – harmonica and organ Ken Everts – drums
Ernie Statton – manager Dave Fox – producer
It also lists the record label as Insight instead of INsite, and seems to suggest they recorded “Diddley Daddy”.
Publishing for both sides was through Davenbar Music BMI. Fernandez copyrighted this and one other original, “Leavin’ that Girl Behind” in July of 1966. Not a bad title for a song, but I can’t find a release with that title by any artist.
Released as Insite 45-1001, Insite Records a division of Metro Productions Inc. but I don’t know of any other releases on Insite. The label typography is cool, though the small “s” in Does may have caused more confusion than anything else.
This is an early credit for the engineer Milan Bogdan, who would soon engineer singles by the Rationals, the Scot Richard Case, SRC, the MC5, Funkadelic and many, many others. I’m not sure which studio the John Does.
Dave Fox produced the record. David Fox and Davenbar Music publishing coincide on one soul single from 1964, the Dynamics “And That’s a Natural Fact” / “I Wanna Know” on Big Top 516, both songs written by Joseph W. McArthur. and co-published with Noma Music.
Special thank you to Ron Domilici for sending in the promo flyer.
The Aliminators came from the Cumberland, Maryland area in the west of the state. Members included:
Bill Atkinson – guitar Jack Atkinson – guitar Dick Atkinson – organ Johnny Allen – drums, replaced by Ike Logsdon Buddy French – lead vocals
They released one single in 1965 on the Response label that is the best record I’ve picked up in months. “Let Down” is a solid piece of R&B with group vocals, a great scream and two sharp guitar breaks over steady drumming and a somewhat murky production.
The Cumberland Evening Times ran a photo and profile of the group on Saturday, January 9, 1965. Unfortunately I don’t have digital access to the paper at this time to get the photo that ran with the text.
Several rock and roll bands have been formed in this area recently and one of the more popular ones is the Aliminators. Members of the Aliminators are Bill Atkinson, leader of the group, his two brothers Dick and Jark Atkinson, and Johnny Allen. Bill Atkinson formed the musical group in September when he returned to his home in Clarysville after spending three years in the army. While in the service in Germany, he played with an English band and toured Europe with the group while on leave.
He purchased the organ shown in the picture above while in the service and said the instrument is unique in this section in that no rock and roll band in the section uses one. The organ is played by Dick Atkinson who resides in the LaVale, and Bill and his brother, Jack play guitars. Johnny Allen, of the Frostburg area, plays the drums.
The other members of the Aliminators played with other area bands prior to joining the group and Bill Atkinson also played with Sonny James.
The group is presently playing at the Ridgeley Fire Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at the Top Spot on North Mechanic Street on Saturday nights. It also appears at the University Snack Bar in Frostburg. The Aliminators plan to make a recording in the next few months in Washington, where they also plan to make several appearances.
The membership of the band changed between this article and the recording session, with Buddy French coming in on lead vocals and Ike Logsdon replacing Johnny Allen on drums.
Bill Atkinson wrote “Let Down”, published with Cinco Music, BMI, though I can find no record of it with the Library of Congress. I don’t know of any other releases on Response Records. The flip was the Ed Townshend ballad, “For Your Love”.
After posting about the Sunstrokes “Come On Lets Go” on D’Swan Records, I thought I’d do a discography of the label. This turned out to be a much more complicated task than I expected, many of the listings came from youtube videos.
I was also surprised that so many of the releases I could find were those of Eddie Peregrina. There are also supposed to be some by the Electromaniacs, the Blinkers (without Eddie) and Blue Eyes but I haven’t found listings for those yet.
Eddie Peregrina had many singles, nearly all ballads or light pop, but one of the best Filipino 45 I’ve heard is Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers’ “Blue Eyes”, a cover of Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets “青い瞳” (“Blue Eyes”), written by Jun Hashimoto and Tadao Inoue.
I also like “Two Timer”, and he also covered ? & the Mysterians “I Need Somebody”
Eddie’s real name was Edgard Peregrina, and he also played organ and lead guitar in addition to singing. He died at the age of 32 on April 30, 1977, a month after a devastating car accident.
The rest of the Blinkers were:
Edgardo “Bee” Morelos – rhythm guitar Salvador “Buddy” Yap – bass Max “Boy” Alcaide – drums Edgard Oscar Asusr – keyboards
Luis Lee and his brother Mike Lee owned D’Swan Records. It seems the label started out as Playtex Records, then changed over to D’Swan. The two labels share artists like the Sunstrokes and Linda Alcid. Playtex also distributed the EdVper label that seems to have put out Tagalog versions of Eddie Peregrina’s songs and featured with a very cool label of two scorpions.
The earliest D’Swan releases seem to start circa 1965, and the last around 1970 or 1971.
One name that comes up on many of these releases is Danny Subido. Subido was involved with writing for many artists, including Norma Balagtas, Jean Lopez, Gene Cuneta, Leopoldo Silos, Nita Venezuela, and the Imperials. Subido would go on to join William Leary’s Wilear Records, then form a partnership in 1970 with Luis Lee.
There are many missing numbers here, if anyone can help with scans or info, please contact me.
45s:
Playtex 45s:
PT-1001 – The Sunstrokes – “Wild Thing” / “Where Will the Words Come From”
PT-1011 – Gene Cuneta & the Sunstrokes – “This Day” / “In the Country”
PT-1025 – Linda Alcid – “To Sir, With Love” / “Love Is Blue”
D’Swan 45s:
MSL-1036 – Eddie Peregrina and the Brambles – “What Am I Living For” / “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
MSL-1045 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Say Yeah, Say No” / “Hang On Sloopy (Jerk)”
MSL-1055 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Game of Love” / “Give Me a Sign” (recorded at CAI Studio)
MSL-1058 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” / “The Way Of Love” (recorded at CAI Studio)
DS-1060 – Eddie Peregrina – “Need You” (Harrison) / Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Rags to Riches”
DS-1064 – Jaime Jose & the Deltas – “Let Me Tell Your Fortune” (featuring Toots Paragas on piano) / “Shame and Scandal in the Family” DS-1064 – Eddie Peregrina – “No More Tears to Fall” / “Someday You’ll Know” (both by Subido)
DS-1076 – The Sunstrokes – “Come On Lets Go” / “Rubber Ball”
DS-1101 – Linda Alcid – “Legata Ad Un Granello Di Sabbia” / “I Love You, I Love You”
DS-1104 – Willie & D’Pulpmakers – “I Can’t Be True” / “Don’t Stop Loving Me Baby”
DS-1107 – Willie & the Dyna-Souls – “I Gotta Get Hold Of Myself” / “Bus Stop” DS-1108 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “I Feel Blue” (lyrics Toto Ealdama) / “Kokotsu No Blues” (Japan’s Biggest Hit)
DS-1110 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Forever” (Subido) / “Itsuademo”
DS-1113 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Together Again” / “Two of Us”
DS-1116 – Eddie Peregrina with D’Amarillo & his Orchestra – “Problems and Worries” / “Born to Cry” DS-1117 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Bare Footin'” / “Top Twenty”
DS-1125 – Eddie Peregrina – “Cry” / “Love Me Now and Forever”
DS-1128 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “I’m Gonna Find Myself a Girl” / “Mardy” (Subido-Ealdama)
DS-1204 – Tilt-Down Men – “Sunny” / “Big Time Operator”
DS-1206 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks – “Watch Out” / “If I Had a Ticket”
DS-1208 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Blue Eyes” / “You Only Live Twice” DS-1209 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “My Funny Valentine” / “Happy Happy Birthday Baby”
DS-1219 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks – “Don’t Worry Baby” / “One Little Pack of Cigarettes” (R.S. stands for Robert So) DS-1220 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks – “Voice Your Choice” / “Won’t You Give Him (One More Chance)” DS-1221 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Girl” / ?
DS-1224 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “I Need Somebody” / “I Know” (J. Saclo)
DS-1227 – Eddie Peregrina – “Born to Cry” (Peregrina – Grecia) / “Problems and Worries” (D. Subido) DS-1228 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “I’m Gonna Find Myself a Girl” / “Mardy”
DS-1231 – The Lumberjacks – “Love Is a Beautiful Thing” / “What’s the Reason”
DS-1233 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Matador” (Subido) / “Don’t Ever Go” DS-1234 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks -“Jennifer Eccles” / “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” DS-1235 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks – “Mr. Commuter” / “Hold Me With Your Eyes”
DS-1255 – The Lumberjacks – “Sookie, Sookie” / “Do It Again” DS-1256 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Midnight Caravan” / “Since You’ve Been Gone” (Subido) DS-1257 – R.S. & the Lumberjacks – “It’s Nice to Be Out in the Morning” / “Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da”
DS-1261 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Heartaches” / “Two Lovely Flowers” DS-1262 – Eddie Peregrina – “Only Yesterday” / “I Do Love You” DS-1263 – Eddie Peregrina – “The Music Played” / “Love You and You Love Me” (arranged by D’Amarillo)
DS-1266 – Eddie Peregrina – “Goodbye My Old, Gal” / “Where is Tomorrow” DS 1267 – R.S. and the Lumberjacks – “Sorry Suzanne” / “Something’s Happening”
DS-1270 – The Lumberjacks – “Special Delivery” / “Mercy”
DS-1272 – Eddie Peregrina – “Our Love Was Born” (Subido) / “If I Never Knew You Cared”
DS-1279 – The Lumberjacks – “In the Year 2525” / “Bad Moon Rising” DS-1280 – Eddie Peregrina – “Love for Sale” (Subido) / “Say It With Flowers” DS-1281 – Eddie Peregrina – “Follow the Rainbow” / “Girl I Hope to Meet” (both by Subido)
DS-1285 – The Lumberjacks – “Jam Up Jelly Tight” / “Swingin’ Tight” DS-1286 – Eddie Peregrina – “Two Timer” (Subido) / “Adore You” DS-1287 – Eddie Peregrina – “I Don’t Care” (Subido) / “Forever More” (L. Grecia)
DS-1299 – The Lumberjacks – “Shotgun Papa (Subido) / “Don’t Forget to Remember”
DS-1302 – Eddie Peregrina – “Someone” / “Love Conquers All” (Subido) DS-1303 – Eddie Peregrina – “Didn’t You Say” (Joey Lardizabal) / “Lovers Lane” (Sonny Loremas) DS-1304 – The Lumberjacks – “Baby Make it Soon” / “Stir tt Up and Serve It”
DS-1306 – Eddie Peregrina and Linda Alcid – “Sighin’ Sighin'” (Subido) / “Pledging My Love”
DS-1314 – The Lumberjacks – “It’s All Over Now” (Subido) / “No Time”
DS-1317 – Scarlet – “Everyday of My Life” / “You May Never” (Eddie Magno)
DS-1319 – Eddie Peregrina – “I Just Can’t Tell You” / “You Were in My Mind” (both by Subido) DS-1320 – Eddie Peregrina – “On Your Wedding Day” / “Happy Birthday My Love” (both by Subido)
DS-1323 – Eddie Peregrina – “Don’t Hurt Me Again” (Subido) / “Love Is a Beautiful Thing” (Subido – not the Rascals song)
DS-1338 – Eddie Peregrina – “Love Me, Espie” / “Truly” DS-1339 – Eddie Peregrina – “We Miss You” / “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” DS-1340 – Jonathan – “I Think of You” / “Where to Begin” (Love Story)”
DS-1342 – The Lumberjacks – “Up on the Roof” / “I Play and Sing”
DS-1352 – The Lumberjacks – “Long, Long Gone” / “Love Me Do”
DS-1357 – Eddie Peregrina – “I’ll Never Love Again” / “Blue Day”
DS 1363 – Eddie Peregrina – “Baby, Baby Don’t Ever Go Away” (Subido) / “She’s My First Love”
DS-1367 – The Lumberjacks – “Sweet Hitchiker” / “Teenage Senorita”
DS-1370 – The Lumberjacks – “Cryin’ Time” / “It’s the Real Thing”
DS-1386 – The Lumberjacks – “Down by the Lazy River” / “Sands in My Pocket”
DS 1392 – Jonathan – “Love Theme from the Godfather (Speak Softly Love)” / “Help Me Make it Through the Night”
DS-1397 – Eddie Peregrina – “I Apologize” / “The Diary”
DS-1403 – Jun Palencia and the Technocrats – “I Just Lost My Baby” / “She’s a Lady” DS-1404 – The Technocrats – “Day After Day” / “For Ladies Only” DS-1405 – The Technocrats – “Them Changes” / “Mr Big Stuff”
DS-1413 – Eddie Peregrina – “Lonely Boy” / “Too Late”
DS-1416 – Eddie Peregrina – “No Time for Love” (Subido) / “Ben” (Black-Schart)
DS-1418 – Eddie Peregrina – “Crazy Love” / “Raindrops in Summer”
DS-1425 – Eddie Peregrina – “Love Me Now and Forever” / “Cry”
DS-1439 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Can’t Go on My Own” / “Be True”
398 – Eddie Peregrina – “Hurt” (J. Crane, A. Jacobs) / “Without You” (Ham, Evans)
?? – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – “Memories of Our Dream” / ? ?? – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers -“Two of Us” ?? – Eddie Peregrina – “Remember Someone” / “Gone with the Day” (Subido) ?? – Eddie Peregrina – “I’ll Be Waiting For You” / “Don’t Ever Leave Me” ?? – Eddie Peregrina – “Don’t Ever Go Away” / “I Want You to Know”
D’Swan International:
DSI 7013 – Dreams – “I Will See You There” / “A Boy Needs a Girl” (licensed from 1968 Ireland release on Dolphin)
D’Swan LPs:
DSM-1001 – Eddie Peregrina – What Am I Living For DSM-1002 – Eddie Peregrina & the Blinkers – Encore
DSM-1004 – Eddie Peregrina – Love Mood
DSM-1008 – The Lumberjacks DSM-1009 – Eddie Peregrina – Greatest Hits
DSS-1011 – Jonathan – You’re Closer to Me DSS-1012 – Eddie Peregrina – Eddie DSS-1013 – Eddie Peregrina – The Jukebox King (1970)
DSS-1015 – The Lumberjacks – Volume II
DSS-1018 – Eddie Peregrina – Old Time Favorites
?? – Eddie Peregrina – At His Best
Thanks to Bård Hodneland and Michael Robinson for finding some missing titles.
The Sunstrokes came from Manila in the Philippines. The earliest release I can find is on Playtex Records PT-1001, a cover of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” b/w “Where Will the Words Come From”, neither of which I’ve heard yet.
They also backed up Gene Cuneta on his single “This Day” / “In the Country” on Playtex Records PT-1011.
The Sunstrokes cut a good version of Ritchie Valens’ “Come On Let’s Go” backed with a cover of the Bobby Vee hit “Rubber Ball” for D’Swan Records DS-1076, recorded at C.A.I. Studio in the Philippines. Label credits are scant, but this seems to be a relatively early D’Swan release, circa 1966.
A later single I haven’t seen has versions of “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry That Weight” on one side, credited to Playtex Records, though probably some kind of later relaunch of that label.
There’s no info about the Sunstrokes out there, other than a mention as one of the Filipino acts that Danny Subido, owner of the Kath label wrote material for.
I will have more info on D’Swan in a discography of the label in my next post.
“The Weed” is the first single cut by Steve Purdy & the Studs, a group from the Homewood and Vestavia Hills suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. A tribute to tobacco with a sound like “Money”, its title and lyrics like “I need a pack of weeds that costs 15 cents” and “I wish somebody would give me a seed, that would grow me an instant weed, an instant weed would be mighty fine … give me a weed” made it into a cult favorite.
Steve Purdy and Vic Rumore share the lead vocals on “The Weed”, Rumore may have been related to Joe Rumore, a popular DJ on WVOK and owner of Rumore’s Record Rack; and his brother Angelo “Duke” Rumore, Birmingham DJ and impressario.
The flip of “The Weed” is “Hyannis Port Twist” which helps date this single to 1963 or earlier, along with the Southern Plastics code of SO 1292. The label was Vesta Records 200, located was 3106 Roxbury Road in Birmingham.
Besides Purdy and Rumore, the Studs included:
Jimmy Sullivan – lead guitar Brooke Temple – rhythm guitar Norman Hamm – bass Billy McConnell or Steve Davis – drums
For their second 45, they cut two more Purdy originals, “I Cried (The Night You Said Goodbye)” with a sound close to rockabilly and “Johnny’s Steady”, more of a teen side but with an interesting Leslie effect on the brief guitar solo.
Does anyone have a photo of the group?
Purdy wrote all four of the songs, publishing through Vestavia Publishing Co. BMI. As far as I know these were the only two releases on the Birmingham Vesta label. There was another Vesta Records from Syracuse, NY with doo-wop releases by the Rhythm Cadets and the Eldoras.
Southern Plastics in Nashville pressed both singles, “The Weed” has SO 1292/3 while “I Cried” is SO 1398/9, which should help give exact release dates if anyone has compiled those codes.
Sources: the Alabama Record Collectors Association has a short post on Facebook about Steve Purdy and the Studs. Info about Joe Rumore from JoeRumore.net.
The Inner Thoughts, with Mike Burgess standing on roof
The Inner Thoughts came from Clearwater, Florida, west of Tampa. There’s not a lot of info about them available, but the Inner Thoughts had one of the best and earliest releases on the Paris Tower label, “Smokestack Lightning” b/w a band original, “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me)”, released in March, 1967.
Paris Tower included a postcard with some copies of the single, featuring the cool photo of the band with this great description on the other side:
Shaaa-Zam!!! THE INNER THOUGHTS are ready to capture your city with their first Paris Tower release, which is a far out, fuzz-toned, revamped arrangement of “Smokestack Lightning.”
Rumbling into high gear; this Clearwater, Florida group has made a name for itself among the cool set on Florida’s West Coast.
Give a close listen to the flip side, “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me).” This is a surprisingly original number with a wild “MOD” mood featuring tonal transitions indescribable in print. THE INNER THOUGHTS will be around for a long time!!!
Members of the Inner Thoughts were:
Bob Baskin – vocals Ray Carpenter – lead guitar Mark Burgess – bass Sonny (surname?) – guitar Jeff Covert – drums
Mark Burgess was formerly the lead guitarist for J. R. and the Newtrons, a Dunedin group that didn’t record but whose members included David Muse, later of Firefall; John Roedel, who joined Those Five; Bill Harrill; Buddy Waterman; and Rick Roberts of the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Publishing for “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me)” was through Redrah Music, BMI. The Inner Thoughts recorded at H&H Productions in Tampa, the pressing through RCA, U4KM-2558.
Here’s a very good and obscure single by the Allusions featuring Lou Martucci. “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” is an original song with fuzz guitar, not the Kinks tune, the flip is “Burnin’ For Your Lovin'”. Roger Hopkins wrote both songs, released on the Marianna label in October, 1967.
The Allusions label reads “Produced by the Preludes”. The year before, in August 1966, the Preludes featuring Lou Martucci released a single on Hopkins’ Little Nashville label, based out of 1610 Poinsettia Rd. in Charleston, South Carolina. The songs are another original by Hopkins, “On My Lovin” b/w an original by Martucci, “Would You Believe”.
Lou Martucci wrote to the That’s All Rite site with a lot of info about the group. Members were:
Lou Martucci – lead vocals Joe Opatsky – lead guitar Al Knox – rhythm guitar Butch Chevalier – bass Al Moreno – drums
I assume the Preludes and the Allusions were more or less the same group. The Preludes is a Rite pressing, while the Allusions 45 deadwax reads “NRC 1914 Marianna 593A 20389”.
As Lou Martucci noted on That’s All Rite, drummer Al Moreno passed away in Vietnam, Roger Hopkins in a car accident in the ’60s.
Hopkins was the Preludes’ manager, his associate Boyd Cobb published the songs for both singles with Cobb BMI. Hopkins had his own single with the Chevelles on Little Country LN-0779, “Ronda Road Runner” (Tommy Nation) / “I Made Her That Way”, musical backing by the Centuries. He also had a country single on the related Evergreen label, “Crawling Back to You” / “Ask the Man Who Owns One”.
The Chancellors came from Oil City, Louisiana, about 30 miles from Shreveport along Caddo Lake.
Members of the band were:
John “Rusty” Shafer – guitar Howard Lee – guitar Mike Dunahoo – bass Tommy Valliera – drums
According to the liner notes of Big Beat release Don’t Be Bad, Rusty Shafer and Howard Lee were part of a folk quartet called the New River Four at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Lee and Shafer found a rhythm section in Mike Dunahoo and Tommy Valliera, and renamed the group the Chancellors.
They drove over four hours to cut two 45s at Recording Service Studios, Inc., 227 E. Sterling, Pasadena, releasing them on the Caddo label in 1965. The first was “It’s Too Late” / “Can It Be Love” (Caddo 101, LH-2023/4), followed by “Don’t Tell Me” / “I Don’t Know Where I’m Going” in November, 1965, (Caddo 102, LH-2055/6).
“Don’t Tell Me” is available on the CDDon’t Be Bad, 60s Punk Recorded in Texas. I like “It’s Too Late” from the first single:
All songs were originals by Rusty Shafer and Howard Lee, published by Crazy Cajun BMI. Shafer and Lee registered five more songs with the Library of Congress that year, including “Gone Away, Lost in Sorrow”, “Impossible Dream”, “The Love We Share”, “Never, Never Say You Love Me”, “Tired of Laughing”. I don’t know if they recorded any of those songs.
The Prisoner’s Dream came from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, just southwest of Pittsburgh, on the way to Wheeling, WV. I don’t know who was in the band. Canonsburg is notable as the hometown of Bobby Vinton and Perry Como.
The Prisoner’s Dream had one single, the melancholy “Autumn Days” / “You’re the One I Really Love” on Rene R 1008 in November, 1967. John Bruno produced the session. The band’s name seems to be misspelled as the Prisners Dream on the labels, which also give an incorrect spelling of the song writer’s name.
The A-side has the melancholy sound some garage fans may like:
The Rene labels list both songs as written by Zaranoff and published by Ride On Music BMI, but copyright notices give his name as Peter Zaharoff. One listing from July of 1967 says Zaharoff also wrote under the pseudonym of Bryan Garret.
BMI’s database lists another song of his, “Get Away” published by Sheri Glen Publications. Library of Congress copyright notices give several more, “Curtain of Green”, “One Night”, “Place Where Lovers Go”, “Woman Who’s Never There” and “Look What You’ve Done to Me”, published in November and December 1966.
Chuck Edwards founded the Rene label, its related label Punch and Ride On Music. He had his own releases on the labels, including “Downtown Soulville” which Mr. Finewine has made into his theme song, and produced a handful of others. Most of the pressing were done by Rite.
Chuck Edwards went on to form a family musical group called the The Edwards Generation. Chuck passed away in 2001. There’s an article I can recommend on Chuck and his labels on That’s All Rite Mama.
This is not the same Rene Records as the one from Tennessee that released the Creepers’ “Jammin’ Granny”.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
The Classics came from Chatham, New York, a town about 30 miles southeast of Albany. I live not far from the village and my daughter goes to the local public school, so I’ve been very interested in learning more about this band. Donnie Mettauer was the only member’s name I knew of until a comment below noted Richie Muller played bass and Rich Fiero drums.
