Category Archives: Label

Categories: Brownsville, Clark, Goodlettsville, Herrin, Illinois, Nashville, Nugget Sound Studios, Sam Phillips Recording Studios, Tennessee, US

The Four on Clark Records

March 23, 2014 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

The 4 Photo — The 4, from left: George Parks, Greg McCarley, Larry Rains and Paul Crider

Here’s an obscure one that isn’t in Teen Beat Mayhem, though it certainly deserves to be. I didn’t know anything about the group, called simply, The Four, but then I found their photo in Ron Hall’s The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook, 1960-1975.

The band were:

George Parks – guitar
Greg McCarley – guitar
Paul Crider – bass
Larry Rains – drums

“Now Is the Time” is a good mid-tempo song with harmonies and Beatles-type changes. It was written by George Parks.

“Lonely Surfer Boy” is an original by Paul Crider and Greg McCarley. As comments state below, the group came from Brownsville, Tennessee, about 60 miles northeast of Memphis.

SoN 15101/15102 indicates it was mastered by Sound of Nashville, while the ZTSB 99962-A / 99963-A in the deadwax indicates it was pressed at the Columbia Records plant in Nashville. I’m not sure the date on this one but early 1965 seems about right.

Both songs were published by Lonzo & Oscar Music, BMI and produced by Jack Logan, who was A&R director of Nugget Records of Goodlettsville, Tennessee which also seemed to own the Clark label.

In late 2013 two acetates surfaced of a group called “The 4” from Sam Phillips Recording of Memphis, “69” / “I Gotta Go” and “When Ever Your Down” (sic) / “Midnight Hour”.

“69” opens with one of the most intense screams ever committed to vinyl, and it is now on the shortlist for Back From the Grave vol 9! it was backed with an uptempo pop number “I Gotta Go”. It’s such a different sound that I thought it must be a different group, but both songs were written by George Parks. I haven’t heard “When Ever Your Down” yet, but it was written by Greg McCarley.

The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook notes The Four “cut three singles, all in Nashville in the late ’60’s. After they broke up, Greg McCarley released two singles on the local Klondike label as ‘Beau Sybin.’ George Parks had a release on Epic that he cut in New York and was also a staff writer at Stax.”

A late ’60s release by the Four on the Nashville North label is likely by another group. “Good Thing Going” (B. Carlton, H. Adams, D. Johnson) / “Cy’s Been Drinking Cider” was produced by Vern Terry and Len Shafitz, out of Massillon, Ohio, just west of Canton. Teen Beat Mayhem lists that band as from Elyria, Ohio. They cut a later 45 on Epic as the Sunny Four “Why Not (Be My Baby) / “Goodie Goodie Ice Cream Man”.

The Clark label had two other garage releases that I know of. On Clark CR-235 is the Ebb TIdes “Little Women” (by Donald Kyre, Michael Wheeler, Michael Whited, and Waldron), which sounds something like the Beatles “You Can’t Do That”. The Ebb Tides came from Columbus, Ohio. Their Clark 45 may have come about as part of a deal to do a summer tour of the Ohio Valley area. The flip is “What I Say”, by Gene McKay & the Ebb Tides. McKay was another singer on the tour and though the Ebb Tides backed him on the cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say”, they did not otherwise work together.

The Ebb Tides had a second 45, the spooky novelty “Seance” (Benny Van, M. Wheeler) b/w a mystical spoken vocal, “Spirits Ride the Wind” (Benny Van) that I really like. This 45 was produced by Rudy Varju on Jar 106 from early 1967. Benny Van of the Ebb Tides became J.D. Blackfoot.

The other is the Jades “You Have to Walk” / “Island of Love”, both written by Paul Helms and released on Clark CR-262 from May of ’67. That group was from Herrin, Illinois, a small city southeast of St. Louis and almost 200 miles northwest of Nashville, but the publishing is also Lonzo & Oscar, and the label states that it was produced and distributed by Nugget Sound Studios, Goodlettsville.

Other songs on the Clark label seem to be country, such as CR-266, Charlie Haggard’s “Throw Me Out the Door”.

Lonzo & Oscar were Johnny and Rollin Sullivan, whose family had started the Nugget Record company in Tampa, Florida in 1959, but Lonzo & Oscar Music Publishing had a Nashville base from the start. They bought or built Nugget Sound Studios in Goodlettsville, just north of Nashville. Most releases they recorded are on the Nugget label, and most are country.

History of the Nugget label from 45-sleeves.com. Thank you to Buckeye Beat for the info on the Ebb Tides 45.

Categories: Calcutta, HMV, India

Calcutta-16

March 22, 2014 Chris Bishop 14 Comments

As far as I can tell, Calcutta-16 only released this one 45, but what a record it is. Ed Nadorozny has the record and provided the music and scans here. When I heard Calcutta-16’s “Ballad of the Purple Inn” I asked Ed if I could cover it on Garage Hangover and he kindly said yes

I love everything about the song: Brinnand’s insolent delivery of the lyrics, the full bass line, the excellent sounds they get out of the guitars and echo, the drumming, all of it.

The flip “One Eyed Woman” has a great break halfway through with a pounding snare drum that just gets louder, war whoops, and a solo the segues so nicely back into the song. The bassist and the sound of the group in general remind me somewhat of the Great Society.

The band were:

John Brinnand – lead vocals (spelled John Brinand on the labels)
Peter Yeti – lead guitar
Romit Bhattaharya – rhythm guitar
Devdan Sen – bass guitar
Nondon Bagchi – drums

Devdan Sen and John Brinand “wrote the lyrics and composed and arranged the music” according to the notes on the back cover.

Dubby Bhagat of the Junior Statesmen produced the record and wrote the notes, and J.P. Sen engineered it. The record was released on His Master’s Voice NE. 1003 in 1969.

Dubby’s notes on the back also thank the band’s manager Jimmy Chaudhuri and “Colonel Bose of the ‘Living Sound’ Studio and his daughters Rita and Mita, who first recorded the group. Jack Dantes who christened the group. Sumit Bhattacharya and Rangam Mitra who gave time and equipment aplenty. The Surayas for their quiet but wholehearted support. Mr. Rafiq and Mr. A.C. Sen of H.M.V., who gave the boys this chance. Desmond Doig of the Junior Statesmen who encouraged the project. And Ananda Mitter and Jonathan Mason without who the group would never have got to Dum Dum for the recording!”

Next up from Ed will be a couple tracks from a very rare early EP by the Savages, better known for their Black Scorpio LP.

Categories: Allied International, Hamilton, New Zealand

Tomorrow’s Love

March 18, 2014 Chris Bishop 12 Comments

From Hamilton, New Zealand, Tomorrow’s Love is known now for an excellent version of Love’s “7 And 7 Is” on their only 45. Guitarist Ron Jenkins contacted me and told me about the group and sent the scans of the record seen here. He also sent me a transfer of “What Shall I Do”, which the band learned from the Artwoods, though the original version was the very fine “I’ve Got The Blues (What Shall I Do)” written and sung by Marvin Jenkins and released on Palormar 2208. I am one of the few to have heard Tomorrow’s Love version in almost 50 years!

I formed Tomorrow’s Love a long time ago. Max Fletcher was the bass player from Timaru. I arranged for Kevin [Toneycliffe] and Max to come to Hamilton and join a group with me and an organ player [Derek Allan].

New Zealand was a strange country back in the sixties with import and currency regulations. Foreign exchange was what we thought impossible to get other than in 50P British Postal notes available one per person a day. So on Friday nights we used to get into my car and rush around as many post offices as we could running into a post office and buying a 50P postal note each. We used these Postal Notes to buy packages of records that we thought would not be available here in New Zealand from a British Record Shop. We chose these via a Britsh music publication Melody Maker, and one record we chose was Love’s version of “7 And 7 Is”.

I recall another record we got was The Sparrow, “Tomorrows Ship”, so we just used Tomorrow’s Love as our name.

When we first heard “7 And 7 Is” we thought it was unique and bound to create interest. Of course we never ever anticipated the New Zeland Broadcasting Corporation banning the record and that is what really killed it. We had the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation’s #1 disk jockey running our dances and we know we would have got a fair go with airplay BUT he played it once and was jumped upon and that’s when we found out it was banned. It never entered our minds that the lyrics were drug related.

I believe there were two pressings with “7 And 7 Is” being the A side in the first pressing and then they made “What Shall I Do” the A side on the second pressing. I should have bought more than one copy. I do not think any of us got a cent in royalties. I have a first pressing which I was told there were 500 (but I had no way of verifying that). If correct it indicates the record sold over 500 copies.

I actually hated the fuzz box on “7 and 7 Is” but after listening to some other versions in later years I have grown to like our version. To be honest going by memory, I do not think it went over live, I mean “Ha Ha Said the Clown” was probably more acceptable!

The guitar was double tracked on “What Shall I Do”. I never knew that there was an original prior to the Artwoods. Looking back I wish we had tried to change the arrangements instead of just a copy of the originals.

I recall Keith Ashton (a disk jockey in Hamilton who ran the dances) refusing to call the Saturday dance off like we wanted as the Starlight Ballroom had the Avengers or some Wellington band that had a record at the top of the charts playing there. He said he would get a second band from Rotorua (who incidently never turned up). Anyway we played and by 10 o’clock the Old Folks Hall was packed and friends of the group were telling us that nobody was at the Starlight! I understand they pulled the pin about 11pm. The Old Folks Hall had amazing acoustics, no matter how the band was performing it always sounded good.

One of our last gigs was in Auckland at Hauraki Radio’s nightspot. We never went down well until we played The Creations “Making Time” which we had hoped to record. We played it last because the guitar riff was played using a violin bow and because of the resin my guitar had to be properly cleaned up. It went down well and I can recall a comment from one of the people there that they had never heard an “outside” group being clapped as we were! Of course it could have been because it was our last number? but maybe not as they never knew it was …

When we broke up the drummer/vocalist (Kevin) of Tomorrows Love joined a group The Chapta. He was the vocalist for them on “Say a Prayer” which reached #1 on the NZ hit parade. I got a shock a few years ago to find that Kevin had died in Australia of a heart attack.

I think Max and myself realised that Tomorrow’s Love had done its dash at about the same time. I was trying to arrange gigs, etc and it simply wore me down, plus it was my car and my money that was keeping things going. Looking back it was stupidity, we never got the money from our dances, I think $60 was topline split between four. It never covered costs. Since the group broke up I have had no contact with any of them.

Ron Jenkins

Categories: Boyle Heights, California, Century Custom, Los Angeles, Monterey Park

The Salesian High School Rock ‘n Roll Show LPs

March 17, 2014 Chris Bishop 82 Comments

Bishop Mora Salesian High is a Catholic school at the intersection of Whittier Boulevard and South Soto Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 1964, the school’s band director W.A. Taggart began producing concerts at East Los Angeles City College, where the auditorium would hold over 2,500 attendees, and at least three of these were recorded and released through Century Custom Recording Service in 1964 and ’65..

The Salesian High School Rock ‘n Roll Show LPs are little known outside of collectors of Los Angeles r&b and rock’n’roll. I’ve seen three volumes, one each from concerts on April 19, 1964, October 18, 1964 and May 16, 1965 at the auditorium of East Los Angeles City College (ELACC) in Monterey Park. I’ve read there is a fourth volume, but haven’t seen it yet. I only own Volume 2, so if anyone has the music from Volume 3 please get in contact with me.

Volume 1 (Century Custom 19070, recorded April 19, 1964):

Bobbie and the Esquires – “You’ll Lose A Good Thing”
John Gamboa Sextet – “Down at The Chicken Shack”, “Moody’s Mood For Love”
Sal Padilla and the Leggeriors – “Night Train”
Thee Midnighters – “Chinese Checkers”, “For Your Love”
The Vesuvians – “The Fugitive,” “Hand Clapping”
Blue Satins – “Summertime”, “Love Lights”, “My First Love”
The Salesian Mustang Swing Band – “Theme For Rock ‘n Roll”

Volume 2 (Century Custom 20069, recorded October 18, 1964):

Art and the Nite Liters – “Tuff Talk”
The Velvetones – “Tenderly”
Ronnie and the Casuals – “20.75”
The Rhythm Playboys – “This Is My Prayer”, “One Degree North”
Thee Midniters with Li’l Willie G. vocalist – “And I Love Her”, “So Far Away”, “I Need Someone”, “Darling Forever”, “Sad Girl”
The Blue Satins – “Help Yourself”, “Oh-Pu-Pi-Do” (featuring The Sisters Trio), “The Bounce”

Notes by George L. Pineda.

Volume 3 (Century Custom 21995, recorded May 16, 1965):

The Goofy Six Plus One – “I Need Someone”
The Relations – “I Do Love You”
The Invaders – “Sad Girl”, “Darling Forever”
The Etalons – “Out Of Sight”
The Little Heartbreakers – “Cradle Rock”
The Enchanters – “Try Me”
The Parley Brothers – “Uncle Sam’s Men”
The Emeralds – “Wooly Bully”
The Precisions – “I Been Trying”
The Counts – “Girl of My Dreams”
Clarence Playa – “I Wake Up Crying”
The Velvetones – “Gloria”
The Progressions – “Twine Time”
Li’l Ray – “Oooh Baby Baby”
The Ambertones – “Ebb Tide”

Produced by W.A. Taggart, directed by Gilbert Pineda, photography by R. Ruiz.

Volume 4 (Century Custom 22972, recorded Oct. 10, 1965 at East Los Angeles City College)

Thee Vandells – “Get Down With It”
The Entertainers – “Double 00 Soul”
The Fabulons – “I’ll Go Crazy”
The Four J’s – “My Girl Sloppy”
The Executives – “High Heel Sneakers”
The Relations – “Heat Wave”
The Impalas (Thee Impalas) – “Treat Her Right”
The V.I.P.’s – “Davids Mood”
Frankie Valens – “Gee Whiz”
The Emeralds – “So Far Away”
The Enchanters – “Midnight Hour”
The Enchantments – “Try Me”
The Etalons – “Ask Me Why”
The Noblemen – “To Be Loved”
The Ambertones – “I Need Someone/My Prayer”
The Four By Fours – “Roll Over Beethoven”

The first volume is less than half an hour long, consisting mostly of r&b covers, instrumentals and ballads. It includes Thee Midniters first recordings, a cover of Booker T & the MGs “Chinese Checkers” and “For Your Love” (a ballad, not the Yardbirds song). Larry Rendon and Romeo Prado of Thee Midniters were students of Bill Taggart.

Dominic Priore gives a concise early history of the group in the liner notes to the Norton Records compilation In Thee Midnite Hour!:

“Ex-Gentiles Little Willie G and Larry Rendon had first clicked with Benny Ceballos as Benny & the Midniters. This early lineup was know for wearing Lone Ranger style masks, which they would throw into the audience, driving the girls wild. The usual band lineup swaps (including a period with two lead singers, Little Willie G and Little Ray Jimenez) resulted in the solid recording band Thee Midniters, Willie, together with George Dominguez (lead guitar), Roy Marquez (rhythm guitar), Ronny Figueroa (organ), Larry Rendon (tenor sax), and trombone blaster Romeo Prado formed the core of the group with the drummer George Salazar and bass player Benny Lopez being succeeded by Danny La Mont and Jimmy Espinoza, respectively, Jimmy coming to the group via the Vesuvians and the Crowns, led by local legend Johnny Gamboa. Romeo too had entered the Midniters fold via the Crowns.”

Another notable performance is the Blue Satins, who do a rockin’ extended version of “Turn on Your Love Light”. The Blue Satins included Mike Gomez (vocals), Louie Lopez (vocals), Pete Ventura, Raul Suarez (lead guitar), Frank Estrella, Frank Mezquita (bass guitar), Bobby Loya (trumpet), Charles Lueras (sax), Robert Perez (sax), John Betancourt (drums). They had one 45 single, “You Don’t Know Me” / “My Wife Can’t Cook on Scarlet 501. More info on the Blue Satins is at the excellent site, You Found That Eastside Sound.

You can hear the album in its entirety at East LA Revue Radio, where Steven Chavez writes “the concert admission price was $1.25 and only $1 if you were a high school student with a valid school ID. I was one of the 2,000 in attendance that Sunday afternoon. It was initially sold at the high school book store for a hefty $3.25. This is the first concert record produced by ‘The Prof’ Bill Taggart’s team at the Boyle Heights parochial school for boys. Another person that was instrumental in the production and recording of this event is Tony Garcia.”

The October 18, 1964 concert is especially interesting to me because part of it was released as Thee Midniters’ first single, “Land of a Thousand Dances” (parts 1 & 2) on Chattahoochee 666. The rest of their performance from that concert is on “Rock ‘n Roll Show Volume 2”, including a version of the Beatles “And I Love Her” and Hank Jacobs’ “So Far Away” along with a few ballads.

Thee Midniters were supposed to be backing Cannibal & the Headhunters who were known locally for their version of Chris Kenner’s “Land Of A Thousand Dances.” But with Cannibal & the Headhunters stuck in Fresno with bad weather, Thee Midniters had the starring spot and did their own version of the song. Richie Unterberger recounts the story in more depth in “Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers”.

The obvious appeal of their performance somehow led concert producer W.A. Taggart to let the group bring the recording to Ruth Contes of Chattahoochee Records in Hollywood, who quickly released it in the month following the concert. In fact, it seems Thee Midniters released their version within weeks of Cannibal & the Headhunters cutting their own, recorded live at the Rhythm Room. In an interview, Headhunters member Richard “Scar” Lopez said their Rampart single was released in May, 1964 but this date is too early, as it wouldn’t have taken nine months to start showing up on local charts. Thee Midniters’s single turns up in radio station playlists beginning in December of ’64, then goes head to head in competition with Cannibal & the Headhunters’ single beginning in mid-January of ’65. The Headhunters’ Rampart single has a Monarch pressing # of 54957, indicating a November, 1964 mastering and pressing date. I would guess Cannibal & the Headhunters saw Thee Midniters were about to make a hit out of their signature song and rushed their own version out.

No one seems to dispute the legend that Headhunter lead vocalist Frankie Garcia came up with the “Na, Na Na Na Na…” hook spontaneously during a performance when he forgot a verse, though Thee Midniters include the Na Na Na Na hook in their version at the concert. In any case, Cannibal & the Headhunters won out in the national charts and the song is now associated with them, while Thee Midniters went on to record many great singles.

Other highlights on Volume 2 are the Blue Satins again who do a great trio of “Help Yourself”, “Oh-Pu-Pi-Do” (featuring The Sisters Trio) & “The Bounce”. Ronnie & the Casuals get only one song, the fine “20-75”; they had many releases on Donna and Mustang as Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals, including a version of “Land of a Thousand Dances” on their LP Everybody Jerk. The Rhythm Playboys had been Frankie Garcia’s group before joining Cannibal & the Headhunters. Their instrumental “One Degree North” is one of the best cuts on the LP.

Volume 1 and 2 have similar front covers, with band photos on the back, while Volume 3 has band and audience photos on both front and back covers (unfortunately without identifying which band is which).

Volume 3 has an expanded lineup with all new acts except the Velvetones, each receiving one song on the album with the exception of the Invaders. Many Eastside legends show up on this LP, including the Invaders (likely Mickey Aversa & the Invaders), the Heartbreakers (brothers Benny & Joe Rodriguez, with several singles on Donna, Brent and Linda labels), The Counts aka Thee Counts: Johnny Joe Ramos, bass; Bobby Gurrola, guitar; Bobby Rodriguez, trumpet; Don Viray, guitar; Charlie Montijo, lead singer; Albert Barron, sax; Ronnie Wheat, drums; Arnold Serafin, keyboards; and Joe Vasquez, sax; with a great single on Highland, “Someday I’m Gonna Get You” / “So Far Away”), and the Ambertones, who I’ve covered on this site. Clarence Playa was in the Progressions, who are probably backing Li’l Ray on “Oooh Baby Baby” on the Volume 3 LP, as they were his backing for a single on Donna as Little Ray, “I Who Have Nothing” / “I Been Trying”.

Salesian continued producing shows for decades, but no others were released to my knowledge. If anyone has scans of the cover or music from the reputed Volume 4 release, please contact me!

Thank you to Van Bryan for the track list and label scans of the very rare Volume 4.

Categories: England, Middlesex, Parlophone, Pye Records

The Legends

February 6, 2014 Nick Warburton 10 Comments

Peter Watkinson – lead vocals
Kevin Sparkes – rhythm guitar, organ
Keith Kendall – lead guitar
Rick Eagles – bass
Tony Watkinson – drums, vocals

Hayes, Middlesex-based brothers Peter and Tony Watkinson had formed the band in the early 1960s as The Limelites and were joined at some point by rhythm guitarist Kevin Sparkes.

In 1963, Rick Eagles, who’d previously played rhythm guitar with Wembley, Middlesex band The Delta 5 alongside future Deep Purple bass player Nick Simper, joined the Limelites on bass. Soon after, they became resident Sunday night band at the Clay Pigeon in Eastcote, Middlesex.

During mid-1964, Peter Watkinson caught another Hayes band, Brian & The Fantoms playing at the Seagull Hotel in Southall and was impressed by The Fantoms’ lead guitarist Keith Kendall, whose father was Watkinson’s manager at EMI Electronics.

Hillingdon Mirror 29 September 1964 page 5

Not long after, Watkinson changed the group’s name to the Legends and secured a recording deal with Pye Records.

Paired with legendary producer Joe Meek, the band cut a lone single, Peter Watkinson’s “Looking For Her” c/w “I’m Coming Home”, which was issued as The First Impressions in March 1965 to avoid confusion with Twickenham, Middlesex group, The Legend.

However, when the US soul band, The Impressions threatened a law suit, the musicians were forced to revert back to The Legends for a second single on Pye – Peter Watkinson’s “I’ve Found Her” c/w “Something’s Gonna Happen” in July 1965.

When the two singles failed to dent the charts, Keith Kendall departed in late 1965/early 1966 and re-joined Brian & The Fantoms for a few months before subsequently joining Hayes group, Four Point Five, which also worked as The Soul System. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, Kendall hooked up with The All Night Workers.

Kendall’s initial replacement was a lead guitarist called Ron, who was joined soon after by second lead player Ian Hollands. Hollands had previously worked with Ealing, Middlesex group, Frankie Reid & The Casuals between 1962-1963 and then a Teddington, Middlesex band (possibly Unit 4).

Towards the end of 1966, the band underwent further changes as both Rick Eagles (who hooked up with Tony Knight’s Chessmen) and the lead guitarist called Ron departed to make way for siblings Terry Williams on trumpet/vocals and Ian Williams on bass. By November, Kevin Sparkes, who’d moved on to Hammond C3, had also left to make way for Russ Pinder.

The Hillingdon Mirror ran article and photo on the new formation in its 28 March 1967 issue, page 24.

That same month, The Legends finally returned with a second single on the Parlophone label – a cover of Boyce & Hart’s “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day” backed by Peter Watkinson’s “Nobody Laughs Anymore”.

The Hillingdon Mirror ran another article and photos of the band in its 11 July 1967 issue, page 32 (see above).

That same month, The Legends released their final single on Parlophone – Peter Watkinson’s “Under The Sky” c/w “Twenty Four Hours A Day”.

When the band broke up in late 1967, Hollands played guitar on some demos that Peter Watkinson recorded in his home studio before going on to work with Hayes, west London group, The Magic Roundabout.

Thanks to Keith Kendall and Ian Hollands for providing background information on the band.

I have tried to ensure the accuracy of this article but I appreciate that there are likely to be errors and omissions. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone who can provide any additions or corrections. Email: Warchive@aol.com

Selected gigs (also see comments below):

30 January 1965 – Carfax Ballroom, Oxford with The Puppets (Oxford Mail)

5 June 1965 – Carfax Ballroom, Oxford with The Pressmen (Oxford Mail)

14 August 1965 – Orchid Room, Oxford with The Beat Merchants (Oxford Mail)

21 September 1965 – Kodak Hall, Wealdstone, northwest London Paul Dean & The Savages (Harrow Observer & Gazette)

26 October 1965 – Kodak Hall, Wealdstone, northwest London with The Creed (Harrow Observer & Gazette)

16 November 1965 – Kodak Hall, Wealdstone, northwest London with The Creed (Harrow Observer & Gazette)

17 December 1965 – Kodak Hall, Wealdstone, northwest London Paul Dean & The Savages (Harrow Observer & Gazette)

16 August 1967 – Town Hall Park, Hayes, west London (Hillingdon Mirror)

Categories: England, Parlophone, Surrey, Woking

The Pentad

February 3, 2014 Nick Warburton 9 Comments

Pentad Woking Herald 1965 June 11 — The Pentad featured in the Woking Herald and News, June 11, 1965

Terry Crowe – lead vocals
Mike Fitzpatrick – lead guitar
Roger Hanks – piano, organ
Mick Dunford – bass
Peter Garland-Jones – drums

A Woking, Surrey band that was formed around April 1965 from the ashes of The Plebs, The Pentad was led by singer Terry Crowe, who together with Mick Dunford, had been an original member of The Nashville Teens.

The band’s debut single “Silver Dagger” c/w “Nothing But Love” came out on Parlophone in June 1965. The group recorded a second single, “Don’t Throw It All Away” c/w “Too Many Ways”, which was released later that year.

Pentad’s third and final release, “Something Other People Call Love” c/w “It Better Be Me”, was issued in March 1966. Dunford later became a member of Renaissance.

The Woking Herald provided good source material.

Notable gigs

11 June 1965 – Walton Hop, Walton Playhouse, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey (Woking Herald)

15 June 1965 – Gala Ballroom, Norwich, Norfolk with Unit 4 + 2 (Eastern Evening News)

20 June 1965 – Orford Cellar, Norwich, Norfolk (Eastern Evening News)

27 June 1965 – Sunset Ballroom, The Sandringham, Hunstanton, Norfolk (Lynn News)

16 July 1965 – Orford Cellar, Norwich, Norfolk (Eastern Evening News)

17 July 1965 – Orchid Room, Oxford with The Vibros (Oxford Mail)

19 August 1965 – Victoria Ballroom, Cambridge (Cambridge News) Billed as The Pentab

31 August 1965 – Gala Ballroom, Norwich, Norfolk with Them (Eastern Evening News)

31 August 1965 – Witham Public Hall, Witham, Essex with Stu James & The Mojos (Essex County Times)

1 September 1965 – Dorothy Ballroom, Cambridge with Bob Kidman & The Dorothy Orchestra and The Dawnbreakers (Cambridge News)

15 September 1965 – Orford Cellar, Norwich, Norfolk (Eastern Evening News)

24 September 1965 – Locarno Ballroom, Basildon, Essex with The Paramounts and The Transatlantics (Southend Standard)

2 October 1965 – Victoria Ballroom, Cambridge (Cambridge News)

9 November 1965 – Gala Ballroom, Norwich, Norfolk (Eastern Evening News)

22 January 1966 – King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, King’s Lynn, Norfolk with James King & The Farinas (Lynn News)

29 January 1966 – Corby Civic Centre, Corby, Northants with The Brumbeats (Wellingborough News)

5 February 1966 – Esquire Club, Sheffield, South Yorkshire (Sheffield Star)

12 February 1966 – Blue Lagoon, Newquay, Cornwall with The Other Five (West Briton & Royal Cornwall Gazette)

13 February 1966 – Sunday Club, Addlestone, Surrey (Woking Herald)

The Pentad, Woking News and Mail, 29 May 1965

Categories: Netra, Port Arthur, Rite Record Productions custom pressings, Spindletop, Texas

Curt Block

January 17, 2014 Chris Bishop 16 Comments

Curt Block has a great garage single in October ’65, “She’s My Kind” that I’ve been trying to find for some time now. I still haven’t found a copy of that one, but recently I picked up one I hadn’t known of before, his 45 on Spindletop with the Dreamlites.

I don’t know much about Curt Block but I did find one mention on the Port Arthur News from December 8, 1974: “the Port Arthur Merry Mixers Club will dance to the music of ‘Curt Block and the Velvets’ from 8-11 p.m on Tuesday in the K C Hall, 315 Hardy, Nederland. The club is open to all single adults 18 years or older, but all married couples who met in the single movement are invited”.

By the time of that article Curt had been in the music business over 10 years. His 45 on Spindletop SR-45010 is from about 1963, featuring a vocal ballad “It’s Raining Again” (R. Philen) on the top side, backed with one of the shortest cuts I’ve ever seen on a pre-punk 45, the sax & guitar instrumental “Hang Out”, written by Block but credited to only the Dreamlites. Both songs were published by Neches Music BMI.

I asked Curt about his time in these bands and wrote to me:

In the Dreamlites I was only 16. Ray Fallon, sax, he went on to play for Roy Orbison. The guys in my band were Billy Robbins, Bill Iron, Dwight Landry, Ronnie Maxie, Mike Duhon. I played guitar of course. A TV show called Jive at Five had me and the band on many times.
I sang some with Johnny Preston and Jivin’ Gene, really great guys. I played 4 and 5 nights a week for many many years.

Spindletop had well over a dozen releases beginning about 1961, including a couple in-demand soul discs by Talmadge Armstrong and by Al Trahan. Curt Block’s single came about halfway through Spindle’s releases.

In October of 1965 he had another 45, this time credited to Curt Block & the Vibrations. The Vibrations were:

Curt Block – guitar and lead vocals
Billy Robbins – rhythm guitar and back up vocals
Dwight Landry – bass guitar
Bill Irion – drums
Ronnie Maxey – sax
Carl Boettger – sax
Mike Duhom – trumpet

I haven’t heard the top side yet, “With This Ring”, but the flip is excellent garage as long as you’re not one of the types that prefer their r&r without saxophone.

Curtis Block wrote both songs, published by Neches Music, BMI and recorded at L & F Recording Service in Port Arthur. Both Netra and Spindletop were based in Port Arthur, which was also home to the Basic Things who I’ve covered on this site. Like the Spindletop single, the Netra 45 is a Rite pressing.

Curt had one more single that I know of, “Hey Little Girl” / “You Were Mine” on the Gina label – if anyone has scans of this single please contact me.

Thank you to Tori and to Greg & Linda Haynes for sending in the photo of the band at top. Tori’s uncle Dwight Landry played bass with the group. Dwight passed away on April 20, 2014. Thanks also to Deborah for the caption to the photo, she reports her uncle Bill Irion passed away on August 20, 2015.

If anyone has a copy of the Netra or Gina singles for sale, or a photo of Curt Block with one of his ’60s groups, or knows any of the members of the Dreamlites or the Vibrations, please contact me.

Curt Block Vibrations Netra 45 With This Ring

Categories: La Louisianne, Lafayette, Louisiana, Montel-Michelle

The Rogues & the Dry Grins

January 13, 2014 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

The Rogues from Lafayette, Louisiana had two excellent 45s, both very rare now, I don’t own either one.

They seem to have had some lineup changes during their existence. Members included Fred Brechtel on lead vocals, Mark MacDiarmid (or McDiarmid) on lead guitar (and lead vocals on “I Don’t Need You”), Mike Schwartz on rhythm guitar, Tommy Withrow on keyboards, John Bonar on bass, and Glen Hebert on drums.

Cyril Vetter of the Greek Fountains saw the Rogues and produced a release for them on the Montel-Michelle label, though he changed the band’s name temporarily to the Dry Grins. The Dry Grins release has the teen loser lament, “She’s a Drag”, written by Fred Brechtel for Red Stick Music, backing the only slightly more commercial “You’re Through”. It was produced by Cyril Vetter & Sam Montel, and released as the Montel-Michelle M/M-959 (74 M/M 14) circa late 1965.

Well, I’m walking down the street with my left hand in my pocket,
And some chick walks up and says,
“Make a switch man, you’re on the wrong side of the street”
Well, I looked up and turned around to see the people watching,
My left hand still in my pocket,
And then she started to laugh.
I had both hands in my pocket and I said, “Baby, you’re a drag”
Well, she’s a drag, yeah, a big ole drag,
She’s a drag, yeah, a big ole drag,
Like a trip, baby
Well, I used to dig a chick … [?]
Cause I’m a stubborn fellow, you know,
And I got to get her, [?]
But that turned into a great big drag.
Well, she’s a drag, yeah, a big ol’ drag,
She’s a drag, yeah, a big ol’ drag,
Well, she’s a drag,
Like an albatross
Well, she said get back, come back and don’t you cry,
I turned around and said to her, “Baby, you’re a drag”
Well she’s a drag, yeah, a big ol’ drag,
She’s a drag, yeah, a big ol’ drag,
Well she’s a drag,
She’s gone, baby

The Rogues second 45 has “Tonight” which Teen Beat Mayhem describes as “swamp-pop ballad with crooner vocals.” on the A-side. On the flip is “I Dont Need You”, one of their best songs, the opening drum roll leading into a blast of sound that keeps up throughout the song.

Both sides written and sung by Mark McDiarmid for La Lou Music, and released on the La Louisianne label, LL-8094-B, in April of ’67.

Andrew Brown wrote that Tommy Withrow joined a group called the Swingin’ Machine, obviously unrelated to the now-legendary Swinging Machine from South Norfolk, VA.

I used to believe the band had a third single, “Put You Down” b/w a version of “Stormy Monday Blues”, but that turns out to be a group from Alabama, which makes sense as MBM was a Birmingham label and “Put You Down” does not have keyboards unlike the other songs by the Rogues from Louisiana.

Anyone have a photo of the group?

Categories: Delcrest, Kentucky, Louisville

The Waters “Day In and Out” / “Mother Samwell” on Delcrest

December 29, 2013 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

The Waters: clockwise from left: John Burgard, Ray Barrickman and John Mackey

The Waters was a Louisville, Kentucky group with John Burgard guitar and vocals, Ray Barrickman bass guitar and vocals, and John Mackey on drums.

Their first 45 on the Soul Blvd. label was “Lady in the Field” (Barrickman and Burgard) / “American Cheese” (Barrickman, Burgard and Mackay) – I haven’t heard it yet.

Their second 45 features two excellent originals by Burgard and Barrickman, the upbeat pop song “Day In and Out” and the stupendous freakbeat of “Mother Samwell”.

Released on the one-off Delcrest label in January of ’69, all copies I’ve seen have white labels with black print. Promo copies exist on the Hip label, a Stax subsidiary from March of ’69, but that issue seems to be much rarer. Production was by Paine-Baker. Paine was Stuart Paine, who owned the Soul Blvd label.

John Burgard had an earlier group called Jonah and the Wailers with Chris and Courtney Johns that opened for the Rolling Stones at Memorial Auditorium. Burgard visited San Francisco in ’67 then returned to Louisville to form the Waters.

The Waters broke up in 1972 and Burgard went on to form CoCo Morgan and other groups.

Ray Barrickman previously played bass and sang in the Oxfords. He later played bass in Hank Williams Jr.’s band for a couple decades, and more recently was in a reformed version of another legendary Louisville group, Soul, Inc..

Thank you to Brian Talley for sending in the photo of the band – if anyone has other photos of the group please contact me.

Background on John Burgard from “I’ve Got A Mind To Ramble” by Keith S. Clements.

Categories: Delaware, Ken-Del Studios, Knight (DE), Wilmington

The Spectrums “I’ll Never Fear” on Knight

December 21, 2013 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

The Spectrums cut this one excellent single. “I’ll Never Fear” is a beautiful, soulful original song, written by Douglas Stewart. The flip is a good cover of “Wine, Wine, Wine”.

Douglas Stewart registered copyright for “I’ll Never Fear” in May, 1966. The band recorded at Ken-Del Studios in Wilmington, which is still in existence. The Spectrums released the single on Knight 4969. Knight was a label from Wilmington, Delaware, not the Knights Records label from Texas that I’ve featured before.

This is a group I’d like to know more about.

The site for '60s garage bands since 2004