Categories: Atlanta, Cochran, Look, Soupa, White Cliffs

The Apolloes (aka the Swingin’ Apolloes)

April 22, 2008 Chris Bishop 25 Comments

The Apollos in the Georgia Southern College newspaper The George-Anne, April 22, 1966

The Apolloes cut an interesting variety of work, from the off-the-cuff and updated renditions of 50’s standards like “Slow Down” and “Summertime Blues” to the intricately produced psychedelia of “Chained and Bound”.

In a comment below, Pat Ray gives the early history of the group:

I founded The Apolloes along with Ralph Whitsell, Jim Youmans and Tom Preston in the fall of 1964 when we were all students at Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia.
The off campus “Animal House” fraternity at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, Ga (SEX was the name of the fraternity) booked the Rolling Stones in May, 1965. We played as a warm-up band. When the Stones took the stage, they immediately grossed the South Georgia audience out. Jagger’s first word was a long “F***************K You!” The crowd booed them off the stage and began chanting “Apolloes!! Apolloes!!” We set up again and gave the crowd their money’s worth.

Tom Preston wrote in a comment below:

Playing with the Apolloes was great fun. I was still a part of the group at the Rolling Stones concert and will always remember it. Also, James Preston, my brother, sang as the front man and played harmonica for a time with the original group.

Pat Ray continues:

When Tom’s father passed away early, I got hold of Gerald Cox in Atlanta to play bass guitar. He and I had played together for years in Atlanta while we were in high school. The four of us blew the Night Shadows off the stage at Misty Waters in 1965 and we came to the attention of Pat Hughes (WQXI in Atlanta).

By the time of their first record in November 1965, the lineup was:

Ralph Whitsell – lead guitarist
Jim Youmans – rhythm guitar
Gerald “Mojo” Cox – bass
Pat Ray – drums

Further info on the early history of the band is in a full-page feature by Tommy Drew in the Georgia Southern College newspaper, The George-Anne on Friday, April 22, 1966:

Apollos Achieve Phenomenal Popularity
Group Has Three GSC Students
… the shrill twangs of the lead guitar filled the Hanner building and the pulsating drum-beat hammered out the rhythm while two more guitars joined in. Hands began clapping, feet began stomping the wooden floor as four voices waled out the strains of “Lucille.” On this warm spring night Apollos were born.
In an amazingly short period of time – one year, the success of this shaggy-haired foursome has been phenominal [sic] … Since their first appearance on the Rolling Stones show in 1965.
Every member of the band is a college student …
The group is limited to weekend engagements of only two nights and must even curtail their travel plans to a 300 mile radius of Statesboro.
Ralph Witsell … related that he had only four years experience with the electric guitar but had become interested in music when his family was stationed in Tokyo. It was in Japan that Ralph worked as a disc-jockey.
Gerald Cox “Mojo” to his friends … finished his last months of high school appearing with Tommy Roe.
Pat Ray is a student at Armstrong State College in Savannah.
Jim Youmans wanted to be a concert pianist … He moved away from Sandersville in 1957 … Jim moved to Thompson, Georgia …
It usually takes road manager Bud Meritt an hour and a half to unload their new Dodge van and assemble the speaker and wires …
Although Ralph is from Shreveport, La., and Pat Ray is from St. Louis, they made Atlanta the home of the Apollos.
The booking agent for the group is Harvey Leach in Atlanta … an Atlanta disc-jockey, Pat Hughs … is producing their upcoming records …
Their first single recording should be released in May with their album coming out in the fall …
The Apollos leave on a tour of the Atlantic coast in June which will be culminated by appearances in Canada. Their televised appearance will open Lake Spivey in Atlanta …

Wayne White, leader of an Atlanta group the Famen happened to be in the studio when the Apolloes came in to play on a session for the Younger Brothers. Wayne taught “Laugh in My Face” to the band and may have played organ on it as well.

The flip, “Hey”, was written by Jim Youmans, who produced this single as well as the later “Chained and Bound”.

Pat Ray continues:

Gerald had known Wayne White (a house painter in Atlanta) for a number of years. We had booked time at Maurice LeFever’s studio and Wayne paid for the session and we cut “Laugh In My Face.” The flip side was “Hey” by Jim Youmans. Which side was “A” or “B” is a toss-up.
Pat Hughes produced a session at a different studio and we cut “Lucille” and “Gone” which Youmans also wrote. Brooksy Hunicutt sang the high female part at my suggestion and we dubbed it in.

The Apolloes released “Summertime Blues” on three different labels, though the first version on Soupa is not as wild as the one that would come out as the Swingin’ Apolloes. “Gone” the A-side to the first release of “Summertime Blues” was also written by James Youmans, and produced by Pat Hughs.

After Pat Ray left the band, Randy McDonald took over on drums. Randy commented below, and I’ll repeat much of here:

I had played in a small informal group with Ralph Witsell when I had lived in Macon, but then I had moved to Huntsville, Alabama. He tracked me down when the Apolloes needed a drummer [in 1966]. We were all in school in Statesboro, Georgia that fall and winter, traveling on weekends to gigs.
A journal page I have from then says we went into a recording studio in Atlanta at 7:30 on Friday night, January 13, 1967, and recorded all night, not leaving until 9:30 Saturday morning. That was the “Summertime Blues” session that became the June release.
July 19, 1967, we played the Atlanta Auditorium with the Dave Clark Five on what was billed as Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars. We had just come from playing the pier at Daytona, if I recall correctly. I know I fell off the drum riser when we were doing our version of “Good Vibrations” because I stood up when I played, and they suddenly doused the stage lights and threw on two strobe lights with a bubble machine right next to me. I was completely disoriented. Our bass player, Mojo (Gerald Cox), was I think about the only person who really noticed, and thought it was hysterically funny. Me, not so much.
We split up in the fall of 1967, primarily because of the war draft and some other issues. I went back to Alabama.
Woody [Turner] was lead singer for a while. I think he had come into the band around the same time they got me to play drums.

The Apolloes single on Look “Summertime Blues” / “Slow Down” was also issued as the Swingin’ Apolloes on White Cliffs 262.

The band had a penchant for backwards guitar, as it’s all over their great version of Larry Williams’ “Slow Down”, and shows up again on their last single as the Swingin’ Apolloes, “Chained and Bound”, written by Chester, Lane and Freeman.

Porcupine commented below: “the backward guitar is also featured on another Jim Youmans production “Go Away” by the Younger Brothers (Wendy 101).

Bill Lane of the Younger Brothers commented below:

I was playing on the Apolloes recording of “Chained and Bound” as one of the three writers and a member of Georgia Southern’s “Younger Brothers” who were recording in Atlanta with Jim Youmans as producer. The entire music track is actually the Younger Brothers with Jim’s voice overdubbed.

45 releases:

The Apolloes – Hey / Laugh in My Face (Apolloe 5813/4, November 1965)
The Apolloes – Gone / Summertime Blues (Soupa 001, May 1966)
The Apolloes – Summertime Blues / Slow Down (Look 001, June 1967)
The Swingin’ Apolloes – Summertime Blues / Slow Down (White Cliffs 262, 1967)
The Swingin’ Apolloes – Chained and Bound / Chained and Bound (SAC 1001-1)

From what I understand, all copies of “Chained and Bound” have the same song on both sides, with a blank label on one side.

This article rewritten in 2022.

Thank you to Mike Markesich for info and Pat W. for the photo below.

Categories: Alabama, Birmingham, Fat City

String and the Beans

April 21, 2008 Chris Bishop 26 Comments

String & the Beans have this one fine record from 1966. The reverb-laden ballad “Come Back To Me” reaches its peak with the guitar solo that takes the song out. On the flip is the upbeat “When I Get That Feeling”.

Both songs were written by Craig Fulford and Robert Robinson (a mistake – it should have been Robert Robertson) according to the label credits.

For some time there was confusion as to whether the band was from Alabama, or Georgia (the base for Lyresong publishing) or even Minnesota, as this 45 was pressed at Minneapolis’ Kaybank studios (indicated by the number 6-6130, a type of indexing which was used on other 45s recorded there, notably records released on Kaybank’s Studio City label).

Since writing this post, I heard from the band’s drummer, Louis Gigis. Louis wrote this history of the group:

I was the drummer for String and the Beans aka The Showmen from Birmingham.
In 1962 there were seven members of The Showmen Band. Louis Gigis drummer, Craig Fulford lead guitar, Sam McDavid rhythm guitar, Chuck Butterworth bass, Kent Donovan keyboards, Bill Burns lead vocals and Robby Robertson back up vocals. I went to Woodlawn High School in Birmingham and everybody else went to Shades Valley except Bill Burns, he went to Ramsey. We all had other groups that we were playing in and would go around town to hear other bands play when we weren’t playing. That is how we got to know each other and pieced together the band and called it The Showmen because we each each put on pretty good shows in our other bands.
We were an instant hit among the high schools in Alabama. In 1962 we were making $100 each for a night of playing, that was like $1,000 now. We were so popular that when we played at Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama we couln’t get off the stage withour being mobbed. We must haved played Louie Louie by the Kingsmen twenty times. We also played at high schools, sock hops and the college circuit, where the kids said we looked like a new band from England called The Beatles. Well, we had the same hair cuts before we even knew who the Beatles were.
After a while we had a few changes in the band, Bill Burns left for the Navy and Robby Robertson took over as lead singer and Craig and Sam did harmony. There was a time when we called ourselves The Showmen + 6, we had six singers out front doing shows like James Brown, The Temps and Tops and others but we were really getting the cost up, so we went back to Robby alone.
We all wrote songs and decided on two songs that we liked the most to try and record. Those were “Come Back to Me” and “When I Get That Feeling” on the flip side. We had heard of a recording studio in Atlanta named Master Sound Recording which later was changed to Lowery Studios owned by Bill Lowery (now departed). We could record our music there for $35 per hour with Bill Lowery being the producer. When we got in the studio to record the songs our keyboard man Kent didn’t show, he was sick. Instead of cancelling the session Bill Lowery called a piano player, she was about as old as our grandmothers but she could play a hell of a piano. She didn’t have to rehearse the songs but once. and we recorded the songs in about three takes including some dubbing.
Our name came about when we recorded the record and there was already a band called the Showmen. In the studio that day was Billy Joe Royal and Joe South, they came up with the name because Robby Robertson was really tall and skinny. We came up with the name Fat City Records from when we played in Fat City which the real name is Metarie, outside of New Orleans.
Our record came out at the same time “Double Shot” by the Swinging Medallions came out and outsold them in Alabama by 2 to 1, but we didn’t get picked up by a major label because we had beat up on local DJ Dave Roddy after we didn’t get paid for a gig that we played in that included the Medallions, Chambrays and Markees [Marquees]. That was a mistake, he was a pretty big man on the radio circuit.
Bill Lowery liked our band so much that he wanted to sign us to a contract and give us free studio time. Bill had already made hits of The Tams, Joe South, Billy Joe Royal and a few others. So we went back to Atlanta and recorded some more original stuff. All the songs were sent back to us in Birmingham on reel to reel and had horns, strings and back up singers dubbed in, man what a sound, we were on our way.
One day I was laying out by the pool at some apartments and heard one of our songs on the radio but it wasn’t us playing it. I called Craig and told him about it and he called Lowery. Bill said that he let a new singer named Ronnie Prophet record it since he was under a previous contract. Lowery said he owned our music and could do that.
We didn’t like that too much so we cancelled our contract and signed with Hit Attractions from Charlotte N.C. Most of our jobs were being the back up band for The Tams. We did that for a year and got bored with each other and decided to go our separate ways. We still lliked each other and still do, but we were growing up and had wives and kids; I was 21.
I kept playing for about six more years and played with acts like Steve Alaimo in Tampa, Billy Joe Royal, Steve Purdy, The Premiers.
Louis Gigis

Robbie Robertson added:

I was co author of “Come Back to Me” with Craig Fulford. The misspelled record label was not redone and corrected because typically teenage thinking was to hurry up and get this out! The label name of Fat City was chosen because we were booking through Ted Hall at Hit Attractions out of Charlotte, NC. Charlotte was called the Fat City at the time.
I have the original master tape and have actually thought about recutting the lead vocal to change a few lyrics. I was lead singer of the group and find that an interesting idea.
I sang lead on our later cut, “Talk Don’t Bother Me” which Craig and I also wrote.
Robbie Robertson

Categories: Bay Sound Records, Brent, California, Milbrae, Onyx, San Francisco, Solo

The Banshees / Ariel / Kensington Forest

April 19, 2008 Chris Bishop 23 Comments

Updated August 7, 2008

The Banshees were students at Mills High School in Millbrae, just south of San Francisco. They had started in 1962 as an instrumental group the Black Knights, changing their name to the Banshees when they added a vocalist in ’64. Members were Jack Walters, Chris Guiver and Paul and Dennis Studebaker, and for a short time Bob Morelli.

They released two records on the Solo label including the crude and energetic “They Prefer Blondes” / “Take a Ride with Me”. “They Prefer Blondes” was written by Jack Walters, while “Take a Ride with Me” was by Paul Studebaker, and both songs were arranged by Paul Studebaker. Lou Dorren, a high-school friend of the band produced both of their Solo 45s, and also recorded them in a later incarnation as the Kensington Forest.

With the help of his brother, George Guiver, I’ve heard from founding member of the band Chris Guiver, who kindly gave a detailed history of the band. Jason Sweitzer spoke to the Banshees’ friend and producer Lou Dorren about his early years as a sound engineer. Fascinating in itself, Lou’s story sheds light on the Banshees progression from garage act to professional musicians.

Chris Guiver:
Jack and I knew of each other from Lincoln School kindergarten. They lived within walking distance in old Burlingame. Later, in early high school (1962-63), we became best of friends through music and life. My mom was a great singer and dancer from the 40’s and apparent genetics rubbed off. I elected to learn saxophone in the 4th grade, taking school lessons. Jack was taking guitar lessons from early on too, found surf music an attraction and moved to electric – always a Fender Telecaster.
Paul and Dennis, the Studebaker brothers, were talent and intelligence beyond belief. Paul played lead trumpet in the Mills High band and orchestra. Dennis played tenor sax in the band. Paul, Dennis and I all went crazy for swing and were members of the award-winning jazz band at the high school. The three played in jazz combos, free-lance and otherwise and actually played “gigs” This is also where we connected with Jack Walters, who to this day, is viewed as a genius song writer.
At the end of that freshman year and in summer, the foursome started to play rock together. Songs like “What’d I Say” and “La Bamba” were played over and over at the YMCA dances and eventually at San Jose State frat parties. Many practice hours in the Studebaker basement began to bring proficiency, style and a great joy in music and friendships. And that is when the first recording of “They Prefer Blondes” and “Take A Ride With Me” was recorded in the hall of the Presbyterian Church (couple of mics and shared amplifiers).
The Banshees playing in front of the Hyatt Theater, before a Chad & Jeremy and Sonny & Cher concert.
Later in the sophomore year (1964), Jack, Paul and Dennis met Bob Morelli who sang like Gerry of Gerry and the Pacemakers. The four of them linked up and established great harmonies together and won the California Band Wars as The Banshees. Shortly after, missing the sax, I was asked to join again. The five-some played together for about 6 months, playing once as a greeting band for “Chad and Jeremy” and “Sonny and Cher”. Bob went his way, leaving the four-some alone as the Banshees. For the Banshees around these times, four gods began to walk the earth – naming themselves “The Beatles”. Went to both San Francisco concerts.
The original “geek” of the high school, Lou Dorren, heard the group and wished to record them in his garage. That was the beginning onslaught of fantastic original material written by Jack.

The Banshees with Don O’Leary (left) and Lou Dorren (right) holding the first Solo 45, August 1965. Photo courtesy of Don O’Leary

Jason Sweitzer notes Lou’s perspective on the first Banshees record:

The SOLO imprint was Lou’s conception. He was 15 when he recorded and produced “They Prefer Blondes” in the Millbrae Presbyterian Church recreation room, with full permission of the priest! Prior to this he hadn’t made any garage recordings of them.

Originally, the song was going to be titled “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” but Marilyn Monroe had recorded a song with that title for a movie of the same name.

Using a Roberts Crossfield 770 reel-to-reel recorder and two cardioid dynamic microphones, which Lou and his friend Don purchased for the occasion from Lafayette Electronics in San Francisco, they recorded five or six takes each of “They Prefer Blondes” and “Take a Ride with Me” until the band got the one they liked.

Lou had the tracks mastered and sent to Monarch Record Mfg Co., Los Angeles. Two thousand copies were pressed circa July 1965 and the majority of them were sold for 99¢ at LeCor Camera & Hi-Fi in Millbrae, where Lou worked a part time after-school job, and at White Front Department Store in Sunnyvale, where Lou’s uncle was manager.

Despite being a local success, Lou was unhappy with the sound of SOLO 1 and decided to book time at Coast Recorders at 960 Bush St. in San Francisco to record a follow-up.

Coast Recorders ad from the 1966 San Francisco yellow pages — from the 1966 San Francisco yellow pages

At Coast they recorded “Never Said I Loved You” and “So Hard to Bear” on a ½” 3-track vacuum tube recorder. This was Lou’s first shot at mixing, and SOLO 2 was pressed mid-September 1965.

These songs show the band developing their melodic side which they would improve upon in their next incarnation. Both songs were written by Jack Walters and arranged by Paul Studebaker.

With this brief stint at Coast under his belt, Lou begged manager Mel Tanner for a job and began helping out in the studio under the supervision of chief engineer Don Geis. It wasn’t long before Lou made his first master cut of the Beau Brummels “Don’t Talk to Strangers.”

Meanwhile the Banshees continued performing, soon landing their first recording contract.

The Ariel

In the fall of 1966 the Banshees received a deal with Bob Shad’s Mainstream label, and traveled down to L.A. to record one single, the very beautiful “It Feels Like I’m Crying” b/w “I Love You.”

This 45 was released as “The Ariel” on the Brent label (another company owned by Shad). In sound these songs are a world away from They Prefer Blondes, with excellent harmonies, introspective lyrics and a delicate melodic sense.

The words of “It Feels Like I’m Crying” are agonizing:

Many times I feel like screaming,
Many times I feel like dying,
Cause you you, you you, you you, you …
Lied and it feels like I’m crying, crying, crying.
Never will I show my feelings,
Never will I show the reason,
Why she she, she she, she she, she….
Lied and it feels like I’m crying, crying, crying.

Chris Guiver:
Through ‘65 many concerts and performances with largely original material brought an inquiry by a large record label and the band was asked to “try out” at a studio in the city. One of the other bands had a pretty good singer named Janis Joplin. Both bands were contracted to go to L.A. and record in the same studio the Rolling Stones used. What a difference from the old church recordings. Big Brother and the Holding Company could just go. The Banshees had to get parental approval. The producer then didn’t feel Janis had a present enough voice and, yes, required her to double-track her singing!
Local fame had risen and a highlight moment was a senior dance at the high school. The air was sparked with excitement. Regrettably, Paul took ill and couldn’t perform leaving the 3 to fake it. Paul was a year ahead and had gone off to Berkeley leaving the band without its leader and at the end of the ‘65/’66 year the band dispersed.

Kensington Forest

In early 1967 Jack Walters brought Lou a demo of his new song “Bells.” Lou suggested Jack assemble a band and invited them over to Coast Recorders to record it. The newly named Kensington Forest included Jack Walters, Chris Guiver, Dennis Studebaker and Jack’s sister. As the flip to “Bells,” they recorded another Jack Walters original, “Movin’ On.”

While “Movin’ On” was mixed to mono only, Lou made both stereo and mono mixes of “Bells,” and cut separate master plates for each version himself. One thousand copies were pressed with both sides in mono and another thousand made with the stereo version of “Bells” and the mono version of “Movin’ On.” According to Lou, “Bells” was the first stereo 45 engineered to be fully compatible with a mono cartridge.

Pressed at Monarch in mid-to-late May, 1967, and distributed by Melody Sales of San Francisco, “Bells” was a popular regional hit during the summer.

Lou recalls he was driving down El Camino Real listening to “The Emperor” Gene Nelson on KYA when suddenly “Bells” was introduced. It was the first time he heard the 45 played over the radio and he describes it as a peak experience, having stopped his car mid-road to jump up and down ecstatic. Not far away the rest of the band, driving around together in Jack’s car, were doing the same on California Drive!

“Bells” has a rougher sound than the polish of the Ariel 45, but the harmonies and melodic talent are still there, along with some fine guitar work. “Movin’ On” shows the influence of the early San Francisco ballroom groups like the Charlatans and the Dead. If anyone has a better quality transfer of Bells in stereo, please get in touch.

Chris Guiver:
Dennis and I went to San Jose State the next year as dorm-mates. We stayed in touch with Jack who went to Berkeley too but dropped out after a short time wishing to continue writing songs. After a short time, Dennis met a yogi and disappeared into the spiritual only reuniting with me at the 20-year high school class reunion.
Jack and I, with another Bob, formed a group after high school. Jack’s originals, including “Oddie the Troll”, were recorded but Bob was an enthusiast of “The Who”, which didn’t always fly even though Jack was competent in the lead guitaring. I played drums. The group did record probably Jack’s greatest work “Wine Flower” for the guy who produced “Go Granny Go!” in L.A. “Wine Flower” included a string section with tremendous arrangement and harmony – along the lines of the Banshees’ “I Love You”. It is a great misfortune that Jack took mentally ill shortly after.

Gypsum Heaps

Paul Rose of Fantasy Records took an interest in “Bells” and introduced Lou to Max Weiss and Saul Zaentz. After hearing “Bells”, Max offered to distribute Lou’s fledgling Bay Sound Productions and gave Lou a job as sound engineer with Fantasy.

In late 1967 Lou placed audition ads in the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner looking for new bands to record for Bay Sound Productions. By the end of the year he began releasing records on his new Onyx label, one 45 each by the Styx (Onyx 2200); the Tears (Onyx 2201); Weird Herald (Onyx 2202); and Gypsum Heaps (Onyx 2203); with Mark Darnell an unconfirmed 5th artist.

Chris Guiver:
I continued in music and minored at San Jose State, studying and playing bass. I hooked up with Rick Quintinel who became a top California drummer. Rick was connected with the East Bay sound and he and I joined together as a funky rhythm section for soul bands. During that time Rick and I played jazz too and hooked up with a group in “the 10th Street House” that was music 24/7. Two cool things transpired.
By chance, I neighbored with Pat Simmons who became the founder of the “Doobie Brothers”. I used to back him up on bass when all he wanted to perform was James Taylor and “would never go electric”. Tommy Johnson, the Doobie’s lead guitar connected with Pat at “the house” and the rest is history (noting Pat did go electric when Tommy’s Chicago Blues-style got him and they wrote songs that produced a lucrative Warner Brother’s deal.)
Wandering through the East Bay sound playing funk, Rick and I formed a band called “Gypsum Heaps”. Full rhythm section, organ and horns. The singers were Rufus Miller, the original lead singer for “Tower of Power” and Rat his gospel cousin. Hot. I wrote a song called “Would You Love”, which was recorded at Fantasy Records – the other side of the record was the Banshees’ “Movin’ On” by Jack Walters. One can easily imagine the song arranged as a “Tower of Power”. The release landed a concert for 20,000 people with “Santana” as the headliner. The Banshees lived on.
The Banshees were a unique bunch with a great love of all types of music, deep friendships and many talents. If an arrangement called for it, one might say to the other – “I think it would be better if I played guitar and you played drums so I can sing easier”. The other would respond – “Sounds good, lets do it”.
It is a great experience and honor to have played with and known The Banshees, The Ariel and Kensington Forest all of whom were the same guys in different musical venues. It is a trip after 40 years to once again hear some of our music through the efforts of Garage Hangover.

Thank you to Dan for the clips of “Never Said I Loved You” and “So Hard to Bear”. Special thanks to George Guiver for the photo of the band playing outside the Hyatt Theater, and for putting us in contact with his brother Chris.

This article written by Chris Bishop and Jason Sweitzer.

Categories: Barcelona, Dimension, Spain

Pan & Regaliz

April 16, 2008 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

I bought this single when I was in Spain last month. Pan & Regaliz were part of a great scene of progressive psychedelic music in Barcelona around 1970.

On “Magic Colors” they float phased vocals and flute over a heavy beat as the guitar shifts from syncopated chords to full-on riffing during the chorus. The flip “A Song for Friends” is in the tradition of vaudeville, certainly the very worst choice of genre for any band to revive, so I won’t feature it here.

The band started in the Gracia district of Barcelona as Els Mussols (Muchuelos) in 1967, a teenage Catalan folk group who were part of the local “Nova Canço” movement. In 1969 they changed musical direction, renaming themselves Agua de Regaliz (translates as Licorice Water), which comes from a series of childrens’ books by Richmal Crompton about a boy named William.

At the start of 1970, they recorded for Angel Fabregas’ company Als 4 Vents, under its Diabolo imprint. Their first single was “Waiting in the Munster’s Garden” / “When You Are So Bringdown”. I’d say their sound at this point is reminiscent of early Jethro Tull.

By the start of 1971 Als 4 Vents was having legal and financial problems with its distributor, Movieplay, causing the band to jump ship and sign with the Dimension subsidiary of the Ekipo label of Barcelona. The group wanted to rename the band Pan, but added Regaliz so people would recognize their former incarnation as Agua de Regaliz.

The band at this point consisted of Guillen Paris on vocals, flute and harp; Alfons ‘Muiti’ Bou guitar; Artur Domingo bass and Pedro Van Eeckout on drums and percussion.

As Pan & Regaliz, they released their next singles “Dead of Love” / “Thinking of Mary”, followed by “Magic Colours” / “A Song for the Friends”.

In May of ’71 they went into Miguel Casas’ Gema studio in Barcelona to record a few more songs for their LP, and on May 22nd they played a major outdoor music festival in Granollers. However, soon after their album’s release Pedro Van Eeckout left to join a jazz-rock group, Jarka, with keyboardist Jordi Sabates. Arturo Domingo went into the final line-up of the German-Spanish group Evolution, who had also cut some excellent psychedelia on the Dimension label.

Guillem Paris remade the group with former Agua de Regaliz drummer Arturo “La Paca Ferocisima,” then recorded a solo album that was rejected by his label for being too uncommercial.

For some reason I’ve only ever heard Magic Colors in mono, while all their other work appears in stereo on reissues. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Sources include: La Caja de Musica

Categories: Arkansas, Little Rock, My Records

The Light Brigade “Baby You Don’t Care”

April 13, 2008 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

The Light Brigade were the three Cole brothers and their friends from Little Rock, Arkansas. They released their first 45 on the My label in 1967, which included James Williams on lead guitar.

“Baby You Don’t Care” rides a great fuzz tone while “Won’t You Tell Me” is much gentler. Both these songs were written by Dean Cole and bassist Lonnie Cole. Ray Cole was the other brother in the group.

“Lonnie’s Song” is from 1969, released on the E&M label.

The Light Brigade stopped playing touring around 1971 but continued to play locally.

Thank you to Angela for correcting the name of her father – James Williams, not Williamson as I had read from a comment.

Anyone have photos of the group, especially from the early years?

Later members include John Redam. More info on the band and names of other musicians who played with the Light Brigade would be appreciated.

Categories: Robin Hood Studios (Tyler), Texas

Cecil Cotten, 1945-2008

April 10, 2008 Chris Bishop 27 Comments

I’m very sad to report that Cecil Cotten passed away on Friday, April 4, in Winnsboro, TX, at the age of 62.

Cecil was lead singer of the Briks, one of the great bands to come out of Dallas in the 1960s. He composed the lyrics for many of their songs, including “Foolish Baby”, “It’s Your Choice”, and “Can You See Me”. His singing on “It’s Your Choice” shows a maturity that no other vocal from the era matches, and he was only about 20 years old at the time.

When the Briks broke up, Cecil played for a short time in Texas with three members of the Chessmen: Jimmie Vaughan, Tommy Carter and Billy Etheridge, plus Sammy Piazza on drums. They were managed by Jimmy Rabbit and recorded some songs at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler which have never been released.

In 1969 he moved to San Francisco and started Benny, Cecil & the Snakes with Benny Roe, Keith Ferguson, Steve Karnavas and Steve Davis. The Snakes played house parties for the publishers of Zap Comix, the Rip Off Press.

In recent years Cecil and former Briks bandmate Mike Neal recorded a CD of blues-inspired songs as The Pickin’ Cotten Band.

It’s one of my great regrets that I never met Cecil, and his music will always mean a great deal to me.

Categories: Freemont, LSK, Nebraska

The Brākmen

April 9, 2008 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

At the Brāk-Up Club, l-r: Tom Schultz, Gordon Kruse, Jim Ladd, Bob Kellogg, Jerry Ladd, and Landy Landholm.
The band just prior to recording the 45.

The Brākmen came from the town of Freemont, Nebraska a short drive northwest of Omaha. Lowell Reithmuller (keyboards), Bob Kellogg (guitar), and Gordon Kruse (guitar) formed the Brakemen while in high school in 1963. Other early members include Ken McMahon on guitar and Kent Armstrong on drums. In 1964 they found first Gene Starmer then Dave Nelson to play bass, and Jerry Ladd from another local group the Fugitives, on drums. With the addition of Jerry’s older brother Jim Ladd, they became the Six Wild Brākmen.

They gave their first live show in April, 1965 at the DeMolay building in Freemont, but a Battle of the Bands at the Armory was their first big performance; a home-made light show helped them win. They became known for their wild stage antics and shouted vocals. They started playing at a teen club in Omaha called Sandy’s Escape, and soon became house band at the Brāk-Up Club in Fremont and toured into Colorado and Iowa.

After many personnel changes, the lineup at the time of recording was Jim Ladd on vocals, his younger brother Jerry on drums, and Gordon Kruse and Bob Kellogg on guitars, Landy Landholm on keyboards and Eric Stark on bass.

In 1967 they traveled to A1 Studio in Council Bluffs, Iowa to record a 45 financed by Jim and Jerry’s father, Jack Ladd. ‘Minutes & Minutes’ really cooks, propelled by a fat, fuzzed-out guitar line, organ and good use of horns, with some great shouting. It was written by Stark and Kruse.

‘Movin’, written by Jim Ladd and Bob Kellogg is more controlled but equally intense. Jerry keeps up a constant beat on the toms, while Eric makes some Entwistle-like runs on the bass and the horns repeat a line in the background. I’m not sure how they decided to add horns to these tracks, or who plays them.

The label name, LSK was taken from the initials of the members’ last names. The record sold well locally, and a second 45 on LSK Nitey Nite is rumored to exist, but may have never been released.

Soon after the record’s release, the band almost signed with Kasenetz and Katz, but Jim Ladd was drafted and other members wanted to stay in college to keep their student deferments. The band continued until 1969, when Jerry Ladd was drafted. In 2001 the Brākmen were inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.

Sources: The Nebraska Music Hall of Fame and the 7 Legends site (http://www.geocities.com/the7legends/thebrakmen.html – now defunct) site both have lots of information, photos and recollections of the Brākmen.

Categories: Durham, East Coast Sound, North Carolina

The Si-Dells

April 7, 2008 Chris Bishop 1 Comment

Hubert Deans was organ player for the Durham, North Carolina band the Si-Dells in 1968, when they recorded his song “Watch Out Mother” for the East Coast Sound label, produced by Don Scoggins.

Hubert gives the history of the band in his own words:

The Si-Dells was the first “real” band I was in. In those days bands would typically reorganize in the summer, due to people going off to college.
The Si-Dells were started by:
Keith Thompson on guitar
John Thomson on drums
Lee James on guitar
They advertised in the Durham Herald-Sun for an organ player. That’s where I came in and brought a bass player named Joe Kirschner.
Charlie Clark joined last to play sax. However, Charlie played piano on both sides of the the record – no sax.
Side A was a sappy love song called “She’s The Only Girl For Me”, nothing like “Watch Out Mother”.
The record was recorded “live” in a studio that was built and run by a HVAC contractor. It was a converted corner of his warehouse. It was located at the intersection of 751 and HWY 70 across the street from Jacobs glass.
The record was actually the second recording of the song. The first (and probably better) version was lost by the pressing plant. We were called at around 3pm one Saturday and told to come back in and re-record it. We did and still managed to make our gig later that night.
I left the Si-Dells to join the Bondsmen. I replaced Gene Galligan in the Bondsmen when he went off to college. We (Bondsmen) recorded several tapes but never released anything else.
Q. Listening to the lyrics closely, is Watch Out Mother about a nuclear winter?
No, it’s just about the “natural” end of the world. It was the result of a homework assignment in the tenth grade. The teacher told us to choose a poem by Robert Frost and write one of our own, similar to the one we picked. It was easier for me to write a song and then use the lyrics as a poem. The big news story at the time was a cold spell all across the country, sub zero in the midwest and even in single digits here in NC. It sort of inspired me to go in that direction.
Plus, there was a TV commercial at the time about margarine featuring Mother Nature. The narrator tries to fool mother nature into thinking it’s butter. She ends up causing thunder and lightning and saying “it’s not nice to fool mother nature”. I guess the song was just a product of what was going on in my life at the time. Or maybe a premonition about the greenhouse effect we are seeing now.
After the Bondsmen, I joined a group called “Daze End” which later changed names to Still Creek Band and in 1974 released “Can I Move You”, an international release on MCA. We were pick hit of the week in the UK and Japan, but never sold enough records to amount to anything – no chart action. It’s so bizarre to me that the first thing I ever did seems to be stirring up the most notoriety.
Keith Thompson went on to play with Staircase Band and is still in Durham. His brother John is still around too, I believe, though I haven’t seen him in a while.
Lee James worked for IBM and I haven’t seen him since the 80s. If he’s still around it would probably be in Raleigh. Charlie worked for IBM also. Don’t know what ever happened to him. Joe Kirschner left the state with his family before we graduated from high school (’69). Haven’t heard from him since.

Thanks to Hubert for sharing the history of the band, and for the scan of the 45. Hubert runs the Snow Hill Music recording studio in Hillsborough.

Categories: Ohio, Pla Me Records, Wooster

Me and the Guys

April 7, 2008 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Me and the Guys were a band from Wooster, Ohio, southwest of Akron.

“I Can’t Take It” / “Why Can’t You Be True” is a double-sided winner from 1966, both sides written by Culp and Taylor.

My copy is autographed with the following names: Joel Culp, Tommy Taylor, Bill Ross and Steve Young.

Since posting this, I see Buckeye Beat has the full story on the group, including a couple additional photos from George’s collection.

The only other garage band I know of on the Ohio label Pla Me are the Oceans. This label doesn’t seem to be connected with the Pla-Me label located in Muskogee, Oklahoma, that released the Standels’ (not the Standells) ‘Let’s Go’ 45 as well as rockabilly 45s by Curtis Long, Walter Perkins, Jimmie Belden, and Gene Mooney & Joanie Hardesty.

Categories: Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Unknown, Wayne

The Escape Machine

April 5, 2008 Chris Bishop 1 Comment

The Escape Machine produced their own 45, recorded at Wayne Sound in a small town called Jersey Shore, located not anywhere close to what most east coast folks would think of as the Jersey Shore. It’s in central Pennsylvania, about 50 miles northeast of State College and 95 miles north of Harrisburg.

“Stop!” is a gloomy psychedelic piece written by M. Paige and A. Womer.

The flip, “I’ll Go on Loving You” is totally different, a country vocal written by K. Shingara and E. Shingara. Engineer on both tracks was J. Goditus.

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