Categories: Davenport, Dym-a-Nite, Golden Voice Recording Studio, Iowa

Tabernash “Head Collect”

January 13, 2017 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Contents Are continued until around 1972, when they changed their name to Tabernash and moved from Davenport, Iowa to Westminster, Colorado, just northwest of Denver. Prior to their move, they made this one single on Dym-a-Nite, the only release they would have under the Tabernash name.

The members of Tabernash were Craig Hute, Dave Neumann, Paul Staack and Mick Orton.

“Head Collect” is an excellent rocker written by Craig Hute. The song dates back to 1969, when a demo was recorded at Columbia studios in Chicago. The single is 44 seconds shorter, quicker in tempo, with a drier sound than the Columbia studio demo, but both are excellent performances.

“Out of the Cold” is another original by Craig Hute, again dating back a couple years, this time to a demo session at Golden Voice Recording Studio in Pekin, Illinois from 1969 or 1970. The Dym-a-Nite 45 is more sparse and plain in production than the Golden Voice demo, and is also 90 seconds shorter. Songs from that session will be released by Alona’s Dream Records in 2017.

The deadwax contains a “tulip” marking that indicates Wakefield in Arizona pressed the single, with a five digit code dating it to February 1972. Both sides have publishing by Sarfran / Unichappel BMI, and “Produced by Tabernash for Experience Group” and “Dist. by the Clouds, Bellville, Ill”.

When I sent scans and audio of the Dym-a-Nite single to Mick Orton, he didn’t recall it. After speaking to Craig Hute, he reported back that one of their managers, Spence Stein owned the Dym-a-Nite label and worked with someone at Unichappel to release the single. The band didn’t hear it until they had made the move to Westminster, but they disliked the quality of the pressing.

Mick Orton has posted photos and info about Tabernash and the later Contents Are on his extensive website. I highly recommend checking it out.

Thank you to Mike Markesich for the Wakefield pressing info.

Categories: Cadet, Chess, Missouri, St. Louis, Stack

The Happy Return

January 9, 2017 Chris Bishop 10 Comments

The Happy Return came from St. Louis, Missouri, releasing two very different 45s in the space of a couple years.

Members at the time of the Cadet single were:

Steve Noack – vocals, lead guitar
Tom Noack – rhythm guitar
Jim Cunningham – organ
Jimmy Albright – bass
Rich Carrell – drums

In November 1967 the Happy Return released a very good Steve Noack original in the Beatles style, “Longed For”, backed with another original “Maybe”, and issued Steve’s own Stack Records TS-XM510. The publisher, Country Stream Music BMI mainly handled country and gospel songs.

In July of 1968 Steve Noack had a light pop single as Steve Lee on the R.S.S.P. Inc label featuring his original “She’s Afraid to Answer” as the b-side to “Baby” (by G. Tomsco, B. Tomsco).

Missouri Music BMI published “She’s Afraid to Answer”. Missouri Music’s biggest copyrights seem to be on the Norman label, including “Rockin’ Little Egypt” by the Egyptian Combo and “Jerkin’ Time” by Bob Kuban with vocalist Little Walter.

The Happy Return next appear in June 1969 on the Cadet label with a great double-sided single featuring two more Steve Noack originals with great production by Norman Petty at his Clovis, NM studio. The plug side at the time was “I Thought I Loved Her”, a gentle ballad with keyboards making harpsichord and flute sounds. The Library of Congress registration for “I Thought I Loved Her” in April 1969 shows words by Rich Carrell and music by Steve Noack.

The flip is the very different and hard-rockin’ “To Give Your Lovin’”, full of crunching guitar and heavy drumming. Both songs list Steve Noack as writer and Heavy Music, Friedman-Collins Music BMI as publisher.

“I Thought I Loved Her” showed up as a “hitbound sound” in a weekly chart of Saint Charles, Missouri’s KIRL 1460 AM that August, but otherwise seems to have missed all radio charts despite being on Cadet. The band broke up the following year.

On the Cadet labels, the band’s manager Stan Friedman is listed as producer of the single. He was a booking agent in St. Louis with a University City address.

Info from Alec Palao’s notes to Get Ready to Fly: Pop-Psych from the Norman Petty Vaults on Big Beat Records, which also have two small photos of the group.

Categories: DJ and Radio gigs

WGXC New Year’s Eve benefit in Hudson NY

December 30, 2016 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

I haven’t been promoting my own DJ nights on this site much, but this one is special: a New Year’s Eve party to benefit local community radio station WGXC 90.7 FM. Admission is only $10 all of which goes to the station.

There will be a live band featuring Bobby Previte bashing out some rocking r&b, with DJ sets by Peter Aaron of the Chrome Cranks and me.

If you’re in the Albany / Kingston / Hudson NY area please come out and support community radio.

Saturday, December 31, 2016, 10 PM to 2 AM

The Half Moon
48 S Front St
Hudson, NY 12534

Easy walk to the Amtrak station. 21 and over. Food and drink available.

Happy New Year!

Categories: England, Essex, Parlophone, Southend-on-Sea, Westcliff-on-Sea

Nigel Basham (Mark Loyd of the Monotones)

December 29, 2016 Chris Bishop 3 Comments

Westcliff High School for Boys circa 1958: Nigel Basham, Arthur Walker, Martin Bayley, Chris Winch, Selwyn, Ian Crawshaw. — Westcliff High School for Boys circa 1958. Nigel Basham is third from the left, with Arthur Walker on Nigel’s right doing the V-sign. Others in the group include Martin Bayley, Chris Winch, Selwyn, and seated, smoking, Ian Crawshaw.

Tim Wainwright sent in this photo of Nigel Basham with school friends at at Westcliff High School for Boys, circa 1958. Not bad quality from a worn 3″ x 2″ print. Tim wrote the caption above and adds, “the pic is a group from the school having a smoke by the bike sheds, totally against school rules.”

Nigel Basham was part of the Monotones, covered extensively on this site in a main post and a second focused on photos of their early days. In the Monotones, Nigel took the professional name of Mark Loyd, sometimes spelled Mark Lloyd.

As Mark Loyd, he released three singles on Parlophone, timeless British soul music that is highly valued now. Mark Loyd passed away on April 4, 2012 in Sydney, Australia, where he ran a successful event and performance management company called Popset.

Categories: Chicago, Gear, Glenview, Illinois

The Nightshades on Gear

December 29, 2016 Chris Bishop 17 Comments

Flyer for the Nightshades with WLS DJ Ron Riley at A Better Mouse Trap Club in Vernon Hills

The Nightshades formed as the Deadly Nightshades at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, IL, a suburb of Chicago. The group’s lineup changed, sometimes to a quartet or trio format, but included at various times:

Gary Schaeffer – vocals
Bob Zemke – lead guitar
Larry LaCoste – rhythm guitar
Phil Jernigan, replaced by Tom Lavin – bass
Don Locke, replaced by Kenny LaCoste – drums

I only have one of their singles, the second of three the band released on Gear Records in 1967 and 1968.

The first was “Summertime” / “Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight” on Gear 747/8.

“Summertime” and the Kinks cover are cool enough, but I like the original songs on their second single on Gear C 749/750, “Flying High” and especially the heavier “American Boy” with its sustained guitar sound and lyrics that would tell an interesting story if I could decipher more of them. The labels list Zemke, La Cost, Jernigan as writers for both songs, published by Gear Music BMI, with arrangement by Bob Zemke, plus Gear Enterprises, c/o Ed Zemke.

Their last single was “Sweet Cecelia” / “My Mother Done Told Me (That You Were a Lover)” on Gear 751/2.

Flyer for the Nightshades at The Exit on 1810 Walters Ave

Deborah Fortune wrote to me with the flyers for the Nightshades at The Exit and the Mouse Trap. She wrote to me:

Nick Rush was their first drummer. Sometime in 1965 or so. He lives in California now. I went to high school with Larry and Kenny, Bob, Nick and Gary. Gary Schaefer is alive, Nick is too. Bob Zemke died when we were all kids in high school. Bob’s dad was the band’s manager.
I grew up on the Northshore; Glenview, and went to all the different teen clubs. I found it interesting, looking back, that the Glenview Park District forked over its golf course clubhouse to be used as a teen club every Friday and Saturday night. That was The Pit. They also supplied an off duty policeman. Why, I was never sure as we certainly were not a rowdy bunch back then.

Categories: Belmont, Kidd Glove, Mississippi

Billy Stephens on Kidd Glove

December 27, 2016 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

Billy Stephens seems to have been based in Belmont, Mississippi, about 45 miles north east of Tupelo, and three hours southwest of Nashville. According to a comment online, he died at age 55, which would be sometime around the year 2000. I can find no obituary or biography, but here is what I know:

Billy Stephens registered two songs in June 1963, the intriguingly-titled “Rice Paddies” and “I Need Wanda”. Unfortunately, neither seem to have been released. I wonder if demo acetates exist of these songs.

Starting around 1966, he did release three singles of excellent original songs on his own Kidd Glove label.

The first was Kidd Glove 101, credited to Billy Stephens & the Nashville Casts. One side was the amazingly brooding “Baby You Got Me” while the flip is the country “Lumber Jack”. “Baby You Got Me” almost defies description, not exactly garage and really has to be heard.

I’m not sure of the date for this one, the NRC # 510 indicates pressing at National Recording Corporation’s plant in Atlanta, sometime between late 1966 to mid 1967.

Next he released an excellent instrumental, “Sneak Attack” backed with one I haven’t heard yet, “Shirley”, on Kidd Glove 301 with a redesigned label and motto, “The Sound That Leaves You Breathless”.

The third single was the rockabilly “Dozen Diamond Man” b/w an offbeat harmony jangler, “There’s a Time” on Kidd Glove 302. Lyrics for “There’s a Time” are hard to make out, but seem to be about how his teenage queen got locked up “they took her far away, said she had to pay”. This single was released in 1967 with a b&w photo sleeve.

All of his songs were published by Kidd Glove Music BMI, though I can’t find registrations for all of them.

Certainly this was an artist with a lot of talent and originality.

Categories: Michigan, Smoke, South Haven

The Smoke featuring Mark Sheldon

December 24, 2016 Chris Bishop 10 Comments

“Half Past the End” by the Smoke is hard-rocking and heavy on the keyboards, which I don’t usually like, but it has some lead guitar work that hooks me, and features a solid performance by the entire group.

The group included Mark Sheldon, who had played bass for the Mussies on their 1967 Fenton single, “12 O’Clock July” which is a great psychedelic take on Link Wray’s “Jack the Ripper” b/w one of the better versions of “Louie Go Home”.

Other members of the Mussies were Chic Ericksen (lead vocals), Paul Knapp or Paul Nabb (lead guitar), Tom Mann (rhythm guitar) and Bill Johnson (drums). I don’t know if any of them played on the Smoke single from late 1968.

The Mussies & the Smoke came out of South Haven, Michigan. Mark Sheldon wrote both songs on the Smoke single, “Half Past the End” and the flip, “My Mama”. Both published by Rise Music, Inc. BMI. Mark Edward Sheldon registered the copyright for “Half Past the End” with the Library of Congress in February 1969.

The Smoke single was produced by Sheldon-Pielert, the Pielert standing for Fred Pielert, the manager of the band with his wife, Gail Ostrow.

The ARP stamp in the deadwax indicates the American Record Pressing Co. in Owosso, MI, pressing number 1316.

I’ve seen promo and stock copies of this 45, and all seem to have stickers listing the band as the Smoke. Mark Sheldon’s name is underneath.

There’s not much info on the Smoke out there (or the Mussies for that matter). I gleaned a little from the Grand Rapids Rocks site.

Categories: Belleville, Blast, New Jersey

The Mark V on Blast Records

December 20, 2016 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

I don’t have any info on the Mark V other than what’s on the labels. BMI lists the “Mark V” as the song writer for “I Want To Say”, so that indicates the band members were L. Cerame, G. Snow, R. Eder, T. Montanino, and R. Hackling.

The b-side “You Make Me Lose My Mind” is the wilder of the two songs; Jack Provenzano is the writer. Unfortunately it’s not on youtube right now, but it’s worth seeking out for the weird scream after the opening drum roll.

Released on Blast 215 in 1964. Vincent Catalano (Vinnie) owned the Blast label, and also had the Sinclair, Whale, Mermaid, and Camay Records labels with Don Ames. Blast is known for doo wop, especially “Coney Island Baby” by the Excellents. Basil Bova did some A&R work for the Blast label.

The best source of info on Vince Catalano that I could find is from the Double Dates of Luck Records.

The Mark V single comes towards the end of the Blast catalog. New York City was my best guess on the band, but it turns out they were a Belleville, New Jersey group.

Categories: Goldust, Las Cruces, New Mexico

The Outer Limits on Goldust Records

December 19, 2016 Chris Bishop 12 Comments

The Outer Limits on top of Amador Hotel, 1966, from left: Jim Westbrook, Pete Hecker, John LeDuc and Jerry Bachman. Photo from elpasomusicians.blogspot.com — The Outer Limits, 1966, from left: Jim Westbrook, Pete Hecker, John LeDuc and Jerry Bachman

Years ago, Wayland L. Davis wrote a detailed story about his time with the Outer Limits, and the Las Cruces, New Mexico music scene he grew up in. He was going to expand on it for publication in Garage Hangover, but then we lost contact. I won’t publish it since I haven’t received his permission, but I will include a little info about the band from our email back in 2009:

I grew up in Las Cruces and was one of the original members of the Outer Limits. I left the group before they recorded with Golddust. But, I helped write “The Waves” and “Walking Away” long before that, and we recorded our first version of both songs with Steve Crosno.
Keith Hackney [of the Four Dimensions] lived a block away from me and taught me how to play a barre chord, which led to me playing rhythm guitar for the Outer Limits and Pete Hecker playing bass.
The original Outer Limits were Jim Westbrook, Wayland Davis, Pete Hecker and multiple drummers. First, Jerry Savage and later Jerry Bachman. We named ourselves after the TV show and not the Markettes “Out of Limits” song. John LeDuc [was] my replacement as I left the band before this picture and Goldust recordings.

Categories: Galena, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Unknown

The Apaches on Galena Records

December 11, 2016 Chris Bishop 1 Comment

I can’t find much info on the Apaches, who had one single on Galena Records out of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1966. One side is a pleasant original song, “Please Understand” by Burgess, Tousley. My copy is too scratchy to include a sound file, sorry.

The flip is a cover of “Heart of Stone”, which sounds like it features a different lead singer.

The Apaches was an RCA custom pressing, TK4M-4746/7, from late 1966, released as Galena G-131.

There was one other garage 45 on Galena Records, the Executives, who did a good original, “Why Make Me Cry” by T. Carter, Brock, Hoffman, G. Carter, Teaff, b/w “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better When You Are Gone”, also released in 1964.

Though the label for “Please Understand” lists Galena Music BMI, I can’t find copyright registration with the Library of Congress, or for the Executives song.

I find a number of registrations with Galena Music from 1964 and 1965, including: “Just Another Night”, “Gonna Find Me Someone” and “Moon Girl” by Roy L. Ferguson and Leroy Duncan, “Tear Drops” and “This Same Old Heart” by Sam Barrett, “Lonely Hours” by Roy Ferguson, Lercy Duncan and Autry Rutledge, “My Castle by the Sea” by David Vowell and Autry Rutledge, and “Back Up, Back Out” by Roy Ferguson, Leroy Duncan and Connie Rutledge, but these all seem to be country or pop music.

The site for '60s garage bands since 2004