Before the Buckinghams, there were the Centuries, who released one fine single on the Spectra-Sound label in 1965, “I Love You No More” b/w “Yeh: It’s Alright”.
The Centuries’ members were:
Carl Giammarese – lead guitar
Nick Fortuna – rhythm guitar
Curt Bachman – bass guitar and lead vocals on “I Love You No More”
Gerald Elarde – drums and lead vocals on “Yeh; It’s Alright”
Listen to “I Love You No More” below. “Yeh; It’s Alright” is also good, especially Carl’s frantic guitar solo.
Carl Giammarese wrote on the Forgotten Hits site:
It’s Alright and I Love You No More were recorded by The Centuries in, I think, late 1964, at Lawrence and Western and I think it was the old St. Louis Insurance Building. My cousin Jerry Elarde was our drummer and lead singer (fab voice) … he sang It’s Alright. Our bass player, Curt Bachman, sang I Love You No More. I was the Lead Guitar player and Nick Fortuna was the rhythm guitar player. Both songs were written by Jeff Boyen (from Saturday’s Children). Jeff was part of a duo called Ron and Jeff, kind of folky, but they did early Beatles fabulously. These songs had nothing to do with The Buckinghams other than Nick and I became The Pulsations and then The Buckinghams.
Jeff Boyan was part of the Blackstones which included Curt Bachman for a time. The Blackstones would release four singles on the Invictus label, including a slightly different arrangement of “I Love You No More” (as Dalek/Engam: the Blackstones) in July, 1965. Boyan would go on to join Saturday’s Children with singles on Dunwich. Deb Music BMI published both songs, which were credited to “Geoff – Boyan”.
Carl Giammarese, Nick Fortuna and Curt Bachman would continue with a name change to the Pulsations, adding Dennis Tufano, Jon Poulos, and Dennis Miccoli and eventually becoming the Buckinghams. The Buckinghams first single would also come out on Spectra-Sound Records, “Sweets for My Sweet” / “Beginner’s Love”, before they were signed to U.S.A. Records.
Dan Belloc owned Spectra-Sound Records. The Centuries single has master numbers 4759-1 and 4760-1 while the Buckinghams has S-4617, which may indicate the Buckinghams was released first, but I am not sure of that.
For more info on Jeff Boyan and context on these bands, I definitely recommend Jeff Jarema’s interview with Jerry McGeorge of the Blackstones, the Shadows of Knight, and H.P. Lovecraft in Here ‘Tis #6, which can be found on the Internet Archive.
I just picked up a (Not for Sale) copy of I Love You No More /It’s All Right on Sheldon 4102 . Address Sheldon Recording Studios 1725 NO Wells Chicago Could these pre a pre-release promo of some kind. from the Recording Studio? It came out of a collection with a modest amount of regional promos. Timing 2:38/!:45 .
Hi Ken, sounds like an acetate, a lacquer-covered metal plate. It may be cold to the touch because of the metal underneath. Would be made after the recording session for the band to play back or give to a DJ or record label.
It is actually vinyl. I have found acetates before. This is flexible and not an acetate. However the label looks like a template that might have been used for acetates. The white area in the middle looks like it w designed so the Artist Record # Times and Title could be type set separately. There were 2 copies of the Spetra Sound 45 in the batch as well. The owner had connections NW IN and Chicago garage band scene
Possibly it’s a test pressing – the codes in the runout vinyl should match those on the 45s.
I will check Thanks
To clarify previous comment. I have had a number of 45 and Lp acetates before. So I know what to look for. This could be a test press based on the label info I provided in my last post. Thanks for your thoughts.