BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
THE FIRST SUNDAY, JULY 9TH 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MEETING, AUGUST 13TH 2:00 PM THE SECOND SUNDAY
THE BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS 2023 RECORD SHOW
The 38th annual BRC Record Show will be held Friday-Sunday, August 18-20 at the Gardendale Civic Center. If you are a dealer who would like to check on table availability, please contact Joe Reddick at 205-655-3108 between 1:00 PM until 9:30 PM, Central Time.
We are also going to need volunteers. Be ready to step up and help when the time comes. Thanks.
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
We had a great time meeting Shari Graye last month and seeing all the great memorabilia and hearing so many great stories about Southeastern Attractions and Peace Concerts and the artists her husband, Richard Dingler brought to town and the southeast. He was ahead of his time and had a vision not many had at the time.
Our July meeting will be when we put address labels and stamps on the postcards we send out as one of our ways of advertising the record show in August. There will be over 2,000 postcards to prepare so we need volunteers so if you are available, please drop by. Thanks.
MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS
I was given some info about a song a while back that got me thinking about other songs that had the same words in the title. More about that song later but first let’s quickly mention some well-known pop/rock song titles that mentioned these two words – Mountain & River.
Remember ‘Mountain Of Love’, ‘Over the Mountain, Across The Sea’, The great Doo Wop song, ‘Up On The Mountain’, and their own answer song ‘Off The Mountain’, ‘Wolverton Mountain’, ‘Rocky Mountain Way’, ‘The Mountain’s High’, ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, (You’ve Got To) Move Two Mountains’, ‘Rocky Mountain High’, and of course ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ just to name a few. And some of the ‘river’ songs are ‘Moody River’, Moon River’, ‘Green River’, ‘Cry Me A River, ‘Whiskey River’, ‘Take Me To The River’, ‘Red River Rock’, ‘Lazy River’, ‘Goin’ To The River’, and the classic ‘Ol Man River’. Just something to think about and I know you have others on your mind. Now down to business at hand.
The song that was brought to my attention was Ike & Tina’s Turner’s ‘River Deep-Mountain High’. What was mentioned about the sons was the possibility of where the title came from. I know you remember the song ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’. A song written in 1946 with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Harold Arlen. It was a song written for the Broadway musical, St. Louis Woman. Over the years the song was recorded by Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Connie Francis, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra. Looking at the lyrics, in the 3rd line you will find, ‘High as mountain and deep as a river’. Is this where Phil Spector along with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich got their ideal for a song that was a flop to begin with but now is considered a classic?
When this info was brought to my attention, thanks Al, it brought back to my mind how much I did like this song and some of the covers of it so I thought I’d look into the popularity of Tina’s original thinking it was a HIT! But boy was I wrong.
When most people hear the names Ike and Tina Turner they think of a very successful pop/rock/R&B duo. Again, not so. Yes they are remembered for some fun music but their biggest achievement was having two Top 20 pop hits and six Top 10 R&B hits. So why is a song that only made it to #33 on the pop charts and did nothing on the R&B charts now considered a classic? Here is a little of the story of Ike & Tina, Phil Spector and ‘River Deep-Mountain High’.
Phil was interested in recording Tina using the session band known as the ‘wrecking crew’ and his ‘wall of sound’ technique. After he purchased the duo’s contract from Loma Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros for $20,000 they signed with Philles Records. Spector then had the studio musicians lay down the backtrack. There were 21 musicians brought in to record the track. Included in that number were notables such as Leon Russell (keyboards), Barney Kessel (guitar), Glen Campbell (guitar), Earl Palmer (drums) and Carol Kaye (bass). Background singers were made up of The Blossoms, including Darlene Love, Fanita James, Jean King, Gracia Nitzsche plus Clydie King who sang backup with Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, Steeley Dan and also on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. The song was arranged by Jack Nitzsche and of course produced by Spector. Over the years I never thought of this song as a ‘wall of sound’ production but it is definitely that.
One type song I have always enjoyed listening to were songs where the singer and/or the music were very powerful. If you know songs like Marty Robbins’ ‘I Walk Alone’, Frankie Laine’s ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’, also covered by the likes of Elvis and Marty Robbins, Gene Pitney’s ‘I’m Gonna Be Strong’ and one of my favorites of this type, Timi Yuro’s, ‘Hurt’ you will know what I am talking about. Tina and the band made this a powerful song from start to finish. After Tina’s first studio appearance Spector did not like how it went so he brought her back and had Tina sing the song over and over for several hours until he was satisfied. Tina has been quoted as saying that she ‘must have sang that song 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing.’ And let me mention now that Ike did not appear on the recording although he wanted the release to say Ike & Tina. Spector has said that he asked Ike to come to the studio but he did not show up until Tina was doing the vocals the second time.
As was stated earlier, the record only made it to #33 on the pop charts and did not appear on the R&B charts. The success of the record was overseas. It was released on the London label in Europe and peaked at #3 in the UK, #9 in the Netherlands and made #1 in Spain. Why the failure in the US? Ike said the failure was due to having Tina’s name on it making the white stations stay away as too R&B and the black stations didn’t like the mixture of black singers with a white pop sound. The white stations said it was too black and black stations said it was too white, so the record didn’t have a home.’ An album was scheduled to be released in the US but because of the failure of the 45 the album never was released. It was released in the UK.
But for some reason the recording did begin receiving accolades many years later. It is #33 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The British magazine, New Musical Express ranks it # 37 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has it on their list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Why so long before the song was recognized I do not know but it was over-due.
I heard a saying years ago that went like this, ” ‘They Say’ makes fools of us all”. Well, I’ll change that a little for this part and say that some people speculate that the failure of ‘River Deep-Mountain High’ made Spector withdraw from the music industry for a while and started his personal decline.
And one more note, many artists have covered the song. The first cover version I remember was on an LP I bought in 1967 in Pensacola, FL. It was the Easybeats LP and although I bought the LP for the hit, ‘Friday On MY Mind’, there was ‘River Deep-Mountain High’. And let me say the whole LP is worth listening to including this cover. In 1968 Deep Purple and The Animals did a cover of the song and brought the song back to the attention of the public so the original Tina Turner version was released by A&M Records in 1969 but still the original did not chart. Over 120 covers have been done of a song that that never barely made the Top 40 pop chart. So, if you are not familiar with Tina’s version, go listen and see what you think. Be sure to put yourself back in 1966 to be fair. But to me it was and still is a classic. Tina’s voice was something as a young singer and it was the same over the years. Many people could not have done this to their voice for that many years, I am sure. She will be missed but her recordings are here for us to enjoy.
Tina’s 1966 original Philles recording
1989 live version on youtube at the R&R Hall of Fame induction
Check out who all was on stage with Tina and 23 years later she still had that voice
ROCKIN’ RECORDS
Over the years many of you have owned a copy of Jerry Osborne’s record price guide called Rockin’ Records. As most of you know it is now out-of-print and will not be printed in book form again. But if you like his format and want the newest edition of his guide it can now be purchased as a pdf and be put on your laptop, flash drive, tablet, notebook and other portable devices. For more info click HERE.
See ya,
Charlie