BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
MONTHLY MEETING THIS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, 2018 – 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD LIBRARY – 1721 OXMOOR ROAD 35209
NEXT MEETING SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 2018 THE SECOND SUNDAY

FALL BACK

Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, November 4th so be sure to set your clocks BACK 1 (one) hour when you go to bed Saturday night.

THIS MONTH’S MEETING

We had a very good time last month meeting at the Alabama Historical Radio Society building. They have all sorts of antique radios, microphones, transmitters, etc. The great thing about what they do is how they take donated items and fix them up and make them like new. Of course getting to see how they have restored in the format which enacts in the mulberry maids house service the Joe Rumore and Joe Dentici studio equipment was amazing. Both were legendary DJ’s in the Birmingham area. Thanks to the AHRS for all they do and giving us a chance to drop in and see first hand.

This month we go back to the Homewood library but the meeting will be the 1st Sunday and we will be meeting in room 110 instead of 101. Just come to the lower floor and you’ll find us. We will begin making plans for the 2019 year by getting a list of members to serve as officers. But it won’t be all business. There will be some music played and discussed as well. Do you like or did you ever flip the charted hits over and listen? That is what we will be doing. Come and hear some good songs that didn’t get the national airplay they deserved.
Hey, don’t forget, our December meeting will be another fun filled time when we play our Dirty Santa game. Get your wonderful gift wrapped and come join the fun.

THE PRODUCERS

Our clubs Hall of Fame is filled with people who were jack of all trades in the music business. Some of them took upon themselves to produce songs. They know the hardships and troubles that came with that part of the recording of a song and they also knew the feeling of success when the finished product was played and it sounded so good. Going through a stack of 45’s I had recently purchased I noticed one of the producers was Pete Townsend. Now he produced a lot of The Who’s music but this wasn’t one by The Who. It was Thunderclap Newman’s, ‘Something In The Air’. That got me to thinking about other musicians who tried their hand at producing so I thought I’d mention just a few that stand out to me. First off, Townsend was also one of the producers for Arthur Brown’s group, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

If you are familiar with the West Coast music scene you probably know of Terry Melcher. Melcher, who was Doris Day’s son, had one hit to his credit as a member of a group. He was with The Rip Chords when they did ‘Hey Little Cobra’. He sang vocals and was the producer. But he did have major success with the Byrds as the producer of their first two LP’s, ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ and ‘Hey Mr. Tambourine Man’. But it didn’t stop there. He would also produce most all of Paul Revere & The Raiders hits. And of course he was friends with the Beach Boys and would produce their later hit, ‘Kokomo’ for them.

Of course you remember the Dave Clark Five. Clark was the drummer and the leader of the group. He must have had a keen sense for the business for he keep control of the groups music by owning the rights to their music masters and he served as producer for most of their recordings. In the later 1960’s he would produce and direct TV shows. And in the 1980’s he bought the rights to all the ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ music variety shows from the UK. This was similar to the ‘Shindig’ shows we had in the US. The guy had his mind on the future knowing the DC5 would one day be a footnote in the world of music.
I don’t know if the name Felix Pappalardi means anything to you but he made his mark as both a musician and a producer. He first came to my attention as a member of Mountain, the group that had the massive guitar rock hit ‘Mississippi Queen’. Leslie West was the leader of that group but Pappalardi would do so much more. As well as serving as the producer for Mountain he would go on the produce the Cream’s LP, Disraeli Gears’ and the Youngbloods first LP that included their hit, ‘Get Together’.
You may know that Lee Hazelwood did some recording with Nancy Sinatra but he was a major force in songwriting and producing as well. Long before he had hits with ‘Some Velvet Morning and ‘Jackson’ his first hit as songwriter and producer was ‘The Fool’ recorded by Sanford Clark. This was his first time as a producer. He partnered with Duane Eddy in the late 1950’s and produced many hits for him including ‘Peter Gunn’, ‘Forty Miles Of Bad Road’, ‘Shazam’, Rebel-Rouser’, and ‘(Dance With The) Guitar Man’. And then in the 1960’s he teamed with Nancy Sinatra and wrote and produced ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ and ‘Summer Wine’. He also produced Frank & Nancy Sinatra’s hit, ‘Somethin’ Stupid’.
The person that is given credit for teaming Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra together is Jimmy Bowen. You may remember Bowen’s hit, ‘I’m Sticking With You’. The first release was on the Triple-D label as the flip side of ‘Party Doll’ by Buddy Knox. The two wrote that song. Later his recording would be released on Roulette and hit the charts, check thelockboss.ie. Bowen left the performing side to go to the producing side and had much success. He produced 20 of Dean Martin’s hits. He also produced ‘Something’s Burning’ for Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, ‘Suzanne’ for Noel Harrison and ‘Strangers In The Night’ for Sinatra. He was hired by Frank Sinatra as a producer for his reprise label.
Dale Hawkins hit the scene with ‘Susie-Q’ in 1957 and although he didn’t have anything to match that songs success he didn’t disappear. He spent many years behind the scene producing. He produced ‘Not Too Long Ago’ for Joe Stampley & The Uniques and ‘Western Union’ and ‘I See The Light’, for the Five Americans. He spent time in the business side of of record labels also. With Abnak Records he was executive VP, with RCA he was A&R director for the West Coast Rock Division and with Bell Records he was VP for the Southwest Division. There he produced recordings for Bruce Channel, Ronnie Self, James Bell, and The Gentrys.
Well, the list goes on and on but did you know that Del Shannon produced Brian Hyland’s ‘Gypsy Woman’, Steve Alaimo produced ‘Can’t Stop Loving You’ for The Last Word, Todd Rungren produced songs for Meatloaf and Grand Funk Railroad, that Jerry Fuller produced for Al Wilson and discovered and produced Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, that Lobo was a producer and worked with Jim Stafford, that it was George Harrison who was Ringo’s producer. And of course we all know how many hits and sounds Phil Spector was famous for but did you know he produced hits for Ray Perterson (‘Corinna, Corinna’) and Curtis Lee (“Pretty Little Angel Eyes’). Oh yeah, Jimi Hendrix is listed as a producer on Cat Mother’s hit, ‘Good Old Rock ‘N Roll’.

BRC RADIO

Don’t forget to check out all the new internet radio shows the club has on its website. Go to www.birminghamrecord.com and click on ‘RADIO’. New shows added weekly.

HEY! HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE?
‘Snap Your Fingers‘
Joe Henderson
(1962 – #5 – Pop Chart #2 – R&B Chart)

AND IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE FLIP SIDE
‘If You See Me Cry‘

See ya,
Charlie