This late-60s, multiethnic, multinational soul ensemble is best known to U.S. audiences for its two Top 40 singles, “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You†and “Build Me Up Buttercup.†Both hits, and a good deal of their other material, were co-written by producer Tony Macaulay, often with his regular writing partner John MacLeod. The band had two more hits in the UK (“Back on My Feet Again†and “In the Bad Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me)â€), as well as a number of minor chart entries, but after only four years, and numerous personnel changes, they packed it in. Various members toured and recorded under variations of “The Foundations†name throughout the 1970s, but it’s the original material from 1967-1970 that’s featured here. Varese has included all of the group’s A-sides for Pye (UK) and Uni (US), including the UK-only “Baby, I Couldn’t See†and US-only “My Little Chickadee,†a handful of B-sides and a pair of tracks from the band’s final album, Digging the Foundations.
Finely-crafted, previously unreleased 1970s studio gems
Though having been a member of the New Christy Minstrels and Modern Folk Quartet, and a replacement for Zal Yanovsky in the Lovin’ Spoonful, Jerry Yester is known mostly for his behind-the-scenes work as a studio musician, arranger and producer. His album with then-wife Judy Henske, Farewell Aldebaran, and a follow-up collaboration as Rosebud, are both highly revered, but did little to establish Yester’s name commercially. A pair of 1967 singles on the Dunhill label were his only commercially released solo material, but he wrote and recorded at a variety of Los Angeles studios throughout the 1970s, and fifteen of those pieces are collected and released here for the very first time.
The Spectacular Spinning Songbook is a staging device Elvis Costello introduced on his 1986 tour. The giant spinning wheel is marked with songs that the band plays on the spot, in response to an audience member’s selection. The wheel contrasted with the calculation of a preconceived set list, injecting spontaneity into both the band’s job and the audience’s experience. Costello revived the wheel for his 2011 Revolver Tour, and a live recording was made during a two-night stand at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. The live set was initially released in an expensive “super deluxe†CD/DVD/vinyl box set, and has been reissued in more modestly priced CD and MP3 configurations.
As in the original release, the song list for the 16-track CD overlaps the DVD, but neither fully replaces the other. Also as in the original release, the set list is exciting and the band’s playing enthusiastic, but the recording is leaden. Costello’s vocals are often mixed too far behind a muddy instrumental mix that’s maddeningly bass heavy. Imagine yourself sitting at a bad spot in a medium-sized music hall or arena, and you’ll get an idea of the tonal balance. That said, it’s great to hear Costello and his crack band ripping through both the well-trod chestnuts of his enormous catalog, a few obscurities and a pair of covers. The latter includes an impassioned take on the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time†and the Bangles-recorded Costello original “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s a Doll Revolution),†with Susanna Hoffs singing lead.
Sixteen years after they climbed to the top of the British chart with a 1963 remake of the Drifters “Sweets for My Sweet,†and more than a decade after they’d last cracked the Top 40 with a remake of the Rolling Stones’ “Take It or Leave It,†the second (or third, depending on how you feel about Gerry and the Pacemakers) most popular band out of Liverpool was back. Having continued to tour as an oldies act and cover band throughout the 1970s, it was a remarkably well-timed return to recording. The band’s two albums on Sire, 1979’s The Searchers and 1980’s Love’s Melodies, cannily conjured fresh music from the band’s classic harmonies and guitars, and the then-courant power-pop that had grown from ‘60s pop roots.
Pat Moran’s production of the first album, recorded at the same Rockfield Studios that served Dave Edmunds and the Flamin’ Groovies, has the clean sound of the era’s pop hits. The band’s two originals (“This Kind of Love Affair†and “Don’t Hang Onâ€) are complemented by songs written by upcoming and established songwriters. The memorable “Hearts in Her Eyes†was written for the band by the Records’ Will Birch and John Wicks, and Mickey Jupp’s “Switchboard Susan†is given a low-key arrangement that suggests skiffle roots. Covers of Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch-era “Lost in Your Eyes†and Bob Dylan’s obscure “Coming From the Heart†highlight the band’s ears for good songs that had been abandoned by major writers.
In addition to the album’s original ten tracks, this collection includes an alternate mix of “It’s Too Late,†and early mixes of two tracks from the second album. The second album, like the first, combines a couple of band originals (“Little Bit of Heaven†and “Another Nightâ€) with material drawn from up-and coming and veteran songwriters. Among the former are Moon Martin (“She Made a Fool Of Youâ€) and a pair co-written by Will Burch; among the latter are John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night,†Andy McMaster’s “Love’s Melody†and Alex Chilton’s “September Gurls.†The latter was an especially prescient selection, given that it would be six more years until the Bangles brought the song into the mainstream with A Different Light.
You probably heard a Bert Berns song today. If you heard “Tell Him,†“Twist and Shout,†“Cry to Me,†“Here Comes the Night,†“Hang on Sloopy†or “Piece of My Heart,†you heard a song he wrote. If you heard “Baby, I’m Yours,†“Under the Boardwalk†or “Brown Eyed Girl,†you heard a record he produced. Berns’ enormous catalog of deeply-felt songs and deftly-produced records puts him in a league with the best of the Brill Building’s songwriters and New York’s golden age pop producers. When Phil Spector lost the Latin soul of Berns’ “Twist and Shout†with a frantic rendition by the Top Notes, Berns picked it back up the next year and minted a classic with the Isley Brothers. And when Berns felt he’d accomplished everything he could as a writer and producer, he founded Bang records, stormed the charts in 1965 with the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,†and signed Neil Diamond and Van Morrison.
Born in 1929, Berns was thirty-one when he finally found his way into the music industry as a $50-a-week songwriter for Robert Merlin’s publishing company. His first hit came the following year with the Jarmel’s “A Little Bit of Soap,†and over the next seven years he minted more than fifty pop chart singles. Berns’ early love of Afro-Cuban music permeated his songs, as did the deep, personal feelings he poured into his lyrics. Labeled by his African American artists as “the white soul brother,†he pushed them “to sing it like he meant it.†Session dialog of Berns coaching Betty Harris, as well as Van Morrison during the recording of Blowin’ Your Mind!, give the viewer a feel for his artist rapport. Testimony from family, artists, production and business colleagues testify to the exalted status in which he was held. The interviews are highlighted by his savvy and tough widow, Ilene Berns, and the tough but artistically sensitive Carmine “Wassel” DeNoia.
Playful new EP from the new NRBQ
