The early ‘70s singer-songwriter roots of Rick Springfield
By the time that Rick Springfield hit it big as a pop star, with 1981’s “Jessie’s Girl,†his fame as an actor all but obscured his very real roots as a musician. But a decade before topping the U.S. charts, Springfield was a working musician in the rock band Zoot (on whose heavy cover of “Eleanor Rigby†a young Springfield can be seen playing guitar) and a solo artist with a Top 10 hit in Australia. A reworked version of that hit single, “Speak to the Sky,†reached the Billboard Top 20, and took this debut album into the Top 40. The 1981 view of a dilettante actor dabbling in music is wiped away by this record of his earlier work, for which Springfield wrote ten original tunes, sang and played guitar, keyboards and banjo.
Springfield’s songs and the production sound are heavily indebted to late ‘60s and early ‘70s rock, particularly the bass, drums and piano sounds of the Beatles, Badfinger and Big Star. The album mixes deeper numbers with bubblegum, showing Springfield’s voice to work well in both heavy and light arrangements. “The Unhappy Ending†anticipates the histrionics of Queen (and presages the opening of “Killer Queenâ€), while the happy-go-lucky (but war-tinged) “Hooky Jo†sports hooks worthy of Kasnetz-Katz and Graham Gouldman. Springfield’s infatuation with Paul McCartney is evidenced by the album’s chugging beats, but there are notes of soul, country-rock and pop.
Frankie Avalon’s mid-60s sides for United Artists
Along with Bobby Rydell and Fabian, Frankie Avalon was one of the “Golden Boys of Bandstand†– handsome, talented teen idols whose appearances on the original Philadelphia-based American Bandstand provided a ticket to pop crooning stardom. Avalon’s biggest hits (including two chart-toppers, “Venus†and “Whyâ€) were recorded for the Chancellor label from 1958 through 1960, but in that latter year he began an acting career that led to starring roles in a string of beach party movies, including 1964’s Muscle Beach Party. The beach party films innovated on the surf-theme of the Gidget series by adding original music, including songs by Avalon, his co-star Annette Funicello and guest stars that included Donna Loren.
Unlike today’s consolidated marketing, in which soundtracks are developed in parallel with a film’s marketing plan, actual soundtracks to the beach party films weren’t typically issued at the time. The only full soundtrack was Wand’s issue of How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and a few film tracks turned up on Annette Funicello’s solo albums. Instead, Avalon, Funicello and Loren re-recorded songs from the films for their respective labels (Avalon for United Artists, to which he’d signed after leaving Chancellor, Funicello for Disney’s Buena Vista and Loren for Capitol), often in very different arrangements. Most notably, several songs sung as duets in the films were re-sung as solos on the artists’ respective albums.
In the case of Avalon’s 1964 Muscle Beach Party (Funicello released an album under the same title that year), the first side was dedicated to remakes of songs from Beach Party and Muscle Beach Party, while side two featured six additional film-related titles. Avalon’s remakes of the beach party music weren’t typically as interesting as the film originals; having developed himself into a nightclub singer, he was miscast singing ‘60s pop-rock, and it’s even more evident without Funicello to sweeten the up-tempo numbers. The remakes often had minimal arrangements, such as these title themes, in which Avalon croons to raucous rock ‘n’ roll guitar offset by nagging yeah-yeah-yeah background singers. The best fit from the film sessions is the ballad “A Boy Needs a Girl,†which points to the success of the album’s second side.
The album’s flip gives Avalon a chance to show what he does best: croon orchestrated pop ballads. With the tempos slowed and the arrangements given a bit of sophistication, you can hear Avalon relax into his Perry Como-influenced balladeering, and his sensitivity as an interpreter and the deeper qualities of his voice both become evident. This may not have been what the films’ teen fans were looking for, but they remain the productions most worth hearing. Highlights include a tender reading of “Days of Wine and Roses,†an intimate, melancholy take on “Moon River†and a dreamy version of “Again.â€
Real Gone’s CD reissue augments the album’s original dozen tracks with eight bonuses culled from additional United Artists releases. Avalon’s post-beach party singles failed to crack the charts but included some fine songs and performances, with the Brill Building-flavored “Don’t Make Fun of Me†chief among them. A shoulda-been-a-hit written by Neil Sedaka’s partner Howard Greenfield with his sometime collaborator Helen Miller, the song finds Avalon playing a wounded ex-boyfriend with a melody and arrangement that bring to mind dramatic hits by the Shangri-Las, Leslie Gore and Gary Lewis. Avalon’s four tracks from the soundtrack of I’ll Take Sweden, including the film’s title theme, are lightweight but charming, and the B-side “New-Fangled, Jingle-Jangle Swimming Suit from Paris†provides a cute take-off on “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.â€
Carole King recovers from the death of her third husband
King’s third album for Capitol was originally released in 1978, and is now being reissued on her own Rockingdale imprint with the original track list and an eight-page booklet that includes liner notes, lyrics, photos and album art. Unlike her other Capitol albums, this was recorded in Austin, Texas, with a soulful group of musicians who were then backing Jerry Jeff Walker. The country-tinged sound is a great deal earthier than the slick studio work on Simple Things and Welcome Home, and King is more contemplative in voice and melancholy in lyrical mood, no doubt due to the death of her third husband, Rick Evers, earlier in the year.
That said, King remained, as she had been on her two previous Capitol albums, generally optimistic. There’s genuine pain in “Dreamlike I Wander,†but she realizes you can both remember and move forward, providing herself the opportunity to heal on “Walk With Me†and emotional advice and pep talks with “Move Lightly,†“Passing of the Days†and “Eagle.†Leo LeBlanc’s pedal steel and Mark Hallman’s mandolin fit nicely behind King’s more emotional vocals, and though she only plays piano on three tracks, Reese Wymans adds expressive keyboards throughout the rest of the album.
A middling Carole King album with a few moments of inspiration
Carole King’s second album for Capitol was originally released in 1978, and is now being reissued on her own Rockingale imprint with its original track list and an eight-page booklet that includes liner notes, lyrics, photos and album art. The songwriting continued her work with then-third-husband Rick Evers, who co-wrote two of the titles, and also continued King’s weakening commercial success. The album scratched just below the Hot 100, and a lone single (“Morning Sunâ€) just missed the A/C Top 40. As on her Capitol debut, Simple Things, King’s songs are incredibly optimistic, perhaps sparked by the communal living she and Evers had set up. Evers died, reportedly of a heroin overdose, a few months after the album was recorded, so the album’s sunny vibe was thrown into shadow by the songwriter’s loss.
King reaches back to the Brill Building for the cruisin’ themed “Main Street Saturday Night,†but it doesn’t crackle with the authenticity of her earlier work, and Evers’ new-agey lyrics for “Sun Bird†must have seemed deep at the time, but don’t hold a candle to the expressiveness of even King’s lesser works. Even stranger is the catchy “Venusian Diamond,†which combines late-60s Beatleisms with the too-clean studio sounds that marked many productions of the era. Even that’s explainable compared to the bandwagon “Disco Tech,†though even here you get the sense that King has a deeper sense of music’s primordial hold on the soul than many of the hacks writing disco at the time.
Previously reissued on CD in Japan, King’s 1977 Capitol debut is now being reissued domestically on her own Rockingale imprint with its original ten tracks and an eight-page booklet that includes lyrics and album art. Simple Things was King’s last album to reach the Top 20 and be certified Gold, breaking a string of Top 10’s that stretched back to 1971’s Tapestry. This set also includes her first collaborations with future-third-husband Rick Evans, who co-wrote three songs. Like all four of her Capitol releases, Simple Things showcases King’s songwriting craft, soulful voice and keyboard playing, but failed to make a serious dent in the charts. Even her fellow singer-songwriters – Carly Simon and James Taylor – were then having hits with other people’s material.
Excellent, but ill-fated second album with super bonus tracks
Given the indelible mark Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders made with Clint Ballard Jr.’s “Game of Love†(#2 in the UK, chart-topping in the U.S.) it’s surprising just how short they ran as a unit. Nine singles, two albums, and by 1965 they’d gone their separate ways. In fact, their run ended as their singles (“It’s Just a Little Bit Too Late†from this second LP and “She Needs Love,†included on this reissue as a bonus) failed to capitalize on their breakthrough and Fontana’s solo career was realized more quickly than had previously been expected. It’s reported that he informed the band of his departure as he walked off stage midway through an October 1965 live show. Fontana and the band continued on separately (the latter scoring quickly with Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager’s “A Groovy Kind of Loveâ€), and this second album, released three months after the split, was left to founder.
Fontana and the band had been pulling in different directions before the split – the former looking to highlight his singing, the latter (lead by guitarist and future 10cc founder, Eric Stewart) their instrumental abilities. The latter’s versatility is highlighted in the range of songs tackled on this second album – a collection that was put together over a longer period of time than the single day afforded their debut. There are only two originals (“Like I Did†and “Long Time Comin’â€), both mid-tempo beat numbers written by Fontana under his given name of Glyn Ellis. The rest of the album picks up songs from a talented array of American writers, including Leiber & Stoller, Gene Pitney, Chuck Berry, Van McCoy, Goffin & King, Willie Dixon and Burt Bacharach. The selections are typically UK-centric, including a UK hit (“Memphis, Tennesseeâ€) that was a non-charting U.S. B-side, and Merseybeat favorites from Richard Barrett (“Some Other Guyâ€) and Bill Haley (“Skinny Minnieâ€).
The album included the follow-up single to “Game of Love,†sticking with Clint Ballard for “It’s Just a Little Bit Too Late.†Despite its great beat, twangy guitar and catchy lyric, it only edged into the UK Top 20, and fell short of the U.S. Top 40. The group’s last single, included here as a bonus track, was yet another Ballard beat-ballad, “She Needs Love,†which cracked the UK Top 40, but failed to chart in the U.S. The album’s original dozen tracks are augmented on this Bear Family reissue with nine rare single and EP sides. Pre-LP singles include Jimmy Breedlove’s “Stop Look and Listen†(b/w a cover of Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earlâ€), and the group’s UK smash cover of Major Lance’s sweet soul “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um.†The latter is backed by a cover of the rare Doc Pomus and Phil Spector tune, “She Needs Love,†originally recorded by Ben E. King.
A masterful pastiche of ‘60s and ‘70s pop sounds
The Explorers Club’s debut, 2008’s Freedom Wind, set a very high bar with its unerring evocation of the Beach Boys’ most sophisticated period. Incredibly, the band’s second effort manages to top their first, with a seamless pastiche of ‘60s and ‘70s pop sounds that suggests the band’s mastermind, Jason Brewer, is a twenty-first century savant of Brian Wilson, Curt Boettcher, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach and others. He lovingly mashes riffs, instrumental sounds and melodic structures into confections that will spin the heads of those who once spun the AM dial in search of great pop. He lovingly cops the opening bars of “Up, Up and Away,†evokes the “over you†hook of “Goin’ Out of My Head,†and drops an electric sitar into “Bluebird†that’s worthy of Reggie Young’s work on “Cry Like a Baby.â€
Sweden’s Sweet Serenades make pop music that suggests they’ve fallen through a time vortex into the prime of early-80s MTV. In the snappy “Moving On” you can hear shades of the Buggles, Motors, Alarm, Call, Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, and other favorites of music video’s golden age.
The new single by Sweden’s Sweet Tangerine (Josephine Danielsson and Johsefin Tallroth) sounds a bit like the early works of Indigo Girls. If you read Swedish, check out their Facebook page. Otherwise, enjoy this making-of music video.
The early ‘70s singer-songwriter roots of Rick Springfield
