Jesse Coffey Takes Scootaloo96, Dyslexic Foal, And Keam, On A Trip Down Rockin' Good Fun Street · 8:08pm Aug 8th, 2015
(Doors) (from the album Those Were The Days, Columbia CS 9705, 11/68; produced and arranged by Robert Mersey)
℗ Originally Released 1968 Jon Mat Records Inc.
From the online Elektra Records Story:
In May, 1966, Jac [Holzman] flew to Los Angeles to meet with [his label Elektra's first pop group] Love, who were playing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Their opening act was a group which Arthur Lee had a high opinion of, and Lee suggested that Jac sign them to Elektra. Jac initially was unimpressed with the group but went back several times to see them perform. On his fourth visit, Jac realized that this was no run-of-the-mill rock band and decided to sign them. The group was the Doors. Jac wanted Paul Rothchild to produce them, but when Rothchild flew to L.A. to hear them, he told Holzman he was nuts for signing the group and that he (Rothchild) did not want to produce them. Finally, Jac told him, "Paul, I never thought I'd say this to you, but you owe me. You've got to do this band. You are the only person for the job." Rothchild reluctantly agreed. The group was taken to Tutti Camarata's Disney studios to record their first album, which took about a week. Elektra issued "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" as the first single from the album, and it received modest airplay stalling at number 106. They immediately issued the second single from the album, "Light My Fire". The version on the album is seven minutes long, and Jac insisted it be cut for AM play. The Doors said it couldn't be cut, but Rothchild edited the song to about three minutes and then played it for them. They all agreed to issue it. In June, 1967, "Light My Fire" reached the Number One position in the pop charts, becoming Elektra's first #1 single. The album was just as successful, and in the last 30 years the Doors have sold over 45 million records.
Elsewhere, a crooner known for smooth love songs by the name of Johnny Mathis had resigned with his signature label Columbia just as "Light My Fire" was climbing the charts. For some odd reason, "Light My Fire" happened to catch Mathis' attention to the extent of which it appeared on only his third outing with that label, Those Were The Days. So as not to disrespect this man or tarnish his legacy, we'll leave why he did it to your own imagination.
(Lennon-McCartney) (from the album Tony Sings The Great Hits Of Today!, Columbia CS 9980, 01/70; produced and arranged by Ernest Altschuler)
℗ Originally Released 1970 Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
Crooner Tony Bennett's 1970 album Tony Sings The Great Hits Of Today! was the work of a skilled artist bribed into working on a whole album under pressure from a record company looking for better pictures of songs than he could paint, to the point where the artist his or herself starts to loathe these pictures with a heated passion. Needless to say, the inclusion here of this Beatles cover, which Time Magazine suggested was "Shatner-esque" and which historian Will Friedwald linked to a reading of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, is something Mr. Bennett would have been proud to see. In fact, I'll let Mr. Bennett do the explaining about what happened after this.
I left Columbia Records for one reason: They were forcing me to sing contemporary songs and I just couldn't stand it. I actually regurgitated when I made that awful album—I got physically sick. ... If I really adore a song, I just get into the creative zone and try to get the definitive version of the song that would make the composer feel magnificent. Where he would say, 'That's what I was trying to convey.' And Columbia wouldn't let me do that anymore.
- Tony Bennett
(Russell) (from the album Till, Columbia CS 9757, 1969)
℗ Originally Released 1969 Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
Jerry Vale (born Genaro Louis Vitaliano; July 8, 1930 – May 18, 2014) was an Italian-American singer and actor. During the 1950s and 1960s, Vale reached the top of the pop charts with his interpretations of romantic ballads, many of which he sang in Italian.
The crooner showed his love of Italian music with his albums, I Have But One Heart (1962) and Arrivederci, Roma (1963), full of Italian standards such as "Amore, Scusami", "Ciao, Ciao, Bambina", "Arrivederci, Roma", and "O Sole Mio". His renditions of "Volare", "Innamorata (Sweetheart)", and "Al di là" became classic Italian-American songs.
Although many of Vale's fans, a huge chunk of which are similarly descended, should get used to his covers of Country standards, his rendition of the Bobby Russell piece "Little Green Apples" is totally bizarre even for him. Originally recorded by Roger Miller, this started out as a huge country hit for him (Miller's last Top 10 country hit) and became a huge Top-5 hit for soul singer O.C. Smith (whose version peaked at #2 on both the pop and R&B charts.)
(Bonner-Gordon) (from the album Fortuosity, Dot DLP 25809, 1967; produced by Charles Grean and Thomas Mack)
℗ 1967 Geffen Records.
From the online White Whale Album Discography:
By early 1967, the Turtles' touring schedule and disastrous decline in the charts was wearing thin, and drummer Don Murray and bassist Chuck Portz left the group, to be replaced by John Barbata and Chip Douglas. For some time, the group had been using a song on stage that seemed to go over well, but hadn't made its way to the recording studio. The song was given to them some eight months earlier on a scratchy acetate demo by songwriters Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon. The problem was, the song was almost a parody of itself, with very trite lyrics that no self-respecting rock and roll band would be caught dead singing. In fact, Bonner and Gordon had been turned down by everybody already, months ago. The group decided to start working on the song, "Happy Together," for a single [White Whale 244]. What resulted was not only an example of 1960s pop at its best, but also a new direction for the band. It's unlikely that many other bands could have pulled off the wry, we're-not-really-serious tone of the record that started to be the Turtles' trademark (mock rock?), but musically, the record was filled with little musical surprises and a strong hook. It starts with a catchy guitar riff that continues incessantly throughout most of the song, getting lower and lower in volume until it's virtually subliminal (but impossible to get out of one's mind), backed by a simple drum beat that could well have been taken from listening to a kid pounding on garbage cans. But on that simple beginning is built a minor masterpiece. After the first verse, the drummer puts in a little (pah-dah-pah, pah-dah-pah) riff that the listener is hoping to hear again, but it's there just once. Likewise the little organ "wah wah" heard behind the line "invest a dime" in the second verse, but never again. By the second verse, Douglas' vocal arrangements for the backup vocalists has them singing parts of lines interacting delightfully with Kaylan's lead vocal. And there is an oboe as a backing instrument (only in the second time the chorus "Me and you, and you and me..." is sung), again only once in the song. Add horns and strings to slowly build to a crescendo, along with an off the wall "How is the weather?" thrown in near the end (Translation: "See? I told you we weren't serious!"), and you've got a #1 record. In fact, you've got the only #1 record for either the Turtles or the White Whale label.
The Mills Brothers, who formed in 1928 and were originally known as The Four Kings of Harmony, proved no strangers to songs like this by 1967. Consisting by then of John, Jr., Herbert, Harry, and Donald Mills, they in fact placed their version of "Happy Together" on their 1967 Dot outing Fortuosity.
[Footnote: When last seen, a singer-songwriter named Cecil Gordon Parks had written a song called "Somethin' Stupid" and then gave it to Frank Sinatra and his daughter/labelmate Nancy, intent on making them sing it together. The father-daughter combination worked and the song topped both the US and UK pop singles charts. Based on the enormous success of this song, which would later be covered by Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams, Parks then discovered another song he had written a while back, called "Cab Driver", and gave it to the Mills Brothers, who, by placing it at #23 on the pop charts (quite impressive for their age and style, y'know?), transformed it into their last big hurrah. This single also appears on the Fortuosity Lp. Parks died in 2005.]
(Clark/Resnick) (from the album Fresh Flavour, Epic BN 26211, 1966; produced by Manny Benson, arranged by Frank Hunter)
℗ Originally Released 1966 Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
American popular singer Jane Morgan, specializing in traditional pop music, was born Florence Catherine Currier 3 May 1924 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. Her first broad fame came in Europe. She has achieved six gold records; and was recognized by Brandeis University (Woman of the Year Award, 1971).
In 1966, after three successful albums on Colpix, that label (which was Columbia Pictures' first record division) went under, causing her to abandon its ship and sign with the Epic label. Fresh Flavour, only her third album with Epic, contains the track you see above and holds a special place in the heart of record collector Frank LaRosa, for it led to his successful sanctuary of sorts for music of this type. LaRosa tells it this way:
In every life there are seminal moments when things become clear and the future changes forever. For me, one of those moments came in 1986 when I bought this record for a quarter in Port Jefferson, NY. I had long since given up on popular music (my last favorite band, ABBA, hadn't had an album in years), and I was ready for my musical tastes to mature. When I popped on this record and heard Jane's swinging version of "Good Lovin'", an entire new world of music opened up for me. And I've been collecting records like this one ever since.
Jane Morgan was some sort of big-band singer in the 40's and 50's. I know because I found some old Jane Morgan albums at a thrift store once. Here, we find her applying that big-band style to the Big Hits of the day (I can't find a date on the album, but it looks late-60ish). This seems to have been a big thing among record executives for a number of years -- find some pre-Rock and Roll performer who's not quite pulling in the crowds anymore, and have them record their New Approach to that year's Top 10. Even Tony Bennett fell for it (see [above]).
According to the liner notes on this album, "Every once in a while, even the most hardened control room crew lights up like a teenager meeting his or her idol for the first time. It happened quite recently in our studios when Jane Morgan sang a collection of contemporary hits, in her own very special style, for this new Epic album". Well, I have to admit that I lit up when I heard this record, too, though my motivations were somewhat different.
As probably, would be yours.
[Footnote: Sadly, Morgan was widowed from her husband Jerry Weintraub over the weekend; he'll still be missed.]
And that's just a sample. Bring forth your examples of covers of this type below.
Awesome
Thanks again mate
3304753 you're welcome! What do you like about these versions, right down to the fact that these are NOT songs you'd expect these singers to do?