Who Were Carol & Gerri?

[macca]

I always found HCIEFAW a bit too 'girlie' back in the day,

but in recent years it's grown on me a bit, like so many.

Is it me, or are the horns off mark? Last time I heard

this out was 1993 at the 100 Club when Mark Bicknell (I think)

span it. Does it still get plays, or is it considered same old, same old?

[Mach]

loved it..back in the day...still do..along with paula parfitt.

[Garethx]

The other side, On You Heartaches Look Good, has seen a pretty big revival in the last five or six years. Agree about How Can I Ever Find A Way growing on you: as a lad I dismissed this as girlie rubbish but now I think it's a beautifully crafted example of sunshine American pop from a golden age at its most charming and poignant.

I remember a thread about white artists on Dave Flynn's forum a few years ago where one of the American contributors (possibly Jeff Lemlich) had a theory about the identity of Carol & Geri, the gist of it being that they were two white schoolgirls from the suburbs. The instrumental backing on the record is by a group called the D-Men who later recorded as The Fifth Estate on Jubilee.

*edit: a quick bit of googling reveals that The Fifth Estate's retrospective CD on Boston Skyline "Ding Dong The Witch Is Back!" (titled after the group's only hit single) features the HCIEFTW track as an unreleased master from 1966. I've just played it and it's identical to the Carol & Gerri cut.

Edited April 3, 2009 by garethx

[macca]

Superb Gareth!

Cheers

[macca]

Here's the Carol & Gerri boys performing in 1967.

This should have card carrying members of the Soul Police frothing at the mouth...

[Paul Dunn]

I have seen a dealer in USA on ebay state it was Carol King & Gerry Goffin

[Garethx]

I have seen a dealer in USA on ebay state it was Carol King & Gerry Goffin

I think that's highly unlikely. Goffin & King had split up as a couple by the time this was recorded and it doesn't sound anything like them vocally (for a start it's two girls as opposed to a male/female duo). Additionally they would presumably have been loath to record a composition by unknowns like the D-Men (Askew & Wadhams) when they themselves were America's premier songwriting team at the time.