Robbk

Similarly the Diane Lewis and Ujima tracks I mentioned are much more punchy for being pitched up a bit I'd have a fit??? Mercy! Why? Do the Popcorn fans slow recordings down, or speed them up? Or BOTH? Do they bastardise thousands of songs just to get them at the exact, perfect tempo for shagging? Those unscrupulous fiends!!!

Knowing Mickey, I'm sure he had plenty of attachment to what he produced. He just doesn't talking a lot about individual projects of his. That doesn't mean that it was just a way to make money, and he didn't put his heart into it. I can tell that because the Stevenson-Hunter songs have a special "inspired" sound and feeling to them, for me, whereas the songs Ivy Jo wrote solo don't have that for me (despite his being an excellent writer). Mickey was (and still must be) very professional, but, he also put a lot of himself into his productions. How he talks about what he did now, is a personal choice about his way of doing things now (just as it is with everyone), not necessarily reflective of the amount of himself put into the work back then. I've seen disparity in the way things are talked about and remembered by two friends who were both involved in the same work and both had their hearts fully involved. And one enjoys talking about the nth degree of details, and the other hardly talks about it at all. But, I know they both put their heart and soul into it, and both loved it to the same degree. I've had that experience both in my cartooning career and in my junior hockey playing career. It's just a matter of style and degree of desire to delve into old memories. I, myself, enjoy digging up old memories, and exercising my gray matter to confirm that I still have my long-term memory intact. But, that may be partly because I've been living in the past since 1965 (and more so as every year passes). Mickey, on the other hand, is still very active, and living in the present. I'm sure he'd much rather talk about what he'd doing now.

I had the opposite result. I've had Major Lance's "Phyllis" for many years. I often listen to YouTube videos when traveling (which is much of the year-3 mo. in Netherlands, 2 in Denmark, 2.5 in Germany, 2 in Canada and 2.5 in USA). So. I listen to more music from You Tube than any other source. So, currently, I listen mostly to You Tube. Currently, the only Internet uploaded version of that song is off the bootlegged "Mercury R&B Series". THAT version was taken off a 45, played too slowly on a slow turntable (probably 44 RPM), so it is slower than the original 45, (which I have). When I heard the Mercury CD version, I loved it at the slower pace. Major was still a teen when he recorded it, so his falsetto was even higher than his usual, and also, the slower pace more matched Johnny Pate's relaxed mid-tempo pace than the more frenetic Mercury recording. So, an error produced an even better version of a song I loved, doing to it what I would have done had I been the producer and arranger.

I'll say!

That seems like a really weird compilation. What is its theme? What binds those different recordings together? It has a fair amount of Country and City Blues, but also Rock-a-Billy, C&W (Buddy Killen), R&B and Pop (Dee Erwin & Little Eva).

That should read: 1812 Pulaski Road (not Pulanski). Kazimierz Pulaski was a Polish army general, who (like The Marquis de Lafayette) came to The British North American colonies, to help them fight their Revolutionary War of independence. Polish street names are more common in Chicago than most of USA, because from the 1880s through the 1920s, many thousands of Poles immigrated there. Chicago became the city in The World with the 2nd largest (after Warsaw) population of native Poles. In the 1950s, it was the 2nd city in The World in numbers of people of Polish extraction. A large portion of them live in the suburbs now, but Pulaski's Memorial Day (day of his death fighting for The American cause) is still a legal holiday.

It was very uncommon back when it was out. I did see a few copies over the years. But, it's one of the hard-to-get Stax 45s. I wouldn't have called it "rare" back in the day. But, it is probably hard to find now.

Hi Venus, Here's a link to Mike's website: www.chancellorofsoul.com . Hit the "skip flash" button and on Mike's bio page scroll down to "WCOS Radio Program".

How Mickey remembers his career and has forgotten a large portion of the details is pretty standard throughout the industry. I got the same level of answers or lack of them from Robert Bateman, Robert Gordy, Bunky Shepard, Freddie Gorman, and just about everyone else I talked to. Not everyone is Popcorn Wylie. Although, Clay McMurray and Jack Ashford remember a lot of details. On the whole, singers remember a lot more about their own career than producers and arrangers remember about all the sessions on which they worked. So those details I was fretting that I hadn't asked Mickey about when he was our neighbour in the next suite during the early '80s, he probably wouldn't have remembered, anyway. We must realise that record collectors generally have photographic memories and are great with millions of details. They HAVE to be anoracks in their chosen area of interest, to know what to look for. Many of them are probably mild (but functional) Asberger's Syndrome victims (Rainmen). As was stated above, most producers and arrangers work on way too many projects in their working days to remember even a decent portion of them. To them, it was just work. Their own songs they wrote and performed, they would remember.

Berry Gordy didn't go to Eire to find them. They were already a big hit in Toronto, back in early 1966. The song was issued as singles in Canada March 1966 on Arc 1144, and in the US September 1966 on Hanna Barbera 496. This LP came out on Arc in Canada. They were formed to provide a friendly atmosphere for The Abbey Tavern in Dublin, and became their house band. Just an aside - for a couple of years, I worked with Hanna Barbera Feature Animation (in Hollywood, California), while Mike McLean (ex Motown engineer) worked there. He was gone from Motown when I worked there. The song was issued as singles in Canada March 1966 on Arc 1144, and in the US September 1966 on Hanna Barbera 496.

What is it with Mike Boone? EVERY photo I've ever seen of him (over 30-35 or so) he looks like he's concentrating on a vendetta. He looks super serious and even a little angry or mean. And, yet he's one of the nicest guys I know. Anyone else ever listen to his radio show or his singer bios? Ever notice his dead-serious photos?

I really doubt that the VIP Richard Anthony is the raucus "No Good"/"Boston Monkey" guy. The former was French, and sang mostly "torch ballads" in French language. His VIP cuts were sung in English, but they were "sappy" and MOR Pop at best. They are so terrible, that they fight with "Randy The Newspaper Boy" for title as the "worst Motown cuts ever".

Which Moroccos? The R&B group on Chicago's United Records, which had Sollie McElroy as their lead? Or The Detroit group that had Little Joe as lead? Or did you mean The Morrocco Muzik Makers?

As was Charles DeBose. Coincidence? I think not! DeBose produced a record songs published by Smashville Music. All 3 Uptown records with all songs published by Smashville music had artists known to have been from Cleveland. DeBrossard rleased a record on one of those 3 artists(groups). Americans are notorious for "Anglicising" their family names. There must be a connection.

I went back and played "Dock of The Bay" again, really loud, and I did hear the "waves" at the beginning.

Are you talking about The Symphonics on Brunswick, who were produced by George Wilson. Didn't Wilson work out of New York? I don't recognise any of the people on The Symphonics' Brunswick releases as being from Chicago. I think they were signed by, and worked out of the New York office. Otherwise, Carl Davis' name would be on their records.

I listened to the entire Fluffy Falana song, and I didn't hear ANY ocean sound effects. I thought it is strange to hear a man's voice, who is called "Fluffy Falana". I thought I've heard that artist before, and she was a woman. Am I remembering incorrectly? I think it is also interesting that Bobby Martin operated out of New York, and George Kerr wrote a song for New York's Jobete Music office in late 1963, a song with a very similar title. (Come With Me to) "My Little CABIN by The Sea". I've heard the Jobete Music acetate of it, and I believe it is George Kerr, himself, singing it. The song is not the same song as Martins (actually bears no resemblance, other than the title and gist of the "story").

That would be George 'N Sonny Sands. You must have Motown or The Chicago Sound on the mind. And, yes, I hear the simulated "waves' sound (although not very convincing as ocean waves).

I've never heard that version. They only played the original 45 version while I was listening. Sorry. I played it again. It's very faint at the very beginning of the song. I am somewhat hard of hearing, so I missed it completely, before. I turned up the volume to very high.

I heard NO "sounds of the sea" in The Tide is High". Again, the OP asked for sound effects, - buoy bells, foghorns, seagulls, waves crashing and the like. Same for the hit 45 version of Otis Redding's "Sitting on The Dock of the Bay". I can't speak for any alternate takes/LP versions.

The OP wanted songs with sound effects that are sounds of the sea. There are none in The Marvelettes' song, nor Joe Simon's song. and none in The Mark IV's song, none in Bob James', and probably none in the rest of the songs you listed.

"So Much In Love" - The Tymes "Sea Cruise" - Frankie Ford (foghorn)

I bought that record, new, on 78 RPM, for 49¢, in 1954. That was before the vast majority of posters on here were even gleams in their parents' eyes. That was when 49¢ could get you 10 giant chocolate bars, or an early-bird dinner in a sitdown restaurant, or a shave in a barbershop, or 10 telephone calls in a phone booth, or 5 daily newspapers, or 50 hockey cards (along with 10 horrible pink sticks of bland-tasting chewing gum dusted with powdered sugar).

Wade Jones was an African-American (you can ask Louvain Demps. She knew him back in the late 1950s and early 1960s). But, Universal-Motown doesn't consider RayBer Records part of Motown, as the divorce settlement between Berry and Raynoma Gordy gave RayBer's assets to Raynoma (so, it "left" the Motown "family"). As The RayBer Music Company was founded before Tamla Records, it is and was questionable whether it was ever part of Motown Record Corporation. But, I consider it a Motown label, as it's only release came after Tamla released its first record, and the two were produced from the Gladstone Street address by the same people, and its songs were published by the same music company, and the songs were recorded in the same studio, and the labels went to the same printer, and the session musicians were the same, etc. Debby Dean was with Motown long before her first Motown Records release. Nick and The Jaguars were the first "White" artists with a release in 1959, Debbie Dean had hers in 1960, Mickey Woods and The Valadiers in 1961, Mike (Valvano) and The Modifiers, Bunny Paul and The Stylers in 1962, Connie Haines in 1963. The first European artist was Frenchman, Richard Anthony in 1964.

Her name was Irene Ryan. She was a "show tune" singer, and sang in a Broadway (type) show partially funded by Motown. She played a 70+ year old woman as "Granny", but she used a LOT of make-up. She was only in her late 40s then.