Jerry Moss, RIP

[JSngry]

Anybody have any The Sandpipers records? 

[felser]

37 minutes ago, mjzee said:

I was on A&M's mailing list for the first part of 1973.  I couldn't relate to what they sent me - it was made for someone else, not for me.  Probably reflected a Southern California soft-rock zeitgeist (though with a few exceptions), and I kept almost none of it.  Some titles I remember are: Shawn Phillips - Faces, Peter Frampton - Frampton's Camel, Lani Hall - Sun Down Lady, Roger Kellaway - Center Of The Circle, Quincy Jones - You've Got It Bad Girl, Joan Baez - Where Are You Now My Son?, Cheryl Dilcher - Butterfly, Hoyt Axton - Less Than The Song, Tim Weisberg - Hurtwood Edge, Joan Armatrading - Whatever's For Us, and Gallagher & Lyle - Willie & The Lapdog.

Three I kept were the first Stealer's Wheel album, Charles Lloyd - Waves (I really liked "T.M." with The Beach Boys backing), and Michael Murphey - Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir.

I like those Shawn Phillips albums quite a bit, and they did a good job with Joan Baez. 

[JSngry]

Shawn Phillips was an interesting character. Pete Robinson was heavily involved at first, not far removed from his days as a Don Ellis hellraiser. 

[JSngry]

 

[JSngry]

This otoh is a very good, sublime record of stoney Rhodes vibes:

[GA Russell]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

Lani Hall - Sun Down Lady

This one's a favorite of mine!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I still play this often:

"Mother" is a dud, but other than that. great rock & roll.

I still crack up when someone plays "Every Breath You Take" at a wedding. Everyone I knew called that "The Stalker Song" from day one.

[Teasing the Korean]

13 hours ago, JSngry said:

This otoh is a very good, sublime record of stoney Rhodes vibes:

I have this and at least one other Pete Jolly on A&M.  This is overdue for a spin.

13 hours ago, JSngry said:

Anybody have any The Sandpipers records? 

Only on some comps, such as Morricone comps with their version of "Hurry to Me."  

14 hours ago, mjzee said:

Lani Hall - Sun Down Lady

This is weird one.  Lani trying to reinvent herself in the mold of early-70s female artists such as Carol King or Carly Simon.  Her voice sounds very different here than it did with Brasil '66.

[GA Russell]

6 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

This is weird one.  Lani trying to reinvent herself in the mold of early-70s female artists such as Carol King or Carly Simon.  Her voice sounds very different here than it did with Brasil '66.

I found it very similar to her next album, Hello, It's Me.

[Dave Garrett]

15 hours ago, bresna said:

I still crack up when someone plays "Every Breath You Take" at a wedding. Everyone I knew called that "The Stalker Song" from day one.

Yep. I can't believe anyone still does that, but they do. Along similar lines: people who treat Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as if it were some sort of hyperpatriotic anthem, when it's anything but. 

Guess no one actually listens to lyrics anymore, beyond a catchphrase or a chorus that can be taken wildly out of context.

[Teasing the Korean]

17 hours ago, GA Russell said:

I found it very similar to her next album, Hello, It's Me.

Never heard or saw it.  Would you concur that this album sounds different from her Brasil '66 work?

[HutchFan]

I just now stumbled across a website and forum dedicated to A&M Records: https://www.amcorner.com/

It reminded me of this thread, so I thought I'd share it here.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:40 PM, felser said:

One of the really interesting groups on the label was the We Five, who were caught in between the label's Brasil '66 model (see their cover tunes) on one hand and early Jefferson Airplane (check out their originals) on the other.  They made some pretty great folk-rock/proto-psych records which were largely and unfairly ignored (they didn't look the part, and A&M didn't have that rep - compare the music of the first cut with the album cover), plus the justly lionized "You Were On My Mind".

So we listened to their second album, Make Someone Happy, yesterday.  I can see why this group perhaps struggled to find an audience.  Some of the tracks are indeed in a proto-jefferson Airplane folk/psych vibe, while other tracks seem to be in a Sandpipers/adult contemporary bag.  The album works well enough on its own terms 56 years later, but it may have been hard to market at the time.  This was the last album with the original female vocalist.  She was replaced for the third and fourth albums (which I've never heard).

[GA Russell]

On 8/21/2023 at 9:21 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

Never heard or saw it.  Would you concur that this album sounds different from her Brasil '66 work?

TTK,  I agree.  However, I think she changed much more with her albums after Hello, It's Me.

I remember well going to the theatre to see Never Say Never Again.  It took me half a minute after the music began to realize it was her!

On 8/20/2023 at 9:26 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

This is weird one.  Lani trying to reinvent herself in the mold of early-70s female artists such as Carol King or Carly Simon.  Her voice sounds very different here than it did with Brasil '66.

That didn't occur to me, though you may be absolutely right (though Carly Simon came later).

I felt at the time that Carole King was going after the college crowd with Tapestry, while Lani was going after people over 30.  (Just my impression, with nothing to back it up.)

[GA Russell]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:27 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

I love A&M Records in the 1960s.  There was a consistent aesthetic thread between most of those acts - Tijuana Brass, Brasil '66, Bacharach, Chris Montez, Claudine Longet.

My family growing up included members of the WWII, Silent, Baby Boom, and Gen X generations.  When we were all together on a long car trip and an A&M song came on the radio, it would be among the few things we could all agree on. 

RIP Jerry.

In the late sixties I had a friend who was in a rock band.  His name was Walt Egan, and his band was called Sageworth & Drums.

One day I asked him, If you could sign with any label you wanted, what would it be?  He said Columbia, because their recording studio had the best sound.

I said that I would sign with A&M, because such a high percentage of their albums were hits.

Well lo and behold, about 1975 Walt did sign with Columbia!  And a year or two later he had a hit record I'm sure most here will recall, called "You are a Magnet and I am Steel."

[felser]

32 minutes ago, GA Russell said:

In the late sixties I had a friend who was in a rock band.  His name was Walt Egan, and his band was called Sageworth & Drums.

One day I asked him, If you could sign with any label you wanted, what would it be?  He said Columbia, because their recording studio had the best sound.

I said that I would sign with A&M, because such a high percentage of their albums were hits.

Well lo and behold, about 1975 Walt did sign with Columbia!  And a year or two later he had a hit record I'm sure most here will recall, called "You are a Magnet and I am Steel."

Having Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham so prominently featured on that didn't hurt its chart chances a bit, though it was a worthy hit song.   I have a Spirit DVD recorded in the mid-80's, and Egan plays bass on it and doesn't sing a note, which seems pretty strange.