Vinyl Frontier

You just know the girl at 12:00 O'Clock is thinking, I wonder what is On The Flip-Side?

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe/Hey You!

I Don't Believe (Call On Me)

Hey You!

We're going to wrap up our almost two-week long Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight Series with a real nice gem. I know, they've all been real nice gems, right?

The Guilloteens not only had a real clever name, but they also had real solid talent. The band hailed from Memphis, TN and they made some pretty good friends and fans in that town. From the cool cats at Stax Records to a local star named Elvis Presley. It was Elvis who, after catching the band perform in Memphis, brought the trio -- Louis Paul Jr., Laddie Hutcherson and Joe Davis -- out to LA to get a residency at a hotspot called the Red Velvet Cloud. In walked Phil Spector who started working with the band. Everything was going great as they started recording I Don't Believe, a Louis Paul Jr. composition. But Spector may have treated the band as an afterthought and an over-eager manager signed the band to the newly formed Hanna-Barbera Records label without the Guilloteens knowledge. So The Guilloteens severed their relationship with Spector and started recording their first single with a new producer working for HBR.

That first single, released July 1965, is our final song of the HBR series. A series, btw, I have really enjoyed putting out. I Don't Believe features the incredibly strong vocals of it's composer, Louis Paul Jr. The song is like a kudzu vine, it grows on you quickly. The chimey guitar work creates an incredibly strong bed for the echo chamber harmonies and Louis Paul's baritone vocals. Paul really takes flight on his vocals towards the end of the song. At 2:14 we really get to see how strong a vocalist this Guilloteen was.

The Flip-Side, Hey You!, features the vocals of it's composer, Laddie Hutcherson. Hey You! is pure garage joy. A strong guitar riff and tons of teen bravado. Hutcherson isn't as strong a singer as Louis Paul Jr., but the pairing with the A-side makes this double sided gem one of the stronger singles HBR ever put out.

Louis Paul Jr. quit the band after their second single and returned to Memphis. The band soldiered on with other musicians, making another strong single for HBR before signing with Columbia when HBR got the axe. They even supported Paul Revere and The Raiders on tour, but like so many others, the band faded into obscurity without ever really getting the recognition they needed to succeed.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: Tidal Waves - I Don't Need Love

As we drink our Flip-Side coffee and thumb through the massive volumes of records in our highly secure Flip-Side record vault 13 stories below ground, we keep finding more 45s from the HBR label that we want to share with you. But I have to admit, I present today's song to you with a noticeable amount of hesitation. Not because it's not a great song (because it is), but because it is not an obvious attention grabber. We usually try to spin a certain type of song that will grab people's attention from the first beat. Cool groove, nice riff, compelling vocals and high energy. I think this song is great, but I do have concerns that the melancholy presentation of the song doesn't fit the standard. I hope you'll stick around the song long enough to fully appreciate what we have here. 

The Tidal Waves were a bunch of Middle Schoolers (seriously!) and High Schoolers who hailed from Roseville, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit along Lake St. Clair. The band consisted of Roseville High Schoolers Mark Karpinski and Tom Wearing and Burton Junior High alums, Bob Slap, Bill Long and John Wearing. In the Spring of 1966 the quintet of pubescent punks released a cover of Farmer John on the local SVR label. The upbeat dance number went to number 1 on the local charts and HBR did what they did, they swooped in and bought the record contract of the teens and released Farmer John nationally. Bob Slap left the band and Dennis Mills stepped in as a replacement. He brought with him a moody number he had written called I Don't Need Love. HBR put some money behind the band and the kids recorded the minor key original with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Summer of '66. Pretty cool. The number did well locally but flopped nationally, which is not surprising since the song is a bit of a downer (in a good way). I Don't Need Love tells the tale of a tearful young man who gets burned by a girl and decides his days of  being in love are over...at the tender age of 14. This teen troubadour doesn't need a girl. No way! Too much trouble. All this kid needs to survive in life is a paper route, a tutor in algebra and for his dad to leave him alone on Wednesday and Thursday nights just long enough for him to watch Batman on ABC. Macaroni and Cheese for dinner wouldn't be too bad either, mom. 

Tidal Waves recorded one more record for HBR, the upbeat Action (Speaks Louder Than Words), but HBR was shuttering their doors and the record was barely even distributed let alone promoted. All three of the bands' records are worth seeking out. Action gets all the love from collectors, but I Don't Need Love isn't so bad either. Don't yo agree?

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Hogs (The Chocolate Watchband) - Loose Lip, Sync Ship

Back after a weekend off with the Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight. So far we've featured The Five Americans, The Unrelated Segments, The New Breed and we even had Mouse and the Traps masquerading as a faux band called Positively 13 O'Clock. Today we have the Chocolate Watchband masquerading as faux band, The Hogs.

In December of 1966 someone had the bright idea of having The Chocolate Watchband record a version of Blues Theme, which was released just a month before by Davie Allan and The Arrows on Tower Records. Why I can not say. The Chocolate Watchband were apparently in studio with producer Ed Cobb recording their debut single for Tower Records subsidiary, Uptown Records. That 10-star single, Sweet Young Thing/Baby Blue wouldn't be released until a month after this release, however.

The Hogs' version of Blues Theme is quite inferior to the Arrows' original recording. It's the Flip-Side that we feature here today. The song is composed by The Chocolate Watchband's David Aguiar and Mark Loomis and goes by the obtuse name, Loose Lip, Sync Ship. The song is a bit odd and certainly has a "made up on the spot feel". It starts off as a decent enough riff and then at 1:38 David Aguilar starts an abstract rambling monologue that would make Frank Zappa proud:

Oh baby, I loved you
Please come back to me
I miss you
You're the best
Baby without you by my side
My whole complexion is a mess. 

Freaks are for kids
Not for silly rabbits

Then starts the weird stuff. Ok, at least more weird than what we already had...which was weird. The song breaks down into abstract jazz riffs, coughing, caterwauls and laughing before Aguilar turns to the gospel for inspiration.

Friends, I would like all of you to turn to Chapter 37
And we will all sing hymns
Row, row your boat
Gently down the stream. 

It's not for everyone, that's for sure. But HBR released it!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side! 

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Unrelated Segments -- Story Of My Life/It's Not Fair

Story Of My Life

It's Not Fair

Day four of the Hanna-Barbera Records spotlight takes us to suburban Detroit, Michigan. It's February of 1967 and five geek-chic kids with some pretty serious musical chops just found out that the first record they ever recorded for the local SVR label is being picked up for national distribution by Hanna-Barbera Records out of LA. The five kids -- Ron Stults on vocals, Rory Mack on lead guitar, Barry Van Engelen on bass, John Torok on rhythm guitar and Andy Angellotti on drums -- call themselves the Unrelated Segments. They've recorded two songs written by Mack and Stults: Story Of My Life and It's Not Fair.

This double sided gem is flat-out a nasty-ass garage classic (as are all three singles the band put out). Story Of My Life is an upbeat number preaching the warning of money grubbing girls trying to exchange love for monetary rewards like jewelry. The song is highlighted by the brilliant bass work by Barry Van Engelen. Van Engelen's closing bass work at 1:57 is a thing of bizarre beauty far beyond what most of his contemporaries could produce. And again at 2:26. WTF?!?!?!?!

It's Not Fair is more than a solid Flip-Side. The slow number clearly owes much to the Zombies' She's Not There, but it stands on it's own legs in the end. The jazzy guitar work by Rory Mack is worth the price of admission alone. Reminds me a lot of the guitar work done by Minnesota garage band, The Gestures. 

Not more than a month ago we did a more extensive feature on The Unrelated Segments and their second single, Where You Gonna Go?/It's Gonna Rain. Check that out here to learn more about the band.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!