Rocky Mountain Spotlight: The Beckett Quintet - No Correspondence/It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Day five of our Rocky Mountain Showdown finds us listening to a group of five students from Eastern New Mexico University in the small farm town of Portales. They went by the generic and not abundantly obvious name of The Beckett Quintet. The five students, Tommy Muncrief (vocals), Tim Taylor (guitar), Barry Dunkenson (guitar), Norm Reccius (bass), and Steve Nagle (drums), struck out for Los Angeles in 1965 searching for fame and fortune.

Not long after they got to LA they recorded their one and only single for Gemcor Records. The A-side, No Correspondence, was written by guitarist Tim Taylor and tells the tale of a boy who has "been gone for a month or better" and is waiting for his girl to write him. Sounds pretty autobiographical. But sitting by the mailbox demanding "You Better Right Me!!!" to this cheating girl is probably not the best way to get her back. Tim, she probably wasn't worth it. The chicks in LA were probably a higher cut than what you had back in Portales, anyway. 

The flip-side is a unique cover of Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. The Beckett Quintet's version was released just months after Dylan's beautiful (and often covered) original. It's a greatly under appreciated version with a unique arrangement and some intriguing production. I love it. Maybe even more than the A-side. 

The A-side has been comped numerous times and the record isn't very hard to find. It was later picked up by A&M Records for national distribution. But, surprisingly, that seems to be much harder to find than the Gemcor Records version.

There is a lot more to be learned about this band over at the website, http://www.garagehangover.com/beckettquintet/. Check it out for an interview and some original newspaper clippings which recount the band playing indian reservations and sleeping on hardwood floors.

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

Vinyl Frontier - Whipped Cream And Other Delights

A&M Records Spotlight: The Move - Fire Brigade

I know I said I was only doing 7 days of this A&M Records spotlight thing, but I didn't want to leave this guy out. Here is The Move doing their March, 1968 release (the second on A&M), Fire Brigade.

A&M Records Spotlight: The Merry-Go-Round - You're A Very Lovely Woman/Where Have You Been All My Life?

You're A Very Lovely Woman

Where Have You Been All My Life?

We're wrapping up our love fest with A&M records on this rainy Sunday by featuring (for the second time) the LA based band, The Merry-Go-Round. A number of months ago we featured the non-LP double sided gem, Listen Listen/Missing You. Today we look at an earlier single by the teen wünder kids. The single hails from July 1967 and was the band's third single for A&M Records.

The A-Side is the very intriguing You're A Very Lovely Woman. Emmit Rhodes was 16 when he wrote this and barely 17 when this record came out. The lyrics don't betray the mind of an immature male. They tell the story of a young man coming to terms with a relationship that has run it's course. Despite knowing just how lovely is the woman he's in love with, the singer knows he must move on for the betterment of himself. You're A Very Lovely Woman is beautifully arranged with non-intrusive strings.

The Flip-Side is the upbeat, Beatlesque number, Where Have You Been All Of My Life?

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

A&M Records Spotlight: Boyce and Hart - Out and About

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were a songwriting duo best known for writing many of the songs that shot The Monkees to stardom. The Monkees Theme, Last Train To Clarksville, Words and the timeless, Stepping Stone. But they also recorded a number of records under their own name. They also wrote the theme song for soap operas and for commercial jingles such as Things Go Better With Coke. Their work has been covered by groups ranging from Paul Revere and The Raiders to The Leaves to punk bands like The Sex Pistols and hardcore purveyors, Minor Threat.

Out and About was Boyce and Hart's first release under their own name. The song hails from June of 1967 and is a perfect piece of pop music. Boyce and Hart lip-synced this song on I Dream Of Jeannie with Jeannie playing drums and Cello on the song as they audition for Phil Spector. Yep, they met Barbara Eden. That makes this song cool regardless of anythg else. They also had their song, Blow You A Kiss In The Wind (covered by punk band, Red Kross) performed on Bewitched! Yep, they met Elizabeth Montgomery. That makes this song cool regardless of anything else.

We'll see you next time On The Flip-Side.

A&M Records Spotlight: The Flying Burrito Brothers - Older Guys

From 1970, we have the ground breaking Alt. Country pioneers, The Flying Burrito Brothers, performing Older Guys. Three members, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke came from The Byrds. Bernie Leadon played guitar and also appeared on the Dillard And Clark song, Out On The Side, which was featured just two days ago. Sneaky Pete Kleinow rounded out the line up.

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

A&M Records Spotlight: Arthur Lee - Everybody's Gotta Live

Another day, another record. Here we are again with more from the LA based A&M Records. The record we have today is none other than Arthur Lee's Everybody's Gotta Live. Arthur Lee, it should be known by any and all record collectors, fronted the bitchin' group, Love. But when Love devolved into a carousel of support musicians and failed to make hit records, Arthur Lee found himself without a label as the 1970s began. In stepped A&M Records. Everybody's Gotta Live dates to 1972 and was the first single from Lee's first solo album, Vindicator. This is one of those songs that sounds timeless. It could have been the 60s, it could be current. Just a nice simple chord progression with a tasteful band performance. No gimmicks. Arthur Lee's voice is as beautiful as it ever was.

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

A&M Records Spotlight: Tyrannosaurus Rex - Debora/Child Star

Debora

Child Star

Back for more on our A&M spotlight series. Today we feature a quite rare US release from April, 1968 by a UK duo calling themselves Tyrannosaurus Rex. The band was formed out of the ashes of John's Children and featured as their frontman, John's Children guitarist, Marc Bolan. The only other member was percussionist, Steve Peregrin Took. The band would soon figure out that no record buyers, aside from rock-n-roll loving paleontologists, could spell their name. Bolan shortened the name to T. Rex, kicked Took out of the band, added a few more members and struck gold in 1971 with the unique Get It On. But here they are, in their infancy, with a very different sound and a different name from what would become their trademark. 

The A-Side is our hero today. It's the repetitive but infectious, Debora. I'm also showcasing for you the Flip-Side, Child Star. Enjoy.

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

A&M Records Spotlight: Captain Beefheart - Diddy Wah Diddy/Who Do You Think You're Fooling?

Diddy Wah Diddy

Who Do You Think You're Fooling?

I'm going to spin a bunch of my favorite records from one of my favorite labels all this week. A&M Records may not have the same garage cred as Dunwich Records, Tower Records, J-Beck Records or Fenton Records, but A&M put out some really remarkable stuff in the 60s and even held the torch for some great musicians well into the 70s.

A&M Records was founded in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss (hence, the A and the M) and immediately went to work publishing an eclectic mix of local LA bands and licensing music from lesser known UK bands for release in the US. We'll start the day off with one of those acts who fell into the eclectic LA music scene category.

A&M gave Captain Beefheart (born Don Van Vliet) his start with the release of Diddy Wah Diddy/Who Do You Think You're Fooling in March of 1966. The A-Side a cover of the traditional blues song (no, Bo Diddley did not write it) and the flip-side an original composition. Captain Beefheart's version of Diddy Wah Diddy is arguably the best version of the oft-recorded song. Blind Blake, Bo Diddley and The Remains could all make an argument for their version being the best. Dark and brooding, Captain Beefheart shows off his gruff voice and strong harmonica skills to perfection on Diddy Wah Diddy. Both sides show a musician who, like so many of his contemporaries in the mid-60s, was not trying to follow the path laid down by The Beatles or Rolling Stones. That's evident on both sides.

We'll see you tomorrow On The Flip-Side with more A&M Records.