Wayne's Notes

E-mails shared by Shandy Hnetinka on the Rare Vocal Group Harmony 45 RPM's Facebook Group - 2023 - Thank you Shandy

Coasters

The Coasters were top of the ranks vocal group, in r&b and r&r music, who were often copied but never topped.

To say that The Coasters were a "novelty act" is also to say "I wasn't there and I'm making an uninformed opinion based on thinking that their songs weren't serious r&b/r&r".

"Down In Mexico" and "Smokey Joes Cafe" were searing paintings performed on the canvas of real r&b. The atmosphere created in those recordings is overwhelming and indicative of the narrative power The Coasters could attain. "Yakety Yak" was no joke, and it portrayed reality as good as any Chuck Berry song, and the same thing applies to "Charlie Brown". If you think "Poison Ivy" is about a plant, you better listen seriously, because it's about sexual obsessions, both male and female, but carefully crafted to get it by radio stations. The assumption was the audience "got it", but that was the audience back then, and unfortunately the audience today needs to "get hip" instead of damning themselves from a soap box related to The Tower Of Babble.

The Coasters were as much at home with Dick Clark, as they were with The Apollo Theatre. They, like The Platters, were sought after and welcomed everywhere. This was a serious group that used their unique story telling ability to craft all-time classics in r&r and r&r. (Don't overlook "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart", easily the premier version of that song).

The Coasters are in rarified air, as one of the absolute finest groups in all of r&b and r&r. It's that simple.

Thank God for The Coasters.

Ravens and Orioles

The Ravens versus The Orioles. What a long standing and fruitless battle this has been since about 1959 when it really first started heating up, and has remained that way to this very day. I was there when it started, and let me tell you that it was a hot debate that could easily erupt into a fist fight or a rumble at any time.

The Ravens had a great sound and blend made up by uncommonly strong group members, though Jimmy Ricks dominates their fame, even at times when he wasn't in the group. (Members included Maithe Marshall, Warren Suttles, Leonard Puzey, Joe Van Loan, and other top notch leads who took the back seat to Jimmy Ricks, no matter what happened. Jimmy Ricks is forever the main name linked to "The Ravens"). Ricks or "Ricky" may well be the deepest bass voice in recorded history, but he saw himself as a solo act, and really wanted to be the male singer with the likes of such major bands as Tommy or Jimmy Dorsey. 

Jimmy Ricks actually sang the vocals on one minor hit with Benny Goodman, but Goodman changed his vocalists more often than he changed his socks, so Ricks didn't have the big band position he craved with Goodman. In the seventies Ricky found work with Count Basie, which was complicated by his major vice, even shooting up practically in public, and finally his addiction ended his life when he had just found the position he really wanted with Basie. (Simply put, he was a solo perfortmer, which he got to explore on many occasions. He was sometimes singing a form of r&b that many considered jazz, and certainly jazz fans consider much of his output to be "jazz" by todays standards). While most of the groups that are revered by so-called "collectors" did not sing "group harmony" at all, The Ravens were a shining example of hard work to obtain true harmony on most of their recordings. 

Jimmy Ricks didn't actually put forth much of what we regard as a "bass singer" because he generally sang lead. When another Raven sang lead at "live" shows and Ricky chimed in with a line or two, the crowd loved it, but Ricky wasn't looking for that supporting role for himself. Example: Listen to Gerald Gregory on the opening of "Goodnight Sweetheart", wherein you hear an excellent bass voice singing bass in the style we know of as a "bass voice", which is to say very few words, if any, and providing an essential sound to highlight both the song and the lead singer. (Yes, Gerald sang a few leads, but that's not the point. The bass voice was morphing into something different at a rapid pace starting in 1953 as what would become popular r&b and rock n' roll was getting ready to happen.

Gerald was a fan of Ricks, as anyone can tell). The role of a "bass voice" was destined to be defined by "Sincerely", "Goodnight Sweetheart", "You'll Never, Never Know", "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", "Whispering Bells", and less known but much loved bass sounds from groups such as The Kodaks, Continentals, Bop Chords, and other primarily "New York City" groups. Jimmy Ricks didn't care for the role of being the under-pinning or foundation of the emerging sounds, because he, by his own choice, was dedicated to being a lead vocal and a single artist star. 

Clearly Jimmy Ricks inspired many bass singers, including the above mentioned Gerald Gregory. Ricks was a pioneer, no doubt. However, in an odd twist of fate, the very multitude of bass voices he inspired all assumed the non-lead roles. If you were 17 years old in 1956, did you aspire to be Billy Eckstine or Sherman from The Teenagers? (You know the answer to that question). The Ravens "White Christmas" which was re-worked and certanly the basis of The Drifters later version, was in my opinion, a sound The Ravens should have stayed with because it might have brought them into hit status with the revoloution that was coming like a freight train, though nobody knew it. (Lightning in a bottle, but they left the top off the bottle).

The Orioles were a whole other creation. As Shandy might say, "A Thing Apart". The smooth seductive, reassuring leads by Sonny Til made The Orioles a sensation that drove audiences crazy as early as the late 1940's. They were representatives of the new, younger r&b sounds that kids related to far more than The Ink Spots or The Mills Brothers, which had become the music of the parents of the new generations of 1948. Sonny was seemingly almost a semi-hard core version of Nat "King" Cole, which is a compliment, so don't misunderstand that. Their rapid climb to the top of the r&b world was made possible by a giant hit single that hit the nail on the head of what r&b crowds were looking for, and made Sonny Til an almost instant idol, to both younger record buyers and future lead vocalists who took note of what Sonny was doing. 

Sonny Til, like Clyde McPhatter and Tony Williams, preferred being surrounded by a group. (If it were not for the guys at Atlantic Records, it is possible that Clyde would have remained a group leader, as Clyde himself told me, and that was echoed to me via Gerry Wexler himself.). The Orioles as a group were charmingly known for their "rough edges" which contrasted with Sonny's beautiful, smooth delivery. For whatever reason The Orioles singles didn't sell after their first frenzied success, but they never lacked for work, and as odd as it sounds their absolutely stunning recordings of "What Are You Doing New Years Eve", "Lonely Christmas", and "I Cover The Waterfront", were not the big hits that they seem in retrospect to have been. Their cover record of "Chapel In The Moonlight" is perfection and it's hard to believe it slipped by almost unknown. Like The Ravens, The Orioles singles seemed to be released rapid fire, despite no real impact. 

In 1953 Jubilee Records made the odd choice of covering a country/pop hit by the country artist who wrote the song, and suddenly The Orioles had their biggest record, a true national r&b and pop hit with "Crying In The Chapel", the year that a Memphis truck driver graduated from High School. However, Jubillee mis-read what the song was and insisted The Orioles follow it with an even more religous song, and doomed The Orioles chance at a follow-up record. (In 1959 as the "oldies" craze started, The Orioles "Crying In The Chapel" briefly charted again). Sonny Til had formed several different Orioles groups, but they didn't equal the success he had started with, though Sonny always sounded excellent, and was a gentleman the r&b world could and is proud of to this day.

If you wish to look at "numbers", The Ravens had less hits than The Orioles, both in pop and in r&b.  But, this isn't about the numbers, it's about a long standing feud that is "The Hatfields And The McCoys" of record collecting with rabid fans who have decided to keep the battle alive, lo' these many years.

Comparing or arguing about these two groups doesn't necessarily make for a debate that should be  battled over. Both groups have their hard core fans, and it will ever be like that. If The Ravens and The Orioles didn't fight with each other, then why should anyone else? (That's a question that really cannot be answered). Many groups and factors are deliberately left out of this so The Ravens and The Orioles can be isolated for discussion, and nothing herein is designed to imply that these two groups were the only pioneers that were very important. This is written to address the "war" that started within the strange first troops that oft assembled in subway stairs and arcade levels in New York City, most notably outside of Times Records, but not exclusively there.

God bless both these groups as they were early among those artists that helped create the foundation for what was coming, which was destined to become changed and re-worked as the greatest musical art form in the history of this world.

Platters

Herb Reed, bass of The Platters, was trying to start a group, circa 1952. It kept changing as people drifted in and out of this group that wasn't a "group" yet. Including Cornel Gunter, who was in several groups at once, as most of the west coast singers you've heard about were.

Gaynel could have been in Herbs group for a while, meaning a day or a month, but he didn't start the group. Which wasn't even a group. By the time Herb got 3 members and was getting a fourth member, Herbs group, called The Flamingos, Linda Hayes was having an r&b hit, and suggested to Buck Ram, her manager, that he listen to her brother, Tony Williams, who was new to Los Angeles, but hanging around with the other singers. Ram told Tony to come back with a group. (The same thing Atlantic told Clyde McPhatter). Tony happened to hook up with Herb Reed, as they got along). That group now had a lead singer, and Tony brought them to Buck Ram.

Upon finding out there was a new Chicago group just starting, and calling themselves The Flamingos, they decided on what they wanted to a lot of....which was "platters". The Platters signed with King Records Federal label, and cut a few sides, and backed up Linda Hayes, and many more artists. Buck Ram decided to make them different by adding a girl, and he took Zoeletta Taylor (Zola) from Shirley Gunters Queens group. Zola then sang on the next few sessions, and Alex Hodge got into trouble with the law, and was fired by Buck Ram. The rest truly is history.

Cornel told me that when he heard Tony he was afraid to be in any group with him because Cornel would never get the lead singer position with Tony there. He said he almost fainted when he first heard Tony singing, which was about a year before The Platters formed.

Was Gaynel ever a "Platter"? No.

------

I'm cleaning out my old files and I thought this e-mail of 5/1/13 from Wayne Stierle might be of interest to some:

Firstly, I want to thank News for his very kind words, kinder than I deserve, but appreciated very much to know that what you try to do is sometimes understood in this world.

As regards the instrumental track, I recorded that on almost no budget in the early 1980's. Recording with only an hour and a half of time, with studio players who are not actually a genuine combo is tricky, and you either "go with" the way it's working or just quit. In other words if players who can play "hard" on their own, end up sounding "softer" when they are thrown together, or the reverse of that, you then concentrate on making it the best you can, or as I said just "quit". Getting what you want absolutely requires an RCA budget! Nonetheless I was happy with the results.

The drum is real. I tried mixing it up higher and adding more "punch", but it contradicted the track, so I mixed it in a way I felt would fit in correctly. I can't argue with anyone who may not like the drum, because that's a matter of personal taste. As for "The Gone All Stars", I did use a version of that "group" that wasn't a group at all, in the early 60's on a few recordings. (I used the combo that had played on "Could This Be Magic", "Baby Oh Baby", "What's In An Angels Eyes", and many, many more cuts from the 50's, and associated with Gone Records). Obviously I never knew I was mixing the drum in a manner that would someday be compared to a synth drum of the future.

The main issue of "If You Were Gone From Me" was on a 10" 45 on red plastic, and others that News referenced.

On another subject that Shandy mentioned to me, I wanted to clear something up. Bobby Nurse never sang lead on any of The Shells Johnson 45's. In fact, Bobby was finally coaxed by me to sing lead on several tracks on "An Acapella Session With The Shells", in 1966, which was the first acapella album ever deliberately recorded by a genuine 1950's group to actually be an "acapella album". (Anything previous was old practice tapes recorded to try to sell the songs or be used for an arranger to write the parts for the band). Before this album, Bobby never sang lead on anything. He was a striking tenor who liked being in the background, and I loved bringing out his powerful falsetto whenever I could. He was a better lead than Roy Jones, but that's a whole other story. Roy Jones was a good singer and a very nice person, but suited more to background vocals or "B" sides, when compared to Bobby. (Group politics and inter-group arguments have destroyed many a session, and many a good group. I was trying to keep it together, and that meant doing things that weren't always what I knew was possible).

Again, thanks to Shandy and to News, and everyone who has an opinion. Music is subjective, and it should be. Personally I'm only bothered by incorrect facts, not opinions.

Ben E. King

Ben E. King sang on the 2 recordings (2 songs) made by The Crowns, and The Crowns were what The 5 Crowns morphed into, so it's not reaching to say that Ben E. King was part of the "5 Crowns bloodline", and vocal group history.

Collectors simply don't seem to "get" Ben E. King, which is clear from their actions more than anything they say. It's the "Cleve Duncan thing", which is don't be known to millions of people or you'll be ignored, much as they have a big problem with Tony Williams, also clear by their actions more than their often dopey opinions.

Clyde wanted to be a solo act. Ben didn't especially want to be a solo, tho' he was so fed up with "The Drifters" he couldn't take it. (Opting within months of their first hit to record with them, but not go on the road with them).

Lover Paterson couldn't sing, and had been the valet for Sonny Til And The Orioles. He wrote "True Love, True Love" and other songs. Lover would appear on stage when needed, but he just pretended to be singing in the background. He ended up as Bens' manager when Ben left The Drifters.

You're right, of course, Clyde cannot be compared to Ben in any way, or the reverse. They are both truly original vocalists who started in groups, but their obvious quality made them stand out in the way that only a solo artist stands out. Tony Williams had it, as did Sonny Til, whereas Buddy Bailey, and Cleve, etc., were correctly surrounded by a group, as were most "lead singers". Carl Gardener was great with The Coasters, as was Cornel Gunter, but they both were stronger bouncing off the other fine vocalists in The Coasters, than as solo performers. The same is true for Mister Earl.

However, if I didn't know from decades of unwanted "experience" I would feel sick at the way Ben E. King is shunted aside, as I felt ill when I heard "Stand By Me" playing on the news station. Naturally I "knew" right away without any words.

Ben E. King was somehow a friend to all of us, and we knew it. (And this was more than proven to me on the times I worked with him, or ran into him. He was simply a very nice guy without any visable ego whatsoever. You couldn't hold the door open for him because he'd be too busy trying to hold the door open for you.) A kind, gentle soul.

I watched him talking to Tony Williams, and like Fred Parris he was transfixed to be talking with Tony, almost at a loss for words. I never heard Ben E. King say one word in praise of himself.

Those of us who remember when everything Ben E. King recorded was brand new are more aware of his impact on popular music than anyone trying to "look back" and figure it out. He is woven into the fabric of the music of the latter fifties and early sixties, in a totally positive way. He was a fine songwriter who skillfully collaborated with Lieber & Stoller, and at the same time his voice brought many of their songs to life, eternal life.

People on the internet, (and others) who didn't immediately "tip their hat" to Ben are not the music lovers they seem to think they are. What they failed to say on the day we heard that Ben had passed on, speaks volumes about what they do not understand about music, or the popular culture of America.

Lee Andrews and The Hearts

This will be the last of the e-mails to me from Wayne Stierle. I want to thank the members for their feedback and Nick and his crew for letting me post something a little outside of the box. Much appreciated:)

Though they got Philly air-play from Dick Clark who was NOT national early on. Despite that, and later on Jocko arrived on the scene, those early Lee Andrews records were not popular.

With their first actual national release, "Long Lonely Nights", Jocko got them to Chess on a lease deal of some sort, and Jocko broke the record locally.

Atlantic COVERED the song with Clyde McPhatter! (Who had just had a run of hits and was getting better known each day).

Here comes the kicker:

Black stations tossed out Lee Andrews and played Clyde, even tho' Lee Andrews was already taking off. Lee Andrews didn't chart r&b! On the pop charts Lee Andrews was a bigger record, and in time it was found that Lee had outsold Clyde by a big number. What turned the tide? A very good friend of Atlantic Records had the nerve to go against Atlantic, and play Lee Andrews each day. Dick Clark.

Think about it.

While the "idiot" collectors are the first to knock Dick Clark, they don't know that Lee Andrews and The Hearts might never have had a second record to follow "Long Lonely Nights" if the record had been buried by Clyde McPhatter. By "not having" a follow-up, I mean if you wait 6 months, it's not a follow-up, it's a whole new ballgame again. (And Chess probably would have not put out a follow-up, given Jocko's way of handling contracts, so the next record would need new financing since it was following a non-seller, and Jocko raised the money,but didn't pay himself, and that could easily have held up their next record by 6 months or so,

Because "Long Lonely Nights" was a hit, they had a follow-up as soon as it cooled down. That follow-up was their biggest hit, "Teardrops", with Dick Clark being given the "honor" of debuting it.

However, with 'Teadrops' there was no heavyweight 'cover' record to muck up things. I didn't mean to make this about Dick Clark, but the truth is the truth. Dick Clark continued to introduce each new Hearts record to his audience, but The Hearts had only one more hit record, despite Jocko wailing on each record in two cities and even playing some twice a night, "claiming" high demand!

"Trickle Trickle", a Jocko owned property was never a hit. I guess, but it's only a guess, that Jocko couldn't find a big company to lease it to, or based on his huge success with Lee Andrews, maybe he wanted too much money up front. Jocko published and owned many records. Notice the writing credits that include Henderson as a co-writer.

Jocko had a partner many times. Sam Goldner, brother of George Goldner, who was mobbed up to his eyeballs, and lost his big profits to playing the ponies every day.

In case you wonder how Levy ended up with The Goldner labels, now you know.

4 Bars

Wayne Stierle referencing "If I Give My Heart To You" - 4 Bars, on this site.

This song was a giant that was cut up into several pieces by 5 versions hitting at once on the national charts. Doris Day at #3, Denise Lor at #8, and Connie Boswell former lead of the Boswell Sisters who had set the stage for The Andrews Sisters earlier on coming in at #10. (Beyond that The Wright Brothers at #25, and Dinah Shore at #28. Nat "King" Cole who recorded a favorite version was too busy at that time in The Top Ten with "Answer Me, My Love". 

The strongest version for me was Connie Boswell in her wheel chair performing it on The Ed Sullivan Show. (Kitty Kallen who had quit singing for five years came back in 1959 and had a hit with this song on her comeback. Kitty, riding on high with one of the biggest records of the 1950's, "Little Things Mean A Lot", left the scene when at her biggest triumph she lost her voice on stage). This song failed to hit the r&b charts at all, but here are The Four Bars with an odd take on it for Josie Records.

Turbans

Wayne Stierle referencing  "I'll Always Watch Over You" on this site.

The Turbans with the gentle personal lead of Al Banks would often erupt into one of the truest falsetto voices of the 1950's. Rare in that only Herald Records with the aid of Leroy Kirkland ever brought out the full extent of The Turbans. They would never on any other label bring back their genuine sound. That "Congratulations" wasn't a hit for them is highway robbery which doesn't keep that spellbinding ballad from being a real classic nonetheless. While the ballad posted herein is too hard core to make it with a wider audience it is a wonderful example of what vocal groups can do in terms of painting a masterpiece.

I'm cleaning out my old files and I thought this e-mail of 5/1/13 from Wayne Stierle might be of interest to some:

Firstly, I want to thank News for his very kind words, kinder than I deserve, but appreciated very much to know that what you try to do is sometimes understood in this world.

As regards the instrumental track, I recorded that on almost no budget in the early 1980's. Recording with only an hour and a half of time, with studio players who are not actually a genuine combo is tricky, and you either "go with" the way it's working or just quit. In other words if players who can play "hard" on their own, end up sounding "softer" when they are thrown together, or the reverse of that, you then concentrate on making it the best you can, or as I said just "quit". Getting what you want absolutely requires an RCA budget! Nonetheless I was happy with the results.

The drum is real. I tried mixing it up higher and adding more "punch", but it contradicted the track, so I mixed it in a way I felt would fit in correctly. I can't argue with anyone who may not like the drum, because that's a matter of personal taste. As for "The Gone All Stars", I did use a version of that "group" that wasn't a group at all, in the early 60's on a few recordings. (I used the combo that had played on "Could This Be Magic", "Baby Oh Baby", "What's In An Angels Eyes", and many, many more cuts from the 50's, and associated with Gone Records). Obviously I never knew I was mixing the drum in a manner that would someday be compared to a synth drum of the future.

Shells

The main issue of "If You Were Gone From Me" was on a 10" 45 on red plastic, and others that News referenced.

On another subject that Shandy mentioned to me, I wanted to clear something up. Bobby Nurse never sang lead on any of The Shells Johnson 45's. In fact, Bobby was finally coaxed by me to sing lead on several tracks on "An Acapella Session With The Shells", in 1966, which was the first acapella album ever deliberately recorded by a genuine 1950's group to actually be an "acapella album". (Anything previous was old practice tapes recorded to try to sell the songs or be used for an arranger to write the parts for the band). Before this album, Bobby never sang lead on anything. He was a striking tenor who liked being in the background, and I loved bringing out his powerful falsetto whenever I could. He was a better lead than Roy Jones, but that's a whole other story. 

Roy Jones was a good singer and a very nice person, but suited more to background vocals or "B" sides, when compared to Bobby. (Group politics and inter-group arguments have destroyed many a session, and many a good group. I was trying to keep it together, and that meant doing things that weren't always what I knew was possible).

Again, thanks to Shandy and to News, and everyone who has an opinion. Music is subjective, and it should be. Personally I'm only bothered by incorrect facts, not opinions.