Brian's Weekly Sleevenotes - 14 March 15

Come and Stay With Me - Marianne Faithfull

Written by Jackie DeShannon especially for Marianne and creating her second UK top ten hit. Born in Hampstead, her father was a doctor and her mother an Austro-Hungarian Baroness, she became the epitome of the swinging sixties in London, meeting Andrew Oldham at a party who approached her with the line, "I can make you a star and that’s just for starters". Impressed with his chat, she signed a management contract with him that led to her long term contract with Decca, negotiated by her mother.

Fortune Teller - Benny Spellman

Benny was once a member of Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s backing group, The Clowns before going solo in the early sixties. This song was written by Allen Toussaint under his pseudonym Naomi Neville and was covered by The Rolling Stones on their first live album, 'Got Live If You Want It!' with later versions by acts including The Hollies, The Who and Robert Plant. Benny Spellman’s original version of 'Fortune Teller' was originally the ‘B’ side of his single, 'Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)'.

Louie Louie - The Kingsmen

'Louie Louie' was written and first recorded back in 1957 by Richard Berry with several other versions appearing thereafter. The Kingsmen from Portland, Oregon were playing in a local club owned by DJ Ken Chase who wanted to play a record by them on his radio show so they went into a studio where they only had experience in making commercials and recorded 'Louie Louie' without the ability of proper equipment to balance the instruments and vocals but despite the feeling that the record was a mess, it was released on a small local label, Jerden and was all but forgotten until some months later it was picked up by the bigger Wand organisation who turned it into a massive hit.

Eighteen Yellow Roses - Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin

After Darin met his future wife Sandra Dee in 1960 whilst making the movie 'Come September' in which they both appeared, he decided to get into Sandra’s good books by sending her mother eighteen yellow roses every day during the four week filming schedule in Portofino, Italy. Both Glen Campbell on guitar and Hal Blaine on drums were among the session musicians who played on the track.

Goodnight Midnight - Clodagh Rodgers

After many years in the wilderness and several failed singles, Clodagh signed to RCA where her first couple of releases met with the same fate as her previous material until she was teamed up with producer and song writer, Kenny Young. Their first effort together produced the top ten hit, 'Come Back And Shake Me', that was quickly followed by 'Goodnight Midnight', resulting in her being the UK’s best selling female artist of the year in 1969.

That's The Way Love Is - Marvin Gaye

He began his singing career in his father’s church choir before joining vocal groups, The Rainbows and The Marquees and later joined Harvey Fuqua when he re-formed The Moonglows. In 1960 he began playing drums as a session musician for Motown records where he met Berry Gordy’s sister, Anna whom he married in 1961. Just one day before his 45th birthday in April, 1984, his father shot him dead during a vicious quarrel.

Slim Slow Rider - Van Morrison

Van Morrison

After leaving his group, Them, Van Morrison embarked on a solo career hitting the American top ten in 1967 with 'Brown Eyed Girl' before signing to Warner Brothers the following year releasing his debut album, 'Astral Weeks' for the label issued in November 1968 that had been recorded in New York in less than two days to become one of the most innovative and influential albums of the era with all songs written by Van himself. 'Slim Slow Rider' was the closing track on side two.

Come and Get It - Badfinger

Written by Paul McCartney who recorded a demo of the song in July, 1969 singing and playing all the instruments on the track that he then presented to The Iveys, a group signed to The Beatles Apple label. Offering to produce a version with them on the understanding that it had to sound like his demo and the group changed their name to Badfinger. Auditioning each member of the group to sing lead vocals, he decided on fellow Liverpudlian, Tom Evans over the three other Welshmen, Peter Ham, Ron Griffiths and Mike Gibbons. The single was released on 5th December, 1969 but didn’t make a showing in the charts until the second week of January the following year. It was then selected as the opening theme and closing credits to the movie, 'The Magic Christian' starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr.

I've Passed This Way Before - Jimmy Ruffin

Writers and producers of the song, William Weatherspoon and James Dean worked overtime to recapture the magic of Jimmy’s previous hit, 'What becomes Of The Broken Hearted' to the point where it took no less than eight recording sessions to achieve the result they wanted. The record included a spoken intro as did the previous hit but on that occasion was left off on the final mix. Ruffin believing the same fate would become this track often stated that he put little effort into that part of the recording. The record returned to our top forty when it was re-issued in 1969.

Alley Oop - The Hollywood Argyles

The Hollywood Argyles who were made up from a group of friends of singer and producer Gary Paxton. He had written 'Alley Oop' with the intention of recording it as a solo artist but as he was still under contract to another label as Flip of the duo Skip And Flip, he gathered this motley crew together and named them after a street just across the road from the recording studios in Los Angeles. The record was co-produced by the late Kim Fowley. Over the years he worked as a writer and /or producer with many leading acts including Cat Stevens, Gene Vincent, Paul Revere & The Raiders and was also responsible for the number one hit, 'Nut Rocker' by B. Bumble & The Stingers.