FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 20, 2013
DEAR JERRY: Part of a recent column identified all of the records made by the members of Three Dog Night.
You say that just before they changed their name to Three Dog Night, Cory, Danny, and Chuck were known as Redwood, and they recorded "Time to Get Alone."
This made me curious about their Redwood period, so I went online, only to find this one short sentence: "During 1967 the trio made some recordings with Brian Wilson, and using the name of Redwood."
Is this all that is known about Redwood? Can you dig up more info?
—Trisha Stanley, Evansville, Ind.
By February 1967, after over three months on the charts, "Good Vibrations" dropped out of the Top 100. Rather than follow their all-time biggest hit with another Capitol single, "Heroes and Villains" came out on Brother records (No. 1001), a label Brian founded for new Beach Boys releases as well as other artists he wanted to produce. Conveniently, Capitol agreed to manufacture Brother records for Brian.
He invited Danny Hutton, already with a couple of solo hits to his credit, to bring his Redwood group to record at the Capitol studios, and be produced by Brian Wilson. These summer '67 sessions yielded enough material for an entire album, probably 10 to 12 tracks.
Opinions vary as to why Brian and Brother shelved the Redwood master tapes, but the proposed LP never came out.
Among those tunes is "Darlin'," one of the Beach Boys biggest hits from the 1967 to '77 period. Brian originally wrote it for Redwood, but he recycled the instrumental track and replaced the Redwood vocals with the Beach Boys.
As for "Time to Get Alone," Carl Wilson produced a newly recorded version for inclusion on their 1969 LP, "20/20."
DEAR JERRY: Often, with only a few lyrics provided, you have identified songs for bewildered readers.
Unfortunately, it is much more difficult when the record in question is an instrumental, which is one of the categories I collect.
My mystery tune was a Top 30 hit in the early 1960s, at least it was in Cleveland on Color Channel 1420, WHK.
They played it every day, along with another instrumental I loved, "Underwater," by the Frogmen.
However, those two are nothing alike. "Underwater" is surf style and the other is more like Mantovani than the Frogmen. It is fully orchestrated with lots of lush strings.
Those are the only clues I have. Ring any bells with you?
—Jackson Clarke, Mentor, Ohio
DEAR JACKSON: Your clues may be few but they rang all the right bells.
By zooming in on March through May of 1961, when "Underwater" was riding high (Top 5) on the charts in the Cleveland area, I discovered 21 additional instrumentals:
"A Night with Daddy 'G'" (Church Street Five); "African Waltz" (Cannonball Adderley and Johnny Dankworth); "Apache" (Jorgen Ingman); "Asia Minor" (Kokomo); "Bumble Boogie" (B. Bumble and the Stingers); "Exodus to Jazz" (Eddie Harris); "Green Grass of Texas" (Texans); "Hearts of Stone" (Bill Black's Combo); "Lil' Ole Me" (Cornbread & Jerry); "Lonely Sands" (Dunes); "Lullaby of the Leaves" (Ventures); "On the Rebound" (Floyd Cramer); "One Mint Julep" (Ray Charles Orchestra); "One-Eyed Jacks" (Ferrante & Teicher); "Son of the Rain" (Roger Williams); "That's the Way with Love" (Piero Soffici); "Theme from Bonanza" (Al Caiola); "Theme from My Three Sons" (Lawrence Welk); "Wheels" (String-A-Longs); "Yellow Bird" (Arthur Lyman); and "You Can't Sit Down" (Phil Upchurch).
From these choices, I feel the only one matching your clues is the Italian import, "That's the Way with Love" (Kip 224). More than just a regional hit, "That's the Way with Love" also made the Top 60 nationally.
If one didn't know it was by Piero, they might think they were hearing Percy Faith and His Orchestra … or Mantovani.
IZ ZAT SO? AM radio stations with three call letters are among the charter licensees in the U.S., and WHK (Cleveland) was the first to broadcast in Ohio.
Signing on March 5, 1922, they beat Cincinnati's WLW by a mere 17 days.
WHK is among the nation's oldest 15 radio stations still broadcasting.
Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column. Write Jerry at: Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368 E-mail: jpo@olympus.net Visit his Web site: www.jerryosborne.com
All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition.
Copyright 2013 Osborne Enterprises - Reprinted By Exclusive Permission
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