chameleon

Seasons Connections - Alessi

Back in 1976 as the Four Seasons toured the USA on the back of their new success following their biggest hit for a decade a new act hit the scene with their first album and a hit single ‘Oh Lori’. Alessi have been described as “Brian Wilson Meets Hall and Oates” and their melodic harmonies and tight music was a refreshing dose of classic pop. Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio liked them so much that they used them as opening act on tour and commissioned two songs for ‘Valli’ the next solo album by Frankie….and in return agreed to work on a future album with the brothers.

‘Easily’ and ‘So She Says’, composed by Billy and Bobby Alessi for the album ‘Valli’ are excellent vehicles for Frankie’s voice and deserved better promotion from Private Stock.

But the talent of these talented guys was out of sync with a record industry heading into recession and a rock revival aimed at destroying disco and pop. Despite five excellent albums between 1976 and 1982 they couldn’t repeat the success of ‘Oh Lori’ even with the support of Christopher Cross and Quincy Jones on the superb final LP on Warner – Qwest QW K 56999 ‘Long Time Friends’.

On their third album ‘Words and Music’(AMLH64776 – 1979) they were helped by Bob and Frankie with Bob producing three tracks, ‘Words and Music’, ‘Midnight Low’ and the extended disco track ‘Evil Man’ which features Frankie Valli on backing vocals.

We recently gathered the best of their tracks from our vinyl collection and it actually needed 2 CD’s as the quality of songs and performances was so good. Few artists proved so consistent as singer songwriters during this period but with little commercial success.

When they dropped of the scene as 1980s music plunged into decline……many believe only held together by the artistry of Michael Jackson…..they turned very successfully to jingle writing.

But like the Four Seasons of the 70s they were revered in Holland so it is so pleasing to see that fans there have persuaded them to make a commercial comeback and the fruits of that can be found at their new website.

An intimate ‘live’ DVD concert and a new CD look set to finally bring the guys the recognition and success they have always deserved if the samplers on their web site are any indication.

And we can only highlight our favourite track from their first album as an example of a superb and original song and sound which should appeal to all lovers of pop harmony. This is one act Frankie and Bob rightly recognized as top talent.

Chameleon

Ellie Greenwich - A Tribute

Losing Ellie Greenwich this week was a personal loss. Not like her family who are deeply grieving or her friends who knew her and worked with her. To me she was a new friend who had only known me for a few weeks….and for an old music historian from the 70s to be friends with an icon of pop music in the 60s was well….special.

It is the loss of what a developing friendship can bring that is sad. And she loved The Four Seasons and it would have been good to capture some of her stories behind the music: and to just get to know her.

It might seem unusual for fans of the Four Seasons to see a link with Ellie Greenwich and the group but it is said she contributed to the group’s tracks and we know she was a close friend of Bob Crewe. Certainly Bob Crewe and former Four Season Jerry Corbetta helped produce her Broadway musical ‘Leader Of The Pack’ in the 1980s. But Ellie was a 60s music icon as much as the Four Seasons.

The L.A Times says of her…“Ellie also broke ground as one of the first female record producers, working with husband Jeff Barry in crafting Diamond’s early recordings, including “Cherry Cherry,” ”Solitary Man” and “Kentucky Woman.”. Diamond had struggled as a songwriter until he came under the wing of Greenwich and Barry, who’d already logged numerous shimmering pop hits for groups such as the Ronettes, the Crystals, the Dixie Cups and Ronnie Spector.”

Our current research on Jean Thomas’s session logs in 1966 are revealing the sessions with Neil that would shape his career . Neil said in a statement.. “Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career, she discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter.”

She also did the back-up work with Jean Thomas for Connie Francis….Andy Kim and for Bob Crewe on the Leslie Gore productions as well as many others as Jean’s session logs show. She also produced and sang on some of the Ronettes later sessions. For an example of her production and backing work listen to the Tony Pass tracks that Ellie did with husband Jeff Barry at Jean Thomas’s blog post ‘Out Of The Closet – Part1

But it was her earlier work in 1963 that was the most important…the L.A. Times again..“Their collaborations with Wall of Sound creator Spector  are regarded among the greatest singles ever created. The music publishing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc. lists more than 200 songs she wrote or co-wrote, including "Then He Kissed Me" (the Crystals), "I Can Hear Music" (The Ronettes, Beach Boys), "Hanky Panky" (a hit for Tommy James & the Shondells), "Maybe I Know" (Lesley Gore) and the song Spector considered his greatest recording, "River Deep, Mountain High" (Ike and Tina Turner).

Greenwich has said that the title phrase of "Da Doo Ron Ron" was never intended to be part of the song; it was improvised as a nonsensical space filler until she and Barry could come up with a real line to follow the tune's opening lyric: "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still."

"We got all the rest of the words and music together, but we couldn't find anything for this bit," she said in 2005. "Believe me, it doesn't mean a thing." On the other hand, when she and Barry wrote "There she goes just a walkin' down the street" to start another song, she responded with what she imagined a young girl skipping down a street would sing: "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do." "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" became a No. 1 hit in 1965 for the British group Manfred Mann”

Greenwich suffered a nervous breakdown after she and Barry divorced in 1965,(although she still worked tirelessly) and the hits stopped flowing. The public's attention was shifting to the Beatles and other British invasion bands as well as a rising crop of self-contained singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, putting many Bril Building pros out of work.

When my marriage fell apart and my style dropped out of  fashion, it seemed there wasn't anything left," she told an Australian newspaper in 2005. “It's easy to say I had plenty left, but that's not how it seems when you're there."

Jean Thomas remembers Ellie with great fondness.” I will miss her a great deal.   We all will!!!!” I feel so sad!!!!  But I'm so happy Ellie, Mikie and I had that long, long lunch not too long ago.  The three of us were looking forward to the next one.”

“Ellie was such a talent. Alongside Carol King she is arguably one of the most important female writers, producers, performers in New York during the 60s….I can remember when she had nine Top Ten hits on the Hot 100 charts in one year.”

And as a result of our work with Jean and the interest of others she was less reclusive recently and contacted me about our research. A few weeks ago, when I wrote her on Facebook she said ….”Thanks for the heartwarming compliments. Jean and I have been out of touch for so long and we are just updating our friendship. I speak to Bob Crewe regularly and he is doing just fine. Hopefully someday I will get a chance to say hello to you in person.…. I find it amazing there is so much stuff out there with things I sang on, clapped on, ate on, etc.  It would be great if you put up something for ‘Goodnight Goodnight’ . That was one of my favorite songs. I wrote ‘Goodnight, Goodnight’ with Bob Crewe around 1966/67. It was on the b-side of I Want You To Be My Baby. We were kind of hoping for a possible two sided success but no such luck. It's still one of my favorite songs.”

Unfortunately I didn’t manage it in time or to ask her about how she helped out on Four Seasons records. But now here it is …..thanks to Casey and our other researchers for their help with what has become our tribute….

I don't think there is a female producer/writer from the 60s who I admire more. Her work with Jean and Mikie remain for me the forgotten legacy of her 60s career and as we complete Jean’s bios we will reveal more about this 60s ‘harmony heroine’

For more on how Ellie, Jean and Mikie (Harris) became one of the most distinct back-up sounds of the mid 60s check out Pages 5 to 7 of Jean’s bio notes Part 2

Further appreciations can be found in the L. A Times and Paul Levinson’s recollections feature a Performance with Jean Thomas in the Definitive Rock Chorale.

Perhaps ‘Goodnight, Goodnight’ is a fitting epitaph but because she was such a good writer I would still love to hear the unreleased Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons track she wrote with Bob Crewe and Steve Tudanger (ex ‘Four-Evers’) in 1973 ‘Be My Lover, Be My Friend’ which is lying unheard in the Motown Vaults. It never surfaced in her lifetime and it may never in ours! But most of all I’ll miss my new Facebook friend and the fun we might have had with stories of music making to share with her fans!!

Ken Charmer

Thanks to George Schowerer (photos), Martin Roberts(pic sleeves) and special thanks to Jean Thomas and Bob Crewe.

Check Out our previous post re Bob Crewe's Girl's

The End Of The 'Seasons' Connections Series

In the forthcoming Newsletter (Nr 52) we conclude our series devoted to the productions connected with Bob Crewe, Charles Calello, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. At least, for the time being.

 

We would never have thought when we did Volume 1 back in 2001 that we would find so many quality tracks to fill 8 Volumes. All dubbed from vinyl and restored many of them don’t appear on CD at all. Bob Crewe, Charles and Frankie we know collect this series. It has been good fun to complement the success of Jersey Boys with some of the tracks featured in the show before they became the Four Seasons which are so rare on vinyl and hard to find on CD. But there is so much more that they did before and after the group found success that is not well documented. The collections have kept the mix varied and the notes provide the background stories

 

The CDs of these compilations are in the Appreciation Society Library and the notes as pdf’s can be found below as links for……

 

Seasons Connections Vol 1

Seasons Connections Vol 2

Seasons Connections Vol 3

Track Factfile Vol 3

Seasons Connections Vol 4

Track Factfile Vol 4

Seasons Connections Vol 5

Track Factfile Vol 5

Seasons Connections Vol 6

Track Factfile Vol 6

Seasons Connections Vol 7

Track Factfile Vol 7

Seasons Connections Vol 8

Track Factfile Vol 8

 

Enjoy the read and contact Lynn for more info re the library.

mailto:[email protected]

Photo courtesy of George Schowerer – Studio shot Left to Right, Bob Crewe – Engineer (not known)- Bob Gaudio....'Can't Take My Eyes Of You' session

Casey Chameleon

'Seasons' Connections - Ginny Arnell

The forthcoming release by Ginny Arnell (26^th November £6.99 from HMV inc delivery) provides ‘Seasons’ Connections fans with an official CD of her work for the first time and a chance to acquire her very best tracks including her terrific Bob Crewe Productions.

This release is a milestone in making available some of the best girl sounds of the early/mid sixties from a ‘connections’ viewpoint.

 Two of the best songs on this set were produced by Bob Crewe and arranged and conducted by Charles Calello. ‘Troubles Back In Town/ I’m Crying Too’ MGM K13146 was a superb single. We included ‘I’m Crying Too’ on our ‘Seasons’ Connections Vol 5 and ‘Troubles Back In Town’ on Vol 7….saying…

“Ginny Arnell’s attempt at a hit with Bob Crewe should have struck gold with the beautiful Robert Sears melody ‘I’m Crying Too’ which we feature on our Volume 5 compilation. Her pleading vocals capture the 1963 girl sound at its best. But that foolishly only made the ‘B’ side. The ‘A’ side however ‘Troubles Back In Town’ (MGM K13146) wasn’t bad at all and should have fared better than bubbling under the US charts. It has a great lyric and melody and Ginny’s always positive country tinged voice is so effective. It was written by Flood arranged by Charles Calello and produced by Bob Crewe in 1963”

But this set also includes ‘connections’ with The Rag Dolls…lead singer Jean Thomas who with brother Don wrote, ‘I’m So Afraid Of Loving You’ for Ginny when they were writers at April-Blackwood…and on 9^th December 1964 Jean did a backing overdub on ‘(Ain’t That) Just like A Boy’.

A great sounding collection by one of the 60s best girl singers.

Chameleon

 

'Presents From Eddie' - The Ed Rambeau Songbook

Ed Rambeau is one of Bob Crewe’s 1960s entourage who are accessible to fans and researchers and are willing to tell the story behind their music. So when Mike Edwards of Spectropop fame proposed a special edition of our ‘Season’ Connections projects based on the compositions of Eddie Rambeau and his co-writers we knew we could do it justice.

Eddie started writing with his manager Bud Rehak in 1961 and for a few years upto the mid 60s they produced some memorable songs for a diverse range of artists.

With Eddie’s help we have been able to compile the best of these into our ‘collectors’ set of tracks and to make them sound fresh and listenable we have remixed them to stereo….although all but one were recorded in mono as far as we can find. The stereo although simulated with comb filters and delay enhances the listening experience …but we’ll let you judge below on one of Eddie’s top recordings which Bob  Crewe selected for the Four Seasons.

 

Read the full article which is part of our Newsletter 50 issue by clicking here.

 

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When You're Hot, You're Hot !

There are some sounds that deserve recognition and the one created by the Jersey Girls (as they are now known), to create a Northern Soul anthem is a story worth telling. The music too is worth searching out.

 

We were able to interview one of the girls that created some classic 60s tracks, Denise Ferri and you can read her interview and our story by clicking here.

This is an advanced issue of the article that will feature in our September Newsletter. We've corrected Version 3 as we 'incorrectly' suggested that Bob Crewe produced Jessica James and The Outlaws when it was Bob Gaudio/The 4 Seasons. Our apologies to Bob Gaudio.

 

Visit the Jersey Girls site, which is still being developed, by clicking here

And below we feature just one track which captures their unique sound, remixed to stereo.

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The Soul Of Crewe - Gaudio

The solo soul vocalist appeared and flourished in the early 60’s with artists like Brook Benton, Lenny Welch, Little Anthony and others providing emotional ballads that signaled the ‘Birth Of Soul’.

With the R’n’B market so distinct and separate from the white pop market at the start of the 60s it was not the area where white song-writers and producers ventured too often. Bob Crewe was different though and he had created pop hits with black artists back in 1958 with Hal Miller and the Rays and signing the Four Seasons to the mainly black label of Vee-Jay in 1962 would provide access to black balladeers and their vocal styling.

Writing with Bob Gaudio after the phenomenal success of ‘Sherry’, ‘Big Girls’ Don’t Cry’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ at Vee-Jay would enable them to write and produce excellent songs like, ‘Whatever You Want’ for Jerry Butler and ‘Tomorrow’, ‘King Of The Mountain’ and ‘Another Day’ (which features the Four Seasons on backing vocals) for Chuck Jackson.

Crewe would continue to produce the occasional soul track throughout the 60s.

But it was another Jackson who was to sing two of the best songs by this classic song-writing team. Mike ‘Doo-Wop Daddy’ Miller takes up the story………..

“Jerry Jackson was a very accomplished black singer who really never had the one big hit, although a number of his recordings should have hit the top 20. "Wide Awake In A Dream" is one of the most beautiful songs that Crewe & Gaudio ever wrote together, and one of the most obscure. This late 1962 single may have suffered from poor promotion or was just a little ahead of it's time, but I sure would have loved to see this as a 4 Seasons release in 1963. Of course it would not have featured the wonderful falsetto vocals that the group was working on at this time, but the material deserved a better showing than it got. This particular song is so good, I could almost see a re-release by someone today.

One of 4 songs recorded by Jerry Jackson in October of 1962 these were a huge surprise for most 4 Seasons collectors just a few years ago. Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio wrote the four songs, "Wide Awake In A Dream", "Turn Back", Gypsy Eyes", and "She Lied" in 1961 and / or 1962. Originally, "Turn Back" was recorded in 1961 for the Diamond records label by Kevin McQuinn in another Crewe production. It is another superb song

It is hard to tell if The 4 Seasons are on any of these recordings or not. I personally do not hear them clearly, but the liner notes on the Bear Jerry Jackson set  say that Crewe produced the tracks, and it lists The Four Seasons as being in attendance at the recordings.They could have been, or some of them could be on the recordings,but it's just odd that you can't pick out their voices very well. The recordings do NOT list Charlie Calello as the arranger. We have in conversations, confirmed that on some of these older recordings, Bob Gaudio and Charlie Calello actually acted as the producers, but there is no label credit given. They would actually be in the booth doing what the producer usually does. Bob Crewe was a very busy guy, and you can see how he might say, “you just finish this up, you know what I want, what sound I am looking for”.
In an interview, Charlie Calello says that the very first record that he worked on with Crewe was "Ev'ry Step Of The Way" by Kevin McQuinn on Diamond records in late ( September- October) 1961. Charlie said that it was him, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli in the recording booth. Calello said that he never even met McQuinn ( Eddie Quinn ), as they laid down the track, and they left it with  Crewe who then added the vocal parts with Quinn later.”

And as for the question of whether or not Jerry Jackson does a superb version of ‘Turn Back’?

Check out the songs in the player.

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The Jean Thomas New York Music Journal

We first contacted Jean Thomas back in 2003 after reading her profile in John Clemente’s excellent book ‘Girl Groups’. Little did we know that we would be launching her web site as a focus for 1960s New York music research in 2007.

But thanks to Jean and her brother Don, and the help of a team of volunteer music detectives, all members of ‘Spectropop’,  we are able to announce the launch of her web-site at www.jeanthomas.info.

Not only is this a celebration of her music and her story but it is a journal that will collect stories and information about the creation of music in the city during the 60’s and Jean and Don’s part in it and the people they worked with.

We will do this around the detail of Jean’s music recording diary, the first part of which is published there. You’ll see what we know and don’t and the future will unveil what is out there to be found.

It is a dynamic and evolving site and we don’t know for sure how big it will grow but that will be part of the fun and the research. Contributions will be welcome and acknowledged/credited and we hope the Spectropop pages will link to us and contribute to our research.

We will announce regular additions as information comes in here so subscibe to this blog for updates. We hope you enjoy what Jean has made available for us all to enjoy. What more we find is up to you.

Chameleon

What did The Victorians ever do for us?

  Well the people in this photo helped change the world 100 years ago during the Industrial revolution…. but they are not the members of this mystery male pop group by that name from the 60’s that we have been trying to identify. Connected in several ways to the Four Seasons, this group seems to have received Bob Crewe and the Four Seasons ‘hand-me-downs’.. Mike Miller told us… “The Victorians- had been around from the late 1950's and was the group that top producer and former Four Season Charles Calello belonged to. He left them to work with Frankie and the post-Four Lovers early group that would become the Four Seasons . As a matter of fact, after Charlie started working with The Seasons and Crewe in 1959, he wasn't making the money he wanted and felt that his group needed to go on tour, so he left  and The pre-Four Seasons for awhile to go on tour during 1961 before "Sherry" was recorded and released. That is how Sid Bass ended up doing the arrangements on some early Seasons tracks and the Christmas album too. Frankie and the guys thought that Sid was too old fashioned for their style so they begged Calello to come back. He arrived in time to arrange "Walk Like A Man". This also explains why Sid Bass also arranged some other tracks in late 1962-early 1963 for (Matthew Reid, Lenny O'Henry on Smash, Hedy Sontag on Veejay, Kevin McQuinn on Vivid, etc.) “ We don't think the Four Seasons sang on any tracks by The Victorians although Nick Massi and Tommy De Vito may have played on the tracks.. The guys involved were Charles Calello’s friends from his college days. He doesn’t remember much about those times but told us….”The thing I do remember about the Victorians is, it was extremely frustrating for the guys I grew up with to see me fulfilling my dream to become an arranger while they sat on the sidelines. The only thing I wanted to do was give them a chance. I knew in my heart they didn't have a chance as they weren't into pop music. They were really jazz musicians and a cover band and that's all they were. The lead singer sang like Tony Bennett and we sang like the 4 Freshmen.  When I recorded them I was just trying to be a nice guy.”

 So that accounts for….

 “C’mon Dream”(Hercules 101) – written by Chris Andrews (UK) backed with ‘Catrina’(Donnie Frio) The single was produced by Calello. Later it was recorded almost identically by Tom Crewe with The Four Evers on backups. We believe the track was released in 1964 when the Chris Andrews tracks were brought from England(these included ‘Come Closer which Eddie Rambeau recorded that year)

 So what about the later Victorians who recorded………….

• 'Baby Toys '(Reprise 0434 )– written by DeCillis-Layton and backed with ‘I Saw My Girl’      (writer Nick Massi) this also appears to be a Nick Massi Production.1964
• ‘Wasn’t The Summer Short’(Bang 550 ) – written by Ruth Lyons and backed with ‘Merry Go 'Round’ – written by Massi/Ralph Parla . Arr: Irving Spice1965

 

It appears that Nick Massi resurrected the name and either recruited the guys or new guys for these singles. The best of all these songs is ‘Baby Toys’. This was very nearly a Four Seasons track as the songs co-writer Tom De Cillis told us ….”This song has an interesting history.  My friend and co writer Richard Layton and I both wrote this song when I was managing a recording studio and production company for Tommy & Nicky in Bloomfield,NJ
After having Frankie Valli tasking me a few times about writing a song for them to record, I did just that with . The Seasons heard it and agreed to record it.  Meanwhile I attended several rehearsals, one at Tommy's house in

Montclair, NJ and Nick Massi did the vocal arrangements and instrumentation.” It appears that on the night of the session Nick called to reveal that Crewe and Gaudio had another idea re the track and had written their own take on toys called "Toy Soldier. Tom again……." He apologized and promised to get me a new deal .   He went to the Victorians and got a record contract using ‘Baby Toys’.  It was done using basically the same arrangement as we’d rehearsed with the Seasons.  It didn’t go anywhere. (Ed. Funnily enough neither did ‘Toy Soldier’!!!) Meanwhile Nick got the song to Linzer & Randell and had the Toys record it with more embellishments to Nick's original arrangement.  When the record came out, the writers were listed as Linzer/Randell/DeCillis/Layton.  They had claimed writer and publishing credits.  I protested to BMI and Nick also contacted L&R to correct labels.  They did change the credits and the record became a hit. Now I understand the song is featured in a Toys CD showing the original multi writer credits.  I doubt we as writers will ever see a penny. “

Although there are similarities in structure and some harmonies ’Toy Soldier’ has a different concept lyric and melody….but you can hear the influence this excellent song had on ‘Toy Soldier’. Listen to ‘Baby Toys’ on our player and imagine the Four Seasons singing it. We had always thought that De Cillis and  Layton  where members of the Victorians but that line-up will remain a mystery as sadly we can’t ask the late Nick Massi.

 But you can catch a sample of some of these tracks in our player for a short period.

If only the masters of that session when the Seasons rehearsed and possibly recorded ‘Baby Toys’ still existed…what a find that would be!!............... Chameleon

Bob Crewe's Girls

The group that became known as ‘Les Girls’ by collectors but one that unkown to most of us where arguably the best female harmony group of the sixties from one perspective …their sound. From left to right….Jean Thomas, Ellie Greenwich, Mikie Harris. This photo courtesy of George Schowerer  from we are told late 1967 but we can’t place the session in Jean Thomas’s session logues.

 

So what did Bob say about those times….this article by Kingsley Abbott appeared in Record Collector in 1998 and is reproduced here with his permission.

Bob Crewe is best known as the producer and co-writer, with Bob Gaudio, of the best of the Four Seasons' records, and for his later work with Mitch Ryder. But he was very alert to other musical trends around him in the 60s, so it was only natural that he should dabble in the girl group sound. In fact, though he now downplays his role in the genre, he came up with some corkers which should not be overlooked.

RECORD COLLECTOR(RC): How did you get involved with girl group records?

BOB CREWE(BC): I was very fortunate, as that whole period was very good for me. No one twisted my arm; but sometimes you'd get an idea for a production or a song that maybe had a female attitude to it. I'd often hear it as a finished entity from the outset, so I'd know exactly where I was heading. Maybe that is a prerequisite for popular records, as opposed to more serious music. But I'm not sure why you're asking me about girl groups - it was Ellie Greenwich who reigned supreme. She was the creme de la creme! .

RC: You had a lot of strong issues, though: Tracey Dey, Diane Renay, the Beach Girls, the Calendar Girls and the Rag Dolls. .

BC: Well, yes, I suppose. . . Diane Renay had one major hit ("Kiss Me Sailor") and then we did lots of kinda naive follow-ups. Some of them crossed over to the Four Seasons' sound ("Please Forget Me", "Growing Up Too Fast"), and one of them was a Phil Spector sound. That was "Unbelievable Guy". . I really enjoyed working with Tracey Dey, because she was very talented and a great singer. We cut some good sides with her. . .

I can't really understand why we didn't have a big hit. I thought that she'd go a long way.(Tracey Dey's " Won't Tell" is generally thought to be one of Crewe's best productions and one of the best example of the genre.( Ed: with a good contribution from Bob Gaudio yet again.) The Rag Dolls was a very blatant attempt to get a female Four Seasons. The name, arrangements and songs were a complete copy. I worked with Lesley Gore when she was on a bit of a down slide, and we got a hit with her with "California Nights"; That was Marvin Hamlish's first pop record! .

RC: Did you have much contact with other people working within the girl group sound? .

BC: Oh yes, with Ellie Greenwich. As I said, '.she was the Empress, the absolute Empress of the whole girl scene. We wrote a few things together. She was on every one of my records that were put out! She was even in among the guys on guy records. We had a regular group of about eight or nine girls who we'd use for sessions: one lot had a sweet sound (Ed. and featured Jean Thomas), one other lot would have a grittier sound. We mostly used three of the girls….(ed. Jean Thomas, Mikie Harris and Ellie). Ellie would always be there coaching :them, and she'd give the body and the root to the sound. She was always there.

 (Ed: Jean Thomas worked extensively with Bob and Ellie throughout the sixties including most of Lesley Gore’s backing and with dozens of other artists and she told us the following re this comment by Bob……..

“Bobs's right that Ellie was the queen of the girl's group sound.  Mikie and I were the lucky ones to be working with her on so many of those wonderful records.  Ellie and I met at Associated Recording during a demo session and realized it would be a lot easier to work together on all the backgound work we were doing instead of trying to do all the background voices by ourselves.  We started to work as a duo on a lot of these demos and I called Mikie to come to NY and join us, which she did.  We felt it was a good sound together. Bob used us and, as he said, a few others, depending on the sound he needed.  Many times Ellie worked with other singers, as did I, but we did so much work together. “

 BC:I love the Phil Spector records, I especially love "River Deep, Mountain High". In fact, when that record was such a big hit in England, but not'in the U.S., Phil got really angry about the way that it was ignored by everyone here. I guess that he had done something to upset some people, so they killed the record. Anyway he called me and asked me to produce a follow-up for Tina Turner. I was very happy to, and we cut a song called "Everything Under The Sun" that I had 'co-written. It was a really big record in England. (I queried this fact, but Bob was adamant that it was issued and was a hit. However, the issued versions are by Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes, and the Walker Brothers. The Bob Crewe/Tina Turner version remains unissued, but does exist,in acetate /form with a very similar arrangement to the Walkers' version.)' (ed See this Spectropop link for the story of this track).

RC: When the pure innocent girlie pop stopped, people moved into a more soul-based sound. Were you involved with that?

BC: Well, I'll tell you. .. Berry Gordy used an idea of mine for the Supremes. It was my idea for the footstomps for "Where Did Our Love Go~. I think he was real pleased with that! . ,.

I cut some others with Dee Dee Sharp and some more. Charlie Calello, who arranged all the early Four Seasons things and I guess some of the girl ones that I don't remember, had always done a lot for my production company. Some of the things were just him. I've kinda lost contact with him at the moment. I think that he's in Florida,but I've lost his' address and number. It was soon. after that I began to work with Mitch Ryder. He was really great! He was the heartbeat of the people! He really was! We made some great records - once again. I could hear the finished pop record sound already when we began. Yeah, I had a good run! . .(Ed…fortunately “Jersey Boys has re-united them….although after the success of ‘Lightnin’ Strikes’in 1966  Bob and Charles only worked together on Seasons tracks…..Herb Bernstein became his main arranger)

 The photo below is of Ellie Greenwich and Bob Crewe in the studio in 1967 workin’ it out!

 

BOB CREWE by Kingsley Abbott for Record Collector Aug 1998…edited by Ken Charmer