Even Otis Williams, on this, got a part in one of the verses. But it was usually Dennis Edwards, Paul Williams (both of whose voices sounded a tad similar), uber-tenor Eddie Kendricks and bass-baritone Melvin Franklin who were mainly heard. Here Norman Whitfield (and co-writer Barrett Strong) took a break from their "urban decay/societal problems" porn and fashioned a variation on a common theme in some songs. Or as one Forumite (@Grant, I.I.N.M.) put it, "I can do X, and I can do Y, and I can do Z, but I can't do U." @zebop hit the nail on the head in the analysis on this among Whitfield's other Temptations productions during this period.
Aha! So Sly's number - somewhat similar in theme to Beach Boys' tunes in that vein, and indeed that group very late in its career did a cover of this one - was kept outta the top spot by The Temps. (F.T.R., I have amongst this set #1 - 3, 5, 6, 10 - 12, and 14 - 20; as far as Mr. Jones' number, I have the original 1967 pressing which clocked in at 4:18, vs. the '69 reissue which saw the second verse snipped off and its length truncated to 2:55.)
That actually had two releases in the States. The first was b/w a Christmas tune, around Nov-Dec 1968: (It was also the first to chart in Billboard, B.T.W.) Then, with a different B side, about a month or two later: Like many a New Yorker of a certain age, I first heard this one on WCBS-FM 101 in the early '80's.
Can't Get Next To You - Great single with infectious grooves, and a big step forward for The Temptations. But it kept Sly's Hot Fun... out of the top spot? While Can't Get Next To You is deserving of a #1 slot, Hot Fun is just so many levels above it in terms of creativity, innovation, daring and originality. I'm not complaining, just observing how the ranking of top songs sometimes doesn't align with their perceived quality.
Or, they just wanted a different label association with an artist, the same type of reasons Berry Gordy put certain artists on certain labels, like The Temptations on Gordy, Stevie Wonder on Tamla, Rare Earth on Rare Earth...you get the picture...
I don't think it's legal to outright pay a DJ or station to play your record, but there were gratuities like (ahem!) drugs, sex..paid trips, ball game tickets...
You win! I'm never here to argue, but it's just all a fun debate. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Since I managed to move the Every Billboard R&B #1 Single Discussion Thread ahead of this thread, we have already covered this Temptations song, so i'll simply link my comment about it here.
It was one of the first soul records recorded in England. The first one i'm aware of is J.J. Jackson's "But, It's Alright" back in 1966.
The Flirtations number, in particular, shows how different the instrumentalists' approach is from Americans'. The drumming sounds almost Buddy Saltzman-derived, don't you think? - especially on some of the fills. I swear some of the "pickers" were part of the "orchestra" that was led by Ronnie Aldrich for Benny Hill specials. As for "But It's Alright," I'd not have known its recording was British but for what's been writ. Though in sound quality and quality of instrumentation, it's almost otherworldly compared with what came out of Detroit, Chicago, Memphis, New York, Muscle Shoals, L.A., New Orleans, etc., at the time. To be sure, both are favorites of mine (though with the Jackson record, it's via the 1969 Warner Bros.-Seven Arts reissue single that I have it).
Before the cartoon songs fade into the distance... It's kind of insane just how many cartoons from the late sixties and early seventies featured characters in a band with at least one segment showing them playing a bubble gum number. A lot of these songs hold up surprisingly well. My choice for a largely unknown cartoon show with some genuinely good songs is Cattanooga Cats. I didn't actually catch this one at the time. The show features four felines in, you guessed it, a rock band. Since the cats are actually professional musicians (they even have a touring van), you would expect them to be better than some group of high school idiots like the Archies (that is, if you would expect cats to be capable of being musicians at all). The kitties don't disappoint. Several of their songs are really good. The show's theme song, for instance, kicks all kinds of tail. The Cattanooga Cats don't ever purr. They know how, but not what fer. The Cattanooga Cats don't go meow. Wouldn't try, but they know how. Don't they sound like a bunch of cool... um... cats? There's another song, Birthday Suit, which sounds like it could have been recorded by a nineties hipster band (and naturally, the lyric 'how do you like me in my birthday suit?' is typically inappropriate). But I want to talk about another of their numbers, the sprightly 'Merry Go Round'. This song is seemingly about the simply childlike joy of riding a carousel and reaching for the brass ring. But there's more going on here than wonderful hooks and some great singing; dig deeper, and this song is about nothing less than the inevitable passage of time. Enjoy your youth while it lasts, kiddies: Children go downtown and forget merry-go-round Soon enough will come December, and then you shall remember As if that weren't enough, dig this beautiful video for the song from the show, done in the style of a juvenile, feline Peter Max poster or perhaps an outtake from the kitty version of Yellow Submarine. This show was created for five year olds! This stuff was produced and sometimes co-written by none other than Mike Curb, who became rather infamous when, as the president of MGM Records, he dropped 18 acts from the label due to their "promotion of hard drugs". He later became the Lt. Governor of California under Jerry Brown (!!!). The male singer was Michael Lloyd, a teenage singer/songwriter who featured in the group The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band among others. I believe he also wrote or co-wrote some of the Cattanooga songs. The female singer was named Peggy Clinger, and I really love her voice; she, too, co-wrote a few of the Cat numbers. It goes to show, you can find art in the most unlikely of places if you look hard enough!
If you can't get enough of the Cats, here's another brilliant track of theirs. It's called I Want to Sleep Tonight, and is about how the girl cat Kitty Jo cheated on her boyfriend and now feels really bad about it. Seriously! Heartbreak and infidelity in a show about cartoon cats. And in this video, the boy cat "Country" is not taking her apology, either, at least not for a while. Like their best stuff, the production is really top notch here. The woo-ooo backing is really great (I like how they pair it with owl pictures, as if the owls are hooooing the backing vocals). Peggy Clinger gives another awesome performance as well. Check it out:
Er....your exact words were "I detest people calling musical artists acts". Kinda leaves it open to interpretation. Anyway, I was being a little facetious since I find the term perfectly acceptable. There are more than one meaning for the word act.
Ya wanna talk cartoon characters singing? Or religious themed songs (Oh Happy Day)? How about we combine the two and take a trip back to 1965 and those stalwart Flintstone characters Pebbles & Bamm Bamm: Cuteness overload!
Cartoon characters and gospel music? Reminds me of the ultimately shelved Yosemite Sam Sings The Gospel which was recorded for Stax in 1974. Too bad the world will never hear that gem...
The band on the Flirtations' song does indeed sound like moonlighting Petula Clark session guys. "But It's Alright," on the other hand, sounds like J.J. Jackson found some scrappy beat combo in a club somewhere, with those hard power chords. Only the vibraphone solo reveals J.J.'s jazz roots.
You may have a rechannelled version, then. The only way to go is the original mono single version found on the original Calla Records label which was distributed by Atlantic in 1966, and a couple of CDs.
Mustn't forget the terrific musicianship behind those records! Not just The Archies, but all of them! In New York, where the Archies and Buddah records were cut, there were at least two groups of people that came out of the Brill Building. In L.A., they were usually the Wrecking Crew. I wish I could have been in the position to suggest Luther Vandross cover their song "Love Light". He could have given a fantastic soulful interpretation in the way that he did. I always thought Betty was a better girlfriend for Archie. She was always just what he needed. Veronica was too much of a snobby rich bitch. Besides, her father didn't much like him. But, you know, Ron was that forbidden fruit. I like Betty more, but, I always had a thing for brunettes, anyway. Oh me too! Even as a kid, I wondered why Reggie would settle for Archie being the leader singer. And, Veronica didn't really play anything, but Archie wanted her there, so he gave her a tambourine.
Your reading and interpretation was not what I intended. Over the last year, I have been finding more and more people using the term "act" on this forum. Aggghhh!
For years, I looked for a Josie & The Pussycats LP to materialize. It never did. The closest we got was the Rhino Handmade CD that is quite expensive on the used market today. I do have the Globetrotters album on the Kirshner label, but it didn't really follow the cartoon. The actual Harlem Globetrotters aren't even on the album, though their picture is on the back cover.
Why not? Stax recorded an awful lot of diverse stuff that has yet to see the light of day. Maybe Concord will find a way to release it. Motown also recorded a dizzying array of music in the 70s. I just recently discovered that the Four Seasons' 1975 comeback album "Who Loves You" with the hit "December, 1963 (Oh, What I Night)" was recorded at Hitsville, and was originally supposed to be a Motown release. Check out the publishing: Jobete Music. To me, they sound like some of the same musicians that played on Tom Jones' records, too. Also, the b-side of that record "Boogaloo Baby" was supposed to have been the hit side. It got a bit of airplay until some DJ turned the record over. Note that the soul records recorded in London also tended to have a brash sound. The Flirtations, J.J. Jackson, The Foundations, Tom Jones, and the Hot Chocolate records produced by Mickie Most. IT's like the method was to push the meters into the red.
I believe the same was true of Franki Valli's solo comeback hit, "My Eyes Adored You". I seem to recall he and his team paid through the nose to get the rights to that one back when they left Motown - a gamble that paid handsomely.
