"The Clyde McPhatter Club"

Per Wiki:

So there you go. I actually wanted to just start a thread about Clyde McPhatter, but upon researching him some more I was pretty stoked to find this little nugget of rock'n'roll minutia; and I thought that I might get more responses by titling the thread this way.

So what say you all? Who will be next to join the illustrious Clyde McPhatter Club? And more importantly: is this the rock equivalent of the Cy Young Award?

 

After he left Atlantic for Mercury he ran into problems and changing times. But I love those stereo recordings on Mercury. Lover Please is an exceptional LP. It can be found on eBay in NM condition, not too high priced.

Oh. Wait, we were talking about the rock HOF, and not McPhatter's music. I'm so sorry I got carried away.

Anyway, yes the music world owes him a lot. He ended up flat broke, busted, and living in a seedy motel until he dropped dead of a heart attack without a dime to his name.

But at least he's in twice, nice.

 

I happily join that club. Atlantic 8003 is one of the greatest rock and roll records ever made. Says rock and roll right on the cover. Of course it's more ballads than rock but who cares when the writing is that good. Essential.

 

Was "Lovers Question" ever released in stereo on CD? I have it on an Atlantic LP comp but never found it on CD and I have a few, all mono.

 

hmm...I don't know but I have the Drifters Box set Rockin' and Driftin' which supposedly has all the Clyde hits so I'll see....

 

Back in the 80s, about 1985 to '88 or so I was going for old R&B and really digging deep into it.

I bought those King reissues of Billy Ward and the Dominos and other things. For those that did not know, Clyde was first in the Dominos with Billy Ward.

Hank Ballard was also worth checking our at the time.

Great early R&B records.

 

I have "A Lover's Question" in mono on "Deep Sea Ball: The Best of Clyde McPhatter," which is a compendium of his Atlantic hits. I don't know about its availability in stereo.

 

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good Dominoes CD? I have the 2 cd set released by Real Gone music a few months ago, it sounds like they got good sources but there's a bit of phaseiness going on on some tracks, like they played mono tapes on a stereo headstack. And some of the tracks have really heavy-handed NR applied!


What was the original recording format anyway? Were the smaller studios able to afford using full track tape in 51?

I have a 60's era 15ips dub of some of the early Federal recordings marked "MASTER" (they misspelled Billy's name too) but it's kinda hissy so I assumed it may have been dubbed from lacquer or very clean discs for use in some compilation. But the tracks on this CD that haven't been badly NR'd don't sound too different.

 

No offense to the great Clyde McPhatter, but the concept of inducting people into the Rock HOF more than once is silly. Is Babe Ruth inducted into the Baseball HOF twice?

 

Back a couple decades and then some I had King records titles on the Gusto label. I think that this label specialized in "truck stop" and gas station 8-tracks and cassettes no kidding. So anyway Gusto issued some vinyl that sounded like real true mono masters. I know the question was about CDs, but it is interesting to me how Gusto pressed King masters would sound quite special. They must had done the LPs I have in my collection. Need to look.

King masters on vinyl cut good and hot, that's how originals were.

 

What about The Beatles, and then Paul as solo artist?

This is the way Clyde is in twice.

 

I have some of Clyde's records...one on MGM in stereo. Haven't played it for awhile. Mercury's stereo albums (judging by Brook Benton and Dinah Washington) have vocals in one channel and music in the other. Not very good listening in stereo, but could probably be mixed to mono.

 

The Mercury stereo stuff is exceptional and not split screen dual mono with vocals in hard right and music left. If I recall they are wonderful.

 

C

Completely different situations. The Rock HOF inducts both individuals & groups. If the baseball hall of fame inducted both individuals and teams, Babe Ruth would be recognized multiple times. For example, if the baseball hall inducted teams, there is no doubt the "Murderer's Row" 1927 Yankees team would be inducted, therefore the Babe would be indicted 2 times.

In McPhatter's case, his solo output was much greater than his Drifters output, so I think it's perfectly reasonable for him to be inducted in both.

 

Yeah, I guess my problem with the concept is that it gets abused frequently... either by inducting artists whose solo careers don't really merit induction, simply because of the band they were in (George Harrison) or inducting bands who don't really deserve it, based on the post-band success of their alumni (Yardbirds, Buffalo Springfield). And then it becomes an ego thing, to the point where they make up silly ways to induct people like Ringo a second time just so his feelings aren't hurt.

 

Gusto actually owns their king/federal catalog so they probably took ownership of all the assets decades ago, so they probably were able to issue them from the original masters (whatever format they may have been)
I may just have to look out for those 80's Gusto issues

 

I understand completely, and you are correct in that regard. At the same time, I would hate to institute a rule that would exclude someone like Eric Clapton from being inducted as a solo artist after the group has been inducted.

 

They are well worth picking up if you see them. Somewhat chintzy looking at times but they usually sound really good, and are waaaay cheaper than clean originals.

 

I have a Jackie Wilson lp on gusto that sounds quite good. Mono!

 

Wow, I had totally forgotten about this thread. Glad to see that Clyde is getting his due here! What a brilliant musician. I was sorry to hear he died under such awful circumstances.

I'll have to be on the lookout for some of the vinyl that's been mentioned so far.

 

Not to get too far off topic, but I think you could make a case for both on the strength of their influence. If we're looking at the HOF as a purely commercial concern then I'd more or less agree, although the Yardbirds had a few U.S. hits and the Springfield had one huge one. However there's no overlooking their influence at the time which was huge on musicians who went on to far greater commercial heights. I'll admit I'm biased though as I love both groups, particularly the Springfield who are one of my all-time favs. With you on Ringo as a solo artist, however.