I was still in diapers at the time, but it is my understanding that every Canadian schoolboy had a crush on Patrician-Anne and that she was the main reason they watched Fred's Bandstand.
A song that was recently discussed, CHUM DJ Garry Ferrier's "Like A Dribbling Fram" (released as by 'Race Marbles') reached its peak on the main RPM chart at #6 on January 17, 1966, actually one position above Wes Dakus. Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000 Since that song was already posted a few pages back, I thought I'd upload another Garry Ferrier record. This one, a comedy piece titled "President's Canada Conference", had reached #28 on the CHUM chart back in January 1963. I don't know if any other stations played it. I gather that's Ferrier doing the voice of John F. Kennedy.
The only CanCon song to reach its peak on the main RPM chart while Wes Dakus was busy Hoochi-Cooing at the top of the CanCon chart that has not yet been mentioned is Terry Black's rendition of "Poor Little Fool', which peaked at #6 on December 27, 1965. As one would expect, it is on Unidisc's Only 16/Poor Little Fool.
The Argo reference reminded me of a bit of triva. In 1967 RFK attended an Argonaut game as a guest of owner John Bassett (28-28 tie with Ottawa).
The US Ducats single on Rock It was pressed by the Gloversville, NY plant of Decca Custom Productions.
Canadian RCA was notoriously cheap in terms of production of pic sleeves compared with their U.S. counterpart. For the most part, pic sleeves would have been printed at this point - at least in the U.S., can't speak for Canada - usually on 80 lb. C1S Litho. Some used 70 lb. C1S Litho, and a few US RCA Victor PS's used 100 lb. C1S Litho. 70 lb. or 80 lb. Offset (uncoated) stock was also used for pic sleeves, presumably 80 lb. Smooth (uncoated) as well.
I'm curious, was it a responsibility of the National Library to archive Canadian sound or video productions?
23. POOR ANNE by J.B. AND THE PLAYBOYS #1 for 1 week: January 24, 1966 Credited to the lead singer, Allan Nicholls, and the guitarist, Andy Kaye, this track is the first original after three straight covers of American songs. There's been a bit of discussion of J.B. and the Playboys on these pages so far, so what else is there to say? Well, apparently they're still together - or perhaps it's better to say back together, having played a few gigs about a year and a half ago. Reporting on those gigs, the Montreal Gazette observes: "J.B. and the Playboys were to many a local high schooler Montreal’s answer to the Beatles. They were masters of classic Brit tunes as well as American R&B and pop standards. Plus they had their own hit recordings They started off playing school sock hops, moved on to what was then the city’s most happening rock venue, the Bonaventure Curling Club, and later opened for the Rolling Stones, Byrds and Beach Boys. They were so big in their day that the now-defunct Eaton’s department store put out a line of J.B. and the Playboys duds and boots — which bore a strong resemblance to early Beatles gear." And RCA Victor - working under the "Canada International" imprint - seemed to have an interesting vision for them. Looking at their discogs page, we see that RCA put out one album and five singles using this particular name. The first three singles - released with almost consecutive catalogue numbers - each got colour paper sleeves with a photo and a band logo on the front and a giant digit taking up the entirety of the reverse - 1, 2 or 3, as the case may be. The fourth single still got the full-colour cover but lost the numbering on the back. And this final single, if discogs is to be believed, got no custom sleeve at all. Maybe that Eaton's gear wasn't selling so well. Between then and now, Nicholls has had a storied career, from working on a Broadway production of "Hair" to working at Saturday Night Live, appearing in Robert Altman movies (and in Slap Shot!), and directing Leonard Cohen. However, the one week that "Poor Anne" topped the RPM CanCon charts is the only appearance we have from these boys at the top of the RPM CanCon charts under the name J.B. and the Playboys. Barely more than half a year from now, they'll be at number one one more time - but under a different name! OTHER CANCON ENTRIES: Though I've decided to retire this particular subheading, since others are doing it better than I can, I'll mention that the Cross Canada Chart Action chart has really started to turn into a science: for a few weeks now, RPM has listed three details for each song charting on the CanCon chart: (a) whether the single has been released in the USA (twelve in twenty had this week, though not the number one), (b) whether the song was produced domestically or not (only eight in twenty had, though the number one was one), and (c) which publishing rights agency was responsible for the composition (this week, only two were on CAPAC, nine were on BMI, seven were sniffily listed as "foreign" (presumably ASCAP), and two were unknown to the good people at RPM.
The oft-found discrepancies between RPM's CanCon chart and its main chart reached its climax with "Poor Anne", which was the #1 song on the January 24, 1966, CanCon chart without ever appearing on the main chart. That week there were six CanCon songs on the main chart, the #2 through #7 songs on the CanCon chart. One of those six songs, Debbie Lori Kaye's cover of The Shirelles' "Soldier Boy", reached its peak of #16 on that week's main chart. It would peak at #4 on the CanCon chart. I was not aware that Canada was at war with anyone in 1966. The picture cover appears to have been issued only with the US promo 45. It claims that Debbie Lori was only twelve. She was in fact all of fifteen.
I love "Could That Be", the B-side of "Soldier Boy". It's reminiscent of Brenda Lee's uptempo hits. It should have been the A-side. Sony has released a digital album of her Columbia recordings.
"Soldier Boy" is a weird song, topically, for a fifteen-year-old to be singing, but it's even stranger for a twelve-year-old. I wonder why Columbia fibbed that much: 15 is already impressively young, and there's a world of difference between a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old.
This one would be even stranger for a twelve-year-old to sing: "The Iron Cross" from just six months later. (It did not chart)
As far as rural music styles go, Willis made his debut on the polar (heh) opposite side of things. He must have been one of the first Canadians to have a release on Atlantic Records when this was put out in '56.
"Johnny Upton" in Slap Shot! (NSFW clip) His grandfather (Riley Hearn) won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Wanderers. The Altman connection goes deeper: he co-wrote the screenplays for A Wedding and A Perfect Couple and was Assistant Director or Associate Producer on at least ten other Altman films. The Leonard Cohen project was I Am A Hotel. Allan F. Nicholls - IMDb
I knew I had heard that name before. I have two of those Atlantic tracks on Bear's Flat Git It volume 21
J.B. and the Playboys also appeared in the film Playgirl Killer (the second Canadian horror film, the first in colour!), filmed in 1965 and released after they had broken up. They are shown in a scene at a pool party playing "Leave My Woman Alone" and backing up the the film's co-star Neil Sedaka (?!?) on "The Waterbug".
To finally dispense with Playgirl Killer, here's the movie's other musical number with Andrée Champagne
Entering the CanCon chart for one week only on January 24 at #20 is "Keep On Telling Me" by Greg Hamon. It's not on youtube but you can hear a clip of it hear: Keep On Telling Me It was originally recorded in the UK and was also released there. Greg Hamon was actually Greg Hambleton (older brother of Fergus). He made his first record "Amelia" for Tamarac at the age of 18 in 1964 (story of it along with clip here: How I Made My First Record | Greg Hambleton ). Later in 1966 he recorded a version of "Here, There and Everywhere" which peaked at #14 (October 3) on the CanCon charts. Which is not on youtube nor can I find anywhere. He reverted to his real name and released a 45 in 1967 on the "Canamyth" label: Canamyth Records He then moved behind the scenes: Greg Hambleton - Wikipedia He later founded Axe Records.
Holy... crap... What a bizarre song. A bit of background - because I was befuddled and had to check - is that Nazi-era German iron crosses were, in the sixties, repurposed as symbols of youthful rebellion among surfers and bikers and the like (like Sid Vicious wearing a swastika? Maybe?) So Johnny's not a Nazi after all, and it was all just an intergenerational misunderstanding. Man, what a weird song.
They have a large collection of both but I have no idea what's in it. I worked there occasionally but not as a government employee so I (unfortunately) didn't have access to the vaults. I did get to walk through a vault full of jaw-dropping artwork once. I recognized a Paul Kane painting. Or maybe that was at National Archives, can't recall.