Dave Dexter, Capitol and the Beatles

I still am! LOL...

 

smart man, eh?

 

I am not sure exactly when the decision was made for the Capitol of the World series to focus more on "indigenous" music rather than pop. The fact that entertainment began to gradually get more international by the early 1960s - Fellini films, French New Wave, bossa nova, etc. - must have begun to play a role in that categorization. Just a few years before the Beatles, Capitol released The Double Six of Paris and Joao Gilberto in their Capitol of the World series, but had abandoned this by the time of Meet the Beatles. The world was getting a lot smaller, a door to international entertainment had been opened, and the Beatles were able to ride the wave that had already been in motion. (Sorry for mixing metaphors, but it's Friday evening and I have no brain cells left.)

 

Well said.

 

I, without hesitation, believe that Dave Dexter Jr. was the 6th Beatle.

 

Perhaps by accident...by not releasing the earlier material, he had a large stockpile of songs to release at the beginning of 1964.

Bern

 

Bet that's why Dexter turned the Beatles down three times. To stockpile those tracks.

 

Capitol turned down the Beatles because a) Beach Music was all the rage and they had the Beach Boys and b) The Beatles top hits and first album were released in 1963 and were a huge flop. America wasn't ready for the Beatles in 1963. By 1964, they were.

The stockpile allowed Dexter to essentially transform 3 'boilerplate UK formula' Beatles albums into 3 unique ones:

Meet The Beatles - Broke UK rock music in America, all but 1 track all Lennon & McCartney originals.
Beatles Second Album - Half the album are covers of American rockers, made Meet The Beatles more impactful.
Rubber Soul - Acoustic Concept Album revered and respected by millions, no dud Ringo C&W track to muck it up.

 

You still got it, Schnitz!

 

Guess you missed the "Perhaps by accident" part. Selective reading.

 

Is this the original Dave Dexter Jr. - thread?

 

...As far as Vee-Jay"s non-sucess with the Beatles went..." From Me To You " charted on the Bubbling Under chart, possibly kept from more success by Del Shannon"s cover version, which did H100.
Vee Jay was essentially an R&B label. Did the paler Fabs post a problem for them? If course, in the early 69s, Rick and roll was essey a multiracial concept - The Beatles themselves, arguably, were at least a beginning of the division into " white rock/black soul ".
Vee Jay had experienced Pop success with a UK EMI pick-up, Frank Itfeld's ' I Remember You " - and they were experiencing massive Caucasian success with the Four Seasons at that time (Was late 1963's " New Mexican Rose " the last " new, intended " Seasons 45 on Vee Jay? Before the couple of years?? of old album cuts tossed out as 45s that followed it).

 

Considering that She Loves You, From Me To You, Please Please Me, and Love Me Do were going to explode on the charts 10 months after they were released by Vee Jay/Swan/Tollie, they should have done something when they were released. Anything. A little buzz. A kid asking to hear it on any one of dozens of radio stations. Crickets.

Want proof-positive that Dave Dexter Jr. was The 6th Beatle? Look no further than that. Pre-DDJ the Beatles were a complete flop. Post-DDJ the Beatles were bigger than Elvis, Kennedy, and Alan Shepard, combined.

 

...Schn:
It was " Surf Music ", not " Beach Music ": that's the " Ram Shackle Shack Down Carolina Way " stuff.
When did people start using that phrase for commercially released oldied albums and radio shows and gigs? When did people start calling newly recorded & released songs ' Beach Music " - consciously creating examples to fit a genre?
Some years ago, on a ' deep ' oldies show on non-commercial KPOK in San Francisco, a show in the history of Vee Jay had someone recalling hearing both I guess of the pre-Ep Sullivan Vee Jay 45 releases by the lads on SF radio at the time of their initial releases, I recall.

 

I love the Beatles, so I can only love Dave for helping to make the Beatles sound better for the US audience...; ) I like his work!

 

who cares? they'll be bitchin and moaning no water what thread he's in...LOL.

 

he does!

 

yes, it was refreshing...

 

the "silent" Beatle! LOL..

 

...That was KPOO in San Francisco, not KOPK. My spellchecker strikes again!

 

...I remember a letter in a late-70s Circus magazine from someone who recalled hearing " From Me To You " the first time around. I recall Dick Clark telling a story if the original Swan release of " She Lives You ' getting played on the Bandstand Rate-A-Record segment and receiving a lukewarm response.

 

..." FMTY " got played somewhere to reach Bubbling Under and let:s remember those KPOO guys' memories. No, the pre-CaoutilnFabs releases did not go far US-sude.
John and Paul decided to write a song " that would be a hit in America " - and in " IWTHYH " they did, by gum!
Yes, Capitol was finally convinced (Didn't Billy J. Kramer make an appearance on Ef Sullivan to plug a ore-IWTHYH U S. release?). They then put lots of promo push behind the new British concept (There was a Beatles film clil shown on Jack Paar's orime-tme NBC series of the period and it got reviewed by the New York Times' Jack Gould at the time, I looked it up on micro- in the Seventies!!).
I have heard the argument made that history even set the stage for a Beatles U.S.A. breakthrough in early 1964 - after a Christmas of mourning JFK, Americañ youth was ready for a shot of fun-fun-fun! (Don't tell Oliver Stone!)

 

Let's all have a moment of silence for the great late DDJ to respect the greatness of the man who gave us the great MTB...BSA...