Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

Some mix-up there on the label? Dion's Sandy is a very different song. Someone named Larry Hall actually had a hit with this Sandy.

 

Just looked at the 2 cds of her's issued a few years ago, no sign of Sloopy on them

 

Your post makes me think of George Hamilton IV. I remember him appearing in a small NS town about 15 years ago.

 

One of those two was on the chart that week

 

I agree. As much as I love hits such as "Spinning Wheel" and "Lucretia McEvil", BS&T's music could be a little too ambitious and overblown at times so it's nice to hear David Clayton Thomas really cut loose in a stripped down almost garage-y setting.

 

Being reported on Facebook (John Einarson, Susan Jacks) that Lucille Starr passed away Friday.

 

Very sad news. A woefully underappreciated talent. In addition to the two crossover pop hits she had in the period covered so far by this thread, she would have three #1 country songs by the end of the decade, two on her own and one as half of The Canadian Sweethearts.

 

There's a great documentary that shows up now and then on the CBC Documentary channel, Bang! The Bert Berns Story, narrated by Steven Van Zandt. Berns, who died in 1967 at age 38, sometimes wrote songs under the name Bert Russell, as was the case with "Sloopy". He was well known to be friendly with underworld figures. In the documentary, a man named Carmine DeNoia (who was Berns's business manager or something) talks about the cover battle between The McCoys and Little Caesar & The Consuls, which at the start was pretty much neck and neck. But then suddenly, almost overnight, the Little Caesar & The Consuls records disappeared from stores and those radio stations that had been playing that version suddenly switched to the McCoys version. And then he says "Now how do you suppose that happened?"

The cover battle was won convincingly by The McCoys south of the border and was won convincingly by Little Caesar & The Consuls north of the border. But you'd never know that from listening to Canadian oldies stations. Over the years I've heard the McCoys version at least ten times as often as the Little Caesar & The Consuls version. The McCoys version was not a hit in Canada!!

This piece may have had an effect, as by the end of the year a French language song would make the main RPM chart.

 

I believe the 'GM' stood for 'Good Music' (and the 'P' for 'Programming'?). This album chart would become a singles chart at the start of 1966 but then disappear after only about ten weeks. An Adult Contemporary singles chart would not become a regular feature until 1969.

 

Wow! What a strange error. The Larry Hall "Sandy" song of which this is a cover was written by somebody named Terry Fell. I hope he got his royalties.

The CD pictured in the Youtube clip was issued by Pacemaker, but is 'currently out of print'. It is available on iTunes.

Lane, Robbie - It's Happening - Pacemaker Entertainment

The liner notes do not indicate songwriting credits and make no mention of the error on the "Sandy" label. The notes state that even after the band had replaced 'The Band' as Ronnie Hawkins' backup band, Hawkins' records continued to be credited to 'Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks' but their live shows were billed as 'Ronnie Hawkins with Robbie Lane and The Disciples'.

 

The only Cancon song that reached its peak on the main RPM chart during 'Sloopy's reign atop the Cancon chart that has not yet been mentioned is Terry Black's "Little Liar", which reached #10 on the July 26, 1965, main RPM chart and is available on the Unidisc CD pictured in the video.

 

Now THAT is a great pop song!

 

Funny how Terry Black's second album was just his first one reissued with two songs changed. I know it was fairly common for LPs to recycle a couple songs for padding, but this case seems like an extreme. On the chopping block went both of the old spirituals which closed The Black Plague, "Sinner Man" and "Dry Bones", to make room for "Little Liar" and "Only Sixteen". "Sinner Man" is an ambitious choice for a beat-era teen idol, though the end product feels awkward with Black's fresh-faced vocal and poorly integrated production elements. Still, have to commend him for trying.



A shame that Unidisc issued the two albums separately instead of tacking the two new songs onto Black Plague.

Terry Fell probably didn't need the royalties too badly at that point. His song "Truck Driving Man" had just been made into a hit by both George Hamilton IV and Buck Owens, and would eventually be recorded by over 50 other artists during his lifetime.

 

I love that. I only know the song from Nina Simone's and Peter Tosh's versions, but I really quite enjoy what Black did with it. With the spirituals and the edgy album concept, it seems like they were trying to do something a bit offbeat with Black before chickening out and going a much more generic teen-idol route.

 

Sorry to hear about Lucille Star. I don't usually like female vibrato vocalising, but she caught my ear and heart with The French Song long ago.

 

16. MAKIN' LOVE
by BOBBY CURTOLA
#1 for 4 weeks: August 23 and 31, September 7 and 13, 1965




​

Third cover version in a row, and there are two anomalous things to mention here: first, the 1959 original was a crossover success in the States that charted on the Black Singles chart and the main Hot 100 chart, all the while being the product of a Nashville-based country singer named Floyd Robinson. And second, the Curtola version kills it. This is anomalous because I haven't really been in love with the Curtola songs we've heard so far. On the other hand, this brass-led arrangement is tight and punchy, and really well-recorded. It's quite exciting to listen to, and proof that Bobby had a few things left in him by fall 1965. The song is quite risqué by 1959 standards, and also by 1965 teen idol standards as well.

ON THE PAGES OF RPM: The cover article of the August 23rd issue has some interesting insight into advertising of the era:

Lipsticks are a girl's best friend. But with so many lines on the market how do you attract the new teen buyer? To attract today's teener, a good way is to come up with a hip radio or TV jingle. So, to introduce their new line of summer lipsticks, Cutex conferred with their advertising agency, McCann-Erickson, who through their account exec Bob Stamp and Marion Holden from their creative department, set out to prepare radio spots and promotional material musically to promote "Bikini Beat" in Canada.

Through Jerry Lodge Associates, they called upon Debbie Lori Kaye, Columbia recording artist to do the vocal, and Capitol's Big Town Boys to supply the surf - beach background for the jingle. Tommy Goodings came up with the tune, and the sound chores in the hands of hit producer Stan Klees. All this talent co-ordinated by McCann-Erickson's Marion Holden. The 60 and 30 second spots were produced at Hallmark Studios in Toronto and the whole arrangement constituted 100% Canadian content in its creation.

The Cutex company and McCann-Erickson are among the many companies producing "selling sounds" in Canada using Canadians. Many companies are still importing the tracks, and merely overdubbing the Canadian angle to produce their commercials for Canada.

Debbie Lori Kaye, incidentally, was a fifteen-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie whose actually-quite-good "Picking Up My Hat" was number one that week on the Country charts and somehow in at #10 with a bullet on the Cross Canada chart despite not being playlisted by a single one of the stations listed on the page.

So-called "hit producer" Stan Klees is, among other things, ahem, the co-founder of RPM.

 

Peaking at #5 on the CanCon chart on August 23 would be Edmonton's Royal Family with "Don't You Even Want To Know" b/w "I Told A Lie". Three members of the group would eventually become Troyka by the end of the decade.

 

At #8 the same week, all the way from Labrador City, Newfoundland, are the Keatniks with "That's My Girl". They would release an LP later in the year.

 

Same week, at #17, is the debut from another Winnipeg group, the Shondels with "Shake A Tail Feather" b/w "Don't Put Me Down". "Shake A Tail Feather" would also be recorded by the Shondells (Tommy James version).

 

That has to be among the first rock albums by an east-coast band. A copy recently sold for $1300 CAD. Some kind soul uploaded the whole thing, and it ain't bad:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dygiFow41bc

 

The appearance of pop songs on the Billboard R&B chart in the late 1950s and early 1960s was primarily a result of poor chart methodology. Also in 1959, "Tom Dooley" and "The Three Bells" were supposedly Top 10 R&B hits. In 1963, "Hey Paula", "I Will Follow Him", and "It's My Party" all hit #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. On the November 23, 1963, R&B chart, "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs was the R&B #1 (not the biggest news that week). The following week, the Billboard R&B chart went on hiatus until January 1965, when it returned with a much better chart methodology and no Beach Boys songs in sight.

"Makin' Love", which reached #2 on the RPM main chart, appears in mono on 25 Gold Records (available from www.bobbycurtola.com) and in stereo on Hitchhiker & Other Hits.

 

Peaking at #4 on the RPM main chart on August 23 was the biggest international Cancon hit of 1965, The We Five's cover of Sylvia Fricker-Tyson's "You Were On My Mind". For those not familiar with the Ian & Sylvia original, note that the lyrics are quite different. Unlike Ian & Sylvia, The We Five did not get drunk.

 

On the August 31, 1965, main RPM chart, "It Won't Be A Lonely Summer" by Diane Leigh peaked at #16. Released in Canada on Capitol, it had a U.S. release on Capitol subsidiary Tower. Leigh, who sometimes spelled her name 'Dianne' (much to the annoyance of people attempting internet searches half a century later) would go on to hit #1 on the RPM country chart three times.

 

At #18 on August 23 is the return of Patty Surbey & The Canadian V.I.P.'s with "Hey Boy" b/w "Everyone I Know". This would be her last release, she would be a featured performer on CBC's "Let's Go" out of Vancouver for a couple of years , then retire from music.
Music Weird: Patty Surbey: Canada's wild rocker chick of the '60s

 

On the August 31, 1965, RPM country chart (still Cancon-only at the time), "Kathy Keep Playing" by Stu Phillips from Saint-Eustache, Quebec, started a three-week reign at #1. The chart misspelled the title "Cathy Keep Playing", much to the annoyance of people attempting internet searches half a century later.