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

bunglejerry · May 14, 2021

180. ROXY ROLLER
by SWEENEY TODD
LONDON L. 2590
Highest ranking for 7 weeks: June 19 (3) and 26 (1), July 3 (1), 10 (1), 17 (10), 24 (16) and 31 (21), 1976

"Roxy Roller"... God, where do I even start with this song?

At the beginning, I guess. "Roxy Roller" was the third single from Sweeney Todd's first album. Each single had been incrementally more successful than the one before it. "Roxy Roller" was a huge hit in Canada, spending three weeks atop the RPM 100. Up until that point, Sweeney Todd had been unable to get a foreign record contract. The album and first three singles came out in Canada on London, but I'm not sure they were actually signed to London, since the phonogram copyright on these labels is given to "Timbre One Sound Studios Limited" and "Top Hat International Music Inc."

In any case, Canada might be a musical backwater, but if your song tops the national charts for three weeks, that's gonna pique someone's interest. And that someone happened to be Chrysalis Records, who liked what they saw and heard enough to invite them down to Los Angeles to sign a contract and record new material.

Er... them? What do I mean by that? The whole quintet, right? Actually... no. Chrysalis told vocalist Nick Gilder and guitarist Jim McCulloch, the co-composers of the three a-sides and ten of the eleven tracks on the album, to ditch the deadwood and start all over again. It seems they saw star potential in Gilder, with his long blond hair, pout and preen, and perhaps the single most androgynous voice I've ever heard.

Apparent tensions brewing in the band meant that the duo didn't need much convincing. And while the loss of, seemingly, everything that made Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd should have ended the band right then and there, they decided to carry on. Around the same time that Chrysalis bisected the band, American London decided to take a chance on the Canadian band as well.

So what happened next, all in the span of a few months, is just about as ridiculous a story as it gets. Sweeney Todd recruit a new guitarist and a new singer - someone named Clark Perry - and rerecord "Roxy Roller" with him on vocals, releasing it in the USA on London (5N-240). After that, it doesn't work out with Perry, so they ditch him and get a third vocalist within a calendar year: a fifteen-year-old chancer named Bryan Guy Adams.

Given that he would grow up to be a globe-straddling gravel-voiced monstrosity, it's kinda cute to read about how the teenaged Adams was so determined to make it that he would just shove himself upon the stage as established bands were performing, or otherwise making a general nuisance of himself in the name of fame. It managed to work, and so what could the band do but head to the studios again to make a third version of "Roxy Roller", this time credited to "Sweeney Todd featuring Brian Guy Adams" and bearing the matrix number 5N-244. Neither of these remakes was released in Canada, but they did come out in a handful of other countries, including Germany, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand. I can tell you that the Australian and Kiwi releases were the Perry version, but I don't know which version was on the other releases. Also, the Netherlands and Germany gave it a picture sleeve. Since that's not the same version as the Canadian hit, I'm reluctant to include it, but what the hell. You only live once.

But why stop at three different versions of the same song when you can have four (actually, five if you include the minute-longer album version)? The braintrust as Chrysalis seemed to have decided that the best way to break their new signees into the American market was... to rerecord "Roxy Roller" again and put it out under Gilder's name! And so it was that a fourth single version appeared on Chrysalis, "Roxy Roller" by Nick Gilder. In addition to the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand (almost exactly the same list!) put this version out. Only Germany gave it a picture sleeve, where they lie by calling it the "original version". I don't know how the saga of the competing versions played out in those other markets, but apparently, Chrysalis used some strong-arm tactics to get radio and retailers to drop the two London recordings. A fat lot of good it did them, though, as 5N-240 and 5N-244 both only briefly charted in the 90s, and the Chrysalis version doesn't seem to have charted at all.

In the UK (where both London and Chrysalis put versions out), the song is best-known for a 1977 cover by American-born Suzi Quatro. Though it doesn't seem to have bothered the charts either.

I find it hilarious that Bryan Adams, or someone working for him, appears to have gone all out to shut down anyone who attempts to upload any of his 1970s material, including his version of "Roxy Roller", the entirety of Sweeney Todd's second album If Wishes Were Horses and his hysterical sped-up-vocal disco song "Let Me Take You Dancing". Self-conscious much?

Being no stranger to the darker alleys of the internet, I have heard Adams's version. While canadianbands.com claims that "Adams' version is almost indistinguishable from the original", I entirely disagree. Listening to the Bryan Adams version, the most noteworthy aspect of it is the way he bends his voice in unexpected ways in order to emulate Nick Gilder, a person he actually sounds nothing at all like. Although barely post-pubescent here, he clearly already has the cigarette-stained voice that would become his trademark. He also has, unlike Nick Gilder, a Canadian accent. For likely the only time in his entire career, he attempts a screeching falsetto at one point. Nick Gilder, of course, didn't need a falsetto: that's just what his voice sounded like.

In any case, when I listen to the Adams version and to both Gilder versions, the instrumentation sounds exactly the same. I mean exactly, and intriguingly Martin Shaer is credited as the producer of all four versions. Did he really fly to L.A. to recut the song with the two Benedicts Arnolds who'd almost destroyed the band he also managed? Or did Gilder just take the original tapes with him? I have absolutely no idea.

Incidentally, I didn't bother to track down the Clark Perry version of the song, so I don't know what it sounds like. But as he's the Riley Finn of this story, who cares? Discogs suggests that the a-side of "Roxy Roller" is the only thing he ever recorded.

In March 1977, "Roxy Roller" won the Juno for Single of the Year (actually called "Best-Selling Single", but that's dumb). Even though the Junos were referring to the Nick Gilder-sung original, it was Bryan Adams who took the stage to accept the award. For a man who, down the years, has won an almost-unbelievable 21 Junos from 63 nominations (how is that even possible?), the circumstances of the first Juno he ever held must be a curiosity in his memory banks.

In 2010, when Hollywood made a filmic biography of the Runaways, the soundtrack had Nick Gilder's solo version of "Roxy Roller" as its opening track, interestingly followed by a different Suzi Quatro song. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm guessing the song had some importance to the Runaways, since Cherie Currie recorded a version of it on her 2019 album Blvds of Splendor (released on Joan Jett's record label). And if all that isn't enough, you can watch a Quarantine-era video of Quatro, Currie and Gilder all singing the song in socially-distant harmony. Gal Gadot is absent. Everyone looks really old.

GERMANY:

THE NETHERLANDS:

GERMANY (NICK GILDER):

bare trees · May 14, 2021

Late Night Lovin' Man : Catchy melodic hard rock. Nothing innovative here but enjoyable nonetheless.

Devil Woman : I know this is going to sound funny but the Cliff Richard version has more weight to it.

Roxy Roller : I first heard this on KTel record that Dad owned. For a while, I thought the singer was a woman. Had no idea until a few years later that it was the guy who sang "Hot Child In The City".

Mr. D · May 14, 2021

bunglejerry said: ↑

180. ROXY ROLLER
by SWEENEY TODD
LONDON L. 2590
Highest ranking for 7 weeks: June 19 (3) and 26 (1), July 3 (1), 10 (1), 17 (10), 24 (16) and 31 (21), 1976

"Roxy Roller"... God, where do I even start with this song?

At the beginning, I guess. "Roxy Roller" was the third single from Sweeney Todd's first album. Each single had been incrementally more successful than the one before it. "Roxy Roller" was a huge hit in Canada, spending three weeks atop the RPM 100. Up until that point, Sweeney Todd had been unable to get a foreign record contract. The album and first three singles came out in Canada on London, but I'm not sure they were actually signed to London, since the phonogram copyright on these labels is given to "Timbre One Sound Studios Limited" and "Top Hat International Music Inc."

In any case, Canada might be a musical backwater, but if your song tops the national charts for three weeks, that's gonna pique someone's interest. And that someone happened to be Chrysalis Records, who liked what they saw and heard enough to invite them down to Los Angeles to sign a contract and record new material.

Er... them? What do I mean by that? The whole quintet, right? Actually... no. Chrysalis told vocalist Nick Gilder and guitarist Jim McCulloch, the co-composers of the three a-sides and ten of the eleven tracks on the album, to ditch the deadwood and start all over again. It seems they saw star potential in Gilder, with his long blond hair, pout and preen, and perhaps the single most androgynous voice I've ever heard.

Apparent tensions brewing in the band meant that the duo didn't need much convincing. And while the loss of, seemingly, everything that made Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd should have ended the band right then and there, they decided to carry on. Around the same time that Chrysalis bisected the band, American London decided to take a chance on the Canadian band as well.

So what happened next, all in the span of a few months, is just about as ridiculous a story as it gets. Sweeney Todd recruit a new guitarist and a new singer - someone named Clark Perry - and rerecord "Roxy Roller" with him on vocals, releasing it in the USA on London (5N-240). After that, it doesn't work out with Perry, so they ditch him and get a third vocalist within a calendar year: a fifteen-year-old chancer named Bryan Guy Adams.

Given that he would grow up to be a globe-straddling gravel-voiced monstrosity, it's kinda cute to read about how the teenaged Adams was so determined to make it that he would just shove himself upon the stage as established bands were performing, or otherwise making a general nuisance of himself in the name of fame. It managed to work, and so what could the band do but head to the studios again to make a third version of "Roxy Roller", this time credited to "Sweeney Todd featuring Brian Guy Adams" and bearing the matrix number 5N-244. Neither of these remakes was released in Canada, but they did come out in a handful of other countries, including Germany, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand. I can tell you that the Australian and Kiwi releases were the Perry version, but I don't know which version was on the other releases. Also, the Netherlands and Germany gave it a picture sleeve. Since that's not the same version as the Canadian hit, I'm reluctant to include it, but what the hell. You only live once.

But why stop at three different versions of the same song when you can have four (actually, five if you include the minute-longer album version)? The braintrust as Chrysalis seemed to have decided that the best way to break their new signees into the American market was... to rerecord "Roxy Roller" again and put it out under Gilder's name! And so it was that a fourth single version appeared on Chrysalis, "Roxy Roller" by Nick Gilder. In addition to the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand (almost exactly the same list!) put this version out. Only Germany gave it a picture sleeve, where they lie by calling it the "original version". I don't know how the saga of the competing versions played out in those other markets, but apparently, Chrysalis used some strong-arm tactics to get radio and retailers to drop the two London recordings. A fat lot of good it did them, though, as 5N-240 and 5N-244 both only briefly charted in the 90s, and the Chrysalis version doesn't seem to have charted at all.

In the UK (where both London and Chrysalis put versions out), the song is best-known for a 1977 cover by American-born Suzi Quatro. Though it doesn't seem to have bothered the charts either.

I find it hilarious that Bryan Adams, or someone working for him, appears to have gone all out to shut down anyone who attempts to upload any of his 1970s material, including his version of "Roxy Roller", the entirety of Sweeney Todd's second album If Wishes Were Horses and his hysterical sped-up-vocal disco song "Let Me Take You Dancing". Self-conscious much?

Being no stranger to the darker alleys of the internet, I have heard Adams's version. While canadianbands.com claims that "Adams' version is almost indistinguishable from the original", I entirely disagree. Listening to the Bryan Adams version, the most noteworthy aspect of it is the way he bends his voice in unexpected ways in order to emulate Nick Gilder, a person he actually sounds nothing at all like. Although barely post-pubescent here, he clearly already has the cigarette-stained voice that would become his trademark. He also has, unlike Nick Gilder, a Canadian accent. For likely the only time in his entire career, he attempts a screeching falsetto at one point. Nick Gilder, of course, didn't need a falsetto: that's just what his voice sounded like.

In any case, when I listen to the Adams version and to both Gilder versions, the instrumentation sounds exactly the same. I mean exactly, and intriguingly Martin Shaer is credited as the producer of all four versions. Did he really fly to L.A. to recut the song with the two Benedicts Arnolds who'd almost destroyed the band he also managed? Or did Gilder just take the original tapes with him? I have absolutely no idea.

Incidentally, I didn't bother to track down the Clark Perry version of the song, so I don't know what it sounds like. But as he's the Riley Finn of this story, who cares? Discogs suggests that the a-side of "Roxy Roller" is the only thing he ever recorded.

In March 1977, "Roxy Roller" won the Juno for Single of the Year (actually called "Best-Selling Single", but that's dumb). Even though the Junos were referring to the Nick Gilder-sung original, it was Bryan Adams who took the stage to accept the award. For a man who, down the years, has won an almost-unbelievable 21 Junos from 63 nominations (how is that even possible?), the circumstances of the first Juno he ever held must be a curiosity in his memory banks.

In 2010, when Hollywood made a filmic biography of the Runaways, the soundtrack had Nick Gilder's solo version of "Roxy Roller" as its opening track, interestingly followed by a different Suzi Quatro song. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm guessing the song had some importance to the Runaways, since Cherie Currie recorded a version of it on her 2019 album Blvds of Splendor (released on Joan Jett's record label). And if all that isn't enough, you can watch a Quarantine-era video of Quatro, Currie and Gilder all singing the song in socially-distant harmony. Gal Gadot is absent. Everyone looks really old.

GERMANY:

THE NETHERLANDS:

GERMANY (NICK GILDER):

Click to expand...

That was equal parts head spinning and fascinating.

colinu · May 14, 2021

bunglejerry said: ↑

180. ROXY ROLLER

I find it hilarious that Bryan Adams, or someone working for him, appears to have gone all out to shut down anyone who attempts to upload any of his 1970s material, including his version of "Roxy Roller", the entirety of Sweeney Todd's second album If Wishes Were Horses and his hysterical sped-up-vocal disco song "Let Me Take You Dancing". Self-conscious much?
Click to expand...

I have the 12 inch version of "Let me Take You Dancing" but would love to hear Adam's take on "Roxy Roller".

The only Nick Gilder version of this track that I have heard sounds mono-esque. Is there a stereo version?

W.B. · May 14, 2021

The video clip showed a promo label for the CBS Pitman pressing. Here's their stock:

Paul C · May 14, 2021

At the risk of adding to the confusion.....

I don't have the Chrysalis 45 credited to Nick Gilder (so I may well be wrong), but it is my understanding that this is the same version as the Canadian London 45 credited to Sweeney Todd (that is, the Canadian hit version). The track I downloaded from iTunes from Gilder's The Best Of Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City sure sounds the same to me as my Canadian Sweeney Todd 45. Both are mono. Martin Shaer is credited as producer on the Nick Gilder 45, and it is the only track on which Shaer is given production credit on Gilder's You Know Who You Are album. One version of the story is that Shaer owned the recording, but the remnants of the band owned the Sweeney Todd name, leading to the original version being issued in the US (and several other countries) as a Nick Gilder solo recording.

Here is a comprehensive discussion from the Pat Downey board, to which my contribution was nil.
Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Sweeney Todd "Roxy Roller"

The US London 240 single, with the Clark Perry vocal, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #90 on August 21, 1976, the same week that the Nick Gilder version spent the last of its nineteen weeks on the RPM chart. After spending a second week at #90, the Clark Perry version fell off the Hot 100. On September 18, London 244, with the Bryan Adams vocal, debuted on the Hot 100, spending its sole week on the chart at #99.

I believe that this is the Bryan Adams version:

I purchased it a few years ago when it was available on iTunes as a bonus track on the Sweeney Todd If Wishes Were Horses... Beggars Would Ride album. It appears to no longer be available. What I believe to be the Sweeney Todd version with Nick Gilder is available on iTunes, but it is credited to Nick Gilder.

W.B. · May 14, 2021

bekayne said: ↑

An album I'm A Song would be released on [Kristine's] husband Barry Authors (aka J.J. Barrie) Power Exchange label.
Click to expand...

We seem a few months away from "J.J. Barrie's" moment of infamy as far as Britons were concerned. Other than this preview, mum's the word. Have to respect The Process®, you know.

bekayne · May 14, 2021

bunglejerry said: ↑

180. ROXY ROLLER
by SWEENEY TODD
LONDON L. 2590
Highest ranking for 7 weeks: June 19 (3) and 26 (1), July 3 (1), 10 (1), 17 (10), 24 (16) and 31 (21), 1976

Click to expand...

Here's the Clark Perry version

Here's the album version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIGPYeaxY98

Suzi Quatro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU3edklDGo8

bekayne · May 14, 2021

W.B. said: ↑

We seem a few months away from "J.J. Barrie's" moment of infamy as far as Britons were concerned. Other than this preview, mum's the word. Have to respect The Process®, you know.
Click to expand...

Later today!

Paul C · May 14, 2021

W.B. said: ↑

The video clip showed a promo label for the CBS Pitman pressing. Here's their stock:

Click to expand...

Adding to the confusion, the label shown in the video is for the Clark Perry version, but the video actually plays the Nick Gilder version.

bekayne · May 14, 2021

RPM "Sweeney Todd alive and touring in Canada" (June 26, 1976)

A sheet of paper exhibited by Sweeney Todd bassist Bud Marr effectively erased rumours of the Vancouver band's impending break-up. The paper contained an itinerary for a 39-date tour of western Canada which the London recording artists have embarked upon to promote their debut album, Sweeney Todd, and their hit single, Roxy Roller. Break-up rumours began to fly when lead vocalist, Nick Gilder and lead guitarist. James McCulloch .left Sweeney Todd almost as soon as their album entered the charts.
...
To compensate for the loss of Gilder and McCulloch, the band has acquired the services of vocalist Clark Perry 25, who performed with a Vancouver Island band called Freisha, and lead guitarist Skip Prest 25, a former member of Jet, a Vancouver-based band.
...
"The loss of Nick (Gilder) didn't really come as a shock," said Marr. "We knew he was leaving all along. But we had intended on going with Jim as lead guitarist.
"But Jim didn't know what he wanted to do. He couldn't make his mind up whether he wanted to write songs with Nick or to stay with us. He wanted to do both.
"So we just said, 'Forget it, we'll go out and get a new guitarist,'. We sorta made up his mind for him."
Click to expand...

Freisha from Nanaimo, Clark Perry on the left

bekayne · May 14, 2021

"Roxy Roller" hit #1 at Vancouver's CKLG on April 13, 1976, before it even charted elsewhere. It stayed at the top for two more weeks (yet only #39 for the year), also hitting #1 in Hamilton CKOC) and Ottawa (both CFGO and CFRA). It reached #6 at CHUM and #7 at CKLW, in the U.S. it was #16 in Flint, #25 in Detroit and #27 in Indianapolis.

The album entered the RPM charts on December 27, 1975 at #87 and took a long and winding road to its peak of #3 on July 24 (in its 30th week). In total, it was on the charts for 48 weeks and was the 23rd biggest album of 1976.

87-83-87-88-66-48-41-29-22-20-20-19-31-32-30-28-28-30-24-20-18-27-31-35-19-16-14-16-11- 3- 6- 7- 4- 6- 7- 8- 9-11-11-12-16-12-12-12-13-14-10-25

bunglejerry · May 14, 2021

bekayne said: ↑

Click to expand...

Well, given that that image is evidently from the same photo shoot as the German cover, I guess that means Germany got the Adams version.

And in a world full of misplaced hype and "aged like milk" predictions, catch the last sentence in that blurb on Bryan Guy. Seems they do get it right sometimes, eh?

bunglejerry · May 14, 2021

Paul C said: ↑

At the risk of adding to the confusion.....

I don't have the Chrysalis 45 credited to Nick Gilder (so I may well be wrong), but it is my understanding that this is the same version as the Canadian London 45 credited to Sweeney Todd (that is, the Canadian hit version). The track I downloaded from iTunes from Gilder's The Best Of Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City sure sounds the same to me as my Canadian Sweeney Todd 45. Both are mono. Martin Shaer is credited as producer on the Nick Gilder 45, and it is the only track on which Shaer is given production credit on Gilder's You Know Who You Are album. One version of the story is that Shaer owned the recording, but the remnants of the band owned the Sweeney Todd name, leading to the original version being issued in the US (and several other countries) as a Nick Gilder solo recording.

Here is a comprehensive discussion from the Pat Downey board, to which my contribution was nil.
Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Sweeney Todd "Roxy Roller"

The US London 240 single, with the Clark Perry vocal, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #90 on August 21, 1976, the same week that the Nick Gilder version spent the last of its nineteen weeks on the RPM chart. After spending a second week at #90, the Clark Perry version fell off the Hot 100. On September 18, London 244, with the Bryan Adams vocal, debuted on the Hot 100, spending its sole week on the chart at #99.

I believe that this is the Bryan Adams version:

I purchased it a few years ago when it was available on iTunes as a bonus track on the Sweeney Todd If Wishes Were Horses... Beggars Would Ride album. It appears to no longer be available. What I believe to be the Sweeney Todd version with Nick Gilder is available on iTunes, but it is credited to Nick Gilder.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as I'm working almost completely from Youtube uploads, I primarily had the Youtube upload from the same Nick Gilder album you mentioned to go on, and I came to the same conclusion as you: that the version on the compilation CD was exactly the same as the Sweeney Todd version. But was that the same version as what was released on the Chrysalis 7" and album back in the day? I really have no idea.

Looking at the link you offer there, it seems the user crapfromthepast (who I'm familiar with; they have a good crate-digging website) believes they are the same and offers a reason. But what makes me sceptical of their explanation, and yours, is this: Martin Shaer continued to be involved with Sweeney Todd. In fact more than he ever was when Gilder was with the band. That promo photo with Bryan Adams above describes him as manager and producer, and his company hold the phonogram copyrights to the material released under the Sweeney Todd name (meaning the Canadian hit version of "Roxy Roller" among others).

The only way it would make sense would be if Shaer decided to keep his hands in both pies (is that a mixed metaphor?) and try to shepherd both the new Sweeney Todd's career up-close and also the Nick Gilder solo career from afar. This wouldn't be without precedent: the first thing that comes to mind is Berry Gordy being actively involved in both Diana Ross's solo career and the post-Diana Supremes career. But nothing on the internet seems to suggest as much, and many sources on the internet describe Gilder "re-recording" the song for Chrysalis.

I also didn't realise Adams also recut the b-side "Rue de Chance". I didn't bother to track down that song. It was already the middle of the night.

bunglejerry · May 14, 2021

Ohhh, I see. Further down on that thread:

Chrysalis had purchased the US rights to the ST album masters as part of the deal, so the new group returned to the studio to re-record "Roxy Roller" along with three other sides-"Juicy Loose," "Rue De Chance" and "Broadway Boogie"-in anticipation of signing a U.S. deal with London. The first "Roxy Roller," in the interim, was topping charts across Canada, rising to No. 1 on 15 stations and charted top 10 on 15 more.

So Shaer sold Chrysalis the first album and London USA any new material. If that's true, it's interesting that Chrysalis never did anything with it beyond putting the single out under Gilder's name. In fact, no other country except Canada ever saw that album.

And incidentally, what the hell is "Prophet's Song", the b-side to the Gilder issue? It's also got Shaer listed as producer, but it's not from the ST album or the NG debut. It never came out anywhere ever again. Was it a ST outtake? Or did Shaer go down to LA to work with Gilder?

bekayne · May 14, 2021

At #43 the week of June 12, 1976, Crack Of Dawn with "It's Alright (This Feeling)" (#28 at Windsor's CKLW)

B-side "I Can't Move No Mountains"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBOAu8jVyBE

Crack of Dawn - Wikipedia

Crack of Dawn was formed in Toronto in the mid-1970s by Grant Gabriel, his sister Jackie Gabriel (both originally from Springhill, Nova Scotia), Trevor Daley, Rupert Harvey, Mark Smith, Alvin Jones, and Carl Otway.[3][4] When the Gabriel siblings left shortly after, the band added four new members: Harvey's brother Carl Harvey, lead singer Glen Ricketts, and Dwight Gabriel.
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Ricketts had immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1967, settling in Kitchener.
Glen Ricketts

This incredible journey began shortly after high school, where Ricketts joined the Jamaican based vocal band The Fabulous Flames, who proceeded to win a local Toronto talent contest. They traveled back to Jamaica to release a 1969 album, featuring a cover of the Neil Diamond top-ten smash hit, "Holly Holy," which also launched Ricketts' reputation as a rising star in his homeland.

After leaving the Flames to pursue a solo career in the U.S., he met one of his influences, soul legend Donny Hathaway, who became his mentor for a short while. Reenergized from Hathaway's mentorship, Ricketts returned to Toronto, joining the groundbreaking funk/R&B outfit Crack of Dawn, which was compared to Earth, Wind & Fire.
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kB3RpFEcr8

bekayne · May 14, 2021

RPM (February 8, 1975)

Trevor Daley, a member of Columbia's latest signing, Crack of Dawn, and Garth Bennett, a musician friend, were wounded by a gunman as they entered the Generator - a well known disco tavern at Yonge and Eglinto, in Toronto. Daley, shot in the right hip, and Bennett, who was wounded in the right shoulder and abdomen, were rushed to hospital but are now reported to be in satisfactory condition. There was no apparent explanation for the shooting of the two Trinidadians by a white man, however police have indicated there may be "racial overtones' to the incident.
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The gunman (Ronald Steven Ryan) was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Crack Of Dawn's first release was "The Key" b/w "Mind Wrecker" in May of 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAAovfrK-bk

RPM (July 26, 1975)

Crack of Dawn, a recently signed Columbia group, has producer Bob Gallo quite excited. In September of 1974, the group was heard by Shane Bennett, their present manager, who immediately brought them to the attention of Gallo, Columbia Canada's A & R Director. Gallo knew right away that this was the group he had been seeking for almost six months. As of January 1975, the Crack of Dawn had become recording artists.
The group consists of Carl Otway from Grenada, W.I., Trevor Daley, born in Kingston, Jamaica, Torontonian Mark Smith, brothers Carl and Rupert Harvey both from Jamaica, Alvin Jones also from Jamaica, Dwight Gabriel, born in Nova Scotia, and Glen Ricketts who is also from Jamaica
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"Keep The Faith" b/w "Somebody's Watching You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIwpDFIspmA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arF4HtbKuYY

bekayne · May 14, 2021

A self-titled album would come out in Canada (March 24, 1976) and Holland

RPM (April 10, 1976)

The anticipated debut by Toronto's premier disco-jazz aggregation sounds well worth the dryspell, featuring a steamily-cool dance effect, due the efforts of producer Bob Gallo. 10-tunes featuring guitar from Glen Ricketts and the Harvey Brothers, drums by Carl Otway, bass Mark Smith, synthesizers by Jacek Sobotta and a good sass of horning in on the action from Trevor Daley, Alvin Jones and Dwight Gabriel.
Click to expand...

Jacek Sobotta joined the band before the LP was recorded, and Andre King would replace Mark Smith on bass afterwards

"Boobie Ruby" b/w "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth His" would follow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3rY9Z1Q0Kg

bekayne · May 14, 2021

But things would fall apart
Crack of Dawn, Canada’s R&B pioneers, shine once more

The demise of the band was rooted in Columbia Records executives’ machinations with Ricketts, the group’s dominant songwriter, said Harvey.

“We were young guys, we were on top of the world — five-star hotels, limos — but there were a lot of us and a lot of internal politics going on,” he recalled.

“The record label was pulling Glenn to become a solo artist and wanted to change us from being a horn band to being a rhythm section and that caused a lot of friction. We decided that we weren’t going to listen to the label, so we left and he stayed with the label. But he ended up walking away before his solo album was completed.

“We played independently for awhile and then kind of fizzled out. Just before the band broke up we’d been contacted by Bob Marley’s management to open for him on a three-month tour of Europe.”
Click to expand...

The Glenn Ricketts Band "Something For My Baby" b/w "Oh, What A Big World"

bekayne · May 15, 2021

Crack of Dawn - Wikipedia

In 1980, Dwight Gabriel relaunched Crack of Dawn as a four-man group, adding three new members: James (Jay) McGee, George Flint, and Gary Steed.[4] McGee had previously recorded several hip hop singles under the stage name Mr. Q.[8]

A new album, Horizons, was released the following year by TTR Records, however, it was only distributed in the Netherlands.[4] The band released the single "If You Want to Groove" before disbanding in 1982.
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Released in Venezuela as well. Chris Dedrick (Free Design) did the string arrangements.

"If You Want To Groove" b/w "Just Time For Lovin'" was released as a single in Holland and the U.S.

12" version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qm4QBm6HW4

B-side
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzu7o_NJR1w

About Jay W. McGee (Mr. Q)
Starting at the Bottom — Recognizing Jay McGee and Canada’s first Hip-hop recording.

McGee recorded what is likely Canada’s first rap record in 1979.
In fact, McGee recorded some of the earliest hip-hop recordings anywhere, not just in Canada. While they didn’t have nearly the same impact as those by local legends Michie Mee, Dream Warriors, or Maestro Fresh Wes’s platinum-selling “Let Your Backbone Slide” — let alone Drake’s multi-platinum successes — McGee’s early rapping efforts show that he helped plant a Canadian flag firmly in hip-hop’s soil long before the rest of the country took notice.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzKBejcHlQo

Crack of Dawn - Wikipedia

Crack of Dawn has the distinction of being the first Black Canadian band to sign with a major label, having joined Columbia in 1975. After the band's first break up, many members began solo careers or joined other groups. Rupert Harvey had a solo career under the stage name "Ojiji" and co-founded the reggae band Messenjah and Carl Harvey became lead guitarist for the ska and reggae band Toots and the Maytals.[2] Ricketts began a solo career in R&B, though he later relocated to Jamaica and switched to reggae, recording under the stage name "Glen Ricks". Ricketts's son Glenn Lewis saw mainstream success as a neo soul singer in the early 2000s.[9]
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Canadian Bands.com - Crack of Dawn

bekayne · May 15, 2021

At #55 for the first of two weeks (week of June 12), "No Charge" by John Gilbert. It was huge in Ottawa, #2 at CFGO and #3 at CFRA

John Gilbert was not a singer, or musician, but a radio talk show host.
John Gilbert (broadcaster) - Wikipedia

In February 1971, Toronto's 1050 CHUM announced that he would succeed Larry Solway as host of the talk show Speak Your Mind.[4] In 1973, he became the most successful radio talk show host in Canada with 120 000 measured listeners, more than Vancouver media legend Jack Webster.[5] Gilbert's term with CHUM ended in 1977.[2]
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1050 CHUM MEMORIAL BLOG: John Gilbert
RPM (June 26, 1976)

It was reported in RPM (June 19, 1976 ) that the Capitol single release, No Charge, by CHUM talk show personality, John Gilbert, had enjoyed sales success because of "a very respectable berth on CHUM's chart."
Warren Cosford, production manager at CHUM, pointed out to RPM that the Gilbert record had never been charted nor
playlisted at CHUM or any of the chain's stations.
Cosford also revealed that the Gilbert version of the famous Howard composition, was actually produced at RCA's Toronto studios in November of last year. The single was held back for release until April 1st of this year for its debut airing on the Gilbert show. The initial airing and further plays also added to the listener draw to Gilbert's morning show during the build up to the spring BBM. The record was aired regularly on the Gilbert show and occasionally on Terry Steele's afternoon shift.
Record sales, at press time, have surpassed the 55 ,000 units sold mark, the bulk of sales being in the Toronto area. Profits realized go to the CHUM Charitable Foundation, a unique organization that supplies much comfort to the less fortunate; one example being the all expense paid trip of a young Toronto resident to see Disney
World - a dying wish.
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"No Charge" was written by Harlan Howard, and first recorded by Melba Montgomery in 1974. She topped the country charts with it in both the U.S. and Canada, as well as #39 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #47 in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ubdrRqaE6I

Shirley Caesar took it to #91 in Billboard, #97 in Cash Box in 1975
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRy0qpqHn_4

"No Charge" was often performed by Tommy Hunter on his CBC-TV show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36hl94t4YUM

Enter J.J. Barrie, born Barry Authors in Oshawa.
J. J. Barrie - Wikipedia

A former Blue Mink[3] and Ocean manager, and ex-comedian,[3] Barrie turned to songwriting and in early 1976 co-writing "Where's The Reason" with Terry Britten for Glen Campbell. They sent a demo to Campbell's producer, but he suggested Barrie record it.[4] This he did, but it was unsuccessful. Undaunted, Barrie recorded a cover version of the country ballad "No Charge", penned by Harlan Howard, on Barrie's own label, Power Exchange.[4] The track featured an uncredited vocal from Vicki Brown (wife of Joe Brown, and one-time member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways), and was produced by Bill Amesbury.
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J.J.'s version (recorded in Toronto at RCA's studios) was released in the U.K. on March 26, 1976, entering the charts at #50 on April 24, reaching #1 for one week on June 5 (knocking Abba's "Fernando" off the top spot).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgQUMKEyEp4

On Top Of The Pops the week it hit #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4bLqJuncXQ

German picture sleeve

Netherlands

It reached #2 in South Africa, #13 in Eire, #16 in New Zealand and #29 in Australia. Barrie's version was released in Canada and made it to #39 on the MOR playlist on May 8 (Gilbert's version entered the RPM charts on May 8, and Ottawa's CFRA chart on April 30).

bekayne · May 15, 2021

There were parody versions in the U.K.:
Billy Connolly "No Chance (No Charge)", #24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2B4UQDJqs

C.C. Sandford "No Charge (Chuck)" on J.J. Barrie's own Power Exchange label:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlNJIDqxeg

J.J. Barrie released his first album The Autumn Of My Life in 1976

He would release seven and a half more LPs in the UK (including 1984's Sings Songs From Fraggle Rock), only 1977s Did I Forget To Say Thank You would get a Canadian release. His only other chart record was 1983's "My Son" (#96 in the U.K.). He later moved back to Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trwJT3L0bTw

1981's "You Can't Win 'Em All", a duet with soccer manager Brian Clough

Now the label Power Exchange has come up a lot in relation to J.J. Barrie. The label was started in November of 1974 by Americans Paul Robinson and Steve Rowland and was devoted to American R&B. Steve Rowland lead the group The Family Dogg, one of whose members was Christine Holmes, later married to Barry Authors aka J.J. Barrie. So there's the connection.

POWER_EXCHANGE

Anyway, here's my favourite Power Exchange release (the label folded in 1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBQpSBPiJE

bekayne · May 15, 2021

Right behind at #56 the same week of June 12 (for the first of two weeks), "Laura's Song" b/w "Brownstone Freddie" by J.C. Stone (#23 on the Country Playlist)

John Crosley "J.C." Stone (real name Bob Johnston), the Vancouver lawyer who gave up everything to become a pop star, the story continues.
Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

He was now signed to London Records, his first release came in September of 1975, with "Look At The Stars" b/w "Singing Laura's Song", produced by Joe Felsica (who has no other credits). "Laura's Song" would be the next release, with a different producer (Laurie Wallace, who has lots of other credits).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06BrWqVupNw&list=OLAK5uy_nqfcmn5HDfCboTMK7ToHgFz3jFEAPduKI&index=8

Stone was the cover boy of the June 5, 1976 issue of RPM, "Death rests in peace on this Stone"
http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Volume+25+No.+10+-+June+5,+1976.pdf

From Carrie's Gone to his current release Laura's Song, J.C. Stone has been known for less-than-happy lyrics. Whatever future directions he may take, he's presently identified as an artist to cry to.
...
"People are by and large very attracted to maudlin thoughts about death and lost love. But my point in doing that kind of music ...is to show that death is a passe theme. The serious side of me says, 'Forget all this garbage about death and unhappiness'. Death and lost love are unimportant and irrelevant, albeit as commercial as they may be at the present time. If you stand back and place yourself on a star and then look at the earth, you suddenly would under-stand the insignificance of your existence".

One wonders whether Stone's young audience is going to have this objectivity about death. Aren't they just as likely to be interested in what happened to Laura or Carrie? Stone believes his audience will eventually reach the point he has, where they can question the entire relevance of death. At the same time he offers a reason
why he performs songs of such ultimate insignificance. "It's like injecting a person with a disease so he can build up antibodies to overcome it. Inject people with something their system can rebel against and they'll develop the strength to overcome it".
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J.C. Stone has a followup to Laura's Song in the can and awaiting a June release. Called Don't Shoot Me, it's been recorded at the new Singwell Studios in Vancouver. "I think it's going to be a hit. Musically it's in vogue right now with a little bit of reggae and rock. Lyrically it's interesting and actually expresses some experiences I went through"
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From the September 3, 1976 Vancouver Province ("Barrister bowed to bubblegum" by Jeani Read)

He has high hopes for his current release, Don't Shoot Me, the theme of which is loosely based on the day two years ago when things got too emotionally heavy and he shot out the windows of his house.
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"Albert And Beyond", an unreleased song from 1976
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JIHr5Z7FGw

"Don't Shoot Me" b/w "Woman Of Spring" wouldn't chart. Nor would 1977's "L.A. Lady" (b/w a recycled "Look At The Stars")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aueNSsLWrms

Stone will chart again with the return of RPM's CanCon chart in 1981.

bekayne · May 15, 2021

At #63 for the first of two weeks (week of June 12), "Scorpio" by David George (#18 on the MOR Playlist, top twenty in London ON)

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

"Scorpio" was the final chart hit for David George. He would release three promo only singles on A&M.
"Shotgun" from August of 1976

And from August 1977, "She Needs Too Much" and "Don't Go Away Mad"

W.B. · May 15, 2021

bekayne said: ↑

"No Charge"

Enter J.J. Barrie, born Barry Authors in Oshawa.
J. J. Barrie - Wikipedia

J.J.'s version (recorded in Toronto at RCA's studios) was released in the U.K. on March 26, 1976, entering the charts at #50 on April 24, reaching #1 for one week on June 5 (knocking Abba's "Fernando" off the top spot).

It reached #2 in South Africa, #13 in Eire, #16 in New Zealand and #29 in Australia. Barrie's version was released in Canada and made it to #39 on the MOR playlist on May 8 (Gilbert's version entered the RPM charts on May 8, and Ottawa's CFRA chart on April 30).

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Canadian pressings seem to have messed up on the music publishing, apparently copying from the UK version:

In the U.S., Mr. "Barrie's" version was issued on Buddah, which likewise copied music publishing - and even the particular spelling of its writer - from the same UK ish (of course, this didn't even remotely penetrate the Hot 100 - not even "bubble under" it):

Had Buddah been on the ball, they would have credited the publishing to Wilderness Music Publishing Co. (BMI) - and not spelt Mr. Howard's first name like that of Col. Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame (that is, without a 'd' in the end) . . . as John Gilbert's version (and Melba Montgomery's) had (and hadn't, respectively).

As attested in the Every UK #1 Single of the 1970's Discussion Thread (REVISITED), there is an almost universal hate for Mr. "Barrie's" rendition among certain participants of same. At least one, when advised of Bill Amesbury's role in producing it (and bringing up "Virginia (Touch Me Like You Do)"), was incredulous that both could have had involvement from the same person. A few choice quotes:

I've heard this before, on CHUM's Sunday Morning Oldies Show every Mother's Day, I dislike cutesy and maudlin stuff like this so no reason to listen to it again
- - -
. . . an abomination of a single . . . traumatizing us with that "song" . . .
- - -
There’s crap, and then there’s No Charge. Hideously mawkish, moralizing, muck. Who was buying this stuff?
- - -
That no. 1, just awful. Ick
- - -
Hearing it once is enough....that will be 66p please. (The price of a single in 1975)
- - -
Time to re-appraise this as a mature adult and parent, No Charge with it's genuine heart-warming message.

It's horrible.
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Me, I had no opinion one way or the other. Makes one wonder why - was it because Mr. "Barrie" was doing it? What's more, none of the participants in that thread seemed even remotely aware of his being married to Kristine (which seemed to have been hinted at with the "Chappell/Robinson/Sparkle" production entity credit).

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

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

bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

bare trees Senior Member

Mr. D Forum Resident

colinu I'm not lazy, I'm energy saving!

W.B. The Collector's Collector

Paul C Forum Resident

W.B. The Collector's Collector

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