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

Kind of like the CFL?

 

50. LOOKING AT A BABY
by THE COLLECTORS
#1 for 3 weeks: May 20 and 27, and June 3, 1967




​

Hey, here's a milestone: our fiftieth number one!

With all the tales we're seeing here of bands or band members drifting from here to there, chasing musical fashion, and knowing how many will still be kicking around in different guises a decade or more later, I must confess that the Spinal Tap hippie classic "Listen to the Flower People" does pop into my head from time to time. And what is more "Flower People" than listening to this extremely 1967 song, knowing that the people on this recording will eventually morph into Chilliwack?

The point of this song is that apparently you can view the world in whatever terms you want through the power of metaphor. The Collectors suggest you try to see the world in a baby, in a lady and in a ruby. Which is, I guess, a worthy thing to do. I suppose. If you want, you might see the world in the flute played in this song by multi-instrumentalist Claire Lawrence. The b-side, "Old Man", features a prominent flute as well. The a-side's two songwriters, Howie Vickers and Bill Henderson, could be considered the long-lasting band's two "leaders" at different phases of its career.

A story that's been told on these pages already, the Collectors started life as the CFUN Classics, named after the Vancouver radio station that has also been mentioned quite a few times on these pages. Always plagued by ongoing personnel changes, the CFUN Classics became the Classics, who became the Canadian Classics, who then by 1967 became the Collectors. The technically accomplished band underwent several changes in style as the 60s rolled on, more or less in the rock vein.

1967's "Looking at a Baby" was the band's first release under a fourth name. As the band was taking a new psychedelic direction, they knew they wanted to shed their old name and its early-60s associations, but they had no idea what they wanted their new name to be. The name the Collectors was chosen more or less at random, from a list provided by the record label.

What record label, you ask? Well, interestingly, at that particular point in the career of the band-whose-names-always-start-with-"C", they had an American label but not a Canadian one. That label, Valiant Records, was a Warners-distributed label founded in 1961 that probably had its greatest successes with the Association. It also put out the band's one single released under the name the Canadian Classics. "Looking at a Baby" appears to be the label's third-last single before it was disbanded and folded into Warner Brothers.

"Looking at a Baby" was eventually picked up in Canada by Tom Northcott's New Syndrome Records Ltd. Been missing the name Tom Northcott? Never fear! We'll be hearing from him before 1967 is through.

Oh, "Looking at a Baby" also came out in France on the legendary Riviera label.

OTHER RPM CHARTS: On May 20, RPM launches a new chart! The RPM 25 R&B List is, of course, what it says on the label: the top twenty-five R&B singles in Canada. The first number one is "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals, not perhaps the most obviously R&B of songs, though it did hit #3 on what Billboard was then calling the Black Songs chart and was covered in 1967 by both Aretha Franklin and Booker T. and the M.G.'s.

Three entries among the twenty-five are Canadian: "Barefootin'" by Larry Lee and the Leesures (not on Youtube) at #14, "Shotgun" by Wes Dakus' Rebels at #16, and "Stand Up Straight and Tall" by Jackie Shane at #24.

If you want to find the old R&B charts on the Library and Archives Canada website, it seems you have to look under "Adult Contemporary"... which frankly helps us understand why it took until 2001 for the CRTC to approve an urban radio station in the Toronto market.

 

I covered the end of the Classics in this post: Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000
So at the start of June of 1966, a new house band is formed at Jim Wisbey's Torch Cabaret to replace the departing Henry & The Nite Crowd. There are two holdovers, both vocalists, Howie Vickers and Mike Campbell. On drums is Ross Turney, who had been in Campbell's group The In Crowd the previous year. Claire Lawrence, local jazzbo and former member of the Classics, was added. On guitar, Terry Frewer (we'll hear from him later as a member of Spring) who had played in a jazz combo with Lawrence. Completing the lineup is Brian Newcombe on bass, a teenager from Vancouver Island (where Lawrence was originally from).


Campbell would leave by the end of the month. Newcombe would be replaced by Glenn Miller, formerly of the Classics (Newcombe would play in the final version of Chilliwack two decades later). Frewer would be replaced by Bill Henderson, UBC student by day, guitarist in the house band at the Panorama Hotel by night. Henderson had met Lawrence on the local jazz circuit.


Another connection between past and future members of the Collectors was the CBC-TV show Let's Go. In it's first season (1964-65), the Classics were the house band. The next year, it was a band led by Classics drummer Gary Taylor. The next season (under the direction of Bobby Hales), Henderson, Lawrence, Frewer, Miller and Turney would be in the house band at some time or another. Vickers would be a featured singer, becoming host when Red Robinson got the heave ho in January of 1967.
He would be on the show until June, when his other duties with the Collectors would be too time consuming. Here's the November 14, 1966 salute to the British Invasion. Howie is there as one of the singers (with Terry and Susan Jacks, Patty Surbey and Marty Gillian). In the band you can spot Bill Henderson and Claire Lawrence. (On keyboards is Bob Buckley, who would form the band Spring with Terry Frewer. And later write the A&W Great Canadian Root Bear theme.)



Here's the first concert the Torchlight group would play outside of the Torch Cabaret under their new name the Illusions. They would be the Illusions from October 1966 to February the next year.

 

The newly named Collectors step outside of the Torch for the first time, opening for the Steve Miller Band at Kitsilano Theatre, March 17 1967.


The Vancouver Trips Festival, May 27 at Richmond Arena (with Jefferson Airplane and others)



Opening for the Grateful Dead in July






Opening for the Doors in July



Posters by Bob Masse.

 

To give you an idea of how fast things were moving in 1967, the Collectors opened for Steve Miller less than two weeks after Howie Vickers was singing "Slow Boat To China" with Patty Surbey on TV.


That blurb mentions Doug Parker. Howie Vickers had recorded the song "Jewel Of The West (Beautiful B.C.)" with Parker earlier in the year. It was released on RCA Victor in a picture sleeve. It looks to be connected with Canada's Centennial year.

 

At #14 on May 20 (#88 on the big chart) is the final entry for Little Caesar & The Consuls, "My Love For You". The B-side was an instrumental version of the A-side, I guess they were just phoning it in at this point. The youtube version is screwed up, it can be heard here. It's not too bad. It would make the Top 10 in Orillia.

DISCOGRAPHY – LITTLE CAESAR and the CONSULS

 

At #16 the same week, is "See My Girl" b/w "In His Hands" by Teak Wood. It would reach #81 on the Top 100. And no, the "G. Martin" on the label is not THE George Martin.





Teak Wood was from Toronto; his actual name was Phil Englishman (really). He would release one more single in the fall, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" b/w Okay", it would appear on the CTV's After Four compilation LP.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3lEI2BncT0

There's a mention of Teak Wood in the November 13 1967 issue of RPM as an understudy for the role of Snoopy in a local production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown". The December 30 issue announces he's forming a new group called Teak Wood and the Chips. For the record, the other members were Madison Cassis, Robert Burr, George Pliakes, Roman Huzar, George Waters, Mickey Kay and "a surprise organist".

His children would go into the music business as well, with a lot more success.
Esthero - Wikipedia
Jason Englishman - Wikipedia

 

"Barefootin'" peaked on the Canadian chart at #6 on May 27, #55 in the Top 100. "Shotgun" would hit #6 the next week, #54 in the big chart. It would be his last time there.
"Stand Up Straight And Tall" would reach #87 and not be included on any of the Canadian charts.

 

At #7 the week of June 3 are the Magic Cycle with "Let's Run Away" b/w "Half Way To Heaven", peaking at #55 on the big chart the same week. The group was from Toronto, it was their debut single (on Red Leaf)...and neither side is on youtube. The A-side was a cover of the recent hit by the Staccatos. Here's an article in RPM where they explain why they recorded it (page 3)
http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Vol+7,+No.+21+-+Week+Ending+July+22th,+1967.pdf





They released their second single, "Give Me The Right" b/w "It Was You" on Red Leaf in July. It did not chart...and neither side is on youtube.



The group moved to the Giant label for their next release, which we'll actually hear later.

 

At #10 on June 3, is the jaunty instrumental "Silly Jilly" by the Art Snider Ensemble, #74 on the big chart two weeks later. Art Snider was a big mover & shaker in the Canadian music industry: producer, arranger, studio owner, co-founder of Red Leaf Records, founder of other labels (Op. Art, Sound Canada, Periwinkle).

Art Snider | The Canadian Encyclopedia



"Silly Jilly" would be covered by the Allan Sisters (Art was married to Jackie) and Jo Ann Castle. It would be on his only LP, Corny Songs I Play On My Organ in 1968.



Snider, Art - Corny Songs I Play on My Organ
(it's not worth $800)

 

"Looking At A Baby" has appeared on two legit CDs that I know of. One is Hallucinations - Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults on Rhino Homemade. It sounds excellent on this CD (I suspect the audio of the Youtube clip is from this CD). This collection is also available digitally. The other CD set on which the song appears is Buried Treasure: Lost Gems from Deep in the '60s Vaults on the Collector's Choice label on which it sounds fine but not quite as good as on the Rhino set.

As our thread host states, the Valiant label was distributed by Warner Brothers. Shortly after Valiant released "Looking At A Baby", Warner Brothers purchased Valiant, primarily to get The Asscociation. Warner Brothers immediately shut Valiant down and moved its few artists to its main label. And so by what was really a fluke, The Collectors found themselves on a major US label.

 

The RPM R&B chart would last all of nine months. It would last appear in February 1968. There were no R&B stations in Canada, but many Pop/Top 40 stations had weekly timeslots devoted to R&B music, just as many had timeslots devoted to country music.

No Canadian would ever top the RPM R&B chart. In fact, every act that would top the RPM R&B chart was American with one very bizarre exception. According to RPM, the #1 R&B song in Canada for four weeks starting July 22, 1967 was............"A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum. I wonder if the Procol Harum guys have ever even been aware of this. ("A Whiter Shade Of Pale" did not made the Billboard R&B chart.)

 

I'm working on it! I'm trying to compile every Canadian hit on radio station charts from 1957 to 1964 using the ARSA archives.

 

The B-side for "Looking At A Baby", "Old Man":



The single would spend 12 weeks on the Top 100, peaking at #23. It would reach #4 on the CHUM chart, #8 on Vancouver's CKLG, and the Top 30 in San Francisco.




Looking At A Baby by The Collectors –

 

Ah, cofounder of Red Leaf... that explains it. That damn song was promoted in RPM even more than Larry Lee's kangaroo song was.

 

What a cool idea. That whole 'just use the CHUM charts and pretend Toronto is Canada' notion that's so prevalent is really no solution at all.

 

Fascinating!

 

Ah, that future CanCon anomaly Procol Harum...

Looking the band up, they seem to have fancied themselves an R&B band. Apparently they got their start on the R&B circuit in London. I wonder whatever criteria RPM used to determine whether a song was R&B or not.

I still wonder that today. "Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd spent an almost-inconceivable 31 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart, but I don't see how it's an R&B song at all except that the Weeknd himself is an R&B artist.

 

Awesome! I've got to catch up on this thread, by the way.

 

Amen to that. For example the top charting Canadian record for August 1959 was a parody of "The Battle Of New Orleans" called "The Battle Of Queenston Heights" by a CHUM DJ. Who outside of Toronto would have bought that? In that seven year period only one artist west of Ontario made the CHUM charts (Barry Boyd).

 

I just did some searching on this. They have CDs and LPs, but no singles. As a consolation, here's a rare early shot of the Staccatos I found in the Archives:

Record - Library and Archives Canada

 

Their first single is a double-sided facemelter, unquestionably one of the greatest Canadian garage records.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVyJBl4G8xY

 

A cover of this by Jimmy Knox & Thee Group (1968 called, they want their band name back) was a big hit in Ottawa in '79. The local oldies station often played it, but I prefer the original.

 

The first few lines of that song are more than a little familiar. Compare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_nikLTVGU

 

Neptoon Records has issued a Northwest Company compilation on CD;
The Northwest Company – “1966-1976 Eight Hour Day” – CD