Checkmates, LTD. on Hip-O Select

But it... ...Ain't Got No... ...non-LP Singles:

1. -- LAZY SUSAN

2. -- DO YOU LOVE ME?

3. -- NEVER SHOULD HAVE LIED

4. -- BABY, DON'T GET CRAZY

And the Sonny Chales Solo '45's:

MR. WELFARE MAN / IT TAKES A LITTLE LONGER (Gary Wright song)

BLESS YOU / TALK TO ME, TALK TO ME

Dave

...waiting for a more "comprehensive" set... :|

Thoughts on the Non-LP Charles (Minus his Checkmates, that is)...:

"Bless You" was actually written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil and Sonny Charles obviously interested A&M exec's enough to record it on a '45', engineered by Ray Gerhardt and arranged by Gene Paige...

"Talk To Me, Talk To Me" is a Little Walter Horton song, written by Joe Seneca, here again recorded by Charles as the "Bless You"-B... Artie Butler arranged this one, complete with various party/crowd noises ("By Who?", some of you may ask...) in the background and Ray Gerhardt, once again sits at the board...

--Sorry I no longer have this '45', only a "flashback" to sifting through a box of 'em, at a record show, months, and months back and getting it for a Buck... Only played this once, and that was enough to make these two songs stick in my head, afterwhich I gave it to "Ol' Ms. Charity"...


"Mr. Welfare Man" was recorded in Memphis at American Sound Studios and produced by Chips Moman... Obviously this "one-shot" deserved enough "company" to make it an entire ALBUM so if Mr. Moman and his stable of Musicians, probably including guitarist Reggie Young, drummer Gene Christman, bassist Tommy Cogbill, pianist Bobby Emmons, and organist Bobby Wood did make such an "attempt" it so far hasn't been released...


It Takes A Little Longer" --A Gary Wright song on "Welfare Man's" B-Side; Reggie plays Sitar and Moman & Company back Sonny up in Memphis at American Sound... Unknown female background singers are added as well... Again, another entry in "The A&M Land of Lost LP's"...

--Also "Past Tense" in my collection, along with the Other '45's and the Original LP...



Dave

The cover illustrations of this CD on the Hip O Select web site says stereo, but someone told me the CD is mono. Can anyone tell if it is the rare promo only mono version of the album, or a monoized version of the stereo album. In other words what is the source?

Paul

Since asking the question yesterday. I found out according to the Amazon.com comments the disk is definately mono instead of stereo like the original album. The source is still unknown.

Paul

Baby Don't You Get Crazy (A&M single 1006)
John Sebastian (of the Lovin' Spoonful) the writer of the song Baby Don't You Get Crazy recorded for A&M by The Checkmates LTD confirmed for me that it did exist but I have not found anyone yet with a promo copy or even a test pressing. I ask him if he had a copy and unfortunately, he doesn't but he did write:
"Hi,Paul,I have never seen a copy,but Phil played it for me soon after he cut it. I remember Phil being excited about the song (he told me it was a hit as I began the opening lick!). My memory is that the cut was good but not great. I'd love to hear it if you ever find it."
Since we don't know if A&M ever actually got the tape it may not exist with Universal and still be in the possession of Mr Spector or his attorneys.
Paul Urbahns
Radcliff, Ky