Your Favorite Obscure A&M Artists!

[Dave]

Tell us about are your favorite Obscure A&M Artists!

Did they put out a "First and Last" album on A&M or just a '45' or two? Or BOTH?

My favorites have been Pieces Of Eight, who made three '45's, Larry Marks, who I've got two '45's, but three songs of, London Phogg, who made one '45' and Jeffrey Comanor, who I've got one A&M LP of (and an appearance on Paul Williams' Phantom Of The Paradise), but a couple more on another label and the "A&M Supergroup", The Merry-Go-Round, who I still have yet to hear the non-LP cut, "Saturday Night", from...

And Roger Nichols, who was A&M's first! (and who a friend of mine thought was The Beatles, when she heard me playing my Small Circle Of Friends CD over the phone--and "Didn't Want To Have To Do It" and "Cocoanut Grove" (Lovin' Spoonful songs) were playing! )

Dave

..."Obscured To Death"... :scared:

 

[seashorepiano]

I'm always willing to go obscure. Here's some of my favorite obscurities:

Artie Butler, Have You Met Miss Jones?, 1968, particularly "The Whiffenpoof Song." Funny and a good upper.

Richard Barbary, Soul Machine. Who's heard of him lately?

Although Paul Desmond certainly wasn't obscure, who would know about his great song "Samba (Struttin') With Some Barbecue" if they weren't aware of the song with a slightly different title?

Who here has listened to Kathy McCord's CTi album? Pull out the cobwebs in your brain for that one.

 

[Dave]

I'm always willing to go obscure. Here's some of my favorite obscurities:

Richard Barbary, Soul Machine Who's heard of him lately?

That, along with Tamiko Jones' I'll Be Anything For You, has to be one of the most obscure; pretty decent selection of tunes and a delivery that ranks along with James Brown and Otis Redding and maybe a little of Dobie Gray. A&M, eventually did become "Soul Heaven" in the coming decade, putting a lot of acts on its regular (Non-CTi) imprint...

Who here has listened to Kathy McCord's CTi album?

That is definitely where A&M/CTi left off, in the sense that while CTi became an independent label, it still hadn't yet shaken off its "former A&M sound"! Hubert Laws Crying Song is like that, too. As well as being more true to the Jazz genre, compared to "almost rock acts" like McCord and an obscure Fusion group, Flow, also signed on to CTi's earliest incarnation, emancipated from A&M...

Dave

 

[Steven J. Gross]

playing my Small Circle Of Friends CD over the phone--and "Didn't Want To Have To Do It" and "Cocoanut Grove" (Lovin' Spoonful songs) were playing! )

Dave

I did not know that (about LS ) until now!
This is definatly a learning place!

 

[Dave]

...playing my Small Circle Of Friends CD over the phone--and "Didn't Want To Have To Do It" and "Cocoanut Grove" (Lovin' Spoonful songs) were playing! )

Dave

I did not know about LS until now! This is definately a learning place!

I was very curious when I saw the Nichols & Friends album on the A&M IH-6 Inner-Sleeve! It had both LS songs listed, as well, as the Beatles songs and "Snow Queen"--which I knew of Blood, Sweat & Tears doing it as a medley with Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" on their New Blood album... "Snow Queen" is a Carol King/Gerry Goffin-written tune that Ms. King later did with her first group at the beginning of her solo career, The City...

Dave

 

[jfiedler17]

In all the record-hunting I do, I rarely run into any A&M material from the '60s that's not by one of the more major names, so I haven't heard enough of the lesser-name '60s A&M releases to have any obscure faves from then, unfortunately.
And most of my "obscure" A&M faves from the '70s aren't all that obscure [at least probably not to Corner members, anyway!]; my favorite A&M single from the '70s not to crack the Top 40 is easily Gallagher & Lyle's "Heart on My Sleeve." My 45 copy of it is cracked, and I STILL can't bring myself to get rid of it! Dynamite song.

I have quite a few really obscure A&M faves from the '80s, though, that I got back when I was really little from going through the discard boxes at my older sister's college's radio station that - even though most of them are extremely worn out from my (unfortunately) not taking care of them so well back then - I've still held onto, 'cause I like 'em so much and don't figure I could find them again easily!
The Arrows' "Say It Isn't True" is my favorite of them; never cracked the Hot 100 to the best of my knowledge, but it's one of those in my "I can't believe this didn't go Top 40" files.
The Lover Speaks' "Every Lover's Sign"
G.T.'s "Just What I Have in Mind" (oddly enough, I DID hear this in a department store a few years back, which shocked the living heck out of me)
Phil Saatchi's "Wheel of Fortune"
Steve Archer's "Safe" (a duet with Marilyn McCoo; actually on an A&M subsidiary, Home Sweet Home, that I've never seen elsewhere)

Any of these ring a bell to anyone here?

Jeff F.

 

[seashorepiano]

Is anyone familiar with Fats Theus' album for CTi, Black Out, from 1970? Or heard it?

 

[PartyRico]

seashorepiano stole my thunder, as I was about to comment on Artie Butler HYMMJ. This is a very good album.
How about Phil Ochs "Pleasures of the Harbour"? He too was a fine A&M artist, who commited suicide at a young age. Free was another nice group from the A&M stable.

 

[seashorepiano]

I've heard one song from Pleasures of the Harbour, but I don't remember it. I'll look around and report back if I can.

I'm awaiting arrival of Barbary's Soul machine and look forward to it. Still looking for that single by the Tamba 4, from their "unreleased third."

 

[PartyRico]

I also liked Lee Michaels. We can't leave out Bossa Rio produced by Sergio Mendes. That great group featured Gracinha Laporael, vocalist and Sergio's current wife, and Manfredo Fest the late great blind pianist from Brazil. Also Perry the lead male voice. I can't remember his first name right now, but it was a great short-lived group that also recorded under the Blue Thumb label. I love this group, and they also produced a great live album from Japan.

 

[Harry]

That great group featured Gracinha Laporael, vocalist and Sergio's current wife

Of course, Gracinha's last name is correctly spelled "Leporace", and the spelling referenced above came from a misprint in the FOOL ON THE HILL album.

Harry

 

[seashorepiano]

The album Bossa Rio intrigues me. I believe Gracinha belonged to a Brazilian group who called themselves "Vox Populi," and they released an album in Brazil in 1969. Good work.

 

[Harry]

Favorite obscure A&M artist? Other than Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends, I'd have to give mention to George McCurn. Being the second artist ever to release an album on the label, he holds a special place in the label's history. That "102" album is somewhat difficult to locate, being the first ever A&M album to go out-of-print.

Harry

 

[Dave]

Yes, funny it is how LP 102/SP 4102, went in-between TWO Tijuana Brass LP's...! And don't forget the handful of singles that were released, too! The "first Non-LP Trax" of their kind...

Waylon Jennings' Don't Think Twice is another obscurity--how many other A&M Artists after him were REALLY Pure Country...?! And some other Non-LP '45's' are still circulating out there, as well...


Dave

...Definitely wishing I had been around "since the beginning"...

 

[PartyRico]

A&M also recorded 2 relatively "obscure" female singers.
1- Claudine Longet who had an interesting personna about her. Her voice while somewhat "weak" was interesting nonetheless. I also liked the record cover photos used on her releases.
2- Liza Minelli. She was not very well known as a singer during her A&M stint, if I recall correctly. Still I consider her a great singer, and talent.

 

[Harry]

I too enjoy Claudine's albums. The combination of production by Tommy LiPuma and arrangements by Nick De Caro are top-notch. At least the bulk of Claudine's material has seen release on CD in Japan. I'm afraid Mr. McCurn is truly forgotten at this point.

Another one to mention in this thread would have to be Pete Jolly. Not exactly a houshold name, and most of his A&M recordings have never been transferred to digital. But his albums are great stuff, to be sure.

Harry

 

[Mike]

Yes, Harry, "Great stuff" indeed...

The fact that Pete Jolly is an obscure artist is a mystery to me. His A&M albums are outstanding. Even “Seasons”, which has been described by some as, “experimental”, is a great album; although, to my knowledge, he never did another album like it again. I certainly hope that Rev-Ola, or some other record company will take the time to reissue them on CD.

 

[Dave]

Aside from "Guantanamera" and "Come Saturday Morning", The Sandpipers are yet, another A&M-Obscurities group, largely and long forgotten...

Rev-Ola should consider reissuing their albums (and singles) too!


Dave

 

[DAN BOLTON]

..the Winter Consort...


Dan

 

[Mike]

Roger Nichole is not obscure as a writer, but…

Roger Nicholes & The Small Circle of Friends, could probably be considered an obscure A&M act. As far as I know, they only released 1 album. However, the fact that “Small Circle of Friends” has been reissued on CD about 3 times in Japan, and again recently by Rev-Ola, certainly contradicts the obscurity title. I wonder if any other groups that only produced 1 album got such a reissue treatment? And, I wonder what happened to Melinda MacLeod?

 

[Tim Neely]

I've always liked one-hit wonder Miguel Rios and his version of "A Song of Joy." The unedited backing track to that song appears on an album by Walter de los Rios on United Artists entitled Sinfonias...

Other relatively obscure A&M artists I enjoyed:
Split Enz (Australia's finest who evolved into Crowded House; criminally underappreciated in the States)
Ali Thomson (Paul McCartney sound-alike who had a pleasant 1980 hit called "Take a Little Rhythm")
Sister Janet Mead (Australian nun who briefly made it cool to sing "The Lord's Prayer" outside of church in 1974; I remember that this was the first 45 I ever bought with the "fading silver" A&M label)

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Yeah, Split Enz! One of my favorite of the A&M rock acts. Their album TIME AND TIDE is a masterpiece in my book, and their single "I Got You" is about as great as pop music gets.

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm a long-time "Frenz of the Enz." I prefer Split Enz over spinoff Crowded House. With a half dozen A&M albums I certainly don't consider them "obscure." But that's just based on my definition of what I consider an "obscure" act: basically a "lone un-charting LP" and/or only one or two singles and no LP... So by my definition, Ochs or the Sandpipers don't qualify as obscure, either.

I'm with Mike on Time and Tide though their A&M debut (True Colors) is still my favorite. The song "I Hope I Never" is probably my favorite tune (with "I Got You" a close second) and to me has always been remiscent of "When You Wish Upon A Star." Their final LP, Conflicting Emotions is probably the only Enz LP I don't care for at all. I've also been a longtime fan of the instrumental numbers (usually written by Eddie Rayner) that grace more or less every LP... And then there was Escapade. Tim Finn's solo effort on A&M...

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

I'm a long-time "Frenz of the Enz." I prefer Split Enz over spinoff Crowded House. With a half dozen A&M albums I certainly don't consider them "obscure." But that's just based on my definition of what I consider an "obscure" act: basically a "lone un-charting LP" and/or only one or two singles and no LP... So by my definition, Ochs or the Sandpipers don't qualify as obscure, either.

Spirits & Worm would be obscure. But yeah, obscure is something relatively unknown, even when it was originally released. The first Julius Wechter album, that's obscure.

 

[Mr Bill]

Another two A&M obscurities in my collection are two 12" singles:
"Coundown (10...9...8...)" by Armand Duchien
"Can You Read My Mind (Love Theme form Superman)" by Kryptonn

Both are rather straight-ahead disco efforts, but given their obscurity (and likely limited play only in clubs of the day -- 1978/9) they are not a chore to listen to.

--Mr Bill