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The Dot Records Thread
- Thread starter Michael Hagerty
- Start date
JOv2
Well-Known Member
(Indeed, me too, Harry.)I don't have to. That's what Dot Records is for.
(Forgive me, Harry..)
Man, you just don't let up on this Dot business... I checked my holdings -- other than some Steve Allen, there ain't much: LPs by Lyn Roman and Roy Clark and, of course, Neal Hefti's The Odd Couple s/t. Zilch on Ranwood (though I did buy one of Lawrence Welk's Ranwoods when I was 14...probably the only teenager in Southern California buying Lawrence Welk LPs in 1979.)
It's purely personal.
About the time I started really getting into records (age 12-ish), we went to visit an aunt and uncle (actually, I think it was my Mom's aunt and uncle---never got that straight) in Whittier. This is 1968---they've gotta be 85 then, so they were born in, what---1883? Oldest people on the planet to me at that time. My grandmother was 78 then (actually, I think the uncle was my grandmother's brother, so yeah---my mom's uncle, my great-uncle).
Anyway, the grownup talk is boring, but they have a record player! And it sits atop an open cabinet with maybe 50 albums. So I ask if I can look at their records, and they say sure.
I kid you not----EVERY SINGLE ALBUM in that collection was on Dot. And it was the squarest stuff imaginable---even for 85 year olds.
Next visit to L.A., maybe six weeks later, I'm in a record store and I see Michael Nesmith's name on an album. I pull it out of the bin---THE WICHITA TRAIN WHISTLE SINGS. I flip it over---it's on Dot.
I shudder and put it back.
That's how deep the trauma was. If it had been on Colgems, I'd have probably risked the $2.89.
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JOv2
Well-Known Member
I don't know whether to react with "great story" or "amazing" -- but either way, this was a swell anecdote.
My parents had a few Billy (the chameleon) Vaughn LPs. (Man, that guy had no sound -- aside from that twin alto business...he just copped the latest sound and rebranded it as one of his rekkids.)
And just for fun, I found a Dot Records innersleeve and scanned it.
What Harry neglected to mention was that he found the inner sleeve in the "sleep aids" section of his local Walgreens...
Barry Young had a #1 country record and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the title track of that album---"One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)." Very likely because it was a massive ripoff of Dean Martin's mid-60s style:
Tragically, we'll never know if Barry could have evolved---he died of a brain abscess the following year at age 35.
Yes, Billy Vaughn was on the other side!
As a kid I had Billy Vaughn's "A Swingin' Safari" because I couldn't find Bert Kaemfert's original.
They were all but identical.
JOv2
Well-Known Member
Hey, I've got one of those. It's Polka time!
Oh, good grief! Totally. Right from the start with that triplet undercurrent that seem to plague EVERY Martin arrangement, 1964-66. Major ripoff. He even tries to vocalizes with Dean's uber-loose articulation (including Dean's penchant for slurring adjacent words together).
I also grew up with Billy's rip of this wonderful piece (I didn't know anything about Kaempfert until well into adulthood).
Probably. He was one of the real reasons to catch Welk. Myron was excellent but, I really liked watching Neil Levang on electric guitar! Man, was he Mr. Smooooth or what!
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Bobberman
Well-Known Member
Man Welk Dominates that side and just as I suspected Mr Floren has an album I rest my caseSince the Dot thread has been so popular, I've split it off into its own. And with so much speculation about the "other" side of the innersleeve, here it is!
The first Dot Records 45 single that I saw when I was a baby (wasn't born until 1965) that my late parents bought was Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs "Sugar Shack" & the B side "My Heart Is Free" in 1963. My late mom also bought the 8 track of the late "Hee Haw" Roy Clark "The Incredible Roy Clark" (from 1971) in early 1972 on 8 track tape BUT it was a different company (printed in white with black letters) because my late dad liked his music!!
JOv2
Well-Known Member
Harry, can I borrow a dime...Since the Dot thread has been so popular, I've split it off into its own. And with so much speculation about the "other" side of the innersleeve, here it is!
...and a piece of tape...
...for that full color catalogue of almost 600 Dot LPs?
Since the Dot thread has been so popular, I've split it off into its own. And with so much speculation about the "other" side of the innersleeve, here it is!
What if, when MCA acquired the label, they'd given it one last try at relevance?
THE LENNON SISTERS' NEW FAVORITES * Brass in Pocket (I'm Special). * Whip It * Turning Japanese * I Know What Boys Like; and others.
Shades of In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy?
I guess upon seeing what a big hit "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime" became a hit, it was either Dean Martin's manager, producer, arranger, or perhaps a label exec, decided that it would be a good idea to "triplet all the things." And that's how it became a fad. (It was covered in the Stan Cornyn book "Exploding!" which is one of the more in-depth and hilarious anecdotes of the Warner Brothers record labels.)
The slurred words probably went along with Dino's shtick of acting drunk, such as showing up on Carson's stage with a cocktail in one hand (which actually was apple juice).
THE LENNON SISTERS SING THE SEX PISTOLS SONGBOOK......Shades of In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy?
"Exploding" is one of the best books I've read of any genre.
(PS: The producer was Jimmy Bowen, who had to explain to Dean..."Them's triplets.")
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That's it!
I've read that book a few times. Always a good read! In fact, I think it might have been your recommendation that prompted me to buy it, all those years ago...
I’ve told anyone who’ll listen. A full book from the guy who made the liner notes to the Sinatra and Jobim album a novel? Sold!That's it!
I've read that book a few times. Always a good read! In fact, I think it might have been your recommendation that prompted me to buy it, all those years ago...
