GEORGE McCURN
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DAN BOLTON
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I really don't think that the album "took off" like Herb and Jerry thought it would...George McCurn was supposed to be another Sam Cooke, but things just didn't jell. I only saw this album once, in a "dollar bin" at a local food store in about 1970 or so, and guess who didn't have a spare dollar that day 
...I have kicked myself for not doing without whatever I thought I just HAD to eat that week...the album is rare now...quite rare...I remember the back cover had pictures of Herb, George and Shorty Rogers...Herb and Shorty were sitting at the piano in one shot, and Herb and George were arm-in-arm in another.
With Herb and Jerry producing, and Herb and Shorty arranging, the album should have been a success...but for some reason, it wasn't...
Dan
...I have kicked myself for not doing without whatever I thought I just HAD to eat that week...the album is rare now...quite rare...I remember the back cover had pictures of Herb, George and Shorty Rogers...Herb and Shorty were sitting at the piano in one shot, and Herb and George were arm-in-arm in another.With Herb and Jerry producing, and Herb and Shorty arranging, the album should have been a success...but for some reason, it wasn't...
Dan
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
It is pretty rare. I recall checking Gemm quite a bit, and eBay as well, and it seemed liker it never would show up. Then one day, there it was, on eBay, a nice stereo copy, and I won it rather easily - no competition. This was long after we'd done it as Album of the Week, so I never really got to weigh in on it. Since then, I think I've listened to through just about once, so I'm not really all that qualified to review it. I've heard the "hit" from the album, the (sort-of) title song "I'm Just A Country Boy" quite a bit since I threw it onto a compilation of the earliest A&M artists.
My copy has the cream-colored label with the A&M logo at the 12 o'clock position.
Harry
NP: the self-titled Carpenters album
My copy has the cream-colored label with the A&M logo at the 12 o'clock position.
Harry
NP: the self-titled Carpenters album
You ave to remember that A&M's output at the beginning was only a couple albums a year. December 1962 for Lonely Bull and McCurn's came probaby 3 to 6 months later. Herb's Volume 2 also came in 1963 and it wasn't until 1964 that we got the next A&M album, the BMB's self-titles debut LP.
Mc Curn's LP is featured on the back of the first version of Volume 2 and (I think) the BMB debut (will need to check that when I get home) by 1965 it was probably cut out. But without a doubt it i was certainly the first cut out from the new label (with 105, 106 and 107 to soon follow suit)...
--Mr Bill
exercising his memory muscle on this topic...
Mc Curn's LP is featured on the back of the first version of Volume 2 and (I think) the BMB debut (will need to check that when I get home) by 1965 it was probably cut out. But without a doubt it i was certainly the first cut out from the new label (with 105, 106 and 107 to soon follow suit)...
--Mr Bill
exercising his memory muscle on this topic...
Two more things:
One -- this topic does NOT belong in the Sergio forum. And
Two -- Regarding the rarity of LP: The first time I saw it was in a collectors record shop for $25 around 1983. Way out of my price range at that time. Luckily I found mine at one of LA's larger used record venues for a few bucks in 2000. That's only twice I've ever seen it in my 40+ years, so I'd say it is among the rarest of A&M vinyl.* I think the same trip netted me the elusive Best of The TJB Lp for radio stations (Stereo Copy) also for a few bucks when I'd only ever seeen it listed at auctions and such in the $15 plus range. It was a good A&M night for me that day!
---Mr Bill
*also rare is Spirit & Worm (probably the rarest), Under Milkwood, Children Of God and that Sex Pistols Promo...
One -- this topic does NOT belong in the Sergio forum. And
Two -- Regarding the rarity of LP: The first time I saw it was in a collectors record shop for $25 around 1983. Way out of my price range at that time. Luckily I found mine at one of LA's larger used record venues for a few bucks in 2000. That's only twice I've ever seen it in my 40+ years, so I'd say it is among the rarest of A&M vinyl.* I think the same trip netted me the elusive Best of The TJB Lp for radio stations (Stereo Copy) also for a few bucks when I'd only ever seeen it listed at auctions and such in the $15 plus range. It was a good A&M night for me that day!
---Mr Bill
*also rare is Spirit & Worm (probably the rarest), Under Milkwood, Children Of God and that Sex Pistols Promo...
Mr Bill said:
Right you are. When looking at posts through the "View New Posts" option, I sometimes don't notice WHICH forum a particular thread is in. As you can see, I've moved it to the more general Small Circle forum.
Mr Bill said:
Then I did a good thing finding that one on eBay! I think I've seen it only one more time since then, but the vultures had seized on it.
Harry
NP: "A Thousand Miles" Vanessa Carlton, on the radio
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
Mr Bill said:
My copy of VOLUME 2 just has a picture of THE LONELY BULL album cover on the back about half-way down and to the right. My copy of the first BMB album is at my ex's house...my son is putting it on tape for me...but I think it DID have McCurn's album listed at the bottom, along with VOLUME 2 and THE LONELY BULL...
Dan, whose memory muscle is in a state of constant atrophy...
thetijuanataxi
Well-Known Member
Were there 2 back covers for the first Baja LP? Mine only has the 2nd through 5th Baja LPs advertised on the back cover. My original TJB Volume 2 LP also features just Lonely Bull on the back cover. As I said earlier, McCurn's LP was not promoted on any LP jacket or inner sleeve even in the early days. Was it cut before A&M started featuring album jackets on their inner sleeves?
BTW, I've always loved Don Williams' version of "I'm Just A Country Boy". Never realized that song was first recorded by McCurn on A&M. Did George McCurn fade from show business after his association with A&M and is he still alive?
David,
teeming with questions, on line....
BTW, I've always loved Don Williams' version of "I'm Just A Country Boy". Never realized that song was first recorded by McCurn on A&M. Did George McCurn fade from show business after his association with A&M and is he still alive?
David,
teeming with questions, on line....
Dave
Well-Known Member
DAN BOLTON said:
Well, Guess What? I have a copy I found in a "dollar bin". Had it for at least three years, or so. It's MONO, however. And Used, but still plays good.
DAN BOLTON said:
Welll, I wonder how many A&M collections are out there that go from Herb Alpert and TJB's THE LONELY BULL to Herb Alpert & TJB's VOLUME TWO?
Guess few know about McCurn and even fewer know about some Non-LP songs he made, such as "In My Own Little Corner Of The World", only available as '45's.
Dave
...in MY own Little Corner, wishing COUNTRY BOY could be Reissued Today, with those "lost tracks"...
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
thetijuanataxi said:
There must have been two different back covers for the first BMB album, because I just looked at mine, and it has the first two TJB albums and McCurn's album, but they're NOT in numerical order...COUNTRY BOY GOES TO TOWN is listed AFTER the TJB albums...kinda like an afterthought...
Dan
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
thetijuanataxi said:
Here's what i've been able to find out about George ...not a lot, but what I DID find was pretty interesting.
George McCurn began his musical career in the same manner as a lot of African-American artists did, in gospel music. He was a member of the legendary Kings of Harmony and Pilgrim Travelers, and recorded with Lou Rawls...one collaboration of note was DANIEL SAW THE STONE[Andex 5001], in which McCurn imitated a jazz bass run...the song is an early gospel classic, and McCurn's bass solo makes the song...
McCurn was active into the mid '70's, when he guested on an early Ry Cooder album...I can't recall just which one, but it was released in 1974. George also played guitar. He's been linked to the Platters, also...but I couldn't tell from the article I read just when he was affiliated with them...
I have no info on a birthdate or any info concerning whether he is still living or deceased. He DOES seem to be a very talented man, if not widely recognized today.
Dan
According to the liner notes, McCurn had been with a gospel group, The Pilgrim Travelers, for five years, earning a reputation as one of the best bass singers in the spiritual field. It then goes on to mention that in December of 1961, McCurn did a world tour with The Ink Spots, returning in November of 1962 and shortly thereafter recording his hit of "I'm Just A Country Boy".
As for the album being hard to find, I sumbit this already-over auction where the album went unsold, listed for $9.99:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2535885189&category=43704
Harry
...reading liner notes, online...
As for the album being hard to find, I sumbit this already-over auction where the album went unsold, listed for $9.99:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2535885189&category=43704
Harry
...reading liner notes, online...
My neighbor's Dad was manager of the local Singers' store, so I remember that by 1967 A&M wasn't promoting either SP 102 or 105. Album covers for everything else between #101 and 4121 were used in store window displays, along with the MILLION DOLLAR SAMPLER of course.
I've got mono and stereo versions of both 102 & 105, thanks to successful bids in 'Goldmine' auctions.
If McCurn is still living and in good health, he's probably still working in the gospel circuit. It might be useful to run his name through some search engines.
JB
I've got mono and stereo versions of both 102 & 105, thanks to successful bids in 'Goldmine' auctions.
If McCurn is still living and in good health, he's probably still working in the gospel circuit. It might be useful to run his name through some search engines.
JB
I finally checked my early A&M LPs. McCurn's (4)102 is featured on the first version back of BMB's (4)104 and Dave Lewis' (4)105. Oddly, it's not on the first version Herb's Vol 2 (4)103... I don't own 4106 to know if it was still available at that time or not. My 4107 is Canadian and the back strikes me as being uniquely a product of A&M's Canadian partner at the time, Quality Records. So I'd say (4)102 was the first A&M to be cut out. Given that cuts from 4106 and 4107 appear on Million Dollar Sound Sampler ((1)9001) but nothing from Dave Lewis, I'd venture a guess that (4)105 was the second A&M to be cut out...
--Mr Bill
--Mr Bill
I always had the impression Dave Lewis' SP 105 was distributed primarily in the NW corner of the U.S. during its brief heyday, which explains why I never saw a copy until getting one by mail. I think the source was in Seattle, so there likely were cutout racks full there but none in my neck of the woods.
JB
JB
I'd say you're probably right about that. In the 50s (and tapering off into the mid 60s) regionalization was a big part of the music biz. It's how "Lonely Bull" charted on the west coast but no one east of the Mississippi heard of it (till the TJB became (inter)national superstars).
Another good example of this is the tune "Alley Oop." The best known version, of course, is by the Hollywood Argyles, but in Los Angeles local act (and future A&M artist) Dante and the Evergreens had the local hit version. If you ask my mom or anyone from Los Angeles from her generation, "who did 'Alley Oop'?" and they'll almost all say "Dante and the Evergreens."
Maybe our resident radio historians/gurus/experts Harry, Tim and JimMac can put their 6 cents worth in, too on how radio changed around that time. (3 x 2c = 6c... get it?)
--Mr Bill
also noting that A&M's second single, "Little White Lies" by Los Angeles trio the Kenjolairs topped the L. A. Radio charts, too but went nowhere anywhere else.
Another good example of this is the tune "Alley Oop." The best known version, of course, is by the Hollywood Argyles, but in Los Angeles local act (and future A&M artist) Dante and the Evergreens had the local hit version. If you ask my mom or anyone from Los Angeles from her generation, "who did 'Alley Oop'?" and they'll almost all say "Dante and the Evergreens."
Maybe our resident radio historians/gurus/experts Harry, Tim and JimMac can put their 6 cents worth in, too on how radio changed around that time. (3 x 2c = 6c... get it?)
--Mr Bill
also noting that A&M's second single, "Little White Lies" by Los Angeles trio the Kenjolairs topped the L. A. Radio charts, too but went nowhere anywhere else.
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
Mr Bill said:
I experienced the regionalization phenomena in 1970, on a trip to San Francisco...it was mid August, and we
were listening to a Top 40 station from SF...they played the top 10, and all but the #5 song were the same as in Indiana the week before. Linda Ronstadt had a song that I'd never even heard of...but it was #5 on the West Coast...didn't even chart back East...
And, I don't remember the name of the song...sorry...but Mr. Bill might...
Dan
thetijuanataxi
Well-Known Member
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
I'd really like to find out more about George, but I keep coming up empty...Yahoo wasn't much of a help, and ask.com wasn't either...I wonder if anybody has any ideas on which databases or search engines might be useful in finding out some bio info on the man...George McCurn has recorded with The Platters, Lou Rawls, Sam Cooke, The Ink Spots and several well-known gospel groups...not to mention Ry Cooder...there HAS to be some info on him someplace, but durned if I can find it...
He was considered to be one of the best gospel singers of his era, at least by his peers...yet he remains virtually unknown...
Dan, frustrated and frazzled...
He was considered to be one of the best gospel singers of his era, at least by his peers...yet he remains virtually unknown...
Dan, frustrated and frazzled...
thetijuanataxi said:
I had the same reaction for a brief second and then I knew what Shirl meant. I KNOW Shirley and I am certain that was not directed at a certain fellow who is ill. Shirley has far more class than that!
--Mr Bill
..however a comment directed at a gal whose illness may be in the head...
cakeicer
New Member
thetijuanataxi said:
Oh David,
I think you misunderstood who I was speaking of. If you thought it was W.J. it wasn't at all. I consider him to be a good friend. I am not in the habit of saying something to hurt someone, this was just a personal past hurt from having been one of the members here who have been slammed and insulted by someone. Even so, it may have been inappropriate to post it. If I have offended you or anyone else I apologize.
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