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Non-Hits you couldn't live without

J

johnbasalla

This is going off the deep end a bit. This may primarily be for those who worked at radio stations, and had access to the promo records that came to the station.
At two of the station's I've been at (one of them in College), I grabbed a good number of records over the years that would have otherwise been dumped in the trash. These were all records I really enjoy, even if... based on chart action ... very few others did. Is there anybody out there who has done the same thing? I've even done it in the modern era with some CDs. Here are 4 notable ones:

NEIL HARBUS - "ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS ROCK 'n' ROLL" - Evolution Records, 1974. This is the same label that had success with "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. It's a fun, upbeat R&B based Rock song with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, that gives the song its "punch".

FRANK MORGAN - "Sing Your Freedom Song" - RCA Records, 1975. A special DJ copy was pressed in blue vinyl (wonder if the store copies were). The label is all red except for white stars circling the outer edge of the label. This is a sing-a-long acoustic Folk Rock tune. I always thought this record was made in anticipation of the 200th Birthday of the U.S. in 1976.

MOTHER TRUCKER - "Tonight" - Paramount/Ember Records, 1974. Here's my favorite of the bunch. An upbeat fairly hard rocker by an all-girl band who, while standing or sitting on a box or on/in a truck, present the image of stereotped "white trash". The refrain begins with "don't worry about the shape of the world...just come to my hotel room for tonight..."

THE THREE DEGREES - "My Simple Heart" -Ariola America Records, 1979. Written by Bugatti and Musker whose names I've seen before. A very nice piece with a soft disco beat. It's a soft rock R&B tune. It was produced by Giorgio Moroder (Donna Summer's producer) and Harold Faltermeier of "Axel F" theme fame.
The bells used to highlight the refrain are phenomenal. Apparently this was recorded in London, England.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN! What ones do you have?
 
"Under My Thumb"-- The Rolling Stones. It was never a hit, and not released as a single. But a great song.

"No Chance"-- Moon Martin, 1979. Only made it to #50....but a great song!
 
mook said:
"Under My Thumb"-- The Rolling Stones. It was never a hit, and not released as a single. But a great song.

"No Chance"-- Moon Martin, 1979. Only made it to #50....but a great song!
Click to expand...

Amazing...I would have bet my first born that "Under My Thumb" was released and charted, but you are right.
And, it is a great song, and thats why I programmed it at my short lived Oldies PD job. Another example is Michelle by the Beatles, it did chart by three other groups, but, not the Fab Five. The same could be said for 60% of the Beatles Material...they played all their Albums cover-to-cover and obviously they couldn't release evrything as a single, but we know every song ever recorded by them.

PS: "Under my Thumb" was included on the Stars On 45 - Rolling Stone medley.
 
Beatles had quite a few of those non-hits, you mentioned "Michelle," but there was also "In My Life," "All My Loving," "Good Day Sunshine," "Taxman," "Here Comes the Sun," and much of the Sgt. Pepper album, and the Abbey Road medleys. Many of these are even quite familiar, even to folks who are not Beatle fans! :)
 
firepoint525 said:
Beatles had quite a few of those non-hits, you mentioned "Michelle," but there was also "In My Life," "All My Loving," "Good Day Sunshine," "Taxman," "Here Comes the Sun," and much of the Sgt. Pepper album, and the Abbey Road medleys. Many of these are even quite familiar, even to folks who are not Beatle fans! :)
Click to expand...

I remember starting in 1964 our local top 40 am stations would play every new Beatle LP cover to cover, I don't recall that happening for any other artist, even Elvis didn't get that kind of play. By 1966 we had a couple of FM stations (freeform-Progressive) that eventually morphed into the Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format and they played cover to cover for some of their artists. Did I say fab five earlier, of course I meant fab four....I've been watching too much basketball lately.

other non-charted song I like:
Lugee (Sacco) and the Lions(Lou Christie) - Little did I know
Carl Mann - Ubangi Stomp
Carl Dobkins Jr - Pretty Little Girl in The Yellow Dress
Freddy Fender - Only One
Freddy Fender - Wasted Days and Wasted Nights (1960) version
Gene Terry and the Downbeats - Never Let You Go
Tommy G and the charms - Don't Fool with me
Morticians - Little Latin Lupe Lu
Harptones - Memories Of You
Helen Shapiro - I Don't Care
Johnny Wright - Hello Vietnam (charted #1 on the Country charts-written by Ton T Hall)
 
There were a couple more non-hits in the '70s and '80s.

"Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder got a lot of airplay (and still does) despite never having been released as a single. It got heavy airplay simultaneously with his #1 hit single "I Wish" while that one was on the charts.

Then in early 1983, radio stations started playing "Be Good Johnny" by Men At Work, and I just knew that that was going to be the next single from the Business As Usual album, after "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under," both of which had been #1 hits. But for some reason, after a couple of weeks of airplay, the Men released "Overkill," which was the first single from their next album, Cargo. I knew that once the Men went on to their next album, they wouldn't be releasing any more singles from the previous one. Too bad, because I think "Be Good Johnny" could have been another massive hit for them!
 
While I did not like the Tommy G record... by 1966 that was "old skool", the other two are pleasant finds. Wouldn't you think that a group with the name "The Morticians" would be doing darker music? I guess that was a record from New Mexico, based on the label, and it was a local record. I liked this earlier version of "Wasted Das and Wasted Nights" better then the 1970s hit version. Thanks for sharing.
 
Hey, John, have you considered googling the artists that you mentioned in your first message on this thread, or contacting their fan clubs, or visiting their websites, or searching for them on Facebook? Other than the Three Degrees, I have never heard of any of the groups that you mentioned, so I'm sure that any of these groups would be very delighted to know that someone out there appreciated their music, and especially thrilled to know that someone appreciated that music enough to rescue it from the trash! 8) Assuming that these groups still exist in some form (and further assuming that the solo artists that you mentioned are not deceased yet), I am sure that they would be very pleased to hear from you!
 
Hey firepoint: You're right, I should do that for all of them. I've got lots of interesting things. I did do it one time and hit pay-dirt. In 1969 a folk artist named JEF JAISUN put out his own independent LP which had the song "Friendly Neighborhood Narco Agent" on it. By 1974, the song was one of the most popular to be played on Dr. Demento's radio show. Warner Brothers Records cobbled together a Dr. Demento LP featuring some of his most requested novelty recordings. One of them was the Jef Jaisun song. They released "Friendly Neighborhood Narco Agent" as a single. As Music Director of the College station I was at, one of the things I needed to do was to get promo copy record service. So, working with a local store, I got them to stock copies of this single as we were playing it heavily. The idea was to prove to the record companies that it was of value to send us promo copies by being able to tie some to sales. I bought a copy of the record from that store. Earlier this year, I did an internet search and found a complete website for Jef Jaisun, in which he talks about his "almost hit", and how soon after its release, WB decided to go in a different direction with their record company image, and stopped promotion on his record. I emailed him, and he emailed a joyous letter back. He said that the WB single is even rarer then his independently released LP. I got a "Friendly Neighborhbood Narco Agent" T-shirt from him, that he had made around 1969-1970.
 
Here are more that I've got and the source.

"MISSISSIPPI MAMA" by Owen B. (Janus Records, 1969)
This is one great Rockin' tune, clocking in at a sprightly 1:56. It peaked at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was played on one of my hometown Top 40 stations for a while. I bought a copy of it. Wore that copy out and had to find another one, which I did. The B-side is an exciting remake of the Motown hit "Nowhere To Run". "Exciting" because it totally different then the original, yet is good too. A great find!

"ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND" by Bjorn & Benny with Anna & Frida (Playboy Records, 1973).
Here's ABBA before ABBA. This is a fun, upbeat pop-rock tune. While not quie as good as most of their hits like "Waterloo" and "Dancing Queen", the "chops" are there. The catchy tune, happy sound. When they made it big on Atlantic in the U.S. in 1974, the first hit "Waterloo", while credited to ABBA, also listed the names, as done here. One of the more "important" records I liked enough to take before it probably would have been trashed when the storage area got filled and needed to be cleaned out.

"SOMEBODY FOUND HER (Before I Lost Her) by The Addrisi Brothers (Bell Records, 1973).
Penned by the successful composing team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, this is a run-of-the-mill "adult contemporary" aka MOR single. This did get some airplay on appropriate stations. While acknowledging it's lack of exceptionalism, since playing this record recently, I found myself occasionally singing it in my head as I went to work. I knew there must have been some reason that I grabbed this record from the stations "holding", but in reality - headed-for-the-trash, bin.

"MACUMBA" and "RAIN 2000 by Titanic (Columbia Records, 1973).
These were the two singles from the "Macumba" album. I remember seeing the singles at the radio station, but I grabbed the whole bomb album. Both songs have an anthemic quality to them. They also have notable use of percussion. "Macumba" is rather AOR sounding, while "Rain 2000" is poppier.
 
Re: More, More, More (How Do You Like It, How Do You Like It?)

A few more (hopefully) interesting titles that, I snatched from one of the radio stations I spent time at. Don't worry, I didn't steal them. They were on their way to the trash can anyway, but I liked them, and since they were "bombs", they would have been hard to find in the stores.

"DREAM WORLD" by Don Downing. (Roadshow Records, 1973, Reissued on Scepter Records, 1974).
Brothers Al and Don Downing had separate recording contracts during these same years. Roadshow Records was part of the Stereo Dimension family of labels, which had some success with their Evolution brand...("One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse). Scepter, of course, was the big hit home of B.J. Thomas and Dionne Warwick. "Dream World" is an upbeat, quite aggressive sad/angry R&B tune about losing a love. Meco Monardo was on the 3-person production team. He went on to have the chart-topping Disco version of the "Star Wars/Cantina Band" themes under the name Meco.

"AFTER YOU'VE HAD YOUR FLING (Get Down To The Real Thing)" by The Intrepids, (Columbia Records, 1975). Produced by the same team that concocted "Dream World", this is a Gamble-Huff Philadelphia International-style record without the involvement of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.
It's upbeat, with meaty production values. The singing group reminds me a bit of the Temptations with the bass voice and falsetto voice being used.


Since I mentioned the Motown group Temptations, let's try:

"TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MY BABY" by Anacostia, (Columbia Records, 1974).
Here was a remake of the Marvin Gaye Motown classic. Produced and arranged by another hit maker, Van McCoy ("The Hustle"), this is a faithful remake of the original with a little more processing in the production. Apparently Anacostia also recorded as The Presidents who had a hit or two.

"SMILE, SMILE, SMILE" by Mike Douglas, (Atlantic Records, 1976 ).
Wow! 10 years after the schmaltzy "Men In My Little Girl's Life" was a Top 10 hit, this incredibly fun, happy, upbeat, sweet little 'old-time'-like song was released. It was curiously written by the production team of Hugo & Luigi along with George David Weiss, but Hugo & Luigi did not produce it. I can't tell yoou how much fun it is to listen and sing along to this record. It's a great sing-a-long tune. It's listed as from the Mike Douglas album "Mike Makes Your Day". Did that LP ever come out? Nevertheless, whenever I play this song, I smile, smile, smile.

"SAM'S SONGS" by Sammy Johns, (Southern Tracks Records, 1988).
You remember "Chevy Van" from 1975, right? Of course you do. Sammy put out a number of singles on the Southern Tracks label of Atlanta, Georgia in the 1980s. This one was somewhat unique. "Sam's Songs" is as advertised. This is a medley of three of his songs... "Chevy Van", "Common Man" and "America".
 
johnbasalla said:
"SOMEBODY FOUND HER (Before I Lost Her) by The Addrisi Brothers (Bell Records, 1973).
Click to expand...

Your post over on the Soft AC/EZ/Standards board led me here. Although I've never heard "Somebody Found Her," this did conjure up fond memories of "We've Got To Get It On Again," which I had forgotten about. A great song... time to add it to my mp3.

"Somebody Found Her" and their version of "Never My Love" sound like they'd be worth going after. I was able to see that Three Degrees song you mentioned, "My Simple Heart," on youTube, but I wasn't so lucky with the Addrisi Bros. As time permits, I'll have to see if I can track down all the songs you mentioned. It's funny... sometimes there's no problem at all finding these obscure songs on amazon, gemm, or cyrco, and others don't even come up on a google search. But, as I like to say -- it's all part of "the thrill of the hunt" when you finally do find them.

Some personal favorites of mine in this category... "Kites Are Fun" by The Free Design, "The Jet Song (When The Weekend's Over)" by The Groop, "One More Chance" by Ocean, "Ain't It Funny" by Lenny LeBlanc, "Water, Paper & Clay" by Mary Hopkin, and two I never heard until I discovered them on a WIP (Philadelphia) aircheck from 1973 -- "Was A Sunny Day" by Josh, and "The Greatest Song I've Ever Heard" by The New Seekers.

With very few exceptions, I have no affinity for the music of today, but I've been amazed at how I can still "discover" so much great music from years ago.
 
Re: Thanks, EZway2Go - "Non Hits You Couldn't Live Without"

Thank you for posting. There seems to be very few out there that dig deep like this. Of course, my time at the radio stations helped immensly (sp) as we got promotional copies of records. That may be what's going on. The companies supply promo copies to radio stations, but only press large amounts if it became warrented based on airplay which generated sales.

I've got "One More Chance" by Ocean, it's on their second LP, and "Water, Paper & Clay" by Mary Hopkin (One thing I collect is Apple Records).
I may be interested in the others you mentioned if you would, please, add some information about what the record sounds like. I like the New Seekers, particularly "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma".
 
Here are some more mostly "Bomb" records. Except for one of them, I got them all from one of the radio stations I was at. They were promotional copies that the station would have otherwise sent packing to the garbage. Gosh, I sure wonder what cool records were dumped before I arrived.

"LADY IN LOVE" by Megan McDonough (1972, Wooden Nickle Records). This was an RCA product. Wooden Nickle was also the home to the early recordings of the Rock band Styx where they had their first big hit "Lady". "Lady In Love" was composed by the artist. It's an upbeat, fun Soft Rock tune with a pretty good refrain hook. It could have been a hit, but wasn't. I do remember it being played for a short time on WHLO 640AM in Akron, Ohio.

"COSMIC SEA" by The Mystic Moods (1973, Warner Brothers Records). This is known to some as "space age pop". This is an upbeat instrumental, with a mid-1970s Funk groove to it, and lead by a string section (violins). The strings are a bit downplayed in the mix. There is interesting history here, as this was produced/recorded by Mobile Fidelity whose founder, Brad Miller, is involved in this record. Mobile Fidelity went on to do the half-speed mastering thing that wowed audiophiles for years. I don't think there was an actual "Mystic Moods" group who would perform on stage.

"HALDEMAN, EHRLICHMAN, MITCHELL AND DEAN" by The Creep (1973, Mr. G Records). This was an Audio Fidelity Enterprises record. Audio Fidelity put out lots of stuff that generally wasn't for radio consumption, like a belly dancing music LP I've seen. This one I bought in a store.
It received its share of radio airplay as it was a song about Watergate. This is a barbershop quartet pretending to be President Richard Nixon's main members of his white house staff. They sing about how Watergate messed up their lives. It's a comedy record, if you haven't guessed. One line: "We might have had flaws like bending the laws, but God only knows it was for a good cause." This did receive a fair amount of airplay.
I heard it on Adult Contemporary stations. The group name was what opponents called the Committee to Re-Elect the President during the 1972 Presidential race. For the record: H.R. Bob HALDEMAN, John EHRLICHMAN, Attorney General John MITCHELL, John DEAN.

"MY PIECE OF THE ROCK - by 100 Proof (Aged In Soul). 1976, Hot Wax Records. In 1969 the Motown writing team of Holland-Dozier and Holland started their own labels - Hot Wax and Invictus Records. They both were successful and had hits from 1969 to 1973-1974. Hot Wax was distributed by Buddah, while Invictus (whose first hit came in 1970) was distributed by Capitol (I think). 100 Proof (Aged In Soul) had a big hit in 1970 with "Somebody's Been Sleeping". My favorite is their 1972 modest hit "Everything Good Is Bad". Anyway, in 1976, there was an attempt to ressurect both labels, distributed by Columbia Records. "My Piece of The Rock" is a so-so Funk record which, unfortunately, was too unidimensional. Without a winning hook, it just kind of goes in one ear and out the other. My interest is that I enjoyed following the output of both labels earlier in the decade.
 
Re: Thanks, EZway2Go - "Non Hits You Couldn't Live Without"

johnbasalla said:
I've got "One More Chance" by Ocean, it's on their second LP, and "Water, Paper & Clay" by Mary Hopkin (One thing I collect is Apple Records).
I may be interested in the others you mentioned if you would, please, add some information about what the record sounds like. I like the New Seekers, particularly "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma".
Click to expand...

LOL! I can't believe someone else on the planet has "Water, Paper & Clay" besides me. Over the years, I've been pretty much able to find everything I set out to, whether it's on vinyl, tape, CD, or mp3. Eventually, I'll get around to listening to all the songs you've listed here. (Mystic Moods sounds like my kind of music).

A little about the others... "Greatest Song..." by the New Seekers is on a Greatest Hits CD, not a Hot 100 hit, but it did make the AC chart in '73. Another nice song by them is "When There's No Love Left." It's the flip of "Beautiful People" and I have the original 45. As I'm keying this, I'm reminded of a similar sounding song by The Bells called "Fly Little White Dove Fly."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLdQR6koC-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y1GTdLX_BI

"Was A Sunny Day" is a Paul Simon song. His version is easier to find. The single by Josh made the AC chart in '73. It goes "was a sunny day, not a cloud was in the sky, not a negative word was heard.. from the people passing by." With a bit of a calypso feel, it's a little reminiscent of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo."

"Ain't It Funny" is on Lenny LeBlanc's 1977 album Hound Dog Man (Big Tree Records), but the single may have been released in '76 (that's what I have). "Ain't it funny how we're all so scared to die; Ain't it funny how we hate to see a change."

I'll let these YouTube clips speak for "Kites Are Fun" and "Jet Song," both from the late '60s. (The Free Design clip features a narrative about the group). I'd put them both in the same category as The Mamas & the Papas or The Cowsills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJEa0YYv1Yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ_Esc_4IqM
 
Re: "The Bells"

"Fly Little White Dove Fly" by The Bells was their first hit, albeit a minor one. Then came the super-smash "Stay Awhile". Other original '45's I have by them include "I Love You, Lady Dawn" which is an attempt at another "Stay Awhile", "For Better Or Worse" that got airplay on CKLW AM 800 back in the day, and the Bells doing the John Lennon/Yoko Ono song "Oh, My Love" which John said was over 75% a Yoko composition. Also, The Wackers had a version of "Oh My Love" as well.
 
"TreeHouse in The Sky" by Gus

I don't know anything about Gus but I know I searched for this record from 1972 (?) until about 2007 when I finally got the 45.
 
johnbasalla said:
"COSMIC SEA" by The Mystic Moods (1973, Warner Brothers Records). This is known to some as "space age pop". This is an upbeat instrumental, with a mid-1970s Funk groove to it, and lead by a string section (violins). The strings are a bit downplayed in the mix. There is interesting history here, as this was produced/recorded by Mobile Fidelity whose founder, Brad Miller, is involved in this record. Mobile Fidelity went on to do the half-speed mastering thing that wowed audiophiles for years. I don't think there was an actual "Mystic Moods" group who would perform on stage.
Click to expand...

Reminds me a bit of "Dance With The Devil" by Cozy Powell with a few riffs from Kraftwerk's "Autobahn."

Speaking of studio groups who would never perform on stage, that's an interesting topic. I can think of 3 famous ones... Ron Dante performing as both The Archies and The Cuff Links; lead singer Tony Burrows as part of Brotherhood of Man, Edison Lighthouse, First Class, The Pipkins, and White Plains (although I don't know if they never performed on stage or not); and I think the group Wind ("Make Believe," one of my favorite songs) was actually Tony Orlando.

I was never sure about the group Mercy, though ("Love Can Make You Happy"). I've seen pictures of 4 guys and 2 girls, but I can remember seeing 3 girls performing the song by themselves (no guys at all) on some music show back then.
 
EZway2go said:
I was never sure about the group Mercy, though ("Love Can Make You Happy"). I've seen pictures of 4 guys and 2 girls, but I can remember seeing 3 girls performing the song by themselves (no guys at all) on some music show back then.
Click to expand...

Perhaps going off-topic, but two of the Mercy guys, James Marvell and Buddy Good, went on to perform as long-haired traditional country artists in the group Country Cavaleers. In the early seventies, that was truly novel.
 
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