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| From | "Billy G. Spradlin" <bgspradlin@cablelynx.com> |
| Subject | Re: Paul White |
| Date | Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:41:59 -0600 |
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>re: Capitol USA passing on the cream of the UK beat groups -
>Dave Dexter was the man who said no, even tho, perversely, EMI was
>his boss as the EMI organization had
>bought Capitol in the 50s. All of this activity was going on in 1963,
>so that, by the time the Beatles broke,
>all these deals were already in place.... i mean, even Cliff Richard
>couldn't get on Capitol USA....
Capitol did release a pair of Cliffs singles - "Move It" and "Livin' Lovin'
Doll" in 1958-9 but with no success. Cliff moved over to ABC-Paramount the
same year and hit #30 Billboard with "Living Doll" in November 1959. Later ABC
singles tanked, so he moved to Big Top (Del Shannon's label) in 1962 for one
single, and to Epic from 63-67 - His only other hit was "Its All In The Game"
hitting #25 in January 1964.
He released many 45's over here but despite quality material (I love his cover
of "Blue Turns To Gray") nothing seem to connect with American listeners. Had
he come over here and toured as much as The Dave Clark 5 and Hermits did he
might have made it. (Didnt he have a UK TV show at the time?)
The Shadows might have made it in the USA if ABC-Paramount had promoted thier
original of "Apache" over Jorgen Ingmann's cover on Atco. The Ventures huge
success here proably hampered them too. I remember hearing about a USA album
called "Surf With The Shadows" on Atlantic - I think its funny thier American
record company was trying to pass them off as a surf group to get kids to buy
the album.
>There's also the fact that many groups were signed to production
>deals (Mickie Most) and not necessarily
>to EMI, and once Capitol passed, they were up for grabs. It's a bit
>of a spider's web (Allen Klein has Herman's Hermits and The Animals
>for the USA, for example - ALSO: Herman was NOT on Capitol Canada)
>and why some acts are underserved comp wise in the USA or you have
>Epic and EMI both flogging Hollies....
Look at what Capitol signed and promoted - Peter & Gordon and Cilla Black (the
Seekers too) - both had Beatles connections and made inoffensive MOR-based pop
that parents could easly enjoy along with the kids. Capitol simply did not
understand this new music, or refused to sign any R&B based, raw sounding
group
that might cause controversy and give the label a bad reputation. They proably
all thought that Beatlemania was a fad and they could go back to selling Beach
Boys, Buck Owens, Peggy Lee and Al Martino LP's in a year.
I'm also guessing the people who did the USA licensing for those other groups
wanted long-term and expensive deals that Capitol refused to pay, leading the
way for MGM and other labels who were desperate to get any UK act on thier
roster to snap them up.
Billy G. Spradlin
http://listen.to/jangleradio
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