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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Popdude@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: Gary Charlson |
| Date | Mon, 28 Jun 2004 23:11:05 EDT |
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R. Paske wrote:
<<A friend turned me on to some of Gary Charlson's stuff on Titan Records.
I've looked for information on the Web but never turned up too much. I still
don't know a whole lot about him, and I've wondered what became of him since the
early '80s.>>
Charlson was one of the Titan Records stable of power poppers (along with the
Eric Carmen soundalike Arlis! and the amazing Boys) in the late '70s/early
'80s. Run by power pop fan/super nice guy Tom Sorrells, Titan was kind of like
the Bomp Records of the Midwest. (As longtime GOLDMINE readers might remember,
Sorrells also used to sell cool obscure power pop and the like as "Dancing
With the Pope").
Charlson's big claim to fame (as it were) was recording and releasing the
Dwight Twilley composition "Shark" as a single on Titan. It's definitely one of
the top 40 indie power pop singles of the era. He also released a single
called "Real Life Saver" (nice, gentle melodic power pop) and a 12" EP of covers
called "Real Live Gary," where he covered Big Star, Raspberries and Crabby
Appleton, among others.
Last I heard from Tom Sorrells, Gary C. was making his living singing covers
in coffeehouses and such, and trying to pitch his original tunes to country
artists.
There was supposed to be a three-CD Titan Records retrospective coming out on
Get Hip Records, but I'm not sure if it's still in the pipeline or not. Hope
so, because I've seen the proposed track listing and it's a doozy, with lots
of rare and unreleased cuts.
John B.
np: R. Dean Taylor - "Indiana Wants Me"
John B.
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