August 07, 2008 Earworm

One day I'm doing laundry while listening to a Bert Berns collection and then another day I'm reading an email about P.F. Sloan and one thing leads to another and the two experiences meet up on Challenge single 59275. It's there that Yvonne Carroll followed up her P.F. Sloan/Steve Barri composed "Please Don't Go" with a cover of "A Little Bit of Soap", the Jarmels' hit composed by Bert Berns.

Having known that Jarmels single for nearly as long as I've been alive, I'm surprised to find that Yvonne's version has become my favorite over the past few years. There's a lot of pride in her delivery and the band's majesty is crowned with the horn flourishes.

Props must be given to Bert Berns for a composition that can handle such disparate arrangements that includes a Nigel Olsen cover and, of course, for gracefully making room for all five syllables of the word "e-ven-tu-al-ly".

I don't know much about Yvonne Carroll and haven't been able to locate a photograph of her but it's been said that she never made a bad record and, from the few that I've heard, I tend to agree.

July 23, 2008 Earworm

Shelley Fabares, teen tv star and reluctant recording artist, was given the choice of recording "Johnny Angel" or finding her role as Mary Stone filled by another actress when it returned from hiatus. She wisely chose the former though fully aware that she was not a singer and, after a tedious cut and paste editing job, found herself with a number one single. Several more followed but none had the dreamy charm of her first (which is actually her second; she duets with Ray Petersen on the flip side of his "She Can't Find Her Keys")or matched its success and after "The Donna Reed Show" wound down, so did her time with Colpix.

I have no idea how she ended up at Vee Jay and, considering her lack of success there, Vee Jay had no idea of what to do with her fantastic record with The Fantastic Baggys, "I Know You'll Be There". While she obviously had not invested in singing lessons since her first hit, she navigates P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri's composition wonderfully, matching its naive sincerity (almost) note for note. Given her June marriage to Lou Adler, it's likely that he's got a hand in this production - I've never seen a copy of this 45 to verify credits - but it's Sloan and Barri as the Baggys who truly pull the pet sound together making a surfer girl record that betters most of the stuff Brian Wilson did with The Honeys.

Coupled with the almost as charming "Lost Summer Love", Vee Jay released this obvious summer single in December and watched it go nowhere. Shelley would release two more singles on Dunhill, her husband's label, over the next two years. Her last, a cover of Sandy Posey's "See Ya Round On The Rebound", is something I'd really love to hear.

"I Know You'll Be There" can be found on the Castle Pulse collection, "Chapel of Love: Girl Group Gems"

UPDATE:
Sandy Posey's version of "See Ya 'Round On The Rebound" was on her "A Single Girl" LP released in '67, Shelley's version was released in '66 making Sandy's the "cover".
If you, too, would like to hear Shelley's version of "See Ya 'Round On The Rebound", Kmatt found the following link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=o0IygpcxKOQ