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Supremely sad: Mary Wilson, RIP

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The story goes that elementary school girls Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard entered a talent contest. By 1959, they became part of a group called the Primettes, along with a couple of other girls from the Detroit projects, Diane Ross and Betty McGlown. McGlown was replaced by Barbara Martin.

The group changed its name from the Primettes to the Supremes. Martin left, and they went forward as a trio. They were immediately…not very successful. A half dozen songs, none of which cracked the pop Top 40. They were the “no-hit Supremes.”

The group was offered a song the Marvelettes didn’t want, Where Did Our Love Go, written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. They were resistant to recording someone else’s rejects. It went to #1, as did several more tracks. They were the second most successful group on the singles charts in the 1960s.

And the Supremes were the epitome of style with appearances on the Ed Sullivan a dozen times, plus several other music shows. They were not just singers but role models, with their hair, makeup and outfits fastidiously tended to.

But Diana, who had changed her name at the beginning of their successful run, was now getting virtually all of the leads. Mary and Flo were doing a lot of background vocals, which got a bit boring.

By 1967, the billing changed to Diana Ross and the Supremes, to Flo’s dismay. Very long story short, Florence was replaced by Cindy Birdsong. But it was clear that Diana was considered the singular star.

Mary and Cindy didn’t even appear on seven later singles including I’m Livin’ in Shame, The Composer, and Someday We’ll Be Together, though, of course, they appeared on the live version of the latter.

Post-Ross

Jean Terrell took Diana’s slot, but Mary got more chances to sing lead. And she kept the “new” Supremes together, with a rotating cast of members, until 1977.

After a series of legal wranglings, Mary Wilson became the keeper of the Supremes’ flame, writing four books with the word “Supreme” in the title. The one in 2019 was Supreme Glamour.

In 2003, she was “named a US cultural ambassador by the State Department, touring the world and talking to young people about the dangers of HIV and AIDS…

“The family asked that friends and fans support the United Negro College Fund or the Humpty Dumpty Institute. The latter group helps in landmine clearance projects around the world. Wilson… was a spokesperson for the group.”

Some songs

Mary Wilson sang or shared the lead on these, and a few others:

1962: Baby Don’t Go (from Meet The Supremes)
1965: It Makes No Difference Now (From The Supremes Sing Country, Western, and Pop)
1966: Come and Get These Memories (from The Supremes A’ Go-Go)
1967 Falling in Love with Love (from The Supremes Sing Rodgers and Hart)
1969: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (from Together -Diana Ross and the Supremes, and The Temptations)
1972: A Heart Like Mine (from Floy Joy)
1972: I Keep It Hid (from The Supremes, Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb)
1975: Early Morning Love (from The Supremes)
1975: You Turn Me Around (from The Supremes)
1976: Til The Boat Sails Away (from High Energy)

She was a March Pisces like I am, so I had a certain particular affection for her. Here’s my post from Mary’s 70th birthday in 2014, with links to more familiar Supremes fare.

1911: Discography of American Historical Recordings

not the old but the new

A friend wrote to me, and the query led to the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

“I have a bunch of Edison diamond disc records. One thing about these records is that the labels come off as they were put on with cheap glue. So I have bunches of records that have the Edison catalog number stamped onto them, but I have found no way to easily identify them. I am trying to find a searchable database of Edison records.”

But then he found, on his own, this link concerning 5,000 Edison Recordings Online. “Over the past two years, editors have added a complete discography of Thomas Edison’s disc recordings (1910-1929) to DAHR.” It is “documenting more than 14,000 recording sessions that resulted in more than 8,000 published discs. Over 5,000 of these recordings from UCSB’s collection have been digitized and are available online to scholars and the public for free.”

The public, as in YOU.

I checked the book A Century of Pop Music by Joel Whitman for songs that hit #1 in 1911. Using the Discography of American Historical Recordings basic search field, I put in the label number. No artist, song title, or even label. And I found 10 or 11 of these, not just Edison discs. I should note that searching shorter numbers provided more false hits. If the label number was 123, you’d also generate 4123, 1237, and 51236, et al.

The big hits!

Alexander’s Ragtime Band – Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (Victor 16908), 10 weeks at #1. Some years back, I remember reading that this was one of the most significant of the early songs no longer under copyright.

Let Me Call You Sweetheart – Columbia Male Quartet (Columbia 1057), 7 weeks at #1. It’s a very familiar song, but I didn’t realize how old it was.

I’m Falling In Love With Someone – John McCormack (Victor 64174), 7 weeks at # 1.

Mother Machree – John McCormack (Victor 64181), 5 weeks at #1.

Under the Yum Yum Tree – Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (Columbia A943), 5 weeks at #1.

Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey – Collins and Harlan (Victor 16708), 5 weeks at #1. These last two cuts are considered comedy cuts.

Come, Josephine In My Flying Machine – Ada Jones, Billy Murray, and the American Quartet (Victor 16844), 3 weeks at #1.

Mother Machree – Will Oakland (Edison Ambersol 583), 2 weeks at #1. “Victor ledgers indicate this as having been mastered but EDVR data associate no catalog number.” I couldn’t find it at DAHR, but I did retrieve it on YouTube.

I Love the Name of Mary – Will Oakland (Columbia A969,) 2 weeks at #1. Mary was, by far, the most popular name among females in the 1910s, by almost a 2:1 margin over the second place name, Helen.

Come, Josephine In My Flying Machine – Blanche Ring (Victor 60032,) 2 weeks at #1.

Down By the Old Mill Stream – Arthur C. Clough and the Brunswick Quartet, 1 week at #1. This search didn’t quite work as I planned. Columbia 1057 gave me three other songs, including Let me call you sweetheart by the Columbia Quartette. This link is to Edison 80215 from 1914.

Musician Phil Collins turns 70

That guy from the band Genesis

Among all the “cool,” snarky kids writing about the “bad” music of the 1980s, the oeuvre of Phil Collins often shows up. In The Worst Rock ‘n Roll Records of All Time (1991), Collins appears with Paul McCartney and Duran Duran as one of the worst artists. Only Billy Joel fared worse. There are lots of truly horrific artists in the decade. Yet Phil bashing became de rigeur.

More recently, there’s some nastiness in the press from his ex and her new spouse, shut down by a judge. And she may be on one of those Real Housewives show. REALLY Don’t Care.

I must admit that I was oblivious to the drummer back in the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis. It wasn’t until he became the lead singer of the band that I knew his name. While there are songs of his I wasn’t that fond of, there are a few I like, and one (the obvious, last one) I love.

That’s All – Genesis. It feels Beatlesque, which was its intent, I read.

I Wish It Would Rain Down – Phil Collins. “Phil’s immaculate vocals, Clapton’s flawless lead guitar, Pino Palladino’s legendary fretless bass, and Chester Thompson’s super tight drums.”

Land of Confusion – Genesis. Over the top political puppetry.

Follow You Follow Me – Genesis. A sweet love song.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight – Genesis. I like the description of the video: “electronic drums and ethereal synthesizers… stir in some stark, scary lyrics about scoring dope… and—voilà!—you’ve got yourself the ’80s! Er, well…you know, one facet of the ’80s anyway.”

Jesus He Knows Me – Genesis. This hits on my fascination with songs that show religiosity in an unfavorable light.

Ignored

Another Day In Paradise – Phil Collins. Wikipedia notes that his character “observes a man crossing the street to ignore a homeless woman, and he implores listeners not to turn a blind eye to homelessness.”

Misunderstanding – Genesis. A bluesy summertime vibe.

Take Me Home – Phil Collins. Is this based on the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Features Sting and Peter Gabriel.

Turn It On Again – Genesis. “The verse/chorus sections alternate time signatures, 6/4 to 74 (13/4), while the intro and bridge sections are in 4/4 and 5/4 (9/4).”

The Roof Is Leaking – Phil Collins. “Delta blues and country elements.”

In The Air Tonight – Phil Collins. He “wrote the song amid the grief he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980. In a 2016 interview, Collins said: ‘”I wrote the lyrics spontaneously. I’m not quite sure what the song is about, but there’s a lot of anger, a lot of despair and a lot of frustration…'” Feelings I can relate to.

“While recording ‘Intruder’ for his former bandmate Peter Gabriel’s third solo album, at some point Collins started playing the drums while the reverse talkback was activated. Engineer Hugh Padgham was amazed at the sound achieved.” I love Intruder, and that album is on my desert album list.

“In 1984, the song was memorably used in a scene from the first episode of the television series Miami Vice,” which I watched. Phil Collins hit a then-president with a cease and desist order after his people played the song at one of his rallies in October 2020.

Music producer Phil Spector has died

art v artist

Every December, I listen to the Phil Spector box set Back to Mono. Why December? Because his birthday was on Boxing Day. There are three discs of music he had produced from 1958-1969 by such artists as the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love, and the Righteous Brothers. The fourth disc is the amazing album A Christmas Gift For You.

And yet it was increasingly clear that Phil Spector was a really awful individual. “In her 1990 memoir, Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, or My Life as a Fabulous Ronette,” his ex-wife Ronnie “depicted Spector as an abusive husband prone to eccentric if not outright insane behavior.” He notoriously enjoyed playing with guns. Notably, a drugged Spector fired a gun in a recording control room, inches from former Beatle John Lennon’s ear in the early 1970s.

In 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead at Spector’s mansion from a gunshot wound. “Despite telling his chauffeur that ‘I think I just shot her,’ as the chauffeur told police in an affidavit, Spector later recanted this.” Spector told police, and said “in interviews that Clarkson ‘may have accidentally taken her own life.’”

There was a hung jury in the first trial, ending in 2007. But he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009. He died in a California prison on January 16, 2021.

Little Steven quote

How does one describe a certain musical magician who was so fundamentally flawed as a human being? The BBC blew it initially. The first version of the breaking news story on the BBC News website carried the headline: “Talented but flawed producer Phil Spector dies aged 81”. Flawed? “The BBC said the headline ‘did not meet our editorial standards’. The text was quickly changed to: ‘Pop producer jailed for murder dies at 81.'”

Stevie Van Zandt wrote on Twitter, “A genius irredeemably conflicted, he was the ultimate example of the Art always being better than the Artist, having made some of the greatest records in history based on the salvation of love while remaining incapable of giving or receiving love his whole life.”

There are so many examples of the Art better than the Artist, and it is always a source of conflict for people with moral centers. Shall I watch X’s movies? Or read Y’s books?

Some songs

And more links in the Rolling Stone article.

Spanish Harlem –Ben E. King, #10 pop, #15 RB in 1961
Da Doo Ron Ron –The Crystals, #3 pop, #5 RB in 1963
A Fine, Fine Boy –Darlene Love, #29 RB, #53 pop in 1963
Unchained Melody –The Righteous Brothers, #4 pop, #6 RB in 1965; #13 pop in 1990

River Deep, Mountain High –Ike and Tina Turner, #88 pop in 1966; #112 pop in 1969. “The baroque pop epic he considered his masterpiece… stalled… in the U.S. (though it would hit Number Three in the U.K.) A resentful Spector secluded himself in his Hollywood mansion for two years.”
Black Pearl –Sonny Charles And The Checkmates Ltd., #8 RB, #13 pop in 1969

January rambling: Bad Wolves

Sedition seems to be a running theme.

steepen_the_curve — Permanent link to this comic: https://xkcd.com/2409/

Love has everywhere to go.

If you claim to value education, vaccinate teachers.

Penn Station’s Beautiful New Moynihan Train Hall Is Now Open.

‘They just sort of showed up’: The Amish find a home in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

How the Muppets Helped Me Contemplate My Mortality This Christmas (ht to fillyjonk -also for the Bowie, below).

The 100 Sequences That Shaped Animation.

In Conversation: Francis Ford Coppola.

The Hidden Depths of Alex Trebek’s Banter with “Jeopardy!” Contestants.

Good Advice About Bad Advice – as someone who was on JEOPARDY, I relate to this a LOT.

RIP Tommy Lasorda, who had one of the most memorable performances ever seen on a Capital Region baseball diamond.

RIP Bill Lambdin, a fixture in Capital Region news for decades.

1970 episode of the game show To Tell the Truth that featured William M. Gaines, the publisher of MAD.

RIP Dawn Wells.

Pet peeve – people who are always late.

A family of 12 siblings now holds the Guinness World Record for highest combined age.

“Show me the receipts” and other modern idioms.

12 Amazing U.S. Company Towns You Can Still Visit.

Now I Know: The Life-Saving Power of Television and The Rain Storm That Bugged Out and How Postage May Have Saved the Panama Canal and But Can a Ghost Be President?

Arthur’s dreams and Not missing American products.

Polly ticks

The Dark Reality of Betting Against QAnon.

Psychology Today, 2016 (and still true): The Psychology Behind Trump’s Unwavering Support.

Facing Legal and Political Peril, Trump Is Turning On Even His Most Devoted Allies.

Weekly Sift: Sedition and Free Speech and The Capitol Invasion is Both an End and a Beginning.

They’ve Showed Us Who They Are.

The Daily Social Distancing Show- Fox Your Feelings: Then and Now.

Democracy is a threat to white supremacy—and that is the cause of America’s crisis.

It’s Time For The Republican Party To Split.

2020

The Yearly Sift: Themes of the Year.

Politico: The Worst Predictions.

Record Year for Far-Right Violence in the US.

Google’s Year in Search.

20 things that went strangely, wonderfully right.

Words of the Year, including anti-masker, asymptomatic, asynchronous, coronavirus pandemic, doomscrolling, fraud, mostly peaceful, mute, QAnon, remote, social distancing, superspreader event, the Great Equalizer, unprecedented, well, Zoom.

The Streaming Wars Could Finally End in 2021.

100 best movies on AMAZON PRIME (DECEMBER 2020).

MUSIC

Bad Wolves – Rebecca Jade featuring Jason Mraz, Miki Vale and Veronica May.

Sedition – Randy Rainbow.

Their music will not ‘be forgot’: RIP 2020.

Coverville 1339 and 1340: The 2020 Coverville Countdown Part 1 and Part 2.

Coverville 1341: Gerry and The Pacemakers Tribute.

Movin’ Right Along – Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear.

Changes by David Bowie piano cover/lesson.

Beethoven

Symphony No. 7 in A Major, op. 92.

Piano Concerto no. 3 in C minor.

Choral Fantasy.

Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos, in G major and E-flat Major, respectively.

Moonlight Sonata; also Symphony No. 1 and the Triple Concerto.

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor.