Genre: pop
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Spooky
Company: Imperial
Catalog: LP-12371 (mono)
Year: 1968
Country/State: Jacksonville, Florida
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: --
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: not yet listed
Price: $5.00
Like every other American city, the early 1960s saw Jacksonville, Florida churn out more than it's share of local rock bands. Among those products were The Echoes (featuring drummer Dennis Yost) and the successor band Leroy & the Moments (showcasing Yost, along with guitarists James Cobb and Wally Eaton, and bass player Joe Wilson. By the mid-1960s the group were playing as The Classics (the name lifted from Yost's drum kit) and had dropped their Ventures-styled surf roots in favor of a more contemporary top-40 cover band sound. Powered by Yost's versatile voice, the group became quite popular on the local club scene, but in 1966 they decided to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia where they found a mentor in the form of Bill Lowrey. Under Lowrey's arm the group cut a couple of demos, eventually releasing a single for Capitol - a cover of Joe South's 'Pollyana' b/w 'Cry Baby' (Capitol catalog number 5710). Recalling something out of The Four Seasons catalog, the single just missed the top-100 charts. Adding to their problems, the band was forced to adopt a name change when they discovered a Brooklyn-based outfit was already plying the waters as The Classics. Morphing into The Four Classics, the new tag was apparently deemed too retro and by late 1966 they'd become The Classics IV. Unfortunately, released in early 1967 the band's Joe South produced sophomore single 'Little Darlin'' b/w 'Nothing To Lose' (Capitol catalog number ''5816) vanished without a trace.
More demos followed; one of those tracks being a cover of Mike Sharpe's instrumental 'Spooky'. Producer Buddy Buie and guitarist Cobb added lyrics to the track and the band quickly found themselves signed to a recording contract by Imperial Records. Released as a single 'Spooky' b/w 'Poor People' (Imperial catalog number IR:66259) promptly hit # 3 on the charts. At the same time, in order to allow Yost to focus on vocals, the line-up was expanded to include drummer Kim Venable.
As was standard marketing procedure, Imperial rushed the group into the studio to record a supporting album. Produced by Buie, 1968's cleverly titled "Spooky" should have been a miserable exercise in flat out capitalism - sell records to take advantage of the unexpected title track hit. While far from perfect, the album was actually surprisingly enjoyable and with a couple of stylistic changes, could have been a killer. Following a standard marketing formula, the album offered up a mixture of then-popular covers with most of the band originals (penned by Buie and Cobb), relegated to the flip side. While not the year's most original selection of covers, with the exception of Jimmy Webb's ever-lame 'By the Time I Get To Phoenix', the cover performances were all pretty good, with the standouts being a James Brown-styled rave up on 'You Are My Sunshine' and their arrangement of The Hollies' 'Bus Stop'. Credit Yost's attractive voice (though a couple of tracks sound like they were handled by a different singer), and the band's penchant for blue-eyed soul arrangements for making them as enjoyable as they were. Three of the four band originals were also pretty good, though there was no way to avoid the fact 'Poor People' was dreadful). In spite of the dumb title, 'Mary, Mary Row Your Boa' and 'Just Between You and Me' were both nice slices of top-40 pop, while 'Book a Trip' sported a very most lite-psych/blue-eyed soul feel.
"Spooky" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Daydream Believer (John Stewart) - 2:17
2.) You Are My Sunshine (J. Davis - Chad Mitchell) - 3:00
3.) The Letter (Wayne Thompson) - 1:54
4.) By the Time I Get To Phoenix (Jim Webb) - 2:16
5.) Going Out of My Head (T. Randazzo - S. Weinstein) - 2:19
6.) Mary, Mary Row Your Boat (Buddy Buie - J.R. Cobb) - 2:04
(side
2)
1.) Bus Stop (Graham Gouldman) - 2:28
2.) Just Between You and Me (Buddy Buie - J.R. Cobb) - 2:25
3.) Poor People (Buddy Buie - J.R. Cobb) - 3:00
4.) Book a Trip (Buddy Buie - J.R. Cobb) - 2:20
5.) Spooky (H. Middlebrook - Mike Sharpe) - 2:50
