Tune Tag #26 with Andres of "The Vinyl Room," Pt. 2: Donny Hathaway, Captain Beyond, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Al Kooper, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hunger

Who's the 16-year-old "mystery" lead singer? Who on earth is Willy Dee, and just how many bands did he front? How many City Boys are there? Questions dominate this one! So do the musical answers!🎶

It’s Andy! Tune Tag welcomes

Andres

of The Vinyl Room for his second go-‘round in the Tune Tag Arena!

“I promise I’ll fix that back fence this summer,” Andy pledged recently, enjoying the sprawling suburban backyard of London’s tony Andy Manor. When pressed, he admits it’s an all-day chore to mow the estate’s lawn, but “Oh, the mid-summer barbecues we have!” he understandably crowed!

Andy: I have a complicated relationship with the term “audiophile”, so let’s say I am a vinyl lover and high-quality sound fiend who has been collecting records in various formats since childhood. Born in Buenos Aires (Argentina), settled in London (UK) for 10+ years, I write on all things vinyl: sound hacks, collection tips, industry trends and more.

I really enjoyed playing Tune Tag with Brad last summer, and I’ve been a regular cheerleader in the comments section ever since. When Brad suggested Round Two, how could I resist!

Andy’s song #1 sent to Brad: Donny Hathaway, “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” 1972

Hathaway in the studio with longtime Atlantic Records producer/arranger/songwriter, Arif Mardin, winner of 11 Grammys. Mardin (with veteran Atlantic exec, Jerry Wexler) produced Donny’s Extension of a Man album (his last) and this song.

Andy’s rationale: This has always been a favourite of mine. Donny’s vocal performance is just… something else. It takes the meaning of “heart-wrenching” to a whole new level. If Hathaway doesn’t send shivers down your spine when he’s singing this, check your pulse!

He really makes it his own (it’s actually a cover of Blood, Sweat and Tears, a band I got to know courtesy of Hathaway and this song):

I picked this as my first track as there were so many different avenues Brad could take: the theme of love and despair, the tune’s somber vibe, Donny’s soulful rendition, or… well, the maddening and nerve-racking exercise of tracking the individuals and masterminds behind the songs we choose! Need I say more?

Brad’s song #1 sent to Andy: Al Kooper, “This Diamond Ring,” 1976

Andy’s response: I didn’t know this song, but I can see Al Kooper was one of the founding members (if not the founding member) of Blood, Sweat and Tears, and the composer of “I Love You More…”.

I like how it starts off defiantly (lyrically and musically… that beat is irresistible!), but then mellows out in the chorus, with a whiff of power pop harmonies promising riches and happiness to a future, more-deserving ring holder who will let it shine in all its glory.

With this connection in mind, I sent Brad another favourite of mine (yes, another bluesy ballad, because that’s how we roll sometimes), not written, in this case, but produced, by Al Kooper (Andy’s Song #2, up next).

Canadian audiophile and writer Mark Campbell and Substack’s Michael Maupin (of StoryShed), interviewed Al Kooper in 2020. That can be accessed by clicking here.

Brad’s rationale: Kooper (above), our newest Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with a Musical Excellence Award), wrote the Hathaway song. He also co-wrote (with Bob Brass and Irwin Levine) “This Diamond Ring,” which became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys in 1965, but not before an interesting trip to even get to Jerry’s kid (or this, Kooper’s own arrangement eleven years later)!

The original “Diamond Ring” demo was sung by studio session singer, Jimmy Radcliffe in 1964 (made available on a CD compilation in 2007). Kooper and the other two songwriters had intended to pitch this demo to The Drifters for a possible recording:

Radcliffe’s demo was quickly followed by the first official release of the song, a single by Sammy Ambrose on Musicor Records in December 1964. Both were decidedly soul/R&B arrangements:

Also in December ‘64, a supercharged pop version by Gary Lewis was released on Liberty Records (produced by Snuff Garrett, it was arranged by Leon Russell).

Lewis’ version lapped the Ambrose arrangement and charted first, #101 on the January 2, 1965 Billboard “Bubbling Under” chart. Both versions charted on January 9, Lewis still at #101, with Ambrose at #117. Ambrose, though, dropped off the chart at that point, but Lewis made #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the next week (January 16), and his version continued to climb until it reached #1 on February 20, 1965.

The band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, December 6, 1964, coinciding with the single’s initial release (ten months after The Beatles debuted in the States on the show), but reprised the song’s performance on this March 21, 1965 Sullivan appearance (3 days after my 10th birthday. I had seen The Beatles’ appearance a month before my 9th birthday; it’s highly likely I saw this performance at the time, too).

Gary Lewis & the Playboys were an American band, of course, but in the era of The British Invasion, Gary and his ‘Boys appeared on the Sullivan show 5 times in two years, one of only a handful of acts to claim that distinction!

According to David Brackett in his 1995 Interpreting Popular Music, Lewis’ vocals were heavily supported by Ron Hicklin’s overdubs (it was Hicklin’s Singers who provided most of the in-studio background vocals; Shirley Jones and David Cassidy were the only two of the show’s actors who sang on record) for The Partridge Family TV show and records 5 years later.

The Lewis sessions were filled, though, with L.A. Wrecking Crew members: drummer Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn on bass, with arranger Leon Russell on keyboards. Lewis has denied claims that the Playboys did not play on the record, and says that not only was the band largely self-contained, but the Wrecking Crew session musicians only came in to do overdubs or solos.

Jerry’s boy and the Playboys play “This Diamond Ring” half-a-century later(!):