Cassette to MP3: The
Bobby Fuller Four_Best Of_Rhino Records_ Golden Archive Series 1981
Nobody does reissues like Rhino Records
and this “Best Of “ compilation, released in 1981 meets the Rhino
standard for excellence. An 18-track compilation from the Mustang
archives, described by Richie Unterberger of All Music Review as
“truly all killer, no filler” It's loaded with hits "I
Fought the Law," "Let Her Dance," "The Magic
Touch," "Love's Made a Fool of You," "Fool of
Love," "My True Love," and some lesser-known but
requisite tracks, “Baby My Heart” “It's Love Come What May”
“Another Sad and Lonely Night” “Don't Ever Let Me Know” As
with all Rhino retrospectives, the insert notes are detailed,
extensive and informative. That's wasn't always the case with
cassette releases. Just one of the many reasons Rhino releases are
bitchin'.
Founded by Richard Foos in 1973, from
its austere start Rhino grew into a national record distributor
specializing primarily in novelty records. (Wild Man Fischer “Go to
Rhino Records” Temple City Kazoo Orchestra, The Plastic Rhino Band
etc.) The early releases were imprinted with “Rocky the Rhino, a
leather clad 50s greaser. The recording label was launched in 1978
and the shift towards re-issues began with the acquisition of
licensing rights to the White Whale Records catalog (A Los Angeles
indie label best known for The Turtles... Warren Zevon was once a
staff songwriter) A landmark six year distribution deal with Capitol
Records, allowed Rhino to re-issue Capitol recordings (and those of
its subsidiaries such as Roulette Records, acquired by Capitol's
parent company EMI)
A subsequent deal with Atlantic Records
and Time Warner further enhanced the Rhino catalog and resulted in
Time Warner acquiring 50% of Rhino Records (re-branded as Rhino
Entertainment) Rocky the Rhino fell by the wayside, replaced by a
trademarked red & white “Rhino” corporate logo. The one
constant at Rhino records was always the superior sound quality. The
work of music engineer and producer Bill Inglot, known for his
unmatched ability to remaster older recordings to meet high quality
digital standards. Rhino's superb research staff (Harold Bronson,
Gary Stewart and a host of others) compiled music and composed sleeve
(liner) notes. Bronson one of the original store managers is credited
with moving the record stores towards distribution.
“The Best Of The Bobby Fuller Four” fittingly kicks off with a pair of Sonny Curtis compositions. Bobby Fuller went to the “In Style With The Crickets” wellspring many a time. It's probably safe to say that he either recorded or performed every single song on The Crickets iconic album at one point or another (including the “I Fought The Law” “Baby My Heart” and “Love's Made a Fool of You” all included on this compilation) In any case, Bobby wasn't alone, numerous musicians cite “In Style With The Crickets” as a major influence, including The Beatles. In the U.K. They were considered major artists on par with Buddy Holly. The British, being excellent judges of American musical talent were certainly on to something. Buddy received the laurels but The Crickets were no slouches either.
Jerry Allison had a distinct style of
playing drums. Not content to just sit back and keep the beat, he was
one of rock music's most innovative drummers. His modal cymbal
drumming and rolling toms were as recognizable as Buddy Holly's
distinctive vocals. Allison as “Ivan” scored a minor chart hit
with his version of the rock classic “Real Wild Child” having
heard Johnny O'Keefe's original while touring Australia with The
Crickets in 1958. Sonny Curtis (one half of the Buddy Holly & The
Two Tones, Don Guess being the other) joined The Crickets after
Buddy's death. Sonny's best known songs include: “I Fought The
Law” (Bobby Fuller, The Clash) “More Than I Can Say” (Bobby
Vee, Leo Sayer) “Walk Right Back” (The Everly Bros.) Love is All
Around (Mary Tyler Moore theme song)
Throughout the Mustang recording
sessions Bobby Fuller agonized over what was becoming of his music.
Accustomed to calling the shots, he found himself butting heads with
Bob Keane. This ate away at Bobby's self confidence. The egocentric
Fuller had always plotted his own course, now it dawned on him that
by signing with Bob Keane, he had conceded that right. The most
glaring example of this was the band's new name “The Bobby Fuller
Four” changed at Keane's insistence. “Let Her Dance” the
band's near breakout single was also a source of friction. Bobby felt
that Keane had taken liberties with his original composition “Keep
on Dancing” when in fact Bob Keane had transformed Fuller's clunky
original into a pulsating, bass propelled radio friendly ditty.
Next, Keane's A&R man, session
musician, arranger, producer Barry White (the make-out music maestro)
was brought in to work the sessions for “The Magic Touch” and
“I'm A Lucky Guy”, John Barbata (of The Turtles) sat in on drums,
replacing DeWayne Quirico who had been unceremoniously shit canned.
Bob Keane felt that lacking a strong follow-up to “Let Her Dance”
song mills such as The Brill Building were his only viable option.
Written by Brill Building veteran Ted Daryll, “The Magic Touch”
was an Motown-esque number that should have been a big hit. It failed
to launch. Bobby was unhappy with the final mix, which he deemed as
“too thin, with not enough oomph” He bitterly vented to his
brother Randy "It doesn't even sound like one of our songs"
.
It was a classic disconnect between
“the artist” who wanted to see his “artistic vision” come to
fruition and the hit maker who just wanted to see a profit on his
investment. The focus on Bobby was straining relationships within the
band. Bobby and Randy were at odds, DeWayne Quirico had been fired
and as Bob Keane recalled: “The other guitarist (Jim Reese) was a
real asshole, he caused a lot of problems” Under the gun to produce a “hit”
Bobby had turned to his tried and true El Paso songbook. The success of “I Fought
The Law” may have exacerbated the stress Bobby was feeling. The
gigs Bob Keane had them working amounted to long hours of playing to
unappreciative partygoers. Which Bobby resented to no end. “It
might as well have been a juke box playing up there, for all the
difference it made. They don't need us”
They had become provincial hot shots
struggling to stand out in the crowd, rubes reduced to playing in
square clubs where the music merely provided a soundtrack for
celebrity gawkers. The Beatles had released “Rubber Soul” and
“Revolver” The Beach Boys were coming out with “Pet Sounds”
Bob Dylan was ready to drop “Blonde on Blonde” on the masses.
Music was changing rapidly, The Bobby Fuller Four were falling
hopelessly out of fashion. The band's final tour (just a few months
prior to his death) was met by small apathetic crowds, unfamiliar
with the band or their music. That tour came to an ugly end at the
start of a four day run in San Francisco, when Bobby and Randy came
to blows. Bobby immediately canceled the band's remaining appearances
and returned to Los Angeles.
All these factors combined to foil
Fuller's muse and stunt his creative progression. Desperately seeking
artistic inspiration, Bobby had started experimenting with LSD”
telling Randy "The way that LSD works, if you're really
intelligent, if doesn't affect you" We would never see the
fruits of Bobby's acid inspired revelations. A sense of malfeasance
was slowly enveloping the band. Frustration and bitterness hung in
the air like a fog. Thing is... chart success was just around the
corner. In early 1966, a new version of “I Fought The Law” was
working its way up the charts (written by Sonny Curtis and originally
recorded on Exeter Records, Fuller's own label) It would peak at #9,
a few months after Bobby Fuller had been laid to rest. (the song had
just cracked the Top 100, at the time of his death)
The Bobby Fuller Four KRLA King of the Wheels Mustang 1965
And now on to the bonus round of Cassette to MP3. “KRLA King of the Wheels”, was the Bobby Fuller Four's first official album release. Issued in November, 1965 it was “sponsored” by KRLA-AM. The station was going through a turbulent period. Previous owner Jack Kent Cooke (future owner of the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings) had been stripped of ownership by the FCC for contest fraud and foreign control of a US radio station. A non-profit group had been appointed to run the station until a new owner could be found. As a result KRLA operated within a bare bones budget. This led to some creative forms of advertising. It's generally acknowledged that Bob Keane slapped KRLA's call letters on the cover in exchange for radio play.
Since the advent of Top 40 radio, KRLA
had been locked in a ratings war with KFWB and KHJ. By the mid-60s it
was battling KFWB for the “ Top Rocker” spot, though KHJ with the
introduction of “Boss Radio” in 1965 quickly left both stations
in the dust. KHJ ran a heavy rotation of promotions and contest. KRLA
was forced to keep pace. With “hot rod” music all the rage, the
station took on sponsorship of Doug Robinson's KRLA Horse Power
Engineering top fuel dragster. That's how the iconic cover shot of
The Bobby Fuller Four and Doug Robinson's rail dragster came about.
(With Bobby at the wheel, of course) Bob Keane's primeval version of
Kick Starter paid off. Randy Fuller recalled: “Bob told us, you
boys listen to KRLA at one o'clock today. Your record's gonna be on
there”
At the prescribed time “Let Her
Dance” came pulsating from the car speakers throughout Los Angeles.
Side one is solid, with the exception of the throwaway “She's My
Girl” which is more of an idea than a fully realized song (Hey!,
let's do something that sorta sounds like what the Beach Boys were
doing last year) “Never to be Forgotten” “Another Sad and
Lonely Night” “Fool of Love” are Bobby Fuller classics. With
better promotion, the infectious “Let Her Dance” would have been
a huge hit. Mustang botched the release, releasing it twice, then
licensing the song to Liberty Records which released it again,
confused the hell out of distributors. “Take my Word” an
excellent song, is Bobby's take on The Beatles' sound before “Rubber
Soul”
“King of the Wheels” is Bobby's
surf anthem “King of the Beach” enhanced with dragster lingo and
sound effects. “The Lonely Dragster” is “Wolfman” stripped of
wolf howls and Bobby's hilariously bad Wolfman Jack impersonation.
The wolf howls do make an appearance on “KRLA Top Eliminator”
which shamelessly rips off Long John Hunter's “El Paso Rock”
without giving him so much as a songwriting credit. Not Cool! “The
Phantom Dragster” is a hokey, “how does this guy keep showing up
everywhere I go” hot rod saga, that ends with the chief of police a
mangled heap of meat. “Little Annie Lou” is an old fashioned
rave-up that somehow ended up as the b-side of “I Fought The Law”
“ The Old El Paso warhorse “Saturday Night” gets a makeover and
still sounds hopelessly dated.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.... I mean
tires and not cigarettes. My copy of “KRLA King of the Wheels”
appears to be of Mexican or Argentine origin, “Discos Astro S.A.
Serie Cassette” Could be a pirated copy or an attempt to tap into
that lucrative market “south of the border” by Bob Keane. I
plucked it from a table of cassette tapes at Big Louie's Flea Market
in Las Cruces years ago. The vendor claimed he bought them in bulk
from Casa de Musica De Luxe in Juarez. Who am I to say otherwise. For
a cassette tape of fuzzy origin and unknown age, the audio quality
was above par. Although I did apply a bit of audio normalization to
eliminate some volume drop offs. I tweaked the stereo mix and cut out
the silence between songs, some of which seemed inordinately long.
I Fought the Law
Baby My Heart
The Magic Touch
It's Love, Come What May
Julie
Only When I Dream
Love's Made a Fool of You
Let Her Dance
King of the Wheels
Little Annie Lou
Another Sad and Lonely Night
My True Love
Don't Ever Let Me Know
I'm A Lucky Guy
Saturday Night
Fool of Love
A New Shade of Blue
Never to Be Forgotten
Never to be Forgotten
Another Sad and Lonely Night
She's My Girl
Take My Word
Fool of Love
Let Her Dance
King of the Wheels
Little Annie Lou
The Phantom Dragster
Saturday Night
KRLA Top Eliminator
