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Wally and Fotomaker


Randy

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Marvin is correct. If you've never heard Pagliaro's 2 U.S. singles (and chances are you have not since they didn't do anything stateside)

you are truly missing something. Both 'Some Sing, Some Dance' and 'Lovin' You Ain't So Easy' remain 2 of the best desert-island singles of ALL TIME and 2 of the 3 best songs - singles or otherwise - to have seen the light of day in 1971 (the other being Badfinger's 'No Matter What,' -- a song that to this day still has very special meaning to Marvin, Tommy and me, and I'm sure to many others on this board). Unfortunately, Pagliaro did not do much stuff in English, being a Montreal-based artist. 'Time Race,' 'What the Hell I Got' 'Rain Showers' are standouts, but the majority of his stuff was in French and was kind of (as much as I hate to say it) unlistenable.

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Bob I knew that you would come to my rescue about Michel - and your knowledge of his work is very impressive. Let me say that there was a time in the early 1970's when Michel ruled AM radio in Canada and especially Quebec. I even have a Circus magazine article on him from way back when where they called him "Canada's Pop maestro." I'm going to be putting together a 'Best of' disc of Michel's english music for Ernie (Roadie #3).

Marvin

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Hey Marvin (or any of the music experts on the board):

What do you think of the band Lighthouse, also from Canada? I have always loved the song "Pretty Lady". I thought that should have been a major smash here, speaking of under-rated tunes.

I know there is some Jimmy Ienner connection there and someone recently told me they thought the singer was Mike Mcbride's brother on that cut, something I never knew!

Have you ever heard that song? I first heard it on a Ktel album!

My daughter recently put it on a disc for me, but I don't have any other cuts from them.

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Lighthouse was another fairly popular Canadian outfit in the early 1970's. Think Chicago with more Pop leanings, and you've got Lighthouse. They had some big songs: "Sunny Days" (which by the way was on the same K-Tel album as "Go All the Way"), "Pretty Lady", and "One Fine Morning", and still do the odd tour over here. "Pretty Lady" was definitely a great Pop song. Their lead singer was named Bob McBride, but I don't believe he was any relation to THE Mike McBride.

Marvin

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Agreed. We'd have a ball going through stuff…Did you ever get anything by the Pernice Bros? If not, you MUST ('Yours, Mine and Ours' is killer -start to finish…I credit Pat Pierson with turning me on to the band through Tommy). I have always respected REM, although have never rushed out to buy their stuff. However, the new one has some absolutely stunning tunes on it, most notably 'Leaving New York' and 'Make It All Okay' -- both beautifully exquisite.

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Whatever happened to the "Wally and Fotomaker" thread???!

Bob YOU'RE THE ONE who turned me onto the Pernice Brothers' "Yours, Mine...", and I agree, it is a MUST! As long as we're spreading the Pop, try this one on for size: Brian Wilson meets Bacharach = the Pearlfishers.

Marvin

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Hey gang,

It appears that all 3 Fotomaker albums (Fotomaker, Vis-A-Vis and the Wally-less discofied Transfer Station) are available on CD via Wounded Bird Records for the low price of $10.98 each.

Wounded Bird is a CD reissue label that's also reissued classic albums by Badfinger, Eagle Don Felder (Marvin's favorite guitar player) and The Hollies.

Check it out at:

www.woundedbird.com

and scroll down to the artist listing for Fotomaker.

--Howard

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Don Felder's lone solo album, "Airborne" is worth getting for Eagles-completists. Otherwise, you'd be better off spending your money elsewhere.

On the topic of Wally, I spoke with someone here in Calgary yesterday who actually had a copy of the Tattoo lp (Wally's post-'berries band). I've been searching for that one for 30 years! Anyone else own a copy?

Marvin

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I have a copy, Marvin. You can hear some good material on there, but the production is very poor--demo-quality, almost. Still, of interest to Wally completists.

BTW, for Eagles completists: Wounded Bird also has reissued solo albums by Bernie Leadon, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh.

Howard

(NOT on the Wounded Bird payroll)

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You're welcome, Randy.

Transfer Station is certainly interesting. Fotomaker took a turn, with Wally gone, Frankie Vinci handling all lead vocals, and a change to the disco styles of the day, but there are some good songs on it, as I recall from the LP (which resides in my basement somewhere, next to "Tatoo" probably.)

Supposedly the three Fotomaker album covers, designed by drummer Dino Danelli, shared a concept and told a sort of story. Does anyone recall this and know what the covers meant?

Howard

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I also have the Tattoo album, but don't have anything to play it on. I used to like a song that I think was called "Send A Ship" on there.

Whenever I think of all the old albums I have that I wish I had CD copies of, that one is right at the top of the list!

Always remember picking up the unique looking album to look at it in a record store and when I flipped it over and saw Wally was in the band, almost had a heart attack in my rush to the counter to buy it!

If I recall, doesn't he have a what looks like a black (or bruised) eye in that picture? Wonder what that story was all about?

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This is from the "All Music Guide." Interesting quote from Wally:

"Tattoo was Wally Bryson, Jeff Hutton (Fayrewether), Dan Klawon, Dave Thomas, and Thom Mooney (formerly of Nazz and Paris). They formed in Los Angeles but were all originally from Cleveland, OH. Bryson, an original member of the Raspberries, relocated first to L.A. in 1975 and formed Flyer before calling in Cleveland musicians for the Tattoo project. Motown's Prodigal label, which took over from the defunct Rare Earth Records, signed the band in 1976. Prodigal picked producer Ray Ruffin (not soul singer Jimmy Ruffin's son), another Clevelander, to handle the project. The resulting album Tattoo was a disaster; Bryson called it "white noise." Scene Magazine's music critic Anastasia Pantsios wrote a scathing denouncement peppered with descriptive phrases like "a vinyl atrocity," and worst, Motown withdrew any plans for promotion after the review came out. The tunes, written by individual group members and published by Brentana Music, were wasted by a terrible mix. Prodigal didn't even bother to release a single from the project. Surprisingly, Prodigal offered Tattoo another album but the group declined and the members branched off to other groups." Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide

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