Gene Pitney (17 February 1940 – 5 April 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. Pitney charted 16 Top-40 hits in the U.S., four in the Top 10. In the UK he had 22 Top-40 hits, and 11 singles in the Top Ten. He also wrote the early 1960s hits “Rubber Ball” recorded by Bobby Vee, “He’s a Rebel” by the Crystals, and “Hello Mary Lou” by Ricky Nelson. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (More from Wikipedia)
The name of the Greg Shaw magazine called Who Put the Bomp is taken from “Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)”, a Top-40 hit by Barry Mann. This was basically a one-hit wonder, but Mann always concentrated mostly on his songwriting, and he is well known for numerous songs that were co-written with his wife Cynthia Weil – “Blame it on the Bossa Nova” by Eydie Gorme, “Hungry” and “Kicks” by Paul Revere and the Raiders, “Here You Come Again” by Dolly Parton, “Looking through the Eyes of Love” by Gene Pitney originally, etc.
(May 2013)
In any case, there is so much to like about Dr. Crow: Can it really be as long ago as 2002 when this album came out? What is basically the title song is called “When Dr. Crow Turns on the Radio” – according to the lyrics, “you won’t hear nothing” when this happens – and it is a good old-fashioned stomping rock number. There is a cover of “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song that is based on the Western film of the same name, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that came out in 1962 (but it was not used in the soundtrack). Gene Pitney had a Top 10 hit with “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, though he was asked not to record it before the movie came out. In their version, the Deviants include a clip of some dialogue from the movie – apparently Lee Marvin as the title character – and between the verses, Mick Farren talks about how rare it is for the villain’s name to appear in the title of a movie. One of their original songs on Dr. Crow, “The Murdering Officer” sounds ancient enough that pirates might have known about it; the lyrics talk about (among other things): “But snarling like dogs, we all went so willing / When the murdering officer paid us a shilling”.
(August 2013)
Kim Fowley always wanted to be where the action was, so he relocated for a period of time to London by late 1963. One of the first fruits of his sojourn there might have been a rollicking cover version by Bo and Peep of the Sonny James/Tab Hunter romantic ballad “Young Love” that was released on Decca Records in 1964 not long after Fowley arrived in the UK. The long-time Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham was on hand, and it is clear from the record that the studio was jammed with people. Rumored to be among those participating in the recording are Mick Jagger (and perhaps other Stones), Gene Pitney and Kim Fowley. The song is included on the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP and the English Freakbeat, Volume 6 CD.
(January 2015/1)
