The only thing I knew about this group was the producer, Peter Schekeryk, who was married to and produced Melanie.
Which also explains why Five Dollar Shoes were on Melanie’s independent label, “Neighborhood Records”.
Accordingly, I expected them to sound a little folky.
Melanie’s wide eyed (urban) folk is nowhere to be found. This is all (mainly) straight ahead rock. I have no problem with that, of course, but you know what it’s like when you expect something and have the exact opposite dropped on you.
There is very little information on-line about them and none of my reference books revealed anything of note.
Five dollar Shoes was: Mike Millius (harmonica, vocals), Gregg Diamond (drums, percussion, vocals), Tom Graves (keyboards, vocals), Jim Gregory (bass, vocals), and Scott Woody (guitar, vocals).
Singer Mike Milius started as a singer songwriter writing topical songs for Folkways Broadside Magazine and records. One of his topical songs “The Ballad of Martin Luther King” did quite well in folk circles which may have been the impetus for his being signed. He recorded a solo album in 1969 “Desperado” (Uni) which is in hard rock, singer songwriter, folk and oddball styles. It, and the Martin Luther King song may have been the impetus for the signing to Neighborhood records though the album here is quite different in style again.
The music is of its time. It is heavy post psych East Coast rock … like The Illusion, Vanilla Fudge, and Mountain with an emphasis on the beat. There are heavy glam rock tendencies but there are also some hedged bets with some rustic blues boogie country notes. Think the New York Dolls meet Cactus or The Allman Brothers Band… though there are hints of 1970-72 era Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and The Kinks.
The music is unpretentious and straight ahead with enough thump to make it interesting. The singer Millius has a rasp in his voice … perhaps one of the raspiest voices I have heard. Some of the vocals sound positively strangled. And that is perhaps one of the problems (even though that type of vocal was not uncommon at the time). Millius wrote or co-wrote all of the tunes so he knows what he is doing (and looking for) but his voice (to my ears) only seems to fit the more “rustic” numbers, not the glam rock numbers. Those songs have to succeed on the strength of the song itself and they don’t always. The production, also, is a little muddy.
Lyrically, the album dwells, despite the rustic numbers on the “mean” streets of New York. Every song is about the seediness of the big city (specifically NYC) or escaping it. The boy shining shoes on the front sleeve and the city backdrop in the inner sleeve reinforce “life in the city”. Dion, Brill Building poppers and others had already shown the potential of such themes, and Bruce Springsteen would make those themes into an artistic song craft a couple of years down the track. Here the framework is up but the songs are a little unfinished … some of the songs sound like they need another verse to finish off the narrative.
This is fun music but a little of this goes a long way and the success of the song, especially when turned up to “11”, depends on how catchy the song is.
There is more than meets the eye here even if, ultimately, the album falls short.
Tracks (best in italics)
Love Song – (Diamond/Millius) – a thumper of a song and quite unsubtle. Fitting given it’s an ode to a groupie and her skills. “Love song”… ha ha …excellent
Can’t Do That Anymore – (Diamond/Millius) – more of the same. And, this one, again, may be about a groupie or a “loose” chick picked up somewhere.
Bare Mattress – (Graves/Millius/Woody) – shades of “Mott the Hoople” here.
Rain Train – (Graves/Woody) – the first ballad, a rustic one, and a excellent song. Life is variously a train ride or a card gam. The melody , chorus and instrumentation make it a winner.
Chemical Lover – (Diamond/Millius) – This one has a touch of the glam Bowie…and it works because its urban grit
Bad Dream – (Graves/Millius/Woody) – squealin’ guitars and obscure lyrics
G.T.A. – (Elfassy/Millius) – a Stones “Let it Bleed” era power ballad. Very well done. One of the best songs the Rolling Stones never wrote!
Mitzi – (Fraves/Millius/Wiley/Woody) – a mid tempo song about a prostitute. It’s non judgemental.
Louise – (Millus/Elfassy) – quite early 70s Kinks, loud guitar and even spoken verses done tongue in cheek and quite reminiscent of Ray Davies.
Let’s LeaveTown – (Millius) – Very Dylan and quite effective though without a Dylan hook
And …
A hard one. There are a couple of great tracks here. I think this album may grow on me even more. It’s hard to say. I’ll keep it …. for now..
Apparently Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS, (then in Wicked Lester), were the backing vocalists on the Five Dollar Shoes’ studio sessions, but this has not been substantiated.
“Come out, come out (wherever you are)”, composed by Don Thomas & Mike Millius was due to be recorded by Elvis in 1969. A backing track was recorded but Elvis never added his vocals (he was distracted by a passing fire truck).
Gregg Diamond and Jim Gregory were members of Jobriath’s backing band, The Creatures.
Guitarist Scott Woody ended up playing and writing with German, singer Klaus Nomi.
Tom Graves had been in the “The Wild Ones” in the 1960s and then was in later Bullseye and Electra 5 and a band called Steetnoise.
This album was nominated for a Grammy … for best packaging (in it’s American packaging)
The powers that be thought there was a market for this in Australia as this did get an Australian release.
Apart from this album Five Dollar Shoes released two singles:
Love Song/ Rain Train (Neighborhood) 1972
Your Rock ‘N’ Roll Band b/w Antediluvian Movie Theme (Neighborhood) 1973
Postscript 31 August 2025
Tom Graves of the band commented below on this record. He was kind enough to send me more detail on his involvement with Five Dollar Shoes as well as detail on his earlier and later bands.
Here is that (from June 10 2025):
The Wild Ones
The backstory is interesting. I was a recent high school grad, attending NYU, and the band suddenly got hot. We were the house band at the Peppermint Lounge, the namesake of the hit song “Peppermint Twist”, by Joey Dee and the Starlighters. Meanwhile, Sybil Burton, the ex wife of Richard Burton, was getting ready to open a brand new dance club, also in NYC, called Arthur. She found us and asked us to play there, and the place became a sensation. Everyone who was anyone came, and came again. Frank Sinatra hung out in the bar every night. Rolling Stones, Beatles, Judy Garland, Rudolph Nureyev, British royalty, seriously EVERYONE. I think it was the first NYC club to have a “door policy” – people would line up, only to be turned away if they didn’t “look right”. Our lead singer, Jordan Christopher caught Sybil’s eye, and they started dating. I was Jordan’s flatmate at the time, and we’d go to fabulous places in Sybil’s limo. They got married! Sybil was considerably older than Jordan (17 years). If the genders had been reversed no one would have noticed, but this was the mid-sixties, and that created a media storm, all the way to a cover story in Life Magazine. We recorded that awful album, “The Arthur Sound”, with Sybil on my shoulder on the cover, photo by Richard Avedon. It was recorded in a studio, but they invited people in, set up a bar, and the party was on. Ostensibly “live”, but when the truth became known, they had to pull the record from the shelves. Who knew the RIAA, or whoever, would be so strict?
The notoriety of this odd marriage, with all the subsequent ink, got us some amazing opportunities. We were recruited for a truly terrible movie, The Fat Spy, with Phyllis Diller, Jackie Leonard, and Jayne Mansfield, with Jordan in the lead role. It has the distinction of being named one of The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made, featured in the 2004 documentary by the same name . Another dud was Step Out of your Mind with Evie Sands. We auditioned for the pilot of “The Monkees”, the hit TV series, but they wisely decided to cast actors who could play, rather than musicians who could act. Jordan really wanted to be an actor, so he left the band, but his acting career never got much traction, even though he was cast in several major movies and TV shows. He started drinking heavily, and died young, at 55 years old.
After Jordan left the band, we carried on, and our first single was “Wild Thing”, the same song that was recorded by the Troggs, and became a smash hit for them. We had it first, and the demo, performed by the songwriter Chip Taylor, was great, full of straight-faced attitude. Our producer, Gerry Granahan, didn’t really get it, and had us do a version where the singer (our Chuck Alden) was told to sound “drunk”. I thought he missed the boat, and when the Troggs version came out, very close to the original demo, even including the ocarina solo, and topped the charts. I was proven right. We recorded the soundtrack for “Lord Love a Duck”, a George Axelrod film starring Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld. We stayed together for a few years, playing at Arthur, and touring the various Arthur clubs around the country that Sybil had opened.
Street Noise
The drummer, Tommy Trick and I put together Street Noise, got an album deal and recorded an album which I suspect was always destined to be a tax loss, and never got any promotion. Record companies recorded albums at greatly inflated prices, stuck them in warehouses, and claimed huge tax credits, based on the loss. It vanished without a trace. A truly terrible record.
Five Dollar Shoes
Mike Millius and I had collaborated on some projects, and we had a good working relationship, so we put together a hard-core glam rock band, with guitarist Scott Woody (who became my brother-in-law) bassist Brian Wiley (called “Wallace” in the Street Noise liner notes), and Daniel Elfassy on drums. We had strong interest from record labels, and we signed with Neighborhood Records, owned by Peter Schekeryk and his wife, Melanie. Peter had recently worked with Jobriath, the first openly gay rocker, and one of the first to die of AIDS. That didn’t work out, but Peter was very impressed with the drummer and bassist, Gregg Diamond and Jim Gregory. He insisted that we take them into $5 Shoes, despite a year or two working with Brian and Dan. Gregg and Jimmy were arguably better players than our rhythm section, and Mike, the leader of the band acceded to the demand. We had already recorded the whole album, and scrapped most of it to accommodate Gregg’s songwriting. although some of the original tracks made the release. We got a decent amount of airplay, and had some good tours, but it died on the vine. Scott Woody and Daniel Elfassy toured with Klaus Nomi, and Scott co-wrote one of the songs on Klaus’ album, and did a world tour with Wilson Pickett. Sadly, both Scott and Dan have passed away, and Gregg & Jimmy too, leaving Mike Millius & me the only surviving members.
Another song that Mike and I co-wrote, called “Keep Your Hands on the Wheel” got some airplay, via a band called Ram Jam. We recorded the demo, and Mike shopped it around, and cut a deal with their management, selling them not only the song, but also the demo recording. They used it in its entirety for their record, except the lead guitar, which they replaced with their guitarist. It was released as the flip side of “Black Betty”, their biggest hit. I still get a check every year for the royalties. I attached it for comparison.
Bullseye
Through my relationship with Millius I met Tom Ferrara, a guitarist who had a day job at CBS Records, and he asked me to audition for a band that he and Kevin Clougherty, another CBS employee, were putting together. Kevin, a bassist, had been in the original version of Boston, but didn’t get along well with people, especially Tom Scholz. He was a decent player and singer, and a very talented songwriter. Another friend of Tom’s, Manny DeMagistris, was an art director and jingle producer at a major ad agency, and a truly talented guitarist and singer. We found Alan Childs, an incredible drummer, who later toured with David Bowie, Julian Lennon, Tom Waite, and many others, and played in many Broadway musicals. He still tours with Waite. Bullseye was very solid and tight, and we got a record deal with CBS and got a huge advance on our publishing for the record budget. We all netted a nice pile of cash and had lots left for studio time, equipment, and recreational drugs. Unfortunately, at a meeting to decide which song to release as a single, Kevin, still not working and playing well with others, disagreed with Don Devito, the head of CBS Records A&R, and told him “he has his ears up his ass”. The kiss of death. Don walked out of the meeting, and never looked back.
ElectraFive
Tom Ferrara, Alan Childs, and I liked working together, and Tom met Kelvyn Hallifax, a Londoner living in NYC. We had become enamored with New Wave, and Kelvyn was the real thing. A great singer/songwriter and guitarist with very timely sensibilities. We found Michael Tomosulo, a classically trained bassist, and we started playing around town as BBC, getting some notice in NYC. We found that the name BBC was already in use, so we changed it to ElectaFive. We acquired a manager named Jerry Tavin who had successfully managed some European artists and gotten them good record deals. Our strategy was to get a hit overseas, then launch here. We did manage the first part, with “The Thin Man on the Run”, co-written by Kelvyn and me, on Master Records, a German label, charting and spawning an album and a tour in Europe. Still waiting for the crossover.
Aftermath
Kevin Clougherty, the bassist in Bullseye, had very impressive academic credentials, an undergrad degree from MIT and an MBA from Stanford. The microcomputer revolution was just beginning, and the opportunities for programmers who had hands-on experience with IBM PCs and Apples far outnumbered the available resources. Kevin and I had both become obsessed with these amazing little machines, and taught ourselves how to program. He took a job as director of microprogramming at what would become Nielsen, a major ad industry data collection dynamo, and hired me. His inability to play nice got him fired (again) within 6 months, creating a vacuum that I was happy to fill. I never got over my love for programming, and thus began a career that was lucrative and very enjoyable to me. I am now retired, and I continue to program and play in a band for pleasure. My first love, J.S. Bach, provides me with daily inspiration and never ceases to amaze me.
Here’s the link to an app that I wrote: Modaly.net. It creates music by selecting a series of notes of different lengths, based on modality, and repeats them. This, to my ears, creates pleasant little melodies that never repeat. Try it, on any browser, preferably through speakers, and read the “About” and touch the “hamburger” menu, top right. I find it very relaxing, nice to fall asleep to, using the sleep timer located just under the “Play” button.
and from 12 June 2025 more on what he is doing now:
Oddly enough, my learning to program was purely motivated by my purchase of a just-released Apple ][, and the lack of software that was initially available. It came fully equipped with a BASIC interpreter that started as soon as it powered up. An invitation to explore if ever there was one. I was immediately hooked, and did almost nothing else for the next 5 years, bringing printouts of the code that I was working on to gigs, and staying in the dressing room in places like The Ritz in NYC to work on it. My becoming a suit was pure serendipity, as my ex-bandmate had already transitioned into the business world, and he was blown away by my software chops. No degree, just hands-on experience and an intense love of programming. Oh, and the rewards were much more commensurate with the work.
About Franko
Hi, I'm just a person with a love of music, a lot of records and some spare time. My opinions are comments not reviews and are mine so don't be offended if I have slighted your favourite artist. I have listened to a lot of music and I don't pretend to be impartial. You can contact me on franklycollectible@gmail.com though I would rather you left a comment. I also sell music at http://www.franklycollectible.com Cheers
My name is Tom Graves, and I was the keyboardist for $5 Shoes. Great deep dive into the history of the band. That rumor about Kiss singing backup is not true. I have heard that before, and it may have originated because Wicked Lester (Kiss) was recording their first album while we were recording our album at Electric Lady in the Village, with Eddy Kramer as engineer. If the album sounds a little muddy, that’s Eddy’s fault.
Tom Graves’ comment continues: Little Billy, the original drummer with the NY Dolls, had roadied for us back in the day, so there was some possible cross-pollination. We used to rehearse at Baggies, and so did the Dolls, and they helped themselves to our equipment sometimes. Gregg Diamond’s biggest success was with “More, More, More”, by Andrea True. He wrote and recorded it for a porn film starring Andrea, and shopped it around, and it was a huge hit. Years later, a band called Len sampled that track and used it for their hit “Steal My Sunshine”.Unfortunately Gregg had died at that point. Also, Mike Millius’ song “The Ballad of MLK” was recorded by Pete Seeger for a Sesame Street album. More about me: my later band, ElectraFive, had a hit single “The Thin Man on the Run”, in Europe, co-written by me, and we recorded an album in Hamburg called “Picture”. I could go on…
Tom, thanks for those. Anything else you want to add, please do. The devil is in the detail and this is interesting stuff. Once it is here and the magical forces of the internet back it up it is then there for history for others to research … I assume. Cheers
Raspy is an understatement! The sample Beck took sums his voice up well.
As raspy as Dylan?
My name is Tom Graves, and I was the keyboardist for $5 Shoes. Great deep dive into the history of the band. That rumor about Kiss singing backup is not true. I have heard that before, and it may have originated because Wicked Lester (Kiss) was recording their first album while we were recording our album at Electric Lady in the Village, with Eddy Kramer as engineer. If the album sounds a little muddy, that’s Eddy’s fault.
Tom Graves’ comment continues: Little Billy, the original drummer with the NY Dolls, had roadied for us back in the day, so there was some possible cross-pollination. We used to rehearse at Baggies, and so did the Dolls, and they helped themselves to our equipment sometimes. Gregg Diamond’s biggest success was with “More, More, More”, by Andrea True. He wrote and recorded it for a porn film starring Andrea, and shopped it around, and it was a huge hit. Years later, a band called Len sampled that track and used it for their hit “Steal My Sunshine”.Unfortunately Gregg had died at that point. Also, Mike Millius’ song “The Ballad of MLK” was recorded by Pete Seeger for a Sesame Street album. More about me: my later band, ElectraFive, had a hit single “The Thin Man on the Run”, in Europe, co-written by me, and we recorded an album in Hamburg called “Picture”. I could go on…
Tom, thanks for those. Anything else you want to add, please do. The devil is in the detail and this is interesting stuff. Once it is here and the magical forces of the internet back it up it is then there for history for others to research … I assume. Cheers