Those regular readers of these "comments" know my affection for the AE/BB artists (after the rise of Elvis before the rise of the Beatles). That affection extends to, and is entranced by their work after their stars have ceased to shine, and for most of them that was the late 60s and early 70s.
During this period many former pop stars like Dion, Bobby Darin, Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Vee, put out a series of catchy, tasteful, well played and criminally overlooked introspective albums.
Back in "what Frank is listening to #105" I said this: It is also from a "genre" of music I like …. the genre being: former rock and pop stars from the 50s recording more "meaningful", introspective and experimental music in the late 60s. Link Wray, Del Shannon, Dion, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Bobby Vee, Lou Christie, The Everly Brothers, Pat Boone and Gene Vincent all put out fine records in the late 60s which were largely ignored by the record buying public.
It was a hard slog for most of them – they had to ditch their pop star status, contemporize their sound, make good music, and win over a new more cynical audience in a pretty packed field. Most of them could do the first three but very few could do the last. The exceptions were Elvis, Johnny Cash and Dion.
It's a pity.
If nothing else I'm consistent (or predictable, if you wish)
Maybe the aforementioned acts could afford to be inventive because the demands of churning out hits were no longer there,
maybe they were just trying to keep up with the times,
maybe they were fulfilling contracts.
I don't know what the answer is but as a body of work the albums are never short of professional (don't forget most of them had been playing for ten years) and inventive (within their genre limitations).
It would be easy for them to have just put out an album of watered down hits of the day for the "grownups" before taking the money and "splitting man" (60s parlance apparently, man). Some did in fact put out albums like that which usually ended in failure though to their credit they also followed up with albums that are surprising, given the music "factory" most of them came from.
I will concede, though, the tunes are generally watered down (I prefer to say "popified") and there is usually at least one hit of the day on each of the albums.
Maybe the talent was always there and the lack of expectation to have a big hit gave them wiggle room to express themselves. And most did express themselves from the vantage point of the wise old (pop star) sage who has "been there, done that".
Bobby Vee, with five Top 10s and one #1 in the early 60s was no different and "had been there and done that". Now he was 24 and it was 1967 …
Background, wikipedia: Born in Fargo, North Dakota, he had his first single with "Suzie Baby," an original song penned by Vee that nodded towards Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" for the Minneapolis-based Soma Records in 1959; it drew enough attention and chart action to be purchased by Liberty Records, which signed him to their label later that year. His follow-up single, a cover of Adam Faith's UK number 1 "What Do You Want?" charted in the lower reaches of Billboard in early 1960; however, it was his fourth release, a revival of The Clovers' doo-wop ballad "Devil or Angel", that brought him into the big time with U.S. buyers. His next single, "Rubber Ball", was the record that made him an international star.
As is fitting of former early-60s pop stars Bobby seems to have been Italian-American – aka Robert Thomas Velline. (post comment note – I'm wrong, he is actally of Finnish background)
OK … This album is introspective but it is not solemn. Most of the music is bouncy MOR "sunshine pop" music similar to what Gary Lewis was doing at the same time and no different from The Association, The Grass Roots, The Vogues or even The Monkees.
In fact it is superior to most in the genre and fits in well in 1967 (in both lyric and sound) … the trouble is that Bobby Vee got caught in a mind shift in popular culture which had an unwritten criteria for "significance". Few of the old stars or straight pop acts could compete … even the Beach Boys were marginalised. Pity as this music holds up as well as anything from the same era. And it also does not cloud our perceptions of the 60s – the 60s wern't all pot smoking, marches, beads and tripping out, though that has become the common public mythology.
Having said that he did have a #3 single from the album … the album was probably built around the single rather than the single lifted from it but I do not know for sure.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Come Back When You Grow Up – Sharp – 2:15 – excellent, gentle pop song … and the aforementioned #3 hit from 1967 … bet you will never find it on greatest hits compilations despite the fact it did better than "California Dreaming", "White Rabbit" or "I Can See for Miles".
- A Rose Grew in the Ashes – Allan, Dante – 2:39 – perfect 60s pop … hand claps and up front backing vocals. This was, not surprisingly, co-written by Ron Dante (an obscure genius and the voice of The Archies amongst others). Great fun but you are not going to look "tough" listening to it.
- You're a Big Girl Now – Vee- 2:16 – not surprisingly this sounds a little like "You're a Big Boy Now" by the Lovin Spoonful.
- You Can Count on Me – Briley – 2:46 – horns and a hip lyric … sounds a little like what The Young Rascals would move into after their hit "Groovin".
- Get the Message – Gordon, Griffin – 2:34 – James Griffin was later in "Bread" … and Michael Gordon was in a number of bands – together they wrote many songs in the 60s. A slight baroque pop feel to this song which is very much of its time but I'd be happy to go into a venue now and hear a band doing this right now … recorded by others including Brian Hyland, Bobby Vee, Sagittarius, Michael J. James, and The Young Men. I don't know who did it first.
- Hold on to Him – Cordell, Trimachi – 2:05 – MOR with trite lyrics, horns and strings. Moving into Bobby Goldsboro territory here. Richie Cordell and Sal Trimachi wrote a lot of this type of stuff.
- World Down on Your Knees- Cordell, Trimachi – 2:22 – more MOR.
- Objects of Gold – Allan, Dante – 2:29 – this is more like it … bubblegum …
- Before You Go – Garratt, Russell, Tillson- 2:14 – bubblegum with a nod to British beat – like a cross between the Archies and the Hollies …
- Mission Accomplished – Russell, Whitson- 2:44 – very slight and not put over with much vigour …
- I May Be Back – Vee – 2:10 – a trippy MOR type song not dissimilar to PF Sloan. The mix doesn't help it either. Not bad though.
- Double Good Feeling – Bonner, Gordon – 2:15 – Prolific 60s song writers (formerly of The Magicians) who wrote "Happy Together" and "She'd Rather Be With Me" for The Turtles as well as many other songs. See link at bottom. The song is very much in the vein of the Turtles hits though with horns but without the celestial majesty of a "Happy Together". Still it's pretty good.
And…
A potentially great album only let down by a weaker side 2 … a keeper though.
Chart Action
US
Singles
Come Back When You Grow Up #3 1967
Album
#66 1967
Singles
Come Back When You Grow Up #3 1967
Album
#66 1967
England
no chart action
Sounds
Come Back When You Grow Up
a cover
and attached
A Rose Grew in the Ashes
attached
You're a Big Girl Now
Get the Message
attached
World Down on Your Knees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn9N4AyFc3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn9N4AyFc3Q
Objects of Gold
Mission Accomplished
I May Be Back
Double Good Feeling
Others
Bobby does his #1 1961 hit live in 1980
influential ….?
Review
Bio
writers:
Website
Trivia
- wikipedia: Early in Vee's career, a musician named Elston Gunnn briefly toured with the Bobby Vee band. "Gunnn", whose birth name was Robert Allen Zimmerman, later went on to fame as Bob Dylan.
- In Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, Volume One, he makes special mention of Bobby Vee and shares significant and complimentary details about their friendship, both professional and personal.
(originally posted: 07/11/2010)
what Frank is listening to #182 – BOBBY VEE – Come Back When You grow Up – (Liberty) – 1967
