[LenGroat]

Sometimes a GREAT re-sing, ‘sings for itself’ !

As part of a new mini package for http://www.SolidGoldGem.am we took the plunge….. and bought a late ’60s cut from PAMS ‘Stereo Island’ …..

I’ll explain more about it later ~ for now just enjoy the superb 2013 quality of the track (thanks Jon) and the vocal harmonies which have TC and me thinking different things.

It’s ‘not your usual PAMS ….’

Solid Gold Gem – PAMS ‘Stereo Island’ cut by Len Groat

[ratnobMember]

Len

Astonishing – not a cut I recognised but, as you say, beautifully done.

[IainJohnston]

Pure – dead – brilliant! And one of the best cuts in it too. Excellent choice Len!

One of the most striking PAMS non-Series MOR packages from the start of the 1970s-ish.
I still have my “blue-box” PAMS demo of the package, compliments of WOWO Fort Wayne all those years ago.
(To my deep regret I binned several of those demos 20-odd years ago, but kept that one).

Somewhere a while back I montaged SI, but for anyone wanting to hear more resings from it, I highly recommened the KenR “Adventures in Stereo Volume 1” cd (there never was a “Volume 2…” – like many a KenR compilation “series”…)

[gameswizardMember]

Some of the instrumentation in that jingle reminds me very much of an Alfasound Sunshine Radio 91.6 cut…
Lyrics (from memory): “91 point 6 in stereo, Sunshine Radio FM stereo… Sunshine Radio FM”.

[mbMember]

I love that package – difficult to lyric and you’ve done an amazing job there.
It’s often mocked but the numbered packaged seem to get all the attention whilst I think the named ones were more creative and interesting.

[IainJohnston]

“Some of the instrumentation reminded…”

Eh? Alfa “lift” anything from another company’s scores, writing, lyrics, etc?
Naw! Never!

(…where did I put those Piccadilly cuts…?)

I think we did a discussion about SI in the past – one of the cuts is uncannily like something by Spanky & Our Gang? I think TC mentioned the song title?

As for the less-attentioned PAMS MOR from that era – BBC Radio Two circa 1972(?) had a big composite including some cuts from the excellent KULF Houston (“K”ulf…Gulf Radio) – another I was stupid enough to bin the boxed demo of – and the KRLD Dallas custom. WWDC’s “Some Kind of radio” is maybe lesser known. The KIIS MOR customs are huge too, before they slowly morphed over the years into an FM hits station.
There’s many more – KPOL Los Angeles stuff ended up as several “named” MOR packages.

JMers far more knowledgeable than I’ll ever be I’m sure can mention many more…

If Jon is “recovering & restoring” (or already has…) the multi-tracks for some of these often very elegant and less-brash-than-the-Top40-stuff PAMS packages, then the opportunites for some very classy Personal Cuts would certainly tempt me!

[LenGroat]

Gosh we bought a cut Ratnob does not know

I think this style was a little passe by the late 70s, and I don’t think I had the demo when I bought the first sets of PAMS material for the original GEM ~ but I love the package now.

GW: “Alfasound Sunshine Radio 91.6 ” I’d be interested to hear that cut!

Iain: there IS still a discussion about SI from 2008 ~ the audio links don’t work (except TC’s !) but there are interesting points by Jon and others ~ here’s the link:

http://www.jinglemad.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5274/classic-pams-packages/p1

MB: ‘very difficult to lyric’ Agreed! I tried to be original, and came up with these:

This is a A Golden World of Songs you sing along with…
Night & Da-Ay
And Solid Gold Gem am
Makes your world bright and gay
(It’s ) Solid Gold GEM –A M
Ray Deo O Like It Used To Be….
Just For yoooo

Solid Gold Gem AM, is a Musical
Odyssey
A Golden World of Songs you love to sing
And warm Memories
(It’s ) Solid Gold GEM –A M
Ray Deo O Like It Used To Be….
Just For yoooo

…. but the one near the original lyric was way better….

Here is the actual ‘sing’ I based our lyric on:

Stereo Island KPOL by Len Groat

[gameswizardMember]

GW: “Alfasound Sunshine Radio 91.6 ” I’d be interested to hear that cut!

Here’s what it reminded me of… or maybe it’s just me.

SUNSHINE RADIO FM 91.6 – ALFASOUND – 1x JINGLE by gameswizard

[SeanMartin]

Nice n pretty, just like radio used to be

[muffy]

“Just like radio Like it used to be” ….Its so sad .. . we may never go back to todays radio because its too bland ( same with the jingles) …… But its great that there are people of my age who can enjoy these jingles and Lndens age too … nice project

[martinlesterMember]

Great Choice of cut Len

I have always liked the Stereo Island package , I had a few cuts done by KenR when he was still in the jingle business

Also good to re read the original post especially the notes about the Stereo Separation on the mix

[Tracy CarmanMember]

When I got this demo originally in from PAMS, it was sung for WIOQ (W102) in Philly. I understand that there was a previous demo for WKNR-FM but they created the WIOQ one ’cause they thought it would sell better. I later learned there was a demo also produced for KPOL, as demonstrated by the cut posted by Len.

Here are the WKNR-FM and WIOQ-FM versions of the same cuts, as produced by PAMS back in the early early seventies…

WKNR-FM/WIOQ-FM PAMS Stereo Island DEMO Cuts by MPF One Minute Montages

[LenGroat]

Thanks for the kind comments

Note that ‘RSimpkins’ said back in 2008: ” A great package although I can see why it’s not the top choice for re-sings these days! Maybe in another 10 years… “

He was pretty much right…. but it was 5 years!

For those who like to know how the vocal magic is created, Jon has now told me that:

“It’s Rosana and Kay together”. Even after decades in the buying end of the jingle business I don’t know who Rosanna is, but gosh she and Kay sound GREAT and capture the spirit of the original. There is also an extra ‘harmony part’ on “sharing memories with you”.

I also like the stereo effect on the track open that Jon seems to have amplified compared to the original.

I continue to be amazed and DELIGHTED that Jon takes such loving care with ‘personal cuts’ ~ the same care he took with Radio’s 2 and 1 for so many years…. I have a few more ‘classic ‘ tracks to ‘unveil’ in July

ps: TC thanks for the other versions posted as I typed! I do prefer the style of the KPOL version. Some of these cuts also link style-wise to the ‘Naturally ‘ package that relied heavily on solo singers ~ In 1974 I ordered one cut for James Whale at Metro

[Tracy CarmanMember]

Since I was asked in an email what this cut was based on…

[martinlesterMember]

Since I was asked in an email what this cut was based on…

http://youtu.be/DoN6tGEKjCM

The funny thing was las night on BBC Radio London they played the same track but followed by a Jingle so they did not mention the name , so was going to ask the question that you have just answered TC

[Tracy CarmanMember]

The funny thing was las night on BBC Radio London they played the same track but followed by a Jingle so they did not mention the name , so was going to ask the question that you have just answered TC

Timing is everything! That’s Lani Hall a/k/a Mrs. Herb Alpert’s stacked vocals on all of the female leads. Backing musicians are The Wrecking Crew. Classic… and Lani can still sing!

[IainJohnston]

Seems to be developing into another good thread Len!

I found my SI montage I mentioned above – hard it believe its 5 years since I compiled it!

I’m linking it here rather than on the old thread as mentioned above.
Also, as discussed before, the “stereo image” on that package is truly “speakers 6 feet apart” stuff!
Wixy1360-PAMS-StereoIsland by wixy1360

For those that feel that many of today’s “solo vocals” are too weak or screetchy – perhaps these SI cuts from back then show that choosing by solo vocalists with exceptionally high quality of timbre voices is the way to make solos work well – and whatever analogue audio processing PAMS used back then might have been considered crude by comparison with today’s “digital” malarky, but don’t those solo, duet, and harmony vocals really LEAP out of the speakers!

TC – thanks for the “history” on tthe SI demos – I didn’t realise that there had been more than one demo for SI – the WIOQ I’d thought (from the Kenr CD composite, which included the Series 27 “Surf” cut etc?) had been a (very good!) resing – but in the “jingle game” we still learn something new all the time!)

[johnquincyMember]

Len, Rosana is Rosana Eckert (http://www.rosanaeckert.com/). She also sang for Ben Freedman. Here’s a video showing her with Kay, Abby and Joel Rutherford doing a Gwinsound resing in 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIqYk7Xo7Bo. The original PAMS jingle was based on a Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 song “Pretty World”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoN6tGEKjCM. On some of the original PAMS cuts the Dallas singer they used sounded just like Lani Hall, one of the singers in Brasil ’66 (who married Herb Alpert).

[johnquincyMember]

I don’t know why the links in the above post aren’t showing up. Here they are again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIqYk7Xo7Bo

[LenGroat]

Hello Linden: being a ‘station on a budget (no commercials!) we tend to pick cuts that naturally split into 2 or even 3 self-contained jingles ~ this breaks neatly into two and Jon gave us those. We also got several ‘donuts’:

Donut mix from PAMS ‘Stereo Island’ by Len Groat

+ of course the superb acapella of our ‘Radio Like It Used to Be’ line.. It was only once I’d worked out what to replace “Ster E er er re er eo” with, that we settled on this cut! I could ‘hear’ this and just prayed it would work… and with Rosana and Kay, and Jon’s writing of the vocal parts, it REALLY does ~ and is SO memorable.

Acapella from PAMS ‘Stereo Island’ by Len Groat

Thanks to John Quincy for the jingle session vid ~ LOVE that cut too !

TC and Martin ~ Jon told me he LOVED the original song and played it often when he was a dj. I’ve since bought the CD of Sergio Mendes best songs and they are superb.

And thanks to Iain for the set of cuts!

[IainJohnston]

“And thanks to Iain for the set of cuts!”

You’re welcome Len!

Anyone interested in a trade for a dub of “Adventures in Stereo Vol 1” – well, you know where I am!
(Copyright acknowledged PAMS Productions Inc, Dallas, licenced via KenR Inc.)

[johnquincyMember]

I wonder who the Lani Hall sound-alike vocalist was on the original PAMS WNKR cut was?

[Tracy CarmanMember]

TC and Martin ~ Jon told me he LOVED the original song and played it often when he was a dj. I’ve since bought the CD of Sergio Mendes best songs and they are superb.

I’m dating myself by admitting that I had the original “album” on both commercially released reel-to-reel and 8-track…

[loujosephs]

Very sharp clean sounding old pams reborn. Shame the original package ran on beautiful music stations…used to hear them on pro fm before it changed to chr and also on w102..the old wfil fm in Philly..in the day on air these didn’t fit with the music at all.

[loujosephs]

I too played a lot of sergio mendes during my WKOX days..and some of the design 72 tm stuff also had the mendes feel to it.

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