[LenGroat]

Yes we never stop ! A new ‘mini package’ is launched in March and of course our friends here on JingleMad get first listen. It’s thank to Jon and the JAM team, and covers four ‘jingle decades’, from 1950’s PAMS cuts, and a 1990’s JAM one first done for BBC Radio 2.

I chose THIS one by PAMS from 1965 for my 1960s Cafe. I bought it in 1989 for the original GEM.AM which was 24 years after the track was recorded, and now…. eerily…. 24 years later it’s back again with new lyric for my ’60s Cafe’ on http://www.solidgoldgem.am

PAMS ‘N Set Series 30 cut 24 for Len Groat by Len Groat

I partly chose this cut as I REALLY wanted some Sonovox for the 60s Cafe (it’s very much of that era) and I love the ‘call and response’ way it’s used on this.

I realised putting this together that part of the strength of PAMS was that many cuts are ‘mini-songs’ in how they are written. They have an instrumental open, room for several lyric lines, sometimes even a ‘middle 8’, which on a jingle is a ‘donut voice over’, and a great END.

JAM / PAMS did a great job on the re-sing. Our 1989 version had a male/female vocal group, but Jon has written this in the style of the original package with (high register?) all female vocal parts ~ the PAMS ‘pussycats’ as they were called back then …

More of our new package next week.

[muffy]

Len .. Would it ever be possible to write New Pams classic style jingles .. .. Lets call all it The Len Groat Series …………. Or would it run away with costs, maybe we dont have the people who can write music in that style anymore……… Idea

[muffy]

Was listening to Graham Norton BBC Radio Two ….. And he played the singer who was sent home from X factor a few ago ( for some reason) ..Gamu .. well her new song has the feel of the Pams jingles ..music and her voice .. So maybe it would be possible in 2013 to write and record classic jingles in the style of 40 plus years ago with the right people involved
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM7Hbh2xMSw

[ratnobMember]

I chose THIS one by PAMS from 1965 for my 1960s Cafe.

Love it, Len – sounds so fresh all these years on. Great choice.

[LenGroat]

Thanks for the comments!

I thought it might be interesting to see how it sounded in 1989 when I got it as part of that years package for the original GEM.AM. This was 24 years after the track was recorded, and before JAM owned PAMS so it was produced via Alfasound, at TM studios Dallas. We had Jackie Dickson, Dan Alexander and Brian Beck in the 5 part vocal group, so as near as you could get to an actual ‘PAMS vocal group’ at that time.

Connoisseur point : Jon has now explained that although Series 30 had all-female vocal on MOST cuts, this one actually originally featured 3 boys and 3 girls. I don’t know if Dan Alexander and Brian Beck were on the WABC 1965 demo sings – Jackie definitely was not as she joined PAMS in ’67- ’68 (Can some younger jinglemadder correct me if I’m wrong? !)

PAMS ‘N Set Series 30 cut 24 for GEM-AM in 1989 by Len Groat

Muffy:

“Would it ever be possible to write New Pams classic style jingles”

JAM did this with a package in a style to Series 27, and we also did about 8 cuts in 1988 for GEM-AM. I did the lyrics, and Alfa’s Alan Fawkes wrote SUPERB track, lots of tight brass punctuation, all played by ‘mature’ experienced session musicians who knew ‘jazz’. IMHO some of these got ‘close’ to the 60s PAMS sound. These were ‘mixed in’ with the original PAMS cuts we got in ’88 and worked well.

Gamu certainly has more going for her than the typical cliched female singer of today; No vibrato thank goodness, though it owes a lot (frock and sound-wise!) to Little Eva, Diana Ross, Millie and Aretha Franklin..

[SeanMartin]

Top Format produced a PAMS-styled oldies package a few years back with excellent production values.

[DavidHemsley]

Wasn’t that a co-collaboration with Alfasound – I seem to recall something similar done for Nine Ninety Nine Wolverhampton and Black Country (WABC)

[Bigdave]

http://www.pams.com/ppix/30.gif

A quick look at the PAMS site brings up a picture of the ladies known as the “Gold Pussycats”

http://www.pams.com/ppix/pcats.gif

They are from L to R Judy Parma, Camilla Duncan, Jean Oliver, and Tinker Rautenburg

[LenGroat]

Great to have this topic ‘covering the ground’ in various ways – Sean – the Dutch Series 27 inspired cuts are pretty good.

David I don’t know of any Alan Fawkes material for WABC (Wolverhampton and Black Country). Nowadays because of the internet and social networkng all the (remaining) PD and PDs all know each other and hear (and see!) everything that’s happening . When I was in Nottingham I knew just a few friends at other stations, but never had time to really know what most stations were doing. I think we can partly ‘blame’ the internet for everyone ‘going down the same path’ with their music, jingles, websites etc.

Dave – thanks for the singer details – I USED to know that but forgot long ago – age!

The box cover of ‘N’ Set’ really was SUPERB. What a shame PAMS later lost its flair for these and the plain covers came in even for great later packages like Philly Story, WWWE ‘Smilin’ Through’, Solid Rock and Textures….

Does anyone have any more versions of the Series 30 cut 24, or an in the clear copy of the original for WABC?

I’ll post ANOTHER new jingle we’ve just had for SolidGoldGem.am at the end of the week !

[mjb1124Member]

Great stuff as usual, Len!

As for the idea of modern PAMS style jingles, I’m sure John and the gang could pull it off, and possibly the folks at TM and other Dallas companies as well. That Top Format package is also pretty nice – would JAM have the rights to do resings in the US?

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