[topcat]

By the time I got to the Tanner masters, a lot of things had been thrown out. In addition, most of the multi-track reels do NOT have sheets in the box saying what they are. So, you can have a 2″ labeled TANNER BAND MASTER #54 but have no idea as to what is on the reel. I'm sure the indexes existed at some point in time, but they're not here.
The 1/4″ reels that were used for all of those music libraries pressed onto vinyl are pretty much intact. Of course, the same problem with the paper leaders and splices come into play. It's just not worth threading each and every reel up and attempting to index them… so for now the reels will just occupy space on the shelves.
I did toss all of the syndication format reels (Pacific Green and so on) since most of the songs on the reels are now commercially available on CD. I needed the space so out went several hundred 10.5″ reels.

[Barras]

Stranger,

presume you were the engineer on this cut from Tanner ? – I`ve uploaded this with a description as a “station song” even though it`s duration is only 30 seconds, it mentions several towns and villages in the North Yorkshire area.

Where I live in North-East England on the coast, I could just receive BBC Radio York and remember the thrill of hearing this jingle through the crackly air-waves !

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1236612223_3680_FT69239_tanner_bbc_radio_york_station_song.mp3 filename:tanner_bbc_radio_york_station_song.mp3

Barras

[theniceguy]

Stranger wrote:
It pains me to run across a web site or forum that would flip an idle comment that “all that Tanner/Media General stuff was crap”. In many ways they’re absolutely correct, but if they had seen what colors went into the play-dough fun-factory before it got squeezed out some bizarre orifices’ they might have a different opinion.

I still have that passion for what I do.

PW

I stil believe packages like 'The Best' and 'Simple & Free' were great packages and extensively sold over here in The Netherlands (and Belgium & Germany). Likewise I still have the complete Trendsetter, Sound Of Broadcasting libraries (and a part of Showcase production music). great stuff in the 70's and 80's. The Deejays on Dutch National Radio 1, 2 and 3 were standing in line to be the first to get their hands on it, when a new one was released.

[SeanMartin]

Remember the German guy in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, well, in his words this thread is “Very interesting” (and it's also what I believe inspired Tanner to do The Fun One package).

We've resung a couple of the tracks we could find from The Best, but the master tracks seem to have vanished. I'm on a lead in Holland, so let's see. There were some cool production beds in there too.

One of the regular visitors to this forum emailed me to ask if we could resing Pete's Simple & Free cut with the lyrics, Sitting on a Rock . . . .

Sure!

Jingles are fun and thanks to Stranger for covering a side of the business never so far exposed.

-Sean

[pjwest]

Barras: well, that woke up a few neurons! Yes, that’s the session I was referring to. I haven’t heard that in almost 25 years. Someone at BBC York knew a British gentleman living in Memphis at the time and asked him to sit in on the session and assist with our . . . uh. . . . . “English”. I don’t remember the man’s name. Although he knew nothing about music or broadcasting, we probably would have failed “dialect 101” without his assistance. He sat in the control room with me the entire day coaxing a more authentic fake Yorkshire accent from the studio. Back then, smoking was allowed in the studios and he ask if it were OK to smoke his pipe. I was a heavy cigarette smoker at the time, so I offered no objection. I don’t know what blend of tobacco he was smoking but it gave me a headache similar to a migraine being chased by a tequila hangover. He was such a pleasant and cordial gentleman I didn’t have the heart to ask him to stop, but the session went on without a hitch.

Theniceguy/SeanMartin: forgive me, I’m probably going butcher the name, but I believe Tanner was rep’d in The Netherlands by Ren Groot (is that correct spelling?? I fell like a dumb-ass, but I’m used to it.) In the ‘80s, Side 1 of Trendsetter was written by Mark Blumberg and the Side 2 by Sam Shoup. Sam also wrote “The Best” which is one of my favorites from back then. Portraits was another. In the ‘70s, Sound of Broadcasting was written by Dee Barton, a bulldozer of a personality, who also wrote the soundtrack to several Clint Eastwood movies — Play Misty For Me, High Planes Drifter, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and another that escapes me. They were also recorded at PepperTanner East and Tanner 5A, but that was before my time.

[Barras]

Pleased it got the neurons going stranger !

Here`s another cut from the BBC Radio York package, I think this cut demonstrates the high quality musicianship at Tanner – in my ears, musically this sounds like a TV theme from the 1980s, another great jingle however…

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1236678080_3680_FT69239_tanner_bbc_radio_york_the_only_station.mp3 filename:tanner_bbc_radio_york_the_only_station.mp3

Barras

[theniceguy]

Correct Stranger
The representative for Europe was Ren Groot of Top Format Productions in Haarlem, The Netherlands. He did a lot of busines with Tanner and Zack Hernandez (if i remember correctly). The relationship ended soon after 1986 when Top Format made a deal with JAM. Partly because the quality of the Tanner material. (A lot of empty sounding outdated synths). But the main reason was that the client stations heard of JAM and wanted that stuff resung. I took a lot of time convincing Jon that Top Format could do the job. Jon prefered resings in Dallas and did not wanted to part with copies of the mastertapes. But after the go a relationship blossomed that still is intact to this day.

[mbMember]

Credit where it's due I think Top Format do a fantastic job in so many languages it's a great partnership.

[barrydavidallanbda]

When you listen to a great jingle ..Its a work of art in just 10 secs……..and that package works so well

barras
Would each of the cuts have the same singers , some sound more upbeat.. one change of a voice could do that and maybe a 5 or 7 voice sing …For some reason the Tony Blackburn sounds “big” in the mix and yet its the same jingle (ckcut.mp3)

[JAM / PAMSMember]

you can see why in contrast so many Collectors & professionals alike have such high respect for people such as Jon Wolfert, who really DO know their business inside out!)

Thank you very much. I really do appreciate the compliment.

PS. Hi Paul. I suggest you start a new thread and tell everyone the tale of John Pepper.

[Barras]

barrydavidallan wrote:
barras
Would each of the cuts have the same singers , some sound more upbeat.. one change of a voice could do that and maybe a 5 or 7 voice sing …For some reason the Tony Blackburn sounds “big” in the mix and yet its the same jingle (ckcut.mp3)

You`re asking the wrong person – hopefully Jon Wolfert will see your question and answer for you…here`s the jingle audio again of what you`re referring to…

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1234876872_3680_FT69239_ckcut.mp3

Barras

[IainJohnstonMember]

Heading just a little back on track regarding “Simple & Free”…

While on the Ben Freedman's site today, what do I find but him offering (legitimately
one assumes of course!) re-sings of Simple & Free as well as various other “classic” P-T stuff

[IainJohnstonMember]

(..hopes audio links this time…)

1) here's the “classic” Pepper-Tanner “end-tag” that would appear on the end
of most P-T demos (the lyric really relates to ADVERTISING jingles, as the ID stuff
was really a sideline)

2) and the demo of the Fun One, as discussed this week on JM

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1237387248_75_FT69239_peppertanner-tag.mp3 filename:peppertanner-tag.mp3

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1237387248_75_FT69239_pt-demo-funone.mp3 filename:pt-demo-funone.mp3

[martinlesterMember]

Wixy1360 wrote:
Heading just a little back on track regarding “Simple & Free”…

While on the Ben Freedman's site today, what do I find but him offering (legitimately
one assumes of course!) re-sings of Simple & Free as well as various other “classic” P-T stuff

This is the same arrangement KenR used to have as he also sold re-sings of old TM Tracks,on Bens site it does state
Pepper Tanner Jingles produced with permission from TM Studios, Dallas

Regards

Martin

[Anthony]

Cheers Wixy I have those two, which I downloaed a few days ago. Going through the second I must have missed this one. The end gives me a tingle factor of about 7.5.

Cheers,
GK

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1237390657_13422_FT69239_krla_with_the_weather.mp3 filename:krla_with_the_weather.mp3

[TServo2049]

Regarding “Music K Productions,” I don't even know if it could be considered a real production company. It was basically just Chris Kershaw, to the point that the address on their demo boxes was Kershaw's house address.

Music K's jingles were, as others have probably said, produced at the Sundance studios on Insurance Lane, the same ones where the Thunder/Tanner jingles were done. (The jingles attributed to the Sundance Organization were basically “Music K” productions as well.)

I remember hearing one Tanner/Thunder demo (it was specifically promoted as Tanner, not Thunder, so it must have been a later edit) which said “Produced by Music K Productions for the William B. Tanner Company.” I think it was either Super O or OK Country…

[m_hodgeyMember]

As this topic is all about Tanner’s “Simple and Free” package, I thought this topic would be the perfect place to post about my latest re-sing from iJingles.

I've always liked the William B Tanner “Simple & Free” package written by Chris Kershaw, with cut 24 being the pinnacle cut in my opinion. My affection for this cut was emphasised in 2007 when Pete Wilson was the first person to have it re-sung at iJingles to celebrate his 30 years of jingle collecting. More recently, Nicky Schiller had this cut re-sung in late 2009.

My re-sing features the lovely Cheryl Cleavenger on lead vocals and lyrics penned by Dave Nightingale on a lunch break in June 2009. Thanks Dave! You will note I have changed the lyrics very slightly at the end.

Take a listen here: http://www.markhodgkinson.co.uk/marksjingles.htm

Finally, if anyone hasn’t read this forum thread from the beginning, I whole heartedly recommend you do so as it is a great insight into, not only the Simple and Free package, but the evolution of Tanner in the early 70’s.

[ratnobMember]

Stunning. Like many of the old timers here, “Simple and Free” remains one of my all-time favourites, and this is beautifully sung. Thanks Mark

[Bigdave]

Love it,Mark!

It's always good to hear the finished product,and that sounds great!

[Barras]

That`s the kind of lunch break I would like to have, eat food, drink, be merry and write jingles !

Nice one Mark & Dave, superb jingle….

[SeanMartin]

topcat wrote:
Well I figure I might as well pipe my two cents in here.

As Sean has pointed out, Cheryl was the original lead vocalist on this package, produced at Thunder. Someone recently told me that Brian Beck wrote this package, but all I hear is Chris Kershaw on the package “counts”.

MPF dug deep to pull out the backing track for Pete Wilson's 30 years of collecting cut. Greg Clancy wrote the charts, as mentioned, for the final product.

As I pointed out in another thread, the WKWX version of “Simple & Free” was actually sung at TM, produced at the time by Tony Griffin.

Also, there were actually FOUR versions of the demo:

1. WCOD Version, included in this thread. – Dallas Vocals
2. WDRC Simple & Free (Unnarrated) – Dallas Vocals
3. WDRC Friendly & Free (Unnarrated) – Dallas Vocals
4. WDRC Land of the Free (Unnarrated) – Relyric for 1976 Bicentenial with CRAPPY Memphis vocals.

Tanner thought that WDRC was a bigger station than WCOD, hence the revised demos. WDRC used the package on the air following their utilization of TM's WHERE YOUR FRIENDS ARE and on the FM, Custom TM Acappellas. The station is 20 mins down the road and I dubbed all of this stuff off of their station masters.

Tanner shut down Thunder and brought the tracks back to Memphis to be sung. They thought the vocal group there was good enough. They weren't. I could be mistaken, but I believe that Jon Wolfert engineered the original Thunder sessions.

There is some really fascinating information in this thread, from the audio exhibits to the details recounted by the Dallas jingle thoroughbreads

Does anyone, by any chance, have copies of the other demos which Tracy refers to above, besides the WCOD one?

Thanks!

-Sean

[bobgreenradioMember]

question: im new here. the idea of a site like this is wonderful. so why does this site work like crap? for 2 weeks everything (96%) i click to listen to returns 'file not found'…then after a few failures i get a notice that ive exceeded my limit! give me a break!
i go to the 'contact us' function only to discover it doesnt work either. something is not in it, or whatever….

how sad.

so am i the only one with these issues? how the hell does one go to the stuff being discussed to listen, if, it doesnt work?
anyone know of another site to try? plus…now that i signed up, i get stuff (semispam). is that kosher too?

[Barras]

SeanMartin wrote:
Does anyone, by any chance, have copies of the other demos which Tracy refers to above, besides the WCOD one?

Thanks!

-Sean

Hi Sean,

here`s a version of Mark`s cut for WDRC, I`ll try and upload some more later…

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1266955329_3680_FT69239_wdrc.mp3 filename:wdrc.mp3

[Barras]

And another…

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1266955765_3680_FT69239_radio_steinbak.mp3 filename:radio_steinbak.mp3

[topcat]

LenGroat wrote:
oh WooooW! What an audio feast tonight..

I have NEVER tired of 'Simple & Free', to me it's the perfect 'commercial pop' jingle package.. the Genius of Chris Kershaw

GREAT Drums, strings, vocals ~ clever instrumental and vocal part writing; 'Doobie Brothers meets Fifth Dimension, with a spice of Gospel thrown in..'

….and this selection shows how good it was… and IS !

Well done on the Peter Wilson re-sing.. that lyric REALLY fits and is amusing

I guess the singing was at JAM, the overall sound is as the originals, and the same lead vocalist all these decades later ~ Abbey ?

Actually, I pulled the 8-track multi-track of SIMPLE & FREE for iJingles to resing the cut for Pete Wilson. It was sold through Sean Martin and sung at TM. The lead vocal… original Tanner/Thunder version AND the Pete Wilson resing… was done by Cheryl Cleavenger (not Abby).

The package was written by Chris Kershaw.

-TC

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