Brief Encounters With Bob Crewe!

Long before, “Lady Marmalade”, “Devil With The Blue Dress On”, and “Cant Take My Eyes Off You”, Bob Crewe, was one of my favorite songwriter and producers. When I was starting out in the music business. “Silhouettes”, “Luck Ladybug”, “Walk Like A Man”, were the kind of songs I wanted to write and “Palisades Park” and “Tallahassee Lassie”, were the kind of records I wanted to produce.

I remember being introduced to Bob for the first time, by publicist/ manager Harriet Wasser in front of 1650 Broadway. We all talked for a few minutes, then he invited me down to Allegro studios, which was in the basement of the building. He was recording a few demos for the Four Seasons and as the afternoon progressed, Bob became more and more dissatisfied with the vocals.

Harriet suggested that he give me a try on vocals since she was familiar with the demos I was doing for publishers around town, that required using a lot of falsetto and singing all the background parts. Although he wasn’t a musician, he was a singer and was able to tell me exactly what he wanted, as well as instilling the confidence in me to execute it. He truly was able to bring out the best in everybody he worked with…like a great director!

He loved the results and a few days later, Bob asked Harriet if she would see if I’d be interested in “being” the Four Seasons for one record? It seems that Bob was having a dispute with the group, and owned the rights to the name and could put out whatever he wanted! Although I was flattered, and wanted a hit record…I wanted to be a solo Rock and Roll Star!

Over the next few years, I’d run into Bob at parties and industry functions, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I had a chance to sit down and talk to him at length. It was up at Motown records in Hollywood, where he had an exclusive production deal. He was up there to play a new mix on a record that Berry Gordy kept turning down, which he played for me,”My Eyes Adored You” by Frankie Valli. I sat there stunned by the incredible record I was listening to…then Bob started to pace back and forth, becoming more and more agitated, then he confessed that he was there to give Gordy an ultimatum!

( To Be Continued )

Copyright 2007 by Artie Wayne

l -r Bob Crewe, Bobby Darin and Ellie Greenwich

Photos at the top- Bob Crewe…Bob and singer/songwriter Eddie Rambeau

To reach Eddie Rambeau
http://www.edrambeau.com

Special thanks to Rosemarie Edwards
http://www.craftweb.org

Stax Records And A Paranormal Connection!

The Memphis sound intrigued me so much that Stax Records became the first stop on my publishing tour of the south. When I was general manager of Warner Brothers Music in 1970, my longtime friend and sometime collaborator, Steve Cropper, who co-wrote “In The Midnight Hour”, “Dock Of The Bay”, “Knock On Wood”, etc., took me around his town, winding up at the offices and studios of the legendary record and publishing organization, East-Memphis music

The company occupied an old movie theater in the ghetto, with a markee that simply said STAX.The reception area, was the place where refreshments were sold, and the recording studio was where the second run movies were once shown.

I was humbled to be in the same studio where Booker T. & The M.G.s, Otis Redding, The Mar-Keys, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, The Barkays, Eddie Floyd, Johnny Taylor and Isaac Hayes made all of those mega-hits!

I’ve always believed that every studio has its own flavor, due to the collective consciousness and spiritual vibrations from all those who have poured out their hearts and souls within its walls. This place was no exception. I walked around mesmerized with the sounds of the late Al Jackson, Jr.’s solid drumbeat from, “Hold On I’m Comin'” running through my head. I even had the urge to yell out, “Play it, Steve!”, but I restrained myself!

Before I had to leave for my next stop, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Steve invited me into the control room to hear some remixes he was doing on the late Otis Redding. It was a spectacular ending to a day I’ll never forget.

Since I became interested in music, I always believed that more than just music is captured in the recording process. Primitive tribes correctly believed that a photographic image of them takes a piece of their soul forever…I believe a recording essentially does the same thing. More than sound and musical content are recorded, retained and reproduced…so are the inaudible vibrations, thoughts, emotions and energy of the lead performer as well as every participant in the studio.

I accepted the psychic fact years ago, that each of us carries with us spirits of our family, friends and ancestors…who carry with them the spirits of their family, their friends and their ancestors. Some of these entities that surround the artists, musicians, and other contributors to the process, mingle with other entities they encounter there. Some like their new environment so much, they stick around and become part the studio’s collective creative consciousness.

As a songwriter/ singer/ producer and publisher, I’ve had the chance to visit recording facilities all over the world where historic sessions have taken place…including Allegro, Associated, Bell sound, Olmstead, Sound factory, Mirasound, A+ R and Atlantic studios in New York, The Sound Factory, A+M, Gold Star, American, M-G-M studios and Cherokee studios in Hollywood, Apple, Trident, Rak studios, EMI studios in Abbey Road, London, the legendary Motown studios, The Record Plant in New York and L.A., Stax, Hi and Sun studios in Memphis, RCA and Columbia recording studios in Nashville, London, New York, and San Francisco to name a few.

Although most studios are routinely cleaned, few, if any are spiritually cleansed. Like a well – used grill at a restaurant, there is a spirit buildup over time that gives each studios end product a distinct flavor.

I’ve been asking artists, musicians, producers and engineers, if they ever experienced any paranormal phenomena in the studios where they worked. If you have any first hand experience please let me know about it.

Thanks and regards, Artie

Copyright 2007 by Artie Wayne

For another article about the paranormal click onto
https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2006/07/13/michael-piller-from-the-other-side/