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1910 Fruitgum Co.'s 6th album?   


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  28th Feb 2021, 12:13 AM#1  REPORT  
OrionsRecordCollection1998

On Buddah Records, Of Course!
Member since Mar 2014
102 Points
I'm not sure if this has been discussed on here already, but might as well in case anybody is interested in talking about it.

For those who may or may not know, there was a 6th album released sometime in 1970/1971. Also around this time there was a single released in Germany with the tracks Lawdy, Lawdy b/w The Clock. Although, a Japanese pressing had Happy Song as the B side instead of The Clock.

I've known about the tracks Lawdy, Lawdy and The Clock existing for a long time already (since 2014 or 2015?) Once I knew about them, that's when I heard about a 6th album existing. As time went on, I eventually discovered that the album was released in a few countries. As of writing this, German, French, and Japanese pressings exist.

After digging a bit further, turns out the album might've had a name. The German pressing has the title Happy Songs while the Japanese pressing calls it Happy Song. However, the French pressing is self-titled.

Here's some interesting information I found out about the Japanese pressing of the album and single: turns out the single had the lyrics to Lawdy, Lawdy and Happy Song and the album contained all of the lyrics to the songs that appear on the album (listed as "words.") Both the single and album might have some liner notes, however they're in Japanese. So that could be a good lead and might give us some clues. (Note: The lyrics are typed in English.)

What's alluded me the most about this album if the album was released in the US or any other countries throughout the world. As far as I know, there isn't a lot of information aside from a rumored US release of Lawdy, Lawdy/The Clock on the Attack label.

Here are some Discogs links of the aforementioned releases of these singles and albums:
German pressing of Lawdy, Lawdy/The Clock
Japanese pressing of Lawdy, Lawdy/Happy Song
French, German, and Japanese pressings of the album


  14th Apr 2021, 5:28 PM#2  REPORT  
CorporalClegg

KinoTata, Ha-ha!
Member since Mar 2016
414 Points
My understanding on the background of some of the tracks:

-"Mary Wanna" appears on the cover of their Indian Giver LP, but doesn't appear to have been included on any pressings. No clue who writer A. Roberts is.

-"Candy Cane" was, according to Scott Dworkin via this YouTube posting, intended to be the followup to the Charles E. Funk Rebellion's "Lovin' Cup."

-"Sweetness of Soul" (mispelled Sweatness!) appears to have been written by Jim Tragas of Lt. Garcia's Magic Music Box (also known as The Echoes/The Scoundrels) and sounds like it was recorded by them. This appeared on a Super K Kollection CD.

-"Cheers To You" by one time member Chuck Trois later turned up on his solo LP Chuck Trois & The National Bank.

-The remaining tunes appear to be various outtakes or later day recordings by the group. "The Clock," "Go Out In The Rain" and "Feelin' It" all turned up on Super K Kollection CDs, while an alternate take(!) of "Bingo" appeared on the CD. The Repertoire CD of the 1910 singles also includes "Lawdy, Lawdy."


  14th Apr 2021, 7:23 PM#3  REPORT  
Twistin

Member since Jan 2012
2055 Points
This album was posted more than 10 years ago to a classic bubblegum mailing list by a user who bought both the French and German issues. He reported that the sound quality was abysmal on both, but I think the French version was worse with unacceptable amounts of tape hiss throughout.

I wish I still had the original comments that accompanied the posting, but I do have a follow-up by a different user, most of which duplicates CorporalClegg's comments, but I'll share it anyway:
Quote:
In case anyone is still interested in the "Happy Songs"
"album" by "1910 Fruitgum Co." (there's a reason for all
those quotes), I've found that at least 6 of the 10 songs on
it are available on CD, five of them in identical versions as
far as I can tell. The sixth, "Bingo", is available in a different
version as "Bingo, Bingo" on the Super K Kollection Volume 2.

So here's a list of where you can find the other five tracks
from "Happy Songs" that I found on CD:

1) The Clock - The Super K Kollection Vol. 1, Track 8
2) The Sweetness of Soul - The Super K Kollection Vol. 1,
Track 11. The artist on the CD is listed as Fat Man's Music
Festival, but it is the same recording on the "Happy Songs"
album where it is credited to 1910 Fruitgum Co.
3) Go Out In The Rain - The Super K Collection Vol. 2, Track 4
4) Candy Cane - The Ohio Express - The Super K Kollection,
Track 4. Again, the exact same recording. Attributed to the
Ohio Express on a CD collection of their Super K years, but
the "Happy Songs" LP, which certainly precedes the CD
timewise, is supposedly an album entirely by the 1910
Fruitgum Co..
5) Feelin' It - The Super K Kollection, Vol. 2, Track 14.
The Super K Kollection CD lists the artist of "Feelin' It"
as Crossfire, but it is the same recording as the one used
on the Happy Songs album by 1910 Fruitgum Co.

I would venture a guess that the songs credited to other
artists on CD were indeed by other artists, not the 1910
Fruitgum Co., which oddly enough is one of the few bubblegum
groups which had some cred as to actually existing. So this
shoddy "album" doesn't do them any good for any kind of
credibility, which is probably why it didn't come out here.

But if you're like Doug and that tape hiss drives you crazy,
at least half of the album is available on CD, albeit
credited to the groups that most likely really did the songs.

I just spun up the lead track "Happy Song", which is at least bubblegum, unlike a lot of this set. An outtake I'm guessing, but K&K surely would have sped it up at least a half step before releasing it -- a production practice they often performed, according to a recent Australian radio interview with Mark Gutkowski. (Needs a better mix, too, IMHO)

Here's a downloadable version of that interview, it's a gem:
Mark Gutkowski Purple Haze Interview


  16th Jun 2021, 12:53 AM#4  REPORT  
Break-In Master

Member since Dec 2013
250 Points
http://www.bsnpubs.com/buddah/buddahstory.html

This MIGHT be of some help. I just checked the early `70's section of the discography and didn't see anything about the 6th album but, as there's a few records missing from this list, maybe it's one of those. Was it even ON Buddah?


  16th Jun 2021, 5:12 AM#5  REPORT  
Twistin

Member since Jan 2012
2055 Points
"Happy Songs" was never released on Buddah and is almost certainly unofficial. The title song doesn't even sound completed -- ie, the second part of the first verse vocal (..."an easy phrase" to "bring happy people down") sounds unrehearsed and experimental -- not like a final produced take. Plus, after the first chorus, it sounds like it's missing overdubs...then after the second chorus is an instrumental verse (maybe a solo or horns section was intended?) It also appears to be a mix of lead vocalists, including Mark. Frankly, the whole song sounds like an unfinished underdub that was abandoned ¾ of the way to completion. Since that album is a cobbled-together mix of miscellany, it's hardly canon in any way.


  17th Apr 2022, 10:33 PM#6  REPORT  
CorporalClegg

KinoTata, Ha-ha!
Member since Mar 2016
414 Points
Finally tracked down an answer on "Mary Wanna": according to a post from the man himself on an old Spectropop page, the song was penned by Austin Roberts, but K&K pulled it from the album after finding out it'd already been copyrighted under a different publisher. Still curious about where "Go Out In The Rain" came from.


  18th Apr 2022, 6:27 AM#7  REPORT  
Twistin

Member since Jan 2012
2055 Points
CorporalClegg wrote:
Finally tracked down an answer on "Mary Wanna": according to a post from the man himself on an old Spectropop page, the song was penned by Austin Roberts, but K&K pulled it from the album after finding out it'd already been copyrighted under a different publisher. Still curious about where "Go Out In The Rain" came from.

Yeah, I was going to suggest Austin Roberts after the first mention of A. Roberts -- he has very good bubblegum cred, but I got sidetracked with other details. Good detective work, CC (as always!) I hope maybe Becky Ebenkamp (from the Bubblegum OD weekly podcast) can get Mark Gutkowski to do an interview sometime, then she could ask about that song and anything he might know about this strange, unofficial release.


  1st Nov 2022, 11:12 PM#8  REPORT  
stereotom

Member since May 2012
2553 Points
My Japanese pressing of the album actually sounds quite good... though, as has been mentioned previously, the songs often sound like unfinished recordings or demos. Mary Wanna sounds like a different mix than a version I had found on the internet once (which was a very hissy recording). Perhaps the session tapes got leaked elsewhere and mixed differently for the other releases?


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