Nimbo - Maisie Jones / Forget Her

Nimbo - Maisie Jones


Nimbo - Forget Her


Nimbo sounds exactly like Badfinger on this 1971 single. The harmonies are very Pete & Tommy and the upfront bass playing very McCartney. Nimbo released two 45's on Pye. I haven't yet found a copy of their second 45, a cover of The Bee Gees' "When The Swallows Fly" b/w "Noticeingly By". After the two singles on Pye, they switched to the Motown subsidiary Mowest and changed their name to The Rockits for another couple of 45's. Nimbo members John Wilson and Dave Powell then joined up with Bob Jackson and Tommy Evans of Badfinger to form The Dodgers. Tommy must've heard "Maisie Jones".

Mickey Rooney Jr. from Song on Myspace

Check out Mickey Rooney Jr's MySpace page. You can hear some cool tunes including a song by the Rooney Brothers from 1968. He also has a couple of great unseen photos of Song.

Martin Cerf on Big Star, Feb. 1973

WHEN MY BABY'S BESIDE ME
(Bell-Chilton)
Big Star
Produced by Big Star
Ardent 2902 Time: 3: 20
Flip - In The Street

by Martin Robert Cerf, Phonograph Record Magazine, Feb. 1973

Create-tivity. Inspiration. Sure do mean a hell of a lot fellas. Like I know this cat what's spent over a year completing an album that's supposed to stand for the answer to whatever question you might hope to put up. Sure, from December, 1971 up ta now. So, he just completed the mastering, spent months doin' that, blew all conceivable budgets in the first four months, and he held this really informal audition for some close friends. One of his buddies brought along a lady. The record started. She was asleep within twelve minutes flat.

Still another genius in Baton Rouge spent two years working on his first LP, one of them solo efforts where the guy plays, writes, produces, and amazingly engineers the whole shebang. Well, two years on, in mid-1971, the record was done. Just in time for the first Paul McCartney & Emmit Rhodes one-man-band LPs, and also, somethin' else he couldn't predict happened... two years passed, so when he finished the LP, the entire listening audience had caught up and passed where the guy's musical concepts were...The record never came out.

Then, about three months ago we were introduced to Big Star. Their first LP titled, presumptiously, NO.1 RECORD received just gobs of trade ads. Full color. And about six weeks of those advance "teaser" ads...you know the kind I'm talkin' about, the ones that progress in copy and art every week so that after six consecutive ads, if you save all your back issues of Billboard, you know what they're tryin' ta tell ya 'bout...That's called merchandizen'. So, the advance grease was in the skillet and ready for the test. Well, those that got the record must have been redlined-out, 'cause word has it within four days of receipt, DJ copies the nation over were showin' up in bargain bins everywhere...sealed. In fact, only one really bothered to listen, Jon Tiven, and he quacked in Fusion that, "Big Star are the greatest thing since The Count Five, The Yardbirds..." and so on...In short, the majority got a soft-on for Big Star's NO.1 RECORD.

And if matters weren't bad enuf, their record company which is owned and operated by the clever folk at Stax Records (The Dramatics, Carla Thomas) decided to finally hook up with a major record label, Columbia. And it was the age old situation which goes on every day in this hot biz where a group was caught up in the center of a problem beyond their control.

Oh, I forgot the important thing, the group's record is excellent. Not phenomenal, but certainly excellent. I'm speaking of the single of course, can't vouch for the LP though. Well, like in the first two stories I rambled off, there's a dramatic irony to the Big Star situation. So the record company is sold, group isn't workin', and it appears all is lost. Then this Fusion review comes out, and word of Columbia re-releasing the LP and applying a whole new effort there upon comes down. Terrific, a second chance for an act that well deserves a break. But hold on, now they wanna split up...that's not exactly true, only one member of the band is leavin', that's Chris Bell. But he's an essential part. 'Cause along with Alex Chilton he sang lead vocal and back up harmony, played lead guitar and at least co-produced and arranged all of the group's first LP...so tough shit huh. Nope. There's still this here single. And the AM market doesn't care if the band are androids or computers, long as it's in the plastic. Let me assure you people, this is one of those singles...

Like the first ten seconds explode with -this lead that sounds like The Guess Who at their best with some Alice Cooper thrown in for good measure. Then it forms this riff what coul embarrass Albert Hammond and the Troggs. And lyric content...you lookin' for any teenage these days, we always are, And Chris didn't forget it either..."Don't need to talk to my doctor, don't my shrink, don't need to hide behind no locked door, I don't need to think, 'cause when my baby's beside me I don't worry, when my baby's beside me all I know, when my baby's beside me I don't worry, when my baby's beside me I don't worry"* ...And it gets bitchier and bitchier. Then there's Jody Stephens who's working out on snare 'n cymbal better than the cats on Treat Her Right and Shakin' All Over, his stuff is real elementary, no Elvin Jones here, but it doesn't matter, it's great (like the stuff on early Sonny & Cher singles (i.e., Little Man). And the part about droppin' out of school makes it complete.

Now at first glance this might appear like any number of other fine pop singles available, don't be fooled, this is another Bus Stop, Don't Bring Me Down or Have I The Right. Christ, Alex was with the Box Tops and you know how important all those AGP records from the mid-sixties were, now don't you?

Now there's still 3/4ths of Big Star together. They still have this new LP out there. And there's still this single. Oh, it's got a fine B side too, which could be an A side...In the Street is like The Doobies' Listen To The Music; sounds great on a car speaker or burned out Silvertone. And dumb lyrics...you get a whole shit-load here. Big Star sound like the Byrds too. A lot, really. No, this is a group you don't wanna pass up, believe me. And, you may never hear of them again, God forbid, so let's do what we can to make sure they're around for some time...We suggest you write off the the benevolence at Ardent Records for a free copy of this single, they must have hoards of R/A's by now and they promised to cooperate too! Write to Ardent Records, 2000 Madison Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. (Big Star are as hot as our good buddies - the Raspberries, don't dare miss 'em)...

Pony article from World Pop News 1974

Pony - It's Gonna Be So Easy
Pony - 'Til I Met You

Pony Music Sparks 70's Pop Revolution
Author Unknown (Most likely Greg Shaw?) - World Pop News Vol.1, No.1 - July, 1974

LOS ANGELES - For years now, people have been looking for something new to happen in pop music, some group to come along and cause the excitement that's been absent for so long. And, according to advance reports from the few who've heard their forthcoming album, that group could easily be Pony.

Pony is a new group formed by four young musicians with extensive and varied music backgrounds and an intensive love for rock & roll. They all grew up in the Sixties, weaned on Mersey rock and '60s pop, sharing the same inspirations and respect for the sources of rock music's greatest vitality. Accordingly, Pony's original songs strike one on first impression as the most dynamic new approach to music since 1964.

Dan-Paul Milner and Brad Johnson grew up in the Minneapolis rock scene, which in the years 1964-69 was one of the nation's most prolific regional music centers. Brad got into music through Elliot Fine of the Minneapolis Orchestra, with whom he studied drums for seven years. Dan bought himself a guitar in 1965 at the age of 13 and was soon active in a band called the Visions, which lasted five years on the local circuit. When the Visions disbanded, Dan drifted west to Los Angeles, realizing that a musician could only become so big in Minneapolis, no matter how good he was.

It was in Los Angeles that he met John Polhert, an intense rock fan who had played on and off in groups since: age 13 and was particularly influenced by British pop and its American derivations like the Merry Go Round.

Like many a music-loving kid, he found a job at a record store, where by chance Dan-Paul Milner was also employed part time while waiting for opportunity to knock. It was soon discovered that they shared a similar outlook and philosophy of music. While listening to records popular at that time, inspiration struck: "We can do better," and they wrote the first of several songs together. The group Pony was soon to follow. Ron Jensen, a local friend, was brought in on lead guitar. Ron had several years musical experience himself, having been in his quota of teen groups and played with a fairly successful band out of Denver, the Five O'Clock Rush, during that city's brief mid-sixties peak as a local music center. At that point only a drummer was lacking, so Dan called on his old friend, Brad Johnson, with whom he had shared many a stage back home in Minneapolis. With the semester over, Brad left college and came to Los Angeles to complete the lineup of Pony.

From the start, Pony was a remarkably harmonious blend of talents. All were the same age, in their early twenties, all had cut their teeth on the electric excitement of the British Beat era, all had paid their dues in local bands for the better half of their lives, and when they began working out songs together it was as if they'd been playing with one another for years. Dan-Paul clicked with both John and Ron and together as well as by himself began turning out songs with an astonishing degree of sophistication, as well as energetic vitality and youthful exuberance. Moreover, all four could sing well enough to accomplish the kind of harmonies that had so enraptured them in the records of the Beatles, Hollies, Buffalo Springfield and other mid-sixties groups.

Although only together a short time, Pony has already made giant strides along the proper path to the pop stardom they all so intensely desire. They have gone unerringly to the roots of today's rock, searched out the original spark that has been too long stifled, and with it ignited their own original compositions.

Barry Kaye, the producer of Pony's debut album (scheduled for August release on 20th Century Records), has worked closely with them for nearly a year and deserves much of the credit for developing the group's sound and arrangements. Kaye has this explanation for Pony's startling impact: "It's simple, really. They've arrived where they are today through long years of the kind of dedication and hard experience for which there's just no substitute. On top of that, they have a common ideal of what pop should be and an unusual ability to actualize that ideal in their music. These guys are something special, and they're just what today's music scene needs."

Greg Shaw on Badfinger, PRM 1974

Badfinger
Badfinger (Warner Bros.)
Ass (Apple)
By Greg Shaw - Phonograph Record Magazine, Jan 1974

Two Badfinger albums in one month! What more could a fan ask for after a two year drought? If only it were so... actually, the fans will be asking plenty, and Badfinger has a lot to answer for, because these two mediocre albums are already one of the biggest disappointments of the new year.

Let's start with the Apple album. Nobody knows why it exists. It was never explained why Badfinger mysteriously stopped recording right after "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day", the two biggest smashes of their career, when Nilsson was hot with their song "Without You" and it seemed they were on the verge of becoming truly huge. The most believable story I heard was that they were just sick of Apple, and waiting for their contract to expire. Maybe somehow they were forced to put out one more album before ending the relationship, but how stupid to have it come out the same time as their first release on Warners!

If the Warners album were any good, it would have nothing to fear from the Apple one. Ass sounds like what it probably is, a collection of out-takes and practice tapes. There is a rough, unfinished aura about the album and a lack of really distinctive touches even in the best songs that goes against everything we've come to expect from this polished band. Once known for their exquisitely crafted singles, the best they could do here was "Apple Of My Eye", easily their worst single ever. My choice would have been "When I Say", but that's no big deal. One thing's sure: there's no three or four hit singles on this album -especially not the eight minute "Timeless"!

There are always excuses to make for a bad last album. Not so when you've taken over a year putting together your debut album for a new label. And actually, 'The Warners album is a bit more encouraging. "I Miss You" is an engaging McCartney-esque ballad, "Shine On" and "Love is Easy" make for tolerable listening, "Why Don't We Talk" almost makes it, and "Island" would be really good if it weren't so aimless. That seems to be their problem throughout the album melodies and song structures .are simply not as strong as could be, so that songs like "Where Do We Go From Here?" and "Lonely You" emerge as pleasant where they might, with some effort, have been as striking as the group's previous work.

Once we've faced the fact that Badfinger has not given us a proper sequel to No Dice and Straight Up, it's possible to derive considerable enjoyment from this album. Most of the songs are very nice; only "Matted Spam", which sounds like Buddy Miles, can actually be called bad. This is a good example of minor Beatlerock, definitely worth having, but nothing Grapefruit didn't do as well four years ago. And that's the shame of it, because I was really counting on Badfinger to bridge the gap between mere Beatle stuff and a new level of pop altogether. I believed that they, of all the groups who were trying, had it in them. And maybe they do. But the proof of that will have to come later - if Badfinger can manage to survive the double blow to their career these albums unfortunately represent. For what it's worth, I'm still hoping.

Mike Saunders on Blue Ash, PRM 1974

Blue Ash by Mike Saunders - Phonograph Record Magazine, Jan. 1974

You remember Blue Ash. They put out an album last year that all the critics loved. It was sort of Beatle-Byrdsish, yet quite original in its way, and full of what those who are supposed to know would swear were extraordinarily commercial songs. Yet like other such albums by groups such as Big Star, the Wackers, Stories and the Raspberries, it was totally ignored by radio and the majority of the record-buying public. Stories was lucky enough to score a left-field hit single, but even that didn't draw attention to their other songs, and the rest of the groups have not done so well. In fact with the exception of Blue Ash, they've all broken up or regrouped. How long can Blue Ash survive?

So great bands, bands that might've become the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys of this decade, are forced to grovel in local bar circuits. Maybe that will turn out to be a good thing, in the long run. At least it makes us all the more thankful when a group like the New York Dolls manages a brief breakthrough. For Blue Ash, the breakthrough may never come, but if it doesn't it won't be for lack of talent. Their story could be taken as one of the classic object lessons of our time.

The big question here: Can Blue Ash sell records? That was the topic of discussion during part of Mercury's recent semi-annual sales meeting, according to A&R man Paul Nelson. "Bearing in mind how few copies Blue Ash's album sold, I was a bit apprehensive that the group might be dropped from the label without further discussion," explained Nelson, the man who discovered Blue Ash in a pile of unsolicited demo tapes. "So I was quite frankly surprised, to say the least, when a full two hours were spent discussing the group's music, their future, their strengths and weaknesses"

The decision reached was that Blue Ash will get one more single... If the 45 shows some action, the group then gets to put out a second album (already recorded). If the single flops, Blue Ash will be dropped - and their recording career quite possibly finished before it's even off the ground. Not even a second LP in the tradition of ex-Phonogram stars Bull Angus and Sir Lord Baltimore. Nothing. Nada.

Actually, seeing as how the first album didn't put Blue Ash over, it's unlikely that the second one would either, unless given a N. Y. Dolls-type push. After hearing the rough tapes a few times, it strikes one as less flashy, less immediately familiar than No More No Less - but still good enough to indicate that this is a good, potentially great, group. Curiously, there's only one loud, flashy Mod-ish rocker, "Start All Over Again." The other stand out songs are much less visceral than the bulk of No More, No Less, rocking moderately while stressing melody rather than raw energy.

After being praised as having the guts their fellow Ohioians the Raspberries lacked; it's really kind of surprising to see Blue Ash switching to a lightweight pop emphasis; while the Raspberries have gotten a new bass guitarist and drummer and claim that their next LP will be "very Who-influenced" (they ought to know - Eric Carmen's late 60's group Cyrus Erie used to regularly perform a 14-song Who medley!). But Blue Ash's new stuff is nice anyway. "Halloween Girl" and "With You On My Mind" would sound super on a jukebox at 45 RPM - remember the naivete of "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You"? Three cuts are pretty weak (especially the Berry-influenced "Rock On, Rock And Roller"), indicating that Blue Ash need someone to whip their ensemble sound into shape, a sound engineer who knows what he's doing, and more variation in shading and arrangement from song to song.

What they don't need is the scenario of being dropped from Mercury, turned down by the remaining majors, and finding that they'll have to remain dependent upon their Midwest bar circuit for a livelihood. On the other hand, maybe the only answer these days is to retrench back to some sort of local scene while waiting for something to change in the record biz and American popular music. It's no easy business, playing rock & roll in 1973. A couple examples come to mind: the Flamin Groovies' disastrous past two years in England, after having been turned down by every record label in the U.S. They're now considering moving to Detroit, just so they can play bars and eat regularly again. And a Bay Area group called Earthquake, dropped by A&M after two albums, who have now taken to releasing 45s on their own label, Beserkely Records. The key issue seems to be one summed up a while back by the true Dean of American Rock Critics, Mark Farner, in one word: survival.

You could blame it on lots of things. A rampant breakdown in the field of A&R for one -if you accused the majority of A&R departments of hating hard rock, you wouldn't be wrong. Paul Nelson, renowned for bringing the N.Y. Dolls and Blue Ash to Mercury, knows a lot about the frustrations of battling the inertia everywhere. He had to put his job on the line to get the Dolls, was vetoed by his higher-ups on Elliott Murphy, and ditto with Christopher Bell (the spark behind Big Star's LP and an excellent songwriter). So I asked Nelson, do you ever get frustrated, feel like you're banging your head against a wall, don't you ever just want to grab one of those balding rock-hating company executives by the collar? No answer. So you can imagine what Blue Ash feel like when they can't even find their album on the racks in their home town.

Song on MGM

Song: "Like We Were Before"/"Sugar Lady"; MGM 14157

And speaking of Curt Boettcher, how could we let a Discoveries column go by without the mention of another Boettcher effort? This time it's Song on MGM, a group that featured Mickey Rooney's son. These two sides were produced by Curt and Keith Olsen, and are quite delightful. "Like We Were Before" is the real standout sounding like Badfinger, the Nazz and Merry-Go-Round all rolled into one. Strong melody, excellent vocals and fine instrumentation throughout. "Sugar Lady" is a bit heavier, without any real melody to hook you, but there still are a couple of nice touches. Look for the review of the Song Lp in these pages next issue!
- Alan Betrock, The Rock Marketplace no.4 December 1973

"Like We Were Before" is a perfect song and a perfect record - a mix of heavy guitars and melody with tremendous phased drumming. Just like the Nazz, Song was a band of Anglophile Americans playing powerpop before there was such a thing. That makes "Like We Were Before" both behind the times and ahead of the times.

I don't think Alan Betrock ever got around to reviewing the Song Lp in TRM. I had the single for a year or so before I found the Lp. The first time I brought it home, I had such high expectations, hoping for an album's worth of "Like We Were Before". What I found was closer to an album's worth of "Sugar Lady" - not horrible, but much too wanky. Apparently, this is one of the productions that Curt Boettcher did under duress. He was under contract as a producer, and was doing this album to pay the rent. The good news is that "Like We Were Before" is on it. But so is "Sugar Lady". I shelved the album, thinking Song was only good for one song on one side of one single. Mickey Rooney Jr. was the main songwriter and singer as well as rhythm guitar player. I don't know if this was a vanity project for a Hollywood brat or what.

I came back to the album a year later, though. I found a really cool song called "Eat Fruit" that sounds like an early John Lennon solo track, kind of like one of those Hudson Brothers songs where they sound more like Lennon than he did at the time. There's also a track called "Whenever I Think Of You" that is really catchy and melodic - a mellow Merseybeat sound for the 70's, again like what the Hudson Brothers, the Wackers, Badfinger and Rockin' Horse were doing. The tracks I thought were awful before aren't that bad after all. "Banana High Moon" is really melodic and has great harmonies inbetween frantic bongo-handclap breaks. "10 x 10" is sort of a husky Creedence boogie with some nice jangly Badfinger guitar. On a whole, the first side is great.

Some overly husky vocals on "I'm Not Home", which has a bit of an English Isles folk sound like Fairport Convention. "Wife" is a beautifully understated ballad, like Bread or Paul McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son". "Sugar Lady" and "Meatgrinder" are unexceptional midtempo rockers and "Medicine Man" is a progressive jazz-rock jam complete with a drum solo. So that make's 3 great tracks, 3 good ones and 4 duds. I've read that Mickey Rooney Jr. made some solo records later on. Has anyone out there heard 'em?


Song - Album Lp - MGM SE-4714

Clark Garman: Lead Guitar
Mickey Rooney Jr.: Rhythm Guitar
Rob Lewine: Bass
Shelly Silverman: Drums

Side One
10 x 10 2:28
(Garman - McDonald)
Like We Were Before 2:05
(Rooney Jr. - Covington)
Eat Fruit 2:28
(Garman - McDonald)
Whenever I Think Of You 2:06
(Rooney Jr. - Blanchard)
Banana High Noon 6:00
(Garman - Rooney Jr.)

Side Two
I'm Not Home 3:42
(Rooney Jr. - Sardo)
Wife 1:42
(Rooney Jr.)
Sugar Lady 2:45
(Garman - Rooney Jr. - McDonald)
Meatgrinder 2:58
(Garman - Rooney Jr. - McDonald)
Medicine Man 7:19
(Garman)

Produced by Curt Boettcher &
Keith Olsen for Portofino Productions

A&R Coordinator: Michael Lloyd
Recorded at Sound City