Oddity Archive: Episode 175 - Record Ripoffs Vol. 9 (HITS on the ‘60’s!)
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- A special limited addition-because we don’t think this’ll sell too well.
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I was suffering from a minor anxiety spell at the time I first watched this...however, the hilarious commentary successfully pulled me out of it, so thank you, and kudos on another outstanding RRO installment!
You have a real talent for this - every ripoffs episode is packed full of comedy gold. I think the best part is the TV ad part, on top of the hilarity, it scratches that nostalgia itch so well. And in this one, 1 7/8 reel... it's also a satisfying 50+ years later dig at record companies for cheaping out and going to 3 3/4 ips for open reel releases to save pennies, relegating what could have been a top-quality release of an album to not nearly as good as the record. R2R decks were expensive... anyone buying R2R releases were after quality, not economy. Blasted accountants/management.
The cover of "Young Girl" sounds like it was sung by Herbert from Family Guy. Though I don't think she's his type.
18:17 That IS Bobby Russell singing his own song. About the time he did this, he had a comical(sort-of) song issued on the Elf label(through the Bell/Amy/Mala label group), "1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero" c/w "Let's Talk About It". This was in 1968.
He also had a similar hit, "Saturday Morning Confusion," on United Artists around 1970.
Those Beatles covers.... I mean... how they massacred my boys. 😭
They emulated Karaoke
@@robfriedrich2822 yeah, bar karaoke. Lol
In addition to knockoff artists on the Hit label, many of the artists including Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Jim Nabors, Ed Ames (formerly of the Ames Brothers), and many more did Beatle covers on so many underrated albums.
And let’s not forget the musicians including the Hollyridge Strings. They did a series of albums that includes instrumental versions of Beatles songs in “The Beatles Songbook”. Works with Karaoke.
"It fits in like a cheerleader at a tractor pull." By Jove, what imagery!
The move to Sioux falls has changed Ben.
At the beginning,a cheerleader appears!
Great video Ben! I loved the infomercial opening. Keep up the good work!
I remember a record of the English band ,The Mersey Beats with lackluster classic British invasion hit cover knockoffs.
Pickwick is an offender in the sound-alikes stakes, so was EMI's Music For Pleasure label which(seemingly) supplied its recordings to Canada's ARC label in the late 1960s. But Pickwick and Music For Pleasure(EMI) DID issue quite a lot of "original artist" content that WAS genuine and authentic recordings.
It's amazing that these keep on giving. You would've think that by 8 episodes there wasn't anything special left.
Now that I think about it, I believe there hasn't been much from the 80's and I know there were some.
25:13 The Now Generation sounds like a radio station. "92.1 KLAK-FM - 92.1 The Now Generation, the hits of today"
27:45 Sounds like Me playing guitar hero
It's hilarious hearing the southern accents in "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat."
Sid & Marty Krofft has a posse!
The knockoff version of "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" is credited to Jackie And The Giants.
"Congratulations, you've just made Herman's Hermits sound like Scandinavian Black Metal by comparison."
Best. Ed line. Ever.
It would be more fitting to play these knockoff records on a lower quality turntable such as a Crosley Cruiser. Schlock on schlock.
For sure. People who were too cheap to buy the actual albums/singles back then probably cheaped out on their equipment, too. That's a pretty safe assumption to make, I think.
A Crosley is too kind. I once used someone's Dansette-style record player with a BSR deck, and its arm must have weighed 12-15 grams! Swarf coming off as you play them.....
That audio technica is hardly a great TT, and that looks like some cheap $20 cartridge, so I would say yes this TT is appropriate for this mosuc.
Looking the line of light bouncing around the 26 hits record is quite hypnotic. Until you realise that's all due to warping vinyl, that is.
i waited all year for this benny boy you're such a entertaining person and love your knowledge on guilty pleasure useless stuff
God, that was horrible! Thanks Ben for some more moldy knockoff oldies.
4:27 Kings Road, the original Virtual Self
Another parody commercial!
Hits on the 60's is now throwback music video clip.
- Ben
27:35 That’s Centennial Park in Nashville. It’s the bow of the confederate ship USS Memphis set in concrete.
31:50 The guitar sounds decent. Not like it’s hard to find a Telecaster and Fender amp in Nashville...
the zombies play samba = the sambies!! hahahaha! best! i freakin love all your record rip off episodes and this one is no exception.. especially to me as a german (who of course never has heard of any of those records before), this is hardcore-fun-entertainment! half an hour of perfect band-timing, angel like voices and missing or detuned instruments! looking forward to vol. 10!!
Honestly, "Berlin Melody" sounds more like a bastardized rip on "Spanish Flea."
If it hasn't been mentioned already, Lou Reed began his career as a songwriter/musician with Pickwick Records. He wrote a parody dance song called "The Ostrich" and threw together a band ("The Primitives") for live performances that included his future Velvet Underground bandmate, John Cale.
"The Ostrich" ua-cam.com/video/5r998weOUiM/v-deo.html
Ben talked about pre-Velvets Lou Reed on the Pickwick episode.
I just arrived and I know this video is going to be good just seeing from the intro.
I own two Now Generation LPs, the one I thought that contained "original" music (a self-titled LP), actually compiled a bunch of songs from artists that were on the Spar label. That Bobby Russell guy had some great talent. It's a shame he's not that well known.
I think my Music Appreciation teacher played the one at 30:18. It was in the beginning of the semester and he was talking about the evolution of Audio formats and he brought up how he thought he got the actual song only for it to be a soundalike.
Well well...….there is "Worms" Nebraska again.....still funny!!
Ben is the master at the art of the parody
18:27 Gaah! oh geez that scared me
Lost it at "..can´t tell if east or west"! (I´m from east Berlin ;-))
Best cover video so far, I laughed and laughed, Keep up the great work Ben
That's a cover of Deep Purple's cover of Neil Diamonds Kentucky Women.
Nice Dickie Goodman-esque cut during the first box segment intro 😂
29:15 more polite than the original and the drummer took neighborhood's complaints seriously.
I'd listen to those oldie covers and likely not notice it. Sounds enjoyable enough.
Wow, some of this stuff is down right painful!
Used to see these albums in places like Woolco for $1.99 back in the day.
I don't want to hear what the really bad ones are like.
I'm in the same boat, I really don't know clooooooooooouds at all.
Pickwick did a full two record Beatles cover album and it was hilariously horrible.
I can actually visualize you in 20 or 30 years ragging on axl rose. Not that this would be a difficult person to rag on as his voice is about as charming as fingernails on a chalkboard.
Hit Records needs a lead "S".
The Countdown Singers' version of One Night in Bangkok really needs to be covered here at some point.
Hell yes it does
Just like the old snl spoof commercials. I get mad cause I actually want to buy the product.
Wow. Comedy is definitely on point for this episode. Had many a good chuckle at some of the comments. Maybe it's just been too long since a good Record Rip-Off episode. Top Drawer, Kensington.
19:54 This sounds like a younger version of the dude that sang on that knockoff FM soundtrack album.
19:25 The singer was doing some rehearsal and after this he said "not my song" and left they alone with the demo.
I love how the fake ad at the beginning of these Record Ripoff episodes has a Yes reference in the address.
So much of me wants to travel back in time and sing on one of these records.
Rip off records doesn't speak about artists or create a non existing band.
oh god that cover of "if you wanna be happy"
was that supposed to be backing vocals because it sounds like a cat being skinned alive
The original song was plenty annoying but this ... THIS knockoff can be used to drive customers away from whatever venue you played it at (convenience store, coffee shop, sandwich joint -- on that might have to get a vomit clause).
You were wrong, it's "Judy in the sky" and "Sitting on the dog of the bay"
0:04
The correct song name is "Sitting on the dog of eBay"
No wonder Jimmy Buffett started singing about cheeseburgers and island paradises. A man can only take so much recording cheap covers of popular hits for a fly-by-night label!
Honestly, Clarksville and Pretty Woman weren't too bad. Instrument wise.
Ahhh, finally here after seeing the teaser last week
Wasn't the term "hit" used for a dose of LSD back in the 60's and 70's ? A hit of acid ? Or am I just having a flashback that was experienced by someone else who took a hit back in the 60's or 70's ?
23:45 Not only did those songs of 1970 peak in 1969, but 1970 ended the 1960s, just as 2020 today's actually is last 2010s ABout a few cheerleadeer references, in addition to the one behind "Bobby Marlboro"'s"Runny".(Performed by "Bobby Hussell")(Hey, there weas "Taste of Runny", by Bobby Snott)(
Ben, since you're in the 60s ripoffs now... it's time for The Surfsiders' Beach Boys Songbook!
It's residing in the candidate pile for an all-tribute album episode.
@@OddityArchive ...nice!
Pest Sounds?
14:50 possibly written for Irving Berlin?
When I go to flea markets and garage sales, I'll buy a box of 45s if the price is right. Most of them seem to have at least one HIT 45. Most of them are truly wince-inducing. I sometimes wonder if the people who produced these things had their teenage kids ask their friends in crappy local garage bands to just come on in and cut a record.
I'd love to hear a whole version of the awful knock off of Herman's Hermits.
26:44 it's a minus one for bass players
That original HIT tune needs to be in a David Lynch film.
I wonder how many people googled Worms, Nebraska. :sigh, I did:
13:30 Ah, it's "Eight dB too much reverb"
The pretty woman wasn't badly engineered as the other tracks of the album.
I think it’s the same drummer as the original.
I believe it's the same drummer and lead guitarist.
I wonder if Leslie is related to Melinda? "HELLO, MELINDA!"
That Connie Francis imitator has got it goin' on. Thanks for saving the best for last.
I was not fooled by "Those Were the Days." Mary's version sounds nothing like that.
Dave Porter Neither was I.
Please, please put that HITS!(R) 45 up with the banshee vocal from hell in it's entirety. In fact, put up everything you got here! Love stuff like this - on a par with cuts from Hallmark Records (check 'em out. "My feet start tappin'" by Adolf Babel is a good place to start). That last 45 would make a great burglar alarm, BTW.
Someone else has already posted it. ua-cam.com/video/MA3HV4OKlXQ/v-deo.html
I remember seeing Hit and Spar Records as a kid, and just ran into some of them at a used record shop in Memphis a couple of days ago. More info on Hit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_Records
www.discogs.com/label/113951-Hit-Records-4
Something interesting I ran into looking at a discography: www.discogs.com/artist/2062256-Dick-Martin-3 This is a version of Hello Muddah Hello Faddah by Dick Martin from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in.
Also here's some info on Spar records: www.discogs.com/label/75771-Spar-Records
What I think is a RIP off is the albums of hits that are re-recordings. I have a couple of 60s and 70s hits like that. They don't even list that they are re-recordings.
This first record is almost certainly a US pressing of the British Top of the Pops series which started in Aug 1968 and released a volume roughly every 10 weeks until 1981. Some of the recordings are songs from mid - late 1968 and its hilarious when they have white guys trying to do "Black" songs
I wrote a blog post years ago, and included a clip of some country singer trying to sing the Ken Boothe version of Everything I Own. You can compare and contrast both:
blog.fluteboy.co.uk/2014/06/
6:00 confess, you sang this
Didn't even bother to spoof the name "Nancy Sinatra" at the beginning, even though I always enjoy these videos..(1:36) "Fancy Sinatra>.
you can at least say that these are a clever way to get around UA-cam's copyright matches
I found someone, crimso, on SoulSeek, who has that Now Generation album!
Can you do record ripoffs (and originals too) by famous actors?
William shatner comes to mind, but I know there are others.
Hey Ben, could you do an episode on HitClips?
6:09 Now, ladies and gentlemen, the Oddity Archive brings you "For Once in My Life", as performed by some guy who confuses Stevie Wonder and Jackie Wilson.
7:07 That voice sounds familiar from one of your kid record vids.
13:15 It's "put the Beatles imitation into a subway station"
And icecrrream castles in the airrr.
That's "edition", not "addition". (Of course, you are adding this episode to the other ones, so...)
HINT: Read the back cover of "26 Top Hits".
23:24 I'm sorry Ben, but 1970 is still in the '60s, 1971 was the first year of the '70s.
Man that stuff is desecrating your sweet Audio Technica turntable.
As the 1960s get further and further in the rearview mirror (this week I realized that in 2020, 1980 will have been 40 years ago--EEEK!), I used to think really old bad soundalikes were relatively benign, but not in this case. These are simply EVIL as "budget records" go. The covers by the really big groups of the era (The Beatles, The Stones, The Monkees) are not just bad, they're downright disrespectful, and I'm still astounded that this kind of stuff was foisted on the public.
My question to you, dear Ben, is something I've probably asked before: Where are the modern soundalikes (the very first Record Ripoffs featured a modern knockoff, of that one band's song "Pay Phone" ... ). Clearly whole albums of soundalike music seem limited to the 1960s-1970s-barely into the 1980s ... I guess as close as we get to soundalike music today might be certain commercials ... ESPECIALLY ads for pharmaceuticals?
The more recent they are, the more trouble they tend to be with YT. Last year's episode was a prime example--the '90's material was (and occasionally still is) a problem.
6:17 A horrendous version of Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life" , a gross insult to Stevie and the song's composers, Ron Miller and Orlando Murden.
A young and struggling Elton John once covered a Stevie song for a ripoff LP. Make of it what you will:
ua-cam.com/video/3rhwyELzzbk/v-deo.html
For once in my life - the singer can't hide how he hates his job
Just what was the blood alcohol level of the singer for the Connie Francis sounds like?
I knew Herman's Hermits were trve kvlt.
0:59 Jamie Lynn Spears?
"Countdown" is also a fake cover band and the company is like the Australian bar tender, saying "a beer" when you want coffee. They keep the lie
Hey, how did these not get destroyed by the FCC or something?
Nooo, not that Judy Collins song!!! She doesn’t deserve that!!
6:10 The singer wasn't available so they ask a person in a park
Sammy Davis Jr.?
I know they don't exactly qualify as a "record rip-off" candidate, but have you ever considered covering those "Sing-A-Long With Mitch" albums that seem to populate every thrift store across the nation? I've bought quite a few of them through the years for a cheap laugh, but apart from my mom telling me Mitch had a TV show with the same name, I know next to nothing about the man, the records, the show, or anyone else involved with said projects. I'm sure you'd be able to find quite a few records next time you go thrifting, but if there happens to be a "Sing-A-Long with Mitch" drought in your neighborhood, I'd be happy to donate my copies. A couple still include the perforated lyric sheets you were meant to pass around to guests at your party-a-long with "Sing-A-Long with Mitch" parties.
Or did you cover him a while back and it's slipped my memory? If it was a few years ago, there's a pretty big chance I've watched it and completely forgotten about it, I've been following the Archive for well over 100 episodes, after all.
Sony would give me hell over the Sing Along With Mitch albums. Mitch Miller was the head of Columbia Records, ya know.
@@OddityArchive I did not know that! Interesting. I totally get why you couldn't get away with covering the subject, too. That's a bummer but I really can't blame you. Regardless, I look forward to seeing what you have in store for future episodes!
I have the seocnd. July 4 would have been his birthday.