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 Posted By: Jim Liddane on: 06/06/2010 20:45:52 EDTSubject: RE: The Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me - 1959 |
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This was an unusual recording and having been a great fan of the Fleetwoods, is one I have always been fascinated by. In most cases, somebody records a backing track and overdubs the vocalists later. This was exactly the opposite. What happened is that the group, known as Two Girls & A Guy, having been discovered by a local record plugger Bob Reisdorf, recorded the vocals acapella (there were over 100 versions on file!) over a period of about six months. The song was initially titled "Come Softly". No instruments were used - Gary Troxel kept time by hitting his car keys off a desk and Reisdorf's first idea was to release the song as an acapella novelty just in Seattle. The vocal sessions took place at the Joe Boles Studio at 3550 SW Admiral Way, Seattle, where "Walk Don't Run" by the Ventures, and "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen and Bobby Darin's original demo of "Dream Lover", were recorded on Boles's Ampex 351-t twin track recorder. Boles was an old big band fan, whose studio had recorded such people as Fred Waring, Buddy Greco, Four Freshmen, the Martin Denny Group, Jack Jones etc., in the 1950's, before moving over to pop and country music, mainly at the behest of Reisdorf and local country star Bonnie Guitar (who also helped co-produce the Fleetwoods vocal tape). Then Reisdorf took a number of the masters to Los Angeles, where bass and guitar were added at the studios used by Libery Records, and using two Libery session musiians. The group were re-named "The Fleetwoods", not after the car of the same name, but because Reisdorf noticed that all three members lived in the same dialling code area of Seattle - namely Fleetwood. The song, re-titled "Come Softly To Me" was finally released on a label set up by Reisdorf, called Dolphin Records. Unfortunately he had failed to do a company search and about a month or so later, the "real" Dolphin Records sued. Bonnie Guitar suggested the new name, Dolton Records, as it sounded quite like Dolphin, but it was too late to chang the label artwork, so the pictures of dolphins remained with the word "Dolton" over-printed. Reisdorf, who plugged records for Liberty, got Liberty Records to press and release the record on Liberty for a few weeks to keep sales going, while they readied the new company. That is why collectors have the same recording on Dolphin, Liberty and Dolton! Great song. |
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