MOON AND MARS, "COPPER PENNY" C/W "BE BY YOUR SIDE," DOOTO 477 (REL. 6/1967)

There’s something about hot weather and soul music. They embrace one another. To celebrate Portland’s early heat wave, here’s an enigmatic soul duet single that may have been recorded in Detroit but found release on the LA indie imprint Dooto in 1967. Please note that date; it has been verified by the following mention in the June 16, 1967 issue of Billboard (the record’s only citation when new):

Misinformation has this record released in 1963. Ten seconds into either side, that claim is rendered laughable. No recordings sounded like this one in that year. It demonstrates how fast changes came to popular music—Black and white—in the 1960s.

One half of Moon and Mars was songwriter Curtis Colbert, who was a D-list composer at Motown Records. This is not meant to imply poor quality; Motown had a fierce hierarchy and some talented creators never got anywhere near the top. Motown’s C and D-lists teem with worthy composers, singers and musicians; it took superhuman effort or a moment of wild luck to get any higher.

One assumes Colbert’s singing partner was Wayne King, the co-writer of “Copper Penny.” Colbert copyrighted both sides of today’s single with the Library of Congress on July 17, 1967—one month after Billboard’s dismissive mention. Had the duo placed this song with other labels, it might have gotten out into the world. It would have sounded great blasting from a car stereo on a hot day that summer. Sixty years later-ish, that’s still a possibility.

“Copper Penny” defines the down-home approach soul music had reclaimed by 1967. It’s in a similar bag to Sam & Dave or James & Bobby Purify, who had chart hits with similar material that year. The song is a clever piece about a guy who finds the titular token—“one little lousy copper penny”—in his meanderings. The coin provides a meet-cute that works out well and the moral of the story is: the little details matter. They connect people.

A simple but punchy arrangement leaves ample room for the duo to harmonize, and it’s hard-edged without being overbearing—a delicate balance music would soon lose for many years. Lack of subtlety did pop music no favors as the ‘60s went into the ‘70s.

“Be by Your Side” is a solo Colbert composition. It’s a philosophical ballad that builds to an intense chanted chorus. It sounds suitable for The Four Tops to have recorded—perhaps as an album track. Its use of natural elements as an analog for the force of love is powerful and well-wrought. Dramatic key changes boost this emotional song further, as do the gritty harmonies of Colbert and King. There’s some double-tracking here and there on this forceful recording that might have been a hit, had anyone heard it. (This sad story gets tedious, doesn’t it?)

The duo made two further singles for the Money label and small LA imprint Fuller Records in late 1967 and early ’68. That appears to be it for them. Colbert wrote or co-wrote such Motown/Tamla numbers as The Monitors’ and Isley Brothers’ “Share a Love with Me,” “Love Vibrations” by Kim Weston and The Marvelettes’ “Girls Need Love and Affection.” By this time, Motown was established on the West Coast, so it’s possible Colbert never was part of the Detroit scene at all. Much of Colbert’s work was unissued when new and has surfaced on CD compilations as UK historians discovered hidden gems in the Motown tape vaults.

Tomorrow: New York folk rock by obscure but good group The Trophies, via a 1966 Kapp Records release. Kind of a mash-up of The Hollies and The Beau Brummels!