Tony Orlando, "Talkin' About You" c/w "My Baby's A Stranger," Epic 9491 (rel. 12/1961)

Tony Orlando is back with another of his early singles. He was attached to a group of New York songwriters in the stables of Al Nevins and Don Kirschner. When The Brill Building is evoked in music history, it refers to this general enclave of music biz people who dominated the pop scene in the early 1960s. A lot of schlock ensued (the discographies of Paul Petersen and James Darren, e.g.), but the songwriting team of marrieds Carole King and Gerry Goffin delivered material of high quality. They, too, resorted to dreck at times-the law of averages weighed on them, given the pressure built into their avocation. 

With Nevins, Kirschner and other music-biz mavens and their constant demands, plus their own built-in expectations (they had to deliver the goods and they had to be better than the work of competing cleffers), the King-Goffin scorecard is much higher than the mean average of the day. At their least inspired, they wrote soundalike follow-ups to hit records or tossed off a novelty that was a probable 11th-hour demand from their publishers. Ms. King also wrote string arrangements for other artists and for recordings she and Goffin attended. (Goffin soon became a credited producer, with such hits as "The Loco-motion" by Little Eva and "Chains" by The Cookies, et al.)

Young Orlando received several King-Goffin items, including the hit "Halfway to Paradise," while he served his freshman term with Epic Records. This solid teen singer had a strong approach and was an evident fan of Ben E. King, lead singer of The Drifters and a solo artist for Atco Records. King's plaintive, gruff voice inspired many young males, Black and white, and Orlando appears to be in that camp.

Speaking of camp, "Talkin' About You" is a fun bit of tomfoolery. It opens with wild percussion and a greeting from Orlando, who enthuses about a beautiful girl he's had his peepers on. His femme backing chorus (who might be The Cookies) razzes him ("We've heard it be-fore, Tony!") before he launches into a forceful ode of admiration and desire.

The backup singers chant "yack-eh-tee-yack" to amusing effect. Carole King's piano is heard, as is her string arrangement. Orlando's vocal abounds with Ben E. King-isms, but the guy could sing, and not the asthmatic wheeze of most white male teen-idol types.

(A word of warning: Dropbox is acting up today. To play these two tracks, you may need to enable the Transcript function; you'll be amused with its errant results as the music plays!)

Cash Box dug the self-referential joshing of the A-side: a little-known song by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Ms. King did the string arrangement for this up-tempo side.

"My Baby's a Stranger" comes from future bubblegum writers Don Rubin and Charles Koppelman along with Jack Keller, a C-lister in the Brill Building who did write or co-write several hits, some in collaboration with Gerry Goffin. It's a solid r&b-tinged ballad with Orlando attempting his best Ben E. King against a big arrangement by Alan Lorber. The Cookies, New York's go-to backup vocalists of the early rock 'n' roll era, are in fine form as well. The stairstep chord progression is very, very 1961 and would creep into Bob Dylan's songwriting (e. g., "It Ain't Me, Babe"). Far better than a record of its ilk might ever be, this side has a credible performance by Orlando, who is better-known for his schlocky 1970s hits with the female group Dawn.

And that's it for today.

Tomorrow: Midwestern girl-group The Bobbi-Pins deliver two tougher-than-usual sides for a 1965 Mercury Records release. Obscure but great...