The Coasters, "Shoppin' for Clothes" c/w "The Snake and The Bookworm," Atco 45-6178 (rel. 9/1960)
As The Robins, they'd had r&b hits on Leiber and Stoller's short-lived Spark label. The goal, at Atlantic, was to get this group on the pop charts. Assigned to the Atco label, their quest was realized on the third release. "Searchin'" c/w "Young Blood" was a double-sided hit; both A and B got in the pop Top 10 in 1956. Their next four singles continued the Top 10 streak.
Then came a polarizing single: "Run Red Run" c/w "What About Us" in 1960. Though both sides charted, with "Red" in the Top 40, its not-so-subtle message about racial and societal intolerance was a bitter pill from some white listeners to swallow. The Coasters didn't hit the Top 40 for another year. By then, their audience had moved onto other things.
During that non-hit period, the group and their producer-songwriters strived for another breakthrough. In a 1960 session, Coaster Billy Guy began to sing a hip piece of social dramedy he recalled from his LA days. No one could quite remember where it came from. Jerry Leiber heard it and liked it. Guy remembered the opening, and the gist of the piece, but Leiber had to fill in the gaps.
The Coasters' version is unique in their catalog. It's all spoken-word; only background "ooo"s are heard from some members. Billy Guy and Will "Dub" Jones take the roles of an ambitious browser who's way out of his league and the cool-as-ice haberdasher who tempts our tragic hero with the impossible.
King Curtis' tenor saxophone was integral to The Coasters' sound; he's present alongside a few other musicians, including Phil Spector on guitar, Mike Stoller on piano and Gary Chester on drums.
Though considered a classic, it struggled to reach #83 on the pop charts. Composer Harris recognized his old song and slapped an injunction on Atlantic Records. Later pressings amended the "Elmo Glick" byline to his name--though Guy, Jones and Leiber had improved the narrative with their fill-ins. It's become the hardest to find of the group's mid-career singles. I won't comment on the record itself: if you're hearing it for the first time, I envy you. This I shall say: pure herringbone!
"The Snake and The Bookworm" was penned by Jerome "Doc" Pomus and Mort Shuman and first recorded in 1959 by Richard Barrett, a Jukebox saint who seemed a bit at odds with such material, For The Coasters, it was catnip: a comical narrative all members could sing with glee.
The electric piano Atlantic Records bought for Ray Charles is heard on this robust teen tale of a studious girl pursued by a roguish cad. Mike Stoller takes a fab solo on that keyboard amidst handclaps, chugging guitars and Latin percussion.
The song is less witty than what Leiber and Stoller might have written, given the same scenario, but its sound is divine. The opening schnick isn't a scratch on the record; it's some percussion instrument--perhaps a guiro.
The Coasters had two final Top 40 hits in 1961 with "Little Egypt" and "Wait a Minute;" on the flips are two fine Leiber-Stoller songs, "Thumbin' a Ride" and "Keep On Rollin'." Both are worth a listen on YouTube.
Leiber and Stoller were forced to move on after their demands for unpaid royalties irritated Ahmet Ertegun, head of Atlantic Records. They worked with the group in the later 1960s, but no hits resulted. Their material from 1954-1963 is one of rock 'n' roll's finest bodies of work, and several Coasters songs were in The Beatles' live repertoire (and can be heard on their BBC radio performances, which teem with items from their set lists).
Tomorrow: Destination Hollywood, where Dick Dale unleashes a masterpiece of surf exotica that wasn't a hit when released in 1961 but became an iconic part of the film Pulp Fiction.
Two wonderful songs! "Shoppin' Fo' Clothes" I think tries to replicate their hit "Charlie Brown" — unfortunately at a slower pace. "Snake and Bookworm" music sounds like the layering of "Alley Oop" over "Jock-A-Mo" (or "Iko Iko") with some cool electric piano in the mix.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these are such clean-sounding recordings with a nice intimate quality. The little repeating ascending instrumental figure in the first track almost sounds like a synth but I'm thinking it's maybe a sax? The lead vocal on it sounds like a cross between Moms Mabley and the talking section of the lead lead vocal part on 3 Dog Night's version of "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)." Love the laid-back strumming (acoustic?) guitar part on the second track.
ReplyDeleteHi, Dean! That's King Curtis on tenor sax on the A-side; it does have a synth-ish sound! Leiber and Stoller liked to use acoustic guitars and one banjo to chunk out chords on The Coasters recordings. Phil Spector is one of the guitarists; he was an apprentice to Leiber and Stoller at Atlantic, and drove them up the wall with his unpredictable behavior.
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