The Roemans, "Your Friend" c/w "Give Me a Chance," ABC-Paramount 45-10583 (rel. 9/1964)
The Roemans came from Tampa Bay,
Florida, where they were first known as Lanny and The Impressions. Their local gigs impressed two music hustlers who offered to represent them. They got the attention of Nashville producer Felton Jarvis, who handled pop soloist Tommy Roe's recordings.
With the onset of Beatlemania in early 1964, and with Roe still popular in England due to his Buddy Holly-esque style, it made sense for him to have a backup band with personality. Renamed the punny Roemans, they gave his recordings a new oomph--a much-needed defense for American acts that year. Since the group, led by vocalist Lanny Langford, could function on their own, Jarvis signed them up as a separate act on ABC-Paramount. This arrangement worked well for UK hitmaker Adam Faith and his band The Roulettes, which Roe knew of due to his visits to Britain.
In their short time together, they
backed up pop-rock singer Tommy Roe on the road and sometimes on his records.
On their own, they released six singles from 1964 to ’66. They were early
responders to the British Invasion and, like fellow Florida band The
Nightcrawlers, they delivered a Southern-flavored slant on this new direction
in rock ‘n’ roll. Ray Stevens, best-known for his cringe novelty discs and the saccharine "Everything is Beautiful," arranged The Roemans' recordings; he had a good ear for pop music.
The group debuted with a fine two-sider in the fall of 1964. Both its songs were composed by UK pop star Marty Wilde, who
must have pitched the songs to Tommy Roe on one of his English tours. Producer Felton Jarvis worked with Elvis during his comeback period in
the later ‘60s and helmed records by Gladys Knight and The Pips, Charlie Pride,
Fats Domino and others. It’s possible that these sides were recorded at the
Fame facilities in Muscle Shoals, Alabama; they may have been cut in Nashville
as well.
The Roemans present with a strong,
polished sound on the moody “Your Friend.” 12-string guitar chimes a downward
motif, augmented by pizzicato strings—either violin or guitar. The sound is
much like the contemporary records of Del Shannon or The Everly Brothers:
heavily reverbed, dense and straightforward. Lead singer Langford, soon joined by his fellow Roemans, delivers a gritty lead decorated by his bandmates' solid harmonies.
If they don’t sound distinctive, they
do play and sing with feeling and aren’t too slick or too poppy. It's
fascinating to hear all the 1964-1965 American records that capture groups
and singers absorbing the rapid change in musical styles and doing their best to make it
work. Two years earlier, they’d have tried to sound like Bobby Vee or The Four
Seasons. Now those more established acts scrambled to keep up with the times,
with varying degrees of success.
The poppier “Give Me a Chance” adopts the feel of The Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better” or “You Can’t Do That.” A warbly guitar (fed through a Leslie organ amplifier) and “more cowbell” percussion frame a more Liverpool-ish harmonized vocal approach by the group. It’s another forthright presentation and sounds like an out-take from A Hard Day’s Night with a Nashville twist. The song sounds more like a Dave Clark 5 single than the Fab Four, but there's nothing wrong with that leaning. Stevens' cutesy arrangement feels a bit forced and busy. Less is more in this musical style.
Roe and The Roemans went over well in Europe. Their tour of Great Britain was so successful they were persuaded to stay a week longer then planned. They made a sweep of UK television and had one of Roe's singles, "Diane from Manchester Square," issued there on the day of their arrival. No Florida garage band had worked this far afield, and when The Roemans returned to their native Tampa/St. Petersburg area, they were celebrated as local heroes.
The Roemans' follow-up 45 coupled a wild
live version of the surf instrumental standard “Misirlou” and the beat-group vocal
“Don’t,” After that, they succumbed to the folk-rock message trend with a
version of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier.” Their last three singles
go back to the Beatlesque sound, though updated to reflect the changes in musical styles.
If remembered in musical history, The Roemans are known for their connection with the much better-known Florida-based Allman Brothers Band. Their second bassist Berry Oakley, who joined The Roemans in 1966, was a significant member of the Allman Brother sin their early
days of success, culminating with the album Eat a Peach.
Oakley was one of
four band members with serious drug problems; after Duane Allman’s death in a
motorcycle accident, Oakley became morose and soon died after his own
motorcycle mishap. The two deaths shook the successful band up, but they
rallied and regrouped and went on to greater success. All of this was a world
away from the finite existence of The Roemans, whose Beatle-style earnestness seemed corny in the Age of Aquarius.
Tomorrow: one of the masterpieces of the girl-group style is "I'm Nobody's Baby Now" by Reparata and The Delrons. Hear it and its B-side via a 1966 RCA-Victor 45.
Two decent well-recorded and sung songs. "Your Friend" musically reminds me of early laid-back Animals sound. I think like you that "Give Me a Chance" is more Dave Clark Five than Beatles. These guys acquit themselves well for coming out of a then small Florida town. Google says they opened for the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. Too bad the Roemans were never allowed an LP.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they covered "Everybody" when on tour with Roe. I've always loved that track. Interesting background info about Stevens, Wilde, Jarvis, and Oakley! These tracks remind me a bit of The Critters and The New Colony Six and that ilk. Pretty mild-sounding but decent chops and sincere.
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