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Welcome to Volume 19 of Paul Buff’s 20-volume series of recordings from Pal Studios and Original Sound Studios! Pal Records was a record company run by his mother Olivia and stepfather Ward Allen. After Paul Buff was honorably discharged from the military, he finished putting together Pal Studios in December 1957. The studio costs were $12.50/hour for mono recording and $15/hour for stereo. Local musicians booked the studio to make recordings of their rehearsals and repertoire. When Pal Records wound itself down in mid-1959, Paul Buff created his first record label – Emmy. Other labels (Plaza, Yukon and Vigah!) would follow shortly thereafter. The music presented on this series was released on extremely rare records that would literally cost thousands if you can find them. In addition, there are many unreleased tracks spanning from 1960 to 1969. Paul Buff is now making them available again for everyone to appreciate.
Both sides of The Friendly Torpedoes single appear in stereo mixes that debut on this release, so we’re already making waves! The Rotations’ “The Cruncher” is presented without its surf tape as well.
Another surf title, Johnny Barakat’s “Go Surfer Mo (El Zebra),” takes us into The Hollywood Persuaders’ “Organ Stomp.” That HP track was not released until recently. The Frank Zappa-written B-side of the Bob Guy single, “Letter From Jeepers,” is yet another piece of lunacy!
“Johnny’s Jump” by The Velveteens was the B-side of their single “Dog Patch Creeper” (Volume 1). There is a really embarrassing bad sax note during the recording that should not have been released, so we’ve put together the mix correcting that error that Emmy should have issued the first time! The Bongo Teens’ “Forget It” was a Buff/Aerni piece that Paul Buff got more mileage from when it was remixed for the Hollywood Persuaders album “Drums A-Go-Go.” A considerably longer Bongo Teens version of "Forget It" is available on "Raw Tracks."
“Cotton Pickin’ Rock” by The Sonny Wilson Band is the only other existing Pal master by the band without its leader. It was done in 1961 and makes its debut on this release. Paul Buff’s demo of “She’s Got A 60 Cycle Brain” is missing many of the overdubs present in the finished version, but it’s interesting to hear what the song sounded like in its primitive form.
Gene Gray And The Stingerays’ “Surfer’s Mood” was cut at Pal and was released as a B-side on both the Linda and Dot labels. The top side “Surf Bunny” was on Volume 10. The Buff Organization’s “Summer Avenue” evolved from the earlier song “Windows” that we previously presented on Volume 14. In its complete form, “Summer Avenue” showed how well Paul and Allison Buff worked together in the studio.
Greg Munford was the lead vocalist on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense And Peppermints,” but he was not a member of that group. He sang on it because it was best suited for his voice. When the record was released on All-American and then licensed to Uni to become a #1 hit, the group got rid of manager Bill Holmes, didn’t use Munford again and struck out on their own. Holmes countered by creating some “replacement” Strawberry Alarm Clock groups, which were all playing live in different locations at the same time. One of these was called Strawberry SAC. This group, which included Greg Munford, recorded the All-American single “In Relation” that had so many elements of “Incense And Peppermints” in its arrangement that it was incredible! Despite this, “In Relation” proved that Strawberry SAC could exist on their own and produce excellent music. They went on to record an album, which was billed to Crystal Circus after the original Strawberry Alarm Clock hysteria died down. The B-side of the "In Relation" single was "Merry-Go-Round," also featured here. You’ve heard this story before – the album only existed as a test pressing before it was released in Italy.
A trio of Hollywood Persuaders tracks, the album version of “Persuasion,” the stereo LP mix of “Tijuana” and the recently released “Cruisin’” are surrounded by The Masters/Chester Martin single-tracked version of “Come Back My Love” and the seventh version of The Buff Organization’s “Upside Down World.” Cut at the same time as his Original Sound single, Ricky Dean’s “Blue Christmas Day” has never been released until now. It was his final recording session.
The Pal Studio Band weighs in with "Fountain Of Love," and it's longer than the mix on "The Lost Episodes." We know that Ray Collins was its lead vocalist, but Paul Buff, not Frank Zappa, was its fuzz bassist.
After all this action, we wind down with Buff’s “Piano 3” and the second version of “Darling It’s True.” One more volume and then we can relax!
Here is the entire listing of all 35 releases from Paul Buff’s archives:
PAUL BUFF PRESENTS THE PAL AND ORIGINAL SOUND STUDIO ARCHIVES – 20 volumes!
THE MASTERS – Singles & Rarities
THE BONGO TEENS & PRESTON EPPS – Surfin’ Bongos (Mono)
THE BONGO TEENS & PRESTON EPPS – Surfin’ Bongos (Stereo)
THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS – Drums A-Go-Go (Mono)
THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS – Drums A-Go-Go (Stereo)
THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS – Singles & Rarities
THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS & THE BONGO TEENS – Raw Tracks
THE BUFF ORGANIZATION – Studio ‘A’
THE BUFF ORGANIZATION – Mono Mixes
THE BUFF ORGANIZATION – Demos & Rarities – Volume 1
THE BUFF ORGANIZATION – Demos & Rarities – Volume 2
THE BUFF ORGANIZATION – Demos & Rarities – Volume 3
DAVE AERNI PRESENTS THE BEST OF THE AERTAUN, DAANI, DAYTONE & ADOR LABELS
PAUL BUFF PRESENTS PAL STUDIOS’ EARLY YEARS – Volume 1
PAUL BUFF PRESENTS PAL STUDIOS’ EARLY YEARS – Volume 2
TRACK LISTING:
1) THE FRIENDLY TORPEDOES - Nothing's Too Good For My Car (Stereo Mix)
2) THE ROTATIONS - The Cruncher (Alternate Mix)
3) JOHNNY BARAKAT AND THE VESTELLS - Go Surfer Mo (El Zebra)
4) THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS - Organ Stomp
5) BOB GUY - Letter From Jeepers
6) THE VELVETEENS - Johnny's Jump
7) THE BONGO TEENS - Forget It
8) THE SONNY WILSON BAND - Cotton Pickin' Rock
9) PAUL BUFF - She's Got A 60 Cycle Brain (Demo)
10) GENE GRAY AND THE STINGERAYS - Surfer's Mood
11) THE BUFF ORGANIZATION - Summer Avenue
12) STRAWBERRY SAC (aka CRYSTAL CIRCUS) - In Relation
13) STRAWBERRY SAC (aka CRYSTAL CIRCUS) - Merry-Go-Round
14) THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS - Persuasion (LP Version)
15) THE MASTERS/CHESTER MARTIN - Come Back My Love (Single-Tracked Vocal)
16) THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS - Tijuana (Stereo LP Mix)
17) THE PAL STUDIO BAND - Fountain Of Love
18) THE FRIENDLY TORPEDOES - So Long Ago (Stereo Mix)
19) RICKY DEAN - Blue Christmas Day
20) THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS - Cruisin'
21) THE BUFF ORGANIZATION - Upside Down World (Demo - Version 7)
22) PAUL BUFF - Piano 3
23) PAUL BUFF - Darling It's True (Version 2)
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