Duceditor
Fenton Class
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
The Abstracts, like so many groups from the `60s, seemed destined to have their day in the sun with a single released 45rpm record, only to be lost and forgotten to time. That this was not the case is due to the good graces of three people. Rock and garageband visionary Greg Shaw, pop music historian entraordinaire Mike Dugo, and... my wife.
Greg, of course, was the man behind Bomp records and the Pebbles series. It was he who turned over the totally atypical "A" side of The Abstracts' single --- the somewhat gimmicky, if not totally unworthy, "Baton Girl" -- and recognized on the record's "B" side the band's true and unique sound in the now 'classic' "Always Always."
Mike Dugo is next in this story for it was he who ferreted out my until then secret identity as a founding member of the Abstracts and who enticed me to tell the band's story -- and in doing so revealed that there was an extant copy of the band's long thought lost "Columbia Sessions."
But none of this would have been nearly as meaningful without the third person mentioned, my wife Jan -- herself a musician with a past in Boston's much esteemed mid-`60s band "IV Kings & A Queen." For it was Jan -- packrat extraordinary -- who saved all the photographs and other momentos of The Abstract's storied history. -Many of which eventually found their place on the 2011 "Hey, Let's Go Now!" LP and the just now released (9-2013) CD's covers and enclosed booklet.
Here are a few such momentos that I think G45 Central readers may enjoy seeing...
First this, perhaps the sole remaining poster advertising one of the group's famed 2 hour stage performances, "The Abstracts in Concert"...
Then this -- perhaps the oldest extant photo of the band in action...
A couple of snaps from the band's very first recording session in Ultra Sonic Studios in Hempstead N.Y. in May of 1964. The band had been together all of a month at the time.
The tracks recorded there -- the original demo recordings of "Always Always" and "Gone Away" -- are to my ears still the most authentic renditions of the band's unique sound, this because it was the band members themselves who controlled every aspect of the session. (Both tracks, btw, are found on the just released "Hey, Let's Go Now!" CD)
Lead guitarist Don Sucher and (back to the camera) lead vocalist Al Karp...
And singer, keyboardist and composer of all the band's recorded music, Andy Bonime, with, again, lead vocalist Al Karp...
And a treasured photo of the band with someone whose grin will be immediately recognizable to any fan of `60s TV, -- Car 54 Where Are You?'s "Gunther Toody" -- Joe E. Ross.
All these early images are so different from the look the band became known for -- the polished, outfitted, totally in control group as seen here:
-Don Sucher
Greg, of course, was the man behind Bomp records and the Pebbles series. It was he who turned over the totally atypical "A" side of The Abstracts' single --- the somewhat gimmicky, if not totally unworthy, "Baton Girl" -- and recognized on the record's "B" side the band's true and unique sound in the now 'classic' "Always Always."
Mike Dugo is next in this story for it was he who ferreted out my until then secret identity as a founding member of the Abstracts and who enticed me to tell the band's story -- and in doing so revealed that there was an extant copy of the band's long thought lost "Columbia Sessions."
But none of this would have been nearly as meaningful without the third person mentioned, my wife Jan -- herself a musician with a past in Boston's much esteemed mid-`60s band "IV Kings & A Queen." For it was Jan -- packrat extraordinary -- who saved all the photographs and other momentos of The Abstract's storied history. -Many of which eventually found their place on the 2011 "Hey, Let's Go Now!" LP and the just now released (9-2013) CD's covers and enclosed booklet.
Here are a few such momentos that I think G45 Central readers may enjoy seeing...
First this, perhaps the sole remaining poster advertising one of the group's famed 2 hour stage performances, "The Abstracts in Concert"...
Then this -- perhaps the oldest extant photo of the band in action...
A couple of snaps from the band's very first recording session in Ultra Sonic Studios in Hempstead N.Y. in May of 1964. The band had been together all of a month at the time.
The tracks recorded there -- the original demo recordings of "Always Always" and "Gone Away" -- are to my ears still the most authentic renditions of the band's unique sound, this because it was the band members themselves who controlled every aspect of the session. (Both tracks, btw, are found on the just released "Hey, Let's Go Now!" CD)
Lead guitarist Don Sucher and (back to the camera) lead vocalist Al Karp...
And singer, keyboardist and composer of all the band's recorded music, Andy Bonime, with, again, lead vocalist Al Karp...
And a treasured photo of the band with someone whose grin will be immediately recognizable to any fan of `60s TV, -- Car 54 Where Are You?'s "Gunther Toody" -- Joe E. Ross.
All these early images are so different from the look the band became known for -- the polished, outfitted, totally in control group as seen here:
-Don Sucher
