The Four Clark 45 Now Is the Time

The Four on Clark Records

The 4 Photo
The 4, from left: George Parks, Greg McCarley, Larry Rains and Paul Crider

Here’s an obscure one that isn’t in Teen Beat Mayhem, though it certainly deserves to be. I didn’t know anything about the group, called simply, The Four, but then I found their photo in Ron Hall’s The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook, 1960-1975.The Four Clark 45 Now Is the Time

The band were:

George Parks – guitar
Greg McCarley – guitar
Paul Crider – bass
Larry Rains – drums

“Now Is the Time” is a good mid-tempo song with harmonies and Beatles-type changes. It was written by George Parks.

“Lonely Surfer Boy” is an original by Paul Crider and Greg McCarley. As comments state below, the group came from Brownsville, Tennessee, about 60 miles northeast of Memphis.

SoN 15101/15102 indicates it was mastered by Sound of Nashville, while the ZTSB 99962-A / 99963-A in the deadwax indicates it was pressed at the Columbia Records plant in Nashville. I’m not sure the date on this one but early 1965 seems about right.The Four Clark 45 Lonely Surfer Boy

Both songs were published by Lonzo & Oscar Music, BMI and produced by Jack Logan, who was A&R director of Nugget Records of Goodlettsville, Tennessee which also seemed to own the Clark label.

In late 2013 two acetates surfaced of a group called “The 4” from Sam Phillips Recording of Memphis, “69” / “I Gotta Go” and “When Ever Your Down” (sic) / “Midnight Hour”.

“69” opens with one of the most intense screams ever committed to vinyl, and it is now on the shortlist for Back From the Grave vol 9! it was backed with an uptempo pop number “I Gotta Go”. It’s such a different sound that I thought it must be a different group, but both songs were written by George Parks. I haven’t heard “When Ever Your Down” yet, but it was written by Greg McCarley.The 4 Sam Philips Studios Acetate "69"

The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook notes The Four “cut three singles, all in Nashville in the late ’60’s. After they broke up, Greg McCarley released two singles on the local Klondike label as ‘Beau Sybin.’ George Parks had a release on Epic that he cut in New York and was also a staff writer at Stax.”

A late ’60s release by the Four on the Nashville North label is likely by another group. “Good Thing Going” (B. Carlton, H. Adams, D. Johnson) / “Cy’s Been Drinking Cider” was produced by Vern Terry and Len Shafitz, out of Massillon, Ohio, just west of Canton. Teen Beat Mayhem lists that band as from Elyria, Ohio. They cut a later 45 on Epic as the Sunny Four “Why Not (Be My Baby) / “Goodie Goodie Ice Cream Man”.

The Clark label had two other garage releases that I know of. On Clark CR-235 is the Ebb TIdes “Little Women” (by Donald Kyre, Michael Wheeler, Michael Whited, and Waldron), which sounds something like the Beatles “You Can’t Do That”. The Ebb Tides came from Columbus, Ohio. Their Clark 45 may have come about as part of a deal to do a summer tour of the Ohio Valley area. The flip is “What I Say”, by Gene McKay & the Ebb Tides. McKay was another singer on the tour and though the Ebb Tides backed him on the cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say”, they did not otherwise work together.

The Ebb Tides had a second 45, the spooky novelty “Seance” (Benny Van, M. Wheeler) b/w a mystical spoken vocal, “Spirits Ride the Wind” (Benny Van) that I really like. This 45 was produced by Rudy Varju on Jar 106 from early 1967. Benny Van of the Ebb Tides became J.D. Blackfoot.

The other is the Jades “You Have to Walk” / “Island of Love”, both written by Paul Helms and released on Clark CR-262 from May of ’67. That group was from Herrin, Illinois, a small city southeast of St. Louis and almost 200 miles northwest of Nashville, but the publishing is also Lonzo & Oscar, and the label states that it was produced and distributed by Nugget Sound Studios, Goodlettsville.Jades Clark 45 You Have to Walk

Other songs on the Clark label seem to be country, such as CR-266, Charlie Haggard’s “Throw Me Out the Door”.

Lonzo & Oscar were Johnny and Rollin Sullivan, whose family had started the Nugget Record company in Tampa, Florida in 1959, but Lonzo & Oscar Music Publishing had a Nashville base from the start. They bought or built Nugget Sound Studios in Goodlettsville, just north of Nashville. Most releases they recorded are on the Nugget label, and most are country.

History of the Nugget label from 45-sleeves.com. Thank you to Buckeye Beat for the info on the Ebb Tides 45.

10 thoughts on “The Four on Clark Records”

  1. There was a Bobby Dean on Clark and there are 2 different Bobby Dean’s in my WI books. I don’t think the Clark artist is either one of them, but if anyone knows anything about the one, I’m interested.

  2. The Four 45 on Clark dates to around December 1964. Personnel was Paul Crider (bg), Greg McCarley (g), George Parks (g), and Larry Rains (dr). They were popular on the Memphis scene in the mid 60s. McCarley and Parks would both go on to have solo releases, the former as “Beau Sybin”. I was told that another 45, from ’65 on Nashville’s Bragg label, was by this band but I’m still not convinced – very different sounds (soppy male teener-ballads) and no connections via names/credits at all.

    1. Paul Crider is my father and the band was from Brownsville and two members still live in Brownsville (Rains & McCarley).

  3. Re: Ebb Tides on Clark. I’m wondering if there might be any connection to the Ebb Tides on Night Owl (WI lbl) from 1968 . 2 writers’ names are Dale & Riggs. A 1967 newspaper clipping mentions the Ebb Tides (aka Herbie & the Ebb Tides) from Ft Wayne playing in WI. Names shown are Herb, Steve & Phil + dancers Bonnie &b Gloria. I welcome any input.

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