Category Archives: Decca custom 200,000 series

The Royal Coachmen “Lollipop” / “Bama-Lama”

Royal Coachmen Coachmen 45 LollipopThe Royal Coachmen cut two fine, fratty rockers for their own Coachmen label in June of 1966. “Lollipop” sounds like it could be an original, while “Bama-Lama” is a rewrite of Little Richard’s “Bama Lama Bama Loo”.

A friend of the band commented on social media that Joe Labontee sang and played rhythm guitar, Alan Parker played bass, and John “Pudgy” Alosa played drums. They were students at Bishop Brady High School, class of 1967, in Concord, New Hampshire. He added that “the lead guitar player on those recordings was a hired gun named Dick Clark, I believe”.

A. Parker is credited for both songs. ASCAP has both songs listed in their database, but mixed in with the compositions of British soundtrack composer Alan Frederick Parker.

The numbers 200,914 and 200,915 on the labels refer to the Decca custom pressing code, often used for New England records, but there were pressings for groups from Pennsylvania and beyond. The Sea Music Pub. (ASCAP) was located at 1 Boylston Place in Boston, MA.

1 Boylston Place was also address of Ace Recording Studios, owned by Milton and Herbert Yakus, with William F. Ferruzzi chief engineer.

Thank you to Jim M. for forwarding info on the group to me.

Royal Coachmen Coachmen 45 Bama-Lama

Wild-Ones on Tiger Productions

There were plenty of bands called the Wild Ones in the ’60s, but this group doesn’t seem to be related to any of them. A Massachusetts location is possible. The “200,608” number on the label refers to a Decca custom pressing, usually, but not always used by bands in New England. There was a group called the Wild Ones from Shrewsbury/Worchester MA with the single “Number One Girl” / “Surfin’ Time Again” on Camsul.

Mike Markesich wrote: “September, 1965 release. They are not related to the NYC discotheque performing group on United Artists & the Sears label, even tho I’ve seen that mentioned somewhere before. Nothing in copyright matches the titles, songwriters or producer name.”

The highlight is the A-side’s “Please”, a sharp rocker with a desperate singer and a very simple guitar break. “Just Me” is faster, with an even simpler, but effective guitar solo. Good, spare production with a booming sounds to the drums and clearly audible descending bass lines.

Both songs were written by Pratt and Scheurer, and produced by M.A. LaGrotte for the Tiger Productions label.

Info on the Camsul release from Till the Stroke of Dawn by Aram Heller. Thanks to Mike Markesich for the info and label scans, and to Davie Gordon for pointing out the connection to AAA in his comment below. Thanks also to the Eggman for bringing this subject up!

The Shames “My World Is Upside Down” / “The Special Ones”

Cryin' Shames aka the Shames
The Shames aka the Cryin’ Shames of Ipswich, MA
from left: James Amero, Gerard Trudel, Patty Germoni, Denis Trudel, and Joey Amerault.

The Shames RFT 45 My World Is Upside DownThe Shames crank out both songs on this single like it’s the only shot they’d ever get. There’s no weak playing here, just guitars overloading the studios inputs, a drummer slamming out the beat and a vocalist cutting loose. On “The Special Ones” he complains about getting grief for having long hair! “My World Is Upside Down” may be the most distinctive of the two, if one had to choose a top side.

This 45 was released twice with different RFT labels – someone forgot to put the band’s name on the first one! The second version is yellow with a different logo up top.

“My World Is Upside Down” was written by James Amero and Robert Beaulier. “The Special Ones” by Denis Trudel. In copyright listings, both songs are arranged by Jacques Trudel.

US Copyright Office publications list an unreleased song “One More Chance” written by James Amero and Robert Beaulier. All three songs have a copyright date of November 30, 1966, though release of the single may not have come until April, 1967.

As it turns out the band’s full name was the Cryin’ Shames. Alan Lowell sent in the photo business card, above, and writes, “They were a great local band from Ipswich MA and often played at the Sillouette Club in Beverly. They were a big user of Magnatone amps which had a great sound back then.”

Their manager was Charles Larrivee.

More information came from Denis Trudel, who commented below and listed the members at the time of the photo at top:

Denis Trudel – lead singer
James “JB “ Amero – lead guitar
Patty “Beetle” Germoni- keyboards
Gerard Trudel – bass
Joey Amerault – drums

Denis reports that his brother Gerard passed away in 2005.

Thanks to Alan for the photo and info on the band and to Denis for his comment below that filled in many gaps.

Update: I’m sorry to report that Denis Trudel passed away on May 27, 2021.

The Shames RFT 45 The Special Ones

The Renegades on Polaris

The Renegades I’m writing about today were from Manchester, New Hampshire, about fifty miles NW of Boston. They have no connection to Richie’s Renegades who also released a record on Polaris.

Both ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘Tell Me What To Say’ were written by Lorin Ruggiero.

It was produced by Joe Melino and arranged by Harry Palmer. Polaris was a Boston-based label, Ray Fournier engineered many other sessions for the label.