Stars on 45 Medley: Venus/Sugar Sugar?!@%$#
AUColonist
to include the intro to "Venus" by Shocking Blue and then a segment of "Sugar
Sugar" by the Archies into what was then a total Beatles medley?
Anyone?
Anyone?
DEB
Zeroninety
I think the company that released that song also owned the copyrights to those
songs...I guess they figured they might as well make a little publishing cash
for themselves while they were at it.
Steve
Perhaps the 45 was meant to be a mix of tracks from the LP "Stars On Long Play"
which has a longer, Beatles-only medley on side 1 and 3 non-Beatles medleys on
side 2, one of which includes the Venus/Sugar Sugar segment.
Steve's Record & CD Collection
http://members.aol.com/btrax2/collection.htm
Song On The Radio
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Nobby
"Steve" <btr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030731133000...@mb-m14.aol.com...
> >Anyone know why the group Stars on 45 in their 1981 No. 1 hit "Medley"
> >decided
> >to include the intro to "Venus" by Shocking Blue and then a segment of
"Sugar
> >Sugar" by the Archies into what was then a total Beatles medley?
That's how the original bootleg was!
Frederick W. Harrison
Because the blueprint for Stars On 45 came from a privately pressed (i.e.
illegal) disco single titled Bits & Pieces III
"Let's Do It" More of the 80's Medley that was sold through disc jockey
stores. Orange label, with special disco mixer on it. Painstakingly
assembled by using the actual records with turntables, a few tape snippets,
and a mixing board to a master tape deck, probably open reel. Original
recordings were used instead of studio recreations. Speeds were altered to
make it fit the beat. Sometimes only a snippet was used (like the "Hey You!
Don't watch that - watch this!" from Madness "One Step Beyond") other times
a verse or chorus or intro. A little audio quality was sacrificed but you
ended up with one hell of a mix - which you could play over and over again.
Get a pressing plant to press up a few hundred copies, no questions asked,
and sell 'em through the DJ stores. Just hope it stays under the radar of
Capitol EMI.
A Dutch producer heard it, probably at a disco in Montreal, figured it would
sell, and proceeded to make an arrangement of the song using studio
musicians at Red Bullet Studios in Holland. Result? Mega Hit worldwide.
Don't know if he ever paid the originators.
I've got one of the original singles which I purchased from a DJ. There was
a long mix (16:35) on the B side and a short mix (8:30) on the A side.
Here's the long mix....
Sparks - Beat The Clock
Madness - spoken intro to One Step Beyond
(?)
(?)
Spinners - Working My Way Back To You
Gino Soccio - Dancer
Sparks - Beat The Clock
K.C. & The Sunshine Band - just that "That's Right" snippet from "That's The
Way I Like It"
(?)
Lipps Inc. - Funkytown / Heatwave - Boogie Nights
Let's Do It break (?)
(?)
Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star
Shocking Blue - Venus (intro)
Archies - Sugar Sugar
Beatles - No Reply
Beatles - I'll Be Back
Beatles - Drive My Car
Beatles - Do You Want To Know A Secret?
Beatles - Your're Gonna Lose That Girl
Beatles - Nowhere Man
Four Seasons - Sherry
Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown
Neil Sedaka - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely
(?)
Wings - Silly Love Songs
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack
Fortunes - Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again
Brian Hyland - Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Polkadot Bikini
ELO (?)
Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna (just John's counting intro)
Ringo Starr - No No Song
JB's - intro/ Funky Good Time
Johnny Winter - Synth breakdown from Frankenstein
A question mark means I can't remember what the snippet is - but I do recall
hearing it "back in tha day".
The short version is everything up to the end of the Shocking Blue - Venus
excerpt.
There was another killer mix utilizing Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust"
as the bed track that I heard at a friend's wedding in 1981titled "Dust
Mix". Think it was the same people. Incorporated Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk
Woman", Stevie Wonder "Superstition" and lots of other oldies. The DJ
wouldn't tell me where he got it and I've never been able to find it.
Nowadays people can sample what they want, tweak it as they see fit, and
assemble in whatever fashion they see fit. Jive Bunny is a more notorious
example of this. Speaking of which, wonder how he got clearance for the
Chubby Checker material since it was on the Cameo-Parkway label which Allen
Klein refuses to licence?
Frederick Harrison <><
```````````````````````````````````
"A stone may change the course of the river."
C.S Lewis
Lighthouse Agency BV
I am working in Dutch music industry since 1968..
Why they did that..taking Venus and then Sugar Sugar...
I think this has been coincidental. It was a huge hype at the time
and they just ran into the studios ; sat down and looked for all stuff that
had been hits in the low lands ( benelux Maybe )
and made some sort of a medley of it...I think i have most of it
somewhere....but I do remember all became huge hits
( I think they did " ABBA " and " BEATLES" as well..)
Was it early '80's when they did the magic thing...?... It must be easy to
find all info if I go to the Dutch popencyclopedia
( look for Freddy Haaijen ) .
If u don't manage ; mail me and i'll see what I can find for you...
have fun..
The Netherlands.
"Frederick W. Harrison" <harriNO...@istar.ca> schreef in bericht
news:bgusve$b8b$1...@news.eusc.inter.net...
EgwEimi
Dutch pop/rock group to date. He joined the group in '64 and left in '69. In
England, the group was called "Star Sound" on their records released there.
Eggermont also produced the Livin' Blues, Earth and Fire (NOT "Earth Wind and
Fire"), and was associated with Hot Chocolate.
Beginning in 1980, Eggermont produced the Stars On LP's and 45's. In addition
to their Beatles medley(s), Stars On performed an Abba Medley (on SOLP2), a
Stevie Wonder medley (called SO453), a Stones medley, a Supremes medley, and a
Frank Sinatra medley. Most of these were available on CD as the "Very Best of
Stars on 45" and as "Stars on 45 Mega Mixes."
In the USA, the title of their first medley was the longest of any
chart-topper. Instead of simply calling it "Stars on 45," the title was
extended so that it listed all of the songs:
Medley: Intro Venus/Sugar Sugar/No Reply/I'll Be Back/Drive My Car/Do You Want
To Know a Secret/We Can Work It Out/I Should Have Known Better/Nowhere
Man/You're Going To Lose That Girl/Stars on 45.
During the heyday, he also produced the Star Sisters, who recorded similar
medleys, including one of genuine disco songs and one made from music of the
40's.
The last Stars On record was the Sinatra one, released in 1987.
Frank