Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Royaltones - Poor Boy - Seesaw


2 instrumental cuts from 1963 by The Royaltones on the Port label. Looks like Poor Boy was original issued with "Wail" as the flip on Jubilee records in 1958. In 1959 Seesaw was issued on Jubilee w/ Little Bo as the flip. This pressing from '63 pairs both A sides.....

Here is some Royaltones info lifted from www.rockabilly.nl

One of the better instrumental rock 'n' roll acts, the Royaltones hailed from Dearborn in Michigan. They had a longer run than most (1957-1964), the constant presence throughout these years being sax player George Katsakis, who was recently interviewed by Dave Burke and Alan Taylor of Pipeline magazine, for the liner notes of the new Royaltones CD on Ace. George Katsakis (born 1941) started out on clarinet at the age of eight, but later switched to the saxophone. Influences were Clifford Scott, Lee Allen, Red Prysock and Sam Taylor, among others. The group that Katsakis formed in 1957 was initially called the Paragons and included the twin brothers Mike and Greg Popoff (also born 1941). The three youngsters began to write their own instrumentals, one of which was "Poor Boy". Studio owner Stuart Gorelic was impressed with the acetate of the song and gave them a chance to make a professional recording. For this purpose the group was expanded with guitarist Bob Sanderson and a second sax player, Ken Anderson. Mike Popoff played keyboards and Greg Popoff drums. Gorelic sent the tapes to New York and within three days the group was signed to and released on Jubilee Records, owned by Jerry Blaine, who changed the group's name to The Royaltones, as there was already a recording group with the name the Paragons. Gorelic also told them that they needed someone over the age of 21 to sign the publishing contract. Although Bob Sanderson (1935-1994) had no hand in writing "Poor Boy", he was the only one old enough to sign and so he became the official composer of the group's early group-written tunes. The plan was to sort things out later, but that never happened.

"Poor Boy" entered the Billboard charts in October 1958 and rose to # 17, quite a feat for such a "dirty" instrumental. The flip was the equally exciting "Wail!", making this one of the classic double-sided rock instrumental 45s of the 1950s. The Popoff brothers then temporarily left the group and were replaced by Bo Savich (drums) and Ken Anderson's wife Diane on piano. This line-up plays on the second Jubilee single, "See-Saw"/"Little Bo" (Jubilee 5362), again a strong coupling, but this time there was no chart action. "


Royaltones - Poor Boy

Royaltones - Seesaw

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