LONDON 9681 45RPM THE APPLEJACK’S: LIKE DREAMERS DO / EVERYBODY FALL DOWN
In March 1972, I became a brother in the EXB fraternity. And within a few months, I was looking thru & playing some of Brother Lou Longobardi’s record collection in his basement as he used to look and play some tunes of my record collection in my basement. Lou possessed a prized 45 collectable, Lennon & McCartney’s “Like Dreamers Do” by the Applejacks. It was as if I was hearing a solid lost track from the Vee Jay album “Introducing the Beatles.” It has those typical early Beatle song chords (C, F#m, Bm, C#m, E) that were so new to our ears. It was structured: verse, bridge, verse, bridge, verse; a great beat, rhythmic, melodic, harmonies. It’s exactly what we couldn’t get enough of in 1964 and here I was 8 years later reliving Beatlemania with no one else around, no fan hysteria, in Lou’s basement.
PLAY IT AGAIN
For the ears, there’s nothing better than hearing a great record for the first time. On that first visit to Lou’s basement, within 10 minutes, the 45 was played three times. Play it again….again….one more time. Here I was living in the City of New York my whole life, twenty years & a half! My ears glued to the 60’s AM stations WINS, WABC, WMCA, graduated to WOR-FM, WNEW-FM, collecting records, patronizing the elite Manhattan record shops, working in one, reading Rolling Stone bi-weekly, how could this “great -a-record” escape my ears for 8 years? And no knowledge of it! Written by Lennon & McCartney! How could this happen? Released on the purple & white London label, June 1964, number 9681. London 9682 is “Tell Me” by the Rolling Stones. Obviously, the group & the record were not promoted in the States. They have never toured America. All London had to do was put an ad in the trades highlighting a new single written by Lennon & McCartney & it would have gotten airplay……and likely sales. In 1979 EMI released “The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away,” “Like Dreamers Do” wasn’t even included. The Applejacks version was never on an LP in America, not even on a London Label compilation album. Years later I discovered that the Applejacks had a UK top ten single prior to this titled “Tell Me When” which I had by Freddie & The Dreamers on one of their imported albums. Further years later I discovered that the Applejacks made an album, unreleased in the States Decades later I discovered that the Applejacks had a female bass player. And for several years, this 45 was automatically played in every visit to Lou’s basement.
THE DECCA AUDITION TAPE
On January 1, 1962, the Beatles auditioned 15 songs for Decca Records & these were put on tape. These songs include just three original compositions: “Llove of the Loved”, “Hello Little Girl” & “Like Dreamers Do”. “Like Dreamers Do” was the last of the 15 songs recorded that day. In 1973 & 1974, I frequented an independent record store, The Music Box, two blocks east of St. John’s University on the Union Turnpike. The Music Box was owned & managed by Keith West, lead singer of the Brats, who was an off-shoot group of the New York Dolls. 75% of the Music Box stock were bootleg albums. About a third of the bootlegs, were Beatle bootlegs. The Beatle bootlegs were not played in the store, and for good reason the quality of the recordings was poor. Most of the Beatle bootlegs were from live shows. The non-live Beatle bootlegs included cuts from the Decca audition but they were never all on one album & they were mixed in with BBC radio & TV performances. There were a lot of bootlegs of bootlegs. It was hit & miss, mostly miss, but it was the Beatles In early 1974, one of the bootlegs I purchased included “Like Dreamers Do” from the Decca audition. Paul is singing lead, it’s in the key of A. it was the last of the 15 songs recorded that day, Paul’s voice is weak, he cheats on the high notes on the beginning of the bridge and he’s sloppy singing at the end of the bridge. In addition, it had a bad beat & a rushed rhythm. Written in 1959, they had been performing this song for over 2 years. This Decca performance was so poor that the song itself got lost. The other two originals, “Hello Little Girl” & Loved of the Loved” were performed much better. Given that, when Brian Epstein was having the Decca audition tapes converted onto discs at the EMI-owned HMV record shop on Oxford Street, it was that very song, “Like Dreamers Do”, that piqued the most interest and was brought to the attention of Sid Coleman of Ardmore & Beechwood, EMI’s song publishing arm. This event ultimately led to the group being signed to a contract by EMI and thus pairing the Beatles in the studio with George Martin.
45 EAST FOURTY FIFTH STREET, NYC: THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL
It’s late in the year 1974. The baby boomers are now paid with money to burn. Vinyl record sales are growing. The Village Voice & the NY Daily News posted advertisements for the first ever Manhattan record convention for the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Roosevelt Hotel had the perfect address for this event, 45 East 45th Street. It was like an omen. 45 street address on the 45th Street & 45 RPM vinyl singles. My fellow Bronx buddy record collector and I were ready for the convention. He wanted a prized Beatles Butcher Cover but I really only had one item on my mind, “Like Dreamers Do” by the Applejacks. On the first day of the convention, several Beatles Butcher Covers were available but way overpriced. Maybe if we went on the last hour of the last day, the prices might have dropped. I moved around from dealer to dealer asking for the Applejacks 45 with no one even knowing of it. I purposely never mentioned the record’s songwriters fearing that it’ll drive up the price. Finally, after two hours, I approached this short medium built, black haired dealer in his mid-30’s, who was holding court with several people. I asked him if he had “Like Dreamers Do” by the Applejacks. He laughed & said “yeah, I got one but it’s gonna cost you $100”. I had this blank expression on my face along with being speechless. He said it’s an extremely rare 45 & if you really want it, we should go to his store on MacDougal Street, Golden Oldies, and ask him, Bleecker Bob. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t believe he knew of the record, I didn’t believe he knew its songwriters, I didn’t believe he had it. This was my first experience with Bleecker Bob. In time I learned that this was part of his shtick. I’ve been to Village Oldies; it’s two owners were Broadway Al & Bleecker Bob. They had recently split (due to Bob’s persona) with Bob moving out & opening his own store on MacDougal Street. I had dealt with Broadway Al & their worker Lenny Kaye but I limit never seen or knew of Bleecker Bob. Me & my friend started slowing walking towards the next aisle in the Roosevelt Hotel suite.
One of the tall distinguished people whom Bleecker Bob was holding court with, followed us & said,
“Hello boys, I happen to overhear that you boys are looking for the Applejacks’ Like Dreamers Do, London 9681.”
I was impressed, he knew the label number, I knew not one 45 label number.
“If you are willing to come to my house in Ridgewood, NJ, I would sell it to you for $2.” “Come Monday night any time after 5 o-clock, I’ll be waiting for you”.
He gave us his card and on the back of the card, we wrote a brief outline of the driving directions. His name was Vic Figler, DDS.
“Are you boys familiar with the Nuggets album?”
We both said yes, sure, in unison.
“I assisted Lenny Kaye with it. My name is in the fine print acknowledgment”
NUGGETS: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS FROM THE FIRST PSYCHEDELIC ERA, 1965 – 1968
Yep, Vic Figler’s name is in the fine print acknowledgment. Released in 1972 on Elektra Records, Nuggets was a double compilation album (27 tracks) of American psychedelic & garage rock singles, with liner notes, put together by Lenny Kaye. Of all the work Lenny has done: record man, recording artist, guitarist, band member, writer, MC: Nuggets is his greatest work. It made him a musical hero to many fans of mid 60’s music. I used to play the second half of side two like crazy:
· “Don’t Look Back” by the Remains
· “An Invitation to Cry” by the Magicians
· “Liar Liar” by the Castaways (in true stereo)
· “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators
On a major label (Elektra) & great quality (they used the right masters). It was the first of its kind. We never got a Volume two from Lenny, but over the years, we did get thousands of Pebbles & Other Nugget type compilations, British, Swedish, Danish, French, American, etc.
VIC FIGLER DDS: SOMEWHERE IN THE SWAMPS OF JERSEY
Instead of working my usual overtime, I left the normal office time that Monday, borrowed my father’s 1963 ESSO Happy Motoring New Jersey map that, once unfolded was 48 inches in width & 48 inches in length. The map had a hole in the middle but that was near Bedminster. I was in charge of navigation; my Bronx buddy was the driver. Starting off at 5:30pm. It was cold & dark. We took the Washington Bridge to Route 4 & then north on 17 & then hope for the best. We don’t see any signs for Ridgewood. When I saw signs for the NY Thruway, I knew we passed it & had to go back south. At a little after 8:15pm we found his block but could not see the numbers on any of the houses. We parked in front of the only house on the block with the lights on. I start heading towards the stop. Meanwhile I see someone’s head looking at us thru the living room drapes just as my friend relieved himself. Vic opens the door & says, in a nice way, “I can tell you’re from the Bronx” nodding at my friend. He brought us to his den downstairs. It was a large rectangle room with custom made floor to ceiling, wall to wall 9 by 9-inch sleeves, ten rows all around the room on two & a half walls. A custom-made 45 cabinets. The 45’s were alphabetic by label, & then in numerical order. He said he had every pop & rock 45 from the 1960 to 1974. He pointed me to a shelf with the Capital 45’s from 5112 & on, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Merry Clayton’s Usher Boy (which I had), Donna Lynn, The Survivors’ Pamela Jean, Jerry Cole, King Curtis’ Soul Serenade (which I had), Johnny Burnette, Cindy Malone, 4 Preps, The Beatles EP, Beach Boys Fun Fun Fun. All mint, all in the correct Capital sleeve or picture sleeve. I believe Vic steered away from deep country & deep soul; and had no LPs, he collected 45’s only. He played us only one 45, the Applejacks Like Dreamers Do. He had 2 of them for sale, both mint promo’s on the late 1964 style London label The same style London label as Satisfaction. It was a second pressing promo, which he didn’t collect. He then showed us boxes & a long couch full of 45’s for sale, $2 each. Vic left us alone for 30 minutes. Since we couldn’t play the records, I picked out 29 more 45’s based on label, producer, songwriter & artist. And I have to admit, I did a good job, no duds; for example: “Goodbye My Lover Goodbye” Robert Mosley; “She Was Never Mine” The Cascades; Heinz’s “Just Like Eddie”; “Think About the Good Times” Goldie & Gingerbreads, “I See The Rain” Marmalade. Gave him $60. He welcomes us to come back again, he always has doubles for sale. And then he said,
You didn’t need any dental work but I’m glad I filled a cavity in your record collection
ONCE THERE WAS A WAY, TO GET BACK HOMEWARD
We never saw or talked to Vic again but we always remembered him fondly and occasionally talked about that long lost trip in the swamps of Jersey & his record room. We do know he’s retired, living down south, probably approaching 80 years of age, playing 45s like us. Hopefully this blog would somehow reach him. The Applejacks version of “Like Dreamers Do” is the best recorded version of this song, it’s very good but the song never got its proper recording, the song deserved a better life. The Beatles should have recorded it, with John singing lead, faster, fuller, heavy rhythm, with Ringo on drums, as the follow up single to “Please Please Me”.
“And III waited for your kiss, waited for the bliss, like dreamers do, like dreamers do”