I'm a big fan of Teddy Randazzo productions - they generally have the same DNA - A slow build, dramatic stop/start arrangements, full-on instrumental breaks and great orchestral stabs.

An Ace/Kent compilation would be more than welcome...

If I had to pick three favourite recordings (at the time of writing), it would be these:

Howard Guyton - I watched you slowly slip away

Annabelle Fox - Lonely girl

Little Anthony and The Imperials - Better use your head

Do you like or dislike Teddy Randazzo productions?

Do you have any favourites?

BIG fan of Teddy Randazzo's stuff myself

would add these to the ones you've listed....

Derek Martin's - "Sly Girl", - "You Better Go", - "Bumper To Bumper"

Gayle Harris - "Ain't Gonna Let It get me Down"

Kiki Dee - "On A Magic Carpet Ride"

Little Anthony - "Call Me The Joker", - "It's Not The Same", - "Reputation"

Porgy & The Monarchs - "That Girl", - "If It's For Real"

Royalettes - "Out Of Sight Out Of My Mind", - "When Summer's Gone"

Timi Yuro - "Big Mistake", - "Can't Stop Running Away"

...and of course his own two... "You Dont Need A Heart" and "You're Not That Girl Anymore!

steve

Big fan of the man himself !!! , Great record

Alessandro Randazzo

Profile:

Teddy Randazzo (May 13, 1935 - November 21, 2003) was a (Brooklyn) NYC born pop songwriter with italian origins, who composed 1960s hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", and "Hurt So Bad".

In the early years of rock and roll, Randazzo played with a group called Three Chuckles, The and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show numerous times. Their first hit "Runaround", was a top 20 hit. He co-starred in rock revues staged by the legendary disc jockey Alan Freed, appearing with such artists as Chuck Berry and LaVern Baker. Randazzo also had some starring roles and often performed in such rock films as Hey, Let's Twist, The Girl Can't Help It, Rock, Rock, Rock and Mr. Rock and Roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Edited March 19, 201213 yr by 123-motown

Absolutely love Teddy Randazzo productions. Especially the way he throws everything including the kitchen sink into the instrumental breaks.

I'm a big fan. "Hurt So Bad" must be one of the great standards of 60s US music and it seems almost impossible to make a bad recording of the song. Little Anthony's version is definitive but I'm also a big fan of the Grant Green, Byrdie Green, Susan Rafey, Nancy Wilson and Baby Washington versions among others.

"Gonna Take A Miracle" is a similarly iconic song. Annabelle Fox's "Lonely Girl" is a truly remarkable song and arrangement with at least five distinct musical hooks: really clever but also really beautiful.

In some ways he deserves to be ranked alongside Burt Bacharach or Carole King as one of the great American tunesmiths but the work of his classic period never really broke out of the world of 'Black Music' and into the mainstream pop charts very often or for too long. He got to work with Frank Sinatra on the Cycles album with artistically satisfying results but you get the impression that he was happy working on the kinds of projects he mostly undertook i.e. with more 'soulful' vocalists.

I know it's taken on the aspect of a handbaggers anthem but "You Gotta Let Go" by Marcia Hines is also a really special song by him and his then wife, Vicky Pike. I've often wondered how this came to be only recorded in Australia and whether there are Amercian versions floating about somewhere on tape. It's from around the same timeframe as their wonderful "Salty Tears" by Thelma Jones and it would be nice to think there's a version by that great singer waiting to be unearthed at some point.

I'm not a big fan of Teddy Randazzo but always liked his mid 60s big city soul productions. The production he did on the Anthony & Imperials tracks is awesome. Especially considering the fact he was just in his late 20s then.

One of my alltime favourite Randazzo productions is Little Anthonys "Lost without you" (*) on the "payin our dues" album. The beat ballad of all beat ballads!

(*) same song that Teddy released by himself in 64 on DCP 45. But much much much much much much better!

I've generally liked the Teddy Randazzo productions I've come across. Quite a few here that I didn't know he was involved with. I've particularly liked his work with the Royalettes and Little Anthony & The Imperials, also his two solo records mentioned above. One of my favourites is his own original recording of Lost Without You, covered in the UK by Billy Fury and also on a Little Anthony LP. On YouTube I came across his version of Pretty Blue Eyes, an American hit for Steve Lawrence and in the UK for Craig Douglas, so I assume TR wrote it.

A version of You Gotta Let Go by Thelma Jones would be great if it existed; I've got Salty Tears and didn't realise he's been involved in its composition.

A proper retrospective CD would be nice, perhaps mixing his own singles with the best versions of his songs for other people.

I'm not a big fan of Teddy Randazzo but always liked his mid 60s big city soul productions. The production he did on the Anthony & Imperials tracks is awesome. Especially considering the fact he was just in his late 20s then.

One of my alltime favourite Randazzo productions is Little Anthonys "Lost without you" (*) on the "payin our dues" album. The beat ballad of all beat ballads!

(*) same song that Teddy released by himself in 64 on DCP 45. But much much much much much much better!

A great song whoever sings it, don't play it if you've been dumped by someone. TR may well have written and produced more beat ballads than anyone else. Assuming he wrote the lyrics he's up there with Hal David imo.

I'm a big fan. "Hurt So Bad" must be one of the great standards of 60s US music and it seems almost impossible to make a bad recording of the song. Little Anthony's version is definitive but I'm also a big fan of the Grant Green, Byrdie Green, Susan Rafey, Nancy Wilson and Baby Washington versions among others.

"Gonna Take A Miracle" is a similarly iconic song. Annabelle Fox's "Lonely Girl" is a truly remarkable song and arrangement with at least five distinct musical hooks: really clever but also really beautiful.

In some ways he deserves to be ranked alongside Burt Bacharach or Carole King as one of the great American tunesmiths but the work of his classic period never really broke out of the world of 'Black Music' and into the mainstream pop charts very often or for too long. He got to work with Frank Sinatra on the Cycles album with artistically satisfying results but you get the impression that he was happy working on the kinds of projects he mostly undertook i.e. with more 'soulful' vocalists.

I know it's taken on the aspect of a handbaggers anthem but "You Gotta Let Go" by Marcia Hines is also a really special song by him and his then wife, Vicky Pike. I've often wondered how this came to be only recorded in Australia and whether there are Amercian versions floating about somewhere on tape. It's from around the same timeframe as their wonderful "Salty Tears" by Thelma Jones and it would be nice to think there's a version by that great singer waiting to be unearthed at some point.

Didn't know Teddy was responsible for "You Gotta Let Go" cheers for that! Regarding "Salty Tears" yeah! how could I have forgotten to include that! Teddy originally cut it on Mara Lynn Brown in 1972 on Laurie records, I know he didn't produce the Thelma Jones take a few years later, but the Thelma Jones version is the one for me, she just nails them great lyrics perfectly.

The Mara Lynn version is good.... but just not as good!

The man was KING of the beat ballads for me. another great track I forgot to mention was Little Anthony's version of "Get Out Of My Life" Also whilst at DCP Teddy was responsible for the arangements of Kenny Seymour's 2 outings with The Impacts "Just Because" and "Wishing Well"

steve

I'm going to go off on a tangent here but...

Does anyone know which version of "I Watched You Slowly..." came out first?

The Lou Courtney has writer credits for Lou Pegues ll, the Guyton version credits

Randazzo- Pegues- Lambert.

Does anyone know why there's a change in credits?

Edited March 20, 201213 yr by the yank

Wow. Thanks for that info on the Laurie 45 Steve. I had never even wondered if there were earlier versions of Salty Tears. Now I know.

Geoff I'm assuming that just like Bacharach or Carole King, Teddy Randazzo was less of a lyricist than a composer who usually wrote in conjunction with a dedicated lyricist.

Wow. Thanks for that info on the Laurie 45 Steve. I had never even wondered if there were earlier versions of Salty Tears. Now I know.

Geoff I'm assuming that just like Bacharach or Carole King, Teddy Randazzo was less of a lyricist than a composer who usually wrote in conjunction with a dedicated lyricist.

Thanks for the information Gareth. All I can say is that his melodies complemented the words beautifully. While I like most styles of soul music my particular favourite style is beat ballads, and TR was at the top of that genre.

Thanks for the responses so far, very interesting stuff. Gayle Harris is new to me, as is The Impacts - Just because.

That Impacts - Just Because is just wonderful. I only heard it myself a few weeks ago, and it's when I first hear new "well to me" sounds of that quality I understand why I'm so into this music.

Hi, you cant beat a big new york production and Teddy does this well, his own releases / recordings on D C P were originally for Little Anthony. I buy sheet music which is very rare and the matching record in original sleeve to it, managed to pick this up pity there was no picture on the front which there usually is.

Reviving an old thread I know, but at last, it looks like there's a really nice Ace compilation due next month.  Even though I haven't bought a CD for years, this is a definite purchase for me 👍

https://acerecords.co.uk/yesterday-has-gone-the-songs-of-teddy-randazzo

Edited August 20, 20195 yr by Soul16

excellent release.

 

One of my fav's

 

Yes I like his work .

One of my favourites is "hurt so bad"  Little Anthony & the Imperials...  

On 20/08/2019 at 20:36, Soul16 said:

Reviving an old thread I know, but at last, it looks like there's a really nice Ace compilation due next month.  Even though I haven't bought a CD for years, this is a definite purchase for me 👍

https://acerecords.co.uk/yesterday-has-gone-the-songs-of-teddy-randazzo

I've just spent approx 70 minutes of listening to these blissful sides on the CD...plus reading the great liner notes ( never knew Annabelle Fox's real name before...shame on me).

1 hour ago, Kenb said:

I've just spent approx 70 minutes of listening to these blissful sides on the CD...plus reading the great liner notes ( never knew Annabelle Fox's real name before...shame on me).

Agreed, the liner notes are great, as you would expect from Ace. I’ve been playing the CD in the car this week, nice stuff. 👍

you cannot listen to a Teddy production and not know it's him....He kept that same awesome sound with most of the pieces he laid his hands on......He was truly a blessing to the music industry

On 28/09/2019 at 18:46, Soul16 said:

Agreed, the liner notes are great, as you would expect from Ace. I’ve been playing the CD in the car this week, nice stuff. 👍

I never knew either, been bugging me for years

On 19/03/2012 at 23:57, The Yank said:

I'm going to go off on a tangent here but...

Does anyone know which version of "I Watched You Slowly..." came out first?

The Lou Courtney has writer credits for Lou Pegues ll, the Guyton version credits

Randazzo- Pegues- Lambert.

Does anyone know why there's a change in credits?

Lou is listed as 1965 on Discogs and Howard as 1966

Thanks for the info- after some research I found out the Lou Courtney is probably a mid '65 release while Howard's version 

is from February/ March 1966.

    There's also some lyric changes in the 2nd version which is why the writer's credits are different. 

13 minutes ago, The Yank said:

Thanks for the info- after some research I found out the Lou Courtney is probably a mid '65 release while Howard's version 

is from February/ March 1966.

    There's also some lyric changes in the 2nd version which is why the writer's credits are different. 

April 1965 for Lou apparently