The Regents, 1966, from left: Jerry Rosa, John Harris (sitting, holding his knee), Craig Boyd (sitting in front looking down), Johnny Mann and Mike McDonald (far right) Scan courtesy of Joni Bartley | |
The Regents were house band at Jack Martin’s A.M-P.M. on La Cienega Blvd., one of the many discos that opened up to compete with the Whisky a Go Go.
In 1964 Capitol recorded the band at the club for an LP of standard songs of the day. I really dig their cover of James Booker’s instrumental, “Gonzo”, written by D. Malone. Despite having a gatefold cover to fill with photos and notes, Live at the A.M./P.M. Discotheque doesn’t bother to list a single member of the band. I didn’t know who was in the group until recently, when I found out the band consisted of John Harris (bass), Mike McDonald, Jerry Rosa, Craig Boyd (drums) and Tom Baker. I’ve read they were originally from Bakersfield. David Axelrod produced the album. Domenic Priore’s book Riot on the Sunset Strip quotes Axelrod saying “Jack Martin’s AM-PM was the kind of place where you could order steak sandwiches, and a fistfight would break out every ten minutes. A lot of tough guys went there, so it didn’t last long.” Two songs from the album, “Sugaree” / “Mojo Workout” were released in Germany. |
|
After the A.M./P.M. club closed, the band became the house band at It’s Boss. Following the LP they cut four singles for four different labels. First up was “She’s Got Her Own Way of Lovin'”, a good original by Mike McDonald backed with a song I haven’t heard yet, “When I Die, Don’t You Cry”, released on Reprise 0430 in November, 1965 and produced by Jack Nitzsche.
I haven’t heard their next, “Summer Time Blues” / “You Don’t Love Me”, released on Peoria 008 in March of 1966 and produced by John Harris. |
|
Their third single has the original version of the very catchy Boyce/Hart song “Words”, later done by the Leaves, the Boston Tea Party and the Monkees, usually with a slower opening tempo than the Regents arrangement. I have a promotional copy that has “Words” on both sides of the record, but stock copies have the excellent b-side, “Worryin’ Kind” another fine original by McDonald. This disk was produced by Norm Ratner and engineered by John Haeny and released in July 1966 on Penthouse 502, distributed by Mira. It was also released in the UK on CBS. Their last 45 was “Russian Spy and I” written by Jackie Javellin (aka Casper Koelman) and originally done by the Dutch group the Hunters. The Regents version is probably the most well-known, at least here in the U.S. Though the Regents lift the opening riff directly from Hunters guitarist Jan Akkerman, the solo is much more intense, the tempo of the song quicker and the harmonies much more effective than the Hunters version. I bet they could have done a killer version of this live. Produced by Norm Ratner for Dot 16970 in November, 1966, the flip was a cover of “Bald Headed Woman”. I’ve also read that they were the band for The Dating Game in the early seasons of that show. Tom Baker wrote to me last summer, but I haven’t had a response to the last two emails I sent. A friend of the band confirmed that thwy were on The Dating Game, and added that they were UCLA students who played often at Chuck Druet’s club Barnacle Bills on E. Huntington in Duarte. There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not these are the same Regents who recorded the original version of “Barbara Ann”, but that was an entirely different band, whose members were Sal Cuomo, Chuck Fassert, Tony Gravagna, Don Jacobucci, and Guy Villari. Nor is the Michael McDonald of this Regents the same guy who was in the Doobie Brothers (but see the Implicits entry on this site for Tom Johnston’s early band). There are other records by groups called Regents that aren’t related to this group, including: “Cape Fear” (T. Foley) / “Summertime” (produced by J. Choate for the Ohio label Prix); and “No Hard Feelilngs” / “That’s What I Call a Good Time” on the Kayo label. The Regents with “Me and You” / “Playmates” on Blue Cat was a Canadian group who also recorded the LP Going Places with the Regents on Quality. Transfers by Rich Strauss and Gyro1966. |
|
Opening up for the Lovin’ Spoonful at It’s Boss, 1965 Photo from the collection of Nancy Kuehl |
|
McDonald’s Farm: John Harris, Mike McDonald and Craig Boyd Scan courtesy of Joni Bartley | |
The post The Regents appeared first on Garage Hangover.