(Classic Rock) Barry and The Tamerlanes - I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight - 1963, MP3, 256 kbps

Barry & the Tamerlanes - Biography

Barry was in fact California-based Barry De Vorzon whose career goes back to the mid-fifties. At the time, he was under contract to RCA Victor and cut three singles for them in 1957 and 1958. These were nice teen rockers which fitted in well with those by Nick Venet and The Twin Tones. He then switched to Columbia but only one single was issued in 1960. However, his writing skills were rapidly developing and that's how he made his mark in the muisc business. Here are some of the first songs he wrote or co-wrote for others : 'Dreamin' and 'Girls' (Johnny Burnette - Liberty 55258 and 55345 respectively), 'Just Married' (Marty Robbins - Columbia 41143), 'Hey Little One' (Dorsey Burnette - Era 3019) and 'Treasure Of Your Love' (Eileen Rogers - Columbia 41214). Around 1962, Barry and a partner founded the Valiant label. Shelby Flint had the first release (and the first hit, albeit a minor one) on the new imprint : 'Angel On My Shoulder'. He would stay with the label until 1966.

The big break came in 1963 when Barry discovered The Cascades, a vocal quintet from San Diego, California. In the December 1, 1989, issue of my favorite US mag, 'Goldmine', an interview of De Vorzon by Stu Fink was published and revealed that The Cascades were originally called The Coastlighters ; he renamed them The Cascades after a brand of dishwashing soap ! Comprised of John Gummoe, Dave Wilson, Eddie Snyder, Dave Stevens and Dave Zabo, the group (once described as 'a clean-cut bunch of skin diving mountaineers' by UK music writers, Phil Hardy & Dave Laing) missed the Charts with their first (and excellent) Valiant '45 ('There's A Reason') but they scored a Top 3 hit with the second, Gummoe's own 'Rhythm Of The Rain' - a pretty song which emphasized their smooth harmonies. There were countless cover versions of this song, especially in France. Two soft & summery sounding singles followed, featuring songs co-written by De Vorzon and... Bodie Chandler ; 'Shy Girl' was one of them which, coupled with 'The Last Leaf', achieved some degree of success. One album was released on Valiant before The Cascades went to RCA Victor where 'For Your Sweet Love' was a lesser hit in '64. They went on to record for Charter (1964), Liberty (1965), Arwin (1966), Smash (1967), Probe (1968) and UNI (1969) where they had a last small hit, 'Maybe The Rain Will Fall'.

In the aforementioned interview, Barry De Vorzon confessed that he formed his own group, Barry & The Tamerlanes, in order to record a song he had originally co-written for The Cascades. The Tamerlanes were fellow songwriters, Bodie Chandler and Terry Smith ; the song in question, a Chandler-De Vorzon composition, was 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight' - an overnight smash. In terms of singing and production, it perfectly epitomized the sound of 1963 Pop Music : bright and breezy. But clearly, the production values were in full evolution and yet, there was still a direct link to the music of the '50s - like the 'I Wonder, Wonder...' bit, reminiscent of the unforgettable 'Book Of Love' by The Monotones (Argo 5290 ; 1958).

Alas, follow-ups to the hit - all of them, very nice medium tempo Chandler-De Vorzon efforts - didn't meet with success. 'Roberta' was probably too similar to its predecessor to click and its flip, 'Butterfly', co-written by Barry with someone named Crawford, featured a celeste solo close to the one in 'Rhythm Of The Rain'. 'Lucky Guy' was nothing special but I found 'A Date With Judy', with its brass arrangements, very catchy. And before calling it a day as a group in 1964, Barry & The Tamerlanes put out a last single on Valiant which truly should have been better received than it was. The main side was a bouncy remake of an old but influential song from 1954 : 'Gee', by The Crows, featuring handclaps and a good organ solo. Moreover, Chandler's & Smith's rather bland harmonies were richly augmented by those of (I think) P. F. Sloan & Steve Barri. The flip, 'Don't Cry Cindy', is one gorgeous number, with an almost religious feel at times, due in part to the organ backing ; listen for the ending harmonies : wonderful !

Most of these sides, plus a few others such as their own cover of 'Rhythm Of The Rain', appeared on their Valiant LP. For my part, I got acquainted with most of that stuff thanks to a Japanese compilation album titled 'The Cascades v.s. Barry & The Tamerlanes', released by WB in 1985 as part of their remarkable '30th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' series (P-11579). It's clear that those songs blend beautifully well together on LP. However, I don't understand why four of the Cascades songs appear in true stereo (the last two Valiant singles in fact - see discography below) whereas the other four (including 'Rhythm Of The Rain') as well as the whole Barry & The Tamerlanes side (all their Valiant singles minus 'I Don't Want To Be Your Clown' and 'Pretty Things') are mono only. But the sound is superb and the cover cleverly designed. It's a good starting point to investigate De Vorzon's music and Valiant label.

In 1965, De Vorzon discovered a six-man outfit called The Association who would soon prove to be destined for stardom. They had five singles on Valiant, featuring two big 1966 hits : the controversial 'Along Comes Mary' and 'Cherish'. Following the release of their second LP in 1967, 'Renaissance', Barry De Vorzon decided to sell his Valiant label to Warner Bros - at a good profit, added Stu Fink in 'Goldmine'!
In later years, he wrote what may be the biggest-selling TV theme of all time, nanely 'Theme From S.W.A.T.', and in 1976, 'Nadia's Theme', which he had co-written with a longtime friend, Perry Botkin, Jr., was used during the coverage of that year's Olympic Games, shooting to #8 on the US Charts.
All in all, that's a nice career which produced some inoffensive but at the same time, lasting pop music.