Cameo-Parkway Reissues of Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp, Zacherle Coming from Collector's Choice

Collectors’ Choice Music, in conjunction with ABKCO Music & Records, continues its series of Cameo Parkway reissues three CD double albums on November 23: The Dovells’ For Your Hully Gully Party/You Can’t Sit Down, Dee Dee Sharp’s It’s Mashed Potato Time/Do The Bird, John Zacherle’s Monster Mash/Scary Tales and also the compilation Cameo-Parkway Holiday Hits.

The Collectors’ Choice Music/ABKCO Music & Records rollout of reissues and compilations from the legendary Cameo and Parkway Records labels began in June 2010.  All releases are curated by Teri Landi, ABKCO’s resident engineer and catalog archivist, and annotated by respected music journalists.

• The Dovells were Jerry Summers, Len Barry, Mike Dennis, Danny Brooks and Arnie Satin. The group formed in Cameo Parkway’s back yard, Philadelphia, in 1959.  The group's first big hit - a chart topper - came in 1961 with “Bristol Stomp”, inspired by an actual dance in Bristol, Pa. Following an earlier “Hully Gully” from L.A. group the Olympics, Cameo Parkway staff writers/producers Kal Mann and Dave Appell worked up a new arrangement for the Dovells. It reached the Top 30 and inspired the For Your Hully Gully Party album. Other tracks include “The Jitterbug”, “Stompin’ Everywhere” and “Time for the Madison” inspired bythe Ray Bryant and Al Brown “Madison” hits.  Then when  “You Can’t Sit Down” an instrumental hit for session guitarist Phil Upchurch,  Mann wrote lyrics, and the song became the Dovells’ second biggest hit after originally being a B-side of “Wildwood Days”. Other songs on the You Can’t Sit Down album include Larry Williams’ “Short Fat Fannie”, Bobby Blue Bland’s “36-22-26” and Jackie Wilson’s “Baby Workout”.  Following the Dovells’ run of hits, Len Barry went on to score with the 1965 hit “1-2-3”.  
• Dee Dee Sharp was born Dione LaRue in Philadelphia. When she recorded her smash hit fo the day “Mashed Potato Time” she was re-named Dee Dee Sharp because of her tendency to sing in the key of D Sharp! She was originally part of a gospel group that backed artists like Lloyd Price, Jackie Wilson and Ray Charles then became a star herlse, with Cameo's the Orlons backing her on the hit. Offered the song “The Loco-Motion” by Carole King, the Cameo Parkway producers declined as they didn’t own the publishing. But Sharp scored again with "Gravy (for My Mashed Potatoes)”, making the Top 10. The It’s Mashed Potato Time album also featured “I Sold My Heart to the Junkman”, a 1948 ballad by the Basin Street Boys that was also recorded by Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells; “Gee” by the Crows; and “A Hundred Pounds of Clay” by Gene McDaniels. The two-fer CD also includes the album Do The Bird, with versions of Bobby Day’s “Rockin’ Robin”, Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petitie” and Clyde McPhatter’s “Just To Hold My Hand.”  
• John Zacherle was originally a 1950s Phildelphia local television horror movie host known as Roland (pronounced Ro-land) who’d appear in a death mask of clown white and black shadow, hosting those scary flicks.  Then,he resurfaced on New York TV as “Zacherley” but recorded horror novelty hits for Cameo Parkway in Philly, including “Dinner with Drac Part 1.”  He also parodied several Cameo hits, with producers Appell and Mann using the original instrumental tracks. As Lovin’ Spoonful frontman John Sebastian writes in his liner notes, his "mystery is intact."  Other songs on the twofer include a cover of the Bobby “Boris” Pickett hit “Monster Mash” plus Cameo Parkway parodies “Let’s Twist Again (Mummy Time is Here)”, “Popeye (The Grave Digger)”, “Weird Watusi”, “Pistol Stomp” and “Limb from Limbo Rock”.  Also included are bonus tracks “Dinner With Drac Part 2” plus alternate versions of “Scary Tales From Mother Goose” and “Igor”.  This collection has a special street date of special street date of October 26, just in time for Halloween.
• Like other independent label of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, Cameo Parkway offered plenty of holiday-themed recordings, and Cameo-Parkway Holiday Hits collects 18 tracks, only four of which have appeared before on CD. The compilation includes “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Rydell & Chubby Checker; “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”, “Winter Wonderland” and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” by the Rudolph Statler Orchestra; “Joy to the World”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “The First Noel” and “Deck the Halls” by the International Pop Orchestra; “Merry Christmas” and “New Year’s Eve” by the Cameos; “Auld Lang Syne” by Beethoven Ben and “White Christmas (3 O’Clock Weather Report)” by Bobby the Poet; “I’ll Stay Home New Year’s Eve” by the Jaynells; “Twelve Days of Christmas” by the Mexicani Marimba Band and “Donde Este Santa Claus (Where Is Santa Claus)?” by Toni Stante; “Auld Lang Syne” by Bob Johnson And The Lonesome Travelers and “Sock It to Me Santa” by Bob Seger And  The Last Heard. As a special bonus, Collectors’ Choice has unearthed a Checker-Rydell duet, “Jingle Bells Imitations.”