10.02.2007

Candy Andy




The Shoestring Candy Andy b/w Shoop-De-Hoop-Twine 45 (20th Century Fox, 1968)

If Candy Andy isn't the first bubblegum song about a child molester, it has to be the only bubblegum song with Frankie Valli style vocals that is about a Chester. That weird, sick oddity instantly makes this a Crud favorite. Now add a really strong Tommy James style production to this single and you have a good'un. Too bad modern rock bands, especially of the punk persuasion, don't pick up on the sound of the bass & guitar at the song's head. The flip, Shoop-De-Hoop-Twine, is as much of a throw away as any bubblegum b-side is. However it has the distinction of being a hodge podge of popular rock & roll instrumental styles, as the song title suggests. While certainly a C+, the quirkiness makes it worth a listen or two.

The producer, arranger and songwriter for The Shoestring was a New York record producer named Tommy Falcone. Chances are that Falcone was The Shoestring, the name probably a joke about how little money he had to make the record. Earlier he made a single under Tommy Falcone & the Centuries called Like Weird, which has become a college radio dementoid rock & roll favorite.

One curious discovery of Falcone's is Edward "Jukebox" Pasterzyck, who at age 17, had a hit record produced by Falcone, under the name The Reminiscents. Later Pasterzyck, a pacifist, became a cop in Irvington, New Jersey, using non-violence for conflict resolution. In 1982, he recorded a couple rap 12"s under the name of The Cracker Rapper. These were not produced by Falcone.

What happened to Falcone? I found this posting on a web board," My friend Tommy Falcone went to his grave at age 40 trying to make it in the music business. His last job was stacking records at a record store. He never made it."

But he did make some swell records.


# posted by Scott Soriano : 10:56
Comments:
Both Candy Andy and this insightful post totally rule, duder. CRUD CRUD 4-EVAH!!!
# posted by Blogger Matt Nauseous : 20:23
 
real nice find, Scott, both sides are great.

Thanks a lot and keep on posting the cool stuff!

ciao from Milano
Michael Vee
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 00:24
 
Weird and brilliant.
# posted by Blogger DJ Little Danny : 08:56
 
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
# posted by Blogger Donna Lethal : 20:25
 
Re: Tommy Falcone
If it is the same Tommy Falcone I know, he produced a record for the mid-60's rock group The Inmates called "Local Town Drunk" on Columbia Records. In addition to producing, he was my sister's accordian teacher at the Red Bank School of Music during the same time period. As I understand it, he was performing locally on stage at a club, upon finishing, he put his accordian down and and had a fatal heart attack, back stage. He was a really nice and talented guy.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 12:03
 
I have a record here that i've had since i was 10.It is by the Centuries and it is written by Tommy Falcone and produced by him.It is a guitar based song called "Polynesian Paradise" backed with "The Outer Limits" .It is on Cleopatra Records.Not the same one that does Hardcore Records.And let me tell you.These tunes are amazing.What a guy he was.There is an New Jersey address on the label and a phone number.I called it and there was no answer. 210-264-2296.

Rob Norberg
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 19:36
 
Tommy Falcone certainly had eclectic tastes when it came to singles and wrote some oddball songs. He is the writer of Northern New Jersey's girl group maven, Bernadette Carroll's "The Humpty Dump". Bernadette released one single on Cleopatra, "Heavenly". I guess it is by strange coincidence that Don Falcone founded Cleopatra Records in the 80s on the west coast. Are they related?
# posted by Blogger johnnyvinyl : 21:24
 
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