Jan & Dean. Jay & the Americans. What do these two acts have in common? Apart from the fact that Collectors’ Choice has just issued collections entitled The Complete … Singles the two groups are linked by a very successful run of hit singles between 1961 and 1971. Okay, Jan & Dean’s run was a little bit shorter, but I’d have to say the impact of each group was about equivalent. Neither group was a cutting edge band, but both made significant records that are still instantly hummable.
And for Top 40 radio, that’s what it was all about.
The liner notes for Jay & the Americans’ Complete United Artists Singles say this: “The music business then [1960] was so far removed from today’s as to be of another world; one in which four young men could approach the biggest rock’n’roll producers of the day — Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — and walk away with a record deal. For John “Jay” Traynor, Sandy Yaguda (Deanne), Howie Herschenbaum (Kane) and Kenny Rosenberg (Vance), that’s exactly what happened.” Of course, Leiber & Stoller changed their minds that day and sent the boys home disappointed but their moms sent them back the next day, and sure enough, they got that record deal. Over the years Jay changed — Dave Blatt joined in ’62 and became Jay Black — and as for the Americans, Kenny Vance has had a long career in music and movies. Sandy and Howie re-formed the Americans with a third Jay (Jay Reinke) in 2006, and had a wealth of material to choose from. Listen to the songs: “Tonight,” “Come a Little Bit Closer,” “”Let’s Lock the Door (and Throw Away the Key),” “Cara Mia,” “This Magic Moment” and many, many more. Three CDs worth of golden oldies. J&TA might not have been groundbreaking but they had the best writers, producers and musicians and the guys could all sing. Maybe three discs is more J&TA than you need, but there’s an awful lot of great memories here.
As for Jan & Dean, while they only get a two-disc set, they prove themselves to be second only to Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys in capturing the sound of the surf, hot rods, and girls in bikinis. The set starts off with “A Sunday Kind of Love” which features some of the worst singing I can remember being on the radio. Nevertheless it was a top 100 tune and led to a lot more recording. They put their Southern California spin on classics such as “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Who Put the Bomp,” but they really shone in the tunes they recorded with Brian Wilson. “Surf City,” “Dead Man’s Curve,” and “My Little G.T.O.” Man! I had the 45s of these songs! I think I still have a beat up copy of “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” with its refrain of “Go granny, go granny, go granny, go!” And its even better B-side, “The Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review and Timing Association.” Gotta love that one!
Anyway, there you have it. Complete Singles from two acts from the ’60s. It wasn’t all British Invasion, nosirree, there were plenty of American acts out there. And these were two of the best!
(Collectors’ Choice, 2009)
