STUCK IN THE VINYL AGAIN - THE CALIFORNIA RAISINS - SING THE HIT SONGS

[maggot]

Good Monday morning gang and welcome to the Labor Day 2022 edition of Stuck In The Vinyl Again. Not only is it Labor Day and Monday, today also marks what would have been the 75th Birthday of Nebraska native, composer, drummer, guitarist, vocalist and producer, George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr., best known as a co founder of The Electric Flag, a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, and the leader of the Buddy Miles Express. He was born in 1947 and passed away February 26, 2008, age 60, of  congestive heart disease. What you may have not known about Buddy is, he also was the lead vocalist in fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group, The California Raisins. With that in mind, we find ourselves spinning their debut record. The California Raisins Sing The Hit Songs was released in 1987 on Priority Records and produced by  Ross Vannelli . The album's lead single, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" reached #84 on the Hot 100.  The LP comes with a cool lyric sheet and 4 page color poster. During the 8 years when the Raisins were most popular they released records, had a Saturday morning cartoon series,  they were on everything, lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, Halloween costumes, and toys. We've included pictures of the little figurines we have, (4 in all) as well as a copy of MAD Magazine #281 (September 1988) with a front cover by Sam Viviano, with Alfred E, Newman as A.C. (Miles).  

A1 I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Written By – Strong, Whitfield
3:44

A2 Lean On Me
Written-By – Bill Withers
4:52

A3 Stand By Me
Written By – King, Leiber, Stoller
4:30

A4 You Can't Hurry Love
Written By – Dozier, Holland, Holland
2:54

A5 Heartbreak Hotel
Written By – Axton, Durden, Presley
2:36

B1 La Bamba
Written-By – Richie Valens*
3:12

B2 Respect
Written-By – Otis Redding
2:41

B3 When A Man Loves A Woman
Written By – Lewis, Wright
3:46

B4 Sweet, Delicious & Marvelous
Written By – Grenga, Vannelli
4:01

B5 Mony, Mony
Written By – Bloom, Cordell, Gentry, James
3:44

The California Raisins :  A.C. (vocals), Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (guitar/piano)

Arranged By [Horns] – David Woodford (tracks: B4)

Arranged By, Keyboards, Synthesizer – Ed Grenga

Backing Vocals – Howard McCrary, Howard Smith, Leslie Smith

Bass Guitar – Dave Marotta

Drums, Percussion – David Stefanelli

Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Pat Kelly*

Lead Vocals – Buddy Miles (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B2 to B4), Ellis Hall (tracks: A4, B1, B5)

Producer, Arranged By – Ross Vannelli

Saxophone – David Woodford