Category: General Site News

Daryl Dragon of The Captain & Tennille passes

 

Daryl Dragon, whose nickname “Captain” was bestowed upon him for the captain’s hats he used to wear onstage, has passed today from renal failure at the age of 76, with his former wife Toni Tennille at his side.  Dragon was a classically trained pianist who would play keyboards with the Beach Boys from 1967-1972, and would form a duo with Tennille, recording “The Way I Want to Touch You” and signing with A&M in 1974.  They shot out of the gates immediately with the #1 smash “Love Will Keep Us Together,” and had a handful of other hits over the years such as “Muskrat Love,” “Shop Around” and “Do That To Me One More Time.”  Daryl was the son of Carmen Dragon, a legendary conductor and composer, and brother of Dennis Dragon, drummer and co-founder of the Surf Punks (who passed from his suicide in September 2017).

https://forum.amcorner.com/threads/daryl-dragon-passes.16701/

CD sales sink; vinyl rises.

With CD sales declining at a steady pace (down 18.5% for 2017), Billboard reports that two major retailers are looking at making changes in marketing of the format. Best Buy is pulling CDs from the shelves by July 1 this year. Target, on the other hand, is pushing for consignment sales–in other words, the Target will still stock the CDs, but will not pay for them until they are scanned at the register (which, of course, the labels don’t like). The CD situation at both stores is quite dismal these days compared to the past but still, they are capable of selling very large quantities of the top selling titles. Target is already pushing to do this with DVDs, giving studios until Feb. 1 to decide if they are on board with the program or not.

In related news, the Warner Music Group extended buyout offers to 130 employees who manage “physical media” at the company, due to declining CD sales.

On the other hand, 2017 vinyl sales were up 9% over 2016. LPs accounted for 14% of all physical album sales, up from 11% in 2016, and accounted for 8.5% of all album sales, up from 6.5% in 2016. (All album sales include vinyl, CD, cassette and downloads.)

Join our discussion here in the forum.

It May Be Winter Outside…

Granted it’s a bit of a stretch, but let’s run with a Winter-themed tune today.  It’s cold, it’s snowing…so why not? This is a track originally recorded by Felice Taylor in 1967 called “It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart, It’s Spring).”  The group Love Unlimited redid the tune in 1973.  From the long song title, you may have guessed the tune’s composer–Barry White.  White had recorded a handful of albums for A&M back in the day, and Love Unlimited was his “girl group” that he also produced for, backed by the Love Unlimited Orchestra (which would have a Billboard #1 instrumental hit with “Love’s Theme”). White of course had plenty of hits on his own.

Rudy Van Gelder has passed

We are saddened to report the passing of legendary audio engineer Rudy Van Gelder.  A&M fans remember him as the man who engineered the A&M/CTi albums for producer Creed Taylor.  In the 50s and 60s, he engineered many well known and highly regarded jazz albums for labels such as Prestige, Blue Note, Impulse and others.

Gelder is pictured here with Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion (right).

http://www.jazzwax.com/2016/08/rudy-van-gelder-1924-2016.html

Join our conversation at the forum.