Buddah's Dial-A-Hit

You gotta love the pop music mavens at Buddah Records for putting out this sampler disc to showcase bands like Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co, Elephant's Memory, The Road, and many others. The album jacket is a real treat. It's two-ply cardboard with a wheel in the middle. See the exposed part of the wheel on the right-hand side of the jacket? As you turn the wheel, the name of the artist and their picture changes in the two window cutouts. Now that's innovation.

Inside the double fold-out jacket is a letter from Buddah Records vice-president Neil Bogart. I like his opening paragraph, which sums up Buddah thusly: "When Buddah Records was formed two years ago, most songs were about crime and war and depression. We felt there was a place for a new kind of music that would make people feel happy. So we got together two talented young producers named Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz who had an idea for music that would make you smile. It was called 'bubblegum music'".

Indeed, I smiled more than once while listening to this album. There are some well-known cuts here (Summer in the City, She's Not There) but it's the ones that didn't end up in the annals of rock music history that I like the best. My favorite is Hot Dog Man by Elephant's Memory. It starts off with a tape recording of the band chatting with a real hot dog vendor, and progresses into a delightfully diverse psychedelic trip in praise of this "real live hero". Now that makes me happy.

Dan says:
Buddah was at first know for off-beat stuff like this album. In the 1970s they went into disco, signing up artists like Melba Moore, Phyllis Hyman, The Trammps and ex-porn star Andrea True. (12-23-2007)

KC (not the Sunshine Band) says:
Somewhere on my late 60s LP shelf is an album by "The Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus" -- same folks? (11-19-2007)

jeff forti (mrforti@sbcglobal.net) says:
Hi Everyone
I finally found a mint copy of this for $5 and really enjoy the memeories this album brings back especially about the Road. Anyone else have any more information on the Road - a group frm Buffalo. (08-13-2007)

Dave says:
My friend got the Elephants Memory album with "Hot Dog Man" on it from his dad, and the album is absolutely wonderful if you can get past the album art, in which the band members are naked, in bright paint, and superimposed over an elephant. The same album also features a track called "Yogurt Song." (12-04-2006)

john edwards (timewarp1943@yahoo.co.uk) says:
For anyone interested in Preston B Nichols and his time-travel stuff, give his book company (sky books)a call and see if they still stock some of his videos..the one ive really studied is his, Philadelphia Experiment and the Delta Time Generator..the latter utilises a special transistor that can "quantum tunnel" and is really weird..i eventually managed to build one!! If anyone is interested in this device, e mail me....John. (10-09-2006)

jeff forti (mrforti@sbcglobal.net) says:
Hi I am l looking for a copy of this ablum to buy at a decent price. Email mail me if you have one for sale.
Jeff Forti (10-05-2006)

Epistimon says:
I think Melanie's music is more like a dream filled with donuts. The flute-y fade out haunts me still. And look at this:

http://www.patswayne.com/melanie/mrlb06.jpg

Is that a picture of little Melanie with Wendy O. Williams? Talk about turning the Street Cred-O-Meter up to 11. (09-26-2006)

Hilde Margrethe (hilde-margret@ofir.dk) says:
Who was the person being called "litle buddha" ?

Jerry Kasenetz, Jeff Katz, Preston B. Nichols???

H. (09-02-2006)

Hilde (hilde-margret@ofir.dk) says:
Why are Jeffrey Katz pictured on several of the 1910 Fruitgum companys records? Did Katz play any instruments together with them on their recordings or why? We thought that Jerry Kasenetz was the person being called "little buddha". Yes, that Preston B. Nichols are rather surprisingly interesting.
Hilde. (08-30-2006)

Edison Records (bluesparkz2@yahoo.com) says:
I met "Little Buddah" Preston Nichols, in upstate New York. What a facinating person,He came into the North American Phonograph Co.'s Edison Phonograph Works studio out of curiosity, and we talked for several hours about the merits of tube technology, and how tubes are faster with electrons, as things run though that medium at the speed of light, and in harmony with nature, while transistors, use a solid medium and the electrons do not flow as fast. We also talked about paranormal activity, and physics in general, he built some of the best recording equipment of the day. (08-14-2006)

Bjarne Emmer (bjarneemmer@hotmail.com) says:
Hello! Who is Preston B. Nichols? Together with Peter Moon he wrote some highly interesting books (Sky Books). The Montauk Project, The Music of time, and others. In Music of Time he talk a lot about Buddah records which he claims to have founded. He also say Jim Morrison still lives. This Nichols also claims to have been working for Phil Spector. What he even say about Mark and Chuck Hamill are worth investigating. Who is this Preston B. Nichols we ask?
Greetings from Aalborg, Danmark, Europe... (07-17-2006)

Vynyl Junkie says:
Thanks to Paula for the comments on Neil Bogart - I never was aware that Casablanca and Buddah were founded by the same person. Funny that I read this today after having heard Lemon Pipers (Buddah, '67) back to back with Donna Summer (Casablanca, '79)on the radio yesterday! (07-07-2006)

Benlu 66 (neezerl@yahoo.com) says:
Thanks, Dick Tater. (Yes, I dig your name)
Speaking of John and Yoko I was just listening to Beatle Barkers. They couldn't replace John but they sure could've replaced Yoko. (07-06-2006)

DICK TATER says:
Yes that is the same band that backed up John Lennon and Yoko Ono back in the early 70's, they performed together in the video "John Lennon live in New York City", appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show", "The Midnight Special", and few other shows of that time period. Great backup band. (07-03-2006)

Benlu 66 (neezerl@yahoo.com) says:
Are Elephant's Memory the same group that later played with Johnandyoko of Beatle infamy? (07-02-2006)

Jimmy Moop (dannylectro@yahoo.com) says:
Wasn't this same trick used for the cover of original copies of Led Zeppelin III? The Zep did it much better with more of a trippy psychedelic effect. Buddah's version looks more like a birth control pill dispenser! Oh well, it was the sexual revolution! (06-30-2006)

Mike Semrad (mjsemrad@neb.rr.com) says:
The Smoke Ring (found on this Buddah LP) continues to perform around the Midwest with 5-6 original members and 10-11 piece RB horn band. The "HIT" was easy listening, but live the band rocks. For more info on The Smoke Ring contact mne via email at mjsemrad@neb.rr.com.

Mike "Pinky" Semrad
Former President/Trustee- NE Music Hall of Fame see Smoke Ring-Inductee
www.nebrocks.org
Member- Smoke Ring (Mala/Buddah/Certron/BMG-RCA Records). (06-07-2006)

Paula (info@PaulasWorkshop.com) says:
I was Executive Assistant to Neil Bogart from 1972 until he left to found Casabalanca Records in Los Angeles. I still have his handwritten notes of good-bye (which I had to "translate" into typed memos, his handwriting was so scribbled) to various staff members, and co-president Art Kass. He asked me, numerous times, to join his new company in LA, but I wasn't crazy about leaving NYC for parts unknown. His untimely death at age 39 literally ripped my heart to shreds, I loved him that much. And every February 3rd, I send up a "Happy Birthday" to him... What great memories (and little-known stories,) what a great time to work in the music industry! (05-16-2006)

ACJ says:
I'm still waiting for an album of Buddah Backward B-sides - those weird backward tracks the Buddah people sometimes stuck on the B-sides of their singles (when they didn't have a real song to put there)! (05-07-2006)

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