Convincing the world once and for all that Van Morrison NEVER recorded DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT !!!!
Music
KING HARVEST-A LITTLE BIT LIKE MAGIC
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Otis Smith and the All-Night Workers, Wilmer Alexander Jr. and the Dukes
About me: KING HARVEST, had major hit DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT and also played with THE BEACH BOYS for a few years.
BIOGRAPHY................
For the four musicians who would eventually band together to form King Harvest; David Robinson, Eddie Tuleja, Rod Novak and Ronny Altbach - whatever their original plans had been when they applied to the prestigious Cornell University, the college's 53 fraternities and the many other colleges within easy driving range presented an opportunity that pushed them away from their original scholarly goals, to become rock musicians.... In the late 60's they banded together, with a few other friends, in a copy band that was tearing up Ithaca New York in those politically troubled times. In 1969 they dispersed, presumably to "grow up". However, within months these four had regrouped in Paris, France, where they built a reputation as the one and only American touring band, playing clubs and pop festivals.... By this time, the band was performing, for the most part anyway, songs that the various members had written. The musical range went from R&B to gospel to hard rock, and they always tried to keep their music fun. After recording and performing under various names - e.g. E Rodney Jones and the Prairie Dogs, they settled on the title of one of their favorite Band songs,(King Harvest Has Surely Come) and won a rock contest under the name King Harvest. It stuck..... The core of the band remained constant, but drummers came and went. In 1971, their old friend and one of the greatest rock drummers ever, Wells Kelly (Wells later became a founding member of Orleans but passed away in 1984) came to live with Doc, Eddie, Rod and Ronny in the small town of Orgeval, west of Paris, and brought with him new music - various albums like CSN&Y- but also a song his brother Sherman had written and recorded with a short-lived group, Buffalongo (which would later evolve into Orleans). That song was the single "Dancing In The Moonlight."..... Wells didn't stay long in the band, but his gift became the cornerstone of the future of the group. In the spring of 1971, the band signed a recording contract with the French record company Musidisc, and in the fall of 1971, the group recorded Dancing in the Moonlight in a small studio in the 18th district of Paris...... Small means small. Doc had to sing lead out in the stairwell, which was a natural echo chamber (as long as the neighbors didn't come out during the recording), and the peculiar percussion sound they got was the result of using a cleaning brush instead of a more modern percussion instrument..... To prepare for the recording, the group worked with their two producers, Pierre Jaubert, who really had been instrumental in signing the band to Musidisc and keeping the band together over a couple of years by providing recording opportunities and generally acting as the band's best friend, and Jack Robinson, a talented music publisher who came up with the idea of playing the intro to the tune up in the higher octaves, which became the song's signature as it became a hit on AM radio in the United States. Jack was the hands-on producer of and a true believer in the record..... The recording finished, the group, typically in the tradition of rock and roll, broke up. The record was initially released in France by Musidisc, without much success. But Jack and Pierre thought the record would do well internationally and didn't give up on it. Eventually, after shopping the master to every international label from the UK and the US to anyone who would open the door to these two guys from Paris, they found a very small R&B label in NYC...... Under a three year license with Musidisc, the company released the single, and when it started to get airplay- largely as a result of Jack Robinson banging on program directors' doors in the Pacific Northwest- the group came back together - Doc and Eddie from a large sailing boat in the Mediteranean, Rod from a spiritual retreat in Spain where he was rooming with Sherman Kelly, and Ronny from a West Coast classical piano tour he was performing - and along with other musicians who came in and out of the band along the way, settled in upstate NY, close to their college roots, in the little town of Olcott Beach on the shores of Lake Ontario, where the band was offered the basement of the local Methodist Church as their practice room and where King Harvest legends still abound...... King Harvest, including Sherman, toured once, with Jay Leno as the opening act for a few of the venues, but suddenly their record company went out of business..... There was one more shot, in the mid 70s, when Kip Cohen, head of A&R at A&M Records signed King Harvest to an album deal and hooked the band up with legendary songwriter Jeff Barry as producer. By this time, various members of the group were involved in the Beach Boys touring band and in recordings by the Beach Boys, and in fact, it was in the Beach Boys' studio that the King Harvest Album (a collector's item - A&M SP 4540)) was produced, with Carl Wilson and Mike Love singing background along with Peter Cetera of Chicago, and with jazz great Charles Lloyd playing a guest solo on one of the songs...... In the end, the lyric to King Harvest's song "Old Friends" probably best sums up the journey, many years after it all started, - "Old friends, when the story ends, we'll still be good as gold."
Who I'd like to meet:
Walmart Commercial - Dancing in the Moonlight
Thanks to Maureen Bleiler for a great collage of Dancing In The Moonlight!
Hey friend remember us we would like to think you because wit out you we couldn't of gotten so far, we started this account 3years ago and we never would expect to go so far wit the band
1 000 000 play on youtube & myspace
50 000 friend myspace top 20 Canadian band and now our first deal, when you look at peoples comments you know this band will have huge follow up
Okay, so I just redesigned my myspace page.....what do you think? Feel free to listen to a couple of my tunes. If you like what you hear, pleeeease click on the "Demand it" widget and request that I play in your area. This will help me figure out where to plan my future tours. YOU ROCK and I hope 2009 has started off super well for ya!
Hello Rod,thanks for accepting our friends request and for your kind comments. We are honored to have you as a friend. Joanne is very cool woman. Thanks again bill
some things truly stand the test of time.....if its was great back in the day ...it still is.......a 20 year old friend of mine heard dancing on my page....read the comment...she thinks it is sweeeeeeeet...AWESOME....AND SHE IS A LIL GOTH CHICK....ROCK ON WITH UR BAD SELVES...PEACE,JILL
Now THIS brought a smile to my face....While in Philly, on WOGL (the oldies station) plays, at 5:13 AM, "Dancing In The Moonlight"...okay, I of course wake up hearing it, and the DJ announces immediately after the song..."King Harvest has a Myspace! Visit them at My space .com/ KingHarvest"...I had to share this, I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Hope all is doing well by you. Keep in touch!
Hi Rod, everytime I see the Wal-Mart commercial I think of you :) I have to say it is one commercial I don't want to end and I never fast-forward thru! best always, Sandy
Happy Valentine's Day, Rod! let me know when you are ready for a Wal-Mart shopping trip! Heard you on TV last night also..bout time your music gets respected! All My Love and Wishes! ~Joanne
Happy New Year! I BELIEVE that 2008 has wonderful things in store for you! Have a amazing new year!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again for your friendship... you are phenominal! Kate
Hi Rod, Guess what song was playing on the radio in my car last night..Right! Dancin' in the Moonlight! :D It wasn't a local station (I live in PA)..I think they said it was WGVL-FM.
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