Leroy Gomez and Santa Esmeralda at Casablanca

[remicks]

******

In Larry Harris' book

AND PARTY EVERYDAY

he says

• No matter what corporate umbrella we were under, the sign on the door still said Casablanca, which might as well have been Spanish for "disco boys". Another French import, Leroy Gomez and Santa Esmeralda , came on board in October 1977, bringing their monster hit DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD with them. When I head the record, I couldn't get them signed quickly enough. I almost fell off my chair, and then I got our legal department to take care of the particulars. When all was said and done, it was the best deal we ever made. The entire album cost us thirty-five thousand dollars, with a very low royalty rate of 6 percent (what they asked for), as opposed to the new artist standard of 10 to 12 percent. The record sold millions almost overnight. DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD was one of those once in lifetime songs that hit with little assistance; we mailed it to the radio stations, and they jumped on it. But, once again, I made the mistake of not seeing the group perform before signing them. Leroy Gomez was not bad looking ,but he was a terrible live performer, and Santa Esmeralda, a pair of women ,didn't have a clue about performing either. We arranged a small preview of the band and it was awful. I knew then that this band would fizzle after only a few hits.

I don't know ....


here's Leroy Gomez & Santa Esmeralda performing:





I'd buy a ticket. :icon_mrgreen:



*****

[BrunoRepublic]

But that isn't a performance. It's a professionally filmed and edited video. Who knows how many takes it was pulled together from? This is the visual equivalent of a studio LP; no indication at all of what it would look like live.

[remicks]

*****

Professional filming of a performance ....yes ....& its excellent...so rewarding to watch

Bruce ....you're the master of editing ....

so do you really find this piece especially edited ???

I sure don't (especially by today's standards) with several long segments using one continuous camera shot ....

Unless they used a remarkable double , I don't know what trickery they used on this performance .

And this filmed video - apparently it is a pretty good indication of what it would look like live :



this show tape revealing how good he SOUNDS as a live performer as well :icon_cool: ....

Still buying a ticket. You can join me if you want to.


*****

[remicks]

******

In Larry Harris' book

AND PARTY EVERYDAY

he says

No matter what corporate umbrella we were under, the sign on the door still said Casablanca, which might as well have been Spanish for "disco boys". Another French import, Leroy Gomez and Santa Esmeralda , came on board in October 1977, bringing their monster hit DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD with them. When I head the record, I couldn't get them signed quickly enough. I almost fell off my chair, and then I got our legal department to take care of the particulars. When all was said and done, it was the best deal we ever made. The entire album cost us thirty-five thousand dollars, with a very low royalty rate of 6 percent (what they asked for), as opposed to the new artist standard of 10 to 12 percent. The record sold millions almost overnight. DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD was one of those once in lifetime songs that hit with little assistance; we mailed it to the stations , and they jumped on it. But, once again,

I made the mistake of not seeing the group perform before signing them. Leroy Gomez was not bad looking ,but he was a terrible live performer, and Santa Esmeralda, a pair of women ,didn't have a clue about performing either. We arranged a small preview of the band and it was awful.
I knew then that this band would fizzle after only a few hits.

Of course this begs the further question :
If Casablanca was so sure this band would fizzle under the leadership of Leroy Gomez -

once they owned the subsequent Santa Esmeralda franchise without him :

why in the world did they then sign him as a solo artist and release two such LPs by him??

(confused,eyes rolling )

Also its a shame Casablanca was apparently satisfied with letting DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD peak as a mediocre-sized hit (#15 Billboard's HOT 100) ,
- had they worked it harder - beyond just delivering it to the mailboxes of the radio stations .... this brilliant production of a "once in a lifetime song" was poised to go TOP 10 and beyond ...





****

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Also its a shame Casablanca was apparently satisfied with letting DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD peak as a mediocre-sized hit (#15 Billboard's HOT 100)

In truth, holding any Top 20 position, within Billboard's Top 100 chart, is an admirable accomplishment. After all, this is "THE" most important Billboard chart. Not to mention that DLMBM had gone Top 10 on Billboard's Hot Disco Action chart, months earlier.

As for Casablanca being "satisfied..." DLMBM was released during the peak of production for TGIF. Contrary to popular belief, Casablanca wasn't made-of-money. So, the rather limited, corporate funds that were available (since TGIF was getting the Lion's share...), during the period of late '77 thru summer '78 , had to be spent wisely.

Pouring money & promotion into an already, wildly successful release, is just bad-business. Especially, when you've got over 20 other releases, within that same time period, that aren't out-the-box hits. They needed Casablanca's money and promotion, too.

[Cdnbob]

Well from that last live performance clip they seem to be pretty decent live performers to me. The backup dancers are all insync, Leroy is doing some pretty good emoting along with the song, and they're don't seem to be any visual record fluffs on the performance so they seem okay to me. This looks like its from maybe Top of the Pops, or something similar and trust me, there were some horrendous performances on that show by much bigger acts. Plus if you want to see gawdawful Eurodisco acts check out the clips on line for the German tv series Musikladen. Talk about tacky and badly made and crap performances. Half of those 5 second wonders of Eurodisco shoot be shot.

[PierreConstantin]

Of course this begs the further question :
If Casablanca was so sure this band would fizzle under the leadership of Leroy Gomez -
once they owned the subsequent Santa Esmeralda franchise without him :

why in the world did they then sign him as a solo artist and release two such LPs by him??
(confused,eyes rolling )
Also its a shame Casablanca was apparently satisfied with letting DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD peak as a mediocre-sized hit (#15 Billboard's HOT 100) ,
- had they worked it harder - beyond just delivering it to the mailboxes of the radio stations .... this brilliant production of a "once in a lifetime song" was poised to go TOP 10 and beyond ...

****

First of all, are those books written decades after really reliable? What are the real reasons of the author when he's writing this now?
We also know that many times record companies don't have well-crafted strategic plans after all; or they lazily continue with a good formula or they just adapt themselves to circumstances. In this case I would even say they were completely clueless .
IMO the three solo Leroy Gomez are really bad albums (that includes "Number One man", the first one he did in France just after Santa Esmeralda) but for me the real mystery is that one of his 1979 songs, "Lonely Night", ended some months after covered by Linda Clifford. How? Why? And the worse part of it is that both versions are not that good (and neither of them was a hit: Gomez was #43 disco and Clifford #73 disco).

[Cdnbob]

Well I suppose one could say the author is writing from the perspective of memory or after the fact so they may not remember exactly 100% to the utmost detail of what happenned, but I kind of think until someone else comes along, who was as closely associated as say Larry Harris was in Casablanca, and writes a book on the subject too, we'll have to accept what these authors tell us.

As to Leroy Gomez's albums, I've never heard any of them, but there is a track from one of them that I have that I do kind of like. Sorry I don't recall the name of it off the top of my head at the moment, but its not bad. I think its from the first album...

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

trust me... Larry's credibility, and ability to recall "details", are quite solid.

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

RE: the above posted video clips...

1st, the Top Of The Pops clip is a lip-syncing performance, done with an edited version of the single. Whereas the UK Gold clip is a live performance, sung over a "t.v. track".

2nd, the girls who were originally to perform with Leroy, consisted of 2 of the girls on the back cover of the original, French release on PHILLIPS Records. (one being Leroy's wife) They aren't the girls in either video.

3rd, like Motown, Casablanca had their acts work with performance coaches, before sending them out on the road.

[remicks]

trust me... Larry's credibility, and ability to recall "details", are quite solid.

I just wish he'd been as generous with them when it came to the disco aspect of Casablanca as he was with the KISS stuff.

There was so much more to tell even about Santa Esmeralda
- the excerpt I have provided above ..... that's the book's entirety of all things Leroy Gomez /Santa Esmeralda (& I'll give you one guess as to which Casablanca act the very next paragraph goes back to discussing ...{it ain't Patrick Juvet } tongue out)

In fact all said and done ... I'm not even sure of the point of the little Santa Esmeralda story .... If Leroy Gomez/Santa Esmeralda became better performers (as they apparently did ) by some inside coaching and maneuvering , what did it matter how he/they seemed initially ? And since the performance problem was solved , it wasn't that, as Larry suggests, that doomed Santa Esmeralda. Especially since Leroy was soon out of the SE picture anyway .

The story I wish he'd told would have been why Leroy parted from Santa Esmeralda (as I understand it, Leroy helped to create the group (??) and the flamenco sound concept ... (??) ) and how it was that departure that likely sank Santa Esmeralda . That and the departure of Don Ray as well .

Santa Esmeralda's debut LP was internationally HUGE ...why would producers Jean-Manuel de Scarano and Nicolas Skorsky want to monkey in any way with the winning formula?? Did they not seek Don Ray's continued participation as arranger ?
And why wouldn't Don Ray want to stick with this instantly solid franchise??


Did Casablanca sign some long-term, multi-LP agreement with Jean- Manuel and Nicolas ... locking them into continued releases of SE albums even as they worsened? What a coup for those producers (!) ... who apparently did nothing else (??)those four-five years !!!

And then finally, given Larry Harris' proclaimed unimpressed impression of him , the question still to ask is

why in the world
did they then sign Leroy Gomez as a solo act and release those two LPs?? If nothing else didn't the presence of those releases just call attention to the "something missing " in those Leroy-less Santa Esmeralda LPs they were trying to put over ?
Had Neil Bogart concluded that Leroy had been Santa's magic and as Esmeralda faltered, he decided to hedge his bet by trying Leroy Gomez on his own ???

>>>Why at some point wasn't Leroy Gomez just plugged back into Santa Esmeralda?? <<<

See, there's a great story here ... wish it'd been told .... (inquiring face x 3)



*****

[tmob]

Put it in perspective. When all is said and done, Santa Esmeralda was really not one of the bigger stars in the Casablanca galaxy. A couple of disco hits, yes; but overall, even The Captain & Tennille had more hits on Casablanca than Santa Esmeralda did (a #1 pop hit and two singles charting in the 50s for C&T vs. one top-15 single and one charting in the 70s for SE). So why should the SE/Leroy Gomez story have been a bigger part of the book? For whatever reason, neither one of them turned into a big act and probably aren't even remembered by a majority of the people reading the book.

I have to agree with Stephen...I was (pleasantly) surprised at the details that Larry Harris put in the book, and how much of it he "got right."

[BrunoRepublic]

I can't claim to know for certain, but I think the answer is actually quite straight-forward:

Casablanca never expected Santa Esmeralda to be anything more than a one-hit wonder. However, they were always generous -- to a fault -- when it came to funding their acts, perhaps in the hopes that lightning would strike twice.

From what I can tell, that would be consistent with how they operated, but I'm saying this only as a guess and not fact. Alternately, did Casablanca have anything to do with the production of these albums at all, or were they simply able to license them cheaply?

[remicks]

*****

tmob:

Re: Leroy Gomez and Santa Esmeralda at Casablanca


Put it in perspective. When all is said and done, Santa Esmeralda was really not one of the bigger stars in the Casablanca galaxy. A couple of disco hits, yes; but overall, even The Captain & Tennille had more hits on Casablanca than Santa Esmeralda did (a #1 pop hit and two singles charting in the 50s for C&T vs. one top-15 single and one charting in the 70s for SE). So why should the SE/Leroy Gomez story have been a bigger part of the book? For whatever reason, neither one of them turned into a big act and probably aren't even remembered by a majority of the people reading the book.

I have to agree with Stephen...I was (pleasantly) surprised at the details that Larry Harris put in the book, and how much of it he "got right."

Well I'm not saying I didn't learn anything from this book (& I think I'll write on that which I did because there are a couple of good morsels), and I'll gladly take anything we can get ... but yes, I wanted so much more .

Why should Santa Esmeralda have a bigger part of the book tmob ? For me, its for the reasons I've laid out .. .there's a story there that I'd love an insider like Larry Harris to go into.

And I wouldn't undersell Santa Emeralda's importance for Casablanca :

Before “Saturday Night Fever” The Bee-Gees and “Thriller” from Michael Jackson, Santa Esmeralda staring Leroy Gomez broke the record of album sales with 15 million LPs sold within a few months. To date more than 25 million.

from the group's website:
http://www.santaesmeralda.net/eu/biog.htm

OK so this group that sells million$$$ of album$$$ gets a mention in a single blurry paragraph of Harris' book, and for some reason we disco aficionados are supposed to call that good ---

But, I suppose I understand -
Larry had to reserve type to cover the more important Casablanca stars , like rock act Angel:
pages: 84, 102, 103, 119, 120, 122, 123, 132, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 176, 183, 196, 198, 223, 224, and 254

(tongue way out) (smiley)


*****

[tmob]

Yes, there was a lot about Angel in the book. But his point about Angel was that no matter what ridiculous extremes Casablanca went to to "break" the group, they couldn't. In that respect, it was a fascinating look at promotion strategy that didn't work (and how they didn't give up, even after they probably should have). I suspect that if there were a similarly interesting story about SE/LG, it probably would have made it in.

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

though I do question my sanity, whilst banging my head against the wall, here goes...

When I recorded my interview with Larry Harris, in October 2009, 2-3 weeks after the book's release...
In our discussion, Santa Esmerelda was the 4th...(lemme say that again) f-o-u-r-t-h Casablanca release that Larry brought up.
1 - The Tonight Show LP (discussion began with this, then a mix-out of Sammy Davis performing "Singin' In The Rain", into...)
2 - Sheila B. Devotion "We licensed it, mainly because it was French, and French Disco was very big at that time. Also, we'd just had huge success with...
3 - the Village People, who's Producer was French...
4 - and Santa Esmerelda, who's Producers were also French. But that blew-up right away. We hardly had to do anything for that. The minute it hit the radio, it exploded..."


Casablanca Records (& FilmWorks) was not a Disco record company. They were a record company.
This is a book about running a record company. Not a book about Disco.

KISS was the foundation for the entire operation. From 1974 through 1979. Of course they received more literary attention than the label's other acts. KISS made more $$$ for CR&FW, than any of them. Including Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder, combined. Also, KISS was Larry's baby. He watched-over KISS from their 1974 audition, right through to 1977, when KISS renegotiated their contract. Giving control of their operations to Rock Steady Productions. Then Larry's attention, within the Rock arm of the company, was directed towards ANGEL.

KISS is a classic "Metal" Band. ANGEL was not. They were more along the lines of 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer', or 'YES' (which is why I have the ANGEL LPs, and they're excellent!). That required a different marketing strategy, towards a different audience. Live performances are a key component of promoting any Rock band. And it's where a particular problem remained for ANGEL***, who's lackluster success had nothing to do with any lack of talent, promotion, or stage presence.

Larry put information into this book, that we, who study the record business, had been drooling for, for 35 years.
Does he know more about every aspect of CR&FW's history? Oh, yes.
Was he willing to talk about it on the air? "Thank you Jesus", yes! (*** ie: ANGEL, KISS, Donna, Paul Jabara, Giorgio, Jacques & Henri, Felipe, Phylicia Alllen & Victor Willis, Alec R. Costandinos, Cher & Gene Simmons, Fanny, Billboard, Merv Griffin, Cecil Holmes, Motown & TGIF, Drugs, Expense Accounts, Battles with Artists, and on & on...)
Is it all in 'Return To Casablanca', the 2 & 1/2 hour episode of Back To Music? Nope.
<eg> I have 2 hours, more...

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

...did Casablanca have anything to do with the production of these albums at all, or were they simply able to license them cheaply?

The latter is correct.
Subsequently, if a licensed LP did well, Casablanca would sign a 3 to 5 LP deal with the Producer, for the US rights.

Conversely, with regard to any releases that Casablanca held the copyrights on, that were licensed by CR&FW to the overseas market... Neil didn't focus on their sales, all that much. He just considered them to be one-shot money-makers. The sole exceptions being KISS, and Donna(<---re: Donna, after CR&FW were able to acquire the worldwide rights, once the licensing agreements ran-out for GTO-UK, GROOVY-Holland, ATLANTIC-France & Germany, etc... which wasn't until 1978)

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

...they were always generous -- to a fault -- when it came to funding their acts, perhaps in the hopes that lightning would strike twice.

From what I can tell, that would be consistent with how they operated, but I'm saying this only as a guess and not fact.

It's a fact.

Larry said he can't recall any point in CR&FW's entire history, where they weren't on the brink of financial collapse. The company ran, virtually always, in the red. A situation contributed to by every aspect of the company. Promotional expenses, exorbitant salaries, ever-expanding office-space for an ever-expanding staff, multiple expense accounts, high-end packaging, over-pressing, etc.

For example: The mega-successful releases of 1979, just barely covered the losses of 1978. Even after cutting loose Parachute, Millennium & Douglas Records, upon the initial edict from Polygram.

With that in mind, and CR&FW's releasing an unheard-of 203 LP's alone, within 6 years... One can see how SE's DLMBM isn't a major topic in the recitation of CR&FW's history, as a company.

[remicks]

*****


First of all let me say THANK YOU to those participating on this thread thus far , I'm enjoying the responses , even the more snooty ones , .... because in the exchange of ideas and viewpoints , I'm learning ! (cool/smile) and that's a major part of the fun of coming here (smiley) .

I'd still like to hear more about Santa Esmeralda and Leroy Gomez and maybe more will emerge ....because apparently it is important to the Casablanca story :
Let's see - how did you put that STEPHEN ?
Oh yes:

Santa Esmerelda was the 4th...(lemme say that again) f-o-u-r-t-h Casablanca release that Larry brought up.

So see - there it is - since Larry was so eager to discuss it , all the more disappointing then that he devoted so little time to it in his book . Did you two discuss Leroy Gomez' departure from Santa Esmeralda, STEPHEN ?

It seems like at some point I had read elsewhere that Leroy didn't want to do disco ( notice that much of that debut SE wasn't disco ) .... but that doesn't seem to jive with the LPs Leroy then put out on his own (??) . Did that first French LP you mentioned Pierre that Gomez released contain disco??


Yes its quite apparent from reading the book that the whole disco aspect of Casablanca wasn't really Larry's bag . Like he said - FM rock was his orientation where his heart was at (& he identifies Stallion and Angel as pet projects of his ). Besides, just as disco was maximizing , Larry got married, and so , depending on the type of relationship he was trying to groom on the home front , it would make sense that club partying wasn't really his thing about then.
But, that's OK, Casablanca was a RECORD company born out of rock and one that was tapping into that music and whatever avenue of record pressing they could that would bring them succe$$.

I give this book a big thumbs up in terms of all it does provide , after all , OF COURSE , the Casablanca story was an incredible ,miraculous, whirlwind , fantasy fairytale and how great to be sitting in on it from the inside as Larry provides . But I'd also caution members here ,"disco" people -- that as STEPHEN says :

This is a book about a record company. Not a book about Disco.

Unfortunately I think the Casablanca people that would've written the Casablanca DISCO story , the one with a whole chapter on Santa Esmeralda and just one paragraph on Angel ... people like Neil Bogart and Marc Paul Simon are no longer with us to do so . (although Cecil Holmes could probably put out a pretty riveting one)

(smiley)

*****

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

...even the more snooty ones

...just give it a rest, already

Did you two discuss Leroy Gomez' departure from Santa Esmeralda, STEPHEN ?

Leroy Gomez's departure from SE had no connection with CR&FW. It was between Gomez, Skorsky and de Scarano. Fauves-Puma had the contract with CR&FW, not Gomez. CR&FW then inked a contract with Gomez, as a solo artist, allowing Gomez to Produce himself.

His 1st solo release for CR&FW, in 1978, was Produced by Gomez & Simon Soussan. It was a very good 'Soussan' LP. But suffered the same lack-of-promotion fate as did "Our Ms. Brooks", "Paris Connection", "Confessions", etc., wherein there was little-to-no $$$ available due to the huge financial drain by TGIF. [Larry: "everything suffered after TGIF..."]

His next CR&FW release, in 1979, was Produced by Gomez & Sam Choueka (though, creatively, it's unmistakably a Thor Baldersson Production. And a knock-off of the template he'd been currently using, over at Salsoul, and for "Got Tu Go Disco".). It was a pretty forgettable LP.

In between the CR&FW releases (1978), Gomez released a Disco LP in France, titled "Number One Man". It was Produced by Pierre Jaubert (Michele, Chantal Curtis, Brenda Mitchell, etc...), which, in of itself, could be reason for no CR&FW release. But it's another, forgettable LP.

[BrunoRepublic]

.
In between the CR&FW releases (1978), Gomez released a Disco LP in France, titled "Number One Man".

This came out in Canada too. And Stephen, I agree with your assessment of it (and I Got It Bad). They're not horrible albums, but for the most part they're unremarkable. At times they resemble uninspired knock-offs of the first SE album, at other points they border on being generic. I Got It Bad at least has top-notch production going for it, whereas Number One Man sounds like a rather low-budget affair in comparison.

Really, what else is there to the story? The first SE album took off all on its own, so no need for an epic marketing campaign. Casablanca got to license it cheaply, so it would've been like a license to print money for them, money that they needed to pay other bills and promote other acts. Subsequent SE albums were released to diminishing returns. Ditto for the two Gomez LPs they put out. Then Casablanca imploded.

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Unfortunately I think the Casablanca people that would've written the Casablanca DISCO story..., people like ...Marc Paul Simon, are no longer with us to do so.

yes... Marc Paul Simon would be the most knowledgeable of anyone, to write the book you want.

As for Neil, or Cecil... Not, necessarily, any more than Larry.
Neil, Larry & Cecil had equal stakes in Casablanca. Even before they left Buddah.

In '76, after they created Chocolate City Records for Cecil, he focused most all of his attention there.

Neil and Larry, though, carried the same loads. But Neil was always out-there, as the face of Casablanca. Or, absorbed in new ventures (ie: FilmWorks, Casablanca West, Casablanca Kids, Broadway, TV shows, etc...).

Meanwhile, Larry was always in the office (with the exception of traveling for KISS matters, prior to mid-'77), overseeing the day-to-day of running Casablanca. Actually, by the start of 1978, Larry was running most of the Record division. Because Neil was spending his days, over at the TGIF set, or at Columbia Pictures. [Stephen: "Did you visit the set much, during filming, as well?" Larry: "I was there, maybe a couple of times. Maybe 2, or 3 times. (laughs)... I had to be there. Somebody had to run the company! Neil...? During that time, he was never there. He was just, never there."]

This situation, also gave Larry the unique distinction of being the 1st person to hear "Last Dance", when Paul sang it to him, in his office. And being the 1st to be told about the artist/employee desk-sex incident. As well as being the only one at-the-top, for Artists, Agents, VPs, etc., to go to. Since he spent so much more, actual time in the office, than Neil.

I agree that he should receive praise, just for writing the book.
But, I strongly believe that he should, also be acknowledged for his credibility. Equally, if not, more-so.
During the entire 3 hours I'd spent talking with Larry, he was down-to-earth, straightforward and unapologetic. He was real.

Though, when asked a professionally & personally painful question about KISS, I did detect an genuinely deep, sadness in his voice.

[remicks]

*****

STEPHEN F FREEMAN:

yes... Marc Paul Simon would be the most knowledgeable of anyone, to write the book you want.

As for Neil, or Cecil... Not, necessarily, any more than Larry.
Neil, Larry & Cecil had equal stakes in Casablanca. Even before they left Buddah.

Ah, what Marc Paul Simon might've narrated ! (smiley smiley) then (sad)
I singled out Neil Bogart for obvious reasons , but also because in his book, Larry Harris says something about Neil that he never comes close to saying about himself:
"Neil took to disco like a duck to water. "

And just imagine the wild yarns he'd relate !!

And Cecil , well he's one of the last big players left and I'd enjoy any reflecting he'd choose to share as I know you would too STEPHEN .

______________________________________

OK, so now as I'm sitting here thinking about this I start chuckling - imagining this scenario . I hope you'll all find it amusing ......


I'm picturing Larry Harris leaning back in his office chair thumbing his fingers through fresh stacks of still bundled 100 dollar bills courtesy of Casablanca's 's ripping-off of the Santa Esmeralda people (hey he admits it in the book) .....OK .... let's put it this way : thanks to their taking full advantage of the contractual naivety of Fauves-Puma, - and as he pats himself on the back, eagerly thinking about the future four LP deal $$$$ Casablanca has made with them, suddenly his secretary sticks her head through the door .

"Long distance collect call from Paris for you ."

LH: "Oh really who is it?"

"Jean-Manuel de Scarano and Nicolas Skorsky"

LH: "Who??? "

"The producers of Santa Esmeralda "

LH: "Oh ,of course! Put them on immediately. How's it going guys?Gotta tell you, this Santa Esmeralda thing is through the roof. Through -the -roof!! Wait'll you see the residuals you'll be getting. So anyway , how's their second LP coming along? What's that ? You've got a couple of things to inform me about? OK. Oh? You're doing another Animals tune as the followup. HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN? That sounds like total genius. "

Larry smiles to himself, satisfied with the news .

LH: "But what else? What ???! You're not using the same arranger ?? You're not going to use , that Cerrone guy , Don Ray , this time ??!! You've got someone else to use , even better??

Now Larry feels a bit uneasy.

LH: " Oh, Don's 's busy working on another project - one with a group called Revelacion ... something totally different. Oh, I see. Well - that'll probably work out OK. Ya I'm sure that's fine. "

- Larry says trying to sound agreeable as he leans back further in his chair.

LH: "And what? One more little thing to mention ? You're also not going to use the group's lead singer from the original hit LP , Leroy Gomez ??? !!!!!!!! No Leroy Gomez!!!! You've got someone else to use even better ????!!!


As thoughts of a Queen LP without Freddie Mercury , or a Police album featuring vocals from someone other than Sting - rush to his head , Larry mumbles ....

LH: Ya ..... I .....guess.....we ....don't ....really....need .....him......either .
And besides ... he's ... really .....not ...... very... good...on ...stage ... .... anyway ...

Now Larry's breathing goes irregular.

LH "I don't sound good?....no it's all ...OK ...it's all -OK ... bad connection is ... all .... gotta... go"

Then his secretary in the next room hears a loud thud as Larry's chair falls over backwards .



LOL !!!!



******

[remicks]

******


The imaginary scenario continues :

After he gets off the phone and the floor , Larry Harris goes over to Neil Bogart's office to pow-wow the current Santa Esmeralda situation. They have no control over what the Santa Esmeralda camp does with their act , but Neil is especially anxious about the importance of good submissions for the THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY SOUNDTRACK.


Larry waits a couple of days before calling the producers back:

LH: "Hello! This is Larry Harris from Casablanca. Is this Jean-Manuel or Nicholas ?? Jean-Manuel ? Hey ,hi, - how're things in gay Paris? Great - glad to hear it. "

LH: "Working hard on the next Santa Esmeralda release ? HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN is even better than DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD ? Terrific.
Hey speaking of that , I wanted to go over something with you. I was in talking with Neil , Neil Bogart , the company president, and he's very concerned about your changing up the lead singer of the group. He's especially concerned about the song you're submitting for the THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY soundtrack. Neil wants wants that to be as consistent a Santa Esmeralda tune as possible , one that really screams "Santa Esmeralda ."

LH: "What's that?? Don't worry?? SEVILLA NIGHTS is very Santa Esmeralda ? .... loaded with Spanish guitar ,castanets, .... punchy, trumpety horns . Yes very Santa Esmeralda .....sounds perfect Jean-Manuel ..."

LH: " Except one other thing, , Neil's very concerned about the vocals; he really thinks Leroy' s voice is a big part of the Santa Esmeralda sound. Now about your new vocalist ... what's his name .... ya, Jimmy Goings ....can he provide that Santa Esmeralda sound like Leroy Gomez did??? "

LH: "Not to worry? He sings very very good? Very very Santa Esmeralda? Well OK that's good , but is he very very Leroy Gomez?? "

LH: "What's that Jean- Manuel? ? Tell Neil not to worry ? If he prefers, you won't feature Jimmy Goings on the THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY cut??? Well to be honest, that'd be great! If you can do that - provide one more Santa Esmeralda song before switching over to Jimmy Goings , that's be great Jean-Manuel."

Larry hangs up the phone most satisfied- mission accomplished. Knowing the THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY SOUNDTRACK desperately needs all the strong cuts they can possibly accrue , he races in to tell Neil the good news that Santa Esmeralda is likely one to deliver.

Two weeks later -

A package arrives from Paris .The secretary opens it and then carries the tapes into Larry's office

S: "Here's the Santa Esmeralda submission for the THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY soundtrack Mr. Harris."

LH: "Oh great!!!"

Larry grabs it and immediately cues up the tape , leans way back in his chair , and eagerly gives it play. Long intro he thinks , as he waits for the vocals to come in ....




Six minutes pass , then his secretary again hears a loud thud from his office .

well,
no Jimmy Goings --- as promised !!!

LOL !!!!




__________________________________

Of course, we can only guess as to just how disappointed the Casablanca folks were with this Santa Esmeralda submission. But here's a clue :

There were 14 Casablanca songs from the movie included on the soundtrack release. Of those 14 , ten were chosen for special 12" pressings to be delivered to disco DJs for additional promotion . Now - considering how recently HOT Santa Esmeralda had proven itself to be ...a real club favorite .... their song, SEVILLA NIGHTS , gets passed over here ,

even in favor of one from some throw away group called Sunshine !!

(tongue out, way out, eyes rollin')



*****