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Topic: Santo & Johnny after Sleepwalk = "Teardrop" !! |
Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 11:03 am |
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| After their hit "Sleepwalk", Santo & Johnny came out with a followup 45 , "Teardrop" , that was at least as good as Sleepwalk IMHO !! But I never hear it mentioned !!?? Does anyone but me remember "Teardrop" ?? Was a great steel song similar to Sleepwalk with the echo harmonic slides but still different. I wish I could post music, I have the 45 !! Eddie "C: ( the old geezer ) |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 11:27 am
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I bought all the Santo and Johnny 45s as they came out, but I don't remember that one. But then, I was living in England at the time and a lot of American singles weren't released over there. You had to import them, but to do that you had to know of their existence.  |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Matt Johnson
From:
California, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 12:44 pm
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| Thanks for the link to the song sample, Doug. I've never heard that one before....too cool! |
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Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 12:47 pm
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Teardrop was a great follow-up to Sleepwalk,
I guess the American consciousness could only assimilate 1 Steel guitar instrumental. |
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norm mcdaniel
From:
waco tx
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 1:25 pm
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Doug B, that is an amazing song I had forgotten about it, but at the time it was one of my favorites as was Sleepwalk. I just cant imagine what kinda settings he had on his amp.
Thanks for the soundbite
Norm In Waco_--building muy own. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 2:02 pm
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| Now I hear the clip I am familiar with the number. It's on their Greatest Hits album. |
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 2:56 pm
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| I play Teardrop at just about every gig. It is a real buckle polisher. CC |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 4:07 pm Doug , you amaze me !!
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| Doug B. , You are amazing !! For a young guy you sure do know old music !! I was 30 when Sleepwalk and Teardrop came out !! Thanks for posting that clip !! Eddie "C" ( the OLD geezer ) |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 4:15 pm
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| Quote: |
| I just cant imagine what kinda settings he had on his amp. |
It's not easy to pin down Santo's tone, but IMHO it starts with the thin bite of Fender pickups, and the tone of a Fender tweed tube amp with about 60 to 80 watts, no reverb, but in the case of Tear Drop lots of 'room reverb'. Above all, the tone is in Santo's hands! His harmonics are strong and bright. Also, the steel guitar is way 'out front' in the recordings, and the rest of the band plays quiet and simple, very much in the background. It's all live playing from start to finish. No punch ins, no corrections, no mixing tricks. What they played is what you hear, from start to finish. I like that.
| Quote: |
| For a young guy you sure do know old music !! |
Thanks Eddie, I'm so 'young' I've been eligible for AARP for a couple of years, and I have two senior cards for local restaurants.  
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Last edited by Doug Beaumier on 30 Jun 2007 7:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 4:31 pm Reverb in 50s & 60s
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| As I recall back in late 50s ,early 60s , Ace Recording Studio in Boston used a big room in the cellar with speakers and mikes placed to pick up the sound as it bounced around the room. Then later they had something from Germany, a big sheet of hanging steel with drivers and pickups attached that gave quite a reverb ! Eddie "C" |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 4:53 pm
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Yes, back then reverb came from 'the room', and lots of studios were known for their room sounds. I read about a studio that was in an old school building, and they would record doo-wop bands in the stairwell to take advantage of the natural reverb. Then there was the studio in San Francisco that had a very tall cylinder shaped room that was way taller than it was wide, and a lot of ‘60s bands recorded there for that reason. Nowadays studios build their rooms to be dead... little to no reflection. ’Room sound’ is added at mixdown (stereo reverbs and delays). Carefully selected, processed, and added by the engineer. That’s progress!
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 6:59 pm
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"Room" doesn't refer to the studio recording room per se, but to ANOTHER room specially set up for reverb with speakers an mikes placed surreptitiously !!
The German sheet steel the Eddie "C" refers to is an EMT Plate, the like so which was probably used on this particular recording.
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Steelies do it without fretting
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Earl Hensley
From:
Las Vegas Nv.USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2007 7:10 pm Santo & Johnnys Teardrop,
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| Johnny Farina has a cd out with the song on it. The cd is really good. No Santo, but good. He also does a remake of Sleepwalk. Check it out. I like the remake of Teardrop better than the original. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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steve takacs
From:
beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 1 Jul 2007 9:20 am
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Thanks for bringing back the memories of Teardrop.
I bought the 45 when it came out and played it at record hops in Mass. with my Fender Strat in 1960.
It's time to dig out the 45 and learn it again.
Don |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2007 10:59 am
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| Quote: |
| Above all, the tone is in Santo's hands! |
The melody of Sleepwalk is easy enough for even the beginner to pick up quickly. What makes the song is Santo's masterful tone and touch. His vibrato is especially emotive and challenging to replicate. I have yet to hear a cover of Sleepwalk that comes close to the original. Beautiful! Teardrop is good, too. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 2 Jul 2007 11:39 am
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Great tune, Doug! The level of steel technique and the inherent sense of relaxation in Santo & Johnny's recordings is really under-appreciated IMHO. They never sound like they're rushing or dragging. Agree about the sound of the Stringmaster pickups with their scooped out mids.
The whole "natural reverb" thing is an interesting topic. Duane Eddie's signal went through a huge water tank outside the studio then back into the mix for all his big hits. I read somewhere that Mowtown ran someof Diana Ross' vocals into a toilet tank for its reverb properties. You can definitely hear the sound of the room on Louis Armstrong's Hot Five recordings. I'd heard of plate reverb before but I see I had pictured it in my mind completely wrong! Thanks for the link. |
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Mark Treepaz
From:
Hamburg, New York USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2007 11:56 am
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I've done several recording sessions at a studio in Youngstown, Ohio - Peppermint Productions - that used to have a large round steel tank half buried in the ground out in back behind the studio. Inside were speakers and mics that ran back into a control unit in the control room. The control unit was built by the studio owner and engineer, Gary Rhamy. It was some of the best sounding reverb I'd heard! Although through the years, the tank started leaking often and probably by now is completely full of water. The studio is still there and in business, but with the onset of all of the digital reverbs available today, the tank was put out of service. (Although, the tank itself is still there.)
_________________
Sho-Bud LDG, Gretsch Syncromatic Lap Steel, Fender Steel King amp, Bach Stradivarious 37 Trumpet, Getzen Eterna Flugelhorn, 68 Fender Precision Bass |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 2 Jul 2007 8:17 pm
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| Quote: |
| Motown ran some of Diana Ross' vocals into a toilet tank |
Andy, there must be 500 jokes in that line 
For anyone who wants to hear 'room reverb', listen to Teardrop again, and keep in mind that Santo's amp has no reverb, and reverb units were not invented yet, so that beautiful full 'verb is coming from either a big empty room, a 4' x 8' thin metal plate, or maybe even a big round steel tank. Whatever, it sounds very full and rich. The steel sound in Sleepwalk is 'dry' in comparison. That's okay though, because great playing and great technique don't need effects to sound good. Great playing coupled with moderate effects is unbeatable IMHO
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Ron Brennan
From:
Orlando, Florida, USA; Formerly, Edison, NJ
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Posted 3 Jul 2007 8:30 am Teardrop
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Thank's for bringing this one up Eddie!!
I agree with all that fellow AARP member Doug B. says above.
When I first started playing in public, circa: 1960, with my Fender D6 (Terry VunCannon has it now), I was, oh, say about 17-18 years old.
Sleepwalk and the followup "Teardrop" were an absolute must. I still play both and I enjoy playing "Teardrop" a bit more than Sleepwalk. You can get a lot of soul into that melody line, but especially more so (at least, for me) in the bridge. S&J knew what they were doing. 
Santo, it seems to me, perfected or focused mostly on single string playing. The tone he got from that Fender, the vibrato and feeling are just incomparable.
I also did, due to reasons of soul, renditons of S&J's "Prisoner of Love" & "Long walk home".
"Prisoner of Love" is my all time favorite by S&J.
This "OL" AARP'ER is trasitioning into PSG, I still do "Teardrop", now on the E-9 neck...no pedals required, but I may work one in, Ha,Ha. BTW: My Steel Buddy, Ron Victoria plays it beautifully as well. 
Anyway, if you really like S&J steel, go on Google and find the S&J web site. All their ablbums are available (2 albums on each CD). For me, it was well worth it. Enjoy them!! TX
Rgds,
Ron (A really old geezer)
_________________
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"55" Fender Stringmaster D8,
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John Steele (deceased)
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 3 Jul 2007 9:08 pm
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Doug, I was surprised to see that your link led me to the website of my friend Phil Bova, who is a very talented percussionist and recording tech in Ottawa.
His studio specializes in using cool (and often massive) old analog equipment.
-John |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 3 Jul 2007 10:52 pm
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Yes, that's a coincidence. I chose that site because I like the description and picture of the EMT plate reverb. It looks like his studio has a lot of interesting old gear: tape delays (echoplex), reel to reel recorders, vintage stomp boxes, amps, Hammond organ w/Leslie, mics, guitars, basses. All he needs now is a steel guitar!
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Gary Boyett
From:
Colorado/ Lives in Arizona
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Posted 4 Jul 2007 3:05 am
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When a friend of mine recorded in the 50's he put his amp facing into a larger wooden box for reverb.
You could choose the amount of reverb my the size of the box or distance from the face of the amp to the back of the box.
The mics were set to the side facing the box. |
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