"The Letter-Neon Rainbow/Cry Like A Baby/Non Stop/Dimensions/Bonus Tracks" by THE BOX TOPS - Four Albums from 1967, 1968 (2) and 1969 on Bell Records (USA) in Stereo with 1970 Non-Album Singles in Mono - Featuring Alex Chilton [later of Big Star], Donnie Fritts, Eddie Hinton, Spooner Oldham with Dan Penn, Mickey Newbury, Chip Taylor, Glen Spreen and more (28 February 2020 UK Beat Goes On Reissue - 4LPs Onto 2CDs with Seven Bonus Tracks - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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This fantastic-sounding February 2020 double-header CD set from the hirsute bods prowling the corridors of England’s Beat Goes On offers up four studio albums THE BOX TOPS did in the USA between 1967 and 1969 with some dips into 1970. All were released in the UK too, albeit one LP with an additional track and another with two extras (the full compliment is provided here in this release – see notes below the track lists for sequencing).

Bolstering the quartet are seven more bonuses - three album outtakes (from the first 3 LPs) and four non-album single sides - with the bulk of it being in glorious Stereophonic marvelousness. It be a wee bit of a jellybean jar and that’s for darn gosh sure (as they say in enlightened parts of Alabama).

All this and a young Alex Chilton of Big Star (only 16 going on 17) stretching his Eric Burdon via Jim Morrison voice and newly acquired songwriting chops, Rock-Soul tunes with a Countrified air from those good ole Southern Soul gentlemen and all-round beloved dapper dudes – Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn (Penn produced the first three LPs) - with other melodies penned by Donnie Fritts and Eddie Hinton (guitar too). Hell The Tops even do a nine-minute cover of a B.B. King Blues classic at the end of album four that would give Jimmy Page a possible envy streak (and that’s not at the size of Robbie Williams' nearby and neighbourly water appendage). And 1968’s "Non Stop" (their one studio set that didn't make the top 200) may be obscure in 2020, but its an unfairly forgotten classic in my book and ripe for rediscovery. All this and these are the longest two BGO CDs I've ever seen in their near 40 years of digital reissue – both 81-minutes-plus. Very cool and not in the least bit square (if you know what I mean). Here are the unboxed details...

UK released Friday, 28 February 2020 - "The Letter-Neon Rainbow/Cry Like A Baby/Non Stop/Dimensions/Bonus Tracks" by THE BOX TOPS on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1400 (Barcode 5017261214003) offers 4LPs Remastered Onto 2CDs with Seven Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows:

CD1 (81:40 minutes):

1. The Letter [Side 1]

2. She Knows How

3. Trains & Boats & Planes 

4. Break My Mind

5. Whiter Shade Of Pale

6. Everything I Am

7. Neon Rainbow [Side 2]

8. People Make The World

9. I'm Your Puppet

10. Happy Times

11. Gonna Find Somebody

12. I Pray For Rain

Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut album "The Letter/Neon Rainbow" – released November 1967 in the USA on Bell Records 6011 in Stereo-only and January 1968 in the UK on Stateside SSL 10128 in Stereo-only - the STEREO MIX is used

13. Cry Like A Baby [Side 1]

14. Deep In Kentucky

15. I'm The One For You

16. Weeping Analeah

17. Every Time

18. Fields Of Clover

19. The Letter [see Notes below]

20. Trouble With Sam [Side 2]

21. Lost

22. Good Morning Dear

23. 727

24. You Keep Me Hanging On

25. The Door You Closed To Me [see Notes below]

Tracks 13 to 25 are their second studio album "Cry Like A Baby" – released April 1968 in the USA on Bell Records 6017 in Stereo-only as an 11-track LP. The US variant is sequenced 13 to 18 for Side 1 and 20 to 24 for Side 2. The songs at the end of each side ("The Letter" and "The Door You Closed To Me") were two bonuses only on the June 1968 UK 13-track LP on Bell Records MBLL 105 (Mono) and SBLL 105 (Stereo). The song "The Door You Closed To Me" was also a non-album track in the USA and appeared as the B-side of the "Cry Like A Baby" 45 single in February 1988 on Mala Records 593. The STEREO MIX is used for CD.

BONUS TRACKS:

26. Georgia Farm Boy (album outtake first issued March 2000 in the USA on Sundazed SC 6158 - the Expanded Edition CD reissue of the "The Letter-Neon Rainbow" LP)

27. Take Me To Your Heart (album outtake first issued March 2000 in the USA on Sundazed SC 6159 - the Expanded Edition CD reissue of the "Cry Like A Baby" LP)

28. Come On Honey (non-album track, March 1970 US 7" single on Bell 865, B - CD reissue as per 27)

29. You Keep Tightening Up On Me (non-album track, March 1970 US 7" single on Bell 865, A - CD reissue as per 27)

CD2 (81:43 minutes):

1. Choo Choo Train [Side 1]

2. I'm Movin' On

3. Sandman

4. She Shot A Hole In My Soul

5. People Gonna Talk

6. I Met Her in Church [Side 2]

7. Rock Me Baby

8. Rollin' In My Sleep

9. I Can Dig It

10. Yesterday Where's My Head

11. If I Had Let You In 

Tracks 1 to 11 are their third studio album "Non Stop" – released October 1968 in the USA on Bell Records 6023 in Stereo-only and November 1968 in the UK on Bell Records MBLL 108 (Mono) and SBLL 108 (Stereo) - the STEREO MIX is used

12. Soul Deep [Side 1]

13. I Shall Be Released

14. Midnight Angel

15. Together

16. I'll Hold Out My Hand

17. I Must Be The Devil

18. Sweet Cream Ladies (Forward March) [Side 2]

19. (The) Happy Song

20. Ain't No Way

21. I See Only Sunshine

22. Rock Me Baby (Version 2)

Tracks 12 to 22 are their fourth album "Dimensions" – released September 1969 in the USA on Bell Records 6032 in Stereo-only as a 10-Track LP without the song "I See Only Sunshine" on Side 2 and November 1969 in the UK on Bell Records MBLL 120 (Mono) and SBLL 120 (Stereo) as an 11-track LP with the song "I See Only Sunshine" slotted in as above on Side 2 – the STEREO MIX is used

BONUS TRACKS:

23. King's Highway (non-album track, March 1971 US 7" single on Bell 981, A - CD as per 25)

24. Since I Been Gone (non-album track, March 1971 US 7" single on Bell 981, B - CD appearance is March 2000 in the USA on Sundazed SC 6160 - the Expanded Edition CD reissue of the "Non Stop" LP)

25. Lay Your Shine On Me (album outtake first issued March 2000 in the USA on Sundazed SC 6161 - the Expanded Edition CD reissue of the "Dimensions" LP)

The outer slipcase card wrap, 24-page booklet and foldout double-CD jewel case all lend this reissue a typical air of class. Longstanding writer for BGO – Mojo and Record Collector’s CHARLES WARING - provides superbly detailed and researched liner notes that cover the recording and release of the first four albums, the singles surrounding them, Producers Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn, Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman, line-up changes and even quotes from singer-songwriter Alex Chilton and original drummer Danny Smythe on their punishing and sometimes disillusioning schedules. The booklet also features all original artwork (hokey liner notes from 1967 and 1968 by Hal Smith and Mark Lindsay) and well as the usual 2020 Remaster reissue credits. Even the inner back inlay beneath the CD trays has a shot of the "Dimensions" album sleeve (nice touch).

ANDREW THOMPSON did the Remasters at Sound Performance in London and I have to say that these albums are sparkling. Although most are in full STEREO, I can’t help thinking (and to my ears) that certain cuts are in MONO – like the single "The Letter" on the debut (repeated on the British LP for "Cry Like A Baby"). The audio on deeply cool album cuts like "She Knows How",  "People Make The World", "Choo Choo Train" and "She Shot A Hole In My Soul" is wonderful – a genuine pleasure to hear in all their 60ts cool-aid grooviness. To the records...

Arising out of a Memphis Beat group called The Devilles, the embryonic 1966 Box Tops hooked up with Soul-steeped producers Chips Moman and Dan Penn. Then with the aid of an uppercoming Missouri songwriter called Wayne Carson Thompson (usually credited on the labels as Carson Thompson) – they found a total world-beating winner in one of his three demo songs called "The Letter" (ticket for an aeroplane, anyone). Thompson also penned the album’s other moniker "Neon Rainbow" which would become the group’s second single and a dual title on the debut album. His third contribution to the covers-heavy first LP outing was "She Knows How" – another wickedly hooky tune.

Young Soul buck Bobby Womack provided two - "People Make The World" and "Gonna Find Somebody" – neither of which would turn up on his two stunning albums for Imperial "Fly Me To The Moon" and "My Prescription" in 1968 and 1970. We get a purely functional version of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", a wimpy cover of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David Dionne Warwick vehicle "Trains & Boats & Planes" and a slightly better take on John D. Loudermilk's "Break My Mind". But what really interests me about the debut (apart from how mature Chilton sounded as a 16-year old giving it some 60ts R&B) is the four Rock-Soul songs from the pens of two of my absolute fave-rave writers – Memphis boys Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn (accompanied by ace arranger Mike Leech). They give us "Everything I Am", the James and Bobby Purify classic "I'm Your Puppet", "Happy Times" and "I Pray For Rain". It's been eons since I played these period slices of Southern hospitality and gosh darn their burning-churning groovy bits but they've stood up well – especially as they come from a year that saw the dynamic duo write "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" for Aretha Franklin and "The Dark End Of The Street" for James Carr. Yum yum...

The second LP "Cry Like A Baby" once again saw Dan Penn at the Production controls – the US copy offering 11 cuts whilst the UK issue slapped on a further two songs – one at the end of either side. The team of Oldham and Penn stumped up the fantastic hit "Cry Like A Baby" and five more - "Every Time", "Fields Of Clover", "Trouble With Sam" (Penn only), "727" and the bonus cut on the British LP "The Door You Closed On Me". The band gets yeah-man psych on their cover of The Supremes Holland-Dozier-Holland classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On", goes all Peppers Sitar on "I'm The One For You", whilst the album is also notable for the inclusion of two from cult Country Rocker Mickey Newbury - "Good Morning Dear" and a waltz co-write with Dan Folger on "Weeping Analeah". 

A quietly unnoticed hero of mine called Glen Spreen arranged the strings on "Lost" (a co-write of his with Mark James) – Spreen would enjoy a huge working career as LP arranger for the much-missed Dan Fogelberg on Dan's albums "Home Free", "Captured Angel", "Phoenix", "The Innocent Age" and more (he even arranged for Presley). And amidst the four bonuses tail-ending CD1 is Alex Chilton's first songwriting-credit for the band on "Come On Honey", Carson Thompson once again throwing up a non-LP groover in "You Keep Tightening Up On Me" and another Mickey Newbury cover in the album outtake - "Georgia Farm Boy" - that I believe Sundazed first unearthed to the world in 2000 on their expanded CD reissue of the debut album "The Letter-Neon Rainbow".

Which brings us to album number three "Non Stop" from October 1968 opening CD2 with the LP's lead off single – the Donnie Fritts and Eddie Hinton penned "Choo Choo Train". Mala Records had in fact debuted the 45 Stateside in May 1968 (Mala 12,005) with "Fields Of Clover" from the second album on the flipside – but even then the writing seemed to be on the wall for this non-charting LP. "Cry Like A Baby" had gone all the hit way to an impressive No. 2 on the American singles chart in March 1968 – but in June 1968 (only months later) when "Choo Choo Train" hit the Billboard listings – it only managed a peak of only No. 26. And despite the songwriting strength of the album's second 45 "I Met Her In Church" on Mala 12.017 - an Oldham/Penn original backed with their equally cool "People Gonna Talk" song on the flipside - it too only rose to No. 37 and this time only managed one week on the chart. Hardly surprising then that in November 1968, a slightly panicking Bell Records tried to cash in on what must have appeared to be an already fading band by putting out the LP "The Box Tops Super Hits" as a mop-up exercise. At least it charted and rose to No. 45 – reminding people of how much they loved those hooky Rock-Soul numbers.

As well as the clever rework of Hank Snow's country groover "I'm Movin' On" on Side 1 (John Kay of Steppenwolf may have nicked his arrangement of the cover from the Box Tops for his "Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes" LP in 1972) – the "Non Stop" album also has an enlightened cover version choice on Side 2 in the B.B. King classic "Rock Me Baby". A Bluesy little gem running to 3:49 minutes, I mention the tune because when The Box Tops returned with their fourth "Dimensions" album in 1969, clearly recognizing that they'd stumbled on a sound and Rock-Soul-orientated groove Chilton really liked - they went at it again, only this time extending its fantastic Blues-Rock-Soul vibe to nearly nine minutes. Wayne Carson Thompson provided "Sandman" which I think is good rather than great – Fritts and Hinton put up contribution number two in the shape of the US Side 2 finisher "If I Had Let You In" (sweet) and keyboardist Paul Davis of The Reivers provided the excellent "Rollin' In My Sleep". As I said earlier, why the public ignored this rather cool and sexy little LP is anyone's guess – but I'd say it's time to go back and re-look.

The final album "Dimensions" opens with the absolute winner that is "Soul Deep" - a Wayne Carson Thompson masterpiece. But then you're hit with a genuine surprise. Even in 1968, Dylan cover versions had become a seriously overdone thing. And yet The Box Tops managed in their version of "I Shall Be Released" to capture the song's beauty and spirituality and even (some would say) take it further. Their take is gorgeous and in April 1969 Mala previewed the album by putting "I Shall Be Released" on a US 45 A-side (Mala 12,038) with Chilton's equally superb Blues number "I Must Be The Devil" on the flip. 23 May 1969 saw this combo issued by Bell Records in Blighty (Bell BLL 1063) and for me is one of the great forgotten combos of that amazing year (love me two times). Can't say I like the cover of Neil Diamond's "Ain't No Way" much, but the Al Gorgoni and Chip Taylor song "I'll Hold Out My Hand" is a goody. And the three bonus cuts ending CD2 has Chilton's rare single-only track "Since I Been Gone". The only minor gripe is that the stand-alone September 1969 single "Turn On A Dream" (a Mark James song) with Chilton's "Together" on the flipside is not here, but that perhaps is being too greedy.

Beat Goes On has gotten good at these sort of releases and this is another feather in their long-standing fluffy hat. Great audio, great content and quality presentation – my love is Soul Deep boys for sure...