(c) Stephen J. McParland
Used With Permission

What you have here is essentially The Hondells' third album. No kidding! The brainchild of Reprise/Warner Brothers executive Jimmy Bowen, the concept was to take advantage of the then current craze for slot car racing, and who better to provide the material (thought Bowen) than Gary Usher, for whom such a concept was nothing out of the ordinary!

To those in tune enough to have been aware of its release, the belated may 1965 release of GO SOUNDS OF THE SLOTS was celebration of (to quote the liner notes) "America's Newest Addiction, Slot Car Racing." Sprinkled throughout the package were snatches of The Hondells, The Super Stocks and a new musical "force" - Chuck And Joe, a Righteous Brothers-styled club act put together by Chuck Girard and Joe Kelly. Usher would produce the duo on a handful of masters for Decca.

The sophistication and overall sound of The Revells' album embodied the synthesis of The Hondells' musical panache with that of an emerging and broader West Coast theme. Whereas skateboarding, surfing and hot rodding were forever immortalized by numerous recordings both vocal and instrumental, GO SOUNDS OF THE SLOTS was to be slot-car music's sole musical expression. "I think the Revell model company put some of the money up for the album," recalled Usher, "Because at the time the slot car craze was so big and merchandising was the name of the game."
Once he had agreed to the on the project, Usher's first priority was to assemble the necessary material and this he did with the knowing and unknowing aid of songwriting partners Roger Christian, Raul Abeyta and Dick Burns. "We never took it seriously," confessed Usher. "And at first it was hard for us to get behind the concept. It was strictly done for the money. It was the type of assignment where we could go in, cut the tracks in two nights, usually in between other sessions I had going at the time."

The sessions for GO SOUND OF THE SLOTS took place at Western Recorders shortly before Christmas 1964. As session leader, Usher for the first session drafted in three quarters of The Hondells' touring band - Dick Burns (bass), Randy Thomas (keyboards) and Jerry LeMire (guitar), together with Joe Kelly (percussion), Glen Campbell (guitar), Richie Podolor (guitar), Bill Cooper (guitar) and Hal Blaine (drums).

At the second session held the following day, Tommy Tedesco (guitar) replaced Glen Campbell, Richie Frost sat in on the drums and Chuck Girard also provided some keyboard riffs. "Chuck sang all the leads," Usher elaborated, "While Joe, Dick Burns, Randy Thomas and I backed him up. I distinctly remember Chuck kept saying, ‘I can't believe I'm singing these songs,' some of which Dick and I actually completed at the session!"

Apart from providing the bulk of the material and adding backing vocals, Usher was also responsible for all the arrangements and the production of the material, although when the album was finally released it was Jimmy Bowen who scored the production credit. The reason for this was two-fold. First of all, this was how Bowen worked - it was after all his idea and secondly, by the time the album appeared on the market, Usher was on staff at Decca, taking production credit for another label's product may have caused problems.

Regardless of what the liner credit extolled, the overall sound was definitely Usher's and in many ways was simply a further development of what he had been doing musically with Chuck Girard both on and off record. In particular, a number of the completed tunes epitomized the influence of Usher's work with Chuck and Joe. Joe Kelly's Bill Medley-styled vocal was a prominent feature on such songs as "Fastest Little Racer", "My Little Slot coupe" and "My Baby Digs Slot Car Races".

More to come on this LP!