Hot Butter
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Hot Butter was an instrumental cover band fronted by the keyboard player Stan Free. The other band members were Dave Mullaney, John Abbott, Bill Jerome, Steve Jerome, and Danny Jordan. The liner notes to the CD reissue do not indicate who played what, aside from Free at the Moog synthesizer. Indeed, the notes say the band was Free and "a bunch of fellow players". Based upon the photograph and the sound of the album, the group had two additional keyboardists, two percussionists, and a guitarist. They are best known for their 1972 cover of the Moog synthpop instrumental "Popcorn", originally by Gershon Kingsley in 1969.
The group released two albums, Hot Butter (Musicor MS-3242; 1972) and More Hot Butter (Musicor MS-3254; 1973), primarily of covers, on LP by Hallmark Records. The two albums were compiled on CD as Popcorn by Castle Music in 2000 (with a cover from the 1974 Australian release of More Hot Butter titled Moog Hits, depicting the five other band members immersed in melted butter produced by Free's synthesizer), though several tracks, including Roger Whittaker's "Mexican Whistler", were deleted. The only tracks written by members of the band were "At the Movies" (the B-side of "Popcorn") and "Tristana", by all the band members except Free, and "Space Walk", by Dave Mullaney and his brother. "The Silent Screen (Hot Butter)" is credited to all the members save for Free, but it is actually an arrangement of the main theme of the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40. Among the other artists covered by the band were Stephen Schwartz, Jerry Lordan and The Shadows, Neil Diamond, Joe Meek and The Tornados, Neal Hefti, Serge Gainsbourg, Robert Maxwell, Piero Umiliani, Jean-Joseph Mouret, Billy Joe and The Checkmates, Joe Buffalo's Band, Teo Macero, Leroy Anderson, Chuck Rio, and Norman Petty and The String-A-Longs. Mullaney and Abbott did most of the arranging. The Jeromes, Jordan, and Richard E. Talmadge produced the albums with MTL Productions for Musicor.
After "Popcorn", their best known track is probably August Musarurwa's "Skokiaan", which was included on RE/Search's compilation, Incredibly Strange Music. Follow-up singles included The Shadows' "Apache", Chuck Rio's (Danny Flores) "Tequila", Billy Joe and the Checkmates' "Percolator", Joe Buffalo's Band's "Slag Solution", and Gene Farrow With G.F. Band's "You Should Be Dancing".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Popcorn (RCA 1458, PTE International 7N.25583 (UK), July 1972)
[edit] Side 1
- Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) (2:30)
[edit] Side 2
- At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:31)
[edit] Hot Butter (Musicor MS-3242 (US); PTE International NSPL.28169 (UK), 1972)
[edit] Side 1
- Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) (2:30)
- Day by Day (Stephen Schwartz) (3:44)
- Apache (Jerry Lordan) (2:50
- At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:31)
- Tristana (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (3:29)
- Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond) (3:54)
[edit] Side 2
- Telstar (Joe Meek) (2:34)
- Tomatoes (Neal Hefti) 2:27
- Amazing Grace (Trad. Arr. Abbott, Mullaney) (2:37)
- Love at First Sight (S. Gainsbourg) (2:38)
- Song of the Narobi Trio (R. Maxwell) (2:13)
- Hot Butter (The Silent Screen) (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:04)
[edit] Apache (Musicor 7.N25598, 1972)
[edit] Side 1
- Apache
[edit] Side 2
- Hot Butter
[edit] Tequila (Musicor 12 469 AT, 1972)
[edit] Side One
- Tequila (1:47)
[edit] Side 2
- Tomatoes (2:21)
[edit] Percolator (Musicor SMU-88678; PTE 7.N25609, 1973)
[edit] Side 1
- Percolator
[edit] Side 2
- Tristana
[edit] More Hot Butter (Musicor MS-3254; 1973)
[edit] Side One
- Percolator
- Slag Solution
- Sounds
- Wheels
- Skokiaan
- Pipeline
[edit] Side Two
- Space Walk
- The Masterpiece
- Tequila
- Syncopated Clock
- Kappa Maki
- Mah-Na, Mah-Na
[edit] Slag Solution (Musicor 1481, 1973)
[edit] Side One
- Slag Solution
[edit] Side Two
- Kappa Maki
[edit] Popcorn with Hot Butter
[edit] Side One
- Popcorn
- Day by Day
- Apache
- At the Movies
- Tomatoes
[edit] Side Two
- Pipeline
- Hot Butter
- Telstar
- Tristana
- Song of the Nairobi Trio
- Amazing Grace
[edit] Moog Hits (Musicor Records, L34954, 1974 (Australia))
[edit] Side One
- Slag Solution
- Sounds Simple
- Wheels
- Skokiaan
- Russian Whistler
[edit] Side Two
- Space Walk
- The Masterpiece
- Tequila
- Syncopated Clock
- Mah-Na, Mah-Na
- Mexican Whistler
[edit] You Should Be Dancing 12" 45 (Dynamo DS 12-DS-603-8, 1977)
[edit] Side One
- You Should Be Dancing (Warren/Farrow) (5:13) Hye Fye Music Ltd
[edit] Side Two
- You Should Be Dancing (Track without lead vocal) (Warren/Farrow) (4:42) Hye Fye Music Ltd
Arranged by B.K. Bowie Produced by Jerry "Swamp Dog" Williams, Jr.
[edit] Popcorn (CD) (Castle Music ESMCD907 (UK), 2000)
- Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) Bourne Music
- Day by Day (Stephen Schwartz) Valando Music
- Apache (Lordan) Francis Day & Hunter
- At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) AMRA
- Tristana (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) AMRA
- Song Sung Blue (Diamond) Ardmore & Beechwood
- Telstar (Meek) Ivy Music Ltd
- Tomatoes (Hefti) Famous Chappell
- Amazing Grace (Trad. Arr. Abbott, Mullaney) ARTAL
- Love at First Sight (Gainsbourg) Shapiro Bernstein/Britico
- Song of the Narobi Trio (Maxwell)
- Hot Butter (The Silent Screen) (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) ARTAL
- Mah-Na-Mah-Na (Umiliani) Carlin Music Corp
- Masterpiece (Mouret, Parnes) September Music Corp
- Percolator (Bideu, Freeman)
- Skokiaan (Kusarurgwa) Peter Maurice Music Co Ltd
- Slag Solution (Morgan, Ranzzano) Copyright Control
- Sounds (Macero) Warner Chappell Music Ltd
- Space Walk (Mullaney, Mullaney) Copyright Control
- Syncopated Clock (Anderson, Parish) EMI Harmonies Ltd
- Tequila (Rio) MCA Music Ltd
- Wheels (Petty) Campbell Connelly & Co Ltd
