The Strangeloves

The Strangeloves were the creation of an American songwriting/production team in the 1960s who were from New York, but pretended to be from Australia. Their biggest hits were "I Want Candy," "Cara-Lin" and "Night Time".

The writer/producer team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer (a.k.a. FGG Productions) had already scored hits for other artists, including "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels, when they decided to invent The Strangeloves in 1964.

According to the press releases, The Strangeloves were three brothers named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who had grown up on an Australian sheep farm. The brothers' faked backstory involved getting rich with the invention of a new form of sheep crossbreeding (the long-haired "Gottehrer" sheep, allegedly registered with the Feldman-Goldstein Company of Australia), allowing them the time and financial freedom to form a band. The story did not exactly capture the public's imagination, but the music still performed respectably on the charts, at least in North America.

Their first single, "Love, Love", was credited to Strange Loves, and 'bubbled under' the US Billboard Hot 100, stalling at #122. The group name was thereafter named The Strangeloves.

When their second single "I Want Candy" became a hit in mid-1965, The Strangeloves, who had made their reputations as producers, found themselves in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of performing as live artists. This short-lived experience was followed by a road group, composed of four of the session musicians who had actually helped to record the Strangloves' songs. The musicians in the initial road group were bass player / vocalist John Shine, guitarist Jack Raczka, drummer Tom Kobus and sax player / vocalist Richie Lauro. This group was replaced in early 1966 by a trio of FGG studio musicians that more closely adhered to the founding concept of the Brothers Strange: guitarist Jack Raczka (Giles Strange), drummer / vocalist Joe Piazza (Miles Strange), and keyboardist / vocalist Ken Jones (Niles Strange).

While on the road in Ohio in 1965 as The Strangeloves, Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer came upon a local band known as Ricky Z and the Raiders, led by Rick Derringer (who was Rick Zehringer at the time). Recognizing their raw talent, the producers immediately brought Derringer and his band to New York, recorded Derringer's voice over an existing music track from The Strangeloves' album I Want Candy and released "Hang on Sloopy" as a single under the name The McCoys.^[1]

The Strangeloves' only LP, I Want Candy, was released in 1965 on Bert Berns' Bang Records, with several of the album songs having been released as singles. Other singles by The Strangeloves appeared on Swan Records and Sire Records.

The Strangeloves continued recording singles, with moderate American success, through 1968. In their "home" country of Australia, they only scraped the very bottom of the singles charts, but interestingly, a real Australian group "Johnny Young & Kompany" had a hit in their country in 1966 with a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-Lin" (re-titled "Cara-Lyn").

The FGG trio also collaborated on a charting 1965 single credited to The Beach-Nuts. As well, Feldman and Goldstein (without Gottehrer) recorded charting hits as Rome & Paris in 1966, and as The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 in 1969. (Prior to the creation of the Strangeloves, Feldman and Goldstein had also recorded a couple of non-charting singles as the duo 'Bob & Jerry in 1961-62.) As well, on his own Goldstein wrote, produced and arranged a 1966 solo single "Watch The People Dance" under the name Giles Strange, which failed to chart.

The following credit appeared on every Strangeloves record (as well as other records produced by FGG): "arranged and conducted by Bassett Hand." In fact, there is no such person as Bassett Hand; it was a tongue-in-cheek pseudonym for the Strangeloves themselves. Two instrumental singles credited to Bassett Hand were released around the time The Strangeloves were getting started: "In Detroit" (1964) and "The Happy Organ Shake" (1965). Neither single charted.

Post-Strangeloves careers

Their songs have been covered by David Bowie, Bauhaus, The J. Geils Band, The Fleshtones, and by Bow Wow Wow.

Gottehrer went on to later fame as a record producer of early CBGB's luminaries such as Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Fleshtones, and Blondie, as well as being the co-founder of Sire Records along with Seymour Stein. He also worked with Robert Gordon, who was one of many who revitalized rockabilly in the late 1970s, and produced the critically acclaimed first album by Marshall Crenshaw.

In his role as a producer and manager, Goldstein also continued to have an effect on the music world. He suggested to the band Nightshift that they team up with Eric Burdon, which became War, and had the Circle Jerks on his Far Out Productions management company and LAX record label.

Charted singles

References