Cass Bubblegum????

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Cass Bubblegum????

Postby John Sands » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:49 am

I never understood the constant references to Cass's post "Dream a Little Dream" LP Dunhill music as 'bubblegum'. What was so bubblegum abt it? When I hear the word I think of "The 1910 Fruitgum Compny' and "The Archies" but certainly not Cass. Aside from "It's Getting Better", "Move In a Little Closer Baby" etc., which I guess were kind of novelty tracks and I loved them both, songs like "Lady Love", "He's a Runner", When I Just Wear My Smile", "There's a New World Coming", "The Good Times Are Coming" and "I Can Dream Can't I" are to me the kind of excellent stuff she was doing on her first RCA LP.

I wonder if Cass designed the "Bubble Gum Lemonade and Something For Mama" lp cover because she really thought that her music was bubblegum or others were saying it?

It was something how ABC Dunhill scrapped that wonderfull cover when they added "Make Your Own Kind of Music" to the track listing.
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby Nicole » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:06 am

Hi John,
Intersting query! Maybe Richard or somebody could look through reviews of the time and see if any reviewers thought the music was Bubblegum. I've read at the time she was not happy with what she was doing. I agree with you though, what Cass was doing was definltly not bubblegum.
Take care, Nicole :mrgreen:
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby John Sands » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:48 am

Right Nicole. It's like sometimes something is said and then most people go with it, 'Cass was bubblegum'.

Like the Vanity Fair article where Michelle said that she 'loved Beatty' and someone missred it as 'he was the love of my life' and it is on google countless times, but Michelle never said that!
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby Rbcsoup » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:27 am

Well, let's not forget that the first word in her second album was "Bubblegum..." therefore contributing to the characterization. "Bubblegum" by 1969 was becoming a generic term for pop. I remember one fan magazine had a picture of her with the caption "Cheerful Bubble Pop." "Move..." and "It's Getting Better" shifted her into that arena. She did Get It Together a teen show in 1970 and she was on American Bandstand in November 1969. She talked, on that appearance, about how she and Leah and others chewed the bubblegum for the cover photo. So she was in that scene for a season. As she put it, "It's not exactly social commentary" and I don't think she wanted to stay there--which may have encouraged her to do the Dave Mason album. After the situation at Caesar's Palace in October 1968, however, I think she probably saw or agreed that "bubblegum music" was something she could do and that could help quickly revive whatever damage had been done in Las Vegas. I think this characterization fairly and squarely stops with "Bubblegum..." I don't even think the remaining singles or album tracks on Mama's Big Ones were of that ilk.
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby John Sands » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:22 am

Yes and some of the songs on "Bubblegum" it self were far from bubblegum.

Than said, my favorite track on the first RCA album was "Baby I'm Yours", which was more in the 'pop' mode than the other's on the album, at least to me anyway and that track was far from 'bubblegum'.
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby GlennS » Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:27 pm

right, i'd say that some of the songs on the Bubblegum... album are lightweight pop (It's Getting Better, move in..., Welcome to the World), but they aren't bubblegum like the "classic" bubblegum hits blatantly marketed towards young kids, like Yummy Yummy Yummy, 1-2-3 Red light, etc.
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby John Sands » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:04 am

wow, u just brought back memories, 'yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy'. Good gosh!

Lead singer did have kinda a nice voice though.

ps, I bought the Archies album for my brother's 11th birthday. "Sugar, Sugar' was his favorite single at that time
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Re: Cass Bubblegum????

Postby beccabear » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:09 am

I've always thought of the first two solo LPs as "Sunshine Pop" myself, along the lines of The Sunshine Company, Spanky & Our Gang, Turtles etc. although I have all the Archies LPs too and think they're great. I don't know about these labels really though, at best they can give somebody a handle but some artists like Cass you could apply a number of handles to. California Earthquake for example is a bit of a dark song I guess but then so is Back On The Street Again by The Sunshine Company. :^)

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