Sidewalk Records
Encyclopedia
Sidewalk Records was a record label
based in Hollywood, California
that was started in 1963 by Mike Curb
at the age of eighteen. The company was first formed as Sidewalk Productions and later became a subsidiary label of Capitol Records
. Many recordings by Sidewalk Productions appeared on the related label Tower Records
, also a subsidiary of Capitol Records. (This label is not affiliated with the record store chain of the same name
, which started out in Sacramento, California
)
Most of the LPs released on Sidewalk Records were soundtrack albums, mainly those of films released by American International Pictures
. They were typically B-movies having to with motorcycle
, auto racing
and psychedelic
themes, and exploitation movies. These included Thunder Alley
, The Wild Racers, Psych-Out
, The Trip
, Three in the Attic
, and Peter Fonda
's The Wild Angels
.
Guitarist Davie Allan
and his group Davie Allan and The Arrows made several appearances on Sidewalk, though their main releases were on Tower. Allan and several other studio musicians also recorded many sessions that were released on 45 RPM singles under a wide variety of group names. Several singles were issued under Mike Curb's name. Songwriter Harley Hatcher was also a frequent contributor to the Sidewalk oeuvre.
Curb signed Burbank based group The Riptides and released a Curb-penned "Sally Ann" b/w "April" (Sidewalk 904) in spring of 1966. The Riptides went on to record "Last Wave of The Day" for the movie Mondo Hollywood
(Tower DT-5083) in 1967. Other notable releases on the Sidewalk label were a novelty album by hippie
street singer and health food
advocate Gypsy Boots
, sort of Sidewalk's answer to Tiny Tim
, and the first single by Electric Flag
featuring Mike Bloomfield
and Buddy Miles
.
The single of the Johnny Otis
song "So Fine" b/w "Everybody Has His Own Ideas" by Stone Poneys
(Sidewalk 937) represents Linda Ronstadt
's first known recordings (from 1965); Mike Curb produced the recordings. The single was released in the latter part of 1966.
Thus, this disk has become one of the rarest Linda Ronstadt collectables, bringing as much as $144 (in a 2007 eBay
auction).
The label released about 20 LPs and several dozen 45 RPM singles. Mike sold the company out for a large amount of money, and was then appointed head of MGM Records
in 1969. The related Tower Records label ceased operations around the same time. Mike Curb went on to run MGM Records
throughout the 1970s, where he was instrumental in promoting the career of The Osmonds
, Eric Burdon and War, Solomon Burke
, Lou Rawls
, and Sammy Davis Jr.. He later formed Curb Records
, which still exists today. Curb Records operates out of Nashville
.
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
based in Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that was started in 1963 by Mike Curb
Mike Curb
Michael Curb is an American musician, record company executive, NASCAR and IRL race car owner. A Republican, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr...
at the age of eighteen. The company was first formed as Sidewalk Productions and later became a subsidiary label of Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. Many recordings by Sidewalk Productions appeared on the related label Tower Records
Tower Records (record label)
Tower Records was a record label from 1964 to 1970. A subsidiary of Capitol Records, Tower often released music by artists who were relatively low profile in comparison to those released on the parent label, including a number of artists—such as The Standells and The Chocolate Watch Band—later...
, also a subsidiary of Capitol Records. (This label is not affiliated with the record store chain of the same name
Tower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....
, which started out in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
)
Most of the LPs released on Sidewalk Records were soundtrack albums, mainly those of films released by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
. They were typically B-movies having to with motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
, auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
and psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
themes, and exploitation movies. These included Thunder Alley
Thunder Alley (film)
Thunder Alley is a 1967 film directed by Richard Rush and starring Annette Funicello and Fabian.-Plot:A race car driver retires after a blackout causes the death of another driver on the motorway. After the accident, he then begins working at a "Thrill Circus" as a stunt driver. There he meets the...
, The Wild Racers, Psych-Out
Psych-Out
Psych-Out is a feature film about hippies, psychedelic music, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z...
, The Trip
The Trip (1967 film)
The Trip is a cult film released by American International Pictures, directed by Roger Corman, written by Jack Nicholson, and shot on location in and around Los Angeles, including on top of Kirkwood in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills, and near Big Sur, California in 1966...
, Three in the Attic
Three in the Attic
Three in the Attic is a 1968 movie, starring Christopher Jones and Yvette Mimieux, with Judy Pace and Maggie Thrett. Nan Martin, John Beck, and Eve McVeagh appear in supporting roles.-Premise:...
, and Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
's The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels is a 1966 Roger Corman film, made on location in Southern California. The Wild Angels was made three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture...
.
Guitarist Davie Allan
Davie Allan
Davie Allan is a guitarist best known for his work on soundtracks to various teen and biker movies in the 1960s. Allan's backing band is almost always the Arrows , although the Arrows have never been a stable lineup....
and his group Davie Allan and The Arrows made several appearances on Sidewalk, though their main releases were on Tower. Allan and several other studio musicians also recorded many sessions that were released on 45 RPM singles under a wide variety of group names. Several singles were issued under Mike Curb's name. Songwriter Harley Hatcher was also a frequent contributor to the Sidewalk oeuvre.
Curb signed Burbank based group The Riptides and released a Curb-penned "Sally Ann" b/w "April" (Sidewalk 904) in spring of 1966. The Riptides went on to record "Last Wave of The Day" for the movie Mondo Hollywood
Mondo Hollywood
Mondo Hollywood is a documentary "mondo movie" by Robert Carl Cohen, released in 1967. Filmed over the preceding two years, it was described by Variety as a "flippy, trippy psychedelic guide to Hollywood".-Description:...
(Tower DT-5083) in 1967. Other notable releases on the Sidewalk label were a novelty album by hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
street singer and health food
Health food
The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S...
advocate Gypsy Boots
Gypsy Boots
Gypsy Boots , born Robert Bootzin , was an American fitness pioneer, actor, and writer. He is credited with laying the foundation for the acceptance by mainstream America of "alternative" lifestyles such as yoga and health food...
, sort of Sidewalk's answer to Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
, and the first single by Electric Flag
Electric Flag
The Electric Flag was a blues rock soul group, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other well-known musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint...
featuring Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
and Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. , known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.-Early life:George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on...
.
The single of the Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
song "So Fine" b/w "Everybody Has His Own Ideas" by Stone Poneys
Stone Poneys
The Stone Poneys were a folk-rock trio formed in Los Angeles, consisting of Bobby Kimmel , Kenny Edwards , and Linda Ronstadt . Their recordings include Linda Ronstadt's first hit song, a cover of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum"...
(Sidewalk 937) represents Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
's first known recordings (from 1965); Mike Curb produced the recordings. The single was released in the latter part of 1966.
Thus, this disk has become one of the rarest Linda Ronstadt collectables, bringing as much as $144 (in a 2007 eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
auction).
The label released about 20 LPs and several dozen 45 RPM singles. Mike sold the company out for a large amount of money, and was then appointed head of MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
in 1969. The related Tower Records label ceased operations around the same time. Mike Curb went on to run MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
throughout the 1970s, where he was instrumental in promoting the career of The Osmonds
The Osmonds
The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
, Eric Burdon and War, Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, and Sammy Davis Jr.. He later formed Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...
, which still exists today. Curb Records operates out of Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
See also
- Sidewalk Records Discography
- List of record labels