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Cameo Parkway Reissues The Lost Recordings of Michigan's Great Garage Bands of the Sixties

By Scott Baker

        For Michigan classic rock enthusiasts, you can finally store away your precious vinyl.
Missing long before LP's went by the wayside (with most going out of print even before that), a few select recordings by some of Michigan’s earliest hit makers are finally seeing the light of day on Compact Disc for the first time ever.

Having previously been only available over the past ten-plus years via Ebay and the used record stores, where you may find a slew of used 45's or sometimes a choice LP, or if you are lucky, maybe even a bootlegged copy on CD (usually derived from someone's excellent vinyl collection and never the real master tape), much of the earliest documented Michigan rock has been silent under the laser.

That is until now.

In the mid-'60s, the roots of Michigan rock n' roll found its way onto Cameo-Parkway - America's leading independent record label preceding the British Invasion.

The infamous dance label's first major claim to fame was when they launched Chubby Checker's The Twist and sprouted a long industry string of crazy dance-themed tunes nationwide. For Cameo-Parkway though, it wasn't just about one style of music. They branched out with unprecedented range over the course of a decade, grasping not only dance, but pop, soul, novelty, and particularly what Michigan had to offer: garage rock.

From the earliest sounds of Bob Seger to the seminal seeds of Terry Knight and the Pack (which sprouted Flint's Grand Funk) and on the way North to the Bay City recording of ? and The Mysterians with their Billboard #1 hit, 96 Tears, Cameo-Parkway distributed The Great Lakes State to radio stations and record stores all over the U.S. and overseas.

This past May 17, the first ever Compact Disc issue of select tracks from the Cameo-Parkway roster has finally been released on the outstanding four CD box set, Cameo Parkway 1957-1967.

Covering every chart hit the label had during this ten-year period, the Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 box set issues 115 tracks over the four discs, finally quenching fans thirst for the legendary tunes to finally reach the digital age.

 Artists from Checker, The Temptations, Bobby Rydell, Patti LaBelle, Pete Best, Screamin’ Lord Sutch, The Orlons, Ohio Express, and even Clint Eastwood are represented among the many tracks.
 Michigan's entries are mainly the feature on Disc IV with ? and the Mysterians 96 Tears, I Need Somebody, and Can't Get Enough. Bob Seger debuts with the song East Side Story which is followed up with his Seger and The Last Heard tracks Heavy Music Part 1 and the long lost Sock It To Me Santa. Terry Knight and the Pack offer I (Who Have Nothing) and Detroit's own The Rationals offer Respect.

Distributed and owned by ABKCO, the parent company that issues the entire Rolling Stones back catalog, Cameo-Parkway has long been a fan favorite for the range of styles throughout the late '50s and '60s. As with ABKCO's acclaimed Rolling Stones Remastered Series and the Sam Cooke Remastered Collection, painstaking efforts were made to use first generation tape sources for the project with Sony's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) mastering employed throughout. Therefore the sound is better than any copy available and closer to the original tapes than any other previous format.

Liner notes, rare photos and recording and chart positions are chock-full throughout the elaborate booklet included in the set. The discs themselves are reminiscent of mini-vinyl LP's, which slide out of jackets. Bobby Balderrama of ? and the Mysterians fame (and The Robert Lee Band) even contributed to the help of the liner notes as well.

"The way I see it is it's good promo for the band, you know," stated Balderrama last week. " Anytime we can go out and gig there's benefits. I don't see a problem with it at all."
According to Balderrama, the box set is only the beginning of possible good things to happen with the group's original albums.

With luck, we'll have to wait and see what will follow.