Previously Unknown/Undocu_mented pre-Fleetwood Mac Single!!!!!
 

While searching for obscure 60's/early 70's single to burn I came across a record on the Karma Records label out of the Bay Area pairing a rock version of "What The World Needs Now" with a very cool garage pop track called "You Don't Get Young Anymore" by a group listed as Sincerely, San Jose on the label. While trying to put a year to the single I ran a Google search on the composer of the B-side, Javier Pacheco. Knowledgeable Mac/Buckingham/Nicks fans can probably already see where this is headed. J

Of course the Google search led to The Penguin Javier Pacheco Q&A Session at http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/...acheco_qa1.htm. It became clear that the single I had was a legitimate release of two of the three Fritz tracks recorded during a demo session in San Mateo in 1968 with Lindsey singing the lead on both (the info is in Section Three of the Q&A mentioned above; the third, unreleased track is "Wondering Why" with a Stevie lead vocal). Going back and relistening to the single it's clear that it indeed is Fritz with Lindsey and Stevie! As stated before Lindsey sings lead on both songs, and while he obviously sounds younger here, he already has all the vocal inflections that would characterize his later work. And Stevie is clearly audible in the harmonies, especially on "You Don't Get Young Anymore" where she stands out more in the vocal blend.

How did Karma Records - who around the same '68/'69 timeframe also released a now very expensive Northern Soul collectable called "Woman, Love, Thief" by Stemmons Express - get ahold of these tracks? And why was this issued under the name Sincerely, San Jose? Well, whatever the answers, we should be glad they got these tracks out there. The cover of "What The World Needs Now" is about the same tempo as the Jackie DeShannon hit version, but has more of a rock drive to it. But it's the flip side that's the real keeper, a great garage pop track with multiple changes in tempo and feel with cool organ and guitar work throughout (and great ba_ss as well).

I am going to be putting this record up on ebay within the next few days with scans of both labels on the ebay page. And since I realize there's likely to be some skepticism as to the authenticity of this new discovery, I'll also be putting up a web page where you'll be able to download an mp3, 1:38 in length, with excerpts of both sides highlighting Lindsey and Stevie's vocals (it'll be a 64 kbps mono mp3 as the single is mono; this will give it the same sound quality as a 128 kbps stereo mp3 while being easier and quicker to download).

Right now I'm looking at putting these up about 4 PM US Pacific Daylight Time this Sunday (June 13). I'll post here again when it's up.

And good luck in advance to anyone who bids on what might be a new FM Holy Grail item!

Jeffrey Glenn
Burbank, CA

Omg!!!!
 

Congrats on your investigation.

I'm actually really surprised that it's taken this long for this stuff to see the light of day. I guess we have the internet to thank!

It's pretty clear that this indicates that there is more out there.

Knowing Lindsey and his attention to detail and perfection, you'd think he has all these masters somewhere up in the attic - or at his parents house....

Maybe we'll get a nice boxed set of vintage Buckingham Nicks someday


when our hair is silver and grey.

So Jeffrey, what are you going to title the auction? :)

John

I hope whoever gets this shares it! I have a bad feeling it will get too rich for my blood very quickly. I'll bid on it anyway, lol.

Oh, and please post a link to the site you'll be creating for this itrem here as well, thanks in advance. :)

John

Thanks, dontlookdown.

Let me address a couple of the things you said in your post.

"I'm actually really surprised that it's taken this long for this stuff to see the light of day. I guess we have the internet to thank!"

This single dates from '68/'69, so it saw the light of day back when it was newly (or fairly recently) recorded. How it got released under the name Sincerely, San Jose apparently without the band members knowing it - Javier Pacheco says in the Q&A that he doesn't think anything was commercially released by Fritz - is anybody's guess. Do we know if Fritz had a change in managers during that time period? If so there's always a chance that the original ousted manager sold the masters to Karma Records for cash which he then pocketed (the name "given" to the band kind of sounds like a goodbye salutation from a letter, possibly meaning the original manager's "parting shot"). Anyway, that's only one possible - and I emphasize possible - scenario.

And yes, we do have the internet to thank for me being able to make the connection of Fritz to this single (and as far as I know I'm the first to discover it though the record's been out there for some 3 1/2 decades). Before the internet there wasn't much info on Fritz out there.

"It's pretty clear that this indicates that there is more out there."

Well, we know there's one other song from the same 1968 San Mateo demo session - "Wondering Why" with a Stevie Nicks lead - and Pacheco says he has live tapes of the band. Oh, and there's Stevie's demos from the Fritz period, but those aren't full band recordings. Pacheco doesn't mention any other Fritz sessions in his Q&A, so we really don't know right now if there may be more stuff out there. We know he wrote quite a few songs for the band, and if "You Don't Get Young Anymore" is any indication of the quality then I'd love to hear more too.

"Knowing Lindsey and his attention to detail and perfection, you'd think he has all these masters somewhere up in the attic - or at his parents house...."

I have to say that I don't think this is particularly likely. When this was recorded Lindsey was only 19 years old or so and probably wasn't the perfectionist that he later became. It was probably one of his first, if not the first, times in a studio, and he was probably thrilled just to be there. You have to objectively look at it in perspective with what was going on at the time. Pacheco says these were just demos, and I'll bet he'll be as surprised as anyone to find out that they had been released. As far as Lindsey having the masters now, I'm sure he wasn't thinking about making sure he had the masters so that he'd have them when the box set of his work was compiled. :-) I would think it's more likely that the manager at the time had them.

And then there's the issue of what you mean by masters, because there will be at least three sets of masters - the original multitracks (probably 4- or 8-track, with the vocals being done as overdubs), the mixdown masters (most likely done only in mono, but I'd love to find out that stereo mixdowns were prepared as well!), and the final "mastered" masters from which acetates and records could be cut. It's possible that the multitracks were left at the studio (something The Beach Boys did way too often; when their box set came out back in 1993 they found the 8-track vocal session tape for "California Girls" at Columbia Studios in Hollywood; now it's back in their custody where it belongs. And the 8-track vocal session tape for "Good Vibrations" is currently lost because it was probably left at the same studio and now can't be found, so a true stereo mix of "Good Vibrations" is currently an impossibility). It's also possible the mixdowns were left at the studio and that the only copies the band or manager took were the final "mastered" copies. All pure speculation, but quite possible. Hopefully someone will do a follow-up interview with Javier Pacheco or maybe one of the other members of the band that can shed more light on all of this.

"Maybe we'll get a nice boxed set of vintage Buckingham Nicks someday."

How long have we waited for the Buckingham Nicks album to be issued on CD now?

I'd love to see these Fritz tracks get a legit reissue as part of some historical set, even if it had to be mastered from vinyl (btw, the single I have is in very nice shape). And I'd love to see what Lindsey and Stevie thought of these tracks once they heard them anew. Both tracks enhance their legacy, and we all know that that isn't always the case when you hear early tracks by performers who later became famous.

Jeff

Why don't you just post all the songs on the internet so we can listen to them?

This Record Is Now Listed On ebay!
 

The heading is:

Fritz 45 Lindsey Buckingham Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac

The item # is 4018778913

The direct link to the item is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4018778913

And the webpage with the mp3 mentioned in the original post is at

http://lostjukebox.tripod.com/ebay.html

Good luck!

Jeff

Excellent stuff! :blob2:

I recognised that final clip from Lindsey's "Behind The Music"....I really like that song!!

By the way thanks for putting this up for auction and setting the starting bid at such a reasonable price.:)

It sounds a little bit Mamas and the Papas-ish. I like it a lot.

Kristin

Wow, it sounds so... Strawberry Alarm Clock. I half expected to hear Incense & Peppermints ;). Amazing stuff... this would be a fun time to have another Javier Pacheco Q&A! Thank you for the sample.

Wow, Lindsey sounds more mature in the low parts than he does now!!! :laugh:

lol my first thought was "oh wow... strawberry alarmclock!!!!" then i thought about it a little more... and i hear some partridge family in there too! lmao

Congratulations on your good fortune, Jeff... hahahaha

Fritz 45
 

Hey i was trying to download the sample but cant seem to find it on the web page can anyone help? :D

Lmao!
 

yeah, could you post the entire songs, or not use this board for free advertising?

I agree about the free advertising. What's up with that? This unverified thing's only worth what hype he can surround it with. Calling all Ledgies! Let's not get crazy, people. If a good fan can win this with a bid close to what his other records are selling for...5-20 bucks...then I'm sure it will be shared. The audio is not verified but it would be worth hearing the whole thing if just for fun. Of course he's not going to post it. So let's just keep our wits and not let this thing get bid up to some crazy amount because it was posted here as a free Ad.

Just a thought...for whatever it's worth.

Yes, we need someone to get it and share it with all of us on here! :thumbsup: I'm going to bid, but I can see this being quite expensive in the long run. It is at $46.00 with 5 days + left. :distress: Therefore, it probably won't be me. Good luck to all, maybe one of us will luck out. :nod:

Holy crap!!
 

somebody says the link is wrong and it's still up there...

It just got sold for $880......!!!!! F*****' hell!!! :eek: :eek:

Somebody must've wanted that pretty bad....!

The link that was...
 

posted on the first page of this thread for the auction is still active...But $880 for an unverified 45???

Congrats Ravenspace.
 

$880.00?!?! Jeeze. They had better share. lol ;).

-Kate

What? For the love of... :confused:

$880 is ****ing insane! :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

:lol:

And we don't even know if it's even them.

Dumbass.

Dear Jeffrey,

I am interested to know more about Karma Records and where they are situated. Do you have an address? How do you know they are based in the Bay Area? You see, I am Javier Pacheco and that record is a bootleg. The music on it was never meant to be released to the public. Karma has no authority whatsoever to make money off my intellectual property. Didn't you wonder why a label would put out a record and not give the band Fritz its due acknowledgement? Didn't a little red flag wave in your head? Please advise,

Javier Pacheco

Dear Jeffrey,
I just wanted you to know that I had another person's 45 rpm record taken off Ebay because I proved to them that the record in question is bogus. I suggest you take your MP3s and other samples off the web, else you'll be hearing from my attorney as well. Repeat--that is a pirate record--Karma had no authority to release our music.
Please comply.

Javier Pacheco

woo hoo!!!!!!!

Go Javi !!!!!!!

Selling a song for 800 dollars is criminal..
but buying one for 800 dollars?! Could never imagine doing something like that.

Uh oh, Jeffrey's in trouble now! But at least we got to hear some Fritz snippets and they sounded good too.
It seems a shame that Fritz's material hasn't got an official release. But then considering the Buckingham Nicks album isn't even on CD yet, it isn't really a surprise.

Agreed! I remember a couple years back, Javier posted that he had seen Stevie at Shoreline and discussed the possibility of releasing some Fritz music with her. He said he felt confident that this would happen. Not to steer this away from his original post, but Javier, if you're reading and you've got a moment, can you tell us if this idea was ever explored any further? I do hope these things will surface one day :distress:.

I was just wondering, since there is so much interest, have you considered issuing this material? With the technology these days, you could produce just enough product that is needed and reduce costs. I am sure there is more than enough interest to make the project viable.

Just a thought.

seeker007nmss

Yup, Fritz is coming. Y'all patient S&L fans will have a treat soon enough. I sent Marty a Sampler of Fritz--the real enchilada, no Sincerely Bango Bay or none of that monkey business. You'll be hearing some earlier and later stuff as soon as Martin puts it up.

We had a wonderful heartfelt Fritz reunion at the Concord Pavilion show June 27th. I have sent Marty a couple of pics of us backstage in Stevie's room. Does all this good vibe mean we are going to do a creative project together? I did pose the question to Lindsey and I believe he is seriously considering it. We talked about dubbing vocals to the old recordings, but at some juncture I think the possibility of us recording the material fresh is also an option. We have all kept up our chops, and no one is interred in a sanitorium. Brian intends to get together and jam w/Linds in August, after he's had a chance to rest from the FM 2004 tour. All I can say to y'all is what Bob told me, who has talked at greater length with L&S. His words are "It ain't over yet." Let's keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, don't make the bootleggers rich.

Javier

Remember, this was our first visit to a recording studio, late Fall of 1967. Lindsey, Bob and I had graduated from M-A High School in June of 1967. In the latter part of summer we met Stevie and Brian Kane. So Brian and Stevie had just barely been in the group a few months. The material and the sound changes quite a bit after 1968. By '69 we're doing longer songs, more instrumentation, more sophistication, etc.

How do you figure "that the single I had was a legitimate release" if it doesn't even mention the true ensemble (Fritz) that did this? Why would a band (or a label, in this case) release a record under an obscure name if it wasn't trying to hide something? WHERE DID YOU GET THIS? Now that you know that it is a bootleg, why aren't you doing the right thing?