Now, fuzz/ buzz box distortion often was said to be 'poor man's saxophones'. But how about reeds sounding like fuzz guitars? Case is Andrew Loog Oldham's Dec.1963 production of Jagger/ Richard's 'That girl belongs to yesterday'. Not for Stones themselves, but rather US falsetto king Gene Pitney.
How this XO c&w/ pop act found his way into foggy London, may have something to do with Phil Spector hiding there- after the Kennedy assasination had effectively torpedoed Spector's Xmas LP and financial funding, too. Pitney was into electrical engineering- lacking any diploma- and had coopted in Spector studio jobs on West Coast. Maybe Spector scrached Pitney's back (aback!) by towing singer into Loog Oldham's project? Which gave Pitney a US no.1 hit single, btw. And Jagger/ Richard their first taste of American music monies.
But then, again: of guitars and saxes. Please listen Pitney's 5sec. intro. Guitars? Reeds? To me these are multi-tracked fuzz guitars, albeit later in song (2:01) reed instruments seem to take over? IF fuzz, this is early example of said device used overseas. Maybe Pitney brought one over, along with tills&tools?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Loog Oldham squeezed his other artists into vacant studio hours of Dec.1963, too. Most notably oddly named Mr. George Bean. Bean's top side 'will you be my lover tonight' sounds like having same reed-cum-guitar effects as on Pitney's. Charles Blackwell is musical conductor here, none such is mentioned on Pitney's. But one may assume him on both?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
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