Bob Crewe - The Mid To Late 1960s

The Mid To Late 1960s

In 1965, Crewe formed his own record label, DynoVoice Records. With the release of the 1965 hit Concrete and Clay by Eddie Rambeau, DynoVoice launched a run of twenty-one Top 100 hits. The label found early success with the R&B trio The Toys, best known for their single "A Lover's Concerto", a #2 hit single, and "Attack." The Toys were produced by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer for executive producer Crewe. Writing about "A Lover's Concerto", based on a melody inspired by "Minuet in G major", critic Dave Thompson observed, "Few records are this perfect. Riding across one of the most deceptively hook-laden melodies ever conceived ... 'A Lover’s Concerto' marks the apogee of the Girl Group sound." The song has been subsequently recorded by The Lennon Sisters, The Delfonics, Sarah Vaughan, The Supremes, Mrs. Miller, Audrey Hall and Kelly Chen.

Another DynoVoice powerhouse came when Crewe in the mid-60s discovered a band called Billy Lee & The Rivieras. The group had limited success until he renamed them Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. Under his direction, they scored eleven Top 100 hits, most notably Crewe's powerful and muscular arrangements of "Devil with a Blue Dress On", the group's highest-charting single at #4, as well as "Sock It to Me, Baby!", a #6 hit in 1967, and "Jenny Take a Ride", which reached #10 in 1965.

Another often-recorded song from the 1965 Linzer-Randell album by The Toys is "Can't Get Enough of You Baby". The number, co-written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, was also recorded by the Bay City, Michigan, rock group Question Mark and the Mysterians, best known for their 1966 hit "96 Tears". "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" has enjoyed subsequent reinterpretations by Colour Field and Smash Mouth, among many others.

Crewe's record label scored another hit with Norma Tanega's off-beat, folksy "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog". Crewe also helped bring success to the group The Tremeloes with their hit Epic Records cover of "Silence Is Golden", a song originally written for and recorded by The Four Seasons.

Bob Crewe himself (recording as The Bob Crewe Generation) released the 1967 Sid Ramon's instrumental single "Music to Watch Girls By" (originally composed as a Diet Pepsi commercial jingle) on DynoVoice. The song became a Top 20 hit and spawned another successful instrumental version by Al Hirt and a vocal hit by Andy Williams. In 1967, Bob Crewe produced and wrote seven of the songs sung by Lesley Gore on her last commercially successful album, California Nights. The Bob Crewe Generation also recorded the Bob Crewe-Charles Fox original soundtrack for the 1968 Paramount Pictures motion picture Barbarella starring Jane Fonda and directed by Roger Vadim. The soundtrack for the cult favorite features vocals by Crewe and the group The Glitterhouse.

In 1967, Crewe and Gaudio scored one of their greatest successes with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", recorded by Frankie Valli with The Four Seasons. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a gold record. Subsequently, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" has been recorded by a number of international vocalists and bands through the years. The 1968 version by singer Andy Williams climbed to #5 on the UK Singles Chart. Also achieving chart status over the decades were such other English-language versions as those by The Lettermen, Maureen McGovern, and Lauryn Hill. The song has also been heard in numerous motion pictures, including The Deer Hunter, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Conspiracy Theory, 10 Things I Hate About You, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Bridget Jones's Diary.

In 1969, Crewe collaborated with the singer known as Oliver, including the production of his pop hit "Jean", a song written by poet Rod McKuen that served as theme to the Oscar-winning film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie starring Maggie Smith. Crewe also produced a hit single of Oliver performing the optimistic "Good Morning Starshine" from the rock musical Hair. The song reached #3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening singles surveys.

The Crewe record label released a series of well-received recordings such as Ben Bagley's Cole Porter Revisited and Rodgers and Hart Revisited featuring vocal performances by such artists as Harold Arlen, Elaine Stritch, Dorothy Loudon, Anthony Perkins, Ann Hampton Callaway, Bobby Short, Jerry Orbach, Tammy Grimes and Blossom Dearie.

Bob Crewe also appeared on ABC-TV's American Bandstand and also Where the Action Is, both with Dick Clark. He was interviewed and some of his current 60's songs were played for the dancers and crowds. Bob also once had a crewcut, then changed his blonde/reddish hairstyle.