Search - Pastel Six :: Cinnamon Cinder

Enjoyable music

Alicia Meyers | Carson, CA United States | 05/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is fun & entertaining. My father played lead sax on the CD. The CD was released about 40 years after his career in music. Most tracks on this CD are incredibly difficult to find. This CD has all the favorites including the #1 hit "Cinnamon Cinder". Very little singing is done on this CD, which only makes it easier to enjoy the fun and infectious music. It's the kind of music that makes you want to get up & dance with it's catchy melodies. I personally find this compilation of the Pastel Six to be one of my absolute favorites."

A Basically Instrumental West-Coast Group From The Early 196

09/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Pastel Six (guitarists Bob Toten and Dave Cadison, saxophonists William (Billy) Meyers (d. 1998), Tony Stealman and Erick Flickert, bass Richard Rodriguez, and drummer Lynn Hamm were headliners at Bob Eubanks' Cinnamon Cinder Club in North Hollywood when their only hit, The Cinnamon Cinder (It's A Very Nice Dance), went to # 25 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late 1962/early 1963 b/w Bandido on Zen 102.



For collectors of hit singles this is a gem because both sides of that one hit are here although, when listening to this mainly instrumental group (only tracks 1, 4 and 5 have vocals), you realize their lack of commercial success stems primarily from the fact that they recorded for the tiny Zen label which likely had limited funds for proper promotion.



Certainly, had they been associated with a distributor with greater resources at their disposal it's almost certain that the hit would have gone much higher. Indeed, the fact that it made the national charts at all with that small operation handling distribution is a testament to the song's popularity on the West Coast. Throughout the rest of 1963/64 Zen also released Sing Along Song b/w The Strange Ghost (Zen 105), The Milkshake b/w Parchman Farm (Zen 108), Miss Sue b/w Baby Please Don't Go (Zen 111), and Sticks And Stones b/w My Babe (Zen 201). None charted and only Strange Ghost is in this CD.



Other tunes of theirs like Twitchin', Karela, Take It Off and Surfer Smooch are decent enough, especially the sax solos (Meyers does the honors there on their lone hit), and these, along with the ones mentioned above, probably would have charted given the right exposure. As it is, nine of the 20 tracks here were previously unreleased (2 to 10 and 12).



All are in stereo except the hit, and one other of interest is Rendezvous Rods which features an intro by Daws Butler, the original voice of the animated cartoon characters Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, among others. Track 11, despite the different title, is really The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) - and not a bad version at that.



No liner notes are contained in the insert, nor is there a proper discography of the contents, which is too bad because it would have been nice to get a bit of background on the band, which also appeared on the Cinnamon Cinder Show on local TV from 1963 to 1965, hosted by Eubanks."

An Overlooked Little Gem

Steven Kerry | Los Angeles,CA. | 05/24/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Clearly, this was a band you had to see live. However, I was just a kid in Illinois, and all I knew was here was this funny, catchy song "Cinnamon Cinder" on my little black transistor, and I bopped through one of my endless summers of swimmming and sunning to it. It was a hit of sorts or I wouldn't have heard it on WLS radio, Chicago. And of course I mowed another lawn (szzzz...) and then bought it; that's how I supported my youthful vinyl addiction; hated it, but did it, and had a mountain of singles to show for it. Cinnamon Cinder would've been a top 5 single if released by Capitol or RCA; it was delightful, and delightfully weird, falling as it did within the realm of those atmospheric records like Mickys Monkey, We're a Winner, and Quarter to Three. This band had a boss sax player; check out the sax work. They may have been a one hit wonder, but their one hit was a bon bon.It's on Zen Records; even the label was cool."