Event Album Discography
Originally, five of the first ten singles and the first album issued on Event were by Cashman, Pistilli &
West. All three were artists, songwriters, and producers. By 1969, they had been recording as Cashman,
Pistilli & West for some years for ABC and Capitol when they took advantage of the new Event label to
try to change their image. Their first (and Event's first) single was "Sweets for My Sweet"/"The Feeling
That I Get (When You're Near Me)" [Event 3301], credited to "Central Park West." For their next single,
they recorded as the Buchanan Brothers, and "Medicine Man" [Event 3302] crashed the national top-30,
making #22 in late spring, 1969. The fall followup single, "Son of a Lovin' Man" [Event 3305] made it to
#61. In December, Event released the third Buchanan Brothers offering, a remake of the Rolling Stones'
"The Last Time" [Event 3307], which only reached #108. The following single, released in early 1970,
was a song they recorded on Capitol the year before, "Rosianna" [Event 3309], and it missed the charts
altogether.
Other singles released within the first ten were by the Staten Island
Ferry and a pair by Horatio. The final single, Event 3310, was by the Dovells, the Philadelphia-based
dance group that had faded from the charts some years before, with a remake of "Roll Over Beethoven."
In mid-1970, after those first ten records (and an album by the Buchanan Brothers) were issued, Polydor
took over distribution, at which time both the label design and catalog sequence numbers changed. The
old logo was a musical note with "EVENT" written over it, while the new logo had "EVENT" as if it were
in theater lights on Broadway. The singles series changed from the 3300 series to the 200 series.
A couple of additional Buchanan Brothers singles were issued on the new series in 1970, but the hit string had run out. Gene Pistilli left the trio to travel with a new group called the Manhattan Transfer ( I recall seeing the group in the days before anyone had heard of them. Pistilli played with the group on some songs and did a great rendition of "Rosianna.") Terry Cashman (nee Dennis Minogue) and Tommy West (nee Tommy Picardo) continued as a duo, recording "California on My Mind" as the Morning Mist [Event 206], which charted in the summer of 1971 but only reached #96. Cashman & West then left Event and recorded under the name Cashman & West with hits like "American City Suite" [Dunhill 4324], which reached #27 in 1972. They also pursued production, producing Jim Croce's hits in 1973.
By the time the Morning Mist single was issued in mid-1971, Spring Records was using the Event label sparingly. In fact, so sparingly that the next four singles [Event 207-210] were all by the duo (Gus) Mancini & (Neil) Fox, meted out every few months. None of the singles charted, but Event felt the group was good enough to release an album. The eponymous disc was released on a new EV-4750 series as EV-4751. It failed to chart, also.
At this point (around the beginning of 1972), Spring Records, basically an R&B label, re-thought whether their pop subsidiary was working. Apparently, they decided it wasn't, and Event fell into dormancy. Essentially nothing was issued on Event — no singles, no albums — until the fall of 1973. When Spring finally did start using Event again, it wasn't for pop music, but rather for disco and other R&B music. They were selective in their releases, only a handful of singles and a couple of albums per year, but were quite successful in placing most of these on the R&B charts (almost none of these made even the pop "Bubbling Under" charts, however). So the Event label had been completely made over from a pop label to an R&B label. Singles continued with the 200 series, but albums were issued in a new EV- 6900 series.
The earliest success for the new R&B-oriented Event label was a single by the Mainstreeters, "It's My
Life" [Event 212], which made #91 on the R&B charts in October, 1973. This was followed by the dance
instrumental "Pepper Box" by the Peppers [Event 213] in early 1974, which reached #34 on the R&B
charts and crossed over to #74 on the pop side. The Peppers were a French duo of Mat Camison on
keyboards and Pierre Dahan on drums. They followed up with "Hot Carmel" [Event 215, 8/74, #76 R&B]
and "Do It, Do It" [Event 221, 1/75, #100 R&B]. All six sides of the three singles were included on their
Event album The Peppers [EV-6901].
The Dovells returned with a remake of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" [Event 216], which reached #105 on the "Bubbling Under" charts in August, 1974, which proved to be their last chart single (and their last single for Event). Event had two other one-hit artists in 1975 and 1976, although both had hits for other labels. (Prince) Phillip Mitchell made #58 on the R&B charts in March, 1975, with "There's Another in My Life" [Event 223], and Jay & the Techniques made #96 on the R&B charts with "Number Onderful" [Event 228] in early 1976.
In the summer of 1974, Event signed a group that would be their biggest seller, and also a big seller for
the parent Spring label after they discontinued Event Records: The Fatback Band (later just Fatback).
Although the group never broke into the pop top-100, they are recognized as pioneers in the disco and
hip-hop genre. The group came from New Jersey, and included Bill Curtis (vocals, drums),
Johnny King (guitar), George Adam (flute), Earl Shelton (sax), George Williams (trumpet), Gerry Thomas
(keyboards) and John Flippin (bass). The Fatback Band had six singles and three albums issued on
Event. Five of the singles charted: "Keep on Steppin'" [Event 217, 9/74, #50 R&B], "Wicki Wacky" [Event
219, #94 R&B], "Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)" [Event 226, 5/75, #80 R&B], "(Are You Ready) Do the Bus
Stop" [Event 227, 11/75, #37 R&B, #15 Disco], and "Spanish Hustle" [Event 229, 3/76, #12 R&B, #5
Disco, #101 pop]. In fact, it was the success of the latter single that caused Spring Records to call a halt
to Event Records and pull the Fatback Band and the other artists onto the parent label.
The other album released on Event was a compilation from the TV show Hollywood Squares. In late spring, 1976, the parent label halted further issues on Event Records.
This Event Records label had no relation to the earlier label of the same name that operated between
1956 and 1962 out of 10 Hardy Road, Westbrook, Maine. The earlier record label (see right), which put
out at least one album, and the doo-wop hits "I" by the Velvets and "Dear One" by the Scarlets, was run
by B.L. Hawkes. It had a yellow label with black print.
EV 6901 - The
Peppers - Peppers [1974] Issued in Canada and elsewhere as Pepper Box (pictured
at right). Hot Caramel/Oh' Oh' I Am Goin' Home/Blue Ballad/Double Signature/Athena Beach/Pinch Of
Salt//Pepper Box/A Taste Of Honey/Do It, Do It/Roses For Mary/Just A Rock/Au Revoir
