The Magnificent Men
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1966-67) - Bob "Puff" Angelucci -- drums, percussion, organ, piano - Dave Bupp -- lead vocals - Terry Crousore-- lead guitar - Tommy Hoover (RIP) -- organ - Adrian "Buddy" King -- vocals, trumpet - Tom Pane -- sax, vocals - Jimmy Seville -- bass
line up 2 (1967-71) - Bob "Puff" Angelucci -- drums, percussion, organ, piano - Dave Bupp -- lead vocals - Terry Crousore-- lead guitar - Buddy King -- vocals, trumpet - Tom Pane -- sax, vocals NEW - Billy Richter -- organ (replaced Tommy Hoover) - Jimmy Seville -- bass
line up 3 (1971-73) - Bob "Puff" Angelucci -- drums, percussion, organ, piano - Terry Crousore-- lead guitar - Buddy King -- vocals, trumpet - Tom Pane -- sax, vocals - Billy Richter -- organ - Jimmy Seville -- bass
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- The Argons (Dave Bupp) - Class Act (Bob "Puff" Angelucci) - Class of 6 Somethin' (Bob Angelucci, Dave Bupp, Buddy King and Jimmy Seville - The Del-chords (Dave Bupp and Buddy King) - The Delchords (Dave Bupp and Buddy King) - The Dogs (Dave Bupp) - The Endells (Bob "Puff" Angelucci, Jim Seville, Bill Richter, Tom Hoover, Terry Crousare and Tom Pane) - Full Circle (Dave Bupp and Buddy King) - The Mags - The Magnificent 7 - The Possessions (Dave Bupp)
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Genre: blue-eyed soul Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Better Than a Ten Cent Movie Company: Mercury Catalog: SR-61252 Country/State: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: 2286 Price: $15.00
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After three albums
and numerous singles for Capitol, 1970's "Better Than a Ten Cent
Movie" found The Magnificent Men signed to Mercury
Records. Co-produced by Ted Cooper
Neither the album, or the singles did much and within a couple of years the group had called it quits.
"Better
Than a Ten Cent Movie" track listing: 1.) Lay Lady Lay (Bob Dylan) - 2:20 rating: **** stars If you ever wanted to hear this Dylan classic reinterpreted as a blue-eyed soul tune, then here was your opportunity. With Dave Bupp and Buddy King sharing lead vocals (King handled the shrieking falsetto), it was an interesting rework and if you hadn't seen the album cover, there was little chance that you would have pegged these guys as anything other than a Detroit, or Philly-based group. Hardcore Dylan fans will cringe, but this was lone of the most fascinating Dylan covers I've ever heard. Perhaps not good, but certainly different. Mercury tapped it as a promo single, but then apparently backed away from releasing it nationally:
- 1970's 'Lay Lady Lay' (mono) b/w 'Lay Lady Lay' (stereo) (Mercury catalog number DJ-187)
2.) Still Good (Jerry Williams - Gary U.S. Bonds) - 2:57 rating: **** stars Powered by a slinky Jimmy Seville bass line and Temptations-styled backing vocals, 'Still Good' was one of the best "throwback" tunes on the album, meaning it would have sounded good on one of the two earlier Capitol albums. James Brown would have been proud of the performance. Shame they didn't stick with the genre since this was one of the album highlights. 3.) Name of My Sorrows (Jimmy Webb) - 4:20 rating: **** stars Another
interesting cover - This one started out as an upbeat, horn powered dance
ready tune that also recalled their earlier catalog, but abruptly slowed
down into a more standard slice of Jimmy Webb-penned
hyper-drama. In spite of the supper club vibe and spoken word
introduction, I have to admit
to liking this one. I have to admit this one has always surprised me. Musically it wasn't anything special; Bupp delivering a sweet, but pedestrian ballad. The surprised came in the form of the lyric which told a pretty blatant tale of a young man in love with a young woman while servicing an older woman in order to pay his bills. Hard to imagine a late-'60s radio station would touch the topic with a ten foot pole.
- 1969's "Holly Go Softly" b/w "Open Up And Get Richer" (Mercury catalog number 72988) - 1970's "Holly Go Softly" b/w "Whatever It Takes" (Mercury catalog number 72988)
5.) Short Cut To (instrumental) (Adrian King - Dave Bupp) - 1:40 rating: *** stars Though listed as three separate songs, "Short Cut To", "Route 17B To", and "Cloud Nine" served as an extended suite. The opening section was propelled by some tasty Terry Crousore wah-wah guitar. Shame there wasn't more of it on the album. 6.) Route 17B To (Adrian King - Dave Bupp) - 2:08 rating: *** stars How did I stumble into this James Bond theme song ? LOL Opening with a sinister mix of psychedelic sound effects and treated horns, this one was quite experimental and quite atypical for the band. 7.) Cloud Nine (Norman Whitfield - Barrett Strong) - 4:05 rating: *** stars Their cover wasn't bad, sticking very close to The Temptations' original which meant it didn't do anything to improve on the original. Extra star for the fact this was such a classic tune.
(side
2) 'Whatever It Takes' found the band taking tentative steps into Blood, Sweat & Tears-styled horn rock. Admittedly, if you liked the genre, the tune wasn't bad, which may have been the reason Mercury tapped it as a single:
- 1970's 'What Ever It Takes' b/w 'Lay Lady Lay' (Mercury catalog number 73028)
2.) Gone Away (Curtis Mayfield - Donnie Hathaway) - 3:20 rating; ** star It's normally hard to go wrong covering a Curtis Mayfield tune, but they managed to do it on this hackneyed, halfhearted effort. The lead and backing vocals were flat and ragged, the horns unnecessary and the original melody was all but lost in this mess. 3.) Cookie Man (Sandy Linzer - Mike Petrillo) - 2:13 rating: ** stars Strange tune from start to finish. Budd's vocal sounded like he had been gargling with Drano and the melody couldn't decide where to go, in the end sounding like a mix between a stoned Sousa march and an advertising snippet for laundry detergent. And the lyric - who knows what it was about ... a sexual miscreant ? 4.) Love You More Than You'll Ever Know (Al Kooper) - 4:55 rating: ** stars Al Kooper wrote this one and BS&T recorded it on their 1968 "Child Is Father To The Man" LP. Probably won't come as a surprise to hear this one sounded a lot like the BS&T original. 5.) Open Up & Get Richer (Sylvester Stewart) - 2:57 rating: ** stars Wow, if nothing else, their Sly Stone cover made if clear they should never be allowed to sing anything that required going into a falsetto range. Hard to tell if the song was actually any good since the vocals were so irritating. rating: ** stars 6.) No Salvation (No Hiding Place for the Man) (Alessandro Viccaro - Dave Appell) - 4:41 rating: ** stars The opening horns also gave 'No Salvation (No Hiding Place for the Man)' a BS&T feel, but this one was further plagued by painfully "relevant" lyrics.
© Scott R. Blackerby May 2023
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BACK TO BADCAT PAYMENT INFORMATION
and the band, the album found
The Magnificent Men tentatively trying to update their sound to attract
changing public tastes. That meant they largely walked away from their
signature blue-eyed soul moves. In its place the band seemed to thrown their
collective fates into covering more contemporary material by the likes of
Dylan ("Lay Lady Lay", Jimmy Webb ("Holly Go
Softly") and Sly Stone ("Open Up & Get Richer").
On the instrumental "Short Cut To"
they could be found joining the burgeoning horn-rock genre - think Blood, Sweat
& Tears, Chase, or early Chicago. If you were a fan of that genre
then you were probably going to be okay with horn powered tunes like "Whatever
It Takes", "No
Salvation (No Hiding Place for the Man)" and
the Al Kooper penned "Love
You More Than You'll Ever Know" (which BS&T had already recorded).
They even dipped their toes into psych via the instrumental "Route 17B
To".
Unfortunately the change in musical direction
didn't do a great deal for me, which meant my ears migrated back to
blue-eyed soul numbers like their cover of the Jerry Williams and Gary US
Bonds' "Still Good", a decent remake of The Temptations
"Cloud Nine" and
"Holly, Go Softly". 
