From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu May 16, 2002  1:14 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Joe Saraceno
 
JOE SARACENO

Born 16 May 1937, Utica, New York

Producer. Saraceno was a business graduate from New York who migrated
to California in the mid-50s and was working as an auditor for US Steel when
a friend introduced him to someone in the record business. Fancying himself
as a vocalist, Saraceno got together with a friend (Tony Savonne) and lucked
into a one-off hit (as Tony & Joe) with "The Freeze" in the summer of 1958
(# 33). Emboldened by this seemingly effortless rite of passage, Saraceno
became an indie producer specialising in studio-contrived rock instrumentals
characterised by their razor-sharp production.
His first assignment was with the Candix label, where he was involved with
the instrumental hit "Underwater" by the Frogmen (# 44 in 1961) and the
very first record by the Beach Boys, "Surfin'". At Liberty he produced the
Ventures and the Marketts (biggest hit "Out Of Limits", # 3, 1963), who
would later move on to Warner Bros, where Saraceno also was in charge
of the Routers, who had hits with "Let's Go" (# 19) and "Sting Ray" (# 50).
His most successful production was "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's
In)" by the T-Bones (# 3 in 1965), based on a jingle of an Alka Seltzer
commercial.
The instrumental groups that went on the road with these hits differed
greatly from the groups that had actually recorded the songs in the studio.
The records by the Marketts and the Routers (and later, by several West
Coast surf groups) were recorded by a group of prolific and very
professional studio musicians, which Hal Blaine later dubbed as "The
Wrecking Crew". Among these L.A. session men were guitar players
Tommy Tedesco, Rene Hall and Glen Campbell, bass players Carol Kaye
and Billy Strange, saxophonists Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso and Steve
Douglas, pianists Leon Russell and Larry Knechtel, and drummers Earl
Palmer and Hal Blaine. These people also formed the backbone of Phil
Spector's "Wall Of Sound".

A CD reissue of the Routers is long overdue. Only "Let's Go" and "Sting
Ray" are available on compilations.