Ohio Express - Chewy, Chewy ~ Mercy (1969) 2010

In 1966 Mansfield, Ohio garage band Sir Timothy and the Royals were  approached by New York production duo Jerry Kasenetz & Jeff Katz with an offer of a recording contract with their label, Buddah Records. Upon signing the contract, and at Kasenetz and Katz's insistence changing their name to the Ohio Express (they said the band's original name sounded "too British"), they found that their first single, "Beg, Borrow, and Steal" had already been recorded and pressed. In fact it had been released previously by another band, The Rare Breed.

The band were reassured that this single was just to get them on the map as hitmakers, that they would be able to record their own songs... and they did get to record songs, but not the ones that were released as singles and became hits. Those were purely the work of songwriters Joey Levine and Artie Resnick, often working with studio musicians. Levine supplied the trademark nasally vocals on "Yummy Yummy Yummy (I've Got Love In My Tummy)" as well as numerous other songs by the Ohio Express and others in Kasenetz & Katz's stable of studio bubblegum bands. The actual band was relegated to touring duties and album filler.

While on tour in 1968, the band found out they had a new single, "Chewy Chewy" when they heard it on the radio and had to deal with fans yelling for a song they didn't know at their concert that night. Soon after that they decided that they wanted to make their own music (their tracks on the albums are really perfectly good garage, moving later into psychedelia) and abandoned the project. None of them ever had a significant musical career after that though. Levine went on to write and record many more hit songs and commercial jingles.

In 1980, original member Tim Corwin reconstituted the group with all new members.

320 kbps + artwork
177 mb

Chewy, Chewy (1969)
01. Chewy, Chewy (3:19) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
02. Nothing Sweeter Than My Baby (2:47) (S. Gordon)
03. So Good, So Fine (1:42) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
04. 1,2,3 Red Light (2:17) (S. Trimachi, B. Trimachi)
05. Yes Sir (2:09) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
06. Let It Take You (2:47) (J. Levine)
07. Little Girl (2:02) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
08. Fun (2:10) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
09. Firebird (2:32) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
10. Simon Says (2:11) (E. Chiprut)
11. Down In Tennessee (3:00) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
Mercy (1969)
12. Mercy (2:25) (J. Levine - S. Feldman)
13. Lucky (2:08) (J. J. Woods - B. Levine) *
14. Sha La La (2:21) (J. Levine)
15. Nighttime (1:48) (J. Levine - S. Feldman)
16. Peanuts (2:08) (G. Bengert) *
17. Up Against The Wall (2:40) (J. J. Woods - B. Levine) *
18. Sweeter Than Sugar (2:05) (J. Levine - S. Feldman)
19. Jacksonville Station (2:55) (J. Levine - L. Martine)
20. Ohh La La (2:07) (J. Levine - K. Resnick)
21. Come On Down Maryann (2:42) (J. Levine)
22. Gimme Gimme (2:36) (J. Levine)
Bonus tracks:
23. Chewy, Chevy (single version)
24. Make Love Not war
25. Cowboy convention
26. The Race (That look Place)
27. Love Equals Love
28. Hot Dog
29. Thats The Way a Woman Is
30. Talking 'bout You

OhioExpress-ChewyChewy1969Mercy1969.rar