Album Notes

The Blue Things got together in 1964 as the Blue Boys in Hays, Kansas. Mike Chapman, Richard Scott and Rick "Laz" Larzalere were members of the Barons, a popular group led by Jim Fetters. The band was Chapman's idea and he came up with the name. In the early days they wore blue suits onstage. With Richard on bass, Mike on lead guitar and Laz on drums, the three Blue Boys would often open for the Barons, then join them onstage. The three decided that to complete the break from the Barons they needed a rhythm guitar player who could sing. They found more than that when they auditioned Mike Chapman's roommate Val Stecklein. Val had already recorded a demo of two original songs, "Desert Wind" and Nancy Whiskey", at Damon Studios in Kansas City with The Hi-Plains Singers and an album with a Ft. Hays State College group called The Impromptwos. . The Blue Boys spent the summer of 1964 touring much of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. The band hired Jim Reardon to manage them. He took them to John Brown of Mid-Continent Entertainment. They were booked out of Reardon's home in Beloit in the summer of ’64 initially, and then out of Manhattan the following fall and winter. When Brown moved Mid-Continent to Lawrence, so he could attend the University of Kansas, Reardon and the Blue Boys followed. Promotions began in earnest, with sweatshirts featuring the band's logo (designed by Reardon), a fan club, and daily reports on KOMA Radio in Oklahoma City. According to John Brown, the spots on KOMA weren't a product of brilliance, but of laziness. He just got tired of putting up posters and passing out flyers. Those messages on the radio made stars out of the Blue Boys. On July 7, 1964, at Damon Studios in Kansas City, the Blue Boys recorded four songs-“Love‘s Made A Fool Of You”, “Silver and Gold”, “So You Say”, and “P’s and Q’s”. “Love’s Made A Fool Of You”, was by Buddy Holly. Holly was the single greatest influence on Val’s genesis as a musician in the early days and is reflected in the minor key moody sounding “Silver and Gold” , a Val original. “So You Say” was a soft ballad written by Richard and Val. P’s and Q’s was a rocking raver written by Val and Mike. Thirty copies of each of the test pressings were issued. In September, the band went back to Damon and recorded four more demos. “Punkin’ Doodle” another rocking rave-up in the same vein as P’s and Q’s was written by Val and appears for the first time ever b /w “Ain’t That Loving You Baby“. The other demo was a Dale Hawkins cover of “La Do Da Da” b/w a Richard and Val original “Just Two Days Ago” which would later appear on Ruff Records. Forty copies of each of these test pressings were made. The Damon Recordings helped the Blue Boys get a deal with Ruff Records of Amarillo, Texas, in October, 1964. They went to the Sullivan Studios in Oklahoma City that December to cut their first single, "Mary Lou" b/w "Your Turn To Cry". Mike recalls that another version of “Love’s Made A Fool Of You” was also recorded. To avoid confusion with the late Jim Reeves' back-up band, who had continued recording for RCA after Reeves' death, the Blue Boys became the Blue Things. The band's name was two words on all of their records, but one word (Bluethings) on their fan club materials and in much of their advertising. The band did one more single on Ruff Records, "Pretty Things--Oh" b/w "Just Two Days Ago". The single was released with an error in the title as “Pretty Thing-Oh”, which led the listener to think the subject matter was the singer‘s girlfriend instead of the pretty things he is buying her. An full page music industry ad was placed on May 22, 1965 that featured The Bluethings’ single on one half of the page and The Checkmates on the other half, the drawing of a Merseybeat Mod gracing both singles. It was during the spring of 1965 that The Bluethings recorded six more tracks in Sullivan Studios that were never issued until 1987 on The Bluethings Story-”Bab