Frank Guida sure had a nack for making music that sounded like nothing else anybody had ever heard before. Leaning heavily on Calypso, African rhythms, even touches of classical, along with the melodies of his Italian-American upbringing, his compositions had an exotic quality that was alien to the R&B and Pop airwaves of the time. His production style was simultaneously compressed yet thick and very loud, recorded with the studio's meters planted firmly in the red, and mastered super "hot", resulting in a delightful distortion that gave everything an exciting live edge. Get an audience of enthusiastic youngsters to come into the studio to clap their hands and raise a ruckus while the tape was rolling, and you've got a party atmosphere and a hit record. It was a sound that just jumped right out of the speakers, and stood out geniously on AM radio. The drive to be different served Guida well, as his trademark "Norfolk Sound" routinely held lofty positions on the national charts (including two #1's) throughout the first part of the 60's.
But for every hit Frank Guida had over the years, there were a host of obscure recordings equally as captivating, and in many cases even more unusual. Case in point: the work of a singer known as Hot Lungs. We're not positive if Guida came up with this attention grabbing stage name a la Gary U.S. Bonds and Jimmy Soul, but one thing's for sure, it's definitely fitting.
Our pal Don Harrison, who interviewed Frank Guida in depth and wrote a fantastic
article for 64 Magazine in 2001, shed much light on Hot Lungs since this entry was first published (see "comments" section). According to Don: "Hot Lungs was none other than Jimmy Moore, who had been singing on Guida recordings since the early '60's, when he was the lead singer for the Sheiks. He also cut two great 45s for Guida on SPQR and Legrand under his own name. 'Church Street Sally' on SPQR is a particular favorite". Later he recorded "Take Me Back To Virginia Beach" for the Got It label (named for Frank's record store, Frankie's Got It), and "I Cried One Million Tears" the only record we're aware of on the Pe Pe imprint, and more than likely the last Hot Lungs release.
"I Cried One Million Tears" is not so much a reworking, but a total deconstruction of the early Gary U.S. Bonds B-Side "One Million Tears". Whereas Bonds's 1961 reading is a plaintive ballad, Hot Lungs unleashes a throat-shredding howl worthy of his moniker. The whole thing is a weird amalgam of hard driving acid rock and funk. Besides the "double tracked" vocals and overall raucous live in the studio quality, this one bears little resemblance to the sound that made Guida famous. Nonetheless, the song still possesses the genre bending uniqueness that made so many of Guida's recordings interesting if not great, and very difficult to pigeonhole.
This record illustrates how radically things had changed since the dawn of the 60's. The Norfolk Sound hit machine had slowed considerably, at least on a national level, with the onslaught of the British Invasion. Ironically enough, many of these bands were influenced by Frank Guida's classic recordings. Regardless, Frank generally viewed these new acts and their sound with disdain. In fact, legend has it that Guida was approached in the early 60's about the prospect of releasing the then unknown Beatles stateside. Independent labels like VJ and Tollie accepted similar proposals, Guida flatly refused. No doubt a huge business blunder, but a decision he steadfastly stood by until the day he died.
But that was Frank Guida, a guy with a strong vision, who wasn't afraid to (colorfully) express his opinions one way or the other. Although a record like "I Cried One Million Tears" seems odd, it makes perfect sense coming from a character like Frank. It's yet another compelling moment hidden away in the prolific, widely varied and wonderfully strange output of a man who was successful at a business in which he broke so many of the rules. A man who no matter how many gold records he had, still seemed to relish throwing the more than occasional curveball to keep us all guessing.
Many thanks to Don Harrison for his invaluable information and all the support!
Hot Lungs "I Cried One Million Tears"
