Peter Foldy - Roxanne

Issued in Canada September 1976 on Capitol 72775.

By 1976, Peter Foldy had been signed by Capitol Records of Canada, but curiously, not in the US. There, his singles were released through license arrangement by Polydor.

"Roxanne" was recorded in October 1975 at Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles. Guitar overdubs were done at Hollywood Sound Recorders. Musicians on this track were: Larry Carlton (guitar), Wilton Felder (bass), (as yet un-world-renowned producer) David Foster, and David Paich (of Toto) (keyboards), Jim Gordon (drums) and Diane Brooks (backup vocalist).

"Roxanne" entered the RPM 100 on September 11, 1976 at #93, picked up a bullet for the week of September 18 at #76, lost it on the 25th at #70, and disappeared completely from the chart by the next week. In a really strange twist, the song reappeared on October 30th at #48 with the indication that it had been on the chart for 8 weeks, not mentioning that it was missing from Sep 25-Oct 23. It topped out at #39 on November 20th.

On the RPM Adult Contemporary chart, it entered on September 11 at #44, and spent two weeks at #13 in November 1976.

Despite Polydor licensing the record from Capitol for US distribution, it did not enter any of the Billboard pop charts.

My sincere thanks go to Peter Foldy for authorizing the use of his music on YouTube, and for supplying photo scans from his personal archive, depicting various times in his life in front of a camera, with people ranging from the not very famous to the very, very famous. The photos have been restored to their original brilliance for this presentation.

"Roxanne" is available through iTunes, and on CD from the Pacemaker label in Canada, distributed by EMI.

To hear this record in stereo, type the following code - &fmt=18 - on the end of the URL and hit Enter to reload the page.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Peter
• Foldy
• Roxanne
• 1976
• Canadian
• pop

[angusthethird]

September 1976?

The Big Eight --CKLW--started playing that record along about June! One of my happiest memories of that time. :)

[mojofilter02]

Capitol opened their Mississauga plant in the first week of June 1976. The first 45 they pressed was #72773. "Roxanne" is 72775, so it was made in June. However, its first appearance in the RPM chart is on September 11th 1976. I'm sure some stations were playing it well in advance of that date. The RPM charts only listed songs that were getting enough airplay to warrant a chart entry. "Roxanne" must have started slowly and built momentum over the summer before it entered the national chart.

[collinsjamesl]

Mojo! Love it! Congrats! Very nice job!

I've always loved Peter Foldy's distinct voice. There's no one like him. Another great song CHUM AM never added. Thank God for CKOC.

Do you know if Peter's had any desire to record anything else. He'd be able to find a home for it in one of his films, if he did.

It's a shame about the mess the RPM charts are in, huh?

It looks like your labour of love is making many people happy.

Cheers!

James

[mojofilter02]

Peter tells me that he plans to do more recording in the near future. If it sounds like the most recent tracks on his CD, this will be an album that a lot of people will like.

Thanks for the kind words. I enjoy doing this, and making contact with some of the artists is its own reward.

[boidbath]

It's wonderful to hear this song again !

Thanks for posting this !

[ValsHere]

Nice to see you are back and in finer then ever form with this brilliant presentation.

The photo montage was indeed brilliant and done with your usual flare.

[debjean63]

it's called PMS, one day you're up, the next you're down

[UglySean]

@mojofilter02 You know that not many recording artists of the seventies have made a comeback. But it has been done - even in the past decade. This is my favourite of his songs. After finding a scratchy rendition on the internet I told Peter that if it were to be released on CD I'd actually BUY it, I like it that much and 25 years without hearing such a great song is too long. He told me a few months later that the CD was done. It's a welcome addition to my collection.

[UglySean]

@annib00 Yeah well I had to do some work trying to match voices since when I went hunting for this little gem it seemed like nobody else ever heard of it.

[UglySean]

@burnabybrent Uh, no. Bondi Junction, apparently referring to a place in Australia where he grew up (his CD has a picture of Peter in his teens posing with Robin and Maurice Gibb)

[UglySean]

I spent perhaps decades hunting for this song. I found a scratchy 45 rip on a file sharing site. I emailed Peter Foldy (yes he answers his email personally) saying I'd buy a copy - but it did not exist on CD in any way shape or form. He admitted it but stated that the master tapes had only been recently discovered and that his music would be released on CD. I was true to my word when I said I'd buy it if it existed. I love this song. peterfoldy(dot)com

[York19741]

Thank you so much for posting this song. This truly brings back some great memories. I hope Peter releases some new songs.

[Bigstud19]

@vlaovik  Good observation.....The Korgis sound is very similar to this.

[redgrapeskins]

nothing fancy about this -Just pure melody with a great vocal and mix - Peter had some grreat tunes and they certainly made their way across the border.

[cathode1990]

@angusthethird the Big Eight ? see you at the record conventions-- Do you know Al Campbell or Bob May or Kubek records? [I never went there but hear great things from my brother] angusthethird - that is great ::: Well - I'm on the Detroit side !! I shouldn't assume you're from the USA --If Canadian, then Gary and Dave, Keith Hampshire and Abrahams Children etc. were terrific!~!

[aryanscience]

@collinsjamesl Kewl..I live in Hawkesbury, well actually L'Orignal, but close enough