Hot Butter

Infobox musical artist
Name = Hot Butter


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Genre = pop, synthesizer
Years_active = 1971-1978
Label = Musicor
Dynamo
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Past_members = Stan Free
Dave Mullaney
John Abbott
Bill Jerome
Steve Jerome
Danny Jordan
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Hot Butter was an instrumental cover band fronted by the keyboard player Stan Free. The other band members were Dave Mullaney, John Abbott, Bill Jerome, Steve Jerome, and Danny Jordan.

History

The liner notes to the CD reissue do not indicate who played what, aside from Free at the Moog synthesizer. Indeed, the notes say the band was Free and "a bunch of fellow players". Based upon the photograph and the sound of the album, the group had two additional keyboardists, two percussionists, and a guitarist. They are best known for their 1972 cover of the Moog synthpop instrumental "Popcorn", originally by Gershon Kingsley in 1969.

The group released two albums, "Hot Butter" (Musicor MS-3242; 1972) and "More Hot Butter" (Musicor MS-3254; 1973), primarily of covers, on LP by Hallmark Records. The two albums were compiled on CD as "Popcorn" by Castle Music in 2000 (with a cover from the 1974 Australian release of "More Hot Butter" titled "Moog Hits", depicting the five other band members immersed in melted butter produced by Free's synthesizer), though several tracks, including Roger Whittaker's "Mexican Whistler", were deleted. The only tracks written by members of the band were "At the Movies" (the B-side of "Popcorn") and "Tristana", by all the band members except Free, and "Space Walk", by Dave Mullaney and his brother. "The Silent Screen (Hot Butter)" is credited to all the members except for Free, but it is actually an arrangement of the main theme of the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40. Among the other artists covered by the band were Stephen Schwartz, Jerry Lordan and The Shadows, Neil Diamond, Joe Meek and The Tornados, Neal Hefti, Serge Gainsbourg, Robert Maxwell, Piero Umiliani, Jean-Joseph Mouret, Billy Joe and The Checkmates, Joe Buffalo's Band, Teo Macero, Leroy Anderson, Chuck Rio, and Norman Petty and The String-A-Longs. Mullaney and Abbott did most of the arranging. The Jeromes, Jordan, and Richard E. Talmadge produced the albums with MTL Productions for Musicor.

After "Popcorn", their best known track is probably August Musarurwa's "Skokiaan", which was included on RE/Search's compilation, "Incredibly Strange Music". Follow-up singles included The Shadows' "Apache", Chuck Rio's (Danny Flores) "Tequila", Billy Joe and the Checkmates' "Percolator", Joe Buffalo's Band's "Slag Solution", and Gene Farrow With G.F. Band's "You Should Be Dancing".

Discography

Popcorn

*Musicor MUS 1458 (US); Pye International 7N.25583 (UK), July 1972Side 1
# Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) (2:30)Side 2
# At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:31)

Hot Butter

*Musicor MS-3242 (US); Pye International NSPL.28169 (UK), 1972Side 1
# Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) (2:30)
# Day by Day (Stephen Schwartz) (3:44)
# Apache (Jerry Lordan) (2:50
# At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:31)
# Tristana (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (3:29)
# Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond) (3:54)

Side 2
# Telstar (Joe Meek) (2:34)
# Tomatoes (Neal Hefti) 2:27
# Amazing Grace (Trad. Arr. Abbott, Mullaney) (2:37)
# Love at First Sight (S. Gainsbourg) (2:38)
# Song of the Narobi Trio (R. Maxwell) (2:13)
# Hot Butter (The Silent Screen) (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) (2:04)

Apache

*Musicor 7N.25598, 1972Side 1
#ApacheSide 2
#Hot Butter

Tequila

*Musicor 12 469 AT, 1972Side One
#Tequila (1:47)Side 2
#Tomatoes (2:21)

Percolator

*Musicor SMU-88678; Pye 7N.25609, 1973Side 1
# PercolatorSide 2
# Tristana

More Hot Butter

*Musicor MS-3254; 1973Side One
#Percolator
#Slag Solution
#Sounds
#Wheels
#Skokiaan
#Pipeline

Side Two
#Space Walk
#The Masterpiece
#Tequila
#Syncopated Clock
#Kappa Maki
#Mah-Na, Mah-Na

lag Solution

*Musicor 1481, 1973Side One
#Slag SolutionSide Two
#Kappa Maki

Popcorn with Hot Butter

Side One
#Popcorn
#Day by Day
#Apache
#At the Movies
#Tomatoes

Side Two
#Pipeline
#Hot Butter
#Telstar
#Tristana
#Song of the Nairobi Trio
#Amazing Grace

Moog Hits

*Musicor Records, L34954, 1974 (Australia)Side One
#Slag Solution
#Sounds Simple
#Wheels
#Skokiaan
#Russian Whistler

Side Two
#Space Walk
#The Masterpiece
#Tequila
#Syncopated Clock
#Mah-Na, Mah-Na
#Mexican Whistler

You Should Be Dancing

*12" 45 Dynamo DS 12-DS-603-8, 1977Side One
#You Should Be Dancing (Warren/Farrow) (5:13) Hye Fye Music Ltd

Side Two
#You Should Be Dancing (Track without lead vocal) (Warren/Farrow) (4:42) Hye Fye Music Ltd

Arranged by B.K. BowieProduced by Jerry "Swamp Dog" Williams, Jr.

Popcorn (CD)

*Castle Music ESMCD907 (UK), 2000
# Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley) Bourne Music
# Day by Day (Stephen Schwartz) Valando Music
# Apache (Lordan) Francis Day & Hunter
# At the Movies (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) AMRA
# Tristana (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) AMRA
# Song Sung Blue (Diamond) Ardmore & Beechwood
# Telstar (Meek) Ivy Music Ltd
# Tomatoes (Hefti) Famous Chappell
# Amazing Grace (Trad. Arr. Abbott, Mullaney) ARTAL
# Love at First Sight (Gainsbourg) Shapiro Bernstein/Britico
# Song of the Narobi Trio (Maxwell)
# Hot Butter (The Silent Screen) (Abbott, Mullaney, Jerome, Jerome, Jordan) ARTAL
# Mah-Na-Mah-Na (Umiliani) Carlin Music Corp
# Masterpiece (Mouret, Parnes) September Music Corp
# Percolator (Bideu, Freeman)
# Skokiaan (Kusarurgwa) Peter Maurice Music Co Ltd
# Slag Solution (Morgan, Ranzzano) Copyright Control
# Sounds (Macero) Warner Chappell Music Ltd
# Space Walk (Mullaney, Mullaney) Copyright Control
# Syncopated Clock (Anderson, Parish) EMI Harmonies Ltd
# Tequila (Rio) MCA Music Ltd
# Wheels (Petty) Campbell Connelly & Co Ltd