Coming Up: "Jingle Workshop" Releases Collect Commercial-Minded Work of Tom Dawes and Ginny Redington

Out Sept. 16. Click the links to order from Amazon.

Elusive: The Tom Dawes Jingle Workshop collects more than fifty jingles penned by the Cyrkle frontman both on his own and in partnership with his wife Ginny Redington as their TwinStar Music. Not all of the cuts made their way to our television sets, some were more concept jingles like his G.I. Joe number,
    Kids, get the new G.I. Joe by Mattel, ask your mother
    Kids, get the new G.I. Joe, it’s sure swell. Kills the others
    And with your G.I. Joe you will always blow all the other soldiers to smithereens
    And another little trick, you can see the sticky napalm victims that really scream,
    Isn’t it keen!
    Kid’s get a nuclear bomb by Mattel, …be the only family in your neighborhood.
There’s also the products that you’d be shocked to know really existed like Life Savers Soda, “the soda with the hole in the middle.” Largely sequenced by Tom himself as a demo reel, this album plays like some lost pop-sych masterpiece concept album as one tune largely flows into the next and one less of a compilation but more of a unified experience.
    The album features new art by Samy Khanchouche, and liner notes by both Tom’s friend Andrew Sandoval and our friend Gary Stockdale across the jacket and the full color insert.
    To the eyes, it’s a compilation of jingles, to the ears it’s a lost pop concept album from The Cyrkle. We invite you to discover that the lush pop songs of Tom Dawes didn’t end when with the breakup of The Cyrkle, they just became more elusive.
    Includes:
7-Up: “The Uncola” • Windex: “Bring All The Sun In” • Yvonne (experimental) • Warner Lambert: “Lasting Beauty Make-up Finish” • Wohl Shoe: “Fanfare” • Scripto Pens: “Girl Graffiti” • Clairol: “Born Blonde” • Interlude • Yardley: “Oh! de London” • Wohl Shoe: “Monsters” • Electronic (experimental) • Thom McAn: “No Exit” • Alka Seltzer: “Fumbles” • G.I. Joe (experimental) • Sailplanes (experimental) • Avon: “Bird Of Paradise” • Bayer: “Good Old Summertime” • Snooze You Lose (experimental) • Chevrolet: “I Drive My Camaro” • TWA • Enkasheer: “Pantyhose” • Enkasheer: “Beautiful Lady” • Royal Crown Cola: “Los Angeles, California” • Calgon • Stridex: “You Can Change Things” • Murine: “Clear Eyes” • Hartford Insurance • Yardley: “You Know I Love You” • Life Savers Soda • Peter Paul: “Almond Joy” • Wild Irish Rose: “The Big One” • Clairol • Avon: “Elusive” • Burlington (version one) • Sterling Salt: “Colored Salt” • Gone, Gone, Gone (experimental) • Purina • TWA: “Vignettes” + “Whole New Way To Fly” • Timex • Ford: “Make Yourself A Maverick” • Sears • Sucrets • City Kitty (experimental) • Burlington (version two) • Shalimar • Western Electric: “Runaway” + “Things We Make” • Two Cubic Feet + Kent: tag (experimental) • Lady Sunbeam: “More Like You” • Zestables • Royal Crown Cola – “With A Twist” • Stridex: “You Can Change Things – Funky” • Stridex: “You Can Change Things – Rock” • Western Electric: “Hello” • Island Synthesizer (experimental) • L’eggs Are Here • Way Out West (experimental)

A jingle powerhouse solo or in tandem with Tom Dawes (Cyrkle) as TwinStar Music, Ginny Redington penned earworms like “Coke Is It!”, “We’re American Airlines”, and a smorgasbord of recognizable gems from the 70s and 80s. Many are collected here, many she sang herself, and many are loaded with Synthesizer goodness! Open wide!
    Even if Ginny Redington had not met Tom Dawes, you’d still have known her work as a jingle composer. You have to figure there weren’t that many women even pursuing a career writing music for commercials in the 1970s.
    If that was the rule in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Virginia Redington was the perfect exception. She had always been a singer and a songwriter, performing by night in New York clubs, while writing songs by day. She also occasionally got calls to sing on recording sessions for commercials. Her strong, soulful contralto voice lent itself to multiple styles, which was perfect for jingle sessions, where one often has to be a chameleon, and tailor the performance to the song, rather than asserting one’s own individuality.
    A friend who knew her music recommended her to a “jingle house” (a commercial music production company), and soon she was invited to join a “cattle call,” where McDonald’s asked 20 writers to each submit five jingles based on their “You deserve a break today” theme. Ginny came up with “You, you’re the one,” and won the competition.
    She soon noticed, however, that other writers were earning as much as $250,000 a year for writing national spots like that one, but she wasn’t making nearly as much writing for someone else’s company, so she realized she needed to start her own jingle house.
    That worked famously. More jobs followed: “Take Me, I’m Yours” for National Airlines, spots for Hertz, Plymouth, and Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder.
   So “Open Wide America” and let the music of Ginny Redington and Tom Dawes carry you back to the golden age of commercial jingles.
    Includes:
Open Wide America (Burger Chef, Gulf Gasoline (ft. The Bee Gees), Kinney Shoes, Stroh’s Beer, Bayer) • Perk Up America (Sunrise Coffee, Sanka Coffee, Maxwell House Coffee) • Get Ready America (Noxzema, Touch Of Yogurt Shampoo, Rose Milk, Avon Color Me Colors, Noxzema, Vaseline Intensive Care, Tide Detergent, Cache Perfume) • The Clean In Your Mouth (Colgate (ft. José Feliciano), Cottonelle Toilet Paper, Johnson’s Baby Powder, Colgate, Johnson’s Baby Powder) • The World’s Best Fit (Chic Jeans, Plushbottom Jeans, Vidal Sassoon Jeans, L’eggs Pantyhose, Sears) • The Amazing Soda (Minute Maid, Tropicana, Cherry Coke, Tropicana) • Watch Your Weight America (Weight Watchers, Tab, Light & Lively Yogurt, Crystal Light, Pep Step) • Snack Time America (M&Ms, Three Musketeers, KitKat, Extra Gum, Jif Peanut Butter, Manwich, A&P) • Coke Adds Life (Coca-Cola Ads) • I Like The Sprite In You (Sprite Ads) • Baby Want A Babycham (On Tap Root Beer, Glass Bottles, Schweppes Rondo, Nutrament Liquid Energy, Yago Sangria, Babycham) • Plop Plop Fast Food (Gino’s, Del Taco, Red Lobster, Wendy’s, Alka Seltzer) • Now We’re Talkin’ Beer (Stroh’s, Olympia Beer, Stroh Light, Classic Beer, Stohs, Coors, Stroh’s) • A Real Adventure (The Navy, National Airlines, American Airlines, Jamaica, Avis Car Rental, Hertz Car Rental, Sheraton Hotels, Polaroid • Oh Canada (Canada Dry, Air Canada, Canada Dry, Molson Beer, Air Canada • Women In Business • *Banking In America (Chase Bank, Citibank) • *Baboon Balls & Wobbling Weebles (Plymouth Horizon, Sunoco Ultra, Baboon Ball, Hartz Flea Collar, Weebles , Olde English 800)

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