Popsicles & Icicles

Murmaids | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B0000008VS
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,935 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Blues > Traditional Blues
  • #11 in Music > Indie Music > Pop > Pop Rock
  • #30 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Girl Groups

Track Listings

1. Popsicles and Icicles

2. You Cheated

3. Mr. Sandman

4. Blue Dress

5. Playmates

6. Wild and Wonderful

7. Alone

8. Heartbreak Ahead

9. So Young

10. Bull Talk

11. Don't Forget

12. Three Little Words

13. He's Good to Me

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murmaids Nostalgia Time, January 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Popsicles & Icicles (Audio CD)

"Popsicles and Icicles" was #2 in the nation for a while. The Murmaids also released "Wild and Wonderful" and "Heartbreak Ahead" as singles - they both faired well but were not national hits. The two sisters of the group have reformed...While the other member carried on as The Murmaids when the sisters left in the late sixties. I always wondered if The Murmaids had recorded enough material for an album and am glad to know that those songs were preserved. I'm happy to hear these tunes now as the original group had a distinctive and pleasureable style. I still love many of the 60's groups as they showed the innocence of the times, and the Murmaids were part of that sound.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THEY ONLY HAD ONE HUGE HIT!, October 28, 2002

By 

ernie garcia (LONG BEACH, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Popsicles & Icicles (Audio CD)

I WAS AMAZED THAT THIS C.D.WAS RELEASED, HOWEVER BEING AN AVID COLLECTOR, I WAS THRILLED!THE MURMAIDS BIG HIT WAS OF COURSE "POPSICLES AND ICYCLES". THEY WERE THREE VERY PRETTY GALS WITH SIREN-LIKE HARMONIZATIONS. EVERYONE LOVED THIS RECORD AND YOU NEVER GOT TIRED OF HEARING IT, BECAUSE THEIR VOICE WAS SOOO BEAUTIFUL! THE C.D. FEATURES SOME 0-K REMAKES OF SUCH HITS AS THE FIREFLIES' "YOU WERE MINE" and THE CHORDETTES'"MR. SANDMAN", WHICH WERE BIG 50'S HITS, BUT NOT FOR THE MURMAIDS. THERE IS A REALLY PRETTY SONG IN THE C.D. TITLED "WARM AND WONDERFUL" WHICH I FEEL COULD'VE MADE AN EXCELLENT FOLLOW-UP RECORD, ONLY I DON'T THINK IT WAS EVER RELEASED.I RECOMMEND THIS C.D. ONLY TO TRUE COLLECTORS, LIKE MYSELF, WHO WANT TO HEAR IT ALL!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Comprehensive As It Can Get For A Unique 1-Hit Wonder, November 30, 2011

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Popsicles & Icicles (Audio CD)

Sisters Carol and Terry Fischer, ages 15 and 17 in 1963, came by their love of music honestly as dad Carl was a renowned pianist/composer and long-time musical director for Frankie Laine, while mom Terry sang with several Big Bands, including that of Stan Kenton. Even their grandmother and three great aunts once performed on the vaudeville circuit as The Locus Sisters.

Along with friend and Los Angeles neighbour, 17-year-old Sally Gordon, the girls would sing demos for friend and then 18-year-old Mike Post, as well as back-up vocals now and then at Gold Star Studios. It was there they were discovered by Kim Fowley, record producer for Ruth Conti's Chattahoochee Records, and at their first recording session, where they took on the name The Murmaids, they cut five tracks, including Popsicles And Icicles, written by David Gates who would later go on to become the front-man for the 1970s soft-rock group Bread.

Aside from the fact this would become their only hit single, thereby establishing their place in that club known as The One-Hit Wonders (# 2 Adult Contemporary and # 3 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late 1963/early 1964), the unique thing was, it had 4 different flipsides circulating simultaneously and all bearing the same label number - Chattahoochie 628. Two were pure instrumentals by a house-band - Bunny Stomp and Huntingdon Flats, while two others were Murmaids vocals - Blue Dress and Comedy And Tragedy. Only Blue Dress is in this volume.

The totally unexpected success of the record (this was right in the opening stages of the British Invasion, making its results even more remarkable) caught the girls up short, especially the Fischer sisters who were already making plans to finish college, a priority for them. Still, they did go back to the studio to cut more sides in late 1963, but without committing to a touring/promotion schedule, which they felt would adversely affect their schooling. Thst made chances of further success slim. Heartbreak Ahead, which came out in 1964 on Chattahoochie 636 b/w He's Good To Me, did get some fair local attention, but that was it.

The label also released two more of their cuts, Wild And Wonderful and Bull Talk, not once, but twice in 1964, the first on Chattahoochie 641 and the second on Chattahoochie 650, promoting both sides as the A-side at different times. Just before those two, they also released a cover of the Gerry & The Pacemakers hit How Do You Do It? b/w Liverpool (Chattahoochie 637) by The Lady-Bugs, which ostensibly involved Jackie DeShannon singing with The Murmaids, but there is some doubt as to whether that was true.

They certainly did try to capitalize on the name, likely out of pure frustration after experiencing such a huge hit, by releasing records billed to The Murmaids but really involving vocalists under contract named Cathy Brasher and Yvonne Young on things like Stuffed Animals/Little White Lies (Chattahoochee 668) in 1965, and Little Boys/Go Away (Chattahoochee 711) in 1966. The same ploy was used by Liberty Records in 1968, probably through a licensing arrangement to the name, with Paper Sun/Song Through Perception (Liberty 56078). None of those tracks are here.

What is here, in addition to the legitimate Murmaids sides released as singles, are several tracks cut at that late 1963 session but only released years later in a 1980 album: You Cheated, Mr. Sandman, Playmates, Alone, So Young, Don't Forget, and Three Little Words.

The sound quality is excellent and inside are informative liner notes by Mark Marymont.