Jordan Parker Review –Ginger Bread Man

Jordan Parker Review –Ginger Bread Man/Tell Her –Sire 45-4115 (1969 US)

Ginger Bread Man is an obscure, but totally wonderful tough Bubblegum creation. It has all the obvious trappings of the genre with its instant hook, driving beat and organ break, but the performance has a real edge with snotty Jagger-like moves as well as featuring some neat rough and ready crunchy guitars. Tell Her is a sprightly uptempo number which is nearly as good as the A side so the single is a definite two-sided winner. I can’t find any info on the band, but I have been led to believe that members of the band went on to form The Hopple Street Exit, so my guess is that they were probably from the Cincinnati area...

Listen to a full version of Ginger Bread Man



Here is the background on the band. Thanks for the information!

Jordan Parker Revue was a four piece group originally made up of two sets of brothers from the Dayton , OH , area. Their first single was a UMAC production on Night Owl Records: “Man of the Hour/Mardi Ellen” writers H. Urschel (aka Jordan Parker) & Eric Smith, respectively. The band tracks for this single were recorded in 1967 at UMAC Studio, Miamisburg , OH ; however, if I recall correctly, the vocals were re-done at Chess Studios, Chicago.

Sometime in 1968 one of the brothers decided to leave the group and was replaced on drums by one of the band’s producers. There was a brief association with Calvert/Marzano, who recorded JPR at ODO Recording, NYC, but no record deal resulted. “Ginger Bread Man” (writers Urschel/Albert) on Sire Records was the groups’ second single, released in Oct. 1969, produced by Opus 65. All tracks for this record were done at Jewel Recording, Mt. Healthy, OH (there was also a mix done w/Richard Gottehrer at Bell Sound, NYC, but it is unknown if this or the Mt. Healthy mix made it on to the record).

JPR's “third” single, if you will, was an unaccredited performance on “Monday Morning Man” (Urschel/Albert) by Trudi on 20th Century Fox Records, released in 1970; this was also recorded entirely at Jewel Recording & produced by Opus 65. Actually, by this time Jordan Parker Revue had ceased to exist under that name but had been wholly absorbed into Trudi & Hopple Street Exit, a seven piece band that was formed when JPR merged with a group featuring Trudi & her husband (also one of JPR’s producers). Hopple Street became a popular local act in Dayton , OH , & there was a second Trudi & Hopple Street single (“Together/Hang on to Your Heart”) released on Counterpart Records, but by then there was only one remaining JPR member in the band.