Forum Quorum Despite a number of impressive accomplishments, the Forum Quorum today is largely forgotten.  But how many other groups of the era can claim two appearances on the Mike Douglas Show, two motion picture soundtracks, numerous product jingle recordings, a Vox sponsorship, a national magazine cover, and two 45 singles and a full LP release?  Indeed, due to their impressive track record, the Forum Quorum had their quest for the big time documented in a book titled “How To Form A Rock Group.”  After picking up a copy of the book on eBay, we did a quick Internet search and were fortunate enough to locate drummer Brian Albano, who graciously agreed to provide more information on the group and their various projects. Brian Albano Recalls the Forum Quorum Live at the Cheetah - 1967 A lot of the events I'm remembering are pretty clear but some are not - such as the order in which some things took place. In just a few short years we did more than we could keep track of.   The initial group started as a duo with guitarists Sal and Sturge playing locally around the New York City area in the early sixties. They soon added a drummer to the act and became known as Sturge & Sal...Plus. During this same period of time (1964-1965), bassist Mike Batalla and I had already been in the rhythm section of two or three bands together.  Mike and I lived in the next town, so it was mutual friends who let me know that they (Sal and Sturge) had been looking for a new drummer. They had never worked with a bass player before and told me that a drummer was all they needed. I told them that I would bring a bass player (Mike) to the first rehearsal anyway, just to see what they thought. Mike and I made a good team. They were sold and there was an instant band.   The period of time that the Mike Douglas Show appearance, the American Girl magazine cover, the recording of the Sattler's jingles, the Mission: Mars soundtrack and the Vox endorsement took place was, I believe, from about mid 1966-on. (I don't remember much about the Vox endorsement. I know I wasn't offered a Vox drum set; that, I'm sure, would be worth something today!).  The jingles for Sattler's Department Store in Buffalo were done at Gotham Studios in New York City where we had done many other commercial recordings for some top advertising agencies at the time (Transogram Toys, Armour Hot Dogs, Air France, etc.). After we recorded the Sattler jingles, Mike and I suggested that we bring Roger Calleo into the band on keyboard, flute and vocals. This line-up stayed intact for everything we did, right up until the time we started recording for Decca. It was around this time that we recorded two songs at RCA Studios with the hope of getting signed. How to Form a Rock Group Book The "How To Form A Rock Group" book was the brainchild of our then business manager, Hal Davis of Grey Advertising. The band had already been together for a while doing studio work in New York City, so we were already involved in several interesting projects when the idea for the book came up.  I believe the concept for the book was in place at around the same time we were chosen as a subject for it. I guess it sort of became our resume. The release of the book was to coincide with the release of the album, two singles from the album, and the Mission: Mars movie and soundtrack (including the theme song "No More Tears").   We had never done such a large-scale recording project as the Mission: Mars soundtrack, recorded in early 1967 in Gotham Studios. The sessions were much longer (than we were used to) and required much more concentration. We were very fortunate to have had a lot of prior experience in the studio doing jingles and documentary soundtracks at such a young age at that time (we were all between the ages of 16 and 18). I can't comment on the actual soundtrack because the first time I remember hearing it was probably the week before it was released and I haven't heard it since. What I do remember of those sessions is the professional but relaxed vibe in the studio because we were in a studio that we had worked in several times before and were familiar with the arrangers, producers and recording engineers. This meant a lot to me because on sessions like these, the drummer is always in the hot seat! They didn't use click tracks or metronomes much back then; the drummer was the click track! I'm currently waiting for a VHS copy of the film to arrive to see if the audio tracks are worth doing something with.    We did two appearances on the Mike Douglas Show. The first one (from October 1967) was with comedian Fanny Flagg and Woody Herman (the second from June 1968 was with the one and only Muhammad Ali). This first appearance was to plug the Girl Scouts of America theme song ("Follow The Piper") that we had previously recorded as a single for Capital Records. "Follow The Piper" was released before the Decca contract was signed, but I'm a little fuzzy about that. We never had a binding contract with Capital; it was a one-song deal. I guess we were so squeaky clean looking that American Girl magazine thought it would be cool to have a young pop band represent the Girl Scouts' organization, so they did the cover shot and feature story to coincide with the Mike Douglas Show appearance. Hal Davis Hal Davis had been with Grey Advertising for many years (he's the one who came up with the line "Take the bus and leave the driving to us" for the Greyhound Bus Co. ad campaign…not to mention the Armour Hot Dog jingle we did .You know the one – “Armour: The dogs kids love to bite"). The jingles we recorded were for radio only. I have twelve radio spots that we did for Sattler's dated 1/18 /67 when the band was still four pieces. The novelty record label TV Toons releases collections of old TV and movie theme songs. They also release radio and TV spots from different time periods: ‘40's, ‘50's, ‘60's, etc. - so a couple of ours appeared on one or two of those several years ago.   Needless to say, Hal was the one who arranged for us to have our own Greyhound bus for the trip to Philly to tape the first of our two appearances on the Mike Douglas Show. It was during this time that things were pretty hectic. We were splitting our time between Decca Studios recording the album, Gotham Studios recording jingles and the Mission: Mars soundtrack and squeezing in some appearances.  By the time we were to go back to Philly for the second Mike Douglas Show, it was to plug the album, which was ready for release.    There are some recording studio photos in the book and it appears to be Decca Studios so, if I remember correctly, we were finishing up the album and the book to be released together. Once we signed with Decca we recorded eleven songs for the album. The singles were chosen from that batch. The first one was a double-sided release, "Your Turn To Cry" b/w "No More Tears." “Your Turn To Cry" got airplay on WABC and WMCA in New York.  Midway through the recording of the album (1967) Mike got drafted and went to Viet Nam. We had a road crew of only two or three of our musician friends working with us at the time, so it was Bobby Castaldo who was the most logical choice to step in and replace Mike.  He had been at all of our rehearsals, recording sessions, and shows and knew the material. I don't remember which songs Bobby played on and which ones Mike played on, but now that I'm looking into the recordings I'm curious to know myself! Nightclub Flyer for the Patriot - 1967 A second single from that batch was "Misery" b/w "Just The Same." The second movie score we recorded had the theme song of the same name ("Candy Man"). Both the score and the theme song were recorded at Gotham Studios so I don't remember if it was intended as a single release independently or not. Decca wasn't involved with that recording. I don't know what became of that one, but it's likely the soundtrack had more music than the electronic effects that Mission: Mars had. Milt Gabler produced the album and to this day I'm very proud to have worked with such an absolute pioneer in the music industry. Some of the recording sessions he produced for artists included Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, the Andrew Sisters, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis, Jr., Wayne Newton and Nat "King" Cole – which is awesome in itself! The fact that he came out of semi-retirement to guide a bunch of teenagers through their first album was truly special to us. (Check out the Commodore Records Story. He and his brothers practically invented the 52nd St. jazz scene in New York City!). One of his brothers was Billy Crystal's father and just like Billy we called him "Uncle Miltie," too! As a band, we had already been honing our skills in various New York City studios before we even started recording the album for Decca, plus we were rehearsing the original material four nights a week. We were ready and Decca was happy! The recording sessions went smoothly and we got through it all so quickly that it's mostly just a blur to me now. I do remember it being fun because this time there was less pressure; no watching the clock and we were finally recording our own material and working on our own sound for a change. George Chandler was the recording engineer on those sessions and he was just great because he was fast and right in tune with what we were doing. He became like another member of the band on those sessions! I tried to spend as much time in the control room as I could, but I've been in a hundred studios since then so it's hard to remember all the details. I believe it was an eight-track Scully or Ampex machine we recorded to, but I don't remember what it was mixed down to I was only there for a few of the mixing sessions. Vox Endorsement Milt Gabler even got into the act. During the guitar solo on the Parliament's song ("I Just Wanna Testify"), he's the one who recited the line, "Here Come De Judge" from the TV show Laugh-In, which was popular at the time - and so was that silly catch phrase. Milt passed away in July of 2001 and the music industry lost a true treasure. (Check out ververecords.com and search for "Billy Crystal Presents The Milt Gabler Story" and you'll see a wonderful tribute Billy produced for his beloved "Uncle Miltie"). I have not listened to the album in quite some time, but I always felt that I would treasure the experience even more than the music because I was doing what I always wanted to do and the experience would stay with me while the music would become dated. On the other hand, there weren’t many kids our age that we knew who were gaining the experience that we were.     We did go back to Decca Studios one last time before the band broke up. None of those songs were ever finished. I have two unreleased instrumental pieces we recorded with the three remaining members of the band and studio bassist John Beale. The recordings I have are dated 1/1968 but that may be a misprint; it's more than likely 1/1969 because three band members had already left by then. The only live recordings I'm aware of are from the Mike Douglas Show appearances. We also appeared on the Today Show with Regis Philbin and did radio interviews with Joe Franklin, Mike Wallace and Hal Jackson when he was broadcasting live from Palisades Park, New Jersey. We did the Clay Cole Show that same day with Leslie West and the Vagrants. There were no more TV appearances that I can think of. By early 1969 the group had disbanded, shortly after the release of the Candy Man movie score. We all went on to do projects of our own and I was very fortunate to be a part of them all. To me, the Forum Quorum set the bar for professionalism that we were looking to accomplish at the time. Musical tastes change, but that's just one of many reasons bands break up. Maybe there should be a follow-up book called "How To Break Up A Rock Group" (just kidding)! Anyway, I'd probably do it all again if I had it to do over, except I would have tried to keep the band together for at least one more album. Speaking of albums, I know the collectible vinyl industry is still very popular and I was surprised to find some websites selling our albums and singles at premium prices! I'm looking into possibly remastering the album and adding some bonus tracks (or possibly including a DVD of the Mike Douglas footage) but that will take some time so stay tuned. I have to admit I was never that interested in digging all of this up, except for the audio part because that’s the area of the industry I'm involved in now, but it's been quite a trip down memory lane!        Decca Records Promotional Photo Brian Albano, Mike Batalla and Sal Pallozzolo Sturge on Stage Sal and Sturge Roger Calleo Recalls The Forum Quorum My recollections of the days in The Forum Quorum are a bit foggy, but the one thing that stands out is the professional situations we were exposed to. The first of those to stand out is when we were on the same bill as the legendary Jimi Hendrix. It took place at the Daytop Rehabilitation Facility in Staten Island and we shared the same stage with him. We didn't realize we were playing the gig with a future superstar! Our best gig probably took place at the Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, Long Island. We were the "warm up" band for Gladys Knight and The Pips. It was an exciting evening for The Forum Quorum and we even got to meet them. I remember another big engagement we played was at the Entertainer of the Year Awards; again we shared the stage with the best in the business. We were constantly trying to become tighter musically. We rehearsed cover tunes or our own original material every night.  Whether it was developing a good blend of vocal harmonies or learning not to "over-play" on our own instruments, the band became more polished. With the help of Gus Pardalis (Sturge's Pop) we found ourselves "wood shedding" our music for the recording process. Whether it was for jingles, our two movie soundtracks or recording our first and only LP for Decca, we learned the tricks of the trade (the ins and outs). Nearly forty years later, most of us are still at it! Sturge plays quite a few club dates, some with the great Peter Duchin Orchestra. Brian is always involved in some project, either recording his own things or recording for some other ensemble. Me? I am currently playing solo in restaurants around the area where I live (Suffolk County, Long Island). I just finished a CD of all my original tunes and it is now for sale. The title of the CD is A Long Time Coming.  It may be purchased at my website or at CD Baby.