Search - Dawn :: Candida

Knock Three Times For Your Dinner

lynette e grim | PA | 10/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Before this LP was released Tony Orlando was working for as Vice President and General Manager of April-Blackwood.Producer and freind Hank Medress asked Tony to sing on a demo.Tony relented at first because he thought it would hamper his day time job.Tony relented at first because he did not want his named used. The song"Candida" was used under the name Dawn after Jay Siegels daughter Stacy Dawn.This song quickly rose to number#3 on the Billboard charts in September of 1970.Then "Knock Three Times" came along and it was even a bigger hit then "Candida". This song went all the way to number#1 in January of 1971. The only problem there was no real Dawn and Tony set out to find some backup singers and came along Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson who came from Deteroit(they are cousins) and the rest is history. The group then became Dawn featuring Tony Orlando.Tony does some great vocals with Telma and Joyce on the songs" The Love in Your Eyes,""Carmen",I Didn't Mean To Love You So Good Junaita", The Good Life"," I Get Ideas","Summer Sand","Play and Sing"," Home"," Rainy Day Man"," Sweet Soft Sounds Of Love","In The Park"," Up On The Roof","What Are You Doing Sunday","Carolina On My Mind"," Get Out From Where You Are",Perhaps The Joy of Giving", and "Country".This is a must have for any Tony Orlando and Dawn fan."

Knock three times

David Hess | baltimore,md | 10/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"in 1970,singer TONY ORLANDO ,a former teen idol from the early 60s,was still doing demos for some extra cash that he needed at the time ,..since he had a baby on the way.He had just had a top twenty hit under the bogus name of WIND with a song called MAKE BELIEVE.if you have heard this track you might almost think it is FRANKIE VALLI .Tony was once named one of the best blue eyed soul singers and to me this song,.. and the entire lp of CANDIDA proves it.the title track was already recorded with another male vocal but it didnt have the sound the producers wanted , so they rememebered their good friend tony. next thing you know, tony says he remembers driving in the car and his wife saying,"that sounds like you"in which he replied, 'i think it is me ' and even more surprising was that the song made it to #3 pop,and #1 cashbox and AC AND went on to sell over 2 million copies. a few months later,the producers asked him back for a follow up.the song was KNOCK THREE TIMES.tony said he thought it was to corny and forgot about it but to his surprise it went to #1 all over and sold over 7 million copies.of course the record company wanted a another follow up and a lp but there was a problem....there was NO GROUP!tony went back with producers and did all the leads with all the other demo seesion payers that had been there on the first 2 singles,.the result was this lp ,CANDIDA.THE LP is filled with what Tony does best,blue eyes soul with covers of some of his favorite artists like THE DRIFTERS ...UP ON THE ROOF,and JAMES TAYLORS ..,RAINY DAY MAN.also included is the tenny booper hits WHAT ARE YOU DOINg SUNDAY AND SUMMER SAND.the latter being the most well crafted of the two and it reached #9 on the AC charts in the early summer of 1971.in the uk other singles foloowed such as CARMEN,and JUANITTA ,.and I PLAY AND SING but they are too sugary for me.all in all ,this cd contains most of the first 2 DAWN lps but there is one negative.TELMA hOPKINS,AND Joyce and Pam Vincent who later became known as the female part of DAWN are not featured here on this cd set as they officially did not join the group until 1971 ,well after this lp was released.i was hoping for the 35th anniversary they might have the ladies overdub their vocals on this cd set and give some of these songs the motown edge they needed.but it didnt happen,so basically this is really a TONY ORLANDO solo lp but still a good one filled with some good songs and memories.if you need a trip back to 1970,all you need to is buy this cd and KNOCK THREE TIMES.all in all ,great vocals with some great covers."