The Crescent Street Stompers

The Crescent Street Stompers took their name from Montreal's downtown nightlife strip and made a bright, jukebox-ready pop record that travelled a long way. Aquarius Records issued 'Judy Played The Juke Box' b/w 'Wasting Time' at the start of 1975 as AQ 5034, with H. Hagopian as producer.

The A side came from two of Britain's most successful pop writers, Geoff Stephens and Tony Macaulay, the team behind 'Silver Lady'. Scott Fitzgerald also recorded the song in England for GTO. The flip side was homegrown. 'Wasting Time' was credited to J. August and H. Hagopian, apparently Jack August and Hovaness "Johnny" Hagopian of Moonquake, the Montreal trio that had backed Michel Pagliaro before making its own albums for Gamma and, in 1975, Aquarius.

'Judy Played The Juke Box' reached the RPM 100 in February 1975 and stood at No. 70 on February 15. Stations including CJOC Lethbridge, CKY Winnipeg and CKOC Hamilton picked it up. In March Billboard reported that Aquarius, through Terry Flood and Daniel Lazare, had arranged with Russ Regan of 20th Century Records for an American release of the single and of future Crescent Street Stompers recordings. 20th Century issued it as 2176, and Record World made it one of its single picks for March 22, 1975. The record also came out in Germany on Decca and in Italy.

The follow-up was cut at Tempo Studios in Montreal. Aquarius released 'Having a Party' b/w 'Louie Louie' as AQ 5041 later in 1975, the last known record under the Stompers name.

-Robert Williston