Ardels - Rhythm & Blues

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Theme	03:20
	2	High Blood Pressure
	3	Heads Up	02:06
	4	Night Time is the Right Time	02:58
	5	Unchain My Heart	02:50
	6	Georgia On My Mind	03:34

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Linda Lou	02:23
	2	Stereo Popeye	02:21
	3	I'll Go Crazy	02:19
	4	Lonely Hours	03:13
	5	Alley Oop	02:30
	6	Dream Lover	03:06
	7	Theme

Photos

Videos

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Information/Write-up

The Ardels took shape in Etobicoke, just west of Toronto, in 1963, when pianist David Burt, guitarist Robin Scott, and bassist Fred Masson met at a church dance and discovered a shared pull toward the R&B and early rock echoing through the city’s west end. Like many young bands of the period, they learned as much from watching other local groups as from listening to the records themselves, absorbing arrangements and stagecraft from the neighbourhood’s active teen-dance circuit. With the addition of vocalist Bruce Saracini and drummer Gary Brennan, the band played their first run of small restaurant jobs, house parties, and university dances, earning a foothold in a scene that also included The Checkmates and The Lucernes.

The Ardels’ direction shifted significantly when Doug Dixon joined as lead singer. Ambitious, energetic, and increasingly interested in writing original material, Dixon replaced Saracini and became the group’s creative driver, contributing songs that would become central to their identity, including the brooding, minor-key “Piece of Jewellery.” Around the same time, Scott stepped away to focus on schoolwork, prompting the band to hold open auditions for a guitarist. They quickly found a long-term fit in Jim Pernokis, whose connection to his older brother Ken of Little Caesar and the Consuls brought both experience and a clear sense of the Toronto R&B lineage they were stepping into. The arrival of tenor saxophonist Bob McKay added further presence and broadened the band’s punchy, horn-driven sound.

By 1964 the Ardels had developed enough repertoire to record a set of tracks at CBC studios, where roughly a dozen songs were captured live off the floor. Granted access to the tapes, the group pressed a small, privately issued LP through Quality Records—about 500 copies—which they sold at dances and provided to promoters. Titled Rhythm & Blues, the album leaned heavily on their influences: “Unchain My Heart,” “I’ll Go Crazy,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Night Time is the Right Time,” Ronnie Hawkins’ “Lonely Hours,” and a handful of instrumentals. Today it remains one of the rarest Canadian R&B/garage LPs of the era.

Their live reputation continued to grow, and an audition before ARC Records’ Bill Gilliland at the Met Dance Hall led to a session but no contract. Undeterred, the Ardels booked Hallmark Studios in Toronto to cut a single they hoped would attract the attention of RPM founders Stan Klees and Walt Grealis, as well as Bigland Agencies’ Ron Scribner. The resulting 45—“Comin’ Down” backed with “So Glad You’re Mine”—accomplished exactly that, securing them Bigland representation and a new affiliation with Cancut Records.

Cancut released two Ardels singles during 1965–66. The first, issued variously as “I Love You” and “But I Love You,” received immediate support in RPM, where DJs praised its strength in the teen market. “I Love You,” the A-side of their first Cancut single, was an original written by Doug Dixon, while the flip, “So Glad You’re Mine,” was their take on the Arthur Crudup classic; both sides were produced by Wayne Chilton. Their final Cancut single, “Run Hully Gully Boy” backed with “Piece of Jewellery,” featured two Doug Dixon originals — a pairing that helped cement the record as their most sought-after release among garage-rock collectors.

Through all this activity, the Ardels remained rooted in the teenage dance-hall circuit rather than Toronto’s bar scene. They played regularly at the Mimicombo roller rink, Krang Plaza, the Masonic Temple, The Met, Myzeric Hall, and an array of school and university dances. In the wider city, they worked alongside the same ecosystem that sustained Jackie Shane at the Sapphire, Frank Motley’s dual-trumpet revue, the Bossmen and the Shays at the Zanzibar, and Ronnie Hawkins’ rotating lineups at Le Coq d’Or. For younger musicians farther north, including those growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, the Ardels were early proof that a determined group of local teenagers could build a serious working band.

The group recorded more material than they released. Alternate takes of “Piece of Jewellery,” an unreleased Dixon original titled “I Should Have Known,” and a version of “Stronger Than Dirt” were all cut during this period but left in the vaults. For years, collectors mistook a Thor label single by a Pennsylvania group called The Ardells for the missing Canadian record—a misunderstanding now firmly corrected.

By 1968 the Ardels gradually dissolved as members moved into new careers or new musical directions. Dixon and Pernokis carried their partnership into The Bed Time Story, whose Columbia singles pushed their sound into a more contemporary pop-soul vein. Several years later, Dixon, Masson, and drummer Russ Crerar reconnected with Doug Duff of The Lucernes to form The Green Apple Quickstep, further entwining Etobicoke’s early garage-band lineage. Dixon’s later work with The Original Replay Band and as one of three vocalists in The Majestics extended his presence on the Toronto R&B scene well into subsequent decades.

In 1988 Masson, Dixon, Pernokis, and Crerar reunited as Pastime, a continuation of the Ardels in all but name. They revived key repertoire—re-recording “But I Love You,” “Piece of Jewellery,” and “I Should Have Known”—and performed intermittently until around 2000. A brief Ardels reunion followed in 2007, bringing several original members back together after nearly forty years.

What remains of the Ardels’ recorded output—a scarce private LP and a handful of 45s—captures a vivid slice of Etobicoke’s contribution to the Toronto R&B and garage-rock boom of the 1960s. Yet the group’s legacy extends well beyond those few discs. Through the bands they seeded and the musicians they shaped, the Ardels’ influence carried forward into some of the most active corners of the Toronto scene, leaving a mark that resonates long past their final show.
-Robert Williston

David Burt: piano
Robin Scott: guitar
Fred Masson: bass
Gary Brennan: drums
Bruce Saracini: vocals

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