Dusk - "Treat Me Like A Good Piece Of Candy" (1971)

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Dusk - "Treat Me Like A Good Piece Of Candy" (b/w "Suburbia, USA")
(Irwin Levine; Lawrence Russell Brown)
Bell single 45,148
Released in late 1971, and although it barely made the Cash Box Top 100 chart, it did not chart at all on Billboard.
Arranged by Ron Frangipane, engineered by Bill Radice and produced by Dave Appell & The Tokens for Three Dimension Management, Inc.


Another often overlooked gem from the early 1970s.......



BACKGROUND:
Dusk was a rather short-lived but clever studio creation formed initially as the female counterpart to Tony Orlando and Dawn, featuring Peggy Santiglia as the lead vocalist. She is perhaps best known as the lead singer of The Angels, especially their 1963 smash hit "My Boyfriend's Back".

Apparently, the group first came around as a result of a single that was originally intended as a follow-up record to the top 3 hit for Tony Orlando and Dawn called "Candida" entitled "Angel Baby", but surprisingly, Orlando and his group passed up the opportunity to record it themselves, so Hank Medress and The Tokens had a rather clever idea for a female counterpart to try and further expand upon the already successful formula that had worked so well right out of the gate for Dawn - so, as a result, Dusk was born.

Ironically, most of the same people involved with Dawn also worked on Dusk’s records, including producers Hank Medress and Dave Appell, and songwriters Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown. Unfortunately (at least here in the United States), Dusk never came anywhere close to Dawn’s success, although the group made the Hot 100 twice in 1971. “Angel Baby,” featured here with its marimba line, motorcycle sound effects, and girl-group feel, would have sounded a bit dated even in early ’71, even as it (sort of) recycled "Candida" or “Knock Three Times.” It made Number 57 nationally on March 20, 1971, but was Number One in Canton, Ohio, and even became a Top 10 hit in New Orleans.

“I Hear Those Church Bells Ringing” is another throwback, derived from the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love.” It made Number 53 in Billboard on August 21, 1971, but somehow got far more exposure than “Angel Baby". It made Number One at WYNE in Kimberly, Wisconsin, in August, and it even saw significant airplay in Honolulu and Chicago as well—despite having an extremely high "cheese" factor. However, this song fared far better on the pop charts in Australia, going as high as number 10 on the Go-Set survey (although it got as high as number 8 on the Kent Music Report). Dusk released another single, the featured “Treat Me Like a Good Piece of Candy,” which miraculously charted in Cash Box but not on the Hot 100.

After the underwhelming release of "Point Of No Return", the girls decied to go their separate ways - although two of Dusk's members would ultimately become part of Dawn themselves. Peggy Santiglia was even offered to join as well, but she politely declined, and so Dusk completely faded into the darkness and has often been completely overlooked by many.