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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 21, 2017 17:28:19 GMT -5
50 Years Ago Today-Week 4 June 1967Back again with the songs that began getting plenty of airplay in the U.S. 50 years ago today. Still holding the #1 position is The Rascals "Groovin'" along to fame and fortune. Meanwhile at other spots on the Top 40 Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made To Love Her" was his biggest hit for 1967, ultimately reaching #2. It came from the album of the same name. A classic opening harmonica riff The Hollies "Pay You Back With Interest" climbed to #28 in the states. Inexplicably it was not released as a single in the UK. This would be the 5th single of the Hollies to crack the Top 40 in the US. As a comparison, they already had 14 Top 40 singles in their home country Sammy Davis Jr. climbs onto the pulpit and tells us whats really wrong with young punks these days. His sermon reached enough folks for it to crest at #37 and be his only charting single that year. Testify Sammy Ray Charles was in his country & western phase when this single was released. It peaked at #15 and he would later update the song as a duet with Norah Jones Hard to believe but The Dave Clark Five were The Beatles chief competition in the USA during the first year of the British Invasion in 1964. That year alone they had 7 Top 20 songs. But as time passed they lost that momentum. This would be their final Top 40 song and it's an old chestnut from 1938 Back next week with a new #1 song and a berkley favorite is one of my favourite Hollies singles and one of a few of theirs that I think get a little less recognition than they deserve, compared to (the also outstanding) Carousel, etc. Other examples include Long Dark Road and Look Through Any Window. I'm also a big fan of Ray Charles's work from this period - really everything up to the late 60s, though I'm not nearly as conversant with it as I'd like to be. Whenever I look for cds all I see are various compilations featuring the usual tracks everyone already knows. I'd like to listen more full albums one of these days. The late 60s was actually a down period for Ray Charles as far as albums go. The early 60s were incredible. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music from 1962 is a masterpiece, as is Vol.2. And Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul from 1963 is super strong. But I don't think he had another strong full album until My Kind of Jazz in 1970. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 21, 2017 21:44:06 GMT -5
Hard to believe but The Dave Clark Five were The Beatles chief competition in the USA during the first year of the British Invasion in 1964. My former brother-in-law recalls being in fistfights as a child in 1964 over the relative merits of the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five. This type of rivalry was very common in 1964 and took on violent overtones, fueled on by mass media. At first it was a friendly rivalry such as this, they would just meet and according to the cover, The Beatles might have been losing and would have to change  Then it got violent and it was no longer a meeting, it was a vs   The Beatles authoritatively vanquished the DC5 at Madison Garden in 3 rounds late in 1964. The question then was  Franki Valli and The Four Seasons took the challenge  Franki Valli got kicked in the nuts in the first round, losing that mismatch but now attaining high notes like never before The old champ came out of retirement to try and put down the Fab 4  But Elvis was just out of shape and really just wanted to make movies. TKO in 2 rounds early 1965 The Beatles were feeling invincible and challenged everyone. John called out Jesus Christ, for Christ sake. The Beatles finally met their match    |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 22, 2017 3:09:07 GMT -5
Music News-June 1967
June 7-Dave Navarro, guitarist for Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers, is born
June 16-Barbra Streisand performs live at Manhattan's Central Park, later released as an album
June 19-Otis Redding records "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay"
June 25-The Beatles perform "All You Need Is Love" for the BBC television special Our World. Backup singers include Eric Clapton and members of The Rolling Stones and The Who
June 28-performing at The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Florence Ballad is fired from The Supremes after the first performance and is replaced by Cindy Birdsong. The group will now officially be called Diana Ross & The Supremes
June 29-Mick Jagger and Keith Richards found guilty of drug possession, released pending appeal which is soon won
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 22, 2017 5:15:11 GMT -5
The Hollies "Pay You Back With Interest" climbed to #28 in the states. Inexplicably it was not released as a single in the UK. This would be the 5th single of the Hollies to crack the Top 40 in the US. As a comparison, they already had 14 Top 40 singles in their home country The Hollies were really only second to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, in terms of chart success and overall popularity in Britain during the '60s. Today they don't receive anything like the kudos and respect that the likes of the Kinks, the Who or the Small Faces do, but back in the day, they were a very, very big deal indeed in the UK. If you look at their singles discography, almost everything they released between 1963 and 1970 made the Top 10 over here and, while they only actually had one number 1 with "I'm Alive", a great many of their singles peaked at the number 2 or 3 spot on the Hit Parade (to use the vernacular of the times). The Hollies are a sorely underrated '60s singles band, I think. The late 60s was actually a down period for Ray Charles as far as albums go. The early 60s were incredible. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music from 1962 is a masterpiece, as is Vol.2. And Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul from 1963 is super strong. But I don't think he had another strong full album until My Kind of Jazz in 1970. I'm of the firm opinion that all of Ray Charles's best and most important musical statements were recorded pre-1964. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 22, 2017 7:42:07 GMT -5
The Essential Albums of June 1967We've already covered The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album previously this month. Here are some others worthy of inclusion to a Classic Rock library  The Moby Grape AlbumIt grieves me to admit I have yet to listen to this record and have only heard some tracks on compilation CDs. But I have read many articles regarding the enormous hype from Columbia Records that this group was destined for greatness before it was released. Allmusic and Rolling Stone Magazine both give it 5 Stars. Until I rectify this gap in my '67 music acumen, here's Robert Christgau's summary "Armed with three virtuoso guitarists and five members who could all sing and write, Moby Grape had the greatest commercial potential of any San Francisco band in 1967. They quickly blew it all thanks to internal tensions, the acid-intensified psychological collapse of guitarist Skip Spence and Columbia's hysterical hype, which included releasing five simultaneous singles from this debut album. The irony: All five deserved to be hits. Moby Grape was that good -- a pop-smart whirl of blazing white R&B, country twang and psychedelic balladry, mostly cut live in the studio in three weeks for $11,000. The cruel truth: Of those five singles, only one, Spence's "Omaha," charted. It peaked at Number Eighty-eight." The album itself peaked at #24 :format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-765075-1345997130-2657.jpeg.jpg) The Rolling Stones-FlowersThis was a hodge-podge album for American audiences, compiling singles and left-over tracks not found on the previous American LPs of Aftermath and Between The Buttons. So for this side of the Atlantic, it was the only way to find in album form the singles "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadows" & "Mother's Little Helper". It also included "Out Of Time", "Backstreet Girl"& "Please Go Home", all cut from the British LPs. You also got some totally unreleased material like "Ride On Baby" & "Sittin' On A Fence" from the Aftermath sessions.The downside was a few songs you would already have owned from older American Stones albums "Ruby Tuesday" & "Lady Jane" and the wretched version of Smokey Robinson's "My Girl". Still, it was a strong package and reached #3 Some Honorable Mentions Include :format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2177289-1284818714.jpeg.jpg) The Hollies-Evolution The Small Faces (Their 2nd LP)
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 22, 2017 9:56:59 GMT -5
Technically, that Small Faces album is their third, not their second. Decca had released a hodge-podge of unreleased tracks and non-album singles as From the Beginning just a few weeks before that album came out.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 23, 2017 0:00:54 GMT -5
50 Years Ago This Month-The Top Selling Albums in the U.S.
Here's the Top 20 albums for the end of June 1967 according to Billboard. If you were a teen/young adult during that time, which would you own?
BILLBOARD (USA) MAGAZINE WEEKLY ALBUM CHARTS:July 1,1967
TW LW
1 8 SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND-BEATLES
2 1 Headquarters-The Monkees
3 2 Sounds Like-Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
4 4 I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You-Aretha Franklin
5 6 Surrealistic Pillow-Jefferson Airplane
6 3 Revenge-Bill Cosby
7 5 Born Free-Andy Williams
8 7 More Of The Monkees-The Monkees
9 10 Doctor Zhivago Soundtrack
10 9 The Mamas & Papas Deliver-The Mamas & Papas
11 11 Paul Revere & The Raiders Greatest Hits-Paul Revere & The Raiders
12 12 Bob Dylans' Greatest Hits-Bob Dylan
13 13 A Man And A Woman Soundtrack
14 15 The Sound Of Music Film Soundtrack
15 14 Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful-Lovin' Spoonful
16 21 Claudine-Claudine Longet
17 20 The Doors-The Doors
18 19 Too Much-Lou Rawls
19 17 Going Places-Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
20 23 I'll Take Care Of Your Cares-Frankie Laine
I could see myself owning #s 1,4,5,8,10,15 & 17
Never cared for much of the songs on The Monkees Headquarters album and I would have owned all of Dylan's regular albums and not need a greatest hits. The Lou Rawls and Paul Revere albums would be considerations
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 23, 2017 0:11:59 GMT -5
As a teen...it's hard to speculate. The only one I can see myself thinking of listening too now is Lou Rawls.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 23, 2017 6:58:53 GMT -5
Dunno which ones I might've owned, had I been a a teen back in the '60s. Disposable income may've been a problem because LPs were expensive back then, dammit! Today, I own and regularly play the following from that chart run down...
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Headquarters - The Monkees
Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane
More Of The Monkees - The Monkees
The Mamas & Papas Deliver - The Mamas & Papas
Bob Dylans' Greatest Hits - Bob Dylan
Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful - Lovin' Spoonful
The Doors - The Doors
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 23, 2017 9:36:44 GMT -5
Deep Single Diving-June 1967
Back we go for a look at the singles that failed to break into the Top 100, whether deservedly or not. This month might require a 2 part post
Posthumously, this era's music has been dubbed "Sunshine Pop" (Slam has other names for it). Maybe this song is the origin of that term. The song title is sunny, the group name is sunny, the sound is sunny. Even the flushlugginer record label is sunny. "February Sunshine" by The Giant Sunflower. Don't look directly at the video
The Sons Of Champlin were a popular local San Francisco group during the summer of love but never crossed over to national fame as the other neighborhood bands attained. From their first album, their first single
The New Vaudeville Band never had a hit as big as "Winchester Cathedral" but not for lack of trying
Billy Joe (Down In The Boondocks) Royal doing a Bob Dylan imitation on the Joe South written song "These Are Not My People"
You know you are obscure when Wikipedia has no listing for your band. The Jet Stream, whoever they were
The Lamp Of Childhood-the songs decent enough and the group name is so left-field. Ex-Zappa Mothers Of Invention member Billy Mundi formed this band
P.J.Proby-an English rocker who was slowly gaining traction until (I'm not kidding around here, this is absolutely true) his trousers split twice on stage at separate concerts in January 1965.This led to a huge scandal where he was banned from the BBC and certain concert venues. Jim Morrison must have been taking notes
The Showmen-I've gotta include this song because of the measurements of the girl
Here's a white guy, Bob Brady and The Con Chords, doing an unbelievable Smokey Robinson imitation
Back later to wrap up the June 1967 edition of Deep Single Diving
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 24, 2017 4:46:08 GMT -5
Chased Off The Stage
I've attended countless music concerts during the course of my life and have seen many acts heckled and jeered. But I've only personally witnessed 2 performers literally booed off the stage.
Both occurred during the early/mid 1970's at the Schaefer Beer Music Festivals held in Central Park, Manhattan. The concerts took place within an ice skating rink that held about 2-3,000 attendees. The shows always had 2 or 3 performers and tickets were very cheap, about $2 or $3 dollars. The inexpensive admission could have been part of the reason. Another reason is they would pair very different type of performers together, or if one cancelled at at the last moment, they'd plug in as a replacement any they could find.
Forgive my not recalling all the details after 40+ years but the first occurrence was with a young female singer/songwriter who appeared on stage with only her piano to accompany her. Her name was Wendy Waldman, probably just had her debut album come out, and she was the opening act for some hard-rock group.
Within minutes of her first number the crowd began booing and hissing. Her songs were quiet, fragile and heartfelt, easily drowned out by a raucous audience. I don't believe she got through more than 3 songs before saying goodbye. I felt sorry for her, this certainly was not her type of crowd. Possibly Black Sabbath was the headliner.
She's still around but never had a hit or sold much in high numbers. Allmusic shows she had released 8 albums, the last in 2003
The other one was Golden Earring. Now, this was before they had their big hit "Radar Love" and years before they did that great song "Twilight Zone". At the time of the concert, they were an unknown Swedish rock group, possibly touring the U.S. for the first time. They dressed all glammed-up and posed on stage with stereotypical rock star theatrics. Again, I don't recall exactly who the headline act was. Someone more down to earth I suppose. But at the end of their numbers, the crowd was in total agreement-they sucked and a rainfall of Shaefer Beer hit the stage. Within 15-20 minutes they were gone.
But I did like their song that was soon to come out."Radar Love". And "Twilight Zone" is a classic 80's hit for me
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Post by berkley on Jun 24, 2017 20:52:42 GMT -5
Of the list I have only Sgt Pepper, The Doors, and Surrealistic Pillow on cd. I think we might have had that Dylan Greatest Hits album on vinyl back in the day, depending on which one it was, but yeah, I have the individual cds now.
Today I would like to try the Herb Alpert, Mamas & Papas, and Aretha Franklin albums, the Dr. Zhivago and A Man and a Woman soundtracks, probably the Monkees and the Paul Revere too I'm pretty sure I'd like all of those, based on what I've heard from those artists elsewhere and what I can recall of the two movie soundtracks - although I might try to listen to the Paul Revere albums first to see if I wouldn't prefer those to a greatest hits package. And I might prefer a Monkees greatest hits to their individual albums, which I've never tried.
Lou Rawls, I can't recall his music at the moment. I wouldn't mind having the Claudine Longet for some light listening.
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Post by berkley on Jun 24, 2017 21:59:51 GMT -5
Those are both great songs. I never have heard any of their full albums, as far as I recall, which is a bit of a surprise now I think of it, especially the Radar Love album, Moontan, because I remember seeing that one around a lot at the time and I'm pretty sure one of the neighbourhood guys had it. I'll have to listen to it on youtube to see if anything sounds familiar. I believe they were from the Netherlands, BTW.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 25, 2017 7:00:23 GMT -5
Deep Single Diving-June 1967-The Wrap Up
Finishing up the audio obscura from those halcyon days of sunshine, flowers and relatively benign venereal diseases
A few months back I posted the group Yellow Balloon and their hit single Yellow Balloon. Here they are with their new ditty on Dick Clark's American Bandstand accompanied by Yellow Balloons. Like all songs on these Deep Single Diving posts, the public was not buying it
The Left Banke had back-to-back Top 20 hits in 1966 with "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina" and a distinct baroque sound.Interestingly, the group disbanded right before those songs rose in the charts, then reunited with some different members to capitalize on the song's success. At the same time another group appeared, calling themselves The Left Banke during the original's absence. Cease and desist orders were flying Left Banke and Right. Among musicians who were in one or the other bands known as The Left Banke included Steven Tyler, later on Aerosmith and Michael McKean, later on Spinal Tap and Laverne & Shirley.
David and Jonathan were were a British pop duo who wrote the hit record "You've Got Your Troubles" made popular by The Fortunes. They sang the theme song for the Modesty Blaise movie and had a hit with their cover of The Beatles' Michelle. Since The Beatles did not release any singles from their Sgt Pepper album, why should they not try it again? They shouldn't have
I'll always have an appreciation for The Ventures and all their great instrumentals from the 1960's.This is not one of them, but still...
Otis Redding and Carla Thomas had a big hit at this time called "Tramp". Jimmy McCrackin basically copied their idea for Dog (Part 1)
Phil Spector produced the classic Ike and Tina Turner record "River Deep Mountain High". Commercially the single was a disappointment and from the same album, this follow up barely hit the charts
Hang in there, Lulu, you'll be a superstar before the year is through
The final single from The Electric Prunes. Give it credit for being..different
The 2nd single from the Bee Gees, after NY Mining Disaster, did not fare as well in the states. However it was played more often on early FM radio and remained a favorite in concert
And there you go with this month's selection of failed hit singles, June 1967 style. You have a month to recover until we meet again
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 26, 2017 7:38:03 GMT -5
Sorry Ish, I'm gonna have be an annoying pedant again, I'm afraid. I know you love it when I do that.   The Left Banke had back-to-back Top 20 hits in 1966 with "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina" and a distinct baroque sound.Interestingly, the group disbanded right before those songs rose in the charts, then reunited with some different members to capitalize on the song's success. At the same time another group appeared, calling themselves The Left Banke during the original's absence. Cease and desist orders were flying Left Banke and Right. Among musicians who were in one or the other bands known as The Left Banke included Steven Tyler, later on Aerosmith and Michael McKean, later on Spinal Tap and Laverne & Shirley.
I'm a big, big fan of the Left Banke and consider them one of the great, underrated American bands of the 1960s. As a result, I know a fair bit about their history and membership. Although, what you say about about the band having more or less disbanded when "Walk Away Renee" became a hit is absolutely true, your chronology about the "fake" Left Banke is slightly off. When "Walk Away Renee" became a hit (peaking at #5 in the U.S.) it was the original band line-up of Micheal Brown, Steve Martin, George Cameron, Tom Finn and Jeff Winfield that reunited to promote that single. It was also this line-up who made a number of TV appearances to promote the song and its follow-up, "Pretty Ballerina" in 1966, and it was this same line-up (with a change of guitarist from Jeff Winfield to Rick Brand) who finished up recording the group's debut album, Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina, which came out in early 1967. What happened then was that the group's Brian Wilson-esque musical mastermind, Michael Brown, had a huge falling out with the rest of the band and, as a result, he recorded the group's third single, "Ivy Ivy" b/w "And Suddenly", with a new version of the Left Banke, including Michael McKean and Bert Sommer. However, within a few months the original members of the band had all made up and it was that original line-up who would appear on subsequent singles and the band's second album, The Left Banke Too. The song you linked to, "She May Call You Up Tonight", was recorded by the original line-up, not the "fake" Left Banke, and was originally issued on their debut album. Interestingly, "She May Call You Up Tonight", along with the group's two biggest hits, "Walk Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina", were all written by Michael Brown about bass player Tom Finn's then-girlfriend, Renee Fladen. Talk about rising band tensions! You can just imagine the band arguments that that caused -- "Hey man, whatcha doin' writing all these love songs about my girl?!"  Phil Spector produced the classic Ike and Tina Turner record "River Deep Mountain High". Commercially the single was a disappointment... That's a very U.S.-centric reading of things. "River Deep - Mountain High" was a huge smash in the UK, Europe and as far afield as South Africa and Australia. Hang in there, Lulu, you'll be a superstar before the year is through Again, this is a very much the American point of view: Lulu had been a big star in the UK and Europe since her cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout" had stormed the charts in 1964. It's true, of course, that it was "To Sir with Love" that broke her in the U.S., but still... The final single from The Electric Prunes. Give it credit for being..different Certainly an odd song, but definitely not the Electric Prunes final single. The original band's final single of the '60s was "Everybody Knows You're Not in Love", which was released in late 1967. That's not counting the new line-up of the Electric Prunes, of course, who released the Mass in F Minor album in 1968. |
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