More and more I see that my friends and contacts are off to greener pastures. The spell-check and other components of the Multiply experience are now gone.
I can take a hint. I'm seen this movie, so to speak, over on Y360 where I found myself posting phantom blogs to fewer and fewer folks. We who are still here are on the SS Lusitania after the first torpedos detonate, directing the last choppers on the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon in 1975, scrounging for bullets on the parapets of the Alamo,
So, while I plan to check Multiply now and then, I'm bound for Blogster and Blogger. I will post copies of any original content here as long as somebody I know will look at it.
I enjoyed my nearly five years of posting, but the handwriting is on the wall here. I figure we could either lose this place or I'll be the sheriff of a ghost town. This is... the end.
I'll see some of you on the other sites, and will look in on others by invite. But this is the last post for me that will appear only on Multiply.
"Spinning the biggest music videos of ALL time for all you nice folks on a Saturday afternoon here on that great non-fiction radio station show, the one and only "The Last Days of Multiply" here at doug's Site...and now that we are back after several minutes of words from our sponsors... and the request lines are wide open...here's a treat from the back stacks, a request going out to Sabina in Bournemouth in the UK: a stone-cold 1963 R&B classic from Bob and Earl." *************************************************** from the allmusic.com website Bob & Earl started out as one of several aliases under which Bobby Day (of "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Rockin' Robin" fame) and Earl Nelson (aka Jackie Lee) (born September 8, 1928) recorded together for the Los Angeles-based Class Records label. The two harmonized beautifully, with a smooth, unshowy, yet powerful sound that reflected Nelson's background in gospel, and they had four singles released under that name (in addition to other sides credited to Earl Nelson & the Pelicans, Bobby Day & the Satellites, and the Hollywood Flames) starting around 1960 (some sources have them using the name as early as 1957), of which the slow, impassioned ballad "That's My Desire" and its rocking, comical B-side, "You Made a Boo Boo," got the highest exposure, released twice. Nelson parted company with Day and later formed a new partnership with a singer named Bobby Relf, and the two continued using the name Bob & Earl. The second version of Bob & Earl made an indelible mark on popular culture in 1963 by recording the original version of "Harlem Shuffle" (produced by Barry White), which was a modest success in America and a major hit in England.
It's hot out where a lot of people are right now. The northern latitudes have plenty of extra summer thanks to climate change and those greenhouse gases.
So what better time to get some web-surfing in with a couple of my favorite surf songs of the past? With a bit of choice video to go with it, courtesy of those who post on You Tube. Hope you enjoy. First up is the title track to the original 1966 Bruce Brown documentary, "The Endless Summer" the story of a group of guys who travel the world for a perfect wave.
Next up is what should have been a huge hit from 1963 by The Beach Boys. Oddly enough it was never released as a single from their album "Surfer Girl". ***********************(from Wikipedia "Catch a Wave" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band, The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1963 album Surfer Girl. This song was recorded on July 14 and 16, 1963. This song is notable for the use of a harp played by Mike Love's sister, Maureen. The lead vocal was originally thought to be Dennis Wilson's, but in actuality, it is that of Mike Love with a heavy cold. ***********Also, the video has a definative look at the sites and sounds and motions of 1960's surf culture.
"Cream" was a rock-blues and psychedelic band that featured celebrated acoustic guitarist Eric Clapton (formerly of "The Blues Breakers" and "The Yard-birds"), drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce. They were one the first "super-groups of the rock and roll era.
Clapton, by the way, is the only performer in the Rock and Roll Fame of Fame to be inducted three separate times; for his tenure with "The Yard-birds", "Cream" and as a solo artist.
The group's first major album was 1967's "Disraeli Gears". It was recorded at Atlantic Records studios in New York City in May 1967 and released in November of that year. It reached #5 in the British charts for top-selling albums and went to #4 in the USA . Next to the release of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" album, it is probably the most influential rock album for that year. Cream released only four albums but set the standard for the fusion of blues and psychedelic rock for years to come. Their work has sold an total of 70 million albums.
I had thought that the title of the album was poking a bit of fun at Victorian-era England and the confidence conservatives of that day had in industrialization. The truth is more prosaic and humorous:
"The title of the album is based on a malapropism. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie named Mick Turner commented, "it's got them Disraeli Gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears," but instead alluding to 19th-century British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious, and decided that it should be the title of their next album."--Wikipedia
The iconic album cover was by an Australian artist named Mike Stanley.
This is the best live version of the second trac and biggest hit on this album, Sunshine of Your Love". I don't think it really gets much more "Sixties" in music than this!
Oh, and this song has covered a few times. The Japanese band Gastunk released a cover as a single in 1988; the English sludge band Fudge Tunnel recorded it, too. (Anybody ever seen a "sludge band?) Other groups and performers to cover the song include Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Costello and The Police, Spanky Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Carlos Santana and the most famous psychedelic rocker of all time........Trini Lopez!!!
The Bristols were Liam Watson, Fabienne DelSol, Owen Thomas, Cyril Roy, Johnny Maben and Andrew Ralph Goldeman. Their music faithfully reproduced the 60’s garage rock sound. During their career they issued two lps as well as three singles on Damaged Goods Records in the mid-to-late 90’s. (from FMsound website)
From Wikipedia: Fabienne Delsol is a French singer, who performs primarily in English. Influenced by the 1960s, her music is a mix of UK garage, Pop, and Psychedelic. She has released two solo albums.
The Bristols disbanded in 2003. The music lives on.
A very classy and--to me--surprisingly good update mix of one of my favorite pop songs of all time, "Miss" Petula Clark's monster hit from 1964. Hope you enjoy!
Some background, courtesy of Wikipedia.
"Downtown" entered the UK Top 50 dated the week 14 November 1964 ending a virtual two-year UK chart absence for (Petula) Clark; of the ten singles she'd had released in the UK during that period only one: "Chariot", #39 the spring of 1963, had appeared in even the lower charts. "Downtown" rose to #2 that December remaining there for three weeks, kept out of the #1 position by the Beatles' "I Feel Fine". Certified a Gold record for sales in the UK of 500,000, "Downtown" also reached #2 in Ireland and #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, and was also a hit in Denmark (#2), India (#3), the Netherlands (#3) and Norway (#8).
However "Downtown" had its greatest significance in the reception it was afforded in the US. Warner Bros. A&R man Joe Smith was scouting in London for records with American hit potential, the musical British Invasion of the US then going strong. Smith wanted to release Clark's "Downtown" in the US and when a surprised Hatch asked if Smith didn't consider "Downtown" to be "a very English record" he recalls Smith's reply as: "It's perfect. It's just an observation from outside of America and it's just beautiful and just perfect."[1]
Warner Bros. released "Downtown" in the US in December 1964: the track appeared near the bottom of the national charts the week before Christmas and despite the Christmas season traditionally being the worst time to break a new hit "Downtown" shot up to the Top Ten in five weeks and the next week - 23 January 1965 - was #1. "Downtown" retained that position a further week before being overtaken by the ascendancy of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Clark became the first UK female artist to have a US #1 hit during the rock and roll era and the second in the annals of US charted music, Vera Lynn having hit #1 US with "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" in 1952. "Downtown" also made Clark the first UK female artist to have a single certified as a Gold record for US sales of one million units. "Downtown" would be the first of fifteen consecutive hits Clark would place in the US Top 40 during a period when she'd have considerably less chart impact in her native UK, there reaching the Top 40 eight times."
Not bad, eh? It's fitting that the song had such an influence in America as it was inspired by songwriter Tony Hatch visiting New York City and walking down Manhattan's busy streets.
A song better known in the UK than in America, the lead singer Eddie Grant went onto a big trans-Atlantic hit from the early 80's, "Electric Avenue".
From Wikipedia: " The Equals were a group from North London, England. "Baby Come Back" is a mixture of rock and roll and beat, very much reflecting the London sound of the 1960s. The song was first released in 1966, a year after the band formed, but did not chart. However after impressive sales in the rest of Europe (it reached the top 10 in Belgium and The Netherlands[1]) the song was re-issued in the UK on 1 May 1968 and reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart on 6 July 1968 spending three weeks there.[2] In all the song stayed in the UK Top 75 for 18 weeks.[2]"
One of the happier songs in my memory banks. This smash hit from 1964 is one that is a bit hard to get out of your head so I apologize if it gives you a bit of distraction later on in your day.
From the good and bright young things at Wikipedia:
"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963 by the American vocal group The Exciters.
"It was soon covered by British R&B, Beat and pop band Manfred Mann. Manfred Mann's version, which was more commercially successful, was recorded on June 11, 1964,[citation needed] released on July 10 and spent two weeks #1 in the UK Singles Chart in August and two weeks at the #1 spot in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October."
This song was featured in the 1981 comedy "Stripes" with Bill Murray and John Candy and in Steve Martin's 1991 farce "L.A. Story".
Original artistic personnel: Manfred Mann - keyboards (1962—1969) Mike Hugg - drums, vibes, keyboards (1962—1969) Dave Richmond - bass (1962—1964) Mike Vickers - guitar, alto sax, flute (1962—1965) Paul Jones - vocals, harmonica (1962—1966) Tom McGuinness - guitar, bass (1964—1969)
For me, hearing Donovan's music in the 70's from the 60's added further confirmation that I was born in the wrong decade. I didn't always understand this Glasgow-born poet's music (take this song, "Mellow Yellow", for instance) but "the British Bob Dylan" has his share of great songs, including "Hurdy-Gurdy Man", "Catch the Wind", "Sunshine Superman" and many others.
He stopped performing for a long while but apparently is still active here and there these days, and was on tour last year. A most deserving induction in my view and here's a bit of music to celebrate!
(below) An ad for the last Beatles concert, held in "beautiful" Candlestick Park in the 1960s. The place, soon to be torn down now, was a noted civic boondoggle. Seen today, it makes most modern city sewage treatment plants look like the Taj Mahal. And I'm a fan of the place!
One of the oddities for Beatles geeks like me is that their last group concert for regular fans was held at what was probably one of the worst public venues for watching any public thing in North America.
Candlestick Park--built in 1960-- was the home of the San Francisco Baseball Giants and, later, the city's NFL franchise, The Forty-Niners. It was a cold, cavernous wind-swept arena located smack on the coldest end of the city.
I refer to Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where, on August 29, 1966, the Fab Four played a gig before 25,000 fans. This date was my sixth birthday but I was too young to have rock music much on my radar in those days and my parents, both pushing forty year of age, were into Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Herb Alpert, Tom Jones (my mother was, at least) and symphonic music to care about a modern rock act, no matter how many headlines they made.
I read later it was cold at Candlestick that night. That wouldn't surprise me at all. I've been to dozens of Giants games there and a couple rock and jazz concerts and, believe it or not, San Francisco can get really cold in August. Not Buffalo or Norway cold, but cold enough at night to feel like you're freezing even if technically you're not. To go to a night game, you had to dress like you were going skiing.
Here's some lowdown in the concert itself, from "The Beatles Bible" website:
"The Park's capacity was 42,500, but only 25,000 tickets were sold, leaving large sections of unsold seats. Fans paid between $4.50 and $6.50 for tickets, and The Beatles' fee was around $90,000. The show's promoter was local company Tempo Productions.
"Candlestick Park was the home of the baseball team the San Francisco Giants. The stage was located just behind second base on the field, and was five feet high and surrounded by a six-foot high wire fence.
"The compère was 'Emperor' Gene Nelson of 1260 KYA FM, and the support acts were, in order of appearance, The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes. The show began at 8pm.
"I was the MC, and, as any Giants fans will know, Candlestick Park in August, at night, was cold, foggy and windy. The funniest thing this night was one of the warm-up acts, Bobby Hebb. He stood up on the stage at Candlestick Park, with the fog, and the wind blowing, and he was singing 'Sunny'! It was tough anyway to work a ballpark as an MC, especially as The Beatles were taking their time to get out. I was trying to entertain a crowd that was shouting, 'Beatles, Beatles, Beatles.'
"The dressing room was chaos. There were loads of people there. The press tried to get passes for their kids and the singer Joan Baez was in there. Any local celebrity, who was in town, was in the dressing room. They were having a party in there. They were having a perfectly wonderful time, while I was freezing my buns off on second base!
'Emperor' Gene Nelson 'The Beatles Off The Record", Keith Badman
Except for Paul, the Beatles apparently had seen enough of the touring grind. And American attitudes toward the group in some places had changed for the worse. John had made some comments in a British newspaper early in 1966 about the band "being "more popular than Jesus" and wondering if Christianity would evaporate first, or would rock and roll go away. Little was made of it in England; a lot was made of it months later when the American press got wind of the "we're more popular than Jesus" remarks. Radio stations, mostly in the South, banned Beatles records. Their records were burned by some church groups. The Klu Klux Klan thought themselves righteous enough to picket a couple of their stadium dates.
By the time the four superstars got to Los Angeles they were ready to go home, but the promoters threatened to sue manager Brian Epstein and the band so they went on up to the worst major open-air venue on the West Coast. In 1964 and '65 they had played in the Cow Palace to a huge crowd and it was a success. Why they didn't play just play there again seems strange to me.
Here's a bit from their last press conference on the tour in San Francisco. As you can see by now John and the group are tired of defending themselves and the whole controversy. I doubt California fans worried about what Lennon said months ago. They fans wanted to hear the music.
In those days, what I personally knew about the Beatles came from a silly cartoon series on Saturday mornings. It featured some guys with Brit accents pretending to be the voices of The Lads. The music was real Beatles music and I and my classmates could at least sing catches of the popular early music that had swept the nation, more or less, starting in 1964.
There was one person among the 25,000 I did know, and when I think of the Beatles in this period a guy in my old neighborhood comes to mind. Joey O'Leary was a teen-aged kid of about fifteen I think when Beatles came around. He was an older brother of a next-door playmate of mine, Tim. Joey (or Joe, Jr.) was a HUGE Beatles fan. He also dug Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix and that love of music turned onto his wanting to start his own band.
Joey, like hundreds or thousands of others guys, put together his first band about the time The Beatles broke up in 1970. Joey had a lot of Beatle posters and I remember hearing their later albums playing over and over when he and his friends would gather for band meetings. Tim and I got to play a couple of the albums when we got a little older. Truth is, it took me a few more years to get into the more mature Beatles albums. It wasn't that I didn't like them, but at 12-13 years old "Eleanor Rigby" and "Revolution #9" sounded a lot less accessible than "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Ticket to Ride".
Joey and the guys--the next-oldest brother Danny was in the band, too, I think--played a bit professionally around the San Jose area. I remember hearing him playing that guitar over and over from across the wooden fence that separated us. He and the band would also rehearse in the family garage. Tim and I sat on the curb outside the garage in the late evening to hear the group. The music got loud. My parents put up with it--they were friends with the family. But one of the neighbors on the other side of the street called the cops one night around dusk on a Summer night.
At first, this was exciting stuff for Tim and myself. Cops on Latimer Avenue! I was both scared and excited to be on the periphery of it all. The cops left soon and the music stopped.
His band never got far, he tried going solo for a while but nothing worked. Nothing much seemed to work out for Joey, except girls dug him and from what I saw they were all looked impossibly pretty. Joey must have had some of the swagger of a John Lennon because they weren't after him for his money . If all you needed was "love", Joey was not unlike a Beatle. And he had a couple other things in common with John Lennon, none of them to do with limousines, professional offers, or music royalties.
Joey fell into hard drugs somewhere along the way, but, unlike a rock star, he had a harder time paying for his habits. Some crimes here and there got him before a judge. He got sent into the Marines to avoid real jail time--a popular option for young men at the time. Then he went into prison after the Marines couldn't mold him and let him loose. Then back into hard drugs and into crime. His parents disowned him after he beat up his dad one late night out in the front of their house. My parents forbid me to go near the O'Leary's house if Joey ever did show up at the house, which I never noticed he did.
Tim stopped talking about Joey very much.
We moved away in late 1974 when my dad got a job promotion in another state. Joey himself died a year later at Christmas 1975 when a high-speed chase with some cops up in Oregon ended with he and his new "band" in a robbery getaway car hitting a concrete median on a highway overpass. He robbed a store, or so his mom told my mom in a letter. His mom wrote about all these young, beautiful ladies who showed up for his funeral in long flowing dresses. "Joey's Gypsies" Mrs. O' Leary called them.
I hoped Joey didn't suffer at the end. When he was sober and not high on other things, Joey was a nice guy. The fact that he had all those Beatles records and played them on hot summer nights has become a part of the better memories of my youth.
Some pics from the San Francisco part of the tour, featuring Joan Baez and Mimi Farmer as well. If you want to hear a bit of a recording of "Day Tripper" from the 35 minute Beatles set, it's featured on my main page this month.
One of the greatest rock guitarists ever. Jimi Hendrix lived to only slightly less than 28 years, but for three of those years, 1967-1970, he was a huge star (first in England, then Europe, then his native country.)
Ever since, he has been recognized as a revolutionary figure in rock music. From the Monterey Pop Festival to Woodstock to Fillmore East, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, The Royal Albert Hall and The Isle of Wright, Hendrix was a singular and outrageous performer who continues to influence music and culture to this day.
From Wikipedia: "All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The song, which has been included on most of Dylan's greatest hits compilations, initially appeared on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding. Over the past 35 years, he has performed it in concert more than any of his other songs. Different versions appear on four of Dylan's live albums.
"Covered by numerous artists in various genres, "All Along the Watchtower" is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded for Electric Ladyland with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
"The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylan's original recording, became a Top 20 single in 1968 and was ranked 47th in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
"Breakfest on Pluto" was a hit song in the U.K. for the King of the Buskers (street musicians), Don Partridge. (picture by Harry Metcalfe, 1966).
I first heard this wonderful song on the soundtrack to the award-winning 2005 Irish movie of the same name, directed by Neil Jordan, who also directed the well-received film "The Crying Game" (1993) and also did a fine adaptation of Graham Greene's 1940's wartime love triangle novel, "The End of the Affair" (1997).
Here's some background on Partridge, who sadly died last year, from the indispensible Internet source "Wikipedia":
"Donald Eric Partridge (27 October 1941 – 21 September 2010)[2][3] was an English singer and songwriter, known as the "king of the buskers".[4] He performed from the early 1960s as a busker and one-man band, and achieved unexpected commercial success in the UK in the late 1960s with the songs "Rosie" and "Blue Eyes".
"Don Partridge was born in Bournemouth, England. By his own account, he left home at age 15 and became a burglar, before working at some 45 different jobs.[5] By the early 1960s, inspired by American singer Jesse Fuller,[6] he travelled around Europe as a solo entertainer on street corners, initially simply singing songs with a guitar. However, he found that he gained more attention by performing as a one-man band, playing guitar, kazoo or harmonica, bass drum and cymbal at the same time.[5][6]
"Playing by that time mainly in London, Partridge performed traditional English and American folk songs as well as his own compositions. In 1964, he and his friend, guitarist Alan Young, were described in the Evening Standard as the first young street musicians to be seen in London since the second world war. "
My thanks to Multiply friend Aaran Ardvark for giving me background on this artist, whose work I only barely stratched the surface of prior to his own blog on Mr. Partridge.
Born in San Francisco, California, to Russian emigre parents in 1938, Natalie Wood went on to become one of the few child actors who went on to film stardom as an adult. Her death at 43 left in void in a lot of film watchers hearts--mine included--not because she was simply too freaking beautiful to be beliveved, which she was, but because she seemed to be on the verge of a major third act in her career--from child actor to beautiful ingenue to strong-willed mature woman playing other memorable roles either in films or television.
She made some bad movies to pay the bills with--if you've never seen her as a Russian scientist in a disaster flick called "Meteor" (1980) with Sean Connery and a cast of other name actors getting in a couple days work for a lot of cash--count yourself among the blessed. But there was also signs she was going to be as good as Vanessa Redgrave or Anne Bancroft if you saw her in television films like "The Cracker Factory" (about mental illness) or in the otherwise so-so remake of the wartime drama "From Here to Eternity" (1979) where she literally stole every scene she was in playing a part made famous by Deborah Kerr in the original.
. One just took it for granted that she would be around for a while longer.
Most people my age have their favorite Natalie Wood film (or two). And while as an adult she did everything from serious dramas like "Splendour in the Grass" (1961) with Warren Beatty to madcap slapstick in the overlong but enjoyable "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, she continued to shine. Even in movies that were forgettable, she wasn't.
Anyway, here's an extended scene from my favorite of her films, "Love With the Proper Stranger" (1963). It's the story of two younger New Yorkers who are nearing the end of their youth and see a future of working-class ennui ahead of them...she's kind of a wallflower in this movie (I know. Natalie Wood as a wallflower??? It's still a Hollywood movie I'm afraid.) The guy in her life is a musician who's scared of settling because he's still sowing wild oats but the clock is running out and he should settle down, maybe. Except the people he knows from his neighborhood who have look so much older and beaten-down then they should be. It's from 1963, but it could have been made forty years later and still be as relevant.
What is a clever twist in this a romance is that they only really start this bumpy relationship off AFTER she comes to him and announces she's pregnant after a one-night stand and he can't even remember sleeping with her. (As someone pointed out on You Tube, how do you not remember sleeping with a girl who looks like Natalie Wood?? I'm guessing LSD.)
You might recognize her co-star.
For me the coolest thing about Natalie Wood is that she was given an award in 1966 as "The Worst Actress of the Year" by the student journalism staff at Harvard University--The Harvard Lampoon--and she actually went in person to the Cambridge, Massachusetts to accept the "award". Sandra Bullock did it too a couple years ago but Natalie was the first.
A 1966 cover by Elvis Presley of a Bob Dylan classic from 1963. Dylan himself called it his favorite alternative version of his song.
From the "Bob Dylan Who's Who" website (expectingrain.com):
"It is hardly necessary to introduce Elvis Aron Presley (Tupelo, Mississippi, 1935 - Memphis, Tennessee, 1977), but the significance of the musical links between Elvis and Bob Dylan is often underestimated. Even though the King's immortal triumphs were as an interpreter, not a songwriter, there is a good case for the view that Dylan's work has rather more in common with Presley's than the Beatles':
it is well known that on his recovery from his 1997 illness Dylan told the world, 'I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon.' Dylan mentions Elvis by name in 'TV Talkin' Song' (on 'Under The Red Sky'), in the line 'Sometimes you gotta do like Elvis did and shoot the damn thing out' (this is a reference to a real incident when the King fired into a TV at his Graceland mansion). The country and blues influences that pervade Presley's early work are also crucial for Bob Dylan, and both artists have made major contributions to the gospel genre.
The list of standards officially covered by both artists includes 'Blue Moon', 'Can't Help Falling In Love', 'A Fool Such As I' and 'Tomorrow Night'. Elvis' discography includes covers of Dylan's 'Tomorrow Is A Long Time', 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right', 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'I Shall Be Released'.
Here's the connection to the Dylan original from his April 1963 "Town Hall" concert:
While American music fans were waiting for The Beatles and The Animals to arrive to our shores, and for Motown Studios to rev up, we had to listen to something. So surf music and instrumental guitar-based groups flourished. It became a very popular musical style in both the USA and UK. One o fthe most celebrated was the left-handed Dick "King of the Surf Guitar" Dale:
The British group The Shadows had a huge hit with "Apache" in 1960. The Ventures became one of the all-time biggest groups in rock and roll with "Walk Don't Run" in that same year and their cover of "Hawaii 5-0". The Tornados and The Chantays both did the classic song, "Pipeline".
Even some groups from as far away as Finland (The Charades) had hit tunes.
This is one of my favorites from that era, composed by Jack Nitzsche (1937-2000) , who was affiliated with Phil Spector and his "Wall of Sound" recording innovations.
The triumphant guitar and the reverb features in recording like this inspired other musical artists as well. One influence that has ben cited is the Ennio Morricone soundtracks to films like "A Fistful of Dollars" (1965). Vocal groups like The safaris and The Beach Boys of course also were major hit-masters.
Nitzsche later went on to compose film scores, including "One Flew Over the Cockoo' Nest", "Cutter's Way" and "An Officer and a Gentleman".
His final years were not so good and the LA fast life may have caught up to him, but he had a great output and was no stranger to the best musicians of his era. Here he is at the beginning of his rise as a solo artist and producer.
"From Wikipedia: While organizing the music for The T.A.M.I. Show television special in 1964, he met The Rolling Stones, and went on to contribute the keyboard textures to their albums The Rolling Stones, Now! (or The Rolling Stones No. 2 in the UK), Out of Our Heads, Aftermath and Between the Buttons, as well as the hit singles "Paint It Black" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the choral arrangements for "You Can't Always Get What You Want". In 1968, Nitzsche introduced the band to slide guitarist Ry Cooder, a seminal influence on the band's 1969-1973 style.
"Some of Nitzsche's most enduring rock productions were conducted in collaboration with Neil Young, beginning with his production and arrangement of Buffalo Springfield's "Expecting To Fly", considered by many critics to be a touchstone of the psychedelic era. In 1968, he produced Young's eponymously titled solo debut with David Briggs. Even as the singer's style veered from the baroque to rootsy hard rock, Young continued to work with Nitzsche on some of his most commercially successful solo recordings, most notably Harvest. Nitzsche played electric piano with Crazy Horse throughout 1970 (a representative performance can be heard on the Live at the Fillmore East album) and went on to produce their sans-Young debut album a year later."
Born in Kentucky in 1944, Jackie DeShannon is one of the top pop composers, singers and all-around musicians of her time. Many people remember her for biggest hit, 'What the World Needs Now", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
Perhaps fewer people know she also first recorded and, according to some sources, co-wrote "Needles and Pins" (a bit hit for her and a bigger hit for The Searchers in 1965). This was her second Top Ten hit, back in 1969.
She also co-wrote and performed the song "Bette Davis Eyes" on a 1974 album. It was later covered by Kim Carnes in 1981 and became a Grammy-winning Number one hit in the USA.
She still performs and records music, releasing an album last year and has perfomed from Los Angeles to London in the past few years.
She was the opening act for The Beatles in their first North American tour in 1964 and later performed with Johnny Cash at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. (Not bad company, eh?) Her rockabilly roots are on full display in this recording of "Break A Way" which she co-wrote. This trac wasn't released until this greatest hits compilation came out in 1994.
(from Wikipedia) "DeShannon also co-wrote "Break-A-Way", recorded by Irma Thomas in 1964 and by Tracey Ullman in 1983. "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" reached Billboard No. 9 in 1989 as a duet by Annie Lennox & Al Green and was also covered by Dolly Parton in 1993. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks had a Top 40 U.S. hit in 1986 with a cover of "Needles and Pins", which DeShannon originally recorded but did not write. A version of "When You Walk in the Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts. Another recent cover of "When You Walk in the Room" was in 2004 by ex-ABBA vocalist Agnetha Fältskog, both in her comeback album My Colouring Book and as a UK (no. 34) and European (no. 53) hit single. Country rock artist Chris Hillman, one of the original members of The Byrds, also did a cover of "When You Walk in the Room" on his solo 1998 album "Like a Hurricane".
Says it like it was, and still tells it much like it is.
The Temptations as a group had their own ball of confusion over personnel changes and artistic disputes, but this is one of their greatest hits with most of the original group on hand. This song was released in 1970 and hit #3 on the US Billboard Charts and #2 on the R&B charts that same year.
"From Wikipedia: Lead vocals by Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, and Melvin Franklin Background vocals by Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong Produced by Norman Whitfield.
I love the way the great Nina Simone blends a superb jazz style of piano with some classical "riffs" in the middle of this 1960 performance.
From Wikipedia: "Love Me or Leave Me" was first recorded by Ruth Etting in 1928 and the song made it to Number Two on the charts the following year. Dozens of popular singing stars have recorded this one, the last major cover being Rod Stewart in 2010.
The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was introduced in the Broadway play, Whoopee!, which opened in December 1928. Ruth Etting's performance of the song was so popular that she was also given the song to sing in the play "Simple Simon", which opened in February 1930."
A bit of cinematic music video from the 1965 Richard Lester film "Help!"
Eleanor Bron is the underimpressed lady in pink on the sofa and the talented Leo McKern is seen once or twice outside in the street in his non-Oscar winning role as "Man In the Manhole".
This comedy-drama charts the struggle of one Rita O'Grady (Sally Hawkins) a working-class wife and mother who leads 157 women workers at a Ford Motor plant in Dagenham, England, out on strike when their jobs sewing upholstery on car seats is threatened by the Ford with being declassified as "unskilled labor". The personal difficulties the women face: from their husbands, from the unsympathetic union leadership and, of course, the company brass are all woven together well.
The film is based on a real event and employs television news footage of the time that documents how far working class men, professional board-room types and even supposedly socialist and liberal politicians in general were from accepting the concept of "equal pay for equal work" between the sexes --and how far it still has to go.
The film has an excellent cast and a good feel for the period. Bob Hoskins is especially good in a sympathetic role as a shop steward whose mother had to support her family when he was a kid and there was absolutely no pay equality in the workplace. Rita gets some encourgement from him but in the end its her own voice and personal mettle that comes to the fore when the all-male union bosses try to put the issue on a back burner.
Miranda Richardson appears as Barbara Castle, a powerful Labour Party official of the time who has her own "old boys network" to deal with, headed by the out-of-touch Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who thinks the women can be put off with pie-in-the-sky promises.
I hope a good deal of this film is actually factual, because it really does show how courage and convictions can change things for the better, even if its only a small initial victory .
One oddity for me is seeing so many people working at a car plant taking bicycles to work. Either that's "veddy British", or Ford was a lousy company to work for there at the time.
