#80 - P.S. I LOVE YOU - The Beatles ( 1964) Speaking of B-Sides, this was The Beatles' first flip side to their first British hit ... it proved to be a Top Ten Winner here in The States, too.
#79 - EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON -Jonathan King (1965)
#78 - YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY - Silkie (1965) Another Lennon - McCartney penned tune, this one from their film "Help!"
#77 - AND I LOVE HER - The Beatles (1964) And one of their own from their other movie ... you know, the black and white one.
#76 - NOBODY I KNOW - Peter and Gordon (1964) More John and Paul for others ... this time given to the brother of Paul McCartney's girlfriend at the time, Peter Asher.
#75 - I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU - Dusty Springfield (1964)
#74 - DON'T THROW OUR LOVE AWAY - The Searchers (1964)
#73 - THE WEDDING - Julie Rogers (1965) A BEAUTIFUL Forgotten Hit from 1965.
#72 - TOBACCO ROAD - The Nashville Teens (1964)
#71 - I SAW HER STANDING THERE - The Beatles (1964)
#70 - TRUE LOVE WAYS - Peter and Gordon (1965) One of my all-time favorite readings of this Buddy Holly tune.
#69 - HOW DO YOU DO IT? - Gerry and the Pacemakers (1964) The Beatles were supposed to record this song but didn't want to ... so George Martin told them, "Fine, then come up with something better" ... so they did ... and "Please Please Me" became their first British #1 Record!
#68 - WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE - The Animals (1965)
#67 - THE LAST TIME - The Rolling Stones (1965)
#66 - BAD TO ME - Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (1964) Another Lennon and McCartney gem that should have been a MUCH bigger hit had it not been stuck on a B-Side here in America. It topped the charts on its own back home in Jolly Ol' England.
#65 - NEEDLES AND PINS - The Searchers (1964)
#64 - WILLOW WEEP FOR ME - Chad and Jeremy (1965)
#63 - DO YOU LOVE ME - The Dave Clark Five (1964) The DC5's interpretation of a Motown Classic that really rocks!
#62 - I LIKE IT LIKE THAT - The Dave Clark Five (1965) More by The Dave Clark Five ... these guys placed a total of 11 hits in the special Top 100 Countdown.
#61 - ANY WAY YOU WANT IT - The Dave Clark Five (1965) Wow! Three in a row from The DC5!!!
#60 - I GO TO PIECES - Peter and Gordon (1965) Another beautiful gem by these two ... this time a Del Shannon tune.
#59 - HEART FULL OF SOUL - The Yardbirds (1965)
#58 - YOU'VE GOT YOUR TROUBLES - The Fortunes (1965) Here's one of those that always makes you feel good ... at the very least it should be in medium rotation on the oldies stations.
#57 - JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER - Herman's Hermits (1965) A Forgotten Hit by Herman's Hermits that certainly deserves better ... this is a GREAT little tune!
#56 - IT'S NOT UNUSUAL - Tom Jones (1965) A great lead-off track by this Welshman with the sock in his pants!
#55 - DIANE - The Bachelors (1964)
#54 - YOU TURN ME ON - Ian Whitcomb (1965) Always good for a giggle!
#53 - I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD - Herman's Hermits (1964)
#52 - TELL HER NO - The Zombies (1965)
#51 - GOLDFINGER - Shirley Bassey (1965) There's no mistaking the booming voice of Ms. Shirley Bassey!
#50 - SHA LA LA - Manfred Mann (1965) And you thought all they did was "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"!
#49 - ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT - The Kinks (1965)
#48 - FERRY 'CROSS THE MERSEY - Gerry and the Pacemakers (1965) Another personal favorite
#47 - GO NOW - The Moody Blues (1965)
#46 - A SUMMER SONG- Chad and Jeremy (1964)
#45 - TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU - The Kinks (1965) Proving that The Kinks could do more than rock, too!
#44 - FOR YOUR LOVE - The Yardbirds (1965) The third ... and biggest ... entry for these guys on the countdown.
#43 - SHE'S A WOMAN - The Beatles (1964)
#42 - CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SHE'S MINE - The Dave Clark Five (1964) Man these guys turned out a LOT of great hits in 1964!
Our Countdown of The Top 100 Hits of The British Invasion, 1964 and 1965, concludes today with the VERY BIGGEST HITS OF THIS ERA. (Is it any surprise that The Beatles have TEN of The Top 20 Hits?!?!?) But you'll find some other biggies here as well ... as the countdown continues ...
But first ... a correction ...
Forgotten Hits subscribers already know that we had a mix-up on one of the tracks that SHOULD have made our Top 100 Countdown. (Non-subscribers will see this whole dialog next week when we recap all of the comments that we received.)
So FIRST ... before we hit The Top 20 ... coming in at #37 1/2 is Herman's Hermits and their version of the Sam Cooke classic "Wonderful World"!!!
(Not a subscriber? Send us an email ... forgottenhits@aol.com ... and ask us to add your name to the list.) Mostly we just send out friendly reminders about new postings to the site ... however THIS week, subscribers got a daily update on comments from our readers. (Do it NOW while it's fresh in your head.) Just send an email to forgottenhits@aol.com and put "subscribe" or "put me on the list" in the subject line ... and we'll take care of the rest!
And now, on with the countdown ... #20 - SHE'S NOT THERE - The Zombies (1964) #19 - TICKET TO RIDE - The Beatles (1965) From the film "Eight Arms To Hold You" ... according to the original record label anyway!
#18 - A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE - Peter and Gordon (1964) A beautiful ballad given away by the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney. I'd have to rank this one and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas' hit "Bad To Me" as two INCREDIBLE hits sacrificed to help other artists in Brian Epstein's stable.
#17 - I'M HENRY THE VIII, I AM - Herman's Hermits (1965) Second verse, same as the first! #16 - I'M TELLING YOU NOW - Freddie and the Dreamers (1965) Can you listen to this song without fighting the urge to jump out of your seat and start your morning exercise routine ... heavy on the jumping jacks?!?!?
#15 - TWIST AND SHOUT - The Beatles (1964) Their biggest Beatles hit not written by Lennon-McCartney ... and still a radio staple today ... an all-time favorite ... and, simply put, just a GREAT recording.
#14 - LOVE ME DO - The Beatles (1964) Their British break-through hit stalled at #17 back home ... but topped the charts here in America a couple of years later when we finally caught on! #13 - GET OFF MY CLOUD - The Rolling Stones (1965) #12 - THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN - The Animals (1964) Introducing many of us teenagers at the time to British Blues for the very first time ... and we LOVED it!
#11 - A HARD DAY'S NIGHT - The Beatles (1964) Theme song to their first film
#10 - I FEEL FINE - The Beatles (1964)
Talk about your chart domination! Even 20/20 hindsight places The Beatles with SIX of the The Ten All-Time Biggest British Invasion Hits. Amazing!
#9 - HELP! - The Beatles (1965) Title song from their second film ... the color one (formerly known as "Eight Arms To Hold You", I guess!!!)
#8 - YESTERDAY - The Beatles (1965) A classic that finally endeared The Beatles to our parents, too. Redemption at last. Still one of the most recorded songs in history.
#7 - DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY - Manfred Mann (1964) And who'd expect THESE guys to rank so high on the list?!?!? But this one was a MONSTER ... and it STILL sounds every bit as fresh today. Every generation since has discovered and fallen in love with it.
#6 - MRS. BROWN YOU'VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER - Herman's Hermits (1965) Peter Noone is still charming his audiences around the globe. People tend to underestimate the impact of Herman's Hermits ... but there was no greater British success next to The Beatles. Sure, people today talk about The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and even The Dave Clark Five ... but it was Herman's Hermits who were really second in line to the British Royalty Crown on the US charts. Most of these other acts "grew" into favor after the initial wave of The British Invasion had passed. But The Hermits were there from the start.
#5 - CAN'T BUY ME LOVE - The Beatles (1964) When "Can't Buy Me Love" hit #1, The Beatles had the Top Five singles in the United States ... an unheard of feat never duplicated before or since. It was their first "real time" #1 Hit here in the States, released simultaneously around the world to unparalleled success. With advance orders of over one million copies, it broke every record ever made.
#4 - DOWNTOWN - Petula Clark (1965) Yes, mostly it was the British Invasion Groups that dominated the charts in 1964 and 1965 ... but Petula Clark landed a MONSTER hit with this Tony Hatch tune. And, incredibly, Petula had just turned 33 years old when her record landed at #1 on our US Chart! (We didn't care ... she was British and she was hot!)
#3 - SHE LOVES YOU - The Beatles (1964) The Beatles knocked themselves out of the #1 spot with this one, dethroning their American break-through hit "I Want To Hold Your Hand." John Lennon once said "She Loves You" was their biggest hit ever in England ... and I always felt it should have been their biggest here, too. A more infectious chorus has never been written. (And seriously ... would it have worked if they sang "She Loves You, yes, yes, yes?!?!? I don't think so!!!)
#2 - SATISFACTION - The Rolling Stones (1965)
Fifty years (and counting) later, The Stones are touring again. Proclaimed "The World's Greatest Rock And Roll Band", The Rolling Stones managed to change and evolve with the times ... yet always remained true to themselves in the process. As Mick Jagger so proudly and boldly proclaimed a decade later, "It's Only Rock And Roll ... But I Like It!"
#1 - I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND - The Beatles (1964)
#1 for seven straight weeks, this is the record that started it all. The Beatles came to America once their record reached #1 ... and the world of music has never been the same since.
And there you have it ... The Top 100 Biggest Hits of The British Invasion, 1964 - 1965. More countdowns to come as we continue to salute the decade ... so stay tuned!!! (kk)
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Thanks for a countdown just for MEEEEEEE! Lol! Can't wait to read the rest. BritInvLvr
Kent, I am not sure that this subject has been approached on your list or not but let me stir up some controversy in light of your announced The British Invasion special countdown ... A lot of people credit The Beatles with starting the British Invasion. But actually the British Invasion term is not about the Beatles but the "other" non-Beatle groups that invaded on their coattails. As I remember it, and yes I am old enough ... When the Beatles hit, (January, 1964) everybody thought it was a fluke and would not last long. It was just one group. But then Columbia's Epic label started issuing records by The Dave Clark Five and they were popular in February, 1964, with their first disk, Glad All Over." That proved that record companies could have hits with other British groups besides The Beatles, so they all tried to sign groups after that. At that point, the "British Invasion" was on. So I propose, that The Dave Clark Five started the "British Invasion" as I believe they were the first non-Beatles group to hit the charts following the Beatles success. Pass it on ... and yes you can use my name ... Paul Urbahns Radcliff, Ky Without question, The Beatles opened the floodgates ... and then all of the other record companies went scrambling to see what OTHER sounds were coming out of England that were racing up the charts. And once the dam burst, it was pretty much over for many of our favorite American artists. Technically, The Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, The Searchers, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Peter and Gordon, The Zombies, The Animals, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Chad and Jeremy and several others ALL scored MAJOR U.S. Hits before 1964 was over ... The British Invasion was in full swing and these acts continued to dominate the charts for the next two years. It was a VERY exciting time ... and radio and TV were both quick to react and push these acts like crazy. (kk)
COMMENTARY: One has to remember that prior to 1964, rock and roll music was decidedly American ... WE invented it and it took the world by storm. Kids growing up in England lived for the latest, hot new sounds coming from across the pond ... and brand new pop / rock bands became all the fashion as they tried to emulate those sounds themselves. (Ironically, virtually the exact same thing happened here in The States a few years later once we discovered these British acts ... suddenly EVERYBODY wanted to be in a rock band and guitars and drum sets went flying off the shelves and into people's garages!) Ironically, a lot of this early success involved simply feeding us back that very same late '50's and early '60's American Rock And Roll, but with a British beat this time ... a brand new twist that some of us may have missed the first time around ... a new spin on a time-proven formula that made everything sound fresh and new again. As a result, you had groups like The Searchers hitting the charts with "Love Potion Number Nine", The Dave Clark Five scoring with remakes of "Do You Love Me", "I Like It Like That", "You Got What It Takes" and "Reelin' And Rockin'"; Herman's Hermits finding great success with their versions of "Wonderful World" and "Silhouettes" ... and dipping WAY back in the time machine for "I'm Henry the VIII, I Am", a number one record. Even The Rolling Stones and The Beatles ... who would "grow" into themselves right before our very eyes ... peppered their acts in the early years with creative renditions of old American rock and roll classics. (Speaking of dipping back, how about The Animals' recording of "House Of The Rising Sun"?!?! I'll tell you what ... as an eleven year old kid, I'd never heard the blues before ... when this song came screaming out of my radio for the very first time, I didn't know WHAT to think!!! All I knew was that I loved it ... and wanted to hear more!) It was an exciting time to say the least. And we'll be recapping The 100 Biggest Hits of this era all week long in Forgotten Hits. (kk)
Hello kk -
Just wanted to let you know that I ordered Dann's book from Amazon and it should reach me on Thursday when I will read it ... I LOVE books that are accurate don't you?
I wonder if you ever listen to my show on Sirius XM? I am having fun telling stories and some whoppers, too ... lots of my stories are true and are better than a book for me.
I will eventually do my book when everyone else has done one, and I am hoping mine will be fun and I promise not to make it up about who was doing who, where and when, because I didn't see a thing, your honour!
Hope all is well with you and that we see you at the Merrilville concert.
(I spelled Merrilville wrong on purpose to entice your reader(sic) to riot.)-- Peter Noone
Dann's book is no rewrite of history ... in fact, it captures history EXACTLY as it happened ...
It's a detailed analysis of the Billboard Charts, 1960 - 1969, ranking every song in order based on accumulated points racked up at the time.
And in our Top 100 recap of 1964 and 1965, you'll find that Herman's Hermits did quite well.
In fact in MY final analysis, I wrote:
"Peter Noone is still charming his audiences around the globe. People tend to underestimate the impact of Herman's Hermits ... but there was no greater British success next to The Beatles. Sure, people today talk about The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and even The Dave Clark Five ... but it was Herman's Hermits who were really second in line to the British Royalty Crown on the US charts."
In the overall scheme of things, Herman's Hermits finished as the #25 Act of the entire decade ... ahead of The Dave Clark Five, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Monkees, The Young Rascals, Tommy James and the Shondells and nearly 1800 other artists who also charted during the '60's.
You've got six songs in The Top 100 Biggest British Invasion Hits of 1964 - 1965, including "Mrs. Brown" at #6, "Henry the VIII" at #17, "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" at #23, "Silhouettes" at #39, "I'm Into Something Good" at #52 and "Just A Little Bit Better" at #56. (Six out of the Top 60?!?!? That's 10%!!!)
The only British acts ahead of you are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. (kk)
Get ready for another rush of Beatlemania: 2013 marks 50 years since the band’s first U.K. chart topper, and next February is the 50th anniversary of their U.S. invasion. Start with the charming documentary Good Ol’ Freda (in theaters, on demand, and on iTunes Sept. 6), about Liverpool teen Freda Kelly, who ran the Beatles’ fan club until 1972. Amazingly, she never cashed in on her memorabilia, which is still stored in her attic.
Dave Barry
Kent, Really enjoyed your three songs you posted today. Haven't heard the DC5 tune on the air in ages. Always did like Chad & Jeremy"s YESTERDAY'S GONE. That song reminded me of a cover version out at the same time by a group known as the Overlanders on Hickory Records. I liked their version, as Herman's Hermits would have said, "just a little bit better". Larry As you know by now, "Just A Little Bit Better" was another one of our featured tunes in this very special countdown ... always one of MY favorites, too. The Overlanders were another British pop band ... their version of "Yesterday's Gone" faded quickly from view once the Chad and Jeremy version hit the charts. They had a big hit here in Chicago with a follow up release, too ... "Don't It Make You Feel Good", one of my favorite forgotten gems. (kk)
Reelin' And Rockin'? From A Window? Yesterday's Gone? THOSE ARE THE 'LOSERS'??!!??
What an extraordinary time for music.
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
Hey Kent,
British Invasion? You’re playing my song! (sorry). 1964 - 1965 changed my life. Until then I was listening to my sister’s 45s. Now the world changes, February 9th, 1964. (The Beatles on Sullivan.) Band after band from England dominate the radio airwaves. One band I always liked was the “Hullaballoos”, England’s Newest Singing Sensations, as they were billed on their first of two albums. Two minor hits in the Twin Cities, “Did You Ever” and “I’m Gonna Love You, Too”. Both albums had several Buddy Holly covers. They made several appearances on the Hullabaloo TV show. Their gimmick was all four members had bleached blonde hair. Didn’t have any real impact in America like so many of the other British bands, but still a footnote in music history. Both of these singles are available on You Tube. Hope your readers check them out. P.S. Music trivia,The band name was spelled with two L’s on the end. The TV show had just one. Who knew? “Thanks”, for keeping our younger days alive and always in our hearts.
Gary
And, in related news, Paul McCartney released a brand new track through the Internet the other day ... lots of hype about how "new Paul" sounds a lot like "old Paul" on this one ... giving credit to Producer Mark Ronson, who scored a number of hits with Foreigner. Titled "New" (as is Paul's new solo album, coming out in mid-October), it promises to have a fresh, new sound ... McCartney's first album of all new material in six years. You can listen to the track here:
Speaking of Sir Paul, FH Reader Dave Barry also sent us this article about McCartney wanting to play Candlestick Park ... the final show at the very same ball park where The Beatles performed THEIR very last show ...
Sir Paul McCartney has tossed up the possibility of headlining one last concert at Candlestick Park - where the Beatles played their final gig for a paying crowd in 1966 - before the stadium's date with the wrecking ball. No one was more stunned than Mayor Ed Lee when McCartney floated the idea as he was about to take the stage at his recent Outside Lands festival appearance. "And it was him who made the suggestion," Lee said. "Believe me, it wasn't something I, or anyone else, was expecting." It all began when Lee - with about a half hour to kill - decided to check out how things were going at the festival in Golden Gate Park the evening of Aug. 10. Lee was talking with Outside Lands promoter Gregg Perloff, who asked if he had a couple of minutes to meet with McCartney before the singer went on. "Ah, Mayor Lee, what an honor," McCartney said. "I understand you are the first Asian mayor of the city." "Thank you," Lee replied, "but I'm not sure it's quite as glamorous as being knighted." Sir Paul put his thumb and forefinger almost together and said, "It's that much more." The ice properly broken, city salesman Lee launched into the success of Outside Lands, then slid into another upcoming significant event - the end of Candlestick, and how the city was putting together photos and film footage to honor the Beatles' final concert. "Oh, kind of like Shea Stadium," McCartney said, referring to the old New York ballpark where the Beatles played two of their most famous shows. "That sounds fantastic." "Then," Lee said, "he looks at me and Phil Ginsburg" - general manager of the Recreation and Park Department - "and says, 'Well, if you are going to tear down the stadium next year, we should think about us doing the last concert there.' " As Lee's and everyone else's jaw dropped, McCartney added, "You know my agent. Why don't we follow up with him?" McCartney did this once before - at Shea Stadium, just before it was demolished in 2009. Then he and Billy Joel helped break in Citi Field, the New York Mets' replacement stadium. If the Stick show does come together, it would be full circle from Aug. 29, 1966, when the Beatles played to a crowd of about 25,000 - well short of the stadium's pre-expansion capacity of 42,000. Tickets went for $4.50 and $6.50, and the Beatles played for about 30 minutes. When McCartney hit the stage at Outside Lands, an estimated 65,000 were on hand - at $75 to $105 a head. Over the three-day festival, the Recreation and Park Department netted $2.2 million. A McCartney farewell show would grab international headlines - but it's only one of the many ideas in the works for turning the Candlestick tear-down into a boon for Rec and Park.
Just to let you know, the Tornados were the first British group to get to number 1 in America with "Telstar" in 1962 ... way before the Beatles and the rest. Regards - Clem Cattini I'm well aware ... but The Tornadoes didn't cause the mass hysteria, pandemonium and flat-out mania that The Beatles did. A MAJOR accomplishment, to be sure ... and I mean no disrespect ... but I don't remember tens of thousands of female fans showing up with signs, screaming "Alan, George, Roger, Heinz and Clem" they way they screamed for "John, Paul, George and Ringo"!!! Not only were The Tornadoes the first British act to #1 on our charts but they did so with their very first US release ... a major accomplishment to be sure. That being said, the charts ALSO show little 14 year old Laurie London (from London, England) topping the charts with his version of "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" in 1958 ... four years BEFORE The Tornadoes hit our charts ... but this poor kid has never received the recognition he deserved. (Was there a "Laurie for President" movement like there was for Ringo???) Besides, who'd want this punk kid representing an entire revolution?!?! (lol) All kidding aside, The Tornadoes are ... without a doubt ... a major part of British Rock History ... but The British Invasion started a couple of years later when artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, The Animals, The Kinks, Peter and Gordon and more flooded our shores with a brand new British Beat. (kk)
Wow ... this is AWESOME ... hearing from British Rock Royalty like Peter Noone and Clem Cattini ... cool that these guys are diggin' our series right along with all of us "regular folk"!!! (lol)
kk, The response to the looming Top 100 British Invasion Hits of 1964 and 1965 as reported in today's edition warms the heart. It's a testament to your skill at selecting a theme sure to interest readers and prepping them for what's to come as well as FH fans' never-failing commitment in supporting this music. re: Peter Noone - Thank you, Peter, for helping to bring these words to life from the introduction of Ranking the '60s: "Anyone involved in the production of one of the minor hits may take satisfaction in knowing that, by viewing these rankings, his or her effort is being recognized hierarchically right along with the unforgettable hits."
And kk, you certainly whetted Peter Noone's appetite for the book with those powerful stats. Thanks for that. I didn't realize until you brought it out that Herman's Hermits "owned" 10% of the top 60 British Invasion hits from '64-'65. If I manage to pick up enough celebrity endorsements, that might be justification for a second edition of the book. (Maybe by then I could convince Billboard to allow use of its copyrighted peak position data that torpedoed the 100-page artist index from appearing in the just-published edition.)
Dann
I'm expecting big things for the book ... and am happy to help in any way I can. I think it's a great resource and research guide for those of us who hold this stuff dear to our hearts. And, as I said in my original endorsement ... you may not always be happy with the results ... but you can't fight the means by which they were achieved. History HAS chosen to rewrite a lot of what we now perceive as hits today ... over-saturation of selected material by selected artists is all part of the narrow-casting that is broadcast radio today ... but this book doesn't lie. It shows you the hits EXACTLY as they happened. What you have here is a historical document of this era ... with no favoritism shown. (kk)
If those Top 100 of the British Invasion are arranged by Hot 100 chart position, a few ("Catch The Wind," Here Comes The Night," etc.) are a bit out of place. As for #94, Carl Perkins WAS in the studio when the Beatles recorded several of his songs. Carl told me that himself. I also wouldn't consider The Seekers' "A World Of Our Own" to be "long forgotten." It was an international smash in 1965 and STILL WORKS --speaking for lovers' hearts just as vibrantly today.
Also: The Seekers weren't British! They're the pride of Australia -- with an appeal which has outlasted nearly every other act of the '60s. In fact, the Seekers rewrote one of their hits, "Morningtown Ride," into a Yuletide gem they scored with internationally in 2001. It'll be included in the 2013 edition of the 10 hour radio countdown "The 100 Greatest Hits of Christmas," which Wink Martindale hosts and I wrote and produced. Envision Radio Networks will syndicate the special to their 1400 client stations in the U.S. this upcoming holiday season. (Radio Express is handling it outside the U.S.) Here is that Seekers' track:
Judith wound up celebrating her 70th birthday while still hospitalized and at last report is still recovering.
Gary Theroux
The Top 100 is based on the accumulated points these records achieved during their entire chart run in Billboard ... so mathematically, they're ranked correctly. (The data comes from Dann Isbell's book "Ranking The '60's", a valuable research aide for collectors like ourselves who just LOVE this sort of stuff ... you should check it out on Amazon ... he's sold quite a few copies since we started talking about it ... and my guess is that this series will help to sell quite a few more. Heck, Peter Noone even ordered a copy yesterday!!! lol)
As for The Seekers, much like The Bee Gees (who also hailed from Australia), they are often lumped into The British Invasion category because they made their mark after moving to England and recording there. Noted CD Compilations like Rhino's 9-disc set "The History Of British Rock" include both The Bee Gees AND The Seekers in their line-up, so we did, too. (They also include The Walker Brothers, which was a bit of a stretch for me since these guys came from California!!!) The big difference is that The Bee Gees had several hits at home in Australia before setting sail for London and international fame ... The Seekers didn't really hit the charts until they arrived in Great Britain and hooked up with Dusty Springfield's brother Tom, who wrote their earliest hits, including "A World Of Our Own" ... which was a legitimate hit back in 1965 ... hence its placement on the chart ... but I'd consider a song that probably hasn't been played on the radio in 40+ years to be "long forgotten". You MIGHT hear "Georgy Girl" ... and, on a really good oldies station, you might even hear "I'll Never Find Another You" ... but it's not likely that you'll hear "A World Of Our Own" or "Morningtown Ride" (both great songs by the way) any time soon.
My understanding is that Carl Perkins was in the studio with The Beatles when they recorded his hits "Matchbox", "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby". (They also performed several of Perkins' songs on their BBC Radio broadcasts.) George Harrison was such a big Carl Perkins fan that when The Silver Beatles adopted stage names, he went by Carl Harrison. Decades later, he was part of the all-star band that backed Carl up for a live, televised concert. (An OUTSTANDING show, by the way, if by any chance you haven't seen it.) kk
Happy belated 60, kk. You've got another sixty years of this newsletter to get out. Smile. Seems to me McCartney's most compelling, articulate, and inventive stuff was crafted as a Beatle. His first two solo LPs were excellent work, but then came "Another Day", "Coming Up", and "Uncle Albert". Not to diminish that music ... Paul's melodies and sense of what made for cute-pop, stick-in-your-head and whistle-worthy tunes is his veins. But when you want something suggestive, layered, with subtle agendas / messages to snatch attention and intoxicates, ("Your Mother Should know", "Lovely Rita", and one Rocky Raccoon") it seems Paul needed John's neurotic, savvy and darker humour / influence to make him think and risk, thus pulling the real magic from him. I'm preaching to the choir to voice thoughts like this to the FH crowd, but still a fascinating dynamic in the duo. I haven't like a Macca tune this much in quite some time. Reason one: he sounds amazing, and reason two: it sounds like a catchy Beatles tune.
Ron Kolman
That seems to be the major focus this time around ... "new Paul sounds like old Paul" ... and he does to a degree. There's a definite "pop" feel here. I'm anxious to hear the whole LP.
I, too, have been disappointed more than pleased with most of what McCartney has released these past two decades ... and I'm a MAJOR fan. I find that there are always one or two tracks that make the purchase palatable but Paul's last GREAT work is now several years ago. (I really fancied "Flowers In The Dirt" ... and, like I said, could easily pick a couple of songs from each subsequent release to illustrate the fact that Macca still has a grasp on what makes for catchy pop.) A lot of the credit this time around is going to his producer, who apparently drew some "freshness" out of him ... I just say "hey, whatever makes it work!"
I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of this new offering. (kk)
Here's more on the impending release of more Beatles / BBC tracks, courtesy of Ron Smith's oldiesmusic.com website:
From The Guardian (U.K.) last week. Apparently release date is the first week of October. Sleuthing by Beatles fans appears to have uncovered a new release from the Fab Four. They discovered MCA Music in the Philippines – part of Universal Music, which now owns the Beatles' catalogue – was promising on its Facebook page a new anthology collecting previously unreleased recordings from their mid-60s appearances on BBC radio. The amateur detectives came from Beatles fan-site WogBlog, who discovered both the month of release and the album art for the new full-length. Bloggers even traced the photographer whose colourised image is being used on the cover. Neither Universal's UK and US wings nor the Beatles' official website have confirmed the news. The first volume of Live at the BBC consisted of 56 songs and 13 dialogue tracks from the Beatles' appearances on the BBC's Light Programme (now BBC Radio 2). The double CD, released in 1994, reached No 1 on the UK albums chart, No 3 in the US, and arguably set the stage for the Fab Four's three Beatles Anthology collections, released in 1995 and 1996. Although it was broadcast across the country, the Beatles' BBC material is quite rare. The Beeb did not seriously begin archiving its programmes until the end of the 1970s. As WogBlog points out, the forthcoming Live compilation may be the result of the 2012 Listeners' Archive campaign, in which BBC officials asked the public to donate home-recorded radio and television shows.
In an unprecedented move, Columbia Records will release the soundtrack to "Glee Sings The Beatles" two days before the season premier airs on September 26th. As previously mentioned here, it'll be a two-part opener and feature FOURTEEN songs by The Fabs ... "Yesterday", "Drive My Car", "Got to Get You Into My Life", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", "Help", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Saw Her Standing There", "All You Need Is Love", "Get Back", "Here Comes the Sun", "Something", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be". It sounds like the series won't address the death of Finn Hudson / Cory Monteith until the third episode of the season. (kk)
Cliff Richard never hit it big in the States, but how many artists have had top 40 records in four decades?
Living Doll hit number 30 in 1959 on ABC Paramount
It's All in the Game hit number 25 in 1964 on Epic
Devil Woman hit number 6 (his biggest hit in the States) in 1976 on Rocket
A Little in Love hit number 17 in 1981 on EMI
Mike De Martino
President of the Lovejoy Music Club
I don't know if anyone can explain why Cliff struggled here ... he recorded some good, pop music ... it just didn't catch on for some reason. Back home, Richard had 92 Top 20 Hits between 1958 and 2003 ... and that tally included FOURTEEN #1 Records. I discovered one of my favorites when Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman recorded "Don't Talk To Him" for their "Jukebox" CD. (Cliff took his version to #2 in 1963). kk
If you haven't heard it, you can check it out here:
Although I really like almost all the British Invasion artists, one that stands out for me is Petula Clark -- who, by the way, is still performing and knockin' them out. (Her United Kingdom tour starts October 2 in Manchester.)
When "Downtown" hit in the United States in late 1964, she was pretty much unknown here; I remember that at least a couple of the DJs in Hartford, Conn., where I lived, pronounced her first name as PET-yoo-la. But by that time, she had forged what most other people would consider an incredibly full career.
Here are just some of the highlights: She first appeared on radio at age 9, in 1942, and almost immediately became a major star dubbed "England's Shirley Temple." As a child, she toured extensively with another child star, Julie Andrews, who is three years younger than Pet. By 1944, she was in films, and made 13 pictures in six years. (So far, she has been in 30 movies.) In 1946 she started television work, although as far as I can see about a dozen people in England had TVs then. She soon had an afternoon series, "Petula Clark."
Meanwhile, her singing career continued at a fast clip. Her father had co-founded the British record label Polygon, and Petula ended up recording 50 songs for Polygon. (Polygon was later absorbed by Pye, for which label Pet recorded for almost three decades.) By the late 1950s, she was a huge star in France, and recorded or re-recorded many songs in French for that market; one was "Chariot," which later gained fame here as "I Will Follow Him" by Peggy March. Before long, she had also recorded in Spanish, Italian, French, and German, and toured extensively in Europe. She had #1 hits in Australia.
Then -- only then -- was she able to ride into America on the crest of the British Invasion. In late 1964 and early 1965, Americans discovered this "new" singer. New? Yes, if you consider someone who had been performing professionally for 22 years in radio, television, and film to be "new." An overnight success, you might say.
Henry McNulty
Old Saybrook, Conn.
Contributing Editor, "The British Invasion" (1982, McGraw-Hill)
Petula enjoyed a pretty remarkable career before she caught on here in The States ... but once she did, the hits came quickly. (There wasn't a lot of female competition going on with all the British beat groups dominating the charts ... so Petula really stood out from the crowd!) She has TWO hits on our Top 100 Countdown (and she just missed with another ... "You'd Better Come Home" came in at #101, JUST missing the cut-off!) kk
Our Songfacts buddy Carl Wiser recently interviewed Petula for his online publication ... you can check it out here:
The Sixties feature is right up my radio street. On Monday The Searchers were on the radio show ... Clem Cattini has been on twice before ... I could list the 100 bands or artists from the decade. Your information is fabulous -- I read it solidly -- And this from a Brit!!! Regards Geoff Dorsett
One of my fave subjects! We brothers sat for hours endlessly listening to WLS and other stations for the new Brit Invasion songs -- hits or misses. It garnered many a great moment. Some have never been re-captured! One was taping the Ivy league's new 45 "Runnin' Round in Circles" as a WCFL premier. The odd thing was that it had a cold ending on the taping we made, but no one has ever found this version since! All 45's, Cd's and LP versions have fade outs! There was the airing of "What'd I Say" by Pete Best & the Beatles off some station, as well as a Star Club live version of the Searchers doing "Sho No a Lot About Love" (B side of Alley Oop) off radio back then! Your Top 100 so far has SOOO many memories from my tapes as well as general thoughts and memories ... too much fun to tell all! Two in particular are: 1. I have told EVERYONE it seems that the DC5's "Anyway You Want it" is the MOST powerful two minutes in rock n roll history. Clark Weber, thanks for backing them, even if it was mostly joking with Riley. 2. Altho the Animals' "I'm Crying" only reached #9 on WLS, it was a time when ANYTHING (funny, that that would be one of their 45 titles in a couple of years) by the Animals in 64 and 65 was GOLDEN in Chitown. "I'm Crying" was one of the highest debuting 45s on the Silver Dollar Survey ever! On Oct 9, 1964, the 45 debuted on Dex Card's countdown at #18, while its predecessor, "House of the Rising Sun" was still riding high in the WLS top 10! THOSE were the great Brit Invasion days!! Within a few months, Ron Riley would begin airing his Sunday night 8 PM "British Billboard" show counting down all the British hits as they were in England and giving us here in the US a chance to hear what may or may NOT be top 10 soon in our towns. He would air hits there that might be hits here or not or not even be released here on 45! We heard the Pretty Things, Ivy League, Georgie Fame 45s that would not make it here. We heard Uk "A" sides like "the Bee Gees' "World" or Hendrix' "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" that would be big there, but not even be an "A" side or even released on 45 here! ALSO, my brother just sent me info on the new McCartney song, "New." It's interesting, but right away, I found similarities in the opening repeated descending cadence (not sure of the correct word to use here) melody that begins about five seconds into the song, as well as the overall sound of the song. I like it, but does it sound a bit like UK hitmaker conglomerate? Try out Herman's Hermits 1968 UK hit "Sleepy Joe", just speeded up? Or that piano opening much alike other UK hitmakers, the Zombies' great "This Will Be Our Year." Or how about the beginning of the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" or stretching it a bit, Guess Who's "Hand Me Down World." It bounces along much like Queen's "You're My Best Friend" or First Class' "Beach Baby", too. Yet, there is a song I am thinking of that I THINK is an obscure fave of mine that nails this sound exactly. I just cannot think what it is. Anybody?? Ideas?? Maybe the bouncy poppy vocal part in the Moodies' "Legend of a Mind"?? Listen to the lyrics "Along the coast you'll hear them boast. About a light they say that shines so clear." Listen about 1:45 into the song here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TbovyVOzs Indeed, throw in some Brian Wilson theatrics at the end too!! Pretty good! The story on new Macca CD below: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/08/29/paul-mccartney-releases-track-hints-at-new-album/ Clark Besch The one I've heard it most often compared to is McCartney's own "Penny Lane". (Thank God Saul Zaentz isn't around to sue McCartney for plagiarizing himself ala John Fogerty!!!) kk
Oh Kent, During summer break, I read 10 books: 5 music related; 5 popular new books geared to elementary and tween grade students. AND STILL I DON'T EVEN OWN THIS BOOK! I must now have it ... Ranking the '60s ... thank goodness your brain can't explode from over-reading. REMEMBER THAT KIDS! Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
We just returned from The 2013 Magical History Tour to London - Henley - Liverpool and it was the greatest tour ever! "It's getting better all the time!" And we're now accepting reservations for MMTour 2014 in the year we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles Arrival in America. It was our 30th anniversary tour, and we were able to get all 80 of us to record at Abbey Road Studios 2, but that was just one of so many other BEATLEful highlights! Our all day tour of London Beatle sights, our all-day tour of Liverpool sights guided by David "Liddypool" Bedford, the bonus tours of the obscure Beatle locales in London & Liverpool guided by Rene "Beatles Unlimited" van Haarlem, following in the footsteps of the films "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!, having the gates open (first time ever!) for us as Paul's Cavendish home, our Good Day Sunshine afternoon in Chiswick Park, our group parties at Hard Rock - Sticky Fingers - Lord's Tavern, visiting George's Friar Park home in Henley-on-Thames, the Music Festival at Sefton Park, the International Beatles Convention, seeing Mike McCartney live onstage with The Scaffold reunion, seeing Neil Innes and John Halsey (Barry Wom) live onstage with The Rutles reunion, the unbelievable concerts at the Liverpool Philharmonic, hear ing Joe Brown perform "I'll See You In My Dreams" on the Cavern stage in memory of George, our surprise gift-bag from the Hard Day's Night shop, getting inside John & Paul's childhood homes, our last-night singalong, meeting with celebrities such as John Lennon's sister Julia, Brian Epstein's friend Joe Flannery, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, early promoter Sam Leach, Beatles fan club president Freda and so many more. It was truly one highlight after another - and we had the most beautiful weather all vacation long plus the greatest group of fans who all got along so harmoniously. We want to recreate the magic again August 17 - 27, 2014 on our 31st Annual Magical History Tour. Please join us for the greatest fan vacation experience, as we invade England on the anniversary of The Beatles invasion of America. Many past MMTour travelers are coming back with us, and we welcome first-timers who are looking to make their dreams come true. Open to all ages: singles, couples, families and groups are all welcome. Don't miss out on this one! For complete information or a reservation form, call today (203) 795-4737 or email LiverpoolTours@aol.com. Man, I've always wanted to do one of these ... and this will be a BIG year to do it. (Plus the tour ends on my birthday!!! What a cool present THAT would be!!!)
Get ahold of Charles Rosenay ... he's your tour guide and he's been making all of this happen for over thirty years now. A splendid time is guaranteed for all! (kk)
We were lucky in Winnipeg in that we got to hear some of the British stuff that the Americans didn't get to hear ... things by Cliff Richard and Georgie Fame and Gerry and the Pacemakers that didn't really get off the ground in the States ... some Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas and a few others. The British Invasion was very, very extensive in Canada, I guess probably because we were part of the Commonwealth and Capitol Records, they had just about everybody ... from The Beatles and Dave Clark on down ... Cliff Richard and the Shadows ... EVERYBODY was on Capitol. It was a cool time in Canada. We took that British Invasion square in the face!
I'd guess the response to your Top 100 British Hits would be very successful ... and, of course, The Beatles would score very heavy in there ... boy, what would be the #1 Song of The British Invasion? Oh my God!!! Well, you know what, I'd bet that "Whiter Shade Of Pale" would be right up there near the top. Although they didn't have a string of hits, Procol Harum, I remember that "Whiter Shade Of Pale" was as big as ANY Beatles record ... it was #1 forever! That was a big, big record.
When it comes to Beatles records, I think "A Hard Day's Night" would have to be one of them ... that record hit like a ton of bricks ... "Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" ... two hard rockers that hit like a ton of bricks in the '60's.
Burton Cummings
You picked a couple of winners for sure ... both "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" made The Top 11 ... but so did five OTHER Beatles tunes (including TWO that ranked higher than both of these!!!) Stay tuned! (kk)
Kent ... Love ya, man ... but where is Manfred Mann's melodic "Pretty Flamingo." Additionally, I would have ranked "Heart Full of Soul" by the Yardbirds about 30 spots higher ... raging band track - Jeff Beck at his best - remarkably passionate vocal. And, I still giggle when I think of Ian Whitcomb breathlessly saying...ah...ah...ah...ah...ah...ah...ah..that's my soul ... I'll always equate that song with Paul Revere and the Raiders and "Where the Action Is" and the Summer of '65. Chet Coppock Host: Chicago Blackhawks - HeritageSeries Host: Notre Damme Football - WLS Senior writer: MajorOnions.com It's not a list of our favorites (although TECHNICALLY they're ALL our favorites!!!) ... but rather a mathematical listing based on each record's actual chart performance at the time it originally charted. And, we limited it to 1964 and 1965 ONLY ... which is why OTHER readers' favorites like "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" and "All You Need Is Love" and "Paint It, Black" didn't make the list. (For the record, Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo" was from 1966.) I've always loved the Ian Whitcomb song ... in hindsight, pretty racy for 1965!!! (kk)
Hi Kent,
What a great presentation you are doing for the British Invasion. I really didn't know how much of my work was part of the Invasion and it seems every entry holds a memory for me. Most of the groups were self contained and didn't use any session musicians but I did a lot of work with groups like Herman's Hermits, The Fortunes, Brotherhood of Man and later with the Dave Clark Five. I'm so pleased that you wrote about Clem Cattini, a very good friend of mine, and his group The Tornados being the first British group to crack it in the States with Telstar. I was featured on Ringo's walkabout at the end of A Hard Day's Night, but your listing of my work with the solo artists keeps on coming: Peter and Gordon, The Bachelors, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Shirley Bassey, Chad and Jeremy, Jonathan King, Dusty Springfield, Julie Rogers, Marianne Faithfull and others that you will mention in the coming days.
The 60s and 70s were a wonderful time to be in the music business. It was hard work and a lot of nervous energy was expended but there were the warm and fuzzy moments, like when Justin Hayward walked across the Television set to the orchestra of the UK hit show 'Top Of The Pops' and said, "Thanks, Vic. If you hadn't inspired me I wouldn't be here now." He shook my hand and returned to the set. Justin is a gentleman and a wonderful musician.
There's a lots of stories in my book, 'Vic Flick Guitarman' available at Amazon.com (excuse the plug) and they will give some color and background to The British Invasion.
Very best wishes to you and all your readers.
Vic Flick
p.s. I think I was destined to come to America where I now live in sunny Las Vegas with my very understanding and dear wife of 53 years, Judy.
Hey, Vic! VERY happy to run a plug for your book ... a GREAT snapshot of British Rock History to say the least! (You guys were like The Wrecking Crew over there ... and Clem Cattini was the British equivalent of our Hal Blaine!) Pick up Vic's book here ... a GREAT read with some VERY interesting tales! (kk)
Just want to say I read an article on your website tonight, and I enjoyed it. I have stayed at the Hard Day's Nite Bed & Breakfast in Benton, Illinois, which I understand is no longer in business. I have believed for the past ten years that the first Beatles record played in the United States was played in West Frankfort, Illinois, but your article on this subject brought me up to date. Thank you for the good work that you do!
Once again a terrific subject to jolt us back in time to wondrous place. The Ian Whitcomb song reminded me of a little 'follow-up' gem he recorded later in life. It pertains to our relationships with our sweethearts and is the anthem of many a married man.
I am unaware of your marital status but it is quite a pertinent little ditty and reinforces the fact that returning to our music roots and exploring exposes us to newer delights to cheer us.
Enjoy "I Picked A Lemon In The Garden Of Love (Where They Say Only Peaches Grow)"
Summer's Gone, CharlieOFD PS How often do we use song titles in our daily missives.
Kent, Technically, The Tornados (there's no 'e' in their name) may have been the first British band to have a #1 instrumental single on the Billboard charts, but there was another before that to top those charts, and I don't mean 14 year old Laurie London's "He's Got The Whole World In His Hand" in '58. The Tornados made it to #1 on Billboard in December of 1962 ... but earlier that year, in May, Mr. Acker Bilk, a British clarinet player and bandleader took his song, "Stranger on The Shore" to #1 for one week. Everyone seems to forget about ol' Acker. And Burton Cummings is right on about Canadians hearing a lot of British artists far earlier than Americans. Capitol Records Canada did have the majority of them (since the majority were signed to EMI in England). The credit needs to go to Capitol's A&R director at the time, Paul White (an ex-Brit) who took a lot of flak from his Capitol bosses when he released early Beatles 45's in Canada and they didn't sell more than a few copies. But he believed and keep releasing them and was eventually proven correct. Cliff Richard was actually a huge star in Canada early on in the '60's with songs like "The Young Ones", "Bachelor Boy" and "Summer Holiday" when he didn't have a Top Ten hit in America until he signed with Elton John's Rocket Records and had "Devil Woman" in 1976. Doug Thompson Toronto According to the CHUM Chart Book (graciously given to me by YOU!!!), Cliff Richard hit the Canadian Chart fourteen times before "Devil Woman" reached the American Top Ten. The list includes THREE #1 Hits ("Summer Holiday" , "Dancing Shoes" and "It's All In The Game", my recently-discovered favorite "Don't Talk To Him" (#14 in 1964 ... and covered by Burton Cummings with Randy Bachman on their "Jukebox" CD) as well as seven other Top 20 Hits like "Wonderful To Be Young" (#16, 1962); "Bachelor Boy" (#2, 1963); "It'll Be Me" (#14, 1963); "Lucky Lips" (#8, 1963); "I'm The Lonely One" (#18, 1964); "On The Beach" (#12, 1964) and "A Matter of Moments" (#12, 1964). Not all of these releases were on Capitol but the good majority of them were. He hit The Canadian Top Ten four more times in the late '70's and early '80's with his International Hits "Devil Woman" (#3, 1976); "We Don't Talk Anymore" (#2, 1980); "Dreaming" (#7, 1980) and "A Little In Love" (#2, 1981). (Actually I'm a little surprised not to see his duet with Olivia Newton-John on this list ... "Suddenly" was a pretty big hit in 1981. It comes from that ultimate turkey of a film "Xanadu".) By the way, a couple of those "Capitol of Canada" 45's sold enough copies here to chart in Billboard, too ... "All My Lovin'" (#45) and "Roll Over Beethoven" (#68) hit our charts as Canadian singles ... as well as as part of the Capitol EP "Four By The Beatles" (#92), all in 1964. (kk)
Hi Kent, Nice to see the buzz on your British Invasion Countdown -- GREAT recollections of a magical era -- when the wave of Brit talent hit the states, it was a tsunami -- whether you grew up in a major city or a small Midwestern town near the Canadian border like I did, the British Invasion impacted everyone -- from the music to their fashion, the British influence was everywhere. I'll never forget my aunt telling me in response to my Beatle haircut: "Get a haircut, you look like a damn sheep-dog!" I think the Brit musicians were big in the U.K. but over here they were giant and the nice thing about it they had the talent to back it up! Great musicians, great music, and American and Canadian audiences that soaked it up like a sponge -- and some local bands we were going to see on a Friday nights were doing a damn good job of replicating the excitement -- for me it was the The Unbelievable Uglies out of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and Burton Cummings and the Deverons out of Winnipeg -- it's too bad Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five never got to see Burton Cummings jumping on his piano with reckless-abandon wailing out a helluva version of "Reelin' n' Rockin" -- he didn't know what he was missing -- I'm glad I didn't miss it, and I haven't forgotten it some 48 years later! Cheers, Tim Kiley
Hi Kent: Why does a song like “Wonderful World” by Herman’s Hermits not make this countdown? By what criteria? Just a bit confused. Ken It looks to me like it didn't make the countdown because we fucked up!!! In fact, had you not questioned this or pointed it out, I doubt that we ever would have known! The criteria was based on how many points each song earned during its original chart run ... As such, it should have been fool proof. However, now that you've pointed this out, I see that this particular track was a complete oversight ... Part of this comes from two compilers working on opposite sides of the globe (one in Chicago and one in Taiwan!!!) collecting the final stats ... and part of it comes from collecting the data from three so-called "semi-final" lists into what ultimately made the website. I just checked our original research and there's no doubt about it ... somehow this one was skipped when we tallied up the final one hundred songs. (We caught one other instance like this but fixed it in time ... one of our lists left off "Bits And Pieces" by The Dave Clark Five and the other left off "I Know A Place" by Petula Clark ... honestly, once this was fixed, I thought that we were "good to go"!) So first of all, apologies to our faithful readers ... we regret the error ... Herman's Hermits' version of "Wonderful World" SHOULD have finished right in between "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks and "Wishin' And Hopin'" by Dusty Springfield, making it now "officially" I guess the #37 1/2 song in the countdown!!! Secondly, apologies to Peter Noone ... as we can now report that Herman's Hermits actually had SEVEN of the Top 60 songs ... or 11.67%. Not too shabby, eh Peter??? Thirdly, we're featuring it today, along with this brief memory from Peter about this particular recording session, coordinated by the legendary Mickie Most: The Herman's Hermits version of WONDERFUL WORLD was recorded as a tribute, the day after Sam was murdered in the USA. At the same recording session THE ANIMALS recorded BRING IT ON HOME TO ME. A tribute !!! We were fans of his music so we did tributes. We didn't want to make the best recording as we all knew that SAM'S recording WAS and ALWAYS will be the BEST recording. I should state here for the record, that I do not believe the music business is a competition. I never felt that we or any of my colleagues or fellow members of the so called British Invasion were competing against the original versions of these songs. Musicians do not compete ... these were tributes. We all loved Sam Cooke, and others and never wanted to compete. Every one of the bands who made up the British Invasion were influenced by the same singers (mostly American). We stole, used, borrowed and adored them. As a 13 year old I once took a five hour bus ride to see Sam, who wore a turquoise suit and sang almost everyone I had heard until that day to shame. Having all of his recordings (ALL means ALL) from his earlier career I was a bit disappointed that he hadn't even referred to them in his concert, only to find out later, that he had no idea that anyone in England knew anything about his gospel music or had ever heard of that period of his career. A true gentleman was Sam, and when Rod Stewart borrowed his voice and loaned it to Steve Perry from Journey, I was happy that at last he was known by everyone. Anyone who knows Sam's history becomes a fan. He was the MAN! -- Peter Noone You can find our entire interview with Peter Noone here: Click here: Forgotten Hits - Forgotten Hits Interviews Peter Noone
Looking at your forgotten hit web site everyday I've totally enjoyed your British Invasion Top 100. Being a big contributor to Ron Smith's WCFL chart book and knowing what a great job you do with chart stuff, why don't you do a British Invasion Top 100 Part 2, 1966 and 1967. I think it would be quite entertaining. A big fan ... thanks for the memories. Randy Anderson I hadn't really thought about that ... '64 and '65 seemed to be the pivotal years where this music had its greatest impact ... normally, I'd have covered "The Beatles Years" and shown 1964 - 1970 ... but we did a similar countdown to that a while back (just not "British Only" hits). However, I DO have a couple of other special countdowns planned as we continue our 60 Day Salute to the '60's ... so stay tuned. (kk) Click here: Forgotten Hits - THE TOP 200 #1 HITS OF THE BEATLES ERA, 1964 - 1970
>>>Technically, The Tornados may have been the first British band to have a #1 instrumental single on the Billboard charts, but there was another before that to top those charts, and I don't mean 14 year old Laurie London's "He's Got The Whole World In His Hand" in '58. The Tornados made it to #1 on Billboard in December of 1962 ... but earlier that year, in May, Mr. Acker Bilk, a British clarinet player and bandleader took his song, "Stranger on The Shore" to #1 for one week. Everyone seems to forget about ol' Acker.
(Doug Thompson) Hi Kent,
My apologies to Doug and your readers as I forgot to mention Acker Bilk's entry into the USA Charts in 1962. He is a good man and a wonderful musician who I had the honor of working with many times.
Thanks again for all the great work you do. You must spend 25 hours a day on the FH.
Cheers,
Vic Flick
Applause, applause, applause! What a rush this week!
Wait a minute ... this week coming up is gonna' be a downer.
INSTANT REPLAY, Replay, replay.
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
We'll do our best not to bore you this week! (lol) Meanwhile, you can ALWAYS revisit the countdown ... any time you like! In fact, (once we correct it!), we may just go ahead and permanently publishthe complete list on the other website for all to see. (kk)
Our tribute to the '60's continues with a genre of music that seems to be completely ignored by oldies radio today ... and I'm not sure why ... as it certainly had a profound impact on the sounds we heard during that decade ... and influenced many an artist to jump on the musical bandwagon.
When's the last time you heard any of these legitimate hits on the radio???
>>>Does anyone remember a comedy record, spoken over music, with a sort of Maynard G. Krebbs type 60's hipster who kept repeating, "Like man, I'm a musician, and I blow drums." Driving me wacko trying to remember this ... and I think I even used to have a copy too. Sheeesh. And lastly but not leastly, does anyone know the origin of a DJ-only record in which Mel Blanc did one-liners as the various Warner Bros. characters? The format was a knock at the door, a one-liner, then a door slam. Bugs Bunny and Tweety & Sylvester and the rest were all there; but the two I remember most were Porky Pig wanting "a job as a radio an-n-nn-, a radio a-nn-n-nn, a d-dd-d-disc jockey," and Yosemite Sam shouting "Kill the power! Ah cain't stand it no more!!" I've heard it might have been called something like "Run-Ins" or "Run-Throughs," but have never seen a copy "in the wild." (Jim)
Kent, Don't have a clue regarding Jim's inquiry about a comedy record with a Maynard G. Krebs type musician, but the Mel Blanc liners, I think I can help you with. Mel had a production company in Hollywood during the 60's and '70's called Mel Blanc Associates, Inc., that created commercials for ad agencies and clients. In '66, the company created a library service for radio stations called "Superfun". Over 200 radio stations subscribed to the service, which often added new discs to the library. It had all kinds of DJ liners, recurring comedy bits like "Believe It Or Don't" and "The Story Lady', even a quite funny on-going soap opera called "Return To Paper Plates" (Peyton Place, get it). The company used all the top voice talent in LA, including Gary Owens, Arte Johnson, Joanie Gerber and, of course, Mel Blanc. Subscribers to Uncle Ricky's Reel Radio site (reelradio.com) can check out the 22 minute demo album for "Superfun". It's titled "Mel Blanc Associates Superfun Demo 1968". Mel also did DJ liners back in the early 1960's for a station library service called "The Big Sound". Many celebrities - Carol Burnett, Stan Freberg, etc., did liner discs for the company (it was from the Peter Frank Organization), but that was a long time ago. We had that series (and there were at least 60 to 70 vinyl discs) at CHUM. It had production music, sound effects, commercial beds, comedy liners, etc. Some of those "The Big Sound" discs have sold for over $100.00 each on eBay. Doug Thompson - Toronto
One of your readers wanted to know about a spoken recording with instrumental background with the voice sounding somewhat like Maynard G. Krebs. There were a few "beatnik"? type of records made in the late fifties - early sixties. I thought of two or three but checked them and none of them were it. Larry We may have found it ... FH Reader Ken Voss tells us ... The song with "You know, I'm a musician" is the version of "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" on Spike Jones' Liberty LP "60 Years of Music America Hates Best." It's available on a CD in tandem with "Omnibust." Ken
Give a listen to this, Jim, and see if it's the one you remember. (Now that I think about it, Stan Freberg recorded a few of these "beatnik raps" too back in the day!) kk
Hello Kent - I co-host a '60s radio show on occasion, with my friend, longtime Madison, WI, deejay Rockin' John McDonald (WORT-FM - streaming live and archived). He will be doing a WLS-AM radio '60s theme show tonight between 6 - 8 pm CST, as he hosts regularly on Saturday evenings. I suggested that he play "It Could Be We're In Love" by The Cryan' Shames. It charted at #1 for many weeks in the summer of '67, but my question is, which I could not find when googling, is an interesting rumor that I heard, which I thought would be a good trivia piece for the audience. Is it true that a Beatles song finally knocked it off the Chicago charts at #1? Do you have any knowledge of this? I wrote to Tom Doody, lead singer, (Jim Fairs wrote the hit) and he did not know for sure. I donot believe that I could reach a Chicago deejay (maybe Dick Biondi?) at this short notice. I hope you can hurry this info to me, as his show will be in less than four hours - I would like to furnish him with it very soon.
Thanks a lot, Kent. I really value your website and service. Best regards, Joanie Baker
Our long-time FH Buddy J.C. Hooke (Jim Pilster) has told me many times over the years that to this day he HATES Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" because THAT was the song that knocked The Cryan' Shames out of the #1 Spot (after four weeks on top of The WLS Silver Dollar Survey) back in 1967. A quick check of those charts confirms his statement. Ironically, we featured BOTH of those tunes on Tuesday, August 27th, when I celebrated my 60th birthday. The only Beatles song out at this time was their national chart-topper "All You Need Is Love", which stalled at #8 here in Chi-Town. (It fared a little better at WCFL, where it peaked at #4). Sorry we missed your show ... would have loved to have tuned in for that one. Hit me with a little more notice next time and we'll invite ALL of our readers to tune in and listen! Thanks, Joanie! (kk)
Hi Kent - Sorry for the short notice. I took a chance and had my antennae out for other people as well that day. But, as it stands anyway, the show is not until September 14. My friend and I evidently got our lines crossed. So now there is ample time. Maybe Jim Fairs will get back to me with a definitive answer and details. So "Ode to Billie Joe" was the one? Never liked that song, anyway. I found out today that a Beatles song was 'stalled' making it to #1, while "Could be Were in Love" stayed in that position. Thanks a lot! Joanie Well, we looked at the actual charts and confirmed this to be the case. But September 14th DOES give us all a chance to listen so check out the times and link shown above. (This is going to be a tough one for me ... September 14th is Frannie's birthday and I know we'll be downtown at Navy Pier. Maybe you could tape it and send me a copy???) Thanks! "All You Need Is Love" just wasn't meant to be a #1 Song here in Chicago ... as mentioned above, it peaked at #8 on WLS and #4 on WCFL. (kk)
And, speaking of "Ode To Billie Joe" ...
So you're sixty ... happy birthday! I'll be joining you soon enough, old-timer ... And I might be getting older, but it to looks good on me ... lol Speaking of 'Ode to Billie Joe', after all these years, the question came up ... "What was the preacher's name?" ... and I couldn't come up with it ... arghhh! Gary Renfield Well, if you listened to our birthday clip the other day, you were reminded that "that nice young Preacher Brother Taylor came by today". (kk)
This has been driving me crazy for years. There was a band who played in the midwest just around the time CTA (Chicago) was out. They were around in the early 70's; maybe 70 - 72. They played at Drag Races a lot. They had a great horn section and had a song out with the letters USDA in it. Does that ring a bell with you? The name of the band or the song? Thanks - Buddy M Wow, no, sorry, not with me ... by I didn't really do the Drag Strip scene either. However, maybe one of our local readers can help you out with this one??? Putting it out there, folks! (kk)
Hey Kent, I’m putting together a compilation CD of the Winter Dance Party Show at the Surf Ballroom from February, 1959. (The day the music died). I found the set lists for Bopper, Valens and Holly. However, Dion and the Belmonts were also on the bill, but I’m having trouble finding their set list. Hopefully someone can help. I need the songs they played in order. Plus where were they in the line up to take the stage? I would think Bopper opened, then Valens, followed by Dion(?) and finally Holly. Any help would be appreciated. As always, “Thanks” so much for keeping us music fanatics in touch with others who truly care about the music.
Gary
Wow ... anybody got any concrete evidence on this one??? (kk)
Playing some MAJOR catch-up here today ... trying to find some of the comments we missed during our Top 100 British Invasion Hits Countdown that are still semi-relevant!!! Plus, we've still got one other REALLY BIG SURPRISE planned for later this week ... so let's get right to it, shall we???
re: THE '60's: Kent, Thanks for posting the chart action of "Blues' Theme". The Billboard peak was #37 but it spent four months going from city to city ... hence the low peak. Along the way, it hit #1 in many southern California cities plus #1 in San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Hawaii and others. In L.A. it hit #2 on one station and #3 on the other. Davie Allan Yep ... and #3 here in Chicago, too, where it was a VERY popular tune. We saw that a lot in the '60's ... a record would take off regionally and then slowly start to catch on in other parts of the country ... unfortunately quite often AFTER it had already peaked where it started and was now working its way DOWN the charts. Sometimes it was a distribution problem ... I know with WLS people would hear some of our great local acts like The New Colony Six and The Cryan' Shames all over the country because of the 50,000 watt channel ... but then not be able to find these records in their local record shops in Wyoming or Kansas or Texas or Tennessee. The potential number of records that COULD have been sold (had they simply been available) is staggering. But once again you'd find that a record that peaked here in August would just first start climbing the local chart somewhere else five or six weeks later, thus never earning enough cumulative points to have a significant impact on the national charts. And back then records fell off the charts so quickly (typically around eight weeks or so) that these great hits never really had a chance to catch on ... because something brand new had already replaced it on the airwaves and on the record store shelves. (kk)
Kent, Enjoyed the posting of the eleven songs on Tuesday. At the beginning you asked when one heard these legitimate hits on the radio. Would you believe I heard them just a few days ago. However, the radio I was listening to was in my "dreams". Incidentally, your last posting reminded me of another version of the song WALK RIGHT IN by a group called the Moments on Era. Same year, same version played at the same time. I kind of liked their version somewhat better than the Rooftop Singers. Larry I remember The Moments' version ... in fact I think I may have bought that one by mistake instead of the hit Rooftop Singers' version way back when.(Personally, I prefer the established hit ... The Moments peaked at #82 while The Rooftop Singers topped the charts with their folk classic.) As for your other comment, I seem to ALWAYS find the music playing in my head to be FAR more entertaining than the music playing on the radio. Man, what's wrong with THAT picture!!! (kk)
Hi Kent,
Very nice set in your "Just Plain Folks" piece. Judy Collins' version of Someday Soon is timeless as is Baby the Rain Must Fall. Can't see how they don't fit into radio today. Some of the other songs might sound a bit dated but you can't fault the performances in any other way. And "Walk Right In" was the perfect way to end this retro set.
Tom
To be totally honest, I wasn't a big fan of folk music. (I mean I tolerated it ... but if given the choice today, I'd rather spend a couple of hours watching "The Mighty Wind". lol!) But despite my personal feelings, there is no denying the impact this music had on our country ... yet today radio has chosen to ignore this entire genre of music ... and that's just wrong. No, it doesn't all fit ... but right now it's like it never even existed ...it's been wiped from the map! There has to be a spot for some of these songs once in a while, if only to help mix things up ... and play the unexpected.
Hey Kent,
A big THANK YOU for featuring my favorite part of the sixties music, the folk era. What a mix of songs! There were truly some great vocalists back then, and what fabulous harmony! I know there were many music icons from those days, but it really was the Kingston Trio that kicked open the door, for all the great music to follow, just as The Beatles did it for the British Invasion. And, you're right. With the exception of Dylan, today's radio stations have long forgotten about that genre. It's nice to hear Judy Collins' recording of Ian Tyson's (of Ian and Sylvia) "Someday Soon". I also love Suzy Bogguss' rendition. - John LaPuzza
Damn! I got my first guitar in late 1963 in the midst of the folk music boom. It is truly a genre of music that has been forgotten by oldies radio. Listen to the Kingston Trio's version of Hoyt Axton's Greenback Dollar. 50 years ago the word damn would not fly on AM radio, so you don't hear it in the first line of the chorus (I don't give a ... about a greenback dollar). However almost exactly six years later to the day, Judy Collins' cover of Sylvia Fricker's Someday Soon, contains the line, he loves his damned old rodeo. That did get played on the very limited amount of radio stations that played the song. Of course nowadays that's tame compared to some of the stuff that goes unedited, not that it should get edited.
Jack
re: TEN MOST ANNOYING SONGS OF THE '70's:
Last week Yahoo came up with a list of their "Ten Most Annoying Songs of the '70's" ... "Disco Duck" didn't make their list because "it was not available on Spotify due to international hate crime treaties."
Crap that did? "Musktrat Love" by The Captain and Tennille:, "Midnight At The Oasis" by Maria Muldaur, "Run Joey Run" by David Geddes and several others that seem to fall into the "love 'em or hate 'em" category. You can catch the whole list here: Click here: Top 10 Most Annoying Songs Of The 1970s - Yahoo! Music
re: THIS AND THAT:
FH Reader Paul Urbahns gives us the latest lowdown on "The Jersey Boys" movie. Ready in time for Christmas?!?!? How on earth can they do that and still do the film justice? Read on ...
I am honestly looking forward to the movie. Early comments was the Eastwood wanted to have the film ready for Christmas ... wouldn't that be a great present for fans!
I do some fan writing (as a hobby) for an entertainment site, which is read by some of the industry professionals. So if you have comments, hopes, etc., about the new movie, leave your comments in the spaces below the article.Have a great week! Paul
For a Classic Motown Song About Money, Credit Is What He Wants Barrett Strong, a pianist and singer, was the first to record the song “Money (That’s What I Want).” Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times ByLARRY ROHTER Published: August 31, 2013 DETROIT— On the lawn outside Motown Records’ former headquarters here, a historical marker honors the pivotal role that the song“Money (That’s What I Want)”played in building the Motown empire. With its hypnotic piano riff and unabashedly materialistic refrain, “Money,” recorded in 1959, was the first national success for the label that came to be known as “Hitsville U.S.A.,” giving the fledgling company credibility and a vital infusion of cash. Mr. Strong’s name was struck from copyright documents for “Money," Motown’s first national hit. Over the years, “Money” has generated millions of dollars in publishing royalties. It was recorded by boththe Beatlesandthe Rolling Stones, has been widely used in films and advertisements and is now featured in“Motown: The Musical”on Broadway. But the pianist and singer Barrett Strong, who first recorded “Money” and, according to records at the United States Copyright Office in Washington, was originally listed as a writer of the song, says that he has never seen a penny of those profits.
Unbeknown to Mr. Strong, who also helped write many other Motown hits, his name was removed from the copyright registration for “Money” three years after the song was written, restored in 1987 when the copyright was renewed, then removed again the next year — his name literally crossed out. Documents at the copyright office show that all of these moves came at the direction of Motown executives, who dispute Mr. Strong’s claim of authorship. Berry Gordy Jr., Motown’s founder, declined requests for an interview, but his lawyers contend that the original registration resulted from a clerical error, and that Mr. Strong passed up numerous opportunities to assert his claim. Mr. Strong said he learned of the alterations only late in 2010 and has been struggling ever since to have his authorship officially reinstated. At stake: his ability to share in the lucrative royalties from the song’s use. But his efforts have been blocked by a provision of copyright law that says he relinquished his rights by failing to act in a timely fashion to contest Motown’s action.
Mr. Strong’s predicament illustrates a little-known oddity in the American copyright system, one that record and music publishing companies have not hesitated to exploit. The United States Copyright Office, a division of theLibrary of Congress, does not notify authors of changes in registrations, and until recently the only way to check on any alterations was to go to Washington and visit the archives personally.
“For 50 years, I had no idea about any of this,” Mr. Strong, 72, said in an interview here, in which he acknowledged his lack of business acumen. “It was hidden from me. So how do they expect me to have acted to protect myself? It’s crazy and unfair.”
The long and complicated tale of “Money” begins, in Mr. Strong’s telling, with a simple but mesmerizing piano riff that came to him more than half a century ago as he was working as a session musician in a recording studio here. He was 18, a Mississippi native who had grown up in Detroit dreaming of a music career and had just been signed to a contract with Mr. Gordy, who was both his label president and his personal manager — an arrangement unthinkable today because of its inherent conflict of interest, but not unheard-of at the time.
“We were doing another session, and I just happened to be sitting there playing the piano,” he recalled. “I was playing ‘What’d I Say,’ by Ray Charles, and the groove spun off of that.”
As Mr. Strong was polishing the riff, the recording engineer, Robert Bateman, recalls becoming increasingly animated. “And when I get excited, the very first thing I do is call Berry,” Mr. Bateman said at an event at the Hard Rock Cafe in 2010. “ ‘Whoa, Berry, you’ve got to hear this, you’ve got to hear this, you’ve got to hear this.’ ”
“Anyway,” Mr. Bateman added, “it all emanated from Barrett Strong.”
The guitarist on the “Money” sessions was Eugene Grew, who recalls taking musical direction from Mr. Strong. “We sat there, practicing, and Barrett said, ‘Do this,’ and, ‘Do that,’ ” Mr. Grew said in an interview here. “It’s a real simple figure, over and over. Barrett showed me what to play and then Berry came by.”
Once the instrumental track was recorded, Mr. Strong said, Janie Bradford, who had written songs with Mr. Gordy for Jackie Wilson, helped on the lyrics. But Mr. Strong said he also contributed words.
On Nov. 12, 1959, Motown’s new song-publishing company, Jobete Music, of which Mr. Gordy was the sole owner, registered “Money (That’s What I Want)” with the United States Copyright Office. That filing, bearing Ms. Bradford’s signature, designated Mr. Strong as an “author of words & music,” with Ms. Bradford also getting a credit for words and Mr. Gordy for words and music.
Early in 1960, “Money” was issued under Mr. Strong’s name. It rose to No. 2 on Billboard’s rhythm and blues chart, peaked at No. 23 on the pop charts and eventually sold nearly a million copies.
Then, in August 1962, Jobete filed an amended copyright on “Money,” instructing the copyright office to remove Mr. Strong’s name. Under procedures in place at the copyright office then (and still in effect today), Mr. Strong had three years to contest that filing — which he said he would have done had he only known of it.
Mr. Strong’s case may stretch back decades, but the potential for other artists to find themselves in a similar bureaucratic limbo remains written into copyright law. The copyright office has begun digitizing its vast archive, which includes handwritten filings dating back to the 19th century, and that should improve access for all copyright holders. But the process has been proceeding slowly.
“I think he’s got an uphill battle,” said June M. Besek, executive director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at the Columbia University School of Law. “It’s really a statute of limitations issue. He could be depicted as someone who did not conscientiously pursue his rights.”
In a letter, Barry Langberg and Deborah Drooz, lawyers for Mr. Gordy, wrote that Ms. Bradford had “erroneously listed Mr. Strong as one of ‘Money’s’ co-writers” in 1959, because “she was inexperienced and confused about the ‘authorship’ section’ ” of the copyright form, and that “when the mistake was discovered, it was rectified.” They enclosed a recently executed affidavit from Ms. Bradford to that effect.
In a separate letter, Nansci LeGette, the director of one of Mr. Gordy’s production companies, noted that Mr. Strong later signed songwriting agreements with Jobete and Mr. Gordy in which he failed to assert authorship rights to “Money.” Those “multiple transactions conducted by Barrett Strong over the years indicate that without any doubt, he did not himself believe that he was a co-writer” of the song, the letter stated.
Mr. Strong, however, said that he repeatedly asserted his rights as a writer directly in conversations with Mr. Gordy when “Money” became a hit. In retrospect, he said, he believes his name may have been removed from the songwriting credits because Mr. Gordy had come to see him as a troublemaker.
“I wasn’t getting any statements, so I started asking not too long after the record came out,” he recalled. “You couldn’t ask too many questions back then, because they’d say: ‘You’re being a bad boy. You’re getting smart.’ But I kept inquiring, and Mr. Gordy told me, ‘Don’t worry about statements and things, you’ll make your money on the road.’ On the road to what?”
Unable to generate a follow-up hit and sensing that Motown’s future resided with emerging stars like Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Little Stevie Wonder, Mr. Strong concluded he had to look elsewhere to make a living. “I had to take care of my kids,” he said, “so I went and got myself a job at Chrysler, on the production line.”
In the mid-1960s, Mr. Strong returned to Motown as a staff songwriter at the urging of his friend, the record producer Norman Whitfield; he rushed over to the studio every afternoon when his shift at the auto plant was over. Together, Mr. Strong and Mr. Whitfield wrote a string of hits that led to them being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Just My Imagination” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” among them.
Mr. Strong’s coauthorship of those hits has never been altered at the copyright office, and he said he had received some royalties for them. A few years ago, he said, he relinquished future royalties from his later songs to a third party for a $2 million payment in what he thought was a fixed-term licensing agreement but which turned out to be an outright sale; he invested that money in a recording studio project that has since failed.
Music royalties are generally divided into two categories, one for the performance of a song and the other for the composition itself. Sales of recordings may have plummeted since the late 1990s, but the songs themselves — or snippets of them — have increasingly become the soundtracks for TV shows and movies, advertisements and ring tones. Broadway can provide yet another revenue stream: Besides “Money,” the Broadway show “Motown: The Musical” features more than 50 other songs from the label’s catalog, and a two-CD soundtrack has been released. In 2009, Mr. Strong had a stroke, limiting his ability to play the piano and sing. He now lives in a retirement home here, and hopes that by recouping rights to “Money” he will more easily be able to pay his medical bills and residence fees. But he also wants his accomplishments properly remembered.
“Songs outlive people,” he said, with a mixture of sadness, resignation and anger. “The real reason Motown worked was the publishing. The records were just a vehicle to get the songs out there to the public. The real money is in the publishing, and if you have publishing, then hang on to it. That’s what it’s all about. If you give it away, you’re giving away your life, your legacy. Once you’re gone, those songs will still be playing.”
This wouldn't be the first instance of an artist saying he was ripped off by the powers that be at a big record company ... and Berry Gordoy and Motown Records in particular. Amazing thing is, Motown was just a start-up venture back then ... but it's happened before. Check out the story WE uncovered a few years back regarding the Marv Johnson hit "You Got What It Takes", later covered by The Dave Clark Five! Click here: Forgotten Hits: You Got What It Takes
Hola Kent, I am a great fan of your website I am a Boston guy and especially love LABOR DAY TOP 500'S Cape Cod is one of the great Labor Day venues and super place to lay around in the sand and enjoy all that The Cape has to offer. I am intrigued by this year's listing, surely it is biased toward older baby-boomers, as I 'mature' in my musical tastes I have come to appreciate the songs of Billy Joel who expresses life's experiences in his songs brilliantly (yet not cracking the top 500?) and as a retiree I have expanded my 'songbook' to include the Zac Brown Band, Darius Rucker, and some of the newer offerings perhaps influenced by we baby-boomers. These songs kind of cater to the more relaxed status of we retirees. It will be interesting going forward to see if any of these newer offerings enter the Top 500 list in the future. Have a great weekend, CharlieOFD
Listening again for the second time to the Sirius / XM Labor Day Countdown as I read your blog. No surprise ... or maybe just happy to see ... that The Beatles hold number one. I cannot overstate the importance that the British Invasion had on my past and present. It woke me up, kicked me into puberty (I really didn't want to go there. I was happy to be 'in the music' while maintaining my childhood) and opened me up to all the varieties, American and British, that were to come along. It even encouraged me to back-track to the origins of songs that I heard for the first time, but were actually remakes from others. Which now brings up 'House of the Rising Sun'. Keep going back in time ... Leadbelly had sung this song in the 1920s. I don't think he recorded it until the 1930s or even later. (Sorry, my notes are packed away in the trunk of my car following my transfer to another school).
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano Geez, does every countdown have to end with " I Want To Hold Your Hand"? :-) -- Ron Smith Truth be told, it took a little bit of finagling to get The Beatles to #1 ... but by mutual agreement all three of us (Dann Isbell, Lou Simon and myself) felt it HAD to rank that way. What bigger '60's debut was there than The Beatles?!?!
As such, we went through several "rough drafts" of The Top 40 Debuts. On one version, Bobby Lewis would have held down the top spot for "Tossin' And Turnin'", a HUGE #1 Hit from 1961. It actually scores ahead of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in Dann Isbell's book "Ranking The '60's". But how do you rank that one song, a virtual "One Hit Wonder", ahead of the biggest sound that DEFINED the '60's???
We felt that the ONLY fair and accurate way to come up with a list that MEANT something was to first compile a list of the Top 100 Artists of the Decade ... then evaluate THOSE debut hits in order to compile our countdown. (See, this is all the "behind the scenes" things you don't see as to what goes into putting together a radio show!!! lol)
Unfortunately, using this formula, several other really big first hit #1 Records were also eliminated ... including "The Letter" by The Box Tops, "Ode To Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry, Dion's first solo record (he had already been charting for YEARS with The Belmonts, so I didn't feel too badly about that one! Suffice to say he lost the coin toss!) and a couple of one-hit wonders or in-studio creations. Of course, we weren't totally happy with THESE results either ... those are some pretty big hits to ignore ... but once you develop the criteria, you've pretty much got to go with the results of this decision. Ultimately, we all signed off on the content ... and that's the countdown you heard on Sirius / XM. (kk)
WCBS-FM Fan Frank B sent us THEIR Top 500 Labor Day Countdown List to compare with the one posted on Ron Smith's OldiesMusic.com website ... here are the links for both:
Our FH Buddy John Madara tells us about a brand new release on "That Philly Sound" ... a very special Chubby Checker "Six Pack" ... six songs by Chubby, three of which have never been released until now. Four of the songs on this CD feature musicians Daryl Hall (before he teamed up with John Oates), Tom Sellers, Tim Moore and Bobby Eli. In fact, the great Hal Blaine performs on one of the songs with members of The Wrecking Crew. And it's only $5.95!!! You'll find lots of rare gems on John's "That Philly Sound" label ... be sure to check out their website for all the details. (kk)
Kent ... Here's one I think your readers will enjoy ... The Top 10 songs, each month, 1955 - 1985. Frank B. Click here: http://www.45rpmdb.com/Top10.html I have a book like this, that breaks down The Top Ten for every month ... then recaps with Billboard's Top 50 for the year as well as the top albums, too. Always neat to have this stuff at your fingertips! (kk)
Speaking of Brian Wilson, he's just added some very pretty background harmonies to a Jimmy Webb remake of his classic '60's hit "MacArthur Park" ... in fact, you'll find a pretty amazing list of guest artists on this new LP:
New Jimmy Webb Album Features Duets with Brian Wilson, Crosby & Nash, America & More
An all-star lineup of artists have lent their talents toStill Within the Sound of My Voice, the latest album by renowned pop songwriter Jimmy Webb. Among the many artists contributing to the duets collection, which will be released this Tuesday, are Brian Wilson, David Crosby & Graham Nash, America, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel and Carly Simon.
Still Within the Sound of My Voice sees Webb revisiting 14 of his memorable tunes, adding country- and folk-flavored arrangements to the songs. The album was recorded in Nashville and features musical accompaniment from a group of respected Music City studio musicians. Among the interesting tracks are a rendition of “McArthur Park” highlighted by Beach Boys-inspired harmonies from Wilson, and a version of “Elvis and Me” that featuresElvis Presley‘s famed backing singersThe Jordanaires. “Still Within the Sound of My Voicecontinues the sensual rediscovery of living through and fully realizing the potential joy in the recording experience,” says Webb in a statement. “This is a brother and sisterhood of like-minded people sparing nothing for the love of the recording and passing that experience on to the listener.” The entire album currently is streaming atAmericanSongwriter.com. Here is the complete track list of Still Within the Sound of My Voice, along with the featured guest artists: “Sleeping in the Daytime” (featuring Lyle Lovett) “Easy for You to Say” (featuring Carly Simon) “Elvis and Me” (featuring The Jordanaires) “Where’s the Playground, Suzie” (featuring Keith Urban) “Still Within the Sound of My Voice” (featuring Rumer) “If These Walls Could Speak” (featuring David Crosby and Graham Nash) “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” (featuring Joe Cocker) “Another Lullaby” (featuring Marc Cohn) “You Can’t Treat the Wrong Man Right” (featuring Justin Currie) “Rider from Nowhere” (featuring America) “Honey Come Back” (featuring Kris Kristofferson) “Adios” (featuring Amy Grant) “MacArthur Park” (featuring Brian Wilson) “Shattered” (featuring Art Garfunkel)
Last week we told you about Melanie's new book ... and now comes this clip (courtesy of FH Reader David Lewis) from Melanie herself explaining how she doesn't even get compensated for her own work anymore! Pretty sad, really ... and this was a big, big hit song. (In fact, Melanie scored half a dozen Top 40 Hits in the early '70's with great tracks like "Brand New Key", "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" and "Ring The Living Bell".) Check out this clip ... it shows you how today ... even some 40 years later ... successful artists continue to get screwed by their record labels and publishing companies. Sad. (kk) Click here: ? OFFICIAL MELANIE Brand New Version "Brand New Key" 2012 from Melanie - YouTube
Yesterday we told you about a program running this weekend on WORT that'll feature some cool WLS '60's stuff, including The Cryan' Shames' #1 Local Hit "It Could Be We're In Love". Sounds like host Joanie Baker has an interview with Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams coming up in a couple of weeks too! (kk)
HI Kent -
The show this Saturday night is actually Rockin' John's show, not mine. I produce an occasional show (maybe 4x a year, tops). I will be co-hosting his show on September 28th though. I booked Carl Giammarese for an interview. I'm sorry to hear that you'll miss the show this weekend, but I hope that you tune on for the Buckinghams one on the 28th!
Interesting that "All You Need is Love" was the song that inched its way up to the top, but never made it, while "It Could Be We're In Love" remained at that top slot, and was a steady #1 throughout August, as Toad told me.
You should join the group created and host on FaceBook. Not sure if you participate in that sort of thing, but it would be great to have you there. You would be in good company.
I will tell R.J. the Beatles trivia for his upcoming show, this Saturday.
Kent, even if you miss the show this Saturday, there are always the archives, and you can get on the WORT website and pretty effortlessly listen to it (for two weeks afterwards, but I would recommend tuning in a lot sooner than that, because then it DOES become more difficult and complicated to find the show.
Best wishes, Kent!
Warmly,
Joanie B.
re: THE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY:
Kent, I sent my chairs on ahead so they were waiting for us in the first row when we arrived around 2:00 pm. Other acts appear throughout the day and there is time to walk the fair, eat, visit with friends, eat, go on rides, eat, meet new people, and, of course, eat. Oh, RAIN was added this year. Covering the chairs up with plastic and the extra umbrellas, we seasoned concert goers took it in stride. By 8:00 pm, when it was concert time, we were still there, now seated, fed, and waiting. What you said ... !!!
I will try not to be repetitive, but I loved the show, and so did you. Don't you think that Gary Lewis still has a childlike wide-eyed wonder about him? His performance shows this. Maybe it's genetic from his father Jerry Lee? ;-) The wait backstage must have seemed intolerable, because by the time Mark Lindsay came out, he claimed to be 85. Great toe-touching and kicks at 71! You needn't increase the age to get more respect from us, Mark. AND I TOTALLY AGREE ... ROCK 'N ROLL KEEPS YOU YOUNG. And Kent, it is true ... you cannot sing along with Gary Puckett. But given the heart and soul he is pouring into his interpretations, I'll just add the choruses. Maybe he prefers that anyway. Now Chuck Negron's girlfriend sat with us, and became the tour's photographer. KUDOS to the Woodstock Fair audience for not following her lead, and jumping up to try their own up-close photo-ops. Chuck had not slept for 23 hours and yet NAILED those vocals. Frannie, I am with you: 'Eli's Coming' is a definite high point, BUT 'One' was running neck and neck last night. And now for The Turtles. 'You Know What I Mean' ? I was sitting in front of Mark Volman for most of their act, and the contortions, faces, and posing kept me in stitches. The doctor says I should be fine by Tuesday. You Know What I Mean' ? Howard and Mark fly around the stage like nuisance gnats so how do they get the job done? 'You Know What I Mean' ? Yes Kent, a short set, but a complete unit. A*L*M*O*S*T ... Nobody sang 'You Know What I Mean'. And Howard, since it was a shorter set you COULD have added just that one itty bitty song. (you know what I mean?) Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
I got to see the Beach Boys on their 50th anniversary tour when it hit Saratoga, NY. We were way up on the field so it was more of a listening experience than a viewing one ... anyway, diagonal from us was this extremely loud family of three, an older lady, a younger girl and a younger boy ... just talking away as if they were listening to a CD in their living room (and, the way the Beach Boys sounded that night, I almost felt like I was just listening to a CD of theirs because they sounded so dang close to the original recordings, which is why I'm so sad that they couldn't [or wouldn't] continue performing as one big group). They talked through the entire first half of the show, and a little old lady next to them kept shushing them, to which they would tell her to shut up and keep talking ... well, they left to go get some beers during the intermission and when they returned the second half was just about to begin and they went at it again with their endless talking. Two songs into the second half, they shushed the old lady again and I decided I'd had enough so I yelled "SHUT THE F*** UP AND ENJOY THE CONCERT!" at them. Then the boy (who must've thought himself to be some kind of a tough guy) started yelling back at me, then I yelled back at him, the girl and the older woman yelled at me, I yelled back at them, and then all three of them started yelling at me at once, which got about eight people around me to start shouting at them to shut up and enjoy the concert. By this time obscenities were flying from their mouths at a furious pace. Their language did not settle well with a very large African American male who looked like he was a former marine, as he got in their faces and told them to stop swearing around his daughter (I assume he didn't hear the first one I had said, thankfully) ... they did not like him getting in their faces and so they got up and stormed off, leaving their blanket behind. I spent the rest of the show spitting on their blanket in between songs, hoping they would eventually come back for it. I have no idea if they ever did or not, but I had never been so angry at anything in my life. Those stupid people had no idea what a legendary show they were ruining for several people around them. I can recall another time when my friend and i saw Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey in concert... there was a woman sitting directly behind us singing so loudly that she was drowning out the two singers on stage (I joked with my friend that she was trying to audition to be the next Mary, unsuccessfully). Tom So, how'd you enjoy the concert? Oh man, it was GREAT ... I beat the shit out of EVERYbody!!! (lol) I just don't get it ... what do these people go to the shows for in the first place if they have no intention of watching them ... and then ruining the experience for all of those around them? Just stay home ... or go drink somewhere else.
We've seen it all over the years ... people falling down, fights breaking out ... I was there when a fan threw a bottle at the stage and hit Yvonne Elliman in the hand during an Eric Clapton concert ... and another time when somebody dropped a cherry bomb into the main floor seats at a Beach Boys / Chicago gig. It truly has gotten insane. (Hey gang, for the most part, these tickets ain't cheap ... and we REALLY want to sit back and enjoy the show. At the Three Dog Night show a couple came in about two-thirds of the way through the concert and then stood right in front of us, COMPLETELY blocking our view of the stage. We were there in chairs ... and had been since a couple of hours before the show began. What would make them think that they earned the right to come in late and then block the view of another attendee? I felt like getting up after one song and saying to them, OK, now it's OUR turn to stand in front of you and block YOUR view. Idiots!) Yes, it's frustrating ... and truly takes away from the whole concert-going experience ... especially if you've shelled out big bucks to see the show. (Hey dude, I didn't pay $89 to hear YOU sing this guy's hits!!! And very badly, too, I might add!) But it really doesn't matter WHERE the show is or how much the ticket price was. I'm there to see, hear and enjoy the show. If that's not the reason YOU'RE here, then please go somewhere else. One word of advice though, Tom ... after watching eight seasons of "Dexter", I can faithfully say that it's not a good idea to leave your DNA anywhere near the scene of the crime ... no matter HOW pissed off you get!!! (lol) kk
I think the people that came late and stood in front of you and Frannie at the 2 Dog Night Elk Grove concert were the people that came late and stood behind us! They were quite drunk and proceeded to squeeze 20 people in the space saved for 5! And then they got mad at us for complaining! They totally took over our space which we had saved for hours. Thank goodness the concert was great and worth the admission!
I'm going to look for Chuck's sequel ... would love to read that too. I, too, had to cringe when I read the "exploding penis" part ... what a survivor! Janet Could've been the same people I suppose ... but nowadays these assholes seem to be at every show. It's kinda like the guy who walks through a parking lot keying cars ... he gets all of his satisfaction out of ruining the experience for somebody else. Idiots! (kk)
>>>Another one who really plays it up to the vets is Tony Orlando (kk)
Yep - Every single show I have gone to! He honors everyone from WW1
vets to the parents and spouses of people currently serving now.
And then he sings his own version of Neil Diamond's "America".
Quite a tribute-and I never get tired of applauding for those who have
served our country!
Eileen
I think it's a great way to salute those who served our country and
protected our freedom. And let's not forget that Tony's big hit
"Tie A Yellow Ribbon" took on a whole new meeting during The Gulf War! (kk)
Jon Anderson To Guest Star In Raiding The Rock Vault In Las Vegas – Sept. 20-24, 2013
YES founding member and former lead vocalist Jon Anderson joins Raiding The Rock Vault At The Las Vegas Hotel Casino for five shows 9/20-24 Las Vegas, NV – Jon Anderson, founding member and former lead vocalist of the definitive progressive rock band YES, will guest star in RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT, the Ultimate Classic Rock Concert Experience, Sept. 20 – 24. The co-writer and singer of cosmic classics, including “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “Roundabout,” “Going for the One,” and “Close to the Edge,” whose time with the band spanned five decades, will sing in the show for five special performances.
“Jon Anderson is an icon,” said RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT creator, director and producer John Payne. “He is one of the biggest names in the history of progressive rock and I’m really excited for him to lend his voice to the show.”
The story of classic rock comes to life in RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT, which takes audiences on a magical musical journey, traversing the genre’s history from the ‘60s through the ‘80s. The hard-rocking show features classic anthems from The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Eagles, Queen, Van Halen, AC/DC, Journey, Free, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Toto, Deep Purple, and more, truly boasting "The Greatest Set List Ever."
The show’s all-star lineup includes Howard Leese [Guitar] (Heart), Tracii Guns [Guitar] (LA Guns, Guns n’ Roses), Robin McAuley [Lead Vocals] (MSG, Survivor), John Payne [Lead Vocals and Bass] (Asia), Paul Shortino [Lead Vocals] (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot), Jay Schellen [Drums] (Badfinger, Asia), Andrew Freeman [Lead Vocals and Guitars] (Lynch Mob, The Offspring), and Michael T. Ross [Keyboards] (Lita Ford, Hardline).
Ticket prices for RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT range from $49 to $125 (plus fees) for a special Rock Star Package (which includes tickets in first five rows, t-shirt, concert program, album, meet-and-greet and VIP pass). Special discount tickets for $39 are available for locals. For an up-to-date schedule or to purchase tickets, visit the LVH box office or log onto thelvh.com, vegas.com, or ticketmaster.com. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 702-732-5755 or 1-800-222-5361.
About LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino: LVH - Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, a world-class destination, offers a unique blend of amenities and excitement with all your favorite table games, hottest slots on the market, incredible restaurants, endless entertainment, more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space and the world’s largest race and sports SuperBook®. LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino provides a range of culinary adventures including exhibition-style Japanese cuisine at the world-famous Benihana, fine steaks at TJ’s Steakhouse, Pan-Asian dining at 888 Noodle Bar, authentic Japanese sushi at Teru Sushi, a traditional buffet that features tastes from around the world, and more. LVH boasts a strong entertainment schedule led by world-class headliners in the LVH Theater, as well as a variety of on-going production shows in the Shimmer Cabaret. Its proximity to the Las Vegas Convention Center and its designation as a Monorail station (connecting it to the Las Vegas Strip) makes it the ideal hotel for conventions and visitors alike. For more information or to book accommodations, call toll free at(800) 732-7117or log on towww.thelvh.comor connect with us on our social pageswww.thelvh.com/Hotel/stayconnected.
We've been telling you about the upcoming Sonny Geraci Benefit Concert ... and here's a cool clip to tell you who'll be performing. More info to come as it becomes available:
Wow! What a GREAT set list! Man, what a show this must be!!! Still no official word as to
whether or not they'll be taking it on the road ... but one can only hope! Thanks for sharing
with us, Tom! (Awesome photos, by the way ... kudos to Stuart Hersh!) kk
And this just in ... The Rascals' "Once Upon A Dream" multi-media event is coming BACK
to Broadway in December!!! (Man, I was hoping for a Chicago stop between now and then!!!) kk
Realizing A 'Dream': The Rascals Conquering Broadway, One Concert-Theatrical Show at a Time By Phil Gallo
The Rascals will return to Broadway in December for a second three-week run, and if all goes according to plan,
their next tour will be more week-long residencies in theaters than one-nighters in concert venues. It may also spur
other veteran acts to explore this new hybrid of concert, theatrical show and film that balances stories about a band,
its songs and the milieu of its heyday.
"It's a completely new genre -- what could be the next evolution of the concert experience for the older artists," says
E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who orchestrated the Rascals reunion, as well as directing and producing the show
"Once Upon a Dream." "Concerts are going on now for 50, 60 years, so maybe it's time for a change, to start integrating the story.
The idea [for "Once Upon a Dream"] was to integrate the stories with the songs, give the songs a context and make the whole night
entertaining while retaining the integrity of the concert."
"The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream" has toured the country this year, beginning with three nights at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y.,
and will wrap in October with shows at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and the Warfield in San Francisco. It has only had two multiple-night runs:
14 nights (April 16 - May 5) at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theater, where it played to 94% capacity and grossed $2.2 million (according to IBDB.com),
and a 10-night run at the 1,100-seat Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto (Aug. 13-25).
The 28-song show is a mixture of hits -- the group had 13 top 40 records between 1965 and 1969 -- andobscurities ("See," "It's Love," "If You Knew,"
"Baby Let's Wait") performed against a backdrop of historic footage and actors re-enacting the Rascals' story.
The productiontook three years to assemble, costing Van Zandt $2 million and 617 donors on Kickstarter another $123,000. Van Zandt says crowd-sourcing
was done more to get a sense of the value of the project than to raise funds. Expenditures included three years of voice lessons for singer Eddie Brigati with
Katie Agresta ("Jersey Boys," Bon Jovi), a 50-foot-long screen for the visual design work of lighting director/co-producer/co-director Marc Brickman (Roger Waters,
Nine Inch Nails) and a full complement of musicians to allow the quartet to reproduce its work the way it was recorded.
When "Once Upon a Dream" returns to Broadway the week of Dec. 16, this time at the 1,600-seat Marriott Marquis, its rock'n'roll cohorts will be
three shows that are proving the durability of pop music catalogs on the Great White Way. "Jersey Boys," the music and story of Frankie Valli and
the Four Seasons and the closest production to "Once Upon a Dream," recouped its initial investment nine months after it opened in November 2005
and has grossed more than $425 million. The fictional '80s hard rock saga "Rock of Ages" has pulled in $102 million from 1,730 shows, and "Motown:
The Musical" has sold out nearly every show since it opened April 14, grossing more than $16 million. (Producers supply figures to such websites as
BroadwayWorld.com that keep running tallies.)
Van Zandt and his wife, Maureen, got the Rascals to initially reunite in 2010 to perform at the Kristen Ann Carr Fund benefit. Van Zandt, who has worked with the band
members individually, inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and championed the act on his radio show "Little Steven's Underground Garage," says he has
been asked to get them back onstage since 1982. He and the band members all say money alone wasn't enough for a reunion and that the oldies circuit held no appeal.
The historical show "gave them an artistic reason to reunite," Van Zandt says.
"I was given confidence and trust; they treated us better than we have ever been treated," Brigati says, but Felix Cavaliere, the Rascals' keyboardist, singer and chief songwriter,
had his doubts. He says he has turned down offers to do one-man shows that would be a combination of stories and songs, and he wasn't fully convinced "Once Upon a Dream"
would succeed.
"I must say that this was a surprise to me," he says. "I think this is a good idea for concerts in the future. You just have to keep the costs down."
Also coming up later this month at The Arcada Theatre ... Burton Cummings with The Zombies as the warm-up act!!! This is going to be one HELL of a show. (Friday, September 27th) ... details on the OShows website: www.oshows.com) Which leads us to our other big announcement ...
re: THIS WEEKEND IN FORGOTTEN HITS: Don't miss our EXCLUSIVE Interview with Burton Cummings, former lead singer of The Guess Who!!! This one's so big it'll take three days just to fit it all in!!! It all kicks off tomorrow EXCLUSIVELY on The Forgotten Hits Website ... So don't miss it!
re: RECENT PASSINGS: Last weekend we lost one of our own ... From Ron Smith's OldiesMusic.com website: Joe Kelley, bassist and later lead guitarist with the Shadows of Knight of "Gloria" fame
who went on to become a renown blues guitarist as a solo artist, died of cancer Sunday
(September 1) in suburban Chicago. Sad to say that the guitarist who gave us those classic lead guitar licks in the Shadows of
Knight's versions of "Oh Yeah!" and "Gloria" passed away this weekend. EVERYONE will remember
those sounds, even if many will say Bo Diddley and Them's originals are better than the covers that
became hits for the Shadows of Knight in 1966. Of course, Joe Kelley's Blues Band formed by 1967 or so and it has toured for decades, often visiting
Lincoln's own Zoo Bar. Sundazed music issued this note: "We're very very sad to report that our good
friend and Sundazed artist Joe Kelley of the amazing Shadows of Knight passed away earlier today.
What I find especially entertaining about this interview is the fact that A) It's got to be one of the very first (if not THE very first) interview McCartney did on his own without the rest of the band. (The Beatles were always interviewed as a group back then.) B) By "back then", I mean Summer of 1964 ... as "A Hard Day's Night" is just about to come out. And C) A couple of times during this interview (circa 1964), McCartney mentions "retirement" ... this year ... 2013 ... some 50 years later ... he's saying that he will NEVER retire ... and, in fact, shows absolutely NO evidence of slowing down ... In fact, if anything, quite the opposite seems to be the case. But the line that TOTALLY cracked me up was that WAY back in The Summer of 1964, David Frost says "Well, at THIS rate you probably won't be ready to retire until around the year 2010." Who would have EVER believed this to be the case for this "flash-in-the-pan", "highly-overrated" band?!?!? (lol) kk re: DIGGIN' FORGOTTEN HITS: Happy Labor Day and many thanks to you for all the labor and love that you put into Forgotten Hits!
You continue to amaze me with your ability to get informative information from artists and former
and active radio personalities, as well as insights from the general public, the lovers of R&R. How you find the time is beyond me but please keep up your great work! Danny Guilfoyle
Kent,
OLDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ISSSS there anything else??????
Long time orrr, not long enough? Robert Black here (MANY question THAT)
YEARRRRS back first song playin g at the Kincardine arena for roller skating, "Can't Buy Me Love" ...
NEVVVVer connected the title to, their first words, which I thought was hearing, Cant BOBBY LOVE.
One of the first things I did once I got on to this laptop was look up the words to the Johnny Horton
version of Battle of Bull Run. "We said we'd run 'em to Atlana, and to" ... need my lap top to READ
what he was saying.
Might make a neat list from readers, "IZ THAT!!! what ??? was saying!!!"
Johnnny was doing what Elvis did, putting the emPHOSES on the sylABLES!
According to a trivia note I read somewhere, Elvis' LP "FOR LP FANS ONLY" was first LP of any label,
to be issued minus the artists' NAME on front cover.
Hoping this BLOG (?) or whatever it is, continues for some time.
Robert Black, (age 65)
Kincardine n Willowdale
re: BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES:
"Another year older, and deeper in debt." Looks like you owe your soul to the company store you sexagenarian.
You're in good company with others now 60: Susan Dey, Pat Benatar, Patti Scialfa, Alex Lifeson, Phoebe Snow,
Robert Cray, Alex Van Halen, Karla DeVito, Robin Zander, Geddy Lee, Sharon Osbourne, Chaka Khan, Cyndi
Lauper and Michael Bolton.
Ken Voss
Well, you got the "deeper in debt" part right ... man life was SO much easier when I turned 40!!! Not bad company
though to turn 60 with.
Ken even sent me these pictures to rub it in ...
(Of course I looked a little different in the '70's, too!!!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ... AND TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT MOST OF THE PEOPLE WE TALK ABOUT
HERE ARE OLDER THAN YOU ... THAT ALONE SHOULD KEEP YOU FEELING YOUNG!!!
ALSO ... ENJOY EVERY DAY AS IF IT WERE YOU'RE LAST, BUT KEEP PLANNING PROJECTS FOR
AT LEAST TEN YEARS INTO THE FUTURE.
MGB
Hi Kent,
Happy 60th Birthday to you.
It is only a number. Keep your spirit young and keep up with your love for the Forgotten Hits!!!
Carolyn
I hit the Old People Barrier last year. There is indeed life after 60, if not necessarily hair.
(You've done much better there than I have.) The thing I miss most about Sixties music are novelty songs. It was a novelty song that led
me to pop radio when I was 11. The kitchen radio and my dad's car radio were always tuned
to old-people station WGN. Music at our house was either what Wally Phillips played or else classical records on the RCA Mark XII stereo. Back in 1963, I began hearing a silly song on WGN
about a guy with a kangaroo that needed tying down. It came up in playground conversation
at school, and my friends told me they were hearing it a lot on WLS. WLS? Never hoid of it ...
but then I bummed a portable radio from my grandfather and tuned in to WLS. Good-bye Beethoven. Hello Lesley Gore. My mother (who was the one playing the classical LPs)
was heartbroken. That wasn't the first novelty song I ever heard. My dad had actually bought the Playmates' 45 "Beep Beep"
in 1958, because we owned not one but two Nash Ramblers at the time. Wally Phillips would also play
"Monster Mash" around Halloween. And I had heard Vaughan Monroe's "In the Middle of the House" and
"Who Stole the Kishka?" at my cousins'. So I was primed. "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead," "The Leader of the Laundromat," "Martian Hop," "My Boomerang Won't
Come Back," "Crazy Downtown," "Thank You Very Much," "I Love Onions," "Go Go Radio Moscow,"
"Chick-a-Boom," "Gimme Dat Ding," and all the rest. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore. Welcome to 60. We knew you'd get here sooner or later. --73-- -- Jeff Duntemann Colorado Springs CO
You don't hear much in the way of novelty tunes (or instrumentals either for that matter) anymore
these days ... it's a different "landscape" out there for music ... nothing to "lighten the mood" seems to fit.
I've always been a novelty fanatic, too ... and, purely by coincidence, you tapped into TWO artists
I was working on this weekend ... Rolf Harris and Lesley Gore ... both of whom, apparently, have
had a thing (at one time or another) for little girls. My tastes in music haven't changed much overall ...
I still maintain to this day that NOTHING beats a good, catchy pop song ... and while I've expanded
my horizons over the year to include somethings off the beaten path, it still ALWAYS comes back to
a good, catchy melody that stays with you. Sadly, this has been missing more and more from popular
music these past few decades, which is why a song WITH one today stands head and shoulders above
all the rest. (kk)
Kent, Again, I hope you had an excellent happy birthday and I want you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed
today's comments. I always like to see surveys from other radio markets and to see what records were
played that weren't played here in OKC. On the survey from KFJZ top 60, I noticed in the King Z Klimers was a song by the Last Word, CAN'T
STOP LOVING YOU on Atco. Haven't heard that record or thought of it in years. I got it out just now
and played it as they say "one more time". It was a big record here in OKC, in fact, I just checked and
it peaked at #2 in November of 1967. Enjoyed hearing SUNDAY AND ME, always did like that one by Jay & the Americans. I also got out another record I hadn't heard or thought of in years. You made reference to it in one of
your notes as being a "good news week". Love those Hedge Hoppers Anonymous. This if FYI. Here in OKC on the date of your birthday, the #1 song was THE LETTER by the Box Tops and
at the bottom of the survey in the Pick Hit of the Week position was the song by the Lemon Charade,
THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD on Epic. One final thing about your hitting the big 6-0. I discovered a few years ago after I hit the big 5-5 that
when I go to certain restaurants, one gets a discount on certain items. These items may be what you
get to drink, dessert, a certain percentage off your entree, etc. As singer Brenda Holloway said, EVERY
LITTLE BIT(doesn't) HURT. Larry P.S. Hope you had a great BIRTHDAY PARTY on your day. Where are those Pixies 3 when you need them?
Yeah, I LOVE looking at other surveys and seeing what "local hits" we may have missed ... but then I wanna
hear 'em!!! (lol) That's why I'm still hoping that we can drum up enough interest to put together another
edition of "Show Me Your Hits", a series put together by the readers showing some of the songs that were
big hits in their areas growing up yet somehow never made their way to the national charts. I've never really "cashed in" on the senior discounts ... have always hated to share my age with the wait-staff ...
but I'm getting to the point now where hey, if I've got it coming, then I want it!!! Hell, I've hung in here THIS
long ... might as well get what's coming to me! (lol) Thanks, Larry! (kk)
Kent,
I'm with you -- I think 1967 was the best year for music. No season beats the Summer of Love! 1964 comes
close, when The Beatles changed music forever. But all of those years had great music. I'll not disagree with
anyone who says 1966, or '65, or '68. Unique times culturally, and our music was an integral part of it.
We still reference things with the music of that era. When I woke up this morning, I looked at my calendar
and started singing, "It was the 3rd of September, a day I'll always remember..." Thank you, Temptations!
I hope you enjoy your 60s as much as you enjoyed them the first time around. I know I do!
Dan Cabtree
Wheaton, Illinois
i Old Timer,
The blog excited me today. A New England group, The Fabulous Farquahr with a really great writer Doug
Lapham (check out Ral Donner's 'She's Not You' and 'Girl of My Best Friend') wrote a song named "A Child of
the Fifties" They never hit the Big Time but anyone who summered on Cape Cod or wintered in Vermont from
the late 60's right up until the earl 90's would consider them a Top Rate Saloon Band, so from my 'private
collection' and for your edification:
This is from a live show at Toad's Place, 1996, in New Haven, Connecticut. They were a truly great group
they just didn't break through they did record for Vanguard and others, The Kingston Trio did a couple of
there 'Happy Hour' songs in Vegas in '76 and they have an album on iTunes and some tributes on Youtube,
well worth a look.
CharlieOFD
re: WHAT THE HECK?!?!?: Hmmm ... it seems that even Amazon has got my M.O. down pat ... I just received this email this morning ...
Kent Kotal, Are you looking for something in our Oldies Pop Music department? If so, you might be interested in this item.
Two weeks from tonight we'll be going to see Burton Cummings, performing live at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL, and, from what I understand, this is a VERY hot ticket.
As a life-long Guess Who and Burton Cummings fan, it truly was an honor to have the opportunity to talk with Burton this past week about not only the up-coming show, but life in general.
KENT KOTAL / FORGOTTEN HITS: Burton Cummings! In Los Angeles?!?! BURTON CUMMINGS: Yes, in L.A. ... I live here now ... I still have a place on Vancouver Island ... but I'm here most of the time ... in Los Angeles.
We kicked around a couple of ideas as to how to do the interview ... either by phone or via email ... and, when all was said and done, we did a little bit of both. Turns out Burton is a bit of a "blogger" himself and regularly updates his own website and Facebook page with first-hand, hand-written news! (He's also a bit of a night owl ... so he spends a fair amount of time online.)
BC: Yeah, I do some of that ... I'm an insomniac ... I don't sleep ... so I spend some time online ... actually, I do a lot of that.
kk: I recently interviewed Al Kooper and he told me that he only sleeps about three hours a night ... and that's all he CAN sleep ... so the rest of the time he's up workin' on stuff, lookin' for something to do.
BC: Well, they say that short naps are better ... I wish that I could go to sleep like some people ... it's eleven thirty at night or eleven o'clock and night and they say "Well, I think I'll go to sleep" and then they just lay down and go to sleep! But I've NEVER been able to do that ... even when I was a little kid, I couldn't do that!
kk: And I'm sure it's very different when you're up playing music all night, too ... I mean you're on such a high once the show is over that you're really not READY to just lay down and go to sleep. There's got to be some time to unwind after a big show.
BC: And that's really it ... I mean since really very early on ... even as a teenager ... I was in a band ... and that's where that whole cycle began. You play at eight o'clock at night and, now that I'm older, sometimes even later ... now we have shows where I don't even go on until ten o'clock at night ... so by midnight or twelve thirty, you're really not ready to go to sleep ... so you end up ... really ... upside down from being in show business. Because your work night starts at about eight or nine or ten at night and then you're upside down.
kk: You've been doing both solo shows ("Up Close and Alone" with just you at the piano) as well as shows with a full band. (We'll get to see Burton backed by The Carpet Frogs at The Arcada Theatre on September 27th). Obviously, you have to prepare differently for each of these kinds of settings. Even the material presented has to change based on the musical back-up and surroundings. What are the personal joys for you as a performer in each of these environments? BC: We have a lot of shows coming up ... some are one man shows and some are with the band. The band is tremendous ... we've been playing together for over ten years now with the same core of guys so it's pretty tight ... and they all sing well ... and you know, I've always been a stickler for that ... so we're doing justice to the records I think. But you're right ... I do shows both ways now, some with the band and some with just me up on stage all alone with a piano. I did a couple of solo shows recently right in Manhattan and I was a little nervous, all by myself you know, but the reception was tremendous. It's a COMPLETELY different show than with the band ... you can't be sitting alone at a piano singing "American Woman", you know ... it's not that kind of a deal ... so the one man show is completely different ... it's just me at the piano and I did a hundred minutes in New York and it seemed to work ... everybody was quite pleased.
kk: It definitely did ... I've seen some of the clips on YouTube and, of course, I have the CD from a couple of years ago ... and it's a very entertaining show.
kk: I think it's great that you can DO both types of shows and, fortunately, you've got the depth of a catalog that allows you to do that sort of thing. BC: Yeah, you know my manager ragged on me for YEARS to do that one man show and I fought him on it 'cause for a long time, I just really didn't want to do it ... and finally in the '90's, we did it and I did some corporate shows, you know, meaning private functions more for parties and events, not with tickets for the public but I always kind of found it a little bit shallow ... more boring ... not I guess "boring" but shallow, but I've come to realize over the years that that's what people LIKE about it ... is the "bareness" ... just a guy, sitting alone, and when I explain the situation ... I mean I do some pretty famous songs, like "These Eyes" and "Laughing" and even "Share The Land" ... and I do those alone at the piano and I kind of explain to people that this is how they sounded at home when they were being written, you know, before they became records ... and what went into writing some of these songs ... and in many instances ... in MOST cases ... I'm finding that that's enough for most people ... so that's thrilling for me to know. If I can hold people's attention all alone with just a piano, it's thrilling for me know at this stage of my life.
kk: Well, it's gotta be thrilling for you to get that sort of reaction with just the piano and the voice, but one thing that I've learned over the years is that when you can strip the song to just the bare elements, the "nakedness" of it all, it shows how strong the material is ... now it's just you and the song, no special "sweetening" in the studio ... and it shows you just how good a song it really is. BC: Yes, I think when we first clicked, Randy and I, we faithfully tried to write songs ... we faithfully set aside song-writing sessions as such, when we weren't touring. Man, it was SO long ago that I was still living at home with my mother and my grandmother and every Saturday morning he would come over with a guitar and we would sit at my mom's piano and that's where we banged out "These Eyes", you know, and a lot of those early songs that really clicked ... "No Sugar Tonight" and stuff that we refined in the very early days ... that was all stuff that was done just sitting at home on my mom's piano. It was so easy working with Randy that it was never like work.
kk: You have often thanked your Mother for forcing you to take piano lessons as a child. I know you lost your Mother recently and I've heard that she was a very big part of your life. How did she react to your success and your musical dreams? Obviously she encouraged you ... but early on were there also moments of "I didn't pay for all of these damn piano lessons so you could bang out boogie-woogie rock and roll"?!?!?
BC: My Mother forced me to take piano lessons. A lot of times I remember hearing all the neighborhood guys out on the street playing soccer or baseball, and I had to sit and practice piano. I didn't like it at first. At about age ten or so, I started to be able to pound out some of the hit records of the day on the radio, and suddenly I had different status at school. I'd play a bit of "Bumble Boogie" or "Runaway" at Luxton School and kids thought it was pretty cool. My mother didn't really react too badly when I dropped out of school. She was pretty good about my thinking about show business.
kk: So prior to hooking up with Randy had you already been writing some stuff on your own or no? BC: Oh yeah, I had a band called the Deverons in Winnipeg and we had achieved a pretty good level of stardom on a local level in our home town ... we were thought of as one of the better bands in town. And there were a lot of bands in Winnipeg ... there were well over a hundred bands, all functioning and playing ... and for a city of half a million people, that's an awful lot, ya know. But part of the thing was the drinking age was still 21 ... so you could have these functions at schools and community clubs and even churches that had dance halls ... you could have those functions all the time without alcohol because the 18 and 19 year olds would still come. Now that the age is down to 18 all that has disappeared.
kk: The story I've always heard is that you were making quite a bit of noise with your group The Deverons and Randy Bachman happened to hear tell of this wild man who was doing all kinds of crazy and obscene things with his piano ... he came to check you out ... was bowled over ... and then asked you to join The Guess Who. (Of course I also heard that at first you jokingly turned him down, saying that you had just received an offer to join The Beatles! lol) The Guess Who had enjoyed quite a bit of local fame with their recording of "Shakin' All Over" with Chad Allan on lead vocals. Were you already a fan of theirs by this point? Had you been out to see them (or were you too busy with your own band?) Did you know any of the guys?
BC: The Deverons were becoming more and more popular in Winnipeg, and by 1965 we were playing pretty well every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. There were rumors that Chad Allan was going to leave the Guess Who, even though he'd sung their hit "Shakin' All Over" … he was going back to University. One night, both the Guess Who and the Deverons played on the big show at the old Winnipeg Arena with Gerry and the Pacemakers … it was 1965 and Beatlemania was in full swing. That night the older guys in the Guess Who watched our band, and I guess they liked me as a singer. I was a harder singer than Chad and I was doing stuff like Eric Burdon, which Chad never did. Weeks after that show, I left high school, and when they heard that, they asked me to join their band. The day of that meeting I was still seventeen.
By now I'm sure that we've all heard the story about how the record company changed the band's name from Chad Allan and the Expressions to The Guess Who when "Shakin' All Over" first came out as a single in the hopes that a disc jockey or program director might be curious enough to give that record a spin instead of throwing it in the reject pile. The song had already been a big hit in England for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and Chad Allan's version definitely had a British feel to it. Perhaps thinking that the ambiguous prospect that this MIGHT be a brand new, as-yet-undiscovered British band, the record company gambled and changed the band's name on the record label to read "Guess Who" ... and, before you knew it, "Shakin' All Over" became a huge Canadian Hit ... and then three other records followed it into The Canadian Top 40. It crossed over to become a Top 20 Hit here in The States, too.)
When Burton first joined the band, it was as the keyboard player, as Chad Allan was still onboard as the lead singer. After a while, Allan elected to leave the band and Burton Cummings took over the lead vocals, a role he never relinquished for the next ten years. During that time, The Guess Who placed an incredible 24 hits on the U.S. Charts, including six Top Ten Hits and one #1 Single. (You'll find the complete Guess Who / Burton Cummings Hit List at the end of our interview.)
Before making it on their own, The Guess Who became the featured "house band" on a Canadian television show called "Let's Go", recreating hits by other artists every week ... including (coincidently enough!) "Time Of The Season" by The Zombies, the band who will be opening for Burton Cummings at The Arcada Theatre on the 27th!
Randy Bachman has stated that working on this show really developed the band's song-writing skills, as they now had a spotlight forum every week to showcase their own material ... and out of that opportunity came "These Eyes", their first experience at international fame.
Although we all know that it doesn't really happen this way, once "These Eyes" became a hit, The Guess Who became an "overnight success". (Forget the fact that by this point they had already been playing for literally THOUSANDS of hours trying to nail down the sound that would make them stand apart from the rest.) However, corny as it sounds, there is no denying the fact that their lives changed literally overnight.
In true Canadian form, it all "snowballed" from there ... the hits just kept on coming. Without question, The Guess Who were TRULY in the zone at this point ... 12 US Top 40 Hits spread out over the next 3 1/2 years. Plus 12 that went into The Top Ten in Canada during that same stretch. In fact, there was a period there of about three or four years where The Guess Who outsold ALL of the other Canadian recording acts COMBINED!!! That had to be some pretty heady stuff at the time.
And then, right at the peak of this success, with "American Woman" sitting on top of both the album and singles chart, Randy Bachman quit the band to do other things, eventually forming Bachman-Turner Overdrive and carving out his own niche in rock and roll history. (In fact, he and Fred Turner have been touring together recently, recreating some of those great songs again.)
Since then, Cummings and Bachman seem to have had an on-again, off-again relationship over the past couple of decades. I was fortunate enough to see a few of their reunion shows and there is no denying that a genuine, mutual love and respect for one another comes across during those shows.
kk: There was some hope a few years back of better things to come when the Bachman-Cummings Band recordings came out. Have you guys actually tried to write together again after all these years? One cannot help but wonder what kind of magic that might generate.
BC:Randy and I don't really have a burning desire to write together again. For one thing, all the stuff we did years later after the Guess Who was gone, was always measured up against These Eyes and American Woman and stuff … you can't live in that kind of a shadow and not have it affect you when you try new songs … but we did some good ones together in 1987 for the Thunderbird Trax disc.
kk: After Randy left, The Guess Who soldiered on ... and continued to amass a great string of hits. Did you go through a period of time where you thought, "OK, this is it ... the dream is over?" and actually considered throwing in the towel? Obviously, this put a lot of extra pressure on you at the time, not only as a performer but as a songwriter now saddled with having to carry the band. BC: After Randy's departure, we immediately got Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw who were both very good players. For the first time, the Guess Who had two lead guitar players. The band got tougher by the time we did the Share the Land Album. We toured more, too. And Kurt and I became co writers almost instantly. He brought Hand Me Down World and Bus Rider to the first practices he attended, and I knew immediately that fate had led me to another writing partner.
kk: It's funny in a way because the focus has always been on the song-writing dynamic of Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman ... and I don't mean to diminish that magic in anyway ... but my two personal favorite Guess Who albums remain to this day to be "Share The Land" and "Rockin'" ... and Randy was long gone by this point.
kk: I would imagine that Chicago holds some special memories for you ... most of The Guess Who's early hit material was recorded here, correct? BC: Chicago is VERY special to us ... we recorded "American Woman" there and we recorded "Share The Land" there and some of the biggest records we did ... "No Sugar Tonight" ... these were hits all over the world and these were all recorded right there in Chicago. Right on North Wacker Drive, right downtown, across the street from The Opera House, there used to be a building and RCA had the 12th and 13th floor and way up 13 floors high, there was a recording studio ... and we lived in that studio for about two years. There was a LOT of time spent in there.
kk: Why Chicago? Certainly there were studios in Canada ... was this more of a Jack Richardson thing (EDITOR'S NOTE:Richardson produced all of the band's early hits) or what? BC: Honestly, it was RCA ... I mean, we were contracted to RCA and part of the contractual obligation was that we record in their studios. And we didn't like the ones in New York because they were old ... and the microphones were old ... and the engineers were outdated ... and they had worked with Bing Crosby and Benny Goodman and guys like that ... but they hadn't kept up with the times, whereas Chicago and L.A. back then, say '69 and '70, back then RCA Chicago and RCA L.A. had much hipper guys and better studios ... they had advanced more than the old New York studios. So, once we did a couple of albums in New York ... particularly an album called "Canned Wheat" ... it didn't sound that great to us ... so we moved from there to the Chicago studios and we did a lot of recording there. We spent a lot of time in your city ... we would stay at a hotel called The Executive House and it was right by the river, right downtown, and we would walk along that river, right where those big Marina Towers are ... those twin towers ... and walk along the river and then turn left on Wacker and then there we were! Every day for weeks and weeks. I know that area very well.
kk: So this is a little bit of a "homecoming" for you to come back here now and do this show at The Arcada. BC: Well, it is ... and I still have a lot of friends in Chicago, too ... and we spent those days ... I mean THOSE days were the absolute zenith point of The Guess Who's career. Those best days were spent there in Chicago because we were recording those records and we thought we were in pretty good with the guys at RCA. In fact the guys from New York RCA used to fly into Chicago to hear how our sessions were going ... so it was a pretty good time for us in Chicago.
kk: And ironically, during that same era The Buckinghams were recording in New York instead of in Chicago! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Ironically Burton brought up The Buckinghams later in our interview, having just done some shows with them.) BC: Well, you know what ... it all depends on where you're comfortable ... what studio you get comfortable with ... and I think we were VERY comfortable in Chicago. And you know the climate was the same for us (lol) because we came from Winnipeg ... so we knew all about cold winters! And mind you, it's much colder in Winnipeg than it is Chicago, but we know about winter and snow and ice and that so we felt very at home in Chicago.
kk: Were you a bit of a studio hound back then ... spending a lot of time in the studio, analyzing every note, nit-picking this or that? Kind of a real "hands on" artist? BC: I was the most, I think ... what would the word be ... fastidious ... of us during the sessions ... and I always stayed till the very end of the mixes ... although I wasn't really credited as a co-producer, I sorta was, I guess, because I was the lead voice, so I always was concerned with the mixes. And most of this material was stuff that I wrote or co-wrote ... so I always hung around until the very end of the mixes ... and 98% of the time, I was the only guy. Peterson, our drummer ... he never bothered with the mixes too much ... I think he figured that I would be there speaking up for the band but there's no way I was going to just turn it over to Richardson and Brian Christian, the engineer, so I stayed right till the end always so yeah, I guess I was a bit of a studio hound ... I always loved seeing how it was done, how the mixing was done and then the EQ, all of which led me later to produce my own records. That's how you learn.
kk: I remember when you did your first solo album, you were VERY complimentary to your producer Richard Perry, who is considered one of the geniuses in the studio of that time. BC: Oh, he was terrific ... absolutely terrific ... you know, he had had SO many hit records so I kinda felt lucky to have my first solo record being done by a master like that. He had already done records like "You're So Vain", which was a #1 Record all over the world. He had done a LOT of stuff ... a lot of different stuff ... everything from Tiny Tim to Barbra Streisand to that group Night from England (they were tremendous) ... Richard worked with SO many big people. I always thought "You're So Vain" was a classic, classic record, you know ... just one of those records that stands out in your memory. And here's a bit of trivia that a lot of people might not know ... but I think a lot of people DO know ... that the harmony on "You're So Vain" is Mick Jagger ... you can hear it if you listen to it carefully enough ... you can hear him singing along with Carly Simon.
At this point I had to smile a little bit because I think the whole WORLD knows by now that that was Mick Jagger singing in the background on "You're So Vain" ... and most of us probably knew this the week the song was first released back in 1972! Funnily enough, when Cummings first mentioned sharing a little piece of "You're So Vain" trivia, I half expected him to say that he bet I thought this song was about him ... so I had to kid him about it later ...
kk: Oh ... and see, I thought you were going to reveal that she wrote it about YOU ... after all those years of people wondering who the song was actually about ... I thought maybe it was YOU and you were finally ready to tell the world, right here in Forgotten Hits! (lol) BC: No, no, no ... (laughing) ... I hear it's about Warren Beatty ... but I don't know for sure ... but that's the rumor that I heard in Hollywood ... that it was Warren Beatty ... but who knows, man.
EDITOR'S NOTE:Carly Simon has NEVER officially revealed the source of inspiration ... but Beatty was a leading contender for years ... as was (ironically enough) Mick Jagger, who then would have been singing about HIMSELF when he harmonized with Simon! The most recent speculation pins it on record mogul David Geffen although DOZENS of names have been thrown in the hat over the past four decades. Apparently, however, Burton Cummings was NOT one of them! (lol)
BC: I gotta tell you, though, GREAT song, GREAT hook ... and, on Richard's part, a great record. And then Richard did all those big Pointer Sisters records and he worked with SO many people ... he worked with The Manhattan Transfer ... SO many big people ... he really has cut some GREAT records through the years.
kk: Well, he did Ringo's biggest album, too ... and then years later you found yourself performing as part of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band. BC: Yeah, Richard did all of Ringo's solo hit records like "You're Sixteen" and "Only You" ... stuff like that ... he's very, very good in the studio. I think he's semi-retired now ... lives with Jane Fonda.
kk: Is that right? I did not know that! BC: Oh yeah, they've been together quite a while. kk: Wow ... well that's interesting!
More with Burton Cummings tomorrow in Forgotten Hits ... don't miss it!
Two personal favorites ... first up, Burton paying homage to his former partner with a little tongue-in-cheek (but absolutely stunning) arrangement of one of Randy Bachman's post-Guess Who hits ... and then another one that literally brings a tear to my eye EVERY time I hear it! (kk)
Former Guess Who Lead Singer Burton Cummings will be performing at The Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, on Friday, September 27th ... and we were fortunate enough to be able to talk to Cummings last week about the show ... and life in general.
The concert will be a music lover's dream ... the warm-up act that night will be The Zombies, one of those GREAT bands that first touched our hearts during The British Invasion.
We pick up our conversation here ...
KENT KOTAL / FORGOTTEN HITS: This show at The Arcada Theatre is going to be one hell of a double bill -- Burton Cummings ... with The Zombies as the warm-up act?!?! That's a dream come true for a music fan. Have you ever worked with these guys before? BURTON CUMMINGS: No, I'm looking forward to that. I hear that it's still the lead singer Colin Blunstone and it's still Rod Argent, the keyboard player ... and that's enough for me ... 'cause those are the two guys that really made the sound of that band. The Zombies were GREAT ... they were really something! I don't know how the harmonies will be because the other guys aren't there ... and I believe one of them died ... Paul White I think is gone ... but I know that Colin Blunstone was the lead singer with the very distinguishable voice ... he had a VERY distinctive voice and Argent was the one with the great keyboard parts. So yes, I'm looking forward to hearing them, too.
EDITOR'S NOTE:The bass player was actually Chris White, who is still alive and well but no longer performing with the band. It was guitarist Paul Atkinson who died a few years ago (2004). The group has a new album out and are booked solidly for the next year, playing all over the world to rave reviews. The current line (besides Blunstone and Argent) consists of Jim Rodford on bass guitar, Steve Rodford on drums and Tom Toomey on guitar. You can check out their website here: Click here: The Zombies : Official Website
kk: You're going to really enjoy this theater ... it's a very intimate setting and seats maybe 900 or 1000 people but it's a GREAT place to see a concert. (More Arcada Theatre information here: Click here: Arcada Theatre | Oshows ... good seats ... hey, they're ALL good seats ... are still available!)
BC: Hey, that's FINE with me ... I don't worry about the size of the crowd ... as long as they're into what we're doing.
kk: Oh, you're going to have a VERY receptive crowd to this show ... my understanding is that this is a VERY hot ticket and that's one heck of a line-up.
BC: Good, good ... that's excellent. I just did a show with The Buckinghams ... and I don't know how many of the original guys are still with them ... I think it's two of the original singers ... but it sounded like the records and that was really cool ... that was great to hear those songs again ... so this will be a good night.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Forgotten Hits Readers already know that Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna are continuing on with The Buckinghams' name. While they do faithful renditions of all of their hits ... plus numerous other hit songs from this era ... performing to a very large and loyal following ... the original lead singer of The Buckinghams was Dennis Tufano, who is now performing as a solo artist.)
BC: And we've been playing a lot so the show will be tight. And we do all of the famous records. I'm not trying to shove a lot of new material down people's throats ... I really don't subscribe to that ... to that way of thinking. I've always thought that man, it's hard enough to HAVE a hit record ... why not be satisfied to sing them for the rest of your life.
kk: Well, the fans love 'em, that's for sure ... and this music has NEVER gone out of favor ... in all these years, your stuff has NEVER been off the radio. The Guess Who are one of those fortunate bands that still get a ton of airplay and a good chunk of your catalog is well represented on radio. This isn't the case with many of the artists of that era ... some are lucky to get one or two of their hits played on the radio today and MOST artists don't even get that ... but The Guess Who's material still holds up very well and gets a lot of airplay ... certainly here in Chicago anyway.
BC: Well, here's the thing ... I'm 65 now ... I'm going to be 66 in December on New Year's Eve ... and I've said this a million times in interviews and it's SO true ... every time I can go out there and still sound like the records, it's SO special to the audience ... because they've had THEIR changes in their lives, too ... they may have sometimes lost a child or lost a partner or they've moved or been divorced or something joyous has come along ... we've all been through so many changes ... and EVERYBODY's life changes in a year ... every year when I go out and sing these songs one more time it is that much more special because the fans are growing older with me and their lives are longer and it just makes it more special. Every year I find younger people in the audience again ... people that weren't born until LONG after these records were cut, and they're mouthing every word when I'm singing ... and that's really VERY flattering to me because I WROTE most of the stuff, ya know! I know classic radio has been very kind to me and to my songs and my voice ... I mean, I hear the stuff all the time.
kk: The concert line-up of The Zombies and Burton Cummings is one heck of a double-bill ... but we've also seen some odd pairings in the past. A couple of years ago we went to a show that featured America and Jethro Tull ... two acts that would seem to be at opposite ends of the musical spectrum. But I'll never forget one of the STRANGEST pairings I've ever seen ... and that was seeing a show that YOU did back in the day during the early solo years where Burton Cummings opened up for Alice Cooper!!! How weird did THAT have to be for you? (Especially after the whole "Glamour Boy" thing!!!)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: "Glamour Boy", while not a big hit here in The States, was a #11 Hit back home in Canada. In it, Burton takes a musical swipe at some of the Glam-Rock / Theater Rock that was going on at the time ... more specifically artists like David Bowie, The New York Dolls and ... well ... Alice Cooper ... although never actually mentioning ANY of them by name.)
BC: Opening for Alice Cooper was an exercise in professionalism. The first few rows were always painted up like Alice, some of them carrying tomahawks and axes, and I'm out there singing "Stand Tall"… but eventually the band I had won over a lot of audiences.
kk: As I mentioned earlier, I saw several of your solo shows in the '70's ... and "Stand Tall" still ranks as one of my all-time favorite songs. You continued to record and release some GREAT solo albums but many of these never seemed to make it beyond the Canadian market. US fans had to settle for a couple of "Greatest Hits" collections to get any idea as to the type of new music you were making.
kk: Some of your music is completely out of print now ... we can't even get it. I like to consider myself as having a pretty complete collection yet I'm still missing things that I would love to get my hands on. In fact, in preparation for this interview, I just recently picked up the Live at "Massey Hall" release and the "Above The Ground" CD. These aren't things that have been heavily promoted here in The States ... and it's apparently already too late to pick up something like "Sweet Sweet" and "Heart". Do you have any new material coming out that we should know about? BC:Well, both of these albums are currently planned to be re-mastered and re-released so hopefully they'll be available again relatively soon. I've also got a brand new DVD series called "Ruff" ... R-U-F-F ... and Volume One is just about ready to go. (Here it comes, folks … it'll be out in a few weeks, well ahead of Christmas.) It's even better than I'd hoped. It's volume one of what could be a dozen or so volumes. We have almost 13 years of digital video. We graduated from tape years ago, and now it's endless hard drives. Lillian Sarafian, my videographer, has followed me with a camera for over a decade ... about the last thirteen years ... so much so, that we started calling her the "life capturer"… and capture she has … ALL this great stuff ... back stage, on the plane, on stage, off stage, in hotel rooms, in tour buses ... tremendous stuff. From multi camera shoots at Massey Hall to the streets of New York City, to the streets of my home town of Winnipeg, to rehearsals and sound checks at the beginning of the century to a glimpse into so very personal events and places in my life. Soul is bared several times in Volume One. Pretty strong viewing in spots … pretty strong … beautifully assembled and edited by Lillian Sarafian, and all our post production audio was done at Blue Moon Studios, in Agoura Hills, California. The main sound engineer was Joe Vannelli, brother of Gino Vannelli, a fellow Canadian singer. So, if you can imagine, now we've got thirteen years of archives, including rehearsals and sound checks ... stuff that fans never get to see. Real "fly on the wall" stuff. So we're putting all of that ... plus a lot of the stuff from Massey Hall, which was shot with eight cameras and edited ... together into one place. It's called "Ruff" and volume one is coming ... it's wonderful. We're planning a whole series of these and she's done a wonderful job and I'm kind of co-producing it with her.
Also, my book of poetry ("The Writings of B.L. Cummings") is almost ready to go ... and that's going to have about the first fifty poems in it ... it'll be a very nice package on that. But I have yet to make a dummy copy … run a real one and assemble it and hold it in my hand to see how it affects me. It has to be absolutely perfect. I don't take the poetry lightly. I'm not really overly concerned whether people like it or hate it, or say loudly that they "just don't get it"… don't write the poetry to impress ... I write it to make myself smile … or think. Period.
And I'm probably going to do another album with the same band. You know, I have more than enough songs for this and I've REALLY picked the songs carefully for this so it's not like I'm scrambling to do an album ... I have MORE than enough songs so we'll see what happens. Right now we're focusing on the book of poetry and "Ruff" and I'm flying to Toronto tomorrow to take part in a very special thing this weekend ... it's a big march in Aide of The Women's Cancer Foundation" and the big hospital downtown ... I think it's the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in downtown Toronto has put together a very nice fund-raising event and the women ... I don't know HOW many thousands of women are marching ... ten miles or something ... and after the ten mile march, they're coming to the big center where myself, I'll be performing along with another performer ... it's a big, nice event this weekend in Toronto so I've been busy all summer.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The concert Burton is talking about took place on September 7th and, from what I understand, was a great success. He performed with Johnny Reid and got great reviews ... and raised quite a bit of money for Women's Cancer Research.)
BC: And then, of course, we're coming to your area and we're playing all around there and then a few more one-man shows including another one in Philadelphia ... so it's been a very busy time for me. Ya know, I'm a pretty busy guy for 65!
kk: And all of this was probably a whole lot easier when you were 25 or 35 as opposed to 65, right? (lol) BC: It was a WHOLE lot easier when I was 21 'cause I had never even thought about running out of energy but I still love the two hours on spent stage ... it's just that the other 22 hours get a little bit tougher when you're 65. But you know, people tell me that I still sound the same and that's the most important thing ... they're still saying I sound the same ... and as long as I hear that, I'm gonna keep going for a while.
kk: You really do ... I've watched a lot of the youTube clips and we've run some of these on the website ... and I've got to say that you still really look and sound great. BC: We did a show with Steve Miller last year and he's over 70 ... and he's out there rockin' and there's 14 and 15 year old kids out there singing along with every word ... they could be his GRAND kids ... but they're rocking along with him ... so I see new evidence of older entertainers. Gordon Lightfoot ... well into his 70's now ... and he's still out there. Tony Bennett ... 900 years old and HE'S still out there ... what is he, 87 or something? ... and he still does a hundred shows a year. So I think of myself right now as I've still got a long way to go yet.
kk: Seriously, who would have ever thought ... I remember when we were growing up and it was that whole "Don't trust anybody over 30" thing. I remember back in the mid-'60's when The Beatles were all the thing and then all of a sudden Frank Sinatra had a #1 Record with "Strangers In The Night" and we all thought "What's HE doing on the charts?!?!? He's ANCIENT!!!" And he was like FORTY at the time! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Actually, he was 51) But to us, he was ANCIENT!!! Seriously, as a kid of 21, who EVER thought that you'd still be doing this at 65 ... and that there'd still be an audience for it! And now you've got somebody like McCartney going out and still doing two-and-a-half and three hour shows to sell-out audiences all around the world! BC: Well, McCartney did The Hollywood Bowl and apparently sang 37 songs! Holy God!!! I do TWENTY and I'm pattin' myself on the back! And he's got five or six years on me! I'll tell you, it's not so much the age as keeping yourself in shape to hit the notes. And I sing a lot at home, pick up a guitar or I'll sit at the piano and I'll sing a bunch of songs and I think that's the main thing ... I still keep doing it, ya know. Hopefully for another long time yet!
kk: And it's great to hear that you're still writing, too ... still coming up with new material. A lot of artists give up on that so it's nice to hear that you're still writing new material, too. BC: Yeah, I still write songs all the time. I don't schlep them together ... if they come together quick, that's fine and if not, I move on to something else. I haven't change my mode of operation too much since the early days ... since the '60's and '70's ... haven't really changed the way I create songs very much at all. It's just that the world around me has changed. I'm still a musician first and foremost ... I still spend ungodly amounts working on my library. I've got almost a terabyte of music now ... almost 180,000 MP3's ... so I've built a world-class library of music and I spend a LOT of time doing that. Mostly listening to classic stuff.
kk: So who do you listen to? Do you mostly listen to the older stuff or do you keep up with the current trends? BC: I listen to EVERYTHING, really and truly ... I just finished compiling ALL of the stuff by David Crosby from when he was with The Byrds and without The Byrds ... I still listen to a lot of Fats Domino 'cause that really inspires me ... he was a huge influence when I was first starting out ... I just found a new remastering of "The Wall" ... the entire thing with a third bonus disc ... I'm listening to a lot of classic jazz. I just watched that AMAZING documentary on Ginger Baker called "Beware Of Mr. Baker" ... phenomenal! And that spurred me into going out and finding EVERYTHING by Cream ... everything that Cream had ever done. I'm listening to Stan Getz, Val Waldren, to Paul Chambers and John Coltrane and David "Fathead" Newman ... a lot of jazz stuff ... a lot of early Ray Charles, before he was a star ... I listen to everything ... absolutely everything. Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans ... just TONS of stuff ... I really am a music junkie.
kk: I've heard that you're quite a Bobby Darin fan. We once did a month-long series on Bobby for the website that picked up the endorsement of his family and his fan club ... and doing that turned ME into quite a Bobby Darin fan, too. I discovered so many things that he did beyond the hits that I was never fully aware of. BC: HUGE Bobby Darin fan ... and he left us so young ... he was only 37 and look at the legacy he left. He made about twenty five movies and God knows how many albums ... tremendous ... tremendous piano player, tremendous writer ... I mean he really knew how to swing with an orchestra. He was incredible And I listen to a lot of Georgie Fame, too. I like Georgie Fame very, very much. And he's still going ... and he rocks! So I like a lot of the survivors ... the guys who are still going and have kept it going after all this while.
kk: And quite honestly this depth of variety and openness to exploring different musical styles has to have influenced you as a songwriter and a performer ... your library of songs, your writing style has taken on SO many different genres over the years that, as a listener, I love the fact that you kept yourself open to so many different influences because we as listeners were able to reap the benefit from that. BC: I was lucky, VERY lucky to have been able to get with a guy like Bachman ... in '66 and '67 ... before we had the hit records, we were playing each other EVERYTHING. Randy was the first one that turned me on to Georgie Fame and I got him more than mildly interested in The Doors. We were "ying and yang" to each other ... ya know, he was religious and he had a wife and kids already ... and I was out doing acid with the crowd ... and yet we fed each others opposites ... and I think that's why it worked so well ... for a while anyway. We were listening to everything and between the two of us, we had such eclectic tastes ... and he turned me on to a lot of early Bo Diddley stuff and I was listening to the west coast experimental band put together by Frank Zappa and then we kept playing each other all this stuff that each other hadn't heard and it was GREAT learning with a guy like Randy and that's why our stuff has stood up, I think, because it was influenced by so many different areas. EVERY kind of music. I was just at Amoeba Music the other day, the one in Hollywood, which was recently, by the way, voted online as the #1 Record Store in the World ... on Planet Earth ... and I was just there the other day and I found all kinds of imports from Japan with the OBI strips still on the sleeve and I'm finding stuff there all the time that I don't have in my collection, so it's still a matter of learning for me. Still to this day, at age 65.
kk: And let's face it, there aren't that many record stores left these days! BC: No, there really aren't ... and that's one of the things that makes Amoeba so great, because it's really got the LA market cornered now and you can find ANYTHING there. If it's been released, you can pretty much find it there. It's a great place for a collector. I know a lot of traveling musicians that come to LA only a couple of times a year and the first place they go, if they're any kind of a collector, is to Amoeba Music. Click here: Amoeba Music | The World's Largest Independent Record Store
More Burton Cummings tomorrow ... EXCLUSIVELY in Forgotten Hits.
But first ...
Just a few of the musical styles Burton Cummings has explored over the years ...
From the hard-rocking, almost Aerosmith-sounding "Heartbroken Bopper" (a #26 Hit in 1972) ...
... to the '20's / jazzy sound of "Your Nashville Sneakers" (from the same LP, "Rockin'") ...
... to some heart-wrenching country (convincing enought that it actually charted on Billboard's Country Chart back in 1979.)
We wrap up our interview with Burton Cummings today in Forgotten Hits. Remember you can catch him at The Arcada Theatre on Friday, September 27th. (Link below for more ticket information) And be sure to check out his website for all the latest Burton Cummings news.
KENT KOTAL / FORGOTTEN HITS: To go back to a point you made earlier, I've always thought, as a listener, that the "Jukebox" CD you did with Randy Bachman must have been what it was like for you guys way back when, when you were just learning how to work together at your craft, sharing your different musical tastes with one another ... he'd show you something he liked and then you'd turn around and shoot one back at him ... a whole evolution process, if you will, as you learned to write songs together. The songs on the "Jukebox" CD would almost seem to me to be the kind of stuff you used to play to each other as you were learning your craft. BURTON CUMMINGS: Yeah, the "Jukebox" CD ... that's a VERY good example ... the "Jukebox" CD was TREMENDOUS fun for us. He picked things he liked and I picked things that I liked and there was no pressure for song writing ... there was no pressure on creating. All we did was do our own version ... kind of put our stamp on those old songs. He did a GREAT job on The Beatles and "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", almost a jazzy ... almost like a different song ... and I think that we did a really cool job of "Judy In Disguise" ... instead of the horn line that John Fred and the Playboy Band did, we did all those horn lines with guitars. And I loved singing the Sam Cooke song and I loved doing the Edwin Starr "Double-O-Soul" song. We had a lot of fun doing that, man ... that was REALLY fun doing that album.
kk: My favorite song on there is the Cliff Richard song ... which I'd never heard before. That song wasn't a hit here in America so I discovered that song through YOU, not through the original Cliff Richard recording. BC: Oh, "Don't Talk To Him", yeah ... you know, I think fanwise ... I have a bunch of fans that follow me online, they're called "The Faithful", and I think that was voted the favorite song on "Jukebox" ... everybody LOVED the Cliff Richard song.
kk: And it was NEW to me which goes back to the point you were making earlier about still discovering new music today at this age ... I discovered that song ... even though technically it's 45 year old music ... I first discovered that track through YOU GUYS, not through Cliff Richard, 'cause that didn't get played here when that song was out and was a hit. BC: Yeah, that was a pretty well-played thing in Winnipeg. We were very fortunate in Winnipeg in that we got to hear some of the British stuff that Americans didn't get to hear ... some Georgie Fame and some Gerry and the Pacemakers that really didn't get off the ground in the States ... Billy J. Kramer was another one. The British Invasion was very, very extensive in Canada, I guess probably because we were part of the Commonwealth. and Canadian Capitol Records, they had just about everybody ... from The Beatles and Dave Clark on down ... Hollies, Animals, Ciff Richard and the Shadows ... EVERYTHING was on Capitol. It was a very cool time in Canada. We took that British Invasion square in the face.
kk: That's actually what we're covering right now on The Forgotten Hits Website ... we're doing a whole series on the hundred biggest hits of the British Invasion ... and the response is just phenomenal ... it's just amazing how many people relate to this part of their lives. BC: Oh, I imagine it would be ... and The Beatles would score VERY heavy in there ... Wow! What would be the #1 Song of the British Invasion? My God! Well, you know what, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" would have to be right up there near the top.
kk: That's a GREAT song. BC: Although they didn't have a string of records, Procol Harum, but "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" was as big as any Beatles record. And I remember when that it, it was #1 forever. That was a big, big record. I think The Beatles would be right up there ... I think "A Hard Day's Night" would have to be one of them ... that record hit like a ton of bricks. "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" ... those two hard rockers, they hit like a ton of bricks in the '60's.
kk: OK, well here, that's a good segue into this next question ... I was BLOWN AWAY by the fact that The Guess Whonever really had a major hit record in England. How the heck can that be?!?! Seriously, what's the deal with that??? Like most bands of the day,The Guess Who were heavily influenced by the sounds coming out of England at that time. Untold THOUSANDS of kids picked up a guitar or a bass or a drum kit ... (or, in your case, a piano!) ... searching for rock and roll success ... and you guys were no different. How is it even REMOTELY possible that The Guess Who had exactly ONE Top 40 Hit in Great Britain? And that one ... "American Woman" ... only peaked at #19. BC: No, not so much. "American Woman" did okay but RCA in England never really worked that hard on us. I actually did better with CBS with "My Own Way To Rock" many years later. But we didn't really happen that much in England. I don't know why. It's just one of those things. I mean there's a lot of Canadian acts that are HUGE in Canada that never had any success in the States. Sometimes I guess it just doesn't translate well across borders ... I don't know ... we were pretty lucky. We had a lot of success in Australia, too. But as I look back, I think we were pretty lucky, especially considering where we came from, which was this little dot on the map in the middle of snow!
kk: Did you guys ever tour England in the day? BC: We did a promotional tour in 1970 ... it was just very brief ... very, very brief ... we were only there about five or six days ... nah, never really worked on it much. We were too busy touring the States! We toured the States ENDLESSLY!
kk: And I would go see The Guess Who faithfully when you guys would come to Chicago ... and, of course, a lot of the solo shows, too, when "Stand Tall" became a hit. BC: I remember The Arie Crown ... The Arie Crown was always a favorite place to play. And we played a lot in Texas. We played a lot in El Paso ... and then we would go across and drink tequila in Juarez ... I'll tell you one thing, man, you wouldn't be doin' that today! It's not the same as it was in 1970! Look at that, 43 years later ... it's not the same! We used to cross the border regularly and drink tequila till five in the morning and sometimes I'd even shoot the worm ... but we wouldn't be doin' that now! I can tell you that! (lol) Times have changed! kk: (Laughing) Hey, you don't have to tell me ... I watch that TV show "The Bridge"! You go across the border today and you may not be coming back!
kk: We can't do an interview like this and not bring up this question so please, grit your teeth and bare with me one more time. It is no secret that it has been a real point of contention for you that, as the driving force and focal point of The Guess Who, you do not have the legal rights to use the name ... that it is instead owned by the former drummer and bass player whose names 99.9% of the world, with all the money on the line, couldn't come up with on a "phone a friend" segment of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". In 25 Swear Words Or Less, tell us a little more about this situation so that the fans out there can better understand why even when you and Randy Bachman have appeared together, you cannot use "The Guess Who" name.
BC: At this point I honestly don't know who owns it overall … maybe Kale and Peterson, maybe more … I don't know for sure. To me personally, it's a shame that now sometimes there are five people on stage calling themselves "The Guess Who" and once or twice, not one of the five was on any of the records. I guess it's like "The Platters" or "The Temptations". You can go and see these acts but it's not the people who made the records. To me it always seemed like owning a McDonald's franchise or a Dairy Queen … nothing to do with the magic of the records … the true followers know who made the recordings … and the recordings will live forever.
BEGIN SOAPBOX MOMENT: Here's my take on this whole Guess Who thing ... What seems to bother Burton the most is the fact that you've got this "fake band" running around, using the real records to draw people into the concerts. Simply put, it's misleading and deceptive to the fans. Of course the REAL fans know better 'cause they've been around it and have heard all the stories ... but the casual fan who sees or hears this ad and thinks, "Hey, that's a show I might like to see ... The Guess Who had a lot of great hits" is potentially going to buy a ticket to that concert and not get to see the people who recorded all those hits. Burton feels very fortunate that after he joined the band, he was the one to have written and sung EVERY hit The Guess Who ever had ... and yet this OTHER band, who have the legal right to the use of the name are using HIS voice on those records in order to sell tickets to their shows with a completely different singer who's trying his best to SOUND like Cummings ... and that's taking advantage of the fan base as well as tarnishing the memory of those great records when they're sung by somebody else, misrepresenting themselves as "The Guess Who". Burton mentioned SEVERAL times during our interview that he is VERY proud of the fact that he can still sing those songs and sound like the records ... all in the original keys and with all the original arrangements ... fans are constantly coming up or writing in, telling him how good he still sounds ... and, at this stage of his career, that really means a lot.
We've been over this point time and time again in Forgotten Hits ... and sadly it really has become a case of "Buyer Beware". It's the Rock And Roll World we live in today. SO many acts have continued on, trying to earn a living playing the music that got them there in the first place ... and we would never deny them this ... after all, in most cases, some of THESE guys were on those hit records, too ... but there needs to be a certain "honesty" in representing what you're putting up there on the stage. Perhaps the best parallel example I can think of is Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Now don't get me wrong ... I was one of the biggest CCR fans on the planet when these guys were out making hit records ... and there is absolutely NO doubt that the rhythm section of Doug Clifford on Drums and Stu Cook on bass contributed GREATLY to the sound and success of those records ... but the guy who wrote and sang every hit they ever had is nowhere to be found. Instead, they're trying to mimic the sound of these records with a sound-alike singer, much the way Jim Kale and Garry Peterson are doing with their version of The Guess Who. There's a version of The Grass Roots out touring right now without a SINGLE member of the original band ... they're just using the name. They're faithfully recreating all of the group's biggest hits ... but they're NOT The Grass Roots! At best, they should bill themselves as "A Tribute To The Grass Roots" and leave it at that. You still get the same music ... the same vibe ... but without the misleading moniker. Peter Noone, who was the voice of Herman's Hermits throughout the '60's, competes with a British version of Herman's Hermits led by their original drummer, who never sang a note and didn't play on half of their recordings in the studio! Paul Revere INSISTS that absolutely NO original recordings can be used when promoting his upcoming concerts because he doesn't want ANYBODY buying a ticket thinking that they're going to get to see Mark Lindsay up there singing the hits that night. In fact, he supplies the promoters and radio stations and advertisers with clips of five songs done by the current band, live in concert, to more accurately present what you're going to see and hear if you buy a ticket to their show. And the truth is that, thanks to Paul's insistence on this matter, they're contractually obligated to do so and abide by this method of "truth in advertising". And I'll tell you what, it's still one HELL of a show ... but he's not trying to FOOL anybody into seeing it. (Burton may be surprised to hear that although the previously-mentioned Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna are long-time members of The Buckinghams and were there for all of the hit records, they played bass and guitar on those records and never sang a single hit. The vocals on those hits belong to Dennis Tufano, no longer with the band and now working as a solo act.)
Now in all fairness, some of these artists have chosen to walk away from these musical institutions at some point in their careers, only to try and reclaim their rightful spot years later, by which time the remaining members who kept things going have already re-established themselves as the "current" make-up of the band and, in many cases, built a new and loyal following in the process. The recent "Truth In Music" laws require that at least ONE original member be part of the hit group selling tickets to the public and, by this definition, groups like The Buckinghams, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Guess Who, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Britain's version of Herman's Hermits qualify ... but as we have seen SO many times here over the years, it is always best to do your research FIRST before buying your tickets to some of these shows. If you just want to hear the hits played well, faithfully honoring and respecting the music you love, then every one of these bands will give you your money's worth. But if you want to see the guys who wrote and/or sang those hits, then you'll want to catch Burton Cummings, Mark Lindsay, Dennis Tufano, Peter Noone and John Fogerty ... 'cause there ain't ANYBODY out there who are going to do these songs any better!!! END SOAPBOX MOMENT
kk: Last year you released a live CD of your performance at Massey Hall, which I'm told is the equivalent of performing at America's Carnegie Hall.
Clearly a number of honors have been bestowed upon you back home in Canada ... you're a member of Canada's Walk Of Fame not once, but TWICE ... as both a member of The Guess Who and as a solo artist. What do these accolades mean to you in the scheme of things? BC: After a certain point all these awards started coming my way. I'm particularly happy that my Mother lived long enough to see me inducted into the Order of Canada. That's the highest honour that Canada bestows upon a civilian.
kk: In addition to all of these honors bestowed on you of late, there's even a THEATER named after you in Winnipeg now! BC: (Laughing) It's still a pleasure and honor to have the old Odeon Theatre named after me in my hometown of Winnipeg. It's a beautiful old building with the ghosts of decades and decades lurking in the wings. I used to go and see movies there for years. My Mother and Dad even went to the movies there before they were married. I love seeing my name on the building, and love hearing it referred to as "the Burt"! (laughing)
kk: (laughing) Which begs, of course, the most obvious question ... With all these accolades being bestowed in your honor, there still seems to be one TREMENDOUS oversight in the music world that truly is nothing short of unjust and unthinkable in light of the music you guys created. For the past two decades we have campaigned for The Guess Who to be inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It is a COMPLETE injustice that this hasn't happened yet. What would this mean to you at this point in your career ... or does it mean nothing at all after all this time? That is to say, would any recognition now be diminished by the sheer stupidity of the oversight and snub for so many years? And, if you WERE inducted now, would you feel any differently? And finally, in light of the somewhat "strained" circumstances between some of the former members of the band, who would you bring up to accept the award and perform??? BC: The Hall of Fame hasn't seen fit to name the Guess Who before now, and at this point in time, the name doesn't mean what it once did. I honestly don't think I could stand up there and be inducted and then watch those "other people" go right back out on the road calling themselves "The Guess Who". What so many of us feel nowadays is that the name means very little, but the memories and the recordings are the real treasure. Remember what happened with Axl … enough said.
kk: Burton, we can't wait to see the show. There are still a few seats available to see The Burton Cummings band LIVE at The Arcada Theatre (with The Zombies!!!) on Friday, September 27th. (Hey, they're ALL good seats at The Arcada!!!) Go to www.oshows.com for more ticket information. Great to talk with you!
BC: Hey, thank you, my man ... it was good talking to you ... and we'll see you at the show.
VERY special thanks to Burton Cummings, Sam Boyd and Lorne Saifer for helping us put together this AWESOME interview ... I sincerely appreciate it ... and I think we did ya proud!!!
*****
Tomorrow in Forgotten Hits ... The Guess Who / Burton Cummings Hit List!
As promised, here is a recap of the chart history of The Guess Who ... as well as Burton Cummings as a solo artist.
Peak positions shown for are for the US Charts, the Chicago Charts and the Canadian Chart. (Their British Chart peak position is shown for the only two Guess Who singles that charted there, a fact that STILL completely blows my mind!)
BBC (Before Burton Cummings) In fact, this group is actually Chad Allan and the Expressions ... their record company put "Guess Who" on the label, thinking that curious disc jockeys and program directors might play it just to see what it was. The name stuck ... and they've been The Guess Who ever since.
Their first chart hit was a remake of the 1960, #1 British Pop Hit "Shakin' All Over" originally done by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates ... Great Britain ignored it ... as they did ALL of The Guess Who singles (with the exception of two!!!)
1965 - Shakin' All Over (US - #13 / Chicago - #10 / Canada - #4) 1965 - Tossin' And Turnin' (only charted in Canada - #35) 1965 - Hey Ho, What You Do To Me (US - #125 / Chicago - #39 / Canada - #33) 1966 - And She's Mine (only charted in Canada - #33)
In 1967, Burton Cummings joined the band and the group scored it's first British Hit. Incredibly, they would only chart in Great Britain one more time. ("American Woman" hit #19 in 1970) Perhaps even MORE incredible is the fact that this GREAT, little known gem didn't chart ANYWHERE else ... not even back home in Canada!
Reminiscent of The Dave Clark Five's ballad "Come Home" (especially the intro), the group was heavily influenced by what was coming out of England at the time. Nearly fifty years later Burton Cummings would resurrect the old Cliff Richard hit "Don't Talk To Him" for his "Jukebox" reunion album with Randy Bachman ... another FINE example of early, pre-Beatles British pop music.
THE GUESS WHO: 1967 - His Girl (UK - #45 ... this record did not chart in the US, Canada or Chicago) 1969 - These Eyes (US - #3 / Chicago - #2 / Canada - #1) This is the record that broke thru for the band ... things were never the same after this! 1969 - Laughing (US - #5 / Chicago - #10 / Canada - #9) 1969 - Undun (US - #22 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #3) 1970 - No Time (US - #3 / Chicago - #1 / Canada - #9) 1970 - American Woman (US - #1 / Chicago - #1 / Canada - #1 / Great Britain - #19 ... their ONLY other chart hit in the UK) 1970 - No Sugar Tonight (US - #1 as a tag-along B-Side / Chicago - #1 as a tag-along B-Side / Canada - #1 as a tag-along B-Side) Also charted at #39 on its own in Cash Box Magazine here in The States 1970 - Hand Me Down World (US - #13 / Chicago - #7 / Canada - #3) 1970 - Share The Land (US - #5 / Chicago - #3 / Canada - #3) (They played the heck out of the B-Side of this record ... "Bus Rider" ... here in Chicago ... but it never officially charted) 1971 - Hang On To Your Life (US - #22 / Chicago - #4 / Canada - xx) 1971 - Broken (US - #51 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada) 1971 - Albert Flasher (US - #22 / Chicago - #31 / Canada - #5) 1971 - Rain Dance (US - #11 / Chicago - #24 / Canada - #3) 1972 - Sour Suite (US - #41 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #7) 1972 - Heartbroken Bopper (US - #26 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada) 1972 - Guns Guns Guns (US - #66 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada) 1972 - Runnin' Back To Saskatoon (Live) US - #74 / Chicago - xx / Canada - 5) 1973 - Follow Your Daughter Home (US - #61 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #12) 1973 - Orly (Only charted in Canada, peaking at #19) 1973 - Glamour Boy (US - #83 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #11) 1974 - Star Baby (US - #30 / Chicago - #3 / Canada - #14) 1974 - Clap For The Wolfman (US - #6 / Chicago - #11 / Canada - #3) 1975 - Dancin' Fool (US - #24 / Chicago - #14 / Canada - #13) 1975 - Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You (US - #88 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada) 1975 - Roseanne (US - #105 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada) 1975 - When The Band Was Singin''Shakin' All Over' (US - #102 / did not chart in Chicago or Canada)
BURTON CUMMINGS (solo artist) 1977 - Stand Tall (US - #5 / Chicago - #3 / Canada - #2) 1977 - I'm Scared (US - #61 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #11) 1977 - My Own Way To Rock (US - #74 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #16) 1977 - Your Back Yard (only charted in Canada, peaking at #21) 1978 - Break It To Me Gently (US - #81 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #4) NOTE: In 1979, "Takes A Fool To Love A Fool" charted on Billboard's Country Chart (#33) ... but nowhere else. 1980 - Fine State Of Affairs (only charted in Canada, peaking at #11) 1981 - You Saved My Soul (US - #32 / Chicago - xx / Canada - #13)
THIS JUST IN: Want a chance to win a pair of free tickets to see the show on Friday Night, September 27th???
Ron Onesti, President and CEO of Onesti Entertainment and The Arcada Theater has graciously donated a pair of tickets for us to give away to one lucky Forgotten Hits Reader. You MUST be able to attend the show on the 27th in order to enter ... so if there is any chance that you can't really go, please DO NOT take away the chance to win from another local, major fan. Just drop me a line between now and Thursday Night ... and on Friday ... one week before the concert ... we'll pick one lucky winner. Tickets will be held in your name at The Arcada Theatre Box Office. This is a GREAT Grand Prize as the finale to a GREAT interview / series ... so don't miss your chance to win a pair of free tickets. Get your emails in to me NOW!!!
We received a phenomenal response to our Burton Cummings interview ... more comments than we could possibly run.
Here are some of the best ...
Just finished your Burton Cummings interview ... it's awesome! Great job! (Let's give away a couple of tickets!) Ron Onesti, President / CEO Onesti Entertainment Corporation The Historic Arcada Theatre www.oshows.com And that we will! Thanks, Ron ... Readers ... get your emails in to me as soon as possible ... We'll collect them all week long ... and then next Friday, the 20th ... exactly ONE WEEK BEFORE THE SHOW, we'll pick our winner ... a pair of free tickets to see Burton Cummings LIVE at The Arcada Theatre on Friday, September 27th, courtesy of Ron Onesti and Onesti Entertainment. You MUST be able to attend in order to enter. It's an EXCELLENT opportunity to see one of the greatest voices in rock and roll history ... a true living legend, live in concert ... so don't delay ... email me TODAY!!! (kk) forgottenhits@aol.com
Best. Interview. Ever. Seriously, kk, you blew the doors off with this one. I'd say it belongs in Rolling Stone so that the whole world can read and enjoy it -- but forgotten hits has become WAY cooler than Rolling Stone! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Forgotten Hits just keeps getting better and better. Janice Thank you, Janice ... and whereas normally a compliment like that would mean so much more, we all have to remember that the idiot running Rolling Stone ALSO heads up The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ... and he has yet to find The Guess Who even worthy of a nomination, much less induction into his hallowed Hall. Here's the thing about Jann Wenner, a guy who has obliterated ANY sense of respect he ever had in the music industry ... his cocky, arrogant, know-it-all, "I know rock and roll and you don't" attitude has rendered his opinion and organization useless to virtually all of the rock and roll world. He has been SO off the mark with his decisions about who gets in and who doesn't that the status that SHOULD be associated with Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction means absolutely nothing anymore. Meanwhile, he continues to use and exploit artists that he would otherwise ignore as "not worthy" to help sell his magazine and drive folks to his website.
Case in point: The Monkees. No how, no way are these guys EVER going to be taken seriously enough to be inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ... they weren't even a "real" band ... they were a pre-fab, television concoction created to sell records and appeal to a teeny-bop audience ... and Jann Wenner would be the first to tell you so. Yet when Davy Jones died, Rolling Stone did a full-blown spread on his career. When the other three reunited to tour again, it was big, front-page news in Rolling Stone, down to "exclusive interviews" with Michael Nesmith ... ANYTHING to help sell magazines, all the while blatantly laughing and snubbing their nosesbehind their backs.
The Guess Who remain the biggest rock and roll act to EVER come out of Canada. The fact that they've never even been CONSIDERED for Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction is EXACTLY what renders that organization useless and meaningless in the mind of the world. Truth is, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has virtually ignored Canadian artists all together ... save Neil Young and (last year) Rush, you won't find ANYBODY else "worthy" enough of induction. Randy Bachman went so far as to publicly call them "prejudiced against Canadians" last year. There's enough evidence here to support that theory.
So while I thank you again for your compliment ... I, too, think this is one of the best pieces we've ever done on the site ... the thought of seeing it run in Rolling Stone (who, by the way, doesn't accept outside manuscripts ... again, Wenner's a complete control freak!) just doesn't hold the same appeal that it might have thirty years ago when Rolling Stone Magazine was still considered "relevant". But thank you just the same ... and I appreciate the kudos! (kk)
Hi Kent! Love Burton Cummings!! I saw him in the early 80's. He opened for Alice Cooper. I thought that was such a strange combo at the time. Ask him what he thought of it? I thought his show was better than Alice's, as well :) I love reading your stuff. Debe As you know by now, we've already talked to Burton about this strange pairing. (I had seen him not six months before that Alice Cooper show warming up for Melissa Manchester ... how's THAT for musical diversity?!?!?) kk
Check out this clip ... Burton talks about some of the acts The Guess Who opened for in the early years ...
In fact, you'll find an entire Burton Cummings Channel on YouTube, featured videos posted by Burton himself. (Some GREAT stuff here, most of which was filmed by Burton's videographer Lillian Sarafian, who has been capturing Cummings on tape for over thirteen years now. (Much of this will soon see the light of day in a brand new video series called "Ruff", which Burton mentioned in our interview.) kk
When you talk to Burton Cummings (a big comic book collector) ask him about his comic book collection ... and the age old question D.C. ... or Marvel? See you there on the 27th!!
Mike DeMartino
President of the Lovejoy Music Club
Hey Burton, which is it?!?!? (I was always a DC fan myself growing up ... some day I'll have to tell you about my life-scaring comic books moment ... even all these years later it's one of my life's most emotional memories!!!) We've heard from a number of readers who picked up tickets to the Arcada show after reading our interview. There are still a few seats left ... but you'd better hurry. Complete information here:
Click here: Arcada Theatre | Oshows Hey Kent, Great interview with the awesome voice, Burton Cummings!!!!! Now you have to interview Dave Clark of the Dave Clark 5 and, if you do, you could ask him why it took so long to release his stuff and is he hiding any more songs he hasn`t released yet??? I hear he has more stuff but hasn't released them, but I could be wrong. Joe Wojdan Keep up the good work!!!!
ilovethedc5@aol.com
Great and enjoyable interview Kent. I immediately checked my inventory of Guess Who and Burton Cummings songs on my computer and found holes in my Guess Who material and went on Amazon and purchased the Guess Who Ultimate Collection, even though I had many of the songs. Now I only have to convert a somewhat bizarre song of theirs from vinyl called "Your Nashville Sneakers" that I always liked to complete my favorites of theirs. It's a travesty that Jann Wenner has kept this great group that epitomized rock and roll out of "HIS" hall of fame. Danny Guilfoyle "Your Nashville Sneakers" is one of MY obscure favorites, too ... in fact, we featured it as part of the series! Thanks for the kind words, Danny ... much appreciated. (kk)
Hi Kent, I am loving reading the Burton Cummings interview. I got to see The Guess Who on their Share the Land tour, and saw one of their reunion shows as well.
My home in North Dakota wasn't far from theirs so I think we always felt like they were a local band.
We even heard songs like His Girl on our local radio stations.
He always seems like he really likes to talk about music not just making it, but the songs that were big influences on him. I wish he was coming to the Twin Cities.
Bill
"His Girl" is a GREAT early effort. Incredibly THAT one charted in England ... #45 in 1967 ... but didn't chart HERE or in Canada!!! (Maybe it's because it has that real Dave Clark Five / "Come Home" feeling at the beginning???) Great song 'though ... and I'll bet most of our readers are unfamiliar with it ... so that's a good one to run today. (kk)
I think "His Girl" would have been a GREAT "break-through" hit for The Guess Who here in The States had it been given the chance ... but in reality, it wouldn't have had the MASSIVE impact that "These Eyes" did ... so in the end, things probably worked out for the best just the way they did. Even so, I don't think "His Girl" should fall into the "completely forgotten" category ... it's a damn good record! (kk)
Hey Kent,
Good Burton Cummings interview! The Guess Who was one hell of a band! Under rated in a lot of respects. Bus Rider is one of my favs!!
Mike
One of mine, too ... and they played the hell out of it here in Chicago. I always felt this deserved to be a Two-Sided Hit as this was a KILLER B-Side ... but I have always maintained that it was the use of "God-Damn Glad" in the lyrics (circa 1970) that knocked it out of the box. (Apparently a lot of folks agree ... in our Top 200 All-Time Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides Survey a few years back "Bus Rider" came in at #51!) The A-Side was "Share The Land", a Top Ten Hit in its own right. (kk)
The Burton Cummings interview is one of the best you've done, Kent. Thanks to Burton and all who assisted. Fun reading!
David Lewis I pushed hard for this one as this music has meant so much to me for so many years. I found Burton to be very supportive, forthcoming and cooperative. And again I have to thank Road Manager Sam Boyd for setting this whole thing up for me ... as well as Burton's business manger Lorne Saifer, who worked behind the scenes to help this whole thing happen. I believe the end result is one of our best efforts ever ... with a MAJOR music superstar. (kk)
Kent, I just mentioned the cool Burton Cummings interview on StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Reddit. I applaud your fine work in tracking down the songwriters, producers, musicians, and artists responsible for so much of my favorite music.
All the best,
Jeremy
Thank you, Jeremy! Readers, please help us to spread the word ... this was a GOOD one!!! (kk)
Kent,
Please enter me in the drawing for Burton Cummings concert tickets.
I was very fortunate to see Burton AND Randy Bachmann with the Guess Who a few weeks after the 9/11 events in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. I’m not sure of the circumstances of the re-uniting of the group but it was a short-lived reunion. They appeared at the Milwaukee Auditorium, with Joe Cocker opening. After an opening of Shakin’ All Over (with Burton doing a fabulous job on vocals and keyboards - sounding exactly like the original recording) Burton gave a short but stirring salute to the spirit of the American people, ending with a promise to the terrorists, “You have no idea what you are going to receive in return for this” (sic). I’ve always felt fortunate to have seen this performance and would love to see Burton perform on the 27th.
I’ve also seen the Zombies twice in the past three years and they do a great job. Colin Blunstone has kept his outstanding voice and Rod Argent is not only a gifted organist but possibly the coolest senior citizen on the planet.
Keep up the great work and please pick my name for the tickets.
Bob Verbos,
New Berlin WI.
P.S. My wife and I saw .38 Special last week at the Utah State Fair. This is the third time I’ve seen them, and they always put on a great show. They also have a Chicago connection, since Jim Peterik co-wrote several of their hits, including their biggest, “Hold On Loosely.”
lol ... oh, if it was ONLY that easy!!! (lol)
We saw .38 Special a few years ago ... and Peterik showed up to play with the band during their encore ... great show.
We also saw that Guess Who reunion show, too ... right after 9/11 ... at The Rosemont Theater. GREAT show with Joe Cocker as the opening act. We had second row balcony seats as it was a complete sell-out. I remember that we were supposed to meet some friends who had main floor seats downstairs but with the heightened security, the ushers wouldn't let us in to say hello, even during the break between acts. I was totally bummed as ONE of those friends was going to introduce us to Burton after the show. Sadly that never happened and we still haven't had the pleasure. (Hopefully that'll change at the show at the Arcada.)
Anyway, consider yourself entered ... but as I type this you're one of 37 people (and there's only ONE pair of tickets to be given away). But you can certainly BUY tickets for this show ... so please be sure to visit the OShows Website after Friday if it turns out you're not the lucky winner! (kk)
Kent,
A couple of things on the Burton Cummings interview. I wish you'd have asked about the great B sides the Guess Who had. SOOOOO many of the B sides got lots of airplay, even if not charted. "Bus Rider", "Do You Miss Me Darling" and the ones that eventually became A sides on their own as well! Also, the story behind one of the band's Canadian hits that came JUST before the breakthrough with "These Eyes" called "When Friends Fall Out." That song seems to have been what happened to the group in the end, not in the (hit) beginnings! GREAT song with "Moonlight Bay" influences. Glad he mentioned "My Own Way to Rock" because I loved that one. Another one I would love to have known more about was the sawn song "When the Band Was Playing Shakin All Over." Got airplay around here (along with "Rosanne") and was a cool epitaph of sorts. Their performance on Midnight Special in 76 (?) was great when they sand "Dirty" (lyrics switched around from LP version) and "Diggin Yourself," which I loved getting on tape back then off TV. Made me believe there was no reason to think the Guess Who were about done. As for the Guess Who going around now without lead vocalist, it was a bit like that when Burton took over from Chad Allen and had to sing "Shakin All Over" without Chad, no?? Clark Besch The memory of The Guess Who HOSTING The Midnight Special (right around the time of their "Artificial Paradise" album ... 1973 maybe?) is exceptionally vivid for me ... after hearing "Bye Bye Babe" (another song that absolutely should have been an A-Side ... and a HUGE hit), "Orly" and "Those Show Biz Shoes", I ran out and bought the album the very next day. I did ask a few more questions about the transition from Chad Allan, lead singer, to Burton Cummings, lead singer, but unfortunately these fell into the "unaswered" category" by press time. And I would have liked to have spent more time on some of the solo material as I have a whole list of favorites from this era as well ... but we simply ran out of time. (I was able to feature a few of my favorite solo tracks during the interview, however.) kk
Hello kk! When the 45 version of "American Woman" was released in early 1970, there was a rumor that the last phrase sung was "Goodbye American shit!" In the Charlotte, North Carolina, area the radio stations always spoke over the ending so it became a conspiracy thing and all the kids were buying the 45 and some would swear he said it. It did not hurt the phenomena either that some 45 record versions excluded that last line! Did you experience that phenomena in Chicago? Here is the last line (turn it up): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8uANfdxRt0 Here's an excluded UK version ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4wTnYt8s-c
I read once where Burton Cummings stated he was saying "chick" and it cleared it up for me. So that had to have been an issue! It certainly spawned a lot of sells of the 45 record in the Piedmont area of North Carolina!
Also ... I don't think that The Guess Who gets proper credit in the category of FUZZ!
The Guess Who's tune "No Time" from "Canned Wheat" set my fields on fire with that gift and made me really happy more of that style of guitar driven fuzz (twin guitar fuzz) that Davie Allan made famous was coming and coupled with Burton Cummings vocals made that song timeless (no pun intended)! A lot of fuzz songs were just harsh fuzz being true psychedelic ditties but there are some melodic well done tunes that had that special formula! "No Time" in both versions are standing proof as were several LPs from The Guess Who. These ears stand tall with that tune as well as others they played!
Loved reading that interview!
Vibeman
I always heard it as "chick" ... so I guess I never really questioned it. I don't remember there being any controversy on this at the time.
However, I DOremember something about The Guess Who being invitedto perform at The White House ... and that some of the nation was shocked by this decision as "American Woman"was not considered very complimentary to the US (and women in particular) at the time. I probably should have asked him about this (but had forgotten all about it until I read your email.) Burton, if you happen to be reading this, what say you? (kk)
Hi Kent, Great job on the BC interview. It was some of your best work. Thank you Steve Sarley
Please enter my name in the free concert ticket give-away. The Guess Who are one of my all-time favorites and I would love to see this show. Doug Like I said, we're only able to pick one winner ... but you can always visit the Arcada Theatre website and secure your tickets now before they're all gone. I have a feeling this is going to be a VERY hot ticket ... especially based on the response we've received for our interview. (In fact, I believe we had something like 1800 brand new readers ... all from Canada!!! ... who discovered Forgotten Hits as a result of this great word of mouth! Awesome! (kk)
Kent, Just read the first installment of your Burton Cummings interview -- EXCELLENT -- so looking forward to the next two installments. I find Forgotten Hits more in touch and more relevant than any other music publication -- THANK-YOU for all of your expertise and hard work -- it is greatly appreciated.
For a real kick Google: Blackbird Guess Who Pandora -- and listen to Burton Cummings' spot-on version of the Beatles song (after you click on hit PLAY SAMPLE). It's on the Guess Who's album: "Let's Go - The CBC Years" -- I think you will find it very impressive! Best Regards, Tim Kiley
Thanks for the kind words Tim. I was listening to the "Let's Go" CD last week as a matter of fact. In fact, that's where their version of "Time Of The Season" came from that I posted in Part One of our interview. Interesting to hear the band as the were right on the cusp of hitting the big-time themselves. Still playing songs by other artists on the TV show while their own first hit single "These Eyes" was beginning to climb the charts. (kk) And then ... Hi Kent, Just finished "Burton Cummings Part 2" -- really EXCELLENT interview -- Glamour Boy, one of your all-time GREAT Burton Cummings' songs. Really loved that you brought up the fact that his music covers so many genres. Another tune of his in the jazzy category is "Sing Shiny Stockings" off the Dream Of A Child CD and another stellar tune of his is "Heavenly Blue" off the Woman Love CD, but I am sure you have heard them all. Loved the song you featured of his in the Country genre ... I had not heard that one before. I am sure you are getting a ton of feedback on your interview with Burton -- GREAT stuff -- looking forward to the final installment tomorrow. That's a helluva double-bill, The Zombies and Burton Cummings -- now there's an artist line-up that would have no trouble playing until breakfast -- love that song by the Zombies, "You Make Me Feel Good!" Have a GREAT weekend! Thanks Again, Tim Kiley
More!!!
Hi Kent, Again, GREAT interview with Burton Cummings ... I really enjoyed it. Also thanks for featuring "Albert Flasher" in Forgotten Hits today, certainly one of the Guess Who's most durable hits -- it has almost a little history like Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll", a song that only charted at #28 in Billboard but when "Old Time Rock & Roll" was featured in the movie "Risky Business" it went on to become a classic (much the same with the Righteous Brother's "Unchained Melody" in the movie "Ghost"). "Albert Flasher" only charted at number #29 in the U.S. but was featured in the movie "Almost Famous" and when you hear Burton sing it, watch the crowd and you'll see why this song has had the longevity it has -- when you hear Albert Flasher you know that Burton has tapped into a vein of gold in timeless magic rock n' roll much the same as a Fats Domino, Little Richard, or a Jerry Lee Lewis song. Listen to the song "Lucille" by Little Richard, absolutely timeless -- it's the same with Albert Flasher, just like a good Canadian whiskey, it just gets better with age. When Burton Cummings joined the Guess Who in January of 1966, shortly thereafter the first song he recorded in the studio that he did lead vocals on with the Guess Who was a song that Neil Young wrote (as you know, Neil spent his junior high and high school years in Winnipeg) called "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" that spent time on the Canadian charts -- give a listen to it, and you'll see it sounds even better than the version recorded by Neil Young's Buffalo Springfield with Richie Furay on lead vocals. It'll give you an idea of how the Guess Who sounded right before the collaboration of Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman took their music in the direction that they became even more famous for. You take the talent of Burton Cummings, and you stir in the Winnipeg music scene, and add a bit of British Invasion with a sprinkle of youth and dreams and you come up with a whole lot of great music, happy record companies, and loyal fans -- fame was only a by-product. I think Burton would be the first to tell you that his career wasn't about the gravy, it was about the potatoes, music always was his mistress -- though the Guess Who brought him fame and creature comforts, I think to this day the band that remains a soft spot in his heart is the Deverons -- whereas the Guess Who meant the business of music, the Deverons meant the fun of music -- and when you see him perform, you'll see he still is having fun -- and when you go to the show you will, too. I think to him music always had the feel of "Mom, look what I colored in school today!" He has never forgotten the person that made it all possible for him. You are in for one helluva show. Peace, Tim Kiley No doubt about it, Burton has a soft spot for The Deverons ... that's really when it all started for him. But if The Deverons were the vehicle that got him into show business, then The Guess Who became the express train that took him to the top. We've heard from a few readers over the years who remember seeing Cummings with The Deverons and being able to tell very early on that this guy had something special ... and was going to make it big. He probably would have ended up being a star either way. "Albert Flasher" has always been one of my favorites ... it almost feels like Burton wrote this one as a piano warm-up exercise! He is ALL over the keyboard ... and I've always felt that this should have been a MUCH bigger hit. (I think part of the problem was the flip-side, "Broken", split the vote and, as such, NEITHER track became as big as they deserved to be. Having seen The Guess Who, Burton Cummings and/or Randy Bachman close to fifteen times now, you don't have to tell me how entertaining this show is going to be ... I can't WAIT to see him again! (kk)
Kent, This is a wonderful interview. Congratulations! Best, Bob Rush
Your Burton Cummings Interview was a home run -- no wait, I take that back -- a GRAND SLAM!
I have read many articles and interviews on Cummings and the Guess Who in the past but nothing ever as in-depth as your piece. You guys covered it all. Kudos on a job well done.
John Great job on the Burton Cummings interview, Kent. I never had the opportunity to talk with him during my radio heyday, so I was pleased to see that he's a great guy and still has the enthusiasm of a youngster with regard to music -- his and others' as well. And you're right -- Cummings and Bachman's version of "Don't Talk to Him" is terrific. Oh, the broadcasting and format myths we could bust if someone would just give us a little radio station at the end of the dial ... Scott Paton What an excellent job, and what a thrill it was to learn about Burton and learn about him beyond the records. I loved the Cliff Richards cover, and that take on You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet was wild! Jealous of you getting to go see him on stage.
CW Martin
I can't wait ... but it IS a real kick to be able to take another Chicago-area Forgotten Hits Reader to the show, thanks to Arcada Theatre head-honcho Ron Onesti! Meanwhile, there are still a few good seats available:
www.oshows.com. (kk) Two other great Guess Who tracks I wondered if you knew (I'm sure you do) that weren’t hits but shoulda been are A Wednesday In Your Garden and Flying On The Ground (Written, I’m told, by Neil Young). CW You'll find BOTH of these tracks mentioned elsewhere in today's comments page ... obviously fan favorites! (kk) Really, really enjoyed the Burton Cummings interview.
Loved all their classic-hit songs ... was great to re-think about those songs again, especially "Share The Land" (which I had forgotten about!) ... great, great track.
Bravo!
David Salidor
It sounds like some of our Forgotten Hits Readers having been telling Burton about our publication ... Very cool ... so he finally figured out that your operation's pretty rockin' (you've really picked up steam since you first got going) ... Definitely will let the Guess Who fans in our group know about it.
I've yet to read today's second piece, but the first was brilliant, dude - and I have posted the link in a couple places and gotten FB likes and comments about what a great interview this is. I'm sure Burton was impressed at how well-informed you are.
Dan I have him as a friend on Facebook and have dropped him a couple of notes about the site as he had appeared on there a few times recently and that he should check it out as it would be a good read if nothing else, but that you do a great job interviewing people and it has a large following. Next thing I know ... you have this coming up! LOL Dunno if the extra push did any good, but I am glad you finally got the interview from him. He personally writes a lot on his FB page about stuff in the past, so this one should be good!
doc Over the past several years at least four or five people on the list have mentioned that they thought they could hook us up for an interview ... but it never happened. Honestly, it looked like this one might fall through a couple of times, too, but with the show coming up in a couple of weeks, I really pushed to keep this on track. Fortunately, Burton's road manager, Sam Boyd, is a long-time Forgotten Hits Reader and really enjoys what we do here ... so he helped to set the whole thing up. Burton called me at an appointed time and we talked for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I had emailed him DOZENS of questions both before and after our phone conversation ... and then he began emailing me back responses to cover some of the topics we missed during the first go 'round. (Even at that, there were still several more questions that ultimately got dropped from the website interview simply because we never got around to them.) Incredibly we were still talking late Tuesday Night / Wednesday Morning ... so I had a rather frantic Thursday trying to get enough edited in time to still hit my self-imposed deadline of Part One going up on the site on Friday ... certainly the most pressure I've ever put on myself to do so (I've probably got 15 hours in Part One alone!) ... but it was important to me to have this run two weeks before the show so that fans would still have the time to get a ticket.
I've heard from several people that he can be difficult at times ... but I saw absolutely no evidence of that. In fact, most of the interview felt like two old friends, talking about their shared love of music ... as Burton Cummings is, himself, a FAN ... and, as he told us, quite the collector. Many of those same people (along with quite a few others) wrote in to say that they were amazed at how much I got out of him ... but we haven't even scratched the surface yet ... as this was after Part One ran on the site. I've still got two more days to go and the best, as they say, is yet to come.
I found him to be COMPLETELY behind me on this (and I've heard he's been quite complimentary of the results so far) ... very cooperative, very forthcoming and very appreciative of my wanting to get the facts down and help push the concert ... so time will tell if we do more ... who knows, maybe he'll become a regular Forgotten Hits reader and contributor, too. But I've gotta tell you ... as a life-long fan, this was an INCREDIBLY cool thing for me to do!!! (kk)
kk -
You raised the bar when it comes to rock interviews with your piece on Burton Cummings. (Thanks a lot, ya bastard!) I guess I can cross him off my bucket list ... you covered it all ... there's nothing left to ask him!
All kidding aside, you did a GREAT job with this and with, from what I understand, a sometimes difficult interview subject. You two seemed to definitely have hit it off and it shows in the final outcome.
Sincere compliments on a job well done ... Forgotten Hits just continues to grow and I, for one, am very happy to be part of the forgotten hits family.
Chuck
This one meant a lot to me ... no question. Burton mentioned an online group of fans of his called "the faithful" and I would be remiss not to do the same. Just about a year ago, I was sitting here computer-less with no financial means to solve this problem. For all intents and purposes, I was struggling with the very real possibility that, after nearly fourteen years, this might be the end of Forgotten Hits. But a group of devoted readers got together and raised donations to get us back in the game. Were it not for them, this interview might never have happened ... so once I again I thank MY "faithful". Tell you what ... scroll back and look at the work we've done here in the past year ... the idea that NONE of this would have happened is literally unthinkable to me. SO many new opportunities have presented themselves in the past year and, thankfully, I was around to take advantage of the majority of them. So thank you again, the Forgotten Hits Faithful, who have stuck with us for all these years ... and are encouraging me to keep it going for at least another sixty!!! (I'm not sure THAT'LL happen ... lol ... but hey, right now I'm feelin' pretty good about what we've accomplished here!) kk If you are a fan, join our group on Facebook. Burton drops by from time to time.
We will be playing the September 7th concert on www.fenx.us on Sunday if you would like to listen.
In fact, I will be running a series of Burton Concerts from this year and last. The Guess Who at the Cresentwood Centre 1966 with Chad Allan and Burton Cummings The Guess Who reunion at the Cresentwood Center in Winnipeg in 2000 with the 4 originals including Jim Kale Burton Cummings in Cornwall 2012 Burton Cummings at the Red Robinson Vancouver 2012 Burton Cummings Live at the Imperial Room Toronto 1982 Burton Cummings Solo Live at the Red Robinson Tuesdays, Burton's long time Album designer has a show. Ernie Celafu from Pacific Eye and Ear, which runs at 8 pm Eastern. And thank you for running (and crediting!) my photo of Burton and the band on your website ... you'll see one of photos included in inner sleeve of the "Massey Hall" CD, too.
Kevin Suter
Awesome interview ... Burton emailed me that he had a great talk with you. Thanks for doing it and if you need anything else let me know. Cheers. Sam Boyd Tour Manager
Kent ... Enjoyed your Burton Cummings interview. According to Ron Smith's Book"Eight Days A Week," 9/17/1975 - " Guess Who Day " is declared in Winnipeg. Frank B. Well, that would be TODAY!!! So Happy Guess Who Day everybody! (kk)
We'll spend the next few days catching up ... We fell behind during the Burton Cummings interview ... but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Thanks again to everybody who stuck with us throughout the whole thing ... it looks like this was a bonafide hit!
We now rejoin "regular" Forgotten Hits ... already in progress!
re: BIG NEWS ... THE RASCALS ARE COMING TO CHICAGO!: It's official ... The Rascals "Once Upon A Dream" show is coming to Chicago!!!
Chicago Tribune Reporter Johnny Oleksinski made the announcement lastWednesday: BroadwayIn Chicago announced Wednesday that "Once Upon a Dream Starring the Rascals" will play the Cadillac Palace Theatre from Nov. 5 - 10 for five performances. The rock 'n' roll theatrical concert that tells the history of the 1960s New Jersey band comes to Chicago from Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre where it had a limited run this spring. Including the group's hits like "It's A Beautiful Morning" and "Groovin'," "Once Upon A Dream" stars original band members Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, Dino Danelli and Gene Cornish. And, as they haven't played together since 1970, this is, in essence, the band's reunion tour. The show is written by Steven Van Zandt, the guitarist of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, but perhaps best known as mobster Silvio Dante from HBO's "The Sopranos." Van Zandt also acts as a producer and directs alongside Marc Brickman. Individual tickets go on sale Sept. 20 at broadwayinchicago.com. Click here: Rascals Once Upon A Dream - HOME
Hey Kent - In case you did not hear the Rascals (all four of them!!)at the Cadillac Palace Theater November 5 thru 10th.(See the Sun Times page 27)I know what I want for my birthday!! Mike DeMartino President of the Lovejoy Music Club Oh, believe me, I heard ... and I can't WAIT!!! Tickets go on sale on Friday, the 20th ... but they're not gonna be cheap!!! From what I'm hearing, main floor seats start at around $150 and go up to $250 for the really good ones and as much as $500 for VIP Seating! (kk)
re: OTHER UP-COMING AND RECENT SHOWS: Hey Kent ... Check out this great show we are a part of in November in New Jersey. Mitch Schecter / The Rip Chords
Man, we NEVER get great shows like this in Chicago! (kk) I wish we could bring this show to Chicago! Mitch
Hi Kent, Catching up on Forgotten Hits -- I recently saw Bill Medley in Las Vegas -- very good show -- and the frosting on the cake is that Bill is FUNNY, very FUNNY! Enjoyed his tribute to Bobby Hatfield and some of their early tunes including Justine, Little Latin Lupe Lu, and My Babe -- his daughter did a nice job in the show, too! From "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" to Shindig, his music and stories were GREAT! Thanks again for Forgotten Hits spectacular series on the British Invasion and inclusion of the Peter Noone interview -- GREAT stuff! Looking forward to the Burton Cummings three-part interview this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday -- not only is he one of rock's greatest vocalists and composers, but also a true aficionado with encyclopedic knowledge of music and artists. Again, Thank-You and Forgotten Hits for all the truly entertaining and interesting reading and listening -- "And the hits just keep on comin'!"
By the way Kent, when do you sleep? ha! Cheers, Tim Kiley
Sleep is over-rated! (lol) Honestly, I'm exhausted ... but this is the price we pay to bring you the hits! (lol) Thanks, Tim. (kk) re: SOME SAD NEWS, TOO:
We lost one of my all-time radio favorites this week ... Jerry G. Bishop passed away on Sunday (September 15th). Click here: TV's original Svengoolie, 'a great, great talent' | Robert Feder Ironically FH Reader Clark Besch had just tried to contact Bishop a week ago in an effort to get him to share some of his stories with our Forgotten Hits readers.
A TRUE talent ... and a radio legend 'round these parts. He will be missed. (kk)
This from Clark ... Sad to see that Jerry G Bishop of WCFL and Svengoolie famein Chicago has died. I listened to Nick Digilio's show last night on WGN radio and he paid a 1 1/2 hour tribute to him with sound bites and listeners' memories of him. I remembered him from WCFL circa 1967-69 as their morning man, but knew of his legend as Svengoolie on TV in Chicago and now with METV on nationally, have watched the current Svengoolie carry on his tradition of bad jokes and horror movies. Nick will likely have a podcast up of last night's tribute which included a guest appearance by Larry Lujack in 1972 on the Svengoolie show. Along with the Ides of March, Svengoolie put Berywn ("BERWYN!") on the map. One man called in that took over after Jerry's show in the late 50's at their college station. Eventually, Jerry wound up at KYW where the Beschs first heard him. He played folk songs and joked in the studio well before the Drake format killed much of this type of personality radio off. Ken Draper eventually took him to Chicago and WCFL. He had had his own teen dance show in Cleveland and released a GREAT 45, "She's Gone" in late 1966, which carried over to his 'CFL days in early 67. In 1969, he began his TV career as Svengoolie and eventually left for California where he became huge again. He won three Emmy's for his morning TV show over 13 years. He has been in bad health for some time, but I have emailed with him over the past years and most recently on August 28 when I informed him of the upcoming Beatles at the BeebVol. 2 CD set to be released soon. He wanted more info and then I mentioned Chet Coppick's FH comments about a 1968 Hendrix concert Jerry had emceed. He responded:
Clark ...
I don't recall that concert.
By the way its coppOck! (many days I don't remember breakfast) but I'm glad Chet Coldcut enjoyed it ...
Jerry G
I replied that I still love his record and remember his WKYC days in Cleveland and have three copies! I told him a Clevetown record has shown up on a Rhino comp lately, so maybe his would too.
He replied that day:
Clark ...
MY record (recorded in Cleveland, released only there and Chicago when I came to 'CFL ) called "She's Gone" is on Youtube . I sang all four voices under the name "JERRY G & Co".
Jerry
His last email two weeks ago joked:
You've been a radio Geek for a long time! Glad to know if I need somewhere to find three copies!
Jerry
So long, Sven. It was great listening and knowing you. WLSClark
P.S. I wanted to comment on the passing of WLS' Don Wade two weeks ago too. Sad times.
Jerry G was always one of my faves ... wish we could have corresponded a bit more thru Forgotten Hits. And "She's Gone" is a GREAT record. We've featured it several times before ... and EVERY time we do, we get a GREAT response. People really seem to have forgotten about this one ... and let's face it, it never really was a hit ... but if you grew up here ... or listened to WCFL back in the day, my guess is you'll remember it. GREAT track! (kk)
More from Chicago Radio and Media ... including the track mentioned above ...
William Shatner To Perform His New Album 'Ponder the Mystery' With Prog Rock Group Circa: featuring Billy Sherwood and Tony Kaye formerly of YES Los Angeles, CA – William Shatner will be performing his new record Ponder the Mystery in its entirety along with the progressive rock heroes Circa: featuring Billy Sherwood, who produced and co-wrote Ponder the Mystery with Shatner, and Tony Kaye both former members of the legendary prog rock band YES. William Shatner is a film and TV icon with an intense passion for music which has yielded several solo records including the critically acclaimed Seeking Major Tom. This most recent solo record, Ponder the Mystery, which includesguest artists from the prog and fusion genres such as Rick Wakeman, Al DiMeola, Steve Vai, Robbie Krieger, Vince Gill, Edgar Winter, George Duke, Zoot Horn Rollo and Dave Koz to name a few), expands Shatner’s musical horizons due to the fact that all of the songs are original, written by Shatner and his musical partner in the project Billy Sherwood. The album will be released on both CD and vinyl on October 8, 2013. This partnership of Shatner and Sherwood has created a vast and expansive artistic landscape for Shatner’s amazing gift of poetry while Sherwood composed the musical backdrop. The record is conceptual in nature: following a man in despair through the setting sun, twilight and finally darkness, and in the process, regains his joy of life. Both Bills had a vision of taking the record to the stage and performing it live. When it came time to form the band for this event, Circa: was the obvious choice, Sherwood and Kaye have had a long running musical relationship playing on stage together with YES and forming Circa: in 2006. Circa: recently released a new album Live From Here There and Everywhere. Performance dates and locations: Wednesday, October 23, 2013: Saint Rocke, 142 E. Pacific Coast Hwy, Hermosa, CA 90254 (310-372-0035) Thursday, October 24, 2013: The Canyon Club, 289 12 Roadside Dr., Agoura, CA 91301 (818-879-5016) Friday, October 25, 2013: The Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 (949-496-8930) For more information: www.WilliamShatner.com
Now THIS would be a FUN show to see!!! (lol) kk LEGACY RECORDINGS SET TO REISSUEROY ORBISON'S IN DREAMS - THE GREATEST HITS CLASSIC ORBISON COLLECTION FROM 1987 BACK IN PRINT AFTER NEARLY TWO DECADES On September 17th Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will issue, for the first time on the label, Roy Orbison In Dreams - The Greatest Hits on CD. Originally released in 1987 as a double-album set, now finally available after nearly two decades, the 19 selections on In Dreams - The Greatest Hits were the means by which Roy Orbison revisited much of his classic repertoire utilizing contemporary recording technology. By the late 1980s, with the song "In Dreams" playing an important role in director David Lynch's groundbreaking film Blue Velvet and the singer finding a new groove with the Traveling Wilburys, Roy Orbison was enjoying a major career renaissance. The In Dreams - The Greatest Hits title track -- produced by Orbison, T Bone Burnett and Lynch in April 1987 -- was joined by a raft of signature Orbison standard bearers including "Crying," "Dream Baby," "Only The Lonely" and "Oh, Pretty Woman."
Many committed fans as well as critics have contended that the versions of Orbison classics heard on In Dreams - The Greatest Hits surpass the earlier recordings of those titles in terms of both performance and audio quality. The album's artistic merit was borne out by its success in the marketplace when it stormed onto the Billboard album charts upon release and went on to achieve Gold certification from the RIAA in the US and went to #2 on the UK album charts. Also, launching this Friday, September 13, through RoyOrbison.com, is a seamless custom-built 'CompareOtronic13' application which will allow for comparison of five songs from the album -- "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Crying," "In Dreams," "Running Scared" and "Only The Lonely" -- side by side with the versions recorded in the 1960's. The user is able to toggle from one version to the other to experience the sonic differences. The user is guided by the professional analysis of highly regarded audio engineer Matt Andrews -- chief engineer at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios and for the hit ABC-TV series Nashville -- through the process. Through an interactive voting features, listeners are able to cast their own ballot regarding which version is superior and users enter comment in a shared blog. Roy Orbison -In Dreams - The Greatest Hits 1. Only The Lonely 2. Leah 3. In Dreams 4. Uptown 5. It's Over 6. Crying 7. Dream Baby 8. Blue Angel 9. Working For The Man 10. Candy Man 11. Running Scared 12. Falling 13. I'm Hurtin' 14. Claudette 15. Oh, Pretty Woman 16. Mean Woman Blues 17. Ooby Dooby 18. Lana 19. Blue Bayou This new album might be a surprise!: http://www.cdbaby.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?AlbumID=davieallan7 Also available: "Retrophonic" (#1), "Retrophonic 4" (my final physical album) plus the "download only" albums, "Retrophonic 2" and "3", "Restless In L.A." and "Music To Give You The Creeps" (all of these are clickable on the home page of my websitehttp://www.daviedallan.com Thanks! Davie
re: BEATLES-RELATED: We got some GREAT news this week from noted Beatles Historian Bruce Spizer. As many of you know, many of his books documenting all of The Beatles releases over the years are now long out of print ... and fetching BIG BUCKS on eBay and other collectors' sites. As one of the foremost authorities on the band ... heck, he's probably also one of the FOUR MOST noted authorities on the band ... we are pleased to announce that all of these books will soon be available in e-Editions ... PDF's viewable on your computer! First up ... The VeeJay book ... which is, of course, the book that started it all. This will be followed by the two volumes of Capitol releases ... and so on until the entire collection is available again. This is VERY exciting news for collectors who may have missed the opportunity to add these books to their collection the first time around. (Thankfully, we've got them all ... but I understand that Bruce is updating each edition, too ... and is still looking for any other label variations you might have to share.) More details below ... from Bruce Spizer himself: Kent - I am doing expanded and revised editions of my books in the digital format. There are no plans at this time to issue the revised and expanded editions in print form. The plan is to convert the sold out books to digital so that they remain available at affordable prices. The first book in the revised and expanded digital format is “The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay,” which was my first book. It sold out several years ago and sells for a hefty premium on the secondary market. It usually goes for between $300 and $500, though I’ve seen it go for more. The Vee-Jay book is completely re-edited. All of the minute details regarding label variations and trail off area markings are now placed at the end of each chapter, allowing the reader to easily skip past these pages. The reader is told by green text that the remainder of the chapter contains label and trail off area details. The reader can hit an internal link and go directly to the next chapter or quickly page through, perhaps stopping to look at the labels. The book has tons of new information and images. A section at the end of the book summarizes the new information and images chapter by chapter. The book is over 450 pages. The digital format allows one to expand the size of images. This is particularly helpful to see details on record labels and in trade magazine ads. There are several internal links, allowing easy cross referencing. There are also some external links to the internet where the reader can get additional information about a topic. Those who purchase the eBooks directly from my website, www.beatle.net , will be mailed a signature card, a collectors card and, most important of all, a book mark. Purchasers can request that I personalize the signature card. I have already started work on the Capitol books, which are also sold out. These will also be revised and expanded digital editions. There will be several new images of documents and the Beatles in the studio. There will also be new information. Please let your readers know that I am interested in getting images of label variations and Capitol paperwork and promotional items not found in the hard cover editions. After the Capitol books are done, I will move on to the Apple book, which is also sold out. I plan on doing the other books if and when they sell out, so people should buy extra copies of the Swan book and the Price Guide to speed up their availability in the digital format! Thanks again for your help with the radio air play information. Bruce I don't know if you've ever heard any of these things called 'Deconstructing The Beatles". There are quite a few on youtube. It's a guy who used a program to isolate each track on the songs. If you haven't heard these, you'll be blown away. Here's a couple of them.. http://youtu.be/936FYXUAuFA >>> George Martin was brilliant!! http://youtu.be/9PQaYjdDbko >>> Umpah Umpah stick it up the Umpah http://youtu.be/NNTOwMD1mC0 http://dangerousminds.net/comments/acappella_abbey_road_sixteen_glorious_minutes_of_isolated_beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9sRZF6p-2Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPx-hU9QJIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7HlZ1BspYo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSSfqq0wAJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llIcYPv5YHc I always thought Macca played piano on this! Mike Mertes I always thought Paul played piano on "Oh! Darling", too ... so I double-checked the Mark Lewisohn book "The Beatles Recording Sessions" and was surprised to see that, after doodling around with the tune in the studio back in January of 1969, The Beatles started working on the track in earnest on April 20th with Paul on bass (and guide vocal), Ringo on drums, George on guitar (played through a Leslie speaker) and John on piano. (A Hammond Organ part was overdubbed on to Take 26 but then removed from the final dub.) McCartney would return to the studio several times more trying to nail the perfect lead vocal, often locking himself in a room by himself, screaming him hoarse trying to capture just the right nuance that makes this track as great as it is. Recording Engineer Alan Parsons remembers: "Perhaps my main memory of the 'Abbey Road' sessions is of Paul coming into studio three at two o'clock or 2:30 each afternoon, on his own, to do the vocal on 'Oh!Darling'. Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal. He'd come in, sing it and say, 'No, that's not it ... I'll try it again tomorrow.' He only tried it once per day ... I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. I remember him saying 'five years ago I could have done this in a flash' referring, I suppose, to the days of 'Long Tall Sally' and 'Kansas City'. Lewisohn's book goes on to quote John Kurlander, who also witnessed these overdubs: "I think Paul wanted this 'first thing in the morning' quality ... or maybe it was 'last thing at night'. Whatever it was, he came in early each day, an hour before anybody else, to do his piece, always replacing the previous one until he got the one he liked." After several more attempts, he finally nailed the vocal that made the record on July 23rd, just prior to beginning a nine hour session spent primarily working on the medley that closes the "Abbey Road" LP, particularly "The End" itself. These are cool ... if somewhat tedious ... links showing what went into each individual track to some music we THOUGHT we knew backwards and forward! (kk) It sounds like Paul McCartney will be adding his new single "New" to the on-stage line-up when his band next performs. Here's a rare, backstage clip of Macca rehearsing the track with the band ...
And here's the complete track listing for McCartney's "new" LP, hitting stores October 15th:
"Save Us" (produced by Paul Epworth); "Alligator" (produced by Mark Ronson); "On My Way to Work"(produced by Giles Martin); "Queenie Eye" (produced by Paul Epworth); "Early Days" (produced by Ethan Johns); "New" (produced by Mark Ronson); "Appreciate" (produced by Giles Martin); "Everybody Out There" (produced by Giles Martin); "Hosanna" (produced by Ethan Johns); "I Can Bet" (produced by Giles Martin); "Looking at Her" (produced by Giles Martin); "Road" (produced by Giles Martin) First, I would like to wish you a belated 60th birthday. As I’ve said before, you do one heck of a job with Forgotten Hits.
One thing I noticed repeatedly on the Top 100 British Invasion Hits was how many times you noted that the song was written by Lennon and McCartney. I didn’t count, but LOTS! So my idea and (perhaps you direct this to the proper Macca channels) Paul should do an album of all those hits that he co-wrote but mostly never recorded. Given all the comments how Paul is singing better than ever, this could be a spectacular album. Let me know what you think.
Always, all the best ...
Scott S from McHenry
Clever idea but I doubt that he'd go for it. It'd be cool just to have all of those cover versions in one place. (I remember DECADES ago I used to have an import album ... something to effect of "The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away" ... and it featured the British "hit" versions of several of these tunes. Many are barely a faded memory ... others (like "A World Without Love" and "Bad To Me") are amongst the best written during those early years. Still others (like "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "I Wanna Be Your Man", recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas and The Rolling Stones respectively) were songs The Beatles cut themselves, but with George and Ringo on lead vocals ... thus rendering tracks that were NEVER going to be released as singles. (Ha! We fooled 'em here in America ... George's reading of "Do You Want To Know A Secret" went all the way to #2 here in The States when Vee Jay Records released it as a single at the height of Beatlemania!) kk September 21 will be George Harrison Day in the state of Illinois as proclaimed by governor Pat Quinn. Fifty years ago, Harrison stayed in Benton, IL for two weeks just as Beatlemania was taking hold in the U.K. In anticipation of their U.S. debut, the Beatles each took separate vacations with George choosing the U.S. During his vacation travels, he came to southern Illinois to visit his sister, Louise Harrison Caldwell. Quinn said of the celebration "Many icons through history have Illinois connections, and we are recognizing one more with this proclamation. George Harrison helped define a generation, and we encourage visitors to follow his footsteps throughout Southern Illinois." Part of the festivities on the 21st is the unveiling of a historical marker in the southern Illinois town declaring him "the first Beatle in America." The marker will also describe other activities in which Harrison participated during his stay. A couple of Apple Records proteges made our mailboxes this week, too ... English singer Jackie Lomax, who was an early artist on the Beatles' Apple label, died on Sunday while in England for the wedding of one of his children. He was 69. Lomax began his career in the Liverpool area first with the band Dee and the Dynamites followed by The Undertakers. The group followed the Beatles to Hamburg, Germany and were signed by Pye Records which released four singles, only one of which charted (Just a Little Bit). Brian Epstein signed his next group, The Lomax Alliance, shortly before his death and got them a deal at CBS but two singles from the group and one solo disc did not chart. Still, George Harrison and Apple Records took notice and signed Lomax to the label with Harrison taking a major role in Jackie's production. During the short time that Apple was a working entity, Lomax released three singles and the album Is This What You Want? to little commercial success despite having a studio band that included Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Nicky Hopkins. Post-Apple, Lomax joined the group Heavy Jelly who recorded a full album of Jackie's songs but was never commercially released. The 70's were spent split between the U.S. and Britain with stints at Warner Brothers, Epic and Capitol, recording albums at all three labels but not finding success. His last album for a major label was 1977's Did You Ever Have That Feeling? In 1978, Lomax settled in the U.S., playing bass in the touring bands of such groups as the Drifters, the Coasters and the Diamonds along with a number of local Los Angeles groups. He recorded his first solo album in 24 years, The Ballad of Liverpool Slim, and, in 2003, returned to play Liverpool's Cavern Club. Since then, he has returned to play in Liverpool a number of times.
NEW YORK - Writer, producer, recording artist Lon Van Eaton (best remembered for his ground-breaking album, Brother, (with his brother Derrek on the Beatlesʼ Apple label), produced by George Harrison and Klaus Voormann has relocated to New Hope, PA. Originally from Trenton, NJ, he has created Holicong Studio – Blue Door in a 1749 converted school house.
“Itʼs coming home.” Says Lon, “Being signed to the Beatles Apple label was a lightening strike. I am a lucky guy and want to give back. The idea for Holicong is to be a boutique label, like Apple.
He will also continue his “Art of Recording” classes where students work together, write, record, mix, master and release a single. Already, several of these productions have climbed to the top of many internet sites.
“I call them “Musix” - experimental sound designs that release our primitive underlying creative spirit as we find ways to be of service to something larger than themselves.” Lon says, “I mean, What would you say if the whole world is listening?”
Recently, Mr. Van Eatonʼs score for his musical screenplay “Juggling Bubbles” was reviewed by Joseph Eger, author of “Einsteinʼs Violin” and creator of The Symphony for United Nations. As a result, Mr. Eger sponsored Lon to became a UN delegate.
“Weʼve come up with the Bubbles Trilogyʼʼ . “Juggling Bubbles”, addresses the current unsustainable environmental situation in a love story between a celebrity songstress who has it all and a romantic nihilist who wants to take it all down. Part two, “Bubble or Nothing” is an action packed adventure where the future of civilization is at stake and finally, “Forever Blowing Bubbles”, the reforming of a new society in balance.
“When youʼre a kid and catapulted to the highest levels of the entertainment world you believe anything is possible. Here is a three-part motion picture franchise story that can inform and awaken humanity. How can we deliver this in an innovative over the top method?”
To answer that question, Lon and his teams created and patented a new entertainment technology, LIVIES™ - Live Interactive Visual Immersion Entertainment Shows. Imagine a “planetarium like” Geodesic dome theatre of breathtaking high def virtual realities and panoramic film immersed in surround sound. LIVIES™ venues tour like the tents of Cirque. A new theatre design to entertain audiences of all ages.
An Ad manʼs take: Beyond movies. Beyond concerts. Beyond theater. Beyond any entertainment experience ever had or ever imagined. LIVIES™ is the next GIANT (Did we say GIANT?), GIANT (there we go again) evolutionary leap . . . in entertainment. LIVIES™ not just live, but living. It breathes. It pulses. It breeds talent and tech into a living force-of-entertainment so GIANT (bears repeating!) that it required the construction of its own, never-before-seen (or heard), bubble-theaters. Your two eyes are now all eyes. Your two ears are all ears. Everywhere you sit. And also, everywhere it goes. (Floating bubbles, by the way; town to town to . . .
“Maybe the thin Colorado air kept us gasping for more. Weʼre pleased to be back in the fishbowl. Coming down from the mountain to offer something back from all we were given ... A Splendid Time is Guaranteed for All”. re: THE WRECKING CREW:
It's almost here! Producer Denny Tedesco tells us they're putting together the final licensing to cover all of the INCREDIBLE music used in this film ... and they've found a pretty clever way to push this over the top.
They've actually started a Kickstarter campaign. Now before you say anything, we've heard the good and the bad about Kickstarter over the past couple of years ... but these guys have come up with a VERY clever way to give you something for your donation. Check this out ...
Dear Wrecking Crew Friends and Family,
It's been a couple of months since I sent you an update so I wanted to fill you in on the latest news.
We now have a list of 24K fans on FACEBOOK and it continues to grow each day, I'm hoping we can make it to 25K before November. Facebook is an opportunity to connect on a daily basis without filling up your email inbox. Every day we try to have a trivia question about Wrecking Crew musicians and artists which has turned into some fun and spirited comments.
This is our 17th year working on this project. We need to raise the final $250,000 to be able to release the film. With the kind contributions and donations over the years, we have been able to pay off 99% of all the labels and publishers.
The last $200,000 payment is to the American Federation of Musicians. Which means the musicians who are on the contracts of all the songs will be paid for their work. This is one bill that I look forward to paying the most.
In order to raise the final funds we will begin a KICKSTARTER program within the next 4 weeks and I'll be thrilled to pay off the final licensing at last!
As part of the KICKSTARTER campaign we have to offer incentives for the donations we receive. To that end, we have many great items to offer from T-shirts, books and posters, to coffee cups, hats and bumper stickers. But the main perk is the DVD of the film including out takes.
We will have some other one of a kind incentives and here are just a few to offer: Fender donated a "Standard Precision Precision Bass" in Sunburst Finish with a Rosewood Fingerboard which is the most similar to the bass Joe Osborn played back in the Wrecking Crew days ... and Joe has signed it for us. We've also got 10 copies of These Boots Are Made for Walkin' signed by Nancy Sinatra; a Private Lunch with Hal Blaine in Palm Springs; a Personal MP3 Message for your Home Machine by Hal Blaine; One Taye Snare Drum Signed by Hal Blaine; A Personal MP3 Message and CD from for your outgoing voice mail message by actor, voice actor, singer, and comedian Tom Kenny. (Tom Kenny has been a huge supporter of the Wrecking Crew Film. If you don't know Tom by name, you know his work. He is the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants. He has offered to do Spongebob or Ice King [you have to have kids to know] for your machine; an hour session with Pianist Don Randi; and a Zildjian Cymbal Signed by Hal.
So, If you are a manufacturer or vendor out there, please consider something that you might want featured on Kickstarter for us to offer as an additional incentive. It doesn't need to be just music related ... we can offer gift certificates to restaurants, clubs, or stores. I'll be happy to accept any ideas to share with my audience.
We will be sending out another blast to let you all know when the Kickstarter page is up and running so you can share it with everyone you know!
As you can see, Heil Sound Microphone are featured at every screening around the country. There is very good reason for that. A special thanks to Bob and Sarah Heil. They have been a huge supporter and contributor of the Wrecking Crew Film and recently donated $10,000. When the film comes out, I am excited to add the Heil Logo in our credits as a featured 'Angel'. We hope we will be finding other Angels to be added to the credits.
Here are some upcoming screenings starting this coming weekend. We are still looking for sponsors locally and nationally for our screenings. We have sponsors from $200.00 and up.
re: THIS AND THAT: Kent ... On April 5, 2006, Gene Pitney died. There was an article in my newspaper. It was about Wild Wayne doing a two hour tribute to Gene Pitney on his show. Since Gene's one of my favorites, I decided to tune in. Wayne and Gene were close friends ... both from Connecticut. It was a great tribute show. I found out Wild Wayne was on every week. I'm still listening. For the past month and a half I couldn't get the "Memory Machine" on my computer. Why, I don't know. Wild Wayne called me on the phone on Sunday to check up on me, 'cause he hadn't heard from me. I explained my problem to him. He put a station tech guy on the phone. He found another way for me to get the station. Once I got the connection, I wasn't going to lose it. I listened to this Foreign Language show for an hour! How's that for a loyal listener? Your readers should check out "Wild Wayne's Memory Machine." It's on Sunday Nights from 6 to 8 PM (Eastern Time) ... wwuh.org Wild Wayne tells me he's been on the air for 34 + years. He plays a wide variety of music. If you listen for two hours, you are sure to find something you like. End of Commercial. Frank B.
DJ Stu tells us about two special doo-wop events happening this weekend in the New York area: Saturday Evening - Mickey B's doo wop show at The Patchogue Theater in Parchogue, Long Island, New York.
Featuring: Lola and the Saints / Passions / Excellents / Contours /Demensions / La La Brooks Sunday Afternoon - Goodfellas DooWop Club (September 22 - 12:30 till 4 -This time the meeting place is Aldo's 11 Pizzeria and Restaurant / 137-03 Crossbay Blvd / Ozone Park, New York - Featuring: Tee-Tones / Dennis Dell /Don Thomas / Tina DeCara/ Nicholas Anthony / Silver Fox Besides enjoying the music you may want to get up and sing as well. Admission is free!!!!! Italian food is available!
Hey Kent, I just received this from Rediscover Music. They have a very good music catalog. Have you ever heard of this artist? The documentary sounds interesting. - John LaPuzza Last Saturday evening, at the urging of several friends, my wife and I watched a documentary DVD titled "Searching for Sugar Man" which is an absolutely fascinating story of a singer-songwriter from the early seventies who went by his last name, Rodriguez. After recording two critically acclaimed albums – he was spoken of as being "as good as or better than Bob Dylan – which went absolutely nowhere, he gave up the entertainment business and went "home." The trouble was, no one knew where home was, he simply disappeared, and soon the stories started that he committed suicide on stage after performing his last show. One of the stories even had him pouring gasoline on himself and striking a match out of despair over not making it big in the entertainment business. But he did make it big – in South Africa! Somehow he developed a cult following there in the Apartheid era andbecame a symbolic figure for the white South Africans who also chafed under the rule of the country's powerful political leaders who tolerated no deviations from their autocratic ways. Once the Botha regime finally fell from power, Rodriguez became almost a folk hero, whose two LPs, later re-issued on CD, sold hundreds of thousands, if not millions of copies. But who was Rodriguez, and what had become of him? The liner notes of his two albums offered no clues, and his former producer and record label had no idea. Finally a sharp-eyed reader noted a reference to a bar in "Dearborn" in one of his songs. Dearborn, Michigan, the Detroit suburb? And so the search came to American shores. Although the film to that point was already fascinating, it now became even more so, but let me not spoil the end – and a whole lot more leading up to the end – for you. Get the DVD and watch it! We'd be delighted to sell it to you if you wish, but it ain't cheap and is available at Netflix and in many libraries. As a matter of fact, the (Blu-ray) copy we watched was from our local library. And if that inspires you to buy some CDs, we're happy to help you there too. Allan Shaw We've run several reviews on the website about this film ... although I've yet to see it myself, I've heard nothing but positive reviews ... so we'll have to check it out eventually. However, based on the recommendations of our readers, I can rate this one, sight-unseen, as HIGHLY recommended! (kk)
I met and had a nice chat with Robbs' drummer Craig Krampf the other day. I know this band has been discussed several times in FH, and the things he told me are quite consistent with what others have written about them. Craig has had a great career as a session drummer on quite a number of popular tracks through the years. After The Robbs and Where The Action Is, he did session work in LA until moving to Nashville in 1987. He has done session work here for over 25 years and currently serves as Secretary / Treasurer of the local musicians union. Craig is one of the most soft-spoken, polite guys I've ever met, and our conversation ranged from his friends The Wrecking Crew to Gary Myers' book, to the Battle of the Bands contest which The Robbs won, and their first record contract. Craig's wife of 34 years passed away a few years ago, and he has recently remarried and is a super-pleasant guy. David Lewis Tell him about all the press we've given him in Forgotten Hits over the years ... he might dig reading about it! These guys were VERY popular here in Chicago! (kk) Click here: Forgotten Hits: Search results for the robbs
Last week we ran Yahoo's List of The Top 10 Most Annoying Songs of the '70's. Well, now they've expanded this list to include The Top 10 Most Annoying Songs Of ALL-TIME!!! Check it out here ... and see if you agree! Click here: The Top 10 Most Annoying Songs of All Time - Yahoo Music
We get these from time to time ... but haven't share one in a while ... Do You Remember ... Do You Remember When Life Was Fun? All the girls had ugly gym uniforms? And wore tennis shoes, not $200 Nike's! It took three minutes for the TV to warm up? Nobody owned a purebred dog? When a quarter was a decent allowance? You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny? Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces? You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot? Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents? They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed ... And they did it! When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car ... to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady? No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked. Lying on your back in the grass with your friends ... And saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a ... '? Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game. Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger ... And, with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace and share it with the children of today? When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs ... our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat. And our summers were filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops, and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar! Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah, I remember that'? I am sharing this with you today because it ends with a Double Dog Dare you to pass it on ... To remember what a Double Dog Dare is, read on ... And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and young enough not to care! Send this on to someone who can still remember Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell , Roy and Dale ,Trigger and Buttermilk. How Many Of These Do You Remember? Candy cigarettes... Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside... Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles... Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes... Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum... Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers... Newsreels before the movie... Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(Yukon - 601). Party lines... Hi-Fi and 45 RPM records... 78 RPM records... Green Stamps... Mimeograph paper... Learning to write in cursive with fountain pens that you had to put an ink cartridge in ... The Fort Apache Play Set ... Tinkertoys ... Small metal soldiers ... Tiny Tears Dolls ... Do You Remember When Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'? Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!' Catching Fireflies Could Happily Occupy An Entire Evening? It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best Friends'... Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a Slingshot or Pea Shooter? Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? 'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense? Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles? The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team? War was a card game? Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle? Taking drugs meant orange flavored chewable aspirin? Water balloons were the ultimate weapon? If you can remember most or all of these, Then You Have Lived!!!!!!! Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their 'Grown-Up' Life ... I Double-Dog-Dare-Ya! Goldie Rox
Wouldn't it be cool if you had a shirt made up for people to buy, I would buy one! Bill Hengels
We've talked about doing it for years now ... just never got around to it. (Heck, I still don't have BUSINESS CARDS ... and I'm in the Printing Business!!! lol) kk
re: ON THE RADIO: Kent ... August was a good month for WCBS-FM (101.1). WCBS-FM finished alone at # 1 for the first time since November, 2011, breaking the long winning streak of WLTW (106.7), which finished a very close second. WCBS-FM averaged 6.3% of the city radio audience to 6.1% for WLTW. Frank B.
Hi Kent, I just came across your site today as I was searching out Rhapsody in the Rain. I recently moved from the east side of Michigan over to the Holland area and I've started listening to FM 100.9 out of Kalamazoo as they play oldies and I heard the song and it got me thinking. I grew up in the South West suburbs of Chicago (LTHS '65, same class as Barb Biondi) and I really got into listening to WLS (and WCFL) between early 1965 and late 1967, when I enlisted in the US Air Force. I remember when this song hit the airwaves, and I will tell you, I'm thinking, 'ok, wow! they are actually playing this song on the air?' I caught the windshield wiper allusion immediately. Not paying attention to the politics of the time (except for 'They're Coming To Take Me Away', which I'll mention later), I think I remember this song disappearing quickly from the airwaves. Maybe WCFL played it as I was switching over from Clark and Bernie and Dex and Ron and Art and Don (yeah, I'd also listen for a minute at most to Don McNeill from 'High Atop the Hotel Allerton', to Larry and Jim, Barney, and the rest about that time.
As a teen, I was listening for all the risque (sexual) allusions in the various songs that I could imagine. Of course, I missed most of the drug references. On the Kalamazoo station, I think late one night last week, they played about ten in a row that, now that I think about it, were obviously (and blatantly) drug related, starting with Incense and Peppermints to Mama Told Me Not to Come, etc. Radio was a blast in those days. I remember the Top Three requests at 10 PM (WLS or CFL?) when Napoleon 14th's song was #3 the first night it was available in Chicago and then was #1 for the next several weeks until it was banned. I met several of the dj's of that era, including Bob Hale, which reminds me of a funny moment. In the early 1990's, my wife and I returned to Chicago to meet up with her two married cousins, who were living in the suburbs (they grew up in Ogden Dunes). We were having dinner at the Eccentric and one of the husbands couldn't make it so there were three youngish women and two males. We were ordering wine by the bottle and having a great time when all of a sudden this guy from a table about 15 ft away joins our table saying we're having way too much fun, certainly more than his table. His table was all guys in suits and I think they looked at our table and the numbers and he drew the 'lucky' straw. Anyway, after talking a little bit, he says that he was a dj in Chicago during the 60's and I innocently ask who, as I know several had stage names. He claimed he was known as Art Roberts then and he was a student at Western Michigan U and drove over every night. He also gave his age which was about two years younger then I was at the time (I was the oldest at the table and I didn't look my age). Not wanting to disrupt the evening, I let it go, but I knew he was a huge liar, as in 1965, the time I was talking about, I was 18 and Art Roberts was about 33 with dark hair and a roundish face while this guy was skinny with a narrow face and short, light hair and would have been 16. I mean, come on! Oh yeah, I was really eclectic during that time. Before I went to WLS 24/7, my first radio was a crystal set, and all I could get in 1959 was WCFL with Sox games (ok, that was worth it), labor stories, and somebody from the Pump Room of the Palmer House. During third grade we'd listen to Freddie the Field Mouse, and Little Orly at school. At home in the mornings, my parents listened to Henry Cooke. Then when I got better radios, I used to listen to John Doremus Patterns in Music, switch over to Ken Nordine on Now Nordine (loved that show, years ahead of its time) and then Franklyn Maccormack on the All Night MeisterBrau Showcase. Occasionally, in the earlier evening, I'd listen to Daddy O Daylie's Jazz Patio. Once, I called Wally Phillips about a military service problem which he aired. When I returned from the service, post-1971, I'd listen to Dave Baum, Eddie Schwartz, andConnie Szerszen, sometimes KingB, besides getting Morganized. Then in 1977 I moved to Michigan for work and it all became nostalgia at best. Those were the days. Thanks for keeping a part of it alive. Mike Long
Some GREAT radio memories growing up here in The Windy City. I think WCFL played the "unrated" version of "Rhapsody In The Rain" for a while. As I recall, it was WLS who insisted on the re-recording of the lyrics before they would air it on an ABC station. Man, how things have changed! Funnily enough, I first discovered WCFL listening to Sox games, too ... so when they started playing Top 40 Music in late 1965 / early 1966, it was quite a surprise. Up until then, the only REAL source to hear these tunes was WLS ... and, as such, they had truly cornered the market. The mid-to-late sixties and early seventies were an exciting time for radio in Chicago as these two AM giants slugged it out for listeners' share. It was funny to see the jocks move back and forth between the two stations ... it seemed like for a while there, we still go the same guys ... we'd just have to go a little further up the dial to hear them! Glad you're enjoying Forgotten Hits, Mike ... tell a friend ... or two ... or twenty. Some GREAT memories here ... so thanks for sharing some of yours. (kk)
Speaking of the Golden Days of AM Radio ... The band that gave birth to radio isn’t the mass electronic medium that it once was, but a federal official hassome ideas about how to change that. Article by: Edward Wyatt , New York Times Updated: September 10, 2013 - 5:34 PM WASHINGTON -- Is anyone out there still listening? The digital age is killing AM radio, an American institution that brought the nation fireside chats, Casey Kasem’s Top 40 and scratchy broadcasts of the World Series. Long surpassed by FM and more recently cast aside by satellite radio and Pandora, AM is now under siege from a new threat: rising interference from smartphones and consumer electronics that reduce many AM stations to little more than static. Its audience has sunk to historic lows. But at least one man in Washington is tuning in. Ajit Pai, the lone Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, is on a personal if quixotic quest to save AM. After a little more than a year in the job, he is urging the FCC to undertake an overhaul of AM radio, which he calls “the audible core of our national culture.” He sees AM — largely local news, sports, conservative talk and religious broadcasters — as vital in emergencies and in rural areas. “AM radio is localism, it is community,” said Pai, 40. AM’s longer wavelength means it can be heard at far greater distances and so in crises, he said. “When the power goes out, when you can’t get a good cell signal, when the Internet goes down, people turn to battery-powered AM radios to get the information they need,” Pai said. He admits to feelings of nostalgia, growing up in small-town Parsons, Kan. On boyhood family road trips across the wide Kansas plains, he said, AM radio “was a constant companion.” But that was then. In 1978, when Pai was 5, half of all radio listening was on the AM dial. By 2011 AM listenership had fallen to 15 percent, or an average of 3.1 million people, according to a survey by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private investment firm. While the number of FM listeners has declined, too, they still averaged 18 million in 2011. Although five of the top 10 radio stations in the country, as measured by advertising dollars, are AM — among them WCBS in New York and KFI in Los Angeles — the wealth drops rapidly after that. In 1970 AM accounted for 63 percent of broadcast radio stations, but now it accounts for 21 percent, or 4,900 outlets, according to Arbitron. FM accounts for 44 percent, or 10,200 stations. About 35 percent of stations stream content online. “With the audience goes the advertising revenues,” said Milford Smith, vice president for radio engineering at Greater Media, which owns 21 stations, three on AM. “That makes for a double whammy.” Nearly all English-language AM stations have given up playing music and even a third of the 30 Major League Baseball teams now broadcast on FM. AM, however, remains the realm of conservative talk radio, including roughly 80 percent of the 600 radio stations that carry Rush Limbaugh. Talk radio has helped keep AM alive. But why try to salvage AM? Critics say its decline is simply natural selection at work, and many now support converting the frequency for use by other wireless technologies. A big sign of AM’s weakness is that one hope for many of its stations may be channeling their broadcasts onto FM. Not so fast, said Pai, who has been pushing the FCC’s interim chairwoman, Mignon Clyburn, to put the revitalization of AM high on the agency’s agenda. “I’m obviously bullish on next-generation technology,” Pai said. “But I certainly think there continues to be a place for broadcasting and for AM radio.” Pai wants to eliminate outdated regulations, for example, like one that requires AM stations to prove that any new equipment decreases interference with other stations, a requirement that is expensive, cumbersome and difficult to meet. Pai also wants to examine a relatively new technology known as HD Radio, which has allowed some stations to transmit a digital signal along with their usual analog wave, damping static. (HD Radio is a brand name; it does not stand for high definition, as in HDTV.) But some critics still fault the FCC for allowing too many broadcasters to crowd a relatively narrow AM band of airwaves. In the longer term, Pai said, the FCC could mandate that all AM stations convert to digital transmission to reduce interference. Such a conversion, however, would cost consumers, who would have to replace the hundreds of millions of AM radios that do not capture digital transmissions. Finally, Pai wants the FCC to consider what are called FM translators, which send duplicate AM broadcasts over FM airwaves and help to reduce interference. In 2009, the FCC granted permission to AM stations to use such translators. “Our business has improved rather dramatically” since the conversion to dual bands, said Bud Walters, owner of Cromwell Group, which operates 23 stations in four states, six of them on the AM band and five of which share translators. The FCC has said it is behind Pai, although it is a long way from committing to the overhaul he envisions. In August it approved requiring the builders of any new radio tower to compensate an AM station if the tower interferes with the station’s broadcast. Pai said that unless the problems with AM are fixed, people will keep fleeing. “There are plenty of other options,” he said. “They will switch the dial to something else.” -- submitted by Dave Barry
re: AWARD WINNING EVENTS: A couple of major cities honor their own ... read on ...
MEMPHIS MUSIC HALL OF FAME 2013 INDUCTEES WEREA ANNOUNCED ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th, AT JERRY LEE LEWIS’ CAFÉ & HONKY TONK
Induction Ceremony Scheduled for Thursday, November 7
Memphis, TN … The Memphis Music Hall of Fame continues to honor many of the world’s greatest musicians with the announcement of its 2013 Inductees. The names of those to be inducted were revealed at a special press conference on Tuesday, September 10, at 1:00 p.m. at the new Jerry Lee Lewis’ Café & Honky Tonk, 310 Beale Street, downtown Memphis.
Thirteen inductees were scheduled to be announced, bringing the total number of Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductees to 38. As was the case with the inaugural inductees, those to be honored this year have been selected by a national Nominating Committee comprised of authors, music historians, national educators, and members of the music community.
The Memphis Music Hall of Fame will then pay tribute to the 2013 Inductees at its official Induction Ceremony & Celebration, scheduled for Thursday, November 7, 2013, beginning at 7:00 pm. The gala event will be held at the Gibson Showcase Lounge, located at Memphis’ Gibson Guitar Factory, 145 Lt. George W. Lee in downtown Memphis. Tickets for the Memphis Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony went on sale September 10.
The Memphis Music Hall of Fame was launched in 2012, and is administered by the non-profit Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum. Each Inductee is honored and celebrated through their own dedicated tribute page on the Memphis Music Hall of Fame’s award-winning web site (www.memphismusichalloffame.com), and each receives the Mike Curb Award, a locally hand-crafted trophy and the official award of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum is located at 191 Beale Street at FedExForum, and was researched and developed by The Smithsonian Institution. The museum is open daily from 10:00 am until 7:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.memphisrocknsoul.org.
The 2013 inductees include blues great Albert King; Southern Gospel legends The Blackwood Brothers; gospel composer and publisher Rev. W. Herbert Brewster; soul queen Carla Thomas; recording pioneers the Memphis Jug Band; producer / musician / studio cat Roland James; Stax stalwart David Porter; jazz / pop stylist Kay Starr; the man in black, Johnny Cash; Sid Selvidge, a journeyman who blazed his own trail; jazz pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. and the Bar-Kays, soul sensations for almost 50 years.
About the 2013 Memphis Music Hall of Fame Inductees:
Albert King - “The Velvet Bulldozer” and one of the “Three Kings of the Blues Guitar,” Albert King wielded a custom-built Gibson Flying V guitar, delivered the solid vocal style and distinctive guitar style he called “Blues Power,” and impacted musicians around the world. He influenced Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and others. He played Bill Graham’s Filmore, covered Elvis Presley, entered the Blues Hall of Fame in ’83 and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2013… the same year he enters the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
The Blackwood Brothers - Singing gospel for over 78 years, formed in The Great Depression by brothers James, Doyle and Roy Blackwood with Roy’s son, R.W. Since relocating to Memphis in 1950, the members have changed, but their spiritual message has remained consistent, recording 200 albums, garnering eight Grammy awards, 6 Dove Awards and entry into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Today, James son Billy Blackwood continues the family’s musical ministry, joined by Butch Owens, Michael Helwig, Wayne Little and pianist Mike Hammontree.
Reverend W. Herbert Brewster - Serving as the pastor of East Trigg Avenue Baptist Church for over 50 years, Reverend W. Herbert Brewster wrote and published more than 200 gospel music standards, among them the very first hit for the great Mahalia Jackson. Reverend Brewster also composed more than fifteen gospel music dramas, including the first nationally-staged African American religious musical drama. In 1982, he was honored by the Smithsonian Institution.
Carla Thomas - “The Queen of Memphis Soul,” Carla Thomas began performing at age ten in 1952 as the youngest ever performer for the WDIA Teen Town Singers. Through her career, she’s released twelve albums, most for Stax Records. With her father, she recorded the very first hit for Stax Records… converting the legendary label from country and pop to soul and R&B. Her release, “Gee Whiz” was an smash hit, giving Stax national exposure.
Memphis Jug Band - Unique and influential, beginning in 1926 The Memphis Jug Band assumed other names, and rotated dozens of band members, including 2012 inductee Memphis Minnie, though usually grouped around leader Will Shade. Incorporating unique instruments like the jug and the kazoo, combined with traditional guitar, drums, piano and fiddle, they recorded over 80 commercial recordings, many covered by 60s rock groups including the very first single recorded by The Grateful Dead. A favorite of Mayor Crump, they played everywhere from Church Park to The Peabody Hotel. They’re also credited with recording the very first record in Memphis, Tennessee.
Roland Janes - Consistent among many 2013 inductees… longevity of career! Roland Janes… fewer may know him, but everybody has heard him. Producer and engineer, Janes had his own band, was at Jerry Lee’s side throughout his greatest triumphs of the 50s, member of The Little Green Men, linchpin of the 60’s Sun house band, helped develop the rockabilly guitar style, ran his Rita Records in the 60s and Sonic Studios in the 70s, has worked with everyone from Dylan to Three 6 Mafia, and has been the resident sage and producer at Phillips Recording Service for 31 years.
David Porter - As a teenager he may have entered the doors of Stax to become a recording artist, but instead became the foremost architect of American soul music and one of the most successful songwriters in the world. His credits include over 300 songs for Stax. His lyrical hits continued for Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, ZZ Top, Hall & Oates, Aretha, Jerry Lee, and more. Member of the National Songwriters Hall of Fame, and his current personal commitment to aspiring artists through his Consortium MMT continues the Memphis music legacy he helped to build.
Kay Starr - Before she was 15, Kay Starr had her own music show on Memphis’ WMPS radio, had performed at The Peabody Hotel, and was chosen to tour with the Joe Venuti Orchestra. For her network radio debut in New York, Starr sang “Memphis Blues.” For Capitol and RCA, she recorded over two dozen top 40 hits. She’s performed with Count Basie, Rosemary Clooney, Pat Boone, Tony Bennett and others. Her hit “Wheel of Fortune” stayed at the top of the charts for ten weeks in 1952, and “Rock and Roll Waltz,” selling a million copies in two weeks, became the first number one single by a female vocalist in the rock era. At 91, she still performs.
Knox Phillips - With the legendary Sun Studios as his childhood playground, Knox Phillips has continued his family’s Memphis music legacy for almost 50 years, as engineer, producer, studio owner and patron saint of Memphis music. As engineer and producer, he’s worked with the Gentry’s, Randy & the Radiants, Alex Chilton, Jerry lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Amazing Rhythm Aces, and John Prine, among others. A Grammy Trustee since 1971, in May, 2013, Phillips received the prestigious Governor’s Arts Award from Tennessee governor Bill Haslam.
Johnny Cash - “The Man in Black,” Johnny Cash’s unique crossover appeal earned him induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. An incredible string of hits included “I Walk the Line,” which shot to number one and remained on the Billboard chart for an amazing 43 weeks. A member of the legendary Million Dollar Quartet, member of the Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, Cash is one of the only artists to sell over 90 million records.
Sid Selvidge - A Memphis music champion for over five decades until his death earlier this year. A teenage disc jockey, a pure, soulful soloist, a champion of the 60s blues / folk revival, record company owner and producer. A surrogate son to blues legend Furry Lewis, producer for Alex Chilton, Cybil Shepherd, even Tim McCarver, a member of Mud Boy and the Neutrons, and seventeen year producer of “Beale Street Caravan,” which aired on 300 U.S. radio stations and, via NPR, on stations on five continents.
Phineas Newborn, Jr. - Legendary jazz pianist from the iconic musical Newborn family, Phineas Newborn, Jr., has been considered one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time. He performed with Lionel Hampton, B.B. King, Willie Mitchell, and recorded at Sun Studios before moving to New York and going solo with RCA. With ten albums from the fifties and into the seventies, Newborn proved to be one of the most technically skilled and brilliant pianists in jazz.
The Bar-Kays - The funk-o-matic Bar-Kays have epitomized Memphis’ funk soul sound for almost fifty years. From teenage success as a Stax house band, through the plane crash tragedy that took the life of Otis Redding and four of the group's original members, the band’s impact has brought funk to projects by Isaac Hayes, Johnny Taylor, Carla Thomas, Albert King, and more. Their hits, like “Soul Finger,” “Shake Your Rump to the Funk,” “Sex-o-Matic,” “Freakshow on the Dance Floor,” and more are matched by an unequalled stage presence which has influenced everyone from Rick James to Prince. With their latest LP, “Grown Folks,” their legend continues – produced by Jazzy Pha, son of Bar-Kays founder James Alexander, featuring guest spots from George Clinton, Three 6 Mafia, Eightball and others.
These artists join 2012 (inaugural) inductees Estelle Axton & Jim Stewart; Bobby “Blue” Bland; Booker T. and The MG’s; Lucie Campbell; George Coleman; Jim Dickinson; Al Green; W.C. Handy; Isaac Hayes; Howlin’ Wolf; B.B. King; Jerry Lee Lewis; Jimmie Lunceford; Professor W.T. McDaniel; Memphis Minnie; Willie Mitchell; Dewey Phillips; Sam Phillips; Elvis Presley; Otis Redding; The Staple Singers; Rufus Thomas; Three 6 Mafia; Nat D. Williams and ZZ Top. -- submitted by Bob Merlis
And Philadelphia is honoring some of their own as well ... FH Reader Randy Alexander tells us ...
PHILADELPHIA MUSIC ALLIANCE RETURNS TO CONTINUE CELEBRATION OF CITY’S CULTURAL LEGACY WITH SEVEN NEW INDUCTIONS: MFSB ORCHESTRA, SALSOUL ORCHESTRA, JOHN DAVIS & THE MONSTER ORCHESTRA, GENE SHAY, JOEL DORN, MADARA & WHITE, JERRY ROSS, PETER RICHARD CONTE, TO RECEIVE NINE BRONZE PLAQUES ON THE PHILADELPHIA WALK OF FAME
Diverse Gathering of Legends to be Honored at Festive Induction Ceremonies Along Avenue of the Arts, Thursday, October 24, 2013
PHILADELPHIA (September 12, 2013) – The Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame, a living tribute to Philadelphia’s rich music history and a vital force unifying the city’s diverse cultural communities along the Avenue of the Arts, will welcome seven new inductees next month, led by a three-headed orchestral soul “monster”: the dozens of musicians who played the sound heard ‘round the world, the Philly Sound, as members of the MFSB Orchestra, the Salsoul Orchestra, and John Davis & the Monster Orchestra – most in more than one of those units. The musicians, string, horn, rhythm players and voices who performed the music were men and women, young and old and from all backgrounds who collectively captured a moment with their talents to make that sound world-famous in the 1970s.“Dean of American Folk DJs” Gene Shay; producer and label executive Joel Dorn (“Killing Me Softly”);songwriting teamMadara& White (“At the Hop”); producer-songwriter-publisher Jerry Ross (“I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” with Gamble & Huff; “Venus”); producer-arranger-conductor Vince Montana Jr., and Macy’s Grand Court organist Peter Richard Conte also will be honored as recipients of the 114th through 122nd commemorative bronze plaques along the Avenue of the Arts. Ceremonies, free and open to the public, are scheduled for Thursday, October 24 at Noon in front of the Doubletree Hotel along the Avenue of the Arts.
The induction of this diverse group of legends furthers the renewed commitment by the Philadelphia Music Alliance (PMA) to shed new light on the City's cultural legacy and incredible contribution to the world of music past, present and future as a major touristattraction. This agenda to recognize more local music greats in all genres is part of the community based, non-profit organization's overall mission to encourage the creation, celebration and historical preservation of Philadelphia music, and the foundation of a renewed commitment to schedule multiple induction ceremonies each year. A brand-new, full-color, tri-fold brochure spotlighting the Philadelphia Walk of Fame will soon be distributed throughout the Delaware Valley and will be available at the ceremony.
"We’re re-energizing our original mission of aggressively inducting artists in all genres whose accomplishments have had a significant impact in the world of music,” says Joseph Tarsia, chairman and founding member of the PMA. “This induction comes at a time of impassioned renewal for the Philadelphia Music Alliance. There are still so many worthy candidates, that it was important to pay tribute to a number of them with this induction ceremony. We’re already planning our next event in the spring of 2014. The magnitude of the Walk of Fame and its continued impact on the Avenue of the Arts and Greater Philadelphia is overwhelming.”
Karen Lewis, executive director of the Avenue of the Arts (AAI), said, “We’re excited about the ongoing resurgence of the Walk of Fame as it represents a unique opportunity to recognize Philadelphia legends. And as the premier destination for performing arts, the Avenue of the Arts is the perfect location for this tribute.”
Adds music icons and original inductees Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, creators of the Sound of Philadelphia: "Philadelphia has created some of the biggest music stars in the world and their music continues to impact people’s lives. This induction continues to celebrate that legacy in a special way with artists who are clearly among Philadelphia's Music Royalty, and are among the legendary unsung heroes and heroines deserving this honor. We’re especially honored and excited to see the numerous musicians who worked with us, especially the MFSB Orchestra, as well as our collaborator, Jerry Ross, receive this special recognition."
MFSBORCHESTRA – Motown had the Funk Brothers, but Philadelphia International Records had MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother), the pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philly’s famed Sigma Sound Studios. The orchestra was created by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, and backed up such artists as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, the Spinners, Wilson Pickett, and Billy Paul. The Philadelphia Music Alliance sends its condolences to the family of Bobby Martin, a top arranger, conductor and composer for MFSB, often referred to as “The Granddaddy of R&B and Soul,” whose passing was announced earlier this week.
SALSOUL ORCHESTRA– Consisting of most of the original members of MFSB, they became the backing band for acts on Salsoul Records, and recorded several hit singles and albums between 1975 and 1982. Their music featured elements of Philadelphia soul, funk, Latin and disco. The Salsoul Orchestra included up to 50 members with instrumental sections, arrangers and conductors. The Salsoul Orchestra was conducted by Vincent Montana, Jr., who passed away earlier this year amid plans for his Walk of Fame induction. Their song, "Love Break (Ooh I Love It)" has been sampled in several rap songs and most notably, in Madonna’s “Vogue.”
JOHN DAVIS & THE MONSTER ORCHESTRA– A disco band noted for their lead member (John "the Monster" Davis), who lent his name and produced all of their output. The title track from their 1976 debut album, a cover of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” is now a classic Disco hit and on almost every DJ's playlist. Original disco hits followed, including "Up Jumped the Devil," “The Magic is You,” “Ain't That Enough for You” and “Love Magic.”
VINCE MONTANA JR.– The producer, arranger, conductor and legendary vibraharpist was a key MFSB rhythm section member and developer of “The Philly Sound,” creator of the Salsoul Orchestra, Montana Orchestra and Goody Goody. As the creative and driving force behind the Salsoul Orchestra, Montana was a dance pioneer of the Disco Era, and createdsignature club classics on his own Philly Sound Works label, with countless gold and platinum albums to his name.
GENE SHAY– WXPN’s Grandfather of Philadelphia Folk Music and Dean of American Folk DJs has produced weekly folk radio shows in Philadelphia for 51 years, and is a founder of the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Philadelphia Folksong Society. He was the first promoter to bring Bob Dylan to Philadelphia and as an advertising writer and producer, wrote the original radio commercials for Woodstock. Shay came up with the name “World Café” for David Dye’s nationally syndicated radio show, produced at WXPN, where he continues to produce his live weekly “Folk Show” every Sunday.
JOEL DORN– One of the most prominent producers in pop and jazz, Dorn helmed records from some of the biggest names in music, among them Charles Mingus, and the Allman Brothers Band. He began his career in 1961 as a disc jockey with Philadelphia jazz station WHAT-FM; and gained fame as a producer and A&R executive at Atlantic Records, producing Roberta Flack hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly"; the Keith Jarrett & Gary Burton album; and Bette Midler's debut album, The Divine Miss M. Other performers Dorn worked with included the Neville Brothers, Leon Redbone, Lou Rawls, and Asleep at the Wheel.
JOHNMADARA & DAVID WHITE– Best known for transforming a song called “Do the Bop” for the Juvenaires into “At the Hop” for Danny and the Juniors, and the rest is history. Johnny Madara and Dave White went on to contribute to more than 200 million in sales with hits like “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay” (Danny and The Juniors), “The Fly” (Chubby Checker), “1-2-3” (Len Barry) and “You Don’t Own Me” (Lesley Gore).
JERRY ROSS– Record producer, songwriter, publisher and record company executive, Ross is credited with discovering Kenny Gamble as a teen and later collaborating with Gamble & Huff on the Motown smash, "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", recorded most famously by Diana Ross & the Supremes together with The Temptations. Ross also discovered, wrote or produced such million-sellers as “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” (Spanky& Our Gang), “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” (Jay & the Techniques), “Sunny” (Bobby Hebb), “Venus” (Shocking Blue) and many more. Next to Cameo / Parkway and Gamble & Huff, Jerry Ross has written, developed and produced more hit records than any other Philadelphia producer.
PETER RICHARD CONTE– The longtime Macy’s Grand Court Organist was appointed in 1989, and is only the fourth person to hold that title since the organ was first played in 1911. Mr. Conte is highly regarded as a skillful performer and arranger of organ transcriptions. His monthly radio show, The Wanamaker Organ Hour, airs on the first Sunday of each month and can be heard worldwide via the Internet at WRTI.org.
Past PMA programs have included a Musical Instrument Donation Program in partnership with the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, an annual piano competition, the Philadelphia International Airport Music Project, Music In The Schools, music education scholarships and grants, a speakers bureau, as well as music business seminars and workshops - all designed to not only encourage our City's continued stellar contributions to the cultural heritage of the world but to fill a void created by shrinking budgets for cultural programs in our City and in our schools.
In 2008, the Philadelphia International Airport unveiled an exhibition spotlighting the Walk of Fame and the City's contribution to American music to visitors from all over the world.
The Alliance also serves as a resource to students, educators, musicians, city agencies, and other cultural institutions. The PMA has worked with the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, Multicultural Affairs Council, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Philadelphia Commerce Department, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Franklin Institute, Corporation for the Aging, Trane Stop, University of the Arts and the City Representative's Office on various projects. Most recently, the PMA awarded scholarships to four graduating Philadelphia high school seniors who are pursuing Music at the University level.
The Walk of Fame is a stunning demonstration of the great talent that Philadelphia has produced. This talent spans many musical genres and time periods, and includes Leopold Stokowski, Frankie Avalon, the Dixie Hummingbirds, Patti LaBelle, Hall & Oates, Solomon Burke, Marian Anderson, Mario Lanza, John Coltrane, Todd Rundgren, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Teddy Pendergrass and Dick Clark.
The Philadelphia Music Alliance was founded in June 1986 as a community based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Philadelphia as a vital contributor to the international music landscape. Established by music executives and concerned citizens in order to recognize the vast impact Philadelphia continues to have on all musical genres, the Philadelphia Music Alliance serves to encourage the creation, celebration and historical preservation of Philadelphia music.
Speaking of the Philly Music Scene, I've been reading a GREAT new book written by James Rosin called "Philly Pop, Rock, Rhythm & Blues: A Look Back at the Musical History of Philadelphia". More details here at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Philly-Pop-Rock-Rhythm-Blues/dp/146758133X/ref=cm_cmu_up_thanks_hdr The book is described as "a nostalgic review of the pop, rock, and R&B music scene in Philadelphia from the 1950s through the 1980s, featuring commentary from recording artists, songwriters, and broadcast personalities; photographs and biographies." It's a combined, updated and revised version of the author's two preceding books: Rock, Rhythm & Blues (2004) and Philadelphia City of Music (2006). (Rosin has also written books on the classic TV series Wagon Train, Naked City, Route 66, Adventures in Paradise, Peyton Place, The Invaders and Quincy M.E. ... so he's definitely our kind of "Pop Culture" Guy!!!) I'm just first getting into it but I like the way it's done. Rosin acts as more of the "narrator", setting up the various musical eras ... but then lets the movers and shakers who were THERE at the time tell the story. As such, it's a virtual "Who's Who" of artists, songwriters, producers, television people and more actually telling the story and sharing their memories ... people like Dave Appell, Frankie Avalon, Thom Bell, Jerry Blavat, Dick Clark, Fabian Forte, Charlie Gracie, George Manney, John Madara, Billy Paul, Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp, Bunny Sigler, Artie Singer, Arlene Sullivan, Joe Tarsia, Joe Terry, Russell Thompkins, Jr. and David White ... along with literally dozens more who regular make the pages of Forgotten Hits. From what I've seen, the book moves along at a brisk pace, recounting the glory days of the Philadelphia Music Scene. You'll find BOATLOADS of pictures as well as short bios of many of these pivotal players. All in all, a fun read. (And I REALLY dig this Hall and Oates cover!!! lol) Check out the Amazon link for more details. (kk)
re: BURTON CUMMINGS:
Still getting a lot of great response to our Burton Cummings Interview. We'll be permanently posting this one on the other Forgotten Hits Website this weekend. Meanwhile, here are a few other recent responses we received...
Just got through reading the interview on your web site about Burton Cummings. Awesome job!! I have been a life long fan and was fortunate enough to have seen the Guess Who a couple of times back in the day. I just moved back to the Chicago area and would love to be able to go to the show at the Arcada Theatre (which is only 20 minutes from my home) to see Burton once again - especially along with the Zombies!! Are you freakin' kidding me!!!! Just saw Tower of Power there a while back - what an awesome theatre. My son (16) plays piano and loves it when I put on my Burton Cummings solo piano CD. Even he, at 16, is influenced by the classic rock masters!! Best Wishes, Randy Diehl Bartlett, IL. The Arcada Theatre is a GREAT place to see a show ... and this is gonna be a good one!!! Hope to see you out there! (kk)
Kent, Like you, I've seen the Guess Who multiple times, once without Burton and once without Bachman and with Bachman billed as the Guess Who and just as Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman. I, too, was at that Rosemont show. Dunno how I missed you that nite. Sadly, there's no way I can make that show on the 27th, so that's one less entry the eventual winner has to compete with. However for those of you who can't decide, let me say one thing: GO!!!! You will not be disappointed. Not that Burton needs my official Rock And Roll Never Forgets endorsement, but he has it anyways. Jack
Just finished your Burton Cummings interview ... what a masterpiece! I saw the mini Guess Who reunion show in 2001 at The Rosemont Theater, too ... what a show! Would love to see Burton in concert again. Throw my hat in the ring ... but either way, I'm going! If I don't win tickets on Friday, I'll be buying them Friday Night! Bob
YES, Kent! Love the interviews! Deb
Have never heard Burton Cummings live, but I congratulate the ticket winner as I know it will be the time of their lives. More great music. Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
I'm applying to win the two free tickets to see Burton Cummings! The world's best voice (according to some guy named John Lennon.) Thanks, Maureen Lilla
Loved your discussion with Burton Cummings. Please add me to any of your lists so I receive any email from you guys. Have a great day and all stay well.
Shawn Riley
Welcome to Forgotten Hits, Shawn ... I think you're gonna like it here! (kk)
Some corrections are in order with regards to your Guess Who article. If you check, you will find the original name of the band was "Chad Allan and the Reflections" ... The name "Reflections" was taken by another band and thus the change to "Expressions".
Also, I believe (99 percent certain) that Burton Cummings joined the Guess Who in 1966 not 1967.
Lastly you might want to check on the song "Timeless Love" that I think charted on the US C/W charts.
I just want to keep your site correct ... Would appreciate feedback.
Richard Stonely
Well, I think at best we're talking about "technicalities" here. Chad Allan's band may have started out as "The Reflections" in 1962 ... but at the time they recorded "Shakin' All Over", they were already known as Chad Allan and the Expressions ... soon to be re-christened The Guess Who (technically just "Guess Who?" ... the "The" was added later ... and the question mark was dropped) when that record was released. They've been The Guess Who ever since. My research says that when Michigan's Reflections scored a hit with "(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet", Allan's group released their next single ("A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues") as Chad Allan and the Original Reflections. However, since BOTH groups were recording for the Quality Record Label, they quickly became Chad Allan and the Expressions ... prior to recording their cover of "Shakin' All Over". Burton's first charted record with the band came in 1967 as stated ("His Girl") ... he first joined the band in the Summer of 1965 as their keyboard player ... but he didn't move to the forefront until then, by which time Chad Allan had moved on. And finally, "Timeless Love" did NOT chart on Billboard's Country Chart ... so overall I think we did okay!!! (kk) However, while digging deeper I did discover a few things I didn't know ... It was Pirate Radio in the UK that broke their single "His Girl" (which failed to chart back home in Canada or here in The States).
And, on their 1966 LP "Hey Ho, What You Do To Me", the band recorded "Hurting Each Other", a song that would become a huge #1 Hit for The Carpenters six years later. (Jeez, who DIDN'T record this song?!?!) Yet EVERY early version failed to make an impact on the charts!
Burton, I love you guys ... but this is a God-Awful rendition of this song!!!! (lol) kk
Kent -
The Burton Cummings interview was a fantastic read. You covered plenty of new ground and somehow kept it from becoming a rant about the imposter band who owns the name. BTW - Richard Perry says "You're So Vain" is about a composite of men, but mostly Warren Beatty. Be Well, Carl Wiser www.songfacts.com
I had always heard it was a conglomerate, too ... with Warren Beatty being the lead character ... and (as mentioned in the interview) Mick Jagger being a player as well. Knowing Mick, he probably got a real kick out of singing about himself as a possible candidate! (kk)
I am writing to join your many fans in congratulating you on a job well done with the Burton Cummings interview. He was one of my bucket list interviews and I got the chance around 20 years ago when Rhino released the Best Of Burton Cummings. It was one of my favorite on-air moments. Your interview and special features brought back a lot of good memories. The song Star Baby got a great deal of play on WLS but was only #39 in Billboard. I remember them on the Midnight Special singing Clap For the Wolfman with Wolfman Jack joining them on stage. I enjoy all of their A and B sides. When Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw joined the group, the two-guitar attack made for some great tracks. The Burton Cummings song You Saved My Soul was the track my girl friend and I called our song. I have now been married to my girl friend for 26 years! The song was from the movie Melanie which I have not seen since the early 80s on HBO. Thanks for bringing back the memories! Phil - WRCO
"Star Baby" was HUGE here in Chicago (it peaked at #3) ... we used to play that one in OUR band, too! I will never forget seeing The Guess Who perform "Clap For The Wolfman" WITH Wolfman Jack on "The Midnight Special" ... Wolfman had become SO associated with the show as its host ... "American Graffiti" may have introduced him to a national audience but "The Midnight Special" put him over the top. I've never seen "Melanie", Burton's shot as an actor but it gets a pretty favorable review on imdb ... Click here: Melanie (1982) - IMDb ... in fact, it looks like it even won a few awards! (LOVE the song "You Saved My Soul" ... been playing it a lot here this past week!) Thanks for the kind words, Phil ... now I wanna hear YOUR interview with him!!! (kk)
And don't forget that today is the deadline to register to win a pair of free tickets to see Burton Cummings Live In Concert at The Arcada Theatre on Friday, September 27th. (Along with Very Special Guests, The Zombies!!!)
We'll be picking the winner tomorrow ... so if you haven't entered yet, shoot me an email right away ... forgottenhits@aol.com ... and we'll throw your name in the hat! Good Luck!
We've got a WINNER!!! Congratulations to Forgotten Hits Reader Steve Sarley ... he just won TWO FREE TICKETS to see Burton Cummings perform live in concert at The Arcada Theatre this Friday Night, September 27th at 8 PM. (Be sure to come out early and catch The Zombies as the warm-up act!!!)
And the comments just keep coming ... once Ron Onesti and Burton Cummings published links on their web pages and Facebook pages, the volume went through the roof. We've now permanently posted our Burton Cummings Interview on the other Forgotten Hits Web Page ... here: http://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_burton_cummings
Hi Kent, Congratulations on all of the well-deserved accolades you have received in the presentation of the superlative Burton Cummings interview in Forgotten Hits ... as with a song, you can tell when it's a hit! I'm sure Burton Cummings, his Manager Lorne Saifer, and Tour-Manager Sam Boyd must be very pleased with the results and its content. What a great preface to what I'm sure will be one of the best music shows to hit Chicago this year! Burton Cummings' voice and compositions and their longevity speak for themselves. By the way, you mentioned you were in the printing business -- I was wondering if you called your company "The Artist Formerly Known As Prints!" Great interview again Kent, love Forgotten Hits -- continued growth and success! Best Regards, Tim Kiley LOL ... hey, I like that!!! (If I could ever figure out a way how to make it in the "music business", I would most certainly adopt that moniker as"The Artist Formerly Known As Prints"!!! I love it! Lots of great press on the Burton Cummings interview ... and we're really looking forward to the show. In fact, we're encouraging any and all Forgotten Hits Readers to meet us in the lobby after The Zombies set to say hello ... we'd love to see ya! (kk)
Burton is still making great music in the millennium, too. Here's a track from his latest CD of all new material "Above The Ground" ... once again singing about The USA. A GREAT track ... that sounds old and new at the same time! (lol) kk
And this just in from FH Reader Tom Cuddy ... The Zombies release their first-ever video!!! (Kind ties us into both the Burton Cummings piece AND some of your British Invasion comments below!)
We're still getting comments about our Top 100 British Invasion Hits (1964 - 1965) Countdown, too ... including this week, a unique look back at The British Invasion from a Canadian perspective!
>>>So I propose that The Dave Clark Five started the "British Invasion", as I believe they were the first non-Beatles group to hit the charts following the Beatles success. (Paul Urbahns) Actually, if you want to talk about the hype that is the "British Invasion" in the very early '64 era, you might look at the weekly Hot 100's and see that the DC5 were first to be added, but after that it was mostly US acts singing ABOUT the Beatles. We had the Carefrees and Donna Lynn, the Swans, and the 4 Preps ... all doing songs ABOUT the Beatles (along with Bobby Vee's Beatlesque "I'll Make You Mine" containing the "woo" shaking heads bit from his touring with the fabs in UK earlier) ... all of this occurred before others jumped into the mix that were FROM Britain. These songs fueled the fire. It was mostly "Beatlemania" rather than the British Invasion in the beginning. That DID fuel the fire quickly and finally, in March, the Searchers helped start the flood. One other record from England started the same week. For the Besch brothers, the Swingin' Blue Jeans were what started the British Invasion for us in full swing. We had heard the DC5's "Glad All Over" first, but it did not SOUND like the Beatles. It was "Hippy Hippy Shake" that really got us all wondering what was going on. Stations were putting out rumors that this was possibly actually the Beatles, too. There were SO many Beatles records out already on various labels that it was entirely feasible to us. Add to it that the Fabs had recorded the song themselves on the BBC earlier. The sound was unmistakably Beatles-esque. Whatever the case, it was a great memorable time.
Clark Besch
Even David Seville and the Chipmunks got into the act! I played the HECK out of that "The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles' Hits" album ... in fact, for the LONGEST time, that was the ONLY copy of "From Me To You" I could find ... by then The Beatles' version was already off the shelves. I also remember seeing album displays in the record stores featuring GIRL GROUPS photographed in half-silhouette fashion (like The Beatles' "Meet The Beatles" album) called The Beatlettes and The Beatle Buddies! ANYTHING to cash in on the craze and make a fast buck. (Think about how quickly these albums had to be thrown together!!!) It was an INCREDIBLE time ... we had never seen anything like it. (kk)
I agree that Cliff Richard had some GREAT songs that just never made it big here in the States. "Green Light" was his attempt at a second "Devil Woman" and I loved that tune. One that ties in with the British Invasion stories is the B side to the August, 1964, Epic 45 "Bachelor Boy." "Boy" was the A side and was Cliff's typical styled song, but if you flipped it over, you heard his best attempt at Beatlemania-sound. "True, True Lovin'" has that Beatles' version "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" sound with Cliff's trademark vocal sound.
Clark
I've been listening to a whole lot of early Cliff Richard since our series ran, trying to get a handle on what we missed. There are a few good ones from the late '50's and early '60's that I think could have been decent-sized hits here if given the chance ... but he REALLY blossomed right around the time Beatlemania hit. I'll never understand why his label didn't push harder to half Cliff ride the tremendous wave of pandemonium that was going on at the time with all things British. "Bachelor Boy", "Summer Holiday", "Lucky Lips", "It's All In The Game", "Don't Talk To Him" and "I'm The Lonely One" ALL should have been big hits here in The States. (Back home in England these tracks peaked at #'s 1, 1, 4, 2, 2 and 8 respectively. I still can't believe that they weren't able to capitalize on "All Things British" going over the top here in The States and relaunch his career in a big, big way on this side of the pond. (By the way, I found an INCREDIBLE collection of Cliff Richard music ... "The Singles Collection" ... a Six CD Set featuring all 127 of his solo singles released between 1958 and 2002! Got me into the Cliff Scene in a big, big way.) The very first Cliff Richard song I ever heard was Cliff's version of the Jagger / Richards tune "Blue Turns To Grey". It was included on a British Rock Compilation LP in the early '70's ... years before "Devil Woman" hit the charts ... but a great version of this long-forgotten track. (kk)
We had quite a bit of discussion regarding The Seekers when our Top 100 British Invasion Hits ran ... now comes news that a reunion tour may be in the works!
No U.S. dates in the plans just yet ... but quite a few appearances in both Australia and the U.K. (kk)
Kent,
If you check out this week's new addition to Reel Radio, you can hear Peter and Gordon echoing your thoughts on the British Invasion being a lot of US songwriter covers early on. Some interesting comments by Peter and Gordon on the Stagg Line! You can also catch two of our fave Chicago bands blasting out two of their more obscure 1966 sides on the Sound 10 Survey countdown. Hip Hip Hooray WCFL! http://www.reelradio.com/af/jswcfl09141566.html#jswcfl09141566
WLSClark
Kent, One thing I noticed as I reviewed your countdown of the Top 100 British Invasion hits is how many of them were remakes. By my count, 27 of the 100 had first been done by someone else before the Brits had hits with them ... more than a quarter of them. There was PLENTY of innovative songwriting during the British Invasion years, but the number of remakes shows, I think, that style was almost as important as substance then.
Henry McNulty
Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Which goes back to my point about these British acts taking our American Rock And Roll, putting a brand new spin on it ... and then feeding it right back to us. And we LOVED it!!! (kk)
Absolutely!
Henry Peter and Gordon recorded some EXCELLENT covers of their own. I'll still put their versions of "I Go To Pieces" (Del Shannon) and "True Love Ways" (Buddy Holly) up against the originals any day! (kk)
Here are the first records I ever bought ... four at once for my birthday:
'Don't Make Me Over' by The Swinging Blue Jeans
'Stop' by The Moody Blues
'She Needs Company' by Manfred Mann
'Hold Tight' by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
I bought them at WT Grants in downtown Syracuse, April '66 Kevin Patrick
NY, NY 10013
Definitely some British Invasion-influenced stuff here ... NONE of these were U.S. Hits!!! Thanks for sharing, Kevin! (kk)
>>>According to the CHUM Chart Book , Cliff Richard hit the Canadian Chart fourteen times before "Devil Woman" reached the American Top Ten. By the way, a couple of those "Capitol of Canada" 45's sold enough copies here to chart in Billboard, too ... "All My Lovin'" (#45) and "Roll Over Beethoven" (#68) hit our charts as Canadian singles ... as well as as part of the Capitol EP "Four By The Beatles" (#92), all in 1964. (kk)
>>>We were lucky in Winnipeg in that we got to hear some of the British stuff that the Americans didn't get to hear ... things by Cliff Richard and Georgie Fame and Gerry and the Pacemakers that didn't really get off the ground in the States ... some Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas and a few others. The British Invasion was very, very extensive in Canada, I guess probably because we were part of the Commonwealth and Capitol Records, they had just about everybody ... from The Beatles and Dave Clark on down ... Cliff Richard and the Shadows ... EVERYBODY was on Capitol. It was a cool time in Canada. We took that British Invasion square in the face! (Burton Cummings)
Kent,
It is not often that I have cause to get out my Canadian radio charts, but I often have found them fascinating and with the above comments as well as Burton Cummings weighing in, I thought I'd throw these at you and Bruce Spizer and your Canadian readers. Clark Besch
We talk a lot about about the week The Beatles held down the top five spots on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart in 1964 ... but check out this Canadian counterpart chart ... six of the top seven records belong to The Fab Four (including tracks like "All My Lovin'" and "Roll Over Beethoven", tracks that weren't officially released as singles here in The States by Capitol but records that still charted as IMPORTS because the demand for new Beatles music was so high at the time!) In fact, that tally jumps to 8 of the top 12 when you add "Love Me Do" and "From Me To You" into the mix. They've got 10 of the top 36 (that's nearly 30% of the entire chart!) Unreal. You'll also find some of the "spin-off" artists that Clark talks about ... check out #56 ("Beatle Flying Saucer" by Ed Solomon ... and "I'll Let You Hold My Hand" by The Bootles at #60!) There was a fairly successful break-in record that got played here quite a bit in Chicago at the time ... "The Invasion" by Buchanan and Greenfield. (Buchanan was one half of the old Buchanan and Goodman team ... Dickie Goodman was making his own solo records by this point ... and, believe it or not Greenfield was Howie Greenfield, long-time song-writing partner of Neil Sedaka!) It fizzled out nationally but went to #22 here in Chicago. (kk)
Here's quite an exciting quandary for you guys that I have always wondered about. I have an extensive CKWS Kingston, Ontario, Canada survey collection from late 1963 thru 1964. The station was pretty strong at 10,000 watts daytime and 5000 night just across the northeastern edge of Lake Ontario from New York state, a mere 50 miles north of Syracuse, NY. It's very possible that New Yorkers were catching the Beatles tunes earlier than most US listeners if they caught Canadian stations. Actually, the eastern US folks MAY have heard the earlier 63 Beatles singles before Canadians, as I have not seen any Canadian charts other than western Vancouver's CFUN (near Seattle) listing Beatles songs prior to "She Loves You." Overall, Canada seemed only a month ahead of the US in hearing the Brit Invasion songs, but often charted songs OTHER than ones that hit here.
The CKWS Oct 29, 1963, chart shows "She Loves You" as a non-new song at #34 with a UK issue date of late August and a Swan US date of mid-September release. The Brit star of that day was Cliff Richard holding #5 and #25 on this chart. I will mention that between the above chart and the November 26, 1963 chart, "She Loves You" meandered around the mid-20's as it would until it drops off in late December at about the time Beatlemania would strike the North American continent. SO, the Beatles were not an instantaneous smash in Canada either. The November 26th chart IS interesting from other points. Besides "She Loves You" at #24, Freddie & Dreamers jump in at #46 with "I'm Telling You Now" which US Capitol DID release in October, 1963 (before the Beatles US releases!), but reissued as a #1 US hit single much later on Tower subsidiary. The VERRRRY odd thing is noting the "Pick of the Week" being "I Saw Her Standing There" by the "Mystery Singers" on Parlophone! Obviously, this was the Beatles, but why the mystery?? I don't THINK the song was issued on 45 in Canada before 1964 and the Beatles were not big yet, so I wonder what was going on there?? Maybe because Capitol of Canada hadn't picked it up yet??? Remember, "I Saw Her Standing There" first appeared on The Beatles' "Please Please Me" LP, a full YEAR before it was released as a single here in The States as the flipside of "I Want To Hold Your Hand". They may have had access to an import copy and, knowing that the record wasn't really available, just played it to have an "edge" on the competition. Radio used to do that back then ... work hard to get the "scoop" on another station ... that's why "world premier exclusives" were so important. People forget in this day and age of cookie-cutter clones. (kk)
The March 17, 1964 chart shows Beatlemania in full swing, as well as "Capitol-mania". Capitol OWNED the Canadian disc market it seemed. A side note that maybe the US chose the wrong songs to release, as "All My Lovin'" was huge in Canada and was imported over to US market. Note "She Loves You" back on the CKWS chart at #3. It actually returned right at the beginning of 1964 after about a week off the chart. SO, "She Loves You" was basically a CKWS chart rider from October, 1963 until it finally fell of in May, 1964! Hmm, "Beatle Flying Saucer" at #56?? Must be like the Buchanon and Goodman "Invasion" 45 in the US about that time. Bootles at #60 -- a girl group most likely.
Next, a CHUM chart showing the debut of "She Loves You" at #42 on 12/2/63. Cliff sits at #2, but all this above Beatlemania is slow to get to the 1050 AM juggernaut out of Toronto that can be heard across the US.
By May, 1964, Beatlemania AND the Brit Invasion is widespread in Canada. CHNS 960 in Halifax, Nova Scotia (directly EAST of Maine) was a strong 10,000 day / night station that was airing MANY UK charters that did not do well in the US. Check out #1, #8 (!!!), #27, #28, #30, #35. Note a couple of CHICAGO rockers going well at #25 and #26!!
CHSJ 1150 St. John, New Brunswick, Canada (100 miles NE of Bangor, Maine) was another 10,000 watt day / night AM station. Altho not shown here, this chart is from 6/13/1964. This one is great to see the Capitol Records dominance in Canada with UK and US artists. 20 of the top 50 on Capitol including the Hollies taking on the Searchers at #24. Even the Roulettes were on Capitol!
Montreal born Andy Kim gets some GREAT press in 1964 with his #7 record as well personal TV appearances on CHSJ-TV teen TV show (see to right of survey), well before he hit it big in 1968. CHUM chose to ignore his minor successes mostly, until 1968.
CJCA 930 was a 10,000 watt day / 5000 night station in Edmunton, Alberta (200 miles north of of the western / northern Montana border). This is their top 40 for the entire year of 1964 issued 1/5/65. Note that "All My Loving" was the BIGGEST Fabs hit in that area. Look at the Brit dominance here.
Amazing ... once again The Beatles have The Top Three Records of the Entire Year ... with "All My Lovin'" holding down the top spot ... a sure-fire smash hit had Capitol pushed it here in The States. "Twist And Shout", "She Loves You", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Thank You Girl" round out The Top Ten Records of the Year, giving The Fabs another 60% hold on the charts. Not far behind: "Roll Over Beethoven", "Can't Buy Me Love", "This Boy" and "Please Please Me"... that's TEN of the Top 40. Yeah, Canada got into Beatlemania in a big, big way. (In fact, I believe there was even an LP released there CALLED "Beatlemania" if I'm not mistaken!) kk
CFAC is a 10,000 watt day / night Calgary 960 station (250 miles NE of Spokane, Washington). Here's a 1965 chart showing the Guess Who rockin' in at #2 amidst the hits of the day. The song would not be a US chart rider for months to come!
Lastly, a 6PR Perth, Australia chart from summer 1964 showing lots of Brit influence, but surprisingly more US charters than one might expect??
Clark Besch
FASCINATING stuff for us chart buffs. (And with literally THOUSANDS of brand new Canadian Forgotten Hits Readers, you guys should have a field day with this! Spread the word!) Thanks, Clark! (kk)
Songwriter extraordinare Carole King made the news a couple of times last week ... Shortly after taking over the role of manager of her mother, Carole King, in mid-2011, Sherry Goffin Kondor looked over a list, left by the departed manager.
"It was things that needed to be taken care of," she said. "And one of the things on the checklist was, 'Go and see the reading of the musical and kill it. Carole's not into it." The musical was "Beautiful," which tells the story of one of the most celebrated composers and singers in pop history; a woman who wrote (with her lyricist husband, Gerry Goffin) dozens of major hit songs in the '60s and '70s, including "Natural Woman," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "Up on the Roof," "You've Got a Friend" and "Chains," which was covered by a band of admirers called the Beatles. In the late '60s, King emerged as a singer, and her 1971 album, "Tapestry," stayed on the charts for an astounding 68 weeks, helping to pave the way for the era of the singer-songwriter. "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" will open this month at the Curran Theatre in a "pre-Broadway world premiere." It moves to New York for previews before its Broadway opening in January at the Stephen Sondheim Theater. In other words, Sherry Kondor didn't kill it. "I think she always had a level of discomfort about having her story told by someone else, and (having) her story shrunk down to the scope of a play. Lorna (Guess, the previous manager) had urged her to at least try it, with this writer and that writer, and each time it was underwhelming. So I went into it thinking it's not going to work. I'll go to this reading and then have to break the news." She was in for a surprise. "I watched the reading, and I'm charmed. I laugh, I cry. I called my mother. 'Mom, I don't want to kill this. This is really good.' I thought, there's great potential there, and we should let it grow. She said, 'OK. I'm trusting you.' " Kondor gave the producers the go-ahead, along with some notes for writer Doug McGrath ("Bullets Over Broadway" with Woody Allen, "Infamous" and "Emma"). When it was time for another reading, Kondor persuaded her reluctant mother to go with her to a rehearsal space in Times Square. "We'll sit in the back," Kondor told her. "I won't let anyone talk to you." They stayed through the first act. "And at intermission she said, 'I'm leaving.' What? I imagined all these people would ask, 'Why'd she leave?' She said, 'I think it's really good. I just can't watch my life like this.' I said, 'OK. Understood.' And everyone else understood." King, who is not doing interviews in advance of "Beautiful," sent this message to The Chronicle: "I've always been a very private person, so initially I was horrified by the idea of my life being turned into a musical. The period chronicled in 'Beautiful' was exhilarating in so many ways, not the least of which was being stimulated creatively by Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, but it also included some of the most painful moments of my life. "After Sherry saw an early workshop, she encouraged me to attend a reading. Hearing it aloud in a room full of people left me conflicted. I had to leave after the first act because the excellence of the writing and the actors' interpretation awakened long-buried emotions. But the artist in me realized how good the show was, and I knew I couldn't stand in its way. I gave 'Beautiful' its title, which has multiple layers of meaning for me, and now I give 'Beautiful' my blessing." In fact, King cooperated with writer McGrath soon after he was hired, in 2009. "She came to my office and allowed me to ask anything I wanted," he said. "I led her through her life. She was generous in openly and honestly telling me what happened and how she felt: her doubts, fears and strength. But then, 'That's it. I've given you everything I have.' " King then turned to writing her memoirs ("A Natural Woman," published last year). McGrath came aboard after several failed attempts at a Goffin-King-based musical, dating back nine years. "Early on, somebody tried a musical in the 'Mamma Mia' mode," he said. "They took the catalog and made up a fictional story to fit the songs. Ours is the opposite of that. Their catalog is most interesting in the context of their personal story." McGrath was hired despite having no professional experience with musicals, said Christine Russell, Goffin's manager, because "we just wanted the right storyteller." That story, as King said, dealt with some painful moments, including her divorce from Goffin and his straying into hard drugs. It helped, Russell said, when McGrath came up with the idea of focusing not only on Goffin and King, but also on their friends, another husband-and-wife team of composers, Mann and Weil. "That made Gerry and Carole feel more comfortable," she said. "Gerry's story is pretty intense," Weil said. "In a sense," Mann added, "Cynthia and I have become the comic relief in the show." Mann (music) and Weil (words) composed "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," the most often played song in pop music history. Their credits also include "On Broadway," "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place," "Walking in the Rain," "Uptown" and "He's Sure the Boy I Love." The two couples often worked in adjacent, tiny offices at 1650 Broadway, a block or so away from the fabled Brill Building. There, they and a dozen other composers cranked out pop tunes for Aldon Music, a publishing company that pitted the teams against each other to come up with the next hit for the next big group. "Beautiful," McGrath said, "is about them and their best friends who were just on the other side of the wall. It's about these four humans - the incredible talent, the competition and friendship they had, the blindness to certain faults in another person, the ability to love and forgive." The fierce competitiveness depicted in "Beautiful" was real. Writers heard each other's songs through common walls. The atmosphere, King noted in her memoirs, "didn't exactly foster inventiveness." Weil agreed: "It just fostered thievery!" She quickly added that she was joking. King will be portrayed by Jessie Mueller, a Tony nominee for her work in "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" in 2011. Kondor saw Mueller's audition. "There was something about her when she came into the room," she said. "She just had the same sunny, sweet energy that my mom has. I said, 'Yes, she could play my mom.' " When "Beautiful" opens at the Curran, Mann and Weil plan to be there. Goffin, who is ailing, hopes to catch a performance. As for King, her daughter said it was unlikely she will attend opening night, but will "sneak in at some time." It'll be nerve-racking, no doubt, for all of them. "I'm a little scared," said Goffin, who's read the script. He said he hopes that, beyond the marvelous music he and King created, "Beautiful" will bear a message: "We all made mistakes," he said, "but what we created together was lasting." {sbox} Beautiful: The Carole King Musical: Opens Saturday. Through Oct. 20. $50-$210. Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., S.F. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com. Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer. E-mail: sadolphson@sfchronicle.com
On January 24, the Dixie Chicks, Lady Gaga, Bette Midler, Jason Mraz, James Taylor and Steven Tyler will take the stage to perform and honor the singer. Additional artists will be announced in the coming months. King is being honored for her charitable work. The singer-songwriter is involved with several environmental organizations. She has worked with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies since 1990 as well as other groups in fighting the passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.
>>> This has been driving me crazy for years. There was a band who played in the midwest just around the time CTA (Chicago) was out. They were around in the early 70's; maybe 70 - 72. They played at Drag Races a lot. They had a great horn section and had a song out with the letters USDA in it. Does that ring a bell with you? The name of the band or the song? (Buddy M)Kent-I've been following your blog for some time; I've really been digging it.Buddy M. asked about a horn band in the early 70's who played in the Midwest. He mentioned a song with "USDA" in it. I don't know if I can help him with the band, but the song was probably "Hello Groceries" ("You look so prime, tender and sweet / You're USDA inspected meat"), which appeared on Chase's first album. I don't know if Chase was the band in question; if not, the cover of a fellow horn band's song would make sense. I hope this helps. As always, keep up the great work.Sincerely,
Todd W. Zimmerman
Worth a shot ... here's a YouTube Link ... let us know if this is the one ...
>>>Does anyone know the origin of a DJ-only record in which Mel Blanc did one-liners as the various Warner Bros. characters? The format was a knock at the door, a one-liner, then a door slam. Bugs Bunny and Tweety & Sylvester and the rest were all there; but the two I remember most were Porky Pig wanting "a job as a radio an-n-nn-, a radio a-nn-n-nn, a d-dd-d-disc jockey," and Yosemite Sam shouting "Kill the power! Ah cain't stand it no more!!" I've heard it might have been called something like "Run-Ins" or "Run-Throughs," but have never seen a copy "in the wild." (Jim)
Hi Kent,
If you want to pass on my email address to the person looking for the Mel Blanc stuff I believe I have it. I think I also may have the Return to Paper Plates, and at least some of The Story Lady episodes.
I won't vouch for tip top quality but they are certainly listenable if they are still in the dungeon, which I think they are.
Bill
Interested parties should email me and I'll forward Bill's information along. (kk)
>>>I’m putting together a compilation CD of the Winter Dance Party Show at the Surf Ballroom from February, 1959. (The day the music died). I found the set lists for Bopper, Valens and Holly. However, Dion and the Belmonts were also on the bill, but I’m having trouble finding their set list. Hopefully someone can help. I need the songs they played in order. Plus where were they in the line up to take the stage? I would think Bopper opened, then Valens, followed by Dion(?) and finally Holly. Any help would be appreciated. As always, “Thanks” so much for keeping us music fanatics in touch with others who truly care about the music. (Gary)
Kent,
I have reached out for help on this. I do know that things were a little different that night due to the hospitalization of Buddy's drummer, but the line-up itself may have been the same. Anyway, let's see what comes up.
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
Looking for the b-side song ... something like oopoobioe do … unsure of the a side … Four Seasons maybe? Can you help?
Mike Stransky
Well, I don't see it listed on any of their charted singles ... and I don't see anything like this listed on their singles discography either ... so I'm think that maybe it's NOT The Four Seasons? Anybody out there got any ideas on this one? (kk)
Hi Kent -
Do you recall a song of which part of the lyrics go, "As long as you love me, we can fly"? It may have been an early '70s song, but I am not certain. I actually thought the group Chase had recorded that one, but I did not find it on YouTube. Just my curious self, inquiring.
Thanks a lot, Kent.
Joanie
Yay!!! I love the easy ones!!! This is "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse, a BIG Hit in 1971. YouTube clip below:
We ran a short profile of Marvin during our "Honest Injun" Series a few years back ... it was supposed to be followed up with a brief interview ... but Marvin had to cancel at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict. Here ... '60's FLASHBACK Style ... is the piece we ran ...
Early on in this series, we mentioned that we would be featuring One Hit Wonder recording artist MARVIN RAINWATER. In fact, MARVIN is one of the VERY few artists featured this month who is actually of American Indian descent.
RAINWATER was born either MARVIN KARLTON PERRY (or PERCY, depending on which source you choose to believe) in 1925 and took the stage name of MARVIN RAINWATER to promote his Cherokee Indian heritage. (It was, in fact, his mother's maiden name ... and MARVIN was one-quarter Cherokee.) In 1955, he appeared on THE ARTHUR GODFREY TALENT SCOUTS SHOW, an early television staple. Two years later, he would have his biggest chart hit when GONNA FIND ME A BLUEBIRD went to #22 in Billboard Magazine. (This, too, was a much bigger hit here in Chicago, where it peaked at #7 on the old WJJD Chart. It peaked at #3 on Billboard's Country Chart.) Before his success as a recording star, RAINWATER tried a variety of other occupations, including working in an auto repair shop, a lumber yard and as a tree surgeon. He also studied specific courses in the hopes of becoming either a veterinarian or a pharmacist but his love for music won out. (MARVIN lost his right thumb in an accident at the auto repair shop, limiting his ability to play the piano ... however, he continued on with his songwriting hobby and eventually placed I GOTTA GO GET MY BABY with recording star TERESA BREWER. He also wrote his biggest hit, GONNA FIND ME A BLUEBIRD.)
His OWN style could best be described as country and early rock-a-billy and when country legend RED FOLEY heard him perform an old HANK WILLIAMS tune, he invited MARVIN to join his OZARK JUBILEE radio program.
RAINWATER continued recording throughout the '50's but never again encountered the type of chart success that BLUEBIRD brought him. In 1959, he developed some throat problems, drastically affecting his vocal abilities. In 1980, he told GOLDMINE MAGAZINE, "I didn't know it then, but I had calluses on my vocal cords and should have quit for months. Instead, we'd spend hours and hours in the studio (recording "do-overs") without ever getting anything decent." After finally recognizing what the REAL problem was, RAINWATER had throat surgery and then resumed his singing career, going on to record for a variety of record labels into the '70's (including WARWICK, UNITED ARTISTS, WARNER BROTHERS, BRAVE and WESCO.) Much of his rock-a-billy work has since be repackaged and released via Germany's BEAR FAMILY RECORDS, and MARVIN has remained very popular overseas. (Early in his career, RAINWATER cut some 50 rock-a-billy tunes for a local Washington, D.C. studio owner, who then pedaled these tunes to a variety of budget record labels like SPIN-O-RAMA, CROWN and PREMIER once MARVIN reached some chart success with MGM. RAINWATER claims he never authorized these songs to be released ... nor did he earn a penny in royalties for their sale.) While RAINWATER today is considered a classic rock-a-billy artist (he's even in The Rock-A-Billy Hall Of Fame), his biggest hit, GONNA FIND ME A BLUEBIRD is most decidedly COUNTRY (rather than rock, pop or rock-a-billy) in nature. DIDJAKNOW?: Although he never hit The Top 40 again, MARVIN RAINWATER DID have a couple of other chart hits ... including a song titled HALF-BREED, which peaked at #66 in 1959. (No relation to the CHER hit we featured a couple of weeks ago.) It was, however, a #16 Country Hit ... and was written by JOHN D. LOUDERMILK! In fact, MARVIN RAINWATER was the very first artist to record LOUDERMILK's INDIAN RESERVATION ... then titled PALE-FACED INDIAN ... back in 1959, SEVERAL years before DON FARDON and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS took a crack at the tune. (You may recall that this was the very first song that we featured in this special HONEST INJUN tribute ... don't you just LOVE it when all this stuff ties together?!?!?!) In fact, thanks to the amazing THEONEBUFF, we have this rare MARVIN RAINWATER track to share with you today. REGRETS, I'VE HAD A FEW: Much like our earlier-featured artists, REDBONE, RAINWATER would appear on stage and on television dressed in full Indian garb, wearing buckskins, moccasins and headband while performing. (He now feels that he may have "typecast" himself early on in his career.) No official word on whether HE later sold or donated any of these outfits to that VILLAGE PEOPLE guy. (LOL) BTW: A planned, little mini-interview with MARVIN RAINWATER (now 80 years old and STILL performing regularly) was either canceled ... or, hopefully, postponed ... when MARVIN had to back-out at the last minute due to another commitment. In the meantime, here's a link to his VERY informative website:
I'm telling you, EVERYTHING we're seeing on this film RAVES about how good it is. (Sooner or later I'm going to have to break down and watch it myself!!! lol) Here are a couple more rave reviews ... Kent
Jerry Osborne wrote an interesting article about Sixto Rodriquez. (See below) The 2nd link is a live performance and the 3rd link is about Detroit. (InnerCity Blues).
I just watched the Oscar winning documentary about him "Searching For Sugar Man" and the story is perhaps the most unique story regarding a musician in the 70's and 80's.
I wouldn't characterize his stuff as rock but the message is loud and clear much in the same way as Dylan only perhaps even more succinct
Amazing he stays in Detroit when he's such a sensation around the world.
'Searching for Sugarman' as you describe, in my opinion is a great and poignant movie. I have watched it several times. He is like no other person in the industry and his mystique will always be captivating.
Linda Fundytus
re: THIS WEEK IN MUSIC HISTORY:
FH Reader Frank B reports that our FH Buddy Big Jay Sorensen has a great piece up on the WCBS-FM Website this week ... which also spotlights a couple of OTHER "Friends of Forgotten Hits", Ron Dante (and the Archies) and Chicago. (You'll find Diana Ross there, too ... but we haven't heard from her yet!!!) kk Click here: This Week In History: “The Man With the Golden Ear” Strikes Again! « WCBS-FM 101.1
re: MADE ME LAUGH:
WARNING: Listening to Eagles music can be hazardous to your health!!! Woman Stabs Roommate Because He Kept Playing The Eagles Vernett Bader of North Charleston, SC was tired of listening to her roommate play the Eagles. So, she grabbed a serrated knife from the kitchen and began to stab him. After she told him she didn't want to listen to the band. He responded by telling her to shut up and continued playing his music. It’s something that presumably only happens in the movies, but this time it was all too real for a South Carolina man. Yesterday (September 16) Vernett Bader of North Charleston, SC was tired of listening to her roommate play the Eagles. So, she grabbed a serrated knife from the kitchen and began to stab him. After she told him she didn’t want to listen to the band. He responded by telling her to shut up and continued playing his music. The police report states that when her roommate and his brother took the knife away from her, she went back into the kitchen and got another. Police claim all three were intoxicated at the time of arrest. Bader was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. Her male roommate was found with stab wounds on his arm, hand and elbow, police report. The police report did not state what Eagles song was playing at the time of the incident. – Annie Reuter, Radio.com Because the NAME of the song would be the most relevant point of this article, right?!?! Ironically, The Eagles blew thru town Friday Night for their first of TWO Chicagoland appearances. (We're going to the other one in October ... maybe just as well ... let this craziness die down a little bit first! lol) kk
The Eagles will be the first band to perform at the newly renovated L.A. Forum when the iconic music venue reopens in January in Los Angeles. The Eagles will bring their ‘History of the Eagles’ show to the venue for three nights on January 15, 17 and 18. The venue, owned by The Madison Square Garden Company, has recently been given a $100 million make-over bringing in state-of-the-art technology and amenities and creating the largest indoor venue in America. The make-over includes a new 8,000 square feet hospitality area separated from the arena with a tinted wall. The Eagles have been touring The History of the Eagles shows with former member Bernie Leadon who played with them on the first three albums. Leadon co-wrote the classic Witchy Woman. The current tour also features his song Train Leaves Here This Morning in the opening moments of the show. Eagles fans can grab tickets for the Forum shows by registering for the ‘Fan Invitation’ onsale now at www.forumshow.eaglesband.com Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning September 28 at 10 AM through LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster.com, at all Ticketmaster locations, through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000 and Ticketmaster Express at 866-448-7849 (automated only self-service line). Read more: http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2013/09/by-paul-cashmere-eagles-will-be-first.html#ixzz2fZ8NB4eU West Coast fans are encouraged to check out the show ... just be sure to check your weapons at the door! (kk)
And this just in ... a review of The Eagles' performance here in Chicago last night, courtesy of Tom Cuddy ... man, I can't WAIT to see this show!!!
The Eagles are the definitive American rock band. Outside of the Beach Boys, no other American act even comes close to matching the ups, the downs, the good, the bad, the spot on music of life quite like the Eagles. They did their first of two nights (they will appear for their second night in Chicago on October 19 at the All-State Arena) in Chicago at the United Center on Friday, September 20 in front of a sold-out crowd of hard-core fans; and a few nominal fans. Don Henley and Glenn Frey are two gifted composers / lyricists and they took the stage in silence and it went from you could hear a pin drop to a deafening roar of approval. The lovers of the timeless music catalog known as the Eagles were beyond content. They opened the show with two little heard ballads from their first two albums.Train Leaves Here This Morningis off the 1972 debut album,Eagles. That lovely piece of music segues intoSaturday Nightoff of theDesperadoalbum. No band defines musicality better than the Eagles. They were and are gifted songwriters, musicians, singers and clearly, the best harmonizers in all of recorded music. Lest one think hyperbole is being used. It's not. Original member, Bernie Leadon rejoins the Eagles on this, Their History of the Eagles tour. Even though we are being led to believe and I believe it is true, that this will be their last tour as Eagles, it is wonderful to have him back. He plays the mandolin on Saturday Night and it is beyond a welcomed moment in life itself. The only missing element is Randy Meisner. Randy Meisner's ill health has prevented him from taking part in this retrospective of a career. Glenn Frey did say from the stage that Randy was recovering. Unfortunately, his nuanced and beautiful presence on the stage will not be felt during this tour. The acoustic open to the show with the earliest of Eagles songs is beautifully done. No theatrics. It's the music. Period. They play through a near mind-numbing series of hit songs.Peaceful Easy Feeling,Witchy Woman,Tequila Sunrise, Best of My Love, Already Gone andOne of These Nights.They launched into a scorchingly subtle, beautifully poetic and hauntingly cow jumped over the moon moment with their non-Randy Meisner version of Take It To The Limit. Randy Meisner is obviously not there to craft and mold the moment that only he can take to the limit, but the memories of the original recorded version are so deeply rooted in the mindset of the lover of the music that it will no doubt never fade away during the earthly life of the fan. The current stage version of Witchy Woman is newly arranged with a driving downbeat. It took on a life of its own. Bernie Leadon, in his intro said he wrote the song with Don Henley and then got a laugh out loud moment with "no one in the band ever dated anyone like this woman." One of them probably did. More hits -Lyin' Eyes,New Kid in Town,Life in the Fast Lane,In The City,Heartache Tonightand then they rolled us into a post hypnotic trance on their encore songs, includingHotel California,Take It Easyand they move quietly into the sunset with the most gorgeous and simple take onDesperado. They play it straight with the original arrangements of many of these songs, but they mess around (in a good way) with Heartache Tonight. Glenn Frey admits he loved what the Beach Boys did with Barbara Ann. A group of musicians having fun with their guitars talking to one another. There were no heartaches last night. Lots of humor and talking on this tour. I've seen them several times over the years and they talked more last night than they have in their entire career on the stage. Frey had some good moments with his Lyin' Eyes tune dedicated to his ex-wife. I won't give you the punch line. Those Shoeswas so spot on I literally could have closed my eyes and thought my turntable was playing my Long Run copy. Joe Walsh adds a tremendous amount of humor and rock to the evening. His superb artistry with the guitar lends itself wisely to the band. His inclusion in the band may be one of the most brilliant decisions Glenn Frey ever made. By the way, he looks great. Talk about aging well. Joe's highlight moment was Rocky Mountain Way. You get a Colorado backdrop to ease you while showcasing his still remarkable set of gifts. Timothy B. Schmidt off of a bout with cancer is in top form. He drives home the appeal of the country rock roots and he delivers on the hard driving rock songs. Don Henley and Glenn Frey still offer supremely worthwhile lead vocals throughout the multiple sets, although, keep in mind they are 66 and 65 years of age respectively. No, they don't sing like they used to, but they are better than anyone else out there under the age of 30. Their voices have to strain a bit and they are no longer effortless voices. They are two of the finest vocalists, phrasers and interpreters of their own music in the last sixty years of recorded music. Song for song, there is no act quite like them. The Beatles may reign with range and depth, but for sheer joy, solace and peace in rock/pop music I would rather have the catalog of the Eagles on the desert island, wherever that may be. On a cold and lonely day I'm pulling outOn the Border. I don't say this lightly, but in my life I have been comforted deeply by my faith, my immediate family and by the music that has so stirred my emotions. The Eagles have been with me on my own personal journey since that lofty late spring day when I first heard them back in May, 1972. I sincerely can't imagine not having them as my backdrop. I shared this evening with my two surviving siblings. I also had two elementary school friends join in. The evening was like a walk into my youth. Amen to that! In the end, it was much more than a walk backwards. It was a walk into my very present life and ultimately, a walk into the future. The music of the Eagles will be with me until I take my own last breath. Oh yeah, "the bluebird was high on the wind." This show is something to behold. May they have the wind be at their back as they loiter effortlessly through the balance of their days.
Product endorsement of the week ... too funny! (kk)
So a couple of weekends ago, I was flipping thru the channels and I found that MeTV was running an entire one-hour, complete episode of "Batman", the television series ... and not only that, but it was the one that features Lesley Gore as one of Catwoman's hench-ladies ... the episode where Lesley sings her latest hit "California Nights" ... which just happens to be one of Frannie's all-time favorite songs. Naturally, I had to watch the whole thing.
Catwoman (at this stage of the series anyway ... they ultimately went thru THREE!!!) was still being portrayed by the lovely Julie Newmar ... which got me to thinking about this whole Six Degrees of Separation thing. Heck, this one was so easy, it literally wrote itself!!! In fact, I got TWICE that far with The Caped Crusader. I finally stopped at a Baker's Dozen!!! (lol)
Which means that today, we've got THIRTEEN GREAT TRACKS ... for your listening enjoyment and befuddlement!!! (kk)
*****
How's this for starters ...CALIFORNIA NIGHTS by Lesley Gore, who portrayed Pussycat, one of Catwoman's hench-women in the "That Darn Catwoman" episode.
And then, how aboutWHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT and "JULIE DO YA LOVE ME" ... along with a vintage shot of me, my daughter Kris and Julie Newmar herself!!!
Many will argue that the best part about Batman was the villains ... so let's salute a few of them right now ...
You just heard "EARTH ANGEL" by THE PENGUINS. "THE JOKER" by THE STEVE MILLER BAND, "TWO FACES HAVE I" by LOU CHRISTIE, "SWEETS FOR MY SWEET" by THE RIDDLES and "POISON IVY" by THE COASTERS. (OK, OK, I'll admit that a couple of these are a bit of a stretch ... but we made it work!!!)
And let's not forget about Batman's sidekick, The Boy Wonder!
Was I a Batman fan? You betcha!
Don't believe me???
Check out my Grade School Graduation Picture!!!
I never quite got this next one ... but it works for me ... and, incredibly, this was a Top 20 Hit in 1967!
That was Whistling Jack Smith ... who was, of course, Kaiser Bill's Batman.
And let's not forget THESE two!!!
There's your Six Degrees ... or would that be THIRTEEN Degrees ... of Separation ... Gotham Style!!!
Contrary to what radio today would lead you to believe, the 1960's did NOT begin in 1964 with The Beatles and The British Invasion.
While I would be the first to agree that these new sounds did more to invigorate the sounds of the decade, the four years preceding the onslaught of foreign talent on these shores were pretty interesting, too. (It has often been reported that music was in the doldrums … the country was grieving the assassination of their young president … and The Beatles just happened along at a time when this country most needed something to brighten our spirits again … and there may be a certain amount of truth to this statement. However, a closer look at the music we were listening to, circa 1960 - 1963 makes a pretty good case for the continued development of rock and roll.)
Elvis was back from the Army … and, although he had "cleaned up" quite a bit, he still managed to place 28 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart in that four year period … and all but three of them made The Top 40. In fact, Elvis notched 13 more Top Ten Hits in his King Of Rock And Roll belt … and topped the charts with tracks like "Stuck On You", "It's Now Or Never", "Are You Lonesome Tonight", "Surrender", "Good Luck Charm" … and JUST missed with timeless tracks like "Can't Help Falling In Love" (#2, 1962), the two-sided hit "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame" / "Little Sister" (#4 and #5 respectively), "Return To Sender" (#2, 1962) and "(You're The) Devil In Disguise" (#3, 1963).
Motown was in its infancy … before the decade was over it would explode and become a driving force in the way America listened to soul music, crossing over to win fans of both black and white young America.
Groups like The Four Seasons on the East Coast and The Beach Boys on the West Coast kept both their lead vocals on their hot new sounds HIGH on the charts. In fact, the whole Surf Music Craze had its deepest roots in the 1960 - 1963 era.
So did folk music … what has since become known as The Girl Group Sound … The Wall Of Sound from Phil Spector … and the music created in The Brill Building.
We had great novelty hits like "Alley Oop", "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini", "Mr. Custer", "Mother-In-Law", "Monster Mash" and "If You Wanna Be Happy", all of which topped the charts … along with classic instrumental hits like "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (one of the biggest hits of the decade), "Wonderland By Night", "Calcutta", "The Stripper", "Stranger On The Shore" and "Telstar" … Dance Craze Songs that exemplified The Philly Sound like "The Twist", "Let's Twist Again", "Limbo Rock", "The Loco-Motion" and "Peppermint Twist". Feel-Good Songs like "Cathy's Clown", "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "Stay", "Tossin' And Turnin'", "Hit The Road Jack", "Runaround Sue", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Duke Of Earl", "Hey Baby", "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do", "I Will Follow Him", "It's My Party", "Sugar Shack" and "My Boyfriend's Back". Teen tragedy songs and pining love songs like "Teen Angel" and "Running Bear" … "I'm Sorry" and "Georgia On My Mind" … and songs that just defy description and classification like "Big Bad John", "Sukiyaki", "El Paso", "Travelin' Man" and (what the hell?!?!?) "Dominique"!
This week Forgotten Hits takes a closer look at the Top 100 Singles, 1960 - 1963 … the years BEFORE "The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming" became the phrase of the day … a time when American artists still dominated the charts and our hearts. (OK, OK … you WILL find "Telstar" by The Tornadoes on this list … but that's about as cockney as we're going to get!)
#100 - The countdown kicks off with The Philly Sound of The Orlons, in at #100 with "The Wah-Watusi". (1962)
#99 - Be My Baby - The Ronettes (1963) This timeless classic (and Brian Wilson favorite) has shown up EVERYWHERE over the years ... TV, movies, advertising ... in 1986 Rocker Eddie Money even got lead singer Ronnie Spector to reprise the "Be My Little Baby" line in his hit song "Take Me Home Tonight"!
#98 - Running Scared - Roy Orbison (1961)
The Big "O" ... and no, I don't mean Oprah!
#97 - I Like It Like That, Part 1 - Chris Kenner (1961)
Later a hit for The Dave Clark Five, this was the original.
#96 - Sixteen Reasons - Connie Stevens (1960)
Cricket from "Hawaiian Eye" had her first solo hit after helping out Edd "Kookie" Byrnes (of "77 Sunset Strip" fame) with his Top Three Smash "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb".
#95 - The End Of The World - Skeeter Davis (1963)
Still one of my all-time favorites from this decade.
#94 - North To Alaska - Johnny Horton (1960)
Horton closed out the '50's with his #1 Smash "The Battle Of New Orleans" ... it spent EIGHT WEEKS on top of Billboard's Hot 100 Single Chart! Now he was back, taking a northerly look at the map.
#93 - So Much In Love - The Tymes (1963)
Another timeless classic, long out of print until ABKCO finally opened up and shared the Cameo / Parkway Vaults a few years ago.
#92 - Wooden Heart - Joe Dowell (1961)
Known by most as an Elvis song (he sang it in "G.I. Blues", his first comeback movie after his stint in the Army), the #1 Hit Record actually belonged to Joe Dowell.
#91 - Don't Break The Heart That Loves You - Connie Francis (1962)
You'll find three hits by Connie in our Top 100 Countdown ... along with Brenda Lee, Francis dominated the charts as one of the premier female vocalists of the decade. (Yet she's STILL not in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!!!)
#90 - Wild One - Bobby Rydell (1960)
One of the original Teen Idols ... and another artist who was able to ride the wave of The Philly Sound.
#89 - Walk, Don't Run - The Ventures (1960)
A GREAT Rock And Roll Instrumental ... and one that ANY guitarist worth his salt had to learn at one time or another.
#88 - Can't Get Used To Losing You - Andy Williams (1963)
A long-forgotten gem by crooner Andy Williams, who left us a short time ago after entertaining us for decades on both the charts and the TV screen.
#87 - Bobby's Girl - Marcie Blane (1962)
Marcie wished that she was Bobby's Girl ... 20 years later, Rick Springfield wished that he had Jessie's Girl ... proving that teen age lust will never die!
#86 - Our Day Will Come - Ruby and the Romantics (1963)
Still a haunting sound, even fifty years later!
#85 - The Boll Weevil Song - Brook Benton (1961)
One of my favorites as a kid growing up, Brook normally took a more serious approach with this recordings. Incredibly, he would have one of the biggest hits of his career in 1970 with "Rainy Night In Georgia".
#84 - Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel) - Roy Orbison (1960)
The Big O is back with one of his best ... a 1960 smash.
#83 - I Want To Be Wanted - Brenda Lee (1960)
There's the first Top 100 Hit in our countdown for Little Miss Dynamite.
#82 - Easier Said Than Done - Essex (1963)
A #1 Hit from 1963 by a group that originally formed when they were members of The U.S. Marine Corps!
#81 - Deep Purple - Nino Tempo and April Stevens (1963)
A GREAT duet, later brought back to the charts by Donny and Marie ... and I've got to say that I love BOTH versions of this song!
The countdown continues tomorrow ... be there or be square!
We're counting down The Biggest Hits of 1960 - 1963 this week in Forgotten Hits ... Today we pick up the countdown with #80 ...
#80 - Chain Gang - Sam Cooke (1960) One of my favorite artists of the late '50's and early '60's, gunned down WAY too soon. The potential of what he might have become was never realized ... and that's just a shame.
#79 - The Bristol Stop - The Dovells (1961) More Philly Sounds ... this time featuring Len Barry, who would score a HUGE solo hit in 1965 with "1, 2, 3".
#78 - Surf City - Jan and Dean (1963) These guys actually hit the charts before The Beach Boys did ... in fact, Brian Wilson helped write this one ... which launched a whole new surf music phase.
#77 - Ramblin' Rose - Nat "King" Cole (1962) A standard that performed well enough on the pop charts to earn the #77 position in our very special countdown.
#76 - If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul (1963) One of the biggest novelty hits of the early '60's. (Can "Mother-In-Law" be far behind? Or, in the case, ahead???)
#75 - Hit The Road, Jack - Ray Charles (1961) A Ray Charles classic.
#74 - Handy Man - Jimmy Jones (1960) The original, Del Shannon-ish sounding hit before James Taylor slowed it down to a crawl in the '70's. (Shannon would have his own hit with this four years later)
#73 - The Loco-Motion - Little Eva (1962) The #1 Hit for Carole King's baby-sitter. (Go figure!) Yet another Dance Craze tune that would go back to #1 by ... of all people ... Grand Funk Railroad in the 1970's!!! (Never saw THAT one coming!!!)
#72 - Sheila - Tommy Roe (1962) The first chart-topper for our FH Buddy Tommy Roe, who did his part to keep the Buddy Holly sound alive in 1962.
#71 - I'm Leaving It Up To You - Dale and Grace (1963) Like the Tempo and Stevens hit "Deep Purple", resurrected in the '70's by Donny and Marie. For whatever reason, these two duets seem to be forever linked.
#70 - Itsy Bitsy Teenie-Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini - Brian Hyland (1960) The very first 45 I ever bought with my own money ... and the song that launched the career of Brian Hyland. forgottenhits.com/first_45s
#69 - Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley (1962) The first of FIVE appearances by The King of Rock And Roll in our special countdown. (And you guys thought he was just a '50's artist!!!)
#68 - Walk Right In - The Rooftop Singers (1963) We featured this one a week or two ago as part of our Salute to Folk Music of the '60's.
#67 - Quarter To Three - Gary "U.S." Bonds (1961) One of my least-favorite Gary Bonds songs ... but his all-time biggest hit.
#66 - Wipe Out - The Surfaris (1963) Catching a wave of the surf craze, this one resurfaced in 1966 and became a hit all over again.
#65 - Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes (1961) Our first Motown title ... but definitely not the last!
#64 - Surrender - Elvis Presley (1961) Elvis Is Back ... from the Army ... AND on our Top 100 Countdown!
#63 - Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett (1962) A Halloween classic ... play this one alongside #55 in tomorrow's countdown and see what you think.
#62 - Alley Oop - The Hollywood Argyles (1960) A novelty classic ... and the song that launched WLS-AM 890 as a Top 40 / Rock Station here in Chicago back in 1960.
#61 - He's A Rebel - The Crystals (1961) Written by Gene Pitney, who inexcusably doesn't appear in this special countdown as an artist!
Jerry G., British Countdown, KYW Cleveland, 1965
