Category Archives: Retro

Beat ’66 Show #5 – The Blurb
7
Feb

The Yardbirds “Shapes Of Things”

If the A-side pointed to the future musically with its proto-psychedelic Jeff Beck guitar solo then the B-side was a prescient anthem of peace and love, “You’re A Better Man Than I”

Also covered by punk band Sham 69 in the late seventies

The Four Shells “Hot Dog”

Incredibly, this was a B side. I repeat, that was a B side. This was the A-side – not bad either.

The Great!! Society!! “Free Advice”

The Great!! Society!! were far from the only alternative band of the era that took their name from Democrat US President Johnson’s Great Society project, a series of domestic programs aimed at combating poverty and racial injustice in the USA.

Although The Great!! Society!! only lasted a year, their style helped define the early San Francisco sound.

Formed by married couple Grace and Darby Slick, and Darby’s brother Jerry, the band released only one single during its lifetime, the Darby Slick penned “Someone to Love”, of which “Free Advice” is the B-side.
The single was issued in February 1966 on Autumn Records’ tiny Northbeach subsidiary label and made little impact outside of the Bay Area. While signed to Autumn Records, the band worked with the label’s staff producer, Sylvester Stewart (better known as Sly Stone), who at the time was still in the process of forming his own band, Sly and the Family Stone.

Sly seemingly quite as the band’s producer after it took them over fifty takes to record a version of “Free Advice” that was suitable for release.

The band never really settled on a stable lineup and after a particularly chaotic Hallowe’en gig in late 1966, Grace Slick quit to join Jefferson Airplane, taking “Someone To Love” with her as well as another song that Airplane would cover to pretty decent effect!

Carla Thomas “Let Me Be Good To You”

Great slow-burner from Carla Thomas.

Definitely not in any way based on this tune (incidentally, check out Diana Ross dive-bombing the mike on 7 seconds)

nv Groep 65 “Pipe And You Like It”

I am indebted to the excellent Dutch music fansite nederbeat.nl for the following information on nv Groep ’65.

“The singer of this band Warner Landkroon was somewhat of a celebrity in Amsterdam. This was mainly attributed to his strange appearance due to his Ultra long hair and beard. In the unofficial contest of longhaired man he claimed to be the man with the longest hair in town, although there were several beatniks who disputed his claim.

In 1965 and ‘66 the band played regularly in and around Amsterdam. They toured the same places like dutchbeat icons The Oudsiders such as The Rembrandtpleintheater and at the Double Wow club organized by the Hitweek magazine. One band member Tom Krabbedam who left the band in 65 would later join The Outsiders as guitarist player.

In 65 they released two singles at the Deltalabel, Dankzij de Heer/Tanger and Pipe and you like it/Lost. Both are pretty weird anthems. The first Danzij de heer (With the help of the Lord) (below) wasn’t supposed to be blasphemous, on the contrary, but Christians didn’t see it that way and the record was banned”

Landkroon was arrested in the summer of 1966 for drug offences, leading to the breakup of the band. It has been reported that after many years in the wilderness, he eventially found solace in the Bible and became a Christian.

Junior Walker And The All Stars – Shoot Your Shot

B-side to their hit single I’m A Road Runner was to all intents and purposes a reworking of Shotgun – a “version” if you like.

“Shoot Your Shot” appears on the 1965 album “Shotgun”, released to coincide with the success of the Big Hit and featuring a collection of A and B sides, including this little-heard classic:

Goldie “Don’t Look Back”

Next a song made famous by Dusty Springfield but it was first a hit, albeit a minor one, for Goldie.

Goldie was lead singer with the excellent all-female group Goldie And The Gingerbreads. Born Henya Raven in Poland she came to the USA in 1947 with her parents and sister after surviving incarceration by the Nazis in a prison camp. The nickname Goldie came from her mother who thought adopting a more American sounding name would help her fit in.
Goldie and The Gingerbreads toured with the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Kinks, and Manfred Mann. They reached the charts with their hit “Can’t You Hear My Heart Beat” in 1965. The song reached #25 on the UK Singles Chart. The band stayed in London for two years.

Billed as “Goldie”, she released the original version of the classic Carole King-Gerry Goffin composition “Goin’ Back” in the spring of 1966. However this single was withdrawn within a week by producer Andrew Loog Oldham when he heard that Dusty Springfield had recorded it – Dusty’s version went Top Ten.

Paul Revere And The Raiders “Kicks”

Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil for the Animals, who turned it down on account of its perceived puritanical anti-drugs message. Ironically, questions were asked by some radio censors on account of the title.

People are stupid sometimes.

Millie Small “Be My Guest”

The Blues Busters “Wings Of A Dove”

4010036663

Both these tracks are taken from the album “Ska At The Jamaica Playboy Club” which came out in February 1966 and includes some excellent tracks – more on Beat ’66 Show #6 next week.

Stevie Wonder “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”

After “Fingertips” had hit No 1 for Stevie in 1963, launching his career as a Motown hitmaker when he was just twelve years old, the following two and a half years saw his career meandering from inferior copies of The Hit to jazz to show tunes to recording tracks rejected by other artists.

But he had time on his side and a record company who knew the value of persevering from the lesson with the “No Hits” Supremes who had transformed into an act that could boast a run of five successive number one singles. And Stevie had time on his side – and in late 1965 the follow up chart topper was duly delivered, ushering in his golden period which would last the rest of the sixties, and indeed the rest of the seventies.

The B-side is a bit of a gem, too – a lovely soul ballad of a type you wouldn’t normally reckon would suit Stevie’s voice – see what you think.

Nashville Teens “The Hard Way”

Most famous for “Tobacco Road”, Nashville Teens made a few songs that, like “The Hard Way”, either just scraped into the nether regions of the charts or missed them completely. Another single in this category was this one from late 1965:

Harper – Main Theme – Johnny Mandel

Johnny Mandel’s main theme from the Paul Newman spy thriller “Harper” released in 1966.

After leaving the New York Military Academy as a Band graduate, Mandel composed jazz tunes for the likes of Woody Herman, Count Basie and this one for Chet Baker:


 
Don Covay And The Good-Timers “See Saw”

Don Covay died a year ago (almost to the day at the time of writing this). His career covered the entire spectrum of black music, from doo-wop through R and B to soul and funk.

This is the title track from his “See Saw” album of February 1966, an album largely co-written with Steve Cropper of Booker T and the MGs and hundreds of Stax / Atlantic soul tunes.

One of the best known tracks on the record is “Sookie Sookie”, covered among others by Steppenwolf (in a rock stylee) and a jazzed-up take from Grant Green. This is Don Covay’s original
version.

Mary Wells “Dear Lover”

What a difference two years makes. When “My Guy” hit Number One in March 1964, Mary Wells’ status as the Queen of Motown seemed assured. By February 1966, she had left the label at the instigation of her manager for a better deal at 20th Century Fox when she turned 21 (as was her right as a minor signing a recording contract), and her career as a hit-maker was in terminal decline amid rumours of Motown allegedly bribing radio stations to NOT play her records.

This was her last R&B Top Ten hit – the album it appeared on, “The Two Sides Of Mary Wells” also featured a decent Staxtastic take on the Stones’ “Satisfaction”:

Jean Shepard “Many Happy Hangovers To You”

Jean Shepard was one of the first women to forge a successful career in country music, kicking off in 1953 with “A Dear John Letter”, a half-spoken duet with Ferlin Husky about the Korean War. She had hits in the US country charts until 1978 and has recently celebrated 60 consecutive years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, a feat only matched by the late LIttle Jimmy Dickens. Jean still performs to this day at the tender age of 82 8=)

This is her other country number one single of 1966 – no woman in country music has a better, more believabl and natural delivery, for my money.

The Outsiders “Time Won’t Let Me”

Most of The Outsiders had been in an R and B band called the Starfires. When the Beatles arrived in the USA and everything changed, they morphed into what to these ears sounds like a garage rock’n’roll band with added horns.

“Time Won’t Let Me” was the first of their two hits, the band’s sound perhaps falling between too many stools to be enthusiastically adopted by the record-buying public. The choice of B-side seems to indicate that the record company also thought this, since it features no horn section. IMHO it would be massively improved by one.

The Barbarians “Moulty”

One of the strangest records to surface in th eearly part of 1966, part country-style talking lament, part garage noise, it almost predicts grunge 20 years early.
Victor “Moulty” Moulton, the subject of the song, was drummer of The Barbarians, despite having list his left hand when at the age of 14, a homemade pipebomb prematurely detonated while it was in Moulton’s grip.

The hand was amputated, and subsequently replaced with a metallic prosthetic device that Moulton could hold a drum stick in.

When Moulton formed the group in 1964, his disability added an unusual allure to the band’s rebel image.

Moulty is the only member of the band to actually appear on the record, the backing being provided by members of The Hawks (later The Band).

Originally, the song was only intended to be released under the consent of Moulton, who was opposed to its distribution. However, Laurie Records released “Moulty” along with “I’ll Keep On Seeing You” in February 1966 as a single. Upon discovering the distribution of the song, Moulton was infuriated with president of Laurie Records, Robert Schwartz, reportedly quarreling with him, and destroying some copies of the single.[6]

“Moulty” still got to the respectable lower reaches of the US charts and became something of an inspirational anthem.
However, The Barbarians were so disgruntled with management for releasing the song, despite Moulton’s insistence against it, that the band ceased relations with the company

Bob Dylan “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)”

Released on February 14th, 1966 as the lead single from the “Blonde On Blonde” album, this song performed poorly in the charts. I’m scratching my head as to exactly why – perhaps folks had proper love songs on their mind.

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Radio City #2 – Brian Matthew
2
Feb

Radio Two, as you would expect, has three regular weekly decade-based oldies shows every weekend, each highlighting one of the three decades during which the R2 core audience turned eighteen.

The excellent Johnnie Walker presents Sounds Of the 70s on a Sunday afternoon, which unfortunately mixes dull feature interviews with interminable West Coast rock, while Sarah Cox’s Sounds Of The 80s is a similar waste of a great presenter – a request-heavy trawl through the decade in the Saturday evening graveyard slot.

Sounds Of The Sixties, though, is an absolute bloody miracle of a show.

-Brianb+w

Presented by 87-year-old veteran broadcaster Brian Matthew, who was there pretty much at the start of rock’n’roll / pop music radio in the UK, hosting “Saturday Club” from 1957 and “Easy Beat “from 1960. He added TV to his CV from 1961, presenting “Thank Your Lucky Stars” for five years.

His clipped received pronounciation was very much BBC standard of the time, but the man’s enthusiasm for the music shone through, so he never really appeared “above” the bands he interviewed – you can hear plenty of examples of his rapport with The Beatles on the various sessions they recorded for the BBC between 1962 and 1965.

He continued on various shows on BBC Radios One and Two through the seventies and eighties -“My Top Twelve” was a particular highlight, his relaxed interviewing style allowing him to get quite a lot out of the likes of Rod Stewart, Rick Wakeman and (just twelve days before her tragic death) Mama Cass Elliot.

The uninitiated might expect Sounds Of The 60s to be simply a selection of chart hits such as you might hear on Gold or Absolute 60s – and I’m not knocking those fine stations, by the way, sometimes you just need something nice and familiar, which is the way 80% of all commercial radio works.

But Sounds Of The 60s is something different. Sure, there are hits, but these are interspersed with B-Sides, rare tracks from well-known artists and downright obscure sounds from bands nobody has ever heard of apart from a tiny number of aficionados.

The Sixties were such a time of musical change that it is relatively straightforward to build a playlist that covers tracks from the early 60s (1960-1962, pre-Beatles), the mid-Sixties (1963-1966,the Beat boom,Beatles,Motown,etc) and the psychedelic late 60s (1967-1969).

Beatles-with-Brian-Matthew

Each of these three eras is covered in each show, which means that any given “avid” will almost certainly not like all every song played but that’s fine, because the songs from “your” mini-era will inevitably be excellent.

An example playlist from 30/01/2016 contained The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, The Ribbons, The Four Seasons, Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera (below), Bobby Vee, Sanford Clark,Kathy Kirby,Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, The Drifters,Gene Pitney, The Ugly Ducklings and The Honeycombs …
… and that’s just the first half of the show (“Side One”).

There are requests, but the show has been going for so long now (since 1990 with Brian at the helm, before that introduced by Keith Fordyce) that all us loyal regular listeners (“avids” – yes, the show has its own slang, and even John Peel never managed that!) both want and expect something different.

There are special features – a strangely arbitrary one where Side One Track One and Side Two Track Two of an album is played and the Loose Connection where a listener selects three songs linked as tortuously as possible by a common theme. I have yet to get one right.

If I have one slight complaint I’d like to hear more black music but that’s just a personal preference. The show does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is why it has lasted so long (and with the same presenter for the past 26 years)

Sounds Of The 60s group on Facebook

There’s an excellent Sounds Of The Sixties Facebook Group which I’d recommend to anybody who likes the show, especially when the show is actually on air.

Despite the saying, if you remember the sixties, that doesn’t mean you weren’t there, but it does mean that you’re an invaluable resource for fielding questions about the era if you don’t remember it yourself (which I don’t, not really, as I was just too young)

One of the topics exercising the fans just now is the vexed question of who will take over when Brian finally calls it a day? It’s hard to see Tony Blackburn or Johnnie Walker (the only survivors from that era) doing as good a job – both their talents lie in other directions. My vote would go to Craig Charles or a similar enthusiast – let’s hope a replacement is not required for a few more years yet.

Sounds of the 60s bingo on Twitter

Every week you choose five artists, use the hashtag #sotsbingo and if Brian plays an artist you’ve chosen you get a point. It’s fiendishly hard. The average score is zero, and I’ve only managed more than 1 point on one occasion. It’s also great fun. I think Brian would approve.

See you round the radio on Saturday morning, avids. Leaving you with this obscure tune from 1961 featuring a man who decided (wisely or not, who can say?) to stick to playing other people’s records rather than making his own.

Beat ’66 Show #4 – The Blurb
29
Jan

While you’re listening, the following blurb may be of interest.

Play Loud.

SAM THE SHAM & THE PHAROAHS “Red Hot”

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs were unusual in several ways. To questions regarding the origins of the term “sham,” Samudio answered that it was “rhythm-and-blues jargon for shuffling, twisting or jiving around to music.” Before taking up the organ, Samudio “shammed” while he sang, so he found the term a fitting one for the band’s name. Also, being a novice on organ, he had to “sham” his way through playing. In addition, he and his fellow musicians were known for wearing Middle Eastern attire for their performances. Indeed, Samudio wore a “jewelled jacket and feathered turban.” He purchased a hearse that he called “Black Beauty” in which to haul his organ and his Leslie speaker, and the band toured in it from then on.

The song was originally performed by Billy Lee Riley and made an impression on the young Bob Dylan. At the Musicares Person Of The Year 2015 Dylan said:

“Billy Lee Riley became what is known in the industry, a condescending term by the way, as a one hit wonder. But sometimes, just sometimes, once in a while, a one hit wonder can make a more powerful impact than a recording star who’s got 20 or 30 hits behind him. And Billy’s hit song was called “Red Hot,” and it was red hot. It could blast you out of your skull and make you feel happy about it. Change your life.”

Technically Riley did have another hit in Flying Saucer Rock ‘N’ Roll but “Red Hot” is a killer song.

Recorded at Sun Records where Billy Lee Riley was competing for attention with the likes of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. This stands up just fine against all those great artists:

ELVIS PRESLEY “Blue River”

Recorded in 1963 it was inexplicably shelved for a couple of years until it was released as a single in the UK in January 1966, reaching number 22, not bad considering that by then Elvis’s country rock sound was beginning to sound a bit old fashioned.

I love the home-made Youtube video that this guy has done for this song on Youtube, a real labour of love. Elvistheking35, Beat City salutes you!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS “This Old Heart Of Mine”

Funny how perceptions are different. I was totally under the impression that this song is among Motown’s most well-known, but for all its finger-clicking goodness a quick straw poll indicates that I’m in a minority.

For me this is the quintessential Motown track of this era. No intro beyond that trademark drum roll, then its straight into a groove that lasts for the rest of the track.

The song has been covered a few times but this is the best one I’ve found. Recorded in 1975 but only released in 2014, this is by the underrated Bettye Swann, who slows it right down and turns it into something else entirely.

MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS “Never Leave Your Baby’s Side”

If the Supremes had cut a song called “Never Leave Your Baby’s Side” then you’d just KNOW without hearing it that it was going to be a gooey loved-up number sung by a submissive-sounding Diana Ross.

The title is given a 180 degree twist here though. You can’t imagine any other female Motown singer delivering this performance. Martha Reeves takes a waspish “don’t mess with me boy” tone on the verses but there’s enough sugar and sweetness in the chorus for the casual listener to think its just a nice song about always being with your bay-bee. But the delivery of the line “watch out” is the giveaway.

Its the tale of a woman who doesn’t trust here man but she doesn’t sit around moping at home, she knows the score, that all men are the same in this respect, waiting to play around as soon as you turn your back. Not a song that could be covered in the present day without scornful – and lets face it accurate – accusations of an acceptance of How Men Are, but at the time this was as powerful a statement as a woman could make.

This song was the B-side to “My Baby Loves Me”, which actually WOULD sound more natural in the hands of the Supremes. It’s still good, don’t get me wrong, but I’d put a fiver on “Never Leave
Your Baby’s Side” having originally been scheduled as the A-side until they bottled out.

THE WHEELS “Bad Little Woman”

The Wheels (renamed The Wheel-A-Ways for the US release of this record, presumably to avoid confusion with Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels) came out of the same Belfast scene as Van Morrison’s Them – indeed, Morrison played saxophone in an early incarnation of The Wheels.

See the superb Garage Hangover for details on The Wheels and many other sixties garage rock bands.

THEM “My Lonely Sad Eyes”

The band may have been on the verge of collapse but that song indicates that they could still make a great record in early 1966. From the album Them Again that was My Lonely Sad Eyes, a pointer of what was to come from Van Morrison in his solo career.

LITTLE MILTON “We Got The Winning Hand”

This sneaked into the Billboard Hot 100 AT number 100 for one solitary week in early 1966. Little Milton with We Got The Winning Hand, backed with “Sometimey”:

MILLIE SMALL & JIMMY CLIFF “Hey Boy Hey Girl”

Millie Small is best known for The Hit (“My Boy Lollipop”) but she made some great records through the rest of the sixties and into the seventies. This track was made to give a boost to a young Jimmy Cliff, just starting out at the time.

http://www.popsike.com/RARE-Millie-Small-Ska-At-the-Jamaica-Playboy-Club-LP/4010036663.html

THE EYES “My Degeneration”

The B-side to the second single by mod hopefuls The Eyes is both funny and knowing.

The song contained references to “a cup of coffee or two” which in the vernacular of the time meant .. well, we all know what “coming back for a coffee” means don’t we? I believe the modern equivalent is “Netflix and Chill”.

The humourless souls at the Tea Board attempted to sue the band because they seemed to be taking liberties with the “Join the tea set” chorus. Britain, eh?

CRISPIAN ST PETERS “You Were On My Mind”

Crispian St Peters could well have gone down in music history as a one-hit wonder but an interview with the New Musical Express in which he claimed that he’d written 80 songs that were better than anything the Beatles had ever produced, and that he was a better singer than Tom Jones and Elvis Presley (claiming that his own stage moves made Elvis look like the Statue Of Liberty).

This controversy – unusual for a singer who only had the one hit to his name – helped propel the proto-flower-power anthem “I’m The Pied Piper” into the charts.

So he went down in music history as the first (and possibly the only) TWO-hit wonder.

THE CYCLONES & THE CHECKMATES “The Dew”

The Singapore pop scene was thriving in late 1965 and early 1966 with bands like Naomi & The Boys and The Crescendos becoming big stars in their home country with their version of beat music.

The Cyclones were a duo comprising James and Siva Choy and they’re backed by instrumental surf / beat group the Checkmates on this record. There’s more bending of the notes than you’d expect from Western proponents of the form, giving it a definite sound of its own.

NEAL HEFTI – “Batman Theme”

The classic theme from the Batman TV show which debuted in January 1966, covered many many times by the likes of Link Wray, The Ventures and The Jam but to be honest none of those versions are as good as Neal Hefti’s original.

This is one of Hefti’s previous film themes. from the Jean Harlow biopic “Harlow” that came out in 1965, an instrumental version of “Girl Talk” which works better without the lyrics to my mind.

SPENCER DAVIS GROUP “Keep On Running”

Written by Jamaican singer and songwriter Jackie Edwards, “Keep On Running” could have been designed with Stevie Winwood’s soaring voice in mind and provided the Spencer Davis Group with their biggest and most enduring hit.

This is Jackie Edwards’ original version.

LEE HAZLEWOOD “I Move Around”

Signed to MGM Records after writing hits for the likes of Duane Eddy and (most recently and effectively) Nancy Sinatra’s breakthrough single “These Boots Are Made For Walking”, Lee Hazlewood’s career as a solo artist had stuttered somewhat up to this point.

His first single for the label is classic Hazlewood, a slow, dreamlike country tune with heartbreaking lyrics sung with his trademark flat, world-weary delivery.
He also recorded his own strange version of “These Boots Are Made For Walking” complete with running commentary – note the comment at 2:09 or thereabouts in particular.

THE BEAU BRUMMELS “Sad Little Girl”

A tune too good to tuck away on a B-side – the allegedly more commercial A-side was a cover of The Loving Spoonful’s “Good Time Music”, but that only just scraped into the Hot 100.

If only they’d pushed “Sad Little Girl” instead, who knows what could have happened?

THE FOUR TOPS “Shake Me, Wake Me When It’s Over”

Motown were early adopters of recycling.

Following standard label practice, this single by the Four Tops was covered by the Supremes later in 1966, on the album The Supremes A Go-Go.

MARVIN GAYE “One More Heartache”

Marvin Gaye with what comes over as a gritty remake of Can I Get A Witness with its sparse cool opening and relentless groove that just builds and builds.

Much like the earlier “Can I Get A Witness” in its sparse, cool opening which then drops into a groove which just keeps on building.

The B-side “When I Had Your Love” is another hidden gem

THE KINKS “Never Met A Girl Like You Before”

“One of our aims is to stay amateurs. As soon as we become professionals we’ll be ruined” – Ray Davies from the sleeve notes to the expanded rerelease of the album “The Kink Kontroversy”

THE SEEKERS “The Carnival Is Over”

A lovely, sad end-of-a-love-affair song that can be taken literally or figuratively, either way its heartbreaking.

The Seekers are underrated by most music historians.

Judith Durham’s voice could make the phone book sound poignant, especially when set against the strong unison male backing vocals. This is their cover of a Paul Simon song, “Come The Day”.

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Beat ’66 Show #3 – The Blurb
23
Jan

Hello and welcome to Beat Sixty-Six, in which we play some of the sounds that were around back in the sanctified pop music year of 1966.

This show includes soul sounds from Fontella Bass and James Brown, R and B from Them, the Pretty Things, Chris Farlowe and the Spencer Davis Group, a film theme from Eliot Fisher,
Motown is represented by the Supremes and the Four Tops, garage sounds from the Groupies, reggae from Prince Buster, the last gasp of non-Beatles Mersey sounds appropriately enough from the Merseybeats, tracks from the Kinks and the Rolling Stones, French singer-songwriter Michel Polnareff, and Nigerian high-life superstar Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson

THE SORROWS “Take A Heart”

One of the most overlooked bands of the British Invasion, the Sorrows offered a tough brand of R&B-infused rock that recalled the Pretty Things (though not as R&B-oriented) and the Kinks (though not as pop-oriented).

Their biggest British hit, “Take a Heart,” stopped just outside the U.K. Top 20; several other fine mid-’60s singles met with either slim or a total lack of success.

With the rich, gritty vocals of Don Fardon, taut raunchy guitars, and good material (both self-penned and from outside writers), they rank as one of the better British bands of their era, and certainly among the very best never to achieve success of any kind in the U.S.

Don Fardon had a solo Top 20 hit with “Indian Reservation” in 1968

THE KINKS “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”

From late 1965 Kinks’ mainman Ray Davies’ dissatisfaction and frustations – in the wake of a nervous breakdown earlier in the year – had begun to surface in the Kinks’ records – Where Have All The Good Times Gone appeared on the B-side of the happier number “Till The End Of The Day”. This was a pattern the band would repeat throughout 1966.

THE SUPREMES “My World Is Empty Without You”

Their run of number one US hits had to come to an end somewhere but it seems a shame that it had to be with this gorgeous, poignant song of loss and woe. Diana Ross’s plaintive, vulnerable voice is perfect for this song.

The Afghan Whigs covered this magnificently in 1994, the guitar intro reminiscent of the Stones’ “Paint It,Black”

PRINCE BUSTER “Too Hot”

Too Hot by Prince Buster neither celebrating nor criticising the rude boys, just commenting.

The song was covered by The Specials on their first album

JAMES BROWN “I Got You (I Feel Good)”

James Brown’s big crossover breakthrough into the pop charts came with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” followed by “I Got You(I Feel Good)” in late 1965 and it was still there come January 1966.
The B-side is this great slow burner, “I Can’t Help It (I Just Do-Do-Do)”

ELLIOTT FISHER “Theme from ‘Our Man Flint'”

Espionage was were big in the mid-sixties with James Bond and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. so inevitably there were parodies. One of the best was Our Man Flint starring James Coburn as special agent Derek Flint – and the instrumental theme tune by Elliot Fisher was arguably as good as any Bond theme. The trailer gives you some idea of where the film was coming from – check out the clearly-not-German “Dr Schneider”, always raises a smile.

ROLLING STONES “Get Off Of My Cloud”

Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s influence on the band is not always appreciated – it was he who persuaded Mick Jagger and Keith Richard to write songs in the first place, even locking them in a room on more than one occasion until they came up with a hit.

After I Cant Get No Satisfaction had become their biggest and most acclaimed record so far, they could have been forgiven for resting on their laurels but according to Keef that was never an option with Oldham, who cajoled them into writing what is arguably an even better record than Satisfaction.

According to Philip Norman’s Stones biography “Shout” :
“The follow up to (Satisfaction) was an upbeat dance record with chords cribbed unashamedly from Twist And Shout and a lyric – bawled purposefully by Jagger in double time – which must represent the earliest attempt to infiltrate the British Top Ten with marijuana smoke”

The B-side is a decent enough number called “The Singer Not The Song”, slightly marred by Richard’s 12-string guitar which is out of tune throughout. Without wishing to ignite once more the whole Stones / Beatles debate, there is no way Paul McCartney would have allowed that on a Beatles record.

PRETTY THINGS “Midnight To Six Man”

The Pretty Things with Midnight To Six Man, great song, great title, the band’s tough R&B sound only enhanced by the piano of Nicky Hopkins (who similarly graced records by The Who) and the organ of Margo Lewis of Goldie & The Gingerbreads – but it still barely skimmed the Top 50.

Arkansas’ “The Culls” did a more laid back version a year later, which is still pretty good.

FONTELLA BASS “Recovery”

Fontella Bass started out as a piano accompanist.

Her singing career began in 1961 when, as piano player with Little Milton’s band, she was asked to fill in for Milton at short notice.

“Recovery” was her follow-up to the hit for which she is best remembered, “Rescue Me” – this was the rarely-heard B-Side of that record, “The Soul Of A Man” which if anything showcases her vocal talents better than either of the aforementioned tunes.

SPENCER DAVIS GROUP “Let Me Down Easy”

Some lovely restrained electric piano and guitar work on this track.

Paolo Nutini has covered this recently – I can’t say I’m his biggest fan but he has a decent stab at it imho.

THE GROUPIES “Primitive”

Is it possible to make a slow garage record that still sounds exciting?

The main riff is a note-for-note copy of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightnin'” and props to them for NOT speeding it up. It works for me but others remain unconvinced.

The Cramps covered this years later.

FOUR TOPS “Just As Long As You Need Me”

A track from “The Four Tops second album” possibly named by the same person who named the Spencer Davis Group’s second album. I guess the record industry didn’t trust the public to recognise albums by name.

This was take to extremes by Chicago (whose albums I believe have always had numbers on them rather than titles, like a magazine) and of course Peter Gabriels’ first three albums were just called Peter Gabriel. Unimaginative bunch.

This is “I Like Everything About You”, another track from the album, its a little gem.

THE MERSEYBEATS “I Stand Accused”

By late 1965 The Merseybeats were ready to call it a day as most of their British Beat Boom compatriots had done, as the scene sputtered out, condemned by Motown, folk-rock and the British R&B boom to go the same way as surfing music.

The Merseybeats had one last great single in their locker though, a soulful cover of I Stand Accused (written by Jerry Butler, the original singer with The Impressions)

Isaac Hayes did an incredible eleven-minute version of this – described by the Youtube listeners as the perfect song to make love to.

Although you wouldn’t necessarily want to make sexy time with your special one to Elvis Costello’s version (2:21).

MICHEL POLNAREFF “La Poupee Qui Fait Non”

The first hit for French singer songwriter Michel Polnareff who recorded versions in German, Italian and Spanish – bet he regrets not recording an English language version cos I reckon that could have been huge in the USA and Britain, offering something slightly different …

The song was recorded in London so that he could use the best session musicians around, which in mid-sixties London meant Jimmy Page on guitar. John-Paul Jones also plays bass on this which means it could well be the first instance of future members of Led Zeppelin playing on the same record.

Michel Polnareff has completed his first album in sixteen years which will be released over the next few months, definitely worth a listen and if its any good you’ll doubtless hear tracks from it on the Beat City podcast (which does the same thing as Retro Beat ’66, only for the music of 2016)

St Etienne did a towering version of this in the nineties:

CHRIS FARLOWE “Think”

First chart placing for North Londoner Chris Farlowe on the Immediate label with “Think”, one of five Rolling Stones songs Farlowe covered – logical when you remember that Immediate was set up by the aforementioned Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham (who incidentally is well worth a follow)

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The B-side was pretty good too.

REX LAWSON “Bete Boire”

Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson was one of the best-known highlife musicians in Nigeria during the sixties.

This track comes from a session recorded in late 1965.

This recording session was held one afternoon in August of 1965 in a Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation studio in Lagos, and if you listen carefully you can hear cars honking on the streets outside.

Listening to this all these years on, you can’t help but marvel at how good Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson and the Majors sound loose, limber and focused, paying great attention to ensemble dynamics, tight horn choruses and flowing solos.

This is another track from the same session, “Osaba Koro”

“Osaba Koro” by Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson

THEM “I Can Only Give You Everything”

Them in full-on garage mode with I Can Only Give You Everything

This is Them in full-on Animals mode with “Call My Name” from the same album

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Queen Bitch – Beat City Bowie Special – Sleeve Notes
21
Jan

“The worst trick God can play is to make you an artist, but a mediocre one”

– David Bowie

I’ve always loved that quote from Bowie.

Medicority, however, is not something he would have ever had first-hand knowledge of, though, as I hope the tracks in demonstrate.

Bear in mind that we have not even begun to scratch the surface of the man’s body of work here.

David Bowie “Queen Bitch” (from the album “Hunky Dory”)

Bowie’s tribute to Lou Reed / Velvet Underground pastiche from the “Hunky Dory” album.

A year later Bowie and Mick Ronson produced Reeds ‘s “Transformer” album.

After Reed’s first solo album after leaving the Velvet Underground had tanked, despite featuring Bowie-collaborator Rick Wakeman of prog band Yes among the backing musicians, he turned to his new friend Bowie and Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson to co-produce and perform on his second LP. Ronno’s influence is all over the album – it was he who provided the now-famous arrangements for Walk On The Wild Side and Perfect Day. Note the trademark Ronson guitar riffage on “Satellite Of Love”, as well as some excellent Bowie backing vocals.

David Bowie “Born In A UFO” (from the EP “The Next Day Extra”)

Six months after David Bowie, suddenly and without warning, released “The Next Day” on the world, we were treated to that horror of horrors, the “Deluxe Edition” version of the album – never let it be said that Bowie was slow to pick up the prevailing winds, whether in music or in business.

However, in these days of digital purchases, fans had the option of just downloading the new tracks – and this one in particular is a little gem, a lot less tentative than the original “The Next Day” album, you get the idea that this was Bowie and producer Tony Visconti having a bit of a laugh.

“Born In a UFO” is a parody / homage to Bruce Springsteen – apart from the obvious Born In The USA echoes in the title, the verse sounds more than a bit like “Its Hard To Be A Saint In The City” (a song Bowie covered earlier in his career)

There’s a great Youtube clip going round of Bruce Springsteen saying nice things about Bowie and playing “Rebel Rebel” in Pittsburgh on the first date of his massive 2016 world tour, check the sleeve notes at tonythegigguy.com for the link and others.

David Bowie “Up The Hill Backwards” (from the album “Scary Monsters And Super Creeps”)

The “Scary Monsters” album almost comes across as Bowie drawing a line under his seventies albums by recreating / pastiching them all. “Up The Hill Backwards”, sonologically speaking, seems to mix a bit of Berlin-era guitar with “Station To Station”. “Fashion” sounds like its on “Young Americans”, the title track goes all “Diamond Dogs” on us and the “Ashes To Ashes” single is a dead giveaway as the lyrics reveal it to be a sequel to “Space Oddity” ten years on.

The famous “Ashes To Ashes” video is at the heart of the best of all the wonderful, touching stories I’ve read and heard since Bowie’s passing. This is courtesy of Michael Dignum – thank you so much, sir, this is just loverly.

“One part of my job is to keep the talent close while we make small changes to lighting and camera positions. While shooting the video for David Bowie’s Miracle goodnight we had a change that was gonna take 10-15 mins to complete. I decided to strike up a conversation to kill the time. Let face i was talking to my childhood hero. I asked Mr Bowie what was the biggest moment in his career. His reply was EPIC. and It went like this

Bowie…. Well let me tell you about it. I had quit the attitude as a young pop star, its easy to get caught up in the hype. It changes you. So i was on the set of the music video Ashes to ashes, do you know the one.”

Me………Yes i do. (thinking boy if only he knew)

Bowie… So we’re on the beach shooting this scene with a giant bulldozer. The camera was on a very long lens. (Camera is along way away, but the artist fills the frame) In this video i’m dressed from head to toe in a clown suit. Why not.I hear playback and the music starts. So off I go, I start singing and walking, but as soon as I do this old geezer with an old dog walk right between me and the camera.

Me………Laugh (seeing this video in my head and what that must have been like on the set)

Bowie….Well knowing this is gonna take a while I walked past the old guy and sat next to camera in my full costume waiting for him to pass. As he is walking by camera the director said, excuse me Mr do you know who this is? The old guy looks at me from bottom to top and looks back to the director and said….

Old Man……. Of course i do!!!! its some cunt in a clown suit

Bowie………. That was a huge moment for me, It put me back in my place and made me realize, yes i’m just a cunt in a clown suit. I think about that old guy all the time”

This was just one of the Stories Mr Bowie shared with me that day. I was so happy that my childhood Hero Stayed my hero as an adult.
RIP Mr Bowie..”

Now, try and watch this video without thinking “cunt in a clown suit” And smile.

David Bowie “Little Wonder” (from the album “Earthling”)

Opinions differ as to whether Bowie, taking on and shedding new personae at a whim, frequently changing musical styles, was a true innovator or simply a chameleon.

I’d lean towards a bit of both myself, while noting that his innovation generally came in partnership with carefully-selected others (Ronson, Eno, Fripp, Lulu) and also that when he jumped on a trend, it was usually one that was just around the corner, and always one that would last and not seem old-fashioned.

In 1997 Bowie was not seen as particularly relevant to anything at all. British music was firmly in he grip of Britpop, which while fun was hardly groundbeaking. The other major musical strand of the late 90s came from black music – jungle and trip-hop, which are the two genres that most inform the “Earthling” album.

“I guess …I can’t sell youth. ‘Cause I’m not a youth. So I’m selling whatever it is I am as a persona, which tends to be this kind of ironically enthusiastic old guy who’s still into this crazed sound”

Even in this he was ahead of the times – fast forward to 2016 and there has never been a better time to be a fifty-year old music enthusiast. Bowie was a pioneer in this, as in so much else.

If “Little Wonder” is more on the junglist / Prodigy side of things, this track is pure Tricky as far as I’m concerned.

David Bowie “Fascination” (from the album “Young Americans”)

“Fascination” is a reworking of a song called Funky Music Is A Part Of Me written by then-unknown Luther Vandross, given a new lyric by Bowie.

I’m not keen on the commonly-used term “plastic soul” for this part of Bowie’s career, even if the man himself did use it. It seems almost an apology for moulding soul into a Bowie-ised version of soul.

That said, its probably no coincidence that the most soulful song on the “Young Americans” album was originally written by Luther Vandross
(nitpickers note – yes, Luther’s version wasn’t released until 1976 but it was written well before then)

David Bowie “Yassassin” (from the album “Lodger”)

As far as I know, this is Bowie’s only attempt at reggae ever committed to record. Drummer Dennis Davis had a hard time learning the beat, since American musicians back then were generally unfamiliar with reggae – the music has never really gone mainstream in the USA. Going the other way, of course, American records brought back to Jamaica by migrant workers in the late fifties and early sixties certainly had a huge influence on reggae sound system culture.

And this song is about migrant workers, as it happens, written in Germany, inspired by the Turkish migrant workers Bowie encountered in the Neukolln district of Berlin.

Arcade Fire “Reflektor” (from the album “Reflektor”)

In 2013, shortly after “The Next Day” album had come out, Arcade Fire were recording what would become the title track of their magnum opus “Reflektor”.

According to the band’s multi-intrumentalist Richard Reed Parry:

“Bowie basically just came by the studio in New York while we were mixing, just to have a listen to the stuff we were doing. He offered to lend us his services because he really liked the song. In fact, he basically threatened us – he was like, ‘If you don’t hurry up and mix this song, I might just steal it from you!’ So we thought, well why don’t we go one better, why don’t you sing on our version? Thankfully he obliged, and we were really happy about that”

“Reflektor” has a Bowie-esque feel which seems to go well beyond the mere presence of the man himself singing backing vocals.

This wasn’t Arcade Fire’s first Bowie collaboration – that came in 2005 with this “Fashion Rocks” show in New York which saw them join forces on a selection of songs including AF’s “Wake Up” and Bowie’s “Five Years”.

David Bowie “It Ain’t Easy” (from the album “The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars”)

… and from the album that starts off with “Five Years”, this is an oddity. A throwback to his folkie years, it sounds out of place on “Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”.
“It Ain’t Easy” was written by American songwriter Ron Davies – and not, as many people think, Ray Davies of the Kinks. By the time Bowie got round to cutting his version of the song, it had already been covered by Three Dog Night and Long John Baldry.

Franz Ferdinand with Girls Aloud “Sound And Vision”

Franz Ferdinand with their take on Bowie’s 1977 smash hit single “Sound And Vision” featuring Girls Aloud From an intriguing, sometimes annoying and occasionally brilliant album put out by BBC Radio One in 2007 to commemorate 40 years of the station by commissioning 40 of the top stars of the day to cover various songs from the lifetime of the station.

Kylie Minogue’s excellent cover of Roxy Music’s “Love Is The Drug” was another highlight – produced by Calvin Harris, its pretty much the perfect cover version, retaining the feel of the original while adding to it, and crucially NOT changing the words from “I say go, she say yes” to “I say go, he say yes”.

Props to all concerned. Definitely going to feature this on Beat City’s tribute to Bryan Ferry in 2028.

David Bowie “Alabama Song” (Brecht/Weill cover)

In 1978 Bowie was considering an offer to star in a revival of Bertolt Brecht’s “Threepeny Opera”. This did not come to fruition although one legacy was that he decided to play Brecht’s “Alabama Song” live.

It can be seen as both a celebration and a self-criticism of Bowie’s recent Berlin-based output.

The song was (and is) best-known to rock fans from the cover by The Doors.

In the Doors’ cover, Morrison had put a soulful rasp into the verses, making them flow better into the choruses. Bowie instead is inspired by Lotte Lenya’s version (below), singing the verses flatly while smoking a cigarette, then suddenly, dramatically falling into the chorus, swooning and closing his eyes.

Pleased with how “Alabama Song” was working in his live sets, Bowie brought his touring band into Tony Visconti’s Good Earth studio in London, the day after the final Earl’s Court show, to cut a version of “Alabama Song” as a prospective single.

Bowie shelved “Alabama Song” until early 1980, when he finally issued it as a single.

I heard it first – as I did so many other songs – on the John Peel show. The old curmudgeon was unimpressed.

“I know we should all be grateful for David Bowie and all that, but he kicks that one well into the stands in my estimation”.

Great though my respect for Peel is (and at the time he was basically God to me), I remember that being the first time I thought “hang on, he’s got that wrong”.

David Bowie “Baal’s Hymn” (from the “Baal” EP of songs from the 1982 BBC TC production) (Brecht/Weill cover)

In 1981 Bowie took the lead role in the BBC TV BBC TV version of the Bertold Brecht play “Baal”.
He also sang the five songs Brecht wrote (with Kurt Weill) for the play.

Click here to see the full 90 minute production.

It’s well worth a look – check here although its been unavailable officially for years

David Bowie “I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft” (from the album “Heathen”)

Older Bowie fans who remember how jaw-dropping his records and indeed his every move was throughout the seventies tend to judge his post-“Scary Monsters” (or post-“Let’s Dance” if you’re feeling generous) output harshly but Tin Machine aside, it contains a couple of great albums – 1997’s “Earthling” being one and 2002’s “Heathen” being if anything even better.

This song is a cover of a 1968 song by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. You can listen to it here but it isn’t to everyone’s taste, shall we say.

Bowie “We Are The Dead” (from the album “Diamond Dogs”)

David Bowie’s music has been there at the back of my head since I was about nine years old, in 1971. There have been some spectacular misheard lyrics along the way, of which the best example comes in this song – no he isn’t singing “I love you in your funky bumps” although twelve-year-old me decided that actually made perfect sense. He actually sings “I love you in your “fuck-me” pumps” which doesn’t really add up if you don’t know that “pumps” are a kind of shoes.

Now the album Diamond Dogs features a fantastic comic-book style illustration of Bowie on the cover as what can only be described as a sexy dog – and incidentally, definitely NOT a sexy bitch if you look closely. And we all did, believe me.

David Bowie “Boys Keep Swinging” (from the album “Lodger”)

This song is, to me, the quintessential Bowie song – not my favourite Bowie song (see a future blog post for that) but it just brings together a number of the things that made him such an icon in the seventies – the sassy delivery, the screeching guitar, the weird lyrics that hinted at other, more exciting worlds, and most of all, the dressing up as a woman in the video.
On a slightly dodgy television and without the benefit of video playback, my sisters and me couldn’t agree on whether all the backing singers were, in fact, Bowie. The third one to appear solo at the end of the video caused the most discussion, but its definitely him.

… I think …

Bowie-related links

There have been some excellent shows and pieces over the past couple of weeks. Here’s a few of the ones I’ve enjoyed most:

James Ward’s blog is really two in one – a takedown of the haters followed by a heartfelt and moving tribute to the man.

Takedown of the haters and a heartfelt tribute to the man

Marc Riley’s BBC 6 music show the day we all heard the news is something to be treasure (as is the whole of the station’s output for Monday 11th January, have a listen before the first week in February when it’ll disappear as far as I know) WARNING – he does play The Legendary Stardust Cowboy.

Terrific tribute from Frankie Boyle obviously not overwrittenor overprepared and all the better for it.

Alex Petridis’ measured and comprehensive Guardian lead article however, is hard to beat.

Let me know if you’ve got any more links I may have missed, or any blogs of your own or podcasts.

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Hope you’ve enjoyed this show.

The next regular Beat City show will be available to download from Sunday.

Thank you. Come again.