THIS BLOG IS ABOUT 7" RECORDS ONLY. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY. EVERY SONG IS CONVERTED TO MP3 FROM MY PERSONAL 45 COLLECTION, AND THERE'S NOT ONE THAT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND YOU SEEKING OUT. ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WHO DON'T WANT THEIR MUSIC HEARD HERE JUST LET ME KNOW, AND DOWN IT WILL COME. CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Apparently, The Marmalade’s ‘I See The Rain’ was one of Jimi Hendrix’s favorite records. Their most collectable release, considered a psych classic, on and on.
All good, a deserved single. Having released a few musically revered but consumer ignored 7′s, UK CBS decided they’d had enough. Onto their pop assembly line The Marmalade went.
Perfect. The more manufactured or schlock, as one friend arrogantly puts it, the singles became, the more I liked them. Indeed, pop/schlock 60′s and 70′s UK singles in general – especially non-hits by nobodies get me excited every time.
‘Baby Make It Soon’ was probably a song the band hated and most likely didn’t even play on. Who cares….it’s a period classic, and many a person’s guilty pleasure. That, I would bet my life on.
Listen: Ja Funmi (Remix) / King Sunny Ade & His African Beats KingSunnyJaFunmi.mp3
Chris Blackwell was always a believer that the world would be, or eventually be, open minded and enjoy a wider musical palate. Logically, in the early 80′s he started releasing African artists to the pop consumer. Everyone enjoys a bit of world music in their life, right?
Unfortunately, not as many as would have – had they heard it.
When I joined Island, it was like an oasis, being a part of the music business, yet at the same time comfortably away from the mainstream. An A&R person’s dream come true. You could take a flight to Paris for a Ray Lema or Ali Farke Toure show – and have Chris excitedly anticipate your opinion.
But even before Island, I was bitten by the King Sunny Ade & His African Beats bug. Roger McCall and I would play his stuff seamlessly amongst all the punk, reggae and new wave on our weekly ‘specialty show’.
We particularly loved ‘Ja Funmi’ – I wonder, did anyone else?
Listen: Ase / King Sunny Ade & His African Beats KingSunnyAse.mp3
There’s a great 12″ extended dance mix of ‘Ase’ that Island US promo’d, but an edited 7″ – now that’s a treat. Found this one lying around Island’s London St. Peter’s Square radio department – seems the promo folks were only too happy that I carted off a whole 25 count boxlot with me.
Listen: Night Of The Long Grass / The Troggs TroggsNight.mp3
Pawing through my Troggs 7″ collection, jonesing to hear ‘Night Of The Long Grass’, I realized what we all know, this band made a lot of great singles, for ages. I’m not sure why they didn’t have the occasional chart hit as the years progressed. They always toured, and were really good as well.
“Night Of The Long Grass’ was criticized for being bit unsettling musically. Well not by me, but most who heard it. Had a bit of a ‘From The Underworld’ creepiness, a bigger compliment is hard to get by the way. It’s without a doubt the most obscure of their US Fontana releases, especially a stock pressing, which took me years to find. Never seen one since.
Speaking of summer, what better time to talk about the most clever seasonal lyric, maybe ever. With more songs than anyone I can count encompassing schoolboy sexual eye winks, ‘Summertime’ is their true juvenile masterpiece. How this didn’t blow up, given they reunited with producer Larry Page from their Fontana/Page One hit making days, has to be down to one, and only one reason. No airplay.
I hated his hit ‘Sunny’ when it was current in ’66. Absolutely loathed that sucker. Got rammed down everyone’s throat, plus being so safe and mellow it managed to cross all the formats – you literally couldn’t get away from it. Logically it peaked at #2 during it’s healthy fifteen week US chart run.
Yet ‘Sunny’ was so strong that everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and The Electric Flag to Georgie Fame and Les Mc Cann were covering it too. Now I wish I’d had better taste at the time. Not only has it become a favorite through the years (I’ve collected over 30 covers on 7″) but I’m hooked on his voice as well. Like Jon Lucien years later, and probably Mel Torme prior, he has this calming tone that appeals to my valium side. His follow ups were pretty great too. I think he should’ve been around a lot longer.
The followup single, released just after ‘Sunny’, was a great double sider. ‘A Satisfied Mind’, despite possibly being a bit ‘Sunny’ sounding, has held up – I know cause it’s on my jukebox and plays a lot. I never tire of it. Not so with the public, peaking at #39, and lasting only six weeks total on the Billboard Top 100.
The B side, ‘Love Love Love’, is now considered to be his ‘other’ hit – having gained UK Northern Soul success in ’72. When re-released there due to demand, it sold well and charted at #32. Most tracks on his one and only Philips LP, SUNNY BY BOBBY HEBB are worth many listens too. Get it if you can.
I remember when The Shangri-Las did a record hop at the Oneida Town Armory. I wasn’t old enough to get in. I’m still steaming. Not about the age thing, but that I allowed that to stop me. Dumb.
The lower their singles reached on the US charts, the more I liked them. I’m happy to say public taste for records in the US charts vs. Kevin’s taste are inversely proportionate.
‘He Cried’ peaked at #65, but to be fair, was a pretty big hit around the Northeast where I grew up.
In ’67, when their original label Red Bird folded, the girls stuck with producer Shadow Morton (what a name, has there ever been a better one?) and moved to Mercury, and their back catalog, as with Shadow, went along. Mercury issued a GOLDEN HITS album including most, but not all the singles (an annoying and prevalent habit of the majors back then).
‘The Sweet Sounds Of Summer’, illogically released in November of ’66, oddly predated psychedelia by a good six months despite indeed capturing very much that sound. It wilted at a pathetic #123 in January of ’67 – again not an opportune time for a top-down-with-bad-girl Shangri-la in-back-seat single and hence not a surprise. But do check it out. Dark and eerie as usual, there were some great production and arrangement ideas lurking – way ahead of their time.
The Shangri-Las may have stuck with Shadow Morton, but his loyalty was not returned. Moving onto The Vanilla Fudge and The New York Dolls, seems the sound of ‘today’ beat out those hoodlum biker girls in the marketing department I’m guessing.
THE ESSENTIAL NORTHERN SOUL PRICE GUIDE describes this one as ‘Pop Northern Soul’, proceeding to, well, split hairs, describing it and them as “pop records by pop artists (usually white) that have the necessary beat and are recognisable as being non-soul singers”. Huh?
One of the things I loved about this single was Gary Pickford-Hopkins’ soulful voice, sounding not unlike Darrell Banks to me. But no worries, I live by that price guide and I recommend it highly. It’s the good book you curl up with in front of the fireplace during a blizzard, but then that’s just me.
I got ‘Heart Trouble’ upon release, specifically because it was on Deram. Predictably, the record was very English, due in part to the backup vocals and was produced by Deram in house guy, Noel Walker. He had a sound that I liked a lot.
In ’72 I got to meet Gary Pickford-Hopkins and talk with him about The Eyes Of Blue. By then he was the vocalist for Wild Turkey, Glenn Cornick’s band after leaving Jethro Tull. Regrettably named, they were good live and I loved their first album, BATTLE HYMN. I think I may have been the only person on earth who did, or at least admitted it. That night Wild Turkey were supporting Black Sabbath and not unusually, I was more into the obscure opening UK band than the headliner.
Nowadays, both Eyes Of Blue Deram singles are Northern Soul collectables, listing for $40-60 each. I bought many copies back in the 70′s, all for less than a dollar. In fact one for a mere penny off of Tom Kohn’s Bop Shop. He gave me change for my nickel.
I just couldn’t pass them up though. The lesson here is, you can never have enough spares, plus one day…they may be worth something.
Tell you what – I have never missed any of Joan Armatrading’s New York shows – ever. Last week was no exception. In a blink, she’s been writing, recording and touring now for 40 years…..40 years!
That’s a lot.
And the new single ‘This Charming Life’ self-celebrates her luck, whereby she can earn a solid living playing music to fans around the world. She appreciates it and has peace with her career. Her words, not mine.
Often coined as difficult, I say she has every right to be, if in fact that’s true. One single after the other, over four decades, not getting a fair shake at radio or mainstream exposure because of her inability to fit in, more like not being afraid to be herself. I’d be difficult too.
I stood in line to get my jukebox tab signed, happy to be a fan. It was truly fun.
When it was my turn to go to the alter, Joan barely looked up as I explained my request. “I only sign my name” was her cold response. Even better. Chose for yourself how you want to be remembered.
Her quick signature was suddenly accompanied by a smile and then, “I know you”. She remembered me! I was a kid again.
The conversation proceeded, and we had a most rewarding exchange. My feet didn’t touch the ground for hours, so enthralled, I forgot to ask her to please fill in the rest of the jukebox tab. Never mind. I’m content.
Joan Armatrading is a higher form of life. We are all lucky that she walks on the face of this earth. Believe it.
Even in the 70′s, nobody wanted 7″ singles. Not the employees at Discount Records on the Syracuse University campus, where I worked that is. It was all about albums.
Excellent. That meant when the salesmen from the various labels made their weekly rounds, I had zero competition rifling through their trunks for the latest releases.
I had seen this one enter the UK charts, and a week or so later, landed a copy from the local Capital rep. My eyes bulged later that night after the first spin. This was flawless. I moaned for months about it’s lack of US airplay, when slowly but surely, ‘Magic’ actually gained ground, eventually charting, then peaking at #5 on Billboard’s Top 100, even higher than it’s UK #11. Now that’s a first.
Having begun as former Bay City Rollers, most of Pilot ended up joining The Alan Parsons Project – not surprising given he himself produced all their recordings. A later single, their last UK chart entry, should have made it higher than #31.
Something about Pilot’s sound and songwriting that pointed towards The Buggles in a big way. Anyone else notice that?
According to DS, lifting the infamously recycled rhythm riff from Toots & The Maytals ’54-46 (That’s My Number), and the toast from Scotty’s ‘Skank In Bed’, resulted in yet another pop hit. This one still gets played here in my house, usually on repeat all these years later. I don’t care who turns their nose up – I mean, really, as if anyone in England can seriously criticize this one.
Let’s face it, UK rap is 100% hysterical. Have you heard The Streets or Dizzee Rascal? Funnier still because they’re meant to be taken seriously. I love it. “Feel the beat, beneath your feet” Is this for real?
Not sure if Rebel MC faded into Betty Boo land or is now credible, but ‘Street Tuff’ is one hell of a teen pop anthem either way. The UK Kris Kross….fine.
Listen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love / Queen QueenCrazy.mp3
After their first few singles, and by ’76, Queen officially resided in the ‘not friendly to punk rock’ space. Their music and image fitted totally with the helium sound and mustached look of US AOR radio – so not only did my attention wander, but in fact they were now considered the enemy.
Well I was wrong and my defiance softened. To be fair, they admittedly had singles all along that were secret pleasures. The video for ‘I Want To Break Free’ was a riot and a lot of our crowd realized, these guys are actually okay. Plus who is anyone, least of all me, to deny ‘Under Pressure’ or ‘Radio Ga Ga’?
Vividly remember that moment I sat up and really took notice. It was on an uneventful Saturday evening, watching SNL, as Queen literally unleashed one of TV’s best ever live music performances. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, with the added keyboardist (anyone know who that is?) decimated any previous prejudice. A mad dash to the wall shelf followed, checking the Queen 7″ collection – and the filling-in process began the very next morning, bright and early, when I hit the garage sales then moving on to The Record Archive’s backroom.
I turned to Corinne, jaw dropped, spurting out some exclamation. She was nonplussed by Queen during those days, exactly like the rest of us, but in her typical smooth one-up way simply said, and this is an exact quote: “I always loved Queen”. Right.
Last night’s season premier of MAD MEN ended with The Nashville Teens’ ‘Tobacco Road’, their one decent sized US hit. It reminded me I should share this story.
Back in the late 80′s when I worked A&R for Elektra, a guy came to play me his demo. Nice kid, worked at Colony Records a few blocks away on Broadway. In the 60′s, it was a haven for every release available, and the whole back wall was a 45 only counter manned by several employees – and open until 2AM. Always a hubbub of activity, the clerks were constantly juggling customers and going into the back, searching for whatever single you desired, and usually returning with it in hand.
Problem was they sold everything at list price – then 99ยข. Seemed a fortune at the time, so you had to have unsuccessfully scoured all other shops before taking that plunge. I used to coax my Aunt Carm into the shop every summer when she’d take me on my yearly pilgrimage to the city.
Anyways this fellow and I get to talking, and I ask if they still have all those 7′ singles in the back sorted by label (which is how they did in the 60′s – you needed to know which label and preferably it’s catalog # as well). “Yes, they’re still set up that way”. So I tell him some of my favorite ones: Deram, London, Sue, Fontana.
A few days later, he comes back to Elektra. I get a call from the front desk informing me he’s upfront. What the fuck does he want – the demo wasn’t great and I told him so already. Turns out he thought I was a nice guy, and wanted to encourage me to let him return with new songs – so he just grabbed all the old stock on those labels and brought them over as a present. A heart stopper of a moment.
‘Find My Way Back Home’ (on the short lived blue swirl label with the WHITE instead of BLACK London logo) was one of many, many jems.
Listen: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? / The Rolling StonesStonesMotherShadow.mp3
Today is Mick Jagger’s birthday, and still very much in top form.
The 1966 Rolling Stones were in top form too, dropping double A sided singles every few months, looking better seemingly by the day in paisleys, polka dots, pastel trousers, flowered jackets – you name it. Their summer US tour to promote AFTERMATH, by far one of their greatest (and thee greatest) albums, caused riots everywhere, including my hometown of Syracuse on 7/6/66, where Brian Jones was arrested post show for allegedly dragging a US flag along the ground.
Having made my way backstage, full colour program in hand to be autographed, I’ll testify that I saw no such behavior. The guys talked to me at length having remembered our first meeting that previous fall and all the blues records we enthused over. As they rounded up their bags to get into the awaiting station wagon, I left. Whatever supposedly happened must have occured within the next few minutes. But considering their exit would have been down the same flagless stairway and through the same flagless door I traveled, it’s quite hard to believe. As I exited, I saw their said awaiting car. I did, however, also witness a bunch of pudgy, balding, aggressively intimidating policemen who had earlier been jealously eyeing the flawless visual perfection of Brian Jones and his band upstairs. One of many crooked law enforcement setups that were coincidentally about to plague The Rolling Stones? Quite possibly.
That night’s show opened with ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ (as it had on their previous visit October 30, 1965) before launching into a merciless onslaught of masterpieces: ‘Mother’s Little Helper’, ‘Paint It, Black’, ‘Lady Jane’, ‘Under My Thumb’, ‘Cry To Me’, ‘Heart Of Stone’, ‘The Last Time’, ’19th Nervous Breakdown’, ‘Get Off Of My Cloud’, ‘Not Fade Away’….I’m still not fully recovered.
By September of ’66, it was as if AFTERMATH was old hat, and the seminal songs kept coming. This time in the form of a loud, chaotic soundclash of fuzz, brass, piano and tom toms: ‘Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?’. Even the title broke all the rules. It took years for many to realize the superior genius of the track. I spun it dj-ing a month or so back and the freaking place blew up.
A few years ago, I asked Tony King if he knew where the infamous drag shot of the band was taken, having tortured myself for years trying to work out the spot. I could tell from the street and buildings it was clearly NYC. That picture, and a shot of the group in the same location wearing identical outfits as on the Ed Sullivan Show (9/11/66) – most likely shot the same day, made up the front and back sleeve of the US single (compare clip to sleeve):
After a few days, Tony emailed me, having heard back from the original photographer with the location. I hurried over to said spot – lo and behold – there it was. I milled about for some time. It was early evening, quite cold, and either the brisk air or other worldly energy, or both, had me shivering ever so slightly. A true high that I will never forget.
Their very first single was released as far back as ’68, but not until they were taken on by the songwriting/production team of Chapman/Chinn in the early 70′s, did they succeed. Their infamous Glam rock hit streak began in ’71 and lasted thru ’75. At that point, they sadly curbed the stacked heels and glitter outfits to become a straight ahead AOR rock band.
Somewhere in there, ’73 actually, The Sweet released ‘Blockbuster’. This was at the height of Glam in the UK. Along with Slade, Wizzard, Sparks, T. Rex and David Bowie, they basically slipped into and out of the top chart slots regularly.
I lived in London at the time, and must have played ‘Blockbuster’ a thousand times on my suitcase record player, yet never ever did I tire of it. The single got new life in the 90′s, when the video series GLAM ROCK was released. One of their many Top Of The Pops performances was included. I watched it over and over and over and over and over again.
Last night, I was awoken by a pretty fierce thunderstorm. I was weired out, but got up, got dressed and went out to watch. Having visited Collinwood, Maine earlier in the day, specifically to check out the town where the DARK SHADOWS TV series was based in. Some say vampire Barnabas Collins really existed and I, like many, was addicted to the program in a serious way and so it truly felt the spirits were messing with me. Being alone in our house, other than Corinne out dead cold, I was very creeped out. Truly scared to be honest. Never saw lightning hit the ocean like that in my life. I felt like the DARK SHADOWS spirits were warning me to stay put in my own pathetic world, and not to mess with them.
Dear spirits. I will behave and never return.
Once the storm and the ocean calmed, I was back to normal. Went to YouTube and before long, I was in a Glam rock loop I couldn’t shake until about 5:30 am. I found a TOTP Sweet clip, obviously from a different broadcast than the aforementioned one used for the comp. It’s even better:
Somehow, thank you God, The Sweet visited upsate New York, opening for, I think Eric Carmen. Some hairdo there Eric, a frosted bouffant, or hair don’t in hindsight.
Typically when any of the coined Glam bands (Sparks, Wizzard, Slade) braved their music and outfits into the smaller towns of the US, there were few, if any, comforting ports in the anti-androgyny storm as far as people went. So when a bunch of us showed up early, it was well easy to befriend the band, thereby ultimately being invited to share in the after show mayhem bigtime. Not that surprising….we had the party favors.
But we did genuinely love The Sweet. Everyone in the band were super warm. Great guys.
Many years later, I picked up the soundtrack to DAZED AND CONFUSED for my label, only because The Sweet (‘Fox On The Run’) were included. I wasn’t particularly fond of the other songs, in fact, I’ve never listened to the cd ever. On a whim, I figured it would be kind of great having The Sweet in the catalog, thereby negotiating a criminally low advance in my favor, given the film company’s planned and verbally agreed original soundtrack release partner, MCA, had bailed. Hence the desperate film division took the offer. The soundtrack has now sold 2 million copies to date and it’s all basically due to my loyalty toward The Sweet.
Listen: The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game / The Marvelletes MarvelettesHunter.mp3
I loved The Supremes, who didn’t? But there’s something about the underdogs that make them even more appealing to me. Happens every time.
I guess The Rolling Stones (who I always preferred) were considered second to The Beatles for a while there; and then The Pretty Things to The Stones. Or as I mentioned in an earlier post, Inez & Charlie Foxx to Ike & Tina Turner.
Like Martha & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes were certainly playing second fiddle, at best, to The Supremes over at Motown. There’s a terrific book CALLING OUT AROUND THE WORLD / A MOTOWN READER by Kingsley Abbott, detailing (and I mean detailing) those heydays of Motown. It describes the songwriting rivalries, struggles for priorities, everything. It’s a fascinating read. According to Kingsley, William Robinson, or Smokey as we know him, was always under appreciated by Berry Gordy. Even when coming off of a hit, Smokey’d be starting over. Marvin Gaye too. The girl groups were in a constant struggle to get first dibs on the strongest new songs. It’s why Mary Wells left the fold – well at least according to this book.
In the case of The Marvelettes, there were few occasions when they got those gems. Like ‘The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game’ (another Smokey composition), many of The Marvelettes releases had a slight darkness to them – not quite as glistening with all the pop flash that those Supremes singles packed, hence their cult appeal? Probably.
Listen: You Upset The Grace Of Living When You Lie / Tim Hardin TimHardinGrace.mp3
There was once a great revolution in US radio programming, when all the underground music in the 60′s – like album tracks and singles by album type artists – started getting aired on FM stations.
Top 40 back then was a life saver compared to now, but was pretty quick to avoid anything considered too colorful or probably drug related. So off the Top 40 airwaves stayed Traffic, The Move, The Nice, early Jimi Hendrix Experience, early Cream, definitely early Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company, etc. Still many of the major market Top 40s (I got WBZ/Boston clear as a bell) would open up in the evening and definitely after midnight. And to be fair, some acts got converted to regular play.
But it’s those late night listening memories I’m touching on here. Like Joey sang in ‘Do You Remember Rock n Roll Radio’: “Do you remember lying in bed / With the covers pulled up over your head / Radio playing so no one can see”. All of us that were addicted did this nightly – especially in the summer when you could sleep in the next day. This is how I discovered The Seeds (‘Mr Farmer’ and ‘Pushin Too Hard’ are still night time records for me), Jefferson Airplane (‘My Best Friend’ is a big favorite), Blue Cheer, Tim Rose (his version of ‘Hey Joe’ was the first I heard and clearly the template for the Jimi Hendrix version) and especially Tim Hardin. Yeah, I was bitten by this haunting single ‘You Upset The Grace Of Living When You Lie’. I even liked that the title was too long and the untimely fade out.
Folk was hip, I always wanted a smattering beyond Bob Dylan and I guess others did too. Did anyone really dislike Joan Baez, Richie Havens or Buffy St. Marie like they pretended? Probably not. But Tim Hardin hasn’t gotten his deserved props either. Listening with one ear attached to my transitor and the other hearing the ambience of late night, small town, upstate NY: crickets, the New York Central freight trains way off in the distance, the occasional drifting of the cars on Thruway also out there. The whole thing still comes right back to me every time, and I mean every time, I play this.
There’s nothing like an original pressing and company sleeve when it sounds like this. There are probably a heap of accurate adjectives that apply here, like juke joint, chitlin circuit or barrelhouse RnR. I hope so, cause that’s how I hear it.
This being Shirley & Lee’s biggest hit (#1 RnB / #20 Pop: 1956), it was a drastic change from their earlier sweetheart, call and response sound and releases. Indeed, they were for a while coined as ‘Sweethearts Of The Blues’.
Years later, Sylvia Robinson, who went on to start Sugarhill Records, signed Shirley Mae Goodman and together they had a massive hit with ‘Shame Shame Shame’ as Shirley & Company on her All Platinum imprint.
Covered by many: The Righteous Brothers, Barbra Streisand, The Searchers, Joe Strummer, Harry Nilsson, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Freddy Fender, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Animals, Fishbone and George Clinton, my favorite version clocks in via a working class glam rendition by the almighty Slade.
I sure hope Shirley Mae Goodman and Leonard Lee, who also wrote their biggest hit, got the publishing.
According to Wikipedia, Neil Diamond’s first single for Bang was released May 21, 1966. If so, then I love WOLF even that much more – they tipped it as Hit Bound on May 7 (see below). No joke, this was one hell of a radio station. I know several mid sized cities had them – the ‘other’ Top 40 that played many of the non hit RnB, British Beat and Garage records. Not only a God send, but I have a feeling, these were the stations that created the crazies like myself.
‘Solitary Man’ was a bit dark, or sad – something I still can’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t his last to have that quality. ‘Shilo’ had it, ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ did too. I hadn’t realized it fizzled out at #55 in Billboard that year, maybe because in ’70, when re-released by Bang after he’d left the label for a, by then, very successful run on UNI, ‘Solitary Man’ re-charted and peaked at #21. Bizarre, all those radio programmers that wouldn’t touch it originally now proving their stupidity by playing it a few years later. Justice.
Formula early 70′s blues rock…maybe. The vocal was uncannily close to Steve Marriott, circa Humble Pie – not a bad thing. In fact, there may be a few Jackie Lomax vocal moments in there as well – how rad is that? And the song itself, Free at their best.
At least one member of Trapeze went on to greater fame in, I think, Deep Purple or quite possibly an even more questionable AOR band. I didn’t bother to Wikipedia it all because who cares. In fact, given my disdain for such things, I prefer not to know.
Their second album, MEDUSA, was their pinnacle, at least in my little, little, little corner of the world. I honestly did like it plus no harm done by being on a London distributed label (Threshold). Nice gatefold sleeve, The Moody Blues still respectable. All good.
Tis the season to be…..playing songs about cold weather. ‘It’s Cold Outside’ peaked at #68 in Billboard in early June ’67 and proves all this nonsense about lyrics fitting the season is hollow. Actually, I recall the record picking up airplay ever so slowly when initailly released in December ’66, so I guess the intention was a wintertime hit.
Despite it’s revered spot in garage rock history, it’s more a sentimental memory for me. I used to light up when it came on the air that winter, as it got played quite early in the upstate New York area. The looser WOLF jumped on it straight off, and by spring/summer slow poke WNDR was on board.
Summer ’67, repeated again in ’77 and even ’87, represents many a fantastic single. It was hard to keep up with all the hits and new releases.
But you gotta love this naive, sloppy garage band performance – despite it currently residing a bit too comfortably in the power pop catagory, a genre that usually has me running in the opposite direction.
‘Cokane In My Brain’, being a summertime hit during exactly the same year and season one’s friends and one’s self dove head first into the festivities is something you never forget. Trust me. 1977 was a great one.
Talk about a badge of honor. We all touted around copies of this Dillinger track, on record, on tape. Seemed no party, club show or event was quite perfect without it, both musically and literally. Oh, to be a kid again. I wouldn’t trade the timing of my youth with any generation.
Well maybe the one just ahead of me, come to think of it. That way I could have gotten on a plane to London a few years before I actually did and seen The Move and The Action and……I better not start.
