Posting this a night earlier than usual because my bag will be holiday stuff tomorrow night... _______ 55 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Do You Love Me," The Dave Clark Five (10 weeks) "Every Little Bit Hurts," Brenda Holloway (10 weeks) "Viva Las Vegas," Elvis Presley (8 weeks total) New on the chart: "How Do You Do It," Gerry & The Pacemakers (#9 US; #1 UK in 1963) "Walk, Don't Run '64," The Ventures (#8 US) "C'mon and Swim," Bobby Freeman (#5 US) "Where Did Our Love Go," The Supremes (#1 US the weeks of Aug. 22 and 29, 1964; #1 R&B; #3 UK; #472 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) Total Beatles songs on the chart: 1 _______ Solid.
I do believe--from the statements of all involved--that if Frank Thorogood was never sent to work for Jones, that history would have played out in a very different manner. I'm not going to say that he was going to live to some ripe old age, or that the long-rumored "supergroup" idea (where Jones allegedly talked to friends Jimi Hendrix & John Lennon about forming a band, as each were either solo by that point, or on Lennon's case, he would be in a few months after this period), but Jones would have at least not become a casualty of all that was wrong in the Stones' business dealings by working with people like Tom Keylock & Thorogood. His then-girlfriend and his parents each said Jones has laid off of hard drugs to a considerable degree in the last months of his life, reduced to some prescription (I know, there's an irony there). He loved drinking (too much), but the really out of control, blacked-out, spacey drug episodes from say, 1967 into mid '68 were being put behind him. Bill Wyman seems to be the only one of his bandmates to show any positive feelings toward him, and tries to set the record straight on his place in the group's creation, ascendency, and in music history. You hear next to nothing from Watts, and as for Jagger and Richards, well, you know the rest. Eww. I've never tolerated this song. Its almost as repetitive and bad as fake "British" bands used on 1960s sitcoms like My Three Sons or The Munsters. Thankfully, their genuine classics--"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" and "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" more than made up for that.
It was the song that the Beatles could not be seen with! Which worked out for Gerry & The Pacemakers in the short term, because they beat the Fabs to having a #1 on the main British chart of the time. The long term, however, justified the Beatles' refusal to release it as a single. BTW, the "fake 'British' band" that appeared on The Munsters was American band The Standells, a year before this:
Yeah, they did not miss any opportunities with that decision. I forgot it was the Standells on The Munsters. I just remembered there was "that kind of group" on the show. Then again, it says something if what I was remembering of them was not good. Now that I look them up, on the sitcom they performed "Come On and Ringo" (Really. Ohh...my head!) and their version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand." That's embarrassing. I know that's the angle the show wanted to exploit, but if I were in the Standells' shoes, for pride's sake, I would have had their manager ask Connelly and Mosher to allow them to play something else. National TV exposure on a popular sitcom is one thing, but practically screaming "Look at us! We're doing something-something like the Beatles!" was too much.
I'll be drinking Dorchester Beer and toasting the Battle of Dorchester Heights. And here's some of Mother Nature's fireworks for the 4th. I took this about a half hour ago from the edge of a cliff at a place called Moswetuset Hummock, a possible source of the name Massachusetts, which was where the United States of America was invented. Happy Independence Day. Fun and catchy. I guess I'm in the minority again. Makes me want to sing along. Meh. Absolute classic, of course. Another classic.
_______ The Wild Wild West "The Night of the Fugitives" Originally aired November 8, 1968 Rhoda: And what if West comes back? [Jim crashes through the window next to her in a roll.] This week's story has West nabbing his prey (J.S. Johnson) early, but finding himself trapped in a town so corrupt from top to bottom that one of its deputies is Red West! And the Black Sheep preunion doesn't stop there, because the big boss behind the town, Diamond Dave Desmond, is none other than Conrad's future general, Simon Oakland! It's pretty much Jim's adventure for the first half, with Artie relegated to having Colonel Richmond around for somebody to talk to back on the train. He eventually gets in on the mission by posing as a traveling preacher, Hallelujah Harry, but after a while the real Harry shows up in Epitaph, blowing Artie's cover and tipping off Desmond and his men that Jim has been hiding in the church belfry that Artie had insisted he'd already searched. With help from an explosive distraction from Artie, Jim uses his piton pistol zipline to get out of the belfry with Plank over his shoulder. Artie finds Plank's books but the pages are blank. At first he thinks there may be an invisible ink involved, but by the coda he's learned that Plank was a memory expert who kept all the syndicate's secrets in his head. This week's bad girl is saloon keeper Rhoda (Susan Hart), who has bars that close over her room's door and window...kinky. _______ Yeah, there's nothing worse than a band shamelessly emulating the Beatles for the sake of a sitcom.... Purdy. I don't think it's all that bad for the Pacemakers...but it's a point of pride that the Beatles wouldn't do it. Even The Ventures aren't exempt from the Squiggy Rule? Yeesh! Really? I think this is a very fun song...hard to sit still to, and a timely seasonal entry. Something tells me we'll be hearing more from these gals....
More like "Night of the Deadly Chandelier." This is why studios don't like stars doing their own stunts. But I love that they used the shot in the episode and I'll bet Conrad was happy with the way it turned out. I think Neil Diamond wrote a song about him. So why are there books? As a lure for buttinski Secret Service agents? This is why people say you monkey around. Nah, it's good music. I was just being funny. Possibly hilarious. There's something off about it to me. It sounds improvised or thrown together or unfinished or something. I'll be listening....
Did I mention when I caught a Saturday episode of The Big Valley about a traveling preacher named Brother Love, which predated the song by a year or two? Even General Mo...er, Diamond Dave...thought Plank had everything on the syndicate in his books, so I assume as an insurance policy. Glad I wasn’t being too subtle....
_______ 50 Years Ago This Week In other words, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still...alive. And The Old Mixer is the size of a large mango. Wait, when was I the size of a small mango? Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "I Want to Take You Higher," Sly & The Family Stone (7 weeks) "Love (Can Make You Happy)," Mercy (13 weeks) "These Eyes," The Guess Who (14 weeks) New on the chart: "Laughing," The Guess Who (#10 US) "Lay Lady Lay," Bob Dylan (#7 US; #19 AC; #5 UK) And new on the boob tube: The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 21, episode 36, featuring Bobby Vinton, Lainie Kazan, Jackie Vernon, The Sugar Shoppe, and Gordon MacRae _______
Retro Pop Culture Bad News Dept. It's being reported that MAD magazine is no more. I don't think it's been officially confirmed by DC as yet, so hopefully somebody jumped the gun on that one. But, man, I loved MAD when I was a kid and bought up every issue and all the collections (and the early paperbacks and comic book inserts also fed my interest in retro culture). It had a huge effect on me in my formative years, which I'm sure explains a lot. Interesting. Common source or was Neil Diamond a Western fan? Nahhh.... Maybe you're twins. I've heard it takes two to mango. I love this one. I love this one more.
Happy 79th, Sir Ringo! That's Happy 29th to 50th Anniversary Ringo, and Happy 24th to 55th Anniversary Ringo! Peace and Love! That reminds me that we lost Arte Johnson a few days ago. And, I just now saw, João Gilberto. Dunno, but here's the episode. With Robert Goulet as the title character. *groan* Ha ha haha ha ha... Ha ha ha ha HA ha ha! Stay tuned for this week's regularly scheduled album spotlight!
That's just mind blowing. Peace and love. Yeah, I saw that, too. Un-be-lievable. RIP to both. They're with Gladys and the Girl From Ipanema now. Nothing there or on the Wiki page. Just a coincidence, I guess. Hee hee. Hee hee hee hee. Groovy.
Still running strong, this Canadian band did not fail to please at this point. My favorite Dylan song by far. I've always thought it was his most unique/best track, despite not having the significance (in a musical influence sense) of his earlier work. I will leave that one alone.... About MAD. In my opinion, the magazine stopped being relevant in the early 1980s, as it fell into the trap of trying to comment on life, but it appeared to be jumping on bandwagons. The natural cultural satire/commentary from its first 20 or so years was gone, much like the darker sense of humor that once defined the publication. I recall picking up an issue in the 90s and just eye-rolling at how sugary/controlled its voice had become, being more "in name only"--an empty shell than anything close to its glory days (similar to the situation with Marvel Comics of the 90s). Well, at least you can still buy the early issues, or collections.
_______ 50th Anniversary Album Spotlight Nashville Skyline Bob Dylan Released April 9, 1969 Chart debut: May 3, 1969 Chart peak: #3, May 24, 1969 This album's predecessor, John Wesley Harding, is on the Rolling Stone list (#301), but I got it last year at a point when I was still trying to catch my album purchases up with 50th anniversary business, and thus before I'd started posting album reviews. Nashville Skyline isn't on the list, but was included in my purchasing as part of an attempt to get a fuller picture of Dylan's work in the 55th and 50th anniversary periods. Note that the availability of Bob's songs on YouTube is still limited to what he's posted on his Vevo, so I don't even have linked audio clips for many of the ones discussed here. The album opens with Bob revisiting "Girl from the North Country," a song based on the traditional ballad "Scarborough Fair" that he'd previously done on his breakout 1963 album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Here we don't just get a new arrangement, but a duet with Johnny Cash! Bob and Johnny also performed this song on Cash's TV show on June 7, 1969. Next up is "Nashville Skyline Rag," a perfectly enjoyable (if you're not Squiggy) country-flavored instrumental that helps set the tone for the album, but at the same time feels like it wants to be buried a little deeper on it. Things take a more distinctly country rock direction with "To Be Alone with You": Clarification note: That's Dylan's voice at the beginning, addressing producer Bob Johnston. Then things get gentler and more introspective with the first single released from the album, "I Threw It All Away" (charted May 17, 1969; #85 US; #30 UK): Bob also performed this one for his Johnny Cash appearance (song begins about 0:55). And I read that George Harrison performed it during the Get Back / Let It Be sessions, having been treated to a private performance from Dylan months before it was recorded. "Peggy Day" is an upbeat but rather unremarkable ditty. It was also the B-side of the song that opens side two... ...which is the album's best-known track, "Lay Lady Lay" (charted July 12, 1969; #7 US; #19 AC; #5 UK): If I had to put my finger on my feelings about this number, it's that it sounds too much like Bob trying to do an "ordinary" song instead of a distinctively Dylanesque song, as he'd come to be defined by his work up to this point. An interesting historical tidbit related to upcoming Cinematic Special business... "One More Night" has effectively the same subject matter as "I Threw It All Away," but in a more upbeat and less engaging package. "Tell Me That It Isn't True" gives us another angle in the album's prevailing theme of relationship drama, this time about a significant other who's rumored to be unfaithful. Musically it's among the album's more middling tracks. "Country Pie" has a lot in common with "Peggy Day"...also upbeat but unremarkable, if with a tad more character, and also the single B-side of the next song on the album. The album closes with its third and final single, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" (charts Nov. 1, 1969; #50 US), which is one of the album's stronger numbers musically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonight_I'll_Be_Staying_Here_with_You#Background What I read of the general reception of this album is that it seems to have been regarded as a turn toward less remarkable, more commercial music for Dylan. I also read that he was actively attempting to shed his "spokesman of a generation" image with his album following this one, 1970's Self Portrait, and I think that he may have started down that direction here, whether or not he did it as knowingly. Nashville Skyline is listenable and enjoyable for what it is, but not nearly as engaging (and sometimes mesmerizing) as what I've heard of his earlier works. From here on for 50th anniversary purposes, I think I may just go with what made it onto the RS list, which means that the next one I'd be getting would be 1975's Blood on the Tracks. His classic '60s period seems to be over, but I'll still be getting to much of it as 55th anniversary business. Next up: The Gilded Palace of Sin, The Flying Burrito Brothers _______
That sounds about right. That's really nice. I find it amusing that he missed his deadline. Maybe he didn't want to be in the movie. "Rather than the more abrasive nasal singing style." He just wanted it to rhyme, man-- at least according to Doonesbury. But, yeah, he was never comfortable with that spokesman-of-a-generation thing, which is pretty remarkable. Yeah, and I don't believe in a hereafter. It was just kind of a nice thought for him.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing The Ed Sullivan Show Season 21, episode 36 Originally aired July 6, 1969 As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show I think Bobby is more of the oldsters' bag at this point. Anyway, he sings a medley consisting of past hits "Blue Velvet" (charted Aug. 10, 1963; #1 US the weeks of Sept. 21 through Oct. 5, 1963; #1 AC), "Take Good Care of My Baby" (charted Mar. 30, 1968; #33 US; #14 AC; was a #1 hit for not-to-be-confused-with Bobby Vee in 1961), and "Please Love Me Forever" (charted Sept. 30, 1967; #6 US; #39 AC): tv.com indicates that "Halfway to Paradise" (charted July 20, 1968; #23 US; #8 AC) was also part of this medley, though not shown in Best of or the clip above. The singer-actress performs an uptempo, swingish number for the easy listening crowd who were home watching Sullivan on balmy summer evenings. I couldn't find a thing about the song, given its ridonculously common title. Jackie's deadpan-delivered routine includes a bit about having an LSD trip in which he saw Ed in tights and other bits about an author and his father both dying at an automat while trying to eat cherry pie without taking it out of the slot...killed by the little glass door coming down. Previously mentioned when I first saw the Best of episode in fall of 2017 and discovered that the male singer of this obscure Canadian group was a young Victor Garber...and now available on YouTube! I recall noting at the time that the Laura Nyro-written song sounded 5th Dimensionish to me...I don't recall if I discovered then that the 5D would later do the song themselves, on their 1970 album Portrait and as a single release (charts June 13, 1970; #27 US; #10 AC; #41 R&B). In the spirit of the holiday weekend, the singer-actor does a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that includes a vaguely Shatneresque spoken-word section at the beginning. Say, why are we inside watching Sullivan in July when we could be outdoors watching fireflies and shooting off bottle rockets? Finally, Bobby Vinton returns to perform a swinging, big-band arrangement of "Those Were the Days" that could have been a lot better than it was. What we ultimately get is an earsore of a sonic mess. I couldn't find a clip of the performance, but here's a more subdued studio version that doesn't sound quite so bad from a then-recent album: Also in the original episode according to tv.com: _______ 50th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening On July 9, another song to be released on Abbey Road takes shape: _______ But in Nashville Skyline even the rhyming isn't as engaging. There's nothing resembling the crazy wordplay of "Subterranean Homesick Blues"...
When I scrolled down to this video I took one look and thought, this is going to be a disaster. But to my surprise, it wasn't half bad. The 3 singers have great voices and Save the Country is a great song (love Laura Nyro). Would never have known that was Victor Garber. One last thing, the dude on keyboards is scary.