_______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 55 years ago this week: 55 Years Ago Spotlight Among this week's new chart entries: Little Deuce Coupe," The Beach Boys (B-side of "Surfer Girl"; #15 US; #28 R&B) "Then He Kissed Me," The Crystals (#6 US; #8 R&B; #2 UK; #493 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) _______ Catch-Up Viewing _______ The Monkees "I Was a Teenage Monster" Originally aired January 16, 1967 The monster sings (mimes) a snippet of the theme song at 12:37+. They did a pretty good job overall of creeping up Kiel's voice...including when it came out of Mike. The newly monickered Swinging Android performs a snippet of "Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day" at 14:42+. After some Monkeeing around with the equipment, the monster takes on the personality of an interior decorator. The episode climaxes with "Your Auntie Grizelda" at 21:00+. This episode is cerealized. "Find the Monkees" Originally aired January 23, 1967 This video was one of a few actually available on the Monkees YouTube account. This episode gives us a few colorful rival groups: the Four Martians, the Foreign Agents, and the Jolly Green Giants. There are lots of bits of location shooting in this one, including a shot of the Monkees standing outside the NBC building. We get snippets of "Mary, Mary" on the Monkees' lost audition tape at 4:50+ and elsewhere in the episode. The Monkees initially go to Bensen's office to try to audition with no instruments; they do bring them to a phone booth, however, where they try to play "Sweet Young Thing" a couple of times (11:54+), with Davy holding the receiver in his mouth while shaking his maracas. The next guy in line to use the booth changes to Superman. "Papa Gene’s Blues" plays in a montage of the Monkees trying to play for Bensen pretending to be a variety of other groups (15:18+), not knowing that it's them he's looking for. When he finally tracks them down with the help of the actual other bands that we met before, the Monkees play a bit more of "Sweet Young Thing" for Bensen (19:15+), but still incomplete. In the end Bensen proves to be fickle and becomes interested in his overworked, underappreciated secretary's sound instead. The interview segment begins at 21:46, and features the boys talking about youth demonstrations against an LA curfew. "Monkees in the Ring" Originally aired January 30, 1967 The montage of Davy training and winning his early, rigged fights features "Laugh" (8:12+), and gives them an excuse to get Davy out of his shirt again. The crooked promoter and his "duh, yeah boss" henchman would have fit right in on Adventures of Superman. "The Champ" is a not-particularly-clever spoof of Ali. Climactic fight sequence: "I’ll Be Back Up on My Feet" (21:16+). _______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 51 years ago this week: _______ I could challenge that last bit, but no argument that they did their best work in the group. In addition to serving as each other's most immediate competition, John and Paul also served as each other's "bullshit filters," as some Beatle author or another put it. Each kept the other's worst excesses in check. Once they were out of the group, we heard those excesses in their solo work. They were covering the shit out of Aretha's passing on CNN last night. I can't remember when I last saw a celebrity death get so much attention.
Cool song (and car) and another one that sounds like the 50s to me. A classic. And the 50s just won't surrender. It would have been cool if they could have gotten some real groups to cameo as the competition. There's a sign o' the times. Who needs an excuse? Less than a decade in both cases, I'd say. Not an entirely fair comparison, since John had a bit of a retirement and his comeback wasn't his best work. There's no telling if he would have gotten his groove back if he had lived. She was indeed the Queen.
_______ 50 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Angel of the Morning," Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts "Don't Take It So Hard," Paul Revere & The Raiders "Reach Out of the Darkness," Friend & Lover "This Guy's in Love with You," Herb Alpert New on the chart: "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," Iron Butterfly (#30 US) Full-length album version: "Harper Valley P.T.A.," Jeannie C. Riley (#1 US the week of Sept. 21, 1968; #4 AC; #1 Country; #12 UK) _______ This week's scheduled catch-up viewing: The Monkees, "The Monstrous Monkee Mash" (Jan. 22, 1968) The Rat Patrol, "The Decoy Raid" (Jan. 22, 1968) The Monkees, "The Monkee's Paw" (Jan. 29, 1968) The Monkees, "The Devil and Peter Tork" (Feb. 5, 1968) The Rat Patrol, "The Touch and Go Raid" (Feb. 5, 1968) _______ I'm starting to wonder how much actual '50s music you've listened to. Surf Rock and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound--both pure early-to-mid-'60s. If the show had been on a year longer, they could have done an Archies crossover...!
The Reader's Digest version.... There we go. Heavy Metal? Art Rock? Anyway, it's a classic. And it sounds just like the 50s. Just kidding. Classic Women's Lib anthem. Yeah, but... ah, well, I guess it's just me.
The Simpsons version: Evidently their only Top 40 single...and it'll be recharting, sub-Top 40, in 1969. I understand that the full-length version was a major selling point of the album. iTunes doesn't sell tracks of that length individually, so I'd have to get the whole album to have the full version. Maybe someday, but I can always listen to it on YouTube. Hearing this in chronological context, the only thing I can think is "Daughter of 'Ode to Billie Joe'"...but as Bobbie Gentry didn't manage to capitalize on her own success, I suppose it was fair game for somebody else to come along and do so. As with Gentry, though, it'll be Riley's only hit on the pop charts. If you want some actual '50s music...yesterday I watched The Girl Can't Help It (1956), a movie of considerable significance to the genesis of the Beatles.... I learned when working on my chronological playlists that the single version of "Twenty Flight Rock" didn't come out until late 1957, and was produced in a manner that caused it to sound quite distinct from the version in the film...so it would have been the film version (which I did manage to find on iTunes, in an Eddie Cochran EP collection) that Paul was emulating that day: Furthermore, it was that version that he was still emulating when he recorded it professionally three decades later:
Definitely Rock and/or Roll. They're a one-hit wonder, but their one hit is worth about five other one-hit wonders. iTunes has a limit on the length of individual tracks? Jim Steinman must be bummed. Yeah, it's definitely evocative of that. I've seen that, but probably not since the 70s. I can't remember a bit of it, of course, but it does go to show you that the Butterfly Effect is real. You never know how things are connected.
Yet John was still documented as having those feelings--really bubbling toward resentment during the Magical Mystery Tour project, and certainly during the Let it Be / Abbey Road sessions--which was not strictly about Paul's (and George's) alleged treatment of Ono. I would say Paul had a far longer shelf-life, as he was able to still write songs that as one writer once put it, "sounded like standards" because they had a creative core that felt like a classic you heard forever. That, and between writing what I consider one of the top 3 Bond title songs of all time, and launching one of the greatest tours (and subsequent live albums) of the 1970s (Wings Over America), Paul's creative power far outlasted John's by any measure in the 1970s. I consider him media manufactured Americana--like pre-1970s Disney productions, where some wanted to crown a certain kind of image as being "cherished by America," (a false image of what America was) when reality painted a different picture. Not a fan. It was ok, but I always need long stretched of time between hearing it in order to tolerate it. Ah..the first of their direct monster parodies. Pretty solid episode. Note how the actually sizable Gretsch guitar looks like a kid's toy in Kiel's hands... I found the insistence that every act is a quartet another nod to the number being popularized by The Beatles, while the gimmicks were inspired by their many imitators trying to gain an edge. Yes! The original Burbank NBC station's exterior and lobby. I've visited it a few times decades ago, when it still looked the same. Entirely different design philosophy at that time. Take note of the Superman costume--specifically, the design of the "S" shield and off gray costume color which appear to be one of the early George Reeves costumes from the black and white seasons of the Adventures of Superman (Syndication, 1951-58). I've read that some of the early Reeves costumes ended up in Hollywood rental houses, so its possible one was used here. Allegedly, actress Bobo Lewis was singing a real tune--but its unidentified. Interesting, as it shows they were not just sitting around a studio, waiting for more pancake make-up. I believe Micky's biography goes into the incident discussed in this interview segment. I guess it paid the bills.... Perhaps not, but "The Champ"--actor D'Urville Martin--would move beyond bit parts in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Columbia Pictures, 1967) and Rosemary's Baby (Paramount, 1968) and on to greater success in a number of popular Blaxploitation films, among them: Hammer (United Artists, 1972), Black Caesar (AIP, 1973) and directing the first of the Rudy Ray Moore vehicles, Dolemite (Dimension Pictures, 1975). Unfortunately, his growing profile as a actor/director was cut short by a fatal heart attack in 1984. Well, she's a true music legend, so that's not a surprise...but I also recall the media going overboard trying to turn Amy Winehouse into some "lost genius" (yeah....sure...) for days after she died. A full on sales pitch for a woman with highly questionable "talent", so the deserving (obviously Aretha) and undeserving (Winehouse) received widespread coverage.
_______ 50th Anniversary Album Spotlight _______ Waiting for the Sun The Doors Released July 3, 1968 Chart debut: August 10, 1968 Chart peak: #1, September 7 through September 21 and October 5, 1968 In the liner notes for the 2006 CD re-release, journalist Paul Williams wrote, "Waiting for the Sun has...served well as a device for true Doors fans to prove to themselves that they loved the band without reservation, by enjoying and appreciating and finding evidence of the quartet's genius in the song-performances on this record." Wow, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? I have always enjoyed this album for what it was, while recognizing that it was a step down from...and perhaps a diluted version of...the two albums that preceded it. The album opens with the catchy, poppy #1 single that reportedtly had some accusing the group of going bubblegum: "Hello, I Love You" (Charted July 6, 1968; #1 US the weeks of Aug. 3 and 10, 1968; #15 UK) Love the fuzzy whatever-it-is in that track. And the Wiki page for the song claims that this, along with the Rascals' "A Beautiful Morning," was one of the first rock 45s to be released in stereo, and that the channel-switching musical flourish in the middle of the song was a deliberate touch to show that off. "Love Street" always seemed like a good companion to that song...it was also the single's B-side. The style of the song is vaguely reminiscent of Donovan's playful trippiness. The line "There's the store where the creatures meet" always reminded me of the friendly neighborhood comic shop.... "Not to Touch the Earth" is the only recorded remnant of the original plan for the album, which was to feature Jim's extended poem "The Celebration of the Lizard". Full performances of "Celebration" can be found both on one of the band's live releases and as a bonus track on the 2006 CD. The end of this song gives us the line "I am the Lizard King, I can do anything"...which has come to be iconically associated with Morrison, its context in the longer poem easily missed in this release, despite the words of the full poem appearing as part of the original album package. The bittersweet "Summer's Almost Gone" certainly rings true this time of year, simply taking it at face value. Of course, seasonal imagery always lends itself to more symbolic interpretations as well. Overall, the song has a good, evocative atmosphere. In a nice little concept pairing that couldn't have been an accident, the next song is "Wintertime Love," one of three tracks on the album known to have been written by guitarist Robby Krieger. (The band was sharing credit for all compositions at this point.) This mood-shifting, harpsichord-featuring waltz is a good example of the anything-goes eclecticism that was permeating rock in this era...and more pleasing to my tastes than "Pressed Rat and Warthog". Side One closes with the first single to come from the album sessions: "The Unknown Soldier" (Charted Mar. 30, 1968; #39 US) I'd describe this very-sign-o-the-times Vietnam War commentary as "uncompromising," but it goes and gives us that too-optimistic bit at the end about the war being over. Not for some time, I'm afraid.... The second Krieger Komposition on the album, "Spanish Caravan," gives Robby the opportunity to show off his flamenco guitar chops. This is followed by another particularly eclectic number, the chanted "My Wild Love". "We Could Be So Good Together" was a leftover from the Strange Days sessions, and served as the B-side of the "Unknown Soldier" single. It's decent, but filler-ish by Doors standards...probably the least inspired song on the album. Ah, but "Yes, the River Knows" always sounded gorgeous to my ear, especially Ray's gentle piano. This is the third of the Krieger Komps. The album closes with "Five to One," another very sign-o-the-times number. It's the song that the band was performing in Miami on March 1, 1969, when Jim started engaging in the behavior that would have the police accusing him of attempting to incite a riot. Oddly, the song that shares the album's title, while recorded during these sessions, wasn't released until two albums later in 1970. Whatever the artistic merits of the LP, 50 years ago this week the Doors must have been enjoying something of a commercial peak. Their second of two #1 singles was gently descending the charts, still in the Top 5 and meeting Feliciano's cover of "Light My Fire" on its way up to #3; and Waiting for the Sun would soon be reaching the top of the album chart for multiple weeks. As for those merits...I certainly find this album to be truer to form than its successor, 1969's The Soft Parade.... _______ Our next album spotlight should be Anthem of the Sun by the Grateful Dead. _______ And the album version is at least as long! No, uber-long tracks like that are available, but they're "Album Only"...you have to buy the whole album to get them, you can't buy them individually like most tracks. And one of those gimmicks might have been partially inspired by this hit single: "Jolly Green Giant," The Kingsmen (Charted Jan. 9, 1965; #4 US; #25 R&B) Interesting! I did notice the color, and associated it with George Reeves, but it hadn't occurred to me that they might actually be using one of his original costumes.... I'm planning to go back and visit this when its 51st anniversary comes up.
Well, Paul was certainly more prolific and commercial, but they both produced inspired work through the first half of the decade. I think John went into retirement in 1975 and Paul's inspiration seems to have dried up after 1976, so perhaps Paul does have a slight edge-- but given their differing temperaments and styles, I don't think it makes much of a difference. Interesting. I would never consider Elvis to be a media-manufactured celebrity. Certainly he was media exploited in his later years, but I would say that he became a phenomenon despite the media to a large degree in his formative years. I worship the doors. I do like that one. Not sure if it's a tribute to love at first sight, a satire of flirtation, or just an anthem of sexual liberation, but it does capture the joie de vivre of the 60s. Sadly they left, telling no one good-bye.... Right, with most singles of the day topping off at three minutes that's a lot of radio time. Do you know what their cut off is? "Bohemian Rhapsody?" "I Would Do Anything For Love?"
...and would turn one year old on the same day Brian Jones died in 1969. ...whoever said that was a Class A Idiot. Where's the "bubblegum" in the song's construction? Lyrics? What were they expecting--more Morrison flights into self-exploration (or whatever) on every single song? That's an interesting take on that line.... Screeching cars at rush hour would be more pleasing than "Pressed Rat and Warthog". It certainly looks like one of the Reeves costumes. I wonder if that dawned on anyone while shooting the episode, or was it just thought to be "random Superman suit" from the rental houses? I would say 1978's London Town had much inspiration t be found. By no means a perfect album, but Paul was still on a creative/commercial roll at the time, which would pretty much give him the decade's edge. Aside from "the Colonel's" manipulation, by the early 60s, Elvis was already seen as the preferred rock/pop image to sell by Hollywood, hence that rolling pile of...films he shot in the decade, where he's Everybody's Everything, sans any of the "threatening" imagery or character associated with other music acts (outside of The Beatles and their clones, like Gerry and the Pacemakers or Herman's Hermits). Elvis was quickly turned into a carefully constructed, American fixture on the level of a Kentucky Fried Chicken house, or a Chevrolet dealership--omnipresent and safe to be "yours"..
Liked for this! Pretty much exactly what I would have said, but didn't wanna get into at this point. Yeah, post-Army Elvis's image was softened and diluted considerably over the years, but that was part of a larger general industry trend to make rock and/or roll into safe, tame pop...which is why the Beatles coming along and lighting the fire again was such a big deal. But nobody can take away that Elvis's rise to stardom was not manufactured, and that he was seen as downright threatening in those early, pelvis-gyrating, "devil's music" days. Sis must be visiting. Supposedly a poem that Jim wrote while watching a girl walking on the beach. Not sure exactly, but I'm under the impression that it's around 10 minutes. I was able to purchase "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" by Chic (8:21) as an individual track...but had to skip Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" (11:19), which is on the Rolling Stone list...though I plan to rectify that by purchasing the Highway 61 Revisited album when it comes up as 55th anniversary business. The "reportedly" is that the assertion was being used as the basis of defending the song in the CD liner notes, but the claim did have a ring of authenticity to it. On my shelf I have a book that I read once over 20 years ago full of pretentious rock press coverage of the Doors from magazines like Crawdaddy (which Paul Williams wrote for)...somebody somewhere in the articles therein probably said it. In actuality... I used to like it back in the day when I'd listen to Paul's solo stuff as a regular part of my diet...but in long-term perspective, there is much better stuff out there to listen to than London Town.
In the late '80s, I knew a girl whose used car had an 8-track player, and London Town was the only 8-track tape she owned.
^^ Man, that sounds like the basis for a Stephen King story. When "With A Little Luck" came on the air, I remember wondering what the hell happened to Paul McCartney. Looking over his Discography, "Maybe I'm Amazed" is the last single of his that I really liked. Yeah, but that was later. When he first caught the attention of kids, he was every parent's nightmare. He was banned on some stations (including in Boston) and mocked elsewhere. His original success was really achieved without corporate support and in spite of media backlash (except to the extent that the negative coverage made kids like him all the more). Yeah, that's about the size of it. So an in-the-moment snapshot of a feeling. Good enough. Interesting. I wonder what they do with classical music. Not that I know a thing about classical music, but it seems to me that the "tracks" are as long as "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," at least.
Wow. Every artist will change to the degree that their work somewhat softens. Look at the Rolling Stones over a period of ten years (1971-81)--the Stones who were motivated to record "Rip This Joint" did not have the same drive or interests when producing "Start Me Up", but its still the same group generating some quality work. That's how I see the McCartney of the London Town period. The 60s is the period I was always talking about--not looking back to his early years. Post Army in the 60s, Elvis became KFC/Chevrolet--safe and packaged to all as the off-the-shelf, perfectly produced, manufactured, Americana image. Its no mystery why his leather-clad "Singer Presents...Elvis" persona (the '68 NBC comeback special) was so successful as a total contrast to that shrink-wrapped, factory-produced image that neutered him for nearly a decade. But, Elvis being Elvis, and the Colonel being the dollar-eyed puppeteer, returned Presley back to that packaged image not long into the 70s.
Good question. All of the classical music that I haven't listened to actively for years is on CD, I've never purchased any on iTunes. But I think that typically, longer works would be divided into movements, which effectively serve as individual tracks that would usually fit the length limit. ETA: Looked this up. From what I spot-checked, compilations of mixed pieces are doing the same thing...tracks over 10 minutes in length are Album Only. However, for symphony collections they're doing what I wish they'd do with pop music...sell the longer tracks individually but at a higher price point (in this case, $1.99 for tracks over 10 minutes, compared to $1.29 for tracks under 10 minutes). Furthermore, for collections with multiple symphonies, you have the option to buy per symphony for one price. And yeah, there are plenty of pieces with individual movements of well over 10 minutes. Well, when you make a sweeping statement like this... ...without specifying the period, it implies that you're referring to his origins.
Yes, most artists lose their edge over the years, some slowly and some abruptly. McCartney's decline was rather abrupt for my taste. He did a handful of entertaining songs over the late 70s and 80s, but nothing comparable to his early work. Well, his early years would have been when he was manufactured if he had been manufactured. But he could only have been rebranded in the 60s if he had been an anti-establishment success in the 50s. Yeah, the model that they use for the symphony collections is certainly much better. There's nothing wrong with charging more for longer songs. There must be some business or contractual reason that they don't do it with contemporary music, but I can't imagine what it is.
_______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 55 years ago this week: 55 Years Ago Spotlight: Stuff that I'll readily agree sounds like leftover '50s business. Exhibit A--I was surprised to discover how much doo-wop actually came from the early '60s, as it's a sound generally associated with the '50s. The genre seems to have experienced a peak period on the charts back in '61. At this point, somebody needs to check the date on the carton: "So Much in Love," The Tymes (Charted June 1, 1963; #1 US the week of Aug. 3, 1963; #4 R&B; #21 UK) Exhibit B--If somebody had asked me to guess when this novelty number was from, I might have said 1956: "Martian Hop," The Ran-Dells (Charted Aug. 3, 1963; #16 US; #27 R&B) _______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 51 years ago this week: _______ 50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing _______ The Monkees "The Monstrous Monkee Mash" Originally aired January 22, 1968 This seems like one too many monsters/haunted house episodes...and not even seasonable in January. The Monkees sleeping downstairs? They've got a bedroom up that spiral staircase, we've seen it. The almost-subliminal quick-cuts used in this one were a novel touch. And there was generally a good amount of fourth wall breaking, including showing the cameraman and cutting the wires holding up a floating book. Climactic song sequence: "Goin' Down" (20:22+) I was struck by the end credits song, "In This Generation," which I wouldn't have been hearing on Antenna. _______ I'd been planning to catch these on YouTube, but This got to the episodes that I needed in the nick of time. "The Decoy Raid" Originally aired January 22, 1968 Unclear pronoun referent clarification: "He" in this case refers to the SS officer, Captain Wansee (Richard Davalos). Dietrich has a lot to do in this one, such that I was briefly teased with the notion that it might be an episode focusing on him...but once he comes to realize that Wansee is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, he manipulates the Patrol into helping him off the scenery-chewing captain. It's Dietrich who shoots Wansee from offscreen in the climactic firefight, with the Patrol putting together the obvious whodunnit in the coda. Hey, Tully, is that a bazooka on your shoulder, or are you just happy to see me? _______ The Monkees "The Monkee's Paw" Originally aired January 29, 1968 The episode opens with the band performing a bit of "Goin' Down". There's also a brief instrumental of "Goin' Down" at 8:40+ when an errant wish causes Micky to lose his ability to speak. Unsuspectingly prescient line... Micky and Mike play Mendrek and a lama in a flashback. Easy-to-miss gag: Mike takes an implied call from the President, inviting Mendrek to a barbecue. Severn Darden as the psychiatrist repeatedly insisting that the blot on the card is "A bunny and a chicken!" got a good LOL from me. Magical climactic song sequence: "Words" (19:14+). Peter looks good with some soul fuzz, but that Astonishing Pietro bit was from Season 1's "Too Many Girls," which I just watched. This episode features an unusual mixed closing...first having the Monkees do a fourth wall-breaking sign-off to the audience; then showing a blooper with a bleeped-out word that I've read was the F-bomb...I have to wonder if that was part of the original broadcast, given that NBC held back the next episode for months over repeated bleeped-out use of the word "hell"; finally, there's an interview segment about hippies and how they've become commercialized. Cerealization contemplation: Whatever happened to Kellogg's Puffa Puffa Rice? [Googles.] A short-lived product that came out in '67 and was discontinued in 1975. _______ The Monkees "The Devil and Peter Tork" Originally aired February 5, 1968 Apparently the harp instrumental at 5:11+ is "Pleasant Valley Sunday," though I wouldn't have recognized it. This time the excuse for getting Davy's shirt off is Zero snapping it away as a demonstration of his power. Hellish montage song: "Salesman" (7:35+), featuring Mike on lead vocals. Second harp instrumental: "I Wanna Be Free" (20:00+) Unconnected end sequence: "No Time" (22:04+) _______ The Rat Patrol "The Touch and Go Raid" Originally aired February 5, 1968 This time Dietrich and his men don't even take the Patrol's distinctive hats to sell the masquerade. Dietrich doesn't do a very good job of impersonating Troy, as Gudegast seems incapable of suppressing his distinct accent. Troy and the Allied commander trick Dietrich into leaving with what he thinks are top secret plans, which actually concern intercompany baseball games. Then, after Dietrich realizes that he's been fooled, his superior insists that the papers are actually coded. I guess they're trying to make Dietrich look like less of a tool by shifting the ineptitude. World War II-vintage TV Fu Knockout Chop: _______
I've always loved that song. Disappointed when it was cut. I guess it actual name is "For Pete's Sake"
OMFG...I think I'm losing Decades! I was checking the cable schedule and saw a bunch of different shows starting on Sept. 3. Googling around, I found that the line-up matches this: http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2018/07/new-multicast-network-start-tv-launches.html https://www.starttv.com/