Catchy.
Also catchy.
My thoughts wandered.
Definitely would not walk on by.
So that's how Tarzan ended up in the 60s....
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
_______
50 Years Ago This Week
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week, with a Bubbling Under bonus:
Leaving the chart:
New on the chart:
"Heather Honey," Tommy Roe
(#29 US; #24 UK)
"Day Is Done," Peter, Paul & Mary
(#21 US; #7 AC)
"Oh Happy Day," The Edwin Hawkins Singers feat. Dorothy Combs Morrison
(#4 US; #22 AC; #2 R&B; #2 UK)
"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," Marvin Gaye
(#4 US; #1 R&B; #5 UK)
Bubbling Under:
"I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore," Dusty Springfield
(#105 US)
And new on the boob tube:
_______
50 Years Ago This Week
Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day said:
Wiki said:
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week, with a Bubbling Under bonus:
Leaving the chart:
- "Breakfast in Bed," Dusty Springfield (2 weeks)
- "Good Times Bad Times," Led Zeppelin (4 weeks)
- "Indian Giver," 1910 Fruitgum Co. (13 weeks)
- "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)," David Ruffin (10 weeks)
- "This Girl's in Love with You," Dionne Warwick (12 weeks)
New on the chart:
"Heather Honey," Tommy Roe
(#29 US; #24 UK)
"Day Is Done," Peter, Paul & Mary
(#21 US; #7 AC)
"Oh Happy Day," The Edwin Hawkins Singers feat. Dorothy Combs Morrison
(#4 US; #22 AC; #2 R&B; #2 UK)
"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," Marvin Gaye
(#4 US; #1 R&B; #5 UK)
Bubbling Under:
"I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore," Dusty Springfield
(#105 US)
And new on the boob tube:
- Mission: Impossible, "The Interrogator" (season finale)
- The Avengers, "Bizarre" (series finale)
- The Saint, "The Double Take"
_______
Didn't know Webb had that kind of pull with the Surgeon General.
Not catchy enough for 1964 audiences. This will be his last Top 30 single.
And very much emulating the Spector Wall of Sound. I had to look it up to verify that it wasn't produced by Spector.
And Rick will be wandering away from the Top 30 until 1972's "Garden Party".
A wonderful, distinctive classic...definitely bringing something to the table in this era in spite of all the new competition from overseas.
Timeless.
In a rare case, Warwick's version takes a back seat--this time to the Herb Alpert classic. No contest whatsoever.
Another timeless song.
...also one of the markers of a shifting interest in this sub-genre.
He did not need it; he was never going to acknowledge the dangers of smoking when brands such as Chesterfield had a longtime sponsor relationship with him on his earlier Dragnet shows, and he--and his character were unabashedly fond of choking away on cigarettes. One the one hand, his Joe Friday never missed an opportunity to give speeches on kids using "street" drugs, yet one of the nation's deadliest habit was A-OK, as one can imagine he warned against smoking rarely, if at all.
I like this one, and it's oddly familiar. I definitely don't remember it from the 60s, but I have an idea that I heard it on the Lost 45s radio program a few years ago.
I absolutely love this. One of my favorite Peter, Paul, and Mary songs that I used to listen to endlessly in the early 70s.
That didn't do much for me and it was very long.
That's a good one.
This didn't do much for me either, although it was good enough that I wanted to like it more.
Absolutely.
_______
50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
Mission: Impossible
"Illusion"
Originally aired April 13, 1969
Another TV Fu chop right in the opening credits--this time by Jim.
In this scheme, Cinnamon plays a nightclub singer meant to remind one of the contenders, Skarbeck (Fritz Weaver), of Carlotta Kleve, a singer he was infatuated with and whom he's known to have killed. Rollin plays the Cabaret-style emcee of her show, wearing an eye mask and blue makeup. Cin "confesses" to Skarbeck that she's been hired by his rival, Lom, to seduce him. Meanwhile, Jim, having drawn attention to himself at the club, works on Lom (Kevin Hagen), claiming to be an accomplice of Cin's and offering psychological information about Skarbeck that Lom could take advantage of by working with Cin, with the goal of causing Skarbeck to suffer a breakdown. The contender the IMF is trying to help is Trock (Martin E. Brooks), who's supposed to be friendly to the West, but I suspect they're really interested in his expertise in the breaking field of bionics. He seems to be completely in on the plan...I'm surprised they didn't do a portfolio just to put him in it.
Skarbeck takes a pill that Barney planted in his medicine cabinet (a job offering a little more elbow room than usual), which knocks him out and then puts him in a hypnotic state for questioning by Jim and Barney. Cin is brought in by Lom for questioning, and makes it look like she's spying for Skarbeck. Lom wants to provoke Skarbeck into killing her like he did Kleve. In private, Cin provokes Skarbeck into attacking her and knocks him out with a drugged needle hidden in a ring. Willy's first exciting role in the scheme is to lug him into the next room! Jim TV Fu's Lom's henchman before he can shoot Cin outside. Rollin impersonates Lom to confront Skarbeck at the club with Jim, accusing him of killing Cin. The lights briefly go out, the real Lom comes in, and Skarbeck shoots him. Filling in for Rollin onstage during this sequence has been Barney--aided by the eye mask and makeup worn in the act, and a recording played by Willy.
This one was...OK. It didn't really grab me.
_______
The Avengers
"Take-Over"
Originally aired April 14, 1969 (US); April 23, 1969 (UK)
Actually, it's the Bassetts who are in danger, from miniature "phosphor bombs" implanted in their throats that will kill them if triggered remotely by a device concealed in a cigarette lighter. And the bad guys weren't expecting Steed. He's visiting the Bassetts in February to celebrate Christmas, a tradition that goes back to when he and Bill were going by an erroneous self-made calendar in a cell in Nanking.
Steed eventually becomes suspicious and the bad guys try to kill him while hunting, but he manages to make them think he's drowned in a marsh after he's been wounded. They're planning to use an "ultra long-range weapon" on a house seven miles away where some foreign ministers are meeting. They use the Bassetts to evade a Special Branch door-to-door security check, which is why they needed the couple alive, and Tara shows up immediately after that. They take her prisoner, but she ultimately helps the Bassetts to overcome Grenville, the leader of the quartet, and Steed turns the tables in their favor when he sneaks back in and attaches one of the bombs to him. Steed uses the bad guys' gimmick against them: check. I suppose the two times that we see the phosphor bombs used to kill people (an unidentified captive in the teaser and the Bassetts' servant) count as the "multiple incidents" angle, though those usually come in numbers of three or more.
The coda gag involves Steed playing "invisible golf" in Tara's apartment, and Tara somehow managing to break a window while trying herself.
_______
33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee
Originally aired April 14, 1969
Now if somebody wanted to give the Monkees credit for starting a subgenre of painful-to-watch one-shot variety specials--one that would include among its spawn the Star Wars Holiday Special--I wouldn't put up much of an argument. This one was instantly annoying from its intro...I can easily picture millions of Americans getting up to change the channel. Brian Auger, who was apparently the leader of a music group called the Trinity that I wasn't familiar with, plays a grating mad scientist type in an extremely thin storyline that attempts to weave the special's series of musical performances into a narrative about the Monkees being processed and packaged for consumption as part of some sort of vague evil plan. I got a giggle out of his Flower Power Forklift, at least--that might have given some needed pizzazz to the M:I episode with Rollin stealing the nitro.
First we get individual numbers by each of the Monkees. The first of these has Micky Dolenz teaming with Trinity singer Julie Driscoll on a rearranged version of "I'm a Believer" that sounds a little more psychedelic rock. Then Peter sings an Eastern-flavored number "I Prithee (Do Not Ask for Love)," which is one of the more interesting songs in the special, though very derivative of the Beates' pioneering forays into this sound via George. Next up is dueling Michaels on a tempo-switching country pop song called "Naked Persimmon". This segment concludes with "Goldilocks Sometime," a dance number with Davy and various girls dressed as dolls. This might have appealed to the kiddies if any were still watching at this point.
After a break, the brainwashed Monkees join forces for "Wind Up Man". Imitating robots seems to be a variety show staple. I can't believe they got Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino to appear in this thing. There's a song apparently called "Darwin", which is punctuated by an actor playing Darwin. Paul Arnold & The Moon Express play "Only the Fittest Shall Survive," a more experimental number with dancers superimposed over a backdrop of surreal images. Then the Monkees return, sporting vaguely simian costumes, to perform "I Go Ape". So far even the music has largely been varying degrees of annoying. Brian Auger & The Trinity, with Julie Driscoll on vocals, perform "Come on Up"--the music's pretty decent psychedelic rock fare, but Driscoll's singing helps me to appreciate what John must have heard in Yoko.
The next segment might have been the most interesting in the special, but fails to live up to its potential. Purportedly taking place at a theater in 1956, it features a medley of numbers from that golden period of rock & roll, consisting of: The Monkees, "At the Hop"; Fats Domino, "I'm Ready"; Jerry Lee Lewis, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"; Little Richard, "Tutti Frutti"; We Three and The Monkees, "Shake a Tail Feather"; Fats Domino, "Blue Monday"; The Monkees, "Little Darlin'"; Little Richard, "Long Tall Sally"; Jerry Lee Lewis, "Down the Line"; and The Clara Ward Singers, "Dem Bones"--which has an uptempo and gospelish arrangement, but it's still too soon after the finale of The Prisoner for me. This segment fails for me in that it feels very rushed...it runs through brief snippets of too many songs by too many artists too quickly. They could have dwelt on this segment a bit longer and given it some breathing room. And the Monkees doing what amounts to a parody of a '50s vocal group don't hold a candle to the pioneering artists featured in the medley.
After this, at about the 3/4 mark, Auger and Driscoll break character and abruptly drop the annoying storyline they've maintained up to this point, declaring that they want to give the Monkees "complete freedom". Too bad they didn't think to do this, I dunno, before the teaser? The final segment features a couple more solo numbers by the Monkees: Davy Jones, "String for My Kite," and Peter Tork, "Solfeggietto" by C.P.E. Bach (I believe TREK_GOD posted a video of this upthread). Then the Monkees perform their upcoming single "Listen to the Band," in which they're joined by various cast members. I'll hold off on judging it until I've heard the single version in better quality; the Trinity take over this version of the number and it becomes an experimental jam.
The last thing we see before the credits is somebody closing a book titled The Beginning of the End...appropriate enough, but I'd say that Head was the beginning, and this was just The End.
The closing credits feature one last piece of musical annoyance--Peter singing a rendition of "California, Here I Come".
Overall, this gave me a hankering to watch the Elvis Comeback Special again for mind soap. It makes Magical Mystery Tour look like a brilliant art film by comparison.
_______
The Mod Squad
"A Seat by the Window"
Originally aired April 15, 1969
The individual Squad members are helicoptered to locations where they can get on the buses. From the description of an eyewitness who couldn't see much, they're looking for a man and a woman, one of them blond, who may be on separate buses.
Julie hits it up with a lecherous guy named Bill (John Beck), on a bus that's going into the California desert and stops at an Old West tourist town. She finds herself sitting next to a "hillbilly" musician named Tom (Bo Hopkins) after he helps get Bill's ginormous chin out of her face.
Linc is on a bus heading to Tijuana, where he gets on the wrong side of a gang of drunk toughs who are harassing a very pretty girl named Connie (Tiffany Bolling). Alas, she disappears from the story after that. At the last stop before the border, Linc hears a fight in a darkened building, jumps in, gets beat up by three guys (likely the same toughs, though neither Linc nor we get a good looks at them), and misses the bus. Greer comes to get him, and he's suffering from a slight concussion. One of his assailants got his wallet, but he had his police ID in his sock.
Pete's destination is the Green Hills Music Festival; there's a band in this segment that that end credits identify as "The Musical Group 'THE MOD SQUAD'". They sound kind of like the Brooklyn Bridge. Pete stays behind there with a girl named Willa from Arkansas (Julie Gregg), whom he and Greer have determined to be the killer's sister. When Pete comes clean with her, she confesses that she and her brother had held up a gas station (possibly with the murder victim, who'd taken them in). She describes her brother as being like a dependent child, and tells how he killed the other man for buying her a gift.
Pete learns that her brother is on Julie's bus, after which we see the brother going through Julie's bag and finding her ID. It's the musician, who takes Julie at knife-point to an unconvincing park set. (One can easily picture the Rat Patrol taking some shade right off camera.) The Male Mods and Willa helicopter onto the scene in time to save her. He tries to run but winds up having a breakdown when cornered.
The Mods end their freshman season walking into Greer's car at Western Village. This has generally proven to be a pretty engaging show that I wish I had more episodes of--I only have nine from next season.
_______
The Saint
"Legacy for the Saint"
Originally aired October 13, 1968 (UK); April 18, 1969 (US)
Some historical context that should be of general interest in these parts: the final American season of The Saint is coming to us as a "Summer replacement" series in Trek's Season 3 Friday night time slot. NBC is still showing Trek reruns, but in a 7:30 time slot on Tuesdays. (If they'd given it that slot in the first place, maybe more people might have watched it.) It's in this Tuesday slot that the final new episode, "Turnabout Intruder," will air in June. It was originally scheduled to air in the old Friday slot on March 28, but was preempted for coverage of Eisenhower's death.
This American season consisted partly of episodes from earlier UK seasons that I've already watched and possibly reviewed. I'll just be covering the ones that I haven't watched yet, which are all from the final British season. I also have several episodes that apparently didn't air first-run in the US, so I'll be covering those later during the hiatus season, by their UK airdates in sync with other shows from the '68-'69 season that I'll be catching up on.
It seems that they switched up the opening theme this season, including the cue that plays when Simon's halo appears.
(Not Ironside's) Ed Brown (Reginald Marsh) is a retired gangster now running a casino and an old acquaintance of Templar's, who's apparently killed by a car bomb that the audience saw planted by his right-hand man, Charlie (Alan MacNaughton). Charlie sends Templar to Switzerland to convey the news to Brown's daughter, Penny (Beacham). She apparently doesn't know about her father's old line of work, but begins to get an inkling when his old mob rivals show up at the funeral to pay their respects. The gangsters are also invited to the reading of the will, which is done via a film. After stirring things up with his rivals from beyond the grave, Brown offers one million pounds to whichever of them can match that amount in 30 days. To that end, they find Brown's plans for a million-pound heist of a bullion shipment.
Simon helps the crooks to realize that they need to work together to pull off the heist, but is pulled into actively participating in the caper to ensure Penny's safety. Inspector Teal and his men are hovering around, looking to take advantage of a golden opportunity to nab the mob bosses and Templar, but Templar helps put the bag on Teal by infiltrating Scotland Yard in uniform and using knockout drugs to take over their wee little dispatch room. But he leaves clues along the way for Teal to keep up with what's going on, including a message via the radio when nobody else is in earshot on Teal's end.
I saw most of the twist coming a mile away. We didn't see the explosion of Brown's car, just the burning wreckage, and Charlie hadn't been acting like he had much of an agenda afterward. It turns out that Brown wasn't in the vehicle, and the scheme was to get his rivals to pull of his heist for him and then double-cross them and get away with the loot. The part that I didn't see coming was that his daughter was only feigning not being close to him and her ignorance of his old profession, and was actually a participant in his scheme. Nevertheless, Simon proves to be ever the gentleman even to scheming young women, and tells Teal that she'd been his ally all along.
I totally didn't buy that Brown would believe that Simon would shoot Penny in the climax. Surely the reputation that makes him such a recognizable figure includes that he's not a cold-blooded killer. And indeed, it turned out that the gun he was holding to her head was a lighter that we'd seen used earlier in the episode.
_______
50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
Mission: Impossible
"Illusion"
Originally aired April 13, 1969
Wiki said:
Another TV Fu chop right in the opening credits--this time by Jim.
The reel-to-reel tape in some reused footage of a vague location that might be a rooftop or parking garage said:
In this scheme, Cinnamon plays a nightclub singer meant to remind one of the contenders, Skarbeck (Fritz Weaver), of Carlotta Kleve, a singer he was infatuated with and whom he's known to have killed. Rollin plays the Cabaret-style emcee of her show, wearing an eye mask and blue makeup. Cin "confesses" to Skarbeck that she's been hired by his rival, Lom, to seduce him. Meanwhile, Jim, having drawn attention to himself at the club, works on Lom (Kevin Hagen), claiming to be an accomplice of Cin's and offering psychological information about Skarbeck that Lom could take advantage of by working with Cin, with the goal of causing Skarbeck to suffer a breakdown. The contender the IMF is trying to help is Trock (Martin E. Brooks), who's supposed to be friendly to the West, but I suspect they're really interested in his expertise in the breaking field of bionics. He seems to be completely in on the plan...I'm surprised they didn't do a portfolio just to put him in it.
Skarbeck takes a pill that Barney planted in his medicine cabinet (a job offering a little more elbow room than usual), which knocks him out and then puts him in a hypnotic state for questioning by Jim and Barney. Cin is brought in by Lom for questioning, and makes it look like she's spying for Skarbeck. Lom wants to provoke Skarbeck into killing her like he did Kleve. In private, Cin provokes Skarbeck into attacking her and knocks him out with a drugged needle hidden in a ring. Willy's first exciting role in the scheme is to lug him into the next room! Jim TV Fu's Lom's henchman before he can shoot Cin outside. Rollin impersonates Lom to confront Skarbeck at the club with Jim, accusing him of killing Cin. The lights briefly go out, the real Lom comes in, and Skarbeck shoots him. Filling in for Rollin onstage during this sequence has been Barney--aided by the eye mask and makeup worn in the act, and a recording played by Willy.
This one was...OK. It didn't really grab me.
_______
The Avengers
"Take-Over"
Originally aired April 14, 1969 (US); April 23, 1969 (UK)
Wiki said:
Actually, it's the Bassetts who are in danger, from miniature "phosphor bombs" implanted in their throats that will kill them if triggered remotely by a device concealed in a cigarette lighter. And the bad guys weren't expecting Steed. He's visiting the Bassetts in February to celebrate Christmas, a tradition that goes back to when he and Bill were going by an erroneous self-made calendar in a cell in Nanking.
Steed eventually becomes suspicious and the bad guys try to kill him while hunting, but he manages to make them think he's drowned in a marsh after he's been wounded. They're planning to use an "ultra long-range weapon" on a house seven miles away where some foreign ministers are meeting. They use the Bassetts to evade a Special Branch door-to-door security check, which is why they needed the couple alive, and Tara shows up immediately after that. They take her prisoner, but she ultimately helps the Bassetts to overcome Grenville, the leader of the quartet, and Steed turns the tables in their favor when he sneaks back in and attaches one of the bombs to him. Steed uses the bad guys' gimmick against them: check. I suppose the two times that we see the phosphor bombs used to kill people (an unidentified captive in the teaser and the Bassetts' servant) count as the "multiple incidents" angle, though those usually come in numbers of three or more.
The coda gag involves Steed playing "invisible golf" in Tara's apartment, and Tara somehow managing to break a window while trying herself.
_______
33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee
Originally aired April 14, 1969
Wiki said:
Now if somebody wanted to give the Monkees credit for starting a subgenre of painful-to-watch one-shot variety specials--one that would include among its spawn the Star Wars Holiday Special--I wouldn't put up much of an argument. This one was instantly annoying from its intro...I can easily picture millions of Americans getting up to change the channel. Brian Auger, who was apparently the leader of a music group called the Trinity that I wasn't familiar with, plays a grating mad scientist type in an extremely thin storyline that attempts to weave the special's series of musical performances into a narrative about the Monkees being processed and packaged for consumption as part of some sort of vague evil plan. I got a giggle out of his Flower Power Forklift, at least--that might have given some needed pizzazz to the M:I episode with Rollin stealing the nitro.
First we get individual numbers by each of the Monkees. The first of these has Micky Dolenz teaming with Trinity singer Julie Driscoll on a rearranged version of "I'm a Believer" that sounds a little more psychedelic rock. Then Peter sings an Eastern-flavored number "I Prithee (Do Not Ask for Love)," which is one of the more interesting songs in the special, though very derivative of the Beates' pioneering forays into this sound via George. Next up is dueling Michaels on a tempo-switching country pop song called "Naked Persimmon". This segment concludes with "Goldilocks Sometime," a dance number with Davy and various girls dressed as dolls. This might have appealed to the kiddies if any were still watching at this point.
After a break, the brainwashed Monkees join forces for "Wind Up Man". Imitating robots seems to be a variety show staple. I can't believe they got Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino to appear in this thing. There's a song apparently called "Darwin", which is punctuated by an actor playing Darwin. Paul Arnold & The Moon Express play "Only the Fittest Shall Survive," a more experimental number with dancers superimposed over a backdrop of surreal images. Then the Monkees return, sporting vaguely simian costumes, to perform "I Go Ape". So far even the music has largely been varying degrees of annoying. Brian Auger & The Trinity, with Julie Driscoll on vocals, perform "Come on Up"--the music's pretty decent psychedelic rock fare, but Driscoll's singing helps me to appreciate what John must have heard in Yoko.
The next segment might have been the most interesting in the special, but fails to live up to its potential. Purportedly taking place at a theater in 1956, it features a medley of numbers from that golden period of rock & roll, consisting of: The Monkees, "At the Hop"; Fats Domino, "I'm Ready"; Jerry Lee Lewis, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"; Little Richard, "Tutti Frutti"; We Three and The Monkees, "Shake a Tail Feather"; Fats Domino, "Blue Monday"; The Monkees, "Little Darlin'"; Little Richard, "Long Tall Sally"; Jerry Lee Lewis, "Down the Line"; and The Clara Ward Singers, "Dem Bones"--which has an uptempo and gospelish arrangement, but it's still too soon after the finale of The Prisoner for me. This segment fails for me in that it feels very rushed...it runs through brief snippets of too many songs by too many artists too quickly. They could have dwelt on this segment a bit longer and given it some breathing room. And the Monkees doing what amounts to a parody of a '50s vocal group don't hold a candle to the pioneering artists featured in the medley.
After this, at about the 3/4 mark, Auger and Driscoll break character and abruptly drop the annoying storyline they've maintained up to this point, declaring that they want to give the Monkees "complete freedom". Too bad they didn't think to do this, I dunno, before the teaser? The final segment features a couple more solo numbers by the Monkees: Davy Jones, "String for My Kite," and Peter Tork, "Solfeggietto" by C.P.E. Bach (I believe TREK_GOD posted a video of this upthread). Then the Monkees perform their upcoming single "Listen to the Band," in which they're joined by various cast members. I'll hold off on judging it until I've heard the single version in better quality; the Trinity take over this version of the number and it becomes an experimental jam.
The last thing we see before the credits is somebody closing a book titled The Beginning of the End...appropriate enough, but I'd say that Head was the beginning, and this was just The End.
The closing credits feature one last piece of musical annoyance--Peter singing a rendition of "California, Here I Come".
Overall, this gave me a hankering to watch the Elvis Comeback Special again for mind soap. It makes Magical Mystery Tour look like a brilliant art film by comparison.
_______
The Mod Squad
"A Seat by the Window"
Originally aired April 15, 1969
Wiki said:
The individual Squad members are helicoptered to locations where they can get on the buses. From the description of an eyewitness who couldn't see much, they're looking for a man and a woman, one of them blond, who may be on separate buses.
Julie hits it up with a lecherous guy named Bill (John Beck), on a bus that's going into the California desert and stops at an Old West tourist town. She finds herself sitting next to a "hillbilly" musician named Tom (Bo Hopkins) after he helps get Bill's ginormous chin out of her face.
Linc is on a bus heading to Tijuana, where he gets on the wrong side of a gang of drunk toughs who are harassing a very pretty girl named Connie (Tiffany Bolling). Alas, she disappears from the story after that. At the last stop before the border, Linc hears a fight in a darkened building, jumps in, gets beat up by three guys (likely the same toughs, though neither Linc nor we get a good looks at them), and misses the bus. Greer comes to get him, and he's suffering from a slight concussion. One of his assailants got his wallet, but he had his police ID in his sock.
Pete's destination is the Green Hills Music Festival; there's a band in this segment that that end credits identify as "The Musical Group 'THE MOD SQUAD'". They sound kind of like the Brooklyn Bridge. Pete stays behind there with a girl named Willa from Arkansas (Julie Gregg), whom he and Greer have determined to be the killer's sister. When Pete comes clean with her, she confesses that she and her brother had held up a gas station (possibly with the murder victim, who'd taken them in). She describes her brother as being like a dependent child, and tells how he killed the other man for buying her a gift.
Pete learns that her brother is on Julie's bus, after which we see the brother going through Julie's bag and finding her ID. It's the musician, who takes Julie at knife-point to an unconvincing park set. (One can easily picture the Rat Patrol taking some shade right off camera.) The Male Mods and Willa helicopter onto the scene in time to save her. He tries to run but winds up having a breakdown when cornered.
The Mods end their freshman season walking into Greer's car at Western Village. This has generally proven to be a pretty engaging show that I wish I had more episodes of--I only have nine from next season.
_______
The Saint
"Legacy for the Saint"
Originally aired October 13, 1968 (UK); April 18, 1969 (US)
Xfinity said:
Some historical context that should be of general interest in these parts: the final American season of The Saint is coming to us as a "Summer replacement" series in Trek's Season 3 Friday night time slot. NBC is still showing Trek reruns, but in a 7:30 time slot on Tuesdays. (If they'd given it that slot in the first place, maybe more people might have watched it.) It's in this Tuesday slot that the final new episode, "Turnabout Intruder," will air in June. It was originally scheduled to air in the old Friday slot on March 28, but was preempted for coverage of Eisenhower's death.
This American season consisted partly of episodes from earlier UK seasons that I've already watched and possibly reviewed. I'll just be covering the ones that I haven't watched yet, which are all from the final British season. I also have several episodes that apparently didn't air first-run in the US, so I'll be covering those later during the hiatus season, by their UK airdates in sync with other shows from the '68-'69 season that I'll be catching up on.
It seems that they switched up the opening theme this season, including the cue that plays when Simon's halo appears.
(Not Ironside's) Ed Brown (Reginald Marsh) is a retired gangster now running a casino and an old acquaintance of Templar's, who's apparently killed by a car bomb that the audience saw planted by his right-hand man, Charlie (Alan MacNaughton). Charlie sends Templar to Switzerland to convey the news to Brown's daughter, Penny (Beacham). She apparently doesn't know about her father's old line of work, but begins to get an inkling when his old mob rivals show up at the funeral to pay their respects. The gangsters are also invited to the reading of the will, which is done via a film. After stirring things up with his rivals from beyond the grave, Brown offers one million pounds to whichever of them can match that amount in 30 days. To that end, they find Brown's plans for a million-pound heist of a bullion shipment.
Simon helps the crooks to realize that they need to work together to pull off the heist, but is pulled into actively participating in the caper to ensure Penny's safety. Inspector Teal and his men are hovering around, looking to take advantage of a golden opportunity to nab the mob bosses and Templar, but Templar helps put the bag on Teal by infiltrating Scotland Yard in uniform and using knockout drugs to take over their wee little dispatch room. But he leaves clues along the way for Teal to keep up with what's going on, including a message via the radio when nobody else is in earshot on Teal's end.
I saw most of the twist coming a mile away. We didn't see the explosion of Brown's car, just the burning wreckage, and Charlie hadn't been acting like he had much of an agenda afterward. It turns out that Brown wasn't in the vehicle, and the scheme was to get his rivals to pull of his heist for him and then double-cross them and get away with the loot. The part that I didn't see coming was that his daughter was only feigning not being close to him and her ignorance of his old profession, and was actually a participant in his scheme. Nevertheless, Simon proves to be ever the gentleman even to scheming young women, and tells Teal that she'd been his ally all along.
I totally didn't buy that Brown would believe that Simon would shoot Penny in the climax. Surely the reputation that makes him such a recognizable figure includes that he's not a cold-blooded killer. And indeed, it turned out that the gun he was holding to her head was a lighter that we'd seen used earlier in the episode.
_______
Tommy's stuff is hit or miss for me. This one falls in the latter category.
I had no prior familiarity with this one going in. It sounds nice at first glance, but hasn't had a chance to make much of an impression on me. Now their next single...big-time impression, going back to early childhood.
I'm not a religious person and gospel isn't my thing, but I find myself on the fence about getting this one...it has a nice sound.RJDiogenes said:
He has stronger songs, but this one's an oldies radio classic with a good hook.
Now this one sounds vaguely familiar to me. Not sure if it reminds me of another song. It was written by Randy Newman and originally recorded by Jerry Butler in '64, but his single barely broke the Hot 100, so I don't think that I would have had occasion to hear it.
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Now that could have led to a cool crossover in a few years.
Aside from this, the episode seems remarkably down to Earth for this period of The Avengers.
Don't mince words, Mixer, tell us what you really think.
"Sorry, I can't investigate the disappearance of this girl. I'm searching for a killer. Oh, wait..."
You know it had to be Bo Hopkins. Bo Hopkins is always the bad guy. He has the pursed lips of an evil man.
"Leaving on a Jet Plane?" Yeah, that was a biggie.
_______
Dragnet 1968
On March 16 my Cozi affiliate preempted Dragnet for coverage of the St. Paddy's Day Parade, so I'm missing two episodes: "The Bank Jobs" (Oct. 5, 1967) and "The Big Neighbor" (Oct. 12, 1967). Moving along past that...
"The Big Frustration"
Originally aired October 19, 1967
Monday, February 11 (1963?): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Homicide Division when they witness a fellow detective, Sgt. Carl Maxwell (John Lupton), having a blow-up in Capt. Brown's office over a recent court dismissal of a case of his because of alleged undue use of force. A few days later, Friday and Gannon are asked to take over for Maxwell, who hasn't been coming in and has been seen in public drinking heavily. A pair of sergeants from Internal Affairs Division are looking into his case, and question Friday and Gannon for what they might know about his current whereabouts. The IAD men inform that that a trial board is scheduled for the following Monday, and that if Maxwell doesn't show up for it, he'll be dismissed from the force.
Friday and Gannon go to see Capt. Brown, who anticipates their requests and gives them two days' leave to track Maxwell down. The first thing they do is see Sgt. Riddle, the chaplain, who offers some expository insight regarding what Maxwell's likely going through, which he likens to combat fatigue. He also advises them that if they want to find him, they have to treat him like a suspect instead of a friend, and start at the beginning. Thus they hit the streets and start asking around. Nobody's seen him in the last few days, but the people they talk to, including his brother and sister-in-law, who are taking care of Carl's young son, describe him as going through changes lately. The sister-in-law remembers something that he recently said about wanting to visit the place where he and his deceased wife had their honeymoon. The on-leave detectives search chalet-type hotels in the Big Bear area and eventually find him in one, drinking. He vents his frustrations to them about how the rights of suspects have gone too far. Then Friday retorts with a tough-love monologue reminding Maxwell of everything he had to go through to get into the elite but underpaid position that he's in. Maxwell asks about the trial board, and the detectives leave him to think, knowing they've done all they can do, and the rest he'll have to do for himself.
"The Senior Citizen"
Originally aired October 26, 1967
Tuesday, March 14 (1967!): Friday and Gannon, working the day watch out of Burglary/Auto Theft Division, have been working for weeks on the case of a burglar who's been hitting as many as four homes a day. Friday eventually realizes that the pattern connecting the targets is births, deaths, and weddings causing the victims to not be home, all of which are reported in the newspaper. Armed with that knowledge, a group of detectives stakes out various likely targets dressed in casual clothes. On his stakeout, Friday spots a suspicious laundry van, but the man who gets out and tries the door and then slips around the back of the property is elderly (Burt Mustin, who shows up a lot on the Mark VII shows). He comes back with a bag full of goods, at which point the detectives approach him and read him his rights. He identifies himself as Charles Augustus Williams. In the bag they find a fur coat and jewelry. He comes up with stories about everything, including the pry bar concealed in his cane. As a further comic beat, a busybody neighbor threatens to call the police on all three of them.
In the interrogation room, he talks their ears off without telling them anything they need to know. In the meantime, a Florida record has been dug up on him, under the name Charles Augustus William Smith; according to that record, he's 85, though he's been inconsistently claiming to be various ages no older than 75. (Mustin was actually 83 at the time.) He admits that he's been lying about his age to keep his driver's license. He still won't confess to his current crimes, but he outright boasts about his former exploits under his old name. This gives Friday the opening that he needs, playing to Smith's ego by claiming that he can't be the thief because the work of the burglar they're looking for has been too amateur. In retaliation, Smith insists that they take him back to his place, where he proudly shows them his collection of unfenced loot.
When Gannon tries to wow a fellow detective with trivia from filler bits that he's been cutting out of the newspaper, Friday, who knows more about the subject at hand, mentions that he used to date a librarian.
_______
Dragnet 1968
On March 16 my Cozi affiliate preempted Dragnet for coverage of the St. Paddy's Day Parade, so I'm missing two episodes: "The Bank Jobs" (Oct. 5, 1967) and "The Big Neighbor" (Oct. 12, 1967). Moving along past that...
"The Big Frustration"
Originally aired October 19, 1967
Xfinity said:
Sgt. Joe Friday said:
Monday, February 11 (1963?): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Homicide Division when they witness a fellow detective, Sgt. Carl Maxwell (John Lupton), having a blow-up in Capt. Brown's office over a recent court dismissal of a case of his because of alleged undue use of force. A few days later, Friday and Gannon are asked to take over for Maxwell, who hasn't been coming in and has been seen in public drinking heavily. A pair of sergeants from Internal Affairs Division are looking into his case, and question Friday and Gannon for what they might know about his current whereabouts. The IAD men inform that that a trial board is scheduled for the following Monday, and that if Maxwell doesn't show up for it, he'll be dismissed from the force.
Friday and Gannon go to see Capt. Brown, who anticipates their requests and gives them two days' leave to track Maxwell down. The first thing they do is see Sgt. Riddle, the chaplain, who offers some expository insight regarding what Maxwell's likely going through, which he likens to combat fatigue. He also advises them that if they want to find him, they have to treat him like a suspect instead of a friend, and start at the beginning. Thus they hit the streets and start asking around. Nobody's seen him in the last few days, but the people they talk to, including his brother and sister-in-law, who are taking care of Carl's young son, describe him as going through changes lately. The sister-in-law remembers something that he recently said about wanting to visit the place where he and his deceased wife had their honeymoon. The on-leave detectives search chalet-type hotels in the Big Bear area and eventually find him in one, drinking. He vents his frustrations to them about how the rights of suspects have gone too far. Then Friday retorts with a tough-love monologue reminding Maxwell of everything he had to go through to get into the elite but underpaid position that he's in. Maxwell asks about the trial board, and the detectives leave him to think, knowing they've done all they can do, and the rest he'll have to do for himself.
The Announcer said:
"The Senior Citizen"
Originally aired October 26, 1967
Xfinity said:
Sgt. Joe Friday said:
Tuesday, March 14 (1967!): Friday and Gannon, working the day watch out of Burglary/Auto Theft Division, have been working for weeks on the case of a burglar who's been hitting as many as four homes a day. Friday eventually realizes that the pattern connecting the targets is births, deaths, and weddings causing the victims to not be home, all of which are reported in the newspaper. Armed with that knowledge, a group of detectives stakes out various likely targets dressed in casual clothes. On his stakeout, Friday spots a suspicious laundry van, but the man who gets out and tries the door and then slips around the back of the property is elderly (Burt Mustin, who shows up a lot on the Mark VII shows). He comes back with a bag full of goods, at which point the detectives approach him and read him his rights. He identifies himself as Charles Augustus Williams. In the bag they find a fur coat and jewelry. He comes up with stories about everything, including the pry bar concealed in his cane. As a further comic beat, a busybody neighbor threatens to call the police on all three of them.
In the interrogation room, he talks their ears off without telling them anything they need to know. In the meantime, a Florida record has been dug up on him, under the name Charles Augustus William Smith; according to that record, he's 85, though he's been inconsistently claiming to be various ages no older than 75. (Mustin was actually 83 at the time.) He admits that he's been lying about his age to keep his driver's license. He still won't confess to his current crimes, but he outright boasts about his former exploits under his old name. This gives Friday the opening that he needs, playing to Smith's ego by claiming that he can't be the thief because the work of the burglar they're looking for has been too amateur. In retaliation, Smith insists that they take him back to his place, where he proudly shows them his collection of unfenced loot.
The Announcer said:
When Gannon tries to wow a fellow detective with trivia from filler bits that he's been cutting out of the newspaper, Friday, who knows more about the subject at hand, mentions that he used to date a librarian.
_______
It had its surreal touches--the way the bad guys acted very congenial and familiar when they started their takeover of the Bassett home, leading Mrs. Bassett to assume they were invited guests of her husband; people dying at the flick of a lighter before the devices were explained; the woman of the quartet, who acted strange and not entirely there, but was the surgeon who implanted the devices.
She didn't really disappear, she just presumably went on with her bus trip while Linc got beat up and left behind.
It would an incorrect credit, as a number of terrible one-shots were already part of TV since the 50s, with most being unwatchable. This special was created and produced by Jack Good, who had pioneered such musical variety programing in the UK (including a Beatles special) and the U.S. rock/pop variety show, Shindig!, so this special was largely more of the same from the Jack Good playbook.
A great piece showcasing Micky's grossly underrated versatility as a singer. He completely added his oft-used (on tour) soul-influenced vocal approach to the Diamond pop, and it worked beautifully.
"I Prithee (Do Not Ask for Love)" is a far older song in the Monkees' catalog, originally produced during the sessions that would lead to their second LP, More of the Monkees, but the original, superior studio version would not see release until Missing Links Volume 2 (Rhino, 1990).
Someone is a bit bitter....
Its easy to understand the reason they participated. The Monkees--even a year past the TV series--still had a major name (and a greater media ID than they ever dreamed of), and the 50s stars were only floundering at this time. They had no accolades to stand on, and the 50s music revival was years in the future. One could say the Monkees picked up on the value of that before this period of music was given a second life through productions such as the Grease musical (1971) or American Graffiti (1973).
One of the very few classically trained musicians from 60s rock, as opposed to the endless stream of dabblers who thought they were being expansive.
The song was written with a full horn section in mind, so its absence here is felt. The concert versions were a better version, and not merged with another act (The Trinity).
Hardly.. The Beatles were in over their heads on Magical Mystery Tour, being led by self-appointed "grand thinker" Paul, and the result was an embarrassing disaster even their home country avoided like the plague. All of that "whimsical" crap should have been abandoned after the promotionals for Sgt. Peppers, but a certain someone could not resist thinking this kind of material was too good to leave alone. The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour--like the Rolling Stones' Rock n Roll Circus--proved these bands were better off in the studio and not in front of a camera beyond the more controlled periods of A Hard Day's Night and Charlie is My Darling, respectively.
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Apparently so. Nothing about counseling for the drinking and excessive use of force in those days (not to mention the death of his wife)? Just a couple of months of financial hardship to make him feel worse?
And everywhere else. He was the go-to guy for old-man characters. I think he was born old.
And they took him off to his retirement home.
And he was too square even for her.
Ah, I see.
I could only take watching a bit of the Monkee's special posted here, but for the record, Magical Mystery Tour may not have been an artistic or commercial success, however, it had two things the Monkees could never hope to duplicate in anything they produced; Beatles songs and the Beatles. Both of these things pretty much trump anything the Monkees could ever come up with because...The Monkees.
As for performance I could not possibly disagree with you more. The Stones were a great performance band, so much so that I don't feel it necessary to even compare them with the Monkees. As a performance band, the Beatles couldn't quite match the Stones, but they didn't have to, their performances had something the Stones did not; The Beatles and Beatles songs.
From the little bit of the Monkee's special I saw, I cannot imagine anyone other than children being able to get through the whole thing, and I actually liked the Monkees and their show. But honestly, they were never a real "band", they were simply four actors (some with musical talent) contracted to portray a rock band in a TV show.
They were allowed to continue that portrayal outside of the show on occasion, and for a while after the show ended.
Which still wouldn't predate "Love You To" on Revolver. Nothing recorded by the Monkees does.
It's called criticism. The Monkees are far from above it.
Seriously?
The entire then-current generation of rock/pop musicians were their accolades. The influence of those three musicians was enormous. There wouldn't have been a Beatles for the Monkees to imitate if not for them. The Monkees were acknowledging that debt in having them on the special.Regarding the excessive force, the situation they described was that he'd managed to non-lethally take out a suspect who pulled a gun on him. The judge threw out the case because he didn't feel that the officer had sufficient cause to make the arrest.
Now I'm thinking of how awesome a Joe Friday / Barbara Gordon pairing could have been. Would have been worth it just to see TREK_GOD's head explode.And he was too square even for her.
But putting them together would just make it easier to get them both on that rocket to the sun.
I'm glad that somebody tried!
I'd considered trying to rope RJ into giving us a third opinion, but I knew he'd never go for it! 
I had to spread the pain over two nights myself.
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I keep forgetting to mention that MeTV has started showing the original first-season episodes of Carol Burnett (edited down to a half hour). I saw a handful last Saturday, with some cool guests like Don Adams, Diahann Carroll, and the Smothers Brothers. The show was hilarious right out of the gate.
Well, I can give it a shot over the weekend. Maybe after a couple of bottles of Twisted Tea I'll find it amusing. 
Ah, okay. Still seems like a guy who would have benefited from some head care.
Wow, Joe Friday on Batman. I never thought of that, but it would probably be pretty cool. Kind of a May-December romance with him and Batgirl, but I can see her going for someone who reminds her of the Commissioner. Robin would comment on it, and Batman would use that as an opportunity to teach him about open-mindedness.
Hah.I'm glad that somebody tried!
Well, I can give it a shot over the weekend. Maybe after a couple of bottles of Twisted Tea I'll find it amusing.
_______
50th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening
On April 26, it was "a little help from my friends" time at Abbey Road:
_______
50th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening
On April 26, it was "a little help from my friends" time at Abbey Road:
_______
Are you accusing Friday of being an incompetent policeman?
You'll need something harder than that.Hah.
This is actually one of my favorite Beatles songs.
I didn't think of that aspect, but I guess it would be more like accusing Gordon of excellence within the context of the Batman Universe. If the two met on Batman, Friday would have to say something like, "I've heard many stories of your never-ending battle against crime. You're a tough man for a tough town." If the two met on Dragnet, it would be a different story.
Okay, a Long Island Iced Tea then. I looked at the first couple of minutes to make sure the download worked and it was already pretty painful.
All subjective. What's not up for debate is that the Magical Mystery Tour film was a total disaster even the most die-hard Beatles fans rejected. The group were out of their element and inhaling their own fumes a bit too much at this point--or rather, Paul was doing the deep breathing. I'm no fan of Elvis movies, but by comparison, even his cranked out schlock was/is more enjoyable to watch than Magical Mystery Tour. The music in MMT is no saving grace, as anyone could simply listen to the actual LP and avoid that celluloid nightmare (exactly how I've handled that for decades).
Oh, and as mentioned to Mixer, the Monkees' special was Jack Good's doing from start to finish, with the band not as involved as they were in previous productions, and it certainly shows. Good's brand of TV was not exactly innovative, and what ideas he took from the band were butchered. The Beatles do not get that break, as MMT was an all-Beatle catastrophe.
The Rolling Stones in the year in question--1968--were in terrible shape (anyone who has seen all of their NME Poll-Winners performance from May of that year can attest to that). Its so apparent that it is true that Jagger felt The Who upstaged the Stones on The Rock Roll Circus, and that's an almost universally shared belief. Of the 60s biggest bands, The Who were known was one of the most artistically formidable as a live act (and were regarded as such beyond that decade), with fans and music historians alike often debating whether the live versions were superior to the studio tracks, That was certainly not being said of the Rolling Stones in 1968. If not for the unfairly maligned Brian Jones's great slide work on "No Expectations." the Rolling Stones' set on that special would be positively unwatchable.
Same applies to Macca and the Three Stragglers.
Seriously?
You don't take the work of others as your personal credit. As individual artists, the 50s artists were far beyond their shelf date in 1969; they did not have the world kicking their doors in to hear their old hits for the millionth time, so being invited to appear on a special with a then-current, popular group with as much media presence as The Monkees was an offer they could not refuse. Again, the 50s music revival (that they capitalized on) was still a couple of years in the future and when one is living day-to-day, that might as well be a century away.
Not at all. Being Joe Friday, he would continue the sexist treatment of Barbara she was used to by everyone on Batman, so he would have thrown his wry smile, looked at Gannon--who would be in the process of rolling his eyes before asking her if she's found a good man to settle down with.
_______
55 Years Ago This Week
"I Wanna Be Your Man"
"Long Tall Sally"
"Boys"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Shout"
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
New on the chart:
"Not Fade Away," The Rolling Stones
(#48 US; #3 UK; co-written by Buddy Holly and originally recorded by The Crickets in 1957; The Crickets' version is #107 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
"Do You Love Me," The Dave Clark Five
(#11 US; #30 UK; originally a #3 hit for the Contours in 1962)
"Chapel of Love," The Dixie Cups
(#1 US the weeks of June 6 through 20, 1964; #22 UK; #279 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
Total Beatles songs on the chart: 7. Of particular note, their first US hit has left the chart.
_______
55 Years Ago This Week
The Shakespeare sketch:Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day said:
"I Wanna Be Your Man"
"Long Tall Sally"
"Boys"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Shout"
Wiki said:
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Dawn (Go Away)," The Four Seasons (13 weeks)
- "Fun, Fun, Fun," The Beach Boys (11 weeks)
- "Hippy Hippy Shake," The Swinging Blue Jeans (8 weeks)
- "I Want to Hold Your Hand," The Beatles (15 weeks)
- "Please Please Me," The Beatles (13 weeks)
- "Stay," The Four Seasons (11 weeks)
- "You Can't Do That," The Beatles (4 weeks)
New on the chart:
"Not Fade Away," The Rolling Stones
(#48 US; #3 UK; co-written by Buddy Holly and originally recorded by The Crickets in 1957; The Crickets' version is #107 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
"Do You Love Me," The Dave Clark Five
(#11 US; #30 UK; originally a #3 hit for the Contours in 1962)
"Chapel of Love," The Dixie Cups
(#1 US the weeks of June 6 through 20, 1964; #22 UK; #279 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
Total Beatles songs on the chart: 7. Of particular note, their first US hit has left the chart.
_______
Then you know that they'll be fleshing out the lyrics some before it goes final.
If it will save you undue pain and anguish, that's about all the confirmation I needed. It doesn't get substantially better or worse...it's pretty much a full broadcast hour of that. Had I been watching in 1969, I would have been one of those people I envisioned getting up to change the channel.I looked at the first couple of minutes to make sure the download worked and it was already pretty painful.
They didn't need to "take" it...the artists that they influenced happily and enthusiastically gave them that credit.
Of course it's subjective. I acknowledged that Magical Mystery Tour was considered a "failure", solely by Beatles' standards, comparing MMT with anything done by the Monkees (or just about any band of that era) is, lets face it, ludicrous, don't you think?
Yeah, I get it, "everyone says it's so, so I must be right", about this purely subjective take.TREK_GOD_1 post: 12918051 said:
Yeah, I think the Stones were a great performance band back then, though they've trailed off over the years and are now a very pale imitation of their past selves. Strictly in terms of terms of performance, I'd rank the Stones and Who as equals especially considering both bands had a similar presentation, with the charismatic front man and enigmatic lead guitarist. I preferred the Stones mainly because of the blues and r&b underpinnings of their songs.
One other thing, I know of at least two occasions where the Stones were out performed by another act on the bill, that, however, does not prove that they were a weak performance band, only that they they never shied away from live competition.
What is this thing you have for the Monkees, if I might ask? Do you really think they were, in any way, a "great band"? They consisted mainly of Dolenz' competent vocals, some catchy Boyce and Hart, and Neil Diamond songs, and the Wrecking Crew, that's pretty much it. If you do think they're great, that's your right of course, but comparing them to the Beatles and Stones (in any year)...
It sounded like a good idea, actually, but didn't come off too well.
Cool song, whoever does it.
Also a cool song, whoever does it.
Not a fave and, yep, sounds like the 50s.
It should have been a concept album, a Rock Opera, or a movie.
Yeah, I already regret saying I'd give it a try.
And, actually, with Supernatural, Orville, Twilight Zone, and Legends of Tomorrow to catch up on, plus a birthday party, I probably won't get to it this weekend.
No, because the Beatles were not the Gold Standard of 60s rock, r&b, soul and/or pop. This is a decade with a torrential flood of great albums from acts that shaped the course of popular music as much as the Beatles, if not moreso considering the broad influence of Stax records, The Who, Cream, James Brown (massive influence on several genres of music in the decade to follow), Hendrix, The Animals, the Bacharach/David penned songs, The Yardbirds (and the group they became at decade's end), Motown, and other acts that would fill another three pages to list here. The Beatles played their part, but they were not the all-things-to-all-people / end-all act, hence the reason so many acts exploded on the scene with their own voice in the 60s.
Yeah, I get it, "everyone says it's so, so I must be right", about this purely subjective take.
Jagger and Richards have moaned about their bad performance at the ill-fated Rock n Roll Circus, and if they were not the only people reaching that conclusion about the Rolling Stones, or about the strength of The Who's performance. Larger brand name does not necessarily mean the best quality. There's other music acts throughout history and a few movie franchises that consistently prove that point.
In the year in question--1968--who was saying that? The band members have gone on record as being more than dissatisfied with the band's live status at the time. After months of screwing up with drugs, legal problems and peacocking around, it was a minor miracle TSMR was even released in 1967, and the Spring/Summer '68 sessions for Beggars Banquet happened at all. While BB was a great return to the early, Jones-directed blues years, they were scattered as a concert-ready act. Again, that NME show (May, '68) is hard evidence for that judgement.
A universe of wrong there. You need to read the real history of the band (I could direct you toward the best researched books) and not repeat the sort of long disproven myths certain music rags and VH1 continue to spread.