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Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

Started by daf, June 12, 2019, 01:55:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
I have to say that 'All You Need Is Love' is my least favourite Beatles A-side. Just gibberish. The B-side has an interesting arrangement but the lyrics again are just LSD whimsy.

purlieu


Gulftastic

'All You Need Is Love' appearing in the final episode of The Prisoner cements my love of the track.

The Culture Bunker

I can admire the sentiment, but the songwriting craft that the Beatles put into their best songs is absent on this one. I think the aforementioned use in the Prisoner is the best thing about it.

famethrowa

A tremendously awful guitar solo there, wisely faded out halfway through

daf

The Amazing Blondheim, it's . . .

236.  Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)



From : 6 August – 2 September 1967
Weeks : 4
Flip side : What's The Difference
Bonus 1 : Live at Monterey
Bonus 2 : Beat Club

The Story So Far : 
QuoteScott McKenzie was born Philip Wallach Blondheim III on 10 January 1939 in Jacksonville, Florida. His family moved to Asheville, North Carolina, when he was six months old.

He grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, where he became friends with John Phillips, the son of one of his mother's friends. In the mid-1950s, he sang briefly with Tim Rose in a high school group called The Singing Strings.

Later, with Phillips, Mike Boran, and Bill Cleary, he formed a doo wop band called The Abstracts.

In New York, The Abstracts became The Smoothies and recorded two singles with Decca Records, produced by Milt Gabler - "Joanie" (b/w "Softly") released in June 1960, and "Ride, Ride, Ride" (b/w "Lonely Boy And Pretty Girl") in October 1960.

   

During his time with The Smoothies, Blondheim decided to change his name for business reasons -

Scott McKenzie : "were working at one of the last great night clubs, The Elmwood Casino in Windsor, Ontario. We were part of a variety show ... three acts, dancing girls, and the entire cast took part in elaborate, choreographed stage productions ... As you might imagine, after-show parties were common. At one of these parties I complained that nobody could understand my real name ... and pointed out that this was a definite liability in a profession that benefited from instant name recognition. Everyone started trying to come up with a new name for me. It was Jackie Curtis who said he thought I looked like a Scottie dog. Phillips came up with Laura's middle name after Jackie's suggestion. I didn't like being called 'Scottie' so everybody agreed my new name could be 'Scott McKenzie.'"

In 1961, Phillips and McKenzie met Dick Weissman and formed the folk group, The Journeymen, at the height of the folk music craze.

They recorded three albums and several singles for Capitol Records - "500 Miles" (b/w "River Come Down") released in September 1961  /  "Kumbaya" (b/w "Soft Blow The Summer Winds") in December 1961  /  "Don't Turn Around" (b/w "Hush Now Sally") in April 1962  /  "Loadin' Coal" (b/w "What'll I Do") in August 1962  /  "Rag Mama" (b/w "I Never Will Marry") in March 1963  /  and "Ja-Da" in September 1963.

   

In 1964, following the beat bomb detonated by the The Beatles in the US, The Journeymen put the fiddle in the roof, and disbanded. McKenzie and Weissman became solo performers, while Phillips formed the group The Mamas & the Papas with Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips and moved to California. McKenzie declined an opportunity to join the group -

Scott McKenzie : "I was trying to see if I could do something by myself. And I didn't think I could take that much pressure."

Several flop singles followed, including - "There Stands The Glass" (b/w "Wipe The Tears (From Your Eyes)") in September 1965 on Capitol, and "No, No, No, No, No" (b/w "I Want To Be Alone") released in December 1966 on the Epic label. Following the flops, he left New York and signed with Lou Adler's Ode Records.

In 1967, he would finally get his big break, thanks to his old friend John Phillips who wrote and co-produced the song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for McKenzie.

   

It was released as a single on 13 May 1967, and was an instant hit, reaching number 4 in the US, number 2 in Canada, and a number 1 in the UK and several other countries, selling over seven million copies globally.

 

In the wake of it's success, McKenzie's previous record label, Capitol, re-released his earlier flop single - "Look In Your Eyes" (b/w "All I Want Is You") - which was originally released in January 1965. But the public smelt a rat, and the single, once again, failed to trouble the charts.

   

McKenzie's proper follow-up was the song "Like an Old Time Movie", which Papa John Phillips also wrote, composed, and produced. Backed with "What's The Difference - Chapter II", it reached #24 in the US, but tanked at #50 in the UK in November 1967.




Both sides of the single, along with his hit Number 1 were included on his first album, The Voice of Scott McKenzie, released in December 1967.

 


His next single, "Holy Man" (b/w "What's The Difference - Chapter III") , was once again written by John Phillips. But, despite it's promising provenance from the prime Papa, it firmly flopped in March 1968.



His second album, Stained Glass Morning emerged in 1970. Despite featuring crack session musicians, including Ry Cooder, Rusty Young (of Poco), and Barry McGuire, the album failed to chart. One single was released off the album, "Going Home Again" (b/w "Take A Moment"), which also flopped.

 

Despite his own chart career going down the toilet, McKenzie had some success as a songwriter for others - writing "What About Me" that launched the career of Canadian singer Anne Murray in 1968.

With Terry Melcher, Mike Love, and John Phillips, he co-wrote "Kokomo", a 1988 US number 1 single for The Beach Boys.

By 1998, he had retired from the touring version of The Mamas and the Papas which he had joined in 1986 replacing Denny Doherty in the line up, and settled down in Los Angeles, California, until his death on 18 August 2012, at the age of 73.

The Single :
Quote"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear [Some] Flowers in Your Hair)" was written by John Phillips, and sung by Scott McKenzie.



The song was produced and released in May 1967 by John Phillips and Lou Adler, who used it to promote their Monterey International Pop Music Festival held in June of that year. Local authorities in Monterey were starting to get cold feet over the prospect of their town being overrun by hippies, so Phillips wrote the song to "smooth things over".

John Phillips played guitar on the recording and session musicians Gary L. Coleman played orchestra bells and chimes, Joe Osborn on bass, and regular Wrecking Crew thunder-stick Hal Blaine played drums.



The song became one of the best-selling singles of the 1960s in the world - staging a month long sit-in at the number one spot in the UK charts. In Ireland, the song was number one for one week, in New Zealand the song spent five weeks at the Top, and in Germany it was six weeks at Nummer Eins.

McKenzie's version of the song has been called "the unofficial anthem of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, including the Hippie, Anti-Vietnam War and Flower power movements."

Scott McKenzie : "My heart was in that song, and I didn't have to change my image. I already had a pretty loose life. I was wearing flower shirts, weird flowing robes and kaftans, and we picked flowers the day we recorded the song. One girl gave me a garland of flowers and my friends were sitting in the lotus position, meditating, while I was recording it."

Other Versions includeThe Shadows (1967)  /  Tanja Berg (1967)  /  Petula Clark (1967)  /  Julie Felix (1967)  /  Vince Hill (1967)  /  Los Larks (1967)  /  Caravelli (1967)  /  "Kukka hiuksissaan" by Lasse Mårtenson (1967)  /  Johnny Hallyday (1967)  /  Bobby Solo (1967)  /  Los Mustang (1967)  /  Merrilee Rush (1968)  /  Karel Gott (1968)  /  Roger Bennett (1968)  /  Fausto Papetti (1968)  /  Big Ben Hawaiian Band (1968)  /  Hubble Bubble (1978)  /  Tanya Tucker (1979)  /  Tracy Huang (1980)  /  Ted Hawkins (1987)  /  Olsen & Olsen (1987)  /  MonaLisa Twins (2009)  /  Janet Planet (2009)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  John Spencer (2014)  /  Steve Reynolds (2015)  /  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (2017)  /  a robot (2017)  /  heinz v.12 (2018)  /  Dave Monk (2018)

On This Day  :
Quote9 August : Anton Walbrook, Austrian and German film actor, dies aged 70 in Feldafing, Bavaria
9 August : Joe Orton, Dramatist (Prick Up Your Ears), is murdered by his partner Kenneth Halliwell aged 34
13 August : Fleetwood Mac make their live debut, appearing at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, Berkshire
15 August : UK's Marine Offences Bill outlawing pirate radio stations comes into effect
15 August : René Magritte, Belgian surrealist painter, dies aged 68
16 August : Ulrika Jonsson, TV personality, born Eva Ulrika Jonsson in Sollentuna, Sweden
19 August : Jason Starkey, son of Ringo Starr born somewhere in England
25 August : Jeff Tweedy, (Wilco), born Jeffrey Scot Tweedy in Belleville, Illinois,
25 August : The Beatles go to Wales to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
27 August : Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, dies of drug overdose at 32
1 September : Siegfried Sassoon, War poet, dies aged 80.
1 September : Steve Pemberton, (The League of Gentlemen), born Steven James Pemberton in Blackburn, Lancashire
2 September : The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates

Extra! Extra!
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Read all about it! :
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gilbertharding

I hate this one with a passion.

It's as if it were minted especially to be instant nostalgia. Only a bit worse than All You Need is Love: was there something in the water that year, fuelling the demand for On The Nose ballads about hippies?

timebug

Always hated it for the naff artificial hippy tweeness; we are all children of the sun, we love flowers etc... I am of that generation and know the true values that were being used by genuine people, this was just commercial cashing in on something that was genuinely happening in the world. Rant over,back on me head....

daf

Sick of the Knockers, it's . . .

237.  Engelbert Humperdink - The Last Waltz



From : 3 September – 7 October 1967
Weeks : 5
Flip side : That Promise

The Story So Far : 
QuoteEnglebert's easygoing style and good looks earned him a large following, particularly among women. His hardcore female fans called themselves "Humperdinckers". The Number 1 Beatle Blocker "Release Me" was succeeded by two more hit ballads: "There Goes My Everything" which reached #2 in May 1967, and his second chart Topper "The Last Waltz" in Autumn 1967, earning him a reputation as a crooner, though he disputed the description -

Engelbert : "If you are not a crooner, it's something you don't want to be called. No crooner has the range I have. I can hit notes a bank could not cash. What I am is a contemporary singer, a stylised performer."

 


In 1968, following his major successes the previous year, "Am I That Easy To Forget" (b/w "Pretty Ribbon") reached #3 in January 1968, and "A Man Without Love" (b/w "Call On Me") #2 in April 1968.

 


Freewheeling up the chart with "Les Bicyclettes De Belsize" (b/w "Three Little Words (I Love You)"), he parked at #5 in October 1968.

 

In 1969, Humperdinck's singles included "The Way It Used To Be" (b/w "A Good Thing Going") - #3 in February, the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned "I'm A Better Man (For Having Loved You)" (b/w "Cafe") reached #15 in August, and "Winter World Of Love" (b/w "Take My Heart") brought his decade to a close, frozen at the lucky #7 position in November 1969.

 


For six months in 1969–1970, Humperdinck fronted his own television series - the enigmatically titled The Engelbert Humperdinck Show for ATV in the United Kingdom, and ABC in the US. The series had originally been announced in 1967, but was not made at that time for unknown reasons.

   

In this musical variety show, the singer was joined by some of the most popular figures then active in entertainment, including Paul Anka, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Ray Charles, Four Tops, Lena Horne, Liberace, Lulu, Carmen McRae, Dusty Springfield, Spud from The Brumbeats, Jack Jones, Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick.

 

By the start of the 1970s, Humperdinck had settled into a busy schedule of recordings. His first single of the new decade, "My Marie" (b/w "Our Song (La Paloma)") reached #31 in May 1970. A number of signature songs emerged from this period, often written by noted musicians and songwriters including "We Made It Happen" written by Paul Anka, and  "Sweetheart", written by Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb, which reached #22 in the UK charts in November 1970.

Three flops followed in 1971 : "Santa Lija (Sogno d'Amore)" (b/w "Stranger Step Into My World") in January  /  "When There's No You" (b/w "Live And Just Let Live") in April  /  and "Our Love Will Rise Again" (b/w "You're The Window Of My World") in May. In September 1971 he was back in the charts at #13 with "Another Time, Another Place" (b/w "Morning").

In 1972, he starred in another television series, for BBC 1. Titled Engelbert with The Young Generation, the show ran for thirteen weeks, and featured regular guests The Goodies and Marlene Charell, and, via Lunewyre Technology, Peter Lorenzo and the Guys Now Dancers, plus all the top-level international stars of the day.

 

The next single, "Too Beautiful To Last" (b/w "A Hundred Times A Day"), was a Top 14 hit in March 1972, but the wheels were starting to come off the tracks, as his next single, "In Time" (b/w "How Does It Feel") missed the charts, as did "Only Your Love" (b/w "My Summer Song") in January 1973, and "I'm Leaving You" (b/w "Time After Time") in March 1973. "Love Is All" (b/w "Lady Of The Night") proved to be his final hit of the 70's - reaching a modest #44 in October 1973.

 

A string of flops followed - including his concept single dedicated to Le Pétomane : "Free As The Wind" (b/w "My Friend The Wind") in March 1974  and  "Precious Love" (b/w "For Ever And Ever (And Ever)") in March 1975.

By the middle of the decade, Humperdinck concentrated on selling albums and on live performances, with his style of ballads less popular on the singles charts. He developed lavish stage productions, making him a natural for Las Vegas and similar venues. He performed regularly at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas through the early and middle years of the decade, recording a live album at the venue with the Three Degrees as backing singers.

At this point Decca threw in the towel, and he signed with EMI. Released in October 1976, "After The Lovin'", backed by "Let's Remember The Good Times" - a rather decent dip into the disco puddle - was a top 10 hit in the US, but did nothing in the UK.

The chart-dodging stinkers continued with "I Believe In Miracles" (b/w "Goodbye My Friend") in May 1977  /  "Lover's Holiday" (b/w "Look At Me") in October 1977  /  and "Loving You, Losing You" (b/w "Put A Light In Your Window") in May 1978.

"It's Not Easy To Live Together" (b/w "Royal Affair") released on Epic in January 1981 brought his flops into the new decade. In June 1984 he released "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" (b/w "Between Two Fires") - to the deafening sound of chart tumbleweed.

Now signed to RCA and sporting a hideous moustache, the duet with Gloria Gaynor - "Love Is The Reason" (b/w "You Made A Believer Out Of Me") did nothing, but the follow up - "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" (b/w "Under The Man In The Moon") saw him storm back into the charts at last - for a week at the non-coveted #93 "gruel position" in March 1988.

 

The single "How Do I Stop Loving You" (b/w "On The Wings Of A Silver Bird"), released in July 1988, was his last for RCA.  "Someone To Love" (b/w "A World Without Love") emerged, like a rare gas, on Ariola in 1990.

In 1995 'Love Unchained', produced by Bebu Silvetti, peaked in the UK Top-20 album charts, marking a return to form in his home country. He also got a new lease of life from the tediously ironic 'Lounge Revival' in the mid-90s, recording "Lesbian Seagull" for the soundtrack of the film Beavis and Butt-head Do America in 1996, and releasing a dance album in 1998 - his 1968 song "Quando Quando Quando" was treated to several dance remixes, and shot him back into the UK charts at #40 in January 1999.

In 2012, Humperdinck represented the United Kingdom in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 26 May with the song, "Love Will Set You Free". Humperdinck eventually finished in 25th place out of 26, coming in second to last in the voting, with 12 points.



In May 2019, Humperdinck premiered a new song, "You", an ode to motherhood written for him by British songwriters Jon Allen and Jake Fields. As a birthday gift to his wife, Patricia, Humperdinck appeared in a music video, filmed on location at the Houdini Estate.

The Single :
Quote"The Last Waltz" was written by Barry Mason and Les Reed. It was one of Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest hits, spending five weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, from September 1967 to October 1967, and has since sold over 1.17 million copies in the United Kingdom.



The title of the song is something of a double entendre as it refers to both the narrator's first and last dances with the woman [or man!!] he loves: the first dance was the "last waltz" played at the party where the two met, and the final dance signified the end of their relationship after their romance had cooled.



In Australia, "The Last Waltz" spent nine nonconsecutive weeks at number one. In the United States, "The Last Waltz" reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and made the top ten of the easy listening chart.



Other Versions include :   The Anita Kerr Singers (1967)  / "De geniepige loeder" by The Strangers (1967)  /  "La dernière valse" by Mireille Mathieu (1967)  /  "La dernière valse" by Lucky Blondo (1967)  /  "L'ultimo valzer" by Dalida (1967)  /  "El último vals" by José Guardiola (1967)  /  "Den sista valsen" by Claes-Göran Hederström (1967)  /  Petula Clark (1968)  /  Connie Francis (1969)  /  Korda György (1970)  /  Barry Mason (1976)  /  The Mighty Diamonds (1982)  /  The Reels (1982)  /  Renée & Renato (1985)  /  Rose Marie (1988)  /  Foster & Allen (2004)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Matthias Reiter (2015)

On This Day  :
Quote3 September : Sweden begins driving on the wrong (right-hand) side of road, the massive idiots!
6 September : Macy Gray, R&B singer, born Natalie Renée McIntyre in Canton, Ohio
7 September : Toby Jones (Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones), actor, first birthday (born in 1966)
8 September : Surveyor 5 launched
9 September : The pilot episode of 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In' shown as a "sneak preview" on NBC
10 September : Gibraltar votes 12,138 to 44 to remain British & not Spanish
10 September : Surveyor 5 makes soft landing on the Moon
11 September : The Beatles' Magical Mystery Bus driven around England
11 September : Harry Connick Jr, singer, born Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana
17 September : The Who performed "My Generation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. At the climax, Keith Moon's drumkit explodes and causing Pete Townshend to go deaf in one ear.
20 September : The Queen launches British liner QE2 at Clydebank Scotland
21 September : Faith Hill, country pop singer, born Audrey Faith Perry in Ridgeland, Mississippi
26 September : Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Violin concert premieres in Moscow
28 September : Moon Unit Zappa, (Frank Zappa - Valley Girl), born in New York
28 September : Mira Sorvino, actress, born Mira Katherine Sorvino in  Manhattan, New York
30 September : BBC launches pop music radio station 'Radio 1'
2 October : Gillian Welch, singer-songwriter, born Gillian Howard Welch in New York City
3 October : Woody Guthrie, American folk singer, dies of Huntington's disease aged 55
3 October : Sir Malcolm Sargent, English conductor, dies at 72
3 October : Pinto Colvig, Disney voice actor (Goofy), dies at 75
7 October : Toni Braxton, singer, born Toni Michele Braxton in Severn, Maryland
7 October : Luke Haines, (The Auteurs), born Luke Michael Haines in Walton-on-Thames, England

Extra! Extra!
Quote                   

Read all about it! :
Quote         

kalowski

Quote from: daf on March 28, 2020, 02:00:00 PM
A sting of flops followed - including his concept single dedicated to Le Pétomane :
Lovely, daf.

The Culture Bunker

Nice that he did that single last year for his wife - I did read an interview with him recently where he said she's not been well due to Alzheimer's. Mind you, not sure it makes up for his chronic shagging around back in the day.

As for the song, err, I'll be polite as it's a weekend and just say it's not my thing. 

gilbertharding

The Last Waltz is sung by Gillingham fans at their matches. They change the words slightly (only slightly) to include a reference to 'The Gills in the Rainham End singing...",  and it ends with a couple of rounds of 'Na na na na na" to the tune of the end bit of Hey Jude.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X30kIZmiRCw

Can only find it with backing music - but it's best when it's completely freeform, just spontaneously bellowed by 1500 drink-sodden Kentish wankers for no reason.

He is also one of the few guests on Desert Island Disks to lack the self-awareness not to pick his own record.

daf

They've got Ma-a-a-a-a-ssive Chew-sets!, it's . . .

238.  Bee Gees - Massachusetts



From : 8 October – 4 November 1967
Weeks : 4
Flip side : Barker Of The U.F.O.
Bonus 1 : Top of the Pops 1967
Bonus 2 : Live 1989

The Story So Far : 
QuoteBarry Alan Crompton Gibb was born in Douglas on the Isle of Man on 1 September 1946. When he was almost two years old, he was badly scalded. His mother had just made tea which she had put on the table; he climbed up and pulled the tea pot down and got the tea all over him. He was in Nobles Hospital for about two and a half months.

Barry : "Then the gangrene set in. Because in those days, the advancement of medicine simply didn't apply to people with bad scalds, so you didn't have skin grafts, you didn't have things like that. But this was a particularly bad scald, and I think I had 20 minutes to live at some point. The incredible thing for me is that whole two years is wiped from my memory, the whole period of being in hospital. The idea of being burnt is in there somewhere, but I have no knowledge of it. I've got the scars but I have no knowledge."

Twins Robin Hugh Gibb and Maurice Ernest Gibb - who was the younger of the two by 35 minutes - were born on 22 December 1949.

In January 1955, the family moved to to Lancashire - settling in their father's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Early musical influences had come from former band leader Hugh's record collection.

Barry : "Our father brought home incredible music like the Mills Brothers, Hollywood soundtracks and operas. Mind, we'd have to endure hours of Bing Crosby as well. And there was Little Richard and Johnny Cash and rock and roll was in everyone's face."

In December 1957, the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to mime to a record in the local Gaumont cinema, but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM disc broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.

They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, The Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In May 1958, The Rattlesnakes were disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as 'Johnny Hayes'.



Barry : "I think we could see the future and somehow, some way, we were going to become famous. It was nothing to do with ego, it was instinctive."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In post-war Manchester, money was tight and Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb's parents were too busy working to keep an eye on their boys.

Barry : "The police would come to the door all the time demanding that our parents 'get these boys off the streets'. We were going to end up in borstal if our parents didn't take control over us. Mum and dad were trying to earn a living – I don't think they were aware of what we were doing."

Playing truant became the norm and there was shoplifting, petty thieving and even the odd arson attack.

Robin : "We were young tearaways. Mind, the mischief we got up to was probably tame by today's standards. As much as our mother doesn't like to hear about it today, we were flat broke. I don't mind admitting that – it was post-war Britain and people were finding their feet. I still have memories of my father counting out pennies to see if we'd make it to the end of the week. It was almost Dickensian. But we weren't aware of finances. We were too busy having fun."

Things came to a head when the police suggested to Mr and Mrs Gibb they might want to think about making a fresh start elsewhere at a time when families in Britain were being lured to Australia for a tenner.

Robin : "The policeman had three words for my dad, "The 'Ten Pound Plan'. Our behaviour and dad's inability to find an income was the reason we left. Parents were £10 and kids free. We went by ocean – 12,000 miles over five weeks."

In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy, emigrated to Redcliffe, just north-east of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. They were introduced to Brisbane radio presenter Bill Gates by speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960.

The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings, usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track. In a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates renamed them the BGs after his (Bill Gates), Bill Goode, and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief.

By 1960, they were featured singing on television shows, including a performance of "Time Is Passing By", and began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast.

   

For his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped them get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records, under the name "Bee Gees". In 1962, they were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium.

While Barry wrote songs for other Australian artists, The Bee Gees themselves released two or three Barry penned singles a year, including : "The Battle Of The Blue And The Grey" (b/w "The Three Kisses Of Love") - in March 1963  /  "Timber!" (b/w "Take Hold Of That Star") in July 1963  /  "Peace Of Mind" (b/w "Don't Say Goodbye") in February 1964  /  and  "Claustrophobia" (b/w "Could It Be") in August 1964.

Their first non-Barry songs appeared on the October 1964 single "Turn Around, Look At Me" (b/w "Theme From Jaimie McPheeters") - where they were credited as Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees for the first time.

Their next single, "House Without Windows" (b/w "And I'll Be Happy"), released in January 1965, was a return to Barry Gibb's songs, but featured a new singer on the label : 'Trevor Gordon And The Bee Gees'. It was back to 'Barry Gibb And The Bee Gees' in April 1965 for "Everyday I Have To Cry" which was backed by the Barry-penned "You Wouldn't Know".

 

A minor Australian hit in July 1965, "Wine and Women" (backed by "Follow The Wind"), led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. Two songs from the album "I Was A Lover, A Leader Of Men"  (b/w "And The Children Laughing") were released as a single in November 1965.

By 1966 Festival was on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. It was at this time that they met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin. "I Want Home" (b/w "Cherry Red") released in March 1966 was their final single for Leedon.

Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced many of the earlier Spin recordings, cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material, as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts.

Their first single for Spin was "Monday's Rain" (b/w "All Of My Life"), released in June 1966. This was followed by he song that would become their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (b/w "I Am The World"), released in Australia in September 1966, and February 1967 in the UK. The song along with other early material was collected on the 'Rare Precious and Beautiful' compilation LP released in the UK towards the arse-end of 1968.

     

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined Epstein's NEMS organization.

After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release.

Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to The Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney.



"New York Mining Disaster 1941" (b/w "I Can't See Nobody"), their second British single, was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by The Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation.



Barry : "If you sounded like the Beatles and also could write a hit single, then the hype of the machine would go into action, and your company would make sure people thought you sounded like the Beatles or thought you were the Beatles. And that sold you, attracted attention to you. It was good for us because everyone thought it was the Beatles under a different name."

This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US - peaking at #12 in the UK in May 1967.

Robin : "All the DJs on radio stations in the US picked it up immediately thinking it was the Beatles, and it was a hit on that basis. It established us in those early years. It helped our following record which was nothing like the Beatles."

   

When the Disc & Music Echo reported "widespread rumours" that this song had been written by Lennon and McCartney, Robin countered with : "Rubbish! We've always written our own songs. I've been writing since I was ten, before Lennon and McCartney were even on stage. People can say what they like. If they don't believe us, they can ask The Beatles."

   

At the request of Robert Stigwood, the band's manager, Barry and Robin Gibb wrote a soulful ballad in the style of Sam & Dave or The Rascals, for Otis Redding.

Barry : "It was for Robert. I say that unabashedly. He asked me to write a song for him, personally. It was written in New York and played to Otis but, personally, it was for Robert. He meant a great deal to me. I don't think it was a homosexual affection but a tremendous admiration for this man's abilities and gifts."

The Bee Gees recorded "To Love Somebody" at IBC Studios, London in March 1967 and released it as a single, backed with "Close Another Door", in mid-July 1967. Otis Redding died in an aeroplane crash later that year, before having a chance to record the song. The single reached the Top 20 in the US, though was less successful in the UK - stalling at a modest #41 in July 1967.




Robin : "Everyone told us what a great record they thought it was, Other groups all raved about it but for some reason people in Britain just did not seem to like it."

Barry : "I think the reason it didn't do well here was because it's a soul number, Americans loved it, but it just wasn't right for this country."

 

The parent album, Bee Gees 1st, with a cover designed by Klaus Voormann, peaked at #7 in the US and #8 in the UK.

 

Around this time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops -

Maurice : "Jimmy Savile was on it and that was amazing because we'd seen pictures of him in the Beatles fan club book, so we thought we were really there! That show had Lulu, us, the Move, and the Stones doing 'Let's Spend the Night Together'. You have to remember this was really before the superstar was invented so you were all in it together."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In September 1967 their next single, "Massachusetts", reached the Top Spot in the UK, and #11 in the US.

     

In October 1967, it was announced that the group would star in their own "TV Spectacular" for Southern TV. Titled "Cucumber Castle", named after a song on their first LP.

   

The hour-long show, loosely based on Arthurian legends, with a spoof of the Beatles appearance from "Our World", was eventually made in 1969, and featured Frankie Howerd, Eleanor Bron, and included songs from their fourth album.

 

Their next single - "World" (b/w "Sir Geoffrey Saved The World") reached #9 in the UK charts in November 1967.




On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols 'Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child".



The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The folk group The Settlers, Billie Whitelaw and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also appeared on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral.

   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In January 1968 they made a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place.

 

In February 1968 their second album, 'Horizontal' was released. It included their recent singles, as well as ventures into new territory -

Vince Melouney : "We started to experiment in Horizontal away from everything they'd previously done. Not that there was anything wrong with what they'd previously done it was terrific. They just started to experiment more with sounds and arrangements."

The album had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" also featured. The album reached #12 in the US and #16 in the UK.

Vince Melouney : "It was a band effort. We all felt that we were a part of one thing, we'd just try different things. It wasn't like it was the Gibb brothers, Colin and me. We were all in the Bee Gees together! 'Horizontal' made its way into the top 20 worldwide and helped cement the Bee Gees place as real contenders. And this was only the beginning!"

 

A non-album single followed in early 1968  -

Barry : "'Words' was written by me at Adams Row when I was staying at Robert Stigwood's place, A lot of people began to cover that song, so over the years it's become a bit like 'To Love Somebody'. I didn't know it wasn't on an album — that's strange how it used to work in those days. We used to bang singles out one after another."

Robin : "'Words' reflects a mood, It was written after an argument. Barry had been arguing with someone, I had been arguing with someone, and happened to be in the same mood. The arguments were about absolutely nothing. They were just words. That is what the song is all about; words can make you happy or words can make you sad."

The ballad "Words", (b/w "Sinking Ships"),  reached #8 in the UK in February 1968.

Barry : "I remember the session so clearly. Robin and I were in the studios at 9 o'clock in the morning, and Robin kept on falling asleep over the piano. I wanted him to write the piano part of the song and play it because I'm not much of a pianist, but he just couldn't keep his eyes open, so I ended up doing it myself."

Maurice : "We accidentally discovered the sound on 'Words'. When we were recording, after everyone had gone to lunch, I was sitting at the piano mucking about and I wrote a riff. I went upstairs and switched on the mike for the piano, and then I started playing about with the knobs in front of me. When I played the tape back, I had all these incredible compressed piano noises. Mike Claydon at IBC Studios, who engineered all our records, then said 'What the hell was that?' when he heard the piano sound. 'Come up here and listen to that sound'. It was just compression, but he didn't know what to call it then. I think he called it 'limited'. It made the piano sound like it was about 40 pianos playing at the same time and very, very thick. In 'Words' it was very beautiful but that sound on it made it sound like the LA Symphony on it. If you listen to all our records, the piano sound is on it."

   

On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle, and in March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum. The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland.

Maurice : "There were over 5,000 kids at the airport in Zurich. The entire ride to Bern, the kids were waving Union Jacks. When we got to the hotel, the police weren't there to meet us and the kids crushed the car. We were inside and the windows were all getting smashed in, and we were on the floor."




Their next single was something of a departure - 

Barry : "We've been attacked for apparently never changing our style. Well, remember that we write all our own material. We try for unusual song lyrics, but obviously we have a bias towards one particular style of song. Our single was going to be 'The Singer Sang His Song' as the A-side, but we heeded the criticism. We switched to "Jumbo", which is a distinct change of direction for us. A simple sort of idea, every kid has an imaginary pet animal, but scored differently. As it happened, a lot of people thought we were wrong to change and said they preferred 'Singer' even if it was on the same lines as earlier ones, But when we study other groups, we know the dangers of staying on one direction."

The experiment failed to yield dividends, as "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song", only reached #25 in the UK in April 1968 and was a massive #57 flop in the US.

     

Attempting to retrieve the situation, the single was swiftly designated as a double A-side, but the damage was done -

Vince Melouney : "It was always Stigwood's call. The only exception was "Jumbo" where we pushed for that. Robert wanted the other side as the A-side. When that started to go wrong, he quickly tried to make "Singer Sang" as the A-side."

The Single :
Quote"(The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts" was written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. Robin Gibb sang lead vocals on this song and it would become one of his staple songs to perform during both Bee Gees concerts and his solo appearances.



The song was written in the Regis Hotel, New York City during a tour of the United States as an antithesis to flower power anthems of the time such as "Let's Go to San Francisco" and "San Francisco" in that the protagonist had been to San Francisco to join the hippies but was now homesick. The idea of the lights having gone out in Massachusetts was to suggest that everyone had gone to San Francisco.

Barry : "There are two different memories, Robin remembers us doing it in a boat going around New York City. And I remember us checking in at the St. Regis with Robert, going to the suite, and while the bags were being brought in we were so high on being in New York, that's how 'Massachusetts' began. I think we were strumming basically the whole thing, and then I think we went on a boat round New York. I don't know if we finished it, but I think that's where the memories collide. Everybody wrote it. All three of us were there when the song was born."

The song was originally intended for Australian group The Seekers. Upon arriving in London from Australia the Bee Gees had been unsuccessful in getting the song to the group, so they recorded it themselves. The Bee Gees had never actually been to Massachusetts when they recorded this; they just liked the sound of the name.

Robin : "We have never been there but we loved the word and there is always something magic about American place names. It only works with British names if you do it as a folk song. Roger Whittaker did that with Durham Town."

"Massachusetts" was recorded on August 9, 1967 at the IBC Studios in London and finished on August 17. The final recording features an orchestral score arranged Bill Shepherd.

Barry : "We never expected him to do that. Sometimes we would sing what we would imagine the strings doing. But in this case he did that himself, and I thought it was great."

Before the release of this song, Australians Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney were facing deportation, and it appeared that they might have to leave the band as a result. On 12 August, British fans staged a protest on behalf of the musicians at the cottage of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Three days later Bee Gees fan Deirdre Meehan chained and handcuffed herself to Buckingham Palace to protest the possible deportation. Ultimately, the musicians were allowed to stay.

   

As well as the UK, the song reached No. 1 in twelve other countries, though not in the US, where it peaked at #11. It eventually became one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling over five million copies worldwide.

   

But, as the single topped the charts, triumph was tinged with tragedy when Robin was caught up in the Hither Green Train Disaster 1967 :

Robin : "This was a bittersweet victory. The day it went to number one it was Bonfire Night and I was in the Hither Green rail crash in Lewisham. Forty-nine people died and it was one of Britain's worst rail disasters. Luckily I didn't get injured. I remember sitting at the side of the carriage, watching the rain pour down, fireworks go off and blue lights of the ambulances whirring. It was like something out of a Spielberg film. I thought, at least there is one consolation, we have our first UK number one."

   

The song has a minor claim to fame in the history of British radio as it was the second record played on BBC Radio 1 - pub quiz gold!

Other Versions include :   Alton Ellis (1967)  /  "Mon village" by Vicky (1967)  /  "La plus belle chose du monde" by Claude François (1967)  /  The Casuals (1967)  /  José Guardiola (1967)  /   Ed Ames (1968)  /  Moulin Rouge (1979)  /  Insect Surfers (1994)  /  Space (1998)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Tino Reyes Trio (2016)  /  Jake Reichbart (2016)  /  Bryn Shortland (2019)

On This Day  :
Quote8 October : Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister (1945-51), dies aged 84
9 October : Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary, executed in Bolivia at 39
11 October : Yoko Ono's Half-a-Wind art exhibition opens in London
15 October : The Motherland Calls, the world's tallest statue commemorating the battle of Stalingrad completed in Volgograd, Russia,
16 October : Joan Baez and 123 other anti-draft protesters are arrested in Oakland, California
16 October : Davina McCall, British TV presenter, born Davina Lucy Pascale McCall in Wimbledon, London
17 October : "Hair" premieres on Broadway
17 October : Memorial service for Brian Epstein at New London Synagogue
17 October : USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
18 October : Soviet Venera 4 becomes 1st probe to send data back from Venus
18 October : Walt Disney's "Jungle Book" film is released
19 October : Mariner 5 makes fly-by of Venus
20 October :  Susan Tulley, actress / director, born in Albert Square, Walford, London
21 October : Tens of thousands of anti-Vietnam War protesters march on the Pentagon
23 October : "Henry, Sweet Henry" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 80 performances
26 October : Keith Urban, New Zealand-Australian singer, born Keith Lionel Urban in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand
27 October : Expo 67 closes in Montreal, Canada
27 October : Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots), born Scott Richard Weiland in San Jose, California
28 October : Julia Roberts, actress, born Julia Fiona Roberts in Smyrna, Georgia, USA
29 October : Rufus Sewell, actor, born Rufus Frederik Sewell in Twickenham, London
31 October : Vanilla Ice, rapper, born Robert Matthew Van Winkle in Dallas, Texas
1 November : Tina Arena, singer, born Filippina Lydia Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
3 November : Steven Wilson, (Porcupine Tree), born Steven John Wilson in Kingston upon Thames, London

Extra! Extra!
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Read all about it! :
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famethrowa

How's that B-side! Jaunty weirdness.

I just don't get how anyone could think New York 1941 could be by the Beatles in 1967, after they'd just put out Revolver? I guess if you had 2-part harmony and a cello, people were easily fooled back then.

DrGreggles

Quote from: daf on April 05, 2020, 02:00:00 PM
Bee Gees - Massachusetts

We had a charity Stars In Their Eyes a few years ago, and my version of Massachusetts was deemed not as good as Tom singing Prince Charming as Adam Ant.
Still, a 2nd place finish wasn't bad. Fucking general public...

Maybe they took offence at the big comedy teeth.

The Culture Bunker

Bee Gees are a band I've not got into at all, in any of their various periods. There's a couple of songs, 'To Love Somebody' and 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?', where I can appreciate it's a great song, but I prefer it sung by Nina Simone or Al Green.

I do like this number a hell of a lot more than the disco stuff, though.

purlieu

Last Waltz... hmm, I'll just stick to Please Release Me, I think.

Massechusetts... not my favourite early Bee Gees song, really. The debut album has some tiresome Beatles homages and a couple of sub-Moody Blues numbers, but also a selection of decent psych-pop. This is fucking dreary, though.

daf

Build Me Buttock Up!, it's . . .

239.  The Foundations - Baby Now That I've Found You



From :  5 – 18 November 1967
Weeks : 2
Flip side : Come On Back To Me
Bonus : Top of the Pops

The Story So Far : 
QuoteThe Foundations were a British soul band formed in Bayswater, London, in January 1967. They drew much interest due to the size and structure of the group - Not only were there eight of the buggers, but they featured a diverse ethnic mix and a wide range of ages and musical backgrounds.

The youngest was London born drummer Tim Harris, who, at 18, was barely out of school, while the oldest member of the group was 38 year old Mike Elliott. Jamaican-born Elliott had played in various jazz and rock and roll bands including Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, while fellow Jamaican saxophonist Pat Burke was from the London Music Conservatorium. Dominican-born trombonist Eric Allandale who had previously played with Edmundo Ros, completed the West Indian sourced brass section.

Born in Sri Lanka, Tony Gomesz, the keyboard player, was a former clerk, while bassist Peter Macbeth was a former teacher. Like Macbeth, fellow Londoner Alan Warner, the guitarist, was a member of The Ramong Sound the original group that eventually became The Foundations, along with co-vocalists Raymond Morrison and Trinidadian Clem Curtis who had been an interior decorator and professional boxer. Following the name-change and Morrison's departure, Curtis took over as the main vocalist.

   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

While managing their own basement club called the Butterfly Club, they played music nightly, and handled the cooking and cleaning. Sometimes they barely made enough money to pay the rent, let alone feed themselves. At times, they lived off the leftovers and a couple of pounds of rice.

They were discovered by Ron Fairway and Barry Class, who became their managers and secured them a deal with delicious Pye Records. The songwriter Tony Macaulay came to hear them play, he was suffering from what he described as the worst hangover of his life. The band was playing so loud he could not judge how good they were, but he decided to give them a chance.

   

When their first single, "Baby, Now That I've Found You", was originally released in August 1967, it went nowhere. A few months later, the BBC's newly founded pop music station Radio 1 were looking to avoid any records being played by the pirate radio stations, so looked back at some recent releases that the pirate stations had missed. "Baby, Now That I've Found You" was one of them. The single then took off and by November was number one in the UK Singles Chart.

 

Not long after this, Fairway was pushed out, and his partner, Barry Class, twirling two moustaches, remained as sole manager of the group. Fairway later attempted to sue the band, alleging that he was wrongfully dismissed, though the band said that he had resigned of his own accord. Fairway later leaked a story to the media saying that the Foundations had broken up, which only served to keep the Foundations name in the news headlines - Bah! Foiled again!

Their second single, "Back On My Feet Again" (b/w "I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving") reached #18 in January 1968.

   

In March 1968, the song "It's All Right" was released on an EP along with songs from the first two singles.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After the release of their second single, tensions developed between the band and their songwriter/producer, Tony Macaulay. He would not allow them to record any of their own songs. In an interview, the band's organ player, Tony Gomesz, told the NME that he, Peter MacBeth, and Eric Allandale had some ideas that they wanted to put together.

Clem Curtis : "Tony Macaulay was very talented, but could be difficult to get on with. When we asked to record some of our own material – just as B sides, we weren't after the A side – he called us 'ungrateful' and stormed out of the studio."

The group felt that Macaulay had reined in their "real" sound, making them seem more pop-oriented than they were.

Tony Macaulay : "I was never close to the Foundations. I couldn't stand them, and they hated me! But the body of work we recorded was excellent."

A third single, "Any Old Time You're Lonely And Sad" (b/w "We Are Happy People") flopped at #48 in May 1968.

     

Original vocalist Clem Curtis left in 1968, because he felt that a couple of the band's members were taking it a bit too easy, thinking that because they had now had a hit, they did not have to put in as much effort as they had previously. Saxophonist Mike Elliott also left around this time and was never replaced.

Curtis hung around and helped them find a new singer. After auditioning 200 singers Colin Young from Barbados was chosen to front the band. Curtis moved to the United States for a solo career on the club circuit, encouraged by the likes of Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave, playing Las Vegas with The Righteous Brothers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With new lead singer in place, the band had two more big hits : "Build Me Up Buttercup" penned by Tony McCauley and Manfred Mann vocalist Mike D'Abo, backed with "New Direction" - which was written by Gomesz, McBeth & Warner from the band, reached #2 in November 1968. In the US, while it went to #3 on the Billboard chart, it claimed the Top Spot on the Cashbox chart.

 


The next single, "In The Bad, Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me)" (b/w "Give Me Love") reached #8 in March 1969.



At the height of their popularity, the Foundations management were in negotiations with a UK TV company for a television series that would star members of the band. They had turned down a number of offers to appear in films because of script unsuitability. Fusspots!

After a successful run of hits, the Foundations began to wobble as a Bill Graham-sponsored tour to support The Temptations at the newly opened Copacabana club ended up in disaster, and the band came back to the UK in low spirits. Bassist Peter Macbeth left the band to join the group Bubastis, and was replaced by Steve Bingham.

Eshewing [bless you!] Tony Macaulay, their final chart entry was the band-written "Born To Live, Born To Die" (b/w "Why Did You Cry") which scraped in under the wire at #46 in September 1969. The follow up, "Baby, I Couldn't See" (b/w "Penny Sir"), flopped in November 1969.

 

Around early December 1969 the band split from their manager Barry Class, and a new bass player Tony Collinge joined the band. Jim Dawson who was formerly their agent and Mike Dolan took over the group's affairs.

"My Little Chickadee" (b/w "Soloman Grundy"), a US only single, barely made the Top 100. Another member joined the band in 1970 - Paul Lockey, who had been in Band of Joy with Rubber Plant, briefly landed on the exploding bass player's stool.

The title song to the Oliver Reed and Hayley Mills film "Take A Girl Like You" was released as a single in February 1970, and "I'm Gonna Be A Rich Man" (b/w "In The Beginning") in June 1970. After the single "Stoney Ground" stiffed in November 1971, The Foundations finally crumbled, and they split soon after.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

By the mid-70s, Clem Curtis had returned to the UK, and formed a new version of the group. Meanwhile, there was also another Foundations line-up that was led by Colin Young who were on the road at the same time, playing basically the same material. This eventually led to court action which resulted in Curtis being allowed to bill his group as "The Foundations", and Young's band as "The New Foundations".

In February 1975 New Foundations Featuring Colin Young released the single "Something For My Baby" (b/w "I Need Your Love"). Not to be outdone, Clem Curtis And The Foundations released "Make A Wish" (b/w "Amanda") in May 1976, and "Sweet Happiness" (b/w "Lady Luck") in December 1976. Needless to say, neither single set the charts alight, and both returned to the sticky carpets of the 60s nostalgia cabaret circuit.

Further singles from Curtis' The Foundations, included "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love" in April 1977, and "Closer To Loving You" (b/w "Change My Life") in May 1978.

 

In 1984, Clem Curtis And The Foundations released "Broadway", and in 1989, jumping on the latest bandwagon, one of their old songs - "Baby Now That I've Found You (1989 Re Mix)" - was "treated" to the inevitable shit remix, and promptly disappeared down the chart drain.

Clem Curtis died from lung cancer on 27 March 2017 aged 76.

The Single :
Quote"Baby, Now That I've Found You" was written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod. Part of the song was written in the same bar of a Soho tavern where Karl Marx is supposed to have written Das Kapital.



In 1967, The Foundations released it as their début single. After receiving airplay on the newly-launched BBC Radio 1, it took off and by November it was number one in the British charts - becoming the first multi-racial group to have a number one hit in the UK in the 1960s. It was also a number 1 in Canada, and a Top 11 hit in the US.

   

Another version of the song was recorded by The Foundations in 1968 that featured Colin Young, Clem Curtis' replacement. This was released on a Marble Arch album that featured newer stereo versions of their previous hits.

Other Versions include :   Alton Ellis (1967)  /  "Pourquoi" by Claude François (1967)  /  "Baby, hoy que por fin has vuelto" by Tony Ronald (1967)  /  "Baby è un'abitudine" by I Ribelli (1968)  /  Lana Cantrell (1968)  /  Paul Jones (1969)  /  Vicki Sue Robinson (1975)  /  Donny & Marie (1978)  /  Riki Sorsa (1984)  /  Any Trouble (1984)  /  Alison Krauss (1995)  /  Lumpy (2003)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Music Travel Love (2019)

On This Day  :
Quote5 November : ATS-3 launched by US to take first pictures of full Earth disc
5 November : The Hither Green rail crash kills 49 people. The survivors include Bee Gee Robin Gibb.
7 November : Sharleen Spiteri, (Texas), born Sharleen Eugene Spiteri in Glasgow, Scotland
7 November : David Guetta, DJ and record producer, born Pierre David Guetta in Paris, France
9 November : Surveyor 6; makes soft landing on Moon
9 November : First unmanned Saturn V rocket is launched on its first successful test flight into Earth orbit
15 November : Letitia Dean, actress (EastEnders), born Letitia Jane Dean in Albert Square, Walford, East London

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :
Quote                 

The Culture Bunker

It's a song that you can tell is written by an old pro, but the band give it plenty of gumption to make it their own. The "spent my lifetime looking for somebody..." bit is particularly effective. 


purlieu


Johnboy

Love this one, I used to think it was early '70s, quite modern sounding for 1967

purlieu

Agreed, there's definitely a punch to it that I associate more with the '70s.

The Culture Bunker

Not sure I hear the 70s vibe - seems to me very much a well-made stab at the Stax sound, such as Sam and Dave. 70s soul, to my ears, verged on being more smooth, O'Jays, Detroit Spinners, that kind of thing. But it's all a matter of opinion of course!

Just put it on again while I typed this, and it doesn't have fly by. No flab on it at all.

Durance Vile

There's a great TOTP clip of that where one of them is singing backing vocals hideously out of tune. Great song, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzBGdGpdy3M

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Durance Vile on April 08, 2020, 09:43:46 PM
There's a great TOTP clip of that where one of them is singing backing vocals hideously out of tune. Great song, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzBGdGpdy3M
I find that incredibly funny mainly because the chap I assume you mean pretty much sounds like me singing.

Which, given my Dad is actually a good singer, raises some worrying questions, especially if it turns out Mr Out of Tune is the bassist...

daf

Quote from: Durance Vile on April 08, 2020, 09:43:46 PM
There's a great TOTP clip of that where one of them is singing backing vocals hideously out of tune.

Not only the backing vocals - old Clem Curtis cracks a few squeakers on there too.

Still, nice to hear a live vocal on 'The Pops' - as most of the time they'd have 'disc girl' Samantha Juste brazenly plonking the needle on the actual record for the groups to mime along to!

Durance Vile

Talking of backing singers, here are the Valentines not leaving a dry seat in the house on Australian TV with Build Me Up Buttercup, featuring a very nattily dressed Bon Scott.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ-45XG7n4k


daf

Wearing a Long Bald Johnnie, it's . . .

240.  Long John Baldry - Let The Heartaches Begin



From : 19 November – 2 December 1967
Weeks : 2
Flip side : Annabella (Who Flies To Me When She's Lonely)
Bonus 1 : Top of the Pops
Bonus 2 : Beat Club

The Story So Far : 
QuoteLong John Baldry was born John William Baldry on 12 January 1941 at East Haddon Hall, East Haddon, Northamptonshire, which was serving as a makeshift wartime maternity ward. His early life was spent in Edgware, Middlesex where he attended Camrose Primary School until the age of 11. Baldry was tall even as a boy which resulted in the nickname "Long John", eventually growing to the lofty peak of 6 feet 7 inches.

Long John Baldry : "I suppose that my interest in blues music really began when I was in school in the early fifties. At that time, there wasn't that much recorded material available to listen to. The few jazz 78s were like gold then. But in France the Disques Vogue label was releasing records by people like Big Bill Broonzy, who was my first original influence, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sidney Bechet - people like that. I'd had a banjo when I was twelve, and a little later my father bought me a guitar made especially by Grimshaw in London. I still have it - it's over fifteen years old, but it's still my favorite. I learned to play a little bit, and then got mixed up in the young bohemian society in London, about 1955 or 1956. I suppose they're like the hippie society now, except that we were much more of a minority. We were playing around the coffee-houses in London, and in the streets - up and down theatre queues, busking. A lot of people used to make a point of listening to us, throwing quite a bit of money into the hat."

Baldry appeared quite regularly in the early 1960s in the Gyre & Gimble coffee lounge, near Charing Cross railway station, and at the Brownsville R. & B. Club, Manor House, London, also "Klooks Kleek", Railway Hotel, West Hampstead. He appeared weekly for some years at Eel Pie Island on the Thames at Twickenham and also appeared at the Station Hotel in Richmond, one of the Rolling Stones' earliest venues.

Long John Baldry : "I was totally in love with the whole thing - the Blues culture, black American culture. After a while we started finding our own identity. It developed into our own style so in the end they started calling them British Blues and I suppose I was one of the leading a lights of that movement in the early to mid sixties."

In the early 1960s, he sang with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, with whom he recorded the first British blues album in 1962, 'R&B from the Marquee'. At various stages, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts were members of this band.

Long John Baldry : "I think the thing that impressed people the most about Alex Korner, about Cyril Davies and about Ken Colyer and Chris Barber was their obvious and deeply felt love of the Blues and jazz music in general; when you find that kind of emotion in people you can't ignore it, you feel like you want to join in on what they're doing and what they're thinking, what they're feeling and wherever they're going on their journey. I think that's how Alexis touched me, certainly touched a lot of the people like Mick and Brian and Keith from the Stones and many, many other people. It was that that pioneering spirit. I think maybe it set the world ablaze - our little corner of the world back in, in the early 60's."

   

When The Rolling Stones made their debut at the Marquee Club in July 1962, Baldry put together a group to support them. Later, Baldry was the announcer introducing the Stones on their US-only live album, Got Live If You Want It!, in 1966.

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In 1963, Baldry joined the Cyril Davies R&B All Stars with Nicky Hopkins playing piano. After contracting pleurisy in 1963, Davies began to drink heavily to assuage the pain while undergoing a heavy touring schedule. He died in January 1964, after collapsing during an engagement at a night club on Eel Pie Island.

 

Long John Baldry : "That was an interesting band - for a time it had Jimmy Page on guitar. He was only fifteen, and only came in for a little while, because he was more interested in going to art school. I had come back from Germany on January 7, 1963. We worked quite a bit and even had our own TV program. On January 7, 1964, Cyril died; very, very suddenly. I took the band over, and brought Rod Stewart in as vocalist."

Following the death of Cyril Davies, the group became Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men featuring Rod Stewart on vocals and Geoff Bradford on guitar. Stewart was recruited when Baldry heard him busking a Muddy Waters song at Twickenham Station after Stewart had been to a Baldry gig at Eel Pie Island. 

Long John Baldry : "I had heard Rod before, playing harmonica, but never singing. But I "discovered" him, at the Twickenham railroad station, waiting for a train. Roddy was sitting on the platform, singing. He rather impressed me, and so I asked him how he'd fancy a gig. So Rod came in as vocalist."

   

Baldry became friendly with Paul McCartney after a show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in the early 1960s, leading to an invitation to sing on the TV special, Around The Beatles in May 1964. In the special, Baldry performs "Got My Mojo Workin'" and a medley of songs with members of The Vernons Girls trio; in the latter, the Beatles are shown singing along in the audience.

   

In June 1964, with The Hoochie Coochie Men, he released the single "You'll Be Mine" backed with "Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air" which also featured an uncredited Rod Stewart sharing the vocal chores.

Long John Baldry : "The Hoochie Coochie Men were the band of choice that everyone wanted to play with. Much has been made of Sonny Boy playing with the Yardbirds, but he musically disliked them. Everyone's favourite band was mine, with the result we went on the road with Jimmy Witherspoon, Hubert Sumlin, Howlin Wolf, Little Walter ... the list goes on."

   

Two solo singles followed : the spog-based concept single, "I'm On To You Baby" (b/w "Goodbye Baby") in February 1965, and "How Long Will It Last" (b/w "House Next Door") in October 1965.

In November 1965, he released his first LP Long John's Blues' with The Hoochie Coochie Men. Four selections were featured on an EP, including : "Dimples"  /  "Hoochie Coochie Man"  /  "My Babe"  /  "Times Are Getting Tougher". The album was later released in the US in 1971 with a different cover.

 

In 1965, the Hoochie Coochie Men became Steampacket with Baldry and Rod Stewart as male vocalists, Julie Driscoll as the female vocalist and Brian Auger on Hammond organ.



In 1966, he released three solo singles on United Artists - "Unseen Hands" (b/w "Turn On Your Lovelight") in February  /  "The Drifter" in June  /  and "Cuckoo" (b/w "Bring My Baby Back To Me") in November 1966.




In 1960, following a stint performing with with The Corvettes, organist Reginald Dwight – then aged 13 – and his neighbour, singer and guitarist Stewart "Stu" Brown, formed a new group, Bluesology, with Rex Bishop on bass, and Mick Inkpen on drums. By 1962 they had begun playing local pubs, and in 1963, they won a regular weekly slot at the Establishment Club in London, playing tunes by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Witherspoon and Memphis Slim, among others.

They were signed by Fontana Records, and recorded their first single, Dwight's song "Come Back Baby", in July 1965. In November 1965, they released a second single, "Mr. Frantic", again written and sung by Dwight, and again unsuccessful.

In September 1966, after Steampacket broke up, Baldry invited Bluesology to be his backing band. Only Dwight and Brown agreed, thus forming with Baldry a new version of Bluesology, along with Fred Gandy (bass), Pete Gavin (drums), Neil Hubbard (guitar), Elton Dean (sax), Marc Charig (cornet), and Alan Walker (vocals), and, for a brief spell, singer Marsha Hunt.

Dwight, when he began to record as a solo artist, adopted the name Elton John, his first name from Elton Dean and his surname from John Baldry.

 

Long John Baldry : "All the musicians that I've ever worked with have been of a very good quality. I feel proud of my judgement in all these things. I rarely fail to find good players. And of course Reg was one of them. Although I remember in the days pre-decent pianos, he made do with that awful Vox Continental thing he had, sprayed a horrid tangerine, metallic orange, and it sounded more like a fart machine than an organ. At that particular time, he used to like to work at 8am, which is kind of a little early for me, but nevertheless we made some good music together. Maybe he doesn't record that way any more. Conversely, Rod Stewart for many years could only record at 3am. So it was odd making records with them, arh!! Two different sets of disciplines." 

His second album 'Looking at Long John', released in 1966, saw him drifting away from hard blues and into soft ballads -

Long John Baldry : "I wanted to record with a big backing and strings and do new or little-known numbers, but EMI thought the LP should contain well-known numbers. Their marketing department said when people buy an LP they look at the songs on it before they buy it. They're probably right. When I buy an LP I buy it for the artiste though."

   

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Now signed to delicious Pye records, he recorded a pop song "Let the Heartaches Begin" that went to number one in Britain in November 1967.

     

Baldry was still touring, doing gigs with Bluesology, but the band refused to back his rendition of "Let the Heartaches Begin", and left the stage while he performed to a backing-tape played on a large Revox tape-recorder. Aw, diddums!

       

Cashing in, his old record company, United Artists, rushed out a single in January 1968, "Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart" (b/w "Let Him Go (And Let Me Love You)" - however, the single failed to impress the public and did not chart.




His proper follow up, on Pye, "Hold Back The Daybreak" (b/w "Since I Lost You Baby") did no better, flopping in February 1968. But his next single "When The Sun Comes Shining Thru'" (b/w "Wise To The Ways Of The World") finally got him back in the chart - peaking at #29 in September 1968.

   

As Baldry's music drifted more towards the cabaret market, Dwight became disenchanted with the band, and so simultaneously began to develop songwriting skills in collaboration with Bernie Taupin whilst working as a session musician. Dwight, Brown and Dean all quit Bluesology in late 1967, and, following more line-up changes, the band split for good the following year.

Following the departure of Bluesology, Baldry was left without a backup band. Attending a show in the Mecca at Shaftesbury Avenue, he saw a five-piece harmony group from Plymouth called Chimera who had recently turned professional. He approached them after their set and said how impressed he was by their vocal harmonies and that they would be ideal to back him on the cabaret circuit he was currently embarked on. Job done!

In October 1968, "Mexico" (b/w "We're Together"), which was the theme of the UK Olympic team that year, reached #15 in the charts, partly thanks to the exposure it gained as the theme tune to ITV's television coverage :

Long John Baldry : "I think that's what finally drove me over the edge in the end. It was a tune with overkill. It was on television so many times a day that damn thing. And again, Macaulay and Macleod probably made a fortune from it. I did alright. But to be actually beleaguered with it so much every day, to the point where you scream arrrghh, no more, I can't stand it. I'm sure that's not how the public reacted to it, but I couldn't take any more of it. But it was a successful record, and I suppose we shouldn't knock success. It had actually been written specifically for that Olympics tournament in 1968. The BBC turned it down, they didn't want it. But ITV News said they'd take it. And they ran it to death."

 

His final hit was "It's Too Late Now" (b/w "The Long And Lonely Night"), which reached #21 in February 1969. His second single of 1969, "Wait For Me" (b/w "Don't Pity Me"), was released in September, and failed to chart. Further flops included : "Well I Did" (b/w "Setting Fire To The Tail Of A Fox"), and "When The War Is Over" (b/w "Where Are My Eyes?") in March and November 1970.

 

In 1971, Elton John and Rod Stewart each produced one side of It Ain't Easy which became Baldry's most popular album and made the top 100 of the US album chart. The album featured "Don't Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll" which became his most successful song in the US, plus the Elton John & Bernie Taupin penned single "Rock Me When He's Gone" (b/w "Flying" - written by Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood & Ronnie "Plonk" Lane) which flopped in August 1971.

 

Stewart and John would again co-produce his 1972 album 'Everything Stops For Tea' which also made the lower reaches of the US album charts, and featured more flop singles : "Iko Iko" (b/w "Mother Ain't Dead") in April, and "Everything Stops For Tea" (b/w "Hambone") in October 1972.



Two singles were released in 1973 : "Let Me Pass" (b/w "Let's Go") and with Lisa Strike, "She" (b/w "Song For Martin Luther King") in August 1973, and as John Baldry - Barracuda, he released "Crazy Lady" (b/w "End Of Another Day") in October 1974.

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Baldry had mental health problems and in 1975 was institutionalised for a brief time in a "Funny Farm".

He claimed to be the last person to see singer Marc Bolan before Bolan's death on 16 September 1977, having conducted an interview with the fellow singer for an American production company just before Bolan was killed in a car accident.

Baldry was openly gay during the early 1960s, at least amongst his friends and industry peers. However, he did not make a formal public acknowledgement of this until the 1970s—possibly because until 1967 in Britain, male homosexuality was still a criminal offence that could lead to forced medication and/or gaol time. Baldry had a brief relationship with lead-guitarist of The Kinks, Dave Davies.

In 1968, Elton John tried to commit suicide after relationship problems with a woman, Linda Woodrow. His lyricist Bernie Taupin and Baldry found him, and Baldry talked him out of marrying her. The song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was about the experience. The name "Sugar Bear" in the song is a reference to Baldry.

In 1978 his then-upcoming album "Baldry's Out" announced his formal coming out, and he addressed sexuality problems with a cover of Canadian songwriter Bill Amesbury's "A Thrill's a Thrill".

 

After time in New York City and Los Angeles in 1978, Baldry settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became a Canadian citizen. He continued to make records there, and do voiceover work. Two of his best-known voice roles were as Dr. Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and as KOMPLEX in Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars.

In 1979, he recorded a version of The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" with Seattle singer Kathi McDonald who had became part of the Long John Baldry Band in 1976. The song was a No. 2 hit in Australia in 1980.

Baldry died on 21 July 2005 at the age of 64, in Vancouver General Hospital, of a severe chest infection. He was survived by his partner, Felix "Oz" Rexach,  his brother, Roger, and sister, Margaret.

The Single :
Quote"Let the Heartaches Begin" was the second of two consecutive UK number one hits for the writing partnership of Tony Macaulay and John Macleod, (the first being "Baby Now That I've Found You" by The Foundations). The song was performed by British singer Long John Baldry, and was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in November 1967 where it stayed for two weeks. It also charted at #2 in the Republic of Ireland, but only reached #88 in the United States.

Tony Macaulay : "Long John Baldry sings it extraordinarily well, thanks to three-quarters of a bottle of Courvoisier."



Long John Baldry : "It was Paul Jones and The Manfreds. They said 'unless you do that song you can't come on the tour. We want only hits.' But it is amazing, because it is a song people still remember very much and they enjoy."

 

However, pop success with a mainstream pop ballad had it's drawbacks -

Long John Baldry : "I didn't like the direction it took my career into, which meant the Northern supper clubs in England. England's cheap answers to Las Vegas. I just literally fled, escaped this country. Like most of my friends, I fled England. But my reason was not because of taxation, it was to escape that song!"

Other Versions include :   Joe Brown (1968)  /  "Du var en drøm" by Johnny Reimar (1968)  /  "Wenn die Sehnsucht beginnt" by Howard Carpendale (1969)  /  "Olen yksin" by Eero Ranisen (1969)  /  The Foundations (1969)  /  Joe Longthorne (1989)  /  Gene Pitney (1990)  /  Bobby Vinton (1992)  /  Midge Ure (2008)  /  Michael Ball (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Joyce Fleming (2018)  /  David Snell (2019)

On This Day  :
Quote22 November : Boris Becker, Wimbledon champion tennis player, born Boris Franz Becke in Leimen, Germany
25 November : "The Apple Tree" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 463 performances
27 November : French President Charles de Gaulle blocks British entry to the European Common Market for the second time.
27 November : Capitol release The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour double EP as a full album in the United States.
28 November : 1st radio pulsars detected by Jocelyn Bell Burnell an Antony Hewish at Cambridge University
29  November : Ten days after he had made the decision to devalue the British pound, Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan resigns.
30 November : People's Democratic Republic of Yemen declares independence from the UK
1 December : The Jimi Hendrix Experience released its second album, Axis: Bold as Love.
2 December : Full-time colour television programming began in the UK, with it's entire evening lineup in colour.
2 December : Malaysia became the first nation to introduce a trapezoidal postage stamp.

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The Culture Bunker

I never knew he went into voice work - consider that a "fuck my hat!" moment.