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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

machotrouts

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE STILL HAVE 15 YEARS TO WAIT FOR ELVIS TO SHITE HIMSELF TO DEATH.

daf

Joe Meek shall inherit the Stars, it's . . .

141.  The Tornados - Telstar



From : 30 September – 3 November 1962
Weeks : 5
Flip side : Jungle Fever
bonus : Scopitone film

QuoteThe Tornados were formed in 1961 as a session band for Joe Meek, although the name did not come until early 1962. In 1961 they provided the instrumentals for the film short The Johnny Leyton Touch, including a jazzed up version of 'Taboo', originally by Margarita Lecuona.

From January 1962 to August 1963, The Tornados were the backing band for Billy Fury (as well as recording and performing as an act in their own right).

Their first single, "Love and Fury"/ b/w "Popeye Twist" was released on Decca in March 1962, but it was with their second, 'Telstar' that they had their biggest success - rocketing to #1 in the Autumn of 1962, and orbiting the Popisphere for five solid space-weeks in the UK, and one week in the US, before spectacularly burning up on it's re-entry down the space-charts.

"Globetrotter" / b/w "Locomotion With Me" (a UK #5) followed in January 1963, and for a time The Tornados were considered serious rivals to The Shadows. 

The Tornados made a scopitone film (an early form of music video) for "Telstar" and another for their third (#17) chart hit "Robot" (b/w "Life On Venus" ) featuring members of the group walking around a woodland dressed in appropriate headgear with their guitars, flirting with various young women and being finally arrested by policemen after lighting a campfire.

"The Ice Cream Man" (b/w "Scales of Justice") was a UK Number 18 hit in May 1963, but pop instrumentals began to lose popularity with British audiences during the course of 1963 as the "Mersey Sound", most notably The Beatles, became more and more popular.

In the summer of 1963 Joe Meek induced The Tornados' bassist Heinz to start a solo career, as The Tornados' chart success as an instrumental outfit waned, and from that point onwards The Tornados began to fall apart. Rhythm guitarist George Bellamy, (the father of 'Muse' front man Matthew Bellamy), left in 1963 when it became necessary to cease touring because of problems with his lower spine. 

Though "Dragonfly" was their final chart placing at #41 in September 1963, they continued to release a string of singles in 1964, including : "Joystick"  (b/w "Hot Pot")  /  "Monte Carlo" (b/w "Blue, Blue Beat")  / and "Exodus" (b/w "Blackpool Rock")

However, by 1965 none of the original lineup remained, but the singles continued, including : "Granada" (b/w "Ragunboneman")   /  "Early Bird"  (b/w "Stomping Thru The Rye")  /   "Stingray" (b/w "Aqua Marina") / "Pop-Art Goes Mozart" (b/w "Too Much In Love To Hear") / and "Is That A Ship I Hear?"

The B-side of the final single that the group released, in 1966, "Do You Come Here Often?", is considered to be the first openly "gay" pop record release by a UK major label. It started off as a standard organ-inspired instrumental, but Joe Meek decided that the organ playing was a little too jazzy for the style of the group. To remedy this, around two-thirds in, a casual conversation between what appears to be two gay men (Dave Watts playing keyboards and Robb Huxley playing guitar) was overdubbed.

After drummer and bandleader Clem Cattini left The Tornados in 1965, he became a successful session musician, playing on recording sessions for other artists, and was featured in Cliff Richard's backing bands. He holds the record for appearing the most times on UK #1 singles.

They re-formed as The New Tornados in the early 1970s as the backing group for Marty Wilde, Billy Fury and others on a year-long UK Rock n Roll Tour. They continued for another few years with lead guitarist Tony Cowell and drummer Jon Werrell touring with original members Norman Hale and Heinz Burt, plus Carl Simmons. The group was often part of a '60s package with other artists, including Wee Willie Harris and Screaming Lord Sutch.

QuoteJoe Meek was born Robert George Meek at 1 Market Square, Newent, Gloucestershire on 5 April 1929. He developed an interest in electronics and performance art at a very early age, filling his parents' garden shed with begged and borrowed electronic components, building circuits, radios and what is believed to be the region's first working television.

During his national service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a radar technician which increased his interest in electronics and outer space. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.

He left the electricity board to work as an audio engineer for a leading independent radio production company which made programmes for Radio Luxembourg, and made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson's Music for Lonely Lovers. His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton jazz single "Bad Penny Blues" when, contrary to Lyttelton's wishes, Meek modified the sound of the piano and compressed the sound to a greater than normal extent. The record became a hit.

In January 1960, together with William Barrington-Coupe, Meek founded Triumph Records. At the time Barrington-Coupe was working at SAGA records in Empire Yard, Holloway Road for Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and it was the Major who provided the finance. The label very nearly had a No.1 hit with Meek's production of "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox. Cox was one of the featured singers on Jack Good's TV music show Boy Meets Girl and the song was given massive promotion. As an independent label, Triumph was dependent on small pressing plants, which were unable to meet the demand for product. The record made a respectable appearance in the Top Ten, but it demonstrated that Meek needed the distribution network of the major companies for his records to reach retail outlets.

Its indifferent business results, and Meek's temperament, eventually led to the label's demise. Meek later licensed many Triumph recordings to labels such as Top Rank and Pye. That year Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "Outer Space Music Fantasy" album - 'I Hear A New World' - with a band called Rod Freeman & the Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades, apart from the release of some EP tracks taken from it.

Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his home studio which he constructed at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.

His first hit from Holloway Road reached No.1 in the UK: John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" (1961) written by Geoff Goddard.

His second No.1 - The Tornados' instrumental "Telstar" (1962), written and produced by Meek, became the first record by a British rock group to reach number one in the US Hot 100.

Meek's third UK No.1, and last major success, was with the Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" in 1964, which also became a number 5 hit on the American Billboard pop charts.



Meek became fascinated with the idea of communicating with the dead. He would set up tape machines in graveyards in an attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he believed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly. By the end of his career, Meek's fascination with these topics had taken over his life following the deterioration in his mental health, and he started to believe that his flat contained poltergeists, that aliens were substituting his speech by controlling his mind, and that photographs in his studio were trying to communicate with him.

Meek was affected by bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from American record producer Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily. His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper to steal his ideas), depression, and extreme mood swings. In later years, Meek started experiencing psychotic delusions, culminating in Meek refusing to use the studio telephone for important communications due to his belief that his landlady was eavesdropping on his calls through the chimney, his belief that he could control the minds of others with his recording equipment, and that he could monitor his acts while away from the studio through supernatural means.

Meek was also a frequent recreational drug user, with his barbiturate abuse further worsening his depressive episodes. In addition, his heavy consumption of amphetamines caused him to fly into volatile rages with little or no provocation, at one point leading him to hold a gun to the head of drummer Mitch Mitchell to "inspire" a high-quality performance.

Meek's homosexuality – at a time when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK – put him under further pressure, and he was particularly afraid that his mother would find out about his sexual orientation. In 1963 he was convicted and fined £15 for "importuning for immoral purposes" in a London public toilet, and was consequently subject to blackmail.

Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French composer Jean Ledrut accused him of plagiarism, claiming that the melody of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. The lawsuit meant that Meek did not receive royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in his favour until three weeks after his death in 1967.  (Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963)

On 3 February 1967, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single-barrelled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protégé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt, at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he had used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges.

Meek was subsequently buried at Newent Cemetery, Newent, Gloucestershire.

As well as creating pioneering space age and experimental pop music, Meek is considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognized for his individual identity as an artist.

Quote"Telstar", named after the Telstar communications satellite launched into orbit on 10 July 1962, was written and produced by Joe Meek for the English band the Tornados.

It was recorded in Meek's studio in a small flat above a shop in Holloway Road, North London, and featured either a clavioline or the similar Jennings Clavioline - keyboard instruments with distinctive electronic sounds. The musicians were :
Clem Cattini – drums  /  Alan Caddy – lead guitar  /  George Bellamy – rhythm guitar  /  Heinz Burt – bass  /  Geoff Goddard – clavioline  /  and Roger LaVern – additional keyboards. 

Later in 1962, Meek produced a vocal version of "Telstar" titled "Magic Star", sung by Kenny Hollywood. Released by Mercury Records in January 1963,  "Magic Star" was covered by Margie Singleton - sounding more like she's riding on a steam train rather than a space rocket!

The record was an immediate hit after its release, remaining in the UK Singles Chart for 25 weeks, five of them at number 1, and in the American charts for 16 weeks. "Telstar" was the first U.S. number one by a British group.  It won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

In 1975 The Tornados reformed and recorded an new version on George Bellamy's SRT label and manufactured on extra thick vinyl.

Other Versions include : Bud Ashton (1962)  /  "Une étoile en plein jour" by Les Compagnons de la Chanson (1962)  /  The Tides (1962)  /  The Shy Ones (1962)  /  The Ventures (1963)  /  Les Crescendos (1963)  /  Colette Deréal (1963)  /  The Rockin' Rebels (1963)  / "Magic Star" by Bobby Rydell (1963)  /  The Eagles (1963)  /  Billy Vaughn (1963)  /  David Carroll (1963)  /  "Irgendwann erwacht ein neuer Tag" by Camillo Felgen (1963)  /  The Spotnicks (1963)  /  Caterina Valente (1963)  /  Los Mustang (1963)  /  The Lively Ones (1963)  /  Waldir Azevedo (1963)  /  The Challengers (1964)  /  The Routers (1964)  /  James Last (1966)  /  The Pyramids (1970)  /  Hot Butter (1972)  /  Killer Watts (1974)  /  Spitballs (1978)  /  The Shadows (1981)  /  Joe Goldmark (1981)  /  Urban Agnas (1984)  /  The Mustangs (1986)  /  The Rapiers (1986)  /  Bitch Boys (2002)  /  Fluff Tadpole (2009)  /  Electro-Harmonix Effectology (2009)  /  Denise Hewitt (2009)  /  jdhammond on a Clavioline (2011)  /  Dave Monk (2012)  /  Bill Frisell (2014)  /  Robert Ruby (2018)  /  Steve Reynolds (2018)  /  Roman Stawarczyk (2018)  /  Glyn Roberts on a Clavioline (2018)  /  Kevin Romang (2019)  / a robot (2019)

On This Day :
Quote30 September : US President JFK routes 3,000 federal troops to Mississippi
1 October : James Meredith becomes the 1st black student at the University of Mississippi
3 October : "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" opens at Shubert NYC
5 October : The Beatles release their first record, "Love Me Do"
5 October : Caron Keating, television presenter, born in Fulham, London
5 October : "Dr. No", 1st James Bond film, premieres in London
6 October : Tod Browning, American film director (Dracula), dies at 82
9 October : Uganda becomes independent from the United Kingdom
11 October : Nicola Bryant, actress, (5th/6th Doctor Who), born in Guildford, Surrey
13 October : Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opens on Broadway
16 October : Cuban missile crisis begins as JFK is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba
16 October : Flea, (Red Hot Chili Peppers), born Michael Peter Balzary in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
18 October : US launches Ranger 5 for lunar impact; misses Moon
20 October : Musical "Mr President" opens at St James Theater New York
24 October : Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
25 October : Nick Hancock, British television presenter, born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
26 October : The Beatles record "Please Please Me" & "Ask Me Why"
26 October : JFK warns Russia that the USA will not allow Soviet missiles to remain in Cuba
26 October : Nikita Khrushchev sends note to JFK offering to withdraw his missiles from Cuba if US closed its bases in Turkey: offer is rejected
27 October : "Beyond the Fringe" opens at John Golden Theater NYC
27 October : An American spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the navy drops warning depth charges on Soviet submarines
28 October : Radio Moscow reports nuclear missiles in Cuba deactivated
1 November : Anthony Kiedis, (Red Hot Chili Peppers), born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
1 November : USSR launches Mars 1; radio contact lost before arrival at Mars
3 November : Marilyn, singer, born Peter Robinson in Kingston, Jamaica

chveik



gilbertharding

The record enjoyed brief infamy when it was named in 1987 by the then Prime Monster Margaret Hitler Thatcher as 'a lovely song'.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-smash-hits-interview

purlieu


I think Telstar is a strong contender for best #1 so far, perhaps only matched by Why Do Fools Fall In Love and All I Have To Do Is Dream. Certainly it's the most radical in innovation and risk-taking: the audience could have decided it was too fucking weird for 1962.

This was The Beatles' first chart month so here is tons of  info on Love Me Do's chart run and stats, which overlapped with Telstar

https://www.ukmix.org/showthread.php?89114-Love-Me-Do-By-The-Beatles-facts-and-figures

The Melody Maker #1 on 13.1.68 will be a mega-long post: 6 track double EP.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: machotrouts on August 07, 2019, 05:32:50 AM
I CAN'T BELIEVE WE STILL HAVE 15 YEARS TO WAIT FOR ELVIS TO SHITE HIMSELF TO DEATH.

HE STOPS HAVING FREQUENT HITS - AND SHITS - IN 1963.

After that he only occasionally pops in to remind us he's alive.

I would modify that. He slumps badly from 1963-68 but then has 14 Top Tens from 1969-1972, which would be a very respectable career for most acts, after which he's a walking corpse.

But as was noted above, 1969 witnesses possibly the two best tracks he ever released*, as he put his foot down with the Colonel for once and demanded some good songs. I think we can say he is a great artist in those three years or so of the Sixenties, and most of those hits have dated really well unlike the 1961-62 ones on this thread to date.

*Avoiding spoilers in respect to the thread, but the initials are ITG and SM. The first of these is a MM #1.

sevendaughters

I'm not some massive Joe Meek nonce but Johnny Remember Me and Telstar are the best two #1s so far.

machotrouts

If Joe Meek is what it took to introduce spacey whooshy noises to British pop, then he can kill as many landladies as he likes as far as I'm concerned. If that's what he wants to do with his life who are straight people to judge him.

Love the opening 20 seconds, but to be honest, the rest of 'Telstar' is a bit lost on me. I'm not taken to space by it. To be honest I had to concentrate just to figure out where the electronic bits were. If you'd told me this was The Shadows Cowboy Theme Tune #1516 I would probably have believed you.

Too many landlady corpses on the stairs would mess up the acoustics on the drums.

daf

Another delivery by Yodel, it's . . .

142.  Frank Ifield - Lovesick Blues



From : 4 November – 8 December 8 1962
Weeks : 5
Flip side : She Taught Me How To Yodel

QuoteIt was at the end of October 1962 when British promoter Arthur Howes received an unsolicited phone call at home from Brian Epstein. Brian was managing a group called The Beatles whose first single, 'Love Me Do', was slowly climbing the charts, and would Arthur be interested in booking them for one of his touring package shows? Arthur agreed straight away to book the group on a Helen Shapiro tour the following February, offering them 80 pounds a week to be shared between them. Even with his enormous faith in his boys, Brian must have been surprised and delighted, and in return offered Arthur the option on all The Beatles' future British tours. Arthur made only one condition . . .

Frank Ifield had met Brian Epstein while he was working at the Liverpool Empire. He played their record Love Me Do and Frank was quite impressed. It was not too dissimilar from his own style, utilising the mouth harp (which reminded him of Bruce Chanel's 'Hey Baby', although on seeing a photograph of the band he did think their hair was a bit long! It was Frank's recommendation that Brian should call Arthur Howes.

On December 2, 1962 The Beatles were booked to appear on Frank's show at the Embassy Cinema in of Peterborough. Arthur's condition was that the group appear free of charge for ten minutes on each of the two houses, so he could appraise them for himself. They had to miss their show at the Liverpool Cavern Club that night. Frank thought their act was very good in spite of the volume, and their personal charm was infectious. Unfortunately, at this particular time they didn't seem to manage to convey that charisma to the crowd and as the local paper's Lyndon Whittaker reported in his review :
"...'The exciting Beatles' rock group quite frankly failed to excite me. The drummer apparently thought that his job was to lead, not to provide rhythm. He made far too much noise and in their final number 'Twist and Shout' it sounded as if everyone was trying to make more noise than the others. In a more mellow mood, their 'A Taste of Honey' was much better and 'Love Me Do' was tolerable..."

Arthur Howes' junior secretary at the time, Susan Fuller, recalled the concert: "...I found all this very exciting ... the audience were booing and yelling 'get off, rubbish' etc, but Arthur and I thought they were great and we were knocked out with them."

Despite the lack of audience reaction, Arthur could indeed see their potential on a more suitably matched bill and confirmed their spot on a tour with sixteen-year-old Helen Shapiro and later that week added them to the bill of a March 1963 tour to be headlined by American stars Tommy Roe and Chris Montez. By then their popularity had risen to the point where they had to assume top-of-the-bill status during the tour by audience demand!

Before that, in December 1962, The Beatles had made their last trip to Hamburg, Germany for the Star-Club and their last show was captured on a portable tape recorder. Many years later when that tape was released Frank was amused to hear they had added his biggest hit 'I Remember You' to their repertoire with Paul McCartney imitating his falsetto style and John Lennon raucously playing the mouth harp figures. He also discovered later that on their first date Ringo Starr took Maureen Cox to a Frank Ifield show in England!

Quote"Lovesick Blues" was originally entitled "I've Got the Lovesick Blues", Irving Mills wrote the lyrics and Cliff Friend composed the music. It was first performed by Anna Chandler in the Tin Pan Alley musical 'Oh! Ernest' and first recorded by Elsie Clark on March 21, 1922 with Okeh Records. Following the recording, Cliff and Friend copyrighted the song on April 3, 1922. It was featured in a show at the Boardwalk Club in New York City in June 1922 and also recorded by Irving Kaufman performing as Jack Shea on Vocalion Records later that summer.

On September 1, 1925, OKeh Records sent scout Ralph Peer and a recording crew to Asheville, North Carolina. Among the aspiring artists recorded by Peer was Emmett Miller. Accompanied by Walter Rothrock on the piano, the single was released in November 1925.

On June 12, 1928 accompanied by The Georgia Crackers (Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, and Leo McConville), Miller re-recorded the song, which was subsequently released to weak sales.

Miller's version was covered by country music singer Rex Griffin in December 1939 on Decca Records. Griffin rearranged the song by using the original chorus - "I got a feeling called the blues"—as a verse and turning the verse "I'm in love, I'm in love, with a beautiful gal" into the new chorus.

Hank Williams, who heard both the Miller and Griffin versions, started performing the song on the Louisiana Hayride shortly after joining in August 1948. Horace Logan, the show's producer and programming director for KWKH, reported that the audience "went crazy" the first time Williams performed the song on the show. In light of the live audience's strong positive reaction, Williams decided to record the song. The recording took place during the final half-hour of a session at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 22, 1948. For this recording, Williams replaced the jazz musicians with a modern country music band composed of Clyde Baum (mandolin), Zeke Turner (electric guitar), Jerry Byrd (steel guitar), Louis Innis (rhythm guitar), Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Willie Thawl (bass).

Drifting Cowboy Don Helms recalls, "When they recorded 'Lovesick Blues,' Fred told Hank, 'That song's out of meter! Got too many bars in it. And you hold that note too long.' And Hank said, 'Well, when I find a note I like, I wanna hold on to it as long as I can,' you know, just tryin' to be funny. And Fred said, 'Well, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. That thing is so much out of meter, I'm gonna get me a cup of coffee and when I get back maybe ya'll have that thing cut.' And they did, but it was still out of meter. So Fred lived with that the rest of his life."

MGM released "Lovesick Blues" on February 11, 1949. The single sold 50,000 copies in the first two weeks. Following the success of the song, Williams was invited to appear as a guest on the Grand Ole Opry, on June 11, 1949. After the performance, Williams received a standing ovation. "Lovesick Blues" became his signature song, which he used to close his shows.

Several cover versions of the song have been recorded. The most popular, Frank Ifield's version, topped the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks at the end of 1962, and reached #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1963.

Gramophone compared his singing to a "rough and raucous Jimmie Rodgers". Meanwhile, Elizabethan delivered a negative review, stating: "No true country singer would dare do to a Hank Williams number what Frank Ifield has done to 'Lovesick Blues'." The review finished by declaring that Ifield had "none of Jim Reeves' depth and character, nor of the subtle melodic quality of Don Gibson." By the end of February 1963, Billboard estimated that the single had sold close to a million copies worldwide.

Other Versions include :  Ben Christian and His Texas Cowboys (1949)  /  Kay Starr (1950)  /  Lily Connors (1951)  /  Delbert Barker (1952)  /  George Payne (1952)  /  Marty Robbins (1957)  /  Sonny James, The Southern Gentleman (1957)  /  Slim Whitman (1957)  /  Patsy Cline (1960)  /  Johnny Burnette (1960)  /  Ray Pilgrim (1960)  /  Floyd Cramer (1962)  /  The Ventures (1963)  /  "Je ne pense qu'à l'amour" by Eddy Mitchell (1963)  /  The Spotnicks (1964)  /  Ramblin' Jack Elliott (1964)  /  Frank Chacksfield's Orchestra and Chorus (1965)  /  Faye Tucker (1967)  /  Charley Pride (1969)  /  Stonewall Jackson (1969)  /  Little Richard (1970)  /  Linda Ronstadt (1970)  /  Jerry Lee Lewis (1971)  /  "Neváhej" by Zelenáči (1972)  /  Merle Haggard (1973)  /  Arlo Guthrie (1973)  /  Glen Campbell (1974)  /  Don McLean (1976)  /  Etta James (1978)  /  Leon Redbone (1985)  /  George Strait (1991)  /  Madeleine Peyroux (1996)  /  LeAnn Rimes (1999)  /  Ryan Adams (2001)  /  Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band (2006)  /  Tanya Tucker (2009)  /  Bill Frisell (2009)  /  The Little Willies (2012)  /  Danny McEvoy (2013)  /  Jamie Cullum (2014)  /  Philip Jaynes (2015)  /  Brandi Carlile, Ben Folds, Chris Thile & Sarah Jarosz (2016)  /  Norm Evans (2016)  /  Steve Grayson (2017)  /  Jungkat-Jungkit (2017)  /  a hank robot (2017)  /  Mason Ramsey (2018)  /  Gabriel X. Charles and Mark Francisco (2018)  /  olive garden (2018)  /  Kenyon College Kokosingers (2019)  /  a patsy robot (2019)

On This Day :
Quote6 November : Saudi Arabia proclaims abolition of slavery
7 November : Eleanor Roosevelt, 1st Lady (1933-1945), dies at 78 in NYC
12 November : Mariella Frostrup, journalist and television presenter, born in Oslo, Norway
17 November : "Nowhere to Go, But Up" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 9 performances
17 November : "Little Me" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City for 257 performances
18 November : Niels Bohr, Danish physicist (Nobel Prize 1922), dies at 77 in Copenhagen, Denmark
19 November : Jodie Foster, actress, born Alicia Christian Foster in Los Angeles, California
20 November : USSR agrees to remove bombers from Cuba, & US lifts blockade
22 November : 7th British Empire Games and Commonwealth Games open in Perth, Australia
24 November : John Squire, (Stone Roses), born in Broadheath, Altrincham, Cheshire
29 November : Great Britain & France decide to jointly build the Concorde supersonic airliner
30 November : U Thant of Burma becomes the 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations
6 December : Ben Watt, (Everything but the Girl), born in Marylebone, London
7 December : Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian Wagnerian soprano, dies at 67
8 December : "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" closes at Shubert NYC after 300 performances

famethrowa

They should have him up against the Trades Descriptions Act for using the word "blues" in that.

Pranet

The original "Roustabout" song Daf linked to is well worth a listen, if you are getting sick of Elvis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OezVvclUIn8

(in case you missed it)

Thanks again Daf for these threads- when the 50s turned into the 60s for various reasons I got behind and have spent the last few days catching up- cracking stuff.

Pranet

That Frank Ifield version of Lovesick Blues is a travesty. Reminded me of the Mike Flowers Pops.

One of the many things that I've learned from this thread is that I quite like Cliff Richard. I think it is because he reminds me a bit of Belle and Sebastian. I know that they paid money to Cliff and the Shadows because they realised that Wrapped Up in Books and In the Country were similar, but his songs during this period remind me of mid period B&S.


The other thing I've learned is that Elvis Presley was quite popular.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Satchmo Distel on August 08, 2019, 08:31:05 AM
I would modify that. He slumps badly from 1963-68 but then has 14 Top Tens from 1969-1972, which would be a very respectable career for most acts, after which he's a walking corpse.

But as was noted above, 1969 witnesses possibly the two best tracks he ever released*, as he put his foot down with the Colonel for once and demanded some good songs. I think we can say he is a great artist in those three years or so of the Sixenties, and most of those hits have dated really well unlike the 1961-62 ones on this thread to date.

*Avoiding spoilers in respect to the thread, but the initials are ITG and SM. The first of these is a MM #1.

I heartily agree with all of that, I just meant that Elvis stopped reaching the toppermost of the poppermost on a frequent basis in the mid-60s (as you say). And you're absolutely right, the Sixenties found Elvis at his absolute creative peak. That contemporary pop-rock/country-soul sound fitted him like a rhinestone glove.

Anyway. Telstar. Surely one of the greatest pieces of music ever committed to tape? It's so sad and optimistic, a tear-sodden rocketman launching triumphantly into the cosmos. Like Del Shannon's Runaway, it's such a ghostly, beautiful evocation of a particular era - the Fixties. It's the sound of damp seaside fairgrounds and formica cafeterias. A threadbare candyfloss and furtive fumble on the wurlitzers. Smoke-filled cinemas and vinegary chips on the last bus home. Sid James nipping down the bookies while Hancock joins CND and declares himself a beatnik.

Or less fancifully, it's the sound of a mad genius in a homemade studio creating a pop future that never came.

Ah, England. England. England.

purlieu


daf

Quote from: Pranet on August 09, 2019, 10:02:43 PM
The original "Roustabout" song Daf linked to is well worth a listen, if you are getting sick of Elvis.

Ah, bless you -  it's probably my favourite Elvis song, so I'm glad someone else liked it!

Quote from: Pranet on August 09, 2019, 10:02:43 PM
Thanks again Daf for these threads  (. . .) cracking stuff.

Cheers!

daf


sevendaughters

don't HATE that Frank Ifield cut but prefer the B-side. imagine if yodelling had caught on instead of rap or sex.


daf

Make way for the US Male, it's . . .

143.  Elvis Presley - Return To Sender



From : 9 – 29 December 1962
Weeks : 3
Flip side : Where Do You Come From
bonus : film clip

The Story So Further - The 1965 Films :
QuoteElvis Presley's seventeenth film was the 1965 MGM movie Girl Happy.

Elvis stars as struggling pop singer Rusty Wells, whose musical combo works for a tough Chicago nightclub owner known as 'Big Frank'. Frank sends Rusty and his friends to Florida to keep an eye on his daughter Valerie, who insists on spending her Easter vacation in sunny, sinful Ft. Lauderdale. Naturally, Valerie, played by Shelley Fabares in her first Elvis Presley musical, falls in love with the smooth-talking Rusty.

Although MGM presented Girl Happy as a beach party film ("Elvis brings his beat to the beach!" "Elvis jumps with the campus crowd to make the beach 'ball' bounce!") and while Presley had previously appeared shirtless in films prior to this, he never appears without a shirt at any time throughout his many scenes at the pool and on the beach in Florida, wearing long sleeves for most of the film - even while water-skiing!

Filming began on June 22, 1964 and finished in late July. Even though the film is set in Fort Lauderdale, Presley did not film any scenes in the city. Primary shooting was done at the MGM studios, while the beach scenes were filmed in southern California. Only second unit filming was done in Fort Lauderdale.

Alternate titles considered were 'The Only Way to Love' and 'Girl Crazy'.

Elvis reported to Radio Recorders in Hollywood on June 10, 1964 for soundtrack recordings. On June 11th, after 36 frustrating takes on the song 'Do Not Disturb', Elvis left the studio disillusioned about the quality of the music. After these sessions he would not record again for eight months.

After working on several musical vehicles back-to-back, Elvis began to tire of the same type of role over and over. He also complained of the endless succession of mediocre pop tunes that filled each soundtrack. Sensing his disillusionment, director Boris Sagal took Elvis aside and urged him to stop his grueling film schedule.

Sagal suggested that Elvis take time off to study acting in New York, perhaps at the acclaimed Actors Studio or the famous Neighborhood Playhouse. The director supposedly told Elvis, 'Every actor studies his trade, even those as good as Marlon Brando'. Elvis agreed, admitting that he looked forward to the day when he could do a film without any music. But Girl Happy would not be that film.

Variety called it "another musical winner," adding, "A story line unburdened by anything but lightness and a dozen song numbers belted out in singer's customary style provide the type of pleasant fare which Presley's fans have come to expect."

The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "very much a standard Presley vehicle. In other words, Elvis is the only really interesting thing about it."

 

Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, for soundtrack to Girl Happy on June 10, 11, 12, and vocal overdubs by Presley on June 15, 1964.

Excluding the singles compilation Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3, this was the sixth original Presley album in a row that was a soundtrack to a feature film.

Eleven songs were recorded and all were used, with "The Meanest Girl in Town" originally released as "Yeah, She's Evil!" by Bill Haley & His Comets and released on Decca Records in July 1964, though Haley actually recorded his version six days after Presley. An error in mastering resulted in Presley's voice being sped up on several of the recordings, most notably the title track, 'Girl Happy' (here's the song at the correct speed)

"Do the Clam" was released approximately a month ahead of the album as a single, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for eight weeks. Its B-side – a track called "You'll Be Gone" from the March 18, 1962 sessions for 'Pot Luck with Elvis' was added to the Girl Happy soundtrack album.

Other songs included : "Spring Fever"  /  "Startin' Tonight"  /  "Wolf Call"  and "I've Got to Find My Baby"

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'Tickle Me' was Elvis' eighteenth film and was made for Allied Artists. This movie was at one time tentatively titled 'Rodeo' and then 'Isle of Paradise'.

Elvis stars as Lonnie Beale, a singing rodeo cowboy who moonlights as a handyman at a beauty spa. Though several women try to catch the attention of Lonnie, including spa owner Vera Radford, played by Julie Adams, the rodeo rider falls for Pam Merritt. Pam, portrayed by Jocelyn Lane, is visiting the spa to investigate a nearby ghost town where her grandfather has supposedly hidden a cache of gold. Pam enlists the help of Lonnie and his sidekick Stanley, played by Jack Mullaney, to recover the treasure. Unscrupulous locals, also looking for the gold, try to frighten the hapless trio into leaving the territory, but the three eventually prevail. Lonnie and Pam marry at the end, marking one of the few times that one of Elvis' characters actually weds on-screen.

Julie Adams and Jocelyn Lane co-star. The screenplay was written by Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds, who had written The Three Stooges film shorts and theatrical films as well as scripts for The Bowery Boys. They brought to the film a sizable quota of slapstick, sight gags and general silliness not found in any other Presley vehicle.

Elvis Presley was in trouble with the IRS and needed an acting fee to cover his debts. Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, arranged a quick one-off deal with Allied Artists to make a movie. Although produced by Allied Artists, the movie was actually made at Paramount Pictures Studios, which Allied hired for the duration of the shoot. It was shot over 23 days in October—November 1964, plus two days of second unit photography.

The film was popular at the box office, making over $3 million in the US and $5 million worldwide. It became the third highest-grossing film in the history of Allied Artists and saved the studio from bankruptcy.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film "the silliest, feeblest and dullest vehicle for the Memphis Wonder in a long time. And both Elvis and his sponsors, the time Allied Artists, should know better."

Variety noted that the screenplay was "wispy thin" but allowed Presley to "rock over nine numbers from past albums to good effect."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film had "lousy color, cheap sets, hunks of stock footage, painted scenery and unconvincing process work. But who's to quibble when the movie is so much fun?"

 

For the first time in his career, the budget did not allow new songs to be commissioned for a Presley film. The soundtrack was assembled from previously released recordings, recycling nine songs in total with some dating back to recording sessions from 1960. Some of these tracks were overdubbed for the film. In one case, a different take was used ("I Feel That I've Known You Forever", featuring what appears to be a vocal done on the soundstage). In another case , "I'm Yours" was presented without the harmony vocal and narration of the original release, and the movie opening number "(It's a) Long, Lonely Highway" was an alternate take.. The cost-cutting experiment of recycling older recordings would not be repeated by Elvis.

Two singles were released in the US : "(Such an) Easy Question" b/w "It Feels So Right"  /  and  "I'm Yours" b/w "(It's A) Long Lonely Highway"

A soundtrack EP was issued in June 1965 containing the remaining five songs : "I Feel That I've Known You Forever"  /  "Slowly But Surely"  /  "Night Rider" /  "Put the Blame On Me"  /  and  "Dirty, Dirty Feeling"

It only reached #70 on the singles chart. RCA would only issue one more extended play single for Presley in 1967. In the UK, a Tickle Me Vol. 2 EP was issued containing the four tracks released on singles in the US.

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Elvis Presley's nineteenth movie was 'Harum Scarum' (MGM, 1965), also known by one of the working titles as 'Harem Holiday'.

Another 'quickie' produced on a very low budget by Sam Katzman, Harum Scarum features Elvis Presley as matinee idol Johnny Tyronne. A takeoff on Elvis himself, Johnny is a famous movie and recording star who makes the women swoon and the men jealous. On a personal appearance tour in Lunarkand -- a fictional country somewhere in the Middle East -- Johnny is kidnapped by a gang of assassins and suddenly thrust into a plot to kill King Toranshah. Johnny escapes and falls in with a band of pickpockets and rogues, all the while rescuing damsels in distress and singing a variety of pop-styled tunes. Johnny falls in love with a beautiful handmaiden, played by Mary Ann Mobley; unbeknownst to him, she is really Princess Shalimar, daughter of King Toranshah. Johnny thwarts the assassination attempt on the king, wins the heart of Princess Shalimar, and returns to America with a new act.

With a shooting schedule of only 18 days, begun on March 15, 1965, Harum Scarum was a no-frills production with little time or money to spend on props, costumes, or set design. Little if anything was actually purchased or designed for the film, a not uncommon practice for low-budget productions. The temple set had originally been built in 1925 for a Cecil B. DeMille silent feature called King of Kings. The costumes worn by the extras in Harum Scarum had been used in the 1944 and 1955 versions of Kismet.

The film was released for Thanksgiving weekend on November 24, 1965 and reached #11 on the following week's 'Variety Box Office Survey', the fortieth-highest grossing film for 1965.

At first, Elvis was at first very excited about working again with director Gene Nelson, with whom he had worked on the film 'Kissin' Cousins', and about wearing the Rudolph Valentino type costumes. So enthusiastic was he that Priscilla says in her memoirs that Elvis would wear his full makeup and costume home each night, fully immersed in his role. His excitement soon waned when it became apparent that, as she put it, 'the plot was a joke, his character a fool, and the songs were disastrous'.

Even Elvis' manager Colonel Parker expressed in a letter to MGM that it would take 'a 55th cousin to P.T. Barnum to sell this picture'. He suggested they add a talking camel as narrator, a la 'Francis the Talking Mule' in the Donald O'Connor movies, in order to save it and to make it seem as if the ridiculousness was intended. His idea was rejected by the studio.

It was while filming 'Harum Scarum' that Elvis began in earnest to pursue his spiritual studies. When the film wrapped, Elvis presented the cast and crew with watches that he had Harry Levitch, one of his favorite jewelers, design. It featured both a cross and a Star of David and symbolized for Elvis 'universal brotherhood'.

Released for Thanksgiving weekend on 24 November 1965, the film reached #11 on the Variety national weekly box office chart, earned $2 million at the box office, and finished #40 on the year end list of the top-grossing films of 1965. The film was released in the United Kingdom as Harem Holiday.

The film would go on to be the first starring Elvis to not make a box-office profit, due in part to the million dollar paycheck Presley received for his work.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in a negative review that Presley walked through the film "with all the animation of a man under deep sedation, but then he had read the script."

Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Nobody, least of all Elvis, can bring parody to heel in this effort from MGM, directed by Gene Nelson. Presley isn't Bob Hope and Mary Ann Mobley, beauty winner though she is, won't pass for Dorothy Lamour. Put them together and you realize right off that 'Harum Scarum' isn't going to be much fun."

 

Harum Scarum was the eleventh soundtrack album by Presley. It was released by RCA Victor in November 1965.

Although 1965 had seen the release of Elvis for Everyone, a studio album which was actually recorded over a ten-year period dating back to Presley's first recordings from Sun Studios in Memphis, and a surprising worldwide hit with a five-year-old Gospel track, "Crying In The Chapel", it was back to the grind of making soundtracks. 

Elvis continued to grumble about the material and the continued pressure put on the stable of songwriters corraled by Freddy Bienstock — the writing team of Giant, Baum, and Kaye alone had provided 17 of 47 songs on the past four soundtracks in an eighteen-month period — but he soldiered on with as much grace as possible. In reality, almost any song could have been squeezed into the story lines, including old classics. But as long as sales continued, the formula required guaranteed control of publishing and new songs by the same songwriters. However, Presley's sales were plunging in music stores as well as ticket sales at the box office.

Recording sessions took place at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 24, 25, and 26, 1965.
Eleven songs were recorded for Harum Scarum, and all were used and issued on the soundtrack with two of the tracks omitted in the film. As with Roustabout, no singles were issued in conjunction with the album.

A single was issued a month later, using the leftover 1957 track "Tell Me Why" backed with "Blue River" from the aborted May 1963 "Lost album" sessions. In an ominous sign of things to come, it only made it to number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100, the lowest charting single of Presley's career to date.

Elvis recorded "Wisdom of the Ages" on February 24, 1965 at RCA studios. It featured as a bonus track on the soundtrack album, along with "Animal Instinct", but did not feature in the film itself. The film and its soundtrack are widely considered one of the lowest points of Presley's career.

Other songs included : "Harem Holiday"  /  "My Desert Serenade"  /   "Shake That Tambourine"  /  and "Hey Little Girl

Quote"Return to Sender" was written by Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell and performed by Elvis in the 1962 film 'Girls! Girls! Girls!'

The song peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, and #2 on the American Billboard singles chart, kept out of the top spot by The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry". It was the first Christmas number one in Ireland, and sold over a million copies in the US.

The song is about a man sending a letter by post to his girlfriend after an argument. She continually writes "return to sender" and he keeps receiving the letter with various reasons for returning to sender, including "address unknown" and "no such person". He keeps mailing letters, refusing to believe the relationship is over. The phrase "no such zone" in the song refers to U.S. postal zones, a predecessor of the current U.S. ZIP Code.

"Return to Sender" was recorded on March 27, 1962, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood and featured Presley's longtime cohorts Scotty Moore on guitar and D.J. Fontana on drums, Barney Kessel on electric guitar, Tiny Timbrell on acoustic guitar, Ray Siegal on double bass, Dudley Brooks on piano, Boots Randolph on baritone saxophone and the Jordanaires on backing vocals. The group was augmented by various session musicians including drummer Hal Blaine.

Gerri Granger later recorded an answer song, "Don't Want Your Letters", in 1962.

Other Versions include : Ed Hardin (1962)  /  Ray Pilgrim (1962)  /  Brian Poole and The Tremeloes (1963)   "Carta retornada" by Francesc Heredero (1963)  /  "Retour au porteur" by Henri Salvador (1963)  /  "Zurück an Johnny" by Ted Herold (1963)  /  "Devuelvase al remitente by Chico Valento (1963)  /  The Hollyridge Strings (1964)  /  The Castaway Strings (1965)  /  Otis Blackwell (1977)  /  Jimmy 'Orion' Ellis (1978)  /  Roy Loney & The Phantom Movers (1979)  /  Cisse Häkkinen (1979)  /  The Persuasions (1979)  /   "En tur i center" by Bamses Venner (1984)  /    The Residents (1989)  /  Ian McCulloch (1990)  /  Dave Edmunds (1994)  /  The Monks of Moramanga (2003)  /  Eilert Pilarm (2003)  /  AcaPelvis (2009)  /  Svenne Hedlund (2010)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  The SilverBalls (2012)  /  Vonny Marr (2013)  /  The Mighty Echoes (2013)  /  Helmut Lotti  (2013)  /  Eric (2013)  /  Paul Moody (2017)  /  Syvanen (2019)  /  Midi (2019)

On This Day : 
Quote13 December : Relay 1 communication satellite launched
14 December : Mariner 2 makes 1st US fly-by of Venus
15 December : Charles Laughton, actor, dies at 63
20 December : Osmond brothers debut on Andy Williams Show
26 December : Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Katerina Ismailova" premieres in Moscow

Session info. It was recorded in just two takes

http://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/620327.html

Going back to The Shadows, Mark Lewisohn acknowledged that The Shadows sometimes wrote their own stuff. See end of this video:

https://vimeo.com/88986884

So it's not quite true that Beatles literature ignores this fact.

daf

Need help here -

Doing the research on the upcoming 'Please Please Me' has made me realise that my NME dates might be slightly off - possibly a week later than they should be.

I've been going by the list of NME #1s on wikipedia and assuming the dates given was for the START of the run . . . but info on PPM indicates it became #1 on 22 February - rather than 2 March (which is the date on the wiki list). So I have no idea what that wikipedia list date refers to - is it the exact mid-point or something? (and does this rule also apply to the Melody Maker #1s?)

So, anyone with info on the correct NME / MM 'start and finish' #1 dates, please get in touch - because I'm floundering here!

sevendaughters

Return to Sender is a nice song, pleasingly sparse. B-side sounds like a failed version of Can't Help Falling In Love With You.

purlieu

Not getting much from that song. He's feeling increasingly out of date at this point.

That's 1962, then. The actual '60s are on their way soon.

kalowski

I have never heard of 'Tickle Me' which must be down to it having no new music. As much as I love Elvis, I don't give a shit about most of his movies. But I thought I'd heard of all of them!

The PPM discrepancy in NME is because it was joint #1 with Frank Ifield in the issue dated Feb 22

Top Thirty
1.  Frank Ifield, "The Wayward Wind" (Columbia)
1.  Beatles, "Please Please Me" (Parlophone)
3.  Tony Meehan, "Diamonds" (Decca)
4.  Bobby Vee, "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" (Liberty)
5.  Frankie Vaughan, "Loop De Loop" (Philips)

https://www.skidmore.edu/~gthompso/britrock/NME/nme6302.html

On dates, the publication date of NME was the Friday (e.g. March 1st 1963) but the official chart date was the Saturday (March 2nd 1963). I would stick with Saturdays for RR and MM too as the start dates and the following Fridays as the finish.

machotrouts

I have a special antipathy for 'Return to Sender' that long predates my escalating agitation with his continued presence in this thread – it's one of the very earliest memories I have of thinking "this is a bad song". Not just "this song doesn't interest me". Whenever I heard it as a child (which you wouldn't think would be very often for a B-tier Elvis hit several decades after its release, but evidently it found its way to me), I would think to myself "what's the fucking point of this. Why would anyone write this". I was particularly angry about how prosaic the phrase "return to sender" itself seemed, even if I didn't know the word "prosaic", and the tune it was set to sounded stupid and bludgeoning, another word I didn't know. It sounded like a tune a compulsive hummer would idly invent for their own amusement while sifting through the post and just incorporating whatever the first phrase they saw was. It still does sound like that. "I could have written that!", I thought. I still think I could write that. I'll do it right now just watch me.