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An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

Started by jamiefairlie, August 15, 2020, 09:27:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

jamiefairlie

Jackie Deshannon - Needles & Pin

https://youtu.be/qrQ5du1urhA

The original version released a year before The Searchers better known cover. An early pace setter for women in pop,  she also wrote "When You Walk in the Room", also a hit for The Searchers, and "Bette Davis Eyes", for Kim Carnes.


Oz Oz Alice


Bunker Hill - The Girl Can't Dance
https://youtu.be/NlHO7OEzHQk


Musically this sounds like an R&B record from 63. It's fine, it's well played, you may not remember it afterwards were it not for the vocals. What sets it apart is that the vocals sound absolutely deranged now so in 63 may well have come from space, I'd imagine. This is totally proto punk from the second he opens his mouth. It appears Mr Hill has taken a perfectly competent R&B outfit ransom and is outlining his demands.

daf

Quote from: jamiefairlie on August 18, 2020, 09:27:15 PM
I'll kick us off with the most famous band in history but with, what they call theses days, a very deep cut.

the beatles - there's a place

Just come accross this charming early review of the debut album - from the April 1963 edition of Pop Weekly - A few months before proper Beatlemania kicked in.

 




Brundle-Fly

Mambo Parisienne - Henry Mancini Released on RCA 1963



Taken from the score of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Charade composed by Henry Mancini, another soundtrack genius. I once came on stage to this number, dressed as a sixties spy and playing the trumpet. It was for the opening of a student revue I was hosting. I can't play the trumpet but had someone teach me how to play the opening bars. It was the coolest I had ever been or ever will be. In my head anyway.

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

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

#64
Everybody sing! It's Claude McLin and Jambo!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91_1XHELhE

An utterly ridiculous record in which, with no shortage of gusto, McLin transforms himself into a human Jew's harp, Jambo sounds like a moonshine-addled Muppet cutting loose at a misty mountain hoedown. Dr Teeth has somehow managed to plug in his electric organ. Zoot's so zonked he can only honk out a single sax note. Animal is unusually restrained behind the skins, possibly due to being shocked by a manic vocal performance that's too dang weird even for him. One thing's for certain, you will never forget this extraordinary piece of mutant rhythm and blues. It should be the world's national anthem.

Oz Oz Alice

That is gloriously insane thank you for posting it.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

My pleasure. We all need a bit of Jambo in our lives.

Neomod

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on August 20, 2020, 11:50:51 AM
Mambo Parisienne - Henry Mancini Released on RCA 1963



Taken from the score of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Charade composed by Henry Mancini, another soundtrack genius. I once came on stage to this number, dressed as a sixties spy and playing the trumpet. It was for the opening of a student revue I was hosting. I can't play the trumpet but had someone teach me how to play the opening bars. It was the coolest I had ever been or ever will be. In my head anyway.

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

I think you mean Stanley Donen thriller.

daf

Papa ooh mir mir papa ooh mir mir papa ooh mir mir papa ooh mir mir
Ee-ee-ee ee-ee . . .


The Ran-Dells - Martian Hop



Released in June 1963, it reached #16 in the US, and #55 in the UK charts.

QuoteThe Ran-dells, from Villas, New Jersey, consisted of John Spirt and cousins Robert and Steven Rappaport. The song is the product of the three band members joking around in John's living room at his residence in Wildwood, New Jersey. It tells of Martians throwing a dance party for "all the human race," and "theorized Martians were probably great dancers."

Though the Ran-Dells have been recognized for innovative and pioneering use of a sine wave generator, the twelve-second introduction at the beginning of the song is an uncredited sample from the first 30 seconds of "Moon Maid" by Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaymakers, aka Kid Baltan. It appeared on their experimental album, The Electrosoniks - Electronic Music in 1962, a year before "Martian Hop" was recorded - the thieving bastards!

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Neomod on August 20, 2020, 02:01:58 PM
I think you mean Stanley Donen thriller.

You're absolutely correct. It was once described as "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made"

daf

#70
The Honeys - The One You Can't Have



Released in December 1963.

QuoteThe Honeys were a girl group formed in Los Angeles in 1963. Their line-up consisted of sisters Marilyn and Diane Rovell, plus their cousin Ginger Blake. Brian Wilson served as the Honeys' record producer and chief songwriter, and later married Marilyn in late 1964.

Despite the Brian Wilson/Wrecking Crew thumbprint, this failed to chart in the US & wasn't released in the UK.

Quote from: daf on August 18, 2020, 09:41:21 PM
Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back . . .


The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back



Got to #50 in the UK in October 1963.

Wasn't this covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?

daf

Just had a look - it was on their 2001 album Blow in the Wind.

Also covered by : The Chiffons (1966)  /  The Paper Dolls  (1970)  /  Bette Bright and The Illuminations (1978)  /  Dolly Dots (1980)  /  and Sarah Brightman (1981)

Mr Farenheit


Eugene Church- Sixteen Tons

How do you make an already classic song even better? You sing Whomp! Whomp! repeatedely over the top of it of course, 'aaaowwwh!' your soul to the company store as opposed to merely 'owe'ing it , add some Time of The Season ahhhs at the beginning and some Rawhide Hah!s in the outro

[nb]just looked and hadn't realised the more famous version was a previous toppermost of the poppermost from 1956, needless to say this one sank without a trace and was actually a B-side[/nb]

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

That's fab, Mr Farenheit. The bare bones of the Tennessee Ernie Ford version are still poking through, but Church injects the flesh with some funky swamp juice. Now that's how you cover a classic.

My next nomination is...

Sally Go 'Round the Roses by The Jaynetts.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyclycB6eo

This was a big hit in the States and has been covered numerous times, but it didn't do a thing in the UK. It's another Spector production. Abner Spector, that is (no relation). But the real brains behind this fairly unusual girl group record was the arranger, Artie Butler, who created its sparse, hypnotic, circular groove (he plays the bass, drum and piano parts).

Based on the old nursery rhyme Ring a Ring o' Roses, the lyrics are quite mysterious, bordering on eerie. It was probably intended as a straightforward song about some teenage girls expressing concern for a heartbroken friend, but Butler's minimalist arrangement and The Jaynetts' controlled yet impassioned vocals suggest some strange hidden depths. It's a great record.

chveik

lovely, lovely thread

One Kiss Can Lead to Another is the best comp for all those ace girl groups songs

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I would also like to blow some smoke up the flume of this thread, it's a perfect example of why I enjoy reading and contributing to CaB. Ta for starting it, jamiefairlie, such a great idea. What with this and daf's epic Toppermost thread, I'm in pop-crazed hog heaven.

daf

The Singing Nun - Dominique



A number 1 in the US, and reached #7 in the UK in December 1963.

QuoteThe Singing Nun was born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium, in 1933.  She became an avid Girl Guide who bought her first guitar to play at Guide evening events. From the age of 21, between 1954 and 1959, she taught sculpture to youngsters. In September 1959 she entered the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont, in the city of Waterloo, where she took the religious name "Sister Luc Gabriel".

While in the convent, Sister Luc Gabriel wrote, sang, and casually performed her own songs, which were so well received by her fellow nuns and visitors that her religious superiors encouraged her to record an album, which visitors to the convent would be able to purchase.

In 1961, the album was recorded in Brussels at Philips; the single "Dominique" became an international hit, and in 1962 her album sold nearly two million copies. She became an international celebrity and took the stage name of Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile"). She gave several live concerts and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on television on 5 January 1964. "Dominique" was the first, and remains the only, song by a Belgian artist to be a number one hit single in the United States.

Deckers did not see much money from her international fame, and her second album, Her Joys, Her Songs, received little attention and disappeared almost as soon as it was released. Most of her earnings were taken by Philips and her producer, while the rest automatically went to her religious congregation, which earned at least $100,000 in royalties.

In 1966, a biographical film loosely based on Sister Luc Gabriel was released called The Singing Nun and starring Debbie Reynolds in the central role. Sister Luc Gabriel reportedly rejected the film as bollocks "fiction".

 

Deckers left her convent in 1966 to pursue a life as a lay Dominican instead. She later reported that her departure resulted from a personality clash with her superiors, that she had been forced out of the convent and did not leave of her own free will. Convent superiors denied the other nuns contact with her as she was described as a "bad influence."

When she left the convent, her record company made her give up her professional names, "Sœur Sourire" and "The Singing Nun."  She attempted to continue her musical career under the name "Luc Dominique." Increasingly frustrated at what she perceived to be the Catholic Church's failure to fully implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, she released a song in 1967 defending the use of contraception, called "Glory be to God for the Golden Pill".

Despite her renewed emphasis on music, Deckers' career failed to prosper. She blamed the album's failure on not being able to use the names by which she had become known, saying that "nobody knew who it was." When a second single, "Sister Smile Is Dead", also failed, Deckers turned to teaching disabled youngsters in Wavre, eventually opening her own school for autistic children. She eventually suffered a nervous breakdown, which was followed by two years of psychotherapy.

She reconnected with a friend from her youth, Annie Pécher, while at the University of Louvain. The two slowly developed a very close relationship, and would share an apartment until their deaths.

The Singing Nun : "People at my record company think that two women who live together must be lesbians. They assert even that nuns in convents are in love. I deny these rumors as I testify against every creepy spirit. The answer is still obvious that I am not homosexual. I am loyal and faithful to Annie, but that is a whole other love in the Lord. Anyone who cannot understand this can go to the devil!"

Deckers ran into heavy financial problems. In 1982, she tried to score a hit with a banging disco version of "Dominique", but this last attempt to resume her singing career failed. In addition to the other financial worries, the autism centre for children started by her and Annie Pécher had to close its doors for financial reasons in 1982.

 

Citing their financial difficulties, she and Annie Pécher committed suicide by taking overdoses of barbiturates and alcohol on 29 March 1985. In their suicide note, they wrote that they had not given up their faith and wished to be buried together with the funeral rite of the Catholic Church. They were buried together on 4 April 1985 in Cheremont Cemetery in Wavre, Brabant, the town where they died.

daf

Sheila Hancock - My Last Cigarette



Released in March 1963 - did not chart.

QuoteTaken from the topical comedy LP - "Putting out the Dust Bin" - with Sydney Carter.

Rizla

We still in 1963? Here is The Love Of My Man by Theola Kilgore. No.3 on the billboard R&B, No.21 on the Hot 100 . Just an incredible vocal.


Brundle-Fly

What A Weeping - Laurel Aitken. Released on Island Records 1963



Proper Medieval reggae here. The fulcrum point of calypso transforming into ska. The song itself must've influenced Long Shot Kick De Bucket by The Pioneers later in 1969?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxN0Q1HOtgg


Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: jamiefairlie on August 20, 2020, 04:30:09 AM
Jackie Deshannon - Needles & Pin

https://youtu.be/qrQ5du1urhA

The original version released a year before The Searchers better known cover. An early pace setter for women in pop,  she also wrote "When You Walk in the Room", also a hit for The Searchers, and "Bette Davis Eyes", for Kim Carnes.

Jackie DeShannon is so underrated. Great writer, great singer, and as you say a pioneer. A woman who wrote and sang her own material in a male-dominated pop world, she was out there on her own really. Women weren't expected to do that sort of thing in those days.

I've always been fond of her early '60s folk album. Admittedly not a showcase for her songwriting talents as it's entirely made up of covers, but it shows off her soulful voice and gifts as an interpreter. I heard her version of Dylan's Don't Think Twice It's Alright before the (beautiful) original, so it will always be definitive for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgT_iVRhfs


jobotic

Dominique really is a wonderful song, I'd never heard that disco version before. Absolutely awful, and quite sad.

If we're still in 1963 my favourite Lee Hazlewood song. I'm sure I'll be frowned upon for this as its lightweight froth but I don't care. Great to sing along to.

We All Make the Little Flowers Grow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fapSQoSHm4I

jobotic

I knew this by Charlie Louvin but this is the original, a country song done with a Motown sound. Astonishing lyrics (which actually sound more sinister sung by Louvin)

Ed Bruce - See The Big Man Cry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm0ZlD1Tki8

QuoteThe other day I walked out on the street
I happened to see
A pretty young woman a little bitty boy
He looked back at me

See the big man cry, mama
That's what I heard him say
See the big man cry, mama
He looks like his heart will break

I followed them to the pup shop window
The little boy stopped to see
He looked up at her said if I had a daddy
He'd buy that puppy for me

See the big man cry, mama
That's what I heard him say
See the big man cry, mama
He looks like his heart will break

I wanted to tell him I was his dad
And he sure had a pretty mom
But the judge had said I could never see them again
For the things I've said and done


See the big man cry, mama
That's what I heard him say
See the big man cry, mama
He looks like his heart will break

Son, as you'll grow older
You'll find someone who is dear
Just stick by her take care of her
You will never hear

See the big man cry, mama
That's what I heard him say
See the big man cry, mama
He looks like his heart will break

jamiefairlie

Jackie DeShannon - When You Walk In The Room

https://youtu.be/mVCBSIn_1j0

Written by the artist and later made a huge hit by The Searchers, I prefer this original version as it retains a semi country tinge, which suits the overall feel of the song. Originally released on November 23, 1963, as the B-side to "Till You Say You'll Be Mine".

Captain Z

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on August 20, 2020, 12:51:42 PM
Everybody sing! It's Claude McLin and Jambo!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91_1XHELhE

An utterly ridiculous record in which, with no shortage of gusto, McLin transforms himself into a human Jew's harp, Jambo sounds like a moonshine-addled Muppet cutting loose at a misty mountain hoedown. Dr Teeth has somehow managed to plug in his electric organ. Zoot's so zonked he can only honk out a single sax note. Animal is unusually restrained behind the skins, possibly due to being shocked by a manic vocal performance that's too dang weird even for him. One thing's for certain, you will never forget this extraordinary piece of mutant rhythm and blues. It should be the world's national anthem.

Judging by the comments this must be used in 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story', which I rewatched just last week - but I have no memory of ever hearing this before. Cool record though.

jobotic

Great record! Never heard it before either.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: jobotic on August 20, 2020, 11:35:27 PM
Dominique really is a wonderful song, I'd never heard that disco version before. Absolutely awful, and quite sad.

If we're still in 1963 my favourite Lee Hazlewood song. I'm sure I'll be frowned upon for this as its lightweight froth but I don't care. Great to sing along to.

We All Make the Little Flowers Grow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fapSQoSHm4I

I wouldn't describe that as lightweight froth, it's a typically wry, morbid Hazlewood tune. Nice choice, he was a total one-off.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Shake a Tail Feather by The Five Du-Tones



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaKVs5mJ4Bg

Or: the song Ray Charles performs in The Blues Brothers. But this is the wild, wailing original, which sounds like it was recorded in an Anderson shelter. Those aren't drums, it's definitely someone whacking some buckets with a spanner.

daf

When you wish up Ringo Starr . . .

Dora Bryan - All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle



Beatle tribute records were a thriving industry during 1964 - spawning over 100 ear-bleeding novelty platters mainly in the US. Here's one of the first from the UK. Got to #20 in the UK in November 1963.

QuoteDora May Broadbent was born in Southport, Lancashire on 7 February 1923. Bryan made her stage debut as a child in a pantomime in Manchester and, encouraged by her mother, joined the Oldham Repertory while still a teenager.

Cast in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives, the actress was encouraged to adopt a stage name by Coward himself. She opted for Dora Bryant, which she often said was inspired by a box of Bryant and May matches which were lying on the table, but a typographical error left off the last letter on the theatre credits and she became Dora Bryan.