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An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

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

Previous topic - Next topic

daf

Lorra Lorra Brassy Tart-a! . . .

Cilla Black - Love of the Loved



QuoteOne of Paul McCartney's earliest musical compositions, 'Love Of The Loved' is believed to date from 1959. McCartney claimed to have written it one night on his Zenith acoustic guitar, while walking home to Allerton in Liverpool. According to his former girlfriend Dorothy (Dot) Rhone, McCartney wrote the song for her.

According to Mersey Beat founder Bill Harry, one night at Liverpool's Blue Angel jazz club he asked John Lennon if The Beatles had any songs suitable for local singer Beryl Marsden to record. Lennon replied that 'Love Of The Loved' would be ideal for her, but Brian Epstein later vetoed the suggestion, as he wished to give Lennon-McCartney songs to his own roster of acts.

Black auditioned for Epstein with The Beatles as her backing band, but it was not a success – she was nervous, and The Beatles performed the songs in their familiar keys rather than re-pitching them for her vocal range.

Cilla Black : "The music was not in my key and any adjustments that the boys were now trying to make were too late to save me. My voice sounded awful. Destroyed – and wanting to die – I struggled on to the end."

Epstein saw Cilla Black perform on another occasion at the Blue Angel, and on 6 September 1963 contracted her as his only female performer. George Martin signed her to Parlophone and produced her debut single, 'Love Of The Loved'. Paul McCartney attended the session.



Black's debut single was released on 27 September 1963, and peaked at #30 in the UK singles chart on 19 October 1963.

Cilla Black : "I'd heard the song many times in the Cavern and I was ever so disappointed when I got into the studio and heard this jazzy brass sound. Paul did the same thing with 'It's For You' later on. He sounded great on the demo he gave me and then turned it into a jazz waltz by the time I came to record it. Still, I can't complain because both records were successful for me in the end even if they weren't number ones."

The Beatles' version of 'Love Of The Loved' is the only original composition from the Decca audition not to have been made commercially available.

smudge1971

Does this mean Holly from the Lovely Eggs is going to be a grade A cunt in thirty years?

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: daf on August 21, 2020, 05:14:28 PM
Lorra Lorra Brassy Tart-a! . . .

Cilla Black - Love of the Loved

I think Cilla had quite a nice voice whenever she sang in her softer register - I've got one of her records in that vein earmarked for later in the thread - but sweet Jesus mother of fuck, she was unbearable in brassy mode. Such an abrasive honk.

Love of the Loved isn't much of a song, Macca must've knocked it off during a tea break, but in the hands of Dusty, Lulu or Sandie it would be an inoffensive beat number. Cilla sounds like a nuclear attack warning played on a kazoo.


purlieu

My early '60s knowledge is fairly slim, so another Shadows b-side from me. The Breeze and I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvaha1mTBWc

Quote"The Breeze and I" is a popular song.

The original music (instrumental only) entitled Andalucía, was written by the Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona as part of his Suite Andalucía in 1928. Emilio de Torre added Spanish lyrics, and English lyrics were added in 1940 by Al Stillman.

The best-known version of the song is that by Jimmy Dorsey in 1940. The Jimmy Dorsey recording, with a vocal by Bob Eberly, was released by Decca Records as catalogue number 3150. The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on July 20, 1940 and lasted 9 weeks on the chart, peaking at #2.

The Shadows' version was the b-side to their final number 1 single, Foot Tapper, on 7th March 1963. It was a time when they were frequently using orchestras in their music, and the string and flute arrangement here is bloody lovely.

daf

John Smith and The Common Men - Three Guitars Mood 2



Reached #2 in the charts in November 1963.

Quote from: Dr Who and an Unearthly Child[Susan is listening to guitar rock music on her transistor radio. I'm thinking The Shadows. She looks a little elfin, like Audrey Hepburn]

BARBARA: Susan?
SUSAN: Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Wright. I didn't hear you coming in. Aren't they fabulous?
BARBARA: Who?
SUSAN: It's John Smith and the Common Men. They've gone from nineteen to two.
IAN: John Smith is the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?
SUSAN: You are surprising, Mister Chesterton. I wouldn't expect you to know things like that.
IAN: I have an enquiring mind. And a very sensitive ear.

Brundle-Fly

Cock-A-Hoop - Manfred Mann Released on Parlophone 1963



The Manfreds first outing and it flopped like Bobby Davro taking a high dive. I love the no-frills simplicity of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxX3Qe_KkAY

honeychile

Just catching up with the last couple of pages, great work all. Since the film Charade was mentioned, i'm sure most fans know this but when it was released Universal forgot to include the word "copyright" on the year stamp on the credits, meaning it immediately became public domain. Oops.

Quote from: jobotic on August 20, 2020, 11:35:27 PMIf 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

Hazlewood produced a slightly sinister sounding b-side for The Darlenes in 1963 called (I'm afraid) you'll hurt me. It's not only the lyrics, which allude to ostracism for not being "our kind" - though in what sense isn't specified - and the attendant consequences which set a slightly disturbing scene; but also the schizophrenic vocal touches and transpositions set against a backing track which staggers curiously. The whole song sounds like it doesn't entirely know what it wants to be nor if it really wants to exist. It transfixes me.

Casting it into still sharper relief is the a-side, perhaps one of pop's earlier attempts to market the idea of throwback sounds if not outright nostalgia - I still like rock and roll, which definitely is lightweight froth but is still a giggle. It harks more to the kind of bluegrassy rock and roll rhythms than vintage Chuck Berry. A quick google reveals neither songs nor group are much remembered, and no evidence of charting anywhere.


daf

Bill Clifton - Beatle Crazy



Hot on the heels of Dora Bryan, here's the first American Beatle Tribute record - released in December 1963 - did not chart.

QuoteBorn William August Marburg in 1931, Bill Clifton was raised on a farm in Riderwood, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore. From an early age, he discovered his love for country music through the radio and records. Clifton began singing and playing the guitar by age 12.

Because his family was opposed to his musical activities, he took the stage name "Bill Clifton". With the help of his friends and bandmates, Clifton produced his first recording in 1952 that included an array of old-time, bluegrass, and folk revival repertoire.

In 1963, Clifton's family moved to England and he toured all over Europe playing in local folk clubs - and was on the spot to witness the rise of the Brumbeats Beatles.

Phil_A

Geoff Goddard - Sky Men

PEOPLE OF EARTH, BE NOT AFRAID - FOR WE COME IN PEACE!



QuoteGeoff Goddard (19 November 1937 – 15 May 2000)[1] was an English songwriter, singer and instrumentalist. Working for Joe Meek in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for Heinz, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple, The Tornados, Kenny Hollywood, The Outlaws, Freddie Starr, Screaming Lord Sutch, The Ramblers and John Leyton.[2] His song for Leyton, "Johnny Remember Me", reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.[3]

By the mid-1960s he had fallen out with Meek. Disillusioned with the music industry, he withdrew from it to work in catering.


daf

Uncork the Spinach! . . .

Don Covay - The Popeye Waddle



Peaked at #75 in the US in February 1963.

QuoteDonald Randolph was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. In the early 1950s he sang in the Cherry Keys, his family's gospel quartet. He crossed over to secular music as a member of the Rainbows and made his first recordings with that group in 1956.

Covay's solo career began in 1957 as part of the Little Richard Revue, when he worked both as the star's chauffeur and as an opening act.

He had his first chart success, when "Pony Time", a song he co-wrote with fellow Rainbows member John Berry, reached No. 60 on the Billboard pop chart. The song was later recorded by Chubby Checker and became a US No. 1 single.

In 1962 Covay had his first hit on Cameo-Parkway Records under his own name, "The Popeye Waddle", a dance-oriented track. He also started writing songs for Roosevelt Music in the Brill Building in New York City, writing a hit for Solomon Burke, "I'm Hanging Up My Heart for You"

honeychile

Quote from: daf on August 22, 2020, 10:41:06 PM
Bill Clifton - Beatle Crazy



Hot on the heels of Dora Bryan, here's the first American Beatle Tribute record - released in December 1963 - did not chart.

Fucking hell

fucking hell

I knew this sounded familiar from somewhere as soon as i heard the opening bars.

Loudon Wainwright III took the whole format, structure and concept of this song and reappropriated it for his song Talking new Bob Dylan from his (excellent) 1992 album History.

At first i thought he'd done some sneaky lifting, but it quickly becomes clear that it's a deliberate recall of Clifton's track. Same sardonic humour, same chord structure, same self-effacing lyrics. A search on google and no-one else seems to have made the connection! This thread is really something.

daf

Ray Stevens - Harry The Hairy Ape



Reached #17 in the US in July 1963

QuoteHarold Ray Ragsdale was born on 24 January 1939 in Albany, Georgia. While attending high school, he formed his first band, a rhythm and blues group named The Barons. Following his graduation, he enrolled in Georgia State University as a music major.

Changing his name to Ray Stevens, he signed with Mercury Records in 1961, and had several hits including "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills" in 1961, and Ahab the Arab" which reached #5 in the US in 1962.

In 1974, Stevens recorded perhaps his most famous hit, "The Streak", which poked fun at the early-1970s fad of running nude in public, known as "streaking." It became number one in both the UK and the US and No. 3 on the country chart.

daf

Can you tell what he is yet? . . .

Rolf Harris - Nick Teen And Al K. Hall



Peaked at #95 in the US in September 1963.

QuoteRolf Harris was born on 30 March 1930 in Bassendean, Western Australia, he was named after Rolf Boldrewood, the pseudonym of an Australian writer whom his mother admired.

Wobble-board . . . Beatles . . . Two Little Boys . . . Stylophone . . . Swimming Pool . . . Kate Bush . . . Digeridoo . . . Cartoon Club . . . Animal Hospital . . . Prison.

honeychile

Quote from: daf on August 22, 2020, 11:45:43 PM
Ray Stevens - Harry The Hairy Ape



Reached #17 in the US in July 1963

Thought this might be an interpretation of Brassens' Le gorille to begin with.

As for

QuoteIt became number one in both the UK and the US and No. 3 on the country chart

can't work out how it was number 1 in the US while only being number 3 on the country chart.

daf

#105
Yeah, that is odd.

Charts in the US are based on radio plays, as well as sales, so I'm guessing that for the country chart they mostly used Country music Radio Station playlists for 50% of the total, and for the other 50% C&W record shops might be used - so he might not have been the top seller in those?

Phil_A

Quote from: honeychile on August 22, 2020, 11:25:26 PM
Fucking hell

fucking hell

I knew this sounded familiar from somewhere as soon as i heard the opening bars.

Loudon Wainwright III took the whole format, structure and concept of this song and reappropriated it for his song Talking new Bob Dylan from his (excellent) 1992 album History.

At first i thought he'd done some sneaky lifting, but it quickly becomes clear that it's a deliberate recall of Clifton's track. Same sardonic humour, same chord structure, same self-effacing lyrics. A search on google and no-one else seems to have made the connection! This thread is really something.

Hmm, I'm sceptical that Wainwright was referencing an obscure and little heard novelty single when he wrote that, it's clearly a direct pastiche of early Dylan, and both songs are written in the Talking Blues style that Dylan used extensively on his early albums. It's a style Dylan borrowed from Woodie Guthrie, who in turn got it from the original "Talking Blues" Man, Chris Bouchillon, who recorded the first recognised example of the genre way back in 1926.

Quote from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_bluesA talking blues typically consists of a repetitive guitar line utilizing a three chord progression which, although it is called a "blues", is not actually a twelve bar blues. The vocals are sung in a rhythmic, flat tone, very near to a speaking voice, and take the form of rhyming couplets. At the end of each verse, consisting of two couplets, the singer continues to talk, adding a fifth line consisting of an irregular, generally unrhymed, and unspecified number of bars, often with a pause in the middle of the line, before resuming the strict chordal structure.

honeychile

Ah yes that makes much more sense! Dylan is a huge blind spot in my musical knowledge. Surprised i haven't stumbled across more of this stuff by accident though as it's so immediately striking.

notjosh

Some great stuff in this thread!

Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas - Bad To Me



Written by John Lennon (possibly with help from McCartney), this is probably my favourite of the songs The Beatles 'gave away'. A lovely sugary bit of Merseybeat, with beautifully simple lyrics that are still really effective at sustaining a mood:
The leaves on the trees would be softly sighing
If they heard from the breeze that you'd left me crying


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CMX0mCFYJ4

Lennon recorded a rough demo too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa5Hv11sIxA


Booker T. & The M.G.s - Chinese Checkers



Think some people may only be familiar with Green Onions and Soul Limbo, but the MGs have recorded such an amazing wealth of material. As the house band for Stax records, they played on all the great Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas etc records (with writing or producing credits on many of them). They also recorded several great instrumental albums, both under the Booker... title, and also as part of The Mar-Keys (alongside the Memphis Horns, Isaac Hayes, and whoever else was knocking about in-studio), as the MGs (minus Booker T Jones and guitarist Steve Cropper) and with one hit as The Packers. Steve 'The Colonel' Cropper and bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn also went on to be part of the original Blues Brothers band.

I may share more of them in future years, but this is one of my favourites. I believe they're backed by the Memphis Horns, and I think the 'Your Move' is from drummer Al Jackson Jr. I'm desperate to write an ultra-hip heist film so I can use it on the soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQacYMxWQ6s

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on August 22, 2020, 07:01:19 PM
Cock-A-Hoop - Manfred Mann Released on Parlophone 1963


Not Parlophone. His Masters Voice.  Soz.

jamiefairlie

#110
Ok, time to launch into 1964

Simon & Garfunkel - Sparrow

https://youtu.be/pqH8H1YwVhA

A new year and a change of pace. From their debut album "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M", described aptly as "exciting new sounds in the folk tradition", I think we'll be hearing more from these young fellas :-)

The album was initially so unsuccessful that Simon moved to London, where he quickly embraced the burgeoning local folk-rock scene, and Garfunkel returned to his studies at Columbia University, before reuniting in late 1965.

daf

Roll Over C.J. de Mooi and tell Judith Keppel the News . . .

The Eggheads - Foolin' Around

 

Released on the Bell label in April 1964 - did not chart.

daf

Hey Ho, Let's Go! . . .

The Rockin' Ramrods - She Lied



Released on the Bon-Bon label in April 1964 - did not chart.

QuoteThe Rockin' Ramrods were an American garage rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, who were active in the 1960s and early 1970s. 

The group was founded in 1962 as The Ramrods Four by Boston residents Bill Linnane and Vin Campisi. They began as a surf rock unit who played primarily instrumentals, eventually modifying their name to the Rockin' Ramrods.

While they did not achieve national success, their work is today well-regarded by garage rock collectors and enthusiasts. Though best known as the Rockin' Ramrods, they recorded one single as the GTO's. In 1968, Ronn Campisi left to form Puff who recorded one album.

Neomod

The proto Strawberry Switchblade Sound of The Caravelles.



Lois Wilkinson from Sleaford[nb]mods[/nb] and Andrea Simpson from Finchley, were a British duo girl band who had got to number 3 in the states and number 6 in the uk chart with their earlier hit You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry. Sadly they wouldn't trouble the charts again including with this 1964 charmer.

The Caravelles You Are Here[nb]did Yoko nick the title for her 68 exhibition?[/nb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpDS3crUFl4

daf

Begorrah, my Friend! . . .

Lenny O'Henry - Across The Street



Co-written by Four Seasons hit-scribbler Bob Crewe. Released on the Atco label, it peaked at #98 in the US in May 1964.

QuoteLenny O'Henry was born Danny L. Cannon in Jackson, Mississippi on 22 October, 1935. He moved to Buffalo with his mother when he was 13. He joined the Air Force at the age of 17, and after returning home from service in 1955, he ran into his old friend Donnie Elbert, walking down Michigan Avenue with a guitar, and suggested that they play together. Together they formed The Vibraharps.

At the end of that year, the group got a boost when they were asked to pose as the Drifters backing Clyde McPhatter at a New Year's Eve show in Niagara Falls. They recorded a single, "Cosy With Rosy" and "Walk Beside Me," which was issued on the Beech label from New York City.

The Vibraharps soon regrouped and headed to New York, after a missed chance of signing with Motown. After the group were given a contract with ABC-Paramount records, Danny Cannon was asked to sign a separate contract and was given a new name, Lenny O'Henry.


daf

Bonnie Jo Mason - Ringo, I Love You



Released in February 1964 on the Annette label - did not chart.

QuoteBonnie Jo Mason was born Cherilyn Sarkisian on 20 May 1946 - yes, this is Cher wearing a false moustache.

"Ringo, I Love You" was was released under the name of Bonnie Jo Mason because producer Phil Spector (for 'twas he!) wanted American names for his singers, and Cherilyn La Piere was not a name he considered sufficiently American - the daft racist!

The single failed to chart nationally, and did not pick up much local radio play. It has been suggested that many radio stations would not consider playing the record because they thought Cher's extremely low vocals were a man's vocals, and believed it was a male "homosexual" singing a love song to the Merseybeat Thunderstick. One of the writers, along with Phil Spector, was Vini Poncia, who would later go on to write for Ringo in the 1970s.


Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: daf on August 23, 2020, 11:43:27 PM
Hey Ho, Let's Go! . . .

The Rockin' Ramrods - She Lied

Blimus, that's pretty 'eavy for 1964. Nice one, lads.

After Laughter (Comes Tears) by Wendy Rene. So much intensely choked up pain in this performance. [Michael Caine voice] She was only seventeen years old.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JeNhmJYv7I

QuoteShe needed a stage name, and several options came up including the name Wendy Storm, suggested by Stax receptionist-turned PR head Deanie Parker. Otis Redding then came up with the name Wendy Rene, which she preferred, and she used that name regularly as a solo artist. Her first solo single, After Laughter (Comes Tears), co-written with her brother, was released in August 1964, and became a local hit but failed to make the national R&B chart. The record featured Booker T. Jones on organ.

In 1967, she married songwriter and Stax employee James Cross. In December of that year, she was scheduled to fly with Redding and the Bar-Kays for what would have been her final live performance for the foreseeable future. A new mother, she backed out at the last minute to stay home with her child. Tragically, the plane crashed in Madison, Wisconsin leaving Redding and six others dead.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) by Irma Thomas.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_K9xsSdgMs

This is probably quite well known due to its repeated use in Black Mirror, but it was never a hit - it was the B-side to Time is on My Side - so I think it deserves a place in this thread. It's a beautiful record, whichever way you slice it.

QuoteThe genesis for the song came to Jeannie Seely who was working as a secretary at Liberty Records in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In a 2018 interview Seely said that the song originated from "a pantyhose ad in a magazine. It read: 'Anyone who knows what comfort is...'", and stayed after work to compose the song on a piano.

Seely said that she "could hear these chords in my mind but I couldn't play them. I thought if I could corner a musician at the office, I could get some help. I saw Randy Newman walking in the hallway. ...I was a secretary and he was a songwriter. We didn't hang together. I figured the worst that could happen is that he would say no". Randy Newman subsequently collaborated on the song with Seely, he was then a songwriter signed to Metric Music, a publishing company owned by Liberty Records. Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) is one of only three writing collaborations that Newman has made.

Newman said that he had forgotten the song by the time he had heard it on Black Mirror and that it "sounded familiar" upon hearing it and that "I knew where the song was going. It took a day for me to remember it."

Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) has gained renewed appreciation as a result of its inclusion in numerous episodes of the science fiction television anthology series Black Mirror, stretching back to the show's first season in 2011. Series creator Charlie Brooker said in a 2018 interview that the song was chosen as it has "...the sound of a timeless haunting classic, yet wouldn't be familiar to most viewers". Executive producer Annabel Jones said that Brooker keeps featuring the song because "he liked the idea of nesting all the episodes together in an artistic universe of sorts".

Mr Farenheit


Sal Masi's Untouchables - Pat's Steaks

Can't find any definitive information on the year apart from a youtube comment saying its '1961-64' so I'm calling this as 1964, sounds about right.
A banging garage novelty song in what I guess is a Philadelphia accent about a young man's attempts to buy a girl some takeaway cheese steaks from the titular restaurant so that he can 'get down to some lovin'. Love the organ at the chorus and the restaurant kitchen banter in the outro really tops it off- 'Gimee a hot sausage!!'

This appears to be the only single Sal and The Untouchables ever realeased but he was still performing in 1977, playing 6 nights a week in the Thunder Valley Inn- Chef Antonio was making the cheesesteaks.
Here's his ad from the Philadelphia Daily News below. 1977 eh? What a time to be alive in Philadelphia. "Cry Rape" in the cinemas and Squeeze and Sal Masi playing the clubs.



Sal Masi's son, Sal Masi jr. continued the family entertainment business and played with the Unotuchables (wonder if it was the same ones?) until his sudden death in 2014. Apparently he was tutored by his father Salvatore Masi Sr. in 'Vocals, Comedy and Impressions'. He didn't do a very good job though because his son was shite.

Sal Junior was bald as well as shite as you can see in this family photo here. I'm guessing that's Sal Masi senior behind him- I hope it is, looks like a wiseguy, I can see 'Pat's Steaks' coming from him. His son must have been a massive disappointment.




jobotic

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on August 24, 2020, 12:27:28 PM


After Laughter (Comes Tears) by Wendy Rene. So much intensely choked up pain in this performance. [Michael Caine voice] She was only seventeen years old.



Wu-Tang!

Looking forward to listening to these when I get home tonight. Wonder if She Lied is the one The Mummies did a version of.