Ranking Beatle Albums

For anyone who has talked to me in person or through the blog…the number one choice is NOT going to be a surprise. The rest of the bunch might be a little but not number 1. It’s also an almost impossible task for me to do this. The Stones albums were easier for me to rank because of the wide selection.

I’ve seen Hanspostcard to this before but I’ve never tried it. Since it would be convoluted to include the American versions…I’m sticking with the UK versions only…except with Magical Mystery Tour. Magical Mystery Tour was released as two eps in the UK but an album in the US…now the album is considered the standard.

I was struck again by how far they came. Please Please Me and four years later I Am The Walrus. Who makes that big of a jump?

As with my Stones list a while back… I will do this on personal preference. When people mention the best Beatle album…many say Revolver or Sgt Pepper. Artistically I always thought Revolver is at the top but not personally.

The only easy selection for me was the bottom two but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them both. Many bands would make a career out of the bottom two. The hardest part was comparing the early albums with the others. That is not all…how do you compare Strawberry Fields with I Want To Hold Your Hand to Something off of Abbey Road?

I have some readers who are pro-early Beatles and some who are pro-middle to late. I’ll take them all. They were innovative to start off with…not just middle to late. I know that many will disagree and I hope you do… that’s the fun of these lists! If I made this tomorrow…only the top pick and the last two would be the same. I have over 40 revisions of this post…yea it was hard.

Yellow Submarine

13. Yellow Submarine (Soundtrack) – This was the dumping ground of the not wanted songs for a while. The Beatles would keep sending songs to this album but just because it was last doesn’t mean it wasn’t any good. The album also had songs from other albums on this one.

Favorite Song – Hey Bulldog

Beatles for Sale

12. Beatles For Sale – The cover tells the story. Beatlemania had worn them down physically and emotionally. Six out of the fourteen songs on the album are cover versions. They were good cover versions but were running low on gas at this point.

Favorite Song – No Reply

Let It Be

11. Let It Be – My love for this album has grown but I’ve always liked it. Lately, it has drawn new fans into the Beatles because of the Get Back film. Why oh why did Phil Spector leave off Don’t Let Me Down? This is another album that I hated to rank as low as I did.

Favorite Song – Two Of Us

Please Please Me

10. Please Please Me – I love this debut album. They recorded most of it in one day… on February 11, 1963. Recording this in one day shows you how well they knew their material. It takes people days just to start on an album…much less get it done. It really hurts to rank this as low as it is.

Favorite Song – Please Please Me

Magical Mystery Tour

9. Magical Mystery Tour – I remember buying this album as a kid I liked it better than Sgt Pepper at the time. Many of the songs had already appeared on singles like Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye, I Am The Walrus.

Favorite Song – Strawberry Fields Forever

With The Beatles

8. With The Beatles – This album was close to its American counterpart (Meet The Beatles) without I Want To Hold Your Hand. It had many more covers. I think Meet The Beatles could be a little better because it was totally made up of Lennon-McCartney songs with Harrison’s first original song…Don’t Bother Me.

Favorite Song – It Won’t Be Long (one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time)

Help!

7. Help! – For me this album gets underrated and this is where you can start hearing the change between Beatlemania and more mature Beatle music. It opens the door for Rubber Soul and then Revolver.

Favorite Song – The Night Before

Abbey Road

6. Abbey Road – This album has been said to sound more modern than the other Beatles albums. The reason is they recorded on a 16-track recorder just installed at the time in Abbey Road. It was the last album they all worked on together.

Favorite Song – The “mini pop opera” on side B

Sgt Pepper

5. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The most famous album of the Beatles and quite possibly of all time. As John Lennon said it wasn’t really a concept album after the first two tracks and the refrain…it worked because they said it worked. If The Beatles would have included Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane…this could be my number 1.

Favorite Song: perhaps my favorite of all time… A Day In The Life

Rubber Soul

4. Rubber Soul – This was known as their pivotal album. I think Help! was the album that you started to know the change between the early Beatles and mid-Beatles but this one was full-blown. It shows their folk and drug influence with their great melodies.

Favorite Song – In My Life

A Hard Day's Night

3. A Hard Day’s Night (Soundtrack) – I think this is the best album they released during the Beatlemania days and on some days it could be listed even higher. Songs such as the title track, Tell Me Why, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, Anytime At All, and many more.

Favorite Song – I’ll Cry Instead

Revolver

2. Revolver – I think Revolver is the Beatle’s best album artistically. It’s not the most popular with the masses but it’s a masterpiece of an album. I’m biased but this one or Pet Sounds? I would take Revolver any day of the week…and I love Pet Sounds! It’s as close to a perfect album as you can get.

Favorite Song – Tomorrow Never Knows

The White Album

The Beatles (White Album) – This not only is my favorite Beatles album…but my favorite album of all time. It gives such a wide palette of music… there is something that everyone would like on here somewhere. Unlike Abbey Road or Sgt Pepper…it’s not slick…it’s them playing in a room. I like the well-known songs and I love the album tracks even more. Actually, all are album tracks technically because there were no singles (except for an overseas single) from this album. Songs included Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 1, and so many more.

Favorite Song: Sexy Sadie

Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds – Shuffle It All

I loved this song when it was released. I saw the video before I heard it on the radio. I knew two of the members straight off the bat. Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N Roses. The other guy I knew was Rick Richards of Georgia Satellites on lead guitar. To round out the band, Jimmy Ashhurst of Broken Homes on bass, and Charlie Quintana on drums.

To my surprise…on the organ was former Faces/Small Faces member Ian McLagan. Ron Wood also played on the album. Another surprise was super session man Nicky Hopkins. Izzy had some big guns playing with him.

Stradlin quit Guns ‘N Roses in 1991 during their hottest period. He moved back to his Indiana town Lafayette and put this band together and wrote the material. The song has a very Stonesy Keith Richards feel to it.

I was surprised, to be honest…I’ve never been a fan of lead singer Axl Rose. I liked Stradlin’s voice much more. I’ve always been a fan of voices that are a little out of the norm. This album was released within a few months of the Black Crowes The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion so the airwaves were full of rootsy blues rock and roll.

The album was self-titled Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds released in 1992…wow has it been that long? The album peaked at #102 on the Billboard Album Charts. They did a huge tour into September of 1993.

Izzy has made 10 solo albums and also two more EP’s with the JuJu Hounds. He refused to rejoin Guns N’Roses in 2016 because they refused to cut the money evenly. He also played with former bandmate Slash in Velvet Revolver.

On quitting Guns N’ Roses he said some of it was due to Axl Rose’s chronic lateness and him being a diva. He was then offered a contract. “This is right before I left – demoting me to some lower position. They were gonna cut my percentage of royalties down. I was like, ‘Fuck you! I’ve been there from Day One. Why should I do that? Fuck you, I’ll go play the Whisky.’ That’s what happened. It was utterly insane.”

Shuffle It All

Boredom saturation
It’s a never ending clue
Isn’t just to fill the time
When there’s nothing else to do

She drove on out of New York
She had enough insane
And drivin’ just though Texas two days
She ended up in L.A.

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your life again

A pile of records spread out
The covers still look good
Picture here a Peter Tosh’s
startin’ down and a smokin’ wood

My dog dreaming is running
I see him twitch a paw
My woman playing Dr. Mario
On the TV all night long

Just another cigarette
Staring at the moon, yeah
Then I’m headin’ off to bed
Sleepin’ without you, yeah

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Pack up your bags again

It’s a long and winding road
Sure enjoy the view, yeah
If you want to see it
Just slow down
You’re so welcome to come along

Lookin’ for a tune to play
I’m gonna see it again
When the day is over
Try to write you ’bout the rain

Feel the motors winding on
There ain’t no news
If you see those old friends out there
Tell them that I send my love

Wake up, time to leave again
Try to find my shoes
Put the luggage in the van
Roll up your Doctor Dolittle

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your things again
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Pack up your life again

Keep on shufflin’

Orange Humble Band – Down In Your Dreams…. Power Pop Friday

Bruce from Vinyl Connection referred me to this song after The Stems post I did last week. I liked it the minute I heard it. This song was off of an EP called Down in Your Dreams released in 1998.

This band at one time or another included Darryl Mather, Mitch Easter, Ken Stringfellow, Jody Stephens, Bill Smith, Jon Auer, Dave Smith, and Rick Steff.

You may recognize some of those names. Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer were in the Posies and the later Big Star with Alex Chilton, Mitch Easter was the producer of R.E.M. and a member of Let’s Active. Darryl Mather was in the Australian band Lime Spiders.

Mather along with his bassist friend Bill Gibson formed this band in 1994 in Australia. The band released 3 albums… Assorted Creams (1997), Humblin’ (Across America) (2001) and Depressing Beauty (2015). They had one EP and that would be this one and two singles named Apple Green Slice Cut and Any Way You Want It.

I’ve dived into their catalog and song after song shows different styles and really likable music. I would strongly suggest you checking this band out. Plus…what a cool name!

Down In Your Dreams

Sorry…I could NOT find the lyrics.

…

Billy Preston – That’s The Way God Planned It

A soulful song by Billy Preston that was produced by his friend George Harrison. It was released in 1969 on Apple Records. This song had an ALL-STAR band backing it. George told Preston he would “invite some of his friends” over. Billy had no idea those friends were Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums. That alone makes the song worth listening to. Also, the backup vocals were done by Doris Troy and Madeline Bell.

This song peaked at #62 on the Billboard 100 Charts, #61 in Canada, and #11 in the UK in 1969.

Preston was good friends with the Beatles…playing on the Let It Be album and the Get Back film. They signed him to Apple Records after getting him out of his contract with Capitol Records. He ended up with 5 top 5 hits including 2 number 1’s. He also toured with the Rolling Stones throughout the seventies.

The album was called That’s the Way God Planned It and it peaked also at #62 in the Billboard Album Charts. Critic David Fricke said: “Preston would have bigger hits in the Seventies but never make a better one than this album’s rapturous title track … The rest of the album is solid church-infused soul, with Preston covering both Bob Dylan and W.C. Handy.”

In 1979, after a few years without a hit, he would hit the charts again with Syreeta Wright on the ballad “With You I’m Born Again.” Preston suffered from kidney disease in his later years and would pass away on June 6, 2006.

Billy Preston: “I first met [them] in Hamburg in 1962, I was backing Little Richard and they were just one of 14 other groups. They used to dedicate ‘Taste Of Honey’ and ‘Love Me Do’ to me and they were the only group I bothered to watch.”

That’s The Way God Planned It

Why can’t we be humbleLike the good Lord saidHe promised to exalt usFor love is the way

How men be so greedyWhen there’s so much leftAll things are God givenAnd they all have been blessed

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, didn’t HeWell, that’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, for you and meYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Let not your heart be troubledLet mourning sobbing ceaseLearn to help one anotherAnd live in perfect peace

If we just be humbleLike the good Lord saidHe promised to exalt usFor love is the way

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, doesn’t HeYou better believe meThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, for you and meYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

That’s the way, alrightCome on, come on, come on

I hope you get this messageAnd where you won’t others willYou don’t understand meBut I’ll love you still

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beYou better believe meThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants, He wants it to be

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beOh, yeah

…

Lynryd Skynyrd – All I Can Do Is Write About It

When you think of Lynryd Skynyrd you don’t think of an Environmental Friendly band but Van Zant was that. They all grew up in Gainesville Florida and were around wildlife and natural tropical areas. This song is a warning about the growth of his hometown and he was cautioning about urban and suburban areas claiming wild lands as their own.

‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that come

Van Zant saw this happening all through Dixie which include South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

This song was on their Gimme Back My Bullets album released in 1976 after Ed King had left the band. It was the B-side to Gimme Back My Bullets.

Gimme Back My Bullets is mistaken for meaning real gun bullets but it’s not…it meant the chart positions of songs…” with a bullet.” The definition I found was “That has entered the charts in a high position, or has climbed rapidly in the charts, or is thought to have the potential for further rapid advancement.”

The song was written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitar player Allen Collins. The band was an album band that also included some hit singles and now classic radio staples such as Simple Man, Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Back My Bullets, Saturday Night Special, The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe, and more.

What if the plane crash wouldn’t have happened? Bill Bentley, the author of “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen,” said: “I think if Lynyrd Skynyrd had lasted, they would have become one of the foundations of American rock bands, much like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, I think Ronnie Van Zant had enough artistic strength to grow and they really would have been individuals, there wouldn’t have been another band like them.”

I’m not sure what would have happened but I don’t see them ever conforming to the trends of the day. Ronnie Van Zant in parachute pants? I just don’t see it happening. I can’t see them changing their sound like ZZ Top, Heart, and Cheap Trick. Personally, I think they would have had a huge follow-up to Street Survivors…as the 80s came they might have carried on as before like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

If they didn’t make it in the 80s I could see them reforming in the 90s like The Allman Brothers and others. Most people think of these guys as backwoods good old boys…which some of that is true but they varied on their writing. An environmental song and a gun control song in Saturday Night Special. No one talks about that much.

All I Can Do Is Write About It

Well this life that I live took me everywhereThere ain’t no place I ain’t never goneWell it’s kind of like the sayinThat you heard so many timesWell there just ain’t no place like home

Did you ever see a she-gator protect her youngin’Or fish in a river swimmin’ freeDid you ever see the beauty of the hills of CarolinaOr the sweetness of the grass in Tennessee

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause if I can seen the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

Like to see a mountain stream a flowin’Do ya like to see a youngin’ with his dogDid ya ever stop and think aboutWell the air your breathin’Well ya better listen to my song

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

I’m not tryin’ to put down no big cityBut the things they write about us is just a boreWell you can take a boy out of ole’ Dixieland, LordBut you’ll never take ole’ Dixie from a boy

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

If I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

Delfonics – La-La Means I Love You

I first heard about this band after watching the movie Jackie Brown. I heard of a few of their songs through the years but found out more about them after I saw the movie. They are as smooth as it gets in the 60s and 70s soul.

The song was written by Thom Bell and lead singer William Hart.

This song was the first hit for The Delfonics and was produced by Thom Bell, who helped craft the Philadelphia Soul sound. Bell, and The Delfonics, worked for Cameo-Parkway Records in Philadelphia, which was looking to compete with Motown. The Delfonics are credited with significantly contributing to the development of the Philadelphia sound.

Thom Bell also produced for The Stylistics, Chubby Checker, and Elton John. But his main focus was the Philly sound, which is soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements.

The Delfonics were known as The Five Guys and played their own instruments. Bell cut them down to a trio and made them a vocal group, with Bell playing most of the instruments himself. He recorded three albums with the group and had one more big hit with them: Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) in 1970. Bell then joined Philadelphia International Records, run by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, where he worked with The Stylistics.

This song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #2 on the R&B Charts, #11 in Canada, and #19 in the UK in 1968. They only had one more top-ten hit…Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time).

La-La Means I Love You

Many guys have come to you
With a line that wasn’t true
And you passed them by
(Passed them by)
Though you’re in the center ring
And their lines don’t mean a thing
Why don’t you let me try?
(Let me try)

Now, I don’t wear a diamond ring
I don’t even have a song to sing
All I know is

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Oh, baby, please now
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you

If I ever saw a girl
That I needed in this world
You are the one for me
(One for me)
Let me hold you in my arms
Girl, and thrill you with my charms
I’m sure you will see
(You will see)

The things I am sayin’ are true
And the way I explain them to you
Listen to me

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Ooh, baby
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you

The things I am sayin’ are true
And the way I explain them to you,
Yes to you
Listen to me

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Oh, you’ll have to understand now
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Come on and take my hand

Rolling Stones – You Got The Silver

I posted the song Happy a while back and I was commenting on Keith Richards lead vocals. He always would sing songs that reflected him and his voice. I heard this song in the 80s and fell in love with it.

This is one of the times that Keith Richards sang the entire lead vocal. They did record a version with Jagger singing lead but decided to release the one with Richards singing.

Supersession man Nicky Hopkins played piano and organ on this. He played with The Stones on albums from Between The Buttons through Black And Blue. Along with Ian Stewart and Billy Preston, Hopkins was one of the three major contributors on keyboards for The Stones. Hopkins also played with The Beatles, Who, Kinks, and Jeff Beck.

The song was included in the Michaelangelo Antonioni 1970 film Zabriskie Point…but it wasn’t on the soundtrack. This song was the B side to the Let It Bleed single…also it was featured on the album Let It Bleed.

Supposedly Keith Richards wrote this about his then-girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg. She was with his bandmate Brian Jones before leaving Brian for Richards. This didn’t help Brian’s mental state at the time.

Brian Jones played the autoharp on this track. Jones played many unusual instruments for The Stones, and this was one of the last songs he contributed to. To be fair he rarely showed up to the Let It Bleed sessions and was not always functional when he did.

Personally, I’m a Brian Jones fan. When they got rid of him they lost their ultimate utility knife. He flavored the music with different instruments and they never sounded the same again. As much as Mick Taylor made so much of their sound from here on…that variety that Brian provided was missed.

I do understand why Mick and Keith did what they did but…it’s no secret that they dominated the songwriting and did not want songs from anyone else in the band. Taylor had to sue to get credits for songs he helped write years later after he left the band.

George Harrison and Brian Jones were close because they were in a similar situation with their respective bands. George at least got some songs on albums, unlike Brian. I would recommend any Stones fan to read Brian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones by Paul Trynka. Brian could be nasty and also a good guy…in other words, he was human. Sometimes it gets overlooked that Brian started The Rolling Stones.

The Stones didn’t play this live until 1999, but then it became a regular part of their otherwise hit-packed setlists. Richards was surprised how well it went over with fans.

You Got The Silver

Hey babe, what’s in your eyes?
I saw them flashing like airplane lights
You fill my cup, babe, that’s for sure
I must come back for a little more

You got my heart you got my soul
You got the silver you got the gold
You got the diamonds from the mine
Well that’s all right, it’ll buy some time

Tell me, honey, what will I do
When I’m hungry and thirsty too
Feeling foolish (and that’s for sure)
Just waiting here at your kitchen door?

Hey baby, what’s in your eyes?
Is that the diamonds from the mine?
What’s that laughing in your smile?
I don’t care, no, I don’t care

Oh babe, you got my soul
You got the silver you got the gold
If that’s your love, just leave me blind
I don’t care, no, that’s no big surprise

…

Happy New Year To Powerpop Readers!

I want to thank everyone who has read my blog this year and the last few years. I ran this last year and I’ve added many more names! It’s so much fun communicating with all of you. I’ve been told my blog is a place people come to comment like sitting around a campfire. That is the way I hope it is. I’m not a real writer so I just write as if I’m talking to you in a room.

I started this blog in September 2017 and I have learned a lot from reading your blogs and interacting with you all. It was cool to find fellow Big Star, Beatles, Who, Twilight Zone, Baseball, Jazz, Classical, Power Pop, Rock, Hard Rock, Folk, Old Country, Surf, Classic TV, Classic Movie, the 1970s, fans…. and everything in between.

In 2016 I would not have believed I would be communicating with people in different states across America plus the world…such as New Zealand, The UK, Hong Kong, Germany, Columbia, Australia, India, France, Sweden, Spain, and more! I’m also learning more about new music, old new music, cool old and new movies, and most of all…people. I probably comment too much at times but it’s a lot of fun learning.

I was hesitant to do this post because I know I will miss someone …if I did… it wasn’t on purpose.

I’ve commented with you all, emailed many of you, talked to some of you over the phone, and met one of you. Thank you all once again.

I didn’t know where New Zealand was until I started to talk to Bruce, Graham, and Obbverse…after talking to them I would love to visit there. They also leave some of the best comments of anyone.

I’ve learned about Australia and Columbia…and classical music from Matt

A fellow Big Star and mid-60s pop/rock fan! Obbverse

I’ve even listened to Heavy Metal and Canadian bands from Canadians Deke and Dave and became friends with both.

I’ve read great stories and read poems for really the first time from Lisa and Bruce. I still don’t know much about them but I’m learning.

Learned about new music from Jeff, Graham, and Christian.

Learned even more about the Beatles and music from Hanspostcard

Learned even more about baseball from Hanspostcard, John, and Dave

Looked at sewing machines as works of art with run-sew-read and learned more about The Moody Blues, books, and movies.

Learned a whole lot about the Grateful Dead and music from Jim

My guide to 80’s alternative bands from Paul and Dave

Learned so much about movies from Bernie… a great movie reviewer and person.

Fellow Twilight Zone fan Beth

the press music reviews…excellent top-notch posts on music and I love the alternate album covers you present.

I’ve started to comment a lot with walkingoffthechessboard

Getting to know Paul and Colin at onceuponatime70s … with that title how could I not like them?

Loudhorizon where I find rare bands of the 60s and 70s.

Commenting with Under The Mask

Vinyl Connection for all the info on albums that I love and music in general.

Monday songs from Eden make my Mondays better.

Recently commenting with halffastcyclingclub

Liam…another great blogger I met through our TV Draft last year.

I’ve had a good time commenting about music with princecranoir

How radio really works and more about family from Keith… Keith

Learning every number 1 from the UK with Stewart

I’m learning a lot about cover versions from randydafoe

About life and friendship from my friend Vic,

Wonderful life stories from Mitch,

Album reviews from 2loud2oldmusic and Graham

Learned about Chicago and interesting music from fan and fellow musician John

One of my favorite blogs from Mojo Horizon

Restaurants to eat at from Blaine. I want to make it down to Louisana so I can try these wonderful restaurants that he recommends.

Detailed history from Rick

MobsterTiger who is kind enough to re-blog some of my posts.

Kingclover who I’ve got to know more about this year talking about music.

Cooking and Saint Bernards from Jeanne

Inspiring writing from Pam

Writing and an author… Steve Campbell

Movies from Master Mix Movies

Off-the-radar songs and movies, and everything cool from Cincinnati Babyhead (CB)

ALWAYS cool music from Hotfox63

Some of the most entertaining true stories I’ve ever heard from Phil Strawn

I got to know Paula Light from our TV Show draft.

Great posts and one of my first followers…and fellow Monkee fan Blackwing

Nashville music history from my cousin Ricky

Comics from Harry Chamberlain

Learning about all the places that usfman travels

Stories from James

Just recently commenting with Dana at Regular Girl Devos

Awesome Cartoons from Hobo Cartoons

Sheree for dropping by my site every day.

The writing of Jason

Fellow power pop fan Mike and fellow Nashvillian.

Great posts from Mark

Again if I missed anyone I’m sorry…I just ran through this off the top of my head.

Thanks to everyone and have a Happy New Year to you and your family from Powerpop.blog (and it’s curator…Max). We survived 2020, 2021 and 2022…lets make this one better!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Band – Across The Great Divide

Happy New Year to all my readers. This is my first post of the year other than the New Years’ post this morning at 12:01 AM CST. My next post in one hour will be just for all of my readers…

My friend CB (Cincinnati Baby Head) reminded me of this song not too long ago…so thank you CB. Man…wasn’t The Band a truly great band? Not many bands could get away with a name like that…but it is no question they lived up to it. They made pure music for the people…

Standin’ by your window in painA pistol in your handAnd I beg you, dear Molly, girl,Try and understand your man the best you can.

Not a good way to start your day.

Canada has given us Neil Young, The Guess Who, BTO, and many more but…to me, this band was their best export.

The Band had 3 great singers and a good one in Robbie. Robertson wrote most of the songs and wrote for the other three voices. He was smart enough to step aside and let his bandmates sing his songs. Not many singer/songwriters would do that but it worked well.

This song was on their second album called The Band released in 1969. The album is one of the best albums ever. It contained these songs, Up On Crippled Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Whispering Pines, Rag Mama Rag, and more.

They recorded this album not in a recording studio but at Sammy Davis’s house in California. They remodeled the adjacent pool house into a recording studio. The Band fashioned a makeshift workshop environment similar to the one at their former home, Big Pink.

The album peaked at #2 in Canada, #9 on the Billboard 100, and #25 in the UK. This song was not released as a single.

Levon Helm: “Sometimes we would grow the songs from scratch, right there in the pool-house, sometimes we would just pull them out of thin air. We had story songs, we had picture songs and we had songs that emulated things we had heard. One thing that helped is that we had two different styles of rhythm section, with Richard and me swapping drum duties. That was done mainly to accommodate Garth’s ability to trade instruments around. Of course, Garth could play percussion, woodwind, bass—just about anything.”

Across The Great Divide

Standin’ by your window in painA pistol in your handAnd I beg you, dear Molly, girl,Try and understand your man the best you can.

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

I had a goal in my younger daysI nearly wrote my willBut I changed my mind for the betterI’m at the still, had my fill and I’m fit to kill

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

Pinball machine and a queenI nearly took the busTried to keep my hands to myselfThey say it’s a must, but who can ya trust?Harvest moon shinin’ down from the skyA weary sign for allI’m gonna leave this one horse townHad to stall ’til the fall, now I’m gonna crawlAcross the Great Divide

Now Molly dear, don’t ya shed a tearYour time will surely comeYou’ll feed your man chicken ev’ry SundayNow tell me, hon, what ya done with the gun?

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

Zombies – This Will Be Our Year

This is usually my first post in the New Year. I love tradition so here we are again!

Next to Auld Lang Syne this is my favorite New Years’ Song. A favorite of mine from one of my favorite bands. Everyone… I wish you a Happy New Year in 2023.

You didn’t have to read my blog but you did and I really appreciate it…I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting in 2022.

This song sounds like it should have been a hit but it was never pushed as a single at the time. It was the B side to Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) which is an experimental song and was a big surprise to the band that it was picked as the first single. Both are from the great album Odessey and Oracle in 1968. There are several songs on this album that could have been in the charts but Time of the Season was the only one that made it and it was a year after the album was released.

Bruce Eder of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, calling it “one of the flukiest (and best) albums of the 1960s, and one of the most enduring long-players to come out of the entire British psychedelic boom”.

On recording Odessey and Oracle…Rod Argent:

“We had the chance of going in and putting things down in the way we wanted people to hear them and we had a new studio, we walked in just after The Beatles had walked out [after recording Sgt. Pepper]. We were the next band in. They’d left some of their instruments behind … I used John Lennon’s Mellotron, that’s why it’s all over Odessey and Oracle. We used some of their technological advances … we were using seven tracks, and that meant we could overdub for the first time. And it meant that when I played the piano part I could then overdub a Mellotron part, and it meant we could have a fuller sound on some of the songs and it means that at the moment the tour we’re doing with Odessey and Oracle it means we’re actually reproducing every note on the original record by having extra player with us as well.”

This Will Be A Year

The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Don’t let go of my hand
Now darkness has gone
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

The warmth of your smile
Smile for me, little one
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

You don’t have to worry
All your worried days are gone
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Yeah we only just begun
Yeah this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Johnny And The Hurricanes – Red River Rock

Organ, organ, and more organ! You also have some sax also but what a smooth instrumental. Instrumentals were big in the 50s and 60s. Walk Don’t Run, Sleep Walk and more were very popular. Whenever I hear this I think I’m walking about at a carnival at night.

The Hurricanes began as an Ohio combo formed in 1957 by a group of students from Toledo’s Rossford Catholic High. The leader of the group was saxophonist Johnny Paris, born John Pocisk. Paris grew up listening to jazz greats until Bill Haley became popular using a combination guitar-sax backing. Paris formed the Orbits, a band that played on a few locally released recordings behind Mack Vickery.

Johnny and the Hurricanes had a huge following in Europe. Paris kept touring with different members up until 2005. Paris said that over 300 musicians played in the band in its fifty-year existence.

Red River Rock peaked at #5 in the Hot 100, #3 in Canada and #3 in the UK in 1959. They would have a #1 Canada hit the same year with “Beatnik Fly.”

Red River Rock

Just groove on the organ.

…

Stems – At First Sight

I’m really into this band at the moment. This is one band I wish I would have known about in the 1980s. This song was on their album At First Sight, Violets Are Blue. The album is still rated as one of the best Australian guitar pop releases. In the early nineties, Rolling Stone included it in the top 100 Australian releases of all time. At First Sight became their signature song.

The Stems were a garage punk band formed in Perth, Western Australia in late 1983 by member Dom Mariani. They were hugely popular in Australia. They would release 7 singles, 2 albums, and 2 EP’s between 1985-1987.

They debuted in March 1984 and released a series of independent records on Sydney’s Citadel Records. Each release made it to number one on the Australian alternative charts. Dom Mariani’s earliest influences included The Beatles, The Raspberries, Badfinger, and Big Star. He formed his first band (The Go Starts) in 1981 and The Stems in 1984. The members included Mariani (songwriter, guitar, and vocals) Richard Lane (guitar/keyboard/vocals), Gary Chambers (drums) and Julian Matthews (bass).

The band broke up after this album in 1987. They regrouped in 2003 and played to packed houses across Australia and Europe. They disbanded again in 2009 and regrouped in 2013 and still play from time to time.

The song peaked at #90 in the Australian Kent Music Charts but I’ve read where it peaked at #1 on the alternative charts there as well…along with two more singles from this album.

On the 30th anniversary of the album….founding member Dom Mariani: “It seems like a long time, doesn’t it? Music’s one of those funny things that never dies, it’s there forever. It’s always going to be there and what we did 30 years ago has connected with people, and it’s a bit of a historical thing. Personally, I’ve kept doing it (playing music) because it gave me the confidence to keep writing songs and stay interested in it. If it had been a flop I might have taken a different path.”

Back then I would have never thought much of it. You can’t look into the future but we had high hopes, and thought we’d be chart topping & tour the world etc. We were lucky enough that what we did was popular, we had some good tunes, and we loved what we were doing. Where I’ve ended up, I’m pretty happy with though. If we’d had any degree of success that was ‘life changing’, we probably wouldn’t have done all the music that we did since then. I’ve had a great journey, and it’s always been about rock and roll. The art form is more important than owning a mansion.”

At First Sight

Just say the word and I would die for you
And I’ll be a flower if you wanted to
‘Cause I never met anyone quite like you
I lose my head my heart starts pounding too
And all I had to do was look at you
At first sight

I’ll be the motor in your car
And I’ll be the fire in your flaming star
And I’ll be the water in your waterfall
‘Cause I’d hit the ceiling I’d feel ten feet tall
And all I had to do was look at you

At first sight

Just say the word and I would die for you
And I’ll be a flower if you wanted to
‘Cause I’ve never met anyone quite like you
I lose my head my heart starts pounding too
All I had to do was look at you
At first sight

All I had to do was look at you
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight

At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight

Who – Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand

This song was on the album called The Who Sell Out. I’ve said before that titles sometimes grab my attention and this one certainly did. This one has had many covers from other bands and artists.

The Who Sell Out is A Pop Art album that was fashioned after Pirate radio. The Who created spoof promo slots for Radio London, Premier Drums and Rotosound Strings, recorded in the brash ad-speak of 60s pirate radio. John Entwistle wrote two commercial jingles for Heinz Beans and Medac spot pimple cream.

Pete Townshend: “I’d already written two songs for [co-manager] Kit Lambert for the American Cancer Society – Little Billy and Kids! Do You Want Kids? – and I had Odorono, about a girl who loses a record contract. It wasn’t meant to be a commercial, it was just a song about body odor.”

I always thought it was a brilliant idea and remains a great satirical take on 60s consumerism.

The song would be the B side in America to I Can See For Miles.

The album was released on December 16, 1967. It peaked at #13 in the UK and #48 in the Billboard Album Charts. Their album Tommy would be released 2 years after this one and it would be their breakthrough all over the world.

Critic Dave Marsh called it “the greatest rock and roll album of its era” and “the Who’s consummate masterpiece, the work that holds together most tightly as concept and realization”.

Pete Townshend on the album: I’d demoed ‘Tattoo’ in my hotel room in Las Vegas during our three-day vacation, and a song called ‘Odorono’, named after a deodorant stick. ‘Odorono’ led us to the most perfect pop idea of all time: we would make our next record a vehicle for advertising. When we called Kit to explain, he was as excited as we were. I suggested we link the gaps between songs with jingles like those on commercial pirate radio.

John and Keith leapt on the idea, and, inspired by ‘Odorono’, began making up advertising jingles for all kinds of things, like Medac spot cream, Premier Drums and Heinz Baked Beans. But when the album was ready to be put together we were still short of tracks. John’s track didn’t feel right either, so he quickly produced a demo for another song called ‘Silas Stingy’, which, to be honest, was equally eccentric. But this was obviously going to be a very eccentric record.

Who – Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand

I danced with Linda
I danced with Jean
I danced with Cindy
Then I suddenly see

Mary-Anne with the shaky hands
What they’ve done to her man
Those shaky hands

Mary is so pretty
The prettiest in the land
Guys come from every city
Just to shake her shaky hands

Linda can cook
Jean reads books
Cindy can sew
But I’d rather know

Mary-Anne with the shaky hands
What they’ve done to her man
Those shaky hands

George Harrison – Any Road

I heard this song before George passed away…a live version of it by him on a VH1 special that he was on. The interviewer kept pushing him to do a song…I’m glad he did now. When I heard it I smiled because it was so George. With George’s songs, you could expect a good melody, slide guitar, and his own nugget of knowledge that he left behind.

This song was on George’s last album “Brainwashed” in 2003. George wrote the song in 1988 while working on a video for “Cloud Nine.” The song peaked at #37 in the UK chart in 2003.

George played this song on a VH1 show that ended up being his last performance before he died in 2001. You can tell he wasn’t really rehearsed or ready to play it but he gamely did…and I’m glad. George did not completely finish the album before he died so his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne helped finish it.

George’s son Dhani said that while he and his father were in Hawaii, they walked by a beach and saw a sign that read, “If the wind blows, you can always adjust your sails, but, if you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will take you there.” The sign was the inspiration for the song.

A form of the phrase also is in the exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

I thought this song was a good song for George to leave us with…It has his trademark slide and some ukulele in it.

“Any Road”

(Give me that plenty of that guitar.)

But I’ve been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike with a bus and a train
Traveling there, traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

And I’ve been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But oh Lord we’ve got to fight
With the thoughts in the head with the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

You may not know where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered
How you got this far

I’ve been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow

But oooeeee it’s a game
Sometimes you’re cool, sometimes you’re lame
Ah yeah it’s somewhere
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn’t born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no sides

Oh yeah you just don’t win
It’s so far out, the way out is in
Bow to God and call him Sir
But if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

(Yeah hey! Ah ee ah! Ah he ah!)

Beach Boys – Surfin’ U.S.A.

This is one of the first Beach Boy songs I heard and could connect to them. This is a song that the Beach Boys did in tribute to Chuck Berry except they forgot one small thing…they didn’t tell Chuck. He was in jail at the time of this song. When Berry threatened to sue, The Beach Boys agreed to give him a huge sum of the royalties and list him as the song’s composer along with Brian Wilson. Mike Love has claimed he wrote some of it also but never got credited.

The song also helped build Berry’s legend while he served his time. Surfin’ USA was based on Sweet Little Sixteen. Carl Wilson came up with the guitar intro, which is reminiscent of Duane Eddy’s “Moving and Grooving.”

One of the many Beach Boy songs about surfing. The only member of the band who actually surfed was drummer Dennis Wilson. The surfing culture gave them an opportunity to write songs about adventure and fun while exploring vocal harmonies and new production techniques. And while the majority of Americans didn’t surf, the songs represented California at the time.

This was the follow-up to their first hit “Surfin’ Safari.” Brian Wilson was gaining confidence as a producer, and this song marks the emergence of what would become the Beach Boys’ signature sound over the next few years.

The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100 in 1962. The B-side 409 peaked at #76 the same year.

Carl Wilson: “On ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.,’ Brian wanted an opening lick and I just did this Duane Eddy riff. I was worried that it had been on another record, but what the hell. That was the first time we were aware we could make a really powerful record. For the first time, we thought the group sounded good enough to be played with anything on the radio.”

Guitarist David Marks played guitar on the Beach Boys first five albums: “The energy on the Surfin’ USA session was very upbeat and happy. That’s where that chemistry thing kicks in again… there was a certain energy on that track that was a one-of-a-kind happening. It wasn’t perfect in a technical sense, but the vibe was something special that had a lasting effect.”

Surin’ USA

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody’d be surfin’
Like California
You’d seem ’em wearing their baggies
Huarachi sandals too
A bushy bushy blond hairdo
Surfin’ U.S.A.

You’d catch ’em surfin’ at Del Mar
Ventura County line
Santa Cruz and Trestle
Australia’s Narabine
All over Manhattan
And down Doheny Way

Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.

We’ll all be planning that route
We’re gonna take real soon
We’re waxing down our surfboards
We can’t wait for June
We’ll all be gone for the summer
We’re on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we’re surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.

Haggerties and Swamies
Pacific Palisades
San Anofree and Sunset
Redondo Beach L.A.
All over La Jolla
At Waimia Bay

Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.