1960s – Page 4 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street

Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, You’d know what a drag it is to see you

This song sent me down the path of being a Dylan fan. The raw, angry, emotional way Dylan spits out the lyrics sounds true. There’s no chorus. No bridge. Just verse after verse of contempt, all wrapped in a breezy organ and guitar.

The song never lets up…Bob just keeps hammering away at someone relentlessly. The song was rumored to be about people rather than one person. We will probably never know because I don’t see Dylan opening up about it. I always thought of this song as the sister song to Like a Rolling Stone. It, in fact, was the follow-up song to Like A Rolling Stone. It was a stand-alone single.

But where Like A Rolling Stone is grand and sweeping, this song is really petty in the best possible way. This is a man lashing out at a specific circle of coffeehouse artists and Greenwich Village gatekeepers, likely in the folk community that once kissed his feet but now curses his loud amplifiers.

The beauty of this song is that it’s a protest song, but a personal one. It’s about betrayal, the smiling face that masks a knife in the back. It’s a story as old as you can get, and sung by a guy who was about to leave the folk scene in the rearview mirror.

There is a kind of glee to be had in hearing Dylan go full scorched-earth. This isn’t peace-and-love Bob, or even cryptic-poet Bob. This is “I-know-you-and-I-see-right-through-you” Bob. He’s less interested in making sense than in making you squirm. It’s brutal.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #7 on the Billboard 100, and #8 in the UK in 1965.

Positively 4th Street

You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend
When I was down you just stood there grinnin’
You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on the side that’s winnin’

You say I let you down, ya know its not like that
If you’re so hurt, why then don’t you show it?
You say you’ve lost your faith, but that’s not where its at
You have no faith to lose, and ya know it

I know the reason, that you talked behind my back
I used to be among the crowd you’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?

You see me on the street, you always act surprised
You say “how are you?”, “good luck”, but ya don’t mean it
When you know as well as me, you’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once and scream it

No, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief perhaps I’d rob them
And tho I know you’re dissatisfied with your position and your place
Don’t you understand, its not my problem?

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is to see you

Shades of Blue – Oh! How Happy

This song brings back memories. It was released in 1966, but I heard it first in 1985 when I graduated and life was great…so it’s a ’60s song that reminds me of 1985. It was prom time, and after we left, with my white tuxedo with tails and a purple cummerbund, this came on the radio. It will forever be linked to that moment in time for me.

There’s a certain kind of record that arrives like a grinning stranger at your doorstep, all sunshine and tambourines and no agenda. This was written by the great Edwin Starr. This song is pure pop joy with a Motown sound. When he wrote this song, Starr was working for a Detroit record label that was eventually bought out by Motown. The song peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100 in 1966.

It doesn’t mess around. It goes straight to the chorus, like the song can’t wait to get to the part that matters. The lead vocal is flanked by a chorus of voices that sound like the world’s friendliest pep squad… cheering on a romance that actually worked out for once.

This was the only top ten hit for The Shades of Blue, who were a white Soul band from Detroit. The song came at a time when American Soul music influenced the British music industry, creating a genré called Northern Soul.

The lyrics won’t remind you of Bob Dylan or John Prine, but that doesn’t matter. They’d go on to release more singles, but none stuck like this one. Oh! How Happy is their legacy, and what a legacy to have: a song that never tries to be cool, only kind.

Oh How Happy

Do roo, do roo, do roo, do roo do…

Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me)
I have kissed your lips
A thousand times
And more times than i can count
I have called you mine
You have stood by me
In my darkest hours
Sing
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me)
In our years together
We’ve got stormy weathers
But our love has been so strong
For some how we carry on
Sing
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me), ooh, ooh
You brought joy
To my empty life, yeah
And all that was wrong
You made it right
Our love (our love)
Our love (our love)
Our love, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (you have made me)
Oh how happy (oh how happy)
Oh how happy (oh how happy)
Oh how happy, ooh… You…
You have made me (you have made me)
You have made me (you have made me)
You have made me (you have made me)

Who – Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy … album review

I bought this album right after I had bought Wholigans and Who’s Next. I wanted to know what their sixties output was like besides My Generation and I Can See For Miles. This compilation album was released in 1971; it wasn’t just a sampler of radio singles; it was a brash declaration of how The Who reached the top and what they broke along the way. Most of these songs did not reach the ears of Americans and Canadians in the 1960s. If Who’s Next was their grand gesture, Meaty Beaty was their rowdy scrapbook. The album is exciting!

In Canada and America, most people know the Who’s Next material and after as well. This album is the roots of the band. They stretched the limits of recording, trying new things in the studio, much like The Beatles did, but with a rawer result.

Rock in the mid to late sixties was changing, and what a diverse set of songs that you hear from that period. This is when Pete Townshend was turning teenage anxiety into rock mini-operas and Keith Moon was trying to demolish every drum kit in London. The title, reportedly referring to the four members themselves, Meaty (Roger), Beaty (Keith), Big (John), and Bouncy (Pete), is cheeky and self-mythologizing. And the tracklist? Nearly perfect. These singles are where Moon started to get his wild drumming reputation. He is everywhere in these songs, especially I Can’t Explain, making them different from other bands.

I have said that my favorite kind of band to watch live is the ones that you think will fall apart with any song they play, but they pull it between the lines without going over the cliff. They did that with these songs in the studio.

You’ve got I Can’t Explain, The Kids Are Alright, and Substitute up front, each one a case study in amphetamine, fueled mod rock. These aren’t songs that build; they explode right from the opening riff. Substitute, in particular, grabs your attention with the loud backing, but also the lyrics. Substitute could be The Who’s best single ever. And then I’m a Boy, Happy Jack, Pictures of Lily, you realize Pete was already leaning into story-song territory years before Tommy became a rock opera.

Magic Bus is a Bo Diddley-beat freakout that somehow makes a song about public transportation sound like a spiritual quest, or My Generation, the track that blew the doors off rock ’n’ roll. If that bass solo doesn’t rattle you, check your pulse. There’s a through-line here: Townshend’s fascination with identity, repression, rebellion, and guilt. These songs are electric in the best sense of the word.

Later Who albums might be deeper (Quadrophenia) or grander (Who’s Next), but this one is the sound of the band becoming The Who. Loud, brash, and already mythic. If you want to learn about The Who…this is a great starting point.

…

Cream – I Feel Free

Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp I feel free…Jack Bruce’s voice in this is great and sets the tone of the song. The song peaked in the UK at #11 in 1967. It’s Cream before they were CREAM, before the mountain-top solos and the molten lava blues.

The track kicks off with that cool a cappella intro, a call-and-response chant that suspends it mid-air. Then Jack Bruce’s bass drops in like a swinging anchor, thumping along with a walking groove that practically skips. The whole song feels like it’s walking a line between psychedelia and British pop, and it works. It’s a perfect single from a band that rarely, if ever, cared about making singles.

Cream wasn’t known for a lot of fun songs. White Room, Sunshine of Your Love, and others meant business, but this one is fun and a little pop. They didn’t have many of those, but they did have a few. Wrapping Paper, I’m So Glad, and my personal favorite, the wonderfully bizarre Anyone For Tennis, have a place in my heart.

British poet Pete Brown helped the band write the lyrics. Brown, who was a beat poet, had worked with Baker and Bruce before. He also wrote lyrics to Sunshine Of Your Love and White Room. Eric Clapton played a borrowed Les Paul guitar on this track, as his Beano album guitar had been stolen during album rehearsals. It was plugged into a new, 100-watt Marshall amp.

Speaking of Clapton, he used what he called his “Woman Tone” on his guitar in this song. It was one of the first times he used it. He got it by turning the amp all the way up, boosting the treble, cutting the bass, and playing a sustained guitar note.

I Feel Free

Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free
Bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp
I feel free

Feel when I dance with you,
We move like the sea.
You, you’re all I want to know.

I feel free.
I feel free.
I feel free.

I can walk down the street, there’s no one there
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.
I can drive down the road; my eyes don’t see,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud.

I, I, I, I feel free.
I feel free.
I feel free.

I can walk down the street, there’s no one there
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.
I can drive down the road; my eyes don’t see,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud.

Dance floor is like the sea,
Ceiling is the sky.
You’re the sun and as you shine on me,

I feel free.
I feel free.
I feel free.

I, I, I, I

NRBQ – Stomp

The 1969 NRBQ self-titled debut album, released on Columbia Records, is a wonderfully scrappy introduction to a band that never played by the rules, even from the jump. This one caught my ear and never let go. I’m a newbie to the band, but I’ve listened to many of their albums and songs throughout their career in the past few months.

This is the beauty of blogs, everyone. When I first started, my foundation was the holy trinity of rock: the Beatles, the Who, and the Stones. I listened to more than them, of course, but now with all of your help, I’ve picked up on artists that I missed completely in real-time or the ones before I was aware or born. I love expanding my musical knowledge, and this band is part of that. It’s never too late to learn new/old music or movies for that matter.

I believe that some of NRBQ’s greatest assets, such as eclecticism, unwavering artistic values, and humor, are also the reasons they never sold the millions of records they deserved. They are incredible musicians who have no problem being silly and loose as well.

While other bands at the time were chasing hits, studio trickery, and long jams, NRBQ (short for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet) decided to follow Sun Records, Spike Jones, and Cecil Taylor, sometimes all in the same song. The album is a pre-punk, pre-power pop, pre-alt-country, pre-everything slab of glorious fun. There’s no single style to pin it down; it’s equal parts rockabilly, jazz, R&B, novelty, garage rock, and pure American musical mischief. One minute they’re playing jazz, the next they’re writing AM-radio pop that could’ve given Big Star a run for their money. In other words, if you want diverse music, NRBQ is the way to go.

They were formed by pianist Terry Adams, guitarist Steve Ferguson, and drummer Frank Gadler, with the addition of bassist Joey Spampinato (originally Joey Spampanato) and drummer Tom Staley completing the lineup.

The album NRBQ peaked at #162 on the Billboard album charts. Stomp peaked at #122 on the Billboard 100 in 1969. The band has 24 studio albums, 14 live albums, and 15 compilation albums. Terry Adams, who formed the band, is still with them… to this day.

Stomp

Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
People got to know, miles and miles around
About the hidden secret of the stoppin’ so sound

Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
Go and tell your friends, all about to stomp
They can tell there cousins and there mama and pa

And if you do refuse the rhythm my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
The biggest generation yet has come
But we got something for the old and young
And if you do refuse a+rhytum my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
You just might stop and stare and wonder why
But you’re just wasting time so come on try
(make it quick)

And if you do refuse a+rhytum my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
People got to know, miles and miles around
About the hidden secret of stoppin’ so sound
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp

…

Animals – House of the Rising Sun

I bought this 1964 single when I was 12 in 1979. On the B side was the wonderful Bring It On Home to Me. I became an Animals fan that day. Let’s talk about a song so soaked in sorrow, so drenched in drama, that it feels like a dark southern gothic fable set to tape.

This is a British band covering an old American folk ballad about a New Orleans house of ill repute, and somehow, they made it definitive. The song had already passed through Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Bob Dylan before it landed in the hands of The Animals. But it wasn’t until Eric Burdon opened his mouth that the song finally got its fangs. His voice is more of a howl than singing at times, and gives the song the oomph it needed.

Historians have not been able to definitively identify The House Of The Rising Sun, but the two instances I have read about are these:

1) The song is about a brothel in New Orleans. The House Of The Rising Sun was named after its occupant Madame Marianne LeSoleil Levant (which means “Rising Sun” in French), and was open for business from 1862 (occupation by Union troops) until 1874, when it was closed due to complaints by neighbors. It was located at 826-830 St. Louis St.

2) It’s about a woman’s prison in New Orleans called the Orleans Parish women’s prison, which had an entrance gate adorned with rising sun artwork. This would explain the “ball and chain” lyrics in the song.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1964.

More than anything, his song cemented The Animals as the most dangerous-sounding band to crawl out of the British Invasion. It wasn’t the pop of the Hollies or Herman Hermits. This was dark. Gritty. Adult. You believed every damn word.

The original lineup only recorded three albums, yet nevertheless managed to break out eight Top 40 hits between 1964 and 1966. Alan Price left in 1965, and John Steel the following year. Also in 1966, Chandler left to start managing artists, and he discovered Jimi Hendrix in Greenwich Village.

Eric Burdon: “I don’t think that The Animals got a chance to evolve. We were the first to admit that we took blues songs from American artists, but if the Animals had stuck together and worked together instead of worrying about who was getting all the money, we could have evolved more and come out with more music to be proud of.”

The B side on my single

House of The Rising Sun

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I’m one

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin’ man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when he’s on a drunk

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I’m goin’ back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I’m one

McCoys – Hang On Sloopy

A relative gave me this single when I was around 7 or 8 years old, and I’ve been a fan ever since. It’s mid-sixties garage rock that was fronted by a great guitarist.

This thing is raw, ragged, and ridiculously catchy. It’s also one of the most unlikely #1 hits of the mid-’60s. A teenage bar band out of Indiana fronted by a 16-year-old Rick Derringer (still using his birth name, Zehringer), drafted into the spotlight by producers looking for someone to finish off a half-assembled track. What they delivered was a rock ‘n’ roll time capsule.

They opened for a band called The Strangegloves, who were a group of producers who formed a band and had a hit called I Want Candy. The Strangegloves, an American band, told everyone they were from Australia and said they were shepherds who got rich by crossbreeding sheep. Yes, it was the sixties. They gave Rick and the Raiders (before they changed their name to the McCoys)a chance to record this song.

It started life as “My Girl Sloopy,” a minor R&B single by The Vibrations in 1964. But the McCoys stripped it down to its most essential parts and cranked up the amp. By the time it hit the airwaves in 1965, it was an instant anthem for kids who didn’t have a lot of time for nuance.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #5 in the UK in 1965. The McCoys were not one-hit wonders. They had another top 10 hit named Fever and a top 40 hit named Come On Let’s Go.

The song was written by Bert Berns and Wes Farrell. Bert Berns wrote many songs in the sixties and signed Van Morrison to his first solo contract. The name “Sloopy” most likely originated from Dorothy Sloop, a jazz singer from Steubenville, Ohio. Sloop, who died in 1998 at age 85, performed in the New Orleans area using the name “Sloopy.”

This video was done later than the song in 1975. The Dancer, Lisa Leonard Dalton, was surprised when her video went viral a few years ago. Here is a short bio of her.

Hang On Sloopy

Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on

Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town
And everybody there tries to put my Sloopy down
Sloopy I don’t care what your daddy do
‘Cause you know Sloopy girl I’m in love with you
And so I’m singing

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sloopy let your hair down girl, let it run down on me
Sloopy let your hair down girl, let it run down on me

Come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Well, come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Well, come on Sloopy, come on, come on

Well it feels so good, come on, come on
You know it feels so good, come on, come on

Well shake it, shake it, shake it Sloopy, come on, come on
Well shake it, shake it, shake it yeah
Yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Troggs – Wild Thing

I had an obsession with this band when I was a kid. I wanted to know everything about them, but back then, you could not search Google or find ~~many~~ any books on The Troggs. I did learn about the Trogg Tapes, which were hilarious! A friend of mine had a bootleg cassette of them in the 80s. It’s them in a session and probably breaking the record for the number and variations of f**k in a session. It probably has more than Scarface did with Pacino. It was better than many comedy albums I bought back then. “Put a Little Bit of F***ing Fairy Dust Over the Bastard!” It doesn’t get much rock and roll than that.

Some songs arrive like lightning. This song showed up like a Molotov cocktail tossed into the tea party of mid-’60s pop, three chords, one brain cell, and more raw tension than a teenage first kiss. This is pre-punk, garage rock, and sexual threat, all crammed into 2 minutes and 34 seconds of glorious slop. The opening chord staggers into the room like a drunk on a bender.

If you were in a garage band in the sixties…or now, you probably have played this song. This is the Troggs’ claim to fame in the history of Rock and Roll. They had other good songs, but nothing that had this much influence. The song is as raw as you could get at the time. It’s also a song like ‘Louie Louie’ that every garage band has played or at least tried to play once.

Reg Presley, one of rock’s unlikeliest frontmen (a former bricklayer with a sneer in his voice), had just enough voice to get him through. They were not stocked with great talent, but they sounded raw, and they had songs that were tailored for them. Instead of excellent musical chops, they had enthusiasm and just enough talent to make it exciting. And it worked.

The band combined a pop touch with a garage band style, resulting in two top ten songs and four songs in the Billboard 100. This song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1966.

Many people will remember the Jimi Hendrix version at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Comedian Sam Kinison also did a version in 1989. The first version of this song was by The Wild Ones in 1965. Secondhandsongs shows 153 versions of this song.

Chip Taylor (whose real name was Chip Voight) was a singer-songwriter who wrote this song. Taylor is the brother of actor Jon Voight and the uncle of Angelina Jolie. He has made a fortune on this song because it’s been in countless movies and TV Shows. He also wrote Angel of the Morning.

Chip Taylor: “I was on the floor laughing when I was through. Wild Thing’ came out in a matter of minutes. The pauses and the hesitations are a result of not knowing what I was going to do next.”

Reg Presley: “There was a guy there (at DJM) called Dennis Berger, who had a heap of demos on his desk. The first one I picked up was Wild Thing. I took a look at the lyric sheet and read: ‘Wild Thing-you make my heart sing-you make everything groovy.’ It seemed so corny, I thought, Oh my God, what are they doing to us! Then I played Chip Taylor’s demo- just guitar and him- and it was incredible. The other boys all liked it too. Chip Taylor later told us our version was just what he wanted.”

Wild thing

You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
Come on and hold me tight
I love you

Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing

Wild thing, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
So come on and hold me tight
You move me

Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Oh, come on, wild thing
Shake it, shake it, wild thing

Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday

I’ve heard so many times, How can you listen to the Monkees? Easy answer: I might not have gotten into rock music as early as I did without them. They inspired me later on to pick up a guitar and join a band. When I was 7, I saw the reruns of the Monkees in the mid-seventies. They made being in a band look fun. Of course, they never told you about the backbiting and the politics. The thing is, they made some good pop singles.

Also, the claim that they didn’t play their instruments, which was true on their first two albums, until their third album on. No, the hits didn’t dry up after they started to play their own instruments. This one they played on. Michael Nesmith was a singer-songwriter and guitarist before joining; Peter Tork was the best musician in the band at the time and played with Stephen Stills, Davy Jones played drums before joining, and Mickey Dolenz was a guitar player. Micky soon learned drums and possessed one of the best pop voices of the sixties. Mickey and Mike did the vocals on this song, singing together.

This song was written by Goffin and King about suburbia. The Monkees started to play their own instruments on the Headquarters album. Pleasant Valley Sunday was released from that album and peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #11 in the UK, and #1 in Canada in 1967. The song had a rebellious streak. It is a dig at suburban life, but a really catchy dig.

The Monkees were hot in 1967. Their show was on the air from 1966 to 1968. The opening guitar lick of this song was based on The Beatles’ “I Want To Tell You.” They influenced at least a couple of generations of musicians.

Peter Tork: “A notion of mine that I was real pleased with took over at one point, and that was having two guys sing in unison rather than one guy doubling his own voice. So you’ve got Mike, who was really a hard-nosed character, and Micky, who’s a real baby face, and these two voices blended and lent each other qualities. It’s not two separate voices singing together, it’s really a melding of the two voices. Listening to that record later on was a joy.”

One more thing…Jan Wenner of Rolling Stone Magazine can stuff it.

Here is a demo by Carol King

“Pleasant Valley Sunday”

The local rock group down the street
Is trying hard to learn their song
They serenade the weekend squire
Who just came out to mow his lawn
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care See Mrs. Gray, she’s proud today
Because her roses are in bloom
And Mr. Green, he’s so serene
He’s got a TV in every room
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Mothers complain about how hard life is
And the kids just don’t understand Creature comfort goals, they only numb my soul
And make it hard for me to see
(Ah ah ah) ah thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I need a change of scenery Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta ta
Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta taAnother pleasant valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)

Creation – Making Time

Thank you, Dave, for this Turntable Talk. I wrote this for his series about songs with Time in the title, in the song, or about time. I like trying out new songs on the weekend, and this is a great example of mid-sixties British Rock. If you dig the Who and Kinks…you should like this one.

Here’s a 1966 track that hits you like a kaleidoscopic brick through a plate-glass window. This is a band that I so wish would have done more things. Their lead guitarist, Eddie Phillips, was asked by Pete Townshend to join the Who as their second guitarist. They are one of those bands that slipped through the cracks.

They were formed in 1966 from a band called The Mark Four. The Creation was from Chesthunt, 12 miles north of central London. They formed in 1963 as the Mark Four and went through different names until 1966 when they became the Creation. The Creation was sharper, weirder, and wilder than most of their peers. They had the raw power chords and the feedback fury of early Hendrix, and the pop art mindset of a band who not only wanted to be heard, they needed to be seen as well. The lead singer, Kenny Pickett, would spray paint a canvas, and someone from the road crew would set it a fire during the set…during the song Painter Man.

This song was released in 1966. They patterned themselves after The Who and The Kinks. It had the sonic sound of The Who, the garage grit of The Kinks, and the art-school sound with later groups like The Jam to Blur. But what really made it jump off the grooves? That guitar solo really helped out. Long before Jimmy Page, Eddie Phillips, the guitar player, used a bow. Making Time was the first rock song to feature the guitar being played with a bow. Shel Talmy produced the group that also produced The Who and The Kinks.

The band broke up in 1967-1968 with some different members. The guitar player Eddie Phillips and singer Kenny Pickett started to write songs in the seventies after leaving the business for a while. They wrote Teacher, Teacher for Rockpile. They regrouped in the 1980s and are still out there touring.

I’ve been talking about the Who and Kinks…a member from each band played with The Creation along with a Rolling Stone. Mick Avory, the drummer for the Kinks played with the reformed band from the mid-1980s to 1993. Doug Sandom, who was replaced by Keith Moon in the Who, played with them off and on until he died in 2019. Ronnie Wood played with them in 1968 (right before they broke up) as a vocalist and guitar player.

They only released 3 studio albums. One in 1966 called We Are Paintermen. One in 1987 called Psychedelic Rose and another one in 1996 called Power Surge. This song peaked at #49 on the UK Charts in 1966.

Making Time

Making time
Shooting lines
For people to believe in
Things you say
Gone in a day
Everybody leavin’
Everybody leavin’

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

Tellin’ lies
Closing your eyes
Making more excuses
Pullin’ the wool
Actin’ the fool
People have their uses
People have their uses

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

Lookin’ for
An open door
Never taking chances
Take your pick
Makes you sick
Seekin’ new advances
Seekin’ new advances

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

Love – Forever Changes ….album review

Pam from All Things Thriller recommended this band and the album Forever Changes. I’ve been following her blog for years, and I trust when she recommends someone, and she came through. I was not disappointed with this album. This album has been listed in the top 100 best albums ever by different publications. It doesn’t have a bad song on it. The album is not known for hit singles but for the collective whole of the songs on that album. I was going to pick one song, but again, this album needs to be listened to as a whole.

One single did get pulled off of this album called Alone Again Or and it did hit the UK and Billboard Charts, and it sounded familiar. The reason it did was because The Damned covered back in 1987.

This is a band that I heard of but never really heard as much. With founder Arthur Lee, Love fused garage rock, folk, psychedelia, and baroque pop. They were not commercial juggernauts, but they sure did sound great. This album’s core is acoustic, and they build on it from there. I could not stop listening to it all this week. They were also one of the first racially diverse American rock bands.

Released in late 1967, just as the Summer of Love was peaking and already beginning to fall, it’s a record that doesn’t sound like its time, and doesn’t really belong to any other, either. This was the band’s 3rd album. Arthur Lee was just 22 when he put this band together. He already had two solid albums under his belt, full of garage rock, Byrds-like jangle, and attitude, but Forever Changes was something else entirely. It’s as if Lee had seen the whole California dream flicker and die and was moving on.

I’ve listened to this album around five times overall, and it keeps getting better. I love how they mixed the acoustic with jaw-dropping percussion and touches of electric guitar. I’m not going to go down the list of songs; the best way is to listen to it.

The original lineup featured Lee, guitarist Johnny Echols, bassist Ken Forssi, drummer Don Conka (later replaced by Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer), and singer/guitarist Bryan MacLean.

Alone Again Or

Yeah, said it’s all rightI won’t forgetAll the times I’ve waited patiently for youAnd you’ll do just what you choose to doAnd I will be alone again tonight my dear

Yeah, I heard a funny thingSomebody said to meYou know that I could be in love with almost everyoneI think that people areThe greatest funAnd I will be alone again tonight my dear

…

Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

Somehow, I didn’t hear this song until I was 18 in 1985. When I heard it, I immediately loved it. I didn’t just like the song, I was infatuated with it. One of the most infectious bass lines I’ve ever heard. I would play it so much that my friends would ask…again? So this post is basically a love letter to this song.

The bass wasn’t the only thing that hit me, it is as clear as a spring day guitar riff. Last but certainly not least, it began my lifelong love for Van Morrison’s writing and voice. How did I make it until 18 without hearing it? I’ll never know. I not only learned the bass, but I also learned the guitar and some of the drums. I described it to someone as Buddy Holly in Technicolor.

I was at the right age for it. It’s a scrapbook of teenage moments, skipping school, hanging out by the green grass, and making out behind the stadium. There’s even a sneaky little bit of controversy: the original line “making love in the green grass” got scrubbed from the single version and replaced with a tamer repeat of an earlier verse (“Laughing‚ and a-running”).

It’s a song that I never get tired of hearing. The entire sound is crystal clear, and it made me feel nostalgic at just 18. It’s not Van Morrison’s best song…that would be impossible to pick, but it is a great pop song packed with memories and fun.

This was Van’s first single after leaving Them. Brown Eyed Girl isn’t trying to change the world. It’s not aiming for psychedelia (very popular at the time) or pushing the studio envelope. What it does do is pack memory, melody, and a whole lot of youthful yearning into a tight little pop song.

Van would go on to far deeper waters with albums like Astral Weeks, Moondance, Tupelo Honey, and Saint Dominic’s Preview, albums brimming with spiritual searching and jazz improvisation. But Brown Eyed Girl was a huge introduction to the new solo artist… Van Morrison. I’ve told people…if I could have been born with any voice, Van’s voice would have been it.

He released this song in 1967, it peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #13 in Canada, and #60 in the UK. My friends say that I might have listened to this song more than anyone…including Van. Hmmm, where is that email address to the Guinness people?

Brown Eyed Girl

Hey where did we go
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow
Playin’ a new game
Laughing and a running hey, hey
Skipping and a jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a thumpin’ and you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall
Slipping and sliding
All along the water fall, with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da, la te da

So hard to find my way
Now that I’m all on my own
I saw you just the other day
My how you have grown
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometime I’m overcome thinking ’bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (lying in the green grass)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (sha la la la la la)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da

? & the Mysterians – 96 Tears

I absolutely love the organ riff that starts out this song. It was performed on a Vox Continental.

Well, it’s an original name I will say that much for the group…or the lead singer anyway. This song was written by “Question Mark,” the band’s frontman who wanted to be anonymous (he’s listed on the composer credits as (Rudy Martinez). At one point, he referred to the individual band members only by three-letter names (at one point, the band was known as XYZ). The mystery helped market the group, who wore dark glasses to add to the intrigue. He publicly stated that his soul had originated from Mars and that he once walked on Earth with the dinosaurs.

There’s a reason 96 Tears is often tagged as one of the first true garage rock hits, and even a proto-punk to what The Stooges and Ramones would soon torch the world with. It’s raw, it’s relentless, and it’s got attitude for days. It was recorded in Bay City, Michigan, by a band of mostly teenage Mexican-American kids, and it has that magical garage sound. No overthinking. Just a stomp and a sneer.

The song was originally released on the tiny Pa-Go-Go label before being picked up by Cameo Records. Against all odds, it climbed all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Think about that: in a year dominated by the Beatles, stones, Motown, and the Beach Boys, this little three-chord song with an organ and a singer named Question Mark took the top spot.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #37 in the UK in 1966. They were an American garage rock band of Mexican origins from Bay City and Saginaw in Michigan who were initially active between 1962 and 1969.

It was later covered by Garlan Jefferies.

96 Tears

Too many teardrops
For one heart to be crying
Too many teardrops
For one heart to carry on

You`re way on top now since you left me
You’re always laughing way down at me
But watch out now, I`m gonna get there
We`ll be together for just a little while
And then I`m gonna put you way down here
And you`ll start crying ninety-six tears
Cry, cry

And when the sun comes up, I`ll be on top
You`ll be way down there, looking up
And I might wave, come up here
But I don`t see you waving now
I`m way down here, wondering how
I`m gonna get you but I know now
I`ll just cry, cry, I`ll just cry

Too many teardrops
For one heart to be crying
Too many teardrops
For one heart to carry on

You’re gonna cry ninety-six tears
You’re gonna cry ninety-six tears
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry, cry now
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry, cry
Ninety-six tears

Come on and lemme hear you cry, now
Ninety-six tears, woo
I wanna hear you cry
Night and day, yeah, all night long

Uh, ninety-six tears, cry cry cry
Come on, baby
Let me hear you cry now, all night long
Uh, ninety-six tears, yeah, come on now
Uh, ninety-six tears

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band – I’m the Urban Spaceman

I stopped posting every day, so now I post on the weekends and sometimes on Thursdays and Fridays. On Thursday, I like out-of-the-box posts. And this one fits the bill. I’ve been re-reading a book on Keith Moon written by his former PA named Dougal Butler. I would recommend it to anyone; it’s called Full Moon or Moon The Loon, depending on which country you are in. Members of this band were discussed, so I had to revisit them.

I first saw them in Magical Mystery Tour with a song called Death Cab for Cutie. I always had a soft spot for this band, kinda like I have one for some Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. This 1968 single is the Bonzos at their most accessible and probably their most pop, or the closest thing to that. It was written by Neil Innes, the band’s Lennon to Vivian Stanshall’s mad McCartney. I’m the Urban Spaceman is a blast of optimism with a huge wink. To say this band thought “out of the box” is severely underestimating them.

The song is a satirical anthem for the then-Swinging London, mocking the hipster lifestyle while also kind of celebrating it. It walks the fine line between parody and pure joy. Though the Bonzos were always more a cult act than a chart band, Urban Spaceman briefly broke them into the mainstream. It peaked #5 on the UK Singles Chart in 1968, making it the closest thing they had to a conventional success. But conventional was never really the point of this band. The song was produced by Paul McCartney as “Apollo C. Vermouth.”

There’s a long British tradition of absurdist pop, the kind that runs a straight line from The Goons to Monty Python, with a few detours through The Kinks and Small Faces. And right there, hovering in that orbit is the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Equal parts satire, whimsy, and dime-store psychedelia, they managed to twist vaudeville, trad jazz, and British music hall into something altogether different. In other words, “interesting” only scratches the surface. I think of the Marx Brothers because everything seemed irrelevant to them.

Viv Stanshall shared two things with Keith Moon. A friendship and the ability not to get embarrassed. A rare and dangerous thing in the hands of the wrong people.. Another similar friend of Keith’s in the Bonzos was Larry “Legs” Smith. One of the many stories was:

Smith went into a tailor’s shop where he admired a pair of trousers. Keith Moon came in, posing as another customer, and admired the same trousers, demanding to buy them. When Smith protested, the two men fought, splitting the trousers in two, so they ended up with one leg each. The tailor was beside himself. A one-legged actor hired by Smith and Moon came in, saw the split trousers and proclaimed, “Ah! Just what I was looking for.”

The song was on their third album, called Tadpoles, released in 1968. It peaked at #36 in the UK. They made 6 studio albums with their last one in 2007 called Pour l’Amour Des Chiens… French for For The Love Of Dogs. They were together from 1962 through 1970 but did reunite several times…in 1972, 1988, 2006-2008, and 2008 – 2019.

The members were Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes, Roger Ruskin Spear, Larry “Legs” Smith, Rodney Slater, Dennis Cowan, Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell, Bob Kerr, Martin Ash, Ian Cunningham, Tom Parkinson, and Joel Druckman.

Neil Innes would go on to write songs for Monty Python and front The Rutles, cementing his status as a master of affectionate parody.

I’m the Urban Spaceman

I’m the Urban Spaceman, babyI’ve got speedI’ve got everything I needI’m the Urban Spaceman, babyI can flyI’m a supersonic guy

I don’t need pleasureI don’t feel painIf you were to knock me downI’d just get up againI’m the Urban Spaceman, babyI’m making outI’m all about

I wake up every morning with a smile upon my faceMy natural exuberance spills out all over the place

I’m the Urban SpacemanI’m intelligent and cleanKnow what I mean?I’m the Urban SpacemanAs a lover, second to noneIt’s a lot of fun

I never let my friends downI’ve never made a boobI’m a glossy magazine, an advert in the tubeI’m the Urban Spaceman, baby, here comes the twistI don’t exist

…

Beatle Album Tracks that could have been singles

I think people forget how many singles The Beatles could have had in their career. They treated singles and albums differently back then. The Beatles wanted more bang for their buck, so they would release many singles independently from their albums. When you buy an album, it isn’t full of previously released singles like they did in the late 70s and 80s, as in Rumours, Thriller, and Born In The USA.

There were no singles off Sgt Pepper or The White Album…none zilch. They could have added Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields to Sgt Pepper and they could have added Hey Jude and the electric version of Revolution to the White Album, but didn’t.

They had 18…now 19 (Now and Then in 2023) number 1’s in the UK and 20 on Billboard. I’ll list the songs below that were album cuts. No, not all of these would have gone to number 1, but some would have. The songs I think that would have had a chance at #1 on either the US or UK chart are in bold. What other band would not have released these songs as singles, regardless?

This list is album cuts…it could have been a greatest hits package. Also, if you want to hear the songs, I have a Spotify list at the bottom. I didn’t want to post over 30 YouTube videos.

Here Comes The Sun – This is the most streamed song by The Beatles…yet it’s an album cut.
In My Life – One of the most remembered Beatles songs.
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Got To Get You Back Into My Life (it was 1976 before this was released, and it hit the top ten… 10 years after it was recorded)
Here, There and Everywhere
Michelle
Getting Better
Birthday
Taxman
A Day In The Life
Back in the USSR
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
Hey Bulldog
The Fool on the Hill
Drive My Car
Magical Mystery Tour
Dear Prudence
With A Little Help From My Friends
It Won’t Be Long
The Night Before
I’ve Just Seen a Face
And Your Bird Can Sing
Two Of Us
You Never Give Me Your Money
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (it was 1976 before this was released)
Good Day Sunshine
You Won’t See Me
You’re Going To Lose That Girl
All I’ve Got To Do
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