On This Day – Stones In Harrow & The Beatles On US TV
Jan 6, 2010 On This Day
The Fab Four at their most Fab.......
Gawd knows what he would have made of the Stones.
They were embarking on their first tour in the UK on which they were the headliners having previously backed people like Bo Diddley, Little Richard and The Everly Brothers. This tie round they were supported by the Ronnettes (as was usual at the time a strange pairing it seems to me). Jack Paar may not have liked the Beatles’ hair Phil Spector did not like the Stones’ morals. He sent a telegram to the Stones warning to stay away from ‘his girls’. Mind you Ronnie of the Ronnettes was his wife at the time.
Apparently, the Stones ignored the telegram.
The tour started in the Harrow Granada, not the best venue they would ever play, but certainly not the worst. One notable thing from the tour was that the Stones stopped wearing their band uniform. One of the first bands to do so. These days it seems hard imagine that any band would wear a uniform, but it was the norm in those days. That they stopped wearing them enhanced their loutish, bad boy image. parents (mine included) hated them because of it. The kids (me included) loved them because of it (and the music, of course).
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Tags: beatles, On This Day, phil spector, real rock and blues, rolling stones, ronnettes
Not The Post It Is Supposed To Be!
Nov 8, 2009 Reviews
I was going to write a post about the reissue of Maxinquay by Tricky from 1995. This in itself was a bit of a surprise as I am not into Hip Hop (or whatever the genre is called these days) however, I have kept a bit of a watching (listening) brief on Tricky. For one thing he was born bristol which is where I grew up. Secondly, his music is a bit dark and he comments on social problems.
Anyway I was looking for clips from Maxinquay, which I heartedly recommend by the way, and came across this tremendous clip. It is called Puppy Toy and is from the 2008 album Knowle West Boy (the part of Bristol he was brought up in). It shows how he has developed as a writer and performer.
An interview with Tricky.
This is from Maxinquaye.
In Summary, Maxinqaye is a welcomed reissue, although I am not sure why it went away, however, Knowle West Boy shows what grown up hip hop is all about. And for my friends who deride hip hop as not being ‘real’ music I urge you to get yourself over to Youtube and just wander around the clips of Tricky you will be converted. As Frank Zappa said there is no such thing as bad music (mind you he obviously never listened to Country and Western, or ELO!)
Tags: hip hop, knowle west boy, maxinquaye, real rock and blues, rock and blues, tricky
On This Day – Dylan Storms New York, Nearly.
Nov 4, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1962 Dylan headlined his first concert in New York at Carnegie Chapter Hall. Tickets cost $2 each and the box office was not over run. Just 53 tickets were sold, apparently. Most of those watching his Bobness’s debut in New York were friends and he was paid $20.
There is a bootleg of this concert doing the rounds and a quick search should find it. This is the track listing that I have seen.
1. Pretty Peggy-O
2. In The Pines
3. Gospel Plow
4. 1913 Massacre
5. Backwater Blues
6. Young But Daily Growing
7. Fixin\\\’ To Die
8. Talkin\\\’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
9. Man On The Street
10. This Land Is Your Land
11. Talking Merchant Marine
12. Black Cross
13. Freight Train Blues
14. Song To Woody
15. Talkin\\\’ New York on the
There was a bootleg that came out years ago with just the first 7 tracks and I can say that the quality on that was pretty good. This version of “This Land is Your Land” appears on the “No Direction Home” soundtrack but that sounds pretty clean given the source.
In many ways I now find the early Dylan stuff the most interesting. I dislike old time folk and the journey he took from that tradition is fascinating. I have also found that I now have a new respect for the folk tradition that influenced Dylan.
Tags: bob dylan, classic rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues
On This Day – In Car Entertainment
Oct 12, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1955 Chrysler introduces a high fidelity record player that was to be available in some of their 1956 Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, and Plymouth models. The unit played 7 inch discs played at 45rpm as well as the relatively new 16 2/3 rpm. It was some 4 inches high and a foot wide and was slung under the dashboard. If you ordered this option with your new car you also received a set of 35 classical records.
You may be surprised to find out that there were problems with the needle skipping as the car went over bumps in the road (Who’d a thought it?) and so the units were discontinued. I have only a couple of thoughts ab out this;
One, how much would one of these units be worth now?
Two, if it is dangerous changing CDs while driving can you imagine the dangers involved in changing discs while driving? It just does not bear thinking about.
Amazingly, the disc player remained as an option until 1961.
Here is a copy of the press release;
HI-Fl RECORD PLAYER
26555
CHRYSLER CORPORATION
Press Information Service
Detroit 31, Michigan
Tulsa 3-4500
For Immediate Use
HI-Fl RECORD PLAYER AVAILABLE FOR
1956 CHRYSLER CORPORATION CARS
DETROIT – - Highway Hi-Fi, a record player that provides music and speech as you go, has been developed exclusively for the 1956 Chrysler Corporation cars.
This novel addition to the pleasures of highway travel, specially designed by CBS Laboratories as an accessory for Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial, was introduced today at the press preview of Chrysler Corporation’s new cars at the company’s Engineering Proving Grounds.
For driver and passengers who prefer the lively scores of Broadway musicals, Highway Hi-Fi provides the lilting and memorable tunes from the hit show, “Pajama Game.”
And if the children are restless on a long ride, Davey Crockett and Gene Autry are ready at hand to help keep them quiet.
Highway Hi- Fi plays through the speaker of the car radio and uses the radio’s amplifier system. The turntable for playing records, built for Chrysler by CBS-Columbia, is located in a shock-proof case mounted just below the center of the instrument panel. A tone arm, including sapphire stylus and ceramic pick up, plus storage space for six long-play records make up the unit.
Using a new principle of design worked out by CBS Laboratories, the player and position of the stylus on a record are not affected by the angle of a car, its highway speed, or even severe cornering. Tests demonstrate it is extremely difficult to jar the arm off the record or even make the stylus jump a groove.
The special records also developed by CBS Laboratories, are seven inches in size, transcribed on both sides, and pressed especially for Chrysler by Columbia Records. They give up to 45 minutes of music and up to one full hour of speech per side, A collection of six disks will be presented to customers with each player.
Making up the collection are Tschaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, Borodini’s Polovtsian Dances, Ippalitov-Ivanov’s Procession of the Sardar, the complete score of the Broadway musical show Pajama Game, Walt Disney’s Davey Crockett, Gene Autry and Champion, Romantic Moods by Percy Faith and his orchestra, quiet jazz by Paul Weston and his orchestra, Music of Cole Porter and Victor Herbert by Andre Kostelanetz and his orchestra, and dramatic readings from Bernard Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell by a cast of top Hollywood and Broadway artists.
Tags: chrysler cars, classic rock music, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues
On This Day – Eleanor Rigby Is Dead!
Oct 10, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1938 Eleanor Rigby died. She was 44 and died peacefully in her sleep. She is buried in the graveyard of St. Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton, Liverpool. It is close to where Paul and John first met 19 years later.
It would be nice to think that McCartney saw the gravestone on that fateful day and the name stayed with him. Not so, The original name used in the song was Daisy Hawkins.
Said McCartney in an interview about the album Revolver on which the song appears. “I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it. The first few bars just came to me, and I got this name in my head… ‘Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church’. I don’t know why. I couldn’t think of much more so I put it away for a day. Then the name Father McCartney came to me, and all the lonely people. But I thought that people would think it was supposed to be about my Dad sitting knitting his socks. Dad’s a happy lad. So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie.”
In fact the name Eleanor Rigby came from a store in Bristol (Rigby & Evans Ltd) and Eleanor Bron a great British actress who appeared in Help!
Many people say that Eleanor Rigby was a seminal record from the use of a string octet to the sad and serious subject matter. None of the Beatles play on the track although there are harmonies from John and George (obviously, not only could Ringo not play according to Paul he could not sing either).
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Tags: beatles, classic rock music, eleanor rigby, real rock and blues, rock and blues
On This day – The Payola Scandal Made Public
Oct 6, 2009 On This Day
On This day in 1958 Billboard ran an article attacking the practice of accepting money to play certain records on the radio. The term used was ‘payola’ a combination of ‘pay’ and ‘victrola’ (Victrola was a line of phonographs originally introduced by RCA Victor in 1906 that continued until 1970).
The article went on to say “payola, that under-the-turntable device whereby record companies win plugs and influence disc jockeys, is fast growing into a monster that may yet destroy its creators. According to key record execs, jockey payola is so widespread that it’s no longer possible to measure its effectiveness.”
The scandal would grow and ultimately it would destroy the career of the most famous DJ of them all Alan Freed. Strangely, although the practice was rife Freed was the only high profile DJ that was prosecuted. In November 1959 he was served with a subpoena to appear in front of the New York DA.
He was asked by WABC, for whom he worked, to sign a statement that he had not been paid to play plug records. In response Freed said that he had only received money for acting as a consultant for various parties, not for pluging records. He was sacked both his radio and TV shows.
I have some sympathy for Freed. He was a scapegoat, especially when you remember that he was charged with something that was not illegal until 1960 although his offences happened in 1959. When the trial came to court Freed pleaded guilty to 26 charges and was fined $300 with a suspended sentence. Hardly a huge penalty but his career was ruined. He died in 1965 broke, unemployed and suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
On the other hand, some of the practices at the time were very suspect. For example, Freed had co-writing credits on ‘Mayballene’ the Chuck Berry song, he never had a hand in writing it. The point is that as co-writer he received royalties from plays and sales. That gave rise to a conflict of interest for him. To play it (and others) on his very popular show or not?
Obviously, there is no questionable methods used to promote songs or artists these days……………..
Tags: alan freed, chuck berry, love rock music, On This Day, payola, real rock and blues, rock and blues
On This Day – Love Me Tender (again and again 856,327 times)
Sep 29, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1956 RCA Victor announced a huge number of advance orders for “Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley.
Only a couple of days ago it was the anniversary of Emile Berliner inventing the gramophone. In 1956 the record company that he co-founded with Eldridge Johnson was going from strength to strength.
These days, of course, RCA is part of Sony BMG. The history is somewhat contorted but, briefly;
In the ’80s RCA bought 50% of Arista. General Electric bought RCA in ‘86 (selling its interest in the RCA/Ariola International back to Bertelsmann the owner of Ariola). The RCA/Ariola International entity was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). GE meanwhile closed all RCA entities ‘cept for a NBC. So, BMG was the only RCA game in town. They also resurrected RCA Victor for Rock music.
While RCA had acts like The Eurythmics on its books it also produced a number of successful albums of shows on Broadway.
in 2004 BMG merged with Sony to produce ‘Sony BMG’. Interestingly, RCA once owned NBC now RCA was in a group once owned by NBC’s rival CBS, Columbia Records.
2008 saw BMG being bought out by Sony and Sony BMG became Sony Music Entertainment.
There, told you it was simple!
Tags: elvis presley, emile berliner, rca, rca victor, real rock and blues, rock and blues
Arrival on This Day – Helen Shapiro
Sep 28, 2009 arrivals
Helen Shapiro was born on this day in 1946.
Helen was a very popular young singer in the early 60s (she was only 14 when she had her first number one in the UK). The Beatles’ first UK tour was as a support act for her. When she was 14 she had her first number one single in 1961. In fact her first 4 singles (’61 & ‘62) all made the UK’s top 3.
By the time she was 18 her popularity was on the wane (may have been something to do with her beehive hairstyle being seen as old fashioned). Her last single was ‘Fever’ released in 1964. After quitting pop music she returned to jazz and began a career as a stage performer. In 1987 she became a born again Christian and has devoted her talents to spreading the word since that time.
Tags: classic rock music, helen shapiro, love rock music, real rock and blues, rock and blues
Someone, Please Stop Kelly Rowland!
Sep 15, 2009 Rants
There are wonderful songs, there are good songs, there are OK songs, there are bad songs, there are dreadful songs.
And then there is ‘When Love Takes Over’
Dreadful song, dreadful voice, and amazingly annoying.
When I looked up the lyrics (below) I was really surprised to find that there were any, other than the one hook line “When love takes over”. In fact, they are just there to allow whats-her-name sing the chorus. This is an increasing trend in pop songs. The purpose of a pop song is not to entertain and to inform it is to sell a CD, download, whatever.
Look at this song. Two verses (the bit where the songwriter is meant to tell the story and the chorus is sung (badly) 3 times. Oh yes the line “When love takes over” is also repeated until my eyes want to bleed.
The lyrics
Its complicated, it always is
That’s just the way it goes
Feels like the way it is so long for this
I wonder if it shows
And under water now i can breath
It never felt so good
Cause i can feel it coming over me
I wouldn’t stop it if i could
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
‘Cause something’s here tonight
Give me a reason I gotta know
Do you feel it too?
Cant you see me here on overload
And this time I blame you
Hmm looking out for you to hold my hand
It feels like I could fall
Now love me right, like I know you can
We could lose it all
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
Cause something’s here tonight
(tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight ….)
I’ll be loving all the time, it’s true
Cause I want to make it right with you
When love takes over, when love takes over
When love takes over, when love takes over …
Over, over, over ….
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
‘Cause something’s here tonight
I have been known to take a virulent dislike to songs ( I could cheerfully strangle Kid Rock) but there is something uniquely horrible about this brain worm.
She has to be stopped and someone must take David Guetta’s crayons away before he writes another formulaic song like this.
Tags: kelly rowland, real rock and blues, rock and blues, when love takes over, worst song in the world
On This Day – The Beatles Jam with Elvis
Aug 27, 2009 On This Day
On This Day in 1965 the Beatles were on their second US tour. Brian Epstein was able to arrange a visit to meet Elvis in his Bel-Air home. The visit lasted some 4 hours and while Col Tom Parker an Epstein played pool the Fab Four and The Hips told stories and chatted. They also jammed together. Want a copy of that recording? Well, tough luck no one thought to turn a tape recorder on!
Here is an excerpt from the book The Beatles Anthology talking about meeting Elvis.
PAUL We met Elvis Presley at the end of our stay in L.A. We’d tried for years to, but we could never get to him. He was our greatest idol, but the styles were changing in favor of us. He was a pretty powerful image to British people. You’d look at photos of him doing American concerts, and the audience would not even be jumping up and down. We used to be amazed, seeing them sitting in the front row – not even dancing.
JOHN LENNON : When I first heard “Heartbreak Hotel,” I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We’d never heard American voices singing like that. They’d always sung like Sinatra who enunciated well. Suddenly, there’s this hillbilly hiccuping with echo and all this bluesy background going on. We didn’t know what the hell Presley was singing about or Little Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long time to work out what was going on. To us, it just sounded like great noise.
PAUL We tried many times to meet Elvis, Colonel Tom Parker, his manager would just show up with a few souvenirs, and that would have to do us for a while. We didn’t feel brushed off we felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.
GEORGE HARRISON Meeting Elvis was one of the high-lights of the tour. It was funny, because by the time we got near his house we’d forgotten where we were going. We were in a Cadillac going round and round along Mulholland, and we’d had a couple of “cups of tea” in the back of the car. It didn’t really matter where we were going – it’s like the comedian Lord Buckley says, “We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds, we might not find out where we is, but we’ll sure find out who we is.” Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a lot. That’s one thing we forgot about for a few years – laughing. When we went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but when I think back to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.) We pulled up at some big gates and someone said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to see Elvis,” and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we weren’t silly, just like a Beatles cartoon.
JOHN It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in his big house in L.A. – probably as big as the one we were staying in, but it still felt like “big house, big Elvis.” He had lots of guys around him, all these guys that used to live near him (like we did from Liverpool, we always had thousands of Liverpool people around us, so I guess he was the same.) And he had pool tables! Maybe a lot of American houses are like that, but it seemed amazing to us. It was like a nightclub.
RINGO STARR I was pretty excited. We were lucky because it was the four of us and we had each other to be with. The house was very big. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, “Hi, Elvis.” He was pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.
PAUL He showed us in. He just looked like Elvis – we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree. He said, “Hello, lads – do you want a drink?” We sat down and watched telly, and he had the first remote any of us had ever seen. You just aimed it at the telly and – wow! That’s Elvis! He was playing Charlie Rich’s “Mohair Sam” all evening – he had it on a jukebox.
JOHN He had his TV going all the time, which is what I do; we always have TV on. We never watch it – it’s just there with no sound on, and we listen to records. In front of the TV, he had a massive amplifier with a bass plugged into it, and he was up playing bass all the time with the picture up on the TV. So we just got in there and played with him. We all plugged in whatever was around, and we played and sang. He had a jukebox, like I do, but I think he had all his hits on it. But if I’d made as many as him, maybe I’d have all mine on.
PAUL That was the greatest. Elvis was into the bass, So there I was, “Well, let me show you a thing or two, El…” Suddenly he was a mate. It was a great conversation piece for me. I could actually talk about the bass, and we sat around and just enjoyed ourselves. He was great. Talkative. Friendly and a little bit shy. But that was his image. We expected that, we hoped for that.
JOHN At first we couldn’t make him out. I asked him if he was preparing new ideas for his next film and he drawled, “Ah sure am. Ah play a country boy with a guitar who meets a few gals along the way, and ah sing a few songs.” We all looked at one another. Finally Presley and Colonel Parker laughed and explained that the only time they departed from that formula – for Wild in the Country – they lost money.
PAUL She came in, and I got this picture of her as a sort of a Barbie doll – with a purple gingham dress and a gingham bow in her very beehive hair, with lots of makeup. We all said hello, and then it was, “Right, lads, hands off – she’s going.” She didn’t stay long. I can’t blame him, although I don’t think any of us would have made a pass at her. That was definitely not on – Elvis’s wife, you know! That was unthinkable – she didn’t need to be put away quite so quickly, we thought.
GEORGE I don’t remember even seeing Priscilla. I spent most of the party trying to suss out from the gang if anybody had any reefers. But they were uppers and whiskey people. They weren’t really into reefer smoking in the South.
JOHN It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much, We couldn’t stand not doing personal appearances, we’d get bored – we get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit.We never talked about anything else – we just played music. He wasn’t bigger than us, but he was “the thing.” He just wasn’t articulate, that’s all.
Tags: classic rock music, elvis presley, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues, the beatles
