Reflections on the Beatles and the American Sixties music scene (+ playlist)

These are my thoughts on The Beatles and Beyond. They stem from the preparations my alter-ego Daddy Cool goes through while getting ready for his radio show. Of course,  I am really Michael Lavalette. While looking over old photos & articles of the era, really emphasizes the old saying -- success is basically a matter of being at the right place at the right time. This was especially true for the Beatles, as their appearance on the world's multiple media stages occurred when so much else was changing in society.

 

I feel privileged to  have been at the vanguard of the post-war generation and to have spent my youth in England. All my life, I have been music mad, right from my childhood in Calcutta.

When the Beatles came along they were my rock and roll buddies. I do admit that their first Parlophone release, Love Me Do did not exactly knock my socks off, but after Please, Please Me and From Me to You, the first of their singles that truly bowled me over was She Loves You. Although, I did like much of the first album.

SONGS

She Loves you - The Beatles

 It was recorded in July 1963. Released in august in \Britain and soon after in the US & Canada but to no success. It topped the UK charts in Sept. and became the biggest selling UK  record of the 1960s and the Beatles biggest seller of all in the UK.

Also in august 1963. America, Russia  and Britain signed the first ever Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

It is difficult for people now to imagine how seriously we took the threat of imminent annihilation we all lived under back then. As a school boy in the 50s, My friends and I truly expected an Atomic war would break out during our adult life.

70 years of atomic free hostilities has dampened that fear now. But 1 year after the Cuban Missile crisis we still expected mushroom clouds on the horizon. These sentiments came to influence a lot of music by the late 60s, & again, the Beatles were a part of it.

 

While for us in the UK,  Beatlemania began in 1962 & gained steam throughout 1963 it exploded off the British shores in Feb 1964 with the Beatles'  Ed Sullivan appearance.

Then the log books of record achievements were scrapped & began anew.

 SONGS
Bad to Me - Billy J. Kramer

Billy J. Kramer had a UK No. 1 hit in August 1963 with this song. It was written by John Lennon while on holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein. It made the Billboard Top 10 in 1964. It was a part of the so-called British Invasion.

The American music press was pretty myopic back then and it was all about categories & "The Liverpool Sound", here are The Hollies with Bus Stop a part of Billboard's Liverpool Sound, unfortunately, the Hollies were from Manchester! Great song however.

SONG

Bus Stop - The Hollies.

 

Another feature I hope to shine a light on in later shows, is how these groups were fertile ground for the successful groups & solo artists that came up in the 1970s and even up to this century. Graham Nash later of Crosby, Stills and Nash was with the Hollies first. He was on that song.

In 1964,  Paul McCartney was living at the family home of his girl friend Jane Asher. Jane had a brother Peter.  In 1964, Peter was one half of the duet Peter & Gordon. Paul wrote a tune for them that topped the charts in the UK & USA.  A World Without Love.

The main British competition for the Beatles in the music press were The Rolling Stones. Here is one of their first self penned hits. The Last Time. Followed by the Beatles 1966 summer hit - Paperback Writer.

SONGS

World without Love -  Peter & Gordon
The Last Time - The Rolling Stones
Paperback writer - The Beatles

Before the Beatles, music was very reflective of individual country's folk traditions or music traditions. In the sixties, this changed. Artists may have gravitated to London, NYC or Los Angeles to record, but they came from everywhere and melded many styles. Manfred Mann's lead Singer & frontman was Briton, Paul Jones; but Manfred himself was south African and started the group in London to international success & in the 70s was one of the first singers to have a no.1 Billboard hit written by Bruce Springsteen. Blinded by the Light.

Similarly, what was once considered "race music" or RnB material for specific Urban Markets became widely appreciated by all suburban kids. The leading exponent of this was Berry Gordon's Motown label. Here they are with Baby Love. No1 in the UK & US.

SONGS

Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann

Baby Love - The Supremes

  

Here are 3 more British groups charging into the Billboard charts. They all were successful for decades, and in various incarnations, remain active in the 21st century. Gimme Some Lovin' credited to The Spenser Davis Group, but the star was young  prodigy, Steve Winwood.  I Can See For Miles by the Who and the Kinks You Really Got Me. Its iconic guitar riff is every bedroom guitar players practice chords.

 

SONGS
Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spenser Davis Group
I Can see for Miles - the Who
You Really Got Me - the Kinks

Another beneficiary of white suburban interest in RnB music and as it was also called Soul Music, were the Atlantic Group labels. Here is prominent Stax recording artist Eddie Floyd with Knock on Wood. The Beatles and the Stones were big soul fans and helped fan the flames of popularity for these artists. Followed by the Beatles summer 1965 hit Day Tripper.

SONGS

Knock on Wood - Eddie Floyd
Day Tripper  - The Beatles

While it seemed as if the charts in the Beatles early era were dominated by groups, a lot of solo artists, and singer/songwriters came to prominence.

An Indian born but British raised singer was Englebert Humperdinck who topped the charts with Please Release Me. He prevented the Beatles masterpiece Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields from reaching the No.1 in the UK. Sacrilege!! Bobby Darin was one of many singers who recorded If I was a Carpenter and had a hit with it. It was also recorded with less success by its songwriter the Late Tim Hardin. This is followed by British singer Dusty Springfield with her Windmills of your Mind. It was the film theme from The Thomas Crown Affair.

SONGS

Please Release Me - Englebert Humperdinck

If I were a Carpenter - Bobby Darin

Windmills of your Mind - Dusty Springfield

 

Just as in the 50s, groups trolled through old time hits to re-do as rock songs. Similarly, 60s groups did them as harmony songs. Here are Harper's Bizarre and Chattanooga Choo Choo.(Their name is a pun on the fashion magazine, Harper's Bazar, which is further indication of the merging of the music and fashion scene of those times.) Then one of the most enduring hits from 1964. It was a hit again in the 1990s after its use in the movie of the same name. Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison.

SONGS

Chattanooga Choo Choo - Harper's Bizarre

Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison

 

This has been a reflection on the first episode of my 97.5 Community radio show  the Beatles and Beyond .

 

Last song is a classic Beatles melody Lady Madonna. A hit from early 1968, recorded just before their trip to India;  and  when they came back, everything had changed. They were very different  Lads.

 

Goodnight from Daddy Cool and the Beatles and Beyond.

 

SONGS

Lady Madonna