45' s

One of the joys of being a teenage music fan for me, was the excitement of visiting the Record Store on a Saturday morning to check out the new releases, which in those days in Britain, were issued on Fridays.
However, before that, the music in our home was usually bought by my Mother and were big, clumsy, breakable 78 RPM records.
I do remember buying my first 7-inch vinyl single and it was a particularly momentous choice; one which has gone on to become a rarity: Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel on HMV, not RCA.

History of singles, (thank you Wikipedia.)

By about 1910,  the 10-inch 78-rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly-used format.
The advent of the new system was not unveiled suddenly one day at a "Press Conference". 
There was plenty of information 'leaked' to the public about the new 45 rpm system through front-page articles in Billboard magazine on 4 December 1948 and again on 8 January 1949. RCA was trying to blunt the lead Columbia had established in releasing their ​33 ¹⁄₃  LP system back in June 1948.

The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable and higher-fidelity replacement for the 78 RPM shellac discs.

The first regular production 45 rpm record pressed was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0146 pressed 7 December 1948 at the Sherman Avenue plant in Indianapolis.

So began an era where these 7-inch discs were the basis of so many great parties enjoyed by the young baby boomers, moving through their school and college days. Of course, that included me!

View-Master

I may have been very young, but I have been endowed with a good memory. Certain events are like tattoos on the inside of my eyelids; I can close my eyes and see these events happening in front of me right now.

One of my strongest childhood memories is from 1951. We were living in Calcutta and my grandmother had gone to visit her daughter (my aunt),  in Florida and she returned just before Christmas with a thrilling gift for me:  it was a View-master. I’m sure many of you listeners know what a view-master is, with its exciting 3-D pictures. 

One of the View-master reels my grandmother brought back for me that Christmas was the story of Rudolph the red nose reindeer. The song was written by Gene Autry and remains a staple of radio playlists for the Christmas season. There is also a television broadcast using stop-action models which tells the story with little (wooden?) figures. Every year when I see it, my View-Master reel comes flooding back into my memory-bank!

Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley is one of the British artists that came to prominence in the sixties with Pop Art & its influence spilling into the music world and our everyday environment.
She has an exhibition currently open to the public in late 2019. The quote below is from the Guardian's art critic. I think it is so eloquent: 

A fourth colour appears in the next version: dull turquoise – and yet the day brightens. The painting has its own weather. This is a marvel considering all you’re looking at is an array of drab discs on white paint;

I love that sentence, The painting has its own weather.

I fell in love with  her work from her early days. She is forever as much a part of my 1960’s experience as Andy Warhol was. My friends & I were eager to “grow up” & experience adult things... she was one of those things!

my life in music, chapter 1,002...

My early exposure to music was pretty unusual and radical for a six-year-old. It was the American forces network radio and BBC overseas programming !

So my childhood memories are songs such as Les Paul and Mary Ford's The World is Waiting for the Sunrise and Hank Williams' Hey, Good Looking and the giants of the immediate post-war music scene, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Andrew Sisters, Eddy Arnold, Glen Miller, you get the picture!

However the first album I acquired reflected a peculiar fascination for a preteen with the big band sounds of the 1930's. That first album was a recording of Benny Goodman and his band's radio performances of the late 30's. They were issued in the mid-1950's. If I am correct in my thinking, a neighbour had a copy and I heard them there. With my early Calcutta immersion into the sound anyway, these recordings struck a chord with me. (To coin a corny phrase.) I went on to acquire many other Benny Goodman albums and they are still with me down in the storage room of our Condo.

Me and my Little Transistor Radio

Like most of us when we are young, our frame of reference is obviously the environment around us and our family and you think that what you are experiencing is the norm.
However looking back over my life, especially as young Michael, I am very appreciative of how special were the experiences I had early on in my life. 

I was going back into hospital in late 1959 when a family friend, who was an ex pat Brit from our days in Calcutta returned to England and he came to visit us in London. He showed me this newfangled device that he had. He bought it at the duty-free stop en route, which I no longer remember it was Aden or if he came back the long way from Calcutta heading east,  and picked up the "toy" in Hong Kong. What it was, was an early transistor radio. It was the size of a current cell phone, had a plastic body and for protection it had a lovely real leather case. 

He gave it to me so that I could listen to the radio when I was in the hospital. He knew how much our family loved music.

I remember well listening to that little transistor radio, which in England in those days we called the "tranny."  Probably not politically correct these days as the term does not refer to portable radios anymore but refers to one’s gender identity.

However, I spent hours and hours listening to my little transistor radio; hunkered down under my bed coverings. I was in the children’s ward, so it was lights out at 9 pm and hello good morning at 5 am!

It was the height of the Trad Jazz fad in the UK so the BBC regularly had shows on Dixieland music which the trad jazz genre constantly referenced. Of course I listened to the 'BBC Light Program'  for a miserable few hours of popular music back then. But I fell in love with Dream Lover by Bobby Darin much of Paul Anka’s many hit tunes, especially, I liked Lonely Boy which was prominently featured in late 1959 and so much Buddy Holly.

Even though it was only an AM frequency Radio (for which Halifax is poorly serviced) I still miss my little transistor radio.

New Canadian

Pretty much like the stories from the turn of the century, on March 15,  1970 I arrived in Toronto with $200 Canadian and a steamer trunk full of my worldly possessions; which included far too many thick sweaters to protect me from the harsh Canadian winters. I guess my brain had not processed the fact that North America had central heating pretty much everywhere.
I emigrated with two friends who had come ahead of me and had an apartment already.

One of the friends was from my college days and shared my love of music. Especially American girl groups and girl singers and R&B artists. It was the first Sunday after I had arrived, he and I headed to Sam’s record shop on Yonge Street while my other friend, his girlfriend at the time, later his wife, cooked dinner for us. (They are still together and we are still friends.)
We were overwhelmed by the fact that shops were open on Sunday and a record store had so many of our favourite artists with material that we had not seen before. We were also interested in so many new artists for us to pick over.  My friend bought Roberta Flack‘s debut album called First Take. 
I bought an Ella Washington album which included a minor hit named, He Called Me Baby. I love that song and I had the 45 RPM disc back in London.

Roberta Flack’s album contained a soulful rendition of English rebellious folk singer Ewan McCol's  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. A beautiful song he wrote for his girlfriend back in the early 1950's named Peggy Seeger. (They later married and she is still performing.)

I remember seeing Roberta Flack performing music from the album on the Johnny Carson show.  However, Roberta was not well known until Clint Eastwood used her version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face as a background music for a romantic interlude in his 1972 movie Play Misty for Me.  The track was released as a single that year and  eventually topped  the Billboard charts.

In 1972, I bought a Mini 1000 and commuted to work in it; braving 16 lanes of Highway 401 and its daily chaos. I also often gave a ride to anyone who asked for one. Soon I had accumulated three regular companions and we packed into that little car, turned on the radio, usually to 1050 CHUM, and sang along to all the hits. Johnny Nash, I can see  clearly now, You're so vain Carly Simon and of course Roberta Flack among many more.

It was a wonderful year. My friends had returned temporarily to the UK for many months and I found crazy new companions in Toronto. Many born and raised there who exposed me to so many great new experiences.  It was the year I felt I had found myself as a genuine new Canadian; and Roberta Flack's song is forever associated with that initiation.

Conway Twitty

I was a teenage school boy in Northwest London when I first heard Conway Twitty sing It's Only Make Believe. I loved it. Linked to those great memories of sharing music tastes with other school friends. For awhile, when Conway went Country he lost favour with me, but in adulthood, I came to appreciate him once more.  
I was lucky enough to see him perform at the first country and western exposition in London in  early March 1970. It was just shortly before I emigrated to Canada. A friends mother worked at the old Wembley Stadium and adjoining showplace. The exposition had sold too few tickets, they gave every employee a couple of tickets; hence we got in for free.

So when I was in Nashville in the early 80's I couldn’t miss up the opportunity to go to Conway's home and as it turned out it was a museum about his rise to fame.  It was called Twitty city I love that name.

The site is now owned by Trinity Broadcasting Corporation and no longer functions as an homage to Conway Twitty. 
Another piece of Americana lost to the mists of time.

1973

This blog is about the music from 1973 because that’s the year I believe "the Sixties", as a socio-cultural phenomenon  ended. All those English invasion bands were fading, The influence of Electric Organs and synthesizes were having an impact on pop music. What's more,  radio clearly diverged into AM pop and FM-friendly music. 1973 saw Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin and the Who all touring North America. It was an amazing time and the managers of these bands had realized that the big money was made touring; it was not from hits on AM radio.

Alice Cooper had a big hit with I'm 18 in 1972. And following up on this hit and a big hit album called Billion Dollar Babies,  "Alice"  hit the road for a monumental tour in 1973.
The Who were also touring to promote an album, Quadrophenia. It was Pete Townsend‘s second rock opera.  Long Train Running from the Doobie Brothers  another hit from 1973. The beginning of many for them in that decade.

Another hit from 1973 is Will It Go Round in Circles from Billy Preston.  When Get back by the Beatles was released as a single in 1968, it featured Billy Preston. Billy was very popular in London at that time and hung around Apple studios a lot. Photograph from Ringo is his no.1 from 1973.

Many great albums now considered "Classic Rock" and are still being played on the radio today were released in 1973. Possibly the most prominent is Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon, but also there was  Stevie Wonder's  Innervisions. A great track from that LP is Higher Ground. It was released as a single and made the top 10 in 1973.

Fleetwood Mac were on tour in that year, what a great year to have been young and a music lover. I feel lucky to have been there and experience these great moments. 

post script

42 years ago July 26, 1977, Zeppelin were touring North America once again when they got a message that Robert Plant's five-year-old son was very ill. They cancelled the rest of the tour,  Robert flew back to England.  Sadly, his son passed away. Robert Plant was shattered by the loss and did not do much for the next 18 months. After that date in 1977,  Led Zeppelin never toured America again; Because in 1980  their drummer, John Bonham died from alcohol poisoning and the band effectively dissolved.

PLAYLIST for 1973

18 from Alice Cooper.

the real me (from Quadrophenia)

Long train running from the Doobie Brothers

Will it go round in circles from Billy Preston.

Photograph from Ringo,

Higher Ground from Stevie Wonder

Ecology and Police Profiling

Both of these topics remain in the forefront of 21st Century activists' attempts to increase  awakening in Society. As it should be.
However, what comes to my mind is how long this fight for better practices has been going on, and while big gains have been made, so much remains to be done. It is wonderful to see someone as young as Greta Thunberg getting centre stage at International Events and calling out us adults to do much more for the next generations.

Pop music from the sixties Protest Movement echoed the sentiments of the population. As the sixties became the seventies, music continued to echo the worries of the population passed the Anti-war rhetoric. 

Throughout the sixties, Motown was staunchly grinding out memorable pop hits; However, they did in fact become aware of the changing sentiments in society and even Stevie wonder covered Bob Dylan‘s Blowing in the Wind. It made the top 20. As mentioned earlier MOTOWN was a purveyor of great pop songs,  however, long before the 21st century & the growing awareness of racial profiling, this was the theme for one of Stevie wonders massive hits in 1973 recorded on the album Innervisions. The album version of Living For The City which includes a spoken section in the middle where Stevie indicates how he is railroaded into jail simply for being with other Black youth; His innocence was irrelevant to the case.  The album track was edited and released as a single without the dialogue in the middle piece and it made the top 10. 

 In the early seventies, Marvin Gaye was moved by the state of society and the environment and wrote a whole album about ecology. Berry Gordy was loathe to release it, but Marin had clout after 2 number 1's and a decade of popularity, Berry gave in and the album was a huge hit and remains a classic with What's  Going On being covered by many others. 

SONGS

blowing in the wind. - Stevie wonder

Living for the City - Stevie wonder

What's Going On - Marvin Gaye

Eric and the Beatles. A Playlist

As the Beatles came to prominence in the early sixties, British music was moving from folk based tunes to Blues based songs. However, as Britain did not have a history of  home-grown Blues Music it was all borrowed from America and especially music from the South.
There were many great blues artists who came over to Britain and the rest of Europe for tours. My friends and I managed to see just about all of them; the Legends.

In the fall of last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles White album. One of the stand-out tracks on that album was George Harrison's composition, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. On the anniversary of the original release, Apple reissued a re-mastered version of the double album with extras.

One of the features of that track was Eric Clapton‘s uncredited solo guitar break. Of course we all know that George and Eric were good friends, this was the period that Eric had fallen in love with George’s wife Patti,  who Eric did eventually marry. But George and Eric remained good friends all their lives.

Back in those days record labels controlled their contracted artists were very stringently. Especially  about guest appearances on other major artists tracks; hence, the lack of accreditation for Eric‘s solo. Of course this was ridiculous because everybody knew that it was Eric Clapton. The rumours  and gossip columns in the tabloids revealed everything. The special interest in Eric Clapton was because back then, and still now 50+ years later, is considered one of the greatest rock guitarist.

Here is a track by George Harrison When We Was Fab, it too is a collaboration with Eric Clapton.

Clapton came to prominence with the group the Yardbirds. As they moved from their original blues based styling  to more progressive rock, Clapton left them and joined John Mayall's  Bluesbreakers. He recorded one album with them.  On the cover is a photo of the band with Eric being extra cool and reading a famous British comic called the Beano.
Ever since then the album is known as the Beano album. Rambling on my mind from that album is a track where Eric not only plays guitar but also does the vocals with Mayall's band backing him.

The irony of Clapton leaving the Yardbirds because he felt they were getting too progressive is that Eric left  John Mayall's band pretty soon to form the supergroup Cream. Cream were at the forefront of progressive rock. One of their first singles was a hit I feel free.

Cream only lasted about 30 months, Clapton was disillusioned with the music business and was heavily into drugs. However, he still wished  form a group where all the players  had similar sensibilities. That group was Derek and the dominoes. They’re really only famous for one track Layla. Once Eric got himself together and started performing again in the early 70's he released 461 Ocean Blvd. and re-started his career and never looked back. On the 30th anniversary of that album's release it was re-issued with a second disc of a live recording where Eric does Layla. Unlike the Derek and the Dominoes' version it doesn’t have a long Piano coda.

Layla  was about his love for Patti Boyd, as is Wonderful Tonight.
On August 1, 1971, George Harrison got some friends together and put on the first Rock for Charity concert. Two shows at Madison Square Garden’s which were released as the Concert for Bangladesh. From that album,  is the track called Bangladesh. George does the lead vocals, along with his pal Eric Clapton on guitar, and many other famous performers.

In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were promoting their efforts to stop the Vietnam war and foster peace. They were in Toronto when John got the idea for a peace concert which occurred in Toronto in that august. Of course it was recorded an album released later. Be truthful it’s not a very good album, it was very disorganized and it comes through on the recording quality. However one of the best tracks is John Lennon doing Money (that’s what I want), The old Barrett strong number that they did all those years ago in the Cavern and Hamburg. John is backed up by Eric Clapton and Keith Richards on this track.
In the Beatles early days, they played many Carl Perkins tunes, one track that Ringo sang on was called Matchbox. This is a live concert of  Carl's where he does Matchbox with  Ringo and Eric Clapton on it.

After George Harrison passed away Ringo wrote and recorded a wonderful track called Never Without You. An homage to his friend. Of course, Ringo invited George’s friend Eric Clapton to sing and play on the track as well.

Repeating the same  theme  Without You, is John Lennon's drinking Buddy,  Harry Nilsson’s hit from 1972. It topped the charts that year. The tune is a cover of Badfinger's song Without You from their first album.

In early 1992, Columbia records put on a show at Madison Square Garden‘s to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Bob Dylan‘s first album. Anybody who is anybody is in that concert. There’s a CD released and a DVD with a boat full of great music. At the concert  Eric does a  version of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice (it’s all right). It’s an amazing rendition of the song that’s been covered by hundreds of other artists.

Playlist
While my guitar gently weeps
When we was Fab
Rambling on my mind
I Feel free
Layla
Wonderful tonight
Bangladesh
Money (that’s what I want)
Matchbox
Never without You
Without You
Don't think twice (it's alright)