End of September 1966

It was the last week of September, 1966. I was in New York City staying at the YMCA at 34th & 8th Avenue. It was a beautiful autumn week and I was overwhelmed by all that I had experienced that summer. I forget precisely whether the return flight was on the 28th or the 29th !! However, I do remember one thing very clearly  -- I bought Sam & Dave's new LP,  Hold On I'm Coming for Dee. I was so anxious to get home and play it for her; while we drank tea and lounged on our blue living room carpet and fretted over our seemingly chaotic lives!

Of course, from a 50 year perspective, I know how simple our lives really were. We were still unnecessarily dragging our emotional baggage from school days & college.
"Life" had not truly begun yet..

More Beatles

I feel more than fine that I was at the vanguard of the post-war generation and to have spent my youth in England along with The  Beatles.  To press home the point here are  the Lads with I Feel Fine.

SONGS
I Feel Fine - The Beatles

I Feel Fine  was recorded in Oct. 64 released in November 64. While for us in the UK,  Beatlemania began in 1962 & gained steam throughout 1963 it was a part of a whole youthful music explosion. 

 Suddenly, record companies were signing up every group appearing on a stage in the UK. However, the music papers still liked to create dynamism by setting one group off against another. Are they the new Beatles, etc. One of the first so called rivals was the Rolling Stones. They went  on to world wide success,  right up to the present day. The tune that cemented their reputation in the USA was Satisfaction.

Oddly enough, the British group with the next No.1 in the US after the Beatles in the summer of 1964 was not the Stones but The Animals with House of the Rising Sun.

SONGS

Satisfaction  - The Rolling Stones

House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

 

There was a resurgence in musical friendship at this time. A lot of mutual  admiration and support. Not surprisingly, the public followed the musicians' lead. The British bands loved Aretha Franklin Here is her classic cover of Otis Redding's Respect.

SONG

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Following on the British invasion was American youth's discovery of its own great artists. Especially Tamla Motown material. Here is I Can't Help Myself from the Four Tops. A No.1 in 1965 that was replaced at the top by the Stones with Satisfaction.

SONGS

I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops

 

Before the Beatles landed on Ed Sullivan & took over the Billboard music charts, US young people were obsessed with Surf style rock and the whole California life-style. Sun, sand & songs; Unlike the east coast music which focussed on Broadway, Brill Building and Do-wop.. One of the most popular groups of the era that are also big and still touring in the C21st are the Beach Boys. Their central creative genius was Brian Wilson. The Beatles felt that in the mid-sixties it was the Beach Boys who were their arch rivals because they too explored uncharted musical territory. Next up are 2 California themed hits.  California Dreaming from the  Mamas & the Papas and  Help Me Rhonda by the Beach Boys.

 

SONGS
California Dreaming - Mamas & the Papas

Help Me Rhonda - Beach Boys

A Liverpudlian group that began by covering  US R'n'B songs but also found a distinctive style of their own were Freddie & The Dreamers. They ended up being bigger stars in America than in the UK because the American public fell in love with Freddie's zany antics on stage. Here is I'm Telling you Now from  Freddie & The Dreamers. Then another early Beatles hit, the John led vocals of Do You Want To Know a Secret.

 SONGS

I'm Telling You Now - Freddie & The Dreamers

Do You Want To Know a Secret - The Beatles

An American group that I was in love with in the sixties were the delicious girl group The Ronettes. Their hit, Baby, I Love You is an icon of Big Haired girl groups from the 60s. Also, a song that came to define everything that was associated with the Post WWII society, My Generation from The Who.

SONGS
Baby I Love You - The Ronettes

My Generation - The Who

 

The Ronettes were masterminded by their manager/producer Phil Spector. Another Spector produced hit was You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling a No.1 hit for The Righteous Bros. Spector was called in to finalize the production of the Beatles last LP, Let it Be.  The first Beatle with a solo vocal LP was Ringo singing You Always Hurt The One You Love on his 1969 released Sentimental Journey album. Full of his mum's favourite songs. He also had a huge 1973 success with Photograph.

 SONGS

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Bros

You Always Hurt The One You Love - Ringo

Photograph - Ringo

 

The late sixties were a time of turmoil in cities with young people protesting the Vietnam War and the Old Ways in general in Europe. True to its happiness ethos Motown had Martha & the Vandellas singing Dancing in the Streets. A great dance tune re-done by loads of others over the decades. But the sixties bad boys of rock -- the Rolling Stones sang an anthem for the times in Street Fighting Man.

 

SONGS

Dancing in the Streets - Martha & the Vandellas.

Street Fighting Man   - The Rolling Stones

  

 

Leaving tonight with  a classic Beatles song We Can Work it Out. A hit from 1965, however, one of the daddies of R'n'R was Chuck Berry a big influence on the Stones and the Beatles. Here is his 1964 hit You Never Can Tell. The story of a teenage wedding,  listen to the story telling that Berry winds into a great rock rhythm. Just as the Beatles learned to do with such success themselves.

 

SONGS

You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

 

 

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

Departures

After college, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All I knew was that I did not wish to end up old and hanging out at the same pub every Sunday drinking and adding flat notes to everyone else's merry sing-a-longs.

However, it was a series of unplanned steps that resulted with me living a life pretty distanced from my family and youthful friends. I worked hard not to lose touch though. Being a bachelor for so long, allowed me to regularly visit my family in Florida and England, mainly. Although, they were in Indiana and Arizona for brief periods and I saw them there as well.
I traveled to see the friends, too, and had exciting times.

For all the coming and going, people often asked me how I could do it; wasn't it difficult to keep leaving family and dear friends. The way I managed it was simply to not view it as a departure: I was always looking ahead to the next visit, even though it was usually an unknown date in the future.

Now that I am older, and with less family and fewer friends to visit, I really will not give in to the idea of departing those people linked to my heart. I still plan to see everyone very soon.

My Clubbing Days

Thanks, Old Friend,(name changed as I did not warn him that our correspondence would be posted on the WWW.)

interesting as always.

I do believe we also saw Sonny Boy Williamson with the Yardbirds at the Marquee because I remember being very close to him, and the old Marquee on Wardour Street had a very low stage where you could stand right up beside the performers. My recall is that Eric was still with them. He hadn't left for Mayall's band, and the Yardbirds had 3 lead guitarists for a time. Jeff Beck was also with them then. When Eric left, Beck became the No.1 guitarist. Is that what you remember too?

No doubt, if I fret, I can find a page with all the info on Wikipedia.

 

Wiki & Google blow me away some days. I have found incredibly detailed data on EVERY Dylan set list for 50+ years.

It boggles the mind on how much useless pieces of info are traceable.

Imagine knowing every song Miles Davis ever performed live around the world.. Oh, shit, I bet that's there...

 (More on the Yardbirds :  Of course Jimmy Page was with them for awhile too, and poor ole Chris Dreja, consigned to the footnote of musical history & Trivia night questions. I cannot remember their guitarists that joined in the revival of old bands movement in this century. Jimmy Page's business astuteness is how he ended up with the old Yardbirds' touring commitments that led to him morphing that line-up into Led Zeppelin.)

 

Those  were wonderful times when the music rose up through your feet into your heart and brain. No crowd of a quarter million bodies between you and the entertainers.

 

Michael

July 14, 1967

It is nothing to brag about, it is simply an ability I have; I made no effort to cultivate it, nor was I aware of it for decades: I can close my eyes and picture a specific day, or event, and can "see in my inner eye" what was going on in the past.. It is not a true eidetic memory, but a partial one.  Growing up, my friends used to tease me when I referred to an event or music show, whatever, and would throw in a comment -- don't you remember, you had one your new blue shirt, Carnaby Street trousers, whatever, and they would be exasperated saying, 'I barely remember the show...'

A recent blog posting by me  was a Bio piece concerning my arrival in New York on
July 14, 1966. The next year was a crazy one of my final undergraduate year. There were lots of moments that were not shared with my neighbourhood/school friends. They were spent with a couple of college friends I have since lost touch with; A crazy acid taking artist living with two Scandinavian beauties. A rich nutter with great sense of humour who just latched onto to me and we hung around pubs near Oxford Street or went to wild parties. A Jazz musician, who went onto a music career that lasted at least into the seventies when I lost track of him. However, my school friends remained in my life for -- well, centuries !! Many are still in my wide FB circle, email connections and Ma Bell network.

Back in the mid-sixties, my friends and I were fans of the Lovin' Spoonful. A great group who remain on the radio/TV/Movie/Internet world.

On July 14, 1967, I went to a movie called "You're a Big Boy Now" written & directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He was the wunderkind of the year. What attracted Mart & I to go to the movie particularly, was the soundtrack by John Sebastian and his group the Lovin' Spoonful .
Suddenly, in the middle of the movie, I remember turning to Mart and saying :"Holy Cow, I know exactly where I was a year ago today. I was where this film is set". Poor Martin, exasperatedly said "I don't know where I was a  week ago, let alone a year ago!"

However, You're a Big Boy now is set in NYC and has scenes in Greenwich Village, The New York Public Library and other iconic NY locations.  It was one of the first times I became physically aware that I could close my eyes and put myself in those scenes: because I had been in those same places, and the memory flooded back.

One of the best songs from the film is Sebastian's Darling, Be Home Soon. A love song that has been covered by hundreds of singers. It is magnificent. Listen to it on YouTube.

The Lovin' Spoonful were the soundtrack of my Summer of 1966, 67 and all the following years.

July 14, 1966

Fifty years ago today I landed in America. It was a heatwave in Manhattan. I thought that I had stepped into an oven, although it was about 6pm. The temp. Was 85+ with 100% humidity.
It was an amazing summer. I spent 2 weeks in New York before taking a Greyhound bus up & down the east coast.
I hung out at Times Square and got approached by lots of guys... I was clueless to the fact that it was a "pickup" spot.
Loved Battery Park & riding the Statten Island ferry. I also met Andy Warhol and spent an afternoon with him as he excitedly edited one of his latest epic movies.
What a summer for a 21 yr old Brit.
A wonderful chapter in Daddy Cool's book of memories.

 Sunset looking along one of the streets.

Battery Park and Statten Island Ferry Terminal from the air in 1966