Ben E. King: Stand by Me

Singer/songwriter Ben E. King is one of the best performers of the smooth soul singer set. King, who was born Benjamin Earl Nelson in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1938, got his start in music with a revamped version of the Drifters, in 1958.

As the lead singer of this new incarnation of the Drifters, King lent his velvet pipes to the hits, “There Goes My Baby,” (which he co-wrote) “Save the Last Dance for Me,” and “This Magic Moment.”

Due to a contract dispute with Drifters manager George Treadwell, King left the group and embarked on a solo career in 1960. King would soon find solo success with a number of classic hits including the Phil Spector-produced “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me.” Both of these songs are among the finest pop records made in the decade. King would score a number of lesser hits in the early Sixties with the songs, “Young Boy Blues,” I (Who Have Nothing),” and “Hear Comes the Night.”

King’s classic hits can be found on the compilations, “Stand By Me-The Best of Ben E. King and Ben E, King and the Drifters” (1986), “Stand By Me (The Ultimate Collection” (1987), and “Anthology” (1993).

Badfinger: Straight Up

Badfinger was a superb pop/rock band that formed in Abertawe, England, in 1969. The band was initially notable as the first band signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records. The music that Badfinger produced reminded many of the Beatles and the band’s presence on the Apple label had many dismiss them as Beatles wannabes.

Badfinger recorded the excellent album, “Straight Up,” (1971), that saw the band fulfill the promise that they had shown in getting signed to Apple.  The album contained the classic tracks and minor hits, “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue.”

The Straight Up album is one of the earliest examples of what would later be coined “power pop,” with the amplified guitar sound, perfect vocal harmonies and catchy melodies. Power pop bands such as Big Star and The Raspberries would follow in their wake.

Badfinger’s story would end sadly as the group would never shake their image as a second-rate Beatles clone. The members would wind up in financial hardship driving leader Pete Ham to commit suicide in 1975.

The Animals: Animalism

The Animals, lead by singer, Eric Burdon, were part of the British invasion of the Sixties. The Animals were among the finest of the blues-based rock bands to emerge from Britain in the Sixties.

Burdon, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel started out in a Newcastle band called the Kansas City Five. In 1962, with the additions of guitarist Hilton Valentine and bassist Chas Chandler, the band eventually became known as the Animals.

The band landed a regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club in London. Record producer Mickie Most got them signed to EMI on the strength of their live performances, and the label released their first singles, “Baby Let Me Take You Home” and “House of the Rising Sun,” in 1964. The latter song would become a huge hit and transform the band into one of the leading acts of the British Invasion.

The Animals continued recording a slew of hits throughout the Sixties with, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Got to Get Out Of This Place,” “When I Was Young,” “Monterrey,” and Sky Pilot.”

After recording several excellent albums, starting with their fine debut release, “The Animals” (1964) the band broke-up in 1969.

Among their best albums are the classics, “The Animals on Tour,” (1965) “Animalization” (1966) and “Animalism” (1966), and “Animalisms” (1966).

The Amazing Rhythm Aces: Classic Country Rock

The Amazing Rhythm Aces were one of the finest country rock bands of the Seventies. The band played its country rock with a large dose of the blues and under the leadership of singer/guitarist Russell Smith scored a hit with “Third Rate Romance” in 1975. That song can be found on the band’s excellent debut album, “Stacked Deck” (1975).

The band’s sophomore album, “Too Stuffed to Jump” (1976), was another fine effort with the track, “The End is not in Sight” as the album’s highlight.

Al Green: Call Me

Al Green is a southern soul singer from Forrest City, Arkansas who embodies the smoother and sweeter side of soul music which in the hands of the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Otis Redding was a far grittier genre. Green’s songs tell tales of true love and extol the virtues of fidelity. His biggest hit, “Let’s Stay Together,” is a primary example Green’s brand of sweet soul.

Green would become one of the biggest soul stars of the Seventies with a steady string of hits which included, “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Tired of Being Alone,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “I’m Still in Love with You,” and “Call Me.” Green’s hits were recorded for Hi Records in Memphis under the deft direction of producer Willie Mitchell.

Green’s best albums include, “Green is Blues” (1969), “Al Green Gets Next to You” (1970), “Let’s Stay Together” (1972), “I’m Still in Love with You” (1972), and “Call Me” (1973).

The Guess Who: No Time

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From the freezing cold prairie town of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the Guess Who burst upon the music scene in the late Sixties. When original lead singer, Chad Allen, left the band to return to school, his replacement, the teenaged Burton Cummings, would spearhead the band to international fame.

Cummings and the rest of the band, guitarist Randy Bachman, bassist Jim Kale; and drummer Gary Peterson would soon score a big hit with “These Eyes.” That song would be included in the album, “Wheatfield Soul” (1968), the first Guess Who album to make an impact outside of Canada.

With keyboardist and lead singer Cummings as front man, the Guess Who would record a string of hit singles which included “Undun” and “Laughing” from “Canned Wheat” (1969) and “American Woman” and “No Time” from the “American Woman” (1970) album. The track, “American Woman,” would become the band’s one and only No. 1 hit.

Randy Bachman, a Mormon, would leave the band during the height of its success, fed up with the excessive lifestyles of his band mates. He was replaced by guitarist Kurt Winter, and the Guess Who kept on churning out hits. The album,  “Share The Land” (1970), saw the title track, “Share the Land,” “Hand Me Down World,” and “Hang On to Your Life” all become hits. Despite earning a reputation as a “singles” band, the Guess Who produced solid and consistent albums throughout this period.

The Guess Who would continue to tour and record until 1975, occasionally scoring hit singles and releasing decent albums, the best of which is “Live at theParamount

” (1972).

Buffalo Springfield: For What It's Worth

Buffalo Springfield formed as a result of a famous chance meeting on the Sunset Strip between Neil Young and Steven Stills. After driving his 53’Pontiac hearse from Toronto to Los Angeles with his friend, bassist Bruce Palmer, Neil Young encountered Stills on that famous street. Stills was with his friend, singer and guitarist Ritchie Furay, at the time. Stills and Young had previously met in Toronto and instantly recognized each other. The four musicians stopped, chatted, and decided to form a band. Americans Stills and Furay and Canadians Young, Palmer, and drummer Dewey Martin would become famous as “Buffalo Springfield” in 1966.

Buffalo Springfield released their debut album, “Buffalo Springfield” in 1966 and found instant critical acclaim and popularity. Their music could best be described as folk-rock, but this talented assemblage of musicians played a variety of styles including folk, country, rock, and pop. “For what it’s Worth,” “Go and Say Goodbye,” Flying on The Ground Is Wrong,” and “Nowadays Clancy Can Even Sing” are all classic tracks from the debut album.

With their next effort, “Buffalo Springfield Again” (1967), the band would produce their masterpiece. This album was more consistent than the debut and featured more studio polish courtesy of producer Jack Nitzche. “Expecting to Fly” and “Broken Arrow,” two songs by Neil Young, are the albums’ highlights.

 The band would produce one more solid album, “Last Time Around” (1968), featuring outstanding tracks in “Kind Woman,” “One the Way Home,” and “I Am a Child” before disbanding.

Despite their brief run of just two years, Buffalo Springfield was a hugely influential band that spawned the solo careers of Young and Stills and future country-rock bands Poco, Manassas and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Swamp Rock

Creedence Clearwater Revival, often referred to as simply, “CCR,” is among the ranks of the greatest-ever American pop/rock bands. The tremendous commercial success and critical acclaim that the band attracted during their relatively short career places the band among the elite of American rockers.

Emerging from the working-class town of El Cerrito, California, in the mid-Sixties as the “Blue Velvets” and then later, the “Golliwogs,” CCR evolved into the quintessential American band with a sound that rejected the psychedelic fashion of the day in favor of a rootsy, traditional sound heavily influenced by country and blues music. Their sound would be dubbed, “swamp rock” as it was reminiscent of Southern performers such as Dale Hawkins and Lightnin’ Slim and evoked images of the American South.

CCR was comprised of Stu Cook on bass, Doug Clifford on drums, and the Fogerty brothers, Tom and John, on guitar. John Fogerty was lead singer, lead guitarist, sole songwriter and the creative force of the band. It was his creative domination of the band that would eventually lead to resentment by the other members and eventual dissolution of the band.

John Fogerty wrote some of the greatest songs in rock history during CCR’s run and many were released as singles that reached high positions on the pop charts. “Proud Mary,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Fortunate Son”, “Down on the Corner,” “Lodi”, “Green River,” Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” and others cemented John Fogerty’s place in rock history.

CCR’s hit singles are scattered fairly evenly through their studio albums. All CCR’s albums, “Creedence Clearwater Revival”, (1968) “Bayou Country” (1969), “Green River” (1969), “Willie and the Poor Boys” (1969), “Cosmo’s Factory” (1970) and “Pendulum” (1970), are classics, save the last one, “Mardi Gras” (1972), which was an extremely spotty effort..

It was on Mardi Gras that John Fogerty encouraged his band mates, Clifford and Cook, to contribute songs. The result: several good songs by John such as “Sweet Hitchhiker” and “Someday Never Comes” and mediocre ones by the others. This album proved once and for all that CCR was really a one-man show, after all.



Del Shannon: Runaway

Del Shannon was one of the bright lights in the somewhat barren pop musical landscape of the early Sixties that stood in the middle of the creation of rock and roll and the arrival of the Beatles. Shannon was one of the only true rockers in the early Sixties who was singing, playing guitar, and writing his own material.

Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1937. After a stint in the US Army in Germany, Shannon returned home to Michigan where he formed a band called “The Midnight Ramblers.” By 1961, he was on his own with a recording contract with Big Top Records and a No. 1 hit with the classic single, “Runaway,” one of the greatest rock songs of the decade. The song was highlighted by Shannon’s famous falsetto singing and a legendary solo on the musitron, a high-pitched organ, by Max Crook.

Shannon would score several more big hits during the Sixties with the songs, “Little Town Flirt, “ “Hats Off to Larry,” and a cover version of The Beatles’ “From Me to You” which was a hit for Shannon in America in 1963, a full 6 month before the Beatles had an American hit record.

Following the death of Roy Orbison in 1988, it was rumoured that The Traveling Willburys were considering Shannon, who had fallen on hard times, as a replacement. However, no such undertaking happened, and Shannon died of a self-inflicted rifle wound in early 1990.

The following Del Shannon albums are recommended as essential listening: “Runaway with Del Shannon” (1963), “Little Town Flirt” (1964), and “The Further Adventures of Charles Westover" (1968).

Dion and the Belmonts: Legendary Doo Wop

Dion and the Belmonts, from New York City, was one of the most successful doo-wop groups that emerged during the late Fifties. Their lead singer, Dion DiMucci, was the soulful vocal centerpiece of the band. The band enjoyed a string of hits in the early sixties with songs such as “Lonely Teenager,” “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” “Ruby Baby,” and “Lovers Who Wander.”

When the Belmonts disbanded in the early Sixties, their leader, Di Mucci, would reemerge as “Dion” and record an excellent self-titled solo album in 1968 which would feature his huge solo hit, “Abraham, Martin and John.” The album was a departure from the doo-wop music of the earlier period.

Dimucci’s life was spared when he opted to not board the ill-fated flight in Clear Lake, Iowa, that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper following a concert in February, 1959.

Dion Dimucci’s best albums with and without the Belmonts include “Alone with Dion” (1961), “Runaround Sue” (1961), and “Dion” (1968). The best Dion and the Belmonts compilation is likely, “Dion & the Belmonts-20 Greatest Hits” (1985).



Larry Williams :Bad Boy

Larry Williams is one of the almost forgotten fathers of rock and roll. Williams, a pianist, had a number of huge hits during the mid-Fifties as rock and roll was beginning to dominate American popular music. Several of Williams’ songs would be recorded by more famous bands and singers, and become forever associated with them. The Beatles recorded Williams’ songs, “Slow Down,” “Bad Boy,” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” during the earliest phase of their recording career.

Williams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1935. He made his recording debut in 1957 for Specialty Records with a ballad, “Just Because.” Williams’ forte, however, was up-tempo rockers, and he scored a hit later the same year with the rocker, “Bonie Maronie.” A slew of hits would soon follow including, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” Bad Boy,” and “Short Fat Fanny.”

Williams didn’t enjoy much success after 1957, and he fell back into the underworld life of drug-peddling that consumed much of his time prior to his music career. In the mid-Sixties, he made a comeback with an R&B band which included guitarist Johnny Guitar Watson, and he produced a couple of albums for his friend, Little Richard.

This success would not last as his drug addiction kept dragging him down. In 1977, he pulled a gun on Little Richard and threatened to kill him over a drug debt. Shortly thereafter, Williams was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, in his Los Angeles home. His death was officially deemed a suicide. He was 44-years-old at the time of his demise.

Williams’ best recordings are found on the albums, “Here’s Larry Williams” (1959), “The Larry Williams Show (ft. Johnny Guitar Watson)” (1965), and “The Best of Larry Williams” (1988).

Leonard Cohen Songs: I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen, born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1936, is one of the most enduring of the folk music heroes that emerged during the Sixties. As a songwriter, he is only rivaled by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and few others in the folk/rock universe. Cohen is noted for his quirky takes on the traditional love song and his use of religious imagery to paint portraits of regret and heartbreak.

Cohen’s debut album was the stark, “Songs of Leonard Cohen” (1967), which features his spare guitar playing and solemn, almost spoken vocals. The album contains the superb songs, “Suzanne,” “Master Song,” “The Strange Song,” and “So Long, Marianne.” Cohen’s guitar and vocals are tastefully supported by the occasional restrained electric guitar, string, reed, horn or woodwind.

Cohen’s debut may well be his masterpiece, but several other contenders were yet to come, including, “Songs of Love and Hate” from 1971. This album is sonically quite similar to his debut and contains somewhat less familiar, although just as memorable songs such as, “Avalanche” and “Dress Rehearsal Rag.” In 1974, Cohen recorded the fine album, “New Skin for the Old Ceremony,” the first of his albums in several years to rival his earliest work. The music here is somewhat sunnier than that on his earlier classics with a somewhat countryish flavor.

Cohen has disappeared from the music scene for long periods during his career to pursue other artistic endeavours such as writing books or poetry, but he has always managed to return with his faculties intact. After a long hiatus, Cohen returned to music in 1988, and recorded another classic with the synth-pop album, “I’m Your Man,” featuring the classic songs, “First We Take Manhattan” and “Take This Waltz.”

Cohen is still active in music today, now well into his seventies. 

Beatles Songs and Albums

The Beatles are almost universally regarded as the greatest act in the history of post-war popular music, and that claim is hard to deny when one considers their status as the biggest selling musical act in history, their universal critical acclaim, and the never duplicated hysteria that surrounded the band during the height of “Beatlemania” in the Sixties. The cult of the Beatles is alive and well around the world more than 40 years after the band’s demise.

The group got its start in Liverpool, in the Fifties, as a John Lennon-led skiffle band called the “Quarryman.” Lennon was a rebellious Liverpool youth who had been introduced to rock and roll music from the recordings brought across the Atlantic and into Liverpool by English merchant sailors. It was from these recordings that Lennon and his generation in England were first introduced to the likes of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and other early fathers of the music. Eager to emulate his new heroes and make a name for himself, Lennon recruited some schoolmates to join him in his new band. Members would come and go until the band settled with a lineup of Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, a drummer.

The band changed their name to the Silver Beetles for a time and then finally settled on “The Beatles.” The band acquired an avid local following in Liverpool and became a fixture at the Cavern Club, where they performed inspired sets on a regular basis. While the band was playing clubs in Hamburg, Germany, Sutcliffe fell in love with a German girl and decided to stay behind, leaving the Beatles a four man outfit. Sutcliffe would die of a brain hemorrhage at age 21 in 1962.

The group made its first recording as the backing band for singer Tony Sheridan on the single, “My Bonnie,” which received airplay in Liverpool area. The popularity of this record inspired Liverpool record shop owner Brian Epstein to attend one of the Beatles’ Cavern shows, and when Epstein witnessed the wild reaction of the audience, he convinced the group to take him on as their manager. Epstein convinced the band to drop drummer Pete Best from the group in favor of Ringo Starr from a rival Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The final roster of the Beatles was set with Lennon and Harrison on guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums. The group would record the moderately successful single, “Love Me Do,” before the end of 1962.

Epstein then began to search for a record label to sign his band. After numerous rejections, the band was finally signed by the Parlophone label. The Beatles recorded their first album for the label, “Please Please Me,” in 1963. The album was recorded in a single day, apparently to capture as close as possible the immediacy of their live shows. Although Epstein had trouble finding a U.S. label to sign the band, he managed to get the Beatles booked on the Ed Sullivan TV Show in April, 1964. New York disc jockey, Murray the K, hyped the Beatles upcoming TV appearance, setting the stage for the birth of Beatlemania. The Beatles appearance on the Sullivan show was a sensation seen by millions of Americans, and the Beatles become international superstars overnight.

The Beatles thus began an exhausting two years of near constant recording and touring. The early Beatles records were released separately in the U.S. and U.K., sometimes with different titles. For example, “Please, Please Me,” the band’s first U.K. album was released in the U.S. as “Meet the Beatles.” The names of the albums don’t matter much as everything this band recorded is essential, and any collection of Beatles music is guaranteed to be of high quality. Titles to look for from the 1964 albums are:” With the Beatles,” “Twist and Shout,” “A Hard Days Night,” “Beatles for Sale,” and “Beatles 65.” The Beatles’ music would soon change from light poppy love songs to darker and more introspective fare as the group attempted to expand its musical horizons.

With the release of the album, “Help” (1965), the Beatles began the process of reinventing themselves. The title track, “Help,”  “Yesterday,” and the very Dylanesque, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” saw the group moving into previously uncharted territory. Their songs were still just as catchy, the harmonies still as sweet, but the material had become darker and more intriguing.

This artistic growth continued on the next album, “Rubber Soul” (1965), and for the next five albums. This string of albums represents the Beatles’ best work and some of the best albums of popular music ever recorded. On Rubber Soul, the band begins to experiment musically with the inclusion of sitar on “Norwegian Wood,” and several songs such as “Michelle,” “If I Needed Someone,” and “In My Life” which could easily be classified as “folk rock.” 

The Beatles’ following studio release, “Revolver” (1966), sees the Beatles at the peak of their powers. Revolver is an astonishing collection of songs representing a myriad of styles from the art rock of “Eleanor Rigby” and “Good Day Sunshine” to the hard rock of “Taxman” and full blown psychedelic experimentation in “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

The release of Revolver coincided with the band’s retirement from live performances. Freed of life on the road, the Beatles would dedicate themselves to experimentation in the recording studio. With the able support of their producer, George Martin, the group would again reach new heights of creativity in the studio with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967). This album’s overt experimentation was an attempt by John Lennon and Paul McCartney to outdo the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson who had raised the studio bar with his work on the Beach Boys’ classic recording, “Pet Sounds,” during the previous year. “Sgt. Pepper,” which is often cited as the Beatles’ magnum opus, is every bit as thrilling as Revolver with epic songs such as “Lovely Rita,” “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” “She’s Leaving Home,” and ‘A Day in the Life.”

The Beatles kept rolling with the double album simply titled, “The Beatles” (1968). Its unadorned, solid white cover earned it the nickname, “The White Album,” among fans. The album is amazingly eclectic and contains nary a bad tune amid its myriad of tracks. Among the album’s classic tunes are, “Blackbird,” “Mother Nature’s Son,” “Revolution,” “Back in The USSR,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

In 1969, The Beatles would release their last true studio album, “Abbey Road.” Group in-fighting that had lasted for several years was becoming intolerable and Paul McCartney was tiring of holding things together. McCartney would later signal the demise of the band by releasing his first solo album in 1970. Abbey Road was another brilliant effort that contained classic tracks such as “Come Together,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and most impressively, the medley of short, connected songs that finishes the album.

“Let It Be,” which was recorded prior to Abbey Road, would be released in 1970 with the title track, “Let it Be,” and Lennon’s “Across the Universe” as standout tracks.

“A Guide to Essential Popular Music”

The Bobby Fuller Four: I Fought the Law

The Bobby Fuller Four was one of the best American rock and roll bands from the early to mid-Sixties-a time when good rave-up rock and roll was in short supply. The band formed in Baytown, Texas, in 1961, with Bobby Fuller on guitar and lead vocals. Fuller’s brother Randy served as the band’s bassist.

The band started its recording career as a surf rock combo and had the song, “King of the Beach” as its first single. The band found its sound with the fine hit single, “Let Her Dance” in 1965. The band’s next single, “I Fought the Law,” was an instant classic and stands today as one of the all-time greatest rock and roll singles. 

Both of the aforementioned hit singles can be found on the album, “I Fought the Law” (1966). This album and a number of compilation albums are recommended.

Bobby Fuller was found dead in his car outside his Hollywood home during the summer of 1966.Foul play has always been rumoured in Fuller's demise, but no solid evidence has ever come to the fore.

Randy Fuller tried to continue the band after Bobby’s death, but ultimately failed.

Jackie Wilson Lonely Teardrops

Jackie Wilson was among the first soul singers who followed in Ray Charles footsteps after Charles created the music in the mid-Fifties. Wilson, also known as “Mr. Excitement,” for his ebullient performing style, was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1934. Wilson was a boxer and gymnast prior to the start of his music career. Wilson was known for his temperamental nature and willingness to use his boxing skills.

Wilson originally came to prominence in 1953, as a member of the vocal R&B group, Billy Ward and the Dominoes as a replacement for Clyde McPhatter who had left the group to form the Drifters. Wilson would serve as the Dominoes lead singer for the next three years. Upon leaving the Dominoes, Wilson soon found solo success with the hit single, “Reet Petite,” in 1957.

Throughout the remainder of the Fifties and Sixties, Wilson recorded numerous R&B hits and the occasional pop hit. Wilson’s biggest pop hit came in 1958 with “Lonely Teardrops.” In 1967, Wilson would again score a huge hit with the song, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”

Wilson’s best studio albums include “Soul Time” (1965), “Whispers” (1966), and “Higher and Higher” (1967). His best compilations include “The Jackie Wilson Story” (1983) and “The Very Best of Jackie Wilson” (1987). Wilson died in 1984.

The Beach Boys Albums and Bio

The Beach Boys were the one band that could rival the commercial and artistic greatness of the Beatles during the Sixties. The two bands would become friendly rivals in that decade, trying to outdo each other in the studio by producing the most original and epic albums possible. This rivalry would produce the best works of both bands, including the Beach Boys classic, “Pet Sounds,” which is considered by many as the greatest pop/rock album of all time.

The Beach Boys were all native Californians and they would, in their early incarnation produce music which glorified the beachside lifestyle of surfing and hot rod racing particular to their home state.

The original Beach Boys lineup consisted of the Wilsonbrothers-Brian, Carl and Dennis, with cousin, Mike Love and friend, Al Jardine. Brian Wilson was the chief songwriter and creator of the Beach Boys image, while Dennis Wilson, the drummer and part-time surfer was the real life incarnation of that image.

They formed in Hawthorne,California in 1961 under the management and tutelage of Murray Wilson, father of the three Wilson brothers. Murray Wilson was a tough task master and ruled the band with an iron fist.

Originally called the Pendeltones, the band recorded their first single, “Surfin’,” for the Candix label in late 1961. When Candix released the single they changed the groups name to Beach Boys to make the band more marketable in the emerging surf music genre. The single became a modest nation-wide hit. Based on the success of the single, Murray Wilson was able to arrange a live appearance for the band at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance in Long Beach, California.

By summer 1962, the band had managed to get signed to Capitol records and released their first album, “Surfin’ Safari.”Starting with this album, the band found success, scoring a string of hits including, “Surfin’ Safari,” Surfing USA,” “Surfer Girl,” “409,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “I Get Around,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” The band would record sixteen hit singles in total from 1962-1965, and they become huge pop stars in America and abroad.

Along with hit records came concert tours, and the stress of touring led to an emotional breakdown for Brian Wilson and his withdrawal from live performing. Future country music star, Glen Campbell, was brought in as a replacement for several months, and then Bruce Johnson. Brian Wilson, freed from his touring duties, started to focus on his songwriting and the possibilities of the studio and record production and would begin working on music which would soon be hailed as among the greatest pop music ever recorded.

By 1964, Brian Wilson’s more adventurous compositions demanded talented studio musicians for recordings. Two songs from this period, “Help Me Rhonda” and “I Get Around,” would become the band’s first two number one hits. In 1965, Brian Wilson would begin to experiment with song structure on the “Today” album, and score hits with the unorthodox songs,“California Girls” and “The Little Girl I Once Knew.” The revolutionary use of silence, keyboards and brass on the latter tune would set the stage for the band’s next phase, one free of beach imagery and more in step with the burgeoning hippie movement.

1966 would see the Beach Boys, led by Brian Wilson; fully embrace baroque rock with the classic album, “Pet Sounds,” and the seminal single, “Good Vibrations.” Brian Wilson would employ surreal songs, classical instrumentation and complex arrangements in the production of this music.

When Brian Wilson heard the Beatles’ album,“Rubber Soul,” in late 1965, he was so impressed that he dedicated himself to outdoing them. He was impressed that Rubber Soul broke the mold of containing a few hits only to be filled out by throwaway material. Rubber Soul did not contain any filler, just great original tunes. With Rubber Soul as his inspiration, Wilsonset off to the studio with the intention of making the greatest rock album of all-time. Many claim that he succeeded in doing just that, as the resulting album, “Pet Sounds” (1966), is widely hailed as one of the greatest-ever albums of pop music.

Pet Sounds was full of sounds previously unheard on rock records before it. It featured a slew of instruments manned by the finest studio musicians in Los Angeles, complex vocal and instrumental arrangements, and more sophisticated songs from Wilson. Wilson’s muse, apparently, was partially fueled by psychedelic drugs. The album contains what is perhaps the Beach Boys’finest ever tune, “God Only Knows,” which was a hit. Other hits on the album included “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “Caroline No.”

Wilson continued to experiment in 1966, producing the groundbreaking single, “Good Vibrations” and the legendary album, “Smile.” The lukewarm reaction of the public to Pet Sounds, drug use, and underlying mental health problems led to the Smile album being shelved by Capitol records. Some of the material appeared on the next Beach Boys release, “Smiley Smile.”

The Beach Boys would undergo several lineup changes and continue to produce music throughout the rest of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Depending on the state of Brian Wilson’s mind, the Beach Boys’music varied from mediocre to brilliant. Among the brilliant moments were the albums, “Wild Honey” (1967), “Friends” (1968), “Surf’s Up” (1971), “Sunflower”(1970), and “Holland”(1973).

The Beach Boys on The Ed Sullivan Show-mid Sixties

Allman Brothers Albums and Songs

Southern rock and blues rock legends The Allman Brothers were formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. The band was named after brothers Greg and Duane Allman, the band’s lead singer and lead guitarist, respectively. The Allman Brothers are perhaps the quintessential example of “Southern Rock.”

Southern rock bands such as the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynard, and the Marshall Tucker Band all hailed from below the Mason-Dixon Line and infused their hard rock with elements of the blues and country music and often expressed the conservative or “redneck” outlooks.

The Allman Brothers were perhaps the most blues-influenced of southern rock bands. Their first two albums, “The Allman Brothers Band” (1968) and “Idlewild South” (1970) contained several blues cover tunes each. The ragged, soulful voice of Greg Allman and bluesy slide guitar of Duane Allman and Dickie Betts enabled the band to produce some of the best blues rock of the era.

The Allman Brothers Band was a tremendous live act, and live performances allowed the band’s instrumental highlight, Duane Allman to display his prodigious slide guitar technique. Two of the band’s finest albums, “Live at the Fillmore East” (1971) and “Eat a Peach” (1972) are live albums which feature long tracks which serve as vehicles for Duane Allman’s and Dickie Betts’ impressive chops.

Duane Allman died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 23.

Following the death of Duane Allman, Dickie Betts became the instrumental centerpiece of the band, and the Allman Brothers Band continued to record and tour. The band reached the height of their commercial success with the classic album, “Brothers and Sisters” which featured two of their best known tunes, “Ramblin’ Man” and the instrumental, “Jessica.”

Greg Allman in 1975

The Ink Spots: Gypsy

The Ink Spots were a hugely-influential jazz vocal group that forms a direct link from the jazz and popular music of the Thirties to the R&B music of the Forties and rock and roll of the Fifties. The group consisted of various members during a lengthy 20-year run, but the vocal lead was usually handled by singer Bill Kenny on most of the group’s recordings.

The original Ink Spots came together in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1933, with members Orville Jones, Ivory “Deeks” Watson, Jerry Daniels, and Charlie Fuqua. Bill Kenny joined the fold in 1936.

The group made their first recordings for Victor, in 1935, with versions of “Swingin’ on Strings” and “You’re Feets Too Big,” the Fats Waller song.

The early singles of the Ink Spots sold surprisingly poorly, but the group scored a huge hit in 1939 with the song, “If I Didn’t Care.” The single sold 19 million copies and featured the Ink Spots signature “top and bottom” style in which Bill Kenny sang the lead and Orville Jones performed the “talking bass” below the lead vocal.

During the Forties, the Ink Spots scored a slew of hits including many that hit the top position on the pop charts. Of these hits, “Gypsy” proved to be the biggest, remaining at the top of the charts for 13 weeks.

The original Ink Spots disbanded in 1953, just before the dawn of the rock and roll era. Many groups adopted the name, “Ink Spots,” and claimed kinship to the original group.

The original Ink Spots recordings are best heard via the following collections: “The Best of the Ink Spots” (1955), “The Best of the Ink Spots” (1965), “The Ink Spots in Hi-Fi” (1967), and “The Anthology” (1998).

Billie Holiday: Lady Day

Billie Holiday’s life is the stuff of jazz legend. She rose from poverty and abuse to become one of the biggest stars of jazz during the Thirties and Forties. Holiday was a great singer who did not possess a great voice. She employed her voice like a horn player would his horn, and had a reputation for taking mediocre songs and transforming them into greatness. Her singing style was influenced by Bessie Smith’s singing and Louis Armstrong’s trumpet playing. Fellow jazz musicians referred to her as simply, “Lady Day.”

Holiday was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1915. In 1933, she was discovered by the legendary John Hammond, talent scout extraordinaire. Hammond signed her to Columbia Records, and she recorded for some of the company’s subsidiary labels.

Despite being offered only mediocre material to record, she was supported by some of the finest musicians in jazz, including pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist, Lester Young, who would coin her “Lady Day” and become her closest friend and musical collaborator.

In 1937, Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra and later joined Artie Shaw’s Orchestra. She stayed with Columbia Records until 1942, only leaving once for the Commodore label with which she recorded the classic and searing song about lynching, “Strange Fruit.” In 1942, she signed with Decca records and later ended up recording for Verve. One of her last sessions with Columbia produced the classic side, “God Bless the Child.”
In the late Forties, Holiday was convicted of heroin possession and spent several months in prison. Due to the conviction, she was unable to obtain a cabaret card, making it impossible for her to find work in New York City clubs. Suffering from both liver and heart disease, Billie Holiday died in a New York hospital, in 1959.

Holiday’s best recordings can be found on the following collections: “Lady Sings the Blues” (1956), “Songs for Distingue Lovers” (1958), “Lady in Satin” (1958), “The Billie Holiday Story” (1959), “The Golden Years” (1962), “Billie Holiday’s Greatest Hits” (1967), “Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944)” (2001), “Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday” (2001), “The Ultimate Collection” (2005), and “Lady Day: The Master Takes and Singles” (2007).

Lady Day

Bob Seger: Old Time Rock 'n Roll

Bob Seger was one of the most popular and mainstream of the rock singers of the Seventies. Seger, born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1944, had, in his initial incarnation, been a blues-rock/soul singer in a band called “The Bob Seger System.” This band came together in 1968 and played gritty blues rock and R&B. The band’s debut album, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (1969), was a fine effort that had the title track become a minor hit. The band would record two more albums before folding in 1970.

Seger would reemerge as a solo artist, and several early Seventies albums were released under his name that garnered little commercial or critical attention. That would all change with Seger’s next supporting outfit, “The Silver Bullet Band.” Seger and his new backing band came together in 1974, and Seger would finally find the commercial and critical success that he had long been striving for. The first release of Seger and The Silver Bullet Band was a superb live album, “Live Bullet,” from 1976. The album features the new band playing a number of Seger’s older songs in inspired performances.

The band’s next release, “Night Moves,” (1976) would be the breakthrough that would turn Seger into an overnight success more than a decade after his career had begun. The album consisted of hard rock gems such as “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” “Come to Poppa,” and “The Fire Down Below,” but it was the folk-flavoured title track, “Night Moves,” that would become a massive hit. Another fine track, “Mainstreet” would become a minor hit.

Seger would follow-up one classic album with another with the release of “Stranger in Town” (1978). Like its predecessor, this album was a huge commercial and critical success thanks to outstanding tracks such as, “Hollywood Nights,” “Still the Same,” “Feel Like a Number,” and the hit ballad, “We’ve Got Tonight.”

Seger would record several more solid albums such as “Against the Wind” (1980) and “Nine Tonight” (1981) before drifting from the spotlight.

Bob Seger in 1977