It's fashionable these days to dis the Bee Gees, along with every other recording artist tainted with Disco (and most deserve the dissing). But eight years before succumbing to Saturday Night Fever, these guys released their masterpiece, their answer to Sgt. Pepper, the four-sided concept album called Odessa.
Released in 1969, this album has so many good songs it was hard to pick just six, but I knuckled down and did the deed. Two of these, "Give Your Best" and (especially) "Whisper Whisper" sound like they could have been recorded by the Beatles. The only clunkers are a couple of orchestral numbers, in which the Gees themselves barely took a hand.
MARLEY PURT DRIVE
SUDDENLY
FIRST OF MAY
GIVE YOUR BEST
MELODY FAIR
WHISPER WHISPER
FORGOTTEN MUSIC is brought to you each month at this time by Mr. Scott Parker (and by me when I can remember, which is too seldom).
Back in the Pre-Beatle age, Northwest bands like The Wailers (I'm talkin' the real Wailers here, not the great Jamaican copycats) and the Ventures fused elements of jazz and R&B to create a new brand of instrumental rock. The Wailers evolved into a bitchin' garage band in the 60s, and the Ventures evolved into, well . . . theVentures.
But there were other fine groups playing the field, and one of the best was The Viceroys (and yeah, I'm talkin' the real Viceroys, not those other Jamaican copycats).
At the time, and for many years after, the area's top dj was Pat O'Day of KJR in Seattle. O'Day had a crotchety character on his show called Granny Peters, so when the Viceroys released their first single, they were inspired to name it after Granny. If this was a ploy to get more air time, it worked, and "Granny's Pad" became a huge Northwest hit.
Far as I know, The Viceroys at Granny's Pad was the group's only LP. They continued releasing singles for several years, and the whole shebang is now available on the CD shown at right. Viceroys guitar player and sometime singer Jim Valley (front and center, above) later joined Portland band Don and the Goodtimes, and later still was drafted into the big leagues by ex-Portland band Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had become TV stars on Where the Action Is. Saxophone player Kerry Eggers joined The Wailers when they reformed in the 90s as The Fabulous Wailers.
But you don't need to know all that. All you need to know is that these were some very hep cats. Fire up the tunes below and see for yourself.
GRANNY'S PAD
GET SET
SACK O' WOE
Forgotten Music is a monthly groovefest hosted by Mr. Scott Parker. See more of this month's entries HERE.
Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins had one of the two most distinctive voices in the world of the Blues (the other being Howlin' Wolf's) and I enjoy everything he recorded. But as a guy raised on rock, I find the crisp, clean sound of an electric guitar far more palatable than that of a battered old acoustic. And unfortunately, the vast majority of Lightnin's recordings were made with those flat-top boxes.
My favorite Lightnin' album, It's a Sin to Be Rich, is a live recording from 1972 with an electric guitar. I couldn't find anything from that album on YouTube, but I did find a great version of "Mojo Hand," and a couple of other electrified tunes. The others featured here are cleaner-than-average acoustic recordings.
If you haven't listened closely to Lightnin' before, maybe this will give you enough of a taste of that amazing voice that you'll want to seek out some of the raw, street-corner stuff.
Forgotten Music is a monthly event hosted by Scott Parker. See HIS BLOG for more of this month's music. And think about joining us next month. We want to hear what you've been grooving to.
Yeah, it's true. Before Simon teamed up with Garfunkel, one of the names he recorded under was Jerry Landis. Here are a few of Jerry's least forgettable tunes. There's a lot more of this stuff on YouTube, most of it less snappy. "I Want to Know All About You" made the cut only because it mentions mystery novels and TV westerns.
When it comes to Christmas music, I'm a Scrooge. Give me anything else, please! But a few years back my friend Drew Bentley, former rockin' deejay idol of the Omaha airwaves, sent me these two 2002 albums by Beatles tribute band The Fab Four. I've since hauled them out at least once a year, and they always give me a smile. Each song is based on familiar Beatles tune, and you'll hear a lot of familiar riffs. I'd challenge you to guess which song is which, but YouTube spills the beans.
I see the original CDs are now pretty expensive (at least on Amazon), but you can get a digital download of Hark! for $8.99. This was a later release combining all 20 songs from the two albums above. It's also available in CD form on the band's website, HERE.
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Joy to the World
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Frosty the Snowman
Jingle Bells
Good King Wenceslas
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Let It Snow
Blue Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
More of this month's Forgotten Music, Christmas and otherwise, at the blog of Mr. Scott D Parker.
Here's one of the real Daddies of Rock and Roll. Big Joe Turner was a 1930s bluesman who led the charge into R&B in the 40s and rolled out some of the first Rock recordings in the 50s. Among his big hits were "Honey Hush" in 1953, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (prior to the cover version by Bill Haley & His Comets) in 1954 and "Flip, Flop and Fly" in 1955.
The sound quality in these YouTube videos is sometimes poor, but they should get you in the groove. His stuff sounds much better on CD. I like the very expensive 3-disc box set Big, Bad & Blue, but the 21-track Greatest Hits collection shown here is a fine substitute.
Jump for Joy
Flip, Flop and Fly
Shake, Rattle and Roll (1954)
Boogie Woogie Country Girl
Shake, Rattle and Roll (1966)
Jump over to Scott Parker's blog for more of the Forgotten Music in this week's virtual jukebox.
I've been watching BlackAdder: The Complete Collector's Set (from the library, natch) this past month, and this ding dang theme song seems to be stuck in my head. Lucky for me, I like it.
THEMES FROM BLACKADDER I AND II
I can recommend only the first half of this video, with the great closing credits to the first series, the haunting closing to that series' finale, and one or two closings to BlackAdder II. The second series was unique in that each episode closed with different lyrics, specific to events of that episode. Listening to six of them in a row may rot your mind. The sing-a-long lyrics were added by a fan, and one who is not a particularly good speller. The fan also thought BlackAdder's horse was "blacker than a vole," while the official sing-a-long provided on the DVD says "blacker than a hole." An important difference, I'm sure you'll agree.
BLACKADDER III INTRO
This opening theme is cool and classical. The end theme went a whole 'nother direction, trying to be jazzy and avant garde. Mostly, it was just annoying. Still, I would have posted it here if there'd been a decent recording on YouTube. The only one I found was very hard to hear.
END THEME FROM BLACKADDER IV
Put on your marching shoes.
END THEME FROM BLACKADDER BACK AND FORTH
This single episode filmed ten years after the others was new to me, and definitely entertaining, but writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton had mellowed, and the old BlackAdder edge was dull. Didn't hurt the song any, though. The lyrics are tough to make out, so I've provided them below as a public service.
Let joy fill every Briton's heart,
for now our country's going to make it.
At last a king who looks the part,
At last a queen who looks good naked,
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
A monarch with panache.
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
he's got a nice mustache.
Everything he wants he'll get,
The world is now BlackAdder's oyster.
Most prime ministers are wet,
But Baldrick he is even moister,
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
A dog who's got his bone.
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
a bastard on the throne.
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
His beard is neatly curled.
BlackAdder, BlackAdder,
he's going to rule the world.
One night in 1970, someone stuck a set of pro-quality headphones over my ears and handed me this album cover. One of the first songs I heard was "Dreammare."
This was pretty heavy stuff for the time, and I was an instant Uriah Heep fan. I stuck with them for four more albums, and some of my favorite tunes are featured below. Now I discover they went on to release a total of 22 studio and 12 live albums, the latest in 2009, and they're still going. Understandably, they've had a ton of personnel changes over the years, but the one constant - and the one guy still with the group - is guitar player Mick Box. Yikes. 40 straight years of Uriah Heep. Gotta wonder what kind of brain damage that guy has.
Dreammare (1970)
Lady in Black (1971)
The Wizard (1972)
Easy Livin' (1972)
Forgotten Music is a production of Scott Parker, and you'll find links to more of this month's selections HERE.
OK, I screwed up again and didn't get my Forgotten Music post up on Thursday like I should have. My apologies to host Scott Parker and the rest of the gang.
Here's an amazing little 78 I came across in an antique mall in Las Vegas. The amazing thing is that it was ever recorded and issued. There's a photo of the TV show's Gail Davis on the back, but she is not in evidence on this record. I have a couple of recordings by Gail, including the show's theme song, and she has a distinctive voice. Still, I've heard worse music, and the songs have a certain goofy charm. A friend of mine once played them during traffic reports on his radio show, to the undoubted amusement (and befuddlement) of his audience.
"The Traffic Light Song" by Annie Oakley
"I Like to Ride My Bike" by Annie Oakley
One advantage to being late to Forgotten Music is that I can bring you direct links to the rest of this month's posts:
What? You didn't know Nick Adams was a singer? Well, maybe he wasn't. But he did release three 45s - a total of six songs - back in the neighborhood of 1959, and I present them here for your consideration. For marketing purposes, no doubt, each disc had one tune with "Rebel" in the title. The flip sides of two were also Civil War related. Surprisingly, the B-side of the third is decidedly un-Rebelish.
Nick's voice aside, these are good well-produced songs. The instrumentation is fine and the background singers first-rate. With today's technology they probably could have made Nick sound as good as Frankie Laine. As it is . . . well, you be the judge.
The label for "Johnny Yuma, The Rebel" credits Andrew J. Fenady, the show's creator and screenwriter, as a co-writer on the song. The lyrics, I presume. I was surprised to see that "Tired and Lonely Rebel" was co-written by Dorsey Burnette. Surprised, because I find it the weakest of the Rebel-related songs. And Burnett took full credit for "It Could Have Been Different", which is a real turkey. Burnette penned some fine tunes back when, including "Tall Oak Tree". Tsk, tsk.
A tip on playing these songs: If you listen to a song all the way to the end, you should have no problem playing another. BUT, if you stop one before the finish, the system can get touchy. It may say "Connecting" and never actually connect. If that happens, just refresh the page and you should be good to go.
Johnny Yuma, The Rebel (Markowitz-Fenady) by Nick Adams
Born a Rebel (S Ross-J Haskell) by Nick Adams
Tired and Lonely Rebel (Dorsey Burnette-Joe Osborn) by Nick Adams
Bull Run (S Silbert-R Freed) by Nick Adams
The Ballad of Scatter Gun Hill (Livingston-Adelson) by Nick Adams
It Could Have Been Different (Dorsey Burnette) by Nick Adams
I wish I could report that The Rebel series is commercially available on DVD. Not so, though you can find some decent homemade efforts on eBay. There is, however, a novel (of sorts) by Andrew J. Fenady. I must advise you it reads like a synopsis of several episodes of the series, but for those needing a Johnny Yuma fix, it should do the trick.
For links to more of this month's Forgotten Music, visit Scott Parker's blog. We'll have more on the last Thursday of next month. Why not join us?
Given recent events, this seems the appropriate time to remember the musical stylings of Mr. Fess Parker.
You've probably heard at least one of his four versions of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", but Fess didn't stop there. He recorded enough other stuff to fill two whole LPs - and then some.
Over half of Fess's musical output is now available on two CDs (see them HERE.) Several of those tunes are featured on YouTube, but a couple of my favorites are not, and I present them for you here:
"Be Sure You're Right" by Fess Parker & Buddy Ebsen
"King of the River" by Fess Parker
For links to more of today's Forgotten Music, visit the master deejay Scott Parker.
You've heard the Kingsmen's version, probably many more times than you'd like. The all-thumbs guitar solo, the offbeat drumming, and most of all, the whiny, incomprehensible lyrics. Yeah, it's pretty bad, but somehow conveyed a primitive power that captivated a nation. Believe it or not, the recording was a hit even before word got out that the lyrics were dirty.
Anyway, the Kingsmen's version has so dominated the scene that other early (and some would say better) recordings of the song are neglected or forgotten. Though the song has now been recorded about 1,600 times (see louielouie.net), you'll rarely catch any of them on the radio (except, of course, the one by you-know-who).
THE FIRST LOUIE: RICHARD BERRY
Richard Berry, the doo-wop singer who wrote this classic ditty, released the first recording in 1957 with sort of a calypso beat. It was not a big hit. I prefer the Kingsmen's version to this, but present it as an historical arty-fact.
THE WAILERS WAIL
Though the song was forgotten elsewhere, bands in the Northwest discovered it made a great rock tune. Which group actually recorded it first is unclear, but this 1961 version by Rockin' Robin Roberts and The Wailers (of Tacoma, WA) was the one that got the air play and inspired the Kingsmen and the Raiders.
GRAB YOUR WOMAN, IT'S PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS
Legend has it this version was recorded in the same Portland, Oregon studio used by the Kingsmen, and during the very same week in 1963. Though the Raiders' version was a bigger hit in the Northwest, the Kingsmen caught a lucky break. Their record was picked up for national distribution, while the Raiders' rendition was squelched by Columbia Records mogul Mitch Miller, who hated rock 'n' roll.
THE SONICS BOOM
This now-legendary Tacoma band was nurtured by The Wailers, and produced some of the most powerful rock of the sixties. In 1965, when most bands were trying to sound like The Beatles, The Sonics were doing this . . .
AND NOW, MISS JULIE LONDON
Yes, Louie had a softer side, too, and you've probably heard the one by The Sandpipers (of "Guantanamera" fame). But largely forgotten is this sultry rendition by Julie London. If you're sleepy at the end, play The Sonics' version again.
For links to more tunes on this first Forgotten Music Thursday, check out Scott Parker's blog!
You've heard the story, but have you heard the music? On January 1, 1962, John, Paul, George and Pete Best recorded 15 songs in an audition for Decca Records. Decca passed on them, signing a band called "Brian Poole and the Tremeloes" instead.
The "Silver Beatles" name is complicated. Quick Version: For a period of a few months in 1960 (when the drummer was an older guy named Tommy Moore), one of the names they used was The Silver Beetles (or Beatles). Right around the time Pete Best joined up (in August of that year), they dropped the "Silver" and became simply The Beatles. So the group recording at Decca was actually called The Beatles. But, in the years since, these early recordings have sometimes been attributed to The Silver Beatles as a way of differentiating them from the band we know.
Six of the tracks from that Decca session appeared on the official release Anthology 1 in 1995. Those songs are Searchin', Three Cool Cats, Besame Mucho, Sheik of Araby, Hello Little Girl and Like Dreamers Do. Three others were later recorded (much better) by Ringo and the gang and are quite familiar: Money, Memphis and Til There Was You.
That leaves six songs that are harder to come by, and those are presented here. I was going to put up audio-only versions from my own vinyl collection, but found these on YouTube (from a later remastered CD) to be of better sound quality. The nine tracks mentioned above are on YouTube too.
Three of these tunes were later recorded live at the BBC and appeared on the album of that name. The others, as far as I know, have never appeared on any "official" Beatles release.
John sings lead on Sure to Fall and To Know Her is to Love Her. George does Crying, Waiting, Hoping and Take Good Care of My Baby. That's Paul on September in the Rain and Love of the Loved (a Lennon/McCartney original).
P.S. Pete Best still performs with his own band, and released a CD as recently as 2008. Visit his website HERE.
For more Forgotten Music (and Forgotten Books) visit Patti Abbott's pattinase.