What Are These Strange Enchantments That Start Whenever You're Near?

Going way back to 1964 for today's eclectic selection of 15 songs, designed to energise your Easter.

Some stone cold classics from The Kinks, The Temptations, The Beatles and Bob Dylan and not much I can add to the millions of words that have been written about them in the last six decades, other than...the songwriters would deserve legendary status if these were the only songs that they had written. And yet, they went on to write even better songs. Boggles the mind, sometimes.

In March 1964, my folks had barely been married a year and the hopes and dreams that my brother and I would subsequently crush were some years away. Back then, they were working hard and saving money to buy a house and start a family, so buying records was a luxury they couldn't afford. So, compilations have been an essential doorway into the past for me. And there are some cracking ones to be found.

 

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (the 1998 4CD not the original 1972 double vinyl) offers up The Beau Brummels. In the early 2000s, a series of CDs curated by Saint Etienne caught my attention. I think Songs For Mario's Cafe (2004) might have been the first and introduced me to many artists, including Philadelphia trio The Sapphires. Let's Break Up For A While was written by Jerry Ross and Kenneth Gamble, the latter going on to enshrine the sound of Philadelphia in partnership with Leon Huff. Beryl Marsden was revealed to me via the essential Love Hit Me! compilation in 2016. The subtitle Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970 tells you all you need to know other than it's 24 tracks of pure pop gold.

Film and TV tie-ins were also a big thing and this selection features a 4-song sequence of music that became a staple of my gogglebox experience as a kid in the 1970s. Still a year away from the big-screen adaptation in 1965, Doctor Who was nevertheless proving to be something of a phenomenon, largely thanks to those psychotic pepperpots the Daleks. The unforgettable theme tune was also subject to numerous cover versions, mostly an attempt to 'normalise' the out-there music of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Eric Winstone & His Orchestra being one such culprit.

The Munsters were another must-watch for me, though I'm pretty sure I didn't get to see it until the Channel 4 repeats in the early 80s and, if I'm honest, The Addams Family were my favourite if forced to choose. What I didn't know until a few years ago is that, cashing in on the TV show's success, 1964 saw "the newest teen-age singing group" The Munsters appear with a 12-song eponymous album. Sadly, despite some of the promo photos, not the actors themselves but a quartet of musicians who performed wearing rubber masks of their respective characters. It's derivative, but not as bad as it sounds.

Stingray was one of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation successes, high action, big budget puppet TV with all strings visible, oversized heads (didn't I do this already?) and lips that predicted the botox revolution of the 21st century. Aqua Marina was the closing theme song by The Barry Gray Orchestra, a paean to the amphibian beauty that captured the heart of lead character Troy Tempest. I always felt for Lt. Atlanta Shore, gazing wistfully at a photo of Troy. Yep, as a toddler I was already emotionally invested in TV characters!

Elvis Presley films were constantly on TV during my childhood, so I was familiar with the songs, even if the plots themselves were almost instantly forgettable. In recent years, the promo poster for Viva Las Vegas also adorns one of my tote shopping bags. 

Rounding out the selection are another quartet of legends, The Pretty Things, Simon & Garfunkel and The Rolling Stones covering Chuck Berry, with The Queen Of Motown Mary Wells response to The Temptations' My Girl. 

Perhaps not the selection or sequence that you might have expected from a 1964 collection but somehow, it all makes perfect sense. Must be those strange enchantments that Gary Miller was singing of...

 

1) Laugh, Laugh: The Beau Brummels

2) All Day And All Of The Night: The Kinks 

3) The Way You Do The Things You Do: The Temptations

4) Let's Break Up For A While: The Sapphires

5) Don't Bring Me Down: The Pretty Things

6) My Guy: Mary Wells

7) Dr. Who (Cover of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop): Eric Winstone & His Orchestra

8) Eerie Beach: The Munsters

9) Aqua Marina: The Barry Gray Orchestra ft. Gary Miller & Joan Brown

10) Viva Las Vegas: Elvis Presley

11) Bleecker Street: Simon & Garfunkel

12) Eight Days A Week: The Beatles

13) Carol (Cover of Chuck Berry): The Rolling Stones

14) The Times They Are A-Changin': Bob Dylan

15) Love Is Going To Happen To Me: Beryl Marsden

Strange Enchantments (38:22) (KF) (Mega)

Fifty Four

From yesterday's new music in 2024 to today's selection of 14 songs from 1954. I wonder what people in 2094, on the edge of the 22nd century, will think of today's music, similarly seven decades in the past?

A fair few of these have come from cover-mounted CDs with Mojo or Uncut magazine, usually delving into the songs that inspired the likes of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Fleetwood Mac. It's hard to imagine the thrill of the new back in '54, when the needle hit the platter and people heard these songs for the very first time. 

 

When I was a teen, this music was already 30 years old and really sounded like it was from another time. Lady K listens to a lot of music that's 30 years old but the music of 1994 doesn't feel so dated or different from much of the music that's being made today. 

 

And whilst I see and hear that in a positive way, music as a continual complement and inspiration rather than homogenous regurgitation, it's good sometimes to go back to music that in so many ways has informed and inspired music right up to the present day but is also very much of its time.

 

1) Blue Moon Of Kentucky: Bill Monroe

2) I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine: Elvis Presley

3) (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock: Bill Haley & His Comets

4) I'm Just A Country Boy: Harry Belafonte

5) Hernando's Hideaway: Arche Blever

6) Rose Marie: Slim Whitman

7) Grande Jacques (C'est Trop Facile): Jacques Brel

8) Joy Spring: Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet

9) Shake It: Johnny Otis & His Orchestra

10) When My Heart Beats Like A Hammer: B.B. King

11) Last Night: Little Walter

12) The Streets Of Laredo: Roy Rogers 

13) No Place To Go: Howlin' Wolf

14) Katy Cruel: Peggy Seeger 

 

Fifty Four (38:45) (KF) (Mega)

That Weren't No DJ, That Was Hazy Cosmic Jive

On another nostalgia trip today, back half a century to the UK singles Top 20 on 27th July 1972. Largely ignoring the first five, that's a pretty great run of singles

1) Puppy Love: Donny Osmond

2) Sylvia’s Mother: Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show

3) Rock And Roll Parts 1 & 2: Gary Glitter

4) Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: The Partridge Family

5) Sea Side Shuffle: Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs

6) School’s Out: Alice Cooper

7) I Can See Clearly Now: Johnny Nash

8) Circles: The New Seekers

9) Mad About You: Bruce Ruffin

10) Starman: David Bowie

11) Little Willy: The Sweet

12) Silver Machine: Hawkwind

13) Join Together: The Who

14) Walkin’ In The Rain With The One I Love: Love Unlimited

15) Betcha By Golly Wow: The Stylistics

16) Take Me Back ‘One: Slade

17) Automatically Sunshine: The Supremes

18) An American Trilogy: Elvis Presley

19) Popcorn: Hot Butter 

20) My Guy: Mary Wells 

 

I'll only give Sea Side Shuffle by Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs the briefest of mentions for two reasons, fact fans: 

 

1) The lead singer, songwriter and accordion player would subsequently always be found in the kitchen at parties, trying to come up with a ubiquitous Christmas hit (which wasn't about Christmas and, incredibly, didn't actually make it to #1 in the UK);

 

2) One might assume that Roy Dorset and his legal team were listening with interest, given the resemblance to his summer-themed hit with Mungo Jerry a couple of years previously. Surely he sued? Or did we live in a less litigious society back then?

 

YouTube, as ever, is a treasure trove of clips, especially from Top Of The Pops, so here's a select few. Lady K's just finished for the summer - oh, how I wish I had six weeks off work to do what I like! Sadly, Alice Cooper wasn't blasting from the school PA as the masses ran from the building, whooping and hollering. Surprising, as I thought that this was a legal requirement from 1977 onwards...?

Here's Alice on TOTP in 1972. Health & Safety would never let him wave and throw a sabre around these days.

Johnny Nash next, rocking those studded leathers with what remains my favourite version of this song. The original and never bettered.

You would not believe how hard it is to find a decent clip of Starman that isn't the June 1972 TOTP performance that is used on every David Bowie, 1970s, Glam, classic rock, you-name-it TV show going. I tried, honestly, but I had to admit defeat after a while. So here it is. Bloody great, though.

The next video is dedicated to middle aged man, who reminded me what a truly great band The Sweet are, with an excellent Imaginary Compilation Album over at The Vinyl Villain a couple of months ago. If you haven't heard it, run don't walk over there now, you really need it in your life.

Love Unlimited next. Much is made of Barry White's role but it was nothing without the wonderful vocal performances by the Taylor sisters -Diane, Linda and Glodean. This is music in glorious Technicolour.

How else to finish but with The King? An American Trilogy was a cover version, originally written and recorded by Mickey Newbury in 1971, stitching together Dixie (a folk song), The Battle Hymn Of The Republic (a Civil War marching song used by the Union army) and All My Trials (a popular lullaby from The Bahamas). Elvis Presley recorded it at the start of 1972 and, interestingly, his version was bigger success in the UK (peaking at #8) than the USA (#66). This version is from his Aloho From Hawaii show in January 1973.

As a post-script, at one place below Elvis is Popcorn by Hot Butter, a song that always reminds me of a much-loved TV show which had a similar sounding theme tune. Ah, the days of TV shows presented by wonderfully bonkers professors, nylon and polyester attire, minuscule budgets and little or no special effects, not to mention protracted moments of silence...like this.

You Do All The Living While I Do All The Giving

Time for a pelvis workout with Elvis Presley...or at least, you would if the camera operator hadn't deliberately gone for a close up. This is Presley performing Too Much on The Ed Sullivan Show in the USA on 6th January 1957, whilst broadcaster CBS tries to protect the nation from the smouldering, bequiffed sex symbol. 

 

Things get particularly frenzied around the 1:25 mark, when Elvis is swinging those hips (out of shot, natch) and the gallery decides that it can only defuse the situation for TV Land's impressionable youth by cutting to a close up of the guitar player. 

 

Elvis is backed by The Jordanaires, including Hugh Jarrett on the far left of the screen. Poor old Hugh is very quickly cropped from the remainder of the clip, apparently for alleged scene stealing as you can hear his increasingly prominent "Ba Doo" vocal throughout. 

Accordingly to my Apple Music collection, I last played this song on 12th November 2013. Long overdue for another airing then!

 

Too Much (Performed On The Ed Sullivan Show, 6th January 1957): Elvis Presley