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Today in Rock History – March 29

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rolling-stones-brian-jones-19671967, During a European tour The Rolling Stones appeared at the Bremen-Stadthalle in Germany. Also on the tour, The Easybeats and The Creation.

1967, Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles finished recording “Good Morning Good Morning.” They then started work on a new song “With a Little Help From My Friends,” (originally titled “Bad Finger Boogie,”) recording 10 takes of the rhythm track, then Ringo overdub a double-tracked lead vocal.

1968, Sly & the Family Stone performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Glen Campbell gets his big break when the Smothers Brothers make him the host of the Summer Replacement Variety Hour.

1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Black Sabbath, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Curved Air, J.J. Jackson’s Dilemma, Shy Limbs, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sunflower Brass Band and Toe Fat all appeared at the London Free Easter Festival in Bethnal Green, London, England.

1969, Janis Joplin performed at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

1969, Blood Sweat & Tears went to number one on the US album chart with their self- titled album.

1970, Led Zeppelin played at Hofheinz Pavillion at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Tickets cost $6.50.

1970, John Lennon and Yoko Ono announce that Yoko is pregnant with John’s son.

1972, In Bombay, India, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page record versions of “Four Sticks” and “Friends” with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately, differing music theories lead to the sessions being scrapped. Says Plant, “It’s very hard for them to cope with the Western approach to music with their counting of everything, their times, and so on.”

1972, Pink Floyd performed at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England.

1973, Roxy Music appeared at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1973,  Dr. Hook appear on Rolling Stone‘s cover shortly after making a splash with their hit “The Cover of Rolling Stone.” Just like the lyrics in the song, the band members buy five copies of the magazine to give to their mothers.

1974, King Crimson played at Stadthalle, Heidelberg, Germany.

1975, Labelle went to number one on the singles chart with “Lady Marmalade,” the group’s only chart topper.

1975, Blow By Blow, the sixth studio album by Jeff Beck (post Yardbirds).  Beck went fusion and did it well. It was produced by George Martin, Blow By Blow peaked at number four in the US charts, went platinum, and scored a Grammy for Best Instrumental Album.

1975, Led Zeppelin had all their six albums in the Top 100 chart in the same week with their latest album Physical Graffiti at number one.

1976, Electric Light Orchestra appeared at Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1976, during a European tour Neil Young started a three night run at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1978, David Bowie kicked off his Low / Heroes  77-date World Tour at San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

1979, After attending a Dire Straits show during their residency at the Roxy in Los Angeles, Bob Dylan asked Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on the sessions for his next album. Slow Train Coming was the album, recorded in Muscle Shoals in May of 1979, with Jerry Wexler producing. Dylan had first heard Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler when his assistant Arthur Rosato played him the single “Sultans of Swing.”

1980, Mantovani, (Annunzio Paolo Mantovan), orchestra leader died aged 74. Born in Italy his family moved to England in 1912, where he studied at Trinity College of Music in London. He recorded over 50 albums for Decca records, including Song from Moulin Rouge and Cara Mia, both reached number one in the UK. In the United States, between 1955 and 1972, he released over 40 albums with 27 reaching the Top 40 and 11 the Top Ten. His biggest success was with the album Film Encores, which made it to number one in 1957.

1980, Rush played at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada.

1980, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, spent its 303rd week on the album chart, beating the record set by Carole King’s album Tapestry. The album remained in the US Billboard charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in chart history. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006.

1985, Roger Waters appeared at The Spectrum, Philadelphia.

1986, Austrian singer Falco started a three-week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Rock Me Amadeus,” also a number one in the UK. Falco became the first German speaking artist to achieve a chart topping single on the US charts.

2001, Brian Wilson was honored in a three hour tribute at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Guest performances included Billy Joel, Paul Simon, The Go-Gos, and the trio of Carly Simon, David Crosby, and Jimmy Webb. Also singing Beach Boy songs were Ann and Nancy Wilson, Elton John, and Aimee Mann. Brian Wilson himself joined the fun when he took the stage for the final three songs, “Barbara Ann,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

Born on March 29: Vangellis (1943); Chad Allen, The Guess Who (1943); Michael Brecker (1949); Perry Ferrell, Jane’s Addiction (1959)

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Today in Rock History – March 3

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Buffalo Springfield

1966, Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles.

1966, The Who played at the Victoria Ballroom in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.

1967, The Doors appear at the Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco.

1967, A twice-nightly tour kicked off in the UK at The ABC in Romford Essex featuring, The Small Faces, Jeff Beck, Roy Orbison and Paul and Barry Ryan.

1967, In London, guitarist Jeff Beck debuts his new group featuring bassist Ron Wood, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, and a new singer by the name of Rod Stewart.

1967, Pink Floyd performed at Market Hall in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England.

1967, After a promoter refuses to pay the Animals an advance for their concert in Ottawa, the band decides not to play. The audience riots and causes $5,000 in damages

1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.

1968, Blood, Sweat & Tears appeared at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, The Who end the recording of Tommy at IBC Studio A after almost five months in the studio.

1969, Led Zeppelin recorded their first BBC Radio 1 Top Gear session during the afternoon at the Playouse Theatre in London, England. Songs recorded were “Dazed And Confused,” “Communication Breakdown,” “You Shook Me,” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby.” Free, The Moody Blues and Deep Purple were also in session on the show.

1970, Genesis plays at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco

1973, Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize,” entered the UK charts at number one, making Slade the first act to achieve this since The Beatles.

1973, winners at the Grammy Awards included, Roberta Flack who won Song of the year and Record of the year with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and Harry Nilsson won Best pop vocal performance for “Without You.”

1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd played at Ellis Auditorium North Hall, Memphis, Tennessee.

1975, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

1976, David Bowie performed at the International Amphitheater, Chicago.

Iggy Pop in 1977

1977, the first night of an UK tour with Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla, and The Police kicked off at the Roxy Club, London. John Otway and Wild Willie Baratt played at The Speakeasy, London and Iggy Pop supported by The Vibrators appeared at Huddersfield Poly.

1978, Van Halen opens its first tour at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. The group’s contract specifies that M&Ms be provided to the group during the stint with the brown candies removed. Part of this first tour was to open up for Black Sabbath in several locations.

1979, The Bee Gees scored their fourth number one single with “Tragedy.” Also today The Bee Gees went to number one on the album chart with ‘Spirits Having Flown‘, the group’s second chart topping album.

1980, A napkin signed by Elvis Presley fetches £500 ($800) at a Sotheby’s auction in London. Four dollar bills signed by the Beatles sell for £220 ($350), as does a packet of letters written by the Rolling Stones.

1984, Nena started a three week run at number one on the UK singles chart with “99 Red Balloons.” Originally sung in German, “99 Luftballons” was re-recorded in English as “99 Red Balloons.” The song was a number two hit in the US and the only UK hit for Nena making her a one-hit wonder.

1990, During a world tour Paul McCartney played the first of 6 sold-out nights at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan. The final night was broadcast live to venues in 10 other Japanese cities; Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sapporp, Sendai and Takamatsu.

1994, The Smashing Pumpkins were banned from appearing on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops, due to the content of the song’s lyrics. The bands single “Disarm” was this week’s highest new entry.

1995, Foo Fighters made their live debut during a benefit show at The Satyricon in Portland, Oregon.

2008, The Beatles’ engineer Norman Smith died at the age of 85. Smith who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965 was nicknamed “Normal Norman” by John Lennon. As a producer in 1966, he signed Pink Floyd and produced some of their early albums including Saucerful of Secrets and as Hurricane Smith had the 1971 UK number two hit “Don’t Let It Die.”

2009, To celebrate the release of U2’s twelfth studio album and their appearance every night for a week on The Late Show with David Letterman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg temporarily renamed part of 53rd street in Midtown Manhattan U2 Way.

Born on March 3: Junior Parker, bluesman (1927); Mike Pender, The Searchers (1942);  Jance Garfat, Dr. Hook (1944); Jennifer Warnes (1947); Snowy White, Thin Lizzy (1948); and Robyn Hitchcock (1953)

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Song Of The Day – “Susan” by The Buckinghams

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buckinghamssusanTransistor radios…beaches…the warmth of the sun…crashing waves…Chicago? Yup!

The Bucking hams were the epitome of 1960s sunshine pop with their perfect blend of warm harmonies and sophisticated horn-drenched productions. Their sound was more akin to California than their native Chicago, and they were responsible for a string of perfect pop singles during the late sixties like the number one hit “Kind Of A Drag,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” the sublime “Don’t You Care,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” “Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song” and today’s Song Of The Day.

Digging a little bit deeper than the singles also proved rewarding with some great would-have-been, should-have-been hits from their albums like “You Don’t Care,” “Back In Love Again,” “Where Did You Come From,” “It’s A Beautiful Day (For Lovin’)” and “Difference Of Opinion,” that all feature the group’s trademark baroque horn arrangements and layered harmonies.

The group formed in 1966 as The Pulsations with members Carl Giammarese on guitar, Nick Fortuna on bass, Dennis Miccolis on keyboards and John Poulos on drums. After winning a battle of the bands, they found themselves on WGN, a local Chicago TV station, as the house band for the show All Time Hits. It was then they adopted The Buckinghams name to fit in with the British Invasion groups who were all the rage on the charts at the time.

Shortly thereafter, they secured a contract with the local Chicago label, U.S.A. Records, where they recorded an album’s worth of material including covers of Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” James Brown’s “I Go Crazy” and The Beatles’ “I Call Your Name.” But it was their recording of “Kind Of A Drag,” written by a local Chicago songwriter, Jim Holvay that proved to be their ticket to stardom by topping the charts and selling a million copies. (Holvay also co-wrote the hits “Don’t You Care,” “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song),” and today’s Song Of the Day, “Susan.”)

A record contract with Columbia Records (the big time!) followed and a new producer, James William Guercio, who had been the bassist and road manager for Chad & Jeremy. (Fun fact: Guercio was also once a member of The Mothers Of Invention prior to the recording of their first album, Freak Out.)  Around this time Miccolis left the band and was replaced by Marty Grebb.

Guercio’s brass-heavy arrangements kept The Buckinghams on the charts, and prepared him for his future success producing similar brass-rock groups Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Guercio was at the production helm for their 1967 hit singles “Don’t You Care,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” and “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song),” but the group had a falling out with him over the single, “Susan.”

“Susan” is a pure pop radio gem that suddenly takes a left turn and goes all “A Day In The Life” wonky in the center section, complete with a psychedelic orchestral buildup placed there to remind the public that The Buckinghams were really hip. The group was dead set against it, but Guercio prevailed, causing an irreversible rift between group and producer.

With Guercio out of the picture, the group were unable to repeat any of the chart success they previously had, and they finally called it a day in 1970. Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna have since revived the Buckinghams in 1982 and continue touring full-time again.

Great mono mix in the video!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Save The Country” by Laura Nyro

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Save The Country” by Laura Nyro – Laura Nyro was one of the greatest songwriters of the 1960s responsible for many hits recorded by others. Even though she will finally get her due this year by being inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, she is still relatively unknown to most people until you survey some of the songs she’s written: “Stone Soul Picnic” and “Wedding Bell Blues” by the 5th Dimension, “Eli’s Comin'” by Three Dog Night, “And When I Die” by Blood Sweat & Tears, “Stoney End” by Barbara Streisand are just some of her gold standard compositions. There is precious little footage of Nyro performing her own songs since she suffered from bouts of stage fright particularly during the 1960s. I was fortunate enough to see her once in 1976 at the Garden State Art’s Center in New Jersey and once in the early 1990s at The Bottom Line in New York City where in both instances she was in fine voice. Nyro’s own versions of her songs are still, in my mind, the definitive versions.

 

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #44 – Blood, Sweat & Tears: “Spinning Wheel” b/w “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” – Columbia Hall Of Fame 45-4-33168 (G5/H5)

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BS+TSpinningWheel45BS+TYouveMadeMeSoVeryHappy45

 

 

 

 

 

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #44 – Blood, Sweat & Tears: “Spinning Wheel” b/w “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” – Columbia Hall Of Fame 45-4-33168 (G5/H5)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

“What goes up…must come down…” not only is this the first line to Blood Sweat & Tears’ signature hit, but it also foreshadowed the group’s red hot ascent to the top, and its equally quick drop out of fashion.

Blood, Sweat & Tears had their genesis in an experiment by ex-Blues Project member and Bob Dylan sideman, Al Kooper. Kooper wanted to create a group that melded jazz horns to rock rhythms for a fresh new sound. Kooper:  “Like Maynard Ferguson’s band from the years 1960-1964, I wanted a horn section that would play more than the short adjectives they were relegated to in R&B bands; but, on the other hand, a horn section that would play less than Count Basie’s or Buddy Rich’s. Somewhere in the middle was a mixture of soul, rock, and jazz that was my little fantasy.” (Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards by Al Kooper).

Kooper formed Blood Sweat & Tears with Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Steve Katz and Bobby Colomby. Kooper was fond of the production that James William Guercio provided for The Buckinghams and for the first BS&T album, Child Is Father To The Man, the two paved the way for horn-laden groups like Chicago Transit Authority, The Ides Of March and Chase that would soon rule the charts.

After working on BS&T’s debut album, Kooper left the group moving on to Super Session fame with a whole host of recording artists. With Kooper gone, BS&T members Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz began looking for a new vocalist and had considered Alex Chilton (of The Box Tops and later Big Star), Stephen Stills and Laura Nyro for the job, before going with a throaty Canadian singer named David Clayton-Thomas who was recommended to them by Judy Collins.

Not only did Clayton-Thomas bring a bona-fide personality to the band via his rough and raw vocal prowess, but he also wrote their biggest hit (and today’s jukebox classic) “Spinning Wheel.” Clayton-Thomas:  The song was “written in an age when psychedelic imagery was all over lyrics…it was my way of saying, ‘Don’t get too caught up, because everything comes full circle.” (Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 74.)

The song quickly climbed to the #2 position on the charts in 1969 and was nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning one for Best Instrumental Arrangement in 1970. As a goof, the band interpolated an Austrian tune from 1815 called “O Du Lieber Augustin” (or “The More We Get Together”) to end the song.

The song was like catnip to the many middle-of-the-road vocalists of the late sixties and was covered by Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, Chet Baker, Ted Heath and many others.

The flip of today’s jukebox classic is “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.” The song was originally a Motown hit written by Berry Gordy, Frank Wilson, Brenda Holloway and Patrice Holloway, and recorded by Brenda Holloway who brought the song to the #39 position of the charts in 1967. It was initially Kooper’s idea for the band to record the song, but by the time they committed it to wax, he’d already left their ranks. It was one of three singles that climbed to the #2 position on the pop charts from their Blood Sweat & Tears album. (The other two were “Spinning Wheel” and the Laura Nyro song “And When I Die.”)

Like “Spinning Wheel,” the song saw numerous east listening covers by the likes of Lou Rawls, Gloria Estefan, John Davidson, Rosemary Clooney, Cher, Shirley Bassey, Damita Jo, Eydie Gorme, Ray Conniff, Diana Ross, Ramsey Lewis, Candi Staton, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Dusty Springfield and many others.

The eponymously titled album topped the charts for seven weeks in 1969, sold over four million copies and won the Grammy for Album Of The Year, beating out The Beatles Abbey Road.  It featured the stellar lineup of David Clayton-Thomas on vocals, Lew Soloff on trumpet, Bobby Colomby on drums, Jim Fielder on bass, Dick Halligan on keyboards, Steve Katz on guitar, Fred Lipsius on saxophone, Chuck Winfield on trumpet, Jerry Hyman on trombone, performing  an eclectic mix of songs including a version of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child,” Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die,” Traffic’s “Smiling Phases” and several classical pieces composed by Erik Satie.

The group appeared at Woodstock at the height of their popularity; however their performance wasn’t filmed due to the insistence of their manager who hadn’t negotiated terms for the filming of their set. By the time of the release of the Woodstock film, Blood Sweat & Tears had missed the boat on being accepted by the hip rock cognoscenti and were subsequently seen as a lightweight AM radio singles band.

The band’s quick decline came on the heels of several other equally bad decisions including their participation on a tour of Eastern Europe sponsored by the U.S. Department Of State (during a time when their fan base was highly suspect of all things government), and then playing shows in Vegas. Even though their record sales dramatically slumped, they have continued to persevere and still tour today with American Idol runner-up Bo Bice as their lead singer and Glenn McClelland of Ween on keyboards.