A friend of mine Lynn, was a Rolling Stone junkie. She traveled all over the US and Canada to see them play live. I guess that was one of the reasons Exile on Main Street was not played constantly on my turntable. Another reason was Jazz Fusion! I was spending so much time practicing and getting better as a bassist, I was beginning to turn my nose up at basic R & R.

So, when I returned to NYC, started playing regularly, I got my R & R groove back on. It started from an economic point. You didn’t make much money playing jazz! However, a couple of months into it, I was back to playing loud and fast!

A week before the release of Exile, I started listening to my previous CD version so I would be able to compare the re-release of the 18 songs on the original.

I am listening to the new version and am not 100% sure there is much of a difference sonically with the original. I do hear a bit more high end but, that is about it. Don’t get me wring, this is a phenomenal record! The original 18 songs are true classics! I was talking to a couple of my friends and remarked that there would be no glam rock, Guns n Roses, Black Crowes, etc if this record had not been made.

The original 18 were composed over a four year period from 1968-1972. By the spring of 1971, the Rolling Stones, who owed more taxes than they could pay, left England before the government would seize their assets. Mick Jagger settled in Paris with his new bride Bianca, and guitarist Keith Richardsrented a luxurious villa, Nellcôte, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice. The other members settled in various places in the south of France. After unsuccessfully looking for a recording studio in France that would be suitable for the next Rolling Stones album, it was decided they would record at Nellcôte using the band’s remote recording truck brought in from England.

The basic band for the Nellcôte sessions consisted of Richards, Bobby Keys, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, Miller (a skilled drummer in his own right who covered for the absent Watts on the aforementioned “Happy” and “Shine a Light”), and Jagger when he was available. Wyman did not like the ambience of Richards’ villa and sat out many of the French sessions. As Wyman appeared on only eight songs of the released album, the other bass parts were played by Taylor, Richards and on four tracks, the upright bassist Bill Plummer. Wyman noted in his memoir Stone Alone that there was a dichotomy between the band members who freely indulged in drugs (Richards, Miller, Keys, Taylor, the engineer Andy Johns) and those who abstained to varying degrees (Wyman, Watts and Jagger).

So enough proselytizing, let’s get to the songs:

Rocks Off: No better way to jump start the record! This is so patently a Stones song! The song’s mix is notoriously haphazard, as many instruments, and even the lead vocals, fade in and out of prominence. The villa’s basement, where many of the songs were recorded, was extremely hot and many of the guitars could not stay in tune as a result. Jimmy Miller produced the track, and it features session men Nicky Hopkins on piano, Jim Price and Bobby Keys on brass, as well as regular band members Jagger (lead vocals), Richards (backing vocals, guitar), Charlie Watts (drums), Mick Taylor (guitar) and Bill Wyman (bass).

Shake Your Hips: is a song written and first performed in 1966 by Slim Harpo.  These boys had a groove that was at times sloppy, but always in the pocket!

Ventilator Blues & I Just Want to See His Face: Ventilator marks the first and only time guitarist Mick Taylor would be given credit alongside regular Stones scribes Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. While his exact amount of input is unknown, Taylor’s contribution of the song’s opening slide riff is considered the main reason he was given the credit.

Tom Waits credits I Just Want to See His Face as one of his favorite recordings. “That song had a big impact on me, particularly learning how to sing in that high falsetto, the way Jagger does. When he sings like a girl, I go crazy,” Waits says. “This is just a tree of life. This record is the watering hole.” The gospel elements to some songs on Exile have been attributed to the presence of Billy Preston during the final recording sessions in LA.

All Down the Line & Tumbling Dice I don’t think there was a punk band that did not borrow from All Down the Line which was one of their mainstays on the concert circuit.  ”Good Time Women”, an early version of “Tumbling Dice”, was recorded during the sessions for the album Sticky Fingers. Both are on the new release however, “Good Time Woman” lacked an opening riff, a background choir and the beat which propels “Tumbling Dice”‘s groove.

Pass the Wine (Sophia Loren) is my favorite “new track.” It seems to be  in the vein of War’s Spill The Wine or even Santana’s Oye Como Va. THis song has been bootlegged fro years!

While it features some of Nicky Hopkins’ most intuitive playing – he jumps effortlessly from jazz to honky-tonk – the real revelation is a mid-song harmonica solo by Jagger, truly one of the world’s most underrated harp players. What he lacks in melody he makes up for in guts and a raw desire to connect.

Dancing in the Light is a gospel country kind of thing that the Stones do so well!

In 2003, Jagger said, “Exile is not one of my favourite albums, although I think the record does have a particular feeling. I’m not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it’s a nice piece. However, when I listen to Exile it has some of the worst mixes I’ve ever heard. I’d love to remix the record, not just because of the vocals, but because generally I think it sounds lousy. At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just these drunks and junkies. Of course I’m ultimately responsible for it, but it’s really not good and there’s no concerted effort or intention ”

So a week later, I am still listening and re-listening to these recordings and I am amazed at how many influences came from it. It certainly deserves all of its accolades.

On a somewhat somber note, it is about a week away from the 1st anniversary of my sister Denyse’s passing. My original intent of this blog was to create an homage to her importance in my life. She, in her own way, was instrumental in supporting my passion for music. I would not be where I am today without her inspiration.

At present, I am going to take a leave of absence. I have a number of projects that are going to keep me very busy over the next few months.

I want to thank all of you for reading and participating in this journey through my memories. I am grateful to all of you.

The album was Liege and Lief, the 4th album by the band and it has won the award for the Most Influential Folk Album of All TIme by the BBC.  The band was startling in their playing! World renown guitarist Richard Thompson, drummer Dave Mattacks, who was the replacement for Martin Lamble, killed in a car accident,  bassistst Ashley Hutchings,guitarist Simon Nicol, and the spectacular Dave Swarbrick on fiddle! The beauty of this band came through with the most perfect voice of Sandy Denny.
If you were to purchase only one Fairport recording this would be it!

Matty Groves

Tam Lin

I am a completist so I had to find the 3 previous recordings and check them out! The first LP was just called Fairport COnvention. The difference with this recording was that Sandy Denny was not a member of the band and a great folk artist, Judy Dyble was.  This incarnation was much more of a Jefferson Airrplane styled band.

Here is a live version of an Emitt Rhodes composition   Time WIll Show the Wiser

On their 2nd LP What We Did on Our Holidays Sandy Denny appears.

The purity of her voice is apparent on this traditional tune She Moves Through the Fair.   Meet on the Ledge penned by RIchard Thompson was also one of the highlights of this LP.

This brings us to Unhalfbricking, thier 3rd release and includes one of the most covered tunes Who Knows Where the Time Goes a classic written by Sandy Denny.

Si Tu Dois Partir, a Bob Dylan song, they did a number of his tunes, is a wonderful rendition in a class British folk tradition.

By 1970, Sandy Denny had left to form her own band Fotheringay, Ashley Hutchings had left to form Steeleye Span however, the band kept on writing great songs.

Sloth, written by Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick is one of my favorites as well as  Walk Awhile

There were many versions of this band and many bands came out of Fairport Convention but, in my mind, this was the golden age .

I finally got to see the band in 1973 at Alice Tully Hall and they did not disappoint! But my fondest memory is going  to the Bitter End Cafe in Greenwich Village on the coldest day of the year February 1973. I and two friends were the only people in the audience and she performed her full show and afterwards, came out to talk to us. I was so taken with her warmth and good humor! As a matter of fact, she asked if we had heard of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and I asked her what kind of music did they play!!! Sadly, she left us in 1978 but remains one of the standout female artist of our time. I am so glad I got to meet her!

Next week we will do something totally unique! I have not done a piece on the Stones basically because there are too many records to list. With the 40th Anniversary release of Exile on Main Street tomorrow, I feel it is time and to kick things off, I will do a track by track review of the re-release and the next few weeks will be my homage to the Rolling Stones

Stay tuned!

Roughly two weeks later, my sister came home with an autographed copy of “Fresh Cream” and she told me about the recording session she just left with Cream.

I was amazed! One of my favorite songs on the LP was NSU allegedly named after Non-Specific Urethritis, which Eric Clapton was supposedly afflicted with when Jack Bruce wrote the song.

They were making a new LP. The title of the album was taken from an inside joke. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie named Mick Turner commented, “it’s got them Disraeli Gears”, meaning to say “derailleur gears,” but instead alluding to 19th Century British Prime Minister,Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious, and decided that it should be the title of their next album. Had it not been for Mick’s turn of phrase, the album would simply have been entitled “Cream!”

As a matter of fact, she was there when they recorded SWABLR The songs title is an acronym for either: She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow or She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow.

This is still one of my favorite LP’s. With songs like Sunshine of Your Love and Tales of Brave Ulysses, how could you go wrong! Plus, the first issue of the album lit up beautifully under black light! Oh those psychedelic 60′ssssssssssssssssss

As an aspiring bass player, Wheels of Fire was a revelation! The studio side had a wide swath of styles from the hit tune White Room, to the classically derived As You Said and the strange and mystical Pressed Rat and Warthog with a killer Clapton solo at the end. Plus, a live side from FIllmore West which captured some of the most groundbreaking improvisation ever! Crossroads had some of the growlingest (if I can make up the word!) bass, Toad, showcasing the great drumming of Ginger Baker and Traintime with Jack Bruce on harmonica. A historic note, it was the world’s first platinum-selling double album

ANother outstanding feature of this album was its producer the great Felix Pappalardi. It was roughly 10 years later that I would become friends with Felix. I was called in to record and perform with Stephen Stills on a segment of an Saturday morning teen show Hot Hero Sandwich that Felix was producing. We hit it off very well and before his passing, he, Aerosmith bassist Ton Hamilton and I were going to collaborate on my 2nd bass instruction book “Improvising Rock Bass.” He was a truly great musician and an inspiring person who I still sorely miss.

Another interesting connection I had with Cream was when in 1989 I was touring with a fabulous singer/songwriter Cindy Bullens Survivor and after  an opening slot with Joe Cocker, we did some dates with the Jack Bruce Band. I had always been a fan of his bass playing but when I heard his stride piano playing, I was blown away! What a left hand!

Another LP produced by Felix and considered their “final” LP was Goodbye. Consisting of 3 studio tracks and 3 live tracks. It was the end of a short lived and extraordinarily talented trio of musicians who broke so much musical ground on a consistent basis!

The big hit from the record, and still one of the most popular songs on the “classic rock” stations is Badge. Not only a great bassline but it has a guitar solo  from “L’Angelo Misterioso” better known as George Harrison.

One of the live tracks that features the another great riff is Politician which was originally found on the Wheels of Fire record.

Cream opened the door for rock musicians to be able to explore via extended jams true self expression. I will always be indebted to them for this!

When I first picked up the Tons of Sobs LP I had no idea that this band was so young! Andy Fraser, the bass player, was 15, Paul Kossoff, guitarist, was 17 and singer Paul Rodgers and drummer SImon Kirke were only 18!

Of course, everyone knows their biggest hit “All Right Now” but for me, they wrote some incredible tunes that I think are equally as strong, if not more so.

I think after it became a big hit, they played Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately, I did not get to see the show but I did see Bad Company with Paul Rodgers a couple of years later.

BTW, Andy Fraser is one of “Talkin About My Generation’s” fans! Hi Andy!

I’ll Be Creepin

Mr. Big

The Stealer

I’m A Mover

When my sister returned from London, she had a copy of Mr Wonderful by Fleetwood Mac with the awesome Peter Green on guitar. Obviously a Elmore James fan, Green’s guitar style was just what John Mayall needed after Eric Clapton left the Bluesbreakers. Not to long after Green joined Mayall, he and Mayall bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood started recording what was to become Fleetwood Mac. McVie was the holdout wanting the steady gig with Mayall, he didn’t join the band until they started to become popular. As a matter of fact, the Mac in Fleetwood Mac was to entice McVie to join the band!

The Green Manalishi

My favorite Fleetwood Mac American LP is Then Play On. You could tell from the recording that the band was branching out from its’ blues roots

Oh Well

Rattlesnake Shake

Stop Messin Around

Created from 3 fantastic bands, The Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, and the Herd, Humble Pie included wonderful traits from each of them. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stevie Marriot, lead guitarist Peter Frampton, bassist Greg Ridley and 17 year old drummer Jerry Shirley were on of the most interesting bands from England.

There first LP As Safe As Yesterday IS was released on Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label, also home to the Small Faces. It didn’t do very well in the US but Natural Born Bugie was a hit in England. Their 2nd release didn’t make it to the US but I went down to Bleeker Bob’s in the Village and picked up the import. Town and Country was a more laid back LP and stands up well today!

Natural Born Bugie

When they came to the states and played the Fillmore East, all was right with the world! They recorded it and it went gold!

I was at that show. If you get a chance to listen to the recording, you can hear me applauding!

Sadly, Peter Frampton left the band due to creative differences. He too did a live solo recording that launched his career into the stratosphere! Frampton Comes Alive sold over 6 million records!

He was replaced by Colisseum guitarist Clem Clempson and they had their most successful chart LP Smokin’

C’mon Everybody

Thirty Days in the Hole

Walk On Gilded Splinters

I am putting a new band together and will be gigging in NY on June 17th.  I plan on playing material from all three of these groups

It is going to be a good show!

As David Lee Roth says “If it’s too loud, you’re too old!”

Remember when there were only 4 television networks and we were all glued to the box? Well, part of the “entertainment” was the commercial and here are some great ones I remember.

Oh how I wanted one of these. Mr Machine I felt I was the only kind in America without one. Now if I can only find one with the box in mint condition!

Starkist Charlie the Tuna, a cool bebopping kid of a guy.

Cracker Jack with  actor Jack Gilford. Whenever I go to Yankee Stadium, I must get a box of Cracker Jack and I still immediately search for the prize!

Mr. Clean Isn’t it funny how many people now look like Mr Clean? He, Telly Savalas and Yul Brynner paved the way for the follically challenged! Who loves ya baby?

Who hasn’t poured milk on their Rice Krispies and put an ear to the bowl?

Good & Plenty Charlie says!

Think of all the toothpastes that no longer exist yet Crest continues to dominate the market

G.I. Joe the first doll for boys!

My apologies for not finding an Operation Moonbase commercial. One of my favorite toys!

There is something magical about being able to step back in time and revisit memorable moments even if the memorable moments are commercials. I must have spent hours in front of the television with my bass in my hands practicing and playing along with whatever was on the tube.

I see these commercials as comfort food! They really create a familiar space to go to. Have a great week everybody!

At the book signing there were a lot of folks who were fans of Clay’s as well as of the music and you know, I can say with total confidence, we did it right! The music, the fashion, the vibe itself, we were and are a very lucky generation to have been able to witness some of the most important music every made and we’ve still got it! Thanks for reminding me of that Clay. I look forward to seeing you again the next time you come to NY.

Some of My Favourite Songs from Britain in the 1960′s

I used to go into my sister’s bedroom when she wasn’t home and go through her record collection. Similarly, before I got my first bass guitar, I used to go into her room and play her guitar.

I didn’t know what I was doing so she always new when all the tuning pegs were lined up perfectly, I must have raided her room!

What does this have to do with this blog? Well, when I would go on those “expeditions” into her room, I would look through her British 45′s and find new music that was not popular on American radio.

Take for instance, Paul and Barry Ryan. Twins whose parents were in the music business. This is oneof my favorite songs of all time. A Hal David and Burt Bacharach composition

Have Pity On The Boy

Popular in America, I have always enjoyed Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien better know as Dusty Springfield. She was one of the best-selling British singers in the 1960s. She was voted the Top British Female Artist by the readers of the New Musical Express in 1964, 1965, and 1968. Of the female singers of the British Invasion, Springfield made one of the biggest impressions in the US.

I Only Want to Be With You

Here is a real anomaly. James Marcus Smith, aka PJ Proby, appeared on a Beatles TV show and the rest was history, at least for a little while. Born in Texas, he traveled to London and became a real heartthrob. I saw his name in early Melody Makers and had to find out if he was any good or not! I really like this song Hold Me Proby’s UK career gradually lost momentum after a number of controversial live appearances – including a notorious trouser-splitting incident at a February 1965 show in Luton – led to performance bans by the ABC theatre chain, its TV namesake and BBC TV. A run of minor hits in 1966 was followed by a number of flops, and in March 1968 “It’s Your Day Today” gave Proby his last UK chart entry for nearly 30 years.

Cilla Black, determined to become an entertainer, sgot a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. Impromptu performances impressed The Beatles and she was introduced to Brian Epstein by John Lennon. Her surname was actually White but a Bill Harry from the Mersey Beat paper mistakenly referred to her as Cilla Black, rather than White, and she decided she liked the name, and took it as a stage name. Her second UK #1 success, was an English-language rendition of the Italian popular song “Il Mio Mondo” or You’re My World

Sandie Shaw was known as the barefoot pop princess, always performing without shoes. s. She was seen as epitomising the “swinging Sixties”, and her trademark barefoot performances endeared her to the public at large.^[ Girl Don’t Come was her biggest hit in the US.

Just so you know, the Walker Brothers were unrelated! Comprising Scott Engel, John Maus, and Gary Leeds they formed in 1964, the three unrelated musicians adopted the ‘Walker Brothers’ name as a show business touch – “simply because we liked it”. They provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion in that they were a group from the United States that only achieved success in the United Kingdom and Germany.

I always liked this tune!     The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore

Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich were five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman, Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies, John Dymond, Michael Wilson and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey, formed a group in 1961, originally called Dave Dee and the Bostons. They soon gave up their jobs (e.g. Dave Dee was a policeman) to make their living from music. Apart from performing in the UK, they also occasionally played in Hamburg (Star-Club, Top Ten Club) and in Cologne (Storyville). Vocalist Dee, the ex-policeman, was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of the American rock and roller Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran’s guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family.

As a teenager, I couldn’t believe that these songs were not hits in the US! A lot of promo people got it wrong!

Hold Tight and Bend It

When my sister came back from her first trip to London she had a copy of the first Move LP on the Regal Zonophone label.

She also had a British promo of Wild Tiger Woman and the flip side was Omnibus I am not sure if she new how many times I played this 45! I was a big fan and when they signed to Capitol Records and released Looking On. Unfortunately, one more LP and they broke up!

One of my favorite bands were the Small Faces I remember in June of 1967 going to lunch with my mother at Macy’s and picking up the LP

There are but Four Small Faces

Now I am sure most everyone would consider the best song on the LP to be Itchycoo Park but for my money, Tin Soldier wins hands down!

I think there is nothing more fitting to end this blog than this little ditty by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band! Bonzo the dog was a popular British cartoon character created by artist George Studdy in the 1920s. In 1967 as the Bonzo Dog band’s popularity increased, they were asked by Paul McCartney to appear in the “Magical Mystery Tour” film at the end of 1967, performing Death Cab for Cutie This was a very strange band that created many fun tunes. I owned their first four LPs. They were a cross between Firesign Theater and British Music Hall kinda thing! I actually saw them live at the Fillmore opening for the Kinks and Spirit.  What a great bill!

So without further ado…

Intro and Outro

Here it is, a Q & A for my readers:

Do you remember?

A Hard Day’s Night Alright, this first one is a gimme!

Bunny Lake is Missing featuring the Zombies

A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed

Catch Us If You Can Renamed Having A Wild Weekend in the USA

A stunt-man and his buddies decide to move to a remote island to get away from the fast-lane. Once there, they are met by monsters, girls, and all kinds of wild and crazy thing

As George once said “I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it!”

Ferry Across The Mersey
Gerry and Fred Marsden, Les McGuire, and Les “Chad” Chadwick portray themselves in a romp through the early 1960′s Liverpool Beat Scene

These guys were for a time, as big as the Beatles

Help! I need somebody!

Blow-up The Yardbirds doing their best imitation of the Who

A mod London photographer believes that he has photographed a murder.

Georgy Girl This tune was nominated for an Oscar

A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father’s middle-aged employer.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush Traffic and the Spencer Davis group did the music

This comedy / drama film follows the sexual exploits of teenager Jamie McGregor and the permissive society of the 60′s.

To Sir With Love The Blackboard Jungle 60′s style

Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London’s East End

Up The Junction This is a great tune by Manfred Mann

Movie version of the BBC TV play that first addresses some of the major social issues of the day.

Privilege Speaking of Manfred Mann, Paul Jones their lead singer decided to go solo. His performance opposite model Jean Shrimpton in s, did not bring the hoped-for stardom, although the film later became something of a cult classic.

The Family Way with Haley Mills was a comedy about a couple having difficulty consummating their marriage, featuring a score by Paul McCartney.

Performance Promo Mick Jagger!

Chas, a violent and psychotic East London gangster needs a place to lie low after a hit that should never have been carried out

Memo From Turner Yes, Mick Jagger

Let me know your thoughts about these films. Also, I bet I missed one or two so if you please, remind me

Have a great week!

Released in 1964 Here I Go Again included their first charted single Just One Look.

It really was an album of covers but their unique harmony was already established.  Talkin Bout You

I really don’t remember when my sister got to know lead guitarist Tony Hicks. All I can say is in December of 1965  she took me to the taping of Hullaballoo and the Hollies performed  Look Through Any Window. I figure she had to have known him for about a year. BTW, I played his Vox 12 string backstage!   I’m Alive which was a hit in England was also on this LP and is still a top favorite. One of the cool things for me as a kid was the “Promo Copy.” Denyse got lots of promos from the Hollies Imperial Records releases. The 45′s were all white with black writing and the LPs were the normal Red, Green, and Beige with “Audition Record” across the label.

One of the promos she received was their British single, the George Harrison penned If I Needed Someone. British 45′s had the little spindle in it .It was released in December of 1965 so I would assume Tony gave it to her when he was in NY at the Hullaballoo taping. I really liked this version!

I Can’t Let Go is another of my favorite Hollies songs. Released as a single it reached #42 in the US and gave us the Beat Group LP.

Here are a couple of tracks I liked off the album. I Take What I Want & Fifi the Flea.

Another single without an LP to call home in the US was .Released in January of 1965, the Gerry Goffin & Russ Titelman tune, Yes I Will was recut in 1966 by the Monkees as “I’ll Be True To You.”

Finally, after all my hard work promoting this band in Prep School and at Sleep Away Camp they finally break the US Top Ten!

Bus Stop may be one of their most recognizable songs was written by Graham Gouldman soon to be a member of 10cc.   We’re Through A fitting song for what was next to happen. In 1966, bassist Eric Haydock was fired from the Hollies, with whom he had played since 1962. He put together a short-lived band of his own, Haydock’s Rockhouse, who specialized in more of an R&B sound than the Hollies had been generating of late. He was replaced by Bernie Calvert.  He worked with several rock and roll groups during the early 1960s, most notably Rickie Shaw and the Dolphins, where he worked with future Hollies Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott. Originally a pianist, Calvert, on Hicks’s suggestion, switched to bass. Calvert was delighted when, on an American tour, jazz bassist Ray Brown approached him and praised his bass playing on “Bus Stop“. In 1969, Calvert was invited to play bass on a still-unreleased album with the Bread and Beer band, which included Caleb Quaye, Roger Pope, Elton John and two Jamaican percussionists, Lennox & Rolfo.

Another of my favorite tracks was written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David.  After The Fox (Sept. 1966), which featured Jack Bruce on Bass guitar & Burt Bacharach himself on keyboards was the theme song for the Peter Sellers comedy film of the same name, which was issued on the United Artists label.

About a month later, this LP came out. Stop Stop Stop was a substantial hit for the group and features Tony Hicks on banjo, not your normal rock and roll instrument! I liked the song but the track that did it for me was Pay You Back With Interest.  Another track that got a lot of mileage was Tell Me To My Face a moderate hit for the singer Keith(Remember 98.6 and ain’t Gonna Lie?) and covered a decade later by Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg on their “Twin Sons Of Different Mothers” album.

I remember being in Mr. Mengual’s Spanish class at the McBurney School, sitting in the back row with my friend Joey Clapper (who is apparently a top Poker player) listening to my cassette player with Hollies, Who, and some other obscure Bands. It is amazing we didn’t get into to much trouble!

Another single without an LP to call home is On A Carousel. This clip was recorded in 1967 as they were filmed by Granada Television for a documentary about the Pop Music business. ANother interesting fact is the Hollies fanzine is entitled Carousel! The “B” side is the first attempt by the Hollies at psychedelia  All The World Is Love

Evolution was released on 1 June 1967, the same day as The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also the Hollies debut album for their new U.S. label, Epic Records. But, like many American issues of British albums, this was remixed using heavy echo and reverb. In addition, three songs were left off the album (with Carrie Anne added), thus making the U.S. version somewhat less desirable than its British counterpart. Many Hollies fans regard the UK stereo version of Evolution (or the 1997 EMI UK CD containing both mono and stereo mixes) as superior.

One of, in my opinion, the best Hollies tunes Sorry that there is no video

Another track off the LP is Stop Right There BTW, The album cover artwork was created by “The Fool”, with the psychedelic cover photo by Karl Ferris, who is credited with creating the first truly psychedelic photograph for an album cover.

Released in 1968 in England as “Butterfly” it was retitled Dear Eloise/King Midas in Reverse by Epic Records for the US market.

I remember seeing the Hollies do Dear Eloise on the Smothers Brothers. I found King Midas In Reverse to be a more challenging tune with great orchestrations.

The last single in the US  to feature Graham Nash was Jennifer Eccles. Unfortunately, not one of my favorites! When Nash left in December 1968 it was due to a number of issues. Nash was by then feeling something of a prisoner of his early pop success; likeJohn Lennon and George Harrison he too disliked the screaming of fans drowning out the songs in concerts. He felt imprisoned within The Hollies “pop group identity” too, when he wanted to write more personalised songs of a reflective nature not necessarily utilising vocal harmonies, and was clashing with producer Ron Richards over material. He relocated to Los Angeles, where he joined forces with former Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills and ex-Byrds singer David Crosby to form one of the first supergroups, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Nash told Disc magazine, “I can’t take touring any more. I just want to sit at home and write songs. I don’t really care what the rest of the group think.”

Even before I was performing in bands, I always had an innate sense that when a band member was replaced, there was a certain chemistry that was gone. Unfortunately, this is how I felt when the decade changed. Granted “He Ain’t Heavy” was a big hit, just not for me.

Along with the Rolling Stones and The Searchers, they are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s that has never officially broken up and which continues to record and perform to the present.

The Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010

The Hollies Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction 2010 Part 1

The Hollies Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction 2010 Part 2 of 4

The Hollies Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction 2010 Part 3 of 4

The Hollies Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction 2010 Part 4 of 4

I always felt that the Hollies were my little secret! As big as they became, I still remember the promos my sister gave me and how astounded I was that it took so long for them to really make it!  It was a great pleasure seeing them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But once I got started, it was all Kinks all the time!

Did you know that in 1962 Rod Stewart, a friend from the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School was the lead vocalist of the Ray Davies Band? That in 1964, Pye Records was ready to can the band if their 3rd single didn’t chart? That in early 1964 Mick Avory replaced 2nd drummer Mickey Willet and had played a gig or two with the Rolling Stones?

Following a mid-year tour of the United States, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts there for the next four years, effectively cutting off The Kinks from the main market for rock music at the height of theBritish Invasion. They did do a spot on Hullaballoo at that time. Although neither The Kinks nor the union gave a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage behavior. One incident in England  found Dave Davies insulting Mick Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate the police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other.

1965
You Really Got Me

I ordered this record from the Columbia Record Club. Remember you could order 12 LP’s and then you were tied for the rest of your life to the Club? I can’t tell you how many times I must have defaulted on this and they kept sending me more LP’s!

Back then all I wanted to hear was the hit single, however, “Beautiful Delilah” and “I’m A Lover Not A Fighter” ushered me into the first Pretty Things record.

You Really Got Me

1965
Kinks-Size

This too was a Columbia Record Club acquisition and I think I played it to death from cover to cover. I still have the copy, although it sounds like a rap record with all of the skips and scratches!

These are two of my favorite Kink Songs! All Day and All of the Night & Tired of Waiting for You

1965
Kinkdom Ray Davies was beginning to show signs of sophistication and satire with songs like A Well Respected Man and

See My Friends.

Before I picked up the LP, my sister had the single “Set Me Free.” The B side was I Need You which along with Who’ll Be the Next In Line are two of my favorite Kink tunes!

1965
The Kink Kontroversy Another release with 10 originals by Ray Davies. My two faves were the obvious choices

Till the End of the Day and Where Have All the Good Times Gone BTW, Diamond Dave did a fantastic job with Van Halen on this one as well!   Where Have All the Good Times Gone

1966
Face to Face

These guys didn’t quit. Each record got better and better. It was really a drag that they were banned from playing the States. They did the same thing to the Move, another of my favorite bands. Apparently they destroyed a Volkswagen on stage and were never allowed to play here. I remember they were on a bill at the Fillmore, I don’t remember the headliner, but they were cancelled! Needless to say, I didn’t attend the show.

Sunny Afternoon was the biggest UK hit of summer 1966, topping the charts and displacing The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer”. And another great song Dandy

1967

As British critic Brian Hogg noted in the early 80s, “Something Else completely confirms the Kinks’ own self-determination: making no concession to their own contemporary environment, the album simply progresses within the the group’s own music. It’s pure England . . . the album represents the Kinks’ and Ray Davies’, crowning achievement”.

It also opens with two great tracks, the social envy of David Watts (whichPaul Weller of the Jam took into much more bitter territory when he covered it a decade or so laterDavid Watts), and brother Dave Davies’ melancholy Death of a Clown which is steeped in Dylan but manages to find its own English tenor.”

He never mentioned these two

Waterloo Sunset Dead End Street

1968
Live at Kelvin HallI have been searching for this LP for some time. Unfortunately I cannot find any tracks on You Tube. Here are the liner notes from this Live LP. Kinda funny

An Orgy For Ears — The Kinks In Live Koncert

They came to us in 1964 wearing pink shirts and long frock coats with a song called “You Really Got Me,” which was their third attempt and their first hit. They came to us from Muswell Hill, a shabby and sometimes violent suburb of North London, the pride of which was a street gang called the Mussies. They came to us from Art School. They came to us with a pompous publicity man and two genteel, bowler-hatted, pin-striped managers who had been securing work for them at debutantes’ balls in Chelsea. They came to us in a blaze of tasteless publicity (cultivated impiety, irreligious image-building), and they survived because they are good, and for no other reason.

They came to us when London was older.

The Stones were wearing uniforms in those days–black leather vests and neatly-pressed chequered pants. Georgie Fame was playing blues in a subterranean Soho cellar called The Flamingo and down the street at a small club called The Scene was a young group called The High Numbers, idols of the mod cult and later to become The Who. Richmond, a bustling, wooded village on the Thames 20 miles out of London was producing its own brand of music in the form of Clapton, Baldry, Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds, and the Beatles were still in Liverpool. Purple Hearts were popping, and Dylan was little more than a rumor. Mini-skirts were two inches above the knee, Carnaby Street was in full bloom, Wilson had won the General Election, and England was ready for change.

Into all this came the Kinks. Their first record was “Long Tall Sally” and it wasn’t a hit because we’d taken that trip with the Beatles, but it was rough, raw, rowdy, and honest, and some indication of what was to come later.

“You Really Got Me” was the first hit, “All Day And All Of the Night” came next and the Kinks were here.

They were regulars on “Ready, Steady, Go.” They were often seen in the Ad Lib Club, London’s first In-Pop-Rendezvous, where John and Paul and Mick and Keith and sometimes P.J. Proby would sip Scotch and Coke and mull over new ideas. They gave whimsical interviews to the National Press, turbulent concerts up and down the country, played a lot of football for show-biz teams, drank a lot of beer in show-biz pubs and sharpened their wits and their minds as they developed and matured.

London began to change. Skirts were getting shorter, beards longer, minds freer, cigarettes thinner, people younger. Harold Wilson went to Liverpool and re-opened the Cavern. Jagger had coffee with Princess Margaret. Lennon wrote a book.

For the first time pop people realized the power they had, and for the first time they begun to use it constructively. Pop became more than a commodity for Friday night thrill-seakers in provincial discotheques. Every culture has its art, and pop replaced football as the art of the new culture. Confronted with the inheritance of an absurd reality, the new movement created its own reality, a reality which was witnessed at the Monterey Pop Festival, a reality which deals in life, love, and laughter, all of which you will hear on this album, recorded in concert up in Scotland.

This is the first live album from the Kinks, and it is probably their most significant recorded work. It is living theatre. It is also fairly representative of where they have been and where they are now. It contains some of the finest poetry from Ray Davies (a social diarist whose laconic wit, incisive perception, and flair for detail has placed him, along with Lennon, McCartney, Townshend, Jagger, Richard, Airplane Grace, Simon, and even Dylan, in the vanguard of a New Society).

The recent Festival at Monterey made an important social statement, and it therefore becomes trivial to discuss the merits of the acts which performed there, or the validity in the appearance and non-appearance of certain acts. The Kinks were not present, neither were they missed. For they were surely there in Spirit.

1968
The Village Green Preservation Society

As the exile in the US continued, Ray Davies became more introspective creating this album of the quaint English life. It was the last album by the original quartet, as bassist Pete Quaife left the group in early 1969.

The record is widely considered one of the most influential and important works by The Kinks, and of the period as a whole. Although it failed to chart upon release, with estimated worldwide sales at 100,000 copies, The Village Green Preservation Society has become one of the band’s best selling and most popular records.

The Village Green Preservation Society

Do You Remember Walter?

Picture Book

1969
Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire    Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to aGranada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell; however, the television programme was cancelled and never produced. The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray Davies’ brother-in-law Arthur Anning.

Victoria

Australia

Although not very successful commercially, it was a return to the charts in the US for The Kinks. Their critically well-received previous effort, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, failed to chart in any country upon its release in 1968, with total US sales estimated at under 25,000 copies.

1970
Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round

The album is a satirical look at the various facets of the music industry and was their last LP for Reprise Records. It was also a period of time when the band was able to tour the States. I must have seen them 3 times at Carnegie Hall and Philharmonic Hall which is now Avery Fisher Hall in NY where the famous fight scene occured

Lola

Apeman

After leaving Reprise they signed with RCA and then went on to Arista. All in all, these 10 LP’s are the “Golden Age” of the Kinks. I am surprised that Reprise has not re-released these

On June 18, 1967 Richard Goldstein wrote this:

We Still Need the Beatles, but…

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

The finished product reached the record racks last week; the Beatles had super­vised even the album cover ^a mind-blowing collage of famous and obscure people, plants and artifacts. The 12 new compositions in the album are as elaborately con­ceived as the cover. The sound is a pastiche of dissonance and lushness. The mood is mellow, even nostalgic. But, like the cover, the over-all effect is busy, hip and cluttered.

Like an over-attended child “Sergeant Pepper” is spoiled. It reeks of horns and harps, harmonica quartets, as­sorted animal noises and a 41-piece orchestra; On at least one cut, the Beatles are not heard at all instrumentally. Sometimes this elaborate mu­sical propwork succeeds in projecting mood. The “Ser­geant Pepper” theme is brassy and vaudevillian. “She’s Leaving Home,” a melodramatic domestic saga, flows on a cloud of heavenly strings. And, in what is be­coming a Beatle tradition, George Harrison unveils his latest excursion into curry and karma, to the saucy ac­companiment of three tam-bouras, a dilruba, a tabla, a sitar, a table harp, three cellos and eight violins.

Harrison’s song, “Within You and Without You,” is a good place to begin dissect­ing “Sergeant Pepper.” Though it is among the strongest cuts, its flaws are distressingly typical of the album as a whole. Compared with “Love You To” (Harri­son’s contribution to “Revolv­er”), this melody shows an expanded consciousness of Indian ragas. Harrison’s voice, hovering midway be­tween song and prayer chant, oozes over the melody like melted cheese. On sitar and tamboura, he achieves a re­markable Pop synthesis. Be­cause his raga motifs are not mere embellishments but are imbedded into the very structure of the song, “With_T in You and Without You” appears seamless. It stretches, but fits.

What a pity, then, that Harrison’s lyrics are dismal and dull. “Love You To” ex­ploded with a passionate sutra quality, but “Within You and Without You” re­surrects the very cliches the Beatles helped bury: “With our love/ We could save the world/ If they only knew.” All the minor scales in the Orient wouldn’t make “With­in You and Without You” profound.

IHe obsession with produc­tion, coupled with a surpris­ing shoddiness in composi­tion, permeates the entire album. There is nothing beau­tiful on “Sergeant Pepper.” Nothing i^ real and thai* is nothing to get hung about. The Lennon raunchine$s has beeome mere caprice in “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” Paul McCartney’s soaring Pop magnificats have become merely politely pro­found. “She’s Leaving Home” preserves all the orchestrated grandeur of “Eleanor Rigby,” but its framework is emaci­ated. This tale of a provincial lass who walks out on a re­pressed home life, leaving pa­rents sobbing in her wake, is simply no match for those stately, swirling strings. Where “Eleanor Rigby” com­pressed tragedy into poignant detail, “She’s Leaving Home” is uninspired narrative, and nothing more. By the third depressing hearing, it begins to sound like an immense put-on.

There certainly are ele­ments of burlesque in a com­position like “When I’m 64,” which poses the crucial ques­tion: “Will you still need me/ Will you still feed me/when I’m 64?” But the dominant tone is not mockery; this is a fantasy retirement, over­flowing with grandchildren, gardening and a modest cot­tage on the Isle of Wight. The Beatles sing, “We shall scrimp and save” with utter reverence. It is a strange fairy tale, oddly sad because it is so far from the com­posers’ reality. But even here, an honest vision is ruined by the background which seeks to enhance it.

“Lucy in the Sky With Dia­monds” is an engaging curio, but nothing more. It is drenched in reverb, echo and other studio distortions. Tone overtakes meaning and we are lost in electronic mean­dering. The best Beatle melo­dies are simple if original progressions braced with pungent lyrics. Even their most radical compositions retain a sense of unity.

But for the first time, the Beatles have given us an album of special effects, dazzling but ultimately fraudulent. And for the first time, it is not exploration which we sense, but consolida­tion. There is a touch of the Jefferson Airplane, a dab of Beach Boys vibrations, and a generous pat of gymnastics from The Who.

The one evident touch of originality appears in the structure of the album itself. The Beatles have shortened the “banding” between cuts so that one song seems to run into the next. This prod­uces the possibility of a Pop symphony or oratorio, with distinct but related move­ments. Unfortunately, there is no apparent thematic de­velopment in the placing of cuts, except for the effective juxtaposition of opposing mu­sical styles. At best, the songs are only vaguely related.

With one important excep­tion, “Sergeant Pepper” is precious but devoid of gems. ,”A Day in the Life” is such a radical departure from the spirit of the album that it almost deserves its peninsular position (following the rep­rise of the “Sergeant Pepper” theme, it comes almost as an afterthought). It has noth­ing to do with posturing or put-on. It is a deadly earnest excursion in emotive music with a chilling lyric. Its or­chestration is dissonant but sparse, and its mood is not Whimsical nostalgia but irony.

With it, the Beatles have produced a glimpse of modern city life, that is terrifying. It stands as one of the most important Lennon-McCartney compositions, and it is a historic Pop event

“A Day in the Life” starts in a description of suicide. With the same conciseness displayed in “Eleanor R|gby,” the protagonist begins: “I read the news today, oh boy.”

This mild interjection is the first hint of his disillusion­ment; compared with what is to follow, it is supremely ironic. “I saw the photo­graph,” he continues, in the voice of a melancholy choir boy:

He blew his mind out in a car He didn’t notice that the lights had changed

A crowd of people stood and stared

They’d seen his face before Nobody was really sure If he was from the House oj Lords.

“A Day in the Life” could never make the Top 40, al­though it may influence a great many songs which do. Its lyric is sure to bring a sudden surge of Pop tragedy. The aimless, T. S. Eliot-like crowd, forever confronting pain and turning away, may well become a common sym­bol. And its narrator, sub­dued by the totality of his de­spair, may reappear in count­less compositions as the silent, withdrawn hero.

Musically, there are already indications that the intense atonality of “A Day in the Life” is a key to the sound of 1967. Electronic-rock, with its aim of staggering an au­dience, has arrived in half-a-dozen important new releases, None of these songs has the controlled intensity of “A Day in th<? Life,” but the willing­ness of many restrained mu­sicians to “let go” means that serious aleatory-pop may be on the way.

Ultimately, however, it is the uproar over the alleged influence of drugs on the Beatles which may prevent “A Day in the Life” from reaching the mass audience. The song’s refrain, “I’d like to turn you on,” has rankled disk jockeys supersensitive to “hidden subversion” in rock ‘n* roll. In fact, a case can be made within the very struc­ture of “A Day in the Life” for the belief that the Beatles — like so many Pop com­posers—are aware of the highs and lows of conscious­ness.

The song is built on a series of tense, melancholic passages, followed by soaring releases. In the opening stanza, for instance, John’s voice comes near to cracking with despair. But after the invi­tation, “I’d like to turn you on,” the Beatles have inserted an extraordinary atonal thrust which is shocking, even painful, to the ears. But it brilliantly encases the song and, if the refrain preceding it suggests turning on, the crescendo parallels a drug-induced “rush.”

The bridge begins in a staccato crossfire. We feel the narrator rising, dressing and commuting by rote. The music is.nervous with the dissonance of cabaret jazz. A percussive drum melts into a panting railroad chug. Then

Found my way upstairs and had a smoke

Somebody spoke and I went into a dream.

The words fade into a chant of free, spacious chords, like the initial marijuana “buzz.” But the tone becomes myster­ious and then ominous. Deep strings take us on a Wagner­ian descent and we are back to the original blues theme, and the original declaration, “I read the news today, oh boy.”

Actually, it is difficult to see why the BBC banned “A Day in the Life,” because its message is, quite clearly, the flight from banality. It de­scribes a profound reality, but it certainly does not glori­fy it. And its conclusion, though magnificent, seems to represent a negation of self. The song ends on one low, resonant note that is sus­tained for 40 seconds. Hav­ing achieved the absolute peace of nullification, the narrator is beyond melan­choly. But there is something brooding and irrevocable about his calm. It sounds like destruction.

What a shame that “A Day in the Life” is only a coda to an otherwise undis-tingished collection of work. We need the Beatles, not as cloistered composers, but as companions. And they need us. In substituting the studio conservatory for an audience, they have ceased being folk artists,, and the change is what makes their new, album a monologue.

What is extraordinary to me, was at age 14, I was only interested in the music! I knew nothing of the nonsense Mr. Goldstein was writing about. I believed in Duke Ellington’s theory of only two kinds of music:good and bad. This LP was good, very good, even great! It was on my turntable for quite some time!

Oh, by the way, here is the definition of critic:  a person who expresses an unfavorable opinion of something

Need I say more!

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