Spen(er D@vis Gr0up - 1967 - I'm @ M@n

I'm A Man/Together Til The End Of Time/Take This Hurt Off Me/Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out


The Spencer Davis Group are an Anglo Welsh rock band formed in Birmingham in 1963, by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother, Muff Winwood. Their best known songs include "Somebody Help Me", the UK number one "Keep on Running" (both of which were written by reggae musician Jackie Edwards), "I'm a Man" and "Gimme Some Lovin'", which peaked at #2 in the UK and #7 in the United States.

Steve Winwood left in 1967 to form Traffic before joining Blind Faith, then forging a career as a solo artist. After releasing a few more singles, the band ceased activity in 1968. They briefly reunited from 1973 to 1974, and Davis has since restarted a new group in 2006.

The Spencer Davis Group was formed in 1963 in Birmingham when Welsh guitarist Spencer Davis recruited vocalist and organist Steve Winwood, and his bass playing brother, Muff Winwood. The group was completed with Pete York on drums. Originally called the Rhythm and Blues Quartette, the band performed regularly in the city. In 1964 they signed their first recording contract after Chris Blackwell of Island Records saw them at an appearance in a local club; Blackwell also became their producer. (Island was at that time a small label, so Blackwell got them on UK Fontana for distribution.) Muff Winwood came up with the band's name, reasoning "Spencer was the only one who enjoyed doing interviews, so I pointed out that if we called it the Spencer Davis Group, the rest of us could stay in bed and let him do them."

 The Spencer Davis Group rehearsing before a performance in Amsterdam in 1966.
The group's first professional recording was a cover version of "Dimples", but they came to success at the end of 1965 with "Keep On Running", the group's first number one single. In 1966, they followed this with "Somebody Help Me" and "When I Come Home". They had one single issued in the US on Fontana, as well as "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me" on Atco, but due to lack of promotion, none of these 3 singles got airplay or charted. .

By the end of 1966 and the beginning of 1967, the group released two more hits, "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man". Both of them sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold record status. These tracks proved to be their two best-known successes, especially in the U.S. (where they had signed to United Artists). Jimmy Miller was their producer.

Steve Winwood left to form Traffic in 1967; his brother, Muff, moved into the music industry as A&R man at Island Records. In a joint venture the soundtrack to the film Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush featured both the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. After the Winwoods' departure's, the Spencer Davis Group regrouped with the addition of guitarist Phil Sawyer (ex-Les Fleur de Lys) and keyboardist/vocalist Eddie Hardin (ex-A Wild Uncertainty). This line-up recorded several tunes for Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush and released the "Time Seller" single in July 1967; the b-side, "Don't Want You No More," also received radio airplay.

This was followed by "Mr. Second-Class" in late 1967, which received heavy airplay on Radio Caroline (at that time one of the two remaining pirate radio ships off the British coast), and the album "With Their New Face On" in 1968. At that time Ray Fenwick had replaced Phil Sawyer.The group's last minor hit, "After Tea", was released at the same time by the German band The Rattles, providing competition that led finally to a temporary stop to all activities of the band. The song was originally recorded by the Dutch group After Tea, which included guitarist/singer Fenwick amongst its members.

After one further single ("Short Change"), at that time Eddie Hardin and Pete York had left to form the duo Hardin & York. They were replaced by future Elton John Band member Dee Murray on bass and Dave Hynes on drums. Nigel Olsson replaced Hynes, and this lineup produced the album "Funky" in 1969 (only released in the USA on DATE, a sub-label of CBS) before splintering.

J0se Felici@n0 - 1969 - The St@r Sp@ngled B@nner

The Star Spangled Banner/And I Love Her/Adios Amor (Goodbye, My Love)/At Day's End



One of the most prominent Latin-born performers of the pop era, singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano was born September 10, 1945, in Lares, Puerto Rico; the victim of congenital glaucoma, he was left permanently blind at birth. Five years later, he and his family moved to New York City's Spanish Harlem area; there Feliciano began learning the accordion, later taking up the guitar and making his first public appearance at the Bronx's El Teatro Puerto Rico at the age of nine. While in high school he became a fixture of the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, eventually quitting school in 1962 in order to accept a permanent gig in Detroit; a contract with RCA followed a performance at New York's Gerde's Folk City, and within two years he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. After bowing with the 1964 novelty single "Everybody Do the Click," he issued his flamenco-flavored debut LP The Voice and Guitar of Jose Feliciano, trailed early the next year by The Fantastic Feliciano.

 Unhappy with the direction of his music following the release of 1966's A Bag Full of Soul, Feliciano returned to his roots, releasing three consecutive Spanish-language LPs -- Sombras...Una Voz, Una Guitarra, Mas Exitos de Jose Feliciano and El Sentimiento, La Voz y La Guitarra de Jose Feliciano -- on RCA International, scoring on the Latin pop charts with the singles "La Copa Rota" and "Amor Gitana." With 1968's Feliciano!, he scored a breakthrough hit with a soulful reading of the Doors' "Light My Fire" that launched him into the mainstream pop stratosphere, a smash cover of Tommy Tucker's R&B chestnut "Hi Heel Sneakers" solidified his success, and soon Feliciano found himself performing the national anthem during the 1968 World Series. His idiosyncratic Latin-jazz performance of the song proved highly controversial, and despite the outcry of traditionalists and nationalists, his status as an emerging counterculture hero was secured, with a single of his rendition also becoming a hit. 

 In 1969 Feliciano recorded three LPs Souled, Alive Alive-O, and Feliciano 10 to 23 and won a Grammy for Best New Artist, however, he never again equalled the success of "Light My Fire," and only the theme song to the sitcom Chico and the Man subsequently achieved hit status, edging into the Top 100 singles chart in 1974. Throughout the 1970s Feliciano remained an active performer, however, touring annually and issuing a number of LPs in both English and Spanish, including 1973's Steve Cropper-produced Compartments; he also appeared on the Joni Mitchell hit "Free Man in Paris," and guested on a number of television series
 including Kung Fu and McMillan and Wife. In 1980
Feliciano was the first performer signed to the new Latin division of Motown, making his label debut with an eponymous effort the following year, his recorded output tapered off during the course of the decade,
 although he occasionally resurfaced with LPs including 1987's Tu Immenso Amor and 1989's I'm Never Gonna Change. A school in East Harlem was renamed the Jose Feliciano Performing Arts School in his honor, in 1996, he also appeared briefly in the hit film Fargo.

Fredd!e @nd The Dre@mers - 1965 - A W!ndm!ll In 0ld Amsterd@m

 I Wonder Who The Lucky Guy Will Be/A Windmill In Old Amsterdam/Do The Freddie/A Love Like You


Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was enlivened by the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall (1.60m) Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active until December 2000 when they played their final gig at Margate Winter Gardens. After that date, Garrity was told by his doctor that due to his pulmonary hypertension it was not advisable for him to continue working, and he officially retired from all work in February 2001. He died in Bangor, North Wales, on 19 May 2006.

The band consisted of Freddie Garrity (14 November 1936 – 19 May 2006), vocals; Roy Crewdson (born 29 May 1941), guitar; Derek Quinn (born 24 May 1942, Manchester), guitar and harmonica; Peter Birrell (born 9 May 1941, Manchester), bass; and Bernie Dwyer (11 September 1940 – 4 December 2002), drums.
 

 Although the band were grouped as a part of the Merseybeat sound phenomenon that The Beatles exploded around the world in the wake of Beatlemania, they came from Manchester. Prior to becoming a singer, Garrity had worked as a milkman in Manchester. They had four Top 10 UK hits: a cover of James Ray's hit "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in mid-1963, "I'm Telling You Now" (number 2 in August), "You Were Made For Me" (number 3 in November) and "I Understand", which hit the number 5 spot in November 1964.

On stage the group performed pre-rehearsed, synchronised wacky dance routines. They appeared in four British films: What a Crazy World with Joe Brown, Just for You, The Cuckoo Patrol and Every Day's A Holiday (US title Seaside Swingers) with Mike Sarne, Ron Moody and John Leyton. Between 1970 and 1973 Garrity and Birrell appeared in the UK ITV children's show Little Big Time, a zany music/talent/adventure show with audience participation. The group made a guest appearance in the BBC sitcom Dear John.

 
As their popularity declined in the UK, Freddie and the Dreamers enjoyed a brief spell of fame in the US, riding the wave of the British Invasion when the American teen public was hungry for any British pop music. Unlike many British EMI groups at that time, two of their singles ("I'm Telling You Now" and "You Were Made for Me") were released by EMI's American arm Capitol Records, but neither sold well and Capitol dropped them; therefore, the Dreamers' 1965 releases and re-releases appeared on assorted labels. They recorded on Capitol's new subsidiary Tower, and Philips' Mercury label.

"I'm Telling You Now", which had been co-written by Garrity and Mitch Murray, reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1965. They were the first of three consecutive groups from Manchester to have number 1 hits that spring, the others being Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and Herman's Hermits. Their next biggest US hit was "Do the Freddie" at number 18, intended to inspire 'The Freddie' as a dance craze. The band's late 1965 album, Do the Freddie, included diagrams from dance instructor Arthur Murray on how to perform the routines.

C!ll@ Bl@ck - 1969 - C0nvers@ti0ns

Surround Yourself With Sorrow/Liverpool Lullabye/Liverpool Lullabye/If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind/Conversations



Priscilla Maria Veronica White OBE (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), known by her stage name Cilla Black, was an English singer, television presenter, actress, and author.

Championed by her friends the Beatles, she began her career as a singer in 1963, and her singles "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" both reached number one in the UK in 1964. Black had eleven Top Ten hits on the British charts between then and 1971. In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s. "You're My World" was also a modest hit in the US, peaking at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own variety show, Cilla, for the BBC between 1968 and 1976. After a brief time as a comedy actress in the mid-1970s, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hit entertainment shows such as Blind Date (1985–2003), The Moment of Truth (1998–2001) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001).

In 2013, Black celebrated her 50 years in show business. British television network ITV honoured this milestone with a one-off entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black, featured Black herself and was hosted by Paul O'Grady.

Cilla Black died on 1 August 2015 after a fall in her villa in Estepona, Spain. The day after her funeral, the compilation album The Very Best of Cilla Black went to number one on the UK Albums Chart and the New Zealand Albums Chart; it was her first number one album.

The @ssociati0n - 1968 - T!me For L!vin'

Time for Livin'/Windy/Never My Love/Everything That Touches You



The Association story began in the spring of 1965 at the Troubadour Club in Hollywood. A thirteen man band called "The Men", made their debut there with a new kind of music called folk-rock. They played several local dates but after one stormy rehearsal, angrily broke up. Five of them walked out with singer-songwriter Terry Kirkman, who led them back to his place for some drinks and consolation. As the wine flowed, someone suggested forming a new band, perhaps using the name , "The Aristocrats". Terry's wife went to the dictionary to look up the word for them and found a better name on the very same page..."The Association".
In May of '65 they began six months of intensive rehearsals. Their repertoire was wide and included not only folk , but some jazz and even some comedy routines.

In November, the now six-man band debuted at the Ice House in Pasadena. Early the next year, they signed with Four Star television , who were just starting there own record label, "Valient". One of the audition songs had been "Along Comes Mary", which wound up being the first single. Although it's hard to imagine now, radio stations were bombarded with calls of protest about the song , because the word "Mary" was also a slang word for marijuana. Most stations laughed off the idea and the notoriety gave the song and the band a great deal of publicity and helped put Valient Records on firm financial ground. 

 Terry Kirkman had been trying to write a hit song and 'cherish' seemed to be a magic word that he could build something around, although he could not get anything to come together. One night after rehearsal, he looked at a pad of song ideas and saw the word again. He sat down and completed the song in just over half an hour.

Terry auditioned the tune for some close friends. One of them secretly sent the sheet music to "The New Christy Minstrels", who started to include the song in their act, and got a standing ovation every time they performed the tune. Terry was elated, but refused to let them record what he new would be a sure fire pop hit.

The rest of "The Association" felt the song still needed a lot of work. Kirkman had conceived "Cherish" as a slow , sad song of unrequited love. The others felt it was too slow for top forty air play and re-arranged the song , speeding it up considerably.

The finished recording played for 3 minutes and 25 seconds, but the single’s label listed the time as 3:00 so that DJs wouldn’t be discouraged from playing a "long song". "Cherish" was released in August of 1966 and within two months was a million selling single. It remained at the top of the pop charts for nearly a month. Oddly, it did not do well overseas, perhaps because of poor distribution. Only when the song was re-recorded by David Cassidy in 1971, did "Cherish" become an international hit.

The Association moved to Warner Brothers records after that company bought out Valient Records in order to acquire the hot young act. Everyone involved was anxious to release their first single for the new record company, but no one could agree on what that song should be. Tension grew at Warner Brothers as a new tour was about to be launched and no decision had been made about the latest release. At the last minute, on the very morning that the band was about to leave town, the song selection was finally made..."Windy" was chosen. 

 A little known folk singer named Ruthann Friedman had written a song about her old man, 'Windy', and his free wheeling life style. She played the song one night for the Association and they knew they had found another hit record. And so, on the day before their tour began, arrangements for the new song were worked out over lunch. At one o'clock, the band entered the studio. The group had chosen Russ Gigeure and new member, Larry Ramos Jr. to share lead vocals, and a marathon session began. By six thirty the next morning, the two men's voices were totally shot, and for that reason, the vocals at the end of the record were performed by everyone who was still awake, including wives, girlfriends, engineers and even Ruthann Friedman herself.

"Windy" hit the top of America's pop charts in early July 1967 and remained there for nearly the entire month. Later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award as best contemporary group performance, but lost out to The Fifth Dimension's "Up, Up and Away".

In the fall of '67, The Association had another million selling record with "Never My Love" and in 1968, scored their fifth and final top ten single with a song called "Everything That Touches You". 

 After that, the Association's style of folk rock fell out of favour with the record buying public and they went into a fairly rapid decline. They switched labels again in 1972, to Columbia, but their only LP for them was a failure. Shortly after that release, founding member Brian Cole died and there were a flurry of personnel changes. Three comeback attempts failed, in 1973 on Mums records, 1975 on RCA and in 1981 on Elektra.

By January, 2004, the band was still playing and traveling across the US, performing with other Pop and Rock groups from the 60's and 70's, including Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Everly Brothers and the Kinks.

Throughout more changes, The Association continued to tour, mostly with oldies acts fromf the late 1960s, like The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, Tommy James and Gary Puckett. During the summer of 2011, The Association appeared in a heavy touring schedule throughout the U.S. as part of the "Happy Together: 2011" tour, along with The Grass Roots, Mark Lindsay, The Buckinghams, and The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie. In Summer 2013 Alexander, Giguere, Ramos and Yester became part of the "Where the Actions At" tour that included: Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Mitch Ryder.
 

The Association are fondly remembered as one of the finest Pop harmony groups of their time and even though they only spent three years in the spot light, the hit records they made are enough to ensure their place in Rock and Roll history.

The Sh@ngri-L@s - 1965 - The Sh@ngri-L@s

Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)/ It's Easier to Cry/Leader of the Pack/What Is Love



Along with the Shirelles and the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las were among the greatest girl groups; if judged solely on the basis of attitude, they were the greatest of them all. They combined an innocent adolescent charm with more than a hint of darkness, singing about dead bikers, teenage runaways, and doomed love affairs as well as ebullient high-school crushes. These could be delivered with either infectious, handclapping harmonies or melodramatic, almost operatic recitatives that were contrived but utterly effective. Tying it all together in the studio was Shadow Morton, a mad genius of a producer who may have been second in eccentric imagination only to Phil Spector in the mid-'60s.

Originally the Shangri-Las were comprised of two pairs of sisters from Queens, NY (identical twins Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and siblings Mary and Betty Weiss). They had already recorded a couple of obscure singles when they were hired by George "Shadow" Morton to demo a song he had recently written, "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)." The haunting ballad, with its doomy "Moonlight Sonata"-like piano riffs, wailing lead vocal, and thunderous background harmonies, seguing into an a cappella chorus backed by nothing except handclaps and seagull cries, made the Top Five in late 1964. It also began their association with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's Red Bird label, which would handle the group for the bulk of their career. 

The quality of Morton's work with the Shangri-Las on Red Bird (with assistance from Jeff Barry and Artie Butler) was remarkable considering that he had virtually no prior experience in the music business. The group's material, so over-the-top emotionally that it sometimes bordered on camp, was lightened by the first-class production, which embroidered the tracks with punchy brass, weeping strings, and plenty of imaginative sound effects. Nowhere was this more apparent than on "Leader of the Pack," with its periodic motorcycle roars and crescendo of crashing glass. The death-rock classic became the Shangri-Las' signature tune, reaching number one.

 Several smaller hits followed in 1965 and 1966, many of them excellent. "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" proved they could handle more conventionally, bubbly girl group fare well; "I Can Never Go Home Anymore," a runaway tale that took their patented pathos to the extreme, would be their third and final Top Ten hit. These all show up on oldies collections, but lots of listeners remain unaware of the other fine singles in their catalog, like the moody "Out in the Streets," the dense orchestral swamp of "He Cried" (which cuts Jay & the Americans' original, "She Cried," to pieces), and another teen death tale, "Give Us Your Blessings." Some of their best songs, in fact, were B-sides; "Dressed in Black," yet another teen death drama, had a marvelously hushed and damned atmosphere, and "Paradise" was co-written by a young Harry Nilsson. Their most unusual single of all was "Past, Present and Future," which didn't feature a single sung note, presenting a somber spoken monologue and occasional spoken background chants over a classical piano track reminiscent of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." It was too unconventional to rise above the middle of the charts, especially given that the narrative could quite possibly be construed as the recollections of an assault/rape victim.

 Unlike some girl groups, the Shangri-Las were dynamic on-stage performers, choreographing their dance steps to their lyrics and wearing skin-tight leather pants and boots that were quite daring for the time. Their real lives, however, were not without elements of drama themselves. Their constant personnel changes baffle historians; sometimes they are pictured as a trio, and sometimes one of the members in the photos is clearly not one of the Weiss or Ganser sisters. Worse, the Red Bird label ran into serious organizational difficulties in the mid-'60s, and wound down its operations in 1966. The group moved to Mercury for a couple of dispirited singles, but had split by the end of the 1960s. Shadow Morton went on to an interesting, erratic career that included involvement with Janis Ian, the New York Dolls, and Mott the Hoople. Mary Anne Ganser died in 1970; the cause has been a source of mystery but it was due to either encephalitis, complications from a barbiturate overdose, or as the result of a seizures. Her sister Marge died in 1996 of breast cancer. 

Even today, the Shangri-Las' history remains somewhat murky and mysterious; the original members have rarely reunited for oldies shows or talked to the press. The situation was exacerbated by frustratingly substandard reissues of their Red Bird work, which made it impossible to collect all of their fine sides without buying numerous packages, many of which boasted shockingly shoddy sound quality. Happily, the situation was rectified in the mid-'90s with excellent, comprehensive compilations of the Red Bird material in both the U.K. and U.S.

J!mmy Cl@nt0n - Venus In Blue Je@ns

Venus In Blue Jeans/Highway Bound/ I'm Gonna Try/Another Sleepless Night


Jimmy Clanton (born September 2, 1938, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States) is an American singer who became known as the "swamp pop R&B teenage idol". Clanton formed his first band called the Rockets in 1956 while attending Baton Rouge High School. His band recorded a hit song "Just A Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number four on the Billboard chart and sold a million copies. Clanton performed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and toured with popular artists like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Platters.

One of the few white singers to come out of the New Orleans R&B/rock & roll sound, he rode the crest of the popular teen music wave in the 1950s and 1960s. His records charted in the U.S. Top 40 seven times (all released on Ace); his Top 10 records were: the song "Just a Dream," (Pop #4, R&B #1 in August 1958, credited to 'Jimmy Clanton and His Rockets'), "Go Jimmy Go" (peaked at number five in late 1959) and "Venus in Blue Jeans" in September 1962 (written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller). In early 1961, Clanton was drafted and spent the next two years in the U.S. Army, continuing to have chart successes with "Don't Look at Me" and "Because I Do." His next major hit, "Venus in Blue Jeans," peaked at number seven in mid-1962. His only hit in the UK Singles Chart was "Another Sleepless Night", which spent one week at number 50 in July 1960.
 

 Clanton starred in a rock and roll movie produced by Alan Freed called Go Johnny Go, and later starred in Teenage Millionaire, with music arranged and produced by Dr. John and arranger/trumpeter Charlie Miller. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Clanton was managed by Cosimo Matassa, the New Orleans recording studio owner and engineer. In May 1960, Ace Records announced in Billboard that Philadelphia had proclaimed the week of May 16 to be "Jimmy Clanton Week."

Clanton became a disc jockey at WHEX in Columbia, Pennsylvania between 1972 and 1976 and performed in an oldies revue also in the 1970s, The Masters of Rock 'n' Roll, with Troy Shondell, Ray Peterson, and Ronnie Dove. He had a religious conversion in the 1980s. In the 1995 Jazz Fest in New Orleans, Clanton performed with Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, and Frankie Ford.

(reedence (learw@ter Reviv@l - B@d M00n R!s!ng

Bad Moon Rising/Lodi/Get Down Woman/Porterville


Creedence Clearwater Revival, often shortened to Creedence and abbreviated as CCR, was an American rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford. Their musical style encompassed the roots rock, swamp rock, and blues rock genres. Despite their San Francisco Bay Area origins, they portrayed a Southern rock style, with lyrics about bayous, catfish, the Mississippi River, and other popular elements of Southern US iconography, as well as political and socially-conscious lyrics about topics including the Vietnam War.

Creedence Clearwater Revival's music is still a staple of US radio airplay; the band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone. Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Rolling Stone ranked the band 82nd on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Their musical influence can be heard in many genres, including southern rock, grunge, roots rock, and blues.

Th]m - 1966 - Myst!c Eyes

Here Comes The Night/One More Time/Gloria/Mystic Eyes


Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career. The original five member band consisted of Morrison, Alan Henderson, Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon. The group was marketed in the United States as part of the British Invasion.

Them scored two UK hits in 1965 with "Baby, Please Don't Go" (UK No.10) and "Here Comes the Night" (UK No.2; Ireland No.2). The latter song and "Mystic Eyes" were Top 40 hits in the US.

Morrison quit the band in 1966 and went on to a successful career as a solo artist. Although Them had a short-lived existence, the Belfast group had considerable influence on other bands, such as the Doors.

Y@rdb!rds – 1967 – Over Under S!dew@ys D0wn

Over Under Sideways Down/I Can’t Make Your Way/He’s Always There/What Do You Want




The Yardbirds are an English rock band formed in London in 1963 that had a string of hits during the mid-1960s, including “For Your Love”, “Over Under Sideways Down” and “Heart Full of Soul”. The group launched the careers of guitarists Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, all of whom are in the top five of Rolling Stone’s 100 Top Guitarists list (Clapton at No. 2, Page at No. 3 and Beck at No. 5). A blues-based band that broadened its range into pop and rock, the Yardbirds had a hand in many electric guitar innovations of the mid-1960s, such as feedback, “fuzztone” distortion and improved amplification. Pat Pemberton, writing for Spinner, holds that the Yardbirds were “the most impressive guitar band in rock music”. After the Yardbirds broke up in 1968, lead guitarist Jimmy Page founded what became Led Zeppelin, while vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty formed the symphonic rock group Renaissance.

 

 The bulk of the band’s most successful self-written songs came from Relf, McCarty and bassist and producer Paul Samwell-Smith, who, with rhythm guitarist and bassist Chris Dreja, constituted the core of the group. The band reformed in the 1990s, featuring McCarty, Dreja and new members. The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. They were included in Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock”.

"Over Under Sideways Down" was a single by The Yardbirds released on Columbia in the UK and Epic in the U.S. Chart tops: UK: #10, US: #13.

It was the title song to the album Over Under Sideways Down (US, German and French title), or Yardbirds (UK title) which is more commonly referred to as Roger the Engineer. The song was inspired by Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" with Jeff Beck on lead guitar and bass guitar.

J0hnny C@sh - 1964 - R!ng 0f F!re

Ring Of Fire/The Rebel - Johnny Yuma/Bonanza!/Remember The Alamo


"Ring of Fire", or "The Ring of Fire", is a song written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and recorded by Johnny Cash. The single appears on Cash's 1963 album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. The song was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1963) as "(Love's) Ring of Fire". "Ring of Fire" was ranked No. 4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.




The song was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became the biggest hit of Cash's career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on January 21, 2010 by the RIAA and has also sold over 1.2 million digital downloads. "Ring Of Fire" reached #12 on the Australian charts.

New link added 26.11.2018

Herm@n's Herm!ts - 1965 - Heartbe@t

Heartbeat/I'll Never Dance Again/Walkin' With My Angel/I Wonder



Herman's Hermits are an English beat (or pop) band, formed in Manchester in 1962.

Originally called Herman & The Hermits, they were discovered by Harvey Lisberg, who signed them up to management. Lisberg sent a return plane ticket to Mickie Most so that he could come up from London to see the band play in Bolton. Most became the group's record producer, controlling the band's output. He emphasised a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers. This helped Herman's Hermits become hugely successful in the mid-1960s but dampened the band's songwriting; Noone, Hopwood, Leckenby and Green's songs were relegated to B-sides and album cuts.

Their first hit was a cover of Earl-Jean's "I'm into Something Good" (written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King), which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 13 in the US in late 1964. They never topped the British charts again, but had two US Billboard Hot 100 No.1s with "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (originally sung by Tom Courtenay in a 1963 British TV play) and "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (a British music hall song by Harry Champion dating from 1911, which Peter Noone's Irish grandfather had been in the habit of singing when Noone was young). These songs were aimed at a US fan base, with Peter Noone exaggerating his Mancunian accent.

 

 In the US, their records were released on the MGM label, a company which often featured musical performers they had signed to record deals in films. The Hermits appeared in several MGM movies, including When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) and Hold On! (1966). They also starred in the film Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968) and appeared in the 1965 anthology film Pop Gear.

Herman's Hermits had four Top 3 hits in the US in 1965, with the aforementioned No. 1 hits and "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" (US No. 2). They recorded The Rays' "Silhouettes" (US No. 5), Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" (US No. 4), "Just a Little Bit Better" (US No. 7), and "A Must to Avoid" (US No. 8) in 1965; "Listen People" (US No. 3), George Formby's "Leaning on a Lamp Post" from Me and My Girl (US No. 9), and the Ray Davies song "Dandy" (US No. 5) in 1966; and "There's a Kind of Hush" (US No. 4) in 1967. On WLS "Mrs. Brown" and "Silhouettes" were 1–2 on 14 May 1965 and exchanged positions the next week, a distinction matched only by The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" during 14 February – 6 March 1964. 

They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show and The Jackie Gleason Show. Continued success in the US proved elusive beyond 1967, although they had as many Top Ten hits in Britain (five) in the period 1967 through 1970 as they had had there in the years of the mid-'sixties when the band were wowing American audiences and British audiences seemed more diffident. By the time the group recorded their final album of the 1960s, Rock 'n' Roll Party, the band's success in the US was history and the album was not released by MGM there. Peter Noone and Keith Hopwood left the band in 1971. Herman's Hermits reunited in 1973 to headline a successful British invasion tour of the US culminating with a standing-room-only performance at Madison Square Garden and an appearance on The Midnight Special (without Hopwood). Later, a version of the band featuring Leckenby and Whitwam opened for The Monkees on reunion tours of the US. Noone declined an offer from tour organizers to appear, but later appeared with Davy Jones on a successful teen-idols tour. 

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Gr@ss R00ts – 1969 – Midnight Confessions

Midnight Confessions/Where Were You When I Needed You/Bella Linda/Lovin’ Things


The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted frequently between 1966 and 1975. It was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they achieved Top 10 three times, Top 20 three times and Top 40 eight times. They have sold over twenty million records worldwide.

Until his death in 2011, early member Rob Grill and a newer lineup of the Grass Roots continued to play many live performances each year. Currently, band members chosen by Grill are carrying on the legacy of the group with nationwide live performances

D@ve Dee D0zy Be@ky Mick & Tich – S@ve Me Bend It

Save Me/Shame/Bend It/She’s So Good

Dave Harman had been a Wiltshire police cadet at the time Eddie Cochran was killed near Chippenham during April 1960. Harman accompanied the police to the scene of the accident and thus became witness to one of the greatest tragedies in Rock and Roll history. He had retrieved Eddie’s undamaged guitar and had even taken it home ‘to care for it’ before it could be returned to Eddie’s family. By the following year Dave Harman had formed his own group which became known as Dave Dee And The Bostons.

Like many of the Merseybeat groups, the ‘Bostons’ learned their craft playing rock and roll in Hamburg, but graduated to touring with more established acts in the UK. For a time it seemed that opportunity was passing them by; even their first single releases failed to gain much record buyer response. It wasn’t until the end of 1965 that they obtained a minor chart entry with their third attempt. At this time the ‘beat boom’ was in decline and 1966 was a poor year for most of the previously established beat groups. However, they distinguished themselves with a new ‘sound’ and a string of singles chart successes followed almost until the end of the decade.

Shortly after the release of their final chart entry as a five-piece, Dave Dee split from his friends. The abbreviated line-up; Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich soldiered on in the new form but without success. Sadly, Dave Dee’s attempt to restart his career as a solo performer during 1970 was not a lot more fruitful with just one minor hit, and he eventually turned from singing to production.

Sm@ll F@ces - 1968 - Sh@-L@-L@-L@-Lee

Whatcha Gonna Do About It/I've Got Mine/Hey Girl/Sha-La-La-La-Lee


"Whatcha Gonna Do About It" is the debut single released by the English R&B, mod group Small Faces, released in the UK on 6 August 1965. The song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, and stayed on chart for a total of 14 weeks.The songwriting duo of the group Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane already had the melody for the song, the inspiration coming from Solomon Burke's hit record "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", however they had no lyrics so Don Arden quickly brought in Ian Samwell to provide the words for the song. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 27 and rose to number 14 just missing the all important Top Ten.

 

"I've Got Mine" was the second official song released by English R&B mod band Small Faces in 1965. The song failed to chart despite receiving favourable reviews in the British music press."I've Got Mine" is a hard hitting, moody R&B song and the first Small Faces single release written entirely by the songwriting duo of the band Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane.  It was after the release of "I've Got Mine" that Jimmy Winston was released from the band and replaced by keyboardist Ian McLagan (formerly of The Muleskinners). Winston co-wrote the B-side song "It's too Late" with Marriott and Lane.

"Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was the third song by English R&B influenced group Small Faces, released on 28 January 1966 and reaching number three in the UK Singles Chart. It was also the first single by the group to feature Ian McLagan on keyboards.Because the group's prevoius song release, the Marriott/Lane composition "I've Got Mine" failed to chart in the UK, Don Arden, determined that the Small Faces would not be one hit wonders, decided to bring in well-known songwriters Kenny Lynch and Mort Shuman to make sure the group's next single would be a success. The highly commercial sounding song proved a big hit and reached number three in the UK singles chart. Despite the success of "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" the band never really liked the song and felt it did not represent their sound, which was more R&B and soul oriented.

 

 "Hey Girl" was the fourth song release by popular British R&B group Small Faces. The song reached number ten on the UK Singles Charts in 1966. "Hey Girl" was released on 6 May 1966 with the B-side "Almost Grown". The song was written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane and was a compromise between the band and Don Arden as Arden wanted a very commercial sounding song. A week later the groups' debut album on Decca Small Faces hit the UK charts reaching number 3.

P@ul J0nes - 1967 - H!gh T!me

High Time/I Can't Hold On Much Longer/My Way/When My Little Girl Is Smiling



Paul Jones (born Paul Pond, 24 February 1942) is an English singer, actor, harmonica player and radio personality and television presenter.

Paul Jones was born as Paul Pond in Portsmouth, Hampshire. As "P.P. Jones" he performed duets with Elmo Lewis (better known as future founder member of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones) at the Ealing Club, home of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, whose singers included Long John Baldry and Mick Jagger. He was asked by Keith Richards and Brian Jones to be the lead singer of a group they were forming, but he turned them down. He went on to be the vocalist and harmonica player of the successful 1960s group Manfred Mann Paul Jones had several Top Ten hits with Manfred Mann before going solo in July 1966. He remained with His Master's Voice.

He was less successful without the band than they were with his replacement, Mike d'Abo, but did have a few hits, notably with "High Time" (1966) (UK No 4), "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy" (1967) (UK No 5) and "Thinkin' Ain't for Me" (1967) (UK No 32) before branching into acting.

While his solo career in the UK was mildly successful, he sold few records in the US. He had enough hits in Sweden to have a greatest hits album released there on EMI. Subsequent single releases in Britain in the late 1960s on the Columbia label, as a result of EMI transferring their remaining pop acts from His Master's Voice, included "Aquarius", from the musical "Hair", and a cover version of a Bee Gees song, "And the Sun Will Shine".

Jeffers0n Airpl@ne - 1969 - Cr0wn of Creati0n

Crown Of Creation/Lather/Greasy Heart/Share A Little Joke



Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965. A pioneer of counterculture-era psychedelic rock, the group was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve international mainstream success. They performed at the three most famous American rock festivals of the 1960s—Monterey (1967), Woodstock (1969) and Altamont (1969)—as well as headlined the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968). Their 1967 record Surrealistic Pillow is regarded as one of the key recordings of the "Summer of Love". Two hits from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

 

The "classic" line-up of Jefferson Airplane remained stable from 1967 to early 1970, and consisted of Marty Balin, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen and Grace Slick. The group broke up in 1972, and essentially split into the two bands Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship. Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

"Greasy Heart"/"Share a Little Joke" was released in 1968 and just made the top 100 at #98. "Crown of Creation"  fared a bit better at #64 both singles were lifted from the Crown of Creation album wich reached #6 on the album charts and was certified Gold.

Brent0n W00d - 1967 - G!mme L!ttle S!gn

Gimme Little Sign/Psychotic Reaction/ I'm The One Who Knows/Come Here, Girl

Brenton Wood (born Alfred Jesse Smith, July 26, 1941, Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American singer and songwriter known for his two 1967 hit singles, "The Oogum Boogum Song" and "Gimme Little Sign".

"Gimme Little Sign" is a classic soul music song, originally performed by Brenton Wood. It was released in 1967 on the album Oogum Boogum. It was written by Alfred Smith (real name of Brenton Wood), Joe Hooven and Jerry Winn. The most well known version is by Brenton Wood, which peaked at number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and also was top 10 in the UK Singles Chart and Australia. Mighty Mo Rodgers played the electronic organ on the recording.