The @n1m@ls - 1966 - @nim@l Tr@cks

How You've Changed/I Believe To My Soul/Let The Good Times Roll/Worried Life Blues



The Animals were part of the budding, homegrown U.K. blues scene of the early Sixties and one of the most noteworthy bands of the British Invasion. Formed in Newcastle-on-Tyne, a port city and coal-mining hub in northeast England, the Animals reflected their upbringing with brawling, blues-based rock and roll. The group derived its inspiration - and much of its early repertoire - from American blues and R&B sources, adapting them to their native British working-class sensibility. Eric Burdon was among the best white R&B singers of the Sixties. His gruff, soulful vocals brought out the anguish in such anthems as “It’s My Life” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” The band’s sound was also heavily defined by Alan Price’s organ playing, which provided dramatic accents and a blues-jazz atmosphere. The other founding members - guitarist Hilton Valentine, bassist Chas Chandler and drummer John Steel – balanced Burdon’s earthiness and Price’s melodic finesse.
 

Originally known as the Alan Price Combo, the group changed its name to the Animals when Burdon joined in 1962. In 1963, they performed a monthlong residency (much like the Beatles did) in Hamburg, Germany. They also served as the U.K. backing band for visiting bluesmen, including John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson. Their career took off with their move to London in January 1964. Less than a year later, on September 5, 1964, “House of the Rising Sun” became the Number One single in America. Their brooding arrangement of “House of the Rising Sun” - a traditional folk song recorded by Josh White and Bob Dylan - became an early milestone in the British Invasion. Despite the song's unconventional lyrics (it was about a house of prostitution in New Orleans), “House of the Rising Sun” topped the American and British charts. In fact, it stayed at Number One in the U.S. for three weeks.

 The Animals followed “House of the Rising Sun” with seven more Top 40 hits (and six more Top 40 hits as Eric Burdon and the Animals), at least four of which – “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (Number 15), “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” (Number 13), “It’s My Life” (Number 23) and “Don’t Bring Me Down” (Number 12) – are bonafide classics of the British Invasion era. The keys to these and other Animals tracks is their passionate intensity and strong sense of identification with working-class travails, which would become hallmarks of such later rock and rollers as Bruce Springsteen and David Johansen – both of whom were professed Animals fans. Basically, the group was steeped in the blues and R&B sounds that filtered over from America. Many of the Animals earliest recordings were solid remakes of favorites by such revered artists as John Lee Hooker (“Boom Boom”), Sam Cooke (“Bring It On Home to Me”), Chuck Berry (“Around and Around”), Ray Charles (“Hallelujah, I Love Her So”) and Bo Diddley (“Road Runner”). At the same time, the Animals had great success interpreting the works of American pop songwriters such as Gerry Goffin and Carole King (“Don’t Bring Me Down”) and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (“We Gotta Get Out of This Place”).

The Animals’ original membership released only three albums (The Animals, The Animals On Tour, Animal Tracks) during their 1964-65 heyday. The Best of the Animals was issued in February 1966, as the group was disbanding. This hit-filled collection was one of the stronger LPs of its time, and it reached Number 6 and hung on the charts for over two years. The Animals’ disintegration began with Price’s departure in mid-1965 due to fear of flying and incompatibility with Burdon. Drummer John Steel was the next to leave (in March 1966), and the others followed suit in September.  Burdon continued with new recruits, and the reconfigured band - now billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals - enjoyed several late-Sixties hits in a more psychedelic vein, such as “When I Was Young,” “Monterey” and “San Franciscan Nights.” Burdon became an innovative album artist. The double album Love Is, released in 1968, was a landmark of Sixties psychedelia, featuring the guitar work of one Andy Somers (later Andy Summers of the Police). The Animals’ last Top Forty hit was “Sky Pilot (Part One).”

 Burdon entered the Seventies as frontman with War, a black funk group from Long Beach. Eric Burdon and War recorded a hit single ("Spill the Wine") and two albums. War graduated to a successful career without Burdon, who continued as a solo artist. He was recorded intermittently and toured constantly in the decades since; he also has written two books about his experiences as a rock and roller. As for the other original members of the Animals, Alan Price enjoyed a successful solo career in Britain and won acclaim for his 1973 film soundtrack O Lucky Man!. Bassist Chas Chandler discovered an unknown Jimi Hendrix performing in New York’s Greenwich Village, and wound up managing the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Slade.

The original Animals reunited in 1977, recording the album Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted, and 1983, which resulted in the albums Ark and Rip It to Shreds – The Animals Greatest Hits Live!. The reunions were as contentious as had been the group’s first tour of duty, as a certain degree of tension seemed to be an inevitable part of what the Animals were all about – and why their music had such a powerful edge.

The $weet - 1980 - The $weet

Fox On The Run/Hell Raiser/Blockbuster/Ballroom Blitz


The Sweet (also referred to as Sweet, and originally called Sweetshop) are a British/American glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s with their most prolific line-up: lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player, Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.

The band were formed in 1968 and achieved their first hit "Funny Funny" in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.

 

The band achieved notable success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to more hard rock style with their mid-career singles like 1974's "Turn It Down". Their first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" (1975), also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland, where the band was very popular. They also achieved success and popularity in the United States with the top ten hits Little Willy, The Ballroom Blitz, and Fox on the Run.

 The Sweet had their last Top 10 hit in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a threesome until disbanding in 1981.

From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997 and Tucker in 2002. The two surviving members are still active in their respective versions of the band; Scott's is based in England and Priest's in Los Angeles.

J0n And R0b!n - 1967 - Here's J0n And R0b!n

Do It Again A Little Bit Slower/If I Need Someone It's You/Drums/You Don't Care


The male-female duo Jon & Robin are thought of as a one-hit wonder for their playful 1967 #18 hit "Do It Again a Little Bit Slower." Actually, however, they recorded quite a bit in the mid-to-late '60s, with an engaging if somewhat lightweight style craftily mixing AM radio mid-'60s pop/rock with a little psychedelia and Southern soul. "Do It Again a Little Bit Slower" was certainly the best of their discs, with its likable male-female vocal tradeoffs, a "Cool Jerk"-like soul piano riff at strategic points, and an effective fadeout that languorously stretched out the suggestive title phrase. But their two LPs and a bunch of 1965-1969 singles included some enjoyable material as well, devised with help from some fine songwriters and some of the best production and backup musician talent in their Dallas base. 

 The male half of the duo, Jon Abdnor, had recorded some solo singles for his millionaire father's Abnak label before hooking up with teenage singer Javonne Braga, who was billed as "Robin" on the records the pair made together. Their one national hit, "Do It Again a Little Bit Slower" came from the pen of Wayne Carson Thompson, most famous for writing the Boxtops' "The Letter." The duo also recorded several other Thompson compositions, including the fairly gritty soul-popper "Dr. Jon (The Medicine Man)," which was a big hit in Texas, although it didn't break nationally. Jon & Robin themselves wrote little original material, although they did benefit from production by ex-rockabilly star Dale Hawkins and Mike Rabon of the Five Americans, a fellow Abnak act. Indeed, several of the Five Americans played on some Jon & Robin sessions, and another Abnak artist, soul singer Bobby Patterson, also helped out with some of their recordings. By the end of the 1960s, however, Jon & Robin had split, though Jon Abdnor did put out a 1969 solo LP, Intro to Change, billed to John Howard Abdnor & the Involvement.

J0hn Fred @nd H!s Pl@yb0y B@nd - 1968 - Judy !n D!gu!se (W!th Gl@sses)

Judy In Disguise/When The Lights Go Out/No Good To Cry/Sometimes You Just Can't Win



John Fred & His Playboy Band had a regional following in the South and broke through with a number one hit early in 1968, although it proved to be the band's only top forty entry.

John Fred Gourrier was born in 1941 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father, Fred Gourrier, had played professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers organization. In 1956 John formed a band that he called John Fred and the Playboys, a white group that played primarily rhythm and blues music. While still in high school, they cut their first record in late 1958 with Fats Domino's band. The song was titled Shirley and John Fred and the Playboys saw their song rise as high as number 82 on the national record charts. The group also cut other singles that were not as successful, working at times with Mac Rebennack and with the Jordanaires. John Fred attended Southeastern Louisiana University from 1960 to 1963 and spent some time as a college basketball player.

He formed a new band and began to cut singles on the Jewel and N-Joy labels. The band was very popular regionally. Eventually they became known as John Fred & His Playboy Band and signed with the Paula label. After six singles that met with little success nationally, they recorded a parody of the popular Beatles' song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds which they called Judy In Disguise [With Glasses]. A song with a snappy beat and well orchestrated, it entered the charts on December 16, 1967 and by January 20 it had supplanted another Beatles' song, Hello Goodbye, as the number one record on the U.S. charts. It remained there for two weeks. 

 John Fred & His Playboy Band continued doing pop songs and soul songs, recording material that had been done by Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Otis Redding and other well-known soul artists of the day. They toured through Europe, at one point playing with the supergroup Traffic in Hamburg. They recorded an album Permanently Stated that was psychedelic in nature, in keeping with the times. Before breaking up the group had one more single that was a hit regionally, Hey, Hey Bunny in 1968.

John Fred put together another group that recorded more records from 1969 to 1976, but never again had a hit that even came near the success of Judy In Disguise [With Glasses]. He went on to become vice president of RCS in Baton Rouge, where he worked as a record producer. According to band member Bill Dunnam, many members of John Fred & His Playboy Band went on to successful careers in business. John Fred has worked as a high school baseball coach.

John Fred suffered from kidney problems and died at Tulane Hospital in New Orleans on April 15, 2005.

Fleetw00d M@c - 1969 - Fleetw00d M@c

Albatross/Jigsaw Puzzle Blues/Merry Go Round/Hellhound On My Trail



Fleetwood Mac were formed in July 1967 in London when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Green had replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. After he had been in the Bluesbreakers for some time, Green asked if drummer Mick Fleetwood could replace Aynsley Dunbar. Green had been in two bands with Fleetwood—Peter B's Looners and the subsequent Shotgun Express (which featured a young Rod Stewart as vocalist). John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood became a member of the band.

The Bluesbreakers now consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac".

Soon after, Green contacted Fleetwood to form a new band. The pair wanted McVie on bass guitar and even named the band 'Fleetwood Mac' as a way to entice him. However, McVie opted to keep his steady income with Mayall rather than take a risk with a new band. In the meantime Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood teamed up with slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, who was in the band on the understanding that he would leave if McVie agreed to join. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer. Brunning merely played at a handful of gigs with Fleetwood Mac. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to join the band as permanent bassist.

Fleetwood Mac's first album, Fleetwood Mac, was a no-frills blues album and was released on the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. In fact there were no other players on the album (except for the song "Long Grey Mare", which was recorded with Brunning on bass). The album was successful in the UK, hitting No. 4, though it did not have any singles on it. The band soon released two singles "Black Magic Woman" (later a big hit for Santana) and "Need Your Love So Bad".

The band's second album, Mr. Wonderful, was released in August 1968. Like the first it was an all-blues album, but this time they made a few changes. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. This method provided the ideal environment for producing this style of music, and gave it an authentically vintage sound. They also added horns and featured a friend of the band on keyboards, Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack prior to her marriage to John McVie. 

Shortly after the release of their second album Fleetwood Mac added guitarist Danny Kirwan, then just eighteen years old, to their line-up, recruited from the South London blues trio Boilerhouse, consisting of Kirwan on guitar with Trevor Stevens on bass and Dave Terrey on drums. Green and Fleetwood had been to watch Boilerhouse rehearse in a basement boiler-room and Green was so impressed, he invited the band to play support slots for Fleetwood Mac. Green wanted Boilerhouse to become a professional band but Stevens and Terrey were not prepared to turn professional at the time, so Green sought to find another rhythm section by placing an ad in Melody Maker. There were over 300 applicants, but when Green and Fleetwood ran auditions at the Nag's Head in Battersea (home of the Mike Vernon Blue Horizon Club), the hard to please Green could not find anyone good enough to replace the pair, so he invited Kirwan to join Fleetwood Mac as their third guitarist.

Green had been frustrated that Jeremy Spencer had little desire to contribute to Green's songs. A mature and accomplished self-taught guitarist, Kirwan's signature vibrato and unique style added a new dimension to an already complete band. With Kirwan the band released their first number one single in Europe, "Albatross". Around this time they released their second American album, English Rose, which contained half of Mr. Wonderful, new songs from Kirwan, and their third European album called The Pious Bird of Good Omen, which was a collection of singles, B-sides, and a selection of some work the band did with Eddie Boyd.

 When the band went to the United States in January 1969 they recorded many songs at the soon-to-close Chess Records Studio, with some blues legends of Chicago including Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Otis Spann. These would prove, however, to be Fleetwood Mac's last all-blues recordings. Along with their change of style the band was also going through some label changes. Up until this point they had been on Blue Horizon. With Kirwan in the band, however, the musical possibilities were too great for them to stay on a blues-only label. The band signed with the Immediate Records label and released "Man of the World", another British and European hit single. For the B-side Spencer fronted Fleetwood Mac as "Earl Vince and the Valiants" and recorded "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite", typifying the more raucous rock 'n' roll side of the band. Immediate Records was in bad shape and the band shopped around for a new deal. Even though The Beatles wanted the band on Apple Records (Mick Fleetwood and George Harrison were brothers-in-law), the band's manager Clifford Davis decided to go with Warner Bros. Records (through Reprise Records, a Frank Sinatra-founded label), the label they have stayed with ever since.

Fleetwood Mac's first album for Reprise, released in September 1969, was the well-regarded Then Play On. Although the initial pressing of the American release of this album was the same as the British version, it was altered to contain the song "Oh Well", featured consistently in live performances from the time of its release through 1997 and then again starting in 2009. Then Play On, which was the band's first rock album, featured only the songs of Kirwan and Green. Jeremy Spencer, meanwhile, recorded a solo album (he was backed by the rest of the band) which consisted of many 1950s-style rock and roll songs.
 

 Green's last hit with Fleetwood Mac was "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Prong Crown)" (first recorded at the Boston Tea Party in February 1970 and later recorded by Judas Priest). This recording was released as Green's mental stability deteriorated, and he wanted to give all of the band's money to charity. Other members of the band did not agree, and subsequently Green decided to leave the band. His last show with Fleetwood Mac was on 20 May 1970. During that show, the band went past their allotted time and the power was shut off, although Mick Fleetwood kept drumming. 

The C0ws!lls - 1970 - Indi@n L@ke

 Indian Lake/Hair/Silver Threads And Golden Needles/The Path of Love


The Cowsills is an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry Cowsill; they shortly thereafter added their brother John. Originally Bill and Bob played guitar and Barry was on drums. When John learned how to play drums and joined the band, Barry went to bass. After their initial success, the brothers were joined by their siblings Susan and Paul and their mother Barbara. Bob's twin brother Richard was the road manager. When the group expanded to its full family membership by 1967, the six siblings ranged in age from 8 to 19. Joined by their mother, Barbara Cowsill (née Russell), the group was the inspiration for the 1970s television show The Partridge Family.

The Cowsills' musical interest started while their father Bud Cowsill was stationed in Canton, Ohio, in the late 1950s as a US Navy recruiter. Billy and Bob taught themselves how to play the guitar. The boys developed their musical talent and harmonized vocals, and they performed at school church dances in Stark County, Ohio. The boys' first television appearance was on the Gene Carroll Show on WEWS in Cleveland.

After Bud retired from the Navy, he and his wife managed their children's career.

 

 In late 1965, the Cowsills were hired as a regular act on Bannisters Wharf in Newport, where they sang Beatles songs hour after hour. A handful of singles were released on JODA Records and Philips Records in 1965 and 1966, to only modest success.[2] After Leonard Stogel took over management of the band, he got them signed to MGM Records in 1967. Barbara, who would become known to their fans affectionately as "Mini-Mom" due to her diminutive stature, joined the group just in time to record the band's first album, including the hit single "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" with Bill on lead vocals. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold record. Shortly thereafter the band was expanded, yet again, to include siblings Susan and Paul.

With the success of "The Rain...", the band quickly became a popular act in the U.S., and achieved significant airplay in England and other parts of Europe. "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" reached No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1968, the band scored another million-selling hit with the song "Indian Lake" which reached No.10 on the US charts. In 1969, the band had another No.2 US hit and million seller with their version of the title song from the musical Hair. From 1968 through 1972, the band played an average of 200 performance dates per year, and were among the most popular acts on the American concert