Thursday 28 January 2021

Len Barry - 1965 - Len Barry FLAC


  1-2-3/Like A Baby/ I Struck It Rich/It's That Time Of The Year

 

 Born on June 12, 1942 and raised in Philadelphia, Barry had little thought of a show business career while still in school. Instead, he aspired to become a professional basketball player upon his graduation. It was not until he entered military service and had occasion to sing with the US Coast Guard band at Cape May, New Jersey, and was so encouraged by the response of his military audiences, that he decided to make music a career.

Upon his discharge from military service, Barry returned home to Philadelphia and formed the Dovells. Barry was the lead singer, appearing on all of the group's best selling records, such as "Bristol Stomp", "Hully Gully Baby", and "You Can't Sit Down", among others. "Bristol Stomp" sold over one million copies and was awarded a RIAA gold disc. As a Dovell, he also toured with James Brown. Barry also made film appearances with the Dovells in films such as Don't Knock the Twist, toured the UK with the Motown Revue. Barry also had guest appearances on US television on Bandstand and later American Bandstand, Shindig, and Hullabaloo. Soon after leaving the group, Barry recorded his first solo single "Lip Sync".


 As someone who sang rhythm and blues, he recorded hits in 1965 and 1966 for Decca Records in the US and released by Brunswick Records: "1-2-3", "Like a Baby", and "I Struck It Rich", a song he wrote with Leon Huff of the Philadelphia International Records producers, Gamble and Huff.

His first two hits also made the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart. "1-2-3" reached number three. Those songs also peaked at number 2 and 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart respectively. "1-2-3" sold over four million copies, and gave Barry his second RIAA gold disc and a Grammy Award nomination for Contemporary Rock & Roll Male Vocal Performance. Both "1-2-3" and "Like a Baby" were composed by Barry, John Madara, and David White.

He performed at the Apollo Theatre in New York, the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., The Regal Chicago, Chicago; Illinois, The Fox Theatre (Detroit) in Detroit, Michigan and The Uptown (Philadelphia), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also toured with Sam Cooke, The Motown Revue in the United Kingdom, and appeared on Top of the Pops.

He became a major singing star in The United Kingdom. Highlights of his European tour included featured performances at the London Palladium and Royal Albert Hall as well as numerous appearances throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.


Barry's respect for the Native American culture led him to write and produce the instrumental "Keem-O-Sabe" The song went to number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 for The Electric Indian. He also did writing and production work with WMOT Productions. With Bobby Eli he helped write the hit singles "Zoom" for Fat Larry's Band and "Love Town" for Booker Newberry III.

In May 2008, Barry reinvented himself as an author with the publication of the novel, Black-Like-Me. The storyline involved a pair of Caucasian siblings growing up in a largely African-American neighborhood, accepted by some, rejected by others. In 2011, Barry was featured in the PBS Series My Music: Rock, Pop & Doo Wop.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Len Barry among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.Len Barry died on November 5, 2020, at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia. The cause was myelodysplasia, or cancer of the bone marrow.  Thanks To RAM

Caterina Valente - 1955 - Caterina Valente FLAC


 The Breeze And I/Jalousie/Siboney/Begin The Beguine

 

 Caterina Valente (born 14 January 1931) is an Italian-French multilingual singer, guitarist, dancer, and actress. Valente is a polyglot; she speaks six languages, and sings in eleven. While she is best-known as a European performer, Valente also spent part of her career in the United States, where she performed alongside Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others.

Valente was born in Paris, France. In 1953, she made her first recordings with Kurt Edelhagen. Soon afterwards she achieved success with songs such as "Malagueña", "The Breeze and I" (a global million-seller), and "Dreh dich nicht um" with the Werner Müller orchestra.

In 1955, she was featured on The Colgate Comedy Hour with Gordon MacRae. In 1958, she filmed the musical comedy Hier bin ich – hier bleib ich (Here I Am, Here I Stay) which featured a guest appearance by Bill Haley & His Comets. During Haley's segment, Valente sings a duet with Haley on a newly recorded version of his song "Vive la Rock and Roll".


 Caterina Valente also appeared at least once on the world famous weekly Ed Sullivan Show with her brother Silvio Francesco playing horn performing a special skillful song duet on the episode also featuring Leslie Uggams, Joan Rivers, Tony Holland, the Schaller Brothers, Eric Brenn, and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In the mid 1960s, Valente worked with Claus Ogerman and recorded material in both Italian and English that he arranged/conducted and/or composed on the Decca  and London  labels. Valente was a favorite of singer Perry Como, making eight guest appearances on his NBC Kraft Music Hall television program from 1961-66. She was a frequent guest on The Dean Martin Show.

In Germany, she was a major performer of Schlager music. There, she recorded Cole Porter's I Love Paris under the German title Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe, which sold more than 900,000 copies in 1954.

 

 Over the years, she has recorded or performed with many international stars, including Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Claus Ogerman, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Sy Oliver, Buddy Rich and Edmundo Ros.

In 1959, she was nominated for a Grammy Award. Valente was a principal on the CBS variety series The Entertainers (1964–65). A briglia sciolta, the Italian jazz CD recorded in 1989 and re-released in later years under the titles Fantastica and Platinum deluxe, was her best-selling CD worldwide. In 2001, she released a new album, Girltalk, with harpist Catherine Michel. She retired in 2003. 

Thanks To RAM

Wednesday 27 January 2021

Davy Jones - 1967 - Davy Jones FLAC


 Theme For A New Love (I Only Saw You Once)/The Girl From Chelsea/Dream Girl/Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner


 A singer, actor, and jockey who became a teen idol in the '60s and '70s, David "Davy" Jones' chief claim to fame was his career as a Monkee and his vocal rendition of "Daydream Believer." Jones was born in Manchester, England to a railway fitter and a homemaker. He was raised in a family with four children, three sisters and himself. Jones developed an interest in entertaining at a young age with his first play, Tom Sawyer. It was not until after his mother's death from emphysema in 1960 that Jones lost his interest in school and left home to become a horse-racing jockey.
 
Basil Foster, the jockey Jones apprenticed with, recognized Jones' acting and singing ability, and encouraged him to pursue his acting career. His persistence paid off, and Jones had television parts in Coronation Street and June Evening, and a part in the BBC radio play There Is a Happy Land. It was these appearances, a part in the London and American musical Oliver!, and an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that led Colpix Records/Columbia Pictures to sign a contract with Jones. At the age of 20, Jones had produced his first album, called simply David Jones.

In September of 1966, The Monkees first aired. Along with Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith, Jones came into the households of thousands each week. Nine albums were released and included songs such as "Daydream Believer," "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," and "Valleri," which featured Jones singing. The Monkees, although popular with teenage girls, aired only until 1968.

 
After the Monkees disbanded, Jones pursued a solo career, signing with Bell Records. He released several singles with Bell and performed two Japanese tours before signing with MGM in 1973. He made cameo appearances on The Brady Bunch and Love American Style. In the mid-'70s, Jones teamed up with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz to produce an album and perform on tour. Jones joined a group called Toast in the early '80s and toured Japan extensively. After the rejuvenation of the Monkees on MTV and Nickelodeon, three of the original Monkees (Jones, Dolenz, and Tork) got together to do the album Pool It! and a Christmas medley video. The group also did a 20th anniversary tour in 1986 and then regrouped to do another tour in 1989. The final Monkees reunion album (this time including Michael Nesmith in addition to the trio of Jones, Dolenz, and Tork), Justus, arrived in 1996.


During the '90s, aside from the last brief Monkees reunion, Jones pursued his solo music career and acted mainly in the theater, starring in Oliver! and Grease. His love for horse racing was still very much alive, and in 1996 in Lingfield, England, he won his first amateur race. A resident of Pennsylvania in the U.S., Jones wrote two autobiographies, They Made a Monkee Out of Me and They Made a Monkee Out of Me...Again!, which recount Jones' days as a Monkee, his family, his marriages, and his touring experiences. He also made appearances on several popular late-'90s television shows, including The Single Guy and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Jones compiled demos, outtakes, and other rare material for the four-volume Just for the Record CD series released in 1999, and after the turn of the millennium, he also issued two new independent solo albums, Just Me (the title a play on the aforementioned Justus) in 2001 and Just Me 2 in 2004. She, a collection of standards including "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," followed in 2009. Just over two years later, he suffered a heart attack and died at his home on February 29, 2012.

Tuesday 26 January 2021

Connie Francis - 1962 - Connie Francis Sings Italian Favourites FLAC


 There's No Tomorrow (O Sole Mio)/Anema E Core/Ciao, Ciao, Bambina/Arriverderci Roma

 

 Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (December 12, 1937), better known as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, former actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw.
The album consists of traditional Italian and Neapolitan songs (e. g. Santa Lucia) as well as then-current contemporary songs like Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu) or Piove which both had risen to international fame after being Italy's entries to the Eurovision Song Contests of 1958 and 1959.

Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites was recorded following a suggestion from Francis' father, George Franconero, Sr., who played an active part in directing Francis' career. He had realized that Francis would have to make a timely transition from the youth-oriented Rock 'n' Roll music to adult contemporary music if she wanted to pursue a successful long-term career in music.

To make the album appealing to both Italian immigrants as well as listeners not familiar with Romanic languages, Francis sang most of the songs bilingual in either Italian/English or Neapolitan/English. Only Volare and Piove are sung entirely in Italian whilst Torna a Surriento is sung entirely in Neapolitan. Francis, who didn't learn to speak Italian and Neapolitan fluently until 1962, received assistance from a Berlitz teacher to achieve the correct pronunciation of the lyrics' Italian and Neapolitan lines.


The album was recorded between August 22 and 27, 1959, at EMI's famous Abbey Road Studios in London under the musical direction of Tony Osborne and was released in November 1959. Soon afterwards it entered the album charts where it remained for 81 weeks, peaking at # 4. It remains to this day as Francis' most successful album release.

Following the success of Connie Francis sings Italian Favorites, Francis recorded seven more albums of "Favorites" between 1960 and 1964, including Jewish, German and Irish Favorites, among others. The four tracks on the EP were lifted from the album. Thanks to RAM

Buddy Holly - 1961 - Blue Days ~ Black Nights FLAC


 Black Nights/Don't Come Back Knockin'/Midnight Shift/Girl On My Mind

 

 

 Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. His style was influenced by gospel music, country music, and rhythm and blues acts, which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.

He made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group "Buddy and Bob" with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening for Elvis Presley, he decided to pursue a career in music. He opened for Presley three times that year; his band's style shifted from country and western to entirely rock and roll. In October that year, when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets, he was spotted by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get a contract with Decca Records.


Holly's recording sessions at Decca were produced by Owen Bradley, who had become famous for producing orchestrated country hits for stars like Patsy Cline. Unhappy with Bradley's musical style and control in the studio, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day", among other songs. Petty became the band's manager and sent the demo to Brunswick Records, which released it as a single credited to "The Crickets", which became the name of Holly's band. In September 1957, as the band toured, "That'll Be the Day" topped the US and UK singles charts. Its success was followed in October by another major hit, "Peggy Sue".

The album The "Chirping" Crickets, released in November 1957, reached number five on the UK Albums Chart. Holly made his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1958 and soon after toured Australia and then the UK. In early 1959, he assembled a new band, consisting of future country music star Waylon Jennings (bass), famed session musician Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums), and embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, he chartered an airplane to travel to his next show, in Moorhead, Minnesota. Soon after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson in a tragedy later referred to by Don McLean as "The Day the Music Died" in his song "American Pie".


 During his short career, Holly wrote and recorded many songs. He is often regarded as the artist who defined the traditional rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. He was a major influence on later popular music artists, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, The Hollies (who named themselves in his honor), Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw (who later played Holly), and Elton John. He was among the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 13 in its list of "100 Greatest Artists".  Thanks to RAM

Monday 25 January 2021

Beatless - 1964 - All My Loving FLAC


 All My Loving/Ask Me Why/Money/P.S. I Love You

 

 "All My Loving" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their second UK album With the Beatles (1963). It was written by Paul McCartney(credited to Lennon–McCartney), and produced by George Martin. Though not officially released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, the song drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP. The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964.


 P.S. I Love You" is a song recorded by English rock band the Beatles in 1962. It was composed principally by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and produced by Ron Richards. The song was released in the UK on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their debut album Please Please Me (1963). It was later included on the American release Introducing... The Beatles (1964), its reissue The Early Beatles (1965), and the Beatles compilation album Love Songs (1977). 

 "Ask Me Why" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their single "Please Please Me". It was also included on their 1963 debut album Please Please Me. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. 

The Beatles recorded "Money" in seven takes on July 18, 1963, with their usual lineup. A series of piano overdubs was later added by producer George Martin. The song was released in November 1963 as the final track on their second UK album, With the Beatles.  Thanks to RAM


Barry Ryan - 1972 - Eloise FLAC

  Eloise/Love Is Love/The Colour Of My Love

 

 

 Barry Ryan (born Barry Sapherson, 24 October 1948, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English former pop singer. He currently works as a photographer.
 
 

The son of pop singer Marion Ryan began performing with his twin brother Paul at the age of 16. In 1965 they signed a recording contract with Decca under the name of Paul & Barry Ryan. Within two years they had amassed 8 Top 50 singles in the UK. Their best sellers were "Don't Bring Me Your Heartaches", a number 13 hit in 1965, "I Love Her", a number 17 hit in 1966 and "Have Pity on the Boy", a number 18 hit the same year.

This success took its toll on Paul, who was unable to cope any longer with the stress of show business. It was decided that Barry would now continue as a solo artist, enabling his brother to stay out of the limelight and write songs for his twin to perform. Their greatest achievement as a composer-singer duo, now for MGM Records, was "Eloise", a number 2 hit in 1968. Melodramatic and heavily orchestrated, it sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. "Love is Love", their next chart entry, also became a million-seller.

Ryan was also popular in Germany and France. The single "Red Man" reached number 2 in the French chart in 1971. Promoted by Bravo, the German youth magazine, he recorded a number of songs in German. "Die Zeit macht nur vor dem Teufel halt" ("Time Only Stops for the Devil"; English recording as "Today" released on the album Red Man in 1971) peaked at number 8.

Ryan stopped performing in the early 1970s. He made a comeback in the late 1990s when a two CD set with his and his brother's old songs was released. Ryan was also part of the "Solid Silver '60s Tour" of the United Kingdom in 2003, singing "Eloise" backed by the Dakotas.  Thanks to RAM

Deep Purple - 1969 - Shades Of Deep Purple @320 RE-UP


 Emmaretta/Hush/Kentucky Woman/River Deep, Mountain High




Deep Purple survived a seemingly endless series of lineup changes and a dramatic mid-career shift from grandiose progressive rock to ear-shattering heavy metal to emerge as a true institution of the British hard rock community; once credited in The Guinness Book of World Records as the globe's loudest band, their revolving-door roster launched the careers of performers including Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan.

  
 Deep Purple were formed in Hertford, England, in 1968, with an inaugural lineup that featured guitarist Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice. Initially dubbed Roundabout, the group was first assembled as a session band for ex-Searchers drummer Chris Curtis but quickly went their own way, touring Scandinavia before beginning work on their debut LP, Shades of Deep Purple. The most pop-oriented release of their career, the album generated a Top Five American hit with its reading of Joe South's "Hush" but otherwise went unnoticed at home. The Book of Taliesyn followed (in the U.S. only) in 1969, again cracking the U.S. Top 40 with a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman."

With their self-titled third LP, Deep Purple's ambitions grew, however; the songs reflecting a new complexity and density as Lord's classically influenced keyboards assumed a much greater focus. Soon after the album's release, their American label Tetragrammaton folded, and with the dismissals of Evans and Simper, the band started fresh, recruiting singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover from the ranks of the pop group Episode Six.

 The revamped Deep Purple's first album, 1970's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, further sought to fuse rock and classical music. When the project, which was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was poorly received, Blackmore took creative control of the band, steering it toward a heavier, guitar-dominated approach that took full advantage of Gillan's powerful vocals. The gambit worked; 1970's Deep Purple in Rock heralded the beginning of the group's most creatively and commercially successful period. At home, the album sold over a million copies, with the subsequent non-LP single "Black Night" falling just shy of topping the U.K. pop charts. Released in 1971, Fireball was also a smash, scoring a hit with "Strange Kind of Woman."


Plans to record the follow-up at the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, were derailed after the venue burned down during a live appearance by Frank Zappa, but the experience inspired Deep Purple's most enduring hit, the AOR staple "Smoke on the Water." The song, featured on the multi-platinum classic Machine Head, reached the U.S. Top Five in mid-1972 and positioned Deep Purple among rock's elite; the band consolidated its status with the 1973 studio follow-up Who Do We Think We Are and the hit "Woman from Tokyo." However, long-simmering creative differences between Blackmore and Gillan pushed the latter out of the group that same year, with Glover soon exiting as well. Singer David Coverdale and bassist/singer Glenn Hughes were recruited for 1974's Burn, and Gillan meanwhile formed a band bearing his own name.



After completing 1974's Stormbringer, Blackmore left Deep Purple as well, to form Rainbow with vocalist Ronnie James Dio; his replacement was ex-James Gang guitarist Tommy Bolin, who made his debut on Come Taste the Band. All the changes clearly took their toll, however, and following a farewell tour, the group dissolved in 1976. Coverdale, meanwhile, went on to form Whitesnake, and Bolin died of a drug overdose later in the year.


The classic lineup of Blackmore, Gillan, Lord, Glover, and Paice reunited Deep Purple in 1984 for a new album, the platinum smash Perfect Strangers. The House of Blue Light followed three years later, but as past tensions resurfaced, Gillan again exited in mid-1989. Onetime Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was recruited for 1990's Slaves and Masters before Gillan again rejoined to record The Battle Rages On..., an apt title as Blackmore quit the group midway through the supporting tour, to be temporarily replaced by Joe Satriani.
 


In 1994, Steve Morse took over the guitar slot (fresh from a stint in Kansas), and the revitalized group returned to the studio for 1996's Purpendicular, which proved a success among the Purple faithful. Abandon followed in 1998, as well as a 1999 orchestral performance released the following year as Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Deep Purple were given the box set treatment the same year with the four-disc set Shades: 1968-1998, which collected hits, demos, live takes, and unreleased tracks from throughout the years (touching upon all of Purple's different lineups). Meanwhile, Blackmore kept himself busy after leaving the band by issuing a single album with his briefly resuscitated outfit Rainbow (1998's Stranger in Us All), before forming the Renaissance-inspired Blackmore's Night with fiancée/vocalist Candice Night.


Despite continuing lineup upheavals, Deep Purple remained active well into the 21st century. Keyboardist Lord departed the band in 2002 and issued several classical albums during the remainder of the decade; sadly, he died in 2012 after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly a year. Lord's replacement in Deep Purple during the new millennium was Don Airey, and the band issued two surprisingly strong albums with a lineup of Gillan, Glover, Paice, Morse, and Airey: 2003's Bananas and 2005's Rapture of the Deep. The late '90s and early 2000s also saw the release of many archival releases and collections preserving the band's enduring legacy (Machine Head's 25th anniversary, Friends & Relatives, Rhino's The Very Best Of, and Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals), as well as a slew of DVDs (Total Abandon: Live Australia 1999, In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra, Bombay Calling, and New Live & Rare). The impressive and timeless-sounding Now What?!, produced by Bob Ezrin, appeared early in 2013. Surviving members of Deep Purple came together for a tribute concert held April 4, 2014 at Royal Albert Hall that marked the 45th anniversary of when Jon Lord's "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" first debuted there. The event was chronicled on film and in two albums, Celebrating Jon Lord: The Rock Legend and Celebrating Jon Lord: The Composer, which appeared in the fall of 2014.

Be@tles - 1967 - N0rweg!an W00d @320 RE-UP


 Paperback Writer/We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper/Norwegian Wood


The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania", but as the group's music grew in sophistication, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the counterculture of the 1960s.


The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their popularity in the United Kingdom after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. They acquired the nickname "the Fab Four" as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, and by early 1964 became international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market. From 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (commonly known as the White Album, 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the surviving members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001.



According to the RIAA, the Beatles are the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful "Hot 100" artists; as of 2016, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with twenty. They have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. Collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the twentieth century's 100 most influential people, they are the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and all four were inducted individually from 1994 to 2015.  

The Lovin' Spoonful - 1966 - Jug Music @320 RE-UP


 Jug Band Music/Warm Baby/Bald Headed Lena/Let The Boy Rock And Roll



Right on the tails of the Beau Brummels and the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful were among the first American groups to challenge the domination of the British Invasion bands in the mid-'60s. Between mid-1965 and the end of 1967, the group was astonishingly successful, issuing one classic hit single after another, including "Do You Believe in Magic?," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," "Daydream," "Summer in the City," "Rain on the Roof," "Nashville Cats," and "Six O'Clock."

Like most of the folk-rockers, the Lovin' Spoonful were more pop and rock than folk, which didn't detract from their music at all. Much more than the Byrds, and even more than the Mamas & the Papas, the Spoonful exhibited a brand of unabashedly melodic, cheery, and good-time music, though their best single, "Summer in the City," was uncharacteristically riff-driven and hard-driving. More influenced by blues and jug bands than other folk-rock acts, their albums were spotty and their covers at times downright weak. As glorious as their singles were, they lacked the depth and innovation of the Byrds, their chief competitors for the crown of best folk-rock band, and their legacy hasn't been canonized with nearly as much reverence as their West Coast counterparts.

Leader and principal songwriter John Sebastian was a young veteran of the Greenwich Village folk scene when he formed the band in 1965 with Zal Yanovsky, who'd already played primitive folk-rock of a sort with future members of the Mamas & the Papas in the Mugwumps. Sebastian already had some recording experience under his belt, playing harmonica (his father was a virtuoso classical harmonica player) on sessions by folkies like Tom Rush and Fred Neil. The Spoonful were rounded out by Steve Boone on bass and Joe Butler on drums. After some tentative interest from Phil Spector (who considered producing them), they ended up signing with Kama Sutra. Sebastian's autoharp (which would also decorate several subsequent tracks) helped propel "Do You Believe in Magic?" into the Top Ten in late 1965. 

 The Lovin' Spoonful were torn asunder by a drug bust in 1967. Boone and Yanovsky were arrested in California for marijuana possession, and evidently got out of trouble by turning in their source. This didn't sit well with the burgeoning counterculture, which called for a boycott of Spoonful product, although the effect on their sales may have been overestimated; most of the people who bought Spoonful records were average teenage Americans, not hippies. Yanovsky left the band in mid-1967, to be replaced by Jerry Yester, former producer of the Association.

The band had a few more mild hits, but couldn't survive the loss of John Sebastian, who effectively closed the chapter by leaving in 1968, although the group straggled on briefly under the helm of Butler. Sebastian went on to moderate success as a singer/songwriter in the 1970s. Live at the Hotel Seville, the first new Lovin' Spoonful album in three decades, was released in 1999.

The Hollies - 1964 - The Hollies FLAC RE-UP


 Rockin' Robin/What Kind of Love/Whatcha Gonna Do 'Bout It/When I'm Not There
 


When the Hollies one of the best and most commercially successful pop/rock acts of the British Invasion  began recording in 1963, they relied heavily upon the R&B/early rock & roll covers that provided the staple diet for countless British bands of the time. They quickly developed a more distinctive style featuring three-part harmonies (heavily influenced by the Everly Brothers), ringing guitars, and hook-happy material, penned by both outside writers (especially future 10cc member Graham Gouldman) and themselves, eventually composing most of their repertoire on their own. The best early Hollies records evoke an infectious, melodic cheer similar to that of the early Beatles, although the Hollies were neither in their class (not an insult: nobody else was) nor demonstrated a similar capacity for artistic growth. They tried, though, easing into somewhat more sophisticated folk-rock and mildly psychedelic sounds as the decade wore on, especially on their albums (which contain quite a few overlooked highlights).

 Allan Clarke (lead singer) and Graham Nash (vocals, guitar) had been friends since childhood in Manchester, and they formed the nucleus of the Hollies in the early '60s with bassist Eric Haydock. In early 1963, EMI producer Ron Richards signed the group after seeing them at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Guitarist Vic Steele left before the first session, to be replaced by 17-year-old Tony Hicks. Drummer Don Rathbone only lasted for a couple of singles before being replaced by Bobby Elliott, who had played with Hicks in his pre-Hollies group, the Dolphins. The lineup changes were most fortuitous: Hicks contributed a lot to the group with his ringing guitar work and songwriting, and Elliott was one of the very finest drummers in all of pop/rock. Although their first singles were R&B covers, the Hollies were no match for the Rolling Stones (or, for that matter, the Beatles) in this department, and they sounded much more at home with pop/rock material that provided a sympathetic complement to their glittering harmonies. They ran off an awesome series of hits in the U.K. in the '60s, making the Top 20 almost 20 times. Some of their best mid-'60s singles, like "Here I Go Again," "We're Through," and the British number one "I'm Alive," passed virtually unnoticed in the United States, where they didn't make the Top 40 until early 1966, when Graham Gouldman's "Look Through Any Window" did the trick. In 1966, Eric Haydock left the group under cloudy circumstances, replaced by Bernie Calvert.


The Hollies really didn't break in America in a big way until "Bus Stop" (1966), their first Stateside Top Tenner; "On a Carousel," "Carrie Ann," and "Stop Stop Stop" were also big hits. Here the Hollies were providing something of a satisfying option for pop-oriented listeners that found the increasingly experimental outings of groups like the Beatles and Kinks too difficult to follow. At the same time, the production and harmonies were sophisticated enough to maintain a broader audience than more teen- and bubblegum-oriented British Invasion acts like Herman's Hermits. Their albums showed a more serious and ambitious side, particularly on the part of Graham Nash, without ever escaping the truth that their forte was well-executed pop/rock, not serious statements. Nash, however, itched to make an impression as a more serious artist, particularly on the "King Midas in Reverse" single (1967). Its relatively modest commercial success didn't augur well for his influence over the band's direction, and their next 45s were solidly in the more tried-and-true romantic tradition. By 1968, though, Nash really felt constrained by the band's commercial orientation, and by the end of the year he was gone, left for the States to help found Crosby, Stills, & Nash. His departure really marked the end of the group's peak era.

 In 1969, the band tried to have its cake and eat it too by doing a whole album of Hollie-ized Dylan songs, which was received poorly by some critics, although it was a decent seller in Britain. Nash was replaced by Terry Sylvester (formerly of Liverpool bands the Escorts and Swinging Blue Jeans), and the hit streak continued for a while. "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," in fact, was one of their biggest international singles. But the group was really reaching a cul de sac; they'd managed a remarkably long run at the top considering that they hadn't changed their formula much since the mid-'60s, adding enough sophistication to the lyrics and arrangements to avoid sounding markedly dated. It was apparent they really weren't capable of producing long-playing works striking enough to appeal to the album audience, though, and their singles, though still hits on occasion, weren't as memorable as their best '60s work. A modest slide in the early '70s was arrested by "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," a Creedence Clearwater Revival-type rocker that made number two in the States in 1972. The timing wasn't ideal; by the time it became a smash, Clarke, who had sung lead on the single, had left to go solo, to be replaced by Swedish vocalist Mikael Rickfors. Clarke rejoined in mid-1973, and the group had one last international monster, "The Air That I Breathe," which made number six in the U.S. in 1974. The group went on to record a string of further albums in the second half of the 1970s.
 

Curiously, mostly thanks to Clarke, they did pick up on Bruce Springsteen's work as a songwriter earlier than a lot of other acts, but not even their beautiful rendition of "Sandy" could avert their slide from the public's consciousness. Most of their late-'70s releases were heavily influenced by the prevailing disco and dance-rock sounds of the era, although they never entirely abandoned their harmony vocal sound. Under other circumstances they might have pulled off a career conversion similar to that achieved by the Bee Gees after 1974, but luck wasn't with them and their output in this period was ignored, passed over by fans of their old sound and the disco audience alike. This coincided with a decision by their American label, Epic Records -- apparently conceding that the Hollies would never sell large numbers of LPs regardless of how big their hits ever were -- to minimize the marketing efforts invested in the band's records, essentially running out the clock on their contract. Ironically, the label ended up passing on the one LP the group issued in the late '70s that would have reached out to old and new audiences, the concert album originally titled Hollies Live. It ended up getting reviewed enthusiastically in numerous American magazines and newspapers as a Canadian import. The group seemed to reach a dead end in the early '80s, with Sylvester and Calvert exiting suddenly during that period.

 The Hollies received a boost in press interest in America during 1983, however, when Graham Nash rejoined for one LP (What Goes Around... on Atlantic Records), but even this proved a false start. A new generation of rock music critics, accustomed to looking askance at longtime acts such as the Hollies attempting to bring their sound into the 1980s, proved especially hostile to the group's British invasion-style gambit of re-interpreting a Motown standard like "Stop! In the Name of Love," which became the single off the album. In a sad piece of irony, What Goes Around... received more press attention than any long-player they'd ever released in America, but most of the reviews were lukewarm or outright negative; worse still, this was a dozen years past Crosby, Stills & Nash's heyday, and even Graham Nash's star had faded considerably by then. Additionally, it turned out that a lot of his remaining American CSN fans were simply not prepared to accept -- or, at least, get excited by -- the idea of his returning to the Hollies. They got lots of print and radio exposure, but the public just didn't care that much; as an example, an autograph signing at Tower Records in New York's East Village was ended an hour earlier than its scheduled 90 minutes when hardly anyone showed up to meet the band. And the tour by this lineup had to be hastily rebooked into smaller halls when ticket sales didn't meet promoter expectations.
 
 The group continued to play concerts and make beautiful records, but there was no public demand for new releases, and by the '90s they'd ceased making new studio recordings. As the 21st century beckoned, Allan Clarke -- after nearly 40 years as the lead vocalist for the band -- found that his singing didn't come to him as strongly or as well as he was used to, and he decided to retire, leaving Hicks and Elliott as the last two core members of the group. Clarke's first successor was Carl Wayne, the onetime lead singer of the 1960s Birmingham-spawned band the Move, who fronted the band on-stage for the next couple of years. In 2003, EMI Records recognized the Hollies' musical significance with a huge (and hugely satisfying) six-CD box set, The Long Road Home: 1963-2003, covering every era and major lineup in the group's history, and containing a huge number of previously unreleased and unanthologized tracks.


Wayne's death in 2004 led to another shift in their lineup, but in 2006 the group bounced back with its first new studio album in 23 years, appropriately entitled Staying Power, which featured Hicks and Elliott at the core of a lineup that included Peter Howarth on lead vocals, with Ian Parker on keyboards, Steve Laurie on guitar, and Ray Stiles on bass. Although not widely distributed outside of England, the record -- ironically, their first CD-original studio album -- proved to be a very fine updating of the group's sound, retaining enough of their traditional pop/harmony elements to satisfy longtime listeners. A live DVD derived from a December 2006 concert in Belgium was issued in 2007, a year that also saw a big chunk of their vintage catalog get further CD re-releases, principally through EMI. In 2009, the Hollies returned with a new album, Then, Now, and Always, and the following year, they received one of the greatest accolades of their career when the Hollies were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The group continued to tour in the U.K. and Europe, and their 2012 road trip resulted in a live album, 2013's Hollies Live Hits: We Got the Tunes! And in 2014, as the band celebrated their 50th anniversary as a recording act, they released a special three-disc collection, 50 at Fifty, a set that covered the group's history in 50 songs, and included a new track, "Skylarks."

The Who - 1967 - Ready Steady Who @320 RE-UP


 Disguises/Circles/Batman/Bucket T/ Barbara Ann


Ready Steady Who is a 7" EP by The Who, released only in the UK* on 11 November 1966. The title refers to a Ready Steady Go! TV special the band had recently appeared in, but the EP contains different recordings to those performed on the TV show. These consist of two original songs by Pete Townshend, as well as covers of the theme from the Batman TV series and Jan and Dean's "Bucket T". Also included is a cover of The Regents' "Barbara Ann", a song whose famous arrangement by The Beach Boys The Who follows more closely.

The original EP credits the song "Batman" to Jan Berry, Don Altfeld (misspelled as "Altfield") and Fred Weider. The song was actually written by Neal Hefti, and is not a cover of the Jan and Dean-embellished version. The credit was corrected in the liner notes to the 1995 CD release of A Quick One.

All of the songs are available as bonus tracks on the 1995 reissue CD of A Quick One, except for "Circles", which differs from the version on the 2002 deluxe version of the My Generation LP, and can be found on Two's Missing.


* The EP was also released in Australia.

Troggs - 1967 - W!ld Th!ng @320 RE-UP


 
With A Girl Like You/ I Want You/From Home/Wild Thing


The Troggs (originally called The Troglodytes) are an English rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in 1964. They had a number of hits in the United Kingdom and the United States. Their most famous songs include the U.S. chart-topper "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You" and "Love Is All Around", all of which sold over 1 million copies and were awarded gold discs. "Wild Thing" is ranked #257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was an influence on garage rock and punk rock.


"Wild Thing" is a song written by Chip Taylor. Originally recorded by American band The Wild Ones in 1965, "Wild Thing" is best known for its 1966 cover by the English band The Troggs, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1966. The song peaked at No. 2 in Britain. "Wild Thing" Charted CAN #1, NZ #1, AUS #1, NED #5, GER #7, NZ #28.

Turtles - Let Me Be @320 RE-UP


 Let Me Be/Your Ma Said You Cried/It Was A Very Good Year/Love Minus Zero No Limit



Though many remember only their 1967 hit, "Happy Together," the Turtles were one of the more enjoyable American pop groups of the '60s, moving from folk-rock inspired by the Byrds to a sparkling fusion of Zombies-inspired chamber pop and straight-ahead, good-time pop reminiscent of the Lovin' Spoonful, the whole infused with beautiful vocal harmonies courtesy of dual frontmen Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. Though they hit number one in 1967 with the infectious "Happy Together," the Turtles scored only three more Top Ten hits and broke up by the end of the '60s. Kaylan and Volman later joined Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention during the early '70s and also recorded themselves as Flo & Eddie, but were on the oldies circuit with a revamped Turtles by the mid-'80s.

Born within two months of each other in 1947 (though on opposite coasts), Howard Kaylan (b. Howard Kaplan) and Mark Volman attended the same school, Westchester High in Los Angeles (Kaylan had moved from New York as a child). The two sang in the school's a cappella choir, where Volman soon heard about Kaylan's instrumental surf group, the Nightriders (which also included choir members Al Nichol on lead guitar, Don Murray on drums and Chuck Portz on bass). Volman joined the group just before they became the Crossfires in 1963. After high school graduation, the Crossfires continued on while its members attended area colleges (picking up rhythm guitarist Jim Tucker along the way). 






The group finally got its big break in 1965 after local disc jockey and club owner Reb Foster heard them. Foster liked the Crossfires so much, he became their manager and found the group a contract with White Whale Records. The sextet changed their name to the Tyrtles (an unveiled homage to the Byrds, soon amended to the correct spelling) and recorded a Bob Dylan cover as their first single. The song's fusion of folk with glittering rock & roll was also lifted from the Byrds, and "It Ain't Me Babe" reached the Top Ten in August 1965, just three months after "Mr. Tambourine Man" had hit number one.

Moving from the songwriting talents of Dylan to the new "king of protest," producer P.F. Sloan, the Turtles hit the Top 40 twice more during 1965-1966 with "Let Me Be" and "You Baby," after which Murray and Portz left (to be replaced by John Barbata and, for a short time, bassist/producer Chip Douglas). Though the Turtles had appeared to run out of steam by the beginning of 1967, the group stormed back with a song they'd heard in a batch of demos, a surefire hit written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon. "Happy Together" spent three weeks at number one on the American charts, and proved to be one of the biggest hits of the year. The Turtles' next three singles were written by Bonner-Gordon, and each hit the Top 20: the number three hit "She'd Rather Be with Me" (which eclipsed even "Happy Together" in terms of international success), plus "You Know What I Mean" and "She's My Girl." Chip Douglas, who had arranged the horns on "Happy Together," left the group to work with the Monkees, and was replaced by Jim Pons (formerly with the Leaves). Original member Jim Tucker left the group as well, after a tour of dingy pubs in England caused more than a bit of disillusionment with the group's lack of success. 


 Like so many other pop groups in the late '60s, the Turtles felt they had to stretch artistically to keep pace with their more critically respected rivals, and beginning with "You Know What I Mean," the Turtles' revolving-door cast of producers and arrangers made their sound progressively more psychedelic, though they were still much closer to the pop/rock mainstream than to the era's premier psychedelic groups. The group asserted their rights in late 1967, and self-produced the disappointing "Sound Asleep," which was the band's first single after "Happy Together" to miss the Top 40. White Whale Records demanded an outside hand be brought to the studio, so the Turtles compromised by going back to Chip Douglas. The result, "The Story of Rock and Roll," was shut out of the Top 40 as well, prompting the career-saving "Elenore" in September 1968, which hit number six (the best placing by a single actually written by the Turtles). The inevitable concept LP came in November 1968: The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, on which the group attempted to sound like (and even dress up as) 11 distinct bands -- one for each song on the LP. It was an interesting concept, and a measured success, with "Elenore" to its credit as well as another number six hit, "You Showed Me" (originally written and recorded by the Byrds). Drummer John Seiter joined the Turtles after the recording of Battle of the Bands, replacing Barbata (who had left to work with Crosby, Stills & Nash). 

  After White Whale attempted to record Monkees-style, with the vocals of Kaylan and Volman added to a generic studio backing track, the duo rebelled and attempted to get back to the band aesthetic. Inspired by the Kinks' then-recent Village Green Preservation Society LP, the Turtles recruited frontman Ray Davies to serve as producer for their 1969 LP, Turtle Soup. Two singles from the album, "You Don't Have to Walk in the Rain" and "Love in the City," both failed to reach the Top 40. Kaylan and Volman formed their own label, Blimp Records, and signed a few acts, including folksinger Judee Sill, who wrote the Turtles' last recording, "Lady-O." More wrangles with White Whale, on top of the lack of chart success, had destroyed the Turtles by 1970, though. White Whale continued to raid the vaults during the year, releasing old singles, a second hits compilation, and an album of rarities (Wooden Head). 

 Before the end of 1970, though, Kaylan, Volman, and Pons had joined Frank Zappa's early-'70s edition of the Mothers of Invention. (The use of the Turtles' name or even their own names in a musical context was illegal according to an earlier contract, so Kaylan and Volman appeared as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie.) Besides touring with Zappa, the trio appeared on four of his albums from 1970 to 1972: Chunga's Revenge, 200 Motels, Live at the Fillmore, and Just Another Band from L.A. After Zappa was injured in an on-stage altercation, though, the re-christened Flo & Eddie toured with several of the Mothers for awhile, and recorded five LPs for themselves between 1975 and 1981. The duo also did session work, composed music for children's' movies (The Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake) and broadcast their own radio show on L.A.'s KROQ and later New York's WXRK. By 1984, the Turtles' name had reverted back to the group, and Volman and Kaylan began touring with a new lineup as the Turtles...Featuring Flo & Eddie.

Box Tops - 1967 - The Letter @320 RE-UP


  The Letter/Trains And Boats And Planes/Neon Rainbow/Cry Like a Baby


The Box Tops were an American rock band, formed in Memphis in 1963. They are best known for the hits "The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", and "Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James & Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry, pop tunes such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Keith Reid, Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum, and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Chips Moman. Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the power pop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist, during which he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops.
 
The Box Tops' music combined elements of soul music and light pop. Their records are prime examples of the styles made popular by Moman and Penn at American Sound Studio in Memphis. Many of their lesser known Top 40 hits, including "Neon Rainbow", "I Met Her in Church", and "Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March", are considered minor classics. As rock critic Lester Bangs wrote in a review of the group's Super Hits album, "A song like 'Soul Deep' is obvious enough, a patented commercial sound, yet within these strictures it communicates with a depth and sincerity of feeling that holds the attention and brings you back often."



"The Letter" is a popular song, written and composed by Wayne Carson Thompson, Realeased July 1967 it reached #1 that September. Retaining the #1 position for a total of four weeks, Billboard ranked the record as the No. 2 song for 1967. The track also gave the Box Tops an international hit charting in Australia (#4 for six weeks), Austria (#9), Belgium (Flemish Region) (#2), Chile (#1), Denmark (#7), France (#2), Germany (#5), Greece (#2 foreign release), Ireland (#11), Israel (#1), Malaysia (#4), New Zealand (#4), the Netherlands (#3), Norway (#1), Poland (#1), South Africa (#4), Spain (#9) and Sweden (#2). The Box Tops also reached #5 in the UK,

"Neon Rainbow" is a song written by Wayne Carson Thompson and made famous by Memphis blue-eyed soul band The Box Tops. The single charted at U.S. #24, Australia #30 and Canada  #17


 "Cry Like a Baby" is a 1968 song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and performed by The Box Tops. The song reached #2 in April 1968 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position which it held for two weeks. It was kept out of the top spot by Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey", which stayed at #1 for five weeks. "Cry Like a Baby" also reached #2 on Cashbox for one week. It stayed on the Hot 100 for 15 weeks and Cashbox for 14 weeks. It was awarded a gold disc for selling over one million copies in the United States. the single charted at #2 in the States #46 in Australa #3 in canada and #15 in the UK.

Sunday 24 January 2021

Moody Blues - 1965 - The Moody Blues @320 RE-UP


 Go Now/Lose Your MoneyI Don't Want to Go on Without You/Steal Your Heart Away



Although they're best known today for their lush, lyrically and musically profound (some would say bombastic) psychedelic-era albums, the Moody Blues started out as one of the better R&B-based combos of the British Invasion. The group's history began in Birmingham, England with Ray Thomas (harmonica, vocals) and Mike Pinder (keyboards, vocals), who had played together in El Riot & the Rebels and the Krew Cats. They began recruiting members of some of the best rival groups working in Birmingham, including Denny Laine (vocals, guitar), Graeme Edge (drums), and Clint Warwick (bass, vocals). 

  The Moody Blues, as they came to be known, made their debut in Birmingham in May of 1964, and quickly earned the notice and later the services of manager Tony Secunda. A major tour was quickly booked, and the band landed an engagement at the Marquee Club, which resulted in a contract with England's Decca Records less than six months after their formation. The group's first single, "Steal Your Heart Away," released in September of 1964, didn't touch the British charts. But their second single, "Go Now," released in November of 1964 -- a cover of a nearly identical American single by R&B singer Bessie Banks, heavily featuring Laine's mournful lead vocal -- fulfilled every expectation and more, reaching number one in England and earning them a berth in some of the nation's top performing venues (including the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert, appearing with some of the top acts of the period); its number ten chart placement in America also earned them a place as a support act for the Beatles on one tour, and the release of a follow-up LP (Magnificent Moodies in England, Go Now in America) on both sides of the Atlantic. 


It was coming up with a follow-up hit to "Go Now," however, that proved their undoing. Despite their fledgling songwriting efforts and the access they had to American demos, this version of the Moody Blues never came up with another single success. By the end of the spring of 1965, the frustration was palpable within the band. The group decided to make their fourth single, "From the Bottom of My Heart," an experiment with a different, much more subtly soulful sound, and it was one of the most extraordinary records of the entire British Invasion, with haunting performances all around. Unfortunately, the single only reached number 22 on the British charts following its release in May of 1965, and barely brushed the Top 100 in America. Ultimately, the grind of touring, coupled with the strains facing the group, became too much for Warwick, who exited in the spring of 1966; and by August of 1966 Laine had left as well. The group soldiered on, however, Warwick succeeded by John Lodge, an ex-bandmate of Ray Thomas, and in late 1966 singer/guitarist Justin Hayward joined.