So, I've been posting these in one or two places every week, but once in a while I like to try them out on here, as it's easier to link to on a blog. And it also gives me the opportunity to embed some videos - there are more of them than you might think considering how long ago this is.
In addition, anyone who uses We7 or Spotify can hear as much of the chart as I could find, though that doesn't include either of the Top 2.
Thanks to Chartstats for chart data. Note that this is the Record Retailer chart which is now used for "official" reference works, not necessarily the most familiar to people at the time.
01. (1) Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
02.(NE) The Beatles - All You Need Is Love
03. (3) The Monkees - Alternate Title
04. (2) Engelbert Humperdinck - There Goes My Everything
05. (4) The Turtles - She'd Rather Be With Me
06. (6) Vikki Carr - It Must Be Him (Seul Sur Son Etoile)
07. (5) The Hollies - Carrie-Anne
08.(17) Pink Floyd - See Emily Play
09.(10) Topol - If I Were A Rich Man
10.(11) Aretha Franklin - Respect
11. (9) The Young Rascals - Groovin'
12.(13) Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
13.(NE) Scott Mckenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)
14.(12) The Small Faces - Here Come The Nice
15. (8) Traffic - Paper Sun
16.(14) The Supremes - The Happening
17.(18) Cream - Strange Brew
18.(15) The Four Tops - Seven Rooms Of Gloom
19. (7) Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich - Okay!
20.(16) Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In The Subway
21.(28) Marvelettes - When You're Young And In Love
22.(21) Gladys Knight And The Pips - Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me
23.(20) The Tremeloes - Silence Is Golden
24.(22) Vince Hill - Roses Of Picardy
25.(36) Nancy Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood - You Only Live Twice/Jackson
26.(27) Cliff Richard - I'll Come Running
27.(25) The Mamas And The Papas - Dedicated To The One I Love
28.(29) Otis Redding - Shake
29.(39) Young Idea - With A Little Help From My Friends
30.(37) The Dubliners - Seven Drunken Nights
31.(RE) Mike Sammes Singers - Somewhere My Love
32.(30) Lulu - Let's Pretend
33.(32) Anita Harris - Just Loving You
34.(24) The Beach Boys - Then I Kissed Her
35.(40) The Bachelors - Marta
36.(45) Tom Jones - Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings
37.(23) The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
38.(NE) Sandie Shaw - Tonight In Tokyo
39.(50) Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Wind Cries Mary
40.(31) Cilla Black - What Good Am I
41.(26) Engelbert Humperdinck - Release Me
42.(41) Nancy Sinatra And Frank Sinatra - Somethin' Stupid
43.(42) Herb Alpert - Casino Royale
44.(49) Happenings - I Got Rhythm
45.(43) Sandie Shaw - Puppet On A String
46.(35) Joe Brown - With A Little Help From My Friends
47.(NE) Johnny Mann Singers - Up, Up And Away
48.(33) Judith Durham - Olive Tree
49.(NE) Desmond Dekker And The Aces - 007
50.(NE) The Bee Gees - To Love Somebody
And as a little bonus, a few new entries from the following week's chart:
23.(NE) Dave Davies - Death Of A Clown
48.(RE) John Walker - Annabella
50.(NE) Otis Redding And Carla Thomas - Tramp
Showing posts with label 1960s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1960s. Show all posts
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Number 23: Otis Redding
Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)(Atlantic 584 049)
Chart debut: 24 November 1966
Writers: Otis Redding, Steve Cropper
I tend to have mixed feelings about very dramatic introductions in pop - the kind that don't just kick into the song but have a life of their own. Sometimes they seem like a showy trick on the part of the writers or producers boasting about their melodic and arrangement abilities. Sometimes they sound a little bit like one of those exercises from school where they'd show you how the same notes sound so different in different keys. And sometimes I just want them to get on with it.
The start of 'Sad Song' is a bit different, though - it opens with a literal fanfare, as if to poke a bit of fun at itself. Self-mockery isn't something many of us instantly associate with soul music, but Otis always seemed to have enough awareness of himself to get away with it - even the title of this cut combines Steve Cropper's pastiche of Otis's attempts to communicate arrangement ideas with a slight dig at his gloomy image. It's natural to bracket him with other "tragic rock stars" but he's not like the ones who died because they were drinking to get over the pain.
The joy of the song is the way he turns it into a communal experience. Perhaps that makes it the ultimate sad song. Incidentally, there is also a 'Happy Song', released only posthumously. It doesn't work as well as this one.
YouTube if you want to: It's part of a live medley from Norway where he's certainly enjoying himself. There's a homebrew video to the studio track too.
Chart debut: 24 November 1966
Writers: Otis Redding, Steve Cropper
I tend to have mixed feelings about very dramatic introductions in pop - the kind that don't just kick into the song but have a life of their own. Sometimes they seem like a showy trick on the part of the writers or producers boasting about their melodic and arrangement abilities. Sometimes they sound a little bit like one of those exercises from school where they'd show you how the same notes sound so different in different keys. And sometimes I just want them to get on with it.
The start of 'Sad Song' is a bit different, though - it opens with a literal fanfare, as if to poke a bit of fun at itself. Self-mockery isn't something many of us instantly associate with soul music, but Otis always seemed to have enough awareness of himself to get away with it - even the title of this cut combines Steve Cropper's pastiche of Otis's attempts to communicate arrangement ideas with a slight dig at his gloomy image. It's natural to bracket him with other "tragic rock stars" but he's not like the ones who died because they were drinking to get over the pain.
The joy of the song is the way he turns it into a communal experience. Perhaps that makes it the ultimate sad song. Incidentally, there is also a 'Happy Song', released only posthumously. It doesn't work as well as this one.
YouTube if you want to: It's part of a live medley from Norway where he's certainly enjoying himself. There's a homebrew video to the studio track too.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Metapost: 1969 Muxtape
UPDATE TO THE UPDATED UPDATE UPDATE: Muxtape is of course no more. Darn.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE UPDATE: Everything now restored. Let me know if anything isn't working.
Picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Sweeping The Nation, I've compiled a 12-track Muxtape of tracks from the year 1969, which I chose because I thought it might be more of a challenge than the other years I'd considered. As Muxtape doesn't really offer a lot of room for explanatory text, and the Amazon downloads they link to aren't available here in Europe, I've used this space to give a bit of background, and to show where the tracks are available digitally to Brits without the aid of proprietory software.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to boast about the fact that I didn't attempt any rude puns here. I even left Serge Gainsbourg off, in case he led me astray.
UPDATE (Again!): Due to some sort of backup problem, it's all gone offline. Sorry about that.
1. Bobby Womack 'California Dreaming' (from The Last Great Soul Man [copy protected])
Actually a minor US hit in 1968, but scraping in here as it was unsuccessfully issued in Britain the following year; it was revived after appearing in a TV commercial a couple of years ago. Bob Dylan played it on his radio show a couple of weeks ago and reminded me how good this track was just as I was looking for tracks to put onto my new MP3 player. In some ways I like this more than the original.
2. The Beatles With Billy Preston 'Don't Let Me Down' (not legitimately available as a download - I have it on Past Masters Volume 2)
Because I couldn't not have The Beatles, and this one was already on the computer. Originally the flipside of 'Get Back' of course, and one of their more underappreciated tracks of this era.
3. The Bonzo Dog Band 'Mr. Apollo' (from Tadpoles)
The follow-up single to 'I'm The Urban Spaceman', though obviously not another hit for them. Although not everything they did has aged well, there are plenty of other Bonzos tracks this year I could have gone for - but this one wins out thanks to Viv Stanshall's monologue at the end; I'm resisting the temptation to quote as that would only spoil it. There's another version where he does it in German.
4. Marvin Gaye 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' (from The Complete Collection)
I hesitated to make such an obvious choice, but ultimately decided it was so superlative I couldn't avoid it.
5. Johnny Cash 'Wanted Man' (from The Man In Black )
The best-of collection gives this a 1969 copyright date. Anyway, it's a Dylan song not recorded by the man himself (his most prominent 1969 release was 'Lay Lady Lay', and that was never going to make the cut) very much betraying the influence of Hank Williams.
6. The Isley Brothers 'Behind A Painted Smile' (from Universal Masters Collection)
Another personal favourite, which is why I couldn't leave it out even though it was already a couple of years old by the time it charted. The Motown years may not have been the most enjoyable experience of their career but it had its moments. I even love the ending.
7. Horace Andy 'Skylarking' (from Skylarking)
Reggae isn't a part of the music world where I feel very much at home, but I know a good voice when I hear one. 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People' and 'The Israelites' were both hits in 1969 too, but I didn't have those to hand.
8. The Kinks 'Victoria' (from The Singles Collection)
I remember hearing The Fall's version a few times and thinking how remarkably they'd managed to remake the song in their own image. Then I heard the Kinks version and realised it sounded like The Fall already. Dave Davies claims that they once sang the entire song backwards on stage; "People thought we were mad. In fact, we probably were."
9. Cream 'Badge' (from I Feel Free)
According to George Harrison's I Me Mine, Ringo turned up at his house while he and Eric Clapton were struggling to think of a rhyme for "I told to you not to wander round in the dark". And the one he came up with is the one they used.
10. Fairport Convention 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' (from Unhalfbricking)
If I'd realised this was on the computer when I put the original set together, I probably would have included it over a couple of the ones I have used. But the blessing in disguise of my Rolling Stones track not working was an ideal opportunity to sneak it in. Sandy Denny had brought this song with her when she joined Fairport, so this is arguably not the original version but it seems safe to call it the definitive one.
11. The Beach Boys 'Break Away' (from The Warmth Of The Sun)
A contractually-obliged final single for Capitol, which proved to be a bit of a last hurrah for Brian Wilson (at least for a while) and a UK Top 10 hit to boot, although it flopped in America. Although it's not their most-lauded 45 even in Britain, and is often ignored entirely in the US, it's always been a bit of a favourite of mine, even if the lyrics can make for uncomfortable listening now we know what we do about his mental state at the time. Oddly, he split the publishing rights with his father.
12. Louis Armstrong 'We Have All The Time In The World' (bizarrely hard to find as a download, although it's easy to obtain on CD)
Like my first selection, a rather late developer here, finally charting in 1994 off the back of another advert.
The one that got away - The Rolling Stones 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' [B-side version] (from Rolled Gold Plus [album version,])The version I uploaded was the edited mono version from the B-side of 'Honky Tonk Women', but for some reason I haven't found that on download, so I've linked to the longer album cut. Between you and me, though, I've never been too keen on those choirboys at the start.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE UPDATE: Everything now restored. Let me know if anything isn't working.
Picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Sweeping The Nation, I've compiled a 12-track Muxtape of tracks from the year 1969, which I chose because I thought it might be more of a challenge than the other years I'd considered. As Muxtape doesn't really offer a lot of room for explanatory text, and the Amazon downloads they link to aren't available here in Europe, I've used this space to give a bit of background, and to show where the tracks are available digitally to Brits without the aid of proprietory software.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to boast about the fact that I didn't attempt any rude puns here. I even left Serge Gainsbourg off, in case he led me astray.
UPDATE (Again!): Due to some sort of backup problem, it's all gone offline. Sorry about that.
1. Bobby Womack 'California Dreaming' (from The Last Great Soul Man [copy protected])
Actually a minor US hit in 1968, but scraping in here as it was unsuccessfully issued in Britain the following year; it was revived after appearing in a TV commercial a couple of years ago. Bob Dylan played it on his radio show a couple of weeks ago and reminded me how good this track was just as I was looking for tracks to put onto my new MP3 player. In some ways I like this more than the original.
2. The Beatles With Billy Preston 'Don't Let Me Down' (not legitimately available as a download - I have it on Past Masters Volume 2)
Because I couldn't not have The Beatles, and this one was already on the computer. Originally the flipside of 'Get Back' of course, and one of their more underappreciated tracks of this era.
3. The Bonzo Dog Band 'Mr. Apollo' (from Tadpoles)
The follow-up single to 'I'm The Urban Spaceman', though obviously not another hit for them. Although not everything they did has aged well, there are plenty of other Bonzos tracks this year I could have gone for - but this one wins out thanks to Viv Stanshall's monologue at the end; I'm resisting the temptation to quote as that would only spoil it. There's another version where he does it in German.
4. Marvin Gaye 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' (from The Complete Collection)
I hesitated to make such an obvious choice, but ultimately decided it was so superlative I couldn't avoid it.
5. Johnny Cash 'Wanted Man' (from The Man In Black )
The best-of collection gives this a 1969 copyright date. Anyway, it's a Dylan song not recorded by the man himself (his most prominent 1969 release was 'Lay Lady Lay', and that was never going to make the cut) very much betraying the influence of Hank Williams.
6. The Isley Brothers 'Behind A Painted Smile' (from Universal Masters Collection)
Another personal favourite, which is why I couldn't leave it out even though it was already a couple of years old by the time it charted. The Motown years may not have been the most enjoyable experience of their career but it had its moments. I even love the ending.
7. Horace Andy 'Skylarking' (from Skylarking)
Reggae isn't a part of the music world where I feel very much at home, but I know a good voice when I hear one. 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People' and 'The Israelites' were both hits in 1969 too, but I didn't have those to hand.
8. The Kinks 'Victoria' (from The Singles Collection)
I remember hearing The Fall's version a few times and thinking how remarkably they'd managed to remake the song in their own image. Then I heard the Kinks version and realised it sounded like The Fall already. Dave Davies claims that they once sang the entire song backwards on stage; "People thought we were mad. In fact, we probably were."
9. Cream 'Badge' (from I Feel Free)
According to George Harrison's I Me Mine, Ringo turned up at his house while he and Eric Clapton were struggling to think of a rhyme for "I told to you not to wander round in the dark". And the one he came up with is the one they used.
10. Fairport Convention 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' (from Unhalfbricking)
If I'd realised this was on the computer when I put the original set together, I probably would have included it over a couple of the ones I have used. But the blessing in disguise of my Rolling Stones track not working was an ideal opportunity to sneak it in. Sandy Denny had brought this song with her when she joined Fairport, so this is arguably not the original version but it seems safe to call it the definitive one.
11. The Beach Boys 'Break Away' (from The Warmth Of The Sun)
A contractually-obliged final single for Capitol, which proved to be a bit of a last hurrah for Brian Wilson (at least for a while) and a UK Top 10 hit to boot, although it flopped in America. Although it's not their most-lauded 45 even in Britain, and is often ignored entirely in the US, it's always been a bit of a favourite of mine, even if the lyrics can make for uncomfortable listening now we know what we do about his mental state at the time. Oddly, he split the publishing rights with his father.
12. Louis Armstrong 'We Have All The Time In The World' (bizarrely hard to find as a download, although it's easy to obtain on CD)
Like my first selection, a rather late developer here, finally charting in 1994 off the back of another advert.
The one that got away - The Rolling Stones 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' [B-side version] (from Rolled Gold Plus [album version,])The version I uploaded was the edited mono version from the B-side of 'Honky Tonk Women', but for some reason I haven't found that on download, so I've linked to the longer album cut. Between you and me, though, I've never been too keen on those choirboys at the start.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Number 27: The Beach Boys
When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) (Capitol CL 15361)
Chart debut: 29th Oct 1964
Writers: Brian Wilson/Mike Love
Yeah, I know. Only 27 - what were they thinking? In context, though, this was only the third Top 40 hit for the Beach Boys in the UK, although it followed the Top 10 hit 'I Get Around'. It was to be almost a year before they reached the album chart - real stardom didn't happen for them on these shores until 1966, ironically just before the point when their star began to wane in their homeland. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
As it happens, 'When I Grow Up' comes from a pretty pivotal juncture in their history. It got its US release in August 1964, already their third single of the year (there were two more 45s and an EP by December, not to mention two studio LPs, a live album and a Christmas one) but didn't make it onto an album until March 1965. By then, Brian Wilson had retired from the stage and begun working more-or-less full time on recordings while the band were away on tour (with Glen Campbell standing in). The UK single release was postponed until the eve of their first visit to these shores.
It's inevitably the lyrics that catch the attention first on here, all the more so in the knowledge that Brian Wilson was only 22 at the time. He also had yet to marry and had no children, so it's quite likely that he is really asking himself some of those questions: "Will I look back and say that I wish I hadn't done what I did?", and all. It's also very tempting to load in all kinds of retrospective significance to the lines about "Will my kids be proud or think their old man's really a square?" in the light of what we now know about the relationship between the Wilsons and their father, or to relate that cry of "Won't last forever!" in the fade to the fact that Dennis Wilson died before he was forty.
Nonetheless, these lyrics are (as a result of a 1995 court judgement) credited to Mike Love, who sings the first half of each verse. Love doesn't normally seem as introspective a character, and it may well be that he's writing simply in order to appeal to the concerns of a teen audience - you can compare this to the dozens of surf songs on their first three albums, written despite the fact that most of the band weren't really interested in the sport. And no bad thing, that. What really makes this song matter is the arrangement. Brian Wilson, not uniquely in that era, was constantly looking for new sounds to take advantage of the possibilities of the studio. This time around he settled on, of all things, the harpsichord, not a typical part of the rock sound at that time (and not something a rock band could play on stage) but it's the most striking instrumental part here, playing a distinctive melody and lending the song an atmosphere of classicism. Thr rhythm beneath it is complex enough that it took the band (who seem to have played the instruments themselves this time) 37 attempts to get a good enough backing track to dub the harpsichord onto. Well worth the effort, though, and this sort of combination of looking forward and back seems to me very much the essence of what the Beach Boys were about at this stage. Atop that is a very intricate vocal arrangement, most notable for the contrast between Mike Love's low voice and Brian Wilson's falsetto, but also full of clever little details like the group humming "Maa-aan" through the middle section. Indeed, if this record has a flaw it's that there's so much packed into two minutes that it can sound a little crowded in the mono mix. The 1993 box-set includes a remix with vocals and instruments pushed into opposite sides of the stereo spectrum, which wouldn't have been viable for mainstream release but is revelatory (and helpful for researching things like this).
Flipsides are usually outside the remit of the Hit Parade, but I think it's worth putting in a word for 'She Knows Me Too Well', one of my favourite non-single tracks by the band and another example of their growing sophistication.
Official website: Coming soon at www.beachboyscentral.com apparently. In the meantime, there's www.brianwilson.com and, let's be generous, www.mikelovefanclub.com
YouTube if you want to: Of course we're in the pre-video age here, but their UK television debut on Ready Steady Go includes live performances of this song and 'I Get Around', bisected by a classic slice of Sixties British interview technique. Also, look out for Mike Love emphasising the word "square".
Where To Get It: Both sides of the single ended up on the 1965 Beach Boys Today! album, which is one of the very best they ever put out; some have suggested that in hindsight, the sequence of five slow songs on Side Two resemble a dry run for Pet Sounds. It's currently coupled on CD with the follow-up Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) which is exceedingly patchy but does contain some classics. Has there ever been a really good album with two exclamation marks in the title?
If you prefer the compilation route, the latest to arrive on these shores is Sounds Of Summer, which was unfortunately based around their US chart hits and is consequently full of rubbish tracks from the Eighties, although you do get a bonus DVD. The 2001 Very Best Of offers a more UK-friendly selection of tracks, although the packaging is unimpressive. On the opposie side of the coin, the Good Vibrations box-set is a fascinating mix of hits and rarities. I also tip my hat to Keith Badman's diary of the band's activities from 1961-76, which was a helpful source for this piece.
Chart debut: 29th Oct 1964
Writers: Brian Wilson/Mike Love
Yeah, I know. Only 27 - what were they thinking? In context, though, this was only the third Top 40 hit for the Beach Boys in the UK, although it followed the Top 10 hit 'I Get Around'. It was to be almost a year before they reached the album chart - real stardom didn't happen for them on these shores until 1966, ironically just before the point when their star began to wane in their homeland. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
As it happens, 'When I Grow Up' comes from a pretty pivotal juncture in their history. It got its US release in August 1964, already their third single of the year (there were two more 45s and an EP by December, not to mention two studio LPs, a live album and a Christmas one) but didn't make it onto an album until March 1965. By then, Brian Wilson had retired from the stage and begun working more-or-less full time on recordings while the band were away on tour (with Glen Campbell standing in). The UK single release was postponed until the eve of their first visit to these shores.
It's inevitably the lyrics that catch the attention first on here, all the more so in the knowledge that Brian Wilson was only 22 at the time. He also had yet to marry and had no children, so it's quite likely that he is really asking himself some of those questions: "Will I look back and say that I wish I hadn't done what I did?", and all. It's also very tempting to load in all kinds of retrospective significance to the lines about "Will my kids be proud or think their old man's really a square?" in the light of what we now know about the relationship between the Wilsons and their father, or to relate that cry of "Won't last forever!" in the fade to the fact that Dennis Wilson died before he was forty.
Nonetheless, these lyrics are (as a result of a 1995 court judgement) credited to Mike Love, who sings the first half of each verse. Love doesn't normally seem as introspective a character, and it may well be that he's writing simply in order to appeal to the concerns of a teen audience - you can compare this to the dozens of surf songs on their first three albums, written despite the fact that most of the band weren't really interested in the sport. And no bad thing, that. What really makes this song matter is the arrangement. Brian Wilson, not uniquely in that era, was constantly looking for new sounds to take advantage of the possibilities of the studio. This time around he settled on, of all things, the harpsichord, not a typical part of the rock sound at that time (and not something a rock band could play on stage) but it's the most striking instrumental part here, playing a distinctive melody and lending the song an atmosphere of classicism. Thr rhythm beneath it is complex enough that it took the band (who seem to have played the instruments themselves this time) 37 attempts to get a good enough backing track to dub the harpsichord onto. Well worth the effort, though, and this sort of combination of looking forward and back seems to me very much the essence of what the Beach Boys were about at this stage. Atop that is a very intricate vocal arrangement, most notable for the contrast between Mike Love's low voice and Brian Wilson's falsetto, but also full of clever little details like the group humming "Maa-aan" through the middle section. Indeed, if this record has a flaw it's that there's so much packed into two minutes that it can sound a little crowded in the mono mix. The 1993 box-set includes a remix with vocals and instruments pushed into opposite sides of the stereo spectrum, which wouldn't have been viable for mainstream release but is revelatory (and helpful for researching things like this).
Flipsides are usually outside the remit of the Hit Parade, but I think it's worth putting in a word for 'She Knows Me Too Well', one of my favourite non-single tracks by the band and another example of their growing sophistication.
Official website: Coming soon at www.beachboyscentral.com apparently. In the meantime, there's www.brianwilson.com and, let's be generous, www.mikelovefanclub.com
YouTube if you want to: Of course we're in the pre-video age here, but their UK television debut on Ready Steady Go includes live performances of this song and 'I Get Around', bisected by a classic slice of Sixties British interview technique. Also, look out for Mike Love emphasising the word "square".
Where To Get It: Both sides of the single ended up on the 1965 Beach Boys Today! album, which is one of the very best they ever put out; some have suggested that in hindsight, the sequence of five slow songs on Side Two resemble a dry run for Pet Sounds. It's currently coupled on CD with the follow-up Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) which is exceedingly patchy but does contain some classics. Has there ever been a really good album with two exclamation marks in the title?
If you prefer the compilation route, the latest to arrive on these shores is Sounds Of Summer, which was unfortunately based around their US chart hits and is consequently full of rubbish tracks from the Eighties, although you do get a bonus DVD. The 2001 Very Best Of offers a more UK-friendly selection of tracks, although the packaging is unimpressive. On the opposie side of the coin, the Good Vibrations box-set is a fascinating mix of hits and rarities. I also tip my hat to Keith Badman's diary of the band's activities from 1961-76, which was a helpful source for this piece.
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