Category: <span>Music – General</span>

My Top 111 Songs from 1968 to 1972

I have always been a list maker. From June of 1968 to the end of 1972 I made a weekly list of my current favorite songs, I started with the Top 5, moved to the Top 12 then settled in on the Top 15. Along with that there were special lists or charts, if you would. My favorite 50 Beatle songs, my favorite instrumentals and at the end of each year there was my Top 101 for that year, now to keep it to just 101 songs was simply impossible so I found a way to expand that list. Each 10th song had a double entry, i.e. 20A and 20B, I did the same with 25 and 75 plus any record I liked both the A and B side were combined as one entry. At the end of my charting in 1972, my final music list at the time was My Top 111 from 1968 to 1972 and that’s what I’d like to share in this post. Back then there was no digital format to do this, each list or chart was typed out on a typewriter. Fortunately those lists have survived all these years and are lovingly stored in a couple of binders.


As I look back over this list, there is a lot of great music that I still love today. There might be 3 songs I’d move down out of the top ten but not that far down the list, my collection of music from those 5 years has grown enormously over the years so I’d have to not just re-arrange the songs already on the list but expand it greatly as well.


I’m sure there is someone else out there who has a list like this one in their archives, and I would love to see it. Someone I worked with years ago told me I was a (hopeless) romantic, this list probably is the only proof you’d need to convict me (why does that line make me think of Paul Simon”s “Still Crazy After All These Years”).


Here, in all it’s typed-by-hand glory, is that Top 111 covering 1968 through 1972:







A Girl Like You – Edwyn Collins



I find it interesting that among my first 50 posts there will be two songs with the identical title – “A Girl Like You” – somewhere I vaguely remember hearing this on the radio but I only found it again because it came up in the YouTube search when I was looking for The Young Rascals song of the same title (posted here somewhere). Didn’t know anything about Edwyn Collins so, of course, I went looking and here’s what I found:


Born in Edinborough, Scotland, Edwyn co-founded a band in 1976 called Nu-Sonics, 3 years later they changed their name to “Orange Juice”. Their first single was released in 1980 “Falling And Laughing”, it reached #48 in the short-lived UK Indies chart and the group would place 3 more songs on that chart before signing with Polydor Records, leaving the Indie charts behind.





The group would reach #8 in the UK charts with their biggest hit, “Rip It Up” in 1982. The group would disband in 1985 and Edwyn would start a solo career that would produce 8 UK charting songs from 1984 to 1997 and “A Girl Like You” was the biggest of the 8, reaching #4 in the UK and #32 in the States. In February of 2005, Edwyn suffered a pair of cerebral hemorrhages that affected his right side and his speech, it took 4 years of rehab before he was able to perform again. Working from his own studio label, AED Records, he has produced music for several English bands, as well as a solo album in 2013 entitled “Understated” and here’s an excellent cut from the album to close out this post “Too Bad (That’s Sad)”.




No Blue Thing/Celestial Soda Pop – Ray Lynch



One of the brightest lights for me when I turned to Contemporary Jazz/New Age/Electronic Music in the late 80s was Ray Lynch. The above composition, “No Blue Thing” may be my favorite of all the music I have collected from that genre. It always takes me to my “happy place” and puts the spring back into my step.

Ray started in Utah and moved to Texas as youngster, his musical journey started with the guitar and lute. After spending time in Barcelona, he joined the Renaissance Quartet in New York city, playing with ten for 7 years. He spent some time in Maine, where he had purchased a 125 acre farm but decided to move to California. Several years later he was moved to compose and perform music again. He borrowed the money to buy an ARP Odyssey synchesizer and began to compose music along the lines of the then new electronic music genre. In 1984 he released his 3rd LP “Deep Breakfast’ and independently sold 72,000 copies out of his small apartment. 5 years later, now under contract with Music West, he released “No Blue Thing”. The album would reach the top of the New Age charts, and Ray would be Billboard’s Top New Age Artist for both 1989 and 1990.

A lot of Ray’s music draws from his spiritual journey surrounding the teachings of Ali Da (an American spiritual teacher, writer and artist. He was the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam). The other of Ray’s compositions I want to share is from the Deep Breakfast album – “Celestial Soda Pop”. This one reminds me of Blondie’s “Call Me”, see if you agree.


You And Me – The Moody Blues


“You And Me” is an album cut from The Moody Blues “Seventh Sojourn” album. The Moodies are easily in the upper echelon of rock and roll groups for me and, if pressed hard, “You And Me” would be my final answer for the question (pun intended) of my favorite Moody Blues song. There are many others that are right there, including “Tuesday Afternoon, Forever Afternoon” which was the first answer to that question back in 1968. Justin Haywood and Graeme Edge collaborated to write this one and the lyrics speak deeply to me, especially the second verse:

 

“You’re an ocean full of faces
And you know that we believe
We’re just a wave that drifts around you
Singing all our hopes and dreams
We look around in wonder
At the work that has been done
By the visions of our father
Touched by his loving son”

 

For a long time I was not happy that The Moody Blues were not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I’m happy to say that a year ago that oversight was rectified and they are now in their rightful place among the greats (and a few not so greats).


String Along With The Kingston Trio

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I decided that to treat this post well, I needed to tackle the whole album, I will feature 4 cuts from “String Along With The Kingston Trio” and comment on them. My Dad was a major influence on my musical tastes growing up, the country music of the 50s and early 60s, and the folk music of the times as well. He owned a copy of Capitol Records ST-1407 that I loved to play, over and over and over.My first favorite was composed by songwriter Harland Howard, who also wrote “Heartaches By The Number” and “I Fall To Pieces” among others. The Trio changed the final verse of “Everglades” – “running through the leaves from The Everly’s” as a playful jab at one of their rival singing groups.

 

The second cut I’d like to comment on is the opening song on the LP – “Bad Man’s Blunder”, written by the Weaver’s Lee Hayes and Cisco Houston, who appeared regularly with Woody Guthrie. I loved the delivery and the light hearted approach to a serious subject – “bang, you’re dead”:



The second cut on side 1 is “The Escape Of Old John Webb”, a highly spirited number telling the story of a jailbreak attributed to Tom Drake, originally an old English folk song. This one features the banjo mastery of Dave Guard:




The entire list of the songs with writer’s credits on the LP are here;

 

Side one
“Bad Man’s Blunder” (Lee Hays, Cisco Houston)
“The Escape of Old John Webb” (Tom Drake)
“When I Was Young” (Jane Bowers, Dave Guard)
“Leave My Woman Alone” (Ray Charles)
“This Mornin’, This Evenin’, So Soon” (Carl Sandburg)
“Everglades” (Harlan Howard)

 

Side two
“Buddy Better Get on Down the Line” (Bowers, Guard)
“South Wind” (Travis Edmonson)
“Who’s Gonna Hold Her Hand” (Tom Drake, Bob Shane)
“To Morrow” (Bob Gibson)
“Colorado Trail” (Lee Hays, Carl Sandburg)
“The Tattooed Lady” (Traditional, Guard, Reynolds, Shane)

 

“The Tattooed Lady”, “Buddy Better Get On Down The Line” and Carl Sandburg”s “This Mornin’, This Evenin’, So Soon” deserve a listen or two as well.

 

And that brings me to the last “favorite” on this album – “To Morrow” is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek story of a traveler trying to reach Morrow, a town in Ohio. Back then I had no idea who Bob Gibson, the songwriter was, but I suspected that he wasn’t the St. Louis Cardinal pitcher I was a big fan of. Bob was a folk songwriter who worked with Hamilton Camp (see my post on “Here’s To You”). He also wrote the country classic “Abilene”, among many other songs. Gibson & Camp combined to write “You Can Tell The Wild” a gospel song recorded by both Simon & Garfunkel and Peter, Paul, & Mary.



Run Run Run – The Third Rail



This studio produced bubblegum song was a very minor hit in 1967 spending 9 weeks in the Top 100 and peaking at 53. For me it was a much bigger hit, and I’m sure this 45 sounds a lot better than my copy does now ;-). The lead singer is Joey Levine, probably the most successful lead singer you never heard of – well, maybe that honor should go to Tony Burrows or Ron Dante but that’s a story for another day -Levine sang lead for “Yummy, Yummy” (Ohio Express), “Quick Joey Small” (Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus) and “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion.
He also rivaled Barry Manilow and Randy Newman as a commercial jingle writer – “Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut” (Almond Joy) “Just For the Taste of It (Diet Pepsi), “The Softer Side of Sears”, “You Asked For It, You Got It” (Toyota) and “This Bud’s For You”

The song was written by Joey and his writing partner Art Resnick. Together they wrote a ton of bubblegum and psychedelic songs you have heard. “Run Run Run” was one of their earliest charting singles. The Third Rail was Joey, Art and his wife,Kris. Art Resnick had a pedigree as a writer prior to this – he wrote “Under The Boardwalk” for the Drifters and “Good Lovin'” for the Young Rascals

The lyrics, especially the stock market piece, is outdated but I still enjoy listening.


Summer Sun – Jamestown Massacre



 

Although this song was never a big hit nationally, it enjoyed success in the Chicago area (the band was from Illinois) and Hawaii, my exposure to it probably came from WFIL in Chicago, one of those stations I loved to reel in at night from Yarmouth, Maine. The website Jamestown Massacre History had this to say about the band’s start:


“Glenn Messmer (drums), Mark Zapel (bass) and John Gilleran (guitar & vocals) founded The Jamestown Massacre in 1967. Hailing from Downers Grove, IL, they agreed to play at Downers Grove Youth Center monthly in exchange for rehearsal space. In 1968, V.J Comforte (lead vocals) and Dennis Carlson (lead guitar and vocals) joined the band, along with Naperville resident Dave Bickler (lead vocals, flute, harmonica & trumpet). In early 1969, Jeff Quinn (organ, trumpet & vocals) from Glen Ellyn was recruited to round out the lineup.


From 1968 to 1974, Jamestown Massacre played at nearly every teen club, youth center, high school and college in and around Chicago. The band featured excellent vocal harmonies and prided itself on the ability to play a wide variety of styles of music, copying original artists very closely. Through challenging songs made popular by Three Dog Night, Chicago, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Deep Purple, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, “The Massacre” generated a loyal following while honing their musical skills.


During this period, Jamestown Massacre was also developing its own material and unique sound. In their first recording session at Chicago’s Paragon Studios in August 1970, they recorded two original songs. Concurrently, they then began work with a local advertising jingle producer on commercials for Schlitz Malt Liquor and Nestlé’s Crunch. From late 1970 to 1971, the Band did numerous recording sessions at Chicago’s famous Chess Studios, and in the summer of 1971, released its first single on the Destination label called “Comin’ Home to You.”


In the spring of 1972, the group traveled to Detroit and recorded six tunes, one of which was “Summer Sun.” The song was quickly released locally on the LUV label and was soon after picked up by Warner Brothers records and sold around the world. “Summer Sun” was a major hit not only in Chicago, but also in other markets across the United States including Hawaii, where it held a number one chart position for six weeks. In as far away as Japan, “Summer Sun” reached #18 on the major Tokyo radio play list.”


If the name Dave Bickler doesn’t ring a bell, you would also hear his voice on several Survivor songs, including their biggest hit “Eye Of The Tiger”. After singing with Jamestown Massacre, Dave would join forces with Jim Peterik (Ides of March) to form Survivor.


One of the best examples of sunshine pop music that I can think of, still love to play it!


Face In The Crowd/Reminiscing – Little River Band



Australia’s Little River Band produced some great music over it’s run – Cool Change, Reminiscing, Lonesome Loser, Night Owl, just to name a few. This song was originally on their “No Reins” LP in 1986 and it’s always been my favorite LRB song. The angst and wistfulness of the lyrics and the changes in tempo make this a great song. Released as a single in the States in July of 1986 but never charted. Written by original band member Graeham Goble, who also wrote the band’s best known hit “Reminiscing”, one of the 58 songs he wrote that have gotten airplay in the States. Here’s what Goble had to say about writing “Reminiscing”:


 “I loved watching old black and white movies, and I always also loved the music of Glenn Miller and Cole Porter, that whole era of writing, and it was my attempt to write a song to depict the romantic era. It came out very quickly, I wrote it in about half an hour. Even though a lot of people think it sounds complicated, on the guitar it’s very simple to play. It nearly never got recorded – when the time came to record it, the keyboard player I wanted to use, Peter Jones, was out of town, so we cut the band track with a different keyboard player. It didn’t work. A few days later when we tried it again with a different keyboard player, again it didn’t work, and the band was losing interest in the song. Just before the album was finished, Peter Jones came back into town, the band and I had an argument because I wanted to give Reminiscing a third chance. Peter played on it, we cut it, and finished it, and sent the album to Capitol. Capitol said that they couldn’t hear any singles on the album, and didn’t know what to release. Five weeks later, someone at Capitol’s New York office said ‘You’re all crazy, Reminiscing is a smash.’ Capitol put it out, and it just immediately caught on fire, and became our highest chart hit.”


“It’s quite staggering; you don’t realize you’ve written something like that until it happens, until it’s history.”




Here’s To You – Hamilton Camp



“Here’s To You” was released in May of 1968 and spent 5 weeks on the charts only rising to #76. I have always loved this song. The man who wrote and sang it has been a face most of you over the age of 15 have seen on TV, the first time I saw him, he was blown to bits on a Rat Patrol episode, Trekkie’s know him as “Leck”, Lois & Clark fans know him as H.G. Wells. A List of his TV appearances can be found at Hamilton Camp.com

Camp started his entertainment career as a folk singer with Bob Gibson (no, not the great St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher). His songwriting credits include “Pride of Man”best known by Quicksilver Messenger Service,





and

“You Can Tell The World”, sung by Simon and Garfunkel on their first album “Wednesday Morning- 3 A.M.” This gospel song I have known since I was very young but didn’t know it was a Camp and Gibson composition.



Beside’s his live acting career, he was the voice of many animated characters including Gizmo Duck on Duck Tales and Greedy and Harmony Smurf on The Smurfs and Count Dracula in Scoby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf”

Hamilton passed away in 2005 at age 70.


I’d Love To Change The World – Ten Years After



Ten Years After was from Nottingham, England, and I can’t help but thinking, according to lore, they weren’t the first Nottingham resident with designs on changing the world ;-). This was the most commercially successful song they released, only getting as high as #40, but it is one of those songs that has increased in popularity as time goes on. “Tax the rich, feed the poor” ;-). Led by guitarist Alvin Lee, the group scored 8 Top 40 albums on the UK charts. I loved this song from the first time I heard it and still do almost 50 years later.