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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dear Reader,
Friday March 23, and we go from the Pope to pop, to classical, to new wave and back again.
* Pope John Paul II had a dabble in pop music 13 years ago today when he released his debut album.
* Psychedelic Furs show us their pretty pink wares in 1980.
* Elvis at #1 with an old German folk song as he records a new hit with an old Italian folk song in 1960.
* Adam and the Ants show a new style of rock'n'roll new music, 31 years ago.
* It's 1963 and the Beach Boys look very...er...dapper performing this hit.
* We go way back to two John Lennon events; his marriage to Yoko Ono, shown here by Australian TV pop show host, Dick Williams, and the release of Lennon's book, In His Own Write.
* Former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer, John Fogerty shows us his solo style in 1985, on this day.
* We go classical once again with a debut of one of Haydn's pieces.
* And classical again, this time with the debut of Handel's Messiah in 1743.

* Scroll down to the bottom of the page for headlines from world's top publications: New York Times, Guardian, The Age, Rolling Stone, Spin, & many more. click on the glowing blue headlines for your daily dose.

Friday, April 29, 2011

April 30, 2011

1940 - The great Jimmy Dorsey and his band recorded the song Contrasts. Although Dorsey is remembered as a big swing band leader, he was also a considerable song writer, with lots of hits under his belt, in fact, Dorsey scored 11 #1 hits on the Billboard charts, and his song I'm Glad There is You is a song that has was covered by more than 20 music stars, including Frank Sinatra, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Grover Washington, Jr., Jamie Cullum, Lillie Kae, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Mildred Bailey, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Natalie Cole, Julie London, Jackie Gleason, Cannonball Adderley, Rosemary Clooney, The Temptations, Toni Tennille, Chris Montez, Boots Randolph, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Hazel Scott, Art Garfunkel, Stan Kenton, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Peggy Lee, Gloria Lynne, Vic Damone, Freddy Cole, and, yes, dear reader, even Beyonce Knowles. His song Pennies From Heaven, with Bing Crosby singing, stayed at #1 in the charts for 10 weeks in 1936. Forgive the quality of the video here, but it is 75 years old. Following that, a sax solo that swings like only JD could swing.

1957 - This was the day Elvis Presley recorded one of his signature tunes, Jailhouse Rock. This is the original clip for the original song, from the movie of the same song. There are a few versions floating around, but I reckon this is the mother of them all. Great arrangement, great choreography, one of his best three movies for sure...how about the trendy prison uniforms. And how good's the Prez right here, 54 years ago.

1965 - Way, way back 46 years to the day, and The Kinks began their first full-tilt British tour. I saw the Kinks live in Perth in 1964, with the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, The Crickets. They were wild, the two Davies brothers fought on stage, and I mean really fought tooth and nail, pushing each other, visibly angry at each other, and eventually coming to clashes on stage. Their sound was explosive for its time. Indeed, I reckon we were listening to the first ever punk sound, bordering on the first riff rock, and certainly amongst the originators of the power chord...and then there was Ray Davies' observational, eccentric British lyrics, that appealed all over the world.

1965 - Herman's Hermits and the Zombies began their first U.S. tour. OK, this is one of the best songs from the sixties...hypnotic, cool as...and great sound and excellent voice...and howzabout the keyboard solo...this was the Zombies.

1980 - The film "McVicar," which starred Roger Daltrey and sixties rocker Adam Faith, premiered, and in 1983 he original Manfred Mann reunited for a London concert, while two years after that, 1985, Phil Collins released Sussudio. Then in 1987 The Beatles' Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver were released on compact disc (CD). Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the The Beatles, first released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. Unlike the five albums that preceded it, Rubber Soul was the first Beatles album recorded during a specific period without being interrupted by tour dates (though the group's debut album Please Please Me was technically recorded in a single day, four of the tracks were recorded several months before).So, being a Beatles fan, how about a song from Rubber Soul. Rubber Soul is often cited by some critics as one of the greatest albums in pop music history. Not sure about that, myself, but check out this 1966 live performance in Munich of Nowhere Man, followed by In My Life, and this is a beautiful clip made with love.

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