February 20, 1969 - CREAM'S November 26, 1968 farewell concert at London's Royal Albert Hall was a benchmark in rock history, and this was the day, 43 years ago, that the movie of the event, Goodbye Cream, opened in Baltimore, USA. Apart from the band's reunion concert in 2005, it is Cream's only official full concert release on video, and originally broadcast by the BBC on 5 January 1969. It was not released on video in the US until 1977, but on this day opened as a movie in Baltimore. The opening act for the concert was future progressive rock stars, Yes, who were just starting out. Here's a selection of songs from the movie, including the intro, and a bit of a guitar workshop from Eric Clapton.
1940 - LARRY CLINTON, one of music's most versatile musicians, arrangers, and band leaders, recorded the classic song, Limehouse Blues, 72 years ago today. Clinton was born in Brooklyn, New York and could expertly play trumpet, trombone, and clarinet. While in his twenties, he became a prolific arranger for dance orchestras and bandleaders such as Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Gray, Louis Armstrong, and Bunny Berigan. All of them used Larry Clinton charts. His first stint as a bandleader was from 1937 to 1941. The famous movie Limehouse Blues took its title from the song, which was an American favourite for a few years. Couldn't fund Larry's version, but we have him and his orchestra in 1939 doing the evergreen Heart and Soul, with vocals by Bea Wain. This is followed by the genius of Django Reinhardt, and his version of Limehouse Blues - this guy was a true genius. The band is the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Stephane Grappeli plays the violin, Louis Vola plays the double-bass. Not sure about the rhythm guitar, but it's probably Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput or Pierre Ferret, and of course, Django himself. Limehouse Blues is a popular jazz standard, written in 1921 by Phillip Braham and Douglas Furber, about Limehouse, a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
1949 - RICKY NELSON, aged 10, and a future teen heart throb joined the cast of his parents' radio show 63 years ago today. Nine years later he had his first number one hit with Poor Little Fool, written by Sharon Sheeley. The song was based on her disappointment following a short-lived relationship with a member of a popular singing duo. Nelson's was the best known version, and had the distinction of being the first #1 song on Billboard magazine's newly-created Hot 100 chart. Incidentally, Nelson placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973, including 19 top-ten hits, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. In 1961, Nelson recorded Hello Mary Lou, a song written by U.S. singer Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina, the song reaching #9 on the Billboard music charts, the other side of the single, Travelin' Man, also becoming a hit in some parts of the world. The song features an influential guitar solo by guitarist extraordinaire, James Burton, often cited by modern guitarists such as Brian May.
1964 - BRIAN WILSON, seemingly influenced by Phil Spector and his classic song, Be My Baby, wrote one of his best ever songs ever, Don't Worry Baby, and it was recorded 47 years ago today. The Beach Boys look so uncomfortable in this clip; pants so, so tight, prickly hair cuts, arms positioned carefully, miming...and no instruments. I wonder what they were thinking.
1969 - X-RATED SEX-COMEDY MOVIE, Candy, was a tongue-in-cheek movie that premiered today and was Ringo Starr's first non-musical role in a film. Are you ready for the trailer of this big screen adaptation of Terry Southern's classic book? The movie also features Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Walter Matthau, Ringo Starr, Charles Aznevour, James Coburn, John Huston and Ewa Aulin.
1970 - JOHN LENNON did so much in just a short period of time, including making the world aware of karma, and in this case, instant karma. Hard to believe it's now 42 years since he released this song to the world, Instant Karma. This is not the well-worn performance video, but brilliant compilation footage.
1978 - ABBA were a phenomenon and on this day were situated firmly at #1 in the charts with their song, Take A Chance On Me, the group's seventh chart topper around the world. For more information and videos on ABBA milestones, go to this daily blog's archives and do a search. :)
1988 - KYLIE MINOGIE was sitting on top of the chart world in the UK today, with her song, I Should Be So Lucky. Minogue had become a household name playing Charlene Ramsey in Australian television soap opera, Neighbours. After every major UK record company turned down the track, producer Pete Waterman released the single on his own PWL label. Kylie has since gone on to score more than 30 hit singles. In the same year, Ms. Minogue performed live at the 1988 Royal Command Performance. This video has not been viewed very much, so we hope you like it.
1991 - BOB DYLAN, an enigma, and a unique rock star/poet of our time, was awarded a lifetime achievement award, 21 years ago tonight, at the 33rd annual Grammy' Awards. Introduced by Jack Nicholson, this is historical footage, and hard to locate and grab.
2000 ALL SAINTS, one of my favourite girl groups, started a two-week run at #1 on the UK singles chart with Pure Shores. The group's fourth UK #1, the song was taken from the Leonardo Di Caprio movie, The Beach.
1940 - LARRY CLINTON, one of music's most versatile musicians, arrangers, and band leaders, recorded the classic song, Limehouse Blues, 72 years ago today. Clinton was born in Brooklyn, New York and could expertly play trumpet, trombone, and clarinet. While in his twenties, he became a prolific arranger for dance orchestras and bandleaders such as Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Gray, Louis Armstrong, and Bunny Berigan. All of them used Larry Clinton charts. His first stint as a bandleader was from 1937 to 1941. The famous movie Limehouse Blues took its title from the song, which was an American favourite for a few years. Couldn't fund Larry's version, but we have him and his orchestra in 1939 doing the evergreen Heart and Soul, with vocals by Bea Wain. This is followed by the genius of Django Reinhardt, and his version of Limehouse Blues - this guy was a true genius. The band is the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Stephane Grappeli plays the violin, Louis Vola plays the double-bass. Not sure about the rhythm guitar, but it's probably Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput or Pierre Ferret, and of course, Django himself. Limehouse Blues is a popular jazz standard, written in 1921 by Phillip Braham and Douglas Furber, about Limehouse, a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
1949 - RICKY NELSON, aged 10, and a future teen heart throb joined the cast of his parents' radio show 63 years ago today. Nine years later he had his first number one hit with Poor Little Fool, written by Sharon Sheeley. The song was based on her disappointment following a short-lived relationship with a member of a popular singing duo. Nelson's was the best known version, and had the distinction of being the first #1 song on Billboard magazine's newly-created Hot 100 chart. Incidentally, Nelson placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973, including 19 top-ten hits, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. In 1961, Nelson recorded Hello Mary Lou, a song written by U.S. singer Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina, the song reaching #9 on the Billboard music charts, the other side of the single, Travelin' Man, also becoming a hit in some parts of the world. The song features an influential guitar solo by guitarist extraordinaire, James Burton, often cited by modern guitarists such as Brian May.
1964 - BRIAN WILSON, seemingly influenced by Phil Spector and his classic song, Be My Baby, wrote one of his best ever songs ever, Don't Worry Baby, and it was recorded 47 years ago today. The Beach Boys look so uncomfortable in this clip; pants so, so tight, prickly hair cuts, arms positioned carefully, miming...and no instruments. I wonder what they were thinking.
1969 - X-RATED SEX-COMEDY MOVIE, Candy, was a tongue-in-cheek movie that premiered today and was Ringo Starr's first non-musical role in a film. Are you ready for the trailer of this big screen adaptation of Terry Southern's classic book? The movie also features Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Walter Matthau, Ringo Starr, Charles Aznevour, James Coburn, John Huston and Ewa Aulin.
1970 - JOHN LENNON did so much in just a short period of time, including making the world aware of karma, and in this case, instant karma. Hard to believe it's now 42 years since he released this song to the world, Instant Karma. This is not the well-worn performance video, but brilliant compilation footage.
1978 - ABBA were a phenomenon and on this day were situated firmly at #1 in the charts with their song, Take A Chance On Me, the group's seventh chart topper around the world. For more information and videos on ABBA milestones, go to this daily blog's archives and do a search. :)
1988 - KYLIE MINOGIE was sitting on top of the chart world in the UK today, with her song, I Should Be So Lucky. Minogue had become a household name playing Charlene Ramsey in Australian television soap opera, Neighbours. After every major UK record company turned down the track, producer Pete Waterman released the single on his own PWL label. Kylie has since gone on to score more than 30 hit singles. In the same year, Ms. Minogue performed live at the 1988 Royal Command Performance. This video has not been viewed very much, so we hope you like it.
1991 - BOB DYLAN, an enigma, and a unique rock star/poet of our time, was awarded a lifetime achievement award, 21 years ago tonight, at the 33rd annual Grammy' Awards. Introduced by Jack Nicholson, this is historical footage, and hard to locate and grab.
2000 ALL SAINTS, one of my favourite girl groups, started a two-week run at #1 on the UK singles chart with Pure Shores. The group's fourth UK #1, the song was taken from the Leonardo Di Caprio movie, The Beach.
