Speaking of numbers, 1960-1963! This was a time period, as far as I can tell, that supremely talented musicians had a lot of fun without particularly pushing things forward. At least for the most part.
We'll start off talking about the obvious. Tons of Gunther Toody's ready rock n roll classics came on! Of course Ben E. King was king. I don't know who else to single out here. The biggest pain about listening to The Four Seasons is trying to sing along. That's a falsetto right there!
I don't have any Elvis albums from this time period but I have some great singles. I don't think I properly talked about him last time so let me post this song because it's beautiful.
Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight?
I'm going to jump around a bit. There's not a good way to flow this in my opinion. I had a classic Coltrane album come up (Giant Steps). That was a good one. But what I really loved was this other album I happen to have (thanks to a weird compilation of him backing up other people) titled simply Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane. Here's a song from that. It's just pretty.
Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane - Why Was I Born?
Now another jump. Blues! After this it will make sense. During this time period it seems my collection of blues was dominated by John Lee Hooker who rocked it and Lightnin' Hopkins who just has a way with songs and whatnot. Here's something great.
Lightnin' Hopkins - Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes
Once when one of those mall CD stores was going out of business I found the best find I have found at one of those clearance things. It was called Girl Group Sounds Lost And Found and featured 4 CDs full of awesome girl pop of the 60s. I quite enjoy it. I keep giving almost every song 3+ stars in my itunes ratings, which is a big deal for me. This was the golden age of pop and this is exemplified by all the great girl groups! Here is one example. I like this song (even though it's less of a rarity than other songs in my collection) because it makes me think of that scene from Mulholland Drive. (So here's the scene from Mulholland Drive is what I'm saying)
Linda Scott - I've Told Every Little Star
I've only given brief mentions of Ray Charles but he really hit onto something good in the early 60s. He put out Modern Sounds in County and Western Music. At first I thought it would be Ray Charles singing country music and wondered how that would work. But instead, he sang songs that were country standards of the time in his own style. Wikipedia says it was a big deal for bringing black & white people together and is one of the most significant recordings in popular music. But you know what? Just for the thrill, I'm going to post a different song.
Ray Charles - Just For a Thrill
Speaking of country music, Johnny Cash. I think I'll have more to say about him later. But he put out some of his big hits in this period (Ring of Fire, The Legend of John Henry's Hammer). The one album I have from this period is pretty good (Blood Sweat & Tears), but I feel like his best was yet to come.
The other big country star of the time was of course Patsy Cline. Her voice is just so beautifully sad. So much so that it's odd whenever she sings a song that's not heartbreaking. So here is one of her sad songs, just the way everyone must like it.
Patsy Cline - Why Can't He Be You
One of my very favorite singer/songwriters of this time was Gene Pitney. I only have a measly best-of collection so no deep cuts here (I have a couple of his records on vinyl) but I wanted to post this song for two reasons. One, it's kind of a response to the Patsy Cline song posted above. And two, he wails just so strongly in here it's easily my favorite (hit) song of his.
Gene Pitney - Half Heaven, Half Heartache
Speaking of great singers, Roy Orbison! His great album Roy Orbison Sings Lonely and Blue cannot come more highly recommended. I just don't want to have to keep posting videos upon videos. But unfortunately this is the last we'll hear from him until the Traveling Wilburys in 1988! So...just listen to the full album!
Soul. Etta James was soul. She put out the album At Last! and it has that famous song. And Stormy Weather. And I can't help it, I'm posting a song that has a similar delivery to At Last, but isn't overplayed. Make this one your wedding song!
Etta James - A Sunday Kind of Love
Also in the world of soul was Bettye LaVette. She's been rockin it lately but I have a song of hers from way back in 1962 called "You'll Never Change." Look it up! And then Sam Cooke put out my favorite song of his, "Cupid." Well that's not true, but it's one of my favorites. And I had an actual album by him called Night Beat. Which seemed kind of comparatively middling amongst his catalog. I'm not sure why. It's still beautiful, but I feel like nothing really stood out on that album.
You know who was a really awesome soul singer? And she's still alive and such? Tina Turner. I feel weird loving a song by Ike & Tina Turner knowing what he did to her...but Tina kills it so hard on this track I have to at least show that part off.
Ike & Tina Turner - It's Gonna Work Out Fine
And we come down to hitsville & soulsville. Motown and Stax. The big dogs. Soul. In one corner we have the likes of The Miracles, The Supremes, and the Marvelettes. On the other? Carla Thomas and Booker T. Which do you prefer, based only on 1960-1963? I think Carla Thomas is a bit underrated and would have to say she beats out the Motown artists of the time as far as vocal soul goes.
Carla Thomas - Promises
But what about the instrumental soul? We've got the impossibly cool Booker T & the M.G.s representing Stax and we have Jr. Walker & The All-Stars on the Motown side of the coin. I don't need to post the song "Green Onions" to describe how cool it sounds. The intrusive guitar just upping the ante over a deep, deep groove...just fabulous. But Jr Walker had this song. I still can't decide.
Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - Brainwasher
But don't forget Jimmy McGriff!
So...soul...rock n roll...pop...a little jazz (sorry jazz for not discussing you more!)...what am I missing? Oh, then we got to 1963.
Ska of course! Early ska hits came up from Desmond Dekker, The Maytals, and Kentrick Patrick. You know, I got this compilation called This Is Ska Too! when I was a young rude boy (ok not really a rude boy) in high school listening to the skapunk of the day. I was aware of old Jamaican ska but didn't know where to begin. I saw this compilation thinking it was a way of welcoming in people like me to this world. A way of saying "you like ska? Well this is also ska!" But it turns out there was also a compilation called This Is Ska! so there goes that theory.
Oh, 1963. You also brought us some early gems by the biggest artists OF the 60s, didn't you?
The Beach Boys!!! You know, if you were to ask me, before this listening project, what the order was for the early Beach Boys albums, I would have assumed Surfer Girl came in right before Pet Sounds. So much maturity! So much of what they did so great with harmony was established! But here it is, from way back in 1963.
And of course we must not forget The Beatles. They'd been creepin' on in to this since 1959 thanks to those anthology releases that have every little demo, significant live performance, alternate take, etc. By the time I got to 1963 there was more than an album full of live performances and early singles, but then we finally got to the album. Please Please Me. Now, as a debut album in 1963, you can't expect greatness. But the singles produced by this album...Twist and Shout, Love Me Do, the title track, PS I Love You, Do You Want To Know A Secret...it's just fabulous. Not really any deep cuts worth exploring just yet, but highly enjoyable.
But I'm not leaving you with The Beatles. I'm leaving you with a great live album (is it the first great live album? I don't know!). This performance had the girls screaming as if it were Elvis or The Beatles or someone. I didn't know he'd developed this big of a fanbase at this time in his career, but I guess he had. Of course I'm talkin' about James Brown y'all! Live At The Apollo Theater! Definitely different from where he would go in his career (more soul than funk) but you can just hear his showmanship on this record. It hinted at the future of soul music.
I also really need to check out more of this early James Brown & The Famous Flames material. Sounds great.
Where I stand: 1623 of 36486 songs deep.
Other Highlights Worth Mentioning:
- Some posthumous Buddy Holly singles, which were also great. Check out "Now We're One."
- The Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Somewhere"
- Dinah Washington, "September in the Rain"
- Ricky Nelson!
- Booker T & The MGs "I Got A Woman" - I'd like to hear a remix of Kanye's "Gold Digger" sampling this much faster version of this song.
- Ornette Coleman kept it going although nothing was as striking to me as that "Chronology" song I posted from 1959.
- Surfer Girl may have been a fantastic album but The Beach Boys also put out the terrible song "Be True To Your School" the same year.
- You know what other song from this period reminded me of a David Lynch movie? Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet."
- Early Carol King! This marks the first artist I've encountered in this project that I have also seen live in concert. Woohoo! This was from that Girl Group Sounds compilation I mentioned.
- Phil Ochs "Too Many Martyrs" and Bob Dylan "Fixin' to Die." I need to have more early albums from these two instead of just random tracks.
In The Next Installment...
Starting the one-year-at-a-time thing! I hope I don't bore you with all my words. But 1964 looks very significant. The Beach Boys (Shut Down Volume 2)! TWO Beatles albums including A Hard Day's Night! More girl groups and soul! The Kinks! The Rolling Stones! Live Sam Cooke! Meet The Temptations! The Zombies! Maybe I can finally focus in on a few things and write deeper instead of wider. This entry just had too much ground to cover.
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