November 27, 2021 - JS - Stereo Delights

 

Rockin' Remnants




Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)

 

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Date:  11/27/21

Host:  John Simon

Feature:  Late November 1967 and Stereo Surprises

It's John's annual post-Thanksgiving birthday show, with a dual spotlight this year: some cool tunes from late 1967 and some stunning new tracks from the latest few releases from Eric Records (many of them in never-before heard first-time stereophonic sound)!

 

 

 

 

Playlist

 

 

·      yellow song titles are YouTube links

·      songs with * were requests

·      all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted

·      a glossary of terms is below the playlist

  

 

6-7pm 

 

 

OPENING THEME:  Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)

 

(The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts - Bee Gees (at #20 on this date in 1967, headed to #11 - this gem was written by the three brothers during their first successful trip to America, and was a BIG hit for them back in the UK, where it spent four weeks at #1.)

 

Susan (radio edit) - Buckinghams (bubbling under, headed to #11 - this was the band's fifth Top 20 hit of the calendar year, making them the hottest singles band of the year in 1967. In an attempt to sound subversive/sophisticated/hip, the producer inserted a 30-second electronic"freak-out" section near the climax of the record, which nearly sabotaged the whole thing. Columbia wisely rush-released an edited version for radio play. An awful lot of record buyers were stunned to hear those extra thirty seconds when they got home! Tonight we'll play the edited version.)

 

Honey Chile - Martha & The Vandellas (at #35, headed to #11 Pop and #5 R&B - on the purple and gold Gordy Records label, we have three girls from Detroit accompanied by the fabulous Funk Brothers studio band in shimmering stereophonic sound.)

 

Cross My Heart - Billy Stewart (debuting at #98, headed to #86 Pop and #34 R&B - hailing from Washington DC, Billy was a large man with a beautiful falsetto and a big voice, recording for the Chess label. He would die about two years later in an auto accident, and this would be his final entry on the Pop chart.)

 

Bend Me, Shape Me - American Breed (debuting at #73 and headed to #5 - this drum- and horn-driven confection was released on the tiny Acta Records label, and would propel the Chicago band to near the top of the charts. After a series of personnel changes they'd eventually morph into the Funk/Soul band outfit called Rufus, and would find even greater success when Chaka Khan would join their ranks.)

 

Holidays Are Comin' - Vintage Coca Cola Commercial (dnc - there's an unwritten rule that Thanksgiving kicks off the "holiday music" season. There's even an "all-Christmas-all-the-time" station on the local dial that kicked into overdrive two nights ago. We'll go sparingly, and ease you into it with this Madison Avenue confection.)

 

Snoopy's Christmas - Royal Guardsmen (released on this very date in 1967 - this was the Florida group's third Snoopy-related 45, and spent five weeks at the top of Billboard's Christmas chart, and would chart again in December of 1968 and 1969, as well. Nothing like those "Christmas bells....")

 

Silver Bells - The Ventures (12/65; dnc - one of the coolest Rock 'n' Roll holiday albums of the era is The Ventures' Christmas Album. Many of the tracks start with familiar instrumental R'n'R riffs like Tequila and Walk Don't Run. It's worth seeking out.)

 

Snowbird - Anne Murray (7/70; #8 - this is the first in a long string of singles from one of Canada's greatest exports. It's not a "holiday song," per se, but the snows are coming....)

 

* Johnny Angel - Shelley Fabares (4/62; #1 for two weeks - this is the annual request-and-dedication from Barbara in Danby "for the birthday boy," who just happens to double as your DJ this evening. Thanks, pal. Shelley got to introduce this song on national television thanks to her role as the teenaged daughter on The Donna Reed Show. Missing from the television group is the studio vocal group called The Blossoms. There were no Black people at Mary Stone's high school.)

 

Young World - Ricky Nelson (3/62; #5 - just like Shelley Fabares, Rick Nelson had a weekly television show to help promote his latest records. Tonight we hear this one in first-time stereo, thanks to the emerging technology and the fine engineers at Eric Records. This comes to you from the brand new Hit Parade CD pictured at the top, and there are 28 other reasons to run out and buy the disc.)

 

A Groovy Kind of Love - Mindbenders (4/66; #2 for two weeks - Wayne Fontana had recently left the group in his pursuit of fame and fortune. The other guys didn't skip a beat, and this one nearly topped the chart. They'd be back within a year with one that DID top the chart here in the States, but their name wasn't on the label: they're the uncredited group that backed Lulu on To Sir With Love!)

 

A Different Drum - Stone Poneys (at #43 this week, headed to #13 - this is a notable record on several counts: it was penned by Monkee Mike Nesmith, and it also introduced the world to young Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt. Additionally, tonight you'll hear the unedited LP version that contains a double-length harpsichord solo. And lastly, that's Joe Osborn on bass and Hal Blaine on drums. Yep, the Wrecking Crew adds another notch to their belt of hits.)

 

Since You Showed Me How to Be Happy - Jackie Wilson (at #58 this week, headed to #32 Pop and #22 R&B - this was the follow-up to Higher and Higher, and featured the same uncredited Motown musicians as that record had. Jackie Wilson was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement," and these two singles are exhibits A and B.)

 

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Madeline Bell (3/68; #40 - on paper, Madeline Bell was a "one-hit wonder" here in The States. In reality, her voice appears on most of Dusty Springfield's hits, and would also appear on recordings by acts including Donovan, The Rolling Stones and Elton John. On this one Dusty returned the favor and you can hear her providing background vocals. Gamble & Huff were the songwriters.)

 

Call Me Lightning - The Who (3/68; #40 - Pete Townshend had poured all that he had into I Can See For Miles, and was crushed when it didn't be the hit that he'd hoped it would be. He started to work on a new project that would eventually become the "rock opera" Tommy, but Decca needed a follow-up single so they dug into the Who's back catalog and found this old song. It wasn't even released in the UK, and only ever appeared in Mono until tonight!)

 

United (Pt. 1) - The Music Makers (11/67; #78 Pop, #48 R&B - meanwhile, Philadelphia was quietly becoming a musical hotbed of activity. Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff were writing and producing and assembling session players for their new label. Among them were this handful of musicians, who would eventually become the group called MSFB. This track would double as the backing track for a Peaches & Herb song called....We'll Be United.)

 

The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (10/73; #7 Pop, #1 R&B for two weeks - by 1973, Gamble & Huff were churning out an unstoppable stream of hits. The uncredited star of this group was vocalist Teddy Pendergrass, but the other uncredited stars were the red-hot studio band, who called themselves MFSB.)

 

Spanish Harlem - Laura Nyro & Labelle (11/71; dnc - this dream team of NYC singer/songwriter Nyro and Philly-based Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles came together to create an album of R&B chestnuts, under the watchful eye of producers Gamble & Huff. They assembled some of their best studio musicians including Ronnie Baker, Vince Montana and Nydia "Liberty" Mata, and they holed up at Sigma Sound Studios for four days. The result was the sublime Gonna Take a Miracle LP.)

 

 

 

7-8pm

 

 Birthday Calendar

 

November 21 – David Porter (lyricist) – age 80

            – Andrew Love (Memphis Horns) – 1941

 

November 22 – Little Steven Van Zandt – age 71

          

November 23 – Betty Everett – age 82

            

November 24 – Donald "Duck" Dunn – 1941

         

November 25 – Percy Sledge – 1940

            – Bob Lind – age 76

            – Bev Bevan (ELO) – age 76

November 26 – Tina Turner – age 82

            – Jean Terrell (Supremes) – age 77

            – John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) – age 76

            – Gayle McCormick (Smith) – 1948        

 

November 27 – Jimi Hendrix – 1942

 

In a rare Birthday convergence, three of our honorees were all born in Memphis this week in 1941, and were all collaborators in one form or another on the following five records. Andrew Love was the co-founder of the Memphis Horns, who played on hundreds of records recorded in Memphis. "Duck" Dunn was the bass guitarist for Booker T & The MGs, who also played on nearly every record on Stax and Volt Records in Memphis. Finally, David Porter and his songwriting partner Isaac Hayes wrote some of the biggest hits recorded for Stax in the mid- to late-Sixties.  Ready?       

 

Cover Me - Percy Sledge (debuting at #76 on this date in 1967, headed to #42 Pop, #39 R&B - Percy Sledge had the very first #1 hit for Rick Hall's small studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This one features the Memphis Horns, and that's birthday boy Andrew Love on saxophone.) 

 

Soul Man - Sam & Dave (at #4, down from three weeks at #2 Pop, seven weeks #1 R&B - this one hits the trifecta: David Porter gets co-writing credit with Isaac Hayes, Duck Dunn plays the bass, and Andrew Love & the Memphis Horns add the brass parts. This record earned everybody a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Duo, and Rolling Stone ranks it at #463 in their RS500.)

 

Your Good Thing (Is About to End) - Mable John (7/66; #95 Pop, #6 R&B - again, this track features all three Memphis-born birthday guys. Mable had a brother named Little Willie John, and this was her only nationally-charting single. Lou Rawls would later score a big hit with this one, and David Porter would receive a nice royalty check.)

 

In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett (6/65; #21 Pop, #1 R&B - Duck Dunn's bandmate Steve Cropper co-wrote this one and they both played on the record. So did Andrew Love and the Memphis Horns. This one has become a "standard" at this point, and every bar band in America should know how to play it.)

 

Hold On, I'm Coming - Sam & Dave (8/66; #28 Pop, #1 R&B - David Porter, Duck Dunn and Andrew Love each had a hand in this one, too. Music critic Dave Marsh ranks this one as #23 in his list of the 1,000 greatest singles of all time.)

 

I Can't Hear You - Betty Everett (6/64; #66 - she was born in Greenwood, MS and worked her way up to Chicago, where she signed with Vee Jay Records. This one was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and Gerry sat in the producer's chair. He considers this one of the greatest records he's ever made.)

 

Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind (1/66; #5 - this one was slated to be the B-side of Bob's song Cheryl's Going Home. Producer Jack Nitzsche was brought in to make the tracks more marketable. DJs discovered this side and the rest is history!)

 

Telephone Line - Electric Light Orchestra (6/77; #17 - Beverly "Bev" Bevan was a co-founder of the group and played drums on all of their records. This is just one of a whole bunch of hits for these guys, and a nice representative example.)

 

Baby It's You (LP version) - Smith (9/69; #5 - Maureen McCormick was visually striking and had some serious pipes as well. ABC/Dunhill trimmed this track down to 2:24 to guarantee radio play, but tonight you'll hear the unedited longer version. She passed away five years ago from cancer.)

 

You Don't Love Me (This I Know) - Ike & Tina Turner (11/69; dnc - this was track from the group's album The Hunter, released on Blue Thumb Records. It was written by Blues man Willie Cobb, and better known as a killer track from the Allman Brothers' Live at The Fillmore album.)

 

Say You Love Me (single version) - Fleetwood Mac 7/76; #11 - John McVie played bass with this British Blues band since its inception. In fact, he's the "Mac" in Fleetwood Mac. The band's fortunes changed drastically when guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks joined the group. Lindsey produced the record and added extra guitar and banjo overdubs, but Christine McVie was the writer and singer on this one.)

 

Stoned Love - The Supremes (11/70; #7 Pop, #1 R&B - the only original member still with the group was the lovely Mary Wilson, and they should've been pretty much done after Diana Ross' departure, especially after writers/producers Holland-Dozier-Holland had also left. Apparently, they had a few more great records up their sleeves....)

Love On the Wrong Side of Town - Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (10/77; dnc - "Little Steven" Van Zandt was born in Boston, but grew up in South Jersey where he teamed with his buddy "Southside Johnny" Lyon. He later left the band he'd helped to found when he joined the E Street Band, but he continued to write and produce for the Jukes. On the record label below he's credited as "Sugar Miami Steve.")

 

8-9pm

 

 * All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan (1967; dnc - this track from his John Wesley Harding LP goes out at the behest of John-from-Vermont, in town for the weekend. It's not often that you hear Dylan's version of this one, because it was most famously covered by the next guy you'll be hearing....)

 

All Along the Watchtower - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (9/68; #20 - Jimi Hendrix was the hottest commodity in the world of Progressive Rock at this point, and a big fan of Bob Dylan. He cut this track for his Electric Ladyland LP about six months after Dylan's version was released, and he made it his own  -  much in the way that Aretha Franklin claimed Otis Redding's Respect two years earlier. Ranked at #40 in the updated RS500, it's considered by many to be the most successful cover of them all.)

 

Touch Me - The Doors (12/68; #3 - this was the first Doors single to incorporate brass instruments into the mix, capped off by a stirring sax solo by Jazzman Curtis Amy. Guitarist/writer Robbie Krieger apparently borrowed the guitar riff from the 4 Seasons song C'mon Marianne!)

 

Kid - The Pretenders (7/79; #33 UK - this was the lead single plucked from their eponymous debut album, and failed to chart here in The States. The follow-up single was Brass In Pocket, and that was the beginning of their chart success here at home. In the UK, that one would reach #1.)

 

So It Goes - Nick Lowe (7/78; #109 - this was Nick's first solo release after leaving pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz, and was also the debut single for the record label called Stiff Records. It was later released here in the States on Columbia, and was featured in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School.)

 

All Day and All of the Night - The Kinks (12/64; #7 - this follow-up to You Really Got Me further cemented the Davies Brothers' reputation as the hardest-rocking band of the British Invasion. Tonight we hear it in  first-time stereo from the new CD featured at the top of this post.)

 

Just My Imagination - Temptations (4/71; #1 Pop and R&B - after a string of psychedelic topical rockers, the Detroit vocal group came out with a lilting ballad featuring the sweet tenor of Eddie Kendricks. It topped the charts and also ranked as  #399 in the RS500. There are no fancy moves in the video below, but check out the Ed Sullivan Orchestra on this one. Pretty amazing!)

 

 

Smiling Islands - Robbie Patton (3/83; #52 - this was his only charting record, and that's probably mostly due to the guest vocalist who takes the final verse: it's none other than Stevie Nicks, who was the hottest guest vocalist on the planet back in her day. That said, it's a pretty nice song in its own right.) 

 

Pay You Back with Interest - Hollies (6/67; #28 - this was the band's final brand new single for Imperial Records, as they had just jumped ship and landed at Epic. In fact, Epic would release Carrie Anne just two weeks later, and it would leave this one in the dust. Within a year co-founder of the group Graham Nash would do the same....)

 

Eight Days a Week - The Beatles (3/65; #1 for two weeks - this was the closest I could come to finding a Hanukkah song: you know, eight days and eight nights??? In their prime, The Fab Four could do no wrong - each new single was a guaranteed hit!)

 

Goin' Back - The Byrds (peaking this week in 1967 at #89 - Dusty Springfield had taken this Goffin-King tune to the UK Top Ten in summer of '66, but in this version The Byrds tweaked the lyrics and added some jangly guitars, and it was just hovering at the low end of the chart on this date back in 1967.)

 

Love Is All Around - The Troggs (2/68; #7 - "Troggs" was short for troglodytes, which fit their jarring, thumping musical persona. This, however, is an uncharacteristically sweet ballad with strings and tender lyrics, and surprised everybody! Later covers would prove even more successful: Wet Wet Wet topped the charts with it, and it also features prominently in the film Love, Actually.)

 

Temptation 'Bout to Get Me - Knight Brothers (6/65; #70 Pop, #12 R&B - a deep Soul classic from the Washington DC area, this one is dripping with gospel inflections, fat drums and some terrific horns.)

 

Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra (2/74; #1 Pop, #10 R&B - this one was a Barry White creation on every level: he wrote it, arranged it, produced it, conducted it and assembled the orchestra, to boot!)

 

Portrait of My Love - The Tokens (4/67; #36 - we close this week's show on a somber note: long-time band member Phil Margo passed away on 11/13 at age 79. He was a singer, a multi-instrumentalist, a producer, a label founder and a session player, and this was their biggest hit for the Warner Brothers label. After this, they'd begin to focus more on their production work. RIP Phil Margo, bottom left. The lion sleeps tonight.)

 

 

 

CLOSING THEME:  Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny (1959, #1 for two weeks)

 

 

 

 

Glossary of Terms:

dnc = did not chart

nr = not released as a single at the time

AC = Billboard’s chart for “Adult Contemporary” records

BB = Billboard Magazine, which publishes the Hot 100 chart (previously known as the Top 100), along with several other charts

Bubbling Under = songs that were ranked but fell below the top 100

C&W = Billboard’s chart for “Country & Western” records

R&B = Billboard’s chart for “Rhythm & Blues” records

RRHOF = Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

RS500 = Rolling Stone Magazine’s ranked list of the top 500 singles of all-time

 

 

 

 

Host Next Week (12/4/21):  Gregory James with a spotlight on NYC's Brill Building!

 

 

 

Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9pm on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or at wvbr.com/listen.

 

Thanks again to our sponsors Island Health & Fitness and Rasa Spa for their support every week!