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March 1965 (side A)
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This month, our feature is the Beatles final in-studio appearance on "Thank Your Lucky Stars". Meanwhile, the Stones insist this (will/will not) be the last time, the Moodies continue with Denny Laine, and the potato man himself (Heinz) is digging some potatoes! Support this podcast at the $6/month level on patreon to get extra content! Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr . If you are looking for Beatles summer fun, join our friends at the Magical Mystery Camp!
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Transcript
The Beatles' Spirit and Show Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
The Beatles had this chant, John Paul and George and probably then Stuart and Pete, had this chant when things weren't going well, which in their world wasn't very often because mostly it was an upward trajectory, but nonetheless sometimes you they would have a bad night or the gig didn't work properly or the amps broke or whatever.
00:00:19
Speaker
i say, where are we going fellas? And they'd go, to the top Johnny. And I'd say, where's that fellas? they'd say, to the top of most of the pop of most. i say rise And right. And we'd all sort Cheer up.
00:00:32
Speaker
Nothing's gonna stop us now, lads. We're going straight to the top. The top of most of the
00:01:01
Speaker
Welcome to Toppermost of the Poppermost for March of 1965. I'm Ed Chin. I'm Kit O'Toole. And I'm Martin
The Beatles on Thank You, Lucky Stars
00:01:10
Speaker
Quibble. Our feature for this month, 60 years ago this month, the Beatles taped their final original appearance for Thank You, Lucky Stars.
00:01:20
Speaker
That's right. And we're going to go through, I mean, we'll talk in depth about the 65 appearance, but we're going to talk a bit about their previous appearances and what they played and how it changed over time.
00:01:33
Speaker
And it changed drastically, and it really follows along with the band, actually. Absolutely. It sort of works, Ed, if you think about it, with the chat that we had with Note by Note, who we spoke to on When They Was Fab.
00:01:47
Speaker
We mentioned, didn't we, about how we've said that their songwriting grew exponentially, song by song by song, and this works nicely in conjunction with showing that. Yeah, what's a real shame is that most of these episodes no longer exist.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, including the 65 episode that we'll be talking about. I mean it's just such a shame because even though they were miming, I mean, they were lip syncing, it's video of them performing and it's just a shame that it no longer exists.
00:02:16
Speaker
Well, fortunately, one of the Beatles episodes does still exist in in pretty much its entirety. We've got a couple of clips of a couple others, but the vast majorities are of these of are just not there.
00:02:27
Speaker
o You'd think they'd be able to get a deal to have the entire footage of that one episode and all these extra bits due to the deal that they had with the BBC tapes, maybe. Well, Thank You Lucky Stars was not BBC, it was commercial.
00:02:41
Speaker
Oh, it was commercial. Okay. Take that out. All right, so the very first appearance of the Beatles on Thank You, Lucky Stars was on the 19th of January, 1963. nineteen sixty three They were at the bottom of a seven-act bill.
00:02:57
Speaker
And they got to mime to please, please me.
Rising Fame and Iconic Changes
00:03:00
Speaker
I bet they were pleased, pleased about that. Yeah, right. Wow, the bottom of a seven-act bill. You have to start somewhere. and They were fortunate to be on there that week because, I mean, as we have mentioned, this was the show.
00:03:14
Speaker
Everybody was frozen at home. They couldn't go anywhere. So what do they do? They turn on the TV and watch Thank You, Lucky Stars and see this brand new group from Liverpool. That's right. I forgot about the weather part.
00:03:26
Speaker
It all obviously worked out. Mind you, I mean, you know, bottom of the seven-act bill in January of 1963, that would give them time to be able to possibly get back to a nice hotel room and get the slippers on and get the fire on and chill out in front of some good television, maybe.
00:03:43
Speaker
That's right. So they were back on Thank You, Lucky Stars just um about a month later on the 17th of February 1963. They had moved all the way up to third on the bill.
00:03:55
Speaker
And once again, they mined a please, please me. Yep, but at least they were promoted. And the headline act was somebody we've talked about on this show many times, Billy Fury. He wasn't furious about being the headline act.
00:04:08
Speaker
No, definitely not. They're moving up, but they're still not quite there yet. They were away for a couple of months. And so just after the Stowe School appearance on April the 14th, they were part of ah taping at Teddington Studios.
00:04:28
Speaker
And once again, they only got one song. They mimed it for me to you. Wow. Well, that was, of course... The single, and then the other guests on that show were the Dave Clark Five, the Vernon's Girls, Burt Whedon, and Del Shannon.
00:04:43
Speaker
Cool. That's a good lineup. we've talked about quite a bit. Okay, so May the 12th, 1963, they actually get two songs. They got From Me to You Yet Again and Saw Her Standing There.
00:04:56
Speaker
Wow, so two songs this time. They're moving up. So this was their fourth appearance on Thank You, Lucky Stars, but it was the first time they were the main act. So over the course of just three or four months, they've moved from the seventh on the bill to the headliner.
00:05:13
Speaker
Boy, that's pretty fast. That's a impressive. That's so good. Wow. Now, Marv, there's an interesting fact about the rehearsal and the actual appearance. You want to tell us what we found out about that?
00:05:26
Speaker
So the antennae drum head was replaced by the drop tee, the new logo between the rehearsal and the taping. Nice. During the rehearsal, they still had the antennae logo on it.
00:05:39
Speaker
And then when they're on the show proper, the photo show that Ringo had changed out to the drop tee that we all know. My gosh. Cool. The one that's on the drum head on the intro to every episode of Anthology.
00:05:51
Speaker
Exactly. What has basically become the Beatles logo. Yes. Then in the summer, for whatever a reason, they didn't call it Thank You, Lucky Stars during the summer. They called it Summer Spin.
Rebranding and Liverpool Showcases
00:06:05
Speaker
Ooh, hey, it's a spin on it, you see. So in August, August the 18th, they were on Summer Spin, the summer Thank You, Lucky Stars, and they mimed if she loves you and I'll get you.
00:06:18
Speaker
Hey, two songs. Wow. Moving up. So, okay, after the summer when Thank Your Lucky Stars came back for the fall, they had the Beatles on once again, October the 20th, 1963, and they got three songs.
00:06:33
Speaker
all Three songs? Moving on up. You have to tell us what those songs were, Marv. Okay, so they did All My Loving, Money, That's What I Want, the very gaudy written song and She Loves You, two of their own in a cover.
00:06:48
Speaker
And thankfully, everything except She Loves You still exists. So you can find on the internet all my loving and money from this taping of Thank You Lucky Stars.
00:07:06
Speaker
um
00:07:12
Speaker
um
00:07:29
Speaker
The best things in life are free But you can keep them for the best time Please now give me more What I want
00:07:52
Speaker
Then at the end of the year, there was the second edition of Thank You, Lucky Stars that featured solely Liverpool acts. So this is December 1963. The Beatles were at the Royal Variety Show and they were just on the verge of heading to America.
00:08:11
Speaker
They were on Thank You, Lucky Stars and got to do four songs. Wow. Four songs. Who were the other acts then, Ed?
00:08:22
Speaker
VTR ABC 3173, thank you Lucky Stars, part one, take one.
00:08:39
Speaker
a
00:08:43
Speaker
A year or two ago, this was Merseyside, a war-scarred industrial port. Its day-to-day sounds made up a jangling symphony of hooting tugs, wailing factory sirens, and the shrill screech of trains in Lime Street Station, of little interest to the pop music world.
00:09:01
Speaker
And then, from one of the pool cellar clubs, came a new sound, an urgent, compelling, exciting sound, which swept through Britain and which has led to tonight's fabulous Merseyside edition of Lucky Stars Searchers, Cilla
00:09:18
Speaker
Tommy Quickly, The Breakaways, Billy J. Kramer with The Decorators, Jerry and the Pacemakers, and of course...
00:09:30
Speaker
Yes, the magnificent Beatles! um
00:09:37
Speaker
are
00:09:45
Speaker
Hello there, friends and fellow record fans. It's once again, Beatlemania has burst out here in Birmingham. Once again, those four young gentlemen are in the theater. Scylla was on there, and Billy Jay was on there, and Jerry and the Pacemakers were on there. All of you Liverpool acts.
00:10:00
Speaker
An Epstein special. Kit, you want to tell us what those four songs were? Sure. They mimed to four songs. I Want to Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, Twist and Shout, and She Loves You.
00:10:12
Speaker
And they were also presented with two gold discs. I'm guessing they were for I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You.
Evolving Sound and American Tours
00:10:20
Speaker
Well, that's almost all from our Mercy Beach show, but just before we leave you, one more surprise.
00:10:26
Speaker
We've got two gold discs to present to the Beatles, and here to present them is the man who makes all the Beatles records, George Martin, A&R Man. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, George. love you.
00:10:36
Speaker
there we are. wanted hold your hand. Two gold discs for the Beatles, and for you, more. God damn to you. Good night. Good night.
00:10:51
Speaker
are So then they took a break. They had to go to America and film a movie and, you know. Do stuff. Yeah, they didn't get back to Thank You Lucky Stars until July. And once again, they got four songs. that Four interesting songs.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Hard Day's Night, Long Tall Sally, Things We Said Today. i think that's an underrated gem of a song. And you can't do that. Then in November, so we're getting up to about where we are, without a studio audience, they mimed to four separate songs.
00:11:25
Speaker
That's right, they did I Feel Fine, She's a Woman, I'm a Loser, and Rock and Roll Music. like And some of that still exists, so you can find that on the internet.
00:11:36
Speaker
That's interesting, because you can see there the dip difference in the band from what they did in July to what they did in November is a huge difference in sound.
00:11:46
Speaker
Because you've got to put more blues rock as compared to what they did earlier on in the year. Who are they? Well, maybe I'll find out as the show goes on.
00:12:03
Speaker
Baby's good to me, you know she's happy as can be, you know she said so. I'm in love with her and I feel fine.
00:12:31
Speaker
Thank you.
00:13:16
Speaker
I'm a loser, I'm a loser And I'm not what I appear to be
00:13:59
Speaker
The riff of I Feel Fine and She's a Woman and I'm a Loser is a bit electric folk.
Final Performance and Musical Analysis
00:14:05
Speaker
So you can already see the change in the band. Yep, the sound is changing. And of course, I'm a Loser also has got that Dylan influence. Yeah.
00:14:13
Speaker
You can see even just from this, their progress, which is so fast. So that then takes us to the episode that we're talking about this week, our feature in our feature.
00:14:25
Speaker
On the 28th of March, 1965, they taped their final appearance in studio for Thank You, Lucky Stars. They would appear on one or two others, which we will mention once we finish here.
00:14:37
Speaker
And it was aired the 3rd May. April 1965. Marv, the airtime of Thank Your Lucky Stars was 5.50 to 6.35. Was that just the way British television was at the time?
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. i mean, it it pretty much stayed that way-ish. That's when the sports programmes used to finish on Saturday, because it stayed that way till like the late 80s and even into the 90s. Sports programmes would stay on till about then in the afternoon. And then you'd start to get the entertainment shows on from that point.
00:15:10
Speaker
Gotcha. So rugby or soccer football would be on until then, and then the games would finish up and then then they'd have post game or whatever. And it's like, yeah okay, it's five 50. It's just a little bit weird that they wouldn't just wait until the top of the hour to put on the next show.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's strange. Yeah. The sports programmes used to finish around half past five. And then you had a 20 minute long news programme, well, 15 minutes and then five minutes of adverts after that.
00:15:39
Speaker
And then the television would start at 10 to 6. And even I used to think that was weird. And used to think, why don't you just have half an hour for the news and start it bang on six o'clock? Yeah. Now, sadly, we don't have this episode, but we have a number of great photos of both the rehearsal and the Thank You Lucky Stars yeah episode. Boy, do the Beatles look cool on that set.
00:16:02
Speaker
Yep, they really did. and three nineteen sixty five both in help And Help here, and I mean, they looked so cool in this period. I don't care what John Lennon says, he looked fantastic.
00:16:14
Speaker
and They just looked great. George in that tan-colored turtleneck that he wore during rehearsal. Wow, I wish I could look like that. Yep, I mean, some of the clothes, like, you could wear that now.
00:16:26
Speaker
I would. If anyone wants to make me a suit like that, I'll wear it And Paul was in his stage outfit even during the rehearsal. Of course.
00:16:37
Speaker
And so in the episode proper, one of the things you will find if you go through on the internet for a fair number of these shows, we do know not only what acts were there, but what they performed because a lot of those were preserved in TV guides and fans have written out exactly what went on. And so with one exception, we do know exactly what was played or played in quotes during this show. Mm-hmm.
00:17:03
Speaker
So as the headliners, the Beatles, they got an interview, but they also got three songs. So I guess they didn't want to mime to four songs again.
00:17:15
Speaker
The three songs that the Beatles mimed to were Eight Days a Week, Yes It Is, and Ticket to Ride. Cool. Which makes sense, since they were promoting help.
00:17:26
Speaker
so Yeah, I mean, they were in the middle of filming help, so. That's true. So Ticket to Ride, of course, would be from help, but. Interesting selection. As we'll find out during this week, I Feel Fine had fallen off the charts.
00:17:38
Speaker
And as we talked about with John Stone, Eight Days a Week was not a single in the UK. Yeah, that's right. Shocked. Big miss there. So was Ticket to Ride a single before Help came out then? I'm guessing it must have been.
00:17:53
Speaker
Ticket to Ride was released on April 9th, 1965. So this is to promote the upcoming single then. The very first time anyone in the public heard Ticket to Ride was on this show.
00:18:07
Speaker
Wow. Right. That's so cool. How lucky were those people? I know. And it sounded different than some of the other stuff. Just, oh, I can't imagine what that would have been like. Coming off I Feel Fine, this is sort of the move into slightly harder rock.
00:18:24
Speaker
In the States, it kind of makes a little bit of sense because Yesterday and Today is just around the corner. And, you know that's kind of the rock counterpart to the American Rubber Soul.
00:18:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. But as a single and a track which is going to be on the Help album, it's kind of interesting to have it here. he well And really the same with Yes It Is.
00:18:47
Speaker
Again, even though they were miming for people to hear those harmonies. Yep, that's true. Although I'm a little surprised they played that because even though I love Yes It Is, and those harmonies are amazing. like Eight Days a Week and Ticket to Ride, not surprising. Those are pop rock songs.
00:19:03
Speaker
Hits. They just had hits written all over them. And yes, it is. That's not as commercial, I would say. It's a little bit more of a downer. And again, I love the song, but I'm just kind of surprised that they choose that to play on something like Thank Your Lucky Stars.
00:19:20
Speaker
We don't have the video, but you can imagine that the three of them mimed around the same microphone, this boy style. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Also, you can imagine some of the more rocky element of people watching might have watched the show and be thinking, you know, Beatles...
00:19:40
Speaker
whatever, and then suddenly Ticket to Ride kicks in. Yeah. You'd get people who were more on the Rocky side thinking, ooh, that's good. So it's closer to the rockier edge that you were getting from the kinks and the hoops, you know, and you might have got their fans who were not really listening to the Beatles suddenly hearing and going, hey, you know what?
00:20:00
Speaker
That's decent. It's got that Rocky sort of like feel to it. good And again, as we mentioned, Satisfaction was also just around the corner. Great. Yeah.
00:20:11
Speaker
So we also know who else was on the show and who played with them. This is quite an ah array of stars, isn't it? Quite a mix.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah. Mix of songs as well. Other than the three Beatles songs, the animals were on. Marv, what did the animals play? the The animals did the fantastic Bring It On Home To Me.
00:20:35
Speaker
It actually fits very well with Ticket to Ride. And then Dionne Warwick. Yes, Dionne Warwick did Who Can I Turn To? Interesting choice.
00:20:46
Speaker
And then our friend Tom Jones, but he's not doing, it's not unusual on the show. He's doing Once Upon a Time. This is, of course, one of the instances where Tom Jones got mad at John Lennon.
00:20:58
Speaker
Oh, yes. We talked about that last month. Yes. Yes. Hmm. Yeah, interesting choice there
The End of Thank You, Lucky Stars
00:21:05
Speaker
for Tom. It's not what you'd expect. Then we have the Drifters, and they did come On Over to My Place.
00:21:12
Speaker
Are they doing an old song? um No, it was released in 65. It was their current single then? Yeah. okay Then good old Peter and Gordon doing a Buddy Holly song, True Love Ways.
00:21:25
Speaker
You can imagine that working really well with their two vocals together, though, couldn't you, if it's just harmonizing almost Simon and Garfunkel style? That's what I was just thinking. I thought that could work.
00:21:35
Speaker
It fits in well with Yes It Is. Mm-hmm. That's true. Then Carol Keene, and we don't know what Carol Keene sang. That's the one song which we don't know what she did on this show.
00:21:47
Speaker
And then Marv finishes off with the last act on this episode of Thank You, Lucky Stars. Right. I don't know if I know this song. Mike Preston's song, Till Then My Love. It sounds a bit Andy Williams to me, title-wise. Am I right with that?
00:22:10
Speaker
When the willow doesn't bend to the breeze and the river doesn't run to the seas When the golden plain isn't kissed by the rain I will love you
00:22:36
Speaker
Kind of an odd act to have on Thank You, Lucky Stars, but um again, they were a very diverse show. Obviously. Yes, they were. So this would be the last time the Beatles appeared on the Thank You, Lucky Stars stage, but they would be on Thank You, Lucky Stars ah couple more times.
00:22:54
Speaker
They would appear via promo clips for Paperback Rider and Rain in the Final episode of Thank You, Lucky Stars aired on the June, 1966 called Goodbye, Lucky Stars.
00:23:08
Speaker
goodbye lucky stars Yes, ah presented by the supreme Jim Dale. who I like that guy. Good actor, great voice, and he's all over the place, isn't he, on television and film.
00:23:23
Speaker
no Now, Kit, you were telling us about why you think that Thank You, Lucky Stars had to end. It wasn't due to ratings. No, it was really the Thank Your Lucky Stars was a big target of the Musicians Union because of the miming that all of the acts did. the Musicians Union was fighting against miming on television.
00:23:44
Speaker
know, and I guess can understand why. i mean, it was putting them out of work, they felt. And so it was mainly because of that, because I don't think the ratings were really going down. I think it was mainly over these union disputes.
00:24:00
Speaker
I think we can say that Thank You Lucky Stars was very much the British equivalent of bandstand. Oh, for sure. But it's strange because then in the UK we had the chart show, top of the Pops,
00:24:10
Speaker
and all the acts mimed on that. Even up until I was an adult, they were still miming on Top of the Pops. When John and Yoko were on Top of the Pops, they were only sort of miming.
00:24:23
Speaker
Okay. So maybe they got away with it because of that. They would do occasional live-ish episodes. And of course, those rules were the same reason why the Beatles are explicitly shown not miming in the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields video.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yep, that's right. Not Hard Day's Night in Help style. It's like, okay, we're doing stuff, but we are explicitly not singing the song. The song is just the soundtrack to what we're doing. That's true.
00:24:52
Speaker
That's actually quite clever. Yeah, it is actually. All right, so that is Thank Your Lucky Stars. And again, i think we all really hope that somebody somewhere manages to find copies, but this is one that I think is going to be a long shot for most of Yeah, I don't think there are going to be any, like, finding lost copies in an attic or something, unfortunately. All right.
Magical Mystery Camp Promotion
00:25:16
Speaker
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00:25:34
Speaker
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00:26:02
Speaker
Yep, coming soon. Once again, for the third year a row, we are being sponsored by the Magical Mystery Camp. Cool. So, love the Beatles.
00:26:14
Speaker
Ready to kick off your summer right? Music Masters Collective, Fab Faux, and RPM Music School are delighted to bring you Magical Mystery Camp.
00:26:27
Speaker
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00:26:59
Speaker
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00:27:16
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:28:11
Speaker
Enjoy. On to the UK charts starting the week of the 24th of February to the 2nd of March. Kit, why don't you take it away? Okay, so we have at number one, I'll Never Find Another You by The Seekers, which would stay there for a couple of weeks and then go down to number two and number four.
00:28:32
Speaker
Number four, You've Lost That Love and Feeling by The Righteous Brothers. It would then go down to 13, then 22, then 14, Yes, Will by The Hollies. number fourteen yes i will by the holies And, oh man, this is great, this Cashbox review. We love Cashbox here, don't we? And in answer to our question from last month, when are we not going to get a Cha-Cha?
00:28:54
Speaker
This is the month we don't get a Cha-Cha in any of the Cashbox reviews because they must have changed some riders. I went through all of the reviews for March in Cashbox, and only one of them mentions Cha-Cha.
00:29:08
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Oh, no. i' I'm sad now because that means that the days of wine and cha-cha are over. That's right. But we do get this review.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yes. Okay, here we go. A throbbing frug tune, very fetchingly orchestrated. Well, you know, it's a frug tune. There you go.
00:29:28
Speaker
It's frug tune. Is it a frug? Is it I didn't really think it was, but okay. Okay. Okay. Maybe the Monkeys version is more of a frugue tune. Yep.
00:29:40
Speaker
But it's fetching. I love it. All right. Number 18, we have Go Now by the Moody Blues, which will then go down the next weeks to 2750 and then out of the charts.
00:29:52
Speaker
Number 22, You've Lost That Love and Feeling, the cover by Sola Black. which will then go down to 32, 40, and then out of the charts. Number 23, leader of the pack, the Shangri-La is one of the splatter platters, and will then go down to 26, 36, and out of the charts.
00:30:11
Speaker
He's dead. Yep, that's right. Number 25, Ferry Across the Mersey by Jerry and the Pacemakers, which will then go down to 36, 48, and then out of the charts. 27, yay, one of my favorites. Yeah, yeah, Georgie, Fame, and the Blue Flames will then stay at 27 for another week, then go down to 39, and then out of the charts.
00:30:32
Speaker
And finally, Terry by Twinkle, which will stay at 28 for another week, then 47, and then out of the charts. And so since the Twinkle song is going out of the chart, she has to have her next single at number 31, Golden Light by Twinkle, which moves from number 31 to number 22 to number 21 to number 28.
00:30:56
Speaker
Oh boy. ah If Terry was a bad ripoff of Leader of the Pack, which she still denies, this is a very bad ripoff of Bacharach David. Twinkle just simply does not have the voice for this song.
00:31:10
Speaker
The backing's not too bad. Horns, piano, etc. But there's nothing original, and the songwriting is just ordinary. Oh, the songwriting is just what kills it for me.
00:31:21
Speaker
lights, a whole lot of fame.
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah, the backing's fine, but it is kind of a cross between Bacharach David Ripoff and early 60s girl group sound. <unk>'s fine but it is kind of a cross between background david ripoff an early sixty s girl group sound But the lyrics, oh, they're so clunky.
00:32:01
Speaker
They sound like they were written by a teenage girl in her bedroom reading from her diary. Which she was. Yep. I wonder if she's still dating that guy from The Bachelors.
00:32:12
Speaker
Exactly. oh my gosh. Golden lights displaying your name. Golden lights, it's a terrible shame. But oh my darling, why did you change? Boy in a million, idol, big star, I didn't tell you how great you were.
00:32:25
Speaker
i didn't grovel and scream and rip your brand new jackets at the seams. Oh. Hey. She needed some therapy.
00:32:38
Speaker
Emo in the 60s. Yes, there you go. It's got a beginning and it's got an end. There's no fade out in this song. It actually finishes, which is strange for this era.
00:32:49
Speaker
Oh, my darling. Why did you change? Oh, my darling.
00:33:11
Speaker
It could have faded out about two minutes earlier, right, Marv?
00:33:16
Speaker
here Yeah. And what what's with the comparing her at the time to the voice of Leslie Gore? Yeah, I thought that was kind of strange. i don't think she sounds like Leslie.
00:33:28
Speaker
Not at all, no. No. But people were going on about at the time, like, oh, you know, she sounds just like Leslie Gould. I kept seeing it in all these reviews, and I'm like, no, no. no But yeah, like said, it's got a beginning, it's got an end.
00:33:40
Speaker
Kudos for actually having a proper ending to the song that, like Ed said, could have come maybe two, two and a half minutes sooner. Don't keep on with it, Martin. Go on. At number 32, an act which we have all grown to really like.
00:33:54
Speaker
Honey I Need by The Pretty Things. This song would move from 32 to 21 to 19 to 13. More good stuff from The Pretty Things. The Stones are moving on, but The Pretty Things are not.
00:34:06
Speaker
They're not copying themselves, but they're also not completely moving forward.
00:34:48
Speaker
At this point, it's still tasty. It might grow old in six months or a year, but right now, I'm glad and I'm happy to hear this. I agree. I've really grown to like this band, as you said. you know, it is certainly early Stones reminiscent, but that's not a bad thing. Phil May in his lead vocal does sound Jagger-esque, but I really love the R&B here and leaning a little more toward blues, particularly in the guitar solo by Dick Taylor.
00:35:16
Speaker
But what's interesting is it does have that shuffle rhythm, so it's still danceable, and therefore on the pop side, so it's still accessible. So they do a nice job of combining the two influences, the blues and then mirroring it with pop.
00:35:33
Speaker
I'll say it again. Why wasn't this band bigger? I love the rawness of their sound. i wish they would have lasted longer. Well, I mean, thankfully, the important people did hear them.
00:35:44
Speaker
As we said the very first time we mentioned the Pretty Things, they are the band that every other band, well, with possibly the exception of the Beatles, wanted to be. i can see why. Yeah.
00:35:55
Speaker
Great song. Great lyrics, great music, melody, vocals really good. What a cool song. Another great one in their catalogue. Something we cannot say about this next one.
00:36:06
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yep. And we've got a bit to say about this song. At number 33, I Apologize by PJ Proby, which would move up significantly from number 33 to number 18 to number 16 to number 11.
00:36:20
Speaker
eleven why This is PJ predicting 70s lounge lizard Elvis on the lead vocal. The backing is nothing more than mediocre karaoke.
00:36:39
Speaker
I am so sorry.
00:36:50
Speaker
Never knew how much
00:37:05
Speaker
And sweetheart, it's my fault. It's all my fault. It's slightly rockin'. There's some decent playing on it, but overall, it's a miss.
00:37:17
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Apologies to any PJ Proby fans out there, but this almost borders on parody for me. I mean, it's way oversung. The Elvis impression is just so over the top.
00:37:30
Speaker
The background singers are screeching. At one point, PJ Proby in the bridge borderline yodels. I just thought, what?
00:37:41
Speaker
From the bottom of my...
00:37:58
Speaker
To me, when he was growling and wailing through this, it was like nails screeching down a blackboard. I just couldn't get through this. It was just awful. I'll drop the only Betty-ism of this episode.
00:38:09
Speaker
When she heard this, she said he should apologize for making this record. And I agree. Yeah, maybe Frank Ifield visited him in the studio, you know. Yeah, maybe. Mm-hmm. You know, in some rock songs, some vocalists know how to use that moment where the voice is on the edge of breaking and they can do something really special with it.
00:38:34
Speaker
This is not that. No! When he's on the edge of his voice breaking, and it does, in a few places, it's terrible. It's really bad on the ears.
00:38:45
Speaker
And you missed one, Kit. What about his really bad impression of Frankie Valli for that bit at the end?
00:39:10
Speaker
It's awful. It would have done well in 1955, but not with him singing it. No. And in a what are they thinking or gee, how much did they pay for this review?
00:39:22
Speaker
Cashbox claims that this song is a top notch after hours moody low key blueser sold in a convincing manner by this chanter.
00:39:34
Speaker
After hours. What does that mean? What? think they were listening to a different song. The only place this needs to be after hours is in the city dump.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yes, agreed. Now, for better or worse, PJ's career was to take a downturn because, well, he would, instead of imitating Elvis, he would maybe influence Jim Morrison a little bit.
00:39:58
Speaker
oh So PJ's stage outfits were velvet suits and quite possibly the tightest trousers you can imagine. as in In the Ruttles, it was the trousers.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yes, that's right. Yes. So his career would start coming to an end during a performance in January of 1965.
00:40:22
Speaker
So he was out there in those trousers doing his stage act. Apparently he he did a passably impressive James Brown copy. Oh, did he do that drop to the floor? Yes, apparently he did.
00:40:33
Speaker
how gosh. So, Marv, why don't you tell us what was said about the end of this performance when, well, something happened to PJ's trousers? Yeah, one reporter described it as the most intimate part of Mr. Proby's anatomy revealed. Becoming exposed, yes. Yes.
00:40:54
Speaker
So he got arrested. Well, he didn't get arrested on this night. Okay. They went and they they had some discussions. I guess Brian was still PJ's representation at this time, so maybe Brian managed to settle things.
00:41:08
Speaker
But they basically warned him, don't do it again. yep Well, and it looks like it did happen again, that a few nights later, another pair ripped on stage.
00:41:19
Speaker
And then that's when he was arrested. Yeah. And what's really fun and funny is the gentleman who arrested PJ Proby was one PC Brian Harris.
00:41:32
Speaker
PC Brian Harris was the father of young Bob Harris, who would become better known to us as Whispering Bob Harris. Oh, jeez. Yes. The old Grey Whistle Test, I watched that as a youngster. Really enjoyed that. I loved that show.
00:41:47
Speaker
As Beatles people, we are familiar with it because Whistling Bob Harris interviewed John Lennon during his rock and roll promotion. Yes, indeed. I like that interview a lot.
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah. And you have a super cut. Yeah, I told a lie.
00:42:16
Speaker
Oh and if I made you cry When I said goodbye I'm sorry From the bottom of my heart I apologize
00:43:02
Speaker
i'm just kidding like
00:43:06
Speaker
Are there any covers of this? There are previous versions, because this song goes back to 1931, and Bing Crosby recorded it. Okay. um And Billy Eckstein had a big hit with it.
00:43:19
Speaker
Dinah Washington has recorded it. Aretha Franklin and Timmy Uro. George's favorite. Exactly. Guys, without even listening to those, they are all better than this.
00:43:32
Speaker
Yes, exactly. At number 36, Can You Hear My Heartbeat by Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the Carter Lewis song, which we are all familiar with.
00:43:42
Speaker
It moves from 36 to 25 to 31 to 34. A decent organ, a fairly standard, if inferior and decidedly English sounding, which is weird because they are Americans, backing singers, fairly awful little girl lead vocal, miss.
00:43:59
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:44:18
Speaker
When you ask me to meet your mom, I knew that baby we'd be going to part, yeah. Keep your head up, the violin of my heartbeat.
00:44:29
Speaker
You're the one I love. You're the one I love. Really, the song is more interesting because of the band. It's an all-girl group.
00:44:40
Speaker
I mean, for 1965, that's pretty good. All them playing the instruments, obviously. you know, I like the marching drum beat after the chorus, before the verse begins. The harmonies are okay. The organ's okay.
00:44:52
Speaker
I think I'd rather have heard a regular keyboard or piano. And the lead vocal on this, and we'll get to the lead vocalist in a second... It's kind of surprising because it's not as rocking as her later sound would be.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, she kind of goes for that little girl sound on this, and it it doesn't really work very well. So not a great cover, but as I said, the band itself is fascinating.
00:45:17
Speaker
There's another element to this that's fascinating to me as well. It's a bit of a behind-the-scenes thing. I think it's called that it's an all-girl band. I think that's awesome. Yes. But produced by Alan Price of The Animals. Yes.
00:45:29
Speaker
It's Alan Price starting to go to the production side, which he would do a lot more later as well as being the Alan Price band or whatever they call them. So i just can't remember now. It's him starting to go that way with the production. And that's interesting to me as well.
00:45:43
Speaker
Is it Alan Price on the organ or is it one of their own? I think it's one of their people. Yeah. Organist, keyboardist, Margo Lewis. Margo. incredible keyboards with bass pedals on her Hammond organ.
00:45:58
Speaker
Come on, you know. What chick is out there doing that even today? Okay. House of the Rising Sun was number one by the Animals. And apparently they were in town.
00:46:09
Speaker
Mike Jeffries, who was their manager, Eric Burden and Hilton Valentine were walking down the street and they thought we were black.
00:46:21
Speaker
They didn't even know that this was a girls band. They heard a tambourine, which I was a tambourine queen, singing doo-wop songs and black songs by Mary Wells and you know all of the all the good R&B stuff.
00:46:35
Speaker
you know We weren't writing then. we were doing we were a cover band you know doing all the songs that the audience wanted and and playing them well. and and And so Eric goes, oh, ooh good. It's like a gospel group. Let's go in.
00:46:50
Speaker
They go in and they're in absolute shock. Not only was this a girls band, A white girls band.
00:47:02
Speaker
They flipped. Next thing I know is Mike Jeffries corners me and he goes, I want to bring you over to England.
00:47:13
Speaker
And you know, we weren't going much further in the States, you know what I mean? We were on Atlantic Records, but we weren't going much further. And the English invasion was started, okay?
00:47:26
Speaker
Between the Beatles and the animals and all of the, you know, the kinks, it was starting. And so I said, and a lot of groups, a lot of people did that, you know, including the pretenders, you know, well Chrissy Hines moved to England because of that.
00:47:47
Speaker
Because they didn't accept us here that way, that big.
00:47:53
Speaker
You know, everything in UK was done through PR, music magazines. so We were in the papers every freaking day.
00:48:05
Speaker
We went over there. We went over there. We signed. We went over there. It wasn't just like overnight. It's a big story with it. But you know, anyway, we went over there and we were huge. We would have the hot seat in front of the stones.
00:48:19
Speaker
Hot seat meaning there'd be six acts. Normally they have six acts. People start screaming for the main act. we had the hot seat because they didn't scream for the main act because they were so excited about us that nobody screamed, stones, you know, nobody did that.
00:48:38
Speaker
Kings, the hollies, so we toured with the best of them. And all of these groups used to stand by the curtains when we we perform and just we blew them away.
00:48:51
Speaker
We blew them away. We were huge there. And then we wind up cutting this white piaña song that I hated, Can't You Hear My Heartbeat, because i was more into the black music than that.
00:49:06
Speaker
And I wasn't into the Supremes, ah per se, but they wanted me to sing it like the Supremes. and i went, we're not the Supremes. We're R&B. I was shocked that they didn't really understand that, you know.
00:49:21
Speaker
But that became our hit. And Herman's Hermits covered it as well. So as to the band itself, Kit will have more, but the lead singer Genya Zelkiewicz, do you know how to pronounce that, Kit? Yeah, that was her maiden name, and she was later known as Genya Raven. Okay. That's how she's primarily known, Genya Raven.
00:49:42
Speaker
This is Tanya Pearson interviewing Genya Raven on January 20th in New York for the Women of Rock Oral History Project. She came up as the lead singer in Richard Perry's band, The Escorts.
00:49:55
Speaker
Of course, RIP Richard Perry. We lost him not too long ago. That stunned me when I read that. Yes. Wow. Wow. So you you got some other information on Goldie and the Gingerbreads. Yes. They are one of the earliest all-female rock bands and were the first to be signed to a major record label.
00:50:16
Speaker
They were featured in 2011 in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their Women in Music exhibit. They formed in 1962. I mean, again, that really early. Good them.
00:50:27
Speaker
good for them She was the lead singer in the Escort. She also went on to form a band called Ten Wheel Drive. After the Gingerbreads, did you do Ten Wheel Drive or did the producing come first? Like what did what did you plan do? No, no, I did. i did I knew that I wanted to expand in music, you know, so I had i had met this jazz drummer
00:50:58
Speaker
I learned a lot about jazz, but i they loved it because I put that rock into their jazz, you know, so it was like a mixture of things. That's when after that came 10-wheel drive, you know. i god i've I've reinvented myself so many times, you know.
00:51:18
Speaker
um so But the jazz thing was for me to learn, you know, and you can't learn it if you're not singing it and you're not around it. And and I was around it and I met the Brecker brothers and they became, you know, blood, sweat and tears. and But here's the funny story about Jenny Raven. So when I saw the name, i thought, wait a minute.
00:51:41
Speaker
I've seen this name before and I've heard of her. And I remember those of you who watch The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, he occasionally does this feature called screen grabs.
00:51:53
Speaker
People will sometimes send in pictures, you know, shots from movies, all of people that that they think look like Jimmy Fallon. And then he does a bit where he then puts on ah costume or a wig and all to try to look like that person and then kind of poses like the person in the picture.
00:52:11
Speaker
So this one night, Jimmy announces that somebody has sent in the latest picture of someone who looks very much like him. And he said, and she's a woman.
00:52:22
Speaker
And he pulls out this album cover and it's Jenya Raven.
00:52:30
Speaker
And it does, in this picture, it's an early solo album first, she does kind of look like Jimmy Fallon with long hair. And the roots were just dying, laughing.
00:52:42
Speaker
ah Next one is sent in by a bunch of people. It's a singer. They say looks like me. Oh. Yeah. And she's a woman. Her name is Gina Raven. Never heard of that?
00:52:59
Speaker
Something like that,
00:53:06
Speaker
you mean? All right.
00:53:13
Speaker
Let me see it right there.
00:53:22
Speaker
see it i there
00:53:38
Speaker
nothing at all It's pretty funny. I mean, they do look very similar. So then Jimmy did the whole thing about putting a wig on that looked like her hair and all, and the audience was just dying. So when I saw gender Raven, I'm like, wait a minute.
00:53:53
Speaker
I remember seeing that name and that's where I saw it. Wow. Go find it on YouTube. And you can still hear Janja Raven. She has two separate shows on Sirius XM's Little Stevens Underground Garage channel. Chicks and Broads.
00:54:10
Speaker
Love that name of her show, which features music by women from the 1950s to the present. And Goldie's Garage, which features unsigned bands.
00:54:20
Speaker
Very cool. Well, she was a pioneer. Awesome. Awesome. All right, Marv. Okay, so number 37, we've got that thieving magpie himself, Faldunicum, with Walk Tall, going from 37 to 40 and then out of the charts.
00:54:36
Speaker
And we're going to hear more of Walk Tall later in this month. Yes! And then number 39, we've got Dance, Dance, Dance by the Beach Boys, which will go from 39 and then out of the charts.
00:54:48
Speaker
At 40, we've got I Can't Explain by The Who, going from 40 to 33 to 26 to At number 41, we've got a new entry in the UK charts that we've already covered on the US.
00:55:01
Speaker
The In Crowd by Dobie Gray going from 41 to 2825. And then at 42, we've got Somewhere by PJ Proby, the trouser ripper going from 42 and out of the charts and over to Ed for the next one.
00:55:18
Speaker
At number 43, Every Little Bit Hurts by the Spencer Davis Group, which would spend two weeks at number 43, out of these charts, and come back in at number 43. Huh. ah Weird.
00:55:30
Speaker
It's a cover of the Brenda Holloway tune, great piano, a good lead vocal, although I think Marv's going to have some comments on it. It really could have used a bit more soul, which is very strange for Stevie Wynwood.
00:55:44
Speaker
Yeah. Simple, but effective drumming. There's a gospel organ in the middle of it. And I'm not sure how well that works. There's really not quite enough of the church in there. It would have been better if there were more of that kind of soul feel to it.
00:55:58
Speaker
Still maybe a medium hit. We'll get back to the organ. I just can't take the loneliness you give me. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:13
Speaker
I just can't go on living my life this way
00:56:29
Speaker
I liked the piano solo. I mean, that was right out of the church, which I liked, but I kind of agree, Ed, I wish there been more of that in the song. And particularly, I was surprised by Steve Wynwood's voice because, I mean, he usually just kills it.
00:56:45
Speaker
And he really didn't do that. You know, he was kind of holding back here, I thought. thought he was pushing, too, to hit some of those high notes. I don't know if the song just didn't suit him or if it was the approach he took.
00:56:58
Speaker
But I think it maybe if they had changed the arrangement and kind of said, hey, don't hold back, it might have helped. But yeah, it was not a good fit for him.
00:57:08
Speaker
That was exactly what I meant. I mean, Steve's voice is great. He's good on this. But there are songs that Steve will sing later in his career where when he does these soulful, slower numbers, his voice just absolutely soars. And occasionally he'll do these numbers and his voice will be almost out of this world and take you somewhere else.
00:57:33
Speaker
which a really, really top soul singer will do. But with this one, like you said, it's it's sort of like he's holding back. And I don't know why it could be the youth in it, maybe. I don't know. And that he's still relatively young at that point. He's still a teenager, for crying out loud, at this point.
00:57:51
Speaker
Right. But, yeah, there's just something about his voice that I thought I liked it, but it just wasn't where it could have gone. The piano by Steve, on the other hand, is incredible.
00:58:02
Speaker
I love Steve's piano on this. I actually do like Spencer's guitar work on this as well, a lot. The organ bugged me because the organ is there. It's a guest playing the organ, where personally, if it had been me, why didn't they overdub Steve doing in the organ as well?
00:58:19
Speaker
Good question. Every little hurts
00:58:32
Speaker
You'll get to something like Give Me Some Loving and he's the king of playing an organ. Why didn't they just get him to do that as well? Yeah, interesting. All right, you got a couple more for us, Marv.
00:58:44
Speaker
Okay, at number 44, we've got Tell Her No by The Zombies, which will go then to 45 37 to 35, then out. At 47, we've got Come See About Me by The Supremes, which will go from 47 to going out of the charts. and Don't worry, there's another Supreme song coming that's great.
00:59:04
Speaker
At number 48, Concrete and Clay by Unit 4 Plus 2, which would move from number 48 to 35 to 27 to 18 to 8.
00:59:15
Speaker
eight An interesting song. Slightly Spanish in feel. Maybe even just a bit of a bossa nova. Nice guitar and bass, really good harmonies. The lead vocal's a little bit croony, which kind of feels incorrect.
00:59:28
Speaker
The triangle is a really odd touch. It's a nice tune, but I'm not quite sure whether its catchiness isn't also a little bit of its undoing. Had you heard this song before, Ed?
00:59:39
Speaker
Had it crossed over to the US? Not that I'm aware of. I had heard it, but I had only heard it because someone pointed me at it. Okay. I had never heard of this. Yeah, I agree with the Latin feel.
01:00:00
Speaker
Are sweet as roses in the morning And you, Timmy Are soft as summer rain And don't kill up your shit
01:00:12
Speaker
I didn't like it as much as you did, Ed. I thought the harmonies were fine. The lyrics were a little on the cliché side in a way.
01:00:25
Speaker
like it as much as you did and i thought la harmonies were fine the lyrics were a little on the crochet sigh in a way a little corny for me. Love will never die because we'll see the mountains tumble before we say goodbye. My love and I will be in love eternally.
01:00:45
Speaker
that's the way That's the way it's meant to be. And there's other imagery, but that's kind of the meaning of the lyrics. I just didn't find it very memorable. I don't think I would go out of my way to listen to it again.
01:00:59
Speaker
you know and maybe the croony lead vocal was a problem. That may have been part of it. But it's just not something I would go out of my way to listen to again. But I mean, in the month, it got all the way up to number eight. Which astounds me.
01:01:11
Speaker
Astounds me. But I did find out that part of the reason it was successful was that it was a hit thanks to exposure on pirate radio stations. That apparently they really got behind this record.
01:01:24
Speaker
Radio Caroline, was that? Notably wonderful Radio London, but yes, also Radio Caroline. Yeah. Cool. m Here we go
01:01:36
Speaker
I've actually always liked this song for being weird. It's weird. I like the boss and over feel to it and the strange percussion going on as well. All that is interesting.
01:01:49
Speaker
The guitar solo on there, I really like a lot. And that is by somebody who a lot of people should know this name, Russ Ballard. We've got a couple of at least semi-Beatles relationships, which we'll mention after you finish.
01:02:04
Speaker
Okay. I've always enjoyed this song, The Guitar Solo by Russ Ballard. Russ Ballard would then become great friends with Rod Argent of the Zombies. And after both Unit 4 Plus 2 and the Zombies split, Ballard and Argent would join together and create the great band Argent.
01:02:22
Speaker
Yes. And then Russ Ballard would have an fantastic career as a songwriter for a lot of people. Over to Edna. Okay, so beyond this single, Brian Parker of Unit 4 Plus 2 would write a song called Sea of Faces with one Kim Fowley in the next year.
01:02:42
Speaker
The song was intended for Unit 4 Plus 2. I still don't quite get that as a name of a band, by way. going to say, that's one of the worst band names I've ever heard. I'm sorry. Yeah.
01:02:54
Speaker
So that song was written while Kim Fowley was living with PJ Proby. Oh boy. wow I bet the tour with three pairs of trousers getting that song written.
01:03:07
Speaker
But Unit 4 Plus 2 would not record the song, although it would go on to become a minor hit for the Ways and Means, a separate band on Pi. Continuing on from Marv's connections there, Russ Ballard and Colin Blundstone would be produced by Chris White. Oh.
01:03:28
Speaker
Also of the zombies. Yeah. Russ Ballard also wrote the hit single, I don't believe in miracles, which was featured on the Blundstone album. Hmm. That would then lead to Ollie Halzal of the Ruddles playing with the Chris White experience.
01:03:44
Speaker
So they were all together. Hmm. Wow, all these links. The real Dirk was playing with Chris White and Colin Blundstone. Russ Ballard would then go on to play with Mike Moran.
01:03:57
Speaker
Mike Moran, who, as Marvel remind us, was a significant part of Queen. Yeah, keyboard player occasionally for Queen and did a lot of the solo Freddie Mercury work.
01:04:09
Speaker
Yep. Mike Moran would go on to be friends with George Harrison. Wow. There's some Beatles connections for you. Other than through Eric Idle, there's another George to Ollie Halsall connection.
01:04:23
Speaker
At number 50, I Feel Fine in its final week in the charts. It had been in these charts for 13 weeks and it had spent five weeks at number one.
01:04:34
Speaker
Unlucky for some, but not for the Beatles. Yes, indeed. We move on to the second week of March on the British charts, the week of the 3rd to the 9th of March.
01:04:45
Speaker
At number one is I'll Never Find Another You by the Seekers. At number 31, the last time by the Stones, which would move from number 31 to number six to two weeks at the top of the charts.
01:04:59
Speaker
That's a Beatle-esque move there in the charts. Yes. Wow. It is very much the Stones moving forward. you know, as we talked about when we were talking about the Pretty Things, this is kind of different from what the Pretty Things were doing.
01:05:13
Speaker
It is Jagger and Richards appropriating old gospel tune. There was a song called This May Be the Last Time, recorded in 1954 by the Staple Singers, and Keith admits that it was basically a readapting of this song, but it was in the public domain, so that's okay.
01:05:31
Speaker
Great guitar, great percussion. Mick is in his full-throated slur here. And we should also note that Phil Spector and the wall of sound can definitely be heard at least to an extent on this record.
01:05:45
Speaker
Phil assisted with the production of it. Yeah, I mean, you can hear the reverb in there, but it's not over the top. It's a little more subtle here, but it works. What can you say? This is a real step forward for the Stones.
01:06:10
Speaker
This could be the last time, this could be the last time
01:06:26
Speaker
yeah Mick and Keith are getting the hang of writing a hook. The refrain is so memorable. This could be the last time. This could be the last time. you The melody works.
01:06:38
Speaker
Definitely you can hear the blues roots here, particularly in the verses because of the way it's constructed. you know Some of the the repetition, certain lines. It's that typical blues style.
01:06:49
Speaker
construction. But the chorus, as I said, has that pop feel in terms of the tempo. So again, it's so memorable. I think it still stands out, particularly from other songs on the the charts that we've been talking about, because it's more polished than The Pretty Things, but it still has kind of ah a raw feel to it.
01:07:10
Speaker
Similar to the Pretty Things, that you know slurring Mick Jagger, lead vocal, that great riff, which I like. So yeah, it's a classic record. I think it still stands out today.
01:07:21
Speaker
Yep. Great song, great lyrics, really nice melody, wonderful guitar on there, as well as all the other instruments. Great song. Love it. I didn't realize what the B-side was to this.
01:07:33
Speaker
And I do love the B-side to this song as well. Well, we do have the cash box review of this song. The Rolling Stones, who are presently coming off their hardest stone, Smasharoo, are a cinch to repeat that success with his top drawer follow-up label the last time.
01:07:47
Speaker
The side is a raunchy, hard-driving, romantic, bluser, bluser again, about a twosome who are destined to split up. On the undercut Play With Fire, the crew offers a tender, lyrical, hauntingly plaintive weeper.
01:08:11
Speaker
This may
01:08:40
Speaker
I don't know. Sorry, girl.
01:09:30
Speaker
This could be the land
01:10:19
Speaker
But this could be the last time, but this could be the last time
01:10:59
Speaker
This could be the last time Maybe the last time I don't know Oh no Oh no Well I told you once And I told you twice There's someone I'm gonna help
01:11:29
Speaker
Here's a chance to change your mind Cause I've been alone a long, long time Well this could be the last time This could be the last time Maybe the last time don't
01:12:07
Speaker
baby
01:12:51
Speaker
At number 34, In the Meantime by Georgie Fame, the next one by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, which moves from 34 to 24 to 22 to 24. It's fun, good vocal and horns, but it sticks a little bit too close to the yeah, yeah mode.
01:13:08
Speaker
I really love you. Although never show it, don't tell me we're through I'll tell you sacrifice and love is grand It won't be long before we're hand in hand
01:13:33
Speaker
I like the break, but it's no better than a low hit for me. I think I liked it a little better than you did. It's definitely not as good as Yeah Yeah, but I do love Georgie Fame's lead vocal-ness. because again, I love the jazz influence here.
01:13:45
Speaker
It's almost vocalese. It's like he's imitating an instrument because the words don't really mean much, let's face it, with this kind of song. I mean, I'm not expecting him to write anything deep. It's really about his voice becoming another instrument.
01:14:00
Speaker
I like the Ray Charles-like organ. So now I know Yeah, you're gonna save my soul Just change my style But you better know me why
01:14:14
Speaker
And the drums and congas, along with the horns, I think they're hot. Like the sax solo as well. It adds some extra soul to it. So it's a nice mixture of soul and jazz. So I, I, yeah, as I said, it's not quite on the level of yeah. Yeah. I agree with that, but it's not a bad song, but I, you know, yes, I think you like it a little bit. better i like I think I liked it better.
01:14:35
Speaker
I don't know what to say now because gets copied all my notes. Superb Hammond Hogan by Georgie on this fantastic percussion. I thought it was cool. and They're not going to win any prizes for lyrics, but, I'll give him a pass on that. It's more, as I said, about the rhythm, about his voice.
01:14:53
Speaker
Groovy. I think the difference is Yeah Yeah is enough of that for me, and and you can take a little bit more of it, and that's fine. I like Jersey Fame. I'm happy did that it's better than the next song. Yes. At number 44, Goodbye My Love by The Searchers, which moved from number 44 to 13 to 6 to 5. So all the way from 44 to number 5. A lot of big movers this month.
01:15:15
Speaker
Five. A good enough lead vocal, but the drawn out phrasing gets awfully annoying.
01:15:28
Speaker
My love. I love you sincerely. It just had to be. It has me so inside to say goodbye.
01:15:42
Speaker
Goodbye.
01:15:51
Speaker
The harmonies work, but the middle age is just a damp squib and the tune never really takes off. I would only recommend this song for the harmonies because the searchers had such great harmonics.
01:16:04
Speaker
And here they're really tight. That's the highlight. It's played well. It's a mid-tempo song. It's smooth and polished. But yeah, it it just doesn't really go anywhere. It's not a super memorable track. But as I said, like their harmonies a lot.
01:16:19
Speaker
The sound this makes is Muzak to my ears. Yes. And we have a couple of things from Cashbox. Since this month is a billboard month, we've got some Cashbox notes in addition to this review, and we'll mention them here. The review of this song from Cashbox, a rhythmic, shuffling, hauntingly romantic tearjerker about a duo whose affair is headed for the rocks.
01:16:46
Speaker
This is a cover. It was originally called Goodbye, My Lover Goodbye, first recorded in 1963 by Robert Mosley. Interestingly, Mosley's recording of this is included in the film Green Book.
01:17:00
Speaker
Makes sense. Yeah. So on the same page as the review, we get a couple more interesting things from Cashbox, some of which are related and some of which aren't. We learned that this was not due to be released as a single, but, quote, HipStation picked New Searchers deck.
01:17:19
Speaker
Radio Station spied a New Searchers title, making it big, and had the original Pi disc flown in. so They're repeating the I want to hold your hand thing.
01:17:30
Speaker
And so in reaction to that, the label put out a full page ad in cash box and the tagline at the bottom. Well, if the Beatles could have nine on the charts at one time, we think the searchers will have two T.W.
01:17:46
Speaker
Oh, ha ha ha. Bumblebee is already a smash, which it was. Yep, everybody remembers that one, don't they? And then in the same set of reviews as the review for this Searchers tune, there's an ad and a review of Swan 4207 quote, John and Paul, unquote.
01:18:10
Speaker
Gee, who did they think they were trying to confuse with that? um Yeah. So the ad says, get with the sound of a hit. The review says the song by John and Paul was a swiftly paced shuffle beat featuring groovy guitars and fine drum work, which could make it for this pair of newcomers whose harmony is extremely catchy. At least they called them newcomers. You know, they they didn't tell you, by the way, these guys aren't the Beatles.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Watch this one move. And to let you know just how big that song by John and Paul was, you cannot find it on YouTube.
01:18:49
Speaker
I looked. Oh, geez. So, and then there is one other news item, which is relevant to a lot of things we've mentioned. Atco signed Sonny and Cher.
01:19:02
Speaker
Just for you is scheduled for immediate release. Cool. So that's where we were at. Uh, At number 46, Find My Way Back Home by the Nashville Teens.
01:19:14
Speaker
Darren Murphy's happy, which moved from number 46 to number 34 to two weeks at number 42. Oh.
01:19:42
Speaker
Good guitar. It's pretty rocking. I like the piano, but wish it were more to the fore. But otherwise, low hit.
01:19:55
Speaker
good guitars pretty rocking i like the piano but wish it were more to the four but otherwise low hit Yeah, I feel like parts of this are trying to imitate the Stones a bit, like with the repetitive riff, trying to sound a little bluesier.
01:20:11
Speaker
But then there's a Jerry Lee Lewis-inspired piano solo, so it's a little bit past and present here. But the harmonies, which are nice, they're too smooth to emulate the Stones and anything resembling the blues.
01:20:24
Speaker
You know, it's an okay song, and nothing very distinctive for me, but interesting, of course, that they would you know have that solo in there because the Nashville teens did play with Jerry Lee Lewis at the Star Club in 1964. So I think he rubbed off on them a bit.
01:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, i didn't mind this song, but it's a strange one because you've got some really rocking distorted electric guitar in there. but with a very almost pop piano, if that makes sense.
01:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, it just goes all over the place. And then the lead vocalist is almost too sweet to go with the rocking guitar. Exactly. Other than that, all the different bits, i like every bit of it. It's just that they all come from different areas musically.
01:21:07
Speaker
But yeah, I really love the sound of that guitar. I think that's fantastic. At number 48, I Belong by Kathy Kirby, which moved from 48 to 39 to 36 to out of the charts.
01:21:19
Speaker
She's got a really good voice, but the song isn't great and it relies too heavily on that I Belong chorus. The backing vocals are insubstantial and don't really make much of an impression on me.
01:21:31
Speaker
The horns are overbearing, the backing strings and drums try, but they don't really succeed. High meh. Although I will say you can see her performing the song.
01:21:42
Speaker
She makes me think of a 1960s Sabrina Carpenter. Cute Marilyn Monroe-ish. A good voice, but not a great one.
01:21:53
Speaker
Just one more lover, but then I found you, why isn't life no other? Now my heart has recovered, from half to half to turn wrong, all my dreams are untouched.
01:22:21
Speaker
It's interesting. This song actually was the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. You can see the video of her singing it. Yeah. That was the video I was referring to, actually. that's the video. Okay, because I did see video. I didn't realize that was the Eurovision one.
01:22:36
Speaker
Okay, and it came in second place. I didn't really love the song. I mean, it sounded more like a Broadway number. I could picture this as a musical or something.
01:22:47
Speaker
Didn't really think it had a memorable hook. And yeah, that constant chanting of I belong, you know, that really got on my nerves. yeah Yeah, we're lying way too much on that chorus.
01:23:00
Speaker
ah You know, she does have a very strong voice, Kathy Kirby. I mean, she probably could have made it on Broadway. Mm-hmm. She really does. But, you know, it just didn't really appeal to me. and And as I said, there was just nothing memorable. There was no hook to grab onto.
01:23:15
Speaker
Production's okay. The vocal performance, she's got a really great voice. I did like the use of the glockenspiel or the vibraphone on this. It's Do you know she actually recorded an in Italian as well? And that's not bad.
01:23:28
Speaker
Yes, I think I heard a bit of that. Yeah, that's very cool. Considering it was a Eurovision song, it makes sense, you know? Okay, yeah. The songwriter was Daniel Boone, who was the singer at the time, if you're wondering.
01:23:41
Speaker
Although he was credited under his real name, Peter Lee Sterling. So... At number 50, The Return of the Moody's. I Don't Want to Go On Without You by the Moody Blues, which moved from 50 to 37 to 33 to 33.
01:23:54
Speaker
It's a cover of a Drifter's tune written by Burns and Wexler. can't stand to live on without you.
01:24:05
Speaker
I, my darling, hear my love.
01:24:14
Speaker
Come on back to me
01:24:34
Speaker
It's got an affected vocal, which I don't really like that much. Good backing, though. It's not recorded well. The piano in particular sounds especially tinny when it really should just be soaring.
01:24:46
Speaker
I can see this being a good live counterpoint to go now, but the record doesn't really work all that well for me. Yeah, I agree. The voices are too upfront in the mix and overwhelm the band at times.
01:24:57
Speaker
It's a nice ballad. I didn't think this was a particularly great match for the Moody Blues. I felt like, even though I know Go Now did have that blue-eyed soul kind of sound, but this one, I don't know. It just was a little bland. I thought it needed a little more, well, blues for them. You know, it just needed a little more grit or something.
01:25:18
Speaker
Is that Denny Lane on lead vocals? It is. Okay, that's what I thought. And he sings the heck out of it. I mean, he's doing what he can. um Yeah, but he yeah know he's also got that sort of weird affectation that doesn't really sound like Denny Lane. Yeah, because that's why I wasn't 100% certain that it was Denny Lane, but I assumed it was, because parts of it did sound like him. And he's, as I said, he's singing the heck out of it, but I just didn't think it was a great match for them. And and as you said, at the recording really marred this too.
01:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, sort of middling in the Moody Blues catalogue at that point. Lower middle for them. Denny's voice has little bits that are really nice in there. I don't mind the backing vocals by the others on this to a degree. Like Ed said, you could see it as a yeah as a counterpoint to the more rocking songs that they had at this time.
01:26:10
Speaker
A highlight to this to me actually is those... really nice little hints of guitar licks that Denny gets in there. I think there's some really nice little guitar runs that he gets in there.
01:26:22
Speaker
All right. So that closes out the first two weeks of March, 1965. We'll be back finishing the UK side real soon. See you then. Take care.
01:27:02
Speaker
There was a piece in the NME, a news piece that said the top rank records, remember when top rank had a record label? and They introduced an LP series next week that will be called Toppermost.
01:27:13
Speaker
And it's coinciding with their current advertising slogan, Toppermost of the Poppermost. I thought, they got it from somewhere. They saw that, they must have seen that in either the NME or Record Mirror or Disc, Record and Show Mirror as it was then.
01:27:30
Speaker
And they've taken it from there. They've obviously thought how stupid that is. How stupid is is one of those phrases that someone, an older person who doesn't understand teenagers comes up with a slogan that they think is going to be the hip slogan of the month.
01:27:45
Speaker
Toppermost of the poppermost.