http://fh1967listeningstation.blogspot.com/
Phil Nee and I counted them down on Saturday, June 24th, and that program is now permanently posted on our brand new 1967 Listening Station website. (You’ll find some of the other 1967 radio specials we've done posted here, too … and we’ll continue to post new programs as they happen!) kk
I continue to love the 1967 stuff and you are doing a great job with it!
Thanks and keep up the good work
-- Henry McNulty
Kent:
I just so enjoy what you are doing.
Thanks!
Hannes
Absolutely loving the 1967 project.
Bill
Absolutely loving the 1967 project.
Bill
In the promo for your 1967 Summer of Love Countdown you refer to Jeff Taylor as being part of Michael and the Messengers ... but he was actually with The Messengers and not the Michael group. I don't recall if you have my books, but Jeff Taylor was with the original Milwaukee band. The Michael band came from Boston to take over the Messengers gigs that a Chicago agent was booking. There is much more to the overall story.
Gary E. Myers / MusicGem
I don't have your books but I know we have covered this scenario several times before in Forgotten Hits. The charted hit that made The Top 50 Countdown was by Michael and the Messengers and Phil Nee had an old interview with Jeff Taylor handy so was able to include that in our broadcast. I believe in the actual program he does refer to Jeff as being from "The Messengers". (kk)
It was a song about
the loss of innocence in rapidly changing times.
Hi Kent:
I have been enjoying your daily 1967 spotlight postings.
I have been enjoying your daily 1967 spotlight postings.
I noticed that this week's Super Chart that goes
back to the week of July 1st includes three covers of songs that were originally
Miracles single releases on the Tamla label. There is Johnny Rivers with "Tracks
Of My Tears." Then you have the Five Stairsteps with "Oooh, Baby Baby." Finally
we got Brenda & the Tabulations with "Who's Lovin' You." Of course as an
added bonus you find in the top 40 is Smokey & the Miracles with their
current hit "More Love." Looks like 1967 was a good year for those wonderful
melodies and poetic lyrics of one Bill "Smokey" Robinson.
Santi Paradoa
Miami, Florida
My favorite song on The Monkees’ HEADQUARTERS album and the one that a lot of radio stations played back then was "Shades Of Gray".
Santi Paradoa
Miami, Florida
My favorite song on The Monkees’ HEADQUARTERS album and the one that a lot of radio stations played back then was "Shades Of Gray".
You know how you get a song stuck in your head?
I remember this one was playing over and over subliminally when I was on my way to Chicago for US Navy boot camp and not knowing what lay ahead for me. Davy Jones and Peter Tork shared lead vocals on this beautiful track. The group played all of the instruments except for the French horn and cello featured on the song. Although the Prefab Four picked the songs on the album themselves, they only received songwriting credits on half of the LP's 14 songs. This one was composed by the married team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who wrote so many of the songs that are the soundtracks of baby boomers’ lives. These include
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "Kicks", "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", "Shape Of Things To Come", "Only In America", and so many more hits.
"Shades Of Gray" was first released in 1966 by a New York folk rock trio, The Will-O-Bees, but failed to chart. It is certainly one of the best Monkees album tracks ever.
Mike G
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Kent,
The Mauds' terrific
"Hold On" version was indeed a great 45 for them, catapulting them
into the WLS top 15 as their first local Chicago hit. Even tho it was
never a charter on WLS by the originators, Sam & Dave, it became a hit for
the local guys.
I would love to hear
Clark Weber's response to this comment.
It is my understanding
that WLS would not play the Sam & Dave original OR the Mauds’ version
because of the line "Hold On, I'm Comin'" being too sexually
suggestive. The Mauds recorded several
Sam & Dave tunes, some released as 45's, but Sam & Dave never made the
WLS charts until AFTER the Mauds' hit!
I am adding Mike Callahan
to this email because I believe it was he who first told me about this story
behind the Mauds hit finally getting airplay on WLS. I may be wrong, but
I believe it was Mike. I do not remember taping THIS song off WLS, but I
think I have WCFL playing the released 45 version.
Anyway, apparently
someone (Clark or maybe Gene Taylor?) at WLS said they would play it IF the
line were changed for air purposes. Does this sound familiar? They
did it with "Gloria" and it became a hit. I am sure Mercury
Records and the Mauds had no problem changing the song for WLS, thinking that
would make it a hit for them, as it DID AGAIN!!! The power of the Big
89!!
Anyway, I searched for
decades to find a tape OR an actual 45 (which I did not think existed) of this
altered version that WLS aired. Finally, I found a copy!
Attached is the altered
version "Hold On, Don't You Worry." Note the odd Mercury 45
number and different matrix number. Jimy Rogers did a great job of
making it sound as if his vocal were recorded at the same time as their
original.
Strange, but I hope Clark
or Mike can elaborate for me again. Gotta love the Summer of Love ‘67.
Clark Besch
"Water drippin up
the spout but I don't care, let it all hang out."
We’ve
featured the “edited / clean” version of “Hold On” before … actually Jimy
Rogers himself sent me a copy several years ago …
I
certainly remember hearing “Hold On” on the radio at the time because I loved
the song … but at 13 I don’t know that I would have truly understood what all
the fuss was about. (Things were
different back then … and kids grew up a little bit slower. It may have been “The Summer Of Love” but I
think I missed out on all the good stuff!)
However Phil Nee and I counted down The Top 50 Biggest Hits From The Summer Of Love as the stacked up right here in Chicago on the WLS and WCFL charts … and you can now find that countdown permanently posted on our brand new 1967 Listening Station website.
However Phil Nee and I counted down The Top 50 Biggest Hits From The Summer Of Love as the stacked up right here in Chicago on the WLS and WCFL charts … and you can now find that countdown permanently posted on our brand new 1967 Listening Station website.
(This was
supposed to be my EASY year … pre-write the whole calendar a year in advance and
then have some time to coast … instead I’m doing more radio shows than ever,
have already set up two brand new websites (including this one) to coincide with the demand for all
things ’67 that this series has generated so far and have still tried to keep at least one or two other
“contemporary” pieces going out by email during all of this craziness!!! Man, if that ain’t lovin’ the music, I don’t
know what is!!! Lol) kk
By the way, Clark
Weber, Program Director of WLS back in 1967, DID respond to Clark Besch’s email above …
Here is
what the OTHER Clark had to say …
The question concerning the Mauds’ airplay
of “Hold On, I’m Comin” is rather vague.
It did occur during my time as PD in 1967. I also (vaguely) recall the
hesitancy about the lyrics.
I mc’d a Sam and Dave concert in Chicago
during that time. Before the show their manager explained to me that Sam &
Dave would be coming on stage, each from the opposite end and after the act was
over, they would exit the same way. It turns out one of the two had shot his
wife in the head, she survived and the other member of the duo refused to ever
speak to the shooter ever again. And didn’t.
Of course the lyric had sexual
connotations and everybody on the South Side and the distributors were well
aware of it. I imagine that helped the sales! I don’t know which recording sold
the most but it certainly was a hit for both teams.
– Clark Weber
Thanks for the insight, Clark. I really believe that WLS had the
pull (especially with Chicago based Mercury Records) to cause the band and
label to go to the trouble and expense of issuing a separate different DJ copy,
especially when you did they same thing with the Shadows of Knight and made
them a giant national act instantly with "Gloria" a year
earlier.
Clark Besch
Meanwhile, across town, WCFL was giving WLS a run for the money back in '67 ... a VERY competitive time in "Radio Wars". They also published their own weekly survey ... and used to do daily "Capsule Countdown" of that week's Top Ten Hits. Here are two we found on YouTube. (I used to LOVE hearing these!) kk
Meanwhile, across town, WCFL was giving WLS a run for the money back in '67 ... a VERY competitive time in "Radio Wars". They also published their own weekly survey ... and used to do daily "Capsule Countdown" of that week's Top Ten Hits. Here are two we found on YouTube. (I used to LOVE hearing these!) kk
Speaking of the local area charts, FH Reader Ken Freck just sent us photos of two surveys (one from Tucson, AZ, and another one from Milwaukee, WI), both about to celebrate their 50th anniversaries the second week of July, 1967.
Here's what was hot on the radio fifty years ago today in Arizona and Wisconsin ...
Wow! Interesting to see Janis Ian's "Society's Child" at the top of one of these lists (KOLD) as this record was banned on a number of radio stations at the time. (Note that it isn't listed at all on the WRIT chart ... so I'm guessing this station may very well have been one of them!) kk
Can you believe it???
Our 1967 Celebration is officially half over!!!
(I never thought things would fly by this quickly!)
To help celebrate the half-way point, here are a few episodes of the daily History of Rock And Roll feature sent into us by its creator, Gary Theroux, all spotlighting 1967 artists doing very well on the charts at the time. (These segments run twice daily during the week on Rewound Radio ... check 'em out!)
http://rewoundradio.com/
