Monday, March 13, 2017

1967 Bonus #15

I have to make sure I check the website every morning.  
If I didn't do it today I wouldn't have seen, "In the wee hours of the morning, Elvis Presley falls in the bathroom, causing yet another delay in the filming of his next motion picture, "Clambake".  
Definitely not the King's worse bathroom fall, was it, don't you think? 
Steve Sarley   

Thanks for all you do to keep this great music alive!
Pat   

Hi Kent:
This is great stuff and you are doing a fantastic job with your 1967 salute. I'm glad so many of the DJs are participating. It makes the whole thing much more special.Thanks,
Larz
Chicagoland Radio and Media

Kent Man -
Good to hear what some of the other bands we toured with were also doing right at this time in '67.  For us The Witch Is Dead tune had already been recorded the month before and was about to come out in April.  Although it was only a fulfillment of a party joke and bet to us, everybody who heard it felt it was a hit even before it was released.  We were based in NYC and recording between touring the East intensely.  We were also out to places like The Blue Village, in Westmont, IL, and many such places around the country working off our four earlier single releases.  And working as what we were, not so much a pop band, but an out of Greenwich Village raving, quirky, rock n roll, dance band.
In between these dates we were preparing to do an album to go with what was soon to be a huge hit.  Management had the idea that we should include a cover of I'm A Believer for the album.  It was just starting to come down off the top of the 66 and 67 charts by The Monkees obviously.  Several of us in the band resisted doing the song at all with me being the loudest hold out.  With that our managers had me in one day to the office at 1670 Broadway, NYC.  Their office was right over The Ed Sullivan stage, but that is a whole other story.  And low and behold who was sitting there but - Neil Diamond himself!!!  And to make a long story very short they say to me, "You'd like to do I'm A Believer wouldn't you!" I said, "Mr. Diamond pleased to meet you. Oh man ahh - of course - that is one of the coolest songs ever. We'd love to do it!" 
When I told the guys I caved in so easily in the face of all the cannon fire - they threw crap all over me about it and still do!  In fact that led to a word being repeated by Wayne all through the ending of the song as we recorded it. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv3YfZKdFpQ 
Hey, try being a drummer and keeping a steady beat when your lead singer is looking straight at you, smiling like a Cheshire cat and singing "shi.....t" at you every 2 seconds. Just try it!!!  It absolutely meant no disrespect to a great song - only to me for caving in on it!!  So we did our somewhat Greenwich Villageized, quirky version of it for the album.  We at first considered out rocking the Monkees and would have done it a lot more like Weezer, another CT guy more recently did.  Also on YouTube:
This was just about where the center of The Fifth Estate sound and live playing style was in 1967, live at least.  But that idea had been nixed. Many actually like it a lot more now the way we did do it, as it fits in with The Americana thing today to some extent.  Bill did some great picking on our version and Wayne was on clavichord.
Ahh we had FUN.  It was all a tremendous BLAST!  '67 was about as FUN AND CREATIVE a time in music as any there ever was.  The complete corporate mechanism of the '70s and beyond had not taken hold yet which made music more predictable, to us anyway.  67 was anything but predictable!  You were still allowed to take risk, be artists, and often were rewarded for it.
Ken Evans / Furvus of The Fifth Estate     
Great stuff!  Thanks, Ken!  (kk)   

I grew up in North Dakota, but I think I loved CFL and LS as much as the Chicago locals did.  (Cheetah clip attached)
Bill

King B!  Man, radio was SO much fun back then!  (kk)   

The Buckinghams' hit records were well crafted, with great vocals, horns and excellent drumming. The fills on Hey Baby, Susan and Don't You Care always get my full attention. Mark   

Hoping some of you had the chance to catch "Making Noise with Mark Dawson" Thursday Night.  We each picked five of our all-time favorites from 1967 and we both had a blast playing them for you.  Hello to all the new folks who have checked out the website and signed up for the newsletter as a result of Mark's program ... and thanks again to Mark for having me on!  
(Next I'm going to be counting down TEN of my all-time favorites on WRCO's Phil Nee's program in April.  Jeez, if keeps up, we just may get to a Top 40 Countdown by July!!!) 
I'm including two of my picks with this email - due to technical glitches, the versions aired on the program were not the hits you most likely remember.  
First up, "My World Fell Down" by Sagittarius, a Forgotten Hits favorite.  Mark aired the album version which, in my opinion, is FAR inferior to the single mix, so that's the one we're sending along today.   
And then, "Let It Out" by The Hombres.  (I think Mark must have played a remake by mistake)  This was my choice for the WORST song of 1967. (Mark's choice was "Little Ole Man" by Bill Cosby ... I dunno ... I thought it was pretty clever ... and it's hard to beat that "Uptight" backbeat!  Who knows ... maybe if Bill had fixed Mark a couple of drinks first, he would have voted more favorably on this one!) 
If you missed the show, we unanimously picked Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" as our #1 Favorite.  Other Top Five Picks included "The Letter" by The Box Tops, "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells, "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock, "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield, "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Mamas and the Papas, "Summer Wine" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood and "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals. 
We had a great time ... and hopefully will be invited back before the end of the year to do it again.  (kk)

You and Mark Dawson were a lot of fun Thursday night. I enjoyed listening to your picks for good and pretty darn awful 1967 recordings. 
Now, what is the name of your website again? Hahahaha
Shelley     
We both had fun doing it.  If any of you missed the show Thursday Night, you can still catch it right here: https://markdawson.us/track/1200071/3-9-17-making-noise-with-mark-dawson-the-best-of-1967?autostart=true Sounds like the response was really good to this one!  Thanks again to Mark Dawson for having me on!  (kk)  
Thank YOU, Kent. My peeps loved it. Some were saying it was the best show I've ever done. So, maybe now I need to have a regular co-host. ;) 
I had great comments from my listeners. You have many new fans on my side. You deserve it! Great job! 
Really, it was great. Thanks so much. 
Mark  
Is Kelly Ripa available?  It was fun ... and it really comes across how passionate we both are about this music and this year in particular.  Again, hoping that readers who missed it Thursday Night will click on the archive link above to hear the show.  (kk)  

I sent the link to Jim Peterik of The Ides Of March and Jim Pilster of The Cryan' Shames since Mark and I mentioned them early in the show (right around the 20-minute mark as I recall).  Both were HUGE influences for us, growing up here in Chicago.  Got this back from JP:
Great show, Mark and Kent!  I love Mark Lindsay, too ... way under rated. 
And thanks for the props. I always considered you to be a major talent, Mark. So glad you are making your mark. (Pun intended)  Rock on!
Warm regards,
Jimbo 
Turns out Mark and I went to different high schools together!  (Old joke, I know, but in this case, kinda true!)  Mark graduated from Morton East High School and I graduated from Morton West (which is also where The Ides Of March went to school.)  They were kind of "sister schools".  And Jim Peterik was recently honored in The Morton College Hall Of Fame.  After reading Peterik's book, I found that all of us used to hang out at a lot of the same places ... we just didn't all know each other back then!  (And I was COMPLETELY shocked to learn that Mark Dawson was a member of the local group Mile High ... man, I used to see you guys all the time ... they were awesome!) 
Small world indeed ... (but I wouldn't want to paint it!)  kk

Here's another one of the DJ's on our list saluting 1967 on his program this week ...
Be sure to tune in to Uncle T.  Jay's Vinyl Arkhives this Wednesday Night (The Ides Of March ... be sure to check the website that day, too, for yet another Forgotten Hits WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE!).
It all kicks off at 9 PM Mountain Time (I believe that's 10:00 here in Chicago, right?  We just sprung ahead this weekend so I'm hoping I've got that right!)
All the details (plus a "Listen Live Link") can be found below.  Thanks, Tim!
Hope it's not too late to promote my radio show this Wednesday night, beginning at 9 PM Mountain DAYLIGHT Time.
Uncle T. Jay's Vinyl Arkhives will be hosting a special show ... The Big Fifty Show ...
For three hours, we return to March 15th, 1967, playing all the hits and other memories of the day from exactly 50 years ago.  This is also in honor of some person hitting their
Big 5-0 that day as well ... Don't miss it!
The fun begins at 9 PM MDT at 88.1 KAFM or worldwide at www.kafmradio.org. (Click ON AIR -> LISTEN LIVE)
-- Tim K.
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