OK, we're now four for four as Dionne Warwick occupies the #1 Spot on this week's WSGN's Chart from Birmingham, Alabama. (This record topped the WLS Chart, too, albeit a few weeks later here in Chicago.)
Clark Besch draws attention to the #2 showing by The Will-O-Bees in his commentary this week, along with featuring the original version of the soon to be much better-known Paul Revere and the Raiders hit, "Birds Of A Feather," performed here by its song writer, Joe South. (kk)
1-26-68 WSGN Birmingham, Alabama
Dropping down south, there are lots of differences between national and regional charts and here, #2 "It's Not Easy" by the Will-O-Bees, gets its chance to impress. This Indiana folk trio was produced by Bill Traut and Dunwich of Chicago and very much resembles the stylings of the Pozo-Seco Singers' 1966 smash "I Can Make It With You."
Joe South was a Georgian songwriter who would reach fame within the year (as a Grammy winning artist for his song of the year "Games People Play"), but here, he was already getting airplay with a soon to be often covered original, "Birds of a Feather."
After doing a little bit of research on The Will-O-Bees (I was most familiar with them because of their version of "Shades Of Gray," a song later popularized by The Monkees) I found an EXCELLENT version of their "Make Your Own Kind Of Music," a song most associated with Mama Cass.
Take a trip over to this YouTube page where you can hear many of their recordings. (It seems to me that, at the very least, these guys should have had at least a MINOR hit recording career!!!) kk
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=will-o-bees
THIS WEEK IN 1968:
1/21/68: Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding LP hits Number 1 on the U.K. LP chart. Also on this date, the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack to The Graduate is issued.
1/22/68: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In premieres on NBC-TV
1/23/68: North Korea seizes the spy ship USS Pueblo and holds the crew hostage
1/27/68: “Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding premiers on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart … six weeks after he died in a plane crash. It will reach #1 on March 16th, where it will stay for the next four weeks … the first posthumous #1 Hit in chart history.
1/27/68: The Bee Gees perform their first US concert at The Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles. They are paid $50,000 … and then, after receipt of payment, immediately flew back to England!
