First of all, we're not buying into any of this "end of the world" stuff any more than we worried about all of the computers crashing when the clock struck 2000 ...
but, just in case, we've put together a double-whammy for you this morning!
but, just in case, we've put together a double-whammy for you this morning!
Kent ...
I have a request.
Since 5/21/11 is supposed to be the end of the world, could you send us the Sunday Comments issue of Forgotten Hits a couple of days early?
You know ... just in case they're right.
Thanks for the music and the memories.
Frank B.
lol ... good one ... you've really got to wonder where some of this stuff comes from ... and how ANYBODY takes it to heart ... but just in case, I'm going to hold off paying ANY of the bills until Tuesday!!! (kk)
In related Herman's Hermits news, it has just been announced that ABKCO Records is FINALLY re-releasing the group's soundtrack albums "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and "Hold On" ... in fact, the reissue CD's are out this week! (Both films have also been commercially released on DVD for the very first time!)
FH Reader Bob Merlis tells us:
This week ABKCO Records releases Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter (Music From The Original Soundtrack), from the 1968 film starring Herman’s Hermits. The album includes the hit title track as well as the smash hit “There’s A Kind of Hush” and seven more songs from the film. The film starred the group along with veteran actor Stanley Holloway who had earlier been featured in My Fair Lady.
Tracklisting
In related Herman's Hermits news, it has just been announced that ABKCO Records is FINALLY re-releasing the group's soundtrack albums "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and "Hold On" ... in fact, the reissue CD's are out this week! (Both films have also been commercially released on DVD for the very first time!)
FH Reader Bob Merlis tells us:
HERMAN’S HERMITS’ MRS. BROWN, YOU’VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER SOUNDTRACK IS BACK THIS WEEK, COUPLED WITH BONUS HOLD ON! SOUNDTRACK FROM ABKCO
This week ABKCO Records releases Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter (Music From The Original Soundtrack), from the 1968 film starring Herman’s Hermits. The album includes the hit title track as well as the smash hit “There’s A Kind of Hush” and seven more songs from the film. The film starred the group along with veteran actor Stanley Holloway who had earlier been featured in My Fair Lady.
ABKCO is including the entire soundtrack from Hold On!, the band’s previous film, originally released in 1966, as a bonus with Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter. It includes the hits “Leaning On The Lamp Post,” and “A Must To Avoid.” Going back to original source tapes, the albums have been painstakingly remastered for this release. The soundtracks are offered together as a specially priced physical release and are available individually from digital retailers at the same time both films have been released on DVD from the Warner Archive Collection.
Herman’s Hermits (Peter Noone, Keith Hopwood, Karl Green, Derek Leckenby and Barry Whitwam) were at the forefront of the “British Invasion” and were the top selling pop act in the U.S. in 1965, even beating out the Beatles. The original single of “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” was Grammy-nominated that same year. Noone continues to perform the Herman’s Hermits repertoire and is on a U.S. tour now continuing through the summer months.
The original tracks for both Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter and Hold On! were produced by legendary British producer Mickie Most who also produced the Animals, The Yardbirds, Donovan and many others. Of special note is the fact that almost all of the Mrs. Brown ... soundtrack selections were arranged by John Paul Jones who would go on to be a founding member of Led Zeppelin. Four of the Mrs. Brown tracks were written by Graham Gouldman, who had been a source of hit songs for not only Herman’s Hermits but also for The Yardbirds, The Hollies, Wayne Fontana, Jeff Beck and others before he formed 10cc. Enigmatic American songwriter P.F. Sloan wrote (or co-wrote) four of the Hold On! soundtrack selections including the title song.
Tracklisting
HOLD ON! (MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
Hold On!
The George And Dragon
Got A Feeling
Wild Love
Leaning On The Lamp Post
Where Were You When I Needed You
All The Things I Do For You Baby
Gotta Get Away
Make Me Happy
A Must To Avoid
MRS. BROWN, YOU’VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER (MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
It’s Nice To Be Out In The Morning
Holiday Inn
Ooh, She’s Done It Again
There’s A Kind Of Hush
Lemon And Lime
The Most Beautiful Thing In My Life
Daisy Chain Pt. I
Daisy Chain Pt. II
The World Is For The Young
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter
Check the usual sources to see where you can pick up YOUR copies!!! (kk)
In other "new release" news, Franke and the Knockouts' Greatest Hits CD is finally coming out!
In addition to scoring three Top 40 Hits with his own band, leader Franke Previte also wrote two songs for one of the biggest movie soundtracks in motion picture history, "Dirty Dancing". (Previte's compositions "The Time Of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes" both made The Top Five, with "The Time Of My Life" topping the charts!) Full info is below:
ONE OF THE GREAT LOST ‘80S BANDS HAS BEEN FOUND!
FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS RETURN TO MARK ‘SWEETHEART’ ANNIVERSARY WITH A NEWLY REMASTERED GREATEST HITS COLLECTION AND EXCLUSIVE REISSUES OF COMPLETE ORIGINAL CATALOGUE
Hit-making band led by Dirty Dancing’s Oscar-winning songwriter and featuring Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres to release The Best of Franke & the Knockouts: Sweetheart – Anniversary Edition with special bonus track. (Proceeds Benefit the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund)
To some, FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS was that band led by the guy who would go on to win the Oscar as the lead writer of Dirty Dancing’s theme song, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.”
To others, FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS was that other New Jersey band that boasted Tico Torres as its drummer -- right before he joined Bon Jovi en route to superstardom.
And then there are those who can’t shake that pop-perfect Top 10 smash “Sweetheart” from their brains, even though they might not remember the artist behind that and several other Top 40 blue-eyed soul hits from the early 1980s.
Regardless of why you remember FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS -- and why you should -- one thing resonates as clear as Franke Previte’s indelibly soaring, soulful falsetto:
One of the greatest “lost ‘80s” bands has been found!
More than a decade since their radio rockin’ blue-eyed soul music was available anywhere, FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS are back in a big way. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Sweetheart,” the band’s first hit record, Friday Music is releasing the newly remastered ultimate hits collection, THE BEST OF FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS: SWEETHEART – ANNIVERSARY EDITION, on CD and digital download. As a special bonus for all the collectors who’ve been clamoring for the entire catalogue for a generation, the band’s three “lost” albums, Franke & the Knockouts (1981), Below the Belt (1982) and Makin’ the Point (1984) – will be simultaneously available for the first time since their original vinyl issue, also newly remastered, in digital-only format. All four albums are being released May 24, 2011 on Friday Music.
THE BEST OF FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS features 19 hit tracks including all of the band’s classics such as their unforgettable Top 40 hits “Sweetheart,” “You’re My Girl” and “(Without You) Not Another Lonely Night.” It also features two bonus tracks, the original demo version of "Hungry Eyes," which Previte originally wrote and recorded for Franke & the Knockouts before it wound up becoming a Dirty Dancing soundtrack smash for Eric Carmen, and the previously unreleased power ballad "Beat Of A Broken Heart," written and recorded for the Dirty Dancing sequel, Havana Nights. The artist owned and authorized disc also includes new liner notes by Previte, unissued photos, and original artwork elements not seen in years.
Previte is donating his portion of the proceeds to the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund at Stanford Cancer Center, in memory of his courageous Dirty Dancing friend.
“Not only is this celebrating the anniversary of my first-ever hit record,” says Previte, “but it also gives me a chance to re-live some of those moments hearing my voice at its best and being able to realize that I made a small little indentation to the music industry that some people still remember and enjoy. I get emails from people all over the world who just love the music, and are dying to know how they can get a hold of it. Some of the original records have been selling for a couple hundred bucks online, so I decided it’s time that I put them out make them affordable and accessible all over again. And I’d like to take that money and help my charity.”
THE BEST OF FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS: SWEETHEART – ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Sweetheart
She's A Runner
Runnin' Into The Night
Comeback
You're My Girl
One For All
Annie Goes Hollywood
Never Had It Better
Without You (Not Another Lonely Night)
Just What I Want
Morning Sun
You Don't Want Me (Like I Want You)
Outrageous
Come Rain Or Shine
You're All That Really Matters
One Good Reason
Blame It On My Heart
Hungry Eyes (Original Version / Bonus Track)
Beat Of A Broken Heart (Unreleased Bonus Track)
FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS ON THE WEB:
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After featuring perhaps the most famous song ever written about a miner yesterday ...
Jimmy Dean's #1 Hit "Big Bad John" ...
we got to thinking about another classic "mining" song.
No, I'm not talking about The Bee Gees' break-through U.S. hit "New York Mining Disaster, 1941" ... although that IS a good one ...
or Loretta Lynn's #1 Country Hit "Coal Miner's Daughter" ...
and, as tempting as it might be, I didn't really have Lee Dorsey's "Workin' In A Coal Mine" today in mind either ...
I'm talking about "Timothy" by The Buoys ... a Philadelphia quintet spearheaded by (and taken under the creative wing of) Rupert Holmes. This song caused ALL kinds of controversy back in 1971 when songwriter Holmes told the story about three coal miners who were trapped in a mine cave-in ... only to find that by rescue-time, only two of them were still around to talk about it. (Seems like nobody ever got around to finding Timothy.) Hmmm ... interesting to think that while we were able to think of a couple of other mining songs relatively easily, I'm hard pressed to think of ANY other hit song written about cannibalism!!! (lol)
Despite the fact that the record was banned on a number of radio stations for its questionable subject matter (and a last-ditch effort of some semi-desperate saving grace when Scepter Records went so far as to offer a press release suggesting that Timothy was, perhaps, the miners' mule), "Timothy" went all the way to #13 on the National Pop Singles Chart. (Seriously ... was the concept that Timothy was a mule rather than a coworker really any easier to swallow ... or did it STILL leave a bad taste in the public's mouth?!?!?)
The song has gone on to become quite a novelty classic ... and Holmes, of course, would have a HUGE
#1 Smash eight years later with his ridiculously infectious pop piece "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" ... which you still hear at least a couple of times a day on virtually EVERY radio station.
But you hardly EVER hear "Timothy" anymore ...so, in our own kind of Miner Twin-Spin, we'll feature it today as a Forgotten Hits bonus track!
#1 Smash eight years later with his ridiculously infectious pop piece "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" ... which you still hear at least a couple of times a day on virtually EVERY radio station.
But you hardly EVER hear "Timothy" anymore ...so, in our own kind of Miner Twin-Spin, we'll feature it today as a Forgotten Hits bonus track!
