April 8th

The Buffalo Springfield perform "Mr. Soul" (along with a 30-second excerpt from "For What It's Worth") on The Hollywood Palace. 



John Lennon takes his Rolls Royce to a car customizing shop in Surrey to have it painted in psychedelic colors.  He'll get it back about seven weeks later.  (Lennon first purchased the car on June 3, 1965 … and it sounds like it was Ringo who inspired him to have it painted after the two passed a fairground.)  Before the year's end, The Beatles would travel all over the British countryside in a psychedelically painted bus in their television special "Magical Mystery Tour".

 

April 7th

Hot shot debuts this week include a new track by Neil Diamond ("Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon") which premiers at #66, "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings, debuting at #71 (talk about your old song revivals!), "When I Was Young" by Eric Burdon and the Animals (or NEW Animals if you read all of our other interesting 1967 tidbits), which premiers at #75, "Somebody To Love", the first chart hit by The Jefferson Airplane (#81) and "Here Comes My Baby" by The Tremeloes (the group that Decca Records signed instead of The Beatles back in 1962 … making their first US chart appearance with a song written by Cat Stevens.)  

Tom Donahue of KMPX-FM in San Francisco starts playing album tracks on the air … forever changing the future of The Top 40 Radio Format.  

Speaking of albums, The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was mixed for stereo today.  None of The Beatles were present … as they considered the mono mix to be the one of "paramount importance", so were always around for these … but were "generally content" to leave the stereo mixes to George Martin and Geoff Emerick.  To this day there are many fans (myself included) who prefer the mono mix of "Sgt. Pepper" to the stereo one.  

While here in America, Paul McCartney is inspired to plan out a Beatles television special built around the idea of a mystery tour where all of the participants are carted around the city and countryside in a psychedelically painted bus.  He jots down a few notes for future reference.  

The Young Rascals appear on The Mike Douglas Show.  

The movie "Good Times" starring Sonny and Cher, opens in Chicago.  

And, speaking of movies … in Chicago … Roger Ebert's very first movie review appears today in The Chicago Sun Times.  

And, speaking of Chicago, here are this week's charts from Chicago's two AM powerhouse super stations WLS and WCFL …

You'll find THREE of our Local Heroes in The Top 20 this week on WLS ... "Mr. Unreliable" by The Cryan' Shames sits in the #9 position, The Buckinghams are right behind them at #13 with their latest, "Don't You Care" and The New Colony Six move up to #19 with "You're Gonna Be Mine".

You'll also find Michael and the Messengers (actually a Wisconsin band) at #23 this week with their version of "In The Midnight Hour".

 

April 6th

Records to watch this week outside The Top 40 include "Love Eyes" by Nancy Sinatra, which leaps 28 places from #69 to #41, giving Nancy THREE records on this week's chart.  (Her duet with her Dad sits at #3 and "Summer Wine", her duet with her record producer Lee Hazlewood is holding down the #72 spot.) 

"Sunday For Tea" by Peter and Gordon climbs 19 spots from #62 to #43, "Close Your Eyes" by Peaches and Herb jumps from #73 to #49, a move of 24 places while "You Got What It Takes"  by The Dave Clark Five does even better than that, moving from #84 to #53, a jump of 31 spots! 



"I Found A Love" by Wilson Pickett is up 33 spots, moving from #89 to #56, "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats is up nineteen places (from #76 to #57), while "My Back Pages" by The Byrds climbs 27 places from #85 to #58, "Get Me To The World On Time" by The Electric Prunes is up to #59 from #81 (22 spots) and Andy Williams' vocal version of "Music To Watch Girls By" now sits at #60, up seventeen places from last week's showing of #77. 



The first master tape of The Beatles' new LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was prepared today.  The Beatles insisted on two things:  the title track would crossfade into "With A Little Help From My Friends" to start the album and the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise" would crossfade into "A Day In The Life" to end the album.  They also wanted no gaps between the rest of the songs. 

Side One also had a completely different running order at this stage than what was released on the final LP:  "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" (which ultimately closed side one) was next, followed by "Fixing A Hole", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "Getting Better" and "She's Leaving Home". 

Check out this television listing from TV Guide for tonight's "ABC Stage 67" special: 

"Singer-actor Harry Belafonte produced this showcase of Negro humor, satire and self-parody.  Participants include host Sidney Poitier, Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, Dick Gregory, Godfrey Cambridge, George Kirby, Redd Foxx, Diana Sands, Richard Pryor, Moms Mabley and Pigmeat Markham."  

A stellar line-up if there ever was one … but were we REALLY still calling it "Negro Humor" in 1967?!?! 

Later that night ABC will air "ABC Stage 67:  On the FLIP Side", a musical starring Rick Nelson and Joannie Sommers.  A rare soundtrack album will be released from this special … probably one of Rick's weakest moments … but it's still notable due to the fact that the majority of the songs were written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.
 

April 5th

With the "Sgt. Pepper" album now complete, Paul McCartney flies to America for a ten day stay.  First stop:  Denver, Colorado, for girlfriend Jane Asher's 21st birthday.  He gives her a diamond ring … which she later loses!  

Monkees fans marched in protest in London today when it was announced that Davy Jones was going to be inducted into The Army.  (Davy was later exempted from duty because he was his family's main provider.)  

A new Elvis Presley movie, "Double Trouble", opens in theaters, just two weeks after "Easy Come, Easy Go" premiered.  By week's end it will be this week's box office champ … but again ticket sales drop off immediately, reaching a $1.6 million gross overall.  

Al Martino records "Mary In The Morning"

April 4th

Johnny Carson quits The Tonight Show.  He returns three weeks later after NBC gives him a $30,000 a week raise.  (Man, how do you make THAT deal?!?!?)

Paul McCartney tells Beatles Press Secretary Derek Taylor about a hot new act he caught the other night ... the guitar player was nothing short of phenomenal ... and suggests that he might make a great addition to the line-up that Derek was putting together for a little summer music festival in California.

That act was Jimi Hendrix ... and that little festival was The Monterey Pop Festival, an event put together by Taylor, Producer Lou Adler, and John Phillips, leader of The Mamas and the Papas.    

Based on Paul's advice and recommendation, Taylor goes on to book The Jimi Hendrix Experience for the festival, where he proceeds to bring the house down with his incredible stage act.  (Also present at the event ... as spectators ... were Monkees Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, who were so impressed with Jimi's show that they went on to book Hendrix as their opening act for their upcoming tour.  It was a match mad in hell ... there was no chance that an audience packed with 12 and 13 year old girls screaming "We want Davy! We want Davy!" was EVER going to accept Hendrix's participation.  When all is said and done, the pairing lasts for a total of seven shows.)

Brenda Lee appears on The Mike Douglas Show.

April 3rd

"Happy Together" by The Turtles and "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Mamas and the Papas hold on to the #1 and #2 spots respectively on this week's chart … but making a big move toward the top are "Somethin' Stupid" by Nancy and Frank Sinatra (#3, up from #8) and "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells (#4, up from #7).  Petula Clark holds at #5 with her latest, "This Is My Song."  

The Monkees climb seven places to #6 with "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" … could IT be the next new #1 Record?  "Bernadette" by The Four Tops continues its climb, moving from #11 to #7 while "Western Union" by The Five Americans cracks The Top Ten for the first time, moving from #14 to #10.  

Also on an uphill climb in The Top 40 we find "Jimmy Mack" by Martha and the Vandellas (up from #16 to #12), "The 59th Street Bridge Song" by Harper's Bizarre, jumping from #19 to #14, "Beggin'" by The Four Seasons, up seven places from #24 to #17, "Sweet Soul Music" by Arthur Conley, up to #21 from #27, "With This Ring" by The Platters, which climbs eight places from #33 to #25, "At The Zoo" by Simon and Garfunkel, leaping 21 positions from #49 to #28, "Don’t You Care" by The Buckinghams (climbing from #43 to #31), "Tell Me To My Face" by Keith (up to #32 from #41), "I'm A Man" by The Spencer Davis Group, up twenty spots from #56 to #36 and "On A Carousel" by The Hollies, which rises from #57 to #40, a move of seventeen places.  

"More Of The Monkees" is still the #1 Album in the nation.  

Tonight's Monkees television episode stars Julie Newmar as April Conquest, who all four boys immediately fall in love with.  It's considered one of their classic episodes.

 

Once again, no other Beatles are present this evening, leaving George Harrison alone in the studio tonight to complete his recording of "Within You, Without You".  George holds court with the Indian musicians especially assembled to complete this track.  And, once this recording was complete (sometime between 3:00 and 6:30 am the following morning), The Beatles had officially finished recording their "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.  (In all, over 700 hours were spent in the studio making the album … and that didn't include all of the mixing time done to date and still required to finalize the LP)  

It is revolutionary in virtually every way, not the least of which is printing the song lyrics on the back cover.  It would also provide numerous clues a few years later to the whole "Paul Is Dead" theory.  (Paul's back is turned to the camera as he is no longer with us ... George Harrison's finger is pointing to the lyric "Wednesday Morning at Five O'Clock" ... the time of Paul's fatal car crash ... and, of course, the funeral flower arrangement on the front cover depicting a left-handed guitar ... and the hand raised over Paul's head signifying the blessing for his passing ... unreal in theory but some pretty interesting "coincidences" to be sure!)  

In hindsight it almost seems inconceivable that just four years earlier The Beatles were singing "She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah" and were now singing about "plasticine porters with looking glass ties", "tangerine trees and marmalade skies" and girls with "kaleidoscope eyes" … but they were.  Start to finish, the album took 129 days to complete … an absolutely unheard of amount of time back in the day when some artists released as many as three or four albums within a single year!   

Sessions began with "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" … but those songs were paired instead as a Double A-Side Single … the creative juices were flowing so quickly (fueled by what must have been an unlimited supply of drugs and drinks), that the idea of a "concept album" soon appeared.  What if The Beatles pretended to be somebody else … Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, for example.  Truthfully, the "concept" really only extended to the first two … and last two … tracks.  

When no singles were released from the LP, some radio stations charted the entire album as #1.  It became the official soundtrack to The Summer Of Love … and every generation since has embraced the genius of Pepper.  

 

Here in Chicago, Richard Speck's trial begins today for the murder of eight student nurses.  More on this gruesome night can be found here:
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2016/07/50-years-ago-today.html  

April 2nd

Sonny and Cher appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.  

With a new song ("I'm A Man") already climbing the charts by The Spencer Davis Group, keyboardist / lead vocalist / and chief songwriter Steve Winwood tells The New Musical Express, the most popular pop music publication in Great Britain, that he is forming a new band with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason which they will call "Traffic".  

An audience member threw a smoke bomb on to the stage at a Rolling Stones concert being held at The Town Hall in Vienna, Austria, which led to a riot and the arrest of 154 people.  

The Monkees perform a sold-out show at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.  

Number One at the Box Office this week:  Thoroughly Modern Millie.  

Actors Lynn Redgrave and John Clark were married.  They would go on to have three children together before divorcing in 2000.