Long Live The Beatles:
You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the
head with this one ...
Hype can sell a bad product but hype
doesn’t keep people returning to the product. If The Beatles were not any
good they would have been gone within a year. As we all know so well,
that didn’t happen.
Charlie Ricci
Loved the two year old naming The Beatles'
tunes. He's now my second favorite
two-year old (after my grandson, of course!)
Tom
I
have a nephew's son who knew and could sing a whole bunch of songs as a baby,
and now plays several of the songs on a Strat that's as tall as he is! He
gets a new set of strings from me every month or so. He's always breaking
the first and second strings ... but doesn't know Louie Louie!
Dennis
Gilbert
Here’s an interesting angle presented by FH Reader Mike
DeMartino …
SINCE THE BEATLES CLEARLY LIVED UP TO ALL THEIR HYPE (AND
MORE), HOW ABOUT THIS FOR A QUESTION KENT AND FOR ALL …
WHO DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST OVERRATED GROUP OF ALL TIME?
MIKE DE MARTINO
Boy, I can’t wait to see some of the
answers to THIS one!!! (kk)
And, speaking of all things Beatles …
The new Randy Bachman
album pays tribute and homage to the music of George Harrison … “By George … By
Bachman” hits streets the first week of March … and features Randy’s
interpretation of several of George’s best -known and best-loved work …
including …
If I Needed Someone; You
Like Me Too Much; While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Handle With Care; Taxman; I
Need You; Something; Think For Yourself; Here Comes The Sun; Don’t Bother Me
and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Along with a brand new Randy Bachman tune that bookends the album called “Between Two Mountains,” kind of a look at what it must have been like to get YOUR songs recognized when competing with your own bandmates of the caliper of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Along with a brand new Randy Bachman tune that bookends the album called “Between Two Mountains,” kind of a look at what it must have been like to get YOUR songs recognized when competing with your own bandmates of the caliper of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
In addition to George’s
songs, Randy also incorporates some of George’s best-known licks from some of
those Lennon and McCartney tunes into the mix.
You can read more about it here:
Guest Concert Reviews:
Long-time FH Reader Eileen Shanks sent in these two
reviews of a couple of great '60's concerts she saw recently down in Florida …
I recently saw Herman’s Hermits at a
small showroom here in Florida at the Dania Beach Casino. I understand he had
been making the rounds of the senior housing properties also! He was as
adorable as ever. I had seen him maybe eight years ago, and he was still as
lively as he ever was.
None of the Hermits were originals. He
entered singing “I’m Into Something Good,” followed by “Must To Avoid,” “Dandy”
and “Just A Little Bit Better.” From
there he went into a bunch of non-Hermit songs … “Ring of Fire,” "Daydream
Believer,” several Beatle songs, “Love Potion #9,” ”Ferry' Cross the Mersey”
and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” I remarked to my
husband that maybe he didn’t have rights to the whole Herman's Hermits catalog.
I knew there were a lot more that he could have done.
Then came “Listen People,” “No Milk Today,”
“End of the World,” “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat?,” “Henry the VIII” and “There's
A Kind of Hush.” He went into the
audience several times, and someone had a copy of his old album which , as you
can see in the photos,he hid behind while singing.
They were selling CDs and albums and
signing things and I stood in the long line, but they weren't selling anything
I didn’t already have and I didn’t think to bring something … at which point the
woman selling things gave me a LOOK and said “You can’t meet him if you aren’t
buying anything,” which I thought was quite rude. I was hoping for a photo with
him. I did get to talk to one of the band members outside the showroom, who I
think was anxious to go play a machine! We had a great time!
Eileen
And then ...
Last night we went to see A Sixties Spectacular, filled with
some of the best stars from the past!
First off was Bob Miranda, a member of The Happenings. He not
only sang the low parts, but the high parts also! He sang Go Away Little Girl,
See You in September, Good Lovin' by the Rascals, and You’ve Lost That Lovin'
Feeling as a tribute to Bill Medley, and finished with I Got Rhythm.
Next out was Terry Sylvester, a former member of the Hollies
(and in the R&R HOF with them.) He
did Bus Stop,The AirThat I Breathe, Long
Cool Woman, Hippy Hippy Shake (he was a
member of the Swinging Blue Jeans, too!), He Ain’t Heavy (where he mentioned
the Queen of England played piano on that song - and then told us it was Elton
John.)
Next came Gary Lewis (no Playboys), We found out that his first
seven hits all made the top ten. He sang Count Me In, Save Your Heart For Me,
Sure Gonna Miss Her, Green Grass, This Diamond Ring, Sealed With a Kiss, and
Just My Style, and then featured his guitarist on Wooly Bully, and did a “new” song
available on iTunes, written with that guitarist.
After the break, out came The Vogues. It was hard to tell which
were originals. We thought the lead singer looked too young. They sang You’re
The One, Special Angel and Turn Around, Look at Me which melded into 5:00
World. Way too short!!! I was hoping for
Land of Milk and Honey and Magic Town, but no luck.
Finally, The Lovin’ Spoonful! Only two founding members, Steve
Boone and the drummer Joe Butler, who now sings lead (I found him to be a
bit over the top)remain. They sang You Didn’t Have To Bbe So Nice, Nashville
Cats, Jug Band Music, Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind, Daydream, Six
O’Clock, Summer in the City,and Do You Believe in Magic. They also did a song I’d never heard before called
Never Going Back, which I just found on their CD tonight and it was written by
John Stewart.
Steve Boone wrote a book about those days called Hotter Than a
Matchhead - which I will have to look for! Great, Great evening!!
Eileen
The Saturday Surveys:
Got
this request from Frank Jeckell of The 1910 Fruit Gum Company, who is finding
the band he helped to form back in 1968 all over our charts lately …
Hi Kent,
If possible could you send me copies of charts like the one
from WRIU from Frank Merrill? We'd like to post them on our web site to
commemorate our break into the music scene with Simon Says some fifty years ago
in early 1968.
What would be especially nice would be charts where we hit
#1, as we did in Record World. FYI,
here's the summary of all 1910 Fruitgum Company charted records showing
the date first charted, top position reached in Record World, Cashbox and
Billboard (national recording industry publications) and the number of weeks it
stayed on the chart.
Thanks,
Frank
We've got a lot of chart collectors
on our list so hopefully they can send us copies of local charts where your
records came in near or at the top. (I
know that here in Chicago The 1910 Fruitgum Company hit #1 on the WCFL Chart with
"1,2,3 Red Light" … and you guys did EXTREMELY well with your other
records here in Chicago, too.
WLS
WCFL
|
Simon
Says
|
2
|
2
|
|
May I Take A Giant Step
| -- |
EX
|
|
1,2,3
Red Light
|
2
|
1
|
|
Goody
Goody Gumdrops
|
15
|
11
|
|
Indian
Giver
|
5
|
2
|
|
Special
Delivery
|
11
|
11
|
|
The
Train
|
9
|
3
|
I remember talking with you a couple of years ago when you made
it back to play Chicago (at The Arcada Theatre) for the first time since
1968!!! Amazing!
I am also copying chart guru Randy
Price and collectors Frank Merrill and Clark Besch to see if they can help out
with any particularly special local charts that show you guys at or near the
top.
Meanwhile, be sure to check The
Forgotten Hits Website every Saturday for a brand new chart posted from exactly
50 years ago … as we cover the ENTIRE United States during the course of this
special Fifty Year Flashback review.
(kk)
This And That:
People seem to be lovin' Ronnie
Allen's new Snippets Game. (We've
already heard from quite a few of you who are already addicted!!!) Any perfect scores yet?
If you haven't given it a shot, try
any of these three links and have a crack at it … if for any reason the game
doesn't start immediately for you (it works better on some browsers than
others), try clicking the "Play Snippet Again" button and it should
kick things off. (kk)
Get ‘em while they are
HOT! HOT! HOT!
MEMPHIS LEGENDS
THE BOX TOPS
THE BOX TOPS
The Letter, Cry Like A
Baby, Soul Deep, Neon Rainbow
Plus Memphis blues, rock,
soul, rockabilly..complete with HORNS …
The MUSIC THAT MADE
MEMPHIS THE MUSIC MECCA!
*featured 2017 Happy
Together Tour
*featured 2018 Concerts
at Sea
*will be featured act
2019 FLOWER POWER CRUISE
THIS IS THE REAL DEAL!
Fairs, festivals, family
friendly …
Casinos, Corporate,
Clubs, Concerts
(and
coming to The Arcada Theatre on May 4th with
Chuck
Negron, former lead singer of Three Dog Night!
BOOKING: PARADISE ARTISTS … BOB BIRK
805 646 8433
MANAGEMENT: Rick Levy
904 806 0817
Hoping to see you there, Rick! (kk)
Lots of reports floating
around this weekend about Lisa Marie Presley being as much as $16 Million in
debt … seems a bit of a stretch to me (since her royalty income is estimated to
be something like $350,000 per month) … and some are speculating that she has
“stashed millions” in anticipation of her upcoming divorce. It’ll be interesting to see how this all
shakes out … but this is marriage #4 that hasn’t worked out for The King’s
Daughter … might be time to more seriously consider a “solo career!” (kk)
