1970: December 12th – The Doors played their last concert with Jim Morrison as their lead singer at The Warehouse in New Orleans.
Also on this date, the movie “The Magic Christian,” starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr opens in London.(Also featured in the film are Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski and John Cleese.)Regardless, it receives universally negative reviews.(It was pretty awful!!!)
The film also featured Badfinger’s first hit single, “Come And Get It,” written by Paul McCartney who instructed the band to “record it EXACTLY as it is written … there is no reason to change ANYTHING.”(If you listen to the demo McCartney recorded, now available on the Anthology Album, it is virtually identical … and probably would have been a hit no matter who recorded it!)
Paul McCartney's Demo:
The Badfinger Hit Version:
The belief after The Beatles made "A Hard Day's Night" was that Ringo was the natural actor in the group. (Regardless, it was John Lennon who first took the plunge in Dick Lester's "How I Won The War" ... another pretty awful movie ... actually, I don't think I've EVER made it all the way through it! lol)
When The Beatles first met Producer George Martin back in 1962, they were incredibly impressed by his credentials ... Martin had worked with Peter Sellers and The Goons multiple times in the past, and The Fab Four LOVED these recordings. (Must be a British Humour thing as it never translated that well over here on this side of the pond!)
The film soundtrack also included the Classic Rock Classic "Something In The Air" by Thunderclap Newman, whose guitarist, Jimmy McCulloch, would eventually join Paul McCartney's band Wings in the mid-'70's.
Despite all the surprise and fuss made over Dylan selling his
catalog earlier this week for a reported $300 million, Best Classic Bands
points out this will not be the first time he has licensed his work for use in
commercial advertisements.
In fact, they point out ELEVEN other instances in which he
has done so.(Remember how pissed The
Beatles were when Michael Jackson bought their publishing catalog and started
licensing out their tunes for Nike … and other … commercials???“Revolution” was NEVER written or designed to
sell SHOES!!!)
Still, this has proven to be a very lucrative business,
providing long-lasting dividends.(It
has ALSO turned out to be one of the greatest ways of keeping this great music
alive and attracting brand new generations to it, as we seem to be pointing out
every week lately for the past several years!)
Coming hot on the heels of Stevie Nicks selling 80% of HER
the week before … and late-breaking stories that Dylan had actually turned down
bigger offers in the past to companies whose entire focus seems to be buying up
copyrights (a very “sound” investment, one might say!) … this just may prove to
be the wave of the future.(Diane Warren’s
comments in this article clearly provide the other side of this argument!)
I was listening to a vintage interview with The Bee Gees last weekend where they COMPLETELY denounced their involvement with the Sgt. Pepper film, literally BEGGING to be released from having to complete it. (Once they saw how awful it was during filming, The Brothers Gibb wanted OUT in the worst possible way ... but they were held to their contract ... which is kinda surprising in a way since the film was orchestrated by their manager, Robert Stigwood.)
Barry said that one of the concessions offered to keep them tied to the film was that he would be allowed to punch Alice Cooper on film!!! (In Barry's own words, "Can you believe it?!?! THAT was their concession???")
I will admit that, to this day, I have NEVER seen the film in its entirety. It was designed to be a star vehicle for Peter Frampton, incredibly hot at the time, but then right in the midst of filming, "Saturday Night Fever" blew up and made The Bee Gees all the rage. Their time could have been much better spent riding THAT wave than being attached to this crap ... not to mention the fact that they now also had to listen to all kinds of backlash from their costars in the film. (Actually, I think this would have made for a VERY interesting side story in the new HBO film ... but I also know they had to get it all down to under two hours ... and there is just SO much more story to tell when it comes to The Bee Gees!) Looking forward to checking it out tomorrow night. (kk)
And, speaking of The Bee Gees, FH Reader Mike Wolstein reminds us ...
Another anniversary! 43 years ago (12-10-77), the Bee Gees
released "Stayin' Alive", a great contribution
to Disco! ;-)
Mike
kk ...
Scott Shannon just told this story on WCBS-FM …
1980 = Flashback to death of John Lennon.
Scott was program director of Washington
Station.
Owner didn't like him as a D J.
Day after John Lennon was shot, Scott was
helping out, programing Beatles songs
And taking phone calls.
Owner called and asked him what he was doing.
Since he was playing Beatles songs, he thought
maybe the owner didn't know that John Lennon had died.
He told him.
Owner said he knew about it … and that Scott
was over-reacting.
Owner insisted he get back to the normal
playlist.
A week later Scott shows owner three different
magazines with John Lennon's picture on the cover ...
Better tell them they're over-reacting.
Ten days later Scott got fired.
Frank B.
Pretty insightful owner, eh???
My guess is that this guy was never heard from again,
grossly failing out of radio …
While Scott Shannon went on to become one of the most famous
disc jockeys in the history of popular radio!
As it should be.(kk)
My absolute favorite Peter and Gordon song is
a B side of a minor hit from 1966. The "A" side was
"There's No Living Without Your Loving", which barely made the
BILLBOARD TOP 50.The flip side is
"A Stranger With A Black Dove" … worth hearing if you never have.
And for what it's worth, I just ran another game this Wednesday using songs from your TOP 3,333 list.
And since AOL, in its infinite wisdom, is
shutting down chatrooms in a little over a week, we are moving our games to a
new home next week instead.
Thanks again for all the work you do, and the
obvious passion you pour into it.
Wmbradspa
Wow!Frannie and I
would have never met had it not been for AOL Chat Rooms … the end of an era,
for sure.
Good luck with your new home for music trivia … please keep
us posted.
(How are The Top 3333 going over anyway???)
Thanks, Brad!(kk)
The
TOP 3,333 games are quite popular. Of course, having great material to
work with doesn't hurt at all.
Brad
Hi Kent,
A FANTASTIC piece on "Peter and
Gordon"!!!
They had so many wonderful songs, it is
difficult for me to choose a favorite!
They were a BIG, BIG part of the BRITISH
INVASION, which was my favorite era
of music by far.
Thank you, Kent, for the beautiful
memories!!
Carolyn
Kent,
I'm afraid that as I get older, my gullibility level is increasing way too
quickly.
There was an argument going on, back a long time ago, about that being
"Elvira" on the Waits cover; at first, I couldn't make up my mind
whether or not I believed that it was her or not. I've been a fan of
Cassandra Peterson (as herself, not so much as her Elvira character) for
decades.
When I saw the LP pic I wasn't sure if it was her, as
it didn't look very much like her; but the general consensus was that it was
her, so I believed it.
BAD Mike! BAD! ;-)
Mike
What I find funny
is that Cassandra herself wasn’t sure if she had posed for that cover or
not!(lol)
I guess she had
done so many music videos and photo shoots by this point that she simply lost
track.
I was surprised to
see it all drudged up again after all this time … but felt the info worth
sharing (rather than continuing to repeat or perpetuate the myth.)
And, for the record
… just in case it comes up or anyone out there is wondering …
That is NOT
Cassandra Peterson on the “Whipped Cream” cover either!!!)lol
kk
Also, I found this in my "junk" … 47-year-old
soul!
Larry Langford, who was one of their announcers (I think he did the newscasts), later became
a spokesperson for the Chicago Fire Department ... and owns a couple of radio stations, one of which is WGTO ("Good
Time Oldies"), across the pond in Michigan.
Mike
Some great tunes on this list ... including at least a dozen that crossed over successfully to the pop charts as well. (Man, Chet Coppock would have had a field day with this chart!!!)
And it is ALWAYS great to see Herb Kent's name mentioned, too! Thanks, Mike! (kk)
Now this looks like
an interesting film concept …
"ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI …”
SOUNDTRACK REFLECTS SAM COOKE’S ENDURING LEGACY
ALBUM ALSO FEATURES LESLIE ODOM, JR’S “SPEAK NOW,” AN ORIGINAL
SONG WRITTEN FOR THE FILM,
AND AN ORIGINAL SCORE COMPOSED BY TERENCE BLANCHARD
On January 15, 2021, ABKCO Records will
release One Night In Miami… (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the
album that accompanies the much-anticipated film directed by Oscar® winner Regina King.
One Night In Miami… was written for the screen by Kemp Powers, based on his Olivier-nominated 2013 stage
play, the film is produced by Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder of
Snoot Entertainment and Jody Klein of ABKCO Films with King and Powers
serving as executive producers. The film will be distributed
globally by Amazon Studios.
Set on the night of February 25,
1964, the story of One Night In Miami… follows a young Cassius
Clay (shortly before he became Muhammad Ali) as he emerges from the Miami
Beach Convention Center as the new World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Against
all odds, he defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the sports world. While crowds
of people swarm Miami Beach to celebrate the match, Clay - unable to stay
on there because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws - instead spends
the night at the Hampton House Motel in one of Miami's
historically black neighborhoods. It was there that he celebrated his win with
three of his closest friends: activist Malcolm X, singer
Sam Cooke and football star Jim Brown. The next morning, the four men
emerge determined to define a new world for themselves and their people. The
ensemble cast consist of Kingsley Ben-Adir
as Malcolm X, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown and Leslie
Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke.
Leslie Odom Jr. performs Sam
Cooke’s most celebrated repertoire in the film and on the soundtrack album
including “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Good Times” and “A Change Is Gonna
Come.” Apart from his performance of the Sam Cooke material, the soundtrack includes “Speak Now,” a
powerful original song co-written and performed by Odom, who has long admired
Sam Cooke.
“Playing Sam Cooke was some big shoes to fill.
It was a challenge and an honor. I have such respect and admiration and awe for
his talent and what he was able to achieve,” he says.
Odom rose to prominence for
originating the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical Hamilton,
for which he took home the Best Actor Tony® and Grammy® Awards. He recently
released The Christmas album, his second holiday album, which
follows the release of Mr, his third album and first of
all-original material. Odom can also be heard voicing the character of Owen
Tillerman in the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy series Central Park,
a role which earned him an Emmy nomination.
Music from the film’s
original score composed by prolific Academy Award® nominee and six-time Grammy®
winner Terence Blanchard is featured on the album. The celebrated trumpeter
and composer’s recent film credits include Da 5 Bloods, BlacKkKlansman, Harriet,
and HBO’s Perry Mason drama series.
Throughout his career, Blanchard has
consistently attached himself to artistic works of conscience in regard to
which he confesses, “You get to a certain age when you ask, ‘Who’s going
to stand up and speak out for us?’ Then you look around and realize that the
James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis and Dr. Kings are no longer here ... and begin to
understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to say I’m here to try to
correct the whole thing, I’m just trying to speak the truth.”
“I originally had an approach of scoring this
film with a larger ensemble that could possibly date back to that period,” says
Blanchard. “But Regina had this great idea of just using piano. It took me a
while to come around to the idea but now I think the piano itself effectively
creates a historical narration for the film.”
Blanchard says, “Given the nature of the
score, being a jazz piano score, I gave Benny Green - a great jazz pianist -
room to improvise and manipulate the melodic content for that theme.” In
addition to the piano, one emotional film moment gave Blanchard a chance to use
another instrument. “The prayer scene with Malcolm X, allowed me to introduce
the duduk (a middle eastern wind instrument) which is also used in key spots in
the film,” he says.
Cast member and Grammy®, Emmy and two-time
Tony nominee Jeremy Pope portrays R&B great Jackie Wilson in the
film and his version of the latter’s “Lonely Teardrops” appears on the
soundtrack. Also included on the
soundtrack album is a 1964 recording of “Put Me Down Easy” by L.C. Cooke (Sam’s
younger brother), written by Sam Cooke for L.C. and features his accompanying
vocal as well. SAR Records released “Put Me Down Easy” as well as the organ
burner “Greazee” by Billy Preston, which also appears on the soundtrack. SAR
Records was founded by Sam Cooke and is a chronicle of his work on behalf of
the careers of others such as The Valentinos, The Soul Stirrers, and Johnnie
Taylor, a storyline specifically referenced in the One Night In
Miami...
One Night In Miami... has a theatrical release of December 25th and
will be released on Amazon Prime Video January 15th 2021.
One Night In Miami… (Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack) Track Listing:
1. Rumble, Young Man, Rumble! - Terence
Blanchard
2. Sam Cooke Comes to Stage
/ Copacabana Introduction - One Night in Miami Band
3. Tammy - Leslie Odom
Jr.
4. Howl For Me
Daddy - Terence Blanchard, Keb’ Mo’ and Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball
5. Do Us All Proud - Terence
Blanchard
6. I Believe To My Soul -
One Night in Miami Band
7. Salah Time - Terence Blanchard
8. I'm King Of The World! - Terence Blanchard
9. Put Me Down Easy - Hampton House - Leslie Odom Jr.
10. Put Me Down Easy - L.C. Cooke
11. Greazee - Billy Preston
12. Ain't Yo Stuff Safe Here - Terence Blanchard
13. Malcolm Looks Out The Window - Terence Blanchard
14. You Send Me - Leslie Odom Jr.
15. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons - Leslie Odom
Jr.
16. Brother, What Is Going On? - Terence Blanchard
17. I Wanna Damn Party - Terence Blanchard
18. Lonely Teardrops - Jeremy Pope
19. Chain Gang - Leslie Odom Jr.
20. Good Times - Leslie Odom Jr.
21. A Change Is Gonna Come - Leslie Odom Jr.
22. Speak Now - Leslie Odom Jr.
Here’s a short
trailer from the film:
One for fun …
We’ve “covered” the
story of Dr. Hook making The Cover Of The Rolling Stone, thanks to their hit
song of the same name … a Top Five Pop Single in early 1973.
Here’s a little
recap of the chain of events that helped carve out its own little unique piece
of pop history, courtesy of Best Classic Bands …
I don't know if this is the point of your blog
and if not, I apologize, but I've been looking desperately for an
"unidentifiable" song.
It was posted on the web a while back and a
group of people (including I) are searching for it.
The person who posted it recorded it off the
radio in the 1970s. He lived in Chicago. I've been able to identify every other
song on the tape except this one and it's driving me nuts!
If you recognize this song, I'd be forever
thankful. I've linked an audio file of the song, this is all there was of it on
the tape.
Hope this isn't a bother … and have a happy
December.
Sincerely,
Ambrose
No bother at all … this is kinda what we do as part of our
Helping Out Our Readers feature … so I’m more than happy to give it a shot.
With thousands of music fans, collectors, deejays and
artists on the list, hopefully one of them will recognize his piece and help
put your mind to rest! (Unfortunately, it’s not familiar to me at all … and
I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life!Lol)
Let’s run it up the flagpole and see what comes back.Stay tuned!(kk)
Hi there, FH Readers,
I know, this is a rock music blog and NOT an easy listening or
beautiful music blog. However, with the thousands of readers that check
out this blog, I am hoping that there might be a beautiful music Christmas
songs expert out there that might be able to ease my anguish, and come up with
a title and artist of a Christmas instrumental that I've been looking for ever since
the mid-seventies.How can one possibly
search for an instrumental when they have no idea of either the title or the
artist?
In the seventies, I lived in Columbus Ohio, and from noon on
Christmas Eve through midnight Christmas night, WBNS FM in Columbus would play
36 hours of Christmas beautiful music. They played probably every single cut
from Bert Kaempfert's Christmas Wonderland album, along with songs from an
album of the same name recorded by Andre Kostelanetz. The station played
a lot of Percy Faith, Boston Pops, James Last, Hollywood Strings and
Montavani Christmas favorites.They did
include some vocal Christmas music in their mix as well, but the station definitely
leaned toward Christmas instrumentals.
One song that I liked in particular was by David Rose called The
Christmas Tree.
This song that I'm looking for reminds me a bit of The Christmas
Tree, except that it is a little faster in tempo.
All I can tell you about this song, and I realize that it's not
much to go on, is that it is in the key of G, and begins with a full eight
measures of nothing but sleighbells followed by the crack of a whip. It
is fully orchestrated, and strings dominate the piece, and the sleighbells are
heard throughout the piece. Obviously this piece tries to give an image
of gliding over the snow, and it is a beautiful song, and I wish I could
somehow get a nice wave file or mp3 file of this song to add to my extensive
Christmas songs collection. I can still hear the song in my head, even
though I've probably not heard it now since 1986. The song is NOT Sleigh Ride.
I know that song very well.
Anyway, does anyone have any idea of just what this elusive
Christmas instrumental in the key of G, with sleighbells throughout and a crack
of the whip near the beginning might be?
I would really love to be able to hear this cheerful happy song again,
which WBNS FM played every year during the holiday season.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Sam Ward
Nothing tougher than trying to track down an instrumental …
and a Christmas one at that, in that quite often dozens if not hundreds of
artists record the same tunes for their holiday albums … but hey, we’ll give it
a shot.With readers all over the
country, perhaps somebody else on the list grew up during this same area … or even
programmed a beautiful music radio station back in the day.
Not sure we can get you an answer before the big holiday
(can you believe Christmas is just two weeks from TODAY?!?!) … or at all, for
that matter … but I’m always willing to help out our readers in any way I can
to connect to the music that provided the soundtrack to THEIR lives, even if I
don’t personally be familiar with it at all.
So … anybody got any ideas?(Obviously, we’d have to hear a clip … or see a YouTube video or
something … in order for Sam to confirm.)Thanks, all! (kk)
LOOK FOR A SPECIAL SATURDAY POST TOMORROW IN FORGOTTEN HITS!
