Sounds like our little time travel back to this week in 1967 has been clicking with the listeners of the shows who’ve been featuring these. There was good response to Jeff James’ special spotlight treatment during this week’s edition of Windy City Wednesday … and listeners enjoyed it so much on Bob Sirott’s program Thursday Morning that he’s running it again on Monday, between 5:30 and 6:00 am.
(Bob and his engineer put together a short medley featuring seven of the tracks from our Chicagoland Local Heroes … he left out Michael and the Messengers since technically they were from across the border up in Milwaukee … and listeners LOVED the way it took them back to that very special time when WLS and WCFL ruled the airwaves here in Chicago.)
On the July 14th, 1967 WLS chart, a full 20% of the Top 40 Tunes in Chicago were by local artists
(scroll back to last Wednesday’s post if you missed it … you can also hear all
eight tracks on the website.) Bob read a
series of very positive texts, emails and tweets on Friday Morning’s program
from listeners, telling him how much they enjoyed the segment. (We reminded Bob, too, of his EXCELLENT WTTW
special from several years back spotlighting “When Chicago Rocked The ‘60’s” …
and he posted a link to that program, too, on his Facebook page. You’ll find a link to that up on the FH site as part of Wednesday’s post, too, as well as below.)
It’s a VERY solid half hour tribute to the bands we grew up with here in
The Windy City, most of which went on to achieve national attention, too. It holds up very well ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3p-lqKYu2g
But my FAVORITE email was the last one he read … ‘cause there’s always one in every crowd …
“Jeez, Bob … if I wanted to listen to music, I’d listen to a different station!” (lol)
Phil Nee picks up the baton (yes, that WAS an Olympics reference!) tonight on his “Those Were The Days” radio program, playing selections from the entire WLS Top 40 list this evening between 6 pm and Midnight ... https://www.wrco.com
And, speaking
of the entire Top 40, Forgotten Hits Reader Ben Meijering from The Netherlands (who you met in
Thursday’s post as well) sent in a remarkable recording that HE made counting
down the ENTIRE Top 40, right off the WLS Chart. (He mentioned this in his original email … and then
sent me a WeTransfer link to share with those of you who'd like to play it at home.) At a length of two hours, it’s just too long
to post here … but I must say that he did an excellent job and we’ll be hearing
more from Ben next week in Forgotten Hits. Since he said that I could share the link this weekend on the website with other fans of 1960’s Top
40 Radio … and the great Chicago sounds of The Buckinghams, The Cryan’ Shames,
The New Colony Six, The Mauds, The American Breed, The Flock and Spanky and Our
Gang … not to mention all of the OTHER outstanding artists featured on this
week’s chart … you'll find it below. (I believe it's "live" through August 4th.) kk
From Ben …
Hi Kent,
First of all, I’d like to let you know how much I love your blog. I’ve been reading your postings almost every day since Mike Hartman was so kind to point me to your blog.
My name is Ben Meijering … I live in the Netherlands (Europe), I’m 65 years old and I lived in Wheaton between November, 1983, and February, 1985, working at Bell Labs. Indeed, I was there when WJMK started, and I listened to WAUR every weekend (when Mike Hartman was a DJ on WAUR).
During that period, I started to become familiar with a lot of the “local” Chicago bands and artists like the New Colony Six, the Buckinghams, the Ides of March (whom I already knew from Vehicle), the Cryan’ Shames, Spanky & Our Gang, Alliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah, etc.
After I had returned to the Netherlands, I spent a lot of time, during my business trips back to the US in record stores to find CDs / LPs with all those great songs, so I could put together my own compilations. So when you write:
I've said this MANY times over the years ...
We didn't like this music because it was made by Chicago artists ...
We liked this music because it was GREAT music ...
I cannot agree more, being a Dutchman, who was born in the Netherlands and grew up without knowing about all the great records. I fell in love with all these groups when I lived in Chicagoland.
I took the WLS Super Summer Survey that you posted last week, mixed the records with WLS jingles and countdown jingles and posted that on one of the local radio-freak forums over here as a podcast. People loved it!
Keep up the good work, Kent! I’m a big fan of your blog.
Ben
P.S. You’re very welcome to share the wetransfer link that I sent to you on you blog: https://we.tl/t-XVHrpm4N8l
Clark Besch also sent us a rather cool ‘60’s radio clip to share … spotlighting many of the songs and artists featured on this week’s Super Summer Survey from 1967, along with the local jocks who counted them down this week in ’67 …
Kent,
These great moments of Summer, ‘67 that you bring up are great. Add to that Chicago local music talent the fact that two legends of Chicago radio traded places on the dial that month. Look at the WLS and CFL charts you posted. Then, listen to Dex Card and Larry Lujack as one switches from WLS to ‘CFL and the other from WCFL to WLS that July! Thanks to FH'er Stu Shea for some of these clips, too.
A year later, FH'er Chuck Buell would come to WLS and Ron Riley would soon leave WLS for WCFL as well.
Clark
Speaking of our local talent, Jim Peterik (of The Ides Of March) and Carl Giammarese (of The Buckinghams) are bringing their pooled talent to The City Winery on Monday, August 26th, for another Songs And Stories show. (We were there for the first one of these at The Cabaret Club inside The Genesee Theatre a couple of months ago ... see review below):
https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2021/05/concert-review-carl-giammarese-and-jim.html
It’s an intimate night of music … and you can order tickets here:
Kent,
Great to see Bob Stroud get nominated for The Radio Hall of Fame. Last year was 40 years on the air in Chicago ... This year he’s a Radio Hall of Fame nominee. The Stroud Crowd continued to widen and grow!
Clark Besch
Congratulations to Micky Dolenz (and his whole team) for making Ultimate Classic Rock’s list of The Top 20 Albums of 2021 (so far) announced this week. Micky’s “Dolenz Sings Nesmith” came in at #20, tied with the new solo album by Nancy Wilson of Heart.
Other classic rock acts on the list include Steve Lukather of Toto, Cheap Trick, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Styx, Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton and Chrissie Hynde (for her Bob Dylan tribute album.)
You can see the whole list (and read the commentary) here:
Tom Cuddy sent us this link to Bandstand Memories that I think some of you will really enjoy …
How American Bandstand Changed American Culture:
Revisit
Scenes from the Iconic Music Show
https://www.openculture.com/2021/07/how-american-bandstand-changed-american-culture.html
And Billboard Magazine’s Adult Contemporary Chart celebrates its 60th Anniversary this month. Billboard first began charting the “Soft Rock” hits in their issue dated July 17th, 1961. (The first #1 Record on that chart??? “The Boll Weevil Song” by Brook Benton. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then.)
Some of the stats are pretty impressive … and you can see the highlights here:
The HBO Bee Gees Documentary “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” has been nominated for SIX Emmy Awards this year! (The Emmys Ceremony is scheduled to be broadcast live on Sunday, September 19th.)
Categories of Excellence include: Outstanding Directing Documentary / Nonfiction Program; Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program; Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special; Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera); Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program.
Congratulations to all involved. (kk)
https://bestclassicbands.com/bee-gees-documentary-hbo-7-13-21/
Diane Diekman is reporting that Actor Dennis Quaid has teamed with The Bellamy Brothers to cover "I Can Help," the Billy Swan song that went all the way to #1 in Billboard Magazine in 1974.
"It couldn't have been more fun recording 'I Can Help' with David and Howard Bellamy," Quaid told PEOPLE MAGAZINE. "I felt like I was a kid skipping school and jamming with a band." David and Howard Bellamy (who topped Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart themselves in 1976 with “Let Your Love Flow), were not fond of covering other artists' songs, but they thought Dennis would be a great collaborator and “I Can Help” was the perfect track for their new project. As a result, The Bellamy Brothers plan to release their first-ever complete covers album, Covers from the Brothers, this fall. (kk)
YAY!!!!!
MYSTERY SOLVED!!!
Thanks to Team Forgotten Hits collaborating with the followers of Glen Fisher’s Doo Wop Ramblings, it is now confirmed that we found the Mystery Song that FH Reader Colin Donahue has been searching for!!!
Read on …
This was a tough assignment, but thanks to a lot of subscribers to Doo Wop Ramblings, we were able to find and confirm the song. This is what is going into Sunday’s newsletter. Thanks for including us.
Glen
THE MYSTERY SONG SOLVED
The Suns Message The Destinations
Hi Glen,
YES!!! This is exactly it!
I’ll have to see if I can find that album somewhere, because this absolutely is
the song that I heard. Thank you very much for your hard work in tracking this
down for me.
After reading your response earlier in Forgotten Hits, I started subscribing to
your email newsletter. I loved my first issue - keep up the great work!
COLIN
THE DESTINATIONS were an a cappella group from Philadelphia. They formed in January, 1966, and recorded on Cameo. The group consisted of Al "Froggy" Byer on lead vocal, Paul "Pinky" Fiore on lead and second tenor, Joe Fiore on first tenor, Ken Goodman on baritone, and Jerry Utter on bass. They recorded two a cappella songs in 1967 that were released in 2003 on Philadelphia's Greatest A cappella album on Pantomime. It included our mystery song, Sun's Message. Thanks to my friend King Arthur, Carlos Alvarez for sending me the song. He is a fellow dee jay on Doo Wop radio who managed the Destinations back in their heyday. He also recorded them on his Andro label.
While the Glam heavy metal rock group Cinderella doesn’t necessarily fit into the normal scheme of things here in Forgotten Hits, it was still a shock to see TWO former members of the band pass away on the very same day!
Cleopatra Records made this statement when the news of Guitarist Jeff LaBar’s death first hit. (Rumors of LaBar’s death circulated for about a day before the official announcement was made. The death of fellow Cinderella Keyboardist Gary Corbett came later in the day. Not an original member of the band, Corbett joined Cinderella in 1990. He passed on the day before his birthday.)
Cleopatra Records Mourns The Passing Of CINDERELLA Guitarist JEFF LABAR
Cleopatra Records is sad to hear of the passing of the supremely talented rock guitarist Jeff LaBar at age 58. LaBar’s dexterous and melodic playing helped propel Cinderella’s 1986 debut album Night Songs to the #3 spot on the Billboard album charts and would soon be certified platinum. Being an integral part of Cinderella’s sound, LaBar would continue with the group all the way through to their final recording as a band, the phenomenal 1999 concert album Live At The Key Club, which was released on CD by Cleopatra Records’ metal imprint Deadline Music. LaBar’s talent showed through on that live recording as well as on the impressive video concert document In Concert, which was released as a DVD in 2005, capturing LaBar and the boys on their massive 1991 Heartbreak Station tour. The DVD would be RIAA Certified Gold later that year. LaBar continued to record with other projects like Freak Show featuring Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali and the band Naked Beggars and would occasionally re-unite with Tom Keifer and the rest of Cinderella for some spectacular live performances that are certain to live on in fan’s memories for years to come.
Cleopatra Records owner Brian Perera remarked “Jeff LaBar was such an amazing guitarist and a very dear friend. We will miss him and the good times we shared. We extend all our love and deepest sympathies to his family and fans.”
Big news day for heavy metal and hard rock bands …
It was just announced that a 42-CD Box Set (“Hell Bent: 50 Years of Heavy Metal Music”) spanning the career of Judas Priest will be released on October 15th.
Kicking off with the band’s 1974 debut album, “Rocka Rolla,” the collection will include every single one of the band’s official live and studio albums to date plus 13 discs of previously unreleased live material. (Now that’s a lotta metal!!!) Judas Priest will tour the U.S. this fall to coincide with the box’s release. (kk)
And, since we’ve taken this road, I will also tell you about Jack Russell’s Great White’s new release, “Great Zeppelin II: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin.” (The group first paid homage to their heroes in 1998 … so I guess one could say this follow-up is long overdue!)
The new tribute CD features “Whole Lotta Love,” “Good Times, Bad Times,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Dancin' Days,” “No Quarter,” “Kashmir,” “Houses Of The Holy,” “Trampled Underfoot,” “Moby Dick,” “The Rover,” “Stairway To Heaven,” “Heartbreaker,” “Livin' Lovin’ Maid” and “Communication Breakdown.”
Lead vocalist Jack Russell (stepping into some pretty big shoes to fill left by Robert Plant!) has this to say:
“I’m really excited about Great Zep 2. We had such a great time recording it and took the opportunity to choose songs we hadn’t covered on the first one. The band played beautifully and the sound, I believe, is first class. I’m hopeful everyone will enjoy listening to it as much as we did playing it.”
Stream / download the single "Whole Lotta Love" here:
https://orcd.co/jack_russells_great_white_whole_lotta_love
And check this out …
MEGADETH Announces The First Commercial Release Of Their Unplugged Concert Performed In 2001!
(Wait a minute … WHAT is it we’re reading here again??? Forgotten Hits?!?!?)
It was one of the most unique and sought-after concert experiences in Megadeth fandom - an intimate, scaled-down performance featuring Dave Mustaine & Co. on acoustic guitars stripping down their heavy metal anthems to their primal elements. These special engagements became the stuff of legend over the years and recordings of these performances were made available exclusively through the Megadeth fan club. But now, the band have partnered with Los Angeles-based indie label Cleopatra Records to make this experience open to all with the first-ever commercial release of Unplugged In Boston, a spectacular acoustic concert recorded in 2001.
Coming just on the heels of the band’s stylishly aggressive album The World Needs A Hero, the set list kicks off with one of that album’s best tracks, the turbulent “Dread And The Fugitive Mind” before launching into a string of older favorites including several from the 1997 album Cryptic Writings as well as an excerpt from “Holy Wars … The Punishment Due.” But Mustaine & Gang save the best for last, closing the show with a superb one-two punch of “Moto Psycho,” Hero’s highest charting single, and the unforgettable “Symphony Of Destruction,” Megadeth’s mainstream breakthrough that still manages to get the audience’s blood pumping! All in all, it’s an extraordinary concert that Megadeth fans will not want to miss!
Track List:
1. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
2. Trust
3. Time: The Beginning
4. Use The Man
5. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
6. Almost Honest
7. Promises
8. She-Wolf
9. Moto Psycho
10. Symphony Of Destruction
And finally …
Why Neil Peart’s Silver Surfers are the stars at this year’s Pebble Beach | Financial Times
Here’s another rock / car article.
I enjoyed the GTO portion of Burton Cummings narrative of his night with Jim Morrison. Based on his description, it must have been a 68 / 69, as that is when vinyl tops were prevalent. Since the Mustang is the only vehicle on record that Morrison owned, I wonder where the GTO came from.
Robert Campbell
https://www.ft.com/content/9a013f4e-dcf2-430e-8f64-023a8a9448a7
