As expected, Tony Dow did officially pass away within 24 hours of the false announcement of his death. Doesn’t make it hurt any less … he was such a huge part of all of our lives growing up.
And no sooner did we receive this news than we started hearing rumors of Jimy Sohns’ death (lead singer of The Shadows Of Night and a long-time friend of Forgotten Hits.)
These, too, were apparently greatly exaggerated … although Jimy did suffer another stroke. (He recovered remarkably well from the first one … but I hear this one may have knocked him down a peg.)
Back in 2012 when we polled our readers in order to determine their All-Time Favorite Garage Band, The Shadows Of Knight came out on top of the heap.
After taking the title, Jimy had this to say …
A few years ago ... I don't know, 2007 or 2008 ... Rolling Stone Magazine named us as the Greatest Garage Band Ever ... of course that was thanks to my good friend Little Steven ... I've known him forever ... but we still came out on top and that's all that mattered ... to be recognized for your work all those years later.
You know when we started out there weren't a lot of clubs here in Chicago ... we were the house band at The Cellar in Arlington Heights and we would sometimes play there for six months at a time. Little Jimmy Peterik told me that he used to catch the train to come up there to see us. Then little by little, more clubs began to open up and more bands came around to become the "house band" at these different clubs ... The Cryan' Shames had their place and The Buckinghams had their place ... and more and more clubs started to open up where the kids could come out and listen to music being played live. But we played there at The Cellar for about six months straight. In fact, once we got big enough to go out on the road ... and by "out on the road" I mean like Rockford ... or Valparaiso, Indiana ... The Cellar actually had to shut down for a while until they could find some other bands to fill in while we were gone. Once we finally moved out of there, the band that took over for us ... that took our spot ... was Jimy Rogers and the Mauds. God bless Jimy ... one of the greatest voices in Chicago rock right up until the day he died ... and nobody ever knew ... because he never said a word.
People talk about "Gloria" being the
big break-through hit in 1966 ... and there've been stories going around for
years about how WLS and Clark Weber got us to make that record ... and I love
Clark, he's a great guy ... but people remember things differently. All I know
is we were playing "Gloria" for a year before the record came out so
nobody had to ask us to go out and learn that song in order to put a record
out. We actually learned that song in a gas station up in Arlington Heights ...
now if that's not a garage band, I don't know what it is ... and then we went
out and played it that same night at The Cellar. Don't get me wrong ... the
radio support here in Chicago was great and it became a #1 Hit here.
We picked up on "Gloria" very early on ... and that was actually the
B-Side of a Them record. The A-Side was Them's version of "Baby, Please
Don't Go" ... and "Gloria" was on the B-Side ... and, as such,
they let a lot of things go on that record because it was just a B-Side. There
are a lot of little mistakes in that ... and here's a little bit of trivia for
you ... you know who plays that guitar solo there in the middle on Them's
version of "Gloria"? That's Jimmy Page! He sat in with a lot of bands
back then in the studio and played on records by The Kinks, Them, "Hurdy
Gurdy Man" by Donovan ... a whole bunch of 'em. He was doing his studio
thing ... and then, later on, a few years later, The Shadows started doing some
studio gigs, too, when we went over to Buddah Records. The
"Shake"-era Shadows Of Knight ... there were usually at least two or
maybe three of us on those records ... we were on "Yummy Yummy Yummy"
and "Chewy Chewy" and "Down At Lulu's" and a whole bunch of
those records that were very popular at the time with this new style of music.
Critics and journalists have always referred to us as "America's Rolling
Stones", which was right on the money ... that's what we were at the time
... but we never saw any royalty money from those records we recorded ...
nobody did back then. At least when we went over to Buddah Records, we KNEW we
weren't going to get any royalty money, playing as the "house band"
... but we thought we were going to get rich and famous with a hit the size of
"Gloria" ... and that just never happened.
People always want to ask me about the original band ... and the original band
was great ... don't get me wrong, we were a great band and that's the band that
made the records ... but we were only together for about three years! I've been
doing this now for 46, 47 years. Those other guys didn't really stick with it,
but I've done SO many things over the past 46 years ... played with so many
great musicians and I've kept in touch with many of them. Some of them have
moved on or gotten into other things, but we're still rockin' ... I've got gigs
lined up all the time and I still tear it up on stage ... it just takes me a
little bit longer to get going the next day, that's all!
But I'm glad the fans still love and appreciate the music of The Shadows Of
Knight, as indicated by your poll. You told me that we were ahead by a
landslide and it's great to hear that ... that people still know and love this
music.
Seriously, come out and see us some time and
tell me what you think.
Click here: Home
-- Jimy Sohns
You can view all of the results here:
http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_50_all-time_favorite_garage_bands
From my understanding, Jimy had another stroke. Contrary to was originally posted on Facebook, he has not passed away. Let's all say some prayers for Jimy.
Mike De Martino
From The Shadows Of Knight Facebook Page …
We are sorry for the relaying the miscommunication regarding Jimy’s health situation. He is currently in the hospital after suffering a stroke on Friday. He has not passed away, but can certainly use the love and support from his friends and fans.
UPDATE: 7-29-22:
Sadly, this second stroke was too much for Jimy - he passed away Friday afternoon (7/29)
Due to committed pre-posts, we will run our tribute to Jimy Sohns on Tuesday, August 2nd. But we did receive a couple of emails after the news of Jimy's passing started to circulate ... including this one which came just BEFORE the story hit the news ...
Hi Kent,
So sorry to hear about Jimy Sohns. I hope he gets better. I’m actually a Shadow of Knight fan from the “Shake” era. I heard that on the radio and couldn’t get enough of it. I know it’s not a complicated tune but something raw and fun about it gets me every time. It got played in the Rochester, NY area, but didn’t make a big impression nationally I guess. From there, I went back and found other SOK stuff. To this day I still have the original Gloria album on Dunwich and the Super K (Buddha) album with a different mix of “Shake” on it. It seems to me they were probably better live than the records represent.
So many of the artists we grew up with are leaving us. Very sad but understandable. People say “Why don’t the Rolling Stones hang it up?” And I’m like “Noooo!!” They’re one of the last from the golden era and I love that Mick and Keith are still running around the stage and rocking! It’s an inspiration and when it ends, we will all feel a litter emptier in my opinion. These songs are classics and why shouldn’t they do them if they can?
On another note, I’m listening to the new James Holvay EP, This Girl. Wow, if you miss the Impressions, Holvay has nailed their sound. Wonderful soul music and vocals. I listen to the earlier one, Sweet Soul, quite often, too. Funny, his web site doesn’t mention the new EP. I love Chicago soul and rock from the classic era. I live in NH but still search out lost bands and tunes from Chicago and other areas.
Thanks for keeping it all going consistently Kent!!
Jim Culveyhouse
From our friend David Lewis down in Nashville, who on Wednesday already had heard that Jimy had passed away and was checking to see whether or not it was true. (It wasn't ... the news of Jimy's second stroke was getting around ... and his own Facebook Page had reported that he died! You can see their apology / retraction above)
Having just gone thru this exact same scenario with Tony Dow the day before, David wrote:
Second false death announcement in as many days! When has this happened before?
DL
The truly amazing part about all of this is that we live in the most instantaneous age ever - news circulates within SECONDS these days thanks to all of the various ways people communicate today. So to have the WRONG information spreading around the world would seem to be unheard of in this day and age of social media ... and yet David's right ... TWICE in two days the announcements were off the mark. (Jimy's daughter Raechel made the official announcement at 5:10 pm on Friday, July 29th ... but then again it was Tony Dow's own wife who falsely reported that he had died a day before it was actually true!!! ... so I guess you really don't know WHO to believe!)
And then, also from David, Friday evening ...
The Origins of ELO
The song was earmarked to be another Jeff Lynne penned b-side for the Midland's homegrown supergroup, The Move. That is until multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood added a cheap Chinese cello to the unfinished track. It was the missing ingredient the two good mates had been searching for to introduce a Move side gig they were calling the Wood-Lynne project.
Wood had envisioned creating a working band able to perform complex arrangements live on stage similar to what The Beatles had only done in the studio. It was a concept that had enticed Lynne to join The Move in 1970. The idea itself might have germinated from a Tchaikovsky riff that Wood had used on The Move's first hit, "Night Of Fear" (UK #2), in 1967. At the time, Wood described it as a classical rave up.
On July 29, 1972, "10538 Overture" was finally released in the UK by the project, now renamed The Electric Light Orchestra. A December,1971, album release containing the track had bombed but was revived by the single. Meanwhile, The Move's top ten and longest charting single, Wood's "California Man," a pastiche to fifties rock 'n roll, was still in the charts, backed by Lynne's "Do Ya." But apparently two maestros wasn't working for Wood. Before "10538 Overture" was even released, he dissolved The Move, left ELO to Lynne, and formed another band, Wizzard, that would embrace pop-oriented glam rock.
Wizzard debuted at Wembley Stadium's first ever Rock And Roll Show on August 5th that was headlined by several American rock 'n roll legends from the fifties. At this point, no one knew if ELO might be anything other than a one hit wonder, especially after Wood's departure. After all, Lynne's innovative previous band, The Idle Race, had never had a hit record. He had replaced Wood in that one.
"10538 Overture" could have easily been mistaken as something new by the Sgt. Pepper crew in yet another disguise. It peaked at UK #9 but failed to chart in the US, as hadn't The Move's swansong,"California Man." But a few months later, "Do Ya" was re-released as the plug side and became The Move's only stateside chart single. Earlier, a Disc And Echo UK music critic had called "Do Ya" one of the greatest rock 'n roll masterpieces ever recorded. It would be over a year before another Lynne original, "Showdown", would follow a Chuck Berry cover into the UK charts. By then, Wizzard had already topped the UK charts not once, but twice. Major transatlantic success would remain elusive until Lynne's perseverance transformed ELO into something more than a Beatles tribute band.
In 1975, a
live version of "10538 Overture" was released as the b-side of "Evil
Woman." In 1977, a reworked
"Do Ya" became an ELO hit in America, 69 positions ahead of the
original in Billboard. Cheap Trick would cover "California Man" and
release an original tribute titled "ELO Kiddies." Despite two number one albums in the UK,
ELO's only chart topping single was as Olivia Newton-John's backing band on
"Xanadu" in 1980. In the US the band holds the record for most Hot
100 hits without a number one. In 2017, the group, including original
mastermind Roy Wood, was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Mike Gentry
I still love the story about how United Artists Records was trying to break ELO here in America. Culling tracks from their British releases to be used for their first LP, the big wigs didn’t want to take any chances by missing something that The Brits had already latched on to that might help to make an immediate connection with what they hoped would be their new fanbase. So, one of the UA executives told one of his office boys to get on the phone with the band’s record company over in The UK and find out what the name of their first LP was over there so that UA could replicate it here Stateside.
I don’t know if it was the time change or
just a slow business day, but this kid made repeated calls to the UK all day
long and never got anybody to pick up the phone. Finally, at the end of a long day, he figured
that rather be reprimanded by his boss for not coming thru with the
information, he would instead just leave him a note explaining the reason for his
failed mission.
So, right before leaving for the night, he took a post-it note, scribbled down
his explanation and stuck it on his boss’ phone.
All it said was “No Answer” … the end
result of all his efforts.
When his boss came in the next morning and saw the note, he was beaming that
his young associate had come thru for him … and immediately made plans to
release Electric Light Orchestra’s first US album. Just like it had been in the UK, their American
debut would be called “No Answer” … never realizing for a second that the note he
found stuck to his telephone receiver the following morning could possibly be
anything other than the information he had asked his young assistant to find
out. (kk)
After making headlines with her surprise appearance at The Newport Folk Festival, Joni Mitchell is back in the news today as Rhino prepares a new box set called "The Asylum Years, 1972 - 1975," featuring all four of her albums released for the label: "For The Roses" (1972), "Court And Spark" (1974), "Miles Of Aisles" (Joni live in 1974) and "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" (1975). It'll be available as either a 4-CD or 5-LP set ... and compliments last year's release, "The Reprise Years, 1968 - 1971."
The Asylum years were Joni's "hit years" ... during that time she placed five songs in The National Top 50, starting with "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" (#18, 1973), "Raised On Robbery" (#50, 1973), "Help Me" (#7, 1974), "Free Man In Paris" (#22, 1974) and the live version of her first Reprise chart single, "Big Yellow Taxi" (#24, 1975). (kk)
The new Paul McCartney book, "The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1: 1969 - 1973," has been pushed back to a December 13th release date ... and has also increased in size from 592 pages to 720 pages. (And this is only Part 1!!!) Sounds like the perfect Christmas Gift for me! (hint - hint) kk
