OK, now THIS one is a bit of a surprise! An FM Top 10 Survey from 1966 put out by WNWC from right here in this area! FM Radio wouldn't really take off for another three or four years here in Chicago ... and even then the rock stations seemed to be more about featuring the "heady rock" of the day ... but these guys at 92.7 FM were already spinning the hits back in '66! (Today 92.7 FM is a Christian station broadcasting out of Madison, Wisconsin ... but back then WNWC came to us out of Arlington Height, IL, a station that started in the '50's and is still on the air today as WCPT.) They were billing themselves as "Chicagoland's First Solid Rock on FM" ... and that just may be true! (Or at least they were certainly ONE of the firsts!!!)
I can only assume that the Cryan' Shames single was brand new at the time ... why else would they show the title as "Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice"?!?! And check out the spelling of "Bow Diddly" and his up-and-coming hit "We're Gonna Get Married". Local act The Shadows of Knight are also represented on this chart (although WNWC refers to them simply as "The Shadows".) Love is scoring well with "Little Red Book" ... and I like the seldom-played Young Rascals track at #3, too.
Jumping ahead a full decade, we've got this CKLW chart from June 22nd, 1976, that features a wide variety of musical styles ...
Our FH Buddy Henry Gross sits at #2 with his beautiful ode to puppy love, "Shannon" ... disco and funk rule The Top Ten with tracks like "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" by Lou Rawls, "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney and Wings, "Young Hearts Run Free" by Candi Staton, "Love Hangover" by Diana Ross, "Tear The Roof Off The Sucker" by Parliament and "Boogie Fever" by The Sylvers ... and tracks like "I'll Be Good To You" by Brothers Johnson, "That's Where The Happy People Go" by The Trammps and "Get Up And Boogie" by The Silver Connection aren't far behind.
We're also treated to the TV-Theme "Making Our Dreams Come True" by Cyndi Grecco (from "Laverne and Shirley") as well as "Welcome Back Kotter" TV Star John Travolta ... and his big hit "Let Her In" ... and check out Queen with TWO hits in The Top 20 this week!
Tower of Power was apparently all the rage over at KROY on this date in 1973 ... they've got the #1 Album AND the #1 Single on this chart. ("So Very Hard To Go" is one of my '70's favorites ... so I'm happy to feature that one today!) Another Forgotten Soul classic debuts at #5 ... it's New York City doing "I'm Doin' Fine Now", right behind the reissue of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash" ... a hit in JUNE this time instead of Halloween! And, since we're on a soul kick, check out the #14 Record, too ... it's "Natural High" by Bloodstone. Two of the biggest names in '50's Rock And Roll have Top Ten Hits this week ... Elvis Presley is at #8 with "Steamroller Blues", a song written by James Taylor ... and Jerry Lee Lewis is at #10 with his remake of "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee", a "comeback" hit of sorts for "The Killer"! Two ex-Beatles bring up the rear ... Paul McCartney sits at #18 with his latest hit, "My Love" ... and George Harrison premiers right behind him at #20 with "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)".
Our final stop this week is back in 1969 ... where Three Dog Night is topping this KSTT Chart with their first big break-through hit, "One". CCR's got one of two two-sided hits in The Top Ten this week with their latest, "Bad Moon Rising" / "Lodi" (one of my favorites by them. (The other two-sided hit belongs to Blood, Sweat and Tears, who are charting with "Spinning Wheel" / "More And More", not one of those B-Sides you typically see listed.) The Beatles have TWO Top Ten Hits this week ... "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" is at #6 (up from #18 the week before) and "Get Back" falls from #5 to #8. Speaking of Blood, Sweat and Tears, it's nice to see The Arbors at #11 with their soft-rock, plush arrangement of "I Can't Quit Her", a tune featured on the first BS&T album when of FH Buddy Al Kooper was at the helm ... and local groups Orpheus (Boston) and The New Colony Six (Chicago) both have Top 20 showings as well. Neither track fared nearly as well in Billboard ... where "Brown Arms In Houston" peaked at #91 and "I Could Never Lie To You" stalled at #50.
Not many changes on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week. Brand new at #79 is WISHIN' AND HOPIN' by DUSTY SPRINGFIELD. Other tracks holding on include A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE by PETER AND GORDON at #2, LOVE ME DO by THE BEATLES at #7, GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS with their latest, DON'T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING, up 11 places to #9 from #20, DIANE by THE BACHELORS (first time in The Top Ten at #10), BILLY J. KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS with their two-sided hit LITTLE CHILDREN (#11) and BAD TO ME (its flipside), up ten places to #16 … and about to overtake its A-Side!, more BEATLES (and another flip-side) P.S.I LOVE YOU at #22, THE DAVE CLARK FIVE and DO YOU LOVE ME at #24, YESTERDAY'S GONE is at #27 for CHAD STUART and JEREMY CLYDE, DON'T THROW YOUR LOVE AWAY by THE SEARCHERS is at #28, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SHE'S MINE, another MAJOR hit for THE DAVE CLARK FIVE, leaps from #68 to #31, GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY by THE SWINGING BLUE JEANS is at #45, SUGAR AND SPICE, another SEARCHERS hit is at #58, NOT FADE AWAY by THE ROLLING STONES at #74, YESTERDAY'S GONE by THE OVERLANDERS at #81 and the FOUR BY THE BEATLES EP is holding steady at #97.
Here in Chicagoland, "Little Children" / "Bad To Me" climbs to #1, a spot it will hold next week as well. It was during one of these two weeks that I discovered The WLS Silver Dollar Survey for myself for the very first time. Dex Card used to count down The Top 40 Hits every week day beginning at 3:00 … and on the very first countdown I ever heard, "Little Children" by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, was at #1 … so it HAD to be one of these two weeks. I was hooked immediately … my very first countdown show … and I tuned in every day thereafter, even though it would be the same 40 songs all week long until the survey changed on Fridays! I also found out that you could pick up a copy of the WLS Chart at your local record shop … and soon a brand new collection began as well.
Peter and Gordon's "A World Without Love" dropped to #3, followed by "Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You" at #4, "Do You Love Me" at #12, "Diane" at #13, "Sie Liebt Dich" at #17 and "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying", making a big leap from #35 to #18. (I remember at the time that "Little Children" was my favorite song … but "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" was a close second.) And The Dave Clark Five were back with ANOTHER brand new hit as "Can't You See That She's Mine", still one of my all-time favorites by them ... and one that WE used to do with the band just because it was such a great rocker ... debuted at #24.
NOTE: Forgotten Hits subscribers received a special comments section by email this morning. Not a subscriber? Just drop us an email at forgottenhits@aol.com and tell us to put you on the list!
FH Reader Shelley Sweet-Tufano wanted to know how one would define "The Chicago Sound" so that she could better explain it to her students ... maybe even play them some examples to better illustrate the point.
During the course of this little series, I think we've seen that it's almost impossible to categorize "The Chicago Sound" as any one thing. As Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams pointed out when this discussion first started, ALL of their musical influences came together in creating The Buckinghams' sound. That's why you had "I'll Go Crazy" by James Brown, "I Call Your Name" by The Beatles and their very own, distinctive-sounding "Kind Of A Drag" playing side-by-side on their first USA album ... right alongside "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess"!!! Anything ... and EVERYTHING worked ... once they put their own spin on it.
But there wasn't any one sound that categorized Chicago ... The British Invasion groups that influenced SO many of our local heroes were themselves just recycling American music, applying their own unique interpretations along the way. If you really stop and think about it, it's kind of funny in a way ... at that time, everybody was influencing everybody else ... yet all these artists were searching for their own special "niche" to stand out from the rest of the crowd. That's why you had The Searchers doing an old Drifters R&B song ("Sweets For My Sweet") while Chicago's Cryan' Shames were picking up on a Searchers song ("Sugar And Spice") to launch their own chart career ... collectively, all these artists did their best to keep the circle going ... and each new discovery opened up another genre of music we hadn't yet been exposed to for quite a few of us ... which is how we learned to love it all.
Groups like The Rolling Stones, Them and the original Moody Blues were first influenced by the Chess sound coming out of Chicago ... but then The Rolling Stones begat The Shadows Of Knight and everything just continued to blossom ... and soon the "garage band" sound (the precursor to punk) was the latest rage.
The New Colony Six first formed as The Patsmen to compete in their high school talent show ... by singing a Beatles song! But by the time they were cutting their own records you had everything from the garage band / early punk sound of "I Confess" ... to Bo Diddley's "Cadillac" ... to pure pop like "Love You So Much" and "You're Gonna Be Mine" ... to top-notch classic soft-rock ballads like "I Will Always Think About You" and "Things I'd Like To Say".
The horn sound DEFINITELY became part of the "Chicago Sound" ... but this, too, first evolved out of the blues, soul and R&B that was so predominant in our area in the early '60's. The Buckinghams laid the foundation and then Chicago took it all to the next level, capitalizing and improving on those sounds first created here by The Bucks. The common link here was James William Guercio ... who produced both bands ... but, as Carl Giammarese so accurately pointed out, The Buckinghams were already recording that sound BEFORE they hooked up with Guercio ... and Chicago (as The Big Thing and CTA) had been perfecting it for YEARS in the clubs all around the area, before taking off for LA to try to make it there. (It just blows me away that The Buckinghams never toured with a horn section back in the day ... ALL of their hits were so horn-heavy ... I can't even imagine going to a Buckinghams concert in 1967 and NOT hearing them sound like the records!!!)
The raucous, soulful sound of The Mauds was supplemented by horns on their biggest national hit "Soul Drippin'" ... and The Ides Of March literally reinvented themselves when they incorporated horns into their act and came up with the #1 Hit "Vehicle". But while all of this was going on, soulful sounds by the likes of Jerry Butler and The Impressions and The Chi-Lites and The Dells were pleasing THEIR audiences with a completely different sound of the city. And that doesn't even begin to take into consideration the smokey club sounds of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters!
Whereas Detroit did, in fact, have The Motown Sound, they ALSO had the likes of Bob Seger and Ted Nugent. Saying that "The California Sound" was strictly surf music ... or that "The New York Sound" was simply the doo-wop groups singing under the street lamp on the corner doesn't even BEGIN to do justice to all the great musical talent that came out of these two cities. Musicians like The Wrecking Crew and songwriters like those housed in The Brill Building encompassed EVERY musical style ... brilliantly. There is no feasible way to pigeon-hole these artists. Memphis had its own brand of soul ... but so did Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Nashville was the Country Music Capitol of the World. There are SO many factors that enter into an answer like this that pretty soon you find that there is really NO answer at all! (Are you more confused than when we started??? I am!)
Shelley, the best we can suggest is that you play examples from ALL of these different types and styles of music and influences and show your students that "diversity" just may be the greatest musical contribution of all!
Some of our readers ... as well as some of the movers and shakers who made some of this great music from this era ... weigh in on our latest topic ... Read on! (Here are some of the first responses in):
You know, Kent, this is a good question. Just what the heck is the Chicago sound, if there is indeed a definitive trademark sound? You touched on two possibilities that kind of go together ... the Chess Records blues and the brass sound. To me they're related. You have the 60s garage bands like The American Breed, The Buckinghams, The Shadows Of Knight, and The Mauds. The first two represented a more brassier sound, but nonetheless the R&B roots come thru. They'd be joined later by The Ides Of March. Vehicle and Superman would be a departure from their earlier pop sound. More on that in a second. The Shadows Of Knight and The Mauds were more straight ahead blues bands, influenced by Chess Records. The first few New Colony Six sides also had R&B influences as well. On the other hand you had The Cryan' Shames, the later NC6 sides and the early Ides sides, that took their cue from The Beatles. Then you have the soul / R&B of Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield, the Impressions, the Chi-Lites, Ramsey Lewis, The Staple Singers, The Dells, Gene Chandler, etc, who had to be influence by the blues issued by Chess and Vee-Jay Records. So if I were to go with one aspect that defined the Chicago Sound, I cast my vote for the Chess Records sound. Jack Levin There's no easy answer to this one ... and no "right or wrong" answer either ... as you point out, there are MANY elements that encompass "The Chicago Sound". (Even '60's "pop" acts like The Buckinghams and The New Colony Six laid down tracks at the Chess Studios, whether it was just for a certain quality of sound or an inspired ambiance to those surroundings. Heck, even The Rolling Stones made it a point to record there ... although, as we learned a few weeks ago, NOT their big hit #1 Record "Satisfaction"!!! lol) Lots of opinions here ... and I'm sure we'll see quite a few more once this posting goes out. (kk)
All of the mid-'60's Chicago bands have admitted to some influence by The British Invasion bands ... The New Colony Six formed as "The Patsmen" for their High School Talent Show and performed a Beatles track ... then decided to stay together to see if they could make some real music of their own. The Shadows Of Knight were called "Chicago's Answer to The Rolling Stones" ... so while certainly influenced by the Chicago Blues Sound of Chess Records, they may have come by it second hand through an act like The Stones or Them. Even Jim Peterik later admitted that the very first Ides Of March Hit, "You Wouldn't Listen" was a combination of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and The Kinks, jumbled up together to create a fresh, new sound. The Hollies were another group that had a HUGE influence on our local heroes, particularly The Cryan' Shames, The Revells and The Buckinghams. (They caught on to their incredible sound WAY before the masses did here in The States!)
I think it's the sound of soul. By soul I don't just mean R&B music, the blues, or African-American music ... I mean the music of deep feeling. Chicago's sound, thanks to both the blues and to Curtis Mayfield, was far more rich and had far more originality and depth than the Philly teen idol music of the early 60s, for example. It had its own kind of soul to it, much like Memphis and Detroit had their own soul. I think Mayfield is really ground zero for most Chicago music of the 60s -- even the rock and roll. Many rock groups recorded Impressions or Jerry Butler songs and tried to match their harmonies. Throw in the Beatles and the English groups' love of Chicago blues, and you've got what created the whole garage rock scene. Just my .02 Stu Shea
Outside of the garage early stuff, I always think of the great harmony vocals by The Shames and Bucks.
Dr. M.
Glenn Barton
That's a great question and frankly I don't have a complete and definitive answer. While the "Garage Bands" didn't have a polished sound, perhaps it was that "Rock & Rag Tag" appeal that won the ears and hearts of teenagers. Kids listened to their music and thought "I can play as good as that! Tommy James and the Shondells were painfully raw and yet they certainly caused the cash register to ring. The group Chicago had its brass that did enhance their sound but that was several years after the fact and yes, there certainly was the Chess sound. Chess was using tubes in their audio board when I first started doing voice work there and their audio often sounded more warm. The bottom line is that I can't define it but I know it when I hear it. -- Clark Weber / WLS, the 60's
Kent,
We could take this topic in many directions, but without hesitation, the most melodic Chicago sound came from The Flamingos and their legendary ultra-passionate "I Only Have Eyes For You" ... a song that from a recording stand point was really years ahead of its time. I first heard "Eyes" when I was 10 years old and 50 plus years later it still resonates with me.
I would also toss in the Dells and "There Is" along with the ChiLites with "Oh Girl."
Pop sound? Truly hard to figure. But if I had to pick two songs that still make me want to get up and dance I'd toss the cap to "Vehicle" and "Gloria." For rich, romantic flavor, lets go with Ronnie Rice and the "Six" and "Things I'd like to Say." All underrated song: The Ides and "L.A. Good Bye." The song has an ethereal quality that is truly emotional.
By the way, my biography - yes, my tell all biog - Coppock: "The Microphone Doesn't Lie and Neither Do I" will be out in mid-September. Hope our FH buddies will check it out. I still have student loans to pay off.
Chet Coppock
Always love reading your stuff, Chet ... make sure I get an autographed copy!!!
SO many different styles of music in your brief synopsis ... maybe we can't really narrow it down to just one "Chicago Sound"!!! (Because ALL of these answers qualify!) Then again for all of those purists who maintain that singing under the street lamp was strictly an east coast thing, I submit Chet's suggestion by The Flamingos ... doo-wop just doesn't get any better than this! (kk)
Hey Kent, That is a very good and interesting question. I know when I fly in from California to do Shames jobs in the Midwest there is an enormous difference in the music the radio stations play in Chicago as compared to LA. I really think that is what is at the heart of the Chicago sound. Chicago music has always been very raw and in-your-face and very, very heavily influenced by black music. I really think most of the groups that you are talking about such as the Buckinghams in Chicago and Earth Wind and Fire were very, very heavily influenced by the sounds of WVON and Chess Records. There was a whole group of other Chicago music, as evidenced by the New Colony Six, Shadows of Knight, Saturday's Children and the Cryan' Shames, who were very heavily influenced by the British Invasion of music. Even though we were more heavily influenced by the British Invasion, what we listened to on local radio had a tempering effect on the way that we played this music. I think it was more raw and more soulful than what the original British Invasion sounded like. Now these are just my opinions and my feelings. It is definitely not a definitive comment on why the Chicago sound was different but I really think what we listened to had an amazing effect on what we produced as musicians. Tom Doody The Cryan' Shames
The Chicago Sound was a hybrid of 'Garage Band' and 'R and B'.
James Fairs The Cryan' Shames Singer / Songwriter
Speaking as an outsider, the Chicago Sound was many things: the doo wop sound of the 1950's from the Vee Jay, Chess, Parrot, and other labels, the R&B sound of the music produced by Carl Davis, Curtis Mayfield, and others, the smooth R & B sounds of Jerry Butler, the garage band / post British Invasion bands of the mid-late 1960's and all the horn-laced music of people like Chicago and the Ides of March (and I know there are other examples you Chicagoland people can name) But that's a start, and it is ALL great music!
CLAY PASTERNACK
The Chicago sound is full of wonderful contradictions -- like raw blues, yet polished with horn sections ... jazz with urban grittiness but full of the midwest's open spaces ... groundbreaking yet within the confines of tradition --
That's what makes it so great, you can't pin it down!
Steve Krakow / WGN
Kent, My personal opinion is that there is NO Chicago sound. There are so many types of music that got their start to some extent or became hugely popular due to musicians from this city that to corner it and say it is horn rock, or blues or whatever, would be an injustice to the city. I submit an interesting perspective from Chicago's "Psyche Pscene" magazine published in late 1969 written by Ron Schlachter titled "A Letter to You" in which he finds that by 1969, Chicago was on the wrong path musically. In some ways, he claims that musicians are leaving Chicago and that the city needs to fight to keep the music scene alive. I believe he is right about some things, but wrong about others. Nonetheless, his essay is interesting, to say the least. He quotes some of Chicago's biggest movers and shakers of the era. You will note that this is biased towards the psychedelic movement of the time, thus the Psyche Pscene Slant on music, yet two years earlier, it was showcasing the pop sounds more often, so PP was changing as Chicago music trends changed from teen clubs to more underground places and sounds. There is also a blame the radio sense, as FM was the only way to get albums played. Sorry it is cut off, but my scanner would only pick up what I got. Clark Besch
LOTS of props going out to Curtis Mayfield for HIS contribution to The Chicago Sound ... here's one of my all-time favorites by The Impressions ...
That's tough to narrow down in a few words. I think of
so many things ... certainly the blues is foremost, truly Chicago. I do think
of the CTA, the group, who then changed their names and became "Chicago" and the
great brass sounds they projected. I liked them from the minute I heard them.
Chicago seemed to pick up where Blood, Sweat and Tears left off, fusing jazz
with rock and coming up with an incredible sound. Even today, the minute I hear
an intro to one of Chicago's sounds, it gives me such a good feeling. I know
I've told you before the how and why I put together the Ron Britain Sub-Circus
... mainly because I knew there were so many great artists out there not being
played on top forty stations, actually any stations, and the group Chicago was
one that I had in mind, along with Jimi Hendrix. I got to know many of the guys
in the group and Chicago told me I was the first one to play their music when
they were still using their original name, CTA. This I always found funny ...
the CTA sued them because of them using CTA, so they became Chicago. What a
great time in musical history back then and I will always be grateful and proud
that I was a part of it. Take care, my friend. Kingbee Ron Britain
I always felt that it was a loose, under produced, in
yer face kinda music. There were holes in the instrumentation and the vocals
were edgy and thin. Some people might look at some or all that in a negative
way but I think it is all positive. It just didn't seem to take itself too
seriously but still made the intended point(s). Gee, what could be better.
"Drive My Car" by The BEATLES is as close to the
Chicago Sound as they got! Bob Wilson (The Boyz and The New Colony
Six)
That's a brain-buster! To me, it's a hybrid of British
Invasion, pop, horns, and blues-rock ... rather simplistic, but that's what I
hear in my head. Dick Bartley
It’s difficultto pare the “Chicago Sound” down to a few words. Usually,
when one talks about the “sound” of a city it refers to studio musicians, like
the Wrecking Crew in LA, the Motown folks, or Nashville’s top studio musicians.
It’s also difficult to pin down a city’s sound over many decades. Here’s what I
think:
In the 1950s, it was the blues sound of Chess
/ Checker and Vee-Jay,which
morphed from the blues of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Reed to the rock
and roll foundations of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
By the 1960s, it wasthe soul of Curtis Mayfield and all those he
helped or participated with (Impressions, Major Lance, etc.), and the rock and
roll horn bands which started with Jim Holvay and Gary Biesbeir and their band
The Chicagoans / The Livers. The horn sound was “borrowed” from the soul bands
in Chicago and modified for a big rock sound. By the late 1960s, this grew into
big horn band sounds like Chicago (and by early 1970s, the Ides of March), as
well as rock outfits like the Buckinghams and the Holvay / Beisbier follow-on
group The Mob.
The 1970s soul Chi-Sound was a direct
evolution of Curtis Mayfield’s writing and production.
So if there is a long-term thread here, it
seems to be Curtis Mayfield, who grew from the blues in the 1950s with Vee-Jay’s
Impressions to the 1960s Impressions and Curtis’ own production. The horn rock
sound developed out of the sound of groups like the Impressions. Mayfield also
worked with Carl Davis, who was responsible for much of the latter Chicago music
on the Okeh label.
Just some thoughts.
Mike Callahan
Kent -- I just wrote you a 750-word essay
on how I define the Chicago sound.
My definition aligns with your reader's
expectations: For me, it was indeed about the Buckinghams and the Shames and the
NC6. That was because those were the bands I could play at home without getting
yelled at. I was not alone in that.
This was a great idea -- and thank you for
including me in your research.
-- Jeff Duntemann Colorado Springs,
Colorado
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cadging from Saul Bellow: I am an American, Chicago-born. Chicago, that
*straightlaced* city. Ok, that isn’t quite fair, and certainly no longer
true. But back in 1963, when I first came upon pop music, Chicago was a sort of
“none of the above” city. It wasn’t as diverse as New York, nor as liberated as
California. It was less weird than, well, *anywhere.* This shaped the music: The
Chicago Sound was to a great extent what our parents would let us play inside
the house. In a gigantic
semicircle that surrounded the city’s core and went out as far as Crystal Lake
and Aurora, an enormous horde of Boomer kids hit their teens at about the same
time. I lived in Edison Park about 750 feet from the city limits and so I can’t
speak for the kids further in, but our culture was stiflingly middle-class
suburban. Our fathers served in WWII and listened to WGN. They kept us on a
pretty short leash. When we drove it was in their boring cars, by their fussy
rules, and before their force-of-law curfews. Drag racing was done by
somebody else on *Sunday! Sunday!* at some heavily advertised drag strip near a
road none of us could find on a map. Our common culture was mostly about
music, bound together by local stations WLS and WCFL, and documented by the
weekly printed music surveys. National hits from other places dominated the air.
I liked the California sound, but it might as well have been from another
universe. The B-side of a Morty Jay instrumental 45 I had in 1963 called “Salt
Water Taffy” was entitled “What Is Surfing All About.” It was full of helpful
advice like “Don’t wipe out!” Check, got it. I eventually had to go to the Carl
Roden library to look up what “surfing” was. Alas, none of that was happening on
Foster Avenue Beach. No fast cars, no surf. As topics for pop songs, that
left one another. Hormones were universal, and the hot topic in 1966 was how to
approach girls at the Immaculate Conception Teen Club and ask them to dance.
There was a priest and a Chicago cop at the back of the parish hall, and
strategically placed parents with rulers in hand, so there was much politeness
and not a great deal of actual physical contact. (I’m convinced that “fast
dancing” was invented by nuns at Catholic schools for precisely that reason.) I
recall surreal basement conversations with my 14-year-old friends about how you
could tell when a girl was ready to hold hands with you. What the local bands
recorded reflected this. It was all about first kisses (the Riddles’ cover of
“Sweets for My Sweet”) and walking along the sand with a girl, wistfully
wondering if “It Could Be We’re In Love.” There was sand eight miles due east.
All we needed, then, was bus fare and a girl. (One out of two ain't bad. Ok, it
is.) Songs about heavy-duty making out like Lou Christie’s “Rhapsody in the
Rain” were threatened with banning and were eventually defanged with tamer
words. What that left for the local groups were what I call “chaste love
ballads” like the New Colony Six’s “I Will Always Think About You,” the
Buckinghams’ “Don’t You Care,” and the American Breed’s “Any Way That You Want
Me.” There was a lot of melody and harmony, and a remarkable lack of lust. The
lust sometimes snuck in the side door (we all thought that “Gloria” was a pretty
horny song) but it was encoded in a rougher style and not the lyrics. I knew a
number of girls who were five-foot-four. None of them were hammering on *my*
door at midnight, promise. This Clean-Cut Coalition began to fragment
1968-ish, as college and the Vietnam War loomed large over us. I had more money,
bought more albums than 45s, and listened to quirky little local FM stations
more and WLS less. Fewer of us lived at home, which meant that we could play
whatever we wanted without getting yelled at. (I think by then our parents were
just tired of yelling, period.) Chicago music gradually merged with and became
indistinguishable from national music. I haven’t lived in Chicago since 1979,
but I still play the Buckinghams, the Cryan’ Shames, the Capes of Good Hope, the
American Breed, the New Colony 6, and the Riddles. Why? They were the map of my
young teen life, and just smell like home. Besides, I know most of those songs
by heart and can hear them in my head without also hearing somebody opening the
basement door halfway through and yelling, “Turn that thing down!” The
Chicago Sound. Totally yell-proof since 1963. Long may it wave! -- Jeff Duntemann Colorado Springs,
Colorado
I don’t see that there was a Chicago sound,
guys. My belief is that youanalyzed the strengths and weaknesses of your personnel, adjusted
for the instruments you had available and then either selected tunes by others
to match your line-up or wrote songs to support that line-up. Bands with strong
vocalists would logically write / select material that could benefit from its
singers’ skills. If you had a horn section, you wrote / selected material that
utilized those talents. Lyrically, I know we wrote from our lives, such as the
story behind Can’t You See Me Cry, and I think most of the Chicago bands whose
personnel did their own writing followed suit. So, other than management
dictating that “the only way to a hit song is this or that”, and the band caving
to those demands, I’d have to say we wrote what we lived – and things such as
girls / relationships / cars / moods / things we read / unhealthy or positive
pastimes / faith lives / senses of humor / what was going on in the world at
large, etc. became the foundation for lyrics. Not sure if this is helpful or
not, but there ‘tis, for whatever it’s worth.
I’d very much like to be kept up to speed with
what others feed back to you, as they may strike a chord that resonates with me
and takes me to offering other thoughts, which may be beyond my ability to
consider on a Fathers’ Day evening when I know that the frickin’ alarm clock
goes off again early tomorrow morning and I am already tired from a busy
weekend!
Later lads,
Ray Graffia,
Jr.
NC6
Regarding "The Chicago Sound," there is, of course, no such thing. Chicago, just
like New York, L.A. and countless other locations, have nurtured the wildly
divergent "sounds" of loads of different singers, songwriters and musicians all
of which only have one thing in common -- home addresses relatively near each
other. Yes, Chicago was the home of Chess Records, The Buckinghams, The Cryan
Shames and The New Colony Six, but the records of none of those four always
sounded the same. Chicago has given birth to acts specializing in hard rock,
soft rock, be-bop, blues, folk, country, sweet 'n' swing big band music,
classical, doo-wop, polkas, etc. -- all diverse categories of music with some
crossbred elements (as does ALL music) but otherwise nothing in common except
the notes they mix in different configurations printed on sheet music. Chicago's
the home of the blues -- but much of that came up from Mississippi and the rest
of the deep South. Big band leaders as widely different as Kay Kyser, Jerry Gray, Benny Goodman, Eddy
Howard, Duke Ellington, Dick Jurgens, Earl 'Fatha' Hines, Jan Garber, Griff
Williams, Woody Herman, Frankie Carle, Joe Sanders, Ted Weems, Count
Basie and others all performed in Chicagoland nightclubs and dance halls
in the '30s and '40s, broadcasting live to fans all over the country. Were they "The Chicago Sound"? Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup recorded "That's All
Right" and his other pre-Elvis rock hits in Chicago – as did the soul stars of
Vee Jay and Mercury and gospel greats from Thomas A. Dorsey to The Staple
Singers. Are they "The Chicago Sound"? Chicago today is the home of heavy rock, house
music, hip hop, rap, punk and a highly active (and diverse) independent music
scene -- as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Are they the "Sound of Chicago"?
Groups of music people who frequently work together can and often do
develop “A” sound -- as happened at Sun Records and Motown -- but even it does
not define ALL the music generated in a specific city, locale or state --
especially over long periods of time (like, say, decades). Trying to link the
wide array of musical forms which have come together in the Windy City over the
years is like trying to link musicians by their birth dates ("Ooh -- that guy
really has the Scorpio Sound") or favorite flavors of ice cream ("I really dig
your Pistachio influence"). As the full
spectrum of artists and types noted above attests, there is no "Chicago Sound"
-- but there sure are Chicago SoundS!
Got some thoughts of your own you'd like to share? Drop us a line ... I'm sure this topic is far from over (although we DO wrap up this particular segment tomorrow.) Please let us hear from you and we'll run your comments in a future issue of Forgotten Hits. (kk)
Since Shelley singled out The Buckinghams in her inquiry, I thought that this would be a great place to start.
The following comes from Carl Giammarese ... some of it written specifically for our readers ... and some of it is an EXCLUSIVE excerpt from his forthcoming book, world premiered right here in Forgotten Hits!!!
The Buckinghams and “The Chicago Sound”
Before The Beatles came and changed our worlds as we then knew them to be, Chicago had always been known for an exciting, vibrant sound coming from clubs and ballrooms here. Up and down the streets of Old Town, teenagers found bands they liked, one by one. As musicians in The Buckinghams and also as teenage consumers of music, we knew what we liked. Each of us liked and followed some of the same groups, but we also looked for whatever resonated with us personally to play for our audiences. Everyone had an equal say and we all got along well.
Our parents’ music was playing on the radio ... Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, as well as Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, and Percy Faith. A young Barbra Streisand, Bill Haley & the Comets, and a few other artists were working their ways into the mix. Before Rock and Roll and the British Invasion were popular, Chicago was already famous for the greatest soulful sounds of blues and jazz — coming from the club scenes frequented by sophisticated listeners. Chess Records was birthplace and home of the Chicago blues sound for legends such as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, and vocalists Etta James, Koko Taylor and more. That group defined “the Chicago sound” to us, before we found our way to performing as The Pulsations, later rechristened The Buckinghams, in 1965 and 1966.
As The Buckinghams, we were proud to be alongside our friends in other Chicago bands including the American Breed, Baby Huey & The Baby Sitters, Canned Heat, Cherry Slush, Cryan’ Shames, The Dontays, The Flock, The Mauds, Shadows of Knight, New Colony 6 and more. Our sound, among the others, was a gritty, “garage” sound, as it’s been described, with a lot of fuzz guitar, rock beat and great vocals.
The Buckinghams were fortunate to have the support and backing of two distinctly talented men, Carl Bonafede and Dan Belloc, who launched us on to records, based on what we were able to do onstage. We’d been playing at teen dances at the Holiday Ballroom, the Aragon Ballroom, (later Cheetah Nite Club), The Embassy Ballroom, Antoine’s, the Majestic and Dex Card’s Wild Goose. Remember those?
As a result of our winning a 13-week appearance on WGN’s “All Time Hits,” Chicagoans identified us, by face and name, as their very own, among others, because of how we performed songs of the day back, for them. Seeing our look and style on stage also contributed to a Chicago sound for our group. We were all serious about performing, recording and music as “our business” — we didn’t have a “Plan B” for what we’d do if music didn’t work out. We were equally committed to being professional musicians as well as music professionals.
With the financing of Bonafede and Belloc, and the talented engineer, Ron Malo, when we walked into Chess Studios to put down “our sound,” we drew on the strength of how we played our instruments and backed Dennis Tufano’s excellent, distinctive vocals. We were, before The Beatles, a band with more of an R&B sound than rock and roll. We did “I’ll Go Crazy,” “I Call Your Name,” “I’ve Been Wrong,” “Summertime,” “Don’t Want to Cry” and others in concert, without horns. We had a gritty, garage band sound to identify us as performers, similar to but different than the other groups.
Our first album was the vinyl capture of the songs we played on stage that the teenagers liked. (To contradict your earlier statement in a different column, Kent, that we didn’t know how to play our instruments yet and relied on studio performers, listen carefully to every track on our “Kind of a Drag” album on USA Records. That’s Dennis Tufano singing, us backing him on vocals, Jon-Jon Poulos on the drums, Dennis Miccolis on keyboards, Nick Fortuna on bass, and me on lead guitar, not studio personnel. That’s all us.)
What became a defining part of our recorded sound, also, were horn players from Dan Belloc’s big band. The Buckinghams never performed with horns on stage at that time, nor did we travel with them after we cut records in Chicago. Yet each of our USA Records had that distinctive “pop rock horn sound” that became the genesis of The Buckinghams’ “Chicago sound” on the radio. Other bands included horns in recordings outside of Chicago, but we were the first to become known for it here, because of radio airplay and WLS and WCFL, to have such horn-heavy arrangements, particularly trombone, on rock and roll records.
After “Kind of a Drag” hit number one, and we left Chicago to go to New York with Columbia Records and manager / producer Jim Guercio, Marty Grebb had replaced Dennis Miccolis on keyboards. Guercio took our USA Records horn sound and added his own touches, and those of talented arrangers at Columbia with their New York studio orchestra players to create our next level of “horn sound.” Guercio had “ears” before the term ever became commonly used. Guercio’s major orchestrations on “Time and Charges” songs included symphonic instruments, plus the horns, which made our distinctive sound even more firmly the “pop rock horn sound.”
Guercio strengthened that sound even more on orchestrations he created and assigned out to others, on our second album “Portraits,” created in Los Angeles. Jim brought in some studio players in LA if he didn’t like how we had recorded a particular track. He knew what he wanted and we were playing 300 dates a year (without horns) in 1967 and had little in-studio time. With “Hey Baby” and “Susan” on “Portraits” by Holvay and Beisbier, our Chicago sound, with the horns, was even more identifiable with us. Every song you knew back then that was ours had horns in it.
A few years ago in concert, Nick and I started talking with the audience about how Guercio took what he learned with The Buckinghams over to the band “Chicago” by performing Marty Grebb’s “C’mon Home,” which we do first, and then we go right into Robert Lamm’s “Beginnings.” Same groove and feel.
When I first thought about creating the “FlashBack!” album, I wanted to show our musical roots and how we matured through the 1960s until we broke up in 1970. It was fun to have Rocky and Dave join us in recording our early hits, including “I’ll Go Crazy,” “I Call Your Name,” “You Make Me Feel Good,” “I’ve Been Wrong” and “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” (horn-heavy); and, we added in the national hits — “Kind of a Drag,” “Don’t You Care,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” "Susan,” “Back in Love Again” and “You Misunderstand Me.” It was even more special because this time I was the one wearing the headphones, pacing the studio floor, listening to different instruments, deciding what to use. Larry Millis (The Ides) did a great job on mastering, more Chicago history there.
“FlashBack!” is really our portfolio of the pop-rock horn sound, our journey we launched in Chicagoland and Chess Studios, which was continued on brilliantly by other Chicago-based bands, including all our friends you know so well. Every time a Chicago band broke onto the national scene was a win, shared by all of us.
When Nick and I reformed The Buckinghams and decided to tour full time in late 1982, I wanted to have horn players join us on stage as often as possible, to stay true to our sound that people knew and liked us for back in the 1960s. We wanted to recreate the records as closely as possible, including the keys the songs were first recorded — that’s important to the audience and we respect what they want. We’re fortunate to have Carlo Isabelli, Chuck Morgan, Rich Moore as our primary Buckinghorns, and we have brought them with us around the country for selected dates like Presidential Inaugurals. If we go too far from home or they have other commitments, I’ll find horn players in the cities we’re going to and work long distance before the concerts. Other times, Bruce Soboroff can sound like an entire horn section on his keyboards for us.
Hope that explains our Chicago sound from our perspective. We’re glad to still be bringing that to our fans, on the road and on “FlashBack!”, which has already been receiving great feedback. Special thanks to Clark Besch for sending you the photos and liner notes and your running them in Forgotten Hits on Sunday. We appreciate your getting the word out.
Carl Giammarese [Portions excerpted from the forthcoming book, “My Journey: Reinventing The Buckinghams” by Carl Giammarese and Dawn Lee Wakefield]
Carl sent me a copy of their new CD last week and it's a fun listen ... as well as an accurate depiction of what these songs sound like when performed by The Buckinghams today. And I've got to tell you, some of these songs really rock, thanks to the horn arrangements ... you don't realize just what a vital part of their sound this really was! I am particularly fond of the new version of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", a track that just missed Billboard's Top 40 after The Buckinghams relocated to Columbia Records and USA tried to cash in on their new-found success by releasing this old album track. This track just jumps out of the speakers, grabs you and doesn't let go.
The Buckinghams will also be part of the "Concerts At Sea" package in January of 2015 along with Paul Revere and the Raiders (that'll be fun, hangin' out with their old drummer Tommy Scheckel again!), The Lettermen and The Guess Who. Again, more information can be found on the website via the link above.
****
Carl brings up a few good points. Prior to "making it", The Buckinghams were influenced by any number of musical acts happening around them. Two of the best early examples I can think of are James Brown ("I'll Go Crazy", a VERY minor hit for The Godfather of Soul that The Buckinghams reinvented, making it sound like their very own) and The Beatles ("I Call Your Name", which added horns YEARS before The Beatles and George Martin thought about doing so themselves!)
Clarifying a couple of points since they were mentioned in Carl's response:
The comment about The Buckinghams not playing their own instruments didn't come from me ... but rather from a reader who made the "supposition" that (as most bands did in the '60's), The Buckinghams supplemented and enhanced their sound with the use of studio musicians. (I have had to clarify this very point with Nick Fortuna earlier as well as he had interpreted the comment as coming from me rather than from a Forgotten Hits reader.)
Over the years, Carl, Dennis, Nick and Marty have ALL told me on various occasions that once the band signed with Columbia Records, the use of studio musicians certainly became the case ... even more so with The Bucks out on the road as much as they were, playing live concerts and doing television appearances. But I am happy to reinforce the point once and for all about the "Kind Of A Drag" album being recorded COMPLETELY by the original band.
Another big story that's been going around for years and years is that Guercio would come back into the studio at night and put his own "musical touches" on what had been recorded earlier that day, sometimes wiping off an entire bass track for example to replace it with his own. This, too, has been related to me numerous times from each of the guys ... and I'm sure that, as musicians, this had to be infuriating ... I think Carl covers this topic in a most professional and respectful manner when he says that the #1 priority always was committing the best possible tracks to wax and, as such, Guercio had the full support of the band [at the time anyway ... he had, after all, helped guide them to four straight Top Ten Hits!] ... and the band was out on the road much of the time fulfilling their end of the bargain. (One thing I've learned from Carl over the years is the importance of committing the best possible product as the end result remains your "permanent record".) As such, even 45 years later, The Buckinghams' records stand up exceptionally well today. These are well-made recordings that accurately captured the sound of a bright, young, enthusiastic and exciting new band who were living the dream at that moment in time. That's why you still hear this music every single day on the radio ... it has stood the test of time and ranks as pop perfection. Each and every member who has EVER been a Buckingham should hold their head high and be extremely proud of this fact. (kk)
Thanks, Kent. It was big fun to re-create those songs. I stuck to the original arrangements although with what I know today, I would have certainly done it differently, but I'm sure our fans want to re-live the songs in their original form. I'm a purest when it comes to that. If you listen to the re-records of the big hits, I really stuck to the original arrangements and tempos. Even the drum fills are there.
When you listen to the new FlashBack CD you'll notice near the end that a few songs are out of order. It happened in the mastering process. I am going in next week to correct it. So there will be 250 that will become collectors items. That reminds me back in 1968 when Columbia released Dylan's new album. The pressing plant put our album "In One Ear"on his B side. That pissed him off! Ha!
Guercio was a great producer ... and maybe we've wouldn't have continued the hits without his guidance ... but then again we created our biggest hit without him. We knew if we didn't get some help and exposure more on a national level we could become another 60's Chicago one hit wonder. Like I said before, at the time there was a lot of talent in Chicago, but the business side of it was small time ... you still had to go to LA or NY to make it. The Columbia Records machine did a tremendous job promoting and distributing our records. When USA had Kind Of A Drag they blew it. The distribution was slower than it should have been and they didn't get us any national exposure on TV. That came after we signed with Columbia.
Going back to Guercio, who knows what he did late at night. Our schedule was so busy with live performances in 1967, we barely had time to come into NY and record the next single. When we finally went to LA for a couple months to record Portraits (which to this day I am very proud of), we all contributed to playing and writing on that album ... which was our Sergeant Pepper. When we interviewed Guercio for the book, (IT WILL GET FINISHED!!!), I was surprised to hear that it wasn't Marty Grebb but a studio player on "Mercy." Marty was the most capable and seasoned musician in the band at that time and certainly could have played the Wurlitzer on that song, but who knows, maybe we were on the road at the time and he had to get it done. Marty made some big contributions back then.After all this time, who really knows for certain who played what anymore! Carl
Carl Giammarese's book "My Journey: Reinventing The Buckinghams" has been a long time coming ... but fans are anxiously awaiting its release. (Just like making a record, Carl wants to make sure every detail is right ... because once it's out there, you can't go back and change it. As such, they're still tweaking and fine-tuning it ... but he assures us it will be soon.) Former lead singer Dennis Tufano is reportedly in the process of putting his memoirs together as well ... and rumors of a book by former keyboardist Marty Grebb have beencirculating for quite some time, too. The story of The Buckinghams WILL get out there ... and we can't wait to hear it all!
In 1967 Cash Box Magazine named The Buckinghams "the most promising new artist of the year" ... and why not ... during the course of those twelve incredible months, The Bucks placed no less than SIX Top 40 Hits on The Cash Box Chart: "Kind of A Drag" (#3); "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (#39); "Don't You Care" (#6); "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (#5); "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" (#5) and "Susan" (#7). Billboard Magazine called them "the most listened-to band in America" that same year. Some would argue that The Buckinghams put Chicago on the map. No other localband to this point had garnered the national attention that these guys did. (They even appeared on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" that year ... albeit flanked by a "Union Jack" UK flag!!! lol)
I recently received this email from FH Reader Shelley Sweet-Tufano ... and it got me to thinking ... is there really such a thing as "The Chicago Sound"???
Kent, I posted on ChicagosownBuckinghams
Facebook page, but people are shy there. I am hoping your web page has bolder
people. I bought 'FlashBack', the cd you displayed on your site today. As soon
as it started, I said, "There it is! The Chicago Sound!" Then I asked myself
what I meant by that. I am now looking for plain words and descriptions from
others of what they think / feel the Chicago Sound is. I can look up
definitions, and techni-speak, but I want personal input; which may also include
technical jargon. Helping out the 'ole school marm' here please. Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
Honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I felt unsure of just how I would
answer this question ... especially at a level that would be acceptable for a
school teacher to take to her students.
Taken strictly in the context of her email, she was referring to The
Buckinghams and the '60's ... but, as a school teacher, I'm sure she's looking
for a broader scope and definition.
"The Chicago Sound" ...
We throw the phrase around quite a bit ... but what does it really mean?
(Chicago is the blues ... Chess Records ... Chi-Town Soul ... the whole
"horn-rock" thing ... but it's also much more than that.)
What defined us as a city and a sound that was uniquely ours?
Food for thought?
We put this out to a wide array of readers asking what THEY thought best
defined "The Chicago Sound". Over the next few days, we'll share some of the responses we received.
And, we would love to hear from you, too ... and
share your opinions with our readers.
Is there really such a thing as "The Chicago Sound"? I mean Detroit had The Motown Sound ... which became known as the Sound of Motor City ... but that was a very specific sound generated by a very specific label ... and most of those recordings featured music performed by the same block of studio musicians and written by the same staff of songwriters and arrangers ... so there was a "common thread" that linked all of this great music together. But let's face it ... Detroit ALSO gave us Bob Seger and Ted Nugent ... and they don't sound anything at ALL like "The Motown Sound"!!!
Certainly the music of California ran deeper than just surf tunes ... much as New York City provided us with more than street-corner doo-wop and songs cranked out by The Brill Building. I don't know that you can accurately categorize ANY city as having a particular sound. (OK, maybe Honolulu ... but somebody could probably prove me wrong there, too!!!)
Then again, Nashville certainly had a sound ... if you were cutting a country record back in the '50's or '60's, odds are you went to Music City, USA to do so.
Ditto for Memphis and Muscle Shoals ... there was a certain sound created in those studios ... largely attributed to the incredible musicians on staff at these particular studios. As such, artists as diverse as Elvis Presley and Dusty Springfield recorded there, trying to capture that unique "sound" of Memphis and/or Muscle Shoals.
By the same token, The Wrecking Crew played literally THOUSANDS of sessions in LA back then ... but they were such incredible, well-rounded musicians that in the course of 48 hours they could lay down tracks for Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, The Monkees and still slip in three or four television themes to boot! There was no one single "unique", identifying sound that tied any of this music together ... they just played on EVERYTHING!
And what about Philadelphia? Certainly Philly had its own sound ... they even NAMED it "The Sound of Philadelphia" ... and if a new release came out of this city, you pretty much knew in advance what that latest hit record was going to feel and sound like ... there was an expectation and a particular groove attached to it. In Philly, they wore the badge of THEIR sound right on the record label!
But did we have a "sound" here in The Windy City?
Consider this ... even our local heroes ... The Buckinghams, The New Colony Six, The Mauds and assorted others ... made it a point to record some of their tracks at the Chess Studios on Michigan Avenue. Heck, even The Rolling Stones wanted to record there when they first flew over from London!!! So maybe THAT was the "uniting" force that best defined "The Chicago Sound"!!!
Then again The Guess Who came down from Canada to record at Chicago's RCA Studios ... not so much because they were trying to capture a specific sound or groove ... the studios here were just better than they were back home. That's not to say that they didn't pick up a certain ambiance from the city ... but I don't think it influenced their sound in any way ... The Guess Who's sound WAS The Guess Who's sound.
Look at an artist like Creedence Clearwater Revival ... they were able to capture the entire essence of "Louisiana Swamp" / Bayou Music ... in the Fantasy Studios in San Francisco! (And John Fogerty will be the first to tell you that the single greatest influence on his style were the great Sun Records that came out of Memphis, Tennessee!)
Tomorrow we take a more in-depth look at the Sound of Our City ... kicking off with a piece written especially for Forgotten Hits by Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams!!!
