music Archives - Page 96 of 265 - Ramblin' with Roger

Music albums for the year 1966

I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times

A couple of months back, I was nominated on Facebook “to post 10 albums that affected my life. No stories, no reason.”

That was unpossible, as someone said. I did it anyway, but I limited it to albums released in 1966. I didn’t necessarily BUY them in 1966, or even in that decade.

Watchout! – Martha and the Vandellas. I’m pretty sure I bought this as an LP cutout from some store – Woolworths, maybe?
Jimmy Mack, #10 pop, #1 RB in 1967.
I’m Ready for Love, #9 pop, #2 RB in 1966.
Full album.

Daydream – the Lovin’ Spoonful. I got this album on the Kama Sutra label from the Capitol Record Club because I didn’t send the card back in time. And a good thing, too, because I LOVE this album.
It’s Not Time Now – I took this as a conversation among Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, and Jerry Brown fighting for the 1980 democratic nomination for President. Brown: “I can’t seem to get a word in edgewise anyhow.”
Jug Band Music.
Full album.

East-West – The Butterfield Blues Band. Another cutout, and an outstanding find.
Mary, Mary – a Mike Nesmith song that the Monkees were criticized for recording in some circles!
Work Song.
Full album.

Itching

The Supremes A’ Go-Go – the Supremes. The one album on the list that I didn’t/don’t own. My sister Leslie did, so I heard it a lot.
Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart, #9 pop, #7 RB in 1966. Possibly my favorite Supremes song.
You Can’t Hurry Love, #1 for two weeks, both pop and RB.
Full album.

If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears – the Mamas and the Papas. I probably bought this debut album in a store. The first of two 1966 albums by the group, the other being the eponymously-titled one.
Go Where You Wanna Go – Leslie and I would sometimes sing this in our green Family Singers days, a rare pop song in the repertoire.
Got a Feelin’, B-side of Monday, Monday.
Full album.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme – Simon and Garfunkel. A store purchase. Did my father buy this? He was really taken by 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night.
A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission).
The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine, B-side of the Dangling Conversation.
Full album.

Aftermath – the Rolling Stones. A cutout. The first real Stones’ album, I thought, as opposed to hits and filler.
Lady Jane, B-side of Mother’s Little Helper, #24 in 1966.
I Am Waiting.
Full UK album.

The Cream

Fresh Cream– Cream. Probably a cutout. Our 7th-grade history teacher, Mr. Stone, referred to the group as The Cream. My friend Karen quickly corrected him.
I Feel Free, #116 in 1967, not on the UK album.
N.S.U., B-side of I Feel Free.
Full US album.

Blonde on Blonde – Bob Dylan. I heard this a lot – my HS girlfriend was a big Dylan fan – but never actually BOUGHT it until the CD era.
I Want You, #20 pop in 1966. This appeared on a Columbia compilation album called Best of ’66.
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.
Full album.

Revolver – the Beatles. The last Beatles album I got from the Capitol Record Club. I first owned the UK version on a The Beatles Collection.
Got to Get You into My Life, #7 in 1976.
Tomorrow Never Knows.
Full UK album.

Pet Sounds.
I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice , #8 in 1966.
Full album.

Open up houses of worship?

some church music

open the church doors Catbird asked me a question:

I just saw da prez say he’d overrule governors if they didn’t open up houses of worship this weekend. A legal analyst in the same BBC broadcast said he had no constitutional or legal authority to do this.

I suppose said houses of worship will decide for themselves.

I know you’re actively involved in your church, so I’m interested in your opinion on whether God cares WHERE people pray.

My understanding is that even in the strictest of interpretations it doesn’t matter more THAT one prays than where one does it.

What do you think?

My first response, I’m afraid, was lacking in Christian charity.

I will say that whoever has been advising “da prez” on these things has picked the confluence of several religious traditions. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost in the Jewish tradition, is May 28-30. The Christian iteration of Pentecost is May 31. Ramadan ended the evening of May 23 for Muslims. And of course, Memorial Day begins the secular religion of the barbecue.

But, of course, it is false piety on his part. He can’t mandate it, but that’s not the point. He’s stirred up the base. “These are places that hold our society together and keep our people united. “The people are demanding to go to church and synagogue, go to their mosque,” he said.

Sure you can theoretically bring churches/synagogues/mosques back, with 10 people, socially distant, masks. Maybe more people in cathedrals and larger structures. No way you safely have a traditional choir. At my church, online services even offer the opportunity for communion.

Connecting remotely

I found this posted by a choir director of mine from a quarter-century ago. He quoted Tom Trenney, Minister of Music at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, NE. “Our church is open. Open to patience and wisdom. Open to science and common sense. Open to discovering new ways to connect when it is unsafe to ‘do it the way we’ve always done it.’

“Open to saving lives by giving up some of the traditions and sacraments we hold dear. Open to wearing masks to show we love our neighbor. Open to keeping the sanctuary closed so more of us can come back together safely when it is time. Our church is open to following Jesus who, himself, spent time in the wilderness. We will remain open, and someday, by the grace of God, we will be able to worship together again.”

Or, as someone else noted recently, “If the only place you can worship your god is in a building specially built for it, you have a very small god.”

Obviously, we need some church music:

Date to Church – the Replacements
I Met Her In Church – the Box Tops
Church – Lyle Lovett

And some more religion tunes:

Have a Talk with God – Stevie Wonder
Down to the River to Pray – Alison Krauss
Wayfaring Stranger – Rhiannon Giddens
Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
(What If God Was) One of Us? – Joan Osborne

Maybe a service:
Zoom Church – Saturday Night Live

May rambling: Put on your mask

Zero-sum politics don’t work in a pandemic

If you haven’t, PLEASE fill out your Census form.

Ida B. Wells receives Pulitzer Prize citation. Her long-overdue recognition was for her groundbreaking coverage on lynching in the 1890s.

Charges Filed After Armed All-White Mob Led By Off-Duty Deputy ‘Terrorized’ Black Family in North Carolina.

Adam Zyglis: Put on your mask.

Take Me Out of the Ballgame: the Decline in Participation and Identification of African-Americans in Baseball by Holly Prior.

Asking for a friend. DICKS: Do you need to be one to be a successful leader?

Last Week in Corruption and What’s Up With the Stock Market?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: United States Post Service.

The country is witnessing his steady, uninterrupted intellectual and psychological decomposition and Zero-sum politics don’t work in a pandemic.

The Worlds of Kickstarter Comics, featuring 12 Kickstarter-funded tales.

How to Draw Disney characters by Eric Goldberg.

Do Marvel Masterworks Contain Comic Stories Redrawn By Modern Artists?

The Oatmeal: Finishing a project and Positive vibes.

Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly’s birthday.

The New York Public Library is excited to announce the release of the new album, Missing Sounds of New York.

A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work.

Obits

Longtime comic book and TV writer Marty Pasko has died at the age of 65 and the coroner is saying “natural causes.”

Disco Percussion Pioneer Hamilton Bohannon Dead at 78, an influence on Talking Heads.

Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula dies at 90. 17-0 in 1972 (cf 18-1).

Betty Wright, US soul, funk and R&B singer, dies aged 66. She was the Cleanup Woman.

Now I Know

What’s the only US state with a four-syllable name that doesn’t border another US state with a four-syllable name? (Answer below)

Nebraska’s Fearless Maid and Shear Determination and The Belgian Grandmothers That Helped Win the War and The Illegal Onions That Go Great With Spaghetti and It’s Genuine, but is it Genuinely Good? and The Sandwich You Don’t Want to Eat.

Video: Why Does Pisa’s Tower Lean? (And How to Fix It)

MUSIC

Beautiful Song of the Week, going strong for 10 years!

Pandemic Saturday.

Longest Time – Quarantine Edition – Phoenix Chamber Choir.

What A Wonderful World – GECA & Aubrey Logan

You Can’t Do That – MonaLisa Twins

Stranded In The Jungle – starring Big Daddy.

Any Wednesday – the Royal Guardsmen.

In the South overture, subtitled “Alassio – Edward Elgar.

Sesame St parody of Glee.

Paradise Garage – Tim Curry.

Coverville: 1307: The 50th Anniversary of Let It Be and 1308: They Might Be Giants Cover Story II

K-Chuck Radio: The many hits of one-hit wonder Robin Ward.

Black folk musicians created the soundtrack for a movement—and helped Bob Dylan find his sound .

Answer: Indiana

Musician Stevie Wonder is 70

Do you want some candy?

When you’ve written about Stevie Wonder at 60 and at 65, featuring songs he wrote for other people, then what?

I suppose I could note his Carpool Karaoke with James Corden from 2015. Or point out a YouTube page called RareWonderMusic. It features Stevie singing I Can See the Sun in Late December, a song he gave to Roberta Flack, plus I Think I’m On The Right Track, Spread The Love, and Good Light.

But I’ll just list 25 songs. I could have listed 25 other songs. The last two are my top two, but the rest of the list is fluid.

Do I Do. For a 1982 greatest hits double LP called Original Musiquarium I, he added four new songs. Dizzy Gillespie and a stoned ending. “Do you want some candy?”
Do Yourself a Favor – from the transitional Where I’m Coming From album
Another Star – first of the songs from Songs in the Key of Life
You Haven’t Done Nothin’ – from Fulfillingness’ First Finale. Features the Jackson Five.

He’s Misstra Know-It-All – from Innervisions
Blame It On the Sun – from Talking Book, the first of those great 1970s albums
You Are the Sunshine of My Life. I love the fact that Stevie’s vocal doesn’t appear until the verse after the chorus.
Nothing’s Too Good for My Baby

That was a hit?

Fingertips, Part 2, and for a bonus, Fingertips. An article from WNYC: That Was A Hit?!?: Little Stevie Wonder, ‘Fingertips’
Sir Duke. If you’re going to namecheck, this song is exemplary.
We Can Work It Out. One of my all-time favorite Beatles’ covers. A live version.
Living for the City – album version and single version. The former has the better storyline -“Skyscrapers and everything!” but the latter is more danceable.

Boogie on Reggae Woman
I Wish
Higher Ground
For Once In My Life – a ballad turned into an uptempo song

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours. “I’ve done a lot of foolish things..”
Pastime Paradise. My daughter discovered, in order, Amish Paradise by Weird Al, Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio, then the original
I Was Made To Love Her
Master Blaster (Jammin’)

Superstition
Love’s in Need of Love Today. After 9/11, he sang this song on a television benefit.
Uptight (Everything’s Alright). Sonically, for me, the demarcation from post-Little Stevie Wonder
As – until the day that 8 times 8 times 8 is 4

Those wartime #1 hits of 1940

Glenn Miller The United States Census of 1940 determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people.

Europe and Asia were embroiled in World War II by 1940. The United States was allegedly staying out of it. But as my daughter’s European history class reminded me, the US was providing significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies by September 1940. The Germans had taken Paris and were bombing London.

“On September 2, 1940, President Roosevelt signed a ‘Destroyers for Bases’ agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the United States gave the British more than 50 obsolete destroyers, in exchange for 99-year leases to territory in Newfoundland and the Caribbean, which would be used as U.S. air and naval bases.”

America needed music

In the Mood – Glenn Miller, 13 weeks at #1 and a gold record. It was re-released in 1943 and went to #20.
Frenesi – Artie Shaw, 13 weeks at #1. Both Woody Herman and Glenn Miller recorded the song in 1941 and got to #16.
I’ll Never Smile Again – Tommy Dorsey, featuring Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers, 12 weeks at #1. The Glenn Miller cover went to #16 in the same year.

Only Forever – Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and his orchestra, 9 weeks at #1. Tommy Dorsey’s version reached #7 the same year.
Tuxedo Junction – Glenn Miller and his orchestra, 9 weeks at #1 and a gold record
Scatter-Brain – Frankie Masters, 6 weeks at #1. Benny Goodman and Freddy Martin also recorded this.

The Woodpecker Song – Glenn Miller, featuring Marion Hutton, 5 weeks at #1. Andrews Sisters and Kate Smith were among the artists recording this. It’s based on Reginella Campagnola.
South of the Border (Down in Mexico Way) – Shep Fields, featuring Hal Derwin, 5 weeks at #1. Guy Lombardo and Frank Sinatra (#18 in 1953) had hits with this tune.
Sierra Sue – Bing Crosby, with John Scott Trotter and his orchestra, 4 weeks at #1

Make-Believe Island – Mitchell Ayres, featuring Mary Ann Mercer, 2 weeks at #1 . At least four other recordings charted that year.
Where Was I? – Charlie Barnet, featuring Mary Ann McCall, 2 weeks at #1
The Breeze and I – Jimmy Dorsey, featuring Bob Eberle, 1 week at #1. That year Jimmy Dorsey celebrated his ninth birthday. He was born on February 29, 1904. In 1954, Vic Damone got to #21 with the song.

There were relatively few major record labels in those days. Of the songs above, Shaw and Tommy Dorsey were on Victor, Crosby and Jimmy Dorsey were on Decca, and Masters was on Vocalion. The others were on Bluebird. Columbia was the only other label with songs that got into the Top 4.