The Strawberry Alarm Clock were a little too syrupy for my taste. The group had a top 5 hit in 1967 with "Incense and Peppermints"
0 Comments
At a certain point, as I was working with a lot of Jazz and urban artists, I was called upon to work with Arista records. One of my first projects was to work with English artists Graham Parker and the Rumour who were on tour promoting their latest album "Squeezing Out Sparks". The record has been hailed as a classic, and it is an excellent record, yet it failed commercially. Graham recently appeared in the Judd Apatow film "This Is Forty" as a metaphor for failure.I ended up spending many evenings with Graham and the band as they toured with Journey. One night after performing at COBO HALL in Detroit, Graham and I were sitting in the dressing room having a conversation , when Journey began performing vocal exercises in the next room. Graham stopped what he was doing looked up and shouted " Shut the F*** up you crass M*****F******". Then, with out missing a beat, he continued his conversation. I glanced at his road manager who shrugged as if to say 'Oh well, that's Graham'. I never saw a bad performance by Graham and the Rumour on that whole tour. They closed with "Soul Shoes" every night. Another AM hit that would have been just as comfortable on FM. In the late 60's there were AM records and FM, or underground, records. This was an AM record. A damn good one! Thunderclap Newman was an English band produced by the Who's Pete Townsend. They recorded one album, with MR. Townsend playing bass, and had a major hit in the UK with "Something In the Air". It was a mid-chart record in the USA. I never missed "The Faces" live. They were famous for having a bar on stage and making the audience part of the party they were throwing. In 1967 "The Turtles" released the song "She's My Girl". Even though the record was a leap forward, and considered by many to be the band's masterpiece, it barely charted. In late 1967 a band called "The Lemon Pipers" released a song titled "Green Tambourine". It was a massive hit, their only one, staying at the top of the charts seemingly forever. The "Lemon Pipers" were never heard from again. "The Turtles" had many hits, both before and after "She's My Girl". Why is one song a hit and another doomed? No one knows. This record was the only hit the "Small Faces" had in the states. Of course they went on to become the "Faces" after being joined by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood upon the departure of Steve Marriott. In the late '60s radio was very different. Not only were stations playing local bands they were encouraged to do so by listeners. This gave birth to the "regional hit". The Unrelated Segments, from Taylor,MI, were one of those bands. |
Jeff AllenVertical asked me to join his blog as a guest expert on "Nuggets" era music... Psychedelic, Garage and Fuzz. Are there others more qualified? You bet, but they weren't asked. He's also letting me write about anything I want… We'll see.
Categories
All
StoreWant to buy something from me? Of course you do. You might just find a treasure here at my eBay store.
Archives
August 2018
|