January 1966 Part Two - now with poll!

[rayge]

From Part one:

'I'm a fan of blogger Butterboy's compilations. His latest wheeze is to release 3CDs/60 tracks a month of hit singles from the US and UK charts 55 years ago. Two or three times a month, I'll go through them and pick out five or six to feature here in polls. Obviously I'm not going to put in the huge hits we all know - My Generation, Paperback Writer and California Dreaming all feature this month - nor terrible tragedies such as Ken Dodd's Tears that no-one needs to hear ever again. Vote for any that you like, and please comment on one or all of them, as I will.'

Same applies with these half-dozen

Bobby Bland - Too Far Gone

Sunrays - Andrea

Dusty Springfield - Little By Little

Ben E King - Goodnight My Love

Sir Douglas Quintet - The Rains Came

Spencer Davis Group - Keep on Running

You can vote for as many or as few as you like. but please do comment. I'll be back with my take in a while

[Deleted]

Last pick in particular is a stone cold first contact with martians classic type of song......

Talented band and a great vocalist to boot!!!!!!

A hit is a hit!!!!!

[rayge]

Strange thing about Bobby Bland. In the 1960s, he was spoken of in hushed tones as one of the soul greats, but you just couldn't get hold of his records. When I finally copped a Greatest Hits vinyl, I was impressed to the max by the quality of his voice, both on the shouters, but also in soul ballads, with a lovely light touch. They were often well arranged, too, with intereseting instrumentation, although there was something flat about the production or recording, without much dynamism: of course, this might be the difference between one track each side on a 7-inch, and seven or eight on one side of a 12", but all of those characteristics are present in this track, which I don't remember hearing before.

May have heard the Sunrays before, but it hasn't really stuck. It's an odd mix with all the shrill falsettos scattered over it like hundreds and thousands over bread and butter. If you want to know how to incorporate that voice into a song, listen to Randy and the Rainbows or even the Four Seasons. The Rip Chords did this sort of thing 100 times better. I didn't know about the Murry Wilson connection, but it makes sense. Not for me.

Of course I knew the Dusty single, owned it. She was the only British artist whose singles I collected in the ’60s. When this came out it marked a distinct change of pace from dramatic ballads to a more R& B style. Liked it a lot.

For Me, Ben E is the finest soul, R&B and male vocal group vocalist I ever heard. Wrote some damn fine songs, too, albeit not this one, a revival of a lovely doo-wop style single by the ll-fated Jesse Belvin. I think it's a thing of great beauty, harking back to King's velvet-throated style with the Drifters in the late 1950s, and early solo hits, such as Spanish Harlem and Stand By Me, rather than the more abrasive raw-throated soul style he was trying on records such as How Can I Forget or It's Over. I overlooked it at the time, to my shame, but by Dog it's beautiful.

I don't know if this was even released on a single in the UK. I certainly don't remember hearing it - but then again, all I really remember of the band is SAaM, which sounded like a novelty record at the time, filed with the Newbeats' (now THERE was a weird falsetto) Bread and Butter - but I just love that organ sound and the atmosphere of sweetness and simple joyful innocence.

As some of you may know, I'm no fan of Stevie Winwood, but I glommed on to this band after hearing their version of Brenda Holloway's Every Little Bit Hurts, their second or third single. After a routine cover of John Lee Hooker on their debut, it was quite a leap. And this, their breakout single, is a monster - it's a help that it wasn't an R&B cover. That guitar sound immediately takes me back to a period when, for several reasons, I was having one of the best times of my life. After this, and maybe the follow-up, Somebody Help Me, Stevie switched to organ, and I think the band lost a little something there. He's got to be among the worst lip-synchers I ever saw, too. Never got any better.

[neige]

Great singing on all selections! As songs and as arrangements, Bobby Bland and Dusty work best for me, so they get my vote.

And I'm a sucker for any vintage Sir Douglas Quintet and particularly Augie's Vox.

I'm a bit worn-out on the Spencer Davis Group, but that voice!

The Sunrays are a fun find, but a little annoying - not an easy name to sing, Andrea

Ben E. King is at the lower end for me - too syrupy.

 

[osgood]

Bobby Bland, Dusty and SDG are the immediate choices for me. I liked a lot Ben E King's singing too, especially when he goes to those low notes, but the song is not too much.