This article originally appeared in Issue 6 of Crawdaddy on October 20, 1966.
For perhaps the first time in pop music, a recent LP is being re-recorded and released again. The album is Eric Andersen’s ‘Bout Changes and Things, featuring “Violets of Dawn, “Thirsty Boots,” and “You Been Cheating,” some of Eric’s best work. Arthur Gorson has put Eric back in the recording studio, with a drummer, an electric bass (Harvey Brooks), and a pianist (Paul Harris). The result is called ‘Bout Changes and Things, Take Two, and should be available soon from Vanguard Records.
Meanwhile, Vanguard is still having cold feet about the Joan Baez rock album that Richard Fariña produced before his death. If it appears at all, it may be in conjunction with a new folk album from Baez.
“Jagger: Our Drag Pic? It’s Just a Giggle.” Translation: the ROLLING STONES aren’t really trying to tell us something by posing as women for that famous publicity photo. I guess they just don’t like the idea of the Beatles encroaching on the Stones’ reputation as the bad boys of pop music.
Bass player Pete Quaife has definitely left the KINKS; he is being replaced by John Dalton.
JUNIOR WELLS has a new single on Bright Star—”Up in Heah”/”Juniors Shake.” His Vanguard LP (It’s My Life, Baby!) should also be available soon. Junior no longer performs with guitarist/singer BUDDY GUY; since the story in Time (Sept. 2) on Junior, Buddy, and Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy is asking equal money for any appearances he makes with Junior. Guy is an excellent singer himself; r&b fans are still waiting for Chess Records to release an LP of his work.
FRANCOISE HARDY has a new single in English, “Autumn Rendezvous” on 4 Corners.
The WALKER BROTHERS begin filming their first movie in January. Meanwhile, they are recording the themes for Deadlier Than the Male and You Only Live Twice (the latter being the next James Bond film).
Cameo-Parkway will soon issue LPs by the Five Stairsteps, ? & the Mysterians, and (hooray!) TERRY KNIGHT & THE PACK.
CHUCK BERRY recorded his first Mercury tracks in Chicago in early Sept., with some of the sidemen he used originally on “Maybellene” in 1955.
ERIC BURDON will be choosing his new band within the month; his first solo single is “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” by Randy Newman.
Mixup. The president of Calla Records sent out telegrams thanking deejays for playing “But It’s Alright.” Later that day he sent a telegram to a distributor who wasn’t yet handling the record. Western Union crossed the wires—the deejays received copies of the following message: “We can all make money on this with very little effort.”
“Yellow Submarine”—though it never made #1 on Billboard’s chart—sold 1,200,000 copies in four weeks and has earned the BEATLES their twenty-first gold record (Revolver had done a million dollars’ worth of business two days after it was released). The Beatles have the largest number of million-sellers certified by RIAA.
SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS has signed with Decca; his new single is “All Night”/”I’m Not Made of Clay.”
Anybody remember WMEX deejay Joe Smith? He is now general manager of Warner Brothers Records!
HERMAN’S HERMlTS’ “Dandy” written by Kink Ray Davies.
WIBG in Philadelphia recently devoted four days to Motown Records, including live performances by Smokey & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Ruffin, the Temptations, lsley Brothers, and the Velvelettes. It’s been a great month for MOTOWN: two #1 records and two more in the Top 5.
T-BONE WALKER’s latest: “Reconsider, Baby,” on Jet Stream Records.
The tape cartridge industry will start putting out “mini-packs” in early ‘67—four songs on a cartridge, usually current hits. Cost: $1.79.
BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND on their first British tour Oct. 20 to Nov. 5. With them are Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame, Geno Washington, and—a last-minute addition—ERIC BURDON.
Boston has a new rock ‘n’ roll radio station: WRKO-FM, 98.5 (FM partner to WNAC). “Arko” began 9 A.M. to midnight rock Monday, October 3, and is noteworthy for playing 18-20 songs an hour, and for having eliminated disc jockeys. The station is entirely automated—top hits and announcements are on cartridges, oldies are on tape, and a computer chooses and plays the cartridges in a pre-programmed order. What effect this will have on the music industry I don’t know; it’s a real pleasure for the intelligent listener. Unfortunately, the station has chosen a very tight playlist: Top 35, six oldies an hour, and two or three extras (new songs). Things are very tentative; if the station decides to open up its playlist and play a greater variety of new material, Crawdaddy! readers in Boston will do well to dust off their FM sets.
The LOVIN’ SPOONFUL’s British tour has been put off till April ‘67. The Spoonful booked Columbia Records’ NYC studios Aug. 16—Sept. 23 to record their new LP, but Columbia preempted them to use for its own artists. S0 recording was delayed somewhat, and the October tour was canceled. Unspectacular British sales of “Summer in the City” (only the second Spoonful hit in England, it just missed the Top 5) may have affected the decision.
The ZOMBIES’ latest single is “I’ve Got to Get a Hold on Myself” by Clint Ballard, Jr., and “The Way I Feel Inside,” by Zombie Rod Argent.
The TROGGS have recorded Coke ads for TV here in January.
The BOBBY FULLER FOUR will continue under the leadership of the late singer’s brother, Randy Fuller.
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD will be at Basin Street East, NYC, for three weeks starting Nov. 3. Her next LP will be a golden hits collection.
Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band (L.A.) just put out their first single on Go-Go Records: “The Eggplant That Ate Chicago”/”Can’t Fight City Hall Blues.”
Bell Records has signed the Canadian GUESS WHO group.
KRIS WHITE has given up giving away harmonicas; formerly with Hohner, she is now head of publicity for Herbert S. Gart Management, Inc.
Promotion of the year: The STANDELLS’ “Dirty Water” is being pushed in Germany as a “nobIe protest against water pollution in a U.S. small town.”
American Folk Blues Festival 1966 tours Europe Sept. 28 through Oct. 29: Big Joe Turner, Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, Robert Pete Williams, Sippie Wallace, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, Jack Myers, Otis Rush, and Junior Wells.
Both of JOHN LENNON’s books will be included in The Penguin John Lennon, a paperback available in England from Oct. 30.
CHARLIE BROWN’s GENERATION have a single out: “Trash”/”Fast-Retreatin” Female.
Concerning the displaced ANIMALS: Hilton Valentine’s recording a single in NYC as a solo act; Chas Chandler is managing a blues singer; Barry Jenkins will be part of Burdon’s new band when it is formed.
Anthony & the lmperials’ next LP: Payin’ Our Dues.
GEORGIE FAME is splitting with the Blue Flames. His new LP is now out in the U.S.
Coming to Cambridge’s Club 47: Jim and Jean Oct. 20-21, and Oct. 25-26 beautiful Skip James.
TIM HARDlN’s “If I Were a Carpenter” looks like a Top 5 record for BOBBY DARIN, who’s been out of it a long time. Darin learned the song from a demo cut by Tim; he copies every aspect of Hardin’s phrasing perfectly. It’s a beautiful song; the millennium will be here when such a song can be a hit for the author himself.
The RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS, Nino Tempo, and April Stevens are on a thirty-seven-city U.S. tour now through November 11.
Number one in Mexico: “The Phoenix Love Theme” by the Brass Ring.
RUFUS THOMAS’s new single: “Sister’s Got a Boyfriend”; his daughter Carla has a new LP out. Both are on Stax, of course—Thomas helped found the great Memphis label.
Philadelphia, where the rock scene has long been dominated by WIBG, now at last has a second Hot 100 station—WFlL. A lot of exposure for new records is planned.
BLOOS MAGOOS new single on Mercury: “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet”/”Gotta Get Away.”
DAVE CLARK 5 have received a gold record for their greatest hits LP.
The new WHO LP in Britain includes “Barbara Ann,” “Heat Wave,” “Dancing in the Street,” “Man with Money” and six Pete Townshend compositions. Meanwhile, Townshend’s “I’m a Boy” has given the WHO another #l record in the U.K.
The YARDBlRDS’ new single is “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago,” written by the group.
BOBBY HEBB’s “Sunny” has sold a million copies. In Britain, versions by Cher and Georgie Fame are high on the charts, but Hebb’s is higher still. The song was written the night following JFK’s assassination—Hebb returned to his Manhattan home after performing in a club, but was unable to sleep. The transition of night to dawn gave him the idea, and set the mood, for the song. It took three years for him to get it published; publishers turned it down on the grounds that the public wouldn’t like the sudden changes of mood used in the lyrics. Hebb’s first hit was “Night Train to Memphis” in 1960. He has an excellent album on Philips, which suffers only from having too few numbers by Hebb himself.
No, that’s not Bob Dylan’s wife on the jacket of Blonde on Blonde.
JAMES BROWN is now deejaying a show heard Saturday night on XERB in Los Angeles.
Former HOLLlE Eric Haydock has started his own group: Haydock’s Rock House.
Capitol Records is preparing an LP of Barry Mann singing hits he and Cynthia Weil have written.
Joachim Reichel, leader of West German rock group The RATFLES, lost his plea to postpone his military service in the German army; the court ruled against his contention that his band would lose its popularity and its work without him. The ruling said that the music would continue, and Reichel could regain his reputation after completing his military service.
The FORTUNES’ lead harmony singer broke a rib recently when fans pulled him off the stage at a concert in Belgium.
The SHANGRI-LAS have signed with Mercury; there will be a greatest hits album soon. The woods are full of them these days
“The Great Airplane Strike” was written by Paul Revere, Raiders’ vocalist Lindsay, and producer Terry Melcher.
ROY ORBlSON’s “Too Soon to Know” is stirring up a mild controversy in the U.K., where it is said that the lyrics sound as though they refer to the recent death of his wife Claudette. The song made #3 in England, Orbison’s biggest hit in ages.
Klaus Voorman, designer of the Revolver cover, has joined Manfred Mann. Look hard at the album and you’ll find his picture (gosh-wowl). New MANFRED single: “Semi-Detached Suburban Mister Jones.”
GENE MCDANIELS has signed with Columbia, and has a new single: “Something Blue”/”Cause I Love You.” His 1963 hit, “Another Tear Falls,” is the new WALKER BROTHERS single. It is now unlikely that the Walkers will tour their native U.S. before next summer.
Elektra has signed the Doors, from L.A.
EDWIN STARR tours Britain October 15-30; LEE DORSEY Oct. 14—Nov. 14; and LITTLE RICHARD Nov. 18—Dec. 4. Might be a good reason for visiting the U.K.; you could also catch the DRIFTERS (Oct. 14-30) and SAM & DAVE (Dec. 8-24). The FOUR TOPS go to England for ten days in November; and the SUPREMES tour in early ‘67. Was somebody saying the British don’t dig soul music?
Jeff Beck missed several days of the YARDBIRDS’ last U.S. tour; he was in an L.A. hospital with tonsillitis.
And Brian Jones is performing on the Stones tour, despite an injured hand.
JOHNNY CASH is currently the target of a widespread hate campaign in the South, because racists mistakenly believe he is married to a Negro.
The next ALAN PRICE SET single may be “Willow Weep for Me.” LP will be out in Britain in late October. Write to London Records and beg them to issue it here
DONOVAN is currently touring the European continent.
JUNIOR PARKER’s new single is out: “Baby Please”/”Just Like a Fish.”
Derek Taylor is now the Rolling Stones’ U.S. pubIicist. Their next U.S. LP should be out soon, including “Out of Time,” “Sitting on the Fence,” and “Take it or Leave It.”
Audio Fidelity Records is presenting a “Cheetah” line, featuring LPs of new groups recorded live at the various Cheetah discotheques. The LPs will all have inflatable pop art outer covers that can be used as throw cushions. Isn’t that wonderful?
Boston’s PANDORAS have a single out, “I Could Write a Book” on Musicor. TEDDY & the PANDAS’ latest is “New Day.” “We Can’t Go On This Way” just missed making the national charts.
“Bus Stop” made #5 nationally—the HOLLIES have finally gotten the attention they deserve in the U.S. Their new single, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” was written by Hollies Nash, Clarke, and Hicks, also known as L. Ransford Jr. The Bus Stop LP is their fourth in the U.S. and is made up mostly from old tracks from English albums. Their new British LP contains more recent cuts: “Suspicious Look,” “Clown,” and “The Crusader’ (which features a tape of Beefeaters marching).
JIM REEVES’ “Distant Drums” is #1 in England two years after Reeves’s death.
B. B. KING’s latest single is getting a big push from ABC Records: “Don’t Answer the Door.”
Two GORDON LIGHTFOOT songs are currently on the country charts: “For Lovin’ Me,” by Waylon Jennings, and “Early Morning Rain,” by George Hamilton IV.
Recent silver disc winners in the U.K. (for 250,000 sales): “With a Girl Like You” (the Troggs’ second), “Sunny Afternoon” (the Kinks’ fourth), and “Yellow Submarine” (the Beatles’ seventeenth).
SEEKERS on tour in South Africa, Kenya, and Rhodesia through Nov. 4.
An engineer named Posey Flower, at Chicago’s WIND radio, claims to have discovered that in the instrumental version of “Hard Day’s Night” the melody sounds the same played forwards or backwards. Okay, don’t believe it.
The SMALL FACES have signed a two-year pact with RCA here; their “All or Nothing” was a recent #1 hit in England.
The SUPREMES will be at Boston’s Blinstrubs Nov. 10-20.
DIONNE WARWICK at Blinstrubs Dec. 26—Jan 1.
The second annual “Rock ‘n’ Roll World Championships” were held Sept. 4 in Lambertville, N.J. Winning band was “Robin and the Hoods,” five Pittsburgh teenagers. Prize: a contract with Columbia and a thousand dollars.
LARRY WILLIAMS has signed with Okeh Records; his first single is “I’d Rather Fight Than Switch.” LITTLE RlCHARD’s first Okeh side, “Poor Dog,” was a moderate success on r&b stations.
PAUL JONES’s first solo after leaving Manfred Mann is now out on Capitol: “Baby Tomorrow”/”I Can’t Hold on Much Longer.”
Beware the evil “chicken-rock”: orchestral or “easy listening” versions of current hits.
Frisco’s MYSTERY TRAIN is revived and recording in L.A.
How the STONES write their stuff—Keith & Mick think up a basic idea together, Keith goes off and works on the tune and Mick writes the words. Incidentally, Jack Nitzsche is the piano player on “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby?”
An unfortunate trend in the U.S. at the moment is LPs containing only ten or eleven songs. The reason for this is that record manufacturers pay two cents (possibly more when the new copyright laws go through) per track to music publishers for “mechanical rights” for each song on each record made, be it LP or 45. So by including ten songs instead of twelve on an LP, the record manufacturers save forty dollars per thousand LPs. One can’t help wondering when these attempts to save money, regardless of loss of quality and of appeal in the records, will start to result in one-sided 45s…
BOB DYLAN will not make any appearances before March 1967, at the earliest. It is not known whether he will record in Nashville at the end of this month as scheduled. He is presently in Woodstock, finishing a rewrite of Tarantula and recovering from what was apparently a considerably more serious accident than had been reported. It’s now said that Capitol has the best chance of taking him away from Columbia; contract negotiations are not yet completed.
Allen Stanton, the BYRDS’ producer, has left Columbia for A&M Records.
ROY ORBlSON’s U.S. tour starts Nov. 15.
The PRETTY THINGS star in a film of the same name, to be released in England in late October.
CARL PERKINS has signed with Dollie Records in Nashville.
The CHARLATANS’ single is out on Kama Sutra.
No, the MONKEES don’t do their own accompaniments. The Monkees don’t do their own anything.
The BLUES PROJECT do a concert at Brandeis Dec. 10; their new LP Projections is due soon.
WOODY’s TRUCK STOP has moved to Boston.
People don’t seem to realize that India, home of raga and sitar, also has popular music, native and imported. Most popular group? Of course, the Beatles.
RAY DAVIES now second only to Lennon/McCartney as a British songwriter; one of the many groups who have recorded singles of his material are Liverpool’s THOUGHTS, who star in a documentary film called Swinging London that will be shown on American TV January 1st.
Boston distributors report that TOM RUSH’s recording of Joni Mitchell’s “The Urge for Going” looks like a smash hit locally. Even Woolworth’s has ordered it.
The UNKNOWNS—who hit with “Melody for an Unknown Girl”—sound surprisingly like PAUL REVERE & the RAIDERS.
A few more r&b artists going to England: BOBBY HEBB, Dec. 4-18, BILLY STEWART, Jan. 27—Feb. 11, and OTIS REDDING for three weeks in April.
New single for P. J. PROBY: “I Can’t Make It Alone.”
In the beginning…PHIL SPECTOR recorded CHER singing a song called “Ringo I Love You, “ which never got released because everyone thought she was a boy!
Fantastic LP of the month: Autumn ‘66 by the SPENCER DAVIS GROUP, including “Till the End of Time,” “Somebody Help Me,” “Down and Out,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Neighbor, Neighbor,” and seven other beautiful cuts. But you can’t buy it in this country…
PETER, PAUL & MARY in concert at Boston’s Back Bay Theatre Nov. 19 & 20.
Billboard reports that record hops are disappearing, and being replaced by something better—deejay hops with live bands. Sociologists of r’n’r, take note!
STONES-YARDBlRDS—lKETTES—IKE & TINA TURNER tour of England went over fantastically, with the latter taking top honors.
BRIAN WILSON & the Beach Boys spent sixty studio hours and $10,000 recording “Good Vibrations”…one of the finest pieces of music written in recent times.
Scientists in Paris report that of all occupations, music is the one that leads to the most nervous tension. Musicians wind up with the greatest percentage of gastrointestinal ailments, cardiac trouble, b-b-breakdowns…
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE LP up to #128 on the national charts; it sold over 20,000 copies in Frisco within a few days of release.
The FOUR TOPS play Town Hall in NYC Oct. 23.
CAROLYN HESTER has rejoined Columbia Records after some years with Dot; she is releasing Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe” as her first single.
GRAHAM GOULDMAN, author of “Bus Stop,” wrote the next Herman’s Hermits single, “No Milk Today.”
LOS BRAVOS LP out; they will tour America, says a British mag, “for six weeks in October.” Could be a challenge…
BOBBY HEBB has written more than 3,000 songs since 1958, 1,000 of which have been published.
For those wondering how they make up those highly accurate national charts, Spy Z at Boston Distributor X reports the following conversation: “l answer the phone: ‘Hello, X Distributors.’ ‘Hello, Cash Box New York, are you free for a few seconds to tell me what’s going on in Boston?’ ‘Yes, uh, let me think…’ ‘I’m ready.’ ‘Well, I’d say the hottest record is “Rain on the Roof,” then probably “Urge for…” ‘What was that? How do you spell that?’ ‘Rain…”Rain on the Roof.”‘ ‘And who does that?’ ‘The Lovin’ Spoonful.’ ‘Wait a minute…the Loving who?”‘
HOLLIES to U.S. for Dick Clark tour Nov. 11-27, then to Hollywood for a month of filming.
The REMAINS LP is finally out; half the tracks are over a year old.
Belgian fans rioted at a recent MOODY BLUES concert.
TROGGS’ “l Can’t Control Myself” banned from three major TV & radio shows in England.
Grand prize of $2,000,000 for the first person who correctly guesses why this page changes typeface midstream. Neatness counts.
New SEEDS album: Web of Sound
Elektra is planning a series of c&w recordings in Nashville: FRED NEIL will be cutting some country material.
“Cherish” has been certified a million-seller. As we go to press, the Top 5 are: “I’ll Be There”/”Cherish”/”96 Tears”/”Last Train to Clarksville”/”Psychotic Reaction.” Revolver remains the #1 album; Supremes at 5, Mamas & Papas 8; Aftermath still at 10; Kinks 12; Association 13; Animalization 20; Fifth Dimension 24; Monkees 29 their second week!; Donovan 30; Yardbirds 53; Butterfield 127, etc.
SIMON & GARFUNKEL’s third LP is finally out: Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme.
New TERRY KNIGHT 45: “l Who Have Nothing.”
Enough’s enough, okay?