Muhammad Ali:
I wept when I heard the news about Muhammad Ali. This electric and colorful figure arrived in the spotlight the same year the Beatles invaded Ed Sullivan. I was fortunate to see Ali fight three times but here's the charmer around 1974,
I went to see Chubby Checker at the old London House on Wacker Drive ...
About half way through Chubby's set, Muhammad arrived unanounced and began to twist with the Chub-meister. The crowd was awed and enamored. The simplicity of the moment was riveting. A slice of my youth is gone.
Ali was such a hero to me. I feel blessed to have three or four pics with him. Muhammad loved Chicago and we loved him back. #thegreatest.
Rest in peace, champ ... you thrilled us beyond words.
Chet Coppock
Kent ...
RIP ALI
Frank B.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JUbFj0BIc4
Hello Kent,
The King is dead ... thanks for the memories.
Another Icon of our lives passes but it gives us pause to recall all the great experiences he bestowed on us. Misunderstood and disliked by some but a truly great American who remained true to himself and taught us all important life lessons.
I recall in '65 watching a televised live showing of his fight against Sonny Liston from Lewiston, Maine, on four large screens at the 'Old' Boston Garden, one of the screens along the long side of the garden went blank and before it could be fixed the fight was over (1:17 1st round) so almost half the paying customers missed it. What an outburst with beers being thrown at the screen and pandemonium (as Johnny Most would say) reigned down on the Boston Garden.
How fortunate we had the pleasure of sharing his greatness during our lives.
Rest In Peace, Champ,
CharlieOFD
Kent,
I agree with you somewhat that Muhammad Ali's version of STAND BY ME is actually not a bad version. When an event happens, as in this case the passing of Ali, I try to somewhat relate it to a song or record that came out. I immediately thought of the Johnny Wakelin tune you posted.
Larry Neal
Pass The Biscuits, Please
I think Brother Taylor had a crush on Bobbie.
Jack
"Ode To Billie Joe" was intended to be the B side of "Mississippi Delta," a Bobby Gentry song no one heard unless they flipped over their single of "Ode to Billie Joe" or bought Bobbie's debut album. Ms. Gentry got signed to Capitol on the strength of her demo version of "Mississippi Delta," which she offered to them as a composer, not a singer. Capitol A&R Director Kelly Gordon, though, liked her vocal performance on the demo so much that he insisted on signing her as a vocalist as well. He then told Bobbie to come with enough other tunes to flesh out a full LP. While leafing through her notebook of song ideas, Bobbie came cross the phrase "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge." She then worked through the night to finish the tune which, when cut in the Capitol studios on July 10, 1967 with only Bobbie's guitar as accompaniment, ran over seven minutes. Jimmy Haskell later added strings (a couple cellos and six violins). When the track was chosen as the B side of "Mississippi Delta," Capitol cut its running time down to 4:13. Still believing it was too long and too slow to gain any airplay, the label then put all their marketing muscle behind "Mississippi Delta." Among the radio programmers who listened to both sides of Bobbie's 45 and chose the "Ode To Billie Joe" side was Bill Drake, whose own Southern upbringing paralleled Bobbie's. They met; he told me he found her charming and the two even dated for a while as Bill got the entire RKO General radio chain to pick up on Ms. Gentry's record. The result: a coast-to-coast #1 hit for four weeks that earned three Grammy Awards.
Bobbie Gentry never did top "Ode To Billie Joe," of course, but did score some impressive follow-up hits, most notably "Fancy" (another Southern story song) and her duets with Glen Campbell ("Let It Be Me," "All I Have To Do Is Dream," etc.)
So where is Bobbie Gentry today? A brief internet search pulled up this June 2 story:
Whatever happened to Bobbie Gentry? In search of country music's great vanished star
By Neely Tucker
Glen Campbell, left, and Bobbie Gentry, center, at the 1968 Grammy Awards,
where Gentry won top female honors. (Harold Matosian / AP)
It’s the third of June. Somewhere in Mississippi, it’s another sleepy, dusty delta day. Since the summer of 1967, when the Southern gothic ballad “Ode to Billie Joe,” set on this day in that place, first hit the airwaves, the song has captivated American pop culture in a way few ever have.
Written and sung by an unknown young woman from Mississippi named Bobbie Gentry, it was an eerie, minor-key mystery about an unnamed young woman and her family sitting around a farm dinner table discussing, in elliptical terms, the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister.
It sold tens of millions of copies. It knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts. It spawned a 1976 movie. It made Gentry a hot Vegas star. She kicked around with Elvis and Tom Jones and briefly married casino magnate Bill Harrah.
The song’s iconic success also helped launch one of the most enduring riddles in pop: Whatever happened to Bobbie Gentry?
She had a few minor hits after “Ode,” appeared on early ’70s entertainment shows and then went kapoof in the early 1980s. No appearances. No pictures. No interviews.
Over time, she became regarded as the J.D. Salinger of pop music. She made Harper Lee look chatty. She went full Garbo.
It’s most often reported that she is living in seclusion in Los Angeles, as if she has morphed into a Southern-fried Norma Desmond holed up in a creepy mansion on Sunset Boulevard.
That isn’t true.
And Gentry spoke to a reporter, for this story, apparently for the first time in three decades. We caution you not to get too excited about that. It’s one sentence. Could be two.
Then she hung up.
An open secret ... all Southerners come home, even if it’s in a pine box, Truman Capote once opined.
That is what the 70-something Gentry has done, hidden in plain sight, known perhaps to a few friends and neighbors, but nobody who ever blabs.
“I think, to some, it’s an open secret,” says Tara Murtha, author of “Ode to Billie Joe,” a 2015 book that’s by far the most thorough biography of Gentry’s public career. In it, Murtha cites reports from Savannah papers that a “Bobbie Gentry” lived in the Georgia city in the late 1990s but had since moved.
In an interview yesterday, she said she knew where Gentry now lives but had not printed it. She never spoke to Gentry but said she had sent letters through intermediaries that were never answered.
The short answer to one of pop’s great mysteries:
Bobbie Gentry lives about a two-hour drive from the site of the Tallahatchie Bridge that made her so famous, in a gated community, in a very nice house that cost about $1.5 million. Her neighbors, some locals and some real estate agents know who she is, although it’s not clear which of her many possible names she goes by.
We’ll be a little more specific in a minute.
First: How can someone once so famous vanish so completely?
A complicated family history, a stage name, a couple of short-lived marriages and a false birth date on her official PR material helped.
Gentry’s name at birth, in Mississippi, was Roberta Lee Streeter. But her parents divorced when she was young, and she lived with her grandparents. She moved to L.A. to be with her mom and soon adopted the “Bobbie Gentry” stage name. She divorced Harrah, then married and divorced country singer Jim Stafford in the late 1970s.
Further, the music studio had shaved a couple of years off her actual birthday.
Gentry’s family didn’t talk, and she had cut off nearly all her friends in the music business. When reporters reached out through intermediaries, there was never a reply.
“I think it’s simpler than it seems,” Murtha said. “She apparently didn’t like the music business, went on to other businesses and never missed the spotlight.”
Gentry in London in 1969. (AP Photo / AP)
Stafford and Gentry had a very small wedding in 1978, but they did allow a reporter from the Memphis Commercial Appeal to attend the ceremony on their 120-acre horse farm in Somerville, about 45 miles east of the city.
“It’s wonderful to stand on your own land, where you plan to live and raise a family,” Stafford is quoted as saying at the time.
Today, computer databases clearly show that perhaps the nation’s most reclusive pop star lives in an 8,000-square-foot house with a great pool not all that far from the old homestead. Real estate agents confirmed it.
So, yesterday, I found myself looking at a phone number on my computer screen for several seconds. No reporter, to the best of my knowledge, has spoken to Gentry in decades.
I punched the numbers.
After a few rings, a pleasant woman’s voice said: “Hello.”
I introduced myself and my newspaper. I said I was looking for the person whose name appears on the property owner’s record.
There was a dead pause of several seconds. My fingers clenched open and closed.
“There’s no one here by that name,” she said, finally.
I apologized and started to read back the number, to make sure I had dialed it correctly, and she hung up.
But there isn’t really any doubt.
I talked, for about 13 seconds, to Bobbie Gentry.
-- Gary Theroux
The Monkees
More praise for the brand new Monkees album ... and deservedly so.
http://thetalkhouse.com/luke-haines-deems-monkees-good-times-album-year/
And check this out ... The Monkees will have their first Top 20 Album of new material in 48 years when the new Billboard Charts come out next week!!!!!
Vintage Vinyl News is reporting:
When the new Billboard charts come out next Tuesday, there is going to be a name in the top twenty that hasn't been there since 1968 ... The Monkees!
Their new album, "Good Times!" is projected to have sales of 24,100 copies according to Hits Daily Double, putting them at number 8 on their Sales Only chart. Add in streaming equivalent sales and they go to 25,000, which should put them in the mid teens when the final charts are released.
Let's put the pure sales figure into perspective. That's about 1,500 copies more than Ariana Grande's new album sold in its second week, almost 10,000 more than Meghan Trainor's latest sold in its third frame and just short of 12,000 more than Eric Clapton's sophomore week with "I Still Do".
As far as where the album stands in the Monkees catalog, the band had four straight number 1 albums in 1966 and 1967 with "The Monkees", "More Of The Monkees", "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." Their fifth album, 1968's "The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees" peaked at number 3 and then the floor fell out. Their movie "Head" was a disaster and the soundtrack only went to number 45. 1969's "Instant Replay" went to 32 and that was their last non-compilation top 40 hit until this coming week.
To be complete, we should note that two compilations did do well on the charts in later years, "Then And Now ... The Best of The Monkees" (1986 / #21) and "The Best of the Monkees (2003 / #20) but it has been a full 48 years since a studio album of new material has made the top twenty.
The final charts will be released by Billboard next Tuesday.
Although the faithful have remained fans of The Monkees for fifty years now (and believe me, we TRULY do feel vindcated right now), this is the second significant comeback for the Pre-Fab Four. When M-TV started airing the original television episodes in 1986, Micky and Peter went back into the studio and recorded the Top 20 Single "That Was Then, This Is Now". Now, another thirty years later, they're back in the Top 20 again with their brand new album, "Good Times!" All of a sudden they're everywhere again, and new fans are discovering the happy, feel good sounds of The Monkees (who still sound INCREDIBLY youthful on the new CD) just like we did way back when. It's amazing ... and it's not ... this music is truly timeless. (kk)
The Zombies
This was my first visit to the Arcada - what a great venue to see a show. Plush old-time movie theater surroundings, rather intimate, fairly good sound, great audience.
I have to say that I was not impressed with the opening two man acoustic act. Several songs, such as the Byrds, Fleetwood Mac and Gordon Lightfoot covers were pretty good, but when they'd go into falsetto, sorry, it was nothing but cringe-worthy.
The Zombies, on the other hand, were mostly brilliant. I've always considered them the creme de la creme of British Invasion musicianship, and they're still as sharp and tight as ever. From the opening "I Love You" (was their hit in the UK, a hit by People in the US), we knew that Colin Blunstone still had his pipes, far more than most singers from that era. There was quite a lot of variation from "Goin' Out of My Head" to "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (faster than the Beatles' version, with some "Bring It On Home" thrown in) to the Argent classic, "Hold Your Head Up". The genius of "Time of the Season" shone through. The way those choruses resolve at "...for loving", so unique, always blows my mind. On "Hold Your Head Up", Rod Argent takes every advantage of his free range, his solo going well beyond the record - I believe I heard some "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" in there. Everyone singing "Hold your head up" really was an uplifting experience... cheezy as it may sound, the life affirming message really hit home. That song probably drew the biggest roars of approval - and then right into "Tell Her No", a fun song, with everyone helping with the "no"'s. They did play about four cuts from their recent album. There was one gospel style number that was excellent, but I have to admit the rest didn't inspire me. I think in the live setting, an unfamiliar piece that is structurally ambitious is at a disadvantage, verses something familiar. Perhaps I would have appreciated these tunes more, had I heard the material on CD beforehand.
All-in-all though, I (and the rest of the crowd, it appeared) walked out of there in a state of euphoria.
I see that Tommy James is coming to the Arcada, Sept 24. Am considering that I should go to that one. How's TJ holding up?
Dan Hudelson
Tommy James sounds just great ... maybe we'll see you there! (Look for us ... I don't think we've met up at a concert setting since the Randy Bachman / Burton Cummings / Guess Who reunion show right after 9/11.
And, speaking of Burton Cummings, we saw The Zombies open for him at The Arcada a couple of years ago and they were great then, too ... they're definitely rejuvenated!
(Catch our review here:
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2013/10/zombies-concert-review.html) ...
and this link should take you to a few more recent Zombies features ...
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/search?q=zombies
ALL good stuff about these guys who genuinely seem to enjoy what they're doing again. Seriously, let us know if you're coming in for the Tommy James show. (kk)
Here's our recent Tommy James review, too ...
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2014/10/tommy-james.html
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Mike Stineman of Palatine, IL, who won a copy of Joel Whitburn's brand new Top Ten Albums book "America's Greatest Albums, 1956 to 2015". It features a Top Ten List for every week between March 24th, 1956 (when Harry Belafonte topped the LP chart with his "Belafonte" album) and December 26th, 2015, when Adele was spending her third week at #1 with her "25" LP.
The book is a complete history of Billboard's Album Chart ... and makes for the perfect companion piece to Joel's earlier release this year, "America's Greatest Hits, 1940 - 2105", spotlighting The Top Ten Singles for every week during this timeframe.
Folks who want to add these great books to their library collection can order from Joel's Record Research Website ... www.recordresearch.com. Very special thanks to Joel for providing a give-away copy to another Forgotten Hits Reader.
And be sure to watch for the latest update to his most popular book to date, Billboard's Top Pop Singles, 1955 - 2015, coming at the end of June. You'll find ordering information for this one, too, on the website (including a special pre-order discount offer!) kk
This And That
Many years ago, we had front row seats to see Smokey Robinson. His face looked like it had been dipped in paraffin! It scared me to look at him. Of course, if I closed my eyes, his voice was heavenly!
Eileen
Yes, Smokey's had that spooky plasticized look for years now ... probably looks more embalmed than Mike Love does! (Actually I didn't think Mike looked THAT bad.) We've never seen Smokey live (definitely on our "to do" list) but I hear he puts on an incredible concert. (kk)
Hey Kent,
I didn't catch the Washington DC Memorial Day concert on TV, so I'm glad the Beach Boys video was on your site. They sounded good with the orchestra and some sequencing, but it did come off a little "homogenized". I know this has been hammered to death, but what a shame that Brian, Al, and David weren't part of the celebration. I think the name of THIS band should be Mike, Bruce, and their Beach Boys. Did you think John Cowsill was trying to emulate Dennis' style, and why wasn't Bruce on keys? As far as Mike Love's "tight" looks go, he's no worse for wear than Kenny Rogers! :-)
- John LaPuzza
I'm not quite sure what John Cowsill was going for ... he actually looks a little out of place with the long hair flopping around while he plays since the rest of the band looks so "cleaned up" in comparison. (Then again, most of The Beach Boys at this stage of the game are pretty follicley challenged!!! lol) I thought they sounded great ... but just a little TOO perfect to have been totally live. And you're right ... the orchestra really dressed things up. (kk)
I am a bit late, but hopefully better late than never. Last week you posted a top Mid-Western Top 40 from May, 1971, which contained Rose Colored Glass's hit of "Can't Find the Time". Although I like their version, to me it is much less appealing than the prior LP released version by Orpheus. I really liked Orpheus, it is sad that they really never got much national attention. At any rate, here is the link to their version ... Thanks to the original poster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poGDM3zaq9M
O
I really like this newer remix ... a bit more uptempo than the original (which always dragged for me) and a much cleaner sound, too. Thanks for sending. (Hootie and the Blowfish do an excellent version of this song as well ... several years ago we got Phlash Phelps of 60s XM Radio to play all three versions back-to-back-to-back ... which was pretty amazing since only the Orpheus version came out in the '60's! (kk)
Hi Kent -
I LOVED your Bobby Darin piece that you ran in January ... absolutely loved it. So much passion and you KNOW what you are talking about! Please subscribe me to Forgotten Hits.
We started a new site, The Bobby Darin Underground, because Steve Blauner passed away (Bobby's second manager, and the one who curated his work).
http://thebobbydarinunderground.com/
Fortunately, Steve Blauner gave me many of the Atlantic track outtakes (including "Weeping Willow", etc.) before his passing since they were never going to come out on CD. So I got what was transferred by Atlantic BEFORE the 1978 fire in New Jersey which destroyed the original outtakes. (That 1978 fire destroyed Ray Charles' sessions and outtakes, too!).
Steve Blauner cared about Bobby and was a good man. With Steve gone, it is up to his fans and those of us inside the music industry to do what we can for Bobby Darin's LEGACY.
Through this new Bobby Darin Underground website we are able to share unreleased demos and other pieces that the estate does not own, and the labels (like Capitol, Motown, and Warner Special Markets, who are responsible for his original ATCO material) are behind The Bobby Darin Underground and are allowing us to share these outtakes and sessions!
Those tapes you mentioned in your article that were "found in a closet" are Bobby's own safety reels and come from his personal storage. Time is not kind to safety reels, demo reels, etc., and storing them this way risks allowing them to rot. Instead, why not allow skilled audiophile mastering engineers to transfer them and preserve them for all of the public to enjoy, if only for historical purposes.
Please visit our site (now building up) and please SUBSCRIBE me to your list - and feel free to share our information with your other readers and subscribers. (Perhaps you can do another week on Bobby Darin and feature some of this new material ... offer some of these rarities for the public to hear!)
Capitol has just released a digital-only Complete Capitol Outtakes release last month celebrating Bobby's 80th. I helped with the Motown Release, with Second Disc and the Real Gone one that was also released last month and we ARE working on a new one with his unreleased final studio sessions. Sadly, the estate does nothing - a real shame. It is up to sites like ours to bring this material to the public so they can enjoy these long unheard rarities.
Capitol would like to do some promotion for the new digital release if you will do another week on Bobby, I can help get you access to these previously unheard and unreleased tracks!
Best,
Jeff
Wow! You've got a beautiful site ... I will definitely let people know about it.
Our Bobby Darin series was one of our most popular ... please post a link to it's permanent location ...
http://forgottenhits.com/the_bobby_darin_story so that your website visitors can enjoy it, too.
I don't know if I can do another full week on Bobby but I am certainly happy to help promote any and all new releases. (I'm listening to the brand new 2-CD Motown set in my car right now!) and will have to check out the Capitol outtakes, too. (Do you know ... has anybody EVER come across a recording of Bobby doing "Danke Schoen"??? For YEARS it's believed to exist ... in fact some say that Bobby's vocals were wiped off the track and then Wayne Newton just sang over Bobby's original backing ... but I can't believe it hasn't shown up by now.)
I'm currently working on a Bobby Rydell piece that'll most likely run sometime next week (he salutes Darin in his act, too, performing "Mack The Knife" and talking about Bobby's career) and Dennis Tufano is a close personal friend ... have you seen his Tribute To Bobby Darin show? I noticed you have links to his site on yours and he is listed as one of those actively keeping the Darin Legacy alive.
I would be happy to regularly link to your site as new rarities are featured ... we have a WHOLE lot of Bobby Darin fans our list ... so let's DEFINITELY stay in touch. Thanks, Jeff! (kk)
Hey Kent - thanks!
Bobby produced a LOT of Wayne Newton (not just "Danke Schoen") - but that was for Capitol. There MAY have been a guide vocal, if anything, but that would in the Capitol vaults. He did that set with The Wrecking Crew! He did many for Wayne (including writing some that he himself never recorded, like "Dream Baby" and "Shirl Girl" and "You Don't Know" - those were recorded in NY, not with the Wrecking Crew, but Bobby produced and wrote them - all between 1963 and 1965). I have 18 Wayne cuts he produced for Capitol.
Bobby did re-record Danke Schoen during his Atlantic time, but it went unreleased, but that was a completely different recording (with Richard Wess orchestrating) ... sadly it is one of the tapes that burned up in the Atlantic fire of '78.
Sadly, and most frustratingly, a safety copy is LIKELY to exist in the estate's storage in LA ... but unfortunately Jimmy Scalia, the curator of this material, is letting them rot - the tapes have never been transferred to even see what is on them! FRUSTRATING!
The tracks you referred to in your article, "Weeping Willow" and "Manhattan in My Heart" were transferred before Jimmy became involved with the estate.
I'm a movie / music guy - I produce songs for Sony / ATV - songs they own (like The Beatles) where the masters are too expensive to license for film or TV, so I produce the remake. I make up band names for each song, bring the right crew together, produce it, and then it's on the air!
Here's one of my favorites I did... "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" - Allan Sherman - his son LOVED my version. I messed with Bach and turned the "taaaaaake meeee home, oh muddah fadduh" part from a minor to a major chord. Messing with Bach! Blasphemy! They wanted a power pop version and I love what we did. It is NOT my most popular one ... actually least popular but my personal favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-b-dQsf4k
By the way, I LOVE Dennis Tufano - The Buckinghams!! I have not seen him live, sadly ... he has not come to Austin I don't think - I've only lived here for a year thus far.
Peter Noone came to town in April so we got to see him - great fun, great show! Saw him as a kid on Long Island too - he still looks the same!!
Talk soon,
Jeff
Pink received some high praise from Grace Slick in regards to her new recording of the Jefferson Airplane classic "White Rabbit" for the new Johnny Depp / Alice In Wonderland "Alice Through The Looking Glass" movie ...
Grace Slick offered positive feedback on Pink's cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." Pink's version of the 1967 psych-rock classic appears in the Disney film Alice Through the Looking Glass, out now. "It's good. Pink has the vocal power, which is all I care about," Slick told the Wall Street Journal. "Over the years, I've heard a lot of versions of the song where singers don't have the attitude or vocal force you need on it. Pink knows how to sing."
Slick described Pink's vocal talents, calling her approach to the cover a "straight attack" of the song. "Pink sings with power, but it's something more. You sense that if she wanted to, she could open the throttle even more at any time. That coiled energy creates drama and catches the ear."
"White Rabbit" has been covered by an array of artists in its nearly 50-year history. Everyone from the Damned to Sleater-Kinney to My Morning Jacket and Patti Smith have taken a crack at the hypnotic, surreal interpretation of Lewis Carroll's novels and their influence on drug use in children.
Slick also revealed that she won't be seeing the film for some time, though it's due to a foot condition as opposed to a desire to not see the feature. "[I] can't go to movies or out for longer than about eight minutes," she said. "I also don't have a screening room, a computer or a cellphone. I'm not quite as 'L.A. rock star' as you might think."
Chicago's City Winery just announced that, due to popular demand, they've added a second CeeLo Green show. Seriously?!?! What's the attraction? Are CeeLo and Bill Cosby tending bar that night??? (kk)
Are Adam West and Burt Ward teaming up again as The Dynamic Duo, The Caped Crusaders, Batman and Robin for the 50th Anniversary of the TV Series? Could be ... check out this posting on the Me-TV Website:
http://metv.com/stories/adam-west-and-burt-ward-will-team-up-again-as-batman-and-robin
Hi Kent,
I particularly loved your June 3rd edition -
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