Chad & Jeremy- More Chad & Jeremy

Last post of the week on the last day of the fiscal month means mot a whole lot of work on this one.  $5 this did cost.  I got it for the version of Ewen McColl’s classic “Dirty Old Town”.

Just not in the mood to do much exposition on UK British Invasion Stars Chad & Jeremy, who I believe were more famous in the US then in their homeland.  That is my working theory anyway.  Also I like the clip from Batman below as it is so the opposite of Jimmy Page with the double necked SG.

I am not sure what this is other than a Capitol release from 1966.  The material on is seems to come from earlier records.  Pretty good.  Scratch that.  Pretty damn good cross mix of songs .  The duo also do a great job of taking this diverse group of works and applying their smooth, cosmopolitan sound to each, making them their own.

For a sample, I was really stuck as I picked out about half the album as potential tunes.  Songs like “The Girl From Ipanema”, “Four Strong Winds”, and “It Was  A Very Good Year” are frequent guests to this blog.  There were also other songs such as “Donna, Donna” that I felt were good.  However, I went with “The Truth Often Hurts The Heart”.  Also since I wrote about it in the first paragraph, here is “Dirty Old Town”.

Satisfactory.

OST (Herman’s Hermits)- Hold On!

This was one dollar.  Or possibly 80 cents.  I think I got it on sale. I definitely remember that I got a spat of Herman’s Hermits’ records at the time. This comes around the same time that 24 Hour Party People has been playing on the TV.  Of course the Madchester scene in the movie was different from the Manchester of the Hermits but at some level, there is a correlation between the types of music emanating from the city north of London.

I have been to Manchester, once, for a day.  I went to see the Pogues.  I stayed in a pub-hotel, the Mitre, which was affordable yet pretty low on amenities.  The cab driver on the way to the hotel kept asking why I would stay at the Mitre.  Kept laboring the point.  Said I could have got a better deal at a newer hotel (for the record, I had a lovely stay at the Mitre).  Also for the record, I think the renovated  since then as this story took place in 2004.

So for 15 mins, the cab driver just kept berating me for staying at the hotel.  Other than walking around the city and checking out the Christmas market, I saw the Pogues play at what was at the time, the Manchester Evening News Arena, the now Manchester Arena and site of recent suicide bombing.  Can not remember which pubs I went to which is a shame, but it was up and early in the morning to take the train to London.

Well enough rambling about the city.  This was the soundtrack to the second Herman’s Hermits’ movie, Hold On! .  Released in 1966 and featuring a plot that centered around NASA, the movie was set (and filmed I believe) mostly in the US, featuring clips from recent American performances.  Greatly influenced by Help!, the film got mixed reviews but has received more acceptance over time.

The US record features 10 songs including one with actress Shelley Fabares, Donna Reed’s TV daughter,  on lead vocals.  Decent stuff.  Kind of falls in line with the rest of Herman’s catalog. The other albums I bought at the time from the group were better, but this is not bad.

For a sample, I went with “A Must To Avoid” which was released as a single that went to the UK top ten.  I also included the B side, a re-recording of an earlier hit for the group, George Formby’s “Leaning On  A Lamppost”.  If you have been reading this blog, you may recognize this song as I posted it some months earlier from a camp album.

Anyway, decent enough record.  Satisfactory.

 

 

Herman’s Hermits- Both Sides of Herman’s Hermits

dscn5357This was 80 cents.  I seem to have bought three Herman’s Hermits records on the day I bought this.  Not sure why.  Probably because they were cheap.  I think the thing that sealed this deal was the Frank Frazetta artwork on the back, depicting a Hermit’s concert with such people in attendance as the Beatles, LBJ, Castro, Nicky Khrushchev, and Mao among others. foto-herman-4

This was the band’s third or fifth album, depending on which side of the Atlantic you were on.  When this came out, record labels still had the annoying habit of releasing different albums and track listings for the US and UK.  Not to get off point, but the urban legend for the longest time was that the Beatles put out their “Butcher”Cover in response to their records being butchered.  However, according to the article below, this was not the case.  None the less, they too were not pleased with the format of releases.  It would not be until 1967 and Sargent Pepper’s that this practice would stop or at least slow down.the_beatles_yesterday_today_butcher_cover_photo

Link to story of Beatles cover

Anyway, the album on today’s post was released in the US.  It came out in 1966 and went to #48 in the charts.  It is a pretty decent album of short pop tunes.  I always thought the band was a bit hokey but the more albums I listen to, the more I get away from this opinion. Highlights include “This Day Swings Both Ways”, “For Love”. a cover of the Hollies’ “Bus Stop”, the French “L’Autre Jour”, and the surprise rocker “My Reservation’s Been Confirmed”.dscn5358

For a sample, I went with my two favorite songs from this album, the pop flavored “Dial My Number”, and the barroom piano styled “Two Lovely Black Eyes”. It’s what the English call cheeky.6092929

Pretty decent album.  Satisfactory.

Herman’s Hermits- There’s A Kind Of Hush All Over The World

dscn5292-800x775This was 80 cents.  For that price, it had enough songs that I knew that made it a good buy.  Also, I was attracted to the track which I am using as a sample.p01bqsqr

This was Manchester’s own Herman’s Hermits’ fifth album, released in 1967.  One cool thing about this is that the same album was released in both the US and the UK.  Record companies seemed to do this more often after 1967.  Anyway, the title track was a huge hut for the band.  It would also be their last #1 single in the US.  The album would reach #11 in the States.  At the time, the band was thought of as more of a single’s band.  This album, at least according to Allmusic.com, changed that.

The album is pretty good. It is a good collection of songs.  I really liked “No Milk Today”, “Dandy” (not related to the Kink’s version), “Gaslight Street”, and “Saturday’s Child” ( done previously by the Monkees).dscn5293-800x786

But the big delight is the band’s version of the torch standard “Jezebel” complete with a bass line that borrows from “The Peter Gunn Theme”.  It does not sound within the bands comfort zone and thus really steals the show.kingswaystudios_201265

Satisfactory Record.

George Martin- Scores Instrumental Versions of the Hits

DSCN2491This was either $5 at the Infinite Record show in August or $1 for Sig’s Lagoon.  I can’t remember anymore.  I have implemented a labeling system for the future but for now, my money is on the record show.  georgtop

Either way, this is an excellent album from 1965 of producer George Martin showing off his arrangement chops on the top songs at the time.  About two months ago I posted an album my Bert Kaempfert who had signed the Beatles to his label only to have management pass.  Would they have a different sound if Kaempfert was behind the controls as opposed to Martin?  Yes but I will write about that later as I am running low on time with this post.DSCN2492

As normal with a good album, I was conflicted on what two songs to post.  However, as I believe this album is out of print, I decided to go with four.  First off is Martin’s excellent take on his meal ticket’s “I Feel Fine”  which goes into a Tchaikovsky interlude that is awesome.  From there, there is Phil Spector’s “PS I Love You” which I included because I felt it was very representative of Martin’s sound with strings.  There are familiar passages in the instrumental tracks he arranged for Yellow Submarine.  From there, I went with a swinging horn version of “Time is On My Side”.  Finally, because I like the song, there is “All Quiet on the Mersey Front”  which Martin originally scored for Gerry and The Pacemakers.George-Martin-EMI

Whew.  That is all for tonight and this week.  Top Rated record indeed.  Enjoy the Weekend.

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