Your favorite singers from the '60's

Nuuska

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Kinda surprised nobody's mentioned a couple of guys who were very highly regarded at the time, Simon & Garfunkel.

All this '60's stuff got me thinkin' about the instrumentals of the '60's.....look for new thread.
:friendly_wink:


HEY HEY HEY !!!!

Hold your horses !

Post # 25

READ !!!

Peace & Love
 

adorshki

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HEY HEY HEY !!!!
Hold your horses !
Post # 25
READ !!!
Peace & Love

OOPS Ya got me!!! (insert embarrassment emoticon here)
I did read it and forgot the reference even though I remembered your comment about leaving out your national favorites who didn't achieve international success.
But Rick didn't say they HAD to be American:
"Black is Black" (I actually didn't know Los Lobos weren't American until a couple of years ago)
And for really obscure (in America), Vangelis ("Chariots of Fire" theme) was in a Greek band, Aphrodite's Child, that featured a singer named Demis Roussos whose husky voice I always loved, especially in a couple of psychedelic rockers like this one:



Demis actually became an underground cultural icon in Europe with a long and colorful career.
 
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Small world mode on, I took guitar lessons from Jay in 1967 in Granada Hills. He wasn't much of a teacher because I ain't much of a player. At least that's my story.

My room mate in 81 who the booker at The Whiskey au Go Go had a New Wave band called Candy Apple and Randy California played in it, he used to hang around our house in Santa Monica. Also in those days crazy Dennis Wilson used to hang out.
 
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Nuuska

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OOPS Ya got me!!! (insert embarrassment emoticon here)
I did read it and forgot the reference even though I remembered your comment about leaving out your national favorites who didn't achieve international success.
But Rick didn't say they HAD to be American:


Howdy

Accepted

No - I was not thinking they had to be american - I had Ofarim - Donovan - Gilberto - Mathieu - but none of the finns that I liked those days are known outside Finland.

But music scene in sixties and even seventies was so much more interesting - in my opinion - than today. I believe that almost everybody who was in music business had their ambitions and made exactly the kind of music they loved - hoping it would succeed. That is why even so many "one hit wonders" are kind of interesting - they did it with full heart ( hope my clumsy english expressions carry through ) . Those days in Finland we had about one hour per week in radio dedicated for young peoples music - we had all mixed together ; tango, waltz, pop, rock, "humppa", choir-music - you name it. As curiosity - there was a men choir called Aikamiehet who had this song "Iltatuulen viesti" staying on top three of the list for 90 weeks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhTxdAOD-k - and you can imagine how some of us felt when Beatles, Rolling stones, The Who etc tried to beat them - mostly in vain. Now there is nothing wrong with the song itself - but when you are 16 and leaning to more modern sounds - that is really not your exact favorite . . .

Today - music scene seems that FIRST they look hard where to focus "to make it" - then they study how it is done it that particular genre - then tey turn out "a product" that is as sterile and interesting as a sheet of wrapping plastic. And the radio - back then we had two channels - one had speech - the other had some music, mostly old folks music. Today we have countless radiochannels - and most of them are what we call "format radio" - at worst they have a list of 30 songs that they play over and over and some bimbo seaks nonsense in between. Few channels are semidecent - but luckily we have the ON/OFF-switch and our records and youtube and spotify etc - - -

I work as roadie and last 15 years as mixing engineer for finnish group Kaseva - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kaseva - before that I worked at most almost 250 gigs per year with finnish bands and also many american groups, that made tours here - Satan & Adam - Chain of Blues - to mention a few - I went to Helsinki airport with all gear to pick them up - they had their guitars, I provided rest, we toured a month doing 20-25 nights and I drove them back to airport.

Those hectic years are over - now I have some 20.30 gigs per year . . .
 

idealassets

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Folks,
What an interesting thread. There were various sub-era's to the 1960's. The psychedelic period was birthed perhaps in 1966 with Buffalo Springfield and so many others.

In my opinion what is representative of the sound of the 60's in pop music with emphasis on the topic of "vocalist" would be Glen Campbell and Dusty Springfield. I admired them but there were many that I personally liked a lot more.

My favorite pick at the time of the culmination of the 60's was Jim Morrison and Grace Slick, although their category was Rock Groups more than vocal pop artists. Then I can't forget Gene Clark/ Roger McGuinn & Judy Collins.
 

adorshki

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Folks,
What an interesting thread. There were various sub-era's to the 1960's. The psychedelic period was birthed perhaps in 1966 with Buffalo Springfield and so many others.
Craig I know I'm always pickin' on ya but you always seem to appreciate the feedback. :friendly_wink:
Wee bit earlier than Buffalo Springfield, from here :
The Charlatans were the first truly psychedelic band that actually played while on acid. They were directly inspired by the Mystery Trend. The Charlatans started their career in 1964 at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City near Reno in the high Sierras, drawing audiences from their friends in the Haight-Ashbury (notably the original Family Dog commune, and Kesey’s Merry Pranksters). Later that summer they moved back to S.F. and started playing at the Matrix and other newly opened venues, including the Fillmore.

The Dead are mentioned in there too. It should be remembered that they were playing Kesey's parties in La Honda in '65, although granted at the time they hadn't really gone full-blown "psychedelic" with fuzz-tones and echo yet, just played long extended jams on folk and blues type tunes under Pigpen's dominance as the most experienced performer in the band.
They were also the house band for the actual "Acid Tests" that started in '65, and of which there were no less than 6 in LA between February and March of '66, just before Springfield was formed in April.
And up in San Francisco the Great Society featuring Grace Slick had already cut pre-Airplane versions of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" and had performed 6+ minute versions "Love" and "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" in '66.
Although the "style" popped up in several places within a few months in late '65-'66, I might actually put the birth of true "psychedelic music" at the party that John, George and Ringo attended in LA in late '65 in LA where McGuinn and Peter Fonda were present and in which Peter's story about almost dying inspired John to write "She Said She Said"; which appeared on Revolver.
I think given the Beatles massive influence at the time, a case could be made for Revolver actually being the first true psychedelic album for "Tomorrow Never Knows" and George's "Love You To" inspiring the "spiritual insight quest" and "raga rock" motifs that became a virtual musical cliche for a couple of years.
I'd also make a case for Big Brother and the Holding Company's first single "All Is Loneliness", (released in '66) a tune composed by a character known as Moondog who was a fairly well-known character on the streets of New York in the early '60's.
It's characterized by that typical fuzz-tone droning guitar tone and a bass drone that actually is the only record (a 45) that makes my turntable get rumble feedback if I play it too loud.( :biggrin-new: )
To give the right coast their due, Psychedelic Lollipop by the Blues Magoos and featuring the unforgettable bass hook and swirling echo'd lead of "We Ain't Got Nuthin' Yet" by was released in November of '66, a month before the recording date of "For What it's Worth". To be fair that one's more of abridge between garage rock and psychedelic, but I see garage rock as being the REAL seminal form of psychedelic music.
A case could also be made for the Byrds' 1965 "Mr. Tambourine Man" for lyric content and the 12-string "jingle-jangle" that also became a musical cliche and an early element of the "psychedelic sound".
A case for the first "raga rock" tune could be made for the Yardbirds' "Heart Full Of Soul" in '65, featuring Beck's sitar-styled leads.
Later on "psychedelic" also came to mean the type of Sergeant Pepper[/I-inspired type of fully-orchestrated sound collages that the Buffalo Springfield did do very well on the classic "Broken Arrow".
But I think they started as a folk-rock band like the Byrds that added psychedelia to their repertoire starting with "For What It's Worth".
Heck even the Monkees were slightly out of the closet with "Take a Giant Step", a year before "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (remember the finale on that one)
I'd make a case for for the real southern Cal psychedelic band being the Doors who after all took their name from Aldous Huxley's psychedelic classic "The Doors of Perception" and were playing the Whiskey in '66 just before "Break On Through" was released.

In my opinion what is representative of the sound of the 60's in pop music with emphasis on the topic of "vocalist" would be Glen Campbell and Dusty Springfield.
And Glen Campbell was part of "the Wrecking Crew"...which leads me to suspect the "psychedelic fad" must have had an influence on at least some of those studio musicians feeding the insatiable demand of the recording industry, which was centered in LA at the time.
Even SF based bands like the Airplane were resident there in '66 recording Surrealistic Pillowand later, "Baxter's" ,and the Dead recorded their first album there in early '67.
 

idealassets

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I would like to state a colossal flop during the psychedelic era. When the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released the Rolling Stones released the kaleidoscope cover "Her Satanic Majesty's Request". I recall that at any party Sgt. Peppers was always played, but never the counterpart album by the Stones. At every dance 3 or 4 of the Beatles songs off Sgt. Pepper were played on the juke box, but 0 from the Stones album.

Another interesting item is that somewhere lately I saw the recently released 1964 Ken Kesey acid trip film from California to New York City and back. Now that was crazy, especially when in 1964 1/2 the male populace still had crew cuts. Additionally the Merry Pranksters film showed how startled Timothy Leary was- so much so in 1964 that he evicted them off his property and locked the security gate after the Pranksters left.

Thus I am still quite fond of the good vocal quality of many songs in the 60's. although I personally had a very full diet of all psychedelia in the 60's culminating with the film Easy Rider. There was a similar movie at the same time Easy Rider was released- Zabrisky Point.
 
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adorshki

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I would like to state a colossal flop during the psychedelic era. When the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released the Rolling Stones released the kaleidoscope cover "Her Satanic Majesty's Request. I recall that at any party Sgt. Peppers was always played, but never the counterpart album by the Stones. At every dance 3 or 4 of the Beatles songs off Sgt. Pepper were played on the juke box, but 0 from the Stones album.
Yeah, the only real hit from it was "She's a Rainbow" which is on my favorite Stones tunes list.
The other one that haunts my memory is "2000 Light Years From Home".
But it is one of those I sold in the late '70's in order to buy that exotic european stuff.
Another interesting item is that somewhere lately I saw the recently released 1964 Ken Kesey acid trip film from California to New York City and back. Now that was crazy, especially when in 1964 1/2 the male populace still had crew cuts. Additionally the Merry Pranksters film showed how startled Timothy Leary was- so much so in 1964 that he evicted them off his property and locked the security gate after the Pranksters left.
Yes, Tom Wolfe addressed that in The Electric Koolaid Acid Test.
Leary felt the Pranksters were gonna give psychedelics a bad name. He was all about set and setting and intellectual exploration.
Kesey was all about "the experience", anytime, anywhere, and (gasp!) having fun with it..:glee:
My main takeaway from the book when I read it as a youth was that Kesey himself said something like "How many times are you gonna go through the same old door?" when he came up with the idea of an Acid Test graduation in '67.
Never forgot that.
Thus I am still quite fond of the good vocal quality of many songs in the 60's. although I personally had a very full diet of all psychedelia in the 60's culminating with the film Easy Rider. There was a similar movie at the same time Easy Rider was released- Zabrisky Point.
I myself am a fan of the American International Pictures exploitation flicks:
I have "The Trip", one of Roger Corman's early efforts, and "Psychout" featuring Jack Nicholson doing a credible pass as a psychedelic rock musician, complete with period-correct club performance scenes and some surprisingly decent music, too.
Another great one is "Riot on Sunset Strip" which is loosely about the circumstances leading up to the event memorialized in "For What It's Worth" and features an uncredited outtake version of "East/West" (another seminal and influential psychedelic tune) which sounds for all the world like Traffic in their Shootout At The Fantasy Factory period, just after Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys.
If you like '60's Dragnet , like the "Blue Boy" episode, you'll love "Riot".
Glorious ultimate cheese. (hey I oughta name my band that)
 

adorshki

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Other's Blue Cheer "Summer Time Blues" and Coltrane's "Love Supreme"

My best buddy/jamming buddy turned me on to Coltrane with Supreme which is how I discovered McCoy Tyner.
And Elvin Jones too, for that matter.
A few years later I was stunned to hear him actually making a piano drone on an episode of Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual that was released on video cassette.
Cue up "Alabama" at 9:26, here:

A Love Supreme should be required listening in any course in modern American music.
Blue Cheer: I still have Outside/Inside on vinyl. I think it's one of those definitive "San Francisco psychedelic sound" albums, right down to the inside cover:
68bcfee45118d34c0ecad583d826af23--blue-cheer-cd-cover.jpg

For a while there they had the rep of being the world's loudest band, until Hendrix got his 100-watt Marshall stacks.
 
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McCoy Tyner is a good friend of mine and when I lived in L.A. I drove him to every show between 2000 to 2005,
Ray Manzarek was my best friend, Coltrane , Brubeck and Davis was his favorite and in his record collection was only jazz . Robbie loved Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band and was friends with John Sebastion.John loved Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf and Jim: Frank Sinarta, Wolf,Willie Dickson and Muddy Waters.

McCoy never listened to The Doors and never even heard The Beatles Yesterday until I played in my car for him.
 

walrus

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Just to join the veer: "Flashbacks", Timothy Leary's autobiography, is an interesting read...

walrus
 

walrus

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McCoy Tyner is a good friend of mine and when I lived in L.A. I drove him to every show between 2000 to 2005,
Ray Manzarek was my best friend, Coltrane , Brubeck and Davis was his favorite and in his record collection was only jazz . Robbie loved Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band and was friends with John Sebastion.John loved Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf and Jim: Frank Sinarta, Wolf,Willie Dickson and Muddy Waters.

McCoy never listened to The Doors and never even heard The Beatles Yesterday until I played in my car for him.

No disrespect, but on an album I have called "Blue Note Plays the Beatles", McCoy is listed as playing piano on "Yesterday" in 1966 on a Lee Morgan track...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xqwSCMF23o

walrus
 

kostask

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I would like to state a colossal flop during the psychedelic era. When the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released the Rolling Stones released the kaleidoscope cover "Her Satanic Majesty's Request. I recall that at any party Sgt. Peppers was always played, but never the counterpart album by the Stones. At every dance 3 or 4 of the Beatles songs off Sgt. Pepper were played on the juke box, but 0 from the Stones album.

Another interesting item is that somewhere lately I saw the recently released 1964 Ken Kesey acid trip film from California to New York City and back. Now that was crazy, especially when in 1964 1/2 the male populace still had crew cuts. Additionally the Merry Pranksters film showed how startled Timothy Leary was- so much so in 1964 that he evicted them off his property and locked the security gate after the Pranksters left.

Thus I am still quite fond of the good vocal quality of many songs in the 60's. although I personally had a very full diet of all psychedelia in the 60's culminating with the film Easy Rider. There was a similar movie at the same time Easy Rider was released- Zabrisky Point.

Some, or all, of the soundtrack for Zabrisky Point was from Pink Floyd, in its earlier incarnation. They later also did a soundtrack for the movie called "More".
 
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