Your personal British Invasion top-ten countdown

[walrus]

The Moody Blues in their first iteration as a Beat band, with Denny Lane, didn't make much of an ipact in North America. One single made it to number 10 in the US charts. I do not recall ever hearing it in Canada. Nobody I knew had any of their records.

And for a while they floundered on the margins of the popular music charts.

Their line up changed in 1966.

Their slow fuse rocket ship, Days of Future Past, released in 1967, took off in the US almost five years later , perhaps the first (soft) Prog Rock album ever.

The first iteration



According to the Beatles (peripheral) documentary, Good Ol' Freda, The Moody Blues played in Liverpool. The Beatles almost fired Freda as their secretary because she spent too much time hanging around with The Moody Blues.

Good Ol' Freda!

Can you imagine the Beatles having "a secretary"? And of course they had a "road manager". Literally, their whole career together there were maybe 5 to 10 people at most managing their affairs, and maybe 2 or 3 people managing and setting up equipment for each show on their tours!

Today, a band with one hit would have hundreds of people working for them! At least!

walrus

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The Moody Blues in their first iteration as a Beat band, with Denny Lane, didn't make much of an ipact in North America. One single made it to number 10 in the US charts. I do not recall ever hearing it in Canada. Nobody I knew had any of their records.

And for a while they floundered on the margins of the popular music charts.

Their line up changed in 1966.

Their slow fuse rocket ship, Days of Future Past, released in 1967, took off in the US almost five years later , perhaps the first (soft) Prog Rock album ever.

The first iteration



According to the Beatles (peripheral) documentary, Good Ol' Freda, The Moody Blues played in Liverpool. The Beatles almost fired Freda as their secretary because she spent too much time hanging around with The Moody Blues.

Good 'Ol Freda looks like fun. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Glad someone mentioned them. I didn't even know they were Brits!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The Swinging Bluejeans, another Merseybeat group.

I never had any of their records but some of my friends did. I liked them a lot at the time, so I don't know why I didn't buy their stuff. They came out of the gate hot but then sort of fizzled.

Well THAT was fun!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Good Ol' Freda!

Can you imagine the Beatles having "a secretary"? And of course they had a "road manager". . . .

With the stress on a, right?

Then, recording and producing a song that would become a hit took a few thousand dollars. Now it takes hundreds of thousands. Lots more acts competing these days, and lots more hands full o' gimme.

 

[walrus]

The only thing I might say is the sheer size and popularity of "The Beatles" as an entity defies all comparison. In the Washington DC concert on their first US tour in 1964, "in the round", they move their equipment around themselves during the show. Just one example of what I'm talking about. Relying on local law enforcement, no security of their own. And so on. No one had a clue how to deal with this beast. They literally were writing the book on how to tour as they toured.

So yes, one secretary and one road manager defies all reason!

Of course, to your point, they absolutely lost millions of dollars on bad deals Brain Epstein signed. They saw very little if anything from Beatles memorabilia sales during Beatlemania.

As George Harrison once said, “The people gave their money and they gave their screams, but the Beatles gave their nervous systems, which is a much more difficult thing to give.”

George was only 20 at this show. Total chaos just getting on stage, never mind moving equipment between songs! They turn everything at 18:50.

BTW, THIS is the British Invasion!



walrus

 

[Rocky]

The only thing I might say is the sheer size and popularity of "The Beatles" as an entity defies all comparison. In the Washington DC concert on their first US tour in 1964, "in the round", they move their equipment around themselves during the show. Just one example of what I'm talking about. Relying on local law enforcement, no security of their own. And so on. No one had a clue how to deal with this beast. They literally were writing the book on how to tour as they toured.

I remember as a kid one of the local music store proprietors mocking some national touring act for having a guy on the side of the stage tuning his instruments , implying that the artist was incapable of tuning it himself.

I just kind of looked at him and said, "I'd rather have him playing music 100% of the time rather than listening to him tune."

 

[Nuuska]

No one can top a line like "Doo-wah diddy diddy-dum diddy-doo."

"Oblah dee, oblah dah" and "Goo-goo ga-joob" come close, but that only counts in horseshoes. Which this ain't.

Yup - much better than the one in Tutti Frutti

 

[Canard]

I remember as a kid one of the local music store proprietors mocking some national touring act for having a guy on the side of the stage tuning his instruments , implying that the artist was incapable of tuning it himself.

I just kind of looked at him and said, "I'd rather have him playing music 100% of the time rather than listening to him tune."

Well there was the overworked stage patter joke used by so many bar bands: "We would now like to play the ancient Chinese folk song, Tu Ning." I seem to remember that the melody had a lot of 4ths.

 

[Canard]

I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned the Ron Howard film, Eight Days a Week.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

The Moody Blues in their first iteration as a Beat band, with Denny Lane, didn't make much of an impact in North America. One single made it to number 10 in the US charts. I do not recall ever hearing it in Canada. Nobody I knew had any of their records.

And for a while they floundered on the margins of the popular music charts.

Their line up changed in 1966.

Their slow fuse rocket ship, Days of Future Past, released in 1967, took off in the US almost five years later , perhaps the first (soft) Prog Rock album ever.

The first iteration



According to the Beatles (peripheral) documentary, Good Ol' Freda, The Moody Blues played in Liverpool. The Beatles almost fired Freda as their secretary because she spent too much time hanging around with The Moody Blues.

Denny Laine had a very successful post Moody Blues career in Wings, alongside Paul and Linda McCartney

 

[Prince of Darkness]

I've seen their singer Paul Jones and guitarist Tom McGuinness many times with The Blues Band and also seen Paul perform as a duo with the other Blues Band guitarist, Dave Kelly. Always put on an amazing show!

Manfred Mann tribute band The Manfreds includes original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones, Tom McGuinness and Mike Hugg, but no Manfred Mann! Never seen them, but I've heard they're good!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . BTW, THIS is the British Invasion!



walrus

Woo-hoo!

No pedals. No reverb. No wireless. No guitar racks. Just . . . Beatles!

 

[johnreardon]

We supported Manfred Mann in Sep 1965. We were playing Smokestack Lighting and our singer gave me a nudge, Paul Jones was on the side of the stage clicking his fingers. We knew they did Smokestack, but so did we so tough.

When they came on, Paul jumped on top of a grand piano on the side of the stage & put his right hand behind his ear. The crowd went silent, not knowing what was going on. He then said, it’s ok girls, I just wanted to make sure you all had a good look

 

[Canard]

I have read that Jack Bruce left John Mayall and joined Manfred Mann because he had just gotten married for the first time and wanted the money of commercial success. I have also read that he was rather lax about rehearsing with the band - mostly just showing up for gigs and recording sessions - this was apparently tolerated because he was the only one who never made any mistakes. He did not stay long.

Manfred Mann - The Jack Bruce Sessions

While researching for the Cream "Like a Bearded Rainbow" set, this was put together so I could look at Bruce's short time with MM. At the...

and-your-bird-can-swing.blogspot.com

 

[Canard]

1968

 

[GGJaguar]

 

[Canard]

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

In the also-ran category. I dimmly remember seeing an album or 45 or two--never really popular among my friends.

 

[GGJaguar]

 

[Prince of Darkness]

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

In the also-ran category. I dimmly remember seeing an album or 45 or two--never really popular among my friends.

One of those bands that was very successful in Britain and in quite a few other countries, but didn't quite get the breakthrough in The States.
As a side note, Dave Dee was a former police officer and attended the scene of the road accident where Eddie Cochran was killed and Gene Vincent and Sharon Sheeley seriously injured.