peggy lee - do i love you?

cole porter tune written in 1939, and recorded by peggy lee sometime after !

roger simard - p.s. special (1977)

jesse green - easy (1976)

claude denjean - wave (1976)

the impossibles - easy to be hard (1975)

nice!!

tortilla factory - shamtime (1978)

unreserved praise for this track!!

alessandro alessandroni & nora orlandi - caressing

happy halloween >:)

murad kazhlaev - hа причале (слоу бит)

!!

irma thomas - think again (1964)

betty harris - there's a break in the road (1969)

PHENOMENAL!

...it was produced by Allen Toussaint & Marshall Sehorn, but the backing band is The Meters, who Aaron Neville was a part off. They were the backing band for a lot of acts from New Orleans in the late 60s / early 70s such as Lee Dorsey, Aaron Neville, Betty Wright, Dr John...

margie mills & the executives - "knock on any door" (1963)

Originally released on the microscopic Pick Hit label. Writer/producers Joe Hooven & Hal Winn would later form Double Shot records and strike gold with The Count Five & Brenton Wood.

the theme of the day is '60s pop songs with something a little... off about them! the call-and-response (creating a "knock" effect), the loopy flute, and the slightly off-key organ catapult this tiny single into my heart.

del shannon - keep searchin

dunno if this is true or complete urban legend / wiki wankery, but i was just reading about terrence malick's "badlands," which led me to the story that inspired the movie, the starkweather-fugate murder spree of 1958... and when i was looking at the pop culture bits inspired by *that* story (and there are many of them!), i saw this:

The Del Shannon song "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" was a fictional love-letter written from Charles Starkeather and is based on testimony from his trial.

which made me go "whoa," because, compared to the other things inspired by a murder spree: yeah, i'd expect a bruce springsteen song, some assorted metal songs, but a del shannon song?!

which brought me back around to his original hit, "runaway":

which isn't quite as straight and narrow a tune as i remembered!

both of these tracks have the usual '60s pop stuff going on, but with a touch of something else that distinguishes them. "runaway" is distinctly 1961, with one foot in the bubbly sock hop numbers of the 1950s and the other foot toeing the line of garage psych rock flourishes. "keep searchin" sounds more like 1964 -- more "hello, we're in the midst of the '60s" -- but with some wailing in the pre- and post- chorus bits (especially in the outro)... which brings to mind a wide nebraskan field of dirt, with a single highway stretching through its middle, and a man trekking for miles.

which brings me back to malick's "badlands"!

peggy lee - ac-cent-uate the positive (1952)

june christy - it's a most unusual day (1957)

carly simon - we have no secrets (1972)

the four tops - (it's the way) nature planned it (1972)

fox - s-s-single bed (1976)

pete wingfield - 18 with a bullet (1975)

this is one of those rolas that you hear around the neighborhood sometimes. when you listen to it here, it's remarkable how clean the vocals are! it has that production quality that sounds ahead of its time, but with a style that harkens back to the early '60s. and of course, the way he delivers the title phrase -- "18...withabullit" -- is entrancing!

tony sandler and ralph young - if you go away (ne me quitte pas)

my father-in-law showed me this song and was very excited about it -- it's one of his favorites. "brilliant!" he said. "just listen to that -- one man sings a phrase, and the next follows!"

the street cleaners - that's cool, that's trash

cover of a song by the kingsmen; they're both snotty teen party anthems, but this one feels a little more snotty. i dig it B)

stan borys - w twoje oczy zapatrzony (1970)

my polish father-in-law adores stan borys. he's always playing his music from the 80s and 90s, but i quite like this earlier one!

diana ross & the supremes - what becomes of the broken-hearted? (1966)

originally recorded by jimmy ruffin -- i quite like their spin on it! diana is so tender in this rendition :)

vic mensa - down on my luck (2014)

i recommended this song for the singles jukebox but didn't get a chance to review it. probably for the best -- all i have to say about it really is "good tune!"

brothers of washington d.c. - quiet place (1976)

chic - i want your love

two things to consider:

the original:


the todd terje remix:

pilooski edit of del shannon's "gemini"

les demerle - a day in the life (1968)

michel fugain - les gentils & les méchants (1973)

!!!

the hollies - on a carousel (1967)

featured on a mad men episode a couple of weeks ago

ibrahim ferrer - bruca manigua

when i was a teenager, music wasn't as infinitely available as it is to teenagers in 2014. the music that i did have in my possession was hard to track down and paid for dutifully. those songs were special and well-worn; little hidden treasures.

this song was one of them. i just heard it again on a local radio station, and the strings and shuffling beat put me in a trance...back to my old bedroom, lying on the thin nubby carpet, imagining myself in other countries, other worlds, other lives.

cécile mclorin salvant - i didn't know what time it was (2013)

she was born in 1989! but her voice sounds so timeless!

i heard this song twice last week when i turned on the radio, so it seemed like a good omen

erroll garner - they can't take that away from me (1955)

joined by eddie calhoun on double bass and denzil best on drums

los tecolines - cariño

this is the kind of ballad that makes me swoon -- harmonies like honey, chords stacked neatly like pancakes, and a term of endearment sung with the timbre of a mother's lullaby

los hermanos martínez gil - chacha linda

chris farlowe - out of time

despite myself and everything i believe, i tend to enjoy these 60s pop songs laced with thinly veiled threats

flim - plural (2008)

from the 2008 album "given you nothing" -- heard this on a college radio station

france joli - gonna get over you

music videos

today i had a great discussion about early music videos and home videos !

you can see some of the interesting clips i've posted here, but i know i have some other interested visuals scattered throughout this blog :)

frank pleyer big band - sally

sandi & matues - the world pt 1

tom jones - if he should ever leave you

a song that i liked from a few years back...old man tom jones still has it!

the backing track sounds like a sample of a band instead of an actual band, and it may very well be...

stan kenton - maria

the rich brass sound is due to stan kenton's affinity for mellophoniums :)

the internet ft. yuna - sunset (2013)

elastic bond - pierdo el control

carla morrison - eres tu (2012)

una preciosa canción, verdad