Sixties Brit Invasion R&B Garage: The Nashville Teens - Tobacco Road 1964 - 1971 (2000 Repertoire Records) Flac & mp3@320

The Nashville Teens were one of a brace of British acts competing for attention in the booming days of the early British Invasion and its early purely English phenomenon, the British beat boom. They were distinguished from most of the others by scoring a memorable and serious hit, "Tobacco Road." This put them on the map internationally (even getting them into an American jukebox movie, Beach Ball, that also featured the Supremes) before they gradually faded away in popularity. The sextet first got together in Weybridge, Surrey, in 1962 with Art Sharp and Ray Phillips on vocals, John Hawken on piano, Pete Shannon on bass, Michael Dunford on guitar, and Roger Groom on drums. In those days, they played basic American rock & roll with perhaps a bit more abandon even then than their competition.

Dunford exited along with Groom in 1963 to be replaced by John Allen and Barry Jenkins, respectively, and a seventh member, vocalist Terry Crow, joined during the group's extended stay in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1963. (Crow and Dunford later co-founded the Plebs, who recorded for Deram Records, and Dunford subsequently became a key member of the second lineup of Renaissance). During their Hamburg engagement, the group got pegged to play as backup band to visiting American rock & roll superstar Jerry Lee Lewis, which resulted in the recording of one of the great live albums of the era, Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club; they later played gigs backing Bo Diddley, and it was at one of those shows that they were spotted by Mickie Most (then still a performer). After the band was signed to English Decca in 1964, Most became their producer for their debut single, "Tobacco Road," released in the summer of 1964, which charted high on both sides of the Atlantic.

A composition by North Carolina-born songwriter John D. Loudermilk -- who was also responsible for "Sittin' in the Balcony" (Eddie Cochran's first single), "Ebony Eyes" by the Everly Brothers, and "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" by George Hamilton IV -- "Tobacco Road" was itself inspired by Erskine Caldwell's 1932 novel, which had been transformed into a hit play and a less successful movie depicting dire rural poverty among white southerners. Somehow, the English band managed to sound convincing with their pounding performance, which featured both singers prominently, a bold boogie-woogie attack on the piano by Hawken, and Allen, Shannon, and Jenkins slashing and thumping away on their respective instruments. Their follow-up song, "Google Eye," also written by Loudermilk, reached number ten in England in the fall of 1964 but wasn't noticed too much in America.
The group's rock & roll credentials were as solid as that of any English band, as was demonstrated by the number of gigs that they played backing visiting American stars. What they lacked, however (apart from solid in-house songwriting talent), was one (or more) interesting personalities in their ranks that could be put before the public and a collective personality that could be defined, musically or any other way. Neither Sharp nor Phillips was as compelling or interesting a singer as, say, Denny Laine of their Decca Records rivals the Moody Blues, much less Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Eric Burdon, or Roger Daltrey. Additionally, they were musically flexible to a fault, literally, capable of playing boogie-style rock & roll in the best Jerry Lee Lewis style or slightly bluesier and more folk-influenced songs, and even dabbled in doo-wop, but they never had a sound, beyond the crunching attack on "Tobacco Road," that could be identified. In this regard, they were a lot like the Downliners Sect; they loved American rock & roll, but they couldn't do more than pound away at it, and they didn't even have the Sect's offbeat eccentricity to mark them in people's memories.

As early as 1965, more than sheer enthusiasm for the music was needed to attract listeners, and after a few minor Top 40 British entries, the Nashville Teens followed the route of acts like the Swingin' Blue Jeans and the original Moody Blues to smaller venues and less prestigious opening act spots, apart from the occasional chance to back people like Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins when they came to England. As late as 1966 and 1967, the Nashville Teens kept trying, and they came close musically to turning their fortunes around. They could do soulful rockers like "That's My Woman" and make it sound like the real article, almost as compelling as the Beatles doing "You Really Got a Hold on Me," or brisk, rousing upbeat numbers like "I'm Comin' Home" -- a piece of good-time music worthy of the Tremeloes -- but somehow they lacked that last bit of personality needed to punch through the competition and get the needed airplay to make their stuff into hits. By 1968, not even a hard, slashing cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" could get them noticed. And by that time, even their name was a liability, in terms of competing with the likes of the Rolling Stones, the Who, et al., whose images had changed vastly since 1965.

Barrie Jenkins exited the group in 1966 to become a member of Eric Burdon and the Animals, and his 1963 predecessor Roger Groom occupied the drummer's spot for the duration. John Hawken was part of the lineup of the original Renaissance, spun out of the psychedelic-oriented half of the Yardbirds' original membership, and later passed through the lineups of Vinegar Joe and the Strawbs. Ray Phillips kept the group going long enough into the 1970s that it was able to avail itself of the '60s nostalgia boom, appearing regularly in Europe and the U.K. Decca Records, which never really promoted the Nashville Teens (or, for that matter, any of their other rock acts, which is why they had none left apart from the Rolling Stones and the Moody Blues who handled their own affairs), issued a flawed and very poor sounding compilation LP in at the tail-end of the original group's existence, around 1970, that went out of print very quickly, and there was little else to mark their history for the next two decades apart from live shows by the current group. By the early '80s, however, they'd achieved a certain degree of respect among collectors of British invasion material, even in America where only "Tobacco Road" had ever made any impression. A version of the group was working British Invasion nostalgia shows well into the 1990s and one imagines that this will be the case as long as Ray Phillips can take the stage. And in the spring of 2000, Repertoire Records issued the definitive CD compilation of their classic work, in the best sound ever heard.

Play loud, have fun
                               Frank             Flac p1  & Flac p2        mp3@320

Sixties Pop by Gary Puckett - Super Hits 1967-1970 (2007 Sony) Flac & mp3

During the late '60s -- a period forever distinguished as rock's most radical, innovative, and far-reaching -- Gary Puckett and the Union Gap forged a series of massive chart ballads almost otherworldly in their sheer earnestness and melodrama. Likely the only pop band of the era to play two nightly shows in the Catskills -- the early gig for their younger fans, the later appearance for the fans' parents -- the group pioneered the hip-to-be-square concept two decades before spiritual descendants Huey Lewis and the News; clad in Civil War-era get-ups (complete with fictitious military ranks) and bizarrely pedophilic lyrics, Puckett and the Union Gap were in their own way as far-out and singular as any other act of the period.
Frontman Puckett was born October 17, 1942, in of all places Hibbing, MN, (where Bob Dylan went to high school). Raised primarily in Yakima, WA, he picked up the guitar as a teen, and while attending college in San Diego played in a number of local bands before quitting school to focus on music. Puckett eventually landed with the Outcasts, a hard rock group comprised of bassist Kerry Chater, keyboardist Gary "Mutha" Withem, tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement, and drummer Paul Wheatbread. Despite earning a strong local following, in 1966 Wheatbread relocated to Los Angeles to serve as the house drummer on the television series Where the Action Is; the remaining members of the Outcasts toured the Pacific Northwest, and on their return, Wheatbread also moved back to San Diego and rejoined the lineup. For reasons unknown, manager Dick Badger -- convinced his charges needed a strong visual hook -- then sent the group to Tijuana, where they were outfitted with Union Army-style Civil War uniforms.

A demo was soon cut in L.A., and Badger arranged a meeting with CBS producer Jerry Fuller. Though impressed by Puckett's soaring baritone, Fuller believed the band's gritty, R&B-influenced approach was all wrong, but agreed to check out their live show at the San Diego bowling alley the Quad Room. Believing Fuller was due to arrive on Saturday, the Outcasts opted to save their energy, delivering an atypically mellow set on Friday night. Fuller, who was in the crowd for both shows, signed the group contingent on their willingness to foster their latent soft rock leanings. Re-christened the Union Gap in honor of a suburb of Yakima, on August 16, 1967, the band recorded its first single, "Woman Woman." Suggesting a mellower Righteous Brothers sans producer Phil Spector's majestic firepower, the single reached the Top Ten late in 1967 and was a million-seller by February of 1968; concurrent CBS press releases gave each member his own imaginary military rank -- Puckett was the general, Bement the sergeant, Chater the corporal, and both Withem and Wheatbread were relegated to privates.

In the spring of 1968, the Union Gap scored their biggest hit, "Young Girl," written by Fuller in the style of "Woman, Woman," but exchanging the age-old theme of infidelity for the age-old theme of the temptation of underage romance: "My love for you is way out of line/you better run, girl, you're much too young, girl," an anguished Puckett wailed. The juggernaut rolled on, and the group continued rattling off hits -- "Lady Willpower," "Over You," and "Don't Give in to Him" among them -- and also headlined at the White House and Disneyland. But there was dissension in the ranks: the Union Gap wanted to write and produce their own material, and Puckett found himself increasingly confined within the CBS-mandated ballad formula. In 1969, stalemate: Fuller assembled a 40-piece studio orchestra for a new song he had written, but Puckett and the Union Gap refused to cut the tune. The session was ultimately canceled, and Fuller never again worked with the group. For the Union Gap, it was a pyrrhic victory.

The band immediately returned to the Top Ten that autumn with the Dick Glasser-produced "This Girl Is a Woman Now," but it was to be their last hit. The follow-up, "Let's Give Adam and Eve Another Chance," tanked, and after management dictated that Puckett's bandmates now receive a weekly salary instead of a percentage of the revenue, Chater and Withem left the band. Bement assumed bass duties, keyboardist Barry McCoy and horn player Richard Gabriel were added, and gospel vocalists the Eddie Kendrick Singers also signed on. The Civil War gear was soon jettisoned, but even so, prospects did not improve. In 1970, Puckett began recording as a solo act, but his efforts were not well-received; the Union Gap remained his live backing unit, until they were dismissed following an appearance at the 1971 Orange County Fair. Puckett's contract with CBS was terminated one year later.
Puckett continued making solo appearances in the months to come, but by 1973 he had essentially disappeared from music, opting instead to study acting and dance. He performed in theatrical productions in and around L.A., but his acting career never really took off, and in 1984 he signed on with the Happy Together oldies package tour. Two years later, Puckett was tapped to open for the Monkees on their 20th Anniversary tour, and he remained a staple of the revival circuit into the next century. Among his original bandmates, Bement later joined the oldies act Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, while Chater relocated to Nashville, where he plied his trade as a songwriter. Wheatbread, meanwhile, turned to concert promotion, and Withem returned to San Diego to teach high-school band.

Really fine pop band from the sixties with a great feeling for ballad songs and the voice of Puckett was great for this stuff . I love things like this. 10 goodygood pop songs.
Enjoy
         Frank     Flac  &  mp3@320
         

Cilla Black 5 Disc Box- The Artwork

Black Box Link 

Here is the complete artwork for the Cilla Black EMI Box

PART2 Of 5 - Cilla Black - Completely Cilla 1963-1973 (2012 EMI Records 5CD Box) Flac & mp3@320

Here is part 2 of the 5 disc box. I will later post the artwork and the other three discs coming tomorrow. I post the artwork not inside of the disc folders because if someone only needs the artwork he can grab it and don't must download the discs, too.
Have fun
               Frank      Flac p1 Disc2 & Flac p2 Disc2 & Flac p3 Disc2               mp3@320 Disc2

PART1 Of 5 - Cilla Black - Completely Cilla 1963-1973 (2012 EMI Records 5CD Box) Flac & mp3@320

Cilla Black wasn't a natural singer when the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, discovered her, and while she learned the ropes well enough and developed into a strong ballad singer, she was never a serious threat to Dusty Springfield in the talent department. But the pop world isn't really about pure talent as much as it is a matter of timing, luck, having the right look, and maybe most of all, good material and good production. Black had all of those things going for her in the early '60s, and since her producer throughout the decade was none other than George Martin, her signature body of work between 1963 and 1973, the period covered by this lavish box set (released in advance of Black's 50th anniversary as a performer in 2013), holds up pretty well all these years later
.

Not bad for a onetime hatcheck girl at the Cavern Club -- out of all Epstein's Liverpool acts, which also included Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, she trailed only the Beatles in total record sales. This six-disc box (five CDs and a DVD) collects all the A- and B-sides of her singles, her EPs, and her seven LPs in the order they were recorded, 139 songs in all, the majority of which were produced by Martin. The DVD is also a real treat, featuring 25 video clips drawn from her BBC shows and television appearances from the same time period. Throw in the 36-page booklet that accompanies things, and this set is the complete deal, the most complete presentation yet of Black's work from her peak commercial years.(allmusic)

I will post this Box (except the DVD) in the coming next days. Today, i think i will post the first two discs and the other s tomorrow.
This is a wonderful box of Cilla Black and as you have read in the review all official releases are here together in this package. The artwork is really nice done. A lot of musicians and people of the times then tell about her work with Cilla Black.
Musically this release is a real treasure box and i think if Cilla Black had concentrated only on her career as a singer and musician she stands today and probably for all times on the top of british female world stars. I think you will have fun with this box as i do. Let's start with disc one.

Enjoy
          Frank     Flac p1 Disc1 & Flac p2 Disc1 & Flac p3 Disc1    -  mp3@320 Disc1

10cc - 10cc 1973 (2010 Imperial Records SHM-CD Japan) Flac & mp3@320

Displaying a command of pop styles and satire, 10cc showed that they are a force to be reckoned with on their first album. Hooks abound, harmonies shine, and instrumentation is dazzling without being overdone. Though charges of "self-consciously clever" could be leveled at the group, their command of witty, Anglo-styled pop is so impressive that even those criticisms must be weighed against the mastery of styles. All four members sing lead and are talented songwriters, and this leads to a wide variety of styles that add to their vision.
Featuring their number one U.K. hit "Rubber Bullets," 10cc wade through ten selections of satire and parody. One of the best is "Johnny Don't Do It," a parody of all the "death discs" of the late '50s and early '60s (the misunderstood "bad but really good" guy who is killed in a wreck).

More contemporary and bitingly sarcastic is "Headline Hustler," a commentary on the ravenous, scandal-hungry media. Medical facilities and the treatment afforded there is given ripe 10cc commentary in "The Hospital Song." ("And when I go, I'll die of plaster casting love.") Whether doing loving parodies of the music they grew up with or satirizing contemporary issues, 10cc show themselves to be top-level purveyors of pop on their debut recording. Some might criticize the group for being too self-satisfied with their own intelligence, but there is no denying the true craftsmanship and humor on their 1973 debut.(allmusic)

One of the greatest pop bands in the history of pop music. Are there enough positive attributes available to describe this fantastic band? Sometimes, if i listen to this guys i doubt about it, lol. They all were professional musicians yet at the time they founded 10cc. More or less successful musicians, but successful they were all to a particular point. They were no newbies but with I'm Not In Love they started a world career which overshadowed all what they had reached before. Anyway here is their debut. Enjoy it.

Have fun
               Frank     Flac p1 & Flac p2      -   mp3@320

Pop from Germany 1972: Love And Tears - Love And Tears 1972 (Polydor Records) Flac & mp3@320

This is no Krautrock folks. Love and Tears was a pop band who was founded 1962 under the name ''Blue Moons. They have played Beat sounds with german and english lyrics. At the change of the decade around this time they changed their name to Love And Tears and tried a more modern sound. In 1972 they released the debut album. On the song ''Action Man'' they worked together with producer Giorgio Moroder (well known of Donna Summer fame) All in all the album was no success. The band called it quits in 1975. The band was also the backing band of then very successful german singer Michael Holm. Different members of the band later would be successful singers and/or songwriters in the german ''Schlager'' music. The album was kindly contributed by D&J of Old Melodies/Wings Of Dream blog. A very big 'Thank You' to you guys :-) !

Enjoy
          Frank    Flac part 1  &  Flac part2        mp3@320

The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction 1966 (1992 Repertoire Records) Flac & mp3@320

Strictly speaking, based on their raw talent, the Count Five wouldn't rate too much attention from music historians. The definitive one-hit wonders, they failed to make much of a lasting impression on the listening public or on music -- but just play that one hit, "Psychotic Reaction," even 40 years after the fact, and almost any audience will brighten up and want to hear more. Their one fault was that they could never generate more -- they tried but never issued another record half as good.
The Count Five started life in San Jose, CA, in the early '60s with a pair of high school students named John "Mouse" Michalski and Roy Chaney, who had played guitar and bass, respectively, in a succession of local bands such as Johnny & the GTOs and the Renegades, specializing in surf instrumental music. Still in their mid-teens, they changed their name to the Squires, added a singer (Kenn Ellner), and tried picking up on the British Invasion sound; this wouldn't be the last time the group attempted to adapt to the musical sounds around them. Sean Byrne, an Irish-born guitarist, singer, and songwriter attending San Jose City College, came aboard in late 1964, and the Squires made a local name for themselves over the ensuing year. Then, organist Phil Evans quit for personal reasons and drummer Skip Cordell joined another group; with the arrival of his replacement, Butch Atkinson, the group changed their name to the Count Five. It was just about then that Byrne put the finishing touches on a song he'd been outlining in his head, ultimately called "Psychotic Reaction."
That song, heard by a local DJ named Brian Lord, became the group's key to stardom, at least momentarily. It became a showcase for the band's abilities, especially guitarists Michalski and Byrne, and they began working it up into the crescendo of their stage act. At first it didn't seem to do much good, as the group was turned down by Capitol Records, Fantasy Records, and a handful of other California-based companies, but after working out a new arrangement of "Psychotic Reaction" with the band, Lord got the song and the group placed with Double Shot Records, a Los Angeles-based label. The record -- a chugging, fuzz tone-laden piece of punk defiance with more than a few signature licks and phrasings borrowed from Bo Diddley and the Yardbirds, among others, and a punk attitude that was worthy of the Standells -- eventually made number five nationally and number one in Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, the band was never able to follow up the hit with anything even remotely as successful. An album was rushed out, containing some ill-conceived originals, but nothing that the group did after "Psychotic Reaction" seemed to work. They tried reusing the same formula, working in a slightly more folk-rock vein, and attempting some fresh guitar pyrotechnics (on "The World" and "Pretty Big Mouth" and, in a psychedelic vein, on "Peace of Mind"), plus a pair of pretty fair Who covers ("My Generation" and "Out in the Street"), but by 1967, it was clear that the group's days were numbered. The strain of maintaining music careers while attending college -- which was essential to the members keeping their draft deferments -- took its toll, as did the dwindling bookings, as memory of "Psychotic Reaction" faded. In the end, after an attempt by Double Shot to keep Byrne as the only active member, the Count Five ceased to exist.

Their story might have ended there, as dimly remembered one-shot hitmakers, but for the 1972 release of Nuggets, Lenny Kaye's original '60s garage/psychedelic punk compilation. "Psychotic Reaction" may not have been the most original track on the album, but it was one of the more accessible, and still potent and enjoyable on its own terms six years after the fact; suddenly a new generation of enthusiasts discovered the Count Five. Yardbirds fans, in particular, tended to despise the group for having ripped off many of lead guitarist Jeff Beck's pyrotechnical tricks in a more commercially successful manner, but generally the song proved a popular oldie selection among more knowing '60s listeners, and there was demand for their album, which resulted in several rounds of reissues on vinyl and CD. In the decades since, the group has rated at least a mention in most histories of garage rock and psychedelic punk, and "Psychotic Reaction" is as much a standard of the genre as the Standells' "Try It" or the Thirteenth Floor Elevators' "You're Gonna Miss Me."(allmusic)

Well done british influenced garage rock of the sixties. (I'll post the complete artwork a little later)
Have fun
              Frank  Flac p1  &  Flac p2     -  mp3@320 
                                                                                     Artwork

Anita Kerr (with The Anita Kerr Singers) - Favorites 1994 (1994 Bainbridge Records) mp3@320

This is called ''Favorites'' and i ask myself what kind of favorites. The most is pop stuff from the last 30 years (this is released 1994) and i can't believe that's really the favorites of Anita Kerr. This looks more like a collection for a pop audience. That's okay and the songs here are top notch presented. High class vocals and the arrangements perfectly fits- If you like greart vocals and you are open for a not that often heard kind of pop music you can give it a try. I'm sorry i have it only in mp3 :-(.

Anyway, enjoy
                        Frank    mp3@320

Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders - Birmingham Beat (2003 Acadia Records) Flac & mp3@320

Mike Sheridan lead vocal (left 1966)
Brian Cope bass guitar (left 1963)
Al Johnson lead guitar (left 1964)
Dave Pritchard guitar, vocals
Roger Spencer drums, vocals
Greg Masters bass guitar, vocals (joined 1963)
Roy Wood lead guitar, vocals (joined 1964, left 1966)
Johnny Mann lead guitar (joined & left 1966)
Jeff Lynne lead guitar, vocals (joined 1966)

Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders - Mike Sheridan's Lot
Birmingham Beat
Product Description: Following the huge 'Merseybeat' success of 1962/63, the spotlight moved to Birmingham and the major record companies in the UK swept through the Midlands to sign the leading groups in the area. EMI signed a few via Columbia and Parlophone labels with local favorites Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders first off the block. This is real Beat Group era fare that deserves its first ever appearance on CD. All the group EMI singles are included here. Features 10 tracks by Mike Sheridan & the Nightriders & 4 tracks by Mike Sheridan's Lot.
1. No Other Guy 2. Tell Me What You're Gonna Do 3. Please Mr. Postman 4. In Love 5. Brand New Cadillac 6. Thing of the Past 7. What a Sweet Thing That Was 8. Fabulous 9. Here I Stand 10. Lonely Weekends 11. Take My Hand - Mike Sheridan 12. Make Them Understand - Mike Sheridan 13. Stop Look and Listen - Mike Sheridan 14. Don't Turn Your Back on Me - Mike Sheridan (taken from musicofsixties.blog)

Have fun
               Frank  Flac    &    mp3@320

Heavy Metal Kids - Heavy Metal Kids 1974 (2009 Lemon Records) Remastered Flac & mp3

The Heavy Metal Kids never became stars, never won any readers polls, never had a hit record. But, if you could roll back time to that moment in 1974 when the very first needle hit the very first pressing of their eponymous debut album, it would be impossible to predict that sordid fate. Quite frankly, Heavy Metal Kids rises so far above the rest of the period pack that -- Sparks and Cockney Rebel notwithstanding -- there was no more exciting proposition to be found on the new-release shelves. Part unrepentant boogie band, part pub rock leviathan, and part good-time distillation of the best of Slade and the Faces, fronted by the utterly irresistible cackle of singer Gary Holton, the Kids' flash, slash, and sashay assault had a cosmic energy that could transform even the ballads ("It's the Same," "Nature of My Game") into fists-in-the-air anthems.

A decade later, the band could have so rewritten the notion of the power ballad that suffering through the 1980s might never have been necessary; a decade earlier, the British Invasion could have been the new prog. Imagine Jim Steinman producing Them, and you're close to the majesty of Heavy Metal Kids. As it is, the only people who seem to have truly noted what the Kids were doing were the Rolling Stones -- the laconic reggae of "Run Around Eyes" is a dry run for the Stones' later romp through "Cherry Oh Baby." Heavy Metal Kids hits so many peaks -- "Ain't It Hard," "Always Plenty of Women," "Hangin' On" -- that the end of the album comes so quickly that even they seemed to be taken by surprise.

The closing "Rock n' Roll Man," heralded by one of the most triumphant roars in rock history, is followed not by the sound of needle scraping label, but by a violent reprise for what remains the Kids' finest hour: the stomping, storming "We Gotta Go." And that is not only a juxtaposition that will have you talking Cockney for the rest of the day, it also tells you everything you need to know about the Heavy Metal Kids. Nothing can be taken for granted -- and nothing was. Including the fame and glory that this album still demands.(allmusic)

 Thanks God for the Kids.
 Enjoy
           Frank     Flac p1 & Flac p1        mp3@320

Links for ''John Sebastian - Welcome Back'' up now!!!

What the hell... sorry Folks but i don't know how i could forget to add the links. Anyway i upped them now and you will find them in the post of John Sebastian. It seems that inconveniences like this will be part of this blog and you must live with that if you are a regular visitor, lol. Sorry once again and i hope everything is fine now and you can enjoy John Sebastian.
Have a nice day all of you
                                          Frank