(July 2024) Episode 583 is HERMAN’S HERMITS. If the British Invasion had a bubblegum band, Herman’s Hermits would be it. They preceded the Monkees but there are parallels – light happy tunes, a pre-fab element, cross-marketing on TV/movies, the vocal similarities between Davey Jones and Peter Noone, and a mix of popularity and critical scorn. The Monkees’ reputation improved over time (they had damn fine songs) and I think so of Herman’s Hermits too. Overall their music was better than I expected, helped by trying not to compare it to what their peers were putting out. But their polite approach couldn’t survive the late 60s.
(June 2024) Episode 579 is SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES. This episode covers the Miracles’ recordings with and after Smokey, and his solo efforts. The Miracles were the first Motown act to make it big, a legend in their own right. Plus, as Berry Gordy’s right-hand man with his own numerous hit songwriting and production credits, Robinson’s fame involves so much music we consider classic. That said, the music recorded by Smokey and the Miracles tended toward safer pop, without the edge or social consciousness of peers, taking them down a notch among Motown artists for me. You know how I love falsetto, and Smokey is one of the best. But it’s 100% for him, and I find falsetto is used best in contrast with lower range singing, as with The Temptations or Marvin Gaye.
(June 2024) Episode 577 is MANFRED MANN. Continuing my tour of British Invasion-era bands, I must clarify that this episode is about Manfred Mann the band, not group member Manfred Mann for whom the band was named over his objection, and went on to a solo career. Confusing I know. They got attention as an R&B outfit which, to my ear, is arguably second best among UK groups behind the Stones. Their early pop hit, however, the instantly recognizable “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” was not indicative of that sound. But variety was also their mark, as band members brought their interest in jazz to the mix. This makes their albums more interesting but less consistent, and there’s the typical complicating overlap of UK and US releases. After 1966, a new singer and a new label meant a new direction. Their three late-1960s albums offer a more sophisticated sound and some baroque rock gems; I like this stuff best although critics rate the R&B recordings higher.
Recommendation: I usually commend a greatest hits disc for such groups, but this might merit a deeper dive into the two periods to see which you prefer.
(May 2024) Episode 571 of the is THE HOLLIES. I have tended to discount British Invasion bands that were not among the Big Four, as but in the recent episode on Dave Clark Five, I realize my mistake with The Hollies too. I was surprisingly pleased to learn they are far more than the familiar handful of hit singles and for being launching pad for Graham Nash. Their best and most distinctive feature is the top-notch harmonies. Their arc is a familiar one: initial albums featuring R&B covers; blossoming when they start recording original material, including the obligatory 1967 psychedelic album; flowing into the 1970s with power pop and soft rock, enjoyable but not as good as before Nash left; then a slide into blah in the late 1970s, 1980s and 2010s. They always stayed on the lighter side of pop-rock, never getting adventurous like their more famous peers. And they’re still around today with two original members, and two others still alive but not with the group.
* Fun fact: As noted in my Connections page, the chords from the verses in “The Air That I Breathe” (1972) were lifted by Radiohead into “Creep” (1992), and later used by Lana Del Ray in “Get Free” (2017) and in the title song “Red Swan” from the third season (2018) of the anime series “Attack on Titan.”
(April 2024) Episode 564 is THE TURTLES and FLO & EDDIE. As a Frank Zappa enjoyer I always thought of the Turtles as the band Flo & Eddie (Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman) were in before they joined the second version of the Mothers of Invention, rather than the reverse. It turns out they provided a lot more enjoyable 60s LA pop/rock beyond “Happy Together,” “Elenore” and “You Showed Me.” Five good albums worth, augmented by their characteristic humor (the line “you’re my pride and joy etc.” from “Elenore” get me every time). After the Turtles folded, Flo & Eddie reached the prurient zenith of their humor with the Mothers (e.g. “Bwana Dik”) and recorded several quirky albums on their own.
Favorite album: The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands
(April 2024) Episode 563 is THE DAVE CLARK FIVE. Of all the contemporaries, the Dave Clark Five looked and sounded the most similar to the Beatles. They even knocked “I Want To Hold Your Hand” off the #1 slot. Their hit “Because” would fit nicely on the Hard Days Night soundtrack. They had success in the U.S. too and were the second British band to appear on the Ed Sullivan show. And like Lennon-McCartney and unlike other peers, Clark and Smith wrote many of their best songs, like “Glad All Over,” “Bits and Pieces,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Catch Us If You Can.” They defied trends by not having a psychedelic period and folded as the 60s ended. As was the custom, they released separate US and UK albums and there’s a lot of filler on them, so choosing a favorite album is a bit hollow.
(March 2024) Episode 552 is THE SEARCHERS. A lingering question is whether there was something inherently special about the Merseybeat sound,* of which the Beatles were the biggest and best example, or whether the Beatles’ fame is the thing that brought attention to the other Merseybeat bands. One such band is the Searchers, who emerged from the same town at the same time with a very similar sound. Their most famous track on this side of the pond was “Needles and Pins” (ph: needles and pinsah) (co-written by Sonny Bono!), which introduced the jangle guitar sound soon made famous by the Byrds (note the nearly identical guitar riffs that open “Needles and Pins” and the Byrds “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”). There are a few catchy pop tunes in a here but they suffer the unavoidable comparison with their Best Ever peers, and their sound was soon made obsolete by the R&B-based London bands and gritty freakbeat groups.
Recommendation: A greatest hits disc is more than enough.
* music historians have noted that the fact that Liverpool’s was a port city meant that early rock and roll records from America made it to that city before others in the UK, which supports the first hypothesis
(January 2024) Episode 544 is LANA DEL REY, another leap out of my comfort zone to explore a contemporary popular artist, one that my daughters would listen to. Not knowing her music, I did have a sense she was independent and a little saucy (as evidenced by the F-word in an album title) and not a corporate cookie-cutter pop star, which is something. And so she is. Lizzie Grant (her real name) has a great voice and is a talented songwriter, melodically and lyrically. What I had not expected was how consistently emo and languid her songs are. “Sadcore” I’ve seen it called. I don’t mind emo and languid in doses, but not full albums of it. On the recordings her voice is highly processed and layered, which I know is the way things are made now, but to me it erodes the authenticity that is otherwise central to the lyrical content.
Recommendation: She’s got 52 million Spotify followers, so that tells you a lot. I’ll probably listen in to her new releases because she’s got the talent to do something unusual.
(December 2023) Episode 537 is ELTON JOHN. In third grade, the quiz on the playground was “Elton or Elvis.” I answered Elton, of course, because I wasn’t a loser. This anecdote tells how absolutely huge he was in the mid-1970s, to be put on par with the King. I like Elton John, but never collected his albums or sought out his music; it was always on the radio. His popular songs remain enjoyable classics. But there’s a reason it took 537 episodes for me to get to this megastar. I anticipated I would be bored by most everything after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. And so I was. It seems sacrilegious to say this, but much of his stuff is crap. I’m not drawn to piano troubadour acts, so it’s not a surprise my favorite song of his is guitar-led. Even so, Sir Elton’s music, showmanship and longevity well earn him the title of Elder Statesman of Popular Music.
Note on favorite album choice: Elton’s first recordings in 1968 were psychedelic/baroque pop songs in fashion in the wake of Sgt. Peppers, which explains the copy-cat album title, Regimental Sgt. Zippo. Producers felt this wasn’t the right sound for him and they were shelved in favor of the piano songman approach of his first issued album, Empty Sky, and onward. This early collection wasn’t released until 2021. I list it as my favorite because I happen to love that particular kind of late 60s music. But that album is not representative of the rest of his work and far from his best album.
(December 2023) Episode 535 of the “opus project” is DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK & TICH, the biggest mouthful of a band name I’ve reviewed since King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (episode 255). They emerged within the British Invasion of the mid-1960s, although they didn’t make a mark in the USA much beyond an obscure reference in a Quentin Taratino film (extra credit if you can name the film). Their sound is on the lighter pop side of the Invasion-era sound (closer to Herman’s Hermits than the Rolling Stones) but it features some nice hooks. Like so many contemporaries, they kept with the fad by recording an obligatory psychedelic-ish album (Fresh Ear), which is my favorite of their recordings but not representative of their sound.
Opus Project 