ladyislingering

Firstly, the Song of the Day, 05/13/13 -

Queen - "Don't Stop Me Now"



I've always loved this next song. It's soothing when I feel like I can't live on this planet anymore, as I've lost my wits with human beings, as I can no longer tolerate their idiocy, their folly, their complete and utter bullshit.

Oh, man, look at those cavemen go.

David Bowie - "Life On Mars?"



While we're grooving to the sounds of sexy men, I stand by my statement that Marc Bolan was one of the most insanely appealing men that ever lived.

T. Rex - "Cadillac"



T. Rex - "Hot Love"



But let's just take a moment to pay attention to Mickey Finn doing his thing on the bongos, because he was one hell of a fox.

T. Rex - "Jeepster"



When I was maybe about 11/12, I was unspeakably obsessed with this next band. This extreme fondness wore off about 3 years later, but whenever I need a touch of nostalgia, or to remember my days as a silly little girl, I turn to The Cars. (I still find Benjamin Orr to be gorgeous in those days.)

"Just What I Needed" (Live - Midnight Special - '78)



There was a local radio station that I listened to, practically from birth, until it caved and turned into a country station when I was about 17. Every Saturday night they'd have a few solid hours where they played 70s hits in particular (it was a 50s/60s/70s station - all the greats). This next song will always remind me of those days -

Jay Ferguson - "Thunder Island"



And this (one of my mother's favorite songs when I was young) -

Lobo - "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"



And there's this funky number - super smooth, kind of Steely Dan-ish, no wonder I loved it. It was the beginning of something groovy for me.

Climax Blues Band - "Couldn't Get it Right"



The other day I was reminded of something I was really into a number of years ago (I'd say I was about 18?) - either way it prompted me to get the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack on vinyl just because of how much I liked this one single track.

Walter Murphy - "A Fifth of Beethoven"



Speaking of disco, remember when the Rolling Stones tried it on for size? (And it was actually kind of weird?)

"Miss You" (12" Disco Version)



And there was that time when KISS ventured off into the catacombs of groovy disco magic ... (and it was actually pretty cool).

"I Was Made for Lovin' You"



My dad was a huge fan of KISS when I was a little girl, so I grew to love them as well. Even though this next song is a cover (Originally by 60s girl group The Crystals) it's my favorite KISS song.

KISS - "Then She Kissed Me"



Speaking of rockers doing covers of girl group classics ....

I'll always be head over heels for this next song, though it might have a lot to do with the fact that I just really love the Ronettes.

Ramones - "Baby I Love You"



Next time: the magic of 60s girl groups (and why they're significant)!

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Trollheart

Two small points: if you happen to have that Lobo single and flip it over you'll find "I'd love you to want me", one of THE most heartbreakingly beautiful love songs ever (just listen to that sad piano!), and speaking of CBB, I love this one from them, though the one you posted always seems to be the one people reference:

Lobo: I'd love you to want me


Climax Blues Band: "I love you"

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

ladyislingering

Oh yes. Many nights as a teenage girl sobbing away to "I'd Love You to Want Me".

"I Love You" (Climax Blues Band) has always gotten plenty of airplay - it's a classic but I rather grew tired of it.

Here's a couple more songs that had turned me into a sobbing mess during my younger days:

The Seekers - "I'll Never Find Another You"



Carpenters - "Can't Smile Without You"



The past couple days I've kind of been on a KISS kick. This next track I remember from my childhood - if only for the spooky chorus (is it just spooky to me?). The lyrics are a little dumb (as with most KISS songs) but the music is funky as hell.

KISS - "Almost Human"



It's very similar to this song (which was also in heavy rotation during my childhood, thanks to Dad's KISS obsession -

KISS - "Calling Dr. Love"



Another odd thing I discovered, when I was about 12, is that I was so struck by a certain part of this next song. I'd remembered it from my early childhood, but only that portion - the rest of the song had totally been lost on me. Thus began my affection for Deborah Harry - and Blondie.

Blondie - "One Way or Another"



Deborah's not the only lovely lady I prefer, musically. Yesterday I promised a special feature on girl groups of the 60s - the girls that started it all.

My favorite girl group of the 60s are the Shangri-Las. (My love for them started sometime during 2009.) They're best remembered for their controversial melodrama "Leader of the Pack"...



They didn't really get much attention apart from this. Apart from this next track, which was also covered by Aerosmith in the 70s.

The Shangri-Las - "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"



These girls had serious attitude. Check this out.

The Shangri-Las - "Right Now and Not Later"



But they were, after all, little girls.

The Shangri-Las - "It's Easier to Cry"



However, the untrained ear would never have guessed after hearing this. This one's my favorite Shangri-Las song (Mary Ann Ganser on lead vocals - RIP, beautiful girl) -

The Shangri-Las - "I'm Blue"



Another well-known (and loved) girl group of the 60s were the Ronettes. They were all kinds of adorable. (I always felt that Nedra was much cuter than Ronnie.)

Everyone knows this song.

The Ronettes - "Be My Baby"



And even this one.

The Ronettes - "Baby, I Love You"



This one's my favorite Ronettes track.

The Ronettes - "You Came, You Saw, You Conquered"



Yesterday I loosely mentioned the Crystals. Let's do some Crystals.

The Crystals - "Da Doo Ron Ron"



The Crystals - "He's a Rebel"



Yesterday I posted KISS' cover of this classic.

The Crystals - "Then He Kissed Me"



I think that's enough for now. I expect to make a few more posts dedicated to the swinging girls of the 60s, because you just can't pack all that excellence into one post and call it "good".

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ladyislingering

Song of the Day for 05/15/13 -

The Velvet Underground - "Candy Says"



Ki and I met each other and lived (for a few months) in California. Every time I hear this song, my heart is filled with so much joy remembering the nights we spent walking along the beach. Oh, and all the times we skipped off to the grocery, drunk and in need of more liquor. Those California nights...

Lesley Gore - "California Nights"



We weren't far from San Francisco, but we never got to see it. I still want to see Haight/Ashbury and experience San Franciscan nights!

Eric Burdon & The Animals - "San Franciscan Nights"



We passed by the Monterey fairgrounds a few times, at least. There's not much there - not a field, anyway - many small buildings but it was, alas, the holy lands of Monterey Pop.

Here's Jefferson Airplane grooving it in Monterey, 1967.

"Somebody to Love"



I went through a Jefferson Airplane phase, I believe, sometime in 2005/06. Unfortunately it didn't reach much further than "Surrealistic Pillow". Here's the full album for anyone who has nothing to do for a good 33 minutes.

Jefferson Airplane - "Surrealistic Pillow" (1967) FULL ALBUM



Here's a couple of my favorite rarely-mentioned songs from that record:

"3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"

Take me to a circus tent where I can easily pay my rent.



"Plastic Fantastic Lover"



Here's another track that reminds me of California, if only for its sound. I can't explain what it is, exactly, but it sounds just what I'd describe as "true California style". It's got the chill groove, the brass, the tambourine ... good lord. I just can't explain how great this song makes me feel.

(Written by Tommy James - we'll do a Shondells feature eventually too.)

Alive N' Kickin - "Tighter, Tighter"



When I was a 16 year old girl, I did wear flowers in my hair. And I did want to go to San Francisco.

Scott McKenzie - "San Francisco"



This next track is a little weird and unexpected, but it will eternally remind me of an afternoon I spent outdoors - it was at least 75 degrees in the dead of "winter" in California, hot as hell, and I was walking uphill as this song was playing.

Though, a particular set of lyrics will always remind me of someone I wish would just drop dead already.

Distraction he wanted
to destruction he fell
now he forever stalks the ancient mansions of hell

T. Rex - "Dandy in the Underworld"



Though I love my home here in Seattle and wouldn't trade it for anything, sometimes I still long for the sun, the ocean, the seagulls ...

The Mamas & The Papas - "California Dreamin'"



That'll do for now. Next time: Tommy James & The Shondells. Why does a bubblegum band from Ohio matter? Bitch, please. Stay tuned.

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Gavin B.

Phonographic Memory is a great name for a music blog. Like you, I have a great deal of affection for '60s and '70s pop music. I have a large collection of vintage singles by Phil Specter girl groups and UK Sixties girl singers like Lulu, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull, Dusty Springfield and Sandy Posey.

My all time favorite single is Linda Scott's 1962 song I Told Every Little Star. A few years ago film maker David Lynch used the song in the movie Mullholland Drive. Actress Susan George was lip syncing I Told Every Little Star at casting call for Justin Theroux who was playing a movie director in the scene.

Susan George's breezy performance of the song is loaded with irony because her character, Camilla Rhodes, is the mistress of a mob boss who has already threatened to break Theroux's legs if he doesn't cast Camilla as the leading lady in his film. Notice how Theroux says "This is the girl" under duress while the mob boss hovers over him at the audition. Theroux then turns and looks wistfully at Naomi Watts, the aspiring actress he really wants to cast in the role. And from her reaction, it appears that Naomi gets Theroux's non-verbal message that the audition is fixed.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

ribbons

I love their s/t album and have been listening to it a lot lately. Love this song, and "I'm Set Free" as well. Sterling Morrison's guitar solo on "I'm Set Free" is a thing of fragile, wavering beauty, like much of this album in concept and sound. It's the VU's wavering/beautiful album. Great thread -- enjoying so many of the songs you've posted.

ladyislingering

How could I ever forget that song? It was in heavy rotation in my collection a number of years ago. Such an adorable classic.

Lulu really blew me away the first time I heard her voice. Here she is, at age 15. I still can't even believe this remarkable little girl. So much sass!

Lulu - "Shout"



Speaking of Cilla Black, I was listening to this next song on my way to work this morning and actually made a mental note to post my affections for it later. It's lush, lovely, and a little overwhelming. I get a little weak in the knees over this one.

With your hand resting in mine, I feel a power so divine.

Cilla Black - "You're My World"



Let's not forget that our dear Cilla was very close to Marc Bolan!

Cilla Black/Marc Bolan - "Life's a Gas"



A couple fond memories of Sandie Shaw (I must add, like most girls of the 60s, Sandie was a beauty) -

Sandie Shaw - "Monsieur DuPont" (ToTP)



"Puppet on a String"



Marianne Faithfull - I'm not terribly familiar with her, but I do know she was very close to Mick Jagger. (And she was, much like Sandie, Cilla, Dusty, and many others, a living dream.) I also need to brush up on what I know of Sandy Posey (I've heard her name a few times) but I do love Dusty Springfield, always and dearly.

Dusty Springfield - "The Look of Love"



Dusty Springfield - "I Only Want to Be With You"



I believe that love songs from the 60s and 70s (I grew up on this stuff) gave me the most irrational, unreasonable, unrealistic expectations for the rest of my life.

I think I'll probably get back into them eventually; their lyrics had been striking to me when I was first getting into their music (5+ years ago) - especially this. This really caught me off guard.

The Velvet Underground - "The Gift"



Glad to hear you're enjoying the weird stuff I've been posting. My entire life has been accompanied by music of some sort, and I know there's even things hidden deep in my psyche that I've forgotten about by now. Music is incredible like that; I have always felt that it's the only artform that really, deeply touches people.

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ladyislingering

When I was 16 years old, my grandma gave me a record that changed my entire life. I was familiar with the band, of course, having grown up with the radio tuned to all the greats, from the 1950s-1970s (and occasionally the 80s, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here), but I had just started my vinyl collection and I was about to be blown away by the psychedelic sounds of Tommy James and his super-groovy Shondells.



This became an all-occasion album for me. I listened to it sober, drunk, high, low, happy, sad, angry, tired, heartbroken, anxious, hot, cold, whatever. It's still one of the greatest cure-all sort of albums for me.

This has been one of my most favorite songs of all time, ever since I was old enough to walk, I've been grooving to this beautiful anomaly of sound.

"Crimson and Clover"



I also enjoy Joan Jett's rendition, mostly because I adore Joan Jett.

This next one will always, always remind me of my grandmother. Because her name is Kathleen, and she was once one of the most important people in my life. She has since distanced herself from me, and I do miss having a grandmother; I'll feel a strong loss when she passes away and I'm worried that she'll never approve of me as a human being. As distasteful as I find her behavior and attitude, I love her dearly. This one's for "Kitty".

"Kathleen McArthur"

So respectable, so refined.



My first reaction to this song was something along the lines of "what the hell is this?" This is some really crazy psych stuff. It still sort of makes me shiver.

"I Am a Tangerine"



My mother loved this next song when I was a little girl. She was never one to turn the radio up too loud, or to really get excited about much, but she loved the hell out of this song (even before she was a crazy born-again Christian) and it will always remind me of her.

God, this is so goddamn groovy.

"Crystal Blue Persuasion"



This is my second favorite from the "Crimson & Clover" album. It will always remind me of the night before I left for Cincinnati, in 2007.

"Sugar on Sunday"



There's a secret message between "Breakaway" and "Smokey Roads", but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Anyone who has the LP or access to the full album might be interested to know, to my memory, that the backmasked bit says something like "Extrapolate the quadruped and turn it into something nutritious. Then, when the aurora rises in the heavens, I shall compensate thee amply."

I branched out a bit from "Crimson & Clover" (and I'm still finding little hidden gems) eventually, and happened upon this (which I'd known since forever, and even rather enjoyed Tiffany's version as well) -

"I Think We're Alone Now"



But did you know that this next track's melody is the above track, backwards?

"Mirage"



Here's something super sweet. (Maybe a little too sweet for some!)

"I Like the Way"



And here's something really funky.

"Gotta Get Back to You"



And a groovy video for an overplayed track that was once covered by Billy Idol.

"Mony Mony"



Some classic summertime driving music:

"Hanky Panky"



And finally, I think I've mentioned this song before, but it opened my eyes to a bad situation I was in, some time ago - and sure as hell, I took the warning to heart. Thanks, Tom. You saved my life.

"Get Out Now"



Anyone with even half a heart for 60s garage rock (or even bubblegum) needs to get themselves acquainted with these guys. It's for your own good.

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Unknown Soldier

I'm sure you'll like this song. Somebody was asking me today about an example of a Sparks song that mixes their sound with dance and this came to mind.


The Greatest Show on Earth - Sparks - YouTube

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

ladyislingering

First off, here's my "Song of the Day" for 05/17/13 -

I can't find the studio version anywhere, so here's a really nice live version from '77. I dedicate this to my boss' boss, my boss, and my boss' right hand man. You fuckin' pigs.

Pink Floyd - "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" (Live, 1977)



While I'm not especially partial to "Terminal Jive" as a whole, I always liked that track. Sparks experimented with electronic/disco sounds, and it ended up working quite well for them. Ron Mael wrote an entire album for Telex, in fact. Not surprisingly, it was called "Sex".

Here's a couple tracks:

Telex - "Brainwash"



Telex - "Exercise is Good For You"



Telex - "Drama Drama"



Ron and Russell also wrote for Noel. Nobody really remembers her, or knows who she is, or actually cares, but here's the song that not a whole lot of Sparks fans ever want to talk about.

Noel - "Dancing is Dangerous"



While we're still in a disco groove, I want to throw this in, because I'm not ashamed to admit my love for the bros Gibb.

Andy Gibb - "Shadow Dancing" (12" extended)



Here's a cover of a classic I posted a couple days ago. I'll be apologizing to my mother on her deathbed for the amount of times I played this dumb song when I was younger.

Shaun Cassidy - "Da Doo Ron Ron"



That's all for me today.

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