OK, so my lack of posting over the last few months (well, this last year, really) is annoying, but what can I say? We recently uprooted our life in Southern California and relocated to Virginia! Gotta love the military. Since it's only taken a whole year to get through my cute Wrecking Crew series, it's about time we wrap things up.
In case you're just jumping into this blog for the first time and haven't heard of the Wrecking Crew, they were a top-notch session musicians in L.A. that played on dozens of hit records in the 1960s and '70s. This impressive group played wide of variety of styles including pop, jazz, and even easy listening, like this next Rat Pack tune. Released in 1964, Dean Martin's recording of "Everybody Loves Somebody" surprised everyone and topped the Billboard and Easy Listening charts. The middle aged Italian crooner had not had a Top 40 hit since 1958, and despite the British Invasion ruling the charts, Martin defied the odds and knocked The Beatles "A Hard Days Night" off the #1 slot on Billboard. It ultimately replaced "That's Amore" as his signature song, and he sang it as the theme of weekly TV variety show from 1965 until 1974. Written in 1947 by Sam Coslow, Irving Taylor, and Ken Lane, here's Dino's laid-back live version of this classic (song starts after 2 minutes in).
Another classic song featuring the Wrecking Crew musicians was Shelley Fabares' debut pop single, "Johnny Angel" in 1962. This million-selling record first premiered on an episode of Fabares' sitcom The Donna Reed Show, and reached #1 on the Billboard chart, Best Sellers chart (Cashbox), as well as Canada and New Zealand. While Darlene Love and her group, The Blossoms, sang backup vocals on the track, Fabares felt intimidated by their beautiful voices since she did not consider herself a singer. An echo chamber was also featured, where the intro of the repeated title words ("Johnny Angel, Johnny Angel") was used by Fabares and the backup singers. Earning her a gold disc, here's Shelley Fabares' premiere performance on The Donna Reed Show.
Formed in Hollywood, CA, The Marketts were an American instrumental pop group featuring Michael Z. Gordon and various session musicians including members of the Wrecking Crew. They are best known for the 1963 million-seller "Out of Limits," a surf rock instrumental piece written by Gordon. First pressings were issued as "Outer Limits," named after the TV program of the same name, however, Rod Sterling sued The Marketts for quoting the four note motif from his TV show, The Twilight Show, without his approval (which resulted in the change of title to "Out of Limits"). In February 1964, the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard chart, as well as the Cashbox.
Written in 1940, this next song was a popular one covered by numerous artists including Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey, Etta James, Brenda Lee, Doris Day, and Elvis Presley, to name a few. However, Ricky Nelson's version of "Fools Rush In" was an enormous hit in 1963, reaching #12 on the Billboard pop charts and became the most famous version of the song. From 1957 to 1962, Nelson had 30 Top-40 hits, more than any other artist (except Elvis and Pat Boone), but this was one of his last big hits before his career came to a dramatic halt in the wake of the British Invasion. Also recorded with Wrecking Crew musicians, here's Ricky Nelson performing on his family's TV show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Written by producer Phil Spector with songwriting team Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, "River Deep - Mountain High" was among the first recordings that Ike & Tina Turner did for Phil Spector's Philles Records. Spector was well aware of Ike's controlling attitude in the studio, and drew up an unusual contract: this album and single would be credited to "Ike & Tina Turner," but Ike was paid $20,000 to stay away from the studio, and only Tina's vocals would be used on record. The track was recorded using Spector's "Wall of Sound"
production technique, cost a then-unheard-of $22,000, and required 21
session musicians (the Wrecking Crew, of course!) and 21 background vocalists. Due to Spector's
perfectionism in the studio, he made Turner sing the song over and over
for several hours until he felt he had the perfect vocal take for the
song. Although the single reached #3 in the UK in 1966, its original release flopped in the US, but was re-released in '69 after Eric Burdon & The Animals covered the song in '68. It has since become one of Tina Turner's signature songs.
Our last featured song is the commercially successful yet often parodied "MacArthur Park" performed by Richard Harris. Originally composed as part of an intended cantata by Jimmy Webb, he first brought the song to The Association but the group rejected it. British actor Richard Harris approached Webb about releasing a record and selected this song for his pop music debut. It'was one of the longest singles at the time (7:21) and includes four distinct sections (or movements) with great instrumental features. Several Wrecking Crew musicians played on this original recording including Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and Mike Deasy on guitar, along with Webb himself on harpsichord. Despite some cheesy lyrics (something about leaving the cake out in the rain), the 1968 single reached #2 on the Billboard chart, #4 in the UK, and #1 in Australia, and even received the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in '69. No offense to Richard Harris, but I think this song could been amazing if it had been recorded by a vocal group like The Association or The 5th Dimension. Here's a video by Music Mike who gives a little more insight.
For our final Country Music Crossover post, we're featuring American singer-songwriter and actor Ricky Nelson, who first began his entertainment career in 1949 playing himself in his family's radio sitcom series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (followed by a successful TV sitcom of the same name in the late '50s). In 1957, after recording his first single and debuting as a singer on the TV series, Nelson's music career took off and he was the first teen idol to utilize TV to promote hit records. From 1957 to 1962, he had 30 Top-40 hits (more than any other artist except Elvis Presley and Pat Boone), including "Poor Little Fool," which was the first #1 song on then newly-created Billboard Hot-100 chart. When his career came to a halt in the wake of the British Invasion in the mid-'60s, he moved more towards country music, becoming a pioneer in the country-rock genre and had one last hit with "Garden Party" in 1972. Unfortunately, like quite a few iconic singers, he was killed in plane crash in 1985. Released in 1961, this rockabilly tune seems to make the lists of crossovers, hitting #9 on the US pop chart and #2 in the UK. Written by singer Gene Pitney with Cayet Mangiaracina, here's 21-year-old Ricky Nelson performing "Hello Mary Lou" on that All-American TV series.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 4 foot 9 inches tall, next is Little Miss Dynamite, country pop singer Brenda Lee, who was a young girl with a mature voice when she was discovered. Although she sang rockabilly and country music from a very young age, her record label she signed with in the mid-50s decided to market her exclusively as a pop artist, thus none of her best-known recordings from the 1960s were ever released to country radio (despite her country sound). In 1960 at 15-years-old, Lee recorded her signature song "I'm Sorry," which hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart and was nominated for a Grammy. Even though it was not released as a country song, it was among the first big hits to use what was to become the Nashville Sound, which emphasized stringed-instrumental sound with smooth vocal harmonies. In time, this country pop tune has become accepted by country fans as a standard of the genre, and is a fixture on many "country oldies" programs. Even peaking at #4 on the R&B chart and #13 in the UK, this song is considered as one of the "finest teen pop songs of the era" (Allmusic). In this (unfortunately poor quality) video, the adorable Brenda Lee sure makes singing like this look so easy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Next up, it's American singer/guitarist Buck Owens who had 21 #1 hits on the country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos. Originally from Texas, he moved to Bakersfield, CA where he drew up his inspiration for his purely American music, and pioneered the Bakersfield Sound (a reaction against the over-produced honky-tonk Nashville Sound in the 1950s). Owens was also known for co-hosting the hilarious TV variety seriesHee Hawfrom 1969 to 1986. This next country tune became a crossover hit in a roundabout way. Released in March of 1963, "Act Naturally" was his first chart-topping hit on the country chart, staying at #1 for four weeks and making Owens a country superstar. In 1965, The Beatles brought more attention to this song with their (still country) cover version of this tune, featuring Ringo Starr on the lead vocals. Released in the US as the B-side of "Yesterday," it actually peaked at #47 on the singles chart (their adorable performance on Ed Sullivan here). Later in 1989, Owens and Starr teamed up for a brand-new version, also creating a lighthearted music video for it (here), and this duet peaked at #27 on the country chart. Now for a performance by the original, Buck Owens & His Buckaroos on the Ranch Show in 1966.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We'll finish this series with the American country music singer-songwriter and musician Merle Haggard who, like Buck Owens, helped create that Bakersfield Sound with his band The Strangers. Unrelated to his troubles with the law in his younger days, Haggard aligned himself with the growing outlaw country movement in the late '60s (a subgenre of country music whose artists had a raw sound and scruffier look in contrast to those clean cut singers of the Nashville Sound, wearing those rhinestone-covered Nudie suits ). In many of his songs, his guitar playing and voice gave country a hard-edged, blues-like style, and even into the '90s and 2000s, he has continued to release successful albums. Of his 38 #1 country hits, one of his most popular songs is "Okie from Muskogee," which also became a minor pop hit, reaching #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release in September 1969. Written by Haggard with his drummer Roy Edwards Burris during the height of the Vietnam War, this tune was first intended as a patriotic statement in support of the troops, but now has become more of a spoof than redneck anthem, as hippies (who are derided in the lyrics) seem to enjoy the humor in it; even counterculture acts like the Grateful Dead and Phil Ochs have cover versions of their own. From 1969, here's Merle Haggard performing "Okie from Muskogee" with The Strangers.
