I love classic movies. And one of the best parts of these films from the 1960s is their iconic theme songs. So looks like it's high time we had a new post featuring the music that lives beyond the silver screen.
From the quintessential episode in the James Bond series, "Goldfinger" was the title song of 1964 film of the same name. Composed by John Barry, the song was performed by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing credits. In 1965, Bassey enjoyed her only Top-40 Billboard hit with this title song, which peaked #8, while the original soundtrack of Goldfinger hit #1 in the US the same year. While technically a one-hit wonder, Bassey always sold out concerts in Las Vegas, and was a bigger star in her native Britain. Don't think anyone will ever forget this classic Bond number!
American composer, conductor, and arranger Henry Mancini
is cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, having earned 4 Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, 10 Grammy Awards, and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Remembered for so many movies and TV scores, he is best known for the jazz-idiom theme to the The Pink Panther film series, the first film in 1963. The tune was issued as a single in 1964, reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards.With the tenor sax solo played by Plas Johnson (a Wrecking Crew session musician!), "The Pink Panther Theme" is noted for its quirky, unusual use of chromaticism which is derived from the Hungarian minor scale (gypsy/romani scale) with raised 4th and 7th degrees (that's for all your music theory nerds).
Speaking of Henry Mancini, he also composed the classic tune "Moon River" with lyricist John Mercer. It received an Oscar for Best Original Song for its first performance by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It also won Mancini the 1962 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Mercer the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Covered by many artists, it became the theme song for Andy Williams, who first recorded it in 1961 and performed it at the Academy Awards ceremonies in 1962, going on to sing the first eight bars at the beginning of his eponymous television show. Although his version never charted and Hepburn's version was not even included in the original soundtrack, an album version recorded by Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and became a number 11 hit. Here's the most famous version today by the late Andy Williams.
Next, we have the 1967 spy comedy film Casino Royale, loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.
The original music is by Burt Bacharach, an American singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, and pianist known for his 73 Top-40 hits in the US. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
performed some of the songs with Mike Redway singing the lyrics to the
title song as the end credits rolled (a version of the song was also
sung by Peter Sellers). The title theme was Alpert's second #1
on the Easy Listening chart where it spent two weeks at the top in June 1967 and peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. I tried to like this movie, but even with actors like Peter Sellers, David Niven, Ursula Andress, and Orson Welles, it was still an odd debacle.
Now here's a movie I do love, and with another big Burt Bacharach song as well (also written with his lyricist buddy Hal David). The 1969 American Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured pop singer B. J. Thomas performing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," which won the Oscar for Best Original Song that year and hit #1 on the US chart in January 1970. Sales of also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record.
It was recorded in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed
dissatisfaction with the first six. In the film version of the song, B.
J. Thomas had been recovering from laryngitis, which made his voice
sound hoarser than in the 7-inch release. The film version featured a separate instrumental break when Paul Newman undertook stunts on a bicycle (clip of from the scene here). Here's a TV performance by the distinctive B. J. Thomas (I think he may have inspired Han Solo's wardrobe in Star Wars).
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.
To celebrate my baby girl's 4th birthday today, we're posting some of her favorite songs this year. Before you leave this page and think "oh brother...," Zoe has impressive taste in music, which all you '60s fans will surely approve. Yes, that's my girl listening to The Zombies' Odessey And Oracle album on our turntable. She requested it, so I had to document the evidence, of course! While she still enjoys the songs that were in her birthday feature last year (here), here are the newest ones in her playlist.
Before I even knew what "the birds and the bees" really meant, I loved to sing along to this Jewel Akens' song. Now it cracks me up to see Zoe enjoying the same catchy tune. Reminiscent of 1950s honky tonk-style hits (like Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill"), this international hit was released in 1964 and reached #2 on the US Cash Box singles chart and #3 on the Billboard chart. Although considered a one-hit wonder, Akens did have other minor hits and even toured with The Monkees. He just passed away this past March at the age of 79. Here's a classic TV performance of "The Birds & the Bees."
It's not surprising that my daughter loves one of the most influential records in pop music history, but her favorite selection from The Beach Boys' 1966 Pet Sounds is not one of the popular ones. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love with Brian as the producer, "I'm Waiting for the Day" is considered art rock and is very experimental as a combination of an orchestral ballad and a modern rock song. Using our beloved "Wrecking Crew" studio musicians, this positive song features a very exciting instrumentation such as timpani, bongos, strings, flute, English horn, ukelele, organ, bass, and drums. Nothing like driving in your car and hearing your child singing all the lyrics.
Here's another surprising tune from Zoe's playlist: Harry Nilsson's "Mr. Tinker." While his 1968 album Aerial Ballet includes great songs like "Everybody's Talkin'" (a huge hit in '69) and "One" (later covered by Three Dog Night), my daughter is drawn to this beautiful and melancholy number. The arrangement and instrumentation is excellent and so moving as the lyrics tell a story of Mr. Tinker the tailor. Nilsson is such a unique songwriter and I love his variety; even cooler that my kid enjoys the deep tracks like this. And we're in good company: he was the favorite artist of The Beatles!
I guess I must play quite a bit of '60s Baroque Pop around the house because Zoe has caught on to
how great it is! While she does love the well-known "Walk Away Renee"
by The Left Banke, she really enjoys their second hit single, "Pretty
Ballerina." Released in December of 1966 and reaching #15 on the Billboard
chart, this haunting tune is not your typical pop song of the era, featuring
beautiful string/oboe accompaniment and the soaring vocals of Steve Martin
(Caro). Definitely an under-rated band!
While it's appropriate that my kid has a
Bubblegum pop tune amongst her favorites, I think the underlying reason she
loves this song may be due to the fact that she thinks it's about a large,
furry Star Wars character of the same name. In March of 1969, Ohio Express's
"Chewy Chewy"became their second million seller and reached #15 in
the US, #6 in Australia, and #2 in Canada. While Ohio Express was a studio
creation by Super K Productions, they had their biggest success during this time
with singer Joey Levine, however, the touring group included a completely
different of musicians. Nothing like a little Bubblegum to get the happy juices flowing.
This next gem comes from the wonderful 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. A collection of thematic vignettes of English town and hamlet life, written by The Kinks' own Ray Davies, "Animal Farm" is wonderful, 'pastoral escape' that makes excellent use of the Mellotron, simulating string and woodwind backing tracks. Although the record is widely considered one of the most influential and
important works by the Kinks, it failed to chart upon release, and only
sold about 100,000 copies; it was released November 22, 1968, the same day The Beatles released their White Album. Now this Kinks album is ranked amongst Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Another under-rated album now in that list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle definitely caught my daughter's attention but with the most unexpected song. Recorded at Abbey Road Studio in 1967, "Beechwood Park" has a smooth groove complete with a mellow guitar intro, dreamy lyrics, and the breathy vocals of the talented Colin Blunstone. Although one of the biggest songs of the '60s came from this album ("Time of the Season"), Zoe is fascinated by this extraordinary beauty by my beloved Zombies.
And seriously, what kid wouldn't like a song about an octopus's garden? From The Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road, released in 1969, "Octopus's Garden" was drummer Ringo Starr's most successful songwriting effort, and was inspired by a trip to Sardinia aboard Peter Sellers' yacht (yes, the hilarious British actor, long story). I still have my parents' original Abbey Road album and now course, the love of this childhood favorite of mine has been passed down in the family.
Zoe has a dear friend named Caroline, so as soon as she caught the lyrics of this Neil Diamond classic, she requested to hear "Sweet Caroline" every time we drove in the car (where we do most of our music-listening). Released in September of 1969, this soft rock song reached #4 on the Billboard chart and eventually went platinum for sales of one million singles. In recent years, Diamond revealed that he was inspired by a picture of President JFK's daughter, Caroline, riding a horse as a young child. In recent years, the song has become popular at sporting events, especially at the Boston Red Sox home games.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An American orchestra leader and film composer, Hugo Montenegro is best known for his interpretations of the music from Spaghetti westerns, especially the cover version of the main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Originally composed by Ennio Morricone, Montenegro's version was his biggest pop hit in 1968, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart, #3 in Canada, and four weeks at #1 in the UK. Zoe loves this song, especially the whistling, and refers to it as "the cowboy song." This was also a favorite of my dad's, and our family had a joke about the lyrics, or what I suppose are lyrics. We called this song "Egg roll," because it sounded like a bunch of cowboys attempting to talk while eating a hot egg-roll. Seriously, what are they saying/grunting? Here's one of the most iconic scores in film history with clips from the classic movie.
While Zoe does enjoy The Temptations' "My Girl," she is even more interested in the lesser-known cover version of the same song by The Mamas & The Papas. Originally written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, this tender interpretation was first heard on the group's 1967 album Deliver, and was later released as the B-side of "Do You Wanna Dance" in 1968, although it charted rather poorly. With a new, ascending vocal intro, this version is a textbook-example of The Mamas & The Papas' harmonious sound that can surely put a smile on anyone's face. Gotta love my kiddo's variety!
Although it's apparently taking me over half the year to get through this awesome series, we all know it's well worth it. Featuring the top-notch L.A. musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, our next recording is the traditional pop song "Strangers in the Night," composed by Bert Kaempfert. Originally part of an instrumental score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed, the song was made famous by Frank Sinatra in 1966. Reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Easy Listening, and UK Singles chart, it won Sinatra the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year. Despite Sinatra's strong hatred of the song, it was his first #1 song in 11 years and his most commercially successful album. The song's most memorable and recognizable feature is Sinatra's scat improvisation of the melody with the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" as the song fades at the end.
Originating in mid-1965 as a band project by the L.A. songwriter/producer duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, The Grass Roots began with demo recordings using Wrecking Crew musicians.
Songs like "Where Were You When I Needed You" included Sloan on lead vocals and guitar, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and Bones Howe on drums. When moderate interest in the group arose, the producers found a new band that would incorporate The Grass Roots' name and cut a new version of "Where Were You When I Needed You" with the band's lead vocalist, Willie Fulton. The producers would go on to groom a third identity of The Grass Roots before they became a big success, but in the meantime, the second version of this single peaked at #28 on the charts in mid-1966. Here's performance of the temporarily Willie Fulton-lead Grass Roots.
The music of pop singer Bobby Vee also included the session musicians of the Wrecking Crew. With his biggest success in the early '60s, Vee has had 38 Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20. His career actually began amid a tragedy, on "The Day The Music Died" in 1959 when the three headline act line-up (Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Booper) were killed in a plane crash. Vee, then age 15, with a quickly assembled band of Fargo, North Dakota schoolboys volunteered and were given the job of filling in for Buddy Holly and his band who were scheduled for a local engagement. Their performance there was a success, which eventually led to Vee's career as a popular singer. Reaching #3 on the Billboard chart, #2 on the Easy Listening, #9 on the R&B, and #3 in the UK in 1963, here's "The Night Has a Thousands Eyes."
One of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll era, Jackie DeShannon had a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. Using the WC musicians, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" was a smash single for DeShannon in 1969, reaching #4 on the Hot 100, #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and even #1 on South Africa's hit parade. Composed by DeShannon with her brother Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday, it sold over million copies and was awarded a gold disc. It was performed as the closing number at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. Here's a feelgood performance by a talented Kentucky girl.
We all know The Monkees began as a made-for-TV band who weren't allowed to play on their own recordings for their first two albums. Knowing the recipe for success, the producers used the Wrecking Crew studio musicians for these albums and other recordings featured on The Monkees TV show. Written and produced by Monkee Michael Nesmith, "You Just May Be the One" featured guitarists Glen Campbell, James Burton, and Al Casey, bassist Robert West, and drummers Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon. The song features the doubling of regular bass with Danelectro (or "dano" bass) played by one of the guitarists, and the dano bass' distinctive twang gave Nesmith's 1966 tracks a country flavor. The doubling of the bass proved difficult to master as some 35 takes were needed before the backing track was completed. A remake of this song was recorded by the band for their third album Headquarters in 1967. Here's the earlier version with the WC musicians that was used several times during Season One of the TV series.
Well, would you believe I started this post back in March? Where does the time go?! OK, so back to more great music recorded with the help of The Wrecking Crew studio musicians (if you missed the initial post explaining these guys, go here). Today's first selection is a tune actually co-written by Wrecking Crew guitarist Billy Strange with Mac Davis, written for and performed by Elvis Presley in the 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little. Released as a single in September of '68, "A Little Less Conversation" was only a minor hit in the US at #69, and included Wrecking Crew musicians like Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey on guitar, Larry Knechtel on bass, and Don Randi on piano. After its use in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven, it was remixed by Junkie XL (the first artist to receive authorization from the Presley Estate to remix an Elvis song), and the electronic version of the song became a world-wide hit, reaching the top-10 in about 17 countries, 10 of which were #1 on the charts. Here's the original "A Little Less Conversation" featured in a typical Elvis movie of the era.
In 1955, Alex North and lyricist Hey Zaret were contracted to write a song as the theme for the obsure prison movie Unchained, and their song eventually became known as the "Unchained Melody." Becoming one of the most recorded songs of the 20th Century with at least 500 different versions, it was the 1965 version by The Righteous Brothers that became a jukebox standard, even achieving a second round of great popularity after being featured in the 1990 film Ghost. Produced by Phil Spector (who regularly used Wrecking Crew musicians), it was performed as a solo by Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers, and peaked at #4 on the Billboard chart. Here's a great live performance of a classic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The T-Bones were a short-lived American pop group active in the mid-'60s. The group had a hit single in 1966 with their instrumental "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)," whose melody was from an Alka-Seltzer commercial. With Wrecking Crew session musician Hal Blaine on drums, this tune reached #3 on the Billboard chart. The group later became the AM soft rock trio Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds whose first hit was "Don't Pull Your Love" in 1971. Not the greatest video quality but a cute performance from Hullabaloo.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rip Chords were an American vocal duo with Phil Stewart and Ernie Bringas (Phil & Ernie) who eventually expanded into four primary voices, adding record producer Terry Melcher (produced The Byrds) and co-producer Bruce Johnston (who later joined The Beach Boys in 1965). Since they were not a band and needed to be backed instrumentally by studio musicians, Wrecking Crew musicians were used including singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, drummer Hal Blaine, bass guitarist Ray Pohlman, and other prominent members. With vocal layering by only the producers (Bruce and Terry), "Hey Little Cobra" was mega hit for The Rip Chords, reaching #4 in February of 1964. Since the two were "ghostsingers" for the recording, they didn't receive any credit for their vocal participation, and two other vocalists were brought in to perform strictly on tours as part of The Rip Chords. Here's one of the highest ranking hot rod songs of all time.
Today's final group featuring musicians of the Wrecking Crew is Gary Lewis & The Playboys, fronted by the son of comedian Jerry Lewis. Wanting to ensure a hit, the group's producer, Snuff Garrett, insisted on using experienced studio musicians and did not allow the band to play their own instruments on the recordings. With the help of Tommy Allsup on guitar, Leon Russell on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and Hal Blaine on drums, the group had an impressive string of hits including "Everybody Loves a Clown." Written by Gary Lewis with Leon Russell, Snuff Garrett, and Thomas Leslie, this pop tune from the album of the same name reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. Here's another cute performance from Hullabaloo (love that the drum kit is set up on the slide!).
We're not finished with our Wrecking Crew Series, but because I'm thinking of my Marine husband who is currently in Afghanistan, we're doing a jam-packed post featuring the biggest instrumental hits of the 1960s. So yes, my hubby loves this stuff, and yes, we were both born in the wrong generation!
One of the most successful instrumental groups of the decade was Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass from L.A. As trumpeter, music producer, and record executive, Alpert first found success in 1962 with his Latin-styled hit "The Lonely Bull, however, The Tijuana Brass was just Alpert overdubbing his own trumpet slightly out of sync. By the end of 1964, because of a growing demand for live performances by the Tijuana Brass, Alpert auditioned and hired a team of top session musicians (including members of The Wrecking Crew of course!). The band debuted in 1965 and became one of the highest-paid acts then performing, having put together a complete revue that included choreographed moves and comic routines. An instrumental track originally written for the 1960 Broadway show of the same name (and 1961 film), Alpert's version of "A Taste of Honey" was the most popular, spending five weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart, reaching #7 on the Hot 100, and won three awards including Record of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards. My husband has a ton of their records!
Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor Percy Faith was known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards, and is often credited for popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. One of his most memorable recordings is "Theme from A Summer Place" (1960), which earned him the Record of the Year Grammy Award in 1961, and is the longest-running #1 instrumental in the history of the Billboard chart (9 weeks). Faith remains the only artist to have a best-selling single of the year during both the pop singer era ("Song from Moulin Rouge") and the rock era ("Theme from A Summer Place"), and he is one of only three artists (with Elvis and The Beatles) to have the best-selling single of the year twice. Here's a fantastic live performance of Percy Faith conducting his musical magic.
American guitarist and composer Mason Williams was a comedy writer for Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live, however, he was best-known for his guitar instrumental hit, "Classical Gas." Composed and originally performed by Mason in 1968, this record earned three Grammy Awards including Best Musical Composition, Best Comtemporary-Pop Performance - Instrumental, and Best Instrumental Orchestra Arrangement (for arranger Mike Post, who went on to write dozens of TV shows themes including Law & Order and Magnum P.I.). Selling over a million copies and earning a gold disc, it peaked at #2 on the charts for two weeks. My husband loves this one (although we think the rest of the LP is odd) and even made his own successful arrangement for symphonic band back in high school. Here's Mason Williams with a good-lookin' orchestra (miming the studio recording) on the Ed Sullivan Show in March of '68.
The Tornados were an English instrumental group that acted as a backing band for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. Enjoying several chart hits in their own right, their biggest success was the instrumental single "Telstar." Released in August of 1962, this surf rock-sounding record was named after the Telstar communications satellite that was launched into space just a month prior, and reached #1 in both the UK and US (the first US #1 single by a British group). Featuring a clavioline (a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound), it became a precursor to space rock intending to evoke the dawn of the space age. Unfortunately, pop instrumentals lost popularity with British audiences when the "Mersey Sound" (i.e. The Beatles) became more and more popular in 1963.
French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat specialized in the easy listening genre, and is best known in the US for his million-selling remake of Andre' Popp's "Love is Blue." In February of 1968, this version hit #1 on the US pop charts, becoming the only performance by a French artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. Its five-week run at the top was the second longest of any instrumental on the pop chart era next to "Theme from A Summer Place," of course. It also spent 11 weeks at #1 on the easy listening charts, and peaked at #12 on the UK Singles chart. In case you're curious about the original version, you can see Greek singer Vicky Leandros singing the original French lyrics in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1967 here. This instrumental beauty still crops up on film and TV, including most recently on an episode of the popular '60s-based drama Mad Men. Here's a live performance from a few decades after its success.
The Brass Ring was a group of American studio musicians led by saxophonist and arranger Phil Bodner. They were based in New York City and were stylistically similar to Herb Alpert and other "Now Sound" instrumental pop groups from the 1960s, although the twin-sax sound more closely resembled Billy Vaughn, who had big hits in the '50s (I even have some of my grandparents' Billy Vaughn records!). The group had two hit singles, including "The Dis-Advantages of You," which was used in a commercial for Henson & Hodges (cigarettes) and hit #36 on the Billboard chart in 1966. I can't explain it but my hubby just loves this stuff, and we own at least three Brass Ring albums. We're so weird!
I'll conclude this fabulously full post with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, an American jazz group considered to be one of the foremost exponents of cool jazz. Their best-remembered piece is the enduring jazz classic, "Take Five," composed by the quartet's saxophonist Paul Desmond. While its not the first jazz composition to use quintuple meter (5/4 time), it was the first in the US to achieve mainstream significance, reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the easy listening chart in 1961, two years after its initial release. For several years in the early '60s, it was the theme music for NBC "Today" program, and has been included in countless movie and TV soundtracks. With the distinctive, catchy saxophone melody, here's an excellent live performance of "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Alright, it's about time I get back to writin' and continuing our fabulous series on the Wrecking Crew musicians (which is not even close to over)! First off, we're featuring American country music singer Glen Campbell, who was actually a regular guitarist amongst the first-call "Wrecking Crew" studio musicians before embarking on a highly successful solo career (something like releasing over 70 albums and selling over 45 million records, no biggie). In the mid-60s, he filled in for Brian Wilson as a touring musician on Beach Boys tours, and played guitar on the revolutionary Pet Sounds album. After the success of "Wichita Lineman" (featured here during the Country Crossovers series), Campbell scored a big hit with another Jimmy Webb song, "Galveston," which reached #4 on the Billboard charts and #1 on the country chart. Although it's widely considered an anti-Vietnam protest song, Campbell (a Republican) performed it up-tempo, conveying a more general message in a patriotic way, and it's considered the official anthem of Galveston, Texas. Other Wrecking Crew musicians included in this recording are Hal Blaine on drums (as usual), Al Casey on acoustic guitar, and Joe Osborn on bass. Here's a live performance of "Galveston" (with a studio backing track) on Campbell's own series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.
Joining the likes of The Beach Boys as vocal "surf music" pioneers, Los Angeles duo Jan & Dean used the Wrecking Crew musicians on their recordings too, and found peak success during the surf rock craze just prior to the British Invasion. Amongst their biggest songs like "Surf City" (featured way back here) and "Dead Man's Curve" was their #3 hit "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" released in June 1964. Based on a folk archetype of the widowed ladies in this East L.A. city, this comic song's twist was that not only did this little old lady drive a hot car, she was also a street racer. The top-notch WC musicians used on this recording are drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, pianist Leon Russell, guitarists Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange, and Bill Pitman, and bassist Jimmy Bond, among a few others. The coolest part is that I found out this recording's personnel by looking at copies of actual contracts provided online by the Musician's Union (American Federation of Musicians; my husband was in that same union back in his professional musician days). You can check out some of these contracts for these legendary recording sessions on the official Wrecking Crew website here. Anyway, introduced by singer Lesley Gore, here's a live vocal performance by Jan & Dean.
You've probably heard of the popular New York girl group The Crystals (pictured left) who released huge hits in the early 1960s like "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me." But you may not know that their most-enduring success, "He's a Rebel," was only credited to The Crystals but was actually recorded by singer Darlene Love and her backing group The Blossoms (pictured right). Legend has it that when the real Crystals were unable to travel fast enough to L.A. from New York to record "He's a Rebel" (written by singer Gene Pitney), record producer Phil Spector had Love and her L.A.-based group record the single under the banner of The Crystals. The real Crystals had to add the song to their live repertoire, even though lead singer Barbara Alston's soft voice could not mimic Love's hearty deliver. While The Crystals are considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the '60s, this recording is among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is considered one of the definitive examples of the Spector-produced girl group sound. Including all WC musicians on this song, here's a lip-synced performance by The Crystals of the original recording.
While the Wrecking Crew may have its origins with studio musicians dating back to the late 1950s, the Crew was definitely at work with hits in the early '60s, playing for stars like the King of Soul himself, Sam Cooke. With his distinctive vocal abilities, Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" is among his most popular songs, reaching #9 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B chart after its release in January 1962. Written by Cooke, it was even successful overseas as well, reaching #6 in the UK. The recording includes WC members Tommy Tedesco and Clifton White on guitar, and Earl Palmer on drums, as well as a swingin' horn section. Haven't figured where this footage comes from, but here's a great performance by the extremely talented Sam Cooke with a live band in December 1963 (one year before his untimely death).
The WC didn't just play rock 'n' roll of the '60s but were also used for traditional pop standard recordings as well, like Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen." First composed and recorded by Bert Kaempfert, the song was originally intended for singer Bobby Darin as a follow-up to "Mack the Knife." However, after seeing a 21-year-old Newton perform at the Copacabana, he decided to give it to Newton and transposed the key of the recording to fit Newton's high tenor voice (sometimes mistaken for a female!). Released in 1963, this recording reached #13 on the Billboard pop charts and #3 on the easy listening chart, becoming Newton's signature song. Before becoming one of the biggest (and longest-running) performers in Las Vegas, here's a very polished live performance by the young, self-assured Wayne Newton in 1968.
From the quintessential episode in the James Bond series, "Goldfinger" was the title song of 1964 film of the same name. Composed by John Barry, the song was performed by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing credits. In 1965, Bassey enjoyed her only Top-40 Billboard hit with this title song, which peaked #8, while the original soundtrack of Goldfinger hit #1 in the US the same year. While technically a one-hit wonder, Bassey always sold out concerts in Las Vegas, and was a bigger star in her native Britain. Don't think anyone will ever forget this classic Bond number! 
American composer, conductor, and arranger Henry Mancini
is cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, having earned 4 Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, 10 Grammy Awards, and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. 
Remembered for so many movies and TV scores, he is best known for the jazz-idiom theme to the The Pink Panther film series, the first film in 1963. The tune was issued as a single in 1964, reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards.With the tenor sax solo played by Plas Johnson (a Wrecking Crew session musician!), "The Pink Panther Theme" is noted for its quirky, unusual use of chromaticism which is derived from the Hungarian minor scale (gypsy/romani scale) with raised 4th and 7th degrees (that's for all your music theory nerds). 
Speaking of Henry Mancini, he also composed the classic tune "Moon River" with lyricist John Mercer. It received an Oscar for Best Original Song for its first performance by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It also won Mancini the 1962 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Mercer the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Covered by many artists, it became the theme song for Andy Williams, who first recorded it in 1961 and performed it at the Academy Awards ceremonies in 1962, going on to sing the first eight bars at the beginning of his eponymous television show. Although his version never charted and Hepburn's version was not even included in the original soundtrack, an album version recorded by Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and became a number 11 hit. Here's the most famous version today by the late Andy Williams. 
