Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
This full-page ad in Billboard‘s “World of Country Music” special edition gives every indication that 1967 promised to be a break-out year for Molly Bee: Billboard October 28, 1967 The previous year, inside the gatefold sleeve of 1966’s Freak Out – the groundbreaking debut double album by Frank Zappa‘s Mothers
Until fairly recently, I had a Tuesday Morning “close-out retailer” store within two miles of home. In an age when we are lucky to have just one large national bookstore chain, I was grateful to have a quirky home goods store that also offered the oddest assortment of book fare,
Michael Stipe and his REM bandmates, it would appear, are bat fans, as evidenced by their non-LP B-side, “Winged Mammal Theme.” This abstract instrumental take on “The Batman Theme” — flip side of their 1992 hit “Drive” – but only in the US — was somehow rejected for the soundtrack to
The grammarian in me finds it unbelievably difficult to refer to the legendary bluegrass family dynasty as “The Stonemans” – I keep wanting to say “The Stonemen.” Surely, I’m not the only person who wrestles with this conundrum? (Image courtesy of Discogs) Ernest “Pop” Stoneman‘s musical career goes all the
One other prominent (and tragic) artist from country music’s early years to get the cosmetic posthumous remix is Hank Williams, whose death in 1953 in no way stopped MGM from issuing new product for the marketplace (often multiple albums per year) through 1981 and beyond. Hank Williams, for instance, was
Recorded by Merle Kilgore in early November, 1963 at Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville and released January 1964 as a single by MGM: “Johnny Zero“ Merle Kilgore (1963) Does Merle Kilgore sound like Johnny Cash because they were such good friends, or were Merle and Johnny good friends because their
In 1967, Sheb Wooley released a great single, where the A-side – “Love In” – hilariously mocked the “free love” sentiment then in vogue, while the B-side proudly proclaimed the simple music of the “folk” to be the kind that touches his soul the deepest: Wildwood Flower on the Autoharp
The received wisdom is that The Beatles single-handedly invented ‘power pop’ with “And Your Bird Can Sing,” an album track from 1966’s Revolver. The truth, however, is a little more elusive. One could point out that “Paperback Writer” – a song that very much embodies the power pop sound –
For a modest sum, I picked up this Roy Orbison soundtrack for the 1967 motion picture – Fastest Guitar Alive – and was surprised by the quality of songs from start to finish. Cover art by Frank Frazetta All ten songs on the album are Roy Orbison originals – seven
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