HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 137-35 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’-SIDE, PART 35

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            As we continue our in depth coverage of Motown and all its subsidiary labels, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of 1967, with the ‘Summer of Love’ fast approaching. Times were changing, and if you listen closely to these songs, you will hear how the label started to make a few adjustments to remain contemporary, and change with the times. Considering how important pop music was to this era and how influential Motown was at that time, it is surprising to see that there weren’t quite as many hits during this period as you may expect. Today’s songs include;

1)    Just Look What You’ve Done – Brenda Holloway

2)    Here I Am Baby – Barbara McNair

3)    Take Me In Your Arms and Love Me – Gladys Knight & the Pips

4)    The Happening – The Supremes

5)    Got to Have You Back – The Isley Brothers

6)    There’s a Ghost in My House – R. Dean Taylor

7)    Festival Time – San Remo Golden Strings

8)    I Wonder Why (Nobody Loves Me) – Billy Eckstine

9)    When You’re Young and in Love – The Marvelettes

10)  All I Need – The Temptations

11)  Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

12)  7 Rooms of Gloom – The Four Tops

13)  I'll Turn to Stone - The Four Tops

AMERICAN HIT RADIO – ALBUM TRACKS FROM THE WINTER OF ‘78-’79, PART 1

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Last week, we dedicated our program to the hit singles that charted during the winter of ’78-’79. At that time, I expressed that it had been a while since we took a serious look at the ‘70s, and we were overdue. This program points out just how overdue we really were. I decided to review album releases from that same era, and was completely overwhelmed by what I had seen. The number of relevant albums was truly remarkable – much too many to squeeze into one program. So, we now compensate for our dearth of ‘70s coverage by prepping three shows in a row dedicated to that rather unusual era. Today, we look at album tracks from the more traditional side of things. Next week, we’ll continue our coverage of album tracks by focusing on the ‘new breed’ of musical artists who started to shake things up.

            Songs and albums covered in today’s program include;

1)    Kingdom Hall – Van Morrison (from ‘Wavelength’)

2)    Comes a Time – Neil Young (from ‘Comes a Time’)

3)    Look Out for My Love – Neil Young (from ‘Comes a Time’)

4)    Barefoot and Pregnant – Joan Armatrading (from ‘To the Limit’)

5)    Bottom to the Top – Joan Armatrading (from ‘To the Limit’)

6)    Water of Love – Dire Straits (from ‘Dire Straits’)

7)    Wild West End – Dire Straits (from ‘Dire Straits’)

8)    New York Groove – Ace Frehley (from ‘Ace Frehley’)

9)  Take It Where You Find It – Van Morrison (from ‘Wavelength’)

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 137-34 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’ SIDE, PART 34

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From just about any perspective, 1967 was a volatile year. Ever since 1962, when Motown first broke on pop radio, a whole new world market opened up for them, and the label grew and grew. 1967,though, posed a few interesting challenges for ‘the little label that could’. Sociologically, times were changing, and as a result, so was the music. Detroit was in the thick of it, and the Summer riots of 1967 proved just how volatile the sociopolitical environment had become. Motown would survive, but not without some volatility of its own, as the upcoming shows will portray.

            Songs included in today’s program include;

1)    Love’s Gone Bad – The Underdogs

2)    Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone – The Supremes

3)    Pucker Up Buttercup – Jr. Walker & the All Stars

4)    Chantilly Lace – Shorty Long

5)    Till Johnny Comes – Brenda Hollloway

6)    The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

7)    Jimmy Mack – Martha & the Vandellas

8)    Travlin’ Man – Stevie Wonder

9) Hey Love - Stevie Wonder

10)    Bernadette – The Four Tops

11) Gonna Give Her All the Love I’ve Got – Jimmy Ruffin

12) I Want to Go Back There Again – Chris Clark

13) It’s So Hard Being a Loser – The Contours

LE FREAKY POP MUSIC FROM 1979

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As you may already know, we often dedicate our Wednesday program to ‘Decade Anniversary’ programming, where we concentrate specifically on music from ten, twenty, thirty forty or even fifty years ago. During the latter part of 2008, however, a number of specialized programs limited our ability to fully cover all that we had intended. Late 1978 in particular went largely ignored for the last quarter of 2008. So, today’s show compensates for that oversight by compiling a few representative singles from the last quarter of 1978…and by ‘representative’, we mean both some of the best, and some of the worst.

Here are a few examples;

1)    Reminiscing – the Little River Band

2)    Just What I Needed – The Cars

3)    Copacabana – Barry Manilow (‘Bad Hit’)

4)    Themes from the Wizard of Oz – Meco (‘Bad Hit’)

5) Who Are You? - The Who

6)    Le Freak – Chic

7)    Do Ya Think I’m Sexy – Rod Stewart (‘Bad Hit’)

8)    I Was Made for Dancin’ – Leif Garrett (‘Bad Hit’)

9)  My Best Friend’s Girl – The Cars

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 137-33 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’-SIDE, PART 33

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In many ways, 1966 provided the perfect environment for a label like Motown. Pop music was at its peak, and Motown was certainly the country’s most important record label when it came to creating pop music. That, plus the social inroads that brought Black popular culture into the mainstream all helped to boost Motown toward the forefront of America’s consciousness. In a short while , the times would be a-changin’ (again) and Motown would find it necessary to adapt. Adaptation is something Motown had been doing since its inception, so that in itself would not present a problem, but in 1966, Motown and its subsidiary labels didn’t need to do anything more than just continue to be what they already were, and continue to do what they were already doing.

Today’s show compiles all singles released by the label during the latter part of 1966, including;

1)    (Come ‘Round Here) I’m the One You Need – The Miracles

2)    A Place in the Sun – Stevie Wonder

3)    Money (That’s What I Want) – Jr. Walker & the All Stars

4)    (I Know) I’m Losing You – The Temptations

5)    I’ve Passed This Way Before – Jimmy Ruffin

6)    Since I Lost You Girl – The Monitors

7)    Standing in the Shadows of Love – The Four Tops

8)    It Takes Two – Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston

9)    6 by 6 – Earl Van Dyle & the Motown Brass

10)  Goodnight Irene – The Originals

11)  The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game – The Marvelettes

12)  Mother You, Smother You - Christine Schumacher & The Supremes

A TIME FOR CHANGE – JANUARY 1969

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  In retrospect, it is quite astounding to look at 1969 from a musical perspective. It is a relative observation, but I believe that music changed significantly in this one year more than any other. A comparison of January 1969 to February 1969 would offer a representative study of my viewpoint, and we’ll cover this next month when we take a look at February 1969. Meanwhile, today’s show offers a broad panoply of styles and sounds, with an emphasis on a variety of album tracks.

            Songs from today’s show include;

1)    Everyday People – Sly & the Family Stone

2)    Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

3)    I’ve Gotta Be Me – Sammy Davis Jr. (as a ‘Bad Hit’/Great Miss’)

4)    All Together Now – The Beatles

5)    Hey Bulldog – The Beatles

6)    No Easy Way Down – Dusty Springfield

7)    Breakfast in Bed – Dusty Springfield

8) You’ll Never See My Face Again – The Bee Gees

9) Melody Fair – The Bee Gees

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 137-32 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’-SIDE, PART 32

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When we started this series in the Spring of ’08 (my goodness, has it been that long already?), I envisioned each show to be like today’s show; an hour full of fabulously popular hits and interesting rarities. Today's show focuses on the latter part of 1966, when Motown was soaring. Here is a list of songs featured in today’s program;

1)    Little Darling (I Need You) – Marvin Gaye

2)    Beauty Is Only Skin Deep – The Temptations

3)    Reach Out I’ll Be There – The Four Tops

4)    These Things Will Keep Me Loving You – The Velvelettes

5)    Hurt a Little Everyday – Brenda Holloway

6)    Heaven Must Have Sent You – The Elgins

7)    Play It Cool, Stay in School – Brenda Holloway

8)    Everything Is Good About You – Barbara McNair

9)    And There You Were – Billy Eckstine

10)  I’m Ready for Love – Martha & the Vandellas

11)  You Keep Me Hangin’ On – The Supremes

12)  Loraine Alterman Interviews Marvin Gaye

13)  Some Day at Christmas – Stevie Wonder

Music from January 1959

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Well, another year of music history is behind is, while a new year has opened up before us. I always have a great deal of fun preparing this show, but 2008 was especially enjoyable, if for no other reason than that it provided some much needed distractions from the other news. Today we resume our usual format, by looking at popular music from fifty years ago – January 1959, to be specific.

So, here’s a salute to 1959, while hoping that 2009 offers us a reprieve from the hard times behind us (As a side note, we do NOT play the #1 song from January 1959 – “The Christmas Song” by David Seville & the Chipmunks – because it’s January 6, and I think we’ve all had our fill of Christmas music by now).

Songs included in today’s program include:

1)    Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price

2)    La Bamba – Richie Valens

3)    C’mon Everybody – Eddie Cochran

4)    Moovin’ n’ Groovin’ – Duane Eddy

5)     Cannonball – Duane Eddy

6)    Ramrod – Duane Eddy

7)    Barbara Allen – The Everly Brothers

8)    I’m Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail – The Everly Brothers

9)    Down in the Willow Garden – The Everly Brothers

10)  Come Dance with Me – Frank Sinatra

11)  Day In, Day Out – Frank Sinatra