February, 2009
Byrds’ eye view
“Mr. Tambourine Man” The Byrds 1965 debut on Columbia Records. #232 on Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” Produced by Terry Melcher. Cover Photo by: Barry Feinstein. Here’s an early TV appearance on Hullabaloo.
The only Byrd to play on the band’s first hit was Roger McGuinn, whose chiming twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar became folk rock’s defining sound. Everything else came from L.A. pros, including drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Larry Knechtel from Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew. But the rest of the Byrds soon caught up, and as the song was breaking, a curious Dylan checked out the band at Ciro’s, an L.A. club, and reportedly didn’t recognize some of his own songs in their electrified versions. – Rolling Stone
I sing like a girl
Clarence “Frogman” Henry “You Always Hurt the One You Love” Argo Records (1961) Henry opened for the Beatles on their 1964 tour. His first big hit, and most enduring recording, is the lovable and very weird, “Ain’t Got No Home” (released in 1956), where he “sings like a frog” and “sings like a girl”. This reached a new generation, when Daniel Stern did a great sing-along in the 1982 movie “Diner.” This LP is another example of how record companies in the fifties and early sixties even wouldn’t show the black artists on the cover in the hopes of selling the record to more white listeners.
Drive, he said
Harlem River Drive Eddie Palmieri Roulette Records With Charlie Palmieri on Organ and Jimmy Norman, Vocals. (1971) Seminal early mix of latin, salsa, soul, funk and jazz. Have a listen to The 01-harlem-river-drive-theme.