THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely" (1965)

 

The Lady Birds were from Fullerton, California, and only had a couple of singles.

This was the B side, and the A side was a cover of The Drifter's "Sweets For My Sweet." 

 

 

One cool thing, they asked Ladybird Johnson for permission to use the band name. 

 

Do not confuse The Lady Birds with this 60's Brit duo and trio,

The Ladybirds.

These birds sang the background vocals on Marc Bolan's first release "The Wizard," were the Mood Mosaic voices, and also sang background vocals on songs by John Entwistle, and many others.

 

And whatever else you do, don't confuse The Lady Birds with The Ladybirds who claim to be "the world's first all-girl topless rock band." 

 

THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely" 

CHARLIE HUNTER QUARTET - "Natty Dread" (1997)

 

I loved the brilliant concept of this Charlie Hunter Quartet album when it came out in 1997. Not just a couple of cover tunes, but record every song in order just like on the original album, but do it in Charlie's own particular style of jazz.

The original album was Bob Marley And The Wailers 1975 classic "Natty Dread," and here's the title song!

CHARLIE HUNTER QUARTET - "Natty Dread" 

HIT RECORDS (of Nashville) - "Please, Please Me" (1963)

 

Rich here with a bet that you might not have previously heard the term "Explotio," which was the practice of selling sound-alike records of current hits to unsuspecting music fans. For example, in the wake of the British Invasion, dozens of albums flooded the market featuring photographs of four shaggy-haired boys in partial shadow (much like the photo on the "Meet the Beatles" album cover). Sometimes, the misleading name of "The Beetles" or "The Newest Sounds from England!" scrolled across the top. And it was only after the buyer slapped the album on the family hi-fi did they discover it wasn't The Beatles at all but an anonymous group hired by a fly-by-night recording company. Unsurprisingly, among the most frequent customers for these fake Beatles albums were parents of young fans who had no idea what the actual Beatles faces looked like or didn't notice the intentional misspelling of the band's name. 

 

For the most part those Beatles knock-off albums disappeared after a year or two, although existing copies in mint shape are worth a lot of money these days in the collectors' markets.

 

However, one particular record label, HIT RECORDS (of Nashville) made handsome profits for many years in the Explotio business, releasing hundreds of 45's of current Top 40 hit records for 39 cents, which was roughly half the cost of the single by the original artist at the time. The quality of the imitation performances ranged from quite good to piss-poor. In either event, the recordings were made quickly and released cheaply, and an undiscerning fan might think she'd gotten a pretty good bargain to own her favorite song.

THE BOLL WEEVILS - "Please, Please Me" 

BAD BRAINS - "Rock For Light" (1983)

 

This 1983 LP by Bad Brains has always fascinated me. It's mostly hardcore punk music, but Bad Brains was also a Reggae band.

 Seems to me I read a long time ago that sometimes when it was a punk show, they would play Reggae, and if it was a Reggae show, they'd play punk!

These guys have a sense of humor! 

Here's a couple of classic examples. The first one is 34 seconds long.

The ad you'll have to sit through to hear it is probably longer than the song!

BAD BRAINS - "Joshua's Song"

 

    BAD BRAINS - "I And I Survive"

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - "Surrender" (1999)

 

It was fifty-nine years ago yesterday "when Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play"and The Beatles "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album was released. If it hadn't of happened, you wouldn't be listening to music like this 1999 album by The Chemical Brothers called "Surrender" today!

What the Hell am I talking about?

Just take a listen, and maybe you'll figure it out, and maybe you won't.

The title is a good place to start! 

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - "Let Forever Be" 

TWO PSYCHO 60's SONGS

 

In the 1960's there were at least two singles released titled "Psycho," and neither of them had anything to do with Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece of the same name.

 

The same year as Hitchcock's "Psycho," Bobby Hendricks came out with a song named "Psycho."

Listen to it, and then you tell me how this ever got played on AM radio, but it did.

I've heard a lot of weird songs in my life, but this one is up at the top of the list.

 A psychiatrist call and response with a teenager full of angst hopped up on something.

66 years later, and still strange as Hell!

And what about that guy Bob? Whatever happened to him?

The voice of the psychiatrist was New York City DJ Tommy Smalls, aka Dr. Jive.

BOBBY HENDRICKS - "Psycho"

 

In 1965 the kings of Northwest rock, The Sonics, came out with a completely different song with the same name, the incredible "Psycho."

If you don't believe them, just wait for those screams! 

Pretty funny that a song named "Psycho" would come out on the "Etiquette" label. 

Not sure why, but for some reason this song just drives me crazy!!

THE SONICS - "Psycho"

TERJE RYPDAL - "Bleak House " (1968)

 

The brilliant Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal was only 21 years old when he recorded this first album of his called "Bleak House" in 1968.

Terje studied classical piano and trumpet as a child, and taught himself how to play the guitar when he was a teenager. 

The rest is legacy, the rest is history. 

I'm just guessing but I'm pretty sure from the sound of the music, and from the title of this song, that it was written as a tribute to the great Wes Montgomery, one of the finest jazz guitarists on the planet!

TERJE RYPDAL - "Wes"