THE QUINTET OF THE HOT CLUB DE FRANCE FEATURING DJANGO REINHARDT & STEPHANE GRAPPELLY - "Limehouse Blues" (1942)

 

Django Reinhardt is considered by many to be the greatest guitar player in all of history, and he definitely, and without a doubt, is the best two-fingered guitar player that ever existed.

In 1928 a fire caused by a candle severely damaged his hand, and only left him with the two fingers functioning on that hand, but somehow, through sheer determination, he managed to work through it.

Django and violinist Stephane Grappelly were a duo who made music that is unsurpassed to this day.

After some 30 years, Stephane changed his name back to it's original spelling as Grappelli, and I was lucky enough to see him perform in the seventies as that name. It was one of the most beautiful concerts I have ever attended. 

The band was fleshed out with bassist Louis Vola, and rhythm guitarists Roger Chaput and Joseph Reinhardt (Django's brother). 

Here's a little sample of why people think these guys were so magnificent. 

THE QUINTET OF THE HOT CLUB DE FRANCE - "Limehouse Blues"   

TOMMY JAMES - "Christian Of The World" (1971)

 

I'll admit that I probably wasn't really paying a lot of attention back in 1971, so I guess it slipped by me that Tommy James was throwing his whole religious card into the game of music.

I mean the cover from his solo LP called "Christian Of The World" was pretty much a 100% giveaway, but I am one of those who didn't realize that "Draggin' The Line," along with his smash hit with The Shondells, "Crimson And Clover" were Christian songs.

What a brilliant disguise! 

While not overtly Christian, this song is about Christian values.

Two different charts had this song at #2, and #4 in the U.S. 

Tommy James - "Draggin' The Line" 

THE GUESS WHO - "It's My Pride" (1966)

 

I thought I was pretty familiar with the music by The Guess Who, but I heard this song the other day, and had to look it up to see who the artist was because it really didn't sound like anybody I knew about.

 

 

This song wasn't really on any of their early albums but was the 'B' side of their first single release from 1966 called "His Girl," and it just might be the most raw and rockin' song in their vast catalogue of great music!

This sounds like it was off one of the "Nuggets" LP's. 

 

It was however on this 2003 Greatest Hits CD titled "Anthology."

THE GUESS WHO - "It's My Pride" 

ANTHONY MOORE - "World Service" (1981)

 

This 1981 LP by Anthony Moore titled "World Service" is very cool and chock full of good music if you're not familiar with it.

I really dig the song "Broke'n Idle" but the version I like is much shorter than the one I found on YouTube, so as an introduction to Anthony's music, I think this song is a better choice.

If you like it, then go and listen to the long version of  "Broke'n Idle" too, because you'll like that one also!

ANTHONY MOORE - "Run Right Back"    

THE GODZ - "Contact High With The Godz" (1966)

 

The Godz were the third member of the 1960's ESP trifecta of talent along with The Fugs, and Pearls Before Swine, and they released this LP called "Contact High With The Godz" in 1966.

Talk about raw, here they completely destroy this classic Hank Williams' song, and didn't even use the correct title which was "May You Never Be Alone"

THE GODZ - "May You Be Alone (Hank Williams)"

ONE-HIT WONDERS, PT 2 - Crabby Appleton ("Go Back," 1970)

 

Rich here. By the end of the Sixties the Album-Era had definitely arrived. It wasn't just the Beatles and The Who and The Beach Boys making great albums, anymore. Many of the major bands liked the freedom that making an album provided, with longer songs and thematic & sonic experimentations, and some of them were turning away from making singles altogether.

 

But making albums was an expensive proposition, and a band had to earn a certain level of stature and experience before the record company would give them the budget to make an album.

 

All of which meant a band needed to score some hit singles first, and the early '70s were full of one-hit wonders -- bands that recorded their best song as a single, which might go on to garner lots of radio play and an admirable showing on the singles charts. But, oftentimes, a band was unable to follow up their hit single with another record its equal. 

 

But, indeed, there were some GREAT one-hit wonders in the early '70s. And one of my favorites was by Crabby Appleton. No, not the villain from the animated Tom Terrific cartoons on the daily Captain Kangaroo TV show, but a band who released a terrific single in 1970.

 

"Go Back" is a radio-friendly rocker full of fizzy guitar riffs, hard-charging drums & percussion fills, lots of guitar-jangle, and a catchy straight-through-to-the-chorus by a commanding lead singer whose occasional welps explode into the mix. 

 

"Go Back" was unquestionably as good as songs being released by other bands from the newly emerging Power Pop movement, like Badfinger, The Raspberries, and Big Star -- but, unfortunately, just like their one-hit-wonder brethren Sugarloaf, nothing else by Crabby Appleton ever made a dent on the charts. Nonetheless, the song remains a classic power pop gem.

CRABBY APPLETON - "Go Back" 

CRAZY ELEPHANT - Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' (1969)

 

Crazy Elephant was another one of those bands that was created by Kasenetz-Katz in the studio, and they also have the notoriety of being another of the 60's one hit wonders.

The record came out in 1969, and this single made it to number 12 on the charts.

This is not really one of my favorite songs, but it ain't bad in a goofy kind of way, but more than anything, I like this video, because it's always amazing how you can take footage of people dancing, and it will almost always be in sync with the music, and using footage of some of the TV goddesses of the 60's is sheer genius.  

CRAZY ELEPHANT - Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'