NOT THE BEATLES, PART TWO (1984)

Rich here to continue my "Not The Beatles" post.

It was 1984, and I was flipping through the stacks of vinyl in my favorite record store, Second Time Around Records, which, in addition to being a great used record store, was one of the only places at the time in Wichita, Kansas, that you could find punk and new wave records, hard-to-find British and Australian/New Zealand alternative bands, and releases on indie labels.

Among all the artsy record covers featuring cutting-edge graphics and art, I spied a fairly nondescript LP featuring a very simple photograph of four somewhat nerdy looking guys on the cover of an album entitled "Beat Music.

 

A light bulb went off in my head. "Beat Music!" -- that was the label that the British Rock Press of the time had attached to the sounds emanating from the Cavern Club in Liverpool back in 1963.

 

Taking a chance, I plunked down my Seven Dollars and took the record home to discover joyful, rocking, catchy beat music by a Beatles soundalike band with the unwieldy name of The Spongetones. Maybe they weren't The Beatles, and they weren't from Liverpool -- they were four college boys from North Carolina -- but if their record had been released in 1964 instead of 1982, it would have easily shared the Top 10 alongside the best bands of the British Invasion. 

 

A few years after "Beat Music" was released, The Spongetones bundled that album with their follow-up EP, "Torn Apart," to create the CD "Beat & Torn," which I would present as evidence that it could justifiably be called "The Second Album" The Beatles should have made.

THE SPONGETONES - "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?"

NOT THE BEATLES, PART ONE (1966)

 

Rich here. I was dispiritedly doing my 8th grade math homework in early 1966 with my transistor radio on my desk, tuned alternately to WLS in Chicago and KOMA in Oklahoma City, two 50-thousand watt AM behemoths whose signals I could pick up only at night. And both stations were enthusiastically promoting a rocking new single -- a slab of disc full of Beatles magic. I mean, that was John Lennon's distinctive mannerisms on the lead vocal, and the backing vocals were drenched in those signature Fab Four harmonies. And the rhythm section -- that was George Harrison's explosive guitar licks and Ringo's driving beats. Right???

 

But, NO! It wasn't the Beatles at all!

 

It was The Knickerbockers, a rather generic New Jersey dance band that somehow had nicked the Beatles Sound to perfection -- so much so that it fooled this 14-year-old Beatlemaniac! 

 

And here it is 60 years later, and "Lies" still sounds like vintage British Invasion Beatles, just as fresh as it did back in 1966. It's the Best Single The Beatles Never Recorded.

 

As many of you know, The Knickerbockers went on to be one of the featured House Bands on Dick Clark's daily "Where The Action Is" TV show. They subsequently released a handful of other great guitar-driven pop records. But none were as catchy and undeniable with their pop hooks as "Lies."

THE KNICKERBOCKERS - "Lies"

ROBERT PALMER - "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" (1974)

 

I love this 1974 album by Robert Palmer so much, it took me forever to try and decide on which song to choose from it.

This record is as funky and syncopated as music can get, and when you have this caliber of songwriters and musicians, it is truly a masterpiece.

"Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" was Robert Palmer's first solo album after being in a band called Vinegar Joe, and it's hard to imagine the GQ dapper Robert as a long hair hippie type, but stranger things have happened in this world.
 

This particular song was written by  New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, and was originally recorded by Lee "Working In The Coal Mine" Dorsey in 1966.

The backing band is one of the funkiest bands to ever grace a stage, The Meters, who also played on the original version, with the addition of Little Feat's Lowell George on slide guitar, and the sweet and soulful voice of Vicki Brown on background vocals.

After you listen to this, do yourself a favor and also check out Robert's epic "Through It All There's You," another killer song driven by the drums of the amazing Bernard "Pretty" Purdie." 

In fact, just go ahead and listen to the whole damn album. I guarantee you won't be sorry!

ROBERT PALMER - "Sneakin" Sally Through The Alley."

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF MANFRED MANN

 

The original name of Manfred Mann was The Mann Hugg Blues Brothers. It was named after founding members Manfred Mann who played keyboards, and drummer Mike Hugg formed it in 1962. The rest of the members in the band changed several times before they broke up in 1969. 

In 1964 their song "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" was number one in The Billboard Charts in the U.S.

MANFRED MANN - "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"

 

In 1966 the song "Pretty Flamingo" charted as high as #29 in the U.S. and #1 in the UK.

MANFRED MANN - "Pretty Flamingo"

 

In 1968, their song "Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)" also became #1 in the UK and was #10 in the U.S.

MANFRED MANN - "The Mighty Quinn"

 

In 1971 Manfred put together a new band called Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and in 1972 they released this album called "Glorified Magnified" that had one of the oddest songs on it that I'd ever heard at the time.

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND - "Meat"

Although "Meat" never charted, the band roared back in 1976 with their biggest hit ever from the album "The Roaring Silence."

There's much more to the Manfred Mann story, but I think you get the idea.

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND - "Blinded By The Light"

 Yet, despite all that, the name Manfred Mann is nowhere to be found in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame which just proves once again that you can call something anything you want to, but it doesn't necessarily make it true!

THE JIM CARROLL BAND - "Catholic Boy" (1980)

 

This 1980 LP titled Catholic Boy" by The Jim Carroll Band is a pretty great effort, and there's at least one song that resonates in my brain all the time.

What can I say, the truth can be really painful sometimes.

Jim Carroll passed away in 2009 at the age of 60.

What a shame that he became one of the people in one of his own songs.

THE JIM CARROLL BAND - "People Who Died"

SCOTT GODDARD - "Eleventy Billion" (1986)

 

In seventeen years music went from Space Cowboys to Cowpunks, and one of the people you can thank for it was Scott Goddard. Unfortunately Scott only lived twenty years more, another victim of cancer at 54 years of age, but at least he left us this 1986 LP called "Eleventy Billion."

Here's a song I never get tired of!

SCOTT GODDARD - "Cowpunk"

THE STEVE MILLER BAND - "Brave New World" (1969)

 

Most people know Steve Miller because of songs like "The Joker," "Fly Like An Eagle," and "Abracadabra," but Steve Miller had at least six albums out before those songs were ever released, and one of my favorites of those early albums is this one released in 1969 called "Brave New World." 

Actually his albums "Sailor" and "Your Saving Grace" are equally as good, but there's something about this one that is extra special, and that's this song!

THE STEVE MILLER BAND - "Space Cowboy"