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SHADY GREEN
AND HIS
WAYBACK
MACHINE
on the station that's #1 for music and fun - S-P-M-M!
PIGGYBACK COLD OPEN: CLICK TO PLAY FIRST VIDEO.
AT 11 SEC. MARK, CLICK TO
PLAY SECOND VIDEO!
"Hawaii Five-O" - The Ventures (Mar to May 1969, highest chart pos. #4 Hot 100/#6 Cash Box)
Visions of Jack Lord's hair flashing through my noggin as the best-selling
instrumental band of all time, The Ventures, get the old adrenaline pumping
and kick-off the show with the theme from the hit TV series "Hawaii Five-O,"
a top 5 hit from 1969. I've always wanted to say this: "Book 'em, Danno!"
How're you doing? I'm Shady Green
and I'm glad you hopped aboard my
Wayback Machine for another trip
back to one of the most exciting
periods in music history, the mid
60s through the early 70s.
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
Up next, here's a San Francisco based
folk-rock and psychedelic pop band
that racked up a string of hits as long
as a comet tail - 14 top 40 singles in
all. I'm talking about The Grass Roots,
and here they are with a groovy tune
from 1971-- "Temptation Eyes."
"Temptation Eyes" - The Grass Roots
(Feb./Mar. 1971, highest chart pos. #15 Hot 100/#16 Cash Box)
Retrosonic Radio in Futuresonic Stereo Surround - that's S-P-M-M,
and you just heard "Temptation Eyes" by The Grass Roots, a great
single that peaked at #15, surprisingly low considering the fact that
the record spent a whopping 18 weeks on the chart. That's longer
than any of the band's other releases including their
biggest hit "Midnight Confessions."
Here's another song that under-performed
on the U.S. chart, but the reason is clear.
It's The Rolling Stones with the follow-
up to their smash hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
This single was released in the U.S. shortly
after the violent clashes between police
and anti-Vietnam War protesters at the
1968 Democratic National Convention
in Chicago. Fearing the song would
incite more violence, local stations
refused to play it.
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
FYI, the original picture sleeve of this single is one of the rarest and most
valuable in the world, worth well over a thousand dollars. Here they are,
The Stones, with the song banned in Chi-town-- "Street Fighting Man!"
"Street Fighting Man" - The Rolling Stones
(Sept. 1968, highest chart pos. #30 Cash Box/#48 Hot 100)
Banned in The Windy City, The Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man."
Incidentally "The Boss" - Brice Springsteen- called the song's lyrics
"What can a poor boy do but sing in a rock and roll band?"
one of the greatest rock and roll lines of all time.
If you're just tuning in, your riding the
Wayback Machine with Shady Green,
The Dean of Keen, on S-P-M-M... the
#1 station for a rock and roll nation!
Time now for some Rapp music.
I'm talking about the late, great
songwriter/musician Tom Rapp,
one of the most eloquent and
distinctive voices of my
g-g-generation.
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THE VIDEO NOW!
In 1967 Rapp and his psychedelic folk rock band Pearls Before Swine released
their first single for ESP records. Turn on, tune in-- "Drop Out" with me!
"Drop Out!" - Pearls Before Swine
(from Oct. 1967 album One Nation Underground)
From their 1967 debut album One Nation Underground, that was Tom Rapp
and PBS - Pearls Before Swine - with "Drop Out!" PBS was noteworthy
for using an assortment of esoteric musical instruments in their studio
recordings, the kind rarely found on pop or rock recordings.
Shady Green and the Wayback Machine...
and we're right smack dab in the middle
of a seven-in-a-row block party here
on S-P-M-M radio where all the
cool oldies come to play.
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
Our magical mystery tour continues now
with The Doors and a song from their
second album Strange Days--
"You're Lost Little Girl."
"You're Lost little Girl" - The Doors
(from Sept. 1967 album Strange Days)
The Doors with "You're Lost Little Girl." Released at the beginning of fall
in 1967, Strange Days is considered by many critic and fans including me,
Shady Green, to be The Doors' strongest, most interesting and best album.
Yet at the time of its release, it was overshadowed by the band's self titled
debut album and sales were disappointing. Strange days indeed!
Shady Green, The Dean of Keen. I don't
know about you, but I'm psyched. On
my turntable now is a power platter by
John Fogerty and his roots rock band
Creedence Clearwater Revival.
This
single was released as a double A
sided record which means there
was no designated B side. Here's
a hint. The first A side features
"Have You Ever Seen The Rain."
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
Retrosonic Radio in Futuresonic Stereo Surround... that's S-P-M-M, and here's
the second song on that super slab, a CCR sonic boom-- "Hey Tonight!"
released as a double A side single with"Have You Ever Seen The Rain")
CCR with "Hey Tonight," one of the songs on their double A-side
release that also featured "Have You Ever Seen The Rain."
Both songs on that 1971 single cracked the top 10.
That does it for this voyage
of the Wayback Machine.
Thanks for riding along.
Stay tuned on the B side
of news for your buddy
and mine, that lovable
nosy neighbor Ernest P.
Worrell, who'll drop by
to Rock-A-Billygoat
right here on S-P-M-M...
the station with personality.
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
and I'll be back soon with more groovy greats from the Summer of Love and
the Woodstock era. To play us off, Norman Greenbaum with his gospel rock
classic from 1970 - "Spirit In The Sky." Norman's nifty number spent two
weeks atop the Cash Box chart but was held back at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, denied the top spot by the Jackson 5 hit "ABC" and by
The Beatles with "Let It Be." Thanks again for joining the fun.
Now this is Shady Green, The Dean of Keen, over and out!
"Spirit In The Sky" - Norman Greenbaum
(Mar. to May 1970, highest chart pos. #1 Cash Box/#3 Hot 100)
Seems to me that if you make a record and a movie called "April Love,"
it would make sense to release them in April, right? Instead, the ballad
movie theme waxed by clean cut crooner Pat Boone hit the street
just before Halloween 1957. The musical comedy starring Pat
and leading lady Shirley Jones was first released in the U.S.
around Thanksgiving. Here's Pat singing the song in the film.
"April Love" - Pat Boone
(scene from Nov. 1957 film April Love)
Apparently Pat, his record company, Dot, and Twentieth Century Fox Pictures
all knew what they were doing. April Love finished the 4th most popular movie
of 1957 and Pat's recorded theme was such a huge hit that it remained on the
pop chart through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day -
heck, six full months - until... you guessed it, April of 1958!
Here now is the version released on the single.
It's easy to understand why Pat Boone
and his record company were confident
enough to release "April Love" in the fall.
Pat's single "Love Letters in the Sand,"
released in May of that year, lasted an
astonishing 34 weeks on the chart - 2/3
of a year! Pat Boone, the antithesis of
hip shaking Elvis the Pelvis, was so
popular with older record buyers that
he could have topped the chart on the
4th of July with "Here Comes Santa
Claus." Give us some more sugar, Pat!
"Love Letters in the Sand" - Pat Boone (June/July 1957, highest chart position
#1 Hot 100 & Cash Box)
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
My grandparents lived in Melbourne, Florida. In 1962 I rode down with my parents
to see them. I had no way of knowing how close I would come to crossing paths
with a guy who, five years later, would become one of my idols.
Born in North Dakota, singer, songwriter
and civil rights lawyer Tom Rapp lived
in Minnesota and Pennsylvania before
moving to Eau Gallie, Florida, a com-
munity only minutes away from my grandparents' double-wide. Rapp
arrived there in 1963, a year after
my visit. In 1965 Rapp formed the
esoteric, psychedelic folk rock band
Pearls Before Swine. In the fall of
1967 "PBS" released their debut
album One Nation Underground,
a long-play that had a tremendous
impact on me during my college
years. No other set of songs did
more to expand my horizons.
One of the songs on One Nation Underground has lyrics spoken in Morse Code:
"dit dit dah dit - dit dit dah - dah dit dah dit - dah dit dah." (Morse Code: F-you-C-K) 😀
Listen now to what might be the ultimate love song - "(Oh Dear) Miss Morse."
"(Oh Dear) Miss Morse" - Pearls Before Swine
(from Oct. 1967 album One Nation Underground)
LOVE
Image courtesy Aware
Record Research Library
Now I'd like you to hear one of the
greatest songs never to be played
at the Shady Dell. In the spring of
1967 I was blown away when I
heard a local York garage band
perform "She Comes in Colors."
I didn't know that the original
version had been recorded the
year before by a West Coast
band called Love.
I liked "She Comes In Colors"
so much that I bought the first
two Love albums on blind faith
alone. To my delight both LPs
are loaded with psychedelic rock
nuggets. Instantly I was (wait for it) addicted to Love!
"She Comes in Colors"- Love
(Dec. 1966, uncharted)
Love, a racially mixed, 5-man Los Angeles band led by Arthur Lee, was the first
rock band signed to Elektra records. Love’s music is complex and sophisticated,
an innovative fusion of folk-rock, baroque pop, flamenco and psychedelia.
Playing instruments avoided by most bands such as flute, saxophone and
harpsichord, Love created music that still sounds fresh and interesting.
While Love remained most popular
in Southern California, two of their
singles managed to reach the national
chart, beginning with a tough sounding
rock version of the Burt Bacharach
song "My Little Red Book" which
peaked in June of 1966 and was
reissued nearly 20 years later in
Rhino's Nuggets album series.
"My Little Red Book" - Love
(June 1966, highest chart pos. #35 Cash Box/#52 Hot 100)
The second Love single, "7 And 7 Is," reached
the top 40 in the late summer that same year.
Love’s refusal to tour hurt them, and
so did the limited commercial appeal
of their music. As a result, Love re-
mained a cult band in the shadow
of The Doors, their much more
successful Elektra Records
label mates.
Love never goes out of style.
Today, Arthur Lee and his band
of musical misfits are lauded by
critics as one of the best, most
underrated bands of the 60s,
and a new generation of fans
is discovering (wait for it)
