A Record a Week: Flashback Fever (V/A)

SIDE 1.
SUMMER IN THE CITY - The Lovin' Spoonful
SURFER GIRL - The Beach Boys
KICKS - Paul Revere & The Raiders
THIS DIAMOND RING - Gary Lewis & The Playboys
AIN'T SHE SWEET - The Beatles
MR. TAMBOURINE MAN - The Byrds
RUBBER BALL - Bobby Vee
YOU ARE MY DESTINY - Paul Anka
RUBY BABY - Dion
LITTLE LATIN LUPE LU - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
DOWN IN THE BOONDOCKS - Billy Joe Royal
FEVER - The McCoys

SIDE 2.
(THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN) MASSACHUSETTS - The Bee Gees
SURF CITY - Jan & Dean
HANKY PANKY - Tommy James and the Shondelles
TWENTY FOUR HOURS FROM TULSA - Gene Pitney
(WE AIN'T GOT) NOTHIN' YET - Blues Magoos
SWEET TALKIN' GUY - The Chiffons
SILENCE IS GOLDEN - The Tremeloes
BREAD AND BUTTER - The Newbeats
1-2-3 RED LIGHT - 1910 Fruitgum Co.
GREEN TAMBOURINE - The Lemon Pipers
BE MY BABY - The Ronettes
ALONG COMES MARY - The Association
GIMME LITTLE SIGN - Brenton Wood

This records promise starts when you read the cover and see a number of notable names. The promise continues into the first few songs and even holds you through much of the first side (even though there a few misses). I flipped it over, though, and it began to lose me quickly. The artists are not ones I had heard of and the songs by those artists, and even the songs of the artists I did recognize, were forgettable ones.

A little bit of research and I found out a few things that told me most of what I needed to know. First of all it is called Flashback Fever and it was released in 1970. What this tells me is that it is less of a flashback (except the songs that were from 1960 or '61 maybe) and more of a recent retrospective or chronicle of the past decade. At least when I think of a flashback, I think farther back than even say the 90's at this point. So maybe if the album were called 'Looking Back on the Past Decade' it might be more representative. The second is tied in with the same thing. If you don't have a good solid record, why the dozen or so songs on each side? It is conceivable to have less on an LP, even if it's a greatest hits or other type of collection. Plus the 'hits' selection would be much greater.

The last thing ties into the first. If you do want to make a flashback album (at the proper time), then there is another reason to do it many years later than just the name. At that point, you can take a look at which songs and bands have stood the test of time. It is alright to include a few diamonds in the rough that people may not have heard of, but this certainly rings true for the popular bands. If you made this album in the later 70's you might have come up with different tracks that became more popular in later years by these, or other artists. On a personal note, I would rather see Hang on Sloopy than this McCoys song (and it was #1 in 1965, so no excuses there).

A Record a Week: Crossed Wires - Abstract Perspective From Atlanta's Underground(Various Artists)

SIDE 1.
ELEMENTALS THEME (The Elementals)
EPISTROPHE (Copland)
CACOPHONY (Osaga)
NAPKIN (Ness)

SIDE 2.
MONKEY V. FISH (AS Octopussy)
BOSSA CALLING (Rishi Kumar)
CLOSED DOORS (Love Pheotus)
WHAT YOU (Justone)

SIDE 3.
DUB KUNG FU (Gnosis)
METROPOLIS [LUNAR RADIO MIX EDIT] (Parts Unknown)
SCIENTIFICAL (J. Stroke)
WARM (Fascia)

SIDE 4.
SISTAH LOW (Alphanumeric)
AMATERASU (DJ Damn featuring Henok)
ONE UNDER THE SUN (Johnny Ether)
DEPRIVATION (J. Square featuring Divine)

This record came to me in a shipment of wholesale records for my old mailorder/concert distro. It is not unusual to get promotional albums or a copy of a couple different label groups along with an order, but whatever label sent it to us had a bazillion copies of this in their warehouse or something. I can see no other reason why it would be thrown in. The songs all say '1997' (at least 7 years prior to us receiving it) and the music is far off course of anything we ever sold.

The album starts off like the slower beats from the 90's-popular 'Obscene Underground: Tits' and other such collections. The songs never really lift off from that slow, un-danceable groove and can't even match their level of slow funk. As the second side of the album starts off, it is more of the same, but now with some rapping over top. I guess sometimes I don't entirely get the underground scene of any music, but I can see why some waves of underground music come up and take the world by storm while others don't quite catch on. Not a knock on it at all and every type of music appeals to a certain amount of people, but this is not what I would call the most user-friendly music.

A Record a Week: The Best of '66 - Volume 1

SIDE 1.
HELP! - THE BROTHERS FOUR
HEY JOE - THE BYRDS
HOMEWARD BOUND - CHAD & JEREMY
CLOUDY - THE CYRKLE
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME - JOHN DAVIDSON
I WANT YOU - BOB DYLAN

SIDE 2.
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN' - THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS
YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN' - POZO-SECO SINGERS
JUST LIKE ME - PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS
DOWN IN THE BOONDOCKS - BILLY JOE ROYAL
WE'VE GOT A GROOVEY THING GOIN' - SIMON & GARFUNKEL

At first, I thought this album should be called 'popular artists play the hits of '66' or something of that nature. For the most part, it is just that (although many of the groups aren't so popular). Then a strange thing happens: at the end of each side, there is a hit song sung by the original artist. So why then is it laid out like this? Could it have been that hard to get their hands on the release rights 10-12 original hits from 1966? I don't think there was as tight of a ruling on releasing individual songs on best of albums at the time, so I don't think it's that.

A little bit of research told me that the Dylan and S&G songs came out in '66 while the cover version originals mostly came out in '65 or '64, so maybe the covers were hits in '66. However, aside from the Byrds song, there are few reference to the others as having any success as covers. To add to that, they mostly are pretty hokey. Perhaps Columbia records had the license to these versions and that made for a quick and easy release of this record.

The record is full of great songs, but I would way rather listen to it if those songs were all the original performances. Luckily I don't have any of the future volumes of this series, if any ever came out.

A Record a Week: The All American Pop Collection Box Set (Volumes 1-5)

So I had thought of doing this in 5 segments...but it is one box set and I am writing this over the course of a couple weeks.



VOLUME 1, SIDE 1.
DA DOO RON RON - Crystals
BOTTLE OF WINE - Jimmy Gilmer
BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG - Duane Eddy
RUBBER BALL - Bobby Vee
NEW ORLEANS - Gary "US" Bonds

VOLUME 1, SIDE 2.
LET'S TWIST AGAIN - Chubby Checker
BLUE MOON - MARCELS
TELL HIM - Exciters
MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK - Angels
LIMBO ROCK - Chubby Checker

VOLUME 2, SIDE 1.
LOUIE LOUIE - Kingsmen
TOSSIN' AND TURNIN' - Bobby Lewis
SURF CITY - Jan and Dean
RUN AWAY - Del Shannon
HE'S SO FINE - The Cliftons

VOLUME 2, SIDE 2.
LETS DANCE - Chris Montez
I FOUGHT THE LAW - Bobby Fuller Four
RHYTHM OF THE RAIN - Cascades
DONNA - Richie Valens
ROCKIN' ROBIN - Bobby Day

VOLUME 3, SIDE 1.
THE LETTER - Box Tops
COME BACK WHEN YOU GROW UP - Bobby Vee
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLIN' ON MY HEAD- B.J. Thomas
GOOD MORNING STARSHINE - Oliver
ONE TIN SOLDIER - Original Caste

VOLUME 3, SIDE 2.
WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN - Brooklyn Bridge
THEN YOU CAN TELL ME GOODBYE- Casinos
COUNT ME IN - Gary Lewis And The Playboys
KEEP SEARCHIN' - Del Shannon
GOIN' OUT OF MY HEAD - Little Anthony And The Imperials

VOLUME 4, SIDE 1.
PEPPERMINT TWIST - Joey Dee and the Starliters
LIGHTNING STRIKES - Lou Christie
UNDER THE BOARDWALK - The Drifters
SEA CRUISE - Frankie Ford
THE TWIST - Chubby Checker

VOLUME 4, SIDE 2.
RAINDROPS - Dee Clark
ONE FINE DAY - The Chiffons
PIPELINE - Chantays
TELL LAURA I LOVE HER - Ray Peterson
QUARTER TO THREE - Gary 'U.S.' Bonds

VOLUME 5, SIDE 1.
IT'S MY PARTY - Leslie Gore
LAST KISS - J. Frank Wilson
SOLDIER BOY - The Shirelles
REBEL ROUSER - Duane Eddy
CHARLIE BROWN - The Coasters

VOLUME 5, SIDE 2.
HONEYCOMB - Jimmy Rodgers
MY GUY - Mary Wells
SUGAR SHACK - Jimmy Gilmer
WIPE OUT - The Surfaris
DO YOU WANNA DANCE - Bobby Freeman

Oh, the era of the soda pop shop and the jukebox. Well, I suppose this collection came out in the 60's, which is technically a decade later than that, and some of the songs with a protest feel to them do reflect that. For the most part, however, the sweet soda pop rock sounds are all there. I love the fashion, the hair and the dancing from that era. Before Beatlemania and the hippie movement settled in, songs found on this record encouraged people to dance the swing and the jive (and helped form the beginning of dances like the twist).

I found myself taking my daughter's hand in mine and holding her against my neck as I danced around the basement. This was great because I love dancing (terribly) and the movements rocked her to a soft sleep on my shoulder. As this is a hits album, there aren't particularly 'off' songs. However, I grew up listening to about half of these on various records at the cottage, so I certainly enjoyed hearing those songs and sang along, as I tend to do with anything even remotely familiar. I really liked hearing Sea Cruise, because I have an aunt that I rarely get to see that plays that song. As a kid I always loved hearing her belt out 'OOOOOO-EEE, OOOOOO-EEE BABY, won't you let me take you on a sea cruise'.