Dave Clark Five

On April 8, 2014, PBS-TV ran a documentary on the Dave Clark Five. It was pretty good, especially since these boomer music shows are usually chock-full of pledge breaks (there were none). Most puzzling (and irritating) was the appearance of the pathetic Gene Simmons in full Kiss Kostume (that is, the "now" old Gene!) and Sharon & Ozzie Osbourne. They had nothing to do with the DC5, and I don't reallly consider them musicians--just showbiz freaks!

Anyhoo, moving on, I surfed over to Amazon to see if there were any mp3s of the boys. No mp3s! Just a few albums and CDs, mostly over-priced. Nothing special. This is amazing, since Dave Clark had the foresight to own all the band's material from the get-go. So, just "Because" I'm posting an instrumental from my vinyl collection (LP More Greatest Hits). Careful oldsters, this one's pretty rowdy! Ready, set, get wiggy you kooky kids!
(Right click to play it in a new window)

Click to play All Night Long

Out of the Mainstream

Mar. 5, 2014

One of my favorite music websites is WFMU's Fools Paradise. The host, Rex, scours the swap meets, garage sales, and record shows to come up with old 45RPM "classics." The range of quality and goofiness is impressive--some are really garbage or novelties, and others are good enough that you wonder how they never made it nationally. The site has excellent streaming and complete playlists. Here are a few choice cuts:

The Longhairs "Go Go Go" (better remake of a Chuck Berry tune)

Kenny Baker "Goodbye Little Star" (Tragi-Rock with top-notch upbeat sound)

Acorn Sisters "Real Gone" (Rockabilly)

Dave & Ansil "Double Barrel" (Reggae/Ska with the BIG BASS sound)

The Crewcuts & the Hal Mooney Orchestra "Suzy Q" (surprisingly good guitar solo!)

And now, a word from a sponsor, Pink Pussycat Wine

Everly Brothers

Remember Phil

Jan. 7, 2013
Phil & Don Everly rocked the 50s and 60s. This song is one of my favorites, and they wrote it. It didn't do well on the Top 40 charts of 1965, but I think this was partly due to their image as old rockers--the haircuts and suits were more from the 1950s and looked out of place as they made the rounds of Shindig and other TV shows. This clip appears to be live.

I don't remember ever hearing the Everly's version on WLS (Chicago)--I only remember the Ventures "Knock me out" LP version, a worthy instrumental. Here it is "for reference only."
Gone Gone Gone by the Ventures

Jan. 26, 2013 - "Lifetime" video added.

Jan 13, 2013
In the hyper-competitive New York music scene of the early 1980s, the Baxters were looking for the big break. These videos are from a gig at world famous CBGB. They are a little shaky, but worth checking out. The date was Saturday, Nov. 3, 1984, and these are presented "in order of performance."
It was drummer Jack Di Pietro's first live show with the band.

If you have questions, comments, etc., please post on the YouTube page for the video OR use the email at the bottom of this page.

I Won't Bite

Bend in the River

Generation

Lifetime

Political Life

Bare Burden

The Curve

Tears Come Down

The Collins Kids 1955-1959

Aug. 27, 2011
Thanks to YouTube, and a lot of amateur archivists, we can still see some early rock and roll that has never been shown on the typical nostalgia shows. Of course the picture and audio reflect the the era they came from. Most of these are kinescopes (film of a TV screen), many of which were made to distribute to U.S. armed forces around the world.

Larry (b. 1944) and Lorrie (b. 1942) moved from Oklahoma to Southern California to get a shot at the bigtime. They were soon on the country music television "circuit". This clip was from Tex Ritter's Ranch Party (1957-59).

Shortenin' Bread Rock

Larry studied, worked with, and emulated another guitar hero, Joe Maphis. The guitars are Mosrite. Here's Larry and Joe with a killer instrumental.

Ramrod (removed by YouTube--searching for another copy)

You can see that as they grow up, they still kept their act together and their "heads on straight." Lorrie dated Rick Nelson, and appeared on an episode of Ozzie and Harriet. Larry claimed he was their unofficial chaperone when Rick and Lorrie dated. She also received a lot of flack for "moving around and dressing provocatively." Not what a nice young lady did back then!

High School Confidential (1958)
 

Lorrie "left the group" (and Ricky) when she eloped with Johnny Cash's manager.

Lorrie and Larry back together around 1964. His voice finally changed and Lorrie is lookin' good (despite the dreaded beehive infestation of her head). They also showed up on Shindig, and other mid-60s venues.

Night Train to Memphis -
video removed by YouTube--searching for new copy

Sister Rosetta Tharpe
In 2002, we saw a film at the "Experience Museum" in Seattle (dedicated to R&R) and were blown away by Sister Rosetta. I searched for a copy of the video and nothing--until YouTube! So what's the deal--hang in there for an amazing guitar break on "TV Gospel Time" with the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Choir.

Up Above My Head

Recently Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) has mentioned her in a book, and this video is getting a lot of plays on Youtube (737,992 as of Aug. 27, 2011)

Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fast foward a decade. My favorite song by one of the great bands of the era. These concert clips appear to be from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, and it looks like they killed live when so many other bands were a bit of a disappointment when you saw them on stage.

Born on the Bayou 

Midnight Special

Green River
Compared to the vinyl version, this has a little extra sauce on it!