TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: John Fred and his Playboy Band 1967

John Fred (b. John Fred Gourrier, 1941- 2005) was a blue-eyed soul and Cajun pop artist out of Baton Rouge, La. and best known for the #1 hit song in the US Judy in Disguise (With Glasses).

John Fred and the Playboys formed back in 1956; their first hit single was '58's Shirley. He appeared on Alan Freed's show, but when Dick Clark asked him to sing on American Bandstand, Fred had to turn him down because he had to play in a basketball game (management/promotion aparently not his strong suit!).

Almost a decade later, Fred and band member Andrew Bernard co-wrote Judy in Disguise, whose name is a parodic play on the title of The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The song, issued by Louisiana-based Jewel Records on the Paula label, became hugely successful, ironically knocking another Beatles song -Hello, Goodbye- out of the #1 chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in January 1968. This smash single sold over one million copies.

Although John Fred actually had a well-rehearsed and talented group honed by years on the road, now known as John Fred and his Playboy Band, he was unfortunately branded as a novelty act -and unfortunately never enjoyed another chart success. Only after years of struggles did Fred obtain full legal rights to Judy in Disguise and the attendant royalties... 

John Fred and His Playboy Band: 

Judy in Disguise (with Glasses) 1967

Wikipedia

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TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: The Band 1968

The Band was a highly-acclaimed and influential 60s-70s rock music group originally consisting of Canadians Rick Danko , Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson along with American drummer/singer Levon Helm . All five were notable musicians in their own right, and three lead singers symbolic of the group's bountiful talent.

Original members of The Band first worked together as they joined Toronto-based rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins' backing group -The Hawks- from 1958-63  then onto The Levon Helm Sextet/Levon and the Hawks. They also released a single under the name Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session later in 1965. 

At about the same time, Bob Dylan recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his '65 US tour/'66 world tour. With Dylan, they played a tumultuous series of concerts marking Dylan's final transition from folkie to full-electric-rocker.

These historic appearances were also met with the heckling of folk purists. The Band was used to an audience looking to have a good time, so being rejected on principle was a bizarre, unexpected experience. Levon Helm was so affected by the negative reception that he left the tour within three months and sat out the rest of that year's concerts, as well as the world tour in 1966... then spending much of this period working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dylan with The Band 1966

 Then in July of 1966 while on a break from touring, Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident, and retired into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York. For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers (including a brief stint with Tiny Tim). Dylan invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock, where they recorded a much-bootlegged and influential series of demos, subsequently released on LP as The Basement Tapes. 

Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Levon Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group began recording their own material. They created two of the most acclaimed albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink (featuring the single "The Weight"- featured below) and then 1969's The Band. 

The music fused classic country music and early rock and roll with a rhythm section reminiscent of a Motown beat. Every member was a multi-instrumentalist. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could make up different configurations in service of the songs. 

Their rich harmonies blended together not sweetly but in an informal, flowing manner that gave them a unique sound, and their image and lyrics -steeped in traditional American culture- was also unusual, running counter to the hippie and psychedelic themes of the day. Levon Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll famously declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry."- and along with The Byrds this trailblazing group created a genre for later country-rock superstars like The Eagles.

Trivia: 70s Scottish hard-rockers Nazareth (Love Hurts, This Flight Tonight) named their own band from the first line of this song, "The Weight"... a favorite of theirs, and definitely one of mine, here performed live at Woodstock in the Summer of '69...

The Band: The Weight

Wikipedia   AllMusic.com

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TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: The Box Tops 1967

The Box Tops were a Memphis rock group active in the mid-to-late 1960s. Known for such hits as The Letter (below), Neon Rainbow, Soul Deep, I Met Her in Church, and Cry Like A Baby, the band is historically significant as a major "blue-eyed soul" group of the period. 

They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James and Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry, pop tunes such as A Whiter Shade of Pale by Keith Reid, Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum, and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Chips Moman. 

The Box Tops' music combined elements of soul music and light pop. Their records are prime examples of the styles made popular by Moman and Penn at American Sound Studio in Memphis.

Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the powerpop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist, during which he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops...  

The Box Tops: The Letter 1967

Wikipedia

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TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: The Byrds 1965

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. This pioneering group underwent numerous personnel changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (aka Jim McGuinn) remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973, while also featuring David Crosby for three seperate stints.

Although they only managed to attain the commercial success on the scale of contemporary greats like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones for a fairly brief period (1965–66), time has treated their work well... as The Byrds are today considered to be one of the most influential bands of the 60s. 

Initially, they pioneered the musical genre of folk rock, melding the influence of The Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music. As the 1960s progressed, the band were also influential in originating psychedelic rock, raga rock, and country rock.

The Byrds' signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar has continued to be influential on popular music up to the present day. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Byrds #45 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

Among the band's most enduring songs are their electric-cover versions of folk greats Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn!, along with the self-penned originals, I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, Eight Miles High, So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star, Ballad of Easy Rider and Chestnut Mare.

They covered quite a number of Dylan tunes in electric actually, bringing a lot to the material with variations of their own signature sound... like my own lifelong favorite, lip-synched here on the
Ed Sullivan Show...

The Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man- 1965

Wikipedia   Google Video

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TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: Vanity Fare 1970

Vanity Fare (often misspelled due to the similarity of the novel and magazine title as Vanity Fair) were a UK pop/rock group formed in 1966, best remembered for the hit Hitchin' a Ride, which found worldwide success in the Summer of 1970. 

The school friends formed the band in Kent, England in 1966, originally calling themselves The Avengers. They played local clubs until they were spotted by entrepreneur Roger Easterby who became their manager and producer, and who then facilitated obtaining their first recording contract. 

 As Vanity Fare, they achieved a UK hit single with their very first release, a cover of I Live For The Sun (originally recorded by The Sunrays in 1965) in the summer of '68. 

Following two more singles, Summer Morning and Highway Of Dreams, both of which failed to make the UK Singles Chart, they then released their biggest UK hit: Early in the Morning. It reached #8 in that country in August 1969 and #12 in the US in early 1970. In the end, the record sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. 

For their next release Hitchin' A Ride (below) they added a keyboardist- and to great effect: the song was an instant success, providing a second million-selling hit. It reached #5 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and #16 in the UK in January 1970, as well as selling briskly in quite a number of other countries. 

And I've liked it since I first heard it -when just 8 years old- as an early 70s AM radio standard on my Panasonic ball-and-chain radio...

Vanity Fare: Hitchin' a Ride 1970

Wikipedia 

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TGIF Rock n Roll Oldies: Desmond Dekker- Israelites 1969

Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group -The Aces- he had one of the first international Jamaican hits ever with Israelites (below)- blazing the trail to commercial success while doing much to create a world market for the music of Bob Marley, The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and so many others to follow. 

Other major chart hits for Dekker and The Aces include 007 (Shanty Town) in '67 and It Miek in '69. Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was of course one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, where he melded his Rastafarian religious beliefs with the "Rude Boy" culture of Kingston's streets.  He then evolved into one of the very best-known Jamaican musicians in the world- and an unlikely Mod hero in England as well. 

Desmond Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to bring a charting single (Israelites) to the United States in 1969... astonishingly making the #9 spot Billboard's Top Ten, leaving many saying "Hey, what is this...?".  

The record even hit #1 in England... the first reggae artist to accomplish that feat as well, this despite the fact that few at the time could understand much of the lyrics through Dekker's heavy Jamaican accent...

Desmond Dekker: Israelites- 1969

 

Wikipedia

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Rock-n-Roll Oldies: The Moody Blues 1965

The Moody Blues are an English rock band, perhaps most famous for the international mega-hits Knights in White Satin and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Among numerous innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably on 1967 album Days of Future Passed- inspiring others such as ELO to do the same. And The Moody Blues are a towering commercial success, selling in excess of 50 million albums worldwide while being awarded 14 platinum and gold discs.  Today -in 2010- they remain active.

I myself saw the band play outdoors in 1979, in the midst of a commercial comeback... great show, one of those greats you feel blessed to have seen at least somewhere near their prime...

The Moody Blues: Go Now- 1965

Wikipedia

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