Month: July 2011

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Buck Owens

Alvis Edgar Owens Jr., in conjunction with his band The Buckaroos, from the late 1950s until the late 1960s took country music to a wider audience. This was, in part, due to the fact that they were based in California. Their sound was to make the town of Bakersfield famous.

http://youtu.be/BaNX55olkxw

A child of the Great Depression, poverty and smothering dust storms had forced his family out of sharecropping in Texas, and to head westwards. “Buck” sang in honky tonks, in Bakersfield, drawing upon a style of hillbilly that had once been at the root of country music.

http://youtu.be/liX6eVZsbeE

Whereas the likes of Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell had drawn inspiration for their creativity from their lives of indulgence, Buck Owens was a man of principle who set high standards of professionalism. His love of rock and roll also influenced his music and made it stand out from what was being emitted from Nashville.

Buck visited Billboard’s country music charts for thirty years from 1959, racking up twenty-one No.1 hits. Recordings that contain the same vitality as when they were released.

http://youtu.be/FxtdoJN-IIw

The death of his leading guitarist, Don Rich, as the result of a motorcycle accident, in 1974, so affected Buck that he gradually drifted into semi-retirement, just as the film, ‘Urban Cowboy’, was being popularly received and bringing country music to the fore, in 1980. In 1987 he met Dwight Yoakam, a devotee of Buck’s music, and the pair recorded Buck’s recording from 1972, “The Streets Of Bakersfield”. The duet gave Buck his first No.1 since his original recording of the song.

I was firstly introduced to the music of Buck Owens in the 1970s when what was then radio station, 2KY, in Sydney, decided to play country music for a couple of years. His only hits, in Australia, coincided with that. These were “Made In Japan”, which reached a peak of No.7, in 1972, and “(It’s A) Monster’s Holiday” (No.4, in 1974); on the pop charts here.

http://youtu.be/iqfkZ_n_TzI

Buck wrote or had a hand in writing many of his recordings. “Crying Time”, which he also wrote, rose as high as No.6 on Billboard’s singles pop chart, in early 1966, for Ray Charles, and No.5 on its rhythm and blues chart.

http://youtu.be/L-magrm3Voo

Coming from abject poverty made Buck determined to create wealth from other means than selling records. Thereby, he became a diverse and astute businessman. Buck died in March of 2006, at the age of seventy-six.

The names of more recordings by Buck Owens can be found in the suggested playlists.

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Bigger Than The Rest: Tuesday, 8th February, 1977

This evening Channel Seven is screening the motion picture, “There’s A Girl In My Soup”, from 1970. It stars Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn.

After I had arrived home from work Tiki took me aside to show me the draw in the kitchen where she wants the cups to be kept from now on. “That won’t fit in here!” she exclaimed, referring to the long, tall mug I was about to place in the draw. I looked at her and replied with a wry smile, “That’s what you told me this morning and I proved you wrong.”

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No Milk Today: Wednesday, 9th February, 1977

There is a shortage of milk, due to a strike by workers within the industry.

It costs thirty dollars to renew one’s driver’s licence for a further three years.

This evening, from half past seven: “Evel Knievel’s Death Defiers”, compered by Telly “Kojak” Savalas and Jill St. John. One fellow falls eighty-four feet on to a rubber sponge.

At half past eight, an edition of the series, “The New Avengers”, on the ABC-TV’s Channel Two. Patrick Macnee still appears as John Steed, while Joanna Lumley plays the part of Purdey.

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Some Balloon!: Thursday, 10th February, 1977

On this evening’s edition of “Willesee”, a gentleman from Brisbane, who stands just five feet and one inch tall and weighs eleven stone, inflated a hot-water bottle, with the use of his mouth, until it burst.

Angie Dickinson stars as Pepper Anderson, in another programme of the series, “Policewoman”, from half past seven.

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‘Taras Bulba’ Bleeds: Saturday, 12th February, 1977

I heard Clifford T. Ward’s single, “Gaye”, a hit from 1973, on Sam Gallea’s show on 2UW shortly after noon. It was followed immediately by Cliff Richard’s latest release, “Hey Mr. Dream Maker”.

A repetition from the British comedy series, “Morecambe And Wise”, screened from 7.30 p.m. Its guests include Richard “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” Greene and the Greek songstress, Nana Mouskouri.

“Taras Bulba” bled this afternoon and his career, as a racehorse, is at an end. He won twelve of his forty starts and amassed three hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars in prize money.

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Unruly Children: Sunday, 13th February, 1977

In ‘The Pools’ I had two of the six score draws and was one off each of the other four. I had the one scoreless draw as well.

We lunched at the Parisienne Pussycat Restaurant on the corner of George and Bathurst streets. Two fruit cocktail drinks, with real fruit, cost sixty cents each. The main courses consisted of king prawn cutlets with vegetables, at a cost of three dollars and fifteen cents, and bream fillets, also with vegetables. The total bill, which included a surcharge of one dollar, came to eight dollars and fifty cents.

It cost us three dollars and fifty cents each to enter the Barclay Theatre, which is located to the south along George Street and on its western side, to view the film, “Two Minute Warning”. In this entertaining movie, a sniper creates havoc at a gridiron match. Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, Beau Bridges and David “The Fugitive” Janssen are included in its cast. Films on the country of Jordan, and Cypress Gardens in Florida, as well as a cartoon that featured Barney Bear, preceded the main feature.

An obese teenage boy had a chocolate-coated ice-cream in each hand and alternately proceeded to eat both of them. Some children in the cinema were rowdy and swore at will. A youth seated next to us yelled out an expletive at the top of his voice, then stood up and left, shortly before the conclusion to the film.

“Flip Wilson In Rumania”, is on television this evening from half past six. It features gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, who won gold medals at last year’s Olympic Games, in Montreal. At the time of the programme’s production she was fourteen years of age.

“This Is Your Life”, hosted by Roger Climpson, is on ATN Channel Seven, from half past seven. It is looking at that of politician, Al Grassby, who was born at New Farm, an inner suburb of Brisbane. Mr. Grassby’s electorate is centred upon the town of Griffith, in the south-west of New South Wales, where the population is predominantly of Italian descent.

 

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Deep Purple

Along with other British bands, such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple is considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal. The band formed in Hertford, England, in late 1967.

Initially, the rock group was called Roundabout and consisted of vocalist Rod Evans, bass guitarist Nick Simper, Hammond organist Jon Lord, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and drummer, Ian Paice. Nick had been a member of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, which had taken “Shakin’ All Over” to No.1 on the British singles charts in the middle of 1960. He had also been in the car crash that claimed Johnny’s life, in 1966.

http://youtu.be/eLzqQupzzmA

It was Ritchie who suggested the name of Deep Purple for the band, for that was his grandmother’s favourite song. Among the band’s early recordings were “Hush”, a cover of the song from the pen of American singer/songwriter, Joe South and “Kentucky Woman”, which had already been a hit for its composer, Neil Diamond.

Rod Evans and Nick Simper departed from the Deep Purple, in 1969. Ian Gillan became the band’s new singer and Roger Glover, the new bassist.

In 1970, the group, sporting a new, more progressive sound took the single, “Black Night”, to No.2 in Great Britain. “Strange Kind Of Woman” (No.8, in 1971) and “Fireball” (No.15) came from the album, ‘Fireball’.

http://youtu.be/9ZpHl1x6JNc

In December of 1971, Deep Purple was in Switzerland preparing to record the album, ‘Machine Head’, when its members witnessed the fire that destroyed the Montreux Casino, situated across Lake Geneva. This event was to inspire the writing of “Smoke On The Water”, a single that was to sell well in the United States where it peaked at No.4. Deep Purple’s initial hit, “Hush”, had also reached its zenith there, in this same position, in 1968.

http://youtu.be/9f7LwuVF8Oo

Essentially, Deep Purple has primarily been a prolific producer and seller of albums. Sales in regard to these are in excess of one hundred million copies.

Deep Purple split up in 1976, only to re-form in 1984. The band continued to experience changes to its personnel although Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice remained loyal for years to come.

“Strange Kind Of Woman” is listed amongst that of my favourite recordings. This is located in the suggested playlists. I shall be adding to this list it from time to time.

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Victorian Horror: Monday, 14th February, 1977

Today’s weather has been fine with a maximum of twenty-seven degrees Celsius, one degree above the average for this time of the year. Swedish actress, Britt Ekland, appeared on “Willesee” this evening.

Eighty-one homes and other buildings have been gutted and five people have lost their lives as a result of grass fires in western Victoria, at the weekend. The township of Streatham was almost destroyed. Injured cattle and sheep have had to be shot.

A two-hour “Starsky and Hutch” ‘movie special’ is on TCN Channel Nine, this evening, whilst on Channel Seven, there is the continuation of “Rich Man, Poor Man: Book 2”.