John Henry Deighton was born in October of 1940, in London, England. As Chris Farlowe he became known for his singing of rock, blues and soul.
Being an admirer of Lonnie Donegan, his musical career began in a skiffle group. By 1965 he had recorded the first of what would be eleven singles. Five of these were to be covers of recordings by The Rolling Stones.
One of these five, “Out Of Time”, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, was destined to far outshine the other ten recordings, reaching No.1 on the British singles’ charts, in 1966, and No.12 in Australia.
http://youtu.be/zxerdh-3tc4
The names of more of my favourite recordings can be found in the suggested playlists. I shall be adding to this list from time to time.
Eric Clapton, the legendary blues guitarist, had played in The Yardbirds, and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers prior to the formation of the trio, Cream. It was whilst playing with John Mayall that Eric met bassist, Jack Bruce and drummer, Ginger Baker.
This British trio was considered to be adventurous, even in the late 1960s, and quickly won a large following of devotees. However, the different temperaments within the group meant that, as an entity, it was to last for less than two years.
http://youtu.be/Cqh54rSzheg
“Sunshine Of Your Love”, “I Feel Free”, “Strange Brew” and “White Room” are the pick of Cream’s singles and of its albums, ‘Disraeli Gears’, is generally regarded as a classic.
Keith Alan Hopkins was born near London, in December of 1943. In 1964 he became the leading singer in the group, The In Crowd, which was soon renamed as Tomorrow.
Keith’s salient period came, as a solo artist, in 1967, with the release of his single, “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera”. It peaked at No.2 on the British singles’ chart.
It is a favourite track of mine for its melody, its almost childish, yet haunting aura and for the moral I obtain from the song, namely that so many human beings tend to think of themselves and their own needs even, as in this instance, with regard to the elderly.
http://youtu.be/0rExhxkX-Ic
The names of more of my favourite tracks can be found in the suggested playlists.
Frederick Segrest was born in December of 1926, in Alabama. He was one of fifteen children born into a family of sharecroppers.
At the age of fifteen, he lied about his age in order to join the United States Marines. Frederick consequently saw active duty in Guam and Iwo Jima during the Second World War.
After the War, Frederick moved to California where he joined the band of Lefty Frizzell, a star of country music. Lefty was responsible for Freddie Hart, as Frederick was professionally known, obtaining a contract to record for Capitol Records, in 1953.
Although Freddie recorded from that year, it was not until he was signed to Columbia Records that he firstly entered the charts, with “The Wall”, in 1959. In 1969, Freddie re-signed with Capitol Records and became a part of the Bakersfield sound when he became affiliated with a company owned by Buck Owens.
In 1971, Freddie released the self-penned single, “Easy Loving”, which he had actually recorded two years earlier. It spent three weeks at No.1 and crossed over to the pop charts and peaked at No.17 in the United States, and No. 10 in Australia. It was followed by a succession of hits that also topped the country charts: “My Hang-Up Is You”, “Bless Your Heart”, “Got The All Overs For You (All Over Me)”, “Super Kind Of Woman” and “Trip To Heaven”.
http://youtu.be/OCNQ5kdo7gs
Freddie’s last hit to enter the Top 10 was “When Lovers Turn To Strangers”, in 1977. He continued to release singles until 1987, and, in 2001, was inducted into the Alabama’s Music Hall Of Fame.
Martial arts was another of Freddie’s passions. He opened a chain of studios for those wishing to learn self-defence and was, himself, a master of karate.
http://youtu.be/t8-dhCk90YU
The names of more tracks by Freddie Hart can be found in the selected playlists. Whilst there, why not peruse the list of my favourite recordings? I shall be adding to it from time to time.
“Reflections Of Charles Brown” has been a favourite single of mine since it was released in 1967. It reached No.13 in Australia and, I believe, entered the Top 10 in Canada.
Some people believe that it is at least partially cloned from Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” but wasn’t that, in turn, based on a classical piece?
I like the melody of the song, as well as the way the lyrics depict both the helplessness and hopelessness in Charles Brown’s life. One feels that he has done very little, other than work, and nor is anything likely to alter this in the austerity that was Britain, for many, at that time.
http://youtu.be/AenoFDr9nSI
A list of more of my favourite recordings can be found in the suggested playlists. I shall be adding to this list from time to time.
It is virtually impossible to find out any information on this obscure British group. Nonetheless, I have decided to include its single, “So Much In Love”, for I really enjoyed listening to it as a teenager, in 1964. It spent only two weeks on the British singles’ chart, peaking at No. 46. It is also an example of the early songwriting of Mick Jagger and Keith Richard.
“Angel Of The Morning”, sold in excess of a million copies and was Merrilee Rush and The Turnabouts’ only major hit. Merrilee, who was born in January of 1944, in Seattle, Washington, was nominated for a Grammy Award, that of Female Vocalist of the Year, in 1968, as a result of her performance on this recording.
The actual recording of “Angel Of The Morning” took place in Memphis, Tennessee. The song had been written by Chip Taylor, the brother of actor, Jon Voight, and the uncle of actress, Angelina Jolie. Chip had already achieved major success, in 1966, when the British group, The Troggs, had taken another song of his, “Wild Thing”, to N0.1.
Despite the progressive advancement in technology, I still much prefer this original version of “Angel Of The Morning” to the revival by Juice Newton, in 1981, although, granted, this single, too, sold more than a million records.
http://youtu.be/cbUNVm1k3nU
Apparently I stand corrected, Evie Sands recorded the original version, in 1967.
The names of my favourite recordings can be found in the suggested playlists. I shall be adding to this list from time to time.
I have selected “Race With The Devil” by The Gun because it is an example of early heavy metal. Written by Adrian Gurvitz, and recorded by this trio from London, in 1968, it reached a peak of No.8 on the British singles’ chart, and No.15 in Australia. The Gun included Adrian and his brother, Paul.
“Race With The Devil” was revived by Girlschool, in 1980. However, its version did not enjoy the success on the charts, as had The Gun’s.
http://youtu.be/bvMETCQAf1w
Adrian Gurvitz, some fourteen years later, wrote and recorded the far more sedate, “Classic”, which reached its zenith in Britain at No.8, and, in Australia, at No.1, in 1982.
The names of more of my favourite recordings can be found in the suggested playlists. I shall be adding to it from time to time.
Sydney has experienced a maximum temperature of thirty-seven degrees Celsius. Caringbah experienced sequential short heavy thunderstorms shortly before 4.00p.m.
At stumps in the Second Test, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia is 4-332. Half an hour was lost, this morning, due to the wet state of the ground.
At 7.30p.m., there is a telecast of the lavish presentation, “Follies In Revue”, from Perth. The show features Jill Perryman and Chelsea Brown. The latter was born in America.
Today has been a perfect summer’s day. Just before 2.00 p.m. I went downstairs to listen for the score, in the Second Test, and learned that the right-handed batsman Gary Cosier had just been dismissed for 168 and that Australia had declared at 8-517 (Greg Chappell, 121). Pakistan is 1-186, at stumps.
This afternoon, we spoke to our neighbours and they confided in us of how they hope that their daughter will be placed in a conventional class at her primary school this year. It seems that last year she was placed in one of the new ‘open’ classes, where the partition between two traditional classrooms remained open far more often than not. This meant that there were something like sixty pupils in the one class, often being taught by the one teacher while the other was out of the room, presumably working on preparation.
The couple strongly disapproved of how the pupils in this open classroom were encouraged to bring their pillows and radios to school and be allowed to use them during their time in class. Another thing they did not see eye to eye with was the fact that while each child was ‘contracted’ to complete a specified amount of work each fortnight, it was entirely left up to that child as to where and when this set work was to be done. The neighbours alleged that this had led to pillow fights breaking out within the classroom and/or those who wished to complete their work at school being distracted or irritated by others’ radios.
This evening’s viewing on television includes a repetition of “This Is Your Life”, compered by Mike Willesee and featuring that of singer, June Bronhill, whose surname is composed from the letters within the name of Broken Hill, her home town and a mining city located in the far west of New South Wales. At eight o’clock, we viewed a mediocre episode of the American comedy, “Fay”, which stars Lee Grant in the title role.