Friday Eclectic Music Celebrating the 2024 Birthday of Dickie Goodman, Alan Price, Glen Campbell, and More!
by Robert Wilkinson
Because we had several birthdays we haven't celebrated, our blended Aries/Taurus musical weekend begins with short sets of some quirky records of 50-60 years ago, followed by a lot of classic tunes of our times!
We’ll begin our show with a little bit of humor! From the clip describing this weird “tune,” Dickie Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989) and Bill Buchanan (April 30, 1930 - August 1, 1996) created one of the earliest examples of a mashup (also called a “break-in”), featuring segments of popular songs intertwined with spoken "news" commentary to tell the story of a visit from a flying saucer. So really this is the beginning of “sampling.” Their first hit uses clips from 18 different songs, each of which was a top 20 hit in 1955 or 1956. This record went all the way to #3 on the charts in 1956. For your enjoyment, here’s “The Flying Saucer – Parts 1 & 2.”
They followed that with this classic that features about 20 of the biggest of the big at the time, "On Trial." (Definitely worth a couple of minutes of your time!)
Here are more mashups! From 1957, "Santa and the Satellite - Parts 1 & 2," from 1958, "The Flying Saucer Goes West" and from 1959, "Flying Saucer the Third."
We continue the gags with the 1961 “The Touchables in Brooklyn” and then from 1964, “Senate Hearing.”
He continued with this gem from 1966 called “Batman and his Grandmother” and we’ll close with this strange offering from 1973 called “Watergrate.” For the encore, from 1975, "Mr. Jaws."
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Moving into classic tv land, Edwin Astley (12 April 1922 – 19 May 1998) was a British composer and bandleader who did hundreds of musical scores for tv and movies. He is most known for the theme to The Saint, and Danger Man. I remember thinking the music from The Saint was every bit as cool as the theme from The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini. Today we revisit a few of his classics. This is great music!
From 1962, the b/w version of The Theme from The Saint and if you haven't heard it, here's the long version of the Theme From The Saint.
Here’s a different version from 1966! The Theme from The Saint
One of my favorite theme songs! This is the original 1960 score, with blasting horns courtesy of the Red Price Combo! The Theme from Danger Man
Here’s the second theme for this show when it went from a half hour to an hour, which sounds very "1960" British, a la the Miss Marple movie scores. Done by the Bob Leaper Orchestra, It’s not nearly as dramatic as the original. From 1964, The Theme from Danger Man. Here’s a slightly longer take of the second version. Theme From Danger Man.
This clip gives three different themes for Danger Man/Secret Agent Man, which are great! The first one goes off into some cool jazz and comes back wailing, and of course the third one is “Secret Agent Man,” the smash hit for Johnny Rivers! Danger Man Theme Music
We’ll close this short set with another he was famous for, if only in the UK. The Theme from The Baron
For an encore, 17+ minutes of great music composed by EA for the Danger Man series! Danger Man ultimate TV soundtrack suite
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Our next act features the music of the great Alan Price (19 April 1942), original keyboardist of the Animals. Today we showcase some of his work during that era, as well as the great music he did after the Animals!
Here’s a great color video of Eric singing to the original studio track with the rest of the original band “playing” “House of the Rising Sun”
I found it again! Here’s their performance on UK tv in 1964 of “House of the Rising Sun”
From October 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show their live version of “House of the Rising Sun.” The screaming is real!
Here’s a live audio only performance from 1964 in Paris of “House of the Rising Sun.” The crowd goes a little crazy on Alan’s solo!
Nineteen years later, the original Animals got back together for a reunion. From that 1983 event, here’s a live performance of “House of the Rising Sun.”
From 1965, when they won the NME award, “Boom Boom” Last year I had all 3 tunes in their set on one clip, but it’s disappeared. So instead, here are the other two! ”Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “Talkin’ ‘Bout You/Shout”
Here’s a fantastic live performance on The Ed Sullivan Show of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” (NO lip-synching, but this year the very funny intro is missing.)
A great live clip from UK tv in 1964 of their R&B arrangement of Chuck Berry's “Talkin’ Bout You”
Also from 1964, “Blue Feeling”
One of my favorites! Here’s a very dynamic performance on Hullaballoo of a song he co-wrote with Eric, the driving “I’m Crying” (No lip-synching!)
Another great live clip of a Chuck Berry classic! “Around and Around”
Here’s his last one with the original Animals, “Bring It On Home To Me”
From 1966 at the NME Festival, Alan gives us his version of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins bone chilling “I Put A Spell on You” Here’s another great performance of “I Put A Spell on You”
From 1967, on Beat Club the Alan Price Set cranking out “Simon Smith & his Amazing Dancing Bear”
From TOTP in 1968, the Alan Price Set performs the lighthearted “Don’t Stop the Carnival”
Alan and Georgie Fame rock and roll to one of the originals! Here’s their rockin’ version of the Larry Williams’ classic “Bony Maronie”
From BBC4, Alan and Georgie Fame give us a great vocal duet of “Good Day Sunshine”
Speaking of the Beatles, here an evolved Alan Price gives us a solo piano laid back gentle version of “A Day in the Life.”
We’ll close this set with a tune done by the reunited Animals in 1983! This is not the ELP tune, but rather a rocking tune that’s the theme song to the comedy-drama film of the same name. Definitely suitable for dancing! “O Lucky Man”
For the encores, more from that epic reunion tour! First, a bluesy performance of the Sam Cooke classic “Bring it on Home to Me” which we’ll follow with the intense “Melt Down”
We move forward with “Trying to Get to You” and then groove into the very jazzy, driving “We Gotta Get Outta This Place,” take it up a notch with the very rocking "My Favorite Enemy" and finish with the driving “I’m Cryin’”
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We’re also celebrating the birthday of Glen Campbell (April 22, 1936 - August 8, 2017), one of the original Shindogs (yes, that's him on banjo!) and member of The Wrecking Crew. From wiki, “Campbell played on recordings by Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Jan and Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Spector.” Glen’s played on more tunes than you can count, so here are a few of his best!
We'll begin with a few by the Wrecking Crew! From Pet Sounds, 5 that he played on!
"Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"
"I Just Wasn't Made for These Times"
He played guitar on this classic "Strangers in the Night" as well as this one! "River Deep Mountain High"
Glen played on three Michael Nesmith tunes from The Monkees, "Papa Gene's Blues, "Sweet Young Thing," and "You Just May Be The One"
Going way back, he was the guitarist on "Hey Little Cobra" and "Little Honda." You can also hear his guitar work on "Surf City," and these two classics by the King! "Viva Las Vegas" and "What'd I Say."
Now for some performances when he was a star in his own right!
From 1964 in the Big Apple, here’s Glen with Saint Willie live doing “Gentle On My Mind”
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix”
Another of his huge hits! “True Grit”
Though Mason Williams did the original, Glen smokes on this live performance of “Classical Gas,” which we’ll follow with his version of “The William Tell Overture”
From 1990, Chet Atkins presents “The World’s Most Famous Unknown Band” in a salute to Ralph Emery that includes Glen Campbell, Jerry Reed, Steve Wariner, Roy Clark, Ray Stevens, Ricky Skaggs, Lee Greenwood, Steve Gatlin, Barbara Mandrell, and Irlene Mandrell. “The World’s Most Famous Unknown Band”
Here Glen and Roy Clark show guitar wizardry cranking out the western classic “Ghost Riders in the Sky”
We’ll close with 16 of Glen Campbell’s Greatest Hits
Our encore is from 1977, with Jimmy Webb at the Royal Festival Hall in London! This features 21 big ones! An Evening With Glen Campbell and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1977)
Our second encore fast forwards to 2001, with an hour and 25 of Glen live in Sioux Falls! “Glen Campbell – Live In Concert 2001”
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Since I’ve run out of time, I can’t keep assembling tracks for other greats born this week, so I’ll give them a mention and a link to something great they’re known for. Hopefully I’ll be able to assemble some tracks next year. In a final nod to other incredible talents born near the cusp of Aries/Taurus, here’s a big happy and merry to Ritchie Blackmore (April 14, 1945), founder and guitarist for Deep Purple 1968-1975. For a sense of his work, his guitar screams on The Book Of Taliesyn and Deep Purple In Rock
We also send out a big happy to jazz legends Lionel Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) and Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979), and the eccentric producer Jack Nitzsche (22 April 1937 – 25 August 2000). Oh yeah – Happy and merry to the great Jack Nicholson (April 22, 1937)! Strong stuff!!
Copyright © 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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