for those who never gave up their turntables
“BACK THROUGH THE OPERA GLASS” is the title of three lengthy articles that review most of the Beach Boys album covers released on major labels in the US. It is subtitled “The Stories Behind the Album Covers” and was written by Malcolm Searles. This massive project covers every important album from 1962 through the present. [Continue reading]
THIS IS THE SIXTH in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Let’s Hang On To Our Ticket To Ride” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on June 2, 2019. [Continue reading]
ONCE UPON A TIME, it looked like the Byrds had a long, successful, productive career in front of them. In 1965, they had two #1 hits, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, that effectively defined the recently coined term folk-rock. Their two albums were pivotal in the transition of rock musicians from being primarily singles-oriented to being primarily album-oriented. [Continue reading]
IN JULY 1966, COLUMBIA RECORDS announced that Gene Clark had left the Byrds. A month later, Clark was in the studio recording as a newly signed Columbia solo artist. In November 1966, his first single, Echoes, was issued with great fanfare and considerable expense. Nonetheless, it bombed. In February 1967, his album was issued with considerably less enthusiasm from and a noticeably smaller promotion campaign by Columbia. [Continue reading]
GENE CLARK’S FIRST SOLO ALBUM came almost a year after his final record with the Byrds. For a long time, GENE CLARK WITH THE GOSDIN BROTHERS was considered rather lightweight, especially from the man who wrote songs like She Don’t Care About Time, Set You Free This Time, and Eight Miles High while with the Byrds. [Continue reading]