1968: Year two for x-daysofmusic
@Steevc nominated me a few days ago for this challenge set up by @backinblackdevil.
Wikipedia tells me that the last passenger steam train service ended in August 1968. Richard Nixon was nominated by the Republican party with Spiro Agnew and went on to win his second presidency. The French tested their first nuclear weapon on the Pacific. Hmm, so much for August being a slow news month.
Thankfully, in September this piece of music made its US TV debut:
The list of epic albums this year is twice as long as last year (at least in my collection):A Saucerful Of Secrets, In Search Of The Lost Chord, This Was, Cruising With Ruben & The Jets, Cheap Thrills, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Music From Big Pink, Bookends, Mirror Man, We're Only In It For The Money, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, Shades Of Deep Purple, The Book Of Taliesyn, Strictly Personal, Anthem Of The Sun, Fairport Convention, Aretha In Paris, Electric Mud, Move
Ladies first...
Big Brother & The Holding Company
One night on a summer holiday in a location I forget, I got to stay up late and watch 'Janis' - a compilation of TV and film appearances. I knew nothing about Janis Joplin, other than she was famous and dead (I guess I was pre-teen). I've been a little in love with her ever since and rushed out to buy a compilation album as soon as we got back home. The BB&THC version of George Gershwin's 'Summertime' is the definitive one.
The Band
The first song on the first album, and it's not by Robbie Robertson, but by Richard Manuel and Bob Dylan. It encapsulates the initial sound of The Band as they explored electric folk with Dylan and pretty much created Americana. The album includes more famous songs, but this bitter tale of childhood hero-worship is worth the attention.
Deep Purple
Deep Purple started as a covers band, named after a Neil Diamond song. The first album 'Shades Of Deep Purple' has a version of 'Hush' that was ripped off completely by Kuala Shaker in the 90s. There's some great songs on that and on 'The Book Of Taliesyn', but the highlight is this instrumental from Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord. If you ever find an old vinyl album called 'Powerhouse', buy it. The versions of 'Wring That Neck' and 'Child in Time' (the song's debut!) from Royal Albert Hall are beyond belief. The tracks are also on some versions of Concerto for Group and Orchestra, but other tracks n the vinyl are worth having as well.
The Move
Before Wizzard and Electric Light Orchestra was The Move. They were a classic British late 60's pop/rock band while injecting working-cass Brummie humour, rather than the London/home counties approach of their contemporaries. UK readers will probably know that this was the first record played on Radio 1, but I bet you didn't know this...
In a promotional stunt, for the record—typical of the band's manager Tony Secunda—a postcard was released with a cartoon of a naked Harold Wilson, linking him to his secretary Marcia Williams. Wilson sued, and the High Court ordered that all royalties from the song were donated to a charity of Wilson's choice. This legal arrangement remains in force to this day [. charities included:] Spastics Society and Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the Oxford Operatic Society, Bolton Lads Club and the Jewish National Fund for Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_in_the_Rain
And finally this, because this is brilliant, and you can't have too much Janis...
All the above videos are taken from YouTube, mostly courtesy of people who don't hold the rights.
The rules are to be interpreted as you like really, but are something like this:
Pick years from when you were born to now. It really doesn't have to be all of them
Feature some songs from one of those years in a post with some details about why you like them. You can write something about the year in general too.
Nominate another Steemian
Use the hashtag #x-daysofmusic
I'm in love with Janis Joplin since I was a young girl, so I really appreciate you started with her voice!
She was sexual, rather than sexy. Incredibly strong on stage and when she felt safe, but obviously insecure at other times. And it's all there in the voice - she held nothing back.
It took me years to really truly appreciate the genius of the guys in Big Brother because of Janis. She was so incredible and powerful it was as if the music was an extension of her being. Not sure i'm making sense.
Totally :)
The band arranged the music around Janis. It's why BB&THC were better than the Kosmic Blues Band or the Pearl band, even though those bands had better players. They weren't organic bands.
I was only 9 years old when they played at Monterrey. The sixties was a wild ride that i only saw with the eyes of a kid. So much so fast. Looking back now it was all over before i even got to High School. I remember funny little bits and pieces from the older kids in the neighborhood, Life magazine, some TV shows, the news, going to record stores. Everybody had Cheap Thrills, that record was in all the cool houses!
Organic is a great word to describe them. That seems to hold true for so many singers who leave their first band. All the things people used to put Big Brother down for are all the reasons i love them even more now. I'm listening to the Live At Winterland 68 show as i'm writing this and i think i need to lie down on the floor haha. Flower in the Sun is giving me chills.
Great selection of bands.
Thanks Ross. I could have gone for hours with 1968 - so much good music came out.
I never seen this Banana Split stuff, but it seems pretty hilarious - as do a lot of things of that time really.
I was just 10 at the time, so I didn't actively experience all that stuff, not until a few years later. I never became a big fan of Janis Joplin for some reason. I mean, she's ok, but not outstanding IMHO.
But that only my view. It cool you also share your music picks. But there is just too much stuff that s worth mentioning really, no chance to show it all.
Always too much to show :) I was barely a year old in '68, so all of this is stuff I heard as a teen or adult.