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ON THE TURNTABLE- Best of 1969

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Blind Faith, ColumbiaRecordClub, Creedence, CSNY, DYLAN, Elektra Records, Eric Clapton, Fillmore East, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, Hot Rats, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Kevin Patrick, Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden, MC5, Neil Young, Ray Davies, Rock music, rock music trivia, Stooges, The Beatles, The Doors, The Grease Band, The KinKs, THE MOTHERS of INVENTION, The radio, The Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Ticket Stubs, Trap Set, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records, Woodstock, Zappa

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ON THE TURNTABLE -1969:

Putting out my BEST OF for this past year made me nostalgic in a way. So I dug out some listings from yesteryear and over the next few weeks I’ll post a few.My brother and I actual compiled lists of our favorite records but this listing is from most of the records I bought that year, in no particular order or preference.

It’s 1969 and my record collection was growing in leaps and bounds. Seems like the more money I had the more records I bought. However, my stereo was not what one would expect of a serious record collector.  I was using an old split speaker (in a case) record player propped up on my desk. But hey, the sucker did the job. That and my portable single speaker cassette player tucked along side my portable PANASONIC AM/FM stereo radio made up my “sound system”. I also had an AM/FM radio bedside. A friend had a huge stereo unit, one with humongous speakers,a turntable with a “stylus” no less, but alas he had virtually no records, always borrowing mine.

Records In My Rotation throughout that year included:

The debut album from LED ZEPPELIN “Led Zeppelin”, I bought this early on in the year after a recommendation from my work buddy, Pete, who saw this “unknown” band open for IRON BUTTERFLY. This album was amazing and it took me a few days to realize that this JIMMY PAGE was the same JIMMY PAGE from THE YARDBIRDS. Later, in the year after its release and after seeing the band live twice I copped LED ZEPPELIN II. Geez, these recordings were unique, and the band was …WOW.

THE BEATLES “Abbey Road” was and still is a hard listen for me, yet when it first was released I played it continuously, usually picking out a song or two before moving on to some other record .It was probably the Harrison tunes that I liked the most.

THE WHO “Tommy” is another difficult record to listen to all the way through, but that year I did see the band perform “Tommy” in its entirety twice, and I must say, live WHO was better than any record.

KING CRIMSON’S “In The Court Of The Crimson King”was/is a great record, one that for its time was truly original. This band blew me away when I saw them in the fall of 69, opening for FLEETWOOD MAC and JOE COCKER. After their 34 minute set, I bought the album the next payday. Speaking of FLEETWOOD MAC “Then Play On”( their 3rd album) drew me to see them live and I became a PETER GREEN fan that night. This collection showed the originals of the name sake take their blues influenced and mostly refurbished recordings a step further. I must have recited the opening of  “Oh, Well-Part 1” a million times to friends, to the point where I was annoying. I still am, say some. And JOE COCKER’s “With A Little Help From My Friends” which I grabbed in the early summer after hearing some of his tunes on the radio and before seeing him and THE GREASE BAND open for The AIRPLANE at FILLMORE EAST was a goodie, but again, live he was a trip.

Also, there was NEIL YOUNG’s masterpiece “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, along with FRANK ZAPPA’s “Hot Rats” which help change my musical perspective and soon led me to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART  “Trout Mask Replica”.

Two debuts, one from CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH, a summer hit and Blind Faith’s one and only official release, which I thought was a mess, as was their show at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. “Nashville Skyline” by BOB DYLAN was a pleasant surprise, even my POP liked it, well, it had JOHNNY CASH on it.THE FLYING BURRITO BROS “Gilded Palace of Sin” was a good pick up and  ISAAC HAYES’ “Hot Buttered Soul” arrived unannounced when I did not respond in time to a record company selection deadline but boy was I glad I got that gem. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY’s debut double set before they shortened their name to CHICAGO, and coincidentally was the only record I ever bought by them. JETHRO TULL’s “Stand Up” was a mainstay on the turntable along with the profane MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” which was played on minimal volume as not to upset the parents. And then there was the profanity nestled in JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s “Volunteers” another record which kept a low profile when played.

I practiced my drums listening to  THE GRATEFUL DEAD’s “Live Dead” but was not enthused with The DOORS “Soft Parade”, and

PINK FLOYD’s Ummagumma was, well, just listen to “Careful With That Axe ,Eugene” and wonder why my Mom would yell, “What is that? Please, no more.” She didn’t particularly enjoy THE STOOGES “The Stooges”, either, no matter how many times I played it. Speaking of Mom’s taste, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND “The Velvet Underground” was more to her liking as was THE KINKS “Arthur”.

JOHN MAYALL’s “Turning Point” was bought the same day as PHAROAH SANDER’s “Karma”, late 1969. Both late night incense burning albums.

and of course, THE ROLLING STONES Beggar’s Banquet which never left my turntable and the follow-up release Let It Bleed (see blog Oct. 20, 2018)

PROCUL HARUM’s “A Salty Dog” which was actually my kid brother’s record found it’s way into my room many a night, along with his SLY and The FAMILY STONE’s “Stand” and JANIS JOPLIN’s “I Got Dem Ole Kosmic Blues Again Mama” but not any of his CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL or his “Odessa” by THE BEE GEES. Just the red felt cover on that one turned my stomach. Continue reading →

ON THE TURNTABLE: November of 1967

01 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Arthur Lee, BigBrotherHoldingCo., blue eyed soul, Cream, Creedence, Dr. John, DYLAN, Elektra Records, Eric Clapton, Golden Age of Radio, Grateful Dead, Jeff Beck, Jefferson Airplane, Kevin Patrick, LOVE, Michael Bloomfield, Neil Young, Otis Redding, Rock music, rock music trivia, Steve Winwood, The Beatles, The Byrds, The Doors, The KinKs, THE MOTHERS of INVENTION, The radio, The Rascals, The Who, Ticket Stubs, Traffic, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records, Zappa

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ON THE TURNTABLE: In November of 1967 I was purchasing mostly albums, having drifted away from single (45rpm) releases.This change in my purchasing, as well as the purchases of like minded teens listening to the same current music, was due in part, a large part, by one singular event; that being the change in FM radio broadcasting.

(A brief history thanks to Allen Sniffen) In 1966 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that major market FM radio stations could no longer simulcast their AM sister stations.  FM had to become separate with individual programming.  This was deemed necessary to allow FM to grow and develop its own audience.  The ruling put radio station owners in a bind.  They needed to come up with new formats for these weaker and less desirable stations. Since FM was more difficult to receive,  its universe of potential listeners was much smaller… and so was its billing.  The new formats therefore had to be both different and relatively inexpensive to program. It was in that environment that RKO General Broadcasting launched its new WOR-FM  (98.7Mhz) “Hot 100” format on July 30, 1966.  The name is deceiving because, in fact, it was the first progressive rock station in the country.  It marketed itself as stereo as a way to distinguish itself from AM radio.  The problem was that many of the records played by the station were not in stereo.  While it was true that most record albums were stereo, singles were not.  Since the singles came out before the albums, much of the new music it was breaking was in mono.

So to me as a 14 year old, my listening experience changed overnight, well actually after purchasing an AM-FM radio which did not exist in my house.The newly staffed WOR-FM hired some of NYC’s hottest “Top Ten” dj’s, specifically MURRAY“The K”(Kaufman) from 1010 WINS, SCOTT MUNI from 570 WMCA and later 770 WABC, and ROSKO, the coolest sounding person on the radio, anywhere. Murray The K appeared to be the draw for WOR-FM and the “new” MURRAY was a 180 degree departure from what I was familiar with while listening to him on 1010 WINS (AM). This was not “Top 40” jive talking any longer, as a matter of fact it was a “cool” MURRAY, one who it has been claimed broke the song  “Society’s Child” in the Summer of 67 (because it should be heard), as well as PROCOL HARUM’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” simply because HE “liked it”.AND Murray  was famous in the area  for his holiday stage show extravaganzas, the last which brought THE WHO and (as billed) THE CREAM to NYC for the first time, Easter of 1967. My buddy went and raved about those two bands.

But WOR-FM was a short lived experiment as program directors tried to rein in the playlist, to the chagrin of the radio hosts. Murray was fired in September of 67 despite having the highest rated FM program in NY, even higher than most AM shows. During his short tenure at WOR-FM “The K” attracted not only a large audience but in the audience advertisers found a different demographic, a newer demographic,that being a more mature college aged kid and with this newer, older audience the station drew in record companies as their advertisers. Record companies had found the station (WOR-FM) was highly valuable at influencing sales of rock albums especially new artists and groups like Cream, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, acts which were having their records played and /or being introduced.

At WOR-FM (October 1967)with a new tighter playlist ROSKO quit while “on the air”. He was soon found (October 30,1967) hosting the 7PM to midnight program at the “all girls dj’s” of WNEW-FM 102.7 FM. WNEW-FM was at that time a MOR station with an entire staff of female Dj’s, a unique experiment at the time. But at the 7PM hour Rosko had a free hand to “do his thing”. JONATHAN SCHWARTZ (10AM- 2PM) was added on November19, and a few days later SCOTT MUNI (2-6PM) joined the staff. ALLISON STEELE  later dubbed “The Nightbird” (2AM-6AM) was held over from the formerly “all girl” staff and WNEW-FM took off.

Note: a few years later the line up included John Zacherle and Pete Fornatale with Vince Scelsa added on weekends.

So all this AM/FM babble is the background to my “new” listening experiences which in turn changed my record purchases from TOP 40 hits (45RPM) to albums.

During that November I purchased “Love Forever Changes”, my first LOVE lp, their third and final collection. I picked up  CREAM’s “Disraeli Gears” (did not have “Fresh Cream”) and spent hours looking at the cover while trying to decipher the meaning of “SWLABR”. Incidentally, the album was recorded (May 1967) following the nine days of CREAM being part of MURRAY THE K’S “Music In The Fifth Dimension” series.

Murray The K’s Music In The 5th Dimension | RKO 58 St Theater (28 shows over nine days and nights) featuring:

Mitch Ryder & Detroit Wheels, Wilson Pickett, The Who, Hardly-Worthit Players, Cream, Blues Magoos, The Blues Project, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Jim & Jean, Mandala, The Chicago Loop, Phil Ochs, Simon & Garfunkel, The Young Rascals

(udiscovermusic.com)When both The Who and Cream made their live debut in America, it could hardly have been any less auspicious. It happened for both of them on 25 March 1967 at the RKO Keith Theater on 58th and 3rd Ave in New York City. The shows were redolent of the old 1940s variety shows with a bill packed with artists that actually began at 10 o’clock in the morning and ran all day with a movie thrown in for good measure. All the artists on the bill played five shows a day and it was grueling; the whole thing was promoted by New York’s legendary DJ, Murray the K.

The Who and Cream, or The Cream as they were billed, were well down the bill. Headlining were Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Wilson Pickett, with Buddy Miles was on drums, The Hardly Worthit Players, The Mandala, the Chicago Loop, Simon & Garfunkel, Jim & Jean, Phil Ochs, The Young Rascals and The Blues Project, Al Kooper’s band.

My next album was “Buffalo Springfield Again” their second album (my first) followed by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s  “After Bathing at Baxters”. “Surrelistic Pillow” was a man stay on my turntable before this collection was released on November 30,1967. This was departure and I loved that band. By the end of the CHRISTMAS release season I also had Hendrix’s “Axis As Bold As Love”, Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” and an album I still love “The Who Sell Out”. Times surely had changed and so did my record collection.

Recently, I checked the files for purchases I made when I was 16 years old in 1968. Not surprisingly, those discs were all receiving heavy rotation on WNEW-FM: “Super Session”-Bloomfield,Kooper and Stills, The Airplane’s “Crown of Creation”, Jeff Beck’s amazing “Truth”, Big Brother and The Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills”, Traffic’s second album, The Doors “Waiting For The Sun” and a fav of mine The Small Faces “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake”. Also included were:Dance To The Music,We’re Only In It For The Money, The Notorious Byrds Brothers, Anthem of The Sun, Child Is The Father To The Man, Odessey and Oracle, SweetHeart of The Rodeo, The Village Green Preservation Society, Wheels of Fire, Dr John’s GRIS GRIS, Electric Ladyland, Beggar’s Banquet, Music From Big Pink and of course THE BEATLES akaThe White Album.

 

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:September 9,1969-The MC5/The STOOGES/DAVID PEEL and the LOWER EASTSIDE@PAVILION

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, blue eyed soul, Creedence, Elektra Records, Jac Holzman, jazz-rock, MC5, Rock music, Stooges, The radio, The Who, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:September 9,1969- The MC5/The STOOGES/DAVID PEEL and the LOWER EASTSIDE@PAVILION

Certain events open your eyes to new avenues, sometimes those avenues are not too brightly lit, while other times its like walking down Broadway. This show was a bit of both.This was two weeks AFTER Woodstock and it showed how the musical landscape could/would rapidly change in the blink of an eye.

With only one full day of my senior year of high school under my belt I needed a rest so I took the afternoon off from work and travelled back to The Pavilion grabbing tickets at the door to see The MC-5, The Stooges with David Peel and The Lower East Side. These bands, two from Detroit, and Peel from NYC,were not my usual fare of British blues bands or San Franciscan hippies. These guys were what has been called “radical chic”. After seeing a TV news segment about The Stooges I knew that this band intrigued me and I should make an attempt to see them LIVE whenever they hit town. This particular show was enlightening to say the very least. It started late, finished later, and the crowd, not as dense in population as the Led Zeppelin show a week earlier in the same venue, can best be described as “crazy”, made up of mostly drunken guys,who were also very high and a bit dirty, so my outfit for the evening did NOT fit in. But, did I fit in either? That was the question.

The Stooges had a nice droning sound with a lead singer with….ah, charisma? Eventually he had no shirt and pants that barely stayed on his hips while shaking his skinny ass toward the crowd. His performance had every one’s attention…I WANNA BE YOUR DOG, 1969 OKAY, What were they doing? What were they saying? I didn’t exactly know what was happening musically but I knew this was different, very, very different.

The stars of the evening,The MC5 was awesome, almost in the way The Who did it for me a few months previously. These guys were loud, fast, riotous, revolutionary, all with a coordinated choreography. The dance steps were just as amazing as the music was loud. I took something away from this show… on the car ride home I heard a new Creedence song on the FM radio and thought to myself, “What is that shit?”, yeah, The 5 and Stooges helped steer me in new direction; guitars, bass and drums…loud and louder if possible, and the lead singer doesn’t necessarily need to know how to sing. Who needs love songs anyway? And I needed to skip school the next day.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD- CHAPTER 31: BACK TO SCHOOL: SENIOR YEAR (Part1)

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, CSNY, Democratic Convention Chicago 1968, Elektra Records, Fillmore East, Indie records, Jac Holzman, MC5, Rock music, Stooges, Uncategorized

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ROCK’S IN MY HEAD- CHAPTER 31: BACK TO SCHOOL: SENIOR YEAR (Part1)

With only one full day of my senior year of high school under my belt I needed a rest so I took the afternoon off from work and travelled back to The Pavilion grabbing tickets at the door to see The MC-5, The Stooges with David Peel and The Lower East Side. These bands, two from Detroit, and Peel from NYC,were not my usual fare of British blues bands or San Franciscan hippies. These guys were what has been called “radical chic”. After seeing a TV news segment about The Stooges I knew that this band intrigued me and I should make an attempt to see them LIVE whenever they hit town. This particular show was enlightening to say the very least. It started late, finished later, and the crowd, not as dense in population as the Led Zeppelin show a week earlier, can best be described as “crazy”, made up of mostly drunken guys,who were also very high and a bit dirty, so my outfit for the evening did NOT fit in. But, did I fit in either? That was the question.

The Stooges had a nice droning sound with a lead singer with….ah, charisma? Eventually he had no shirt and pants that barely stayed on his hips while shaking his skinny ass toward the crowd. His performance had every one’s attention…I WANNA BE YOUR DOG, 1969 OKAY, What were they doing? What were they saying? I didn’t exactly know what was happening musically but I knew this was different, very, very different.

The stars of the evening,The MC5 were awesome, almost in the way The Who did it for me a few months previously. These guys were loud, fast, riotous, revolutionary, all with a coordinated choreography. The dance steps were just as amazing as the music was loud. I took something away from this show… on the car ride home I heard a new Creedence song on the FM radio and thought to myself, “What is that shit?”, yeah, The 5 and Stooges helped steer me in new direction; guitars, bass and drums…loud and louder if possible, and the lead singer doesn’t necessarily need to know how to sing. Who needs love songs anyway? And I needed to skip school the next day.

It was about this time that I thought I should buckle down for my last year of high school. I survived so far with a B+ average which should have been higher but I didn’t care. I had all the necessary credits to graduate already chalked up except English 12. Religion and PE were required but didn’t count as full credit courses. To fill my schedule I continued taking art classes and two history electives. My schedule had a study hall every other day first period which would be a problem for my brother as I would like to hit the diner those morning. If he rode with me in the car, it was the diner for him too. I didn’t mind paying the 25 cents school fines for being late, and an additional 25 cents for signing in while being out of uniform as my tie and jacket would remain in my locker.

At this time a bunch of us planned on attending TEN YEARS AFTER at FILLMORE EAST. I grabbed some good Orchestra tickets for the Saturday night early show fully anticipating another great night of scorching TEN YEARS AFTER blues/rock. The show was as advertised, great. The Flock, a horn ensemble with a violin player to boot opened the festivities for the evening and closed their set with a KinKs tune, TIRED OF WAITING. Very cool. Mother Earth was next up. “Boring as boring can be”is the way I described that act to my friends. Still to this day one of my all time LEAST FAVORITE ACTS is Tracy Nelson fronting MOTHER EARTH.

TYA, that’s what was printed on the buttons we were handed as we entered the venue, rocked the house (Spoonful,Good Morning Little School Girl, I Can’t Keep From Crying, Hobbit,Help Me and of course I’m Going Home, the same exact set as played a few weeks ago in Freeport (and I bet same set they played at Woodstock) with a few Chuck Berry encores thrown in. TYA did Chuck Berry better than Chuck Berry. Alvin Lee was tearing it up, Leo Lyons’ head bouncing along to his bounding bass, Chick Churchill standing, clapping, leading the audience from atop his Leslie, and Ric Lee pounding out the back beat. Sold, they were my new FAVORITE  live band, a sentiment which could change nightly. Sweating we hit the night air totally satisfied and spent. The gang walked slowly through the Village proudly wearing our TYA buttons.

 

A few days later I took the program from the show to school. A (attractive) female classmate who paid no attention to me the last three years noticed the program, perused it, and we, she and I, became instant music buddies, opening a whole conversation with a whole new sphere of friends for me. Ah, senior year was not going to be a drag after all. Not only did I feel differently, the way I was seeing things or being seen was different.

The following weekend we two, my girl and I, were back at the same hall, almost the same orchestra seats as the TYA show, middle section a few rows back from the stage to see Crosby Stills Nash who now added Neil Young.This show was originally schedule as CROSBY,STILLS and NASH for August but was postponed. Now, a month after Woodstock here they were as CSN&YOUNG. Ahhhhh… The opening act, Lonnie Mack playing his Flying V Gibson was very tasty, and of course he did his version of Memphis.

The week of the Led Zeppelin show in May I had purchased a new pair of boots from a shoe shoppe on West 8th Street, a few doors down from Orange Julius and ElectricLady Studio. The night of CSN&Y I was wearing these boots and my girlfriend noticed Graham Nash had on the same identical boots. At seventeen years of age, sitting at a Fillmore show with a slight glow on, listening to Graham’s Nash playing his  acoustic guitar, while wearing the same boots as me,yes, life was great.

CSN played Suite:Judy followed by a few tunes before Neil joined in as did a bass player and drummer. The highlights were Broken Arrow, Wooden Ships and the closer, Down By The River. Again I brought the program to school, and met some more like minded classmates. My new music buddy (female) from last week invited me to smoke a joint behind the school at lunch. Somehow, I should have sensed that this might not be a good thing. Not that smoking a joint behind the school was a new thing to me but with this girl…

NEWS: What the hell is going on? Chicago is at it again, this time it’s the WEATHER UNDERGROUND- a radical group known as The Weatherman- who are demonstrating in protest of the CHICAGO EIGHT TRIAL. The National Guard is called in.

Hundreds of THOUSANDS of people are demonstrating against the WAR and in baseball world the NY METS win the WORLD SERIES, 4 games to 1, over the Baltimore Orioles.YOU GOTTA BELIEVE.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 21,1971-The BYRDS/MC5/JF Murphy @ Hofstra

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, blue eyed soul, Elektra Records, Jac Holzman, MC5, Newport Jazz Festival, Rock music, The Byrds, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 21,1971-The BYRDS/MC5/JF Murphy @ Hofstra with my buddies from Newport Jazz festival. What a strange placement of THE FIVE but hey I’m ready for anything. JF MURPHY and FREE FLOWING SALT up first, a bottle of wine down, THE FIVE rocked the place so hard, the air was so hot and heavy in the arena that the (garage type)doors were thrown open to save us from dying inside. Another bottle of wine and we sat off in the cooler corner until 8 MILES HIGH ended it all.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:July 3, 1970: TEN YEARS AFTER/ MC5/ STALK FOREST GROUP @ STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Elektra Records, MC5, Ten Years After, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized

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July 3: TEN YEARS AFTER/ MC5/ STALK FOREST GROUP @ STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY yes again, TEN YEARS AFTER this. time there was a method to my madness as I actually longed to see the MC5 again and my partner did not care for their music at all but loved TYA. The Stalk Forest Group, later to become Blue Oyster Cult would open. Ours was the late show “scheduled” for 11 PM and  about 11 o’clock I heard the opening tune for Ten Years After from inside the arena and I knew we were in for a “long” night. At about 1 AM the early show exited. By 2AM the late show crowd entered the gym, our seats were first row. While Stalk Forest was uneventful, The MC5 opened with Ramblin’ Rose and took no prisoners. It was so hot in the gym from the summer air and the MC5 certainly added to the temperature. TYA did their typical TYA set, nothing new, nothing added and I was growing bored of their act. We exited about 6 AM and my ears were ringing. (My MC5 Stony Brook ticket stub is posted on their website, more on that later)

ON THE SHELF: FOLLOW THE MUSIC: THE LIFE AND HIGH TIMES OF  ELECTRA RECORDS IN THE GREAT YEARS OF AMERICAN POP CULTURE by Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws (First Media 2014)

16 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Arthur Lee, books, Brill Building, Elektra Records, Indie records, Jac Holzman, Jerry Wexler, Judy Collins, LOVE, Rock music, rock music trivia, The Doors, Vinyl Records

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ON THE SHELF: FOLLOW THE MUSIC: THE LIFE AND HIGH TIMES OF  ELECTRA RECORDS IN THE GREAT YEARS OF AMERICAN POP CULTURE by Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws (First Media 2014) This book is written in oral history style following topics while basically remaining in a chronological fashion. It starts off in Greenwich Village  1950’s as most folk rock tales do. JAC speaks about his love for early folk music, and jazz, and how by age 19 he was thrust head first in the recording business. This was a time for him, as an independent, he was only concerned with the long player (lp) as opposed to the singles market, totally unique in the business. Through out the book we meet folks who were involved with THE DOORS, LOVE, JUDY COLLINS, CARLY SIMON, PHIL OCHS,TIM BUCKLEY and others who help develop the artists on ELEKTRA RECORDS and how this small independent company became a giant in the business.

MY LITTLE KNOWN FUN FACT THAT I LOVE: While not being able to get The Lovin’ Spoonful for $10,000, JAC HOLZMAN went to LA, found LOVE and signed the band the next day for $5000 CASH, which Arthur Lee demanded. The next day Arthur Lee arrives with a gold Mercedes 300 which he paid $4500.00, he also bought a harmonica, he gave the other band members $100.00 each. What a sport.

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