Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1985 - (page 203)

Saddleworth2 said:
My comment was really about weight of numbers and innovation rather than the individual quality of artists.
Was he the dude that did tijuana brass? ;-)
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It was a bit tongue in check, Humph ended up more famous for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on R4 but he was a good trumpeter too, as well as being a well known cartoonist! But as I'm typing this something occurs to me, he was also essentially an Eton educated minor aristocratic. I wonder the degree to which the class system in the UK hobbled artistic growth especially pre-war ? Is it coincidence that the British invasion and creative explosion coincided with other structural changes in British society? These are not rhetorical questions and tbh I can't believe I've never really asked myself them before.

Btw I thought Herb Alpert the Tijuana Brass guy had died years ago but he's still very much with us.
 
threespires said:
It was a bit tongue in check, Humph ended up more famous for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on R4 but he was a good trumpeter too, as well as being a well known cartoonist! But as I'm typing this something occurs to me, he was also essentially an Eton educated minor aristocratic. I wonder the degree to which the class system in the UK hobbled artistic growth especially pre-war ? Is it coincidence that the British invasion and creative explosion coincided with other structural changes in British society? These are not rhetorical questions and tbh I can't believe I've never really asked myself them before.

Btw I thought Herb Alpert the Tijuana Brass guy had died years ago but he's still very much with us.
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I think there were artists for each strata of British society which gradually relaxed after the WW2 until it formed round 'easy listening' in the 50's. Did the toffs bop to Gracie and George Formby? Did the plebs get off on Noel Coward (who was a plastic toff not a real one)? Everyone liked Matt Monroe though.
 
threespires said:
It was a bit tongue in check, Humph ended up more famous for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on R4 but he was a good trumpeter too, as well as being a well known cartoonist! But as I'm typing this something occurs to me, he was also essentially an Eton educated minor aristocratic. I wonder the degree to which the class system in the UK hobbled artistic growth especially pre-war ? Is it coincidence that the British invasion and creative explosion coincided with other structural changes in British society? These are not rhetorical questions and tbh I can't believe I've never really asked myself them before.

Btw I thought Herb Alpert the Tijuana Brass guy had died years ago but he's still very much with us.
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Who doesn't love Herb's golden trumpet??..Im pretty sure he was the A in A+M records?..pretty much the home of easy listening artistes...Burt Backache , The Carpenters etc....
 
ok, so it's a fairly eclectic playlist at the moment, I think this is one that might benefit from putting into chronological order - I'll do that tonight and then start slotting further ones in accordingly.

If anyone is having any older relatives round for Christmas, this might be the playlist for you! Were my Dad still here, he'd be 102 years young and would have approved of a lot of these choices :-)
 
mancity111 said:
Ah yes arguably the best entertainer on stage the US has produced IMO but no doubt shared by many others Sammy Davis Jr.

Blind in one eye as a result of the car accident and thank god for music lovers he survived.

I was fortunate enough to see him live on a couple of occasions and there was little he could not do.

He could make Broadway sexy and what a voice especially for a chain smoker.

I was going to nominate him in 1962 for an obvious choice but as you actuate in a good way TS I will nominate:

I Got Plenty o' Nuttin from Porgy and Bess.
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SD Jnr is arguably massively underrated in the UK, I think loads of people in this country just think of him as a mate of Bruce Forsyth!!
 
threespires said:
ok, so it's a fairly eclectic playlist at the moment, I think this is one that might benefit from putting into chronological order - I'll do that tonight and then start slotting further ones in accordingly.

If anyone is having any older relatives round for Christmas, this might be the playlist for you! Were my Dad still here, he'd be 102 years young and would have approved of a lot of these choices :-)
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My old fella liked his blues and jazz...but every Xmas day morning he'd have the 'Sound of Tijuana Brass at Christmas' blaring out....followed by The Phil Spector Christmas album ....
 
OB1 said:
Can I suggest for the playlist "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
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Always assumed he was a country singer, but clearly broader than that.

OB1 said:
And a few more playlist suggestions:

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers: “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”
The Monotones: “The Book of Love”
Dion & The Belmonts: “A Teenager In Love”
Marilyn Monroe: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”
Harry Belafonte: “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”
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Glad someone went for Dion & The Belmonts, classic sound.

We've already got Alma Cogan's version of 'Why Do Fools' in the playlist, though it does make the point about how much songs were shared and passed around a phenomenon that I think is much less prevalent these days.
 
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threespires said:
Always assumed he was a country singer, but clearly broader than that.



Glad someone went for Dion & The Belmonts, classic sound.

We've already got Alma Cogan's version of 'Why Do Fools' in the playlist, though it does make the point about how much songs were shared and passed around a phenomenon that I think is much less prevalent these days.
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We've also had "The Banana Boat Song" as well, which further underlines the point.
 
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threespires said:
I suppose there's no need to pass songs round between pop artists these days as half of them are playing to a virtually identical bloody formula anyway.

Haha. I've finally become my Dad, yay!
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I think the transition from a couple of geezers writing a song and then 500 people recording it in the blink of an eye, and the the era of artists mostly writing their own music will be fascinating to observe in this thread.
 
threespires said:
I wonder the degree to which the class system in the UK hobbled artistic growth especially pre-war ? Is it coincidence that the British invasion and creative explosion coincided with other structural changes in British society? These are not rhetorical questions and tbh I can't believe I've never really asked myself them before.
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Just listen to any interview with The Beatles in the early 60s and you can hear them pulling the accents back. Listen to radio, film or TV broadcasts and it's plummy accents. Class - and by extension that includes accents - was a major factor in the post war years still. Deference and knowing your place were everywhere.

You had to sound a certain way. That's a way to keep people in check and a short cut to picking which "type" of music you choose to listen to.

The social changes of the 60s basically started to remove the ideas of deference and class to some extent and by the late 60s you can hear accents in musicians. It's a tiny change but it's almost them saying "this is me, I am not one of the establishment! " The British Invasion almost certainly plays a massive part in that - and I can imagine many an accented Brit finding the American ladies quite liked it!
 
RobMCFC said:
I think the transition from a couple of geezers writing a song and then 500 people recording it in the blink of an eye, and the the era of artists mostly writing their own music will be fascinating to observe in this thread.
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Transfers directly to Motown, where pretty much all the acts on the books got the same song to do...best one was released,...the others were drip released later...
 
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