it's all good…
Archive for the '1960s' Category
28th September, 2009 | 117 views
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What a smart man Mr. Cugat cuts on this picture sleeve, a masterful shaker of the maracas as well. You can’t fail to have your hips move to this mischievous Latin lounge swing.
12th September, 2009 | 24 views
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Had a hard week at the office coal-face? Time to let off some steam, it’s the weekend – make like a Mod from the sixties and head out on your mirror-laden Vespa scooter down to the coast for some all-night amphetamine fuelled partying. If you happen to come across some Rockers, some trouble may ensue… Another track heard out down Brick Lane, this time at 93 Feet East; again, despite the distractions that being inebriated can bring, I managed to doorstep the DJ and note it down.
11th September, 2009 | 80 views
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Friday cha-cha from Cal Tjader. If you don’t know the track by name, you may do once you hear it as it was a hit in the early sixties in the States and remains a better known latin jazz composition. Originally called Gauchi Guaro (spelt slightly differently on this release however it’s a nonsensical Spanish phrase), it was given a catchier title by one of his band members who maintained that it was spicier than the original by Dizzy Gillespie.
30th July, 2009 | 17 views
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The definitive version of this track which has been recorded numerous times, although I also have the version by We Five on seven. Love, peace and flowers drip out of the grooves in this universal paean to just getting along maaan, provoking big smiles and the involuntary rocking of the head from side to side to any listeners. Indelibly connected in my mind to the movie adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, as it was used in the soundtrack that introduced me to some outstanding ‘new’ music. Dialogue from the movie is used to bridge some of the songs on it and Johnny Depp utters the monologue below (adjusted only slightly from the novel) just before the Youngbloods track fades in:
San Francisco in middle of the sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive, in that corner of time in the world, whatever it meant. There was madness in any direction, at any hour, you could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning and that I think was the handle.
That sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil, not in any mean or military sense, we didn’t need that; our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum, we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west and with the right kind of eyes, you can almost see the high water mark; that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
28th January, 2009 | 110 views
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A song that’s been covered loads of times, even this isn’t the original version although it is the first version that was a hit. This stirs memories from the eighties deep within the past recesses of my mind but that’s due to another cover, most likely by The Belle Stars. Stripped down, minimal and back to it’s roots, is how this should be appreciated and the parade rhythms of New Orleans supply the only accompaniment to the harmonies of the Dixie Cups.
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