This is the week that was in matters musical …
1962, Ray Charles records Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music in Los Angeles and New York … it’s an album that breaks musical boundaries with R&B-flavored versions of country tunes using big band arrangements … Ray records live in the studio, six or seven tunes a day, at a total cost of $22,000 … the strings in Los Angeles are cut by Marty Paich, whose son David would form the group Toto some 15 years later …
1963, The Beatles record their first album Please Please Me at London’s Abbey Road Studios with producer George Martin … the marathon session starts at 10 am and ends 12 hours and 10 songs later with John Lennon, fighting a cold, roaring through a single take of the throat-ripping dance rocker “Twist and Shout” … most of the songs are recorded “live” to a two-track recorder with just a few overdubs …
1964, responding to claims that the Kingsmen’s incomprehensible “Louie Louie” is pornographic, the song’s publisher, Max Firetag, offers $1,000 to anyone who can point out the lyrics’ supposedly “suggestive” elements … in the ’70s, Iggy Pop goes beyond mere suggestive and records a version that puts the leer in lyrics …
1965, in New York City, Bob Dylan finishes recording his fifth album Bringing It All Back Home … one side has acoustic songs, but on the other he is backed by an electric band for such songs as “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” a rocker featuring a proto-rap similar to Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” … in typical Dylan style, the tune has no chorus, no bridge, no solos, and the title is never sung … one of the acoustic songs “Mr. Tambourine Man” is released in the summer by The Byrds using a full electric rock band arrangement …
1967, the British pop duo Peter & Gordon (“I Go To Pieces”) decides to split up … Peter Asher goes on to manage Linda Rondstandt and sign up-and-coming singer-songwriter James Taylor to The Beatles’ Apple records … heavy metal pioneers Blue Cheer (“Summertime Blues”) perform at a “Tribute to J. Edgar Hoover” in San Francisco … from the One Hit Wonders Department, Blues Magoos reach #5 with “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” from the group’s first album Psychedelic Lollypop … in live performance, the band members wear wired outfits that flash on and off while they play …
1968, Jimi Hendrix returns to Garfield High School in Seattle to receive his diploma … he is introduced to the student body, which is 85% black and barely knows who he is … after an embarrassingly long pause, a student asks Jimi how he writes a song … Jimi replies that he’s going to say goodbye, go out the door and the assembly will be over and the bell will ring, and as he’s getting in his limousine and he hears the bell ring, he’ll probably write a song … and then, his reply finished, Jimi thanks the students and walks straight out of the building … Jimi does not get his diploma and, because it is Lincoln’s birthday and city hall is closed, he does not get the keys to the city either … “Love Is Blue” by Frenchman Paul Mauriat tops the charts in the USA for five weeks … the song is so popular that four other versions hit the top 100 over the next few weeks … even Jeff Beck records a version, the idea foisted on him by his manager … Jeff hates doing the song so much that he allegedly plays it out of tune on purpose …
1971, the Bob Dylan documentary Eat the Document premieres at New York’s Academy of Music … proceeds from the screening go toward ending strip mining in Pike County, Kentucky … unlike the previous Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back from 1966, this film is rarely seen, having only been given two other commercial showings …
1974, Canadian radio newsman Byron MacGregor hits #4 on the U.S. charts with his recitation of “Americans” … it happens after he reads an opinion piece on the air that defends his much-maligned neighbors to the south … listener reaction is so overwhelmingly positive that he makes a record …
1975, Phil Spector’s office releases a statement saying that the producer has suffered multiple head and body wounds in a car crash between Los Angeles and Phoenix … he is also going to require plastic surgery …
1977, the B-52’s play their first gig in Athens, Georgia …
1983, the NBA All-Star Game opens with a performance of the national anthem by Marvin Gaye …
1990, Del Shannon, best known for his hit “Runaway,” commits suicide by shooting himself in his Santa Monica, California, home … Del had recently remarried and had just finished his first album in almost nine years …
1999, Elton John appears as himself (in cartoon form, if that’s not redundant) on a special Valentine’s Day edition of The Simpsons …
2000, David Bowie announces that his wife, Iman, is pregnant with his baby … back in the ’70s, he names his son Zowie … Iggy Pop’s suggestion of Louie Louie Bowie goes unheeded …
2004, producer Steve Lillywhite says he’s leaving his job as joint managing director of Mercury UK to oversee the new U2 album … as well as producing U2’s Boy and October albums, Lillywhite has made records with The Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, and Morrissey …
2005, The Who’s Roger Daltrey is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace … quips Daltrey, the Queen would “probably fall off her podium if she heard The Who’s songs” … Genius Loves Company by the late Ray Charles wins in two of the biggest categories, Album of the Year and Record of the Year at the 47th annual Grammy Awards … Uncle Ray is remembered with a performance by Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys, who perform “Georgia on My Mind” … Foxx is nominated for-and later in the year wins-an Oscar for playing the musician in the movie Ray … Genius Loves Company is an album of duets that-even after a career of more than 50 years-stands as Charles’ best-selling album, overtaking classics such as Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and The Genius Hits the Road …
2006, U2 wins five Grammy awards including Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb … Best New Artist award goes to Kanye West protege John Legend, and for the first time since 1993, Sly Stone appears onstage … Les Paul is released from a New Jersey hospital after a nine-day stay resulting from a bout of pneumonia…the illness causes the 90-year-old electric-guitar guru to miss the Grammies where his album Les Paul and Friends wins two awards …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
February 8: blues, R&B, and jazz singer-guitarist Lonnie Johnson (1889), film composer John Williams (1932), Tom Rush (1941), Creed Bratton II of The Grass Roots (1943), Jim Capaldi of Traffic (1944), Canned Heat drummer Adolfo “Fito” De La Parra (1946), Vince Neil of Motley Crue (1961), Sam Llanas of The BoDeans (1961), Collective Soul’s Will Turpin (1971), Darren “Phoenix” Farrell of Linkin Park (1977)
February 9: Ernest Tubb (1914), Chicago soul singer Johnny Sayles (1937), Barry Mann (1939), Carole King born Carole Klein (1942), Major Harris of The Delfonics (1947), rockabilly artist Joe Ely (1947), folkie Tom Jans (1949), Dennis Thomas of Kool & the Gang (1951), Travis Tritt (1963)
February 10: Jimmy Durante (1893), classical/jazz harmonica player Larry Adler (1914), Zydeco squeeze-box man Rockin’ Dopsie (1932), Don Wilson of The Ventures (1933), Roberta Flack (1939), James Merchant of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1940), Elvis impersonator Ral Donner (1943), Peter Allen (1944), Donovan born Donovan Phillip Leitch (1946), Robbie Neville (1961), Metallica bassist Cliff Burton (1962)
February 11: Tex Beneke (1914), Josh White (1915), Gene Vincent born Eugene Vincent Craddock (1935), songwriter Gerry Goffin (1939), Bobby “Boris” Pickett (1940), Sergio Mendes (1941), keyboard man Stan Szelest (1942), blues singer Little Johnny Taylor (1948), Sheryl Crow (1962), D’Angelo (1974), Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park (1977), “Brandy” Norwood (1979), Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child (1981)
February 12: jazz and rock record producer Bob Shad (1920), Gene McDaniels (1935), Ray Manzarek of The Doors (1935), Stan Knight of Black Oak Arkansas (1949), Steve Hackett of Genesis (1950), Michael McDonald (1952), Chynna Phillips of Wilson-Phillips (1968), Barenaked Lady Jim Creeggan (1970)
February 13: Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919), songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1920), Gene Ames of The Ames Brothers (1925), Peter Tork of The Monkees (1942), Peter Gabriel (1950), New Order’s Peter Hook (1956), Henry Rollins (1961), The Cult’s Les Warner (1961)
February 14: Beatles-supporting DJ Murray The K (1922), keyboardist Merl Saunders (1934), Magic Sam born Sam Maghett (1937), Eric Anderson (1937), Vic Briggs of The Animals (1945), Tim Buckley (1947), Roger Fisher of Heart (1950), Ice-T (1959), Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas (1972)
Departures:
February 8: Keith Knudsen of the Doobie Brothers (2005), pioneering organist Jimmy Smith (2005), Del Shannon (1990)
February 9: soul singer Tyrone Davis (2005), Outlaws guitarist Billy Jones (1995), Reverend James Cleveland (1991), Bill Haley (1981), jump blues bandleader Buddy Johnson (1977)
February 10: ’60s NY folkie and Dylan mentor Dave Van Ronk (2002), saxophonist Buddy Tate (2001), Brian Connolly of Sweet (1997), British promoter Tony Secunda (1995), Stooges’ bassist Dave Alexander (1975)
February 11: jazz pianist Jaki Byard (1999), New Orleans guitarist and composer Rene Hall (1988)
February 12: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (2000), Gerald “Bounce” Gregory of the Spaniels (1999), pianist Eubie Blake (1983)
February 13: Waylon Jennings (2002)
February 14th: Sweet drummer Mick Tucker (2002), Buddy Knox of “Party Doll” fame (1999), Doug Weston, operator of The Troubadour in L.A. (1999), Pioneer Son Roy Lanham (1991)