Category: MCRFB (Billboard) News

‘5TH BEATLES’ DIES – BRIAN EPSTEIN: RESTLESS EMPIRE BUILDER . . . SEPTEMBER 9, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

‘5th Beatles’ Dies Suddenly

 

 

 

 

 

LONDON — The fifth Beatle is gone. Brian Epstein was found dead in bed Aug. 27, and was buried at Long Lane, Liverpool, Aug. 30. An inquest opened on that date was adjourned. Epstein, 32, was at the center of the Liverpool /Mersey sound that swept pop music here, then spread around the world at the beginning of this decade. He took the Beatles to fame, and founded his NEMS Enterprises pop music empire that gave the industry stars like Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.

BRIAN EPSTEIN (click on image for largest view)

Epstein, the son of a successful furniture retailer in Liverpool, left school at 16 and became a salesman in the family business. That was in 1950. Six years later, Epstein enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art here in pursuit of his acting ambitions, but left after a year, disillusioned by the thespian atmosphere and characters.

Back With Firm

He returned to the family company in Liverpool, called North End Music Stores, and took charge of the disk department in a newly opened branch in Great Charlotte Street, aided by one assistant. His motto was to locate and provide any record anybody wanted, and his methods prospered to the extent of expanding the department to three stories and 30 staff members in two years.

Epstein’s motto also led him to the Beatles. A customer query about a record, “My Bonnie,” by a group of that name resulted in tracing the foursome to the dank dungeon known as the Cavern, and a friendship that made him their manager. Epstein reckoned the Beatles had more potential than Elvis Presley, and tried to instill his enthusiasm beyond the Liverpool city limits. He got rejections in most record company quarters except one – George Martin, Parlophone disk producer at EMI. Martin liked what he heard, and “Love Me Do” was released in October, 1962, followed by the Beatles’ first No. I success, “Please Please Me.”

The Beginning

That was the beginning of an unprecedented era which introduced new interest in pop music in the western world and even infiltrated the East. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, svengalied by George Martin, developed into major song – writing talents, contributing a whole new pop balladry. Epstein was dedicated to their interests and to those of his other artists. He worked long hours, and spared no effort in their behalf. For a naturally quiet, retiring personality, he could be surprisingly ruthless and uncompromising if he deemed circumstance warranted it.

His continuing theatrical interest and inclination manifested itself again when he took over London’s Saville Theater for a mixture of dance troupe shows and pop presentations. He was on the verge of other moves to broaden the base of NEMS when he died.

Unhappily, the tremendous success of his artists and himself brought less than a fair share of personal happiness. Epstein was prone to extreme depression, and a pervading restlessness and discontent. No matter what the triumph of the moment, he forever sought something else without clearly knowing what it was.

Took LSD

He freely admitted taking marijuana and LSD, and was a signatory to the Times advertisement seeking a relaxation of the British drug laws. At the time of his death he was due to join the Beatles in Wales to participate in their latest interest, transcendental meditation, with an Indian exponent.

Clive Epstein, 30, was unanimously elected NEMS chairman, succeeding his brother at a board meeting Aug. 30. Robert Stigwood will continue as managing director, and Vic Lewis will remain a director.

The Beatles will conduct their own affairs in conjunction with NEMS. Brian Epstein’s mother, Queenie, inherits as his next of kin. Epstein’s estate is believed to be worth on paper approximately $21 million, and death duties on this amount will be huge. What arrangements will be made in this direction have not yet been disclosed. Some quarters believe that NEMS will be vulnerable to a takeover bid here or from the States, and that it might involve Northern Songs passing to different co-publishing Beatle copyrights, but Dick James has strenuously denied any possibility of Northern
Songs passing to different controls. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 9, 1967)

BRIAN EPSTEIN with the Beatles 1966 (click on image for largest view)

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THE BEATLES FOR SALE . . . JANUARY 25, 1964

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964

Beatles Giving Trade A Solid Bite

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK — Britian’s hottest record act in history, the Beatles, only a source of speculation a week ago (in the U.S.), has kicked off the industry’s new year with a classic shot in the arm–with not one, but two labels jarring their way into Billboard’s Hot 100.

The Capitol Records’ single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” has bolted into the No. 3 slot in just two weeks. Shipments on the single are reportedly past the million mark, and an album “Meet The Beatles,” has already been released.

Swan Records single by the group, “She Loves You” (which sold over a million copies on EMI’s Parlophone label) is No. 69 on this week’s Hot 100, in it’s first week on the chart.

Advanced reports have it that the Beatles are carriers of a harmless, but contagious “bug“–Beatlemania–and it, too, has arrived in epidemic proportions.

Beatle Fever

BEATLEMANIA! Nation Record News for February 25, 1964.

For the past year, the quartet, which hails from the Mersey River district of Liverpool, has captured the imagination of the British, and has spread Beatlemania like a fever through the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and now Norway. Their first single effort on Parlophone, “Love Me Do,” sold a “modest” 100,000 copies. No subsequent single released have sold more that half a million.

When “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was released in England on November 29, 1963, advance orders had already exceeded the million mark. Their two LP’s have already sold more than 300,000 copies.

One of the most efficient and effective promotional campaigns in recent memory presaged the arrival of the Beatles. Newsweek, Time, Life, UPI and AP have avidly chronicled  Beatlemania from the boys’ mushroom-shaped mops to their classic exchanges with the Royal family. Jack Parr offered a taped preview of the boys in early January, and their official debut is set for the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, with two more Sullivan spots in short order.

Radio Fans Like

As expected, Beatlemania has hit the radio scene with a tremendous impact. WEEL, Fairfax, Va., inaugurated what is perhaps the first series in the country revolving around the Beatles. Throughout the cooperation of Giant Music and Capitol Records, a weekly one-hour program entitled “Beatles Bonanza” is offered on Saturday night. The Beatles past hits, interviews with visiting Britons, and future merchandising of Beatle jewelry, wigs and other promotional items fill out the hour.

The BEATLES on stage in the U. K., October 28, 1963.

WABC, New York, initiated a Scott Muni Beatles Fan Club on Friday which has resulted in a tide of mail averaging 2,000 to 3,000 pieces daily. All Munci asks is a self-addressed envelope in which their membership card is returned to them. WABC reported that requests have been for “anything” by the Beatles.

WMCA, New York, is running a Beatles wig contest. The “Good Guys” are seeking listeners to take photos of their friends or from newspaper and paint on Beatle wigs. The station is awarding $57 to the first two most original entries with another 998 winners receiving a 45 r.p.m. disk, featuring photos of the group and the “Good Guys” on specially made record jackets.

English-Style Promo

The station is also airing Beatles promos cut by such legit theater artists as Margaret Leighton, a star in Broadway’s “Chinese Prime Minister,” and cast members from “Chips With Everything.”  The artists all stated, “I would like to thank WMCA for bringing the Beatles to America.”

… WMCA reports that the most popular subjects painted with Beatle wigs thus far are: Khruschev, Mayor Wagner, Alfred E. Neuman (of MAD Magazine), Brigitte Bardot, and the Jolly Green Giant.

The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr), until a year ago were but one of more than 300 rock and roll groups that populated the Liverpool musical scene. Together since 1958, the boys have worked under a variety of names, such as the Quarrymen, Moon Dogs, Moonshiners, and the Silver Beatles. When they accepted an engagement in Hamburg the “Silver” was dropped as being too cumbersome and they have kept the Beatles tag ever since.

Brian Epstein, whom the boys affectionately refer to as the “fifth member” of the group, was responsible for mentoring the Beatles into distinction. He acts as their manager.

Another young group featuring the so-called “Liverpool Sound,” which has recently entered the race and could possibly emulate the success of their forerunner, goes by the name of the Dave Clark Five. They are currently battling the Beatles for first place in England, with their Columbia single “Glad All Over.” The single has been released in the U.S. on the Epic record label. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 25, 1964)

The BEATLES, 1963

A MCRFB Note

Here below a RARE 1963 CBS News clip believed to be the first major news report in the U.S. regarding the Beatles. According to the You Tube source, this CBS feature actually aired nationally here, on Thursday evening, November 21, 1963 and also the following morning, Friday November 22, 1963.

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ATLANTIC RECORDS STRIKES GOLD . . . JUNE 24, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

Atlantic Records Gold Strikes Authorized; 5 Singles, 2 LPs; Another Single Due

 

 

 

NEW YORK — The Atlantic Records’ family of labels made a run on gold disk market last week. The labels received authorization from the RIAA for five singles and two albums, and there’s still another single up for gold disk certification.

The Atlantic and Atco single records that earned the RIAA seal includes Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” on Atlantic; Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On The Shore” on Atco, and Booker T. and the MG’s “Green Onions” on Stax Records, a subsidiary of the Atlantic record group. The last two records were originally released about five years ago and have continued to sell steadily since they were first issued. The single record disk up for certification is Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” on Atco records.

Aretha Franklin’s gold certified 1967 million-selling LP on Atlantic
Acker Bilk’s gold certified 1967 million-selling LP on Atco

Aretha’s Atlantic album ‘I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)’ and Bilk’s ‘Stranger On The Shore’ on Atco were the two albums receiving the gold disk award. Miss Franklin’s LP record was one of the fastest selling albums of this year, and Bilk’s LP hit won the award five years after its original release in 1962.

Jerry Wexler, Atlantic’s executive vice-president, supervised all of Miss Franklin’s recordings. “Groovin'” marks the first RIAA award for the Young Rascals, as does “Green Onions” for Booker T. and the MG’s, and “Stranger On The Shore” for Mr. Acker Bilk.

The RIAA single record certification is for sales of one million copies; the RIAA LP certification is for sales of $1 million overall. END

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 (Information and news source: Billboard; June 24, 1967)

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WJLB DEBUTS NEW SOUND . . . SEPTEMBER 23, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

Playlist shortened to 40 Top R&B Playlist; New Jingles by Quincy Jones Added; Quick-paced Delivery Will Be Central Theme

 

 

 

DETROIT — WJLB, Booth Broadcasting’s 1,000-watt R&B operation here, has just launched a new programming policy centering around tighter production, faster-pacing transitions, and has added a new set of custom-jingles by Quincy Jones.

Wash Allen, former 1967 WJLB program director in 2011.

Wash Allen, who just recently took over WJLB programming director duties after being transferred from Booth’s WABQ in Cleveland, said the Detroit station “would be running with a full-blast, exciting young sound.” Play list will be 40 records, to which he will add as necessity demands. “You can never tell how many good tunes will come out in a good week,” he said.

The aim will be to add consistency in programming, Allen said. He felt that his philosophy was the same as Bill Drake, consultant to RKO General stations, and Paul Drew, program director at CKLW in Detroit. “Certain top tunes must be played consistently and deejays must be consistent on their shows. One deejay can’t make a radio station; it has to be a total operation and this is a new concept in R&B radio. In the old days, one guy could make a radio station; he could make a record. It can no longer be like that today.”

WJLB 1440 AM radio deejay lineup; late 1967. (Click on image for larger view)

Things are changing so fast in radio, especially in R&B radio, that Allen felt that many older deejays  were finding it difficult to grasp what was happening. “To some extent,” Allen said, “it was necessary to teach radio to these people. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that this situation developed. It’s just that times are changing and a radio station has to move with the times.”

Allen begin his radio career with WVOL in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University. He had been with WABQ for about two-and-a-half years before moving to WJLB. He considers himself “a derivative of Ed Wright,” who’s been program director at WABQ prior to joining Liberty Records as head of its Minit label. Allen wrote the lyrics and produced the Quincy Jones jingle custom package. Future plan calls for psychedelic-themed jingles as well.

Station WJLB has brought in new equipment and is building up its news department. In Martha Jean Steinberg and Ernie Durham, Allen felt he had two of the top air personalities of any station in the nation on board. “Now, with the new equipment, we have everything to work with.” END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 23, 1967)

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WKNR’S SWEENEY QUITS KEENER 13 . . . AUGUST 21, 1965

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1965

FRANK SWEENEY EXITS WKNR

 

 

 

 

Keener’s Swingin’ Sweeney may have had more that his fill when he quit in August 1965. Bob Green, left, looks on.

DETROIT — Frank Sweeney, music director and morning air personality on WKNR “Keener 13” radio, resigned Saturday, August 14, after completing his morning show.

Frank Maruca, program director at the station, said that Paul Cannon, former all-night talent at the Top 40 station, has been named music director. Jim Jeffries of sister station WKFR in Battle Creek, Michigan, has been brought in to handle chores on a temporary basis.

Maruca said Sweeney had been planning to give up his air time on August 23 to devote himself strictly to music director duties. He did not give any reason for Sweeney’s abrupt resignation from the Detroit station. END

 

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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 21, 1965)

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CKLW NUMBER ONE IN DETROIT! . . . NOVEMBER 4, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

CKLW New Detroit Singles Champ

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK — CKLW, 50,000-watt Hot 100 format station in Detroit, has taken over as the leading influence on sales of singles records in the market, according to a Radio Response Survey just released by Billboard for publication.

WKNR lead last year by a wide margin. This year, CKLW had 55-per cent of the votes of record dealers, distributors, one-stop operators, and local and national record company executives — all whose business depends on record sales. The survey depicts not only a leading ability to influence sales of products, but a large teen and young adult audience. WKNR had 45 per cent of the votes.

Tom Shannon of CKLW was the leading deejay influencing singles sales, according to a Billboard survey dated October 2. WJR lead WXYZ by a thin margin in ability to influence sales of albums, indicative of a large younger adult and adult audience combined, as well as an ability to influence them to buy product. Bill Drake, RKO radio consultant, was hired by CKLW earlier in the year.  END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 4, 1967)

A MCRFB Note

Besides playing the national Hot 100 hits, CKLW also was playing some of the greatest hit records that ever came out of Detroit (including Bob Seger) besides Motown — here’s just 4 from the CKLW BIG 30:

For the week of August 29, 1967, “Heavy Music” by Bob Seger is at the #4 spot, after just two weeks on the guide… “To Share Your Love” by the Fantastic Four is at #6, only three weeks after its debut on the BIG 30 survey… “You Gotta Pay The Price,” the instrumental by Ric-Tic’s own Al Kent, is just below at #7, another fast-climber after just three weeks… “If This Is Love” by Detroit’s very own Precisions, climbed to the #13 spot overall, after just two weeks on CKLW…

On the national pop and R&B music scene: “Some Kind Of Wonderful” by the Soul Brothers Six was on the CKLW playlist for eight-consecutive weeks… “Little ‘Ole Man,” by Bill Cosby, and “Never My Love,” by the Association, had just debuted a week earlier on the CKLW BIG 30 guide…

“Ode To Billy Joe” by Bobbi Gentry was the No. 1 song for the second-week in a row… and that’s just some of the BIG 30 hits that were played on CKLW 800 during the week of August 29, 1967.

CKLW August 29, 1967 (click on image 2x for largest chart view)

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BRITISH ACTS IN U.S., FINANCIAL RISK? . . . DECEMBER 12, 1964

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964

BRITISH ACTS INTEREST WANE IN U.S.; CAUSING PROMOTERS FINANCIAL DRAIN

 

 

 

HOLLYWOOD — Concert promoters are taking a second look at the British bands as financial reports indicate that the romance between the long-haired lads and their adolescent admirers may be cooling — at least at the box office.

Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas circa 1964. (Click on image for larger view)

Ironically, America’s Top 40 radio stations are playing the British groups with dominating force, indicating that what happens in the concert arena has no relation to what makes a station’s playlist.

In a recent Las Vegas gig, the Dave Clark Five drew around 3,000 teens in the 8,000 seat Convention Center for an $8,000 gross, causing the Thunderbird Hotel and Vegas’ radio station KENO to suffer an unexpected loss. The same group had grossed $10,000 in Minneapolis but local promoter Ray Colihan lost $4,000 on the date. He paid the British band $25,000 for two dates, one in Des Moines. It was also reported that Colihan lost a larger sum promoting a concert with the Rolling Stones earlier this year.

The Rolling Stones cost one Chicago promoter by the name of Ed Pazdur $5,000 when they bombed in Cleveland earlier in November. The group had been booked in the 11,000 seat Public Auditorium with a $44,000 top gross potential.

The Rolling Stones show was in trouble when city fathers took exception to the news that young girls had withdrawn their savings from a bank and flown to England to visit the Beatles. Cleveland’s mayor Ralph Locher decreed that rock and roll contributed nothing to the city, casting the Rolling Stones show in a bad light. Pazdur has the Dave Clark Five booked for Thursday, December 17.

Gerry & The Pacemakers circa 1964. (Click on image for larger view)

Other reports have reflected the same mood elsewhere. A British rock show in Ottawa, Ontario, fell on it’s face when the unit only drew 1,957 paid admissions in the 6,000 seat YMCA Auditorium. The bands headlining the show were Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, along with Gerry & The Pacemakers on the billing as well.

It is known that American publishers and now the promoters are concerned over the slipping box office appeal of certain British acts who are presently touring the concert circuit here.

As one publisher had stated, “This situation ought to be brought out into the open so that the disc jockeys would be fully appraised as to what’s happening. They’re playing the British records like they’re the only ones selling. But these same acts are bombing in person.” END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 12, 1964)

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BILL DRAKE RIPS RECORD REPS . . . AUGUST 12, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

Drake Blasts Recording Reps for Tabbing Him Tight-Play Addict

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK — Bill Drake, program consultant who has been just hired to consult all RKO General radio stations, including CKLW in Windsor/Detroit, lashed out at record reps who would tag him with the image of a tight playlist artist.

Bill Drake circa 1962

Drake, who scored ratings successes at KFRC in San Francisco and KHJ in Los Angeles, was in New York last week trying to work his magic on an FM station — WOR-FM, a stereo operation that had already made a sizable dent in New York ratings with a rock ‘n’ roll format. One of the first moves Drake did make was hire Gary Mack, formerly at KHJ, at WOR as program director of the station, replacing Art Wander.

As for other changes at the station, Drake said he would would try to improve the presentation of the music and the content. “The station will continue to play a lot of diverse album music, aiming at the 18-35 age group. It’s going to be rock, using every type of LP cut. Oldies would have a lot of influence…. a lot of Motown product, for example.” He said that other radio stations under his banner have been playing album cuts, “but to take an album and put it in the control room and say the deejay can play from it, is the same fallacy a lot of stations make in saying Sinatra is a super star. You don’t play Sinatra for the sake that he’s Sinatra; he’s had some bad cuts too. You don’t play Dylan for the sake he’s Dylan, Sinatra for the sake he’s Sinatra, Motown for the sake they’re Motown,” Drake concluded.

“The object is to play the good Dylan, the good Sinatra,” he said. And a lot can determine this. People working at the various stations guided by Drake listen to every cut of every LP, every single. Drake credits his success to “hard work and the good people working with me in striving for total success.”

Swap Information

Information between the stations is exchanged in writing, there are conference telephone calls on the music itself, as station personnel all exchange playlists. “But the music playlists at various stations vary an awful lot. This actually gives us the opportunity, contrary to opinion, to expose and test nine times as many records as anyone else. If a radio station plays three new different records each week that the other stations are not playing, this would run to 27 new records each week.”

Basically, he felt his radio station policy isn’t just to play the top few records . . . but he does advocate not playing “losing” records. “The object is to play winners. It’s good for us, it’s good for the record companies. If you consistently have weak records on the air, it’s obviously going to limit the amount of exposure you can give a strong record.”

“I could never understand why record companies wouldn’t be irritated because their good product was being hurt by the amount of weak product sometimes played.”

Fresh Product

Drake does believe definitely in playing new records, saying his stations were spinning LP cuts by the Jefferson Airplane before the group hit paydirt with their recent single, “Somebody To Love.” “You’ve always got to have fresh new product on the air… good new records… whether by some new or known artists. Otherwise your station winds up with a staleness.”

Bill Drake circa 1971

Playing records by and for hippies will not lead to a successful radio station; he felt. he believes the whole of the San Francisco movement is a myth. Request radio is also too narrowly aimed . . . “What’s wrong is that these stations get the teenage listeners. You want them too, but not exclusively. Younger kids are the only ones, however, who have the time and patience to dial for a particular song they want to hear on the radio. They aren’t going anywhere anyway. Because they have more time on their hands than older people have.“

The object of winning radio is to please everybody without going after just them. “You play ‘Happy Together’ by the Turtles, ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On,’ by the Supremes . . . those are monster records everybody likes.”

Still, aside from the “monster” policy, Drake’s stations for the most part, do allow for some leeway. Tom Rounds, he said, picked up on “Ode To Billie Joe” early and began playing it under the assumption that it was going to become a monster hit on the chart. The record hit the chart a week ago like gangbusters and is still climbing.

Obviously, so is Bill Drake, currently rising fast with WOR-FM in New York and CKLW-AM in Detroit. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 12, 1967)

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DYLAN TUNES IN DEMAND . . . SEPTEMBER 4, 1965

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1965

West Coast Clamors For Dylan Tunes

 

 

 

 

HOLLYWOOD — West Coast recording companies are rushing to cut Bob Dylan songs, with his message-protest numbers all but killing surfing, hot-rod, and all other teen-age themed topics in recorded numbers this Summer.

California-based Music Publishers Holding Corporation head Jack Maas reveal that 48 different Dylan records have been cut within the past month, have either been released, or will be cut in the next several months. Many of the Dylan songs are ‘covers’ of hits already having found their way on the current national charts.

Bob Dylan at work at Columbia Records in 1965. (Click on image for larger view)

“Most of Dylan’s materials has been requested and recorded by West Coast companies,” Mass said. The reason he attributes to this West Coast activities is simply that young a&r men here have latched unto Dylan with more enthusiasm than their Eastern confreres.

Among these “young” producers, Maas names Steve Douglas and Dave Axelrod at Capitol; Gary Usher, Decca; Andy DiMartino, Liberty Records; Al Schmitt, RCA; Dick Glasser, Warner Bros.; Bud Dain, Crescendo; Terry Melcher, Columbia; Herb Alpert, A&M Records.

“In all my years as a publisher, I’ve never seen such activity for demand for one writer,” Mass emphasized. “I’ve got people constantly calling me for his material!”

There are currently seven Dylan tunes on the charts, and the movement is moving forward for the new folk-rock sound, which began with the Byrd’s single, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and then the avalanche for Dylan songs began.

MPHC has a total of 80 Dylan songs and 12 new songs the folk-singer just cut for a new Columbia long-playing album. All of Dylan’s songs are published by M. Whitmark & Son, an MPHC company.

Just released are the following Dylan tunes: “I Don’t Believe You,” by the Lincoln Greens, Crescendo; “Blowin’ In The Wind,” by Johnny Rivers, Imperial; “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” by the Liverpool Five, RCA; “All I Really Want To  Do,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” by Joe and Eddie in new Crescendo albums.

Set For Release

The Turtles’ debut LP, “It Ain’t Me Babe”; 1965. Album re-issued on Compact Disc. (Click on image for larger size)

Soon-to-be-released Dylan tunes include “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” “Love Minus Zero” and “I Don’t Believe In You” by the Turtles in their first White Whale LP; “Chimes Of Freedom,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” in a Dino, Desi and Billy Reprise LP; “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” by Randy Boone in his Decca LP; “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “All I Really Want To Do,” “Like A Rolling Stone” and “You Were On My Mind” in a new Surfaris Decca LP; “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “All I Really Want To Do” in a new David Rose MGM LP; “All I Really Want To Do,” “Blowin’ In The Wind,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” in a forthcoming Cher Imperial LP; “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Love Minus Zero,” “All I Really Want To Do,” “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “She Belongs To Me” and “It Ain’t Me Babe” will be in Duane Eddy’s new Colpix LP.

Leroy Van Dyke’s first single for Warner Bros., is Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.” Also, World Pacific is readying a new band (name undisclosed) which will debut an LP featuring 10 Dylan tunes, to be released near the end of the year.

Mass claims that teenagers are listening to the lyrics. Despite the heavy commercial rock n’ roll beat and the blasting overly amplified guitars, most in the music business tend to realize that the lyrical content of a song is getting through to young people, more in popularity in the current folk-music scene. The rock background, that in itself, has helped the singles get on Top 40 music stations. There are some skeptics who feel the kids are not quite listening to the words, but are rather phased by the new beat instead.

Dylan’s Columbia albums are loaded with message, protests, and satire songs, very cerebral and complex., which has not yet been “discovered” by the “long-haired” folk-rock performers as a preference of choice with today’s popular music.

Beach Boys on Chart

The Beach Boys are the only group represented on the charts with a summertime, teen-outdoorsy song with “California Girls.” All the West Coast  beach-surf sound groups seemingly have been washed out to sea by the Dylan-influenced groups who have also begun imitating Dylan’s droning, monotonous vocal style.

Asked by Billboard to comment on the current rage to record message songs — some meaningful, some otherwise — folk singer Harry Belafonte said that folk music has always stressed social interests in protesting. Characteristics of the folk and rock idioms may be found in some established musicians as Odetta and Brownie McGee, Belafonte said. Folk and rock have their roots in Negro music,” Belafonte noted.

Today’s commercial folk singers may be compared to troubadours of yesterday, he said. The intensity of Negro music is part and parcel of the new sound reflecting the the world’s changing society, the entertainer continued.

Folk-songwriter and singer Phil Ochs in 1965. (Click on image for larger view)

Dylan’s overwhelming emergence as the chief procrastinator of the protest writers has all but obliterated other young folk-oriented writers who were created in this vein. This group includes Phil Ochs, Mark Spoelstra, Len Chandler, Richard and Mimi Larina and Pamela Poland. Paul F. Sloan has already gained notoriety for penning, “Eve Of Destruction,” a powerful single which has begun it’s climb up the charts.

The current trend has all but eliminated Caucasian groups from singing “let’s go to the hop-type songs.” The newest teen topic is protesting against a person’s abnormally long hair, and of social discords evidently present in our times. On the other hand, rhythm and blues’ artists and groups have not yet discovered Dylan and are yet still singing in their soulfully shouting style, with enough drums and rhythmic beat to satisfy their listeners with the current music trends. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 4, 1965)

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MOTOWN’S GORDY DEFINES ORIGIN OF RHYTHM AND BLUES . . . JANUARY 5, 1963

Motor City Radio Flashbacks logoFrom the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963

R&B Music Defined By Berry Gordy In His Own Words

 

 

 

 

DETROIT — There has been a lot of dispute lately over the definition of rhythm and blues as against rock and roll, pop and blues. To get some opinions on the subject, Billboard talked with several top people in the field and Berry Gordy, head of Tamla-Motown and Gordy Records, this is what he had to say about the matter:

Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. in front of 'Hitsville' in 1962 (Click image for larger view)
Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. in front of ‘Hitsville’ circa 1963.

“It originated from Negro folk music. It’s characterized by a heavy-bottom sound — heavy drums and bass — and its strongly dominated by blues. It differs from rock and roll. The latter is lighter and not as heavy on the bass, it’s more pop with a heavy back beat. Rock and roll is derived from R&B, but its a cleaner sound — not as flunky and muddy on the low end — more of a light, up-tempo sound. Rhythm and blues — more than any other type of music — is from the soul and expresses the sincere feelings of the artist. No special musical schooling or training is necessary.

One thing — there’s quite an overlap between rhythm and blues, rock and roll and pop. Take our tune, ‘Do You Love Me,’ by the Contours on Gordy as an example. It was recorded rhythm and blues but by the time it reached the half-million mark, it was considered pop. And if we hadn’t recorded it with a Negro artist, it would have been considered rock and roll.”

Now — talk about being home for the holidays, virtually the entire Tamla-Motown-Gordy artist roster got a Christmas present by returning home to Detroit, ending a two-month concert tour that started in Washington and ended last week at New York’s Apollo Theater. They had a helter-skelter pace of one-nighters in between. Included on the tour were: the Miracles, Mary Wells, “Little” Stevie Wonder (he’s the 12 year-old Motown sensation who plays piano, drums, organs, banjo, harmonica and sings too), the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and the Contours. The same line-up were signed for a New Year’s Eve show, Monday, December 31 at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 5, 1963)

Motown’s own The Contours circa 1962

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