1964 in music. • Page 3

@George I forgot to mention if you were looking for a more definitive Dionne Warwick, this year has it in Make Way for Dionne Warwick. It has "Walk on By", widely considered one of the greatest singles of all time.

 

1. Getz/Gilberto
2. Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night
3. Bob - The Times They Are A-Changin’

Piles of killin singles this year too. 1964 kinda seems like the year the 50’s ended and the 60’s began

Is this album good?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald_Sings_the_Johnny_Mercer_Song_Book

 

Meet the Temptations is mostly just okay compared to their other records I've heard. "The Way You Do the Things You Do" is obviously perfection, but the rest is David Ruffin-less and still pretty much straight doo-wop. A little Paul Williams goes a long way in the lead. He's much better when he's providing 2-3 leads to offset Kendrick, Ruffin, or Dennis Edwards.

 

It's not Porter or Berlin, but it's an Ella songbook album so...fuck yeah. Haha

 

@cshadows2887 you oughta keep swinging on Out To Lunch

I can see how its not for everybody in a way, but it’s a nut worth cracking. It’s so good. Boundless music. Very accurate album title

 

I'll probably circle back to it eventually, but there does seem to be a line on avant/free jazz that I just can't seem to get past. But I'm always open to revisiting stuff a few years down the road and maybe it hits differently.

 

Listened to the original cast recording of Funny Girl and it’s pretty excellent. I don’t generally listen to a lot of cast recordings but I’ve seen the movie so I mostly know the plot. Streisand sings her ass off though she’s actually featured a little less than in the film, surprisingly. Seems like they wrote a couple songs did her specifically for the adaptation. “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” are the classics for a reason, but “Who Are You Now?” is just as good.

 

Ugh it's been a week and a half so far with work, cutting into my precious listening time!

Just put the headphones on and diving back in. Some good tips on some classic singles in recent posts, I think I'll start with those.

 

They were "a vibe" before being a vibe was a thing. That's a great way of putting it.... as soon as I put this on, I remembered I actually had purchased this on vinyl about 6 or 7 years ago, but my ex "borrowed" it along with about a dozen other jazz or jazz-adjacent records I had in my collection. Which probably explains why aside from "The girl from Ipanema", I am hearing most of this for the first time.

Really loving it though. Summery vibes for sure.

 

Dionne Warwick’s “walk on by” is amazing as well. Knew the song just casually, don’t think I knew who sang it before today. Is the whole album worth a listen?

Edit: oh snap Burt Bacharach wrote this song.

 

If you like Bacharach's writing style at all, the album is excellent. She was the perfect vehicle for those songs.

 

Listened to Doc Watson’s self titled album from this year as recommended by @cshadows2887 . Had never heard of him before, and didn’t look him up beforehand, so going in completely blind. It’s a great little bluesgrass / country record, with some fantastic guitar picking and banjo here.

There’s a decent variety of songs on here, from silly jokey tracks like Intoxicated Rat, which sounds like a kids song about boozing, to more kind of traditional gospel / blues y stuff, like Talk About Suffering, which is all a Capella. He has a strong and tuneful voice, with a good amount of character, and warmth to it.

I enjoyed this! Bluegrass isn’t a genre I know much about, so always good to check out and explore more genres.

 

Glad you listened, man. Knew you'd appreciate the uniqueness at the very least. Dude's a hell of a guitar player.

 

i had heard the name for a while but didn’t know if it was considered “good”

i’ll listen tomorrow after uhhh van weezer

 

Surprised to see his name here!

He grew up and lived near where I went to college, and he passed away while I was in school. There’s even a statue of him on the main street in Boone, NC. He’s an absolute legend in the bluegrass scene. He also started an annual folk/bluegrass festival in North Carolina called MerleFest: MerleFest - Wikipedia
I think it’s the biggest music festival in the Carolinas still

I’m sure “going in blind” wasn’t intentional, but Doc was blind from the age of 2.

 

damn ill have to go in on merlefest some time

 

I honestly don’t remember who on AP put me on to Doc but they sure did me a favor. There were some really knowledgeable people about older stuff there

 

Glad All Over by The Dave Clark Five was disappointing. The single is obviously a classic and there are a couple cool originals, but it's padded with a couple really thin covers and a pair of useless instrumentals. Not worth owning, tbh.

Kinks is absolutely fantastic though. I always liked "You Really Got Me" but never really got why it was SO beloved and revered. But after getting a lot of context of what '64 sounded like, it seems like it was beamed in from a different planet. The rest of the album is excellent, too. Tough, well-played, well-written, energetic. Loved it.

 

it’s a great debut. probably my least favorite album of their classic run but still such a confident start.

 

I’m sure the Coen brothers would approve that I listened to Inside Dave Van Ronk. He has a very unique voice. It’s definitely pretty straight folk so you have to be up for that, but I liked it a ton. Be careful though because there’s a comp of his first two records from the late 80s on Spotify with the same title too

 

Went on a DVR run last summer after rereading Dylan’s autobiography. Easily the most shout outs in the whole book. I liked it but felt it works better as a historical / educational reference point than as enjoyable music in its own right.

 

Yeah honestly folk this straight took a long time for me to develop a taste for and even now I have to be in the right mood

 

Last two listens of '64:

Al Hirt - Cotton Candy
It's corny and fluffy (the title is freakin' Cotton Candy after all), but if you can handle a little schmaltz, it's well done. I think I preferred his Honey in the Horn a bit, but everything is expertly arranged and recorded. The man can play, too. But I can see the feather-light arrangements and the backing singers putting off some listeners.

Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty
Just absolutely fucking excellent. Lightly soulful. Her voice is outstanding. "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" is an absolute all-timer. Nice to know the greatness of Dusty in Memphis wasn't a fluke. Terrific record.

 

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night takes this one with 31 points. Wasn't close at all. I'll post the '65 thread tomorrow.

 

Out of curiosity, what were the distant runners up?