1967 - my best year in music!

[alanultron5]

I thought it worth a try Steve! You might have had them!

ENGLEBERT! Next release was another old C/W song "THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING" which rushed up to No 2 in late May! It stayed No 2 for four weeks, halted by "A WHITER SHADE OF PALE" "EVERYTHING" Still sold 750.000 making it one of the biggest selling No 2 records of all time!

Engleberts final 1967 releaase (Late August) was a contemporay number "THE LAST WALTZ" written by Les Reed and Barry Mason, 1967's most sucessful songwriters! "THE LAST WALTZ" beat Procul Harum's record of selling most records in a full week with over 400.000 in seven days! It went from No 24 to No1 in the M.MAKER chart, staying seven weeks top in MM. It was six weeks top in NME & five weeks R.RETAILER! It reached a million while No 1 and was only just pipped for 1967's biggest seller by Englebert's own "RELEASE ME" Englebert sold more singles (Over 3 Million) in 1967 than any other act in the UK!

[alanultron5]

I shall be next covering the major musical trends of 1967. First up; probably Thursday, will be PSYCHEDELIA / FLOWER POWER.

[alanultron5]

PSYCHEDELIA / FLOWER POWER

The psychedelic movement which began in the USA in mid 1966, consisted of constructing music in a bid to capture the effect of an LSD trip! By 1967 many UK groups in what was termed the `Underground` were taking a similar route! One divergence in USA and UK groups approach was UK acts tending to write about Goblins, Gnomes and Pixies in their songs; Pink Floyd and Tomorrow are two that spring to mind!

Complexity of song construction became part of this genre with traditional verse and chorus components totally abandoned by some exponents! Two good examples are LP's "AFTER BATHING AT BAXTERS" (Jefferson Airplane) and "ANTHEM OF THE SUN" (Grateful Dead) both 1968 releases, but recorded in late 1967.

In single form, it was rather more difficult to achieve though! The Beatles were talented enough to make "STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER" work, but lesser gifted acts made some true abominations, the Pretty Things "DEFLECTING GREY" a good example of misfiring Psychedelia in 3 minute format!

Some have wondered why Psychedelic music did come about! In part it was due to LSD, but another factor is sheer human boredom! After years of playing simple verse chorus structured music, many in the music scene just wanted to get away from such limited parametres and experiment! Along with ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs, this began to produce what was termed `PSCHEDELIC MUSIC!

In the UK, it faded by late 1967, though some exponents such as PINK FLOYD carried on with it into the 1970s. In the USA this type of music lasted well into 1969, even into the 1970s many US acts still expounded upon it!


I will cover FLOWER POWER Tomorrow!

[stevezodiac]

Alan did you ever get this Mojo Special? 148 pages about 1967 split into 12 parts to cover the year month by month. I have scanned the contents page so you can see what it included. Don't know if Mojo has a back numbers department.

[alanultron5]

Steve! no! I didn't get it for the reason that I like to make my own judgements on the year its music & ethos! Most of the writers for Mojo or Record collector do such articles as a Job of work rather than a labour of love!

I get my data from actual Music papers of the time! In fact I have every NME, R,Mirror, M. Maker and Disc (Bar 20th May ) from 67!

I would be happy for you to put pages from the article if you wish Steve- there's every chance of learning something new on 67! Sorry that I havn't progressed with my thread so much-but been a bit ill of late! I `WILL` do my own bit on `Flower Power` should be tomorrow! Alan.

[stevezodiac]

I don't suppose I need to remind you that The Flowerpot Men (Let's Go To San Francisco) were formerly The Ivy League?

[alanultron5]

Not really Steve! but! did you know that their backing group (for UK tours) called at first "Sundial" later "The Garden" contained a certain Jon Lord on organ?

Now! FLOWER POWER! Coined in mid 1966, California when Donovan threw flowers to the San Fransisco audience at an July gig!

The movement really took hold in the `Haight-Ashbury` suberb of San Fransisco by late 66! On Jan 14 (I think!) a huge celebration called "A HUMAN BE- IN" took place in the cities `Golden Gate` park! UK documentary doyen Alan Whittaker covered the event as did a young Michael Parkinson for Granada TV!

San Fransisco enjoys a very equable climate which meant the January event took place in 60f plus temperatures!

By the Summer of 1967 `Flower-Power` was big entertainment news, but sadly the exploiters and `hangers -on` started to debase it!

Unfortunatly the movement became asossiated with `Drug abuse` which didn't help at all!

In the UK it was only a Summer phenomenon in pop and fashion circles, though its `finer`ideals did survive the UK winter!

There were many records made about the movement such as "San Fransisco- Wear Some Flower in Your Hair" (Scott McKenzie) "San Fransiscan Nights" (Eric Burdon & Animals) which were sincere if a bit naive! More predictible efforts were "LET'S GO TO SAN FRANSISCO" (Flowerpot Men) "The Bells Of San Fransisco" (Carnegy Hall) "Flower Power Fred" (Harry H. Corbett) and two records just called "FLOWER POWER" by David Aellen (Of Fleur De Lyes fame) and MUD! Yes! "Tiger Feet" MUD!

[stevezodiac]

Not forgetting Flowers In The Rain by The Move the first ever record played on Radio 1, speaking of which, this is from today's Daly Mail:

[alanultron5]

Great to see the full list Steve! I did know the Bees gees were second-but not the rest! Did you know the Radio One chart was `still` made up from combining those of NME, M.MAKER and R.RETAILER! The BBC funded BMRB `Official` chart did not begin until 15 Feb 1969!

[stevezodiac]

I came across this book during the week, destined for the charity shop, unless you want it, it lists the records and artists for the first week of each month and then in the right hand column shows their movement over the following weeks. Back cover blurb says these are the official charts printed in music Week and Record Mirror and used by Radio 1. You probably already have a copy but if not just say yes and i'll send it to you. I have your address.

[Niblet]

"Flower Power Fred" (Harry H. Corbett)

I'd never heard of this and, having an interest in classic Britcom stuff, couldn't resist having a quick search - you can hear a clip of it at http://www.harryandwilf.co.uk/Harry_s_Songs.html

[alanultron5]

Steve! I have a couple of copies of Tony Jasper's book! Sadly, he is very `economical` with the truth! The Record Mirror chart was never accepted as official even when from 24 March 1962 it used the Record Retailer Top 50. Only when the new BMRB chart from 15 Feb 69 commenced, was the `Official` term applied!

Mr Jasper also left out the first week in 1959 making every chart a week out of step for rest of the year! I wrote to him after the second edition on this and other ommissions (He left out the Xmas 1963 chart too and Xmas 1968) He corrected some errors but not all! I viewed the Record Mirror charts at London's Colingate Library to confirm what a bloody shoddy Jon Jasper did! Money before pride, same as Gambicinnie, Rice bros and Reid! Profit!! - Its all these people care about-not the work itself!

[stevezodiac]

Message understood, I have taken the book to Rainham Marshes and set a flamethrower on it.

[NP]

Alan, you must mean Colindale Library - unless there really is a Colingate- sounds like a scandal!
Yeah, those 60's charts books are a disgrace. a con and a rip-off.

[alanultron5]

Yes NP! Colindale it is-thanks! As a chart Psephologist, I am afraid I just don't rate many books on charts, even the NME collection suffered from witless commentary via its authors! Two books I heartliy do endorse are "The BOok of 1960s Million Sellers" By Dimitri Coryton, and Michael Cable's magnificent, "The Pop Industry Inside Out" this latter journal is quite easily, the finest work of its kind that I have had the joy to read and own!