On The Records

It may seem like the remixing of Beatles music started recently, but it actually began decades ago.

Although George Martin did a little bit of remixing on Rubber Soul for the 1987 CD release, it was really during the time of The Anthologies in 1995 & 1996 when the modern remixing of Beatles music started.

(I had collected the three promotional posters as each anthology was released from 1995 to 1996.  If you put the posters side by side, they formed one large art piece by Klaus Voormann.  I had the posters mounted together and framed, and eventually gave it to a record shop in Lincoln, NE when we moved to Eugene, OR in 2008.)

As Apple went through all the original recordings by The Beatles to find alternate versions and unreleased songs for The Anthology series, they also started manipulating those recordings.  Most of these “takes” of the songs had never really been mixed before, so it had to be done for this release.  I remember some fans being upset that the producers had “flown in” a guitar solo from another take to complete the anthology version of “One After 909”.  “How dare they mess with what The Beatles had done!”  In reality, The Anthologies were a welcome gift to Beatles fans.  We were able to hear the alternate versions writer Mark Lewisohn had praised in his excellent 1988 book The Beatles Recording Sessions.

An early take of “Here There And Everywhere” was not included on The Anthologies, but was an extra cut on the “Real Love” CD single in 1996.  The track is mostly a solo McCartney vocal, but for the final chorus of the song the beautiful background vocals were added in an impressive effect.  The text said the ending was an example of how Beatles songs could be remixed (instead of just remastered) in order to improve the sound quality and stereo mix.  Here it is:

Extra:  One other track from the Anthology series was “Good Morning Good Morning” without those words included.  It gave the song a more serious feel.  Here it is with the horns and lead guitar added back in.  It probably would have been called “Nothing To Say”:

The first big remixing project of familiar Beatles recordings was the release of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack in 1999.  This was a clever choice, because instead of remixing a well-loved album, this was a new collection of songs that had been in the movie, rather than the old soundtrack, which only had a limited number of these songs.  So how did it come out?  The results were, well…mixed.  Some of the songs, particularly “Eleanor Rigby”, “Yellow Submarine” and “Nowhere Man” were the best-sounding versions ever.  The songs from Sgt. Pepper were less successful, probably because they are more complex recordings.  Overall, engineer Peter Cobbin and his staff did an admirable job on a risky project.  It was well received enough to allow for future remixing.

In 2003, there was a remixing of the songs from the Let It Be sessions.  Let It Be…Naked was spearheaded by Paul McCartney, and approved by George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  The remix engineer was Allan Rouse, who helped McCartney shape the album into the original concept…The Beatles with less production and orchestration.  It was mostly successful, but didn’t replace the original release.

Although it wasn’t really a remixing of a Beatles album, George Martin and his son Giles used Beatles songs in unusual mashup mixes to create a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil’s Love show in 2006.

(The 2015 CD of The Beatles 1 remix, with accompanying video DVD.)

The next major project was also another collection of songs, The Beatles 1.  The original release of the album was in 2000, and it’s one of the best selling albums ever.  In 2015, Producer Giles Martin and Engineer Sam Okell released their remixed version.  Luckily for Apple, the reviews for these new mixes were widely positive.  That was encouragement to green-light more projects.

Then came the riskiest project of all…the remixing of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017.  The beloved album was painstakingly remixed by Giles Martin (with Sam Okell who works on all the remixes).  It was almost unanimously praised.  There are links to my reviews of all the new remixed albums at the end of this article.

November of 2018 we got the new remix of The White Album.  The short review is that it sounds amazing.  It seems the simpler arrangements on The White Album (in comparison to Sgt. Pepper) allowed Giles Martin to do an even more impressive remix.

The remix release of Abbey Road was September 27th, 2019 (link to review at the end of this article).  The remix sounds great, especially the side two medley!

 A 5-CD box set (plus Blu-ray) of Let It Be was released on October 15th, 2021.

There’s a matching 5-disc vinyl set (4 LP’s & an EP).  There’s also a 2-CD set that is the new remix, plus a disc of selected highlights from the box set.  It’s also available as a single CD or record.  The remix of the album is impressive.  It keeps the feel of the original album, but has greater clarity.

Update:  The new remix of Revolver was released on October 28th, 2022.  There’s a complete description of the CD & Vinyl box sets and other versions on this site.  There’s also a link to the review of Revolver at the end of this article.  The quick review is that the new stereo mix is a major improvement in audio quality.

Based on a comment in September 2022 from remix producer Giles Martin, Rubber Soul was expected to be next for the remix box set treatment.  Unfortunately, it’s delayed, because the remixed Red & Blue collections were released instead on November 10th, 2023.   The Red Album remix is especially good. (A link to the review is below.)

When they finally release the Rubber Soul remix, maybe the lid of the box will use the original cover photo (before it was altered).

Perspective:  It’s understandable that some people only want to hear the recordings exactly as they’ve known them, and hopefully those people have purchased those original mixes.  The truth is, the remixes are not necessarily for those of us who have lived with the songs for decades.  They’re for future Beatles fans who will want the audio quality to sound as good as their other music.  Giles Martin has done a great job of recreating the songs extremely close to the way we know them…only with better sound quality.  When we listen on good audio equipment, it’s more like what The Beatles themselves heard in the studio.

Here’s the link to the Sgt. Pepper remix article:   https://ontherecords.net/2017/07/sgt-peppers-new-mix-worth-it/

Here’s the link to the White Album remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2018/11/the-beatles-white-album-remix/

Here’s the link to the Abbey Road remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2019/09/abbey-road-remix-review-perspective/

Here’s the link to the Let It Be remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2021/10/let-it-be-2021-box-set-review/

Here’s the link to the Revolver remix article: https://ontherecords.net/2022/10/beatlesrevolver-remix-box-set-review/

Here’s the link to the Red & Blue albums remix article: https://ontherecords.net/2023/11/the-beatles-red-blue-remixes-review-perspective/

It was 50 years ago (1968) when I bought my first copy of The White Album on the day it was released.  I went through at least two vinyl copies, the original CD release in 1987, the remastered CD’s in 2009, and now I bought the new 2018 Remix (Deluxe Version) on the day it was released…and it’s the best sounding version.

This 3 CD version is new, in that all of the songs have been completely remixed from the original studio tapes.  Of course the original production was by George Martin, and this remix was done by his son Giles.

According to Giles Martin (shown above with his dad), the main purpose of remixing The Beatles albums is to improve the sound so that the recordings don’t seem dated when played beside more recent recordings.  He feels it increases the possibility that future generations will enjoy the recordings.

Giles does a great job with the remixes.  Basically, he  centers the lead vocals and balances the instruments into a good stereo mix.  He also provides a greater fullness by reducing the compression that is on the original mixes.  Plus, he uses the original recordings before they were “bounced down” to other tapes to make room for more instruments.  It all gives the recordings a cleaner sound that allows us to hear the voices and instruments with new clarity.  These new mixes don’t take away from the original visions for the songs, and of course they’ve been approved by Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr.  In fact, in a new Rolling Stone interview, Ringo says with the clearer mix “…you can really hear the drums”.  He joked…”I have to pay Giles extra for that.”

The other addition to the “Deluxe” album is a third disc filled with demo versions of the songs.  These are the rehearsal sessions that were recorded at George Harrison’s house in Esher prior to taking all these songs into the Abbey Road Studio.  Most of the songs for The Beatles’ only double album were written while John, Paul, George & Ringo were on a break, studying with the Maharishi in India.  The three main songwriters came back bursting with new tunes, and appeared anxious to share them.

The “Esher Demos”, as these recordings are called, have been bootlegged for years, but this is the best they’ve ever sounded.  For the most part, the demos (27 of them) are as if The Beatles are sitting around with acoustic guitars in an “unplugged” performance.  The difference is that near the end of many of the demos, The Beatles do something silly, or out of character with the song, probably because they haven’t yet developed an ending.  So what you have are raw versions that are much simpler than the finished product, and they certainly could never replace the versions we know.  Still, it’s an interesting glimpse into how the songs were written, and there’s an appeal to the casual intimacy of the recordings.  It sounds like The Beatles are having fun.   It also shows that The Beatles had already decided how to approach each of these songs, because there are few drastic differences between these recordings, and the final interpretations.

Giles Martin says even though the sessions for The White Album are infamous for The Beatles being at odds with one another, the tape recordings reveal a well-functioning band.  One of the reasons they were going off on their own to separate studios, was because they were recording so many songs.  There are 30 tracks on the double album…which is more than twice as many as their regular albums.  They had even more songs that didn’t make the final cut.

So, the question is…do you need to buy this 3-disc “Deluxe” set.  No, you can get by with the 2009 remastering that gives you the best copies of the recordings exactly as we have known them for these five decades.  However, if you want to listen to these songs with new depth and clarity of sound, they’re more than worth the $24 price tag.  As a bonus, you’ll get the demos (and people used to pay $24 just for the demo bootlegs).  The more I listen to The White Album remix, the more I realize it’s a major improvement…a real listening pleasure!  Anyone with a good sound system should treat themselves to the remix.

There’s also a “Super Deluxe” set for fans who want to dig even deeper into the album.  It costs $139 on Amazon, and includes a 164 page book that details more of the recording process.  The biggest draw is that the set includes 50 alternate recording studio takes.  If you just want the digital downloads, the Super Deluxe set is $70 on iTunes.

The alternate recording takes are fascinating to listen to, but for the most part, they simply show how much better the final recordings are.  It’s hard to listen to these without subconsciously hearing all the missing instruments, harmonies, and other details of the final recordings.

The alternate version that’s attracting the most attention is Take 10 of “Good Night”.  It’s a song written by John Lennon, with the lead sung by Ringo Starr.  This version includes the other Beatles supporting Ringo’s vocal with harmony parts, and a nice acoustic guitar part by Lennon (that was actually from Take 5).  The other versions that drew my attention the most were the instrumental backings for “Back In The U.S.S.R.” and “Revolution”.  They accent how rocking those songs are.  You hear the really crunchy distortion of the guitars on “Revolution”.  Besides singing lead, Paul McCartney played drums, bass and lead guitar on “Back In The U.S.S.R.”  John and George also played multiple instruments.  This was while Ringo was on break from the band, but he soon returned.

Last year, I bought the “Super Deluxe” version of Sgt. Pepper, but found that I don’t really listen to the alternate versions very much.  So, for The White Album, I just bought the $24 “Deluxe” set, and then bought my favorite alternate takes from the iTunes version of the “Super Deluxe” download.

Since this article was written, Giles Martin has been doing more remixing of Beatles albums, and his work (along with engineer Sam Okell) has been impressive.  There are reviews on this site for all of the remixed albums.

Bonus:  The White Album has been on iTunes for many years now, so I was curious how those 30 songs rank with buyers.  Here they are in order of popularity.

1. Blackbird
2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
4. Birthday
5. Dear Prudence
6. Back In The U.S.S.R.
7. Rocky Raccoon
8. I Will
9. Helter Skelter
10. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
11. Julia
12. Revolution 1
13. Martha My Dear
14. I’m So Tired
15. Mother Nature’s Son
16. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?
17. Glass Onion
18. Cry Baby Cry
19. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
20.  Sexy Sadie
21. Yer Blues
22.  Good Night
23.  Honey Pie
24.  Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
25.  Revolution #9
26.  Don’t Pass Me By
27.  Savoy Truffle
28.  Long Long Long
29.  Piggies
30.  Wild Honey Pie

A quick analysis shows 7 of the top 10 songs are by Paul McCartney.  George’s great song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is #2, but his other three songs are at the bottom of the list, with only the short not-really-a-song “Wild Honey Pie” lower.  While not exact science, I think we can agree that the public’s top 15 songs would make a much better single album than the bottom 15.

On The White Album it’s obvious which Beatle was the main writer of each song.  There was also less co-writing by John and Paul.  Still, the Beatles stayed together, and there was a lot of great music to come!

This article has been updated.  Here’s the link:

https://ontherecords.net/2020/03/let-it-be-is-get-back-2020-updates/

 

Joe Walsh joined the Eagles over 40 years ago…in 1975.  His solo career predates his time with the band, and continued even while the group was active.

Joe’s career included time with The James Gang & Barnstorm…for which he was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and lead vocalist.

(The James Gang consisted of Jim Fox, Dale Peters, and Joe Walsh)

Joe Walsh was with The James Gang from 1969 to 1971.  The main songs to come out of that time are…”Funk 49″ and “Walk Away”…plus I recommend their second album The James Gang Rides Again.

Barnstorm didn’t have any hits, but they’re on Joe Walsh’s first official solo album, The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get from 1973.  It includes the classic  guitar song “Rocky Mountain Way”…Walsh’s first Top 40 hit at #23.

Then in December of 1974, before Joe Walsh joined the Eagles, he released his very best album with the help of…the Eagles.

Don’t let the crazy cover and So What title turn you away.  This is a masterful album that every Joe Walsh and Eagles fan should own (or stream).   Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and J.D. Souther all contributed.  The songs include “Falling Down” (co-written by Don Henley), “Welcome To The Club”, “Turn To Stone”, “Help Me Through The Night”, and “County Fair”.  Those aren’t hit singles, but all of them were played by Album Oriented Rock stations.  Joe Walsh is an accomplished instrumentalist, and for this album he played guitar, bass, piano, and various synthesizers.  He said at the time that the goal of the album was to make his “Sgt. Pepper”.  If he meant his “best album”, mission accomplished.

In 1976, Walsh and the Eagles released Hotel California.  One of Joe’s many contributions was coming up with the guitar riff for “Life In The Fast Lane”.  Before the Eagles’ next album, The Long Run, Walsh released his 1978 solo album But Seriously, Folks.  I remember dropping the needle on the album.  As I listened, there were no songs that really grabbed me…until the very last song.  Finally, I heard some cool guitar riffs, and then the words…”I have a mansion, forget the price.  Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice.”  Instantly, you could tell this was a great song…”Life’s Been Good”.   It was a hit single (#12 in Billboard, #6 in Cash Box), was added to the Eagles’ concerts at the time, and has been a staple of their shows ever since.  It was worth the price of the album.

Joe Walsh continued to release albums while the Eagles were broken-up from 1980 to 1994. The albums include… There Goes The Neighborhood (1981) [Which is when we saw him in concert], You Bought It – You Name It (1983), The Confessor (1985), Got Any Gum? (1987), Ordinary Average Guy (1991), and Songs For A Dying Planet (1992).  His most recent, Analog Man, was released in 2012.  Other popular songs of his include…”All Night Long”, “A Life Of Illusion”, “The Confessor”, “Ordinary Average Guy”, and a couple songs off his latest album “One Day At A Time” and “Lucky That Way”.  That last one is kind of a follow up to “Life’s Been Good”.  It reflects on how his life is now.

Joe Walsh’s solo songs bring a lot of fun and energy to all those Eagles concerts.  He’s considered one of the best guitar players ever, and despite some earlier substance abuse problems, he was a great addition to the Eagles.  He straightened out his personal problems long ago, and life really has been good to him (so far).

Bonus Fun Fact:  Good friends Joe Walsh and Ringo Starr are also family.  Ringo Starr is married to Barbara Bach, and Joe Walsh is married to her sister, Marjorie.  Associated Fun Fact:  Eagles’ drummer Don Henley says his favorite drummer is Ringo Starr.

One More Song:   One of the original Eagles, Randy Meisner, left the band after Hotel California.  He had some really good solo songs…”Deep Inside My Heart” (#22), “Hearts On Fire” (#19), “Gotta Get Away”, and “One More Song” with backing by Don Henley and Glenn Frey.  All four of the songs are on the 1980 album One More Song.  “Hearts On Fire” and “One More Song” would have fit perfectly on an Eagles album.

Update:  We lost Randy Meisner on July 26th, 2023 at the age of 77.  He died of complications from chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.  Meisner was a big part of the Country Rock movement, having played with Linda Ronstadt, Poco, Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, and as a founding member of the Eagles.  His best known song is “Take It To The Limit”, which was a #4 hit for the Eagles.

That concludes the three-part series on the Solo Eagles.  You can find the other two parts listed on the right side of the page, or at the bottom of this article.  Don Henley…Solo Eagles Part 1 and Glenn Frey…Solo Eagles Part 2.

Glenn Frey was described by the other members of the Eagles as the leader of the band.  So when they broke up in 1980, how did he do as a solo artist?

Glenn Frey had success as a recording artist for radio, TV, and movies.  His first album sounds mostly like an Eagles album, but with more saxophone and less variety.

The wordplay in his 1982 album title, No Fun Aloud, might have referred to how he felt about the Eagles at the time of their tense break up.  The album produced two Top 40 hits…”I Found Somebody” (#31), & “The One You Love” (#15, and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart).  The song I thought could have dropped right into an Eagles album is “All Those Lies”.  Another good album cut is “That Girl” co-written by Bob Seger.

In 1984, Frey released his second album The Allnighter.  It had “Sexy Girl” (#20), cool album cut “Lover’s Moon”, and “Smuggler’s Blues” (#12)…which was about to become a television episode.  But just before that, Glenn Frey recorded a big hit for the Eddie Murphy movie, Beverly Hills Cop.  “The Heat Is On”, went to #2 on the Billboard singles chart.

1985 was a good year for Frey.  Besides the big movie hit, one of the hottest shows on television, Miami Vice, decided to make an episode based on the lyrics of “Smuggler’s Blues”, they even had Frey guest star.  That led to more acting parts, including a small role as the football team General Manager in the Tom Cruise hit “Jerry MaGuire”.  Miami Vice used the Glenn Frey song, “You Belong To The City” in another episode.  The single was another #2 hit for Frey, and the Miami Vice Soundtrack, (featuring both of Frey’s TV hits), was the #1 album for eleven weeks.

The hot streak cooled down for Glenn Frey by the 1988 release of his third solo album, Soul Searchin’.  The album only went to #36, but he did have two more hit singles (now on the Adult Contemporary chart), “True Love” #2 and “Soul Searchin'” #5.  It should be noted that Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” for the first Eagles album, co-wrote eleven of the twelve songs Glenn Frey charted as a solo artist.

Frey released album four in 1991, Strange Weather.  It has some quality music, but only had two songs do fairly well on the Adult Contemporary chart…”Part Of Me, Part Of You” (#7″) and “I’ve Got Mine” (#12).

Then…The Eagles got back together.

(You can check out the article about it:  Eagles…Hell Freezes Over.)

Glenn Frey and Don Henley handled the majority of the lead vocals for the Eagles, so Glenn’s strong and soulful voice is on some of the most popular songs in music history.  His solo career was successful, even though it was not as stellar as his friend and Eagles co-founder, Don Henley.  Like Don Henley, Glenn Frey was a multi-instrumentalist…playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums.

The reunited Eagles were a touring force until Frey passed away from health complications in January of 2016.  While John Lennon’s tragic death in 1980 was an extreme shock, Glenn Frey’s death indicates that some of our greatest musicians are leaving us.  Our generation is turning the world over to our children, just as Glenn wrote in his last song, “It’s Your World Now”.  Glenn Frey would be proud that his son, Deacon, is helping the Eagles continue to tour with great success.

Update:  (July 7th, 2023) The Eagles announced they are doing a final tour, from September of 2023, and likely into 2025.

(This is Part 2 about the solo Eagles.  Don Henley was featured in Part 1, and Joe Walsh & Randy Meisner are featured in Part 3.)

The Eagles are the most popular American band of all time.  But, how good were their solo careers after the band broke up in 1980?  This is the first of a three-part series on the Eagles as solo artists, and we start with the most successful…Don Henley.

“Going solo” doesn’t work out for a lot of ex-band-members, but Don Henley’s solo work makes an impressive career all by itself.

His first album was I Can’t Stand Still, released in August of 1982.  The album sold well, but of course nothing like an Eagle’s album.  “Dirty Laundry” was a #3 hit single, and the album achieved Gold status while going to #24.  Bob Seger co-wrote one of my favorite cuts “Nobody’s Business”.  A couple of ex-Eagles and one almost-Eagle appeared in minor capacities…Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, and J.D. Souther.  Frankly, the musical credits on all of Henley’s albums look like a who’s who in the music business.

Two years later, in 1984, Henley really solidified his solo career with his Building The Perfect Beast album.  It had four hit singles…”The Boys Of Summer”,  “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”, “Not Enough Love In The World”, and “Sunset Grill”.  By this time in the 1980’s there were lots of charts.  “Boys” and “Dance” were both Top 10 hits, and both hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart.  Henley was even on the Dance and R&B charts with “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”.  “The Boys Of Summer” won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal.  Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers co-wrote & produced the song.  The album itself sold over 3-million copies in the U.S. alone.

And the hits just kept on coming.

The End Of The Innocence was Don Henley’s biggest album.  It was released in 1989, and sold over 6-million copies.  It also produced another four hits…”The End Of The Innocence” (co-written with Bruce Hornsby), “The Last Worthless Evening”, “Heart Of The Matter”, and “New York Minute”.  On the Mainstream Rock chart, “Innocence” hit #1, “Evening #4, and “Heart” #2.  “New York Minute” was a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart at #5.  Henley scored another Grammy for Male Rock Vocalist for “The End Of The Innocence”.

Then…The Eagles Got Back Together.

(You can read about it in the article:  Eagles…Hell Freezes Over.  The Link is at the end of this article.)

Don Henley’s career also included many duets.  He had a #6 hit with Stevie Nicks on “Leather And Lace”.  He reached #2 with Patty Smyth on “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”.  He recorded two country hits with Trisha Yearwood…”Walkaway Joe” & “Hearts In Armor”, and he sang with Linda Ronstadt on “Hasten Down The Wind”.

It wasn’t until after years of Eagles’ touring that Don Henley released another album…Inside Job, in 2000.  The album hit #7 on the Billboard album chart.  By now his music was classified as “Adult”, in that the single “For My Wedding” was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and “Taking You Home” was #12 on the Adult Top 40 chart.  It would be 15 years and more Eagles touring before Henley released another album.

This time it was a country album, although there are still songs that fit the Eagles’ sound.  I realize most people haven’t heard Cass County.  I bought the 16-song deluxe version from iTunes when it came out in 2015, and my review is that it’s one of his best albums.  There are quite a few duets, and lots of country artists…Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Merle Haggard, Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood, and more.  Although there are a few traditional country songs, the majority of the tracks are new original songs written by Don Henley and Stan Lynch, formerly of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

The Cass County album reached #3 on Billboard’s album chart, and #1 on the Country chart.  Despite the somewhat grumpy looking cover photo, Henley says it’s the most he’s ever enjoyed recording an album, because of all the artists who performed with him.  At this point in his career there’s also much less pressure.

Don Henley is the last original member still in the Eagles.  It would be hard to find many artists who had a career that included so much great music…as part of a group, and as a solo artist.  In his song “The Boys Of Summer” he says “Don’t look back, you can never look back.”, but if he ever does look back at his career…he deserves to be very proud of the music he created.

(Please check out:  Glenn Frey….Solo Eagles Part 2 and Joe Walsh/Randy Meisner…Solo Eagles Part 3.)

Here’s the link to the Eagles…Hell Freezes Over article:

https://ontherecords.net/2017/08/eagles-hell-freezes-over/

Few groups represented the sound of California better than The Mamas And The Papas in the mid 1960s.  In fact, it was their first hit “California Dreamin'” that introduced them to the world in early 1966.

(John Phillips,  Michelle Philips,  Cass Elliot  &  Denny Doherty)

The Mamas And The Papas were not really a California group.  John Phillips was from South Carolina, Cass Elliot was from Maryland, and Denny Doherty was from Nova Scotia, Canada.  The only native Californian…Michelle Phillips.

John Phillips met Michelle Gilliam when she was pursuing a modeling career in San Francisco.  Phillips was touring with his folk group, The Journeymen.  The couple married in 1962 when Michelle was only 18 (John was 27), and they moved to New York.  It was there they met Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot who were in the folk group The Mugwumps.  The four eventually formed The Mamas And The Papas (their name based on counter-culture slang sometimes used by couples to refer to each other), and they moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to try to make it in the music business.

They had a friend, Barry McGuire (“The Eve Of Destruction”), who had signed with Dunhill Records, which was co-owned by Lou Adler.  The group auditioned and got a multi-album contract.  Folk Rock was the big sound of 1965, and the group’s folk background was perfect for a move into electric Folk Rock.  Lou Adler was very impressed.  He personally produced their albums, and used some of L.A.’s best studio musicians.

The distinctive looking and sounding two-man/two-woman group appropriately named their first album If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears.  You can see above that the record company decided to cover up the toilet that was in their album photo by posting a list of their featured songs.

In early 1966, “California Dreamin'” went to #4 on the singles chart.

”All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.  I’ve been for a walk on a Winter’s day.  I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A.  California Dreamin’ on such a Winter’s day.”  

Here’s John Phillips’ memory of how the song came about…from a 1995 interview at Paramont Studios:

‘It’s my recollection that we were at the Earle Hotel in New York and Michelle was asleep.  I was playing the guitar.  We’d been out for a walk that day and she’d just come from California and all she had was California clothing.  It snowed overnight, and in the morning she didn’t know what the white stuff coming out of the sky was, because it never snowed in Southern California.  So we went for a walk and the song is mostly a narrative of what happened that day, stopped into a church to get her warm, and so on and so on.  And so as I was thinking about it later that night, I was playing and singing and I thought “California Dreamin'” was what we were doing that day.  So I tried to wake Michelle up to write the lyrics down that I was doing.  She said, “Leave me alone. I want to sleep. I want to sleep.” “Wake up.  Write this down.  You’ll never regret it.  I promise you, Michelle.” “Okay.” Then she wrote it down and went back to sleep. (Laughs)  And she told me she’s never regretted getting up and writing it down, since she gets half of (the royalties for) the writing of the song.’

Their next single, “Monday Monday”, made it all the way to #1.   It’s a really good song, and won a Grammy, but it also benefited from having the ice broken by “California Dreamin’”, and having the group become well known.  That’s why artist’s follow-up singles and albums are often bigger than their first.  Both of those singles were million sellers.

The third song listed on the cover was a very original arrangement of a Beatles’ song…”I Call Your Name”.  Cass had a crush on John Lennon, and you can even hear her whisper his name during the song.  One of John Phillips’ specialties was finding new ways to cover songs, so something refreshing was brought to each one.  The album also contained their original song “Go Where You Wanna Go”.

The Mamas And The Papas made a huge impact on radio and television.  Many of their TV appearances were lip-synced…one, because a lot of TV shows were done that way, and two, because they were a vocal group and not a band that could replicate the instrumental portions of their recordings.  Unlike some of today’s artists, they never hid the fact that they were miming to their recordings.  They’d do things like play an “air flute” during the break in “California Dreamin'”.  For other appearances they did perform live with other musicians, and of course they used a band for concerts.

Besides singing harmony, some lead vocals, and co-writing some songs, Michelle brought the look considered the classic “California Girl”…blonde, blue-eyed, and model pretty.  Cass not only had an outstanding voice, her singing style and warm personality resonated with fans.  Denny was the major male vocalist around which many of their hits were built, and John was the leader of the group who was a good guitarist, and an outstanding vocal arranger & songwriter.

By August of 1966, The Mamas & The Papas released their second album.  It was self-titled, with “&” officially replacing “And” in their name for the rest of their recordings.  The album had two big hits.   “I Saw Her Again” (#5) which had a little false start in the middle of the song…”I saw her (pause) I saw her again last night”.  That was actually a tape operator error that Lou Adler decided was a nice touch, so they polished it and left it in the song.   “Words Of Love” with a strong vocal from Cass also went to #5.

Their third album in less than a year was released in February of 1967…The Mamas & The Papas Deliver.  “Look Through Any Window” was a modest hit at #24, and had actually been released in 1966.  The group’s second biggest hit “Dedicated To The One I Love” was #2 for three weeks, and featured Michelle on the lead vocal.  The history of the group was amazingly capsulized in “Creeque Alley” (#5).  That’s the name of a boarding house in the Virgin Islands where they were rehearsing prior to signing with Dunhill.  The song even manages to name-drop some of their friends like John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, and Barry McGuire.  By the way, Creeque was actually pronounced as Creaky in the Virgin Islands, but the song is always called Creek Alley.

Speaking of friends, John Phillips wrote the Summer of Love hit “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” for his friend Scott McKenzie.  The Mamas & The Papas also inspired similar groups…like Spanky & Our Gang and The 5th Dimension, whose first hit was a cover of “Go Where You Wanna Go”.

Later in 1967, songs by The Mamas & The Papas failed to climb into the Top 10.  Their last three hits were “Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)” (#20), “Glad To Be Unhappy” (#26), and in 1968, “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” (#12).  That was pretty much their whole career as a group…early 1966 to mid 1968…not much more than two-and-a-half years.  They did get back together for one unsuccessful album in 1971.

Michelle went on to an acting career in some major movies and television shows.  Denny eventually returned to Canada, doing stage and television acting.  John did some solo musical work, and also put together various musicians to tour using The Mamas & The Papas’ name.  Cass started a promising solo career.  Then after completing a successful two-week engagement at The Palladium in London, she died of a heart attack on July 29th, 1974 at the age of 32.

The Mamas & The Papas career may have been short, but their music has remained popular for decades.  There have been more collections of their hits than the number of albums the group ever released.  They were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1998.

Update (Dec. 2020):  Their first album is once again available on vinyl.

Badfinger was the first band to be signed by Apple Records, but back then they were called The Iveys.  Their first album, Maybe Tomorrow, was not considered a success, and the title song stalled at #67 on the singles chart in March of 1969.  Enter Paul McCartney.

(Joey  Molland [guitar], Mike Gibbins [drums], Pete Ham [guitar/keyboards] Tom Evans [bass]  Pete, Tom & Joey did most of the lead vocals and songwriting.)  [Do Joey & Pete look a bit like McCartney & Lennon to you?]

Paul McCartney knew Apple’s new band wasn’t happy with their progress…so he wrote a song for them…”Come And Get It”.  He also made a complete demo of the song with him playing all the instruments.  The band heard the song and liked it, but thought they might do it their own way.  Paul told them that if they wanted a hit, they should perform it exactly like the demo.  They did.  “Come And Get It” was a #7 hit in Billboard’s Top Ten in early 1970, and broke the band internationally.

Before the release, there was one other piece of business.  They needed a new name that sounded less lame.  The Beatles had recorded a track at a time when John Lennon hurt his hand, and he was playing the piano with just one finger.  They called the track “Bad Finger Boogie”.  Long-time Beatles assistant Neil Aspinall suggested the band be named Badfinger, and it stuck.

“Come And Get It” was included in the movie The Magic Christian, which starred Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr.  Another movie song “Carry On Till Tomorrow” (written by Pete Ham & Tom Evans) was produced by Paul McCartney and featured an arrangement by George Martin.  Badfinger included those songs on their own album which they called Magic Christian Music to take advantage of the publicity generated by the movie.

Notable cuts included a couple of their Iveys’ recordings remixed…”Maybe Tomorrow” and “Dear Angie”, along with a cool rock track “Midnight Sun”.

Badfinger was able to follow up their success with another catchy Top 10 song, “No Matter What” (#8), from the album No Dice in late 1970.  Other standout tracks included “Midnight Caller”, “We’re For The Dark” and “Without You”…with the line…”Can’t live, if living is without you”.  The first time I heard “Without You” wasn’t by Badfinger (I was late buying the album), but by Harry Nilsson who had a #1 hit with his amazing cover version.  It was only later I found out it was written by Badfinger’s Pete Ham and Tom Evans.

Badfinger went back into Abbey Road Studios in January of 1971.  Pete Ham and Tom Evans were producing a new album with the help of Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick.  After they thought it was complete, Apple management rejected it as not being good enough.  Enter George Harrison.

George had already worked with Badfinger when they helped him on his epic All Things Must Pass album.  He produced four songs for Badfinger’s new album, Straight Up, including their biggest hit “Day After Day” (#4) on which Harrison plays a slide guitar duet with Pete Ham.

(George Harrison at the mixing board with Pete Ham in 1971)

Harrison was called away for business in L.A., leading to the Bangladesh benefit concert at which Badfinger performed with Harrison.  The remainder of the album was produced by Todd Rundgren.  Among the cuts he produced was another hit “Baby Blue” (#14).  The hits “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue” were key to the album’s success, so the decision to work more on the album before releasing it was proven right.

Above is the full lineup of songs on my 1993 CD re-release of Straight Up, including bonus tracks of the original Geoff Emerick versions.  One of my favorite Badfinger songs since the original album’s release in late 1971 has been “Name Of The Game” which George Harrison produced.  Then in 1993 I heard the version produced by Geoff Emerick, and liked it even better!  That version is a little more uptempo, and has an orchestration with excellent horn arrangement by George Martin.  Here it is:

The Emerick versions of “Money” and “Flying” also include George Martin arrangements, and are better than the Todd Rundgren versions.  Rundgren had sped up the recordings of those two songs, and the vocals sound thin (and a little like The Chipmunks).  Special thanks to Dirt Cheap Records in Lincoln, Nebraska whose owner (also a Badfinger fan) sold the CD to me before it officially went on sale.

Straight Up is considered Badfinger’s best album, and is referred to as a Power Pop classic.  Just want to note that Pete Ham’s songwriting was at it’s peak.  He wrote and sang the three best cuts…”Day After Day”, “Baby Blue” and “Name Of The Game”.

Badfinger’s career sputtered from there.  They released three more albums with the four-man lineup, but the financial problems at Apple, a switch to Warner Brothers, and bad management (by Stan Polley) brought an end to the band’s success, and left them without the money they had earned.

(Apple released a collection of Badfinger’s best tracks.)

The most tragic part of the Badfinger story is that Pete Ham became depressed and took his own life in 1975 at the age of 27…and that was followed by Tom Evans also taking his own life in 1983.

Badfinger fans are still saddened by what happened, but try to focus on all the great music the band created.  Badfinger member Joey Molland was quoted as saying Pete and Tom would probably be surprised and happy about how their songs have stood the test of time.

Update (March 2nd, 2025):  The last surviving member of Badfinger, Joey Molland has passed away at age 77.  He died from complications of multiple health issues.  Joey was a guitarist and sometimes lead singer for the band.

In 1965 they sold more records than The Beatles…

 …but in three years they were done.

The British Invasion gave us all kinds of music, including a fun pop band from Manchester, Herman’s Hermits.  Their first success in the United States was with a Gerry Goffin and Carole King song, “I’m Into Something Good”.

It hit #13 on the Billboard singles chart as 1965 was arriving.  Then came a string of 9 straight Top 10 hits from the beginning of 1965 to mid 1966.  Many of you will be able to hear the melodies just by reading the titles:

1. “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (#2)
2. “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” (#1)
3. “Silhouettes” (#5) (cover of The Rays’ hit)
4. “Wonderful World” (#4) (written by Sam Cooke)
5. “I’m Henry The VIII, I Am” (#1) (a song from 1911)
6. “Just A Little Bit Better” (#7)
7. “A Must To Avoid” (#8) (written by P.F. Sloan)
8. “Listen People” (#3)
9. “Leaning On A Lamp Post” (#9)

By comparison, The Rolling Stones were on the hottest streak of their career during that same time frame, and they had 6 Top 10 hits.

Lead singer Peter Noone (aka Herman), had just turned 17 when they first made the charts in the U.S.  The other members were Derek Leckenby (lead guitar), Karl Green (bass), Barry Whitwam (drums), and Keith Hopwood (rhythm guitar).

A successful string of singles doesn’t just happen.  Herman’s Hermits was led by well-known ’60’s producer/arranger Mickie Most, who also worked with The Animals.  Most of their hits were written by professional songwriters from outside the group.  And, some of England’s best session players worked on their singles, including Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones who also played with The Yardbirds, and would later form Led Zeppelin.

Peter Noone was cute, charming, and an accomplished vocalist.  He and the band played-up their British accents on songs like “Henry The VIII” and “Mrs. Brown”, because American audiences were loving all things British at that time.

Herman’s Hermits’ flame burned brightly, but quickly.  They had only two more Top 10 hits…”Dandy” (#5) [written by Ray Davies of The Kinks] and “There’s A Kind Of Hush” (#4).  “Hush” was their last major U.S. hit, in early 1967.  In all, the group had 18 Top 40 hits, are credited with selling over 80-million records, and were even in three movies thanks to their label, MGM.  Fun Fact:  Their movie “Hold On!” was originally titled “A Must To Avoid”, but MGM decided that was simply handing critics too much ammunition for a bad review.  Fun Fact 2:  In 1967, The Who opened concerts for Herman’s Hermits.  That had to be interesting.

By 1967, Rock & Roll was moving away from the Pop style of Herman’s Hermits.  Song lyrics often contained deeper meanings, and musical genres such as Psychedelic Rock, Country Rock, Blues Rock, Hard Rock, and Singer-Songwriters were taking over.

Herman’s Hermits continued to have some hits in England, but Peter Noone left the group in 1971.  You may have seen him pitching music collections of The British Invasion on TV, or seen him at a nostalgia show performing as Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone.  There’s also another version of the band that just includes drummer Barry Whitwam, so Baby Boomers beware.

Herman’s Hermits’ career may have been short, but they packed a lot of great recordings into that time.  They’re still fun to hear.  So…”Listen People”.

Deja Vu was a pivitol time in the career of Crosby, Stills & Nash.  In 1969, they had released their self-titled first album.  It was a huge success with critics and the public alike, but they felt they needed another guitarist for live performances.  Eventually, they decided to add Neil Young…the same musician Stephen Stills fought with when they were in Buffalo Springfield.  Stephen thought it would be different this time.

Note:  This article is about the original album.  You can also get info about the Deja Vu 50th Anniversary Box Set by clicking the link at the end of this article.

My wife and I were newlyweds living in Memphis, TN while I attended electronics school.  The day Deja Vu was released (March 11th, 1970), we went to the record store…but it had closed for the day.  We looked in to see a huge display at the front of the store with lots of copies of the album…only a locked door away.  We may have wanted to break in, but we came back when the store was open.  Deja Vu had the leather-looking cover with the gold embossed letters, and an actual photograph glued to the front.

Memphis FM radio stations started playing the album right away.  “Carry On” by Stephen Stills was the first song I heard.  It was the perfect album opener, with excellent harmony and a driving rhythm…a worthy follow-up to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” which had opened their first album.  The hit singles from Deja Vu were Graham Nash’s “Teach Your Children” (with Jerry Garcia on steel guitar), Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock”, and Nash’s “Our House”.  The Stills solo song “4 + 20” got a lot of airplay, and so did David Crosby’s “Deja Vu” (with John Sebastian on harmonica).

(CSN&Y with Dallas Taylor & Greg Reeves, photo by Henry Diltz)

Neil Young only played on five tracks…his two songs, “Helpless” & “Country Girl”, plus “Almost Cut My Hair”, “Woodstock” and “Everybody I Love You”.

As much as I love Neil Young, it could certainly be debated whether his addition was good or bad for Crosby, Stills & Nash.  Drummer Dallas Taylor, Bassist Greg Reeves, and Engineer Bill Halverson have said the first album was made with great cooperation and enthusiasm, but Deja Vu had the musicians butting heads.  We’ll never know if CSN would have had smoother sailing if they hadn’t added the Y.  What we do know is that even though Neil Young had two very good solo albums prior to joining CSN, they were not very successful.  His solo success came after Deja Vu gave him a much higher profile.  He clearly showcased his talent with After The Gold Rush and Harvest…which were his next two releases.  Those were filled with songs CSN would have loved to record.

Deja Vu hit #1,  and eventually went 7-times Platinum in the U.S. alone.  It’s also one of the best titles ever for a second album.  Its popularity not only helped Young’s solo efforts, but the other members of the group had major success with their individual releases.

As originally expected, Neil Young was a great asset to the group’s live shows.  His guitar duets with Stephen Stills added energy to their electric sets, and…

Neil’s solo songs were a welcome part of their concerts as the years went on.

Neil Young’s greatest contribution to the group’s recordings came in 1970, shortly after the release of Deja Vu…the single “Ohio”.  That song about the Kent State shootings by the National Guard, fit right in with the band’s political awareness.  It was similar to what Stephen Stills did with “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound)” after the Sunset Strip demonstrations in 1967.

It’s hard to believe we’re approaching 50 years years since the release of Deja Vu.  Its songs reflected the times, and yet they still hold up today.  Although Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had a rocky relationship, maybe their combustible passion helped produce such great music.

Update (May, 2021):  A 50th Anniversary box set has been released (May 14th, 2021) on Rhino Records.  There is a complete description and review on this site.  Here is the link:

https://ontherecords.net/2021/05/csny-deja-vu-box-set-review/

Extra:  If you’re wondering why I didn’t include a photo of my original first-printing copy of Deja Vu, it’s because someone stole it.  When I was a Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Nebraska in the mid ’70’s, we could use our own albums for our DJ shifts on the campus radio station.  One time I forgot my albums there, and when I returned for them, the only one missing was Deja Vu.  I had to buy Deja Vu all over again.

Extra:  Here’s what the cover is supposed to look like.  It came in my 50th Anniversary box set.