What Are These Strange Enchantments That Start Whenever You're Near?

Going way back to 1964 for today's eclectic selection of 15 songs, designed to energise your Easter.

Some stone cold classics from The Kinks, The Temptations, The Beatles and Bob Dylan and not much I can add to the millions of words that have been written about them in the last six decades, other than...the songwriters would deserve legendary status if these were the only songs that they had written. And yet, they went on to write even better songs. Boggles the mind, sometimes.

In March 1964, my folks had barely been married a year and the hopes and dreams that my brother and I would subsequently crush were some years away. Back then, they were working hard and saving money to buy a house and start a family, so buying records was a luxury they couldn't afford. So, compilations have been an essential doorway into the past for me. And there are some cracking ones to be found.

 

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (the 1998 4CD not the original 1972 double vinyl) offers up The Beau Brummels. In the early 2000s, a series of CDs curated by Saint Etienne caught my attention. I think Songs For Mario's Cafe (2004) might have been the first and introduced me to many artists, including Philadelphia trio The Sapphires. Let's Break Up For A While was written by Jerry Ross and Kenneth Gamble, the latter going on to enshrine the sound of Philadelphia in partnership with Leon Huff. Beryl Marsden was revealed to me via the essential Love Hit Me! compilation in 2016. The subtitle Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970 tells you all you need to know other than it's 24 tracks of pure pop gold.

Film and TV tie-ins were also a big thing and this selection features a 4-song sequence of music that became a staple of my gogglebox experience as a kid in the 1970s. Still a year away from the big-screen adaptation in 1965, Doctor Who was nevertheless proving to be something of a phenomenon, largely thanks to those psychotic pepperpots the Daleks. The unforgettable theme tune was also subject to numerous cover versions, mostly an attempt to 'normalise' the out-there music of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Eric Winstone & His Orchestra being one such culprit.

The Munsters were another must-watch for me, though I'm pretty sure I didn't get to see it until the Channel 4 repeats in the early 80s and, if I'm honest, The Addams Family were my favourite if forced to choose. What I didn't know until a few years ago is that, cashing in on the TV show's success, 1964 saw "the newest teen-age singing group" The Munsters appear with a 12-song eponymous album. Sadly, despite some of the promo photos, not the actors themselves but a quartet of musicians who performed wearing rubber masks of their respective characters. It's derivative, but not as bad as it sounds.

Stingray was one of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation successes, high action, big budget puppet TV with all strings visible, oversized heads (didn't I do this already?) and lips that predicted the botox revolution of the 21st century. Aqua Marina was the closing theme song by The Barry Gray Orchestra, a paean to the amphibian beauty that captured the heart of lead character Troy Tempest. I always felt for Lt. Atlanta Shore, gazing wistfully at a photo of Troy. Yep, as a toddler I was already emotionally invested in TV characters!

Elvis Presley films were constantly on TV during my childhood, so I was familiar with the songs, even if the plots themselves were almost instantly forgettable. In recent years, the promo poster for Viva Las Vegas also adorns one of my tote shopping bags. 

Rounding out the selection are another quartet of legends, The Pretty Things, Simon & Garfunkel and The Rolling Stones covering Chuck Berry, with The Queen Of Motown Mary Wells response to The Temptations' My Girl. 

Perhaps not the selection or sequence that you might have expected from a 1964 collection but somehow, it all makes perfect sense. Must be those strange enchantments that Gary Miller was singing of...

 

1) Laugh, Laugh: The Beau Brummels

2) All Day And All Of The Night: The Kinks 

3) The Way You Do The Things You Do: The Temptations

4) Let's Break Up For A While: The Sapphires

5) Don't Bring Me Down: The Pretty Things

6) My Guy: Mary Wells

7) Dr. Who (Cover of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop): Eric Winstone & His Orchestra

8) Eerie Beach: The Munsters

9) Aqua Marina: The Barry Gray Orchestra ft. Gary Miller & Joan Brown

10) Viva Las Vegas: Elvis Presley

11) Bleecker Street: Simon & Garfunkel

12) Eight Days A Week: The Beatles

13) Carol (Cover of Chuck Berry): The Rolling Stones

14) The Times They Are A-Changin': Bob Dylan

15) Love Is Going To Happen To Me: Beryl Marsden

Strange Enchantments (38:22) (KF) (Mega)

#14 Dreams

The BBC began broadcasting one hundred years ago today, on 14th November 1922. The NME published the first ever UK singles chart on 14th November 1952. The first #1 was Here In My Heart by Al Martino (Jasper Cini to his folks).

 

So, the obvious thing to do here then is to celebrate...the #14 UK single on 14th November at various points over the last seven decades, right?

 

Starting off randomly with 1967, There Is A Mountain by Donovan was on it's third week in the chart, peaking the following week at #10 before starting a slow retreat over the next six weeks. I found a lovely clip of Donovan duetting with Bobbi Gentry on her TV show in 1968. The video and sound quality is ropey - the flute nearly drowned out by the audio hiss - but it's a joy to hear. There's another fun performance with Sergio Mendes from the same year which is worth a look and listen.

On to 1970, a few weeks before my birth and the fabulous sound of The Temptations with Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today). By 14th November, the song had spent two weeks at #7 and would spend the next two at #14 before dropping out of the Top 50 in January 1971. This is a performance on (I assume) US TV where the flared suits and psychedelic backgrounds try hard but fail to distract from the brilliance of the song.

 

Next up are The Pointer Sisters with I'm So Excited, still a staple of ad campaigns and gym playlists, nearly four decades on. And yes, unlike those chancers The Thompson Twins, The Pointer Sisters were actually sisters, although successive line-ups have included daughters and grand-daughters. I'm So Excited was originally a (non-UK) single in 1982 but it was the remixed and re-edited single release in 1984 that proved to be a smash, peaking at #11 in the UK. The video shows the sisters getting ready for a night out at what frankly looks like one of the shittest nightclubs ever, but it's worth watching just to wonder why June Pointer keeps her sunglasses on in the bath...!

Another remix and re-release, this time from 1991 and Seal's second stab at the charts with Killer. You can understand why: the original hit #1 the previous year but was credited only to Adamski. Getting William Orbit on board to add some bells and whistles to the music, the incredible voice is still the dominant force here. Seal didn't score a double #1 but a peak of #8 isn't bad, considering the previous version had charted relatively recently. Like The Pointer Sisters, Seal also seems dressed up for a night out in his video, although  he seems to have opted for LaserQuest rather than the local nightclub.

 

The Strokes' Last Nite from 2001 is brilliant and the video, directed by Roman Coppola, equally so. A pastiche/piss-take of music performances on US TV shows in the 1960s and 1970s, with Julian Casablanca throwing his mike stand off set like a spear and drummer Fabrizio Moretti's overhead mikes falling over after guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. stumbles backwards into the podium. As was the trend at the time, Last Nite burst into the UK chart at #14 in it's first week, dropped to #22 the following week and was out of the Top 40 altogether by 8th December. Doesn't make the song any less brilliant, though.

 

I was intending to include one or two more songs but, having trawled every #14 on 14th November from 2010 to 2021, I can say without fear of contradiction that they were all complete and utter shite. So, rather than inflict Coldplay or Jonas Blue on you or that timeless classic from 2020, Mood by 24GLDN featuring Iann Dior, I'll leave it there. 

 

This #10 from 2020 is an absolute cracker, though.

There's No Town Like Motown

I'll confess that I've cheated a little: whilst all of these artists have been on the Motown roster, not all of the tracks in today's selection were released on the label. But when the songs are this amazing, I'm not going to complain.

Some stone cold classics here, along with a few cover versions and perhaps relatively lesser known songs. No surprise that a third of the selection was written by the mighty Holland-Dozier-Holland but just look at the rest of the songwriters:

Norman Whitfield, William 'Mickey' Stevenson, Barrett Strong, Marvin Gaye, Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol, Vernon Bullock, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Berry Gordy, Jr., Anna Gordy Gaye, Iris Gordy, Janie Bradford, Elgie Stover, Anette Minor, Jack Goga, Johnny Bristol, Peter Green and Ed Cobb, not forgetting Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

 

My parents didn't own any Motown albums, but I was exposed to many of these songs via Radio 1 during my childhood in the 1970s and 1980s, regularly played even though most of them were several years old by this point. A few I've discovered as an adult, thanks for various music magazine CDs, compilations by the likes of Saint Etienne or my fellow travellers in the blogosphere. I never get tired of listening to these songs, no matter how familiar they've since become.

 

Play loud.

Side One

1) I Got A Feeling: Barbara Randolph (1967)

2) Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart: Diana Ross & The Supremes (1966)

3) Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While): Kim Weston (1965)

4) Money (That's What I Want): Barrett Strong (1959)

5) Light My Fire (Cover of The Doors): Stevie Wonder (1969)

6) He Was Really Sayin' Somethin': The Velvelettes (1964)

7) What Does It Take (To Win Your Love): Jr. Walker & The All Stars (1969)

8) You're All I Need To Get By: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1968)

Side Two

1) Cloud Nine (Album Version By Norman Whitfield): The Temptations (1968)

2) The Bells: The Originals (1970)

3) Reach Out I'll Be There: Four Tops (1966)

4) Didn't You Know (You'd Have To Cry Sometime): Gladys Knight & The Pips (1969)

5) Got To Get You Into My Life (Cover of The Beatles): Chris Clark (1967)

6) Come To Me: Marv Johnson (1959)

7) No One There: Martha Reeves (1971)

8) Every Little Bit Hurts: Brenda Holloway (1964)

Side One (22:46)

Side Two (24:00)