41 Revival: Trad Jazz and Folk
In 1950's Britain "British youth experienced it's first bout of pop revivalism". At the same time America "found solace in it's own folk culture". Just how did Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene provide The Weavers (led by Pete Seeger) folk quartet make number one in 1950? The best part of this chapter is about John Lomax touring southern black America recording songs. (A note that he died of a heart attack at his eightieth birthday party).
It was actually music critic Fred Ramsey who recorded Huddie Leadbetter's classics that included Rock Island Line that was later a big hit for Lonnie Donegan in 1954 that "effectively kick started the modern pop era in Britain". I remember two songs for Burl Ives that were played a lot on the radio here: Bluetail Fly and Big Rock Candy Mountain.
A nice piece about Woody Guthrie was followed by going back to the roots of UK trad jazz, and George Webb's Dixielanders (never heard of them) in Barnehurst. They were joined by Humphrey Littleton who eventually took over the band from the shy Webb in 1947. We hear about how trad jazz evolved into skiffle with Lonnie Donegan, the banjo player for the Chris Barber Jazz Band. Then a mention for Nancy Whisky's Freight Train and the hit for Monty Sunshine's Petit Fleur. Stanley tells us "Trad was for underdogs and outsiders, students in duffel coats". Where did I fit in?
"At the end of the decade (that is the end of the fifties, when I'm fourteen) the trio of (Chris) Barber, (Kenny) Ball and (Acker) Bilk stamped their names on the hit parade". We hear all about them, but for me it was the early sixties and not the fifties when they were so successful. (See post about Dunmow Jazz Club).
42 In a Restless World: Nat King Cole
I was thinking about skipping this biography, but it starts with an amazing story about his hit Nature Boy written by an oddball called eden ahbez. Recorded by Nat in 1947 and many others since. I also didn't know that Nat started out as a jazz pianist and song writer. But it was as a singer that he excelled. He signed for Capital Records and the story goes that their brand new HQ Capital Tower was funded on the back of Nat's success.
We hear about the racial problems but more interesting were the number of LP's he made. Although he died early at 47 when ahbez lived until he was 86.
43 Ports of Pleasure: Exotica
It starts out with some awful music, some quite experimental. But then The Harry Lime Theme played on the zither by Anton Karas in 1951. The only other familiar music in this section was The Typewriter, a 1950 composition by Leroy Anderson. Played many times on the BBC radio. See YouTube.
44 Sharks in Jet's Clothing: Rock 'n Roll
We are into the fifties, and instead of what I thought might be the best chapter in the book, turns out to be the worst, just referencing more mainstream artists. But later we do at least hear about the boom in sales of 45's and something about the Everly Brothers. And that was about it. Why long pieces about Tennessee Ernie Ford and Earl Bostic?
45 The Summit: Frank, Dino and Sammy
Well we know where the author's preferences reside. And it isn't rock n roll. Mostly a rehash of easily available history of these three crooners. (He never mentions the word!!) Best was the part about Dean Martin and his golf. A nice part about him replacing The Beatles at the top of the hit parade in 1964. Apparently Sinatra was not impressed. But this chapter ends with Frank's last recorded album Watertown, "an incredibly bleak but beautiful album". Never heard of it. Sold the fewest copies of any of his albums, but of course the author thinks it's his best!! "The greatest album of his career".
46 TV is the Thing: The Rise of Television
"Virtually no-one in the UK had a TV set for the Queen's Coronation in 1953". Not true. We had one and we were far from well off. But the screen was tiny. The author mentions "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" from 1953. But not in our house, ITV was banned. We hear about the rise of TV in post war America. That's about it.
47 I could go on singing: The next generation
It starts with what was happening on both sides of the Atlantic at the very end of the fifties and beginnings of the sixties. Here it's Cliff and the film Espresso Bongo (1959) and in America the new singers and their ballads. Easy listening dominating the airwaves. (Where is Elvis?) A big part about Matt Monroe (he prefers his singers to bands) including 1962's Softly as I leave you "one of the greatest songs and productions of the decade". At last I agree. We hear about the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing Unsquare Dance in 1961 and the earlier Take Five (1958). Jazz making the charts, as well as Bosa Nova and Samba.
48 The Strength of Strings: Film Soundtracks
Again there was huge potential in a chapter about soundtracks. But it's all a bit of a mess, veering between film and TV. The author is categoric that The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) "invented both the modern movie theme and it's score". We hear about film composers such as Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand and Bernard Herman who scored North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho (1960).
At last we get a superb piece about John Barry Prendergast who, in late 1959, produced magic for Adam Faith's What Do You Want. Four violins and one microphone produced that string accompaniment. Then all those Bond movies, Born Free and much more. But .... not a mention of the John Barry Seven or Vic Flick and the original James Bond theme.
49 What kind of fool am I: Lionel Bart and Anthony Newley
Why do we sometimes get such rubbish like the start of this chapter: "England would have been happy if the clock had stopped forever on VE Day: even now it clings to the memory like a comfort blanket". Then "however much we try, we can't escape the fact that we're still essentially damp people in damp houses who like fry ups". I wanted to throw the book out of the window for such crass writing. He must be some sad man if that is what his life was like.
He tells us Tony Hancock, Lionel Bart and Anthony Newley that "all three were self destructive". ??? It was Bart writing songs with Mike Pratt for Tommy Steele ("Britain's first rock and roll star) that was such a success. He lists all the hits. We hear all about Bart's background working up to 1960's Oliver. But he never matched it's success.
He repeats that familiar story about Anthony Newley being an actor and cast as a popstar in Idol on Parade (1959) that I saw in the cinema as a teenager. One song (I've waited so long) became a big hit. We hear about Newley's subsequent films and musicals and how he did well in America. He was lucky he had writers like Lionel Bart and Leslie Bricusse. Winning a Grammy for What kind of fool am I.
50 Whipped Cream and Other Delights: Adventures in Beatleland
If I thought this was a chapter about The Beatles, think again. There is so much about Julie Andrews and Petula Clark. And Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Pages and pages of the stuff. Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone and Harry Belafonte. Why? Just rubbish. There is even a long part about one Rod McKuen. Who is he?? Amongst his interminable history we just get the only one divisionary mention of Paul McCartney in the whole book. Says it all.
51 The Last Waltz; Tom Jones and the new Balladeers
So Tom Jones gets his own chapter but not Paul. "The three biggest selling singles in the UK in 1967 (post the Beatles blitz) was by one Gerry Dorsey or as we knew him, Engelbart Humperdinck. Here are parts about Tom jones and even Des O'Connor. McCartney? Eat you heart out. And where are all the other British bands of the time? Just Petula Clark.
52 Some Kind of Rapprochement: The 1970's
What's happened to the sixties? I guess the author just got bored. Into the early seventies and we get Carole King's Tapestry. The rest of this last chapter is all pretty feeble. I had expected a far better ending. Or was that just being optimistic.
Epilogue
This is just a mess, but what else did I expect. The author seemed to be far more interested in those early decades, because his sections on the fifties, sixties and seventies are just dire.
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