1964
The talking dog has transported me to 1964. A plane has
landed at the airport they named for that kid who was President. They say he
was given a boo-boo by a mean person named Lee, but most people think it was
the Cubans or the Mafia. I think they were aliens myself. Did you see Mars
Attacks? No, I didn’t either, because I haven’t gotten to 1996 yet, keep up people,
will ya?
So these guys that all look like Moe of the Three Stooges
come out of the plane. They now have a fourth stooge- he’s the drummer. The
girls go wild and raid the plane. The plane is scared and runs away. I hope the
plane doesn’t go to Vietnam; I hear that place is really scary.
I think I’ll watch some TV. Some voice tells me not to
adjust my TV set. But how am I supposed to get rid of those rolling pictures? I
mean it makes you look like you’re tripping on LSD or something, or maybe I
just had too much bubble gum. I think my hair is drooping. I’ll use some
hairspray. I hope it doesn’t eat the ozone layer because that would be bad. Ah,
that’s better; now my hair is hard as concrete. And please don’t squeeze the
Charmin or that store manager will kick your butt.
There’s this guy named Barry who wants to be President but
he wants to nuke the world or something. Please, Barry, don’t hurt that little
girl with the daisy.
Some abolitionist named Cassius Clay beats the liver out of
some guy named Sonny. Then he changes his name, what nerve! If I tried to
change my name, they’d tell me I’m anti-American or something. I guess I never
will change my name to my preferred preference, Glenda, the Good Witch of the
South. And don’t forget to use your zip; it’s now in the warning of those
cigarette boxes. That and you might get cancer, they’re so cheerful.
Okay, so I guess it’s time to review my favorite albums of
1964 so here we go…
Event of the year:
Elvis Presley does Ann Margaret
Fad: Really bad Beatle wigs
Babe of the Year:
Josephine the Plumber
Scandal of the Year:
Barry Goldwater blows up the daisy girl. (according to LBJ anyway)
Movie or TV show to
barf to: Gilligan’s Island
What we could have
done without: The Beatles vs. the Four Seasons album
Pet of the year: Ann-Margaret
Other Tidbits:
The Beatles invade America and Britain gets her colonies back, Goldfinger wants
James Bond to die, Ringo Starr knocks out Muhammad Ali for the Heavyweight
Boxing Title, Things go better with Coke, The Warren Commission concludes John
Wilkes Booth acted alone in Lincoln assassination, The Battleship Maine is sunk
in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Rough Riders are sent to Vietnam, Liz
marries Dick, Liz divorces Dick, Liz marries Dick again, Bob Dylan discovers pot,
Martin Luther King wins the Academy Award, scientists discover that panthers
are pink, fighting forbidden in the war room; Dr Strangelove can walk.
And with that, here is my top twenty-five for 1964…
1) The Beatles- A Hard Day’s Night
2) The Rolling
Stones- The Rolling Stones
3) Johnny Cash-
Bitter Tears
4) Bob Dylan- Another
Side of Bob Dylan
5) Phil Ochs- All the
News That’s Fit To Sing
6) The Beatles-
Beatles For Sale
7) Bob Dylan- The
Times They Are a Changin
8) Eric Dolphy- Out
To Lunch
9) Joan Baez- Joan
Baez/5
10) Judy Henske- High
Flyin’ Bird
11) The Holy Modal
Rounders- The Holy Modal Rounders
12) The Beach Boys-
Shut Down Vol. 2
13) Charles Mingus-
Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
14) The Kinks- Kinks
15) The Ronettes- The
Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica.
16) The Animals- The
Animals
17) The Yardbirds-
Five Live Yardbirds
18) Muddy Waters-
Folk Singer
19) Lesley Gore- Girl
Talk
20) Ian and Sylvia-
Northern Journey
21) Dave Van Ronk-
Inside Dave Van Ronk
22) Sam Cooke- Ain’t
That Good News
23) The Supremes-
Where Did Our Love Go
24) The Hollies- In
the Hollies Style
25) Manfred Mann- The
Five Faces of Manfred Mann
The British Invasion is now full blown as the Beatles again
hold the top spot. I actually would rate With the Beatles higher than A Hard
Day’s Night had they been released in the same year as they were in the US, but
no matter; it’s all semantics when you get right down to it. The Rolling Stones
debut (UK version) comes in at number two. This is followed by Johnny Cash’s
best album, Bitter Tears. Here he sings about the plight of the Native American.
Cash is always best when he sings about the issues of the day, as he will later
with Man in Black for example. Dylan scores two in the top ten again and Phil
Ochs’ debut scores big with me too. In terms of pure folk, Phil Ochs tops my
list though I would take Dylan’s electric period overall if it came down to
brass tacks. Jazz is now fading from my top twenty five but Out To Lunch is
everything it’s said to be; a jazz classic. Mingus also scores here for one
last time. Out of the Top Ten, highlights include the wacky Holy Modal Rounders
and a surprising effort by Lesley Gore who proves she isn’t just a singles’
artist to the chagrin of her handlers no doubt.
Biggest Surprise- Judy Henske- High Flying Bird.
I think I’ve established that I’m a pretty big fan of
sixties folk but even I was taken aback by the blues-folk songstress. The
arrangements were ahead of its time as folk in 1964 was still basically a
singer with his/her guitar. Henske, though, would use percussion and other
instrumentation that was still to become common with future folk albums. Phil Ochs
didn’t get into going beyond an acoustic guitar until 1967 for example. Anyway,
this was a pleasant surprise.
Biggest
Disappointment- Downliner’s Sect- The Sect.
Now these guys are a
great blues rock band in the vein of the Pretty Things, but this album, to me,
is basically a bunch of covers. They’re not bad mind you; it’s just an album
that I would have thought would fare better with me.
Honorable Mention- Ian and Sylvia- Four Strong Winds, Simon and
Garfunkel- Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, Tom Paxton- Ramblin’ Boy, The Everly
Brothers- Gone, Gone, Gone, The Temptations- Meet the Temptations
Stinker of the Year- The Chipmunks- The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles
And the girls went screaming- all the way to the mental
institution. Boy those Chipmunks knew how to cash in on a music trend (wait
till you hear Chipmunk Punk). They didn’t even grow their hair; that mean David
Seville made them wear Beatle wigs. I think after this album, I’ll go listen to
something more swinging, like Lawrence Welk.
And so ends a rather exciting year. Next up will be 1965.
See you then.
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