Monthly Archives: May 2016

Music et al, Music of the 60s

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

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Mamas Papas Monday Monday

If you were near a radio in May 1966 (and who wasn’t?), “Monday Monday” was the song you heard. John Phillips wrote it and it became the single off the Mamas and the Papas’ debut album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

No toilets permitted, but…

Like many 60s counterculture pieces, the album cover became controversial. It is humorous to me that the controversy did not involve the fact that four adults–two men and two women–sat together in a bathtub. I guess keeping their clothes on avoided any issue. (I wonder whose idea it was to use a bathtub to begin with?)

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

But including the toilet in the picture ruffled feathers and subsequent covers included a scroll to cover the toilet.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

…toilet valves are OK

The fact that you could still see the toilet valve mechanism apparently was OK. Ah well… [Thank you Cliff Lubin (Facebook page) for pointing out that the possessive apostrophes after their names are also an error. New groups suffer such calamities.

Second thank you to Edward David Jennings who pointed out that legendary photographer Guy Webster shot the photo]  As popular as they were, “Monday Monday” was the only #1 hit by the Mamas and Papas.  Dunhill released it in March and hit #1 on May 7, 1966. It remained there for three weeks. Those of you familiar with the song already know that it has a false ending. The song pauses for a moment, then actually closes. Ironically, the previous Billboard #1 song, “Good Lovin'” by the Rascals, did the same thing.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

Monterey International Pop Music Festival

The Mamas and the Papas helped organize the Monterey International Pop Music Festival in June 1967. Their performance included “Monday Monday.” It was a bit simpler sound than their single which the Wrecking Crew, those ubiquitous and amazing session musicians, backed.

Here is that Monterey performance:

On March 2, 1967, the Mamas and the Papas won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for this song.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

Divorce

As is often the story, the Mamas and the Papas broke up in 1968 due to infighting. They reunited briefly in 1971 for contractual obligations

John Phillips re-formed a Mamas and the Papas in 1982. The group included founding member Denny Doherty and two new “Mamas”: Mackenzie Phillips (daughter of John) and Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane.

The original Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria on January 12, 1998. The three surviving members [Mama Cass had died in 1974] sang “California Dreamin’,” after Denny Doherty exclaimed, “We’ve been waiting here all day to do this, as most of you have, so without further ado, we’ll try to get on with this!”  [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bio]

Today only Michelle Phillips is alive. John Phillips died in 2001 and Dennis Doherty in 2007.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday
Birthdays, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Rock Star Steve Katz

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Rock Star Steve Katz

Happy birthday

Rock Star Steve Katz

Steve Katz was born in Brooklyn on May 9, 1945. His music career began in the late 50s when he appeared on a local Schenectady, New York television program called Teenage Barn. Accompanied by piano, Steve sang hits of the day such as “Tammy” and “April Love.”

Rock Star Steve Katz

Greenwich Village

Like so many young musicians of the early 60s, Steve Katz gravitated to Greenwich Village. There he listened to and played with others such as Dave Van Ronk (“The Mayor of MacDougal Street“), Stefan Grossman, Maria D’Amato (to be Maria Muldaur), David Grisman, and John Sebastian. With a number of those and others, he would become part of the Even Dozen Jug Band [Wirz  article] which released an album. A guitarist among many guitarists, Katz played washboard.

Rock Star Steve Katz

Danny Kalb Quartet

Next came the Danny Kalb Quartet. Still not confident enough as a guitar player, Steve Katz kept his amp turned down low for the audition and passed. Soon Al Kooper joined the band and it became Blues Project.

Rock Star Steve Katz

Blues Project

It was the music of Blues Project that I first heard Katz. I had never heard music like that or an album like Projections. It was so different than anything I’d heard, it sometimes confused me. Yes rock and roll. No, not rock and roll. It was also likely the first time I’d heard electric blues, albeit, white electric blues.

“Caress me baby…you can make love to me like the soft summer breeze.”

More than just hair-raising music. (“There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear” spoke to much more than just some Sunset Blvd event.)

All Music’s Richie Unterberger stated in his review that the band, “offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-’60s.”

Rock Star Steve Katz

Blood, Sweat and Tears

The next thing I knew, Blue Project had become Blood, Sweat and Tears and Child is Father to the Man became another album that I couldn’t stop listening to and often wondering what the hell I was listening to.

Even without Al Kooper for BST’s second album, Katz was there and all was fine. Not so much blues, but all that jazzy brass opened up new doors for my ears.

Rock Star Steve Katz

Steve Katz

Rock Star Steve Katz

Quietude 

And then things faded. Certainly Steve was still around, but I could’t seem to find his oasis.

His path occasionally crossed with Kooper’s, but Katz found himself as an engineer and producer. One of the most famous albums he produded was Lou Reed’s Rock N’ Roll Animal. A secret Katz recently revealed in his autobiography, Blood, Sweat, and My Rock ‘n’ Roll Years: Is Steve Katz a Rock Star?, was that the great audience sound on that album was not from the Reed show. Technical issues resulted in a poor quality sound for the audience, so Katz “borrowed” an audience sound from another RCA record artist: John Denver.  Apparently Reed died never knowing.

You will see Steve Katz’s name all over rock and roll:

  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • McKendree Spring
  • Dion
  • Joni Mitchell
  • Elliot Murphy
  • Horselips
  • David Sanborn
  • Quincy Jones
  • Carol King
  • Stephen Bishop
  • Jon Anderson
  • Jaco Pastorius
  • Donovan
  • The Who
  • Danny Kalb
  • George Harrison
Rock Star Steve Katz

Still active

Rock Star Steve Katz

Steve Katz continues to play music and promote his wife Alison Palmer’s ceramic art. According to his site, “As time passed, Alison’s craft achieved popularity and recognition. Alison and Steve soon found that they had a thriving small business. Steve still performs [and]…is a professional photographer….”

Keep the Dream Flowing

Keep the Dream Flowing is a Woodstock-inspired podcast begun by three “young” (i.e., non-Boomers) Woodstock-enthusiasts. They have interviewed scores of people, all of whom have some kind of connection to the festival.

In 2023, KTDF released a two-part interview with Steve Katz. Here’s the link: Steve Katz on Keep the Dream Flowing.

Rock Star Steve Katz
Fear of Rock, Fear of Rock, Music et al

Johnnie Ray Banned

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Johnnie Ray Banned

May 8, 1954

BBC Bans Ray’s “Such a Night”

Johnnie Ray Banned

Even though rock music was just learning to walk in 1954, we could see its future youthful swagger.

Johnnie Ray Banned

Drifters

Lincoln Chase wrote “Such a Night” in 1953. The Drifters, with Clyde McPhatter, released it in January 1954. It was a hit despite its “racy” lyrics. At least that’s what some listeners thought.

It was a night, ooo what a night it was
   It really was, such a night
   The moon was bright ooo how bright it was
   It really was, such a night
   The night was alive with stars above
   And when she kissed me I had to fall in love

It was a kiss mmmm what a kiss it was
   It really was, such a kiss
   How she could kiss ooo what a kiss it was
   It really was, such a kiss
   Just part of her lips that sets me on fire
   I reminisce and I feel desire

I'd give my heart to her in sweet surrender
   How well I remember , I'll always remember
   Ooo that night, ooo what a night it was
   It really was, such a night
   Came the dawn and my heart and my love and the night was gone
   But I'll never forget that kiss in the moonlight
   Ooo such a kiss, ooo such a night

Now she's gone, gone gone
   Yes she's gone, gone gone
   Came the dawn, dawn dawn
   And the night was gone
   And my heart was gone
   And her love was gone
   But before the dawn oo oo oo oo such a night 

The Drifters had a hit despite the fear, but as often happened in early rock, Johnnie Ray, an American white singer, covered the song the same year. He too ran into issues with the lyrics, On this day, May 8, 1954, the BBC radio banned the song after listener complaints.

Johnnie Ray Banned

Johnnie Ray

Johnnie Ray had first become a sensation with a two-sided-hit that reached No. 1 on the pop charts. The record, ”Cry” backed by ”The Little White Cloud That Cried.” It sold more than two million copies.

Ray continued to have hits during the 50s and was particularly popular in Great Britain. According to a 1981 New York Times article stated that, “…it was his [Rays’] rhythm and blues style of singing that help lay the groundwork for the rock-and-roll that turned Mr. Ray’s entertainment world around. Recently, Ringo Starr of the Beatles pointed out that the three singers that the Beatles listened to in their fledgling days were Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Johnnie Ray.” 

Johnnie Ray Banned

“Ridicule as well as popularity“

Johnnie Ray died on February 24, 1990.  He was 63 years old. His animated showmanship had been both a boon and a curse to his career. Again the New York Times, “His mannerisms earned him ridicule as well as popularity, and he was a favorite subject of impersonators.“

Johnnie Ray Banned