Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

June 24 & 25, 1966
Not from June 1966: Beach Boys live, “God Only Knows”
Beach Boys Summer Spectacular Beach Boys Summer Spectacular
Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Likely 2 Days

Today’s blog confused me a bit as I thought this “festival” was a one-day event, yet sources suggest it was two days in two different places with nearly the same line-up. I am going to treat it as a two-day event, but with a grain of salt. The second poster with the “KRLA Presents” (as opposed to the first day’s “KFRC Presents”) suggests the two-day two-venue possibility. And I can find no information to distinguish things.

Here we go!

Friday 24 June (San Francisco)

  • Beach Boys
  • The Lovin’ Spoonful
  • Chad & Jeremy
  • Percy Sledge,
  • The Outsiders
  • The Leaves
  • Sir Douglas Quintet
  • Jefferson Airplane,
  • The Byrds
  • The Sunrays
  • Neil Diamond
Saturday 25 June (Los Angeles)

  • Beach Boys
  • The Lovin’ Spoonful
  • Chad & Jeremy
  • Percy Sledge
  • The Outsiders
  • The Leaves
  • Sir Douglas Quintet
  • Love
  • The Byrds
  • Captain Beefheart
Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Station-sponsored

First of all, this was not a 1969 festival and perhaps was not even a festival, but it was a rock music event that was held by an FM-rock radio station in San Francisco that featured some groups that were emerging on the new FM-rock scene.

The sponsor of the event, KFRC-FM (and RKO-owned station) had joined the growing number of FM stations that saw rock music as a profitable format. Bill Drake, the RKO General’s national program director, created a system that meant a fewer records, but heavier rotation of the biggest hits, very short jingles, and less DJ talk.

Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Seeds of future outdoor festivals

One can see the seeds of the “underground” style and album-oriented selection in Drake’s so-called “Boss Radio” style.

The selection of groups that perform is an interesting mix of styles: the jug band bent of the Lovin’ Spoonful, the soul of Percy Sledge, the San Francisco Jefferson Airplane, the LA folk-rock of the Byrds, some British Invasion with Chad and Jeremy, Cleveland rock with the Outsiders (their big hit, “Time Won’t Let Me,” a bit of Texas/San Francisco mix with the Sir Douglas Quintet,  and of course the surfin’ Beach Boys.

Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Hey Joe 

The Leaves are historically interesting as they were the first rock group to release what would in a year become Jimi Hendrix’s signature song, “Hey Joe.”

I am surprised to see Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (and you should be, too), and Love.

With so many bands (either way), the sets must have been short to accommodate so many groups in what was likely a 3 or 4 hour window.

The ticket prices were $2, $3, $4, and $5 for the first night; $2.75, $3.75, $4.75,  and $5.75 for the second night. The more expensive tickets seem too expensive for 1969. I assume there was no meet-and-greet with the highest priced tickets.

Beach Boys Summer Spectaculars

Ray Charles Modern Sounds

Ray Charles Modern Sounds 

#1 Billboard album

June 23, 1962 – September 28, 1962

One of the greatest

Rolling Stone magazine ranks Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music at 105 of its top 500 greatest albums of all time. [Rolling Stone magazine article] That is, of course, simply an opinion, but it’s only how the album’s greatness compares that is up for debate. Not whether it is great.

Ray Charles Modern Sounds
Already a star

Ray Charles was already a star by 1962.  He had released his first single, “Confession Blues” in 1949 with the Maxin Trio. In 1953, Charles signed with Atlantic Records and had his first R&B hit single with “Mess Around.”

In 1954 “I Got a Woman,” reached No. 1 on the R&B charts.

Ray Charles Modern Sounds

Nat King Cole’s influence

His earliest style was akin to Nat King Cole’s, but Charles could also play jazz and his combination of gospel and R & B created a genre we now call soul.

In 1959, Atlantic released a sanitized version of “What’d I Say” after criticism of the original’s sexual innuendo and some radio stations refused to play it.

It hit #1 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart, number six on the Billboard Hot 100, and it became Charles’ first gold record. It also became Atlantic Records’ best-selling song at the time.

In November 1959, Charles left Atlantic for a much better deal with ABC-Paramount Records. He immediately produced two classic hits, “Georgia on My Mind” and  “Hit the Road Jack.” He won Grammys for both.

Ray Charles Modern Sounds

Question of direction

Peers and ABC executives questioned the idea of Charles doing  a country and western genre album, but Charles liked that style and felt he could do as good or better a job.

Obviously he won the discussion. Obviously he was correct about how well a job he could do.

Channeled through Charles’s love of blues, jazz, and R & B, Sounds in Country and Western Music was like and unlike any C & W music of its time.

Nashville music writers were suddenly on the national radar for material. Writer Daniel Cooper stated, “There is no telling how many people, who perhaps never paid much attention to country music or even had professed to dislike it, listened anew based on the impact of having heard what Ray Charles was capable of doing with that music.” [Wikipedia entry]

At a time when singles ruled, Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music produced four and all in 1962:

  1. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (#1 from June 2 – July 6)
  2. “Born to Lose”
  3. “You Don’t Know Me”
  4. “Careless Love

60 albums +

Ray Charles went on to have an astounding career. In 2003, Charles had to cancel his tour for the first time in 53 years. Hip surgery and liver disease.

He died on June 10, 2004. Charles had recorded more than 60 albums [All Music list] and performed more than 10,000 concerts.

Ray Charles Modern Sounds

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

Beatles Lie Over Ocean
Photo by Gerd Mingram.

It was June 22, 1961 and The Beatles [John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best] continued their stay in Hamburg, Germany. The trip had been more successful than their first and they would leave in July with no arrests or deportations [Beatles deported] .

Tony Sheridan was a British musician who also found work in Hamburg. It was there that he and the Beatles met, sometimes shared a bill, and sometimes played together.

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

Bert Kaempfert

Bert Kaempfert, an orchestra leader and Polydor agent, asked The Beatles to back Sheridan on some recordings.

The recording took place over three days, the first two at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg. It was not a regular recording studio, but because of the venue’s acoustics, a place Polydor had occasionally used for recording. The final day’s recording (June 24) was done in Studio Rahlstedt, a professional studio. On that day they recorded “Ain’t She Sweet,” “Nobody’s Child,” and “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby.”

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

Beat Boys record

The Beatles [the The Beat Boys for these sessions] and Sheridan recorded four songs over two consecutive days: “My Bonnie,” “The Saints,” “Why,” and “Cry For A Shadow.” “Shadow” was an instrumental; Sheridan did lead vocals on the others.

Sheridan sometimes played lead guitar, John Lennon rhythm, George Harrison the other lead, Paul McCartney bass, and Pete Best drums.

The first song they recorded was “My Bonnie.” It started slowly, but soon went into an upbeat version. According to the Beatles Bible site, “The Beatles were given 300 marks for the sessions.”  [Beatles Bible site]

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

“My Bonnie” was released in October 1961 and reached #5 on the German charts.

Beatles Lie Over Ocean

20 Years Later

20 years later, on June 22, 1981, Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to the murder of John Lennon on what he said were instructions from God.

Beatles Lie Over Ocean