It’s easy for the rest of America to dump on the South. But despite poor standardized test scores and the occasional racist politician, Southerners can still console themselves with having produced many of the country’s greatest cultural contributions: the collected works of William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams; the golden standard for American comfort [...]
Archive for March, 2010
101) Dale & Grace – “I’m Leaving It Up to You”
Posted in 08, 1963, tagged dale & grace on March 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
100) Nino Tempo and April Stevens – “Deep Purple”
Posted in 05, 1963, tagged nino tempo and april stevens on March 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Over the first five or so years of the Hot 100, rock and roll and teen pop records shared space with easy listening instrumentals and versions of classic pop songs. There were certainly some adults buying rock records, and teenagers who were fans of Lawrence Welk, but as a rule the two demographics kept to [...]
99) Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs – “Sugar Shack”
Posted in 05, 1963, tagged jimmy gilmer and the fireballs on March 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Now that we’re almost to the end of 1963, what would you guess was the best-selling song of the year? Remember, there was a lot of classic stuff to hit the top of the charts in 1963: The Four Seasons’ best single, Jan & Dean’s take on The Beach Boys’ surf-ready harmonies and, of course, [...]
98) Bobby Vinton – “Blue Velvet”
Posted in 07, 1963, tagged bobby vinton on March 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In my review of “Roses Are Red (My Love),” I made no secret of my distaste for that single’s amateurish lyrics, hackneyed musicianship and simpering vocals. And although “Blue Velvet,” Bobby Vinton’s second number-one hit, sounds remarkably similar on a cursory listen, it far exceeds its predecessor. At first, I feared that my enjoyment of [...]
97) The Angels – “My Boyfriend’s Back”
Posted in 07, 1963, tagged girl groups, the angels on March 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
It’s not surprising that one of the first crop of girl groups was called The Angels. After all, the genre’s style (at least in the early years) was built on sweet, pure voices singing about innocent love. “My Boyfriend’s Back” is perhaps the ultimate distillation of what a girl group named “The Angels” should sound [...]
