Re Sounds Of The 60s

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Martin Johnson
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Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Martin Johnson »

BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 60s has often been mentioned on this forum in connection with rare and not so rare Bacharach songs plus tracks written by others that have had his influence all over them. Sadly, with presenter Brian Matthew's seemingly enforced 'retirement' and his replacement by Tony Blackburn, very much a DJ rather than a presenter and not known for giving background information re composers and producers, the show's format is certain to change. Although I doubt whether Brian Matthew actually introduced me to unknown Bacharach songs he certainly played many previously unheard versions of his material, like The Breakaways with the Roland Shaw Orchestra and 'Let the Love Come Through', which is far more familiar as a short instrumental piece from the soundtrack of 'Casino Royale' entitled 'Flying Saucer - First Stop Berlin':

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4yAMlUGZzo0
blueonblue
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by blueonblue »

Back in the day I remember Tony Blackburn being a big fan of Bacharach and David's
music.
I shall miss old Brian's dulcet tones....bless him.

'blue'
pljms
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Location: London

Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by pljms »

'Back in the day' of 1965, Blue, Tony Blackburn actually released a single of a Bacharach & David song, 'Is There Another Way to Love You'.

The general consensus is that by moving the show to an earlier start of 6am and making it live and interactive with none of the old features, the new boss of Radio 2 has effectively decided to slowly kill the show off by alienating most if not all of its regular listeners. Apparently the show will now have more of a soul influence, which just happens to be Tony Blackburn's favourite genre of music. In effect, the show could now be called 'Tony Blackburn's 60s Favourites'
Paul
blueonblue
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:22 am

Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by blueonblue »

pljms wrote:'Back in the day' of 1965, Blue, Tony Blackburn actually released a single of a Bacharach & David song, 'Is There Another Way to Love You'.

The general consensus is that by moving the show to an earlier start of 6am and making it live and interactive with none of the old features, the new boss of Radio 2 has effectively decided to slowly kill the show off by alienating most if not all of its regular listeners. Apparently the show will now have more of a soul influence, which just happens to be Tony Blackburn's favourite genre of music. In effect, the show could now be called 'Tony Blackburn's 60s Favourites'
Come back Brian....all is forgiven !

'blue'
Sara D
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Sara D »

The way the boss of BBC Radio 2 took advantage of Brian Matthew's recent spell of ill health to get rid of him was pretty shameless and showed a remarkable lack of sensitivity. If the hapless boss wasn't fully aware of the respect and affection radio listeners have for Brian and the love for the show in general, he certainly will be now. I won't be listening to SOTS anymore not because of Tony Blackburn and the inevitable change in format but because on Saturdays between 6am and 8am I'm not normally awake.
blueonblue
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by blueonblue »

Sara D wrote:The way the boss of BBC Radio 2 took advantage of Brian Matthew's recent spell of ill health to get rid of him was pretty shameless and showed a remarkable lack of sensitivity. If the hapless boss wasn't fully aware of the respect and affection radio listeners have for Brian and the love for the show in general, he certainly will be now. I won't be listening to SOTS anymore not because of Tony Blackburn and the inevitable change in format but because on Saturdays between 6am and 8am I'm not normally awake.
Well said Sara, I totally agree with you.

The way Brian's been treated is beyond disgusting ! :x

'blue'
Martin Johnson
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Martin Johnson »

For me listening to Tony Blackburn's inanities is difficult at any time of the day but especially irksome at 6 in the morning. He played Sandie Shaw's '(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me' third record in and actually name checked Bacharach, but after another 5 minutes I decided that the prospect of silence and a good book was too irresistible to put off any longer.

Going back to Sandie Shaw, it's remarkable to think that the former Miss Sandra Goodrich from Dagenham in Essex was only 17 when she took that Bacharach & David song to No.1 in the UK in 1964. She celebrated her 70th birthday last Sunday:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx5otxLS3qc
pljms
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by pljms »

Martin, I remember Sandie Shaw actually presented Sounds of the 60s for a few weeks about ten years ago when Brian Matthew was away and in a very laid-back, laconic style. She's always had a reputation for being humorous and for not taking herself too seriously and that certainly came over in those shows. I can quite imagine back in 1969 when she was asked by a TV producer if she'd mind singing 'Monsieur Dupont' to a skeleton her reply would have been, "Need you ask?"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8f4Cf-jHf8o
Paul
blueonblue
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by blueonblue »

pljms wrote:Martin, I remember Sandie Shaw actually presented Sounds of the 60s for a few weeks about ten years ago when Brian Matthew was away and in a very laid-back, laconic style. She's always had a reputation for being humorous and for not taking herself too seriously and that certainly came over in those shows. I can quite imagine back in 1969 when she was asked by a TV producer if she'd mind singing 'Monsieur Dupont' to a skeleton her reply would have been, "Need you ask?"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8f4Cf-jHf8o
Monsieur Dupont could do with a few steak puddings ! :|

'blue'
Martin Johnson
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Martin Johnson »

I believe that rather bizarre clip was taken from a French TV show in and around 1969 and may have been their take on what they considered to be English humour. 'Monsieur Dupont' was Sandie Shaw's last major hit so at the age of just 22 her glory days were over. Which is ridiculously young for such a talented singer but was positively ancient when compared to Helen Shapiro who's run of hits came to an end when she was only17. The remarkable maturity of her singing voice has always been acknowledged and for me it was never better demonstrated than on the big hit she recorded when she was still only 15, 'Tell Me What He Said', a Jeff Barry song with the kind of changes I doubt BB would have been ashamed of in 1962. She also guest presented Sounds of the 60s and like Sandie Shaw did so very ably and with plenty of humour:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=atKob4aBvqk
pljms
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by pljms »

Martin, what I think is so impressive about Helen Shapiro's performance as a 15 year old is her phrasing and it's no surprise to me that she eventually became a jazz singer. I only really became familiar with 'Tell Me What He Said' after hearing it played so many times on Sounds of the 60s and now having heard the original version I realise what a great job she and her arranger did in turning an American B-side by Ginny Arnell into a British No.2 hit. She went on to record a couple of Bacharach songs including a UK Top 40 hit but it was singing jazz standards where she was truly at home. It could be said that it was the Beatles and all those other 60s groups that did for her pop career and she famously headlined a UK tour with the Fab Four only for the billing to swap halfway through owing to the outbreak of Beatlemania. Here she is with three members of the group on Ready Steady Go in October 1963.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7TPGlBpvFj8
Paul
Sara D
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Sara D »

One of the joys of SOTS was the amount of B-sides and album tracks that were played alongside the inevitable hits, a lot of them real gems. One of these was Helen Shapiro's 'Kiss 'n' Run', the flip side of 'Walkin' Back to Happiness', which apparently at the time she preferred and wanted as the A-side. I can also remember quite a few Dionne Warwick flip sides and album tracks being played on the show too, including 'Any Old Time of the Day' and 'Here Where There is Love'.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x6kGdyTPITc
blueonblue
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by blueonblue »

Sara D wrote:One of the joys of SOTS was the amount of B-sides and album tracks that were played alongside the inevitable hits, a lot of them real gems. One of these was Helen Shapiro's 'Kiss 'n' Run', the flip side of 'Walkin' Back to Happiness', which apparently at the time she preferred and wanted as the A-side. I can also remember quite a few Dionne Warwick flip sides and album tracks being played on the show too, including 'Any Old Time of the Day' and 'Here Where There is Love'.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x6kGdyTPITc
Sara, I seem to remember Brian playing these three several times over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFi_CKNJjwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma5BOoSpB4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILFsdDcgwdQ

Thanks for the memories Brian.

'blue'
Martin Johnson
Posts: 462
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:41 am

Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by Martin Johnson »

Another Dionne Warwick flipside I remember hearing on the show, Sara, was 'I Smiled Yesterday'. Helen Shapiro's 'I Don't Care' always sounds to me like it would have been a big hit if it had been promoted over 'Little Miss Lonely' and it got played several times on the show:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4ppzyWORA
pljms
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Re: Re Sounds Of The 60s

Post by pljms »

Brian Matthew always maintained that the most popular and most requested artists on Sounds of the 60s were Billy Fury and Dusty Springfield. While Fury to my knowledge never recorded any Bacharach material, we all know that Dusty recorded practically an album’s worth of his and Hal David's songs. Because the Carpenters’ ‘Close to You’ was a hit in 1970, the only record of the song I ever heard played on SOTS was Dusty’s beautiful version. Here’s a sound only recording of her performing the song on UK TV in 1968 and apart from her slightly bizarre introduction what’s interesting about this performance is how she swaps the verses around as well turning moon dust to stardust and starlight to moonlight. Being familiar with her self-confessed problem with remembering song lyrics during live performances, I doubt very much if these changes were in any way intentional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJLOOXCvyqk
Paul
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