Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Bloop Bleep” by Gary McFarland Gary McFarland towed the line between samba infused light jazz and orchestral mood music. He was a vibist from California who was known as much for his vibe playing as he was for his arranging and orchestrations for others. After serving in the army where he took up trombone, trumpet and keyboards, McFarland settled on the vibes and began fronting an orchestra that backed the likes of Anita O’Day, Bill Evans and Stan Getz. He also recorded notable sessions with Bob Brookmeyer and Gary Burton. McFarland began to make a name for himself as an artist after recording a 1963 album with Bill Evans called The...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Concrete And Clay” by Unit 4 + 2 Today’s Song Of The Day is a somewhat forgotten British Invasion classic from 1965, featuring future members of The Kinks and Argent amongst its band members. Unit 4 was a British harmony vocal group that was started in the early 1960s by Brian Parker who had a gig with Adam Faith’s backing band The Roulettes. Parker set out to form his own band and recruited Buster Meikle on vocals and guitar, Tommy Moeller on vocals and piano and Peter Moules on bass. Soon thereafter, they added two more members, Rod Garwood (bass) and Hugh Halliday (drums) who became the “+2” of their...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Things Will Never Be The Same” by Four Just Men Last week I wrote about Freddie & The Dreamers single, “I’m Telling You Now,” and the American album of the same name. The record was not a Freddie & The Dreamers album per se, although they were the featured group on the cover. It was a compilation released in 1965 to introduce unknown British Invasion groups to American audiences featuring two tracks each by Freddie & The Dreamers, Mike Rabin & The Demons, The Toggery Five, Linda Laine & The Sinners, Heinz and the group whose song is today’s Song Of The Day, Four Just Men. Four Just Men were...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by The Animals (Live NME Version 1965) Some classic Animals from the 1965 NME Poll Winners Concert, as “Song Of The Day by Eric Berman” looks at a terrific “grey area” CD release! The New Musical Express is a weekly British newspaper that has focused solely on the music scene for nearly 50 years. For several years during the 1960s, the paper sponsored concerts featuring artists who topped their music polls. The 1965 edition took place at Wembley Stadium on April 11, 1965, and was filmed. An edited version of the concert was screened on ABC TV in the U.S. on April 18 of that...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I’m Telling You Now” by Freddie & The Dreamers I’m writing this on the 49th anniversary of The Beatles historic first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and while I have a vague memory of The Beatles playing on Sullivan, I don’t think it was their very first performance. Well, heck, I must have only been four or five years old. But even then, I do remember there was a sense of importance about the event in my house because of my older sister, who made it that way. Some of my earliest memories of the British Invasion include hits and albums by the Herman’s Hermits including “Mrs. Brown You’ve...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Got Loaded” by Little Bob And The Lollipops For many years, I thought this song was a Los Lobos original. Their version was so in line with their sound and it fit so well on their Will The Wolf Survive album. So it was surprising to me, when I found out that the song wasn’t theirs, and had been around for over twenty years by the time they got around to recording it. The song was recorded by Little Bob and the Lollipops, and was never even originally released as the A-side to the single it appeared on. When originally released in 1965 on the La Louisianne record label...

    Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Whenever You’re Ready” b/w “I Love You” by The Zombies Their fingerprints can be felt all over the music of The Byrds, The Doors, Crowded House and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  Elvis was a fan. They were hugely influenced by The Beatles, but were also an influence on The Beatles. John Lennon wanted to produce them, and the sound of today’s Song Of The Day, “When You’re Ready,” had an influence on the sound of The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul.” Not only that, it comprised one half of what I would call a perfect single, with the ultra Lennonesque, “I Love You” on the flip. They were a British...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Love Blues” by Wes Montgomery – Perhaps one of the greatest guitarists in Jazz, right up there with Django Reinhardt, Grant Green, Charlie Christian, Gabor Szabo and George Benson!  Wes Montgomery only walked this earth for a short time, but he left behind a lasting legacy of recordings that never fail to astound. Montgomery hailed from Indiana and idolized the guitar playing of Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. He didn’t begin to play the guitar until the age of 20, and then primarily lead his own small groups. He recorded sessions with the likes of Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Smith, Milt Jackson, Cannonball Adderly and Nat Adderly, and was once...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#821 in the Series) is Andy Williams, Merry Christmas In 1963, smooth jazz crooner, Andy Williams, released his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album too much acclaim and his name has been synonymous with the holiday season ever since. As good as it was it can’t compare with what he followed up with in 1965. Andy’s Merry Christmas album focused exclusively on 20th century compositions, unlike its predecessor, with one side focusing on more traditional pop and secular holiday fare. For a generation of baby boomers and even early generation X-ers, this is the quintessential holiday album because of its mainstream production, in addition to years of Christmas specials on...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – Allan Sherman “The Painless Dentist Song” Funny guys are often tragic figures, and Allan Sherman surely fits into this category. In the span of several years, Sherman went from the pinnacle of success as a TV sketch writer and recording artist who had a huge hit with the song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” (plus the requisite books, cartoons and board games that spun off of the song’s success), to being a divorced alcoholic, living on unemployment benefits with emphysema and diabetes… and dead by the all-too-young age of 49. Part of the blame can be left to the cultural shift this country went through after the assassination of John F....