Music Banter - View Single Post

Oriphiel · 12-09-2014, 07:13 AM

The 1960's were an interesting time, with many wildly different styles and genres coming together to influence the culture of music. It's always an amazing experience to examine these bands, different as they were from each other, and to appreciate what each song of theirs had to offer. The last few entries of this journal have certainly been fun, and i'm surprised with how much I enjoyed music without any fuzz-guitars (gasp!). It was also fun writing up the first part of that story up there, and I hope you guys got a kick out of it. But it's time to return to the world of go go boots and wild energy (after all, the name of this journal is still "Stuck in the Garage", isn't it?). So let's get into it! I'll start with a band that I've mentioned quite a lot in this journal. They're a Garage band that took their cues from the legendary Blues musicians of old. And now, the context...

The legendary and mysterious Robert Johnson. Though not much is known about him, he supposedly died before the age of 21. His songs were very influential on his peers, and luckily were preserved in two recording sessions.

Of all the revivals to take place in the world of music, one of the most interesting is the "Blues Revival" of the 1960's. With artists like Robert Johnson posthumously having their work compiled and released to the masses for the first time ("King of the Delta Blues Singers", 1961) as well as long-time Blues Icons having a resurgence of popularity (as with Bo Diddley and McKinley Morganfield, aka "Muddy Waters"), the youth of America and England in particular became bewitched by the raw and powerful style of music that offered an incredible contrast to the Pop music of their time. Not only that, but people began to realize where Rock 'n Roll had gotten it's grit and attitude from, and wanted to learn more about such an influential yet obscure style of music. And of course, wherever young people congregate and listen to music, bands are going to be formed. One such band was...

Muddy Waters, a master Delta blues-man, had an incredible amount of influence on the Revival movement. Active throughout his lifetime, including during the 1960's, one of his earliest surviving recordings is a cover of Robert Johnson's influential "Walking Blues".

The Shadows of Knight! Influenced by the original Blues artists, as well as the wave of modern Revivalists (most notably The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and The Yardbirds), The Shadows of Knight formed with a mission to put Chicago back on the Blues and Rock 'n Roll map. Created in 1964, they began their career the same way that most every band does, competing with other local bands to play at parties and dance halls. Their career truly took off when they played at "The Cellar", an infamous Illinois club (There were a lot of those in the sixties, huh? Giving a history of those infamous clubs and venues would probably make for an interesting journal in it's own right). They must have impressed the right people, because they quickly became the main attraction. Playing every weekend, they'd routinely pack the joint to capacity with young people eager for a taste of their unique brand of Garage Blues. Their signature song was a cover of "Gloria" by the band "Them", and their audiences always responded very well to it at their shows. It was at such a show that the boys of Dunwich Records heard them, and immediately offered them a contract.

The Rolling Stones are one of the most well known Rock bands of all time, and certainly the most well known band of the Blues Revival.

The Shadows of Knight accepted, and recorded their signature song to be released as a single. Now, Gloria was a song that many people in America had never heard of, having been famously snubbed by radio-censors for suggestive lyrics. When The Shadows of Knight released their take on it, it was the first time many people had ever heard it, and they immediately fell in love with it's wild energy. It quickly approached the Billboard top ten in America and Canada, receiving extensive radio-play, however it never hit the top of the charts, for multiple reasons. The first reason is simply bad timing. Released in 1965, the single was put out right in the middle of the British Invasion, where even seasoned American musicians had trouble hitting the top of the charts (not to mention that they had to compete with bands like The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, and The Rolling Stones). The second reason is that Dunwich was a small independent label, and had a great deal of trouble capitalizing on the single. They weren't able to press enough 45's to keep up with demand, and didn't have the resources to promote it on the level of their competition.

Van Morrison's band "Them". Talented and influential, their hit "Gloria" took the world by storm, but was unfortunately kept from being played on many radio stations.

Regardless, "Gloria" was a smash hit, and The Shadows of Knight followed up with an album by the same name. The album Gloria went on to receive critical praise, as well as the praise of their fans, and went gold (sold over a million copies). But like almost every Garage band, after getting their big break they broke apart. Suffering from constant line-up changes, and being overly-pressured to release a follow-up hit to Gloria, the group lost their steam and eventually split apart to go their seperate ways (although the band technically carried on under one original member who remained, and kept the name). However, short lived as they were, their music had a massive influence on the Garage scene of the mid and late sixties, and they helped prove that American bands could indeed compete with their British counterparts. Without further ado, let's begin...

Gloria

Remember this one from the entry about The Pandoras?

1. "Gloria" - The single that rocked the charts, it's not hard to see why people fell in love with this tune. It's got an infectious guitar line (especially after the chorus), a solid beat, and the trademark raw sound of Garage Rock. The singer's vocals have that Blues-style laxity to them (and graduated with honors from the prestigious "Mick Jagger School of Not Giving a Damn"). This song was a gateway into Garage Rock for many modern listeners and practitioners, as the 45 has always been relatively easy to find and acquire compared to other more obscure Garage numbers, due to it's popularity back in the day. Not only that, this song was what put Dunwich Records on the map.

2. "Light Bulb Blues" - A fast and driving foot-stomper, this is the first of their three original songs on the album, with the rest being covers. For an original, it captures the feeling of Blues very well, and mixes it fantastically with the wild fuzz-guitar laden Garage Rock sound.

3. "I Got My Mojo Working" - The classic Muddy Waters number (originally performed by the amazing Ann Cole), with an injection of speed and distortion! Very fast and infectious, the guitars work very well with the drums and bass to create a solid yet fluid back beat. And of course, the dirty harmonica work is the perfect thing to tie it all together.

The Shadows of Knight!

4. "Darkside" - Time to cool down with a slow song that takes it's cues from the Vocal-Pop of it's time, however the occasional guitar flourish help to keep things on the Garage Rock side of things. I'm starting to notice that the band sounds similar to Tommy James and the Shondells (Spin "Hanky Panky" as well as "Crimson and Clover" some time and see if you agree). This is the second original song of theirs.

5. "Boom Boom" - A cover of John Lee Hooker's original, this is a nice and dirty shuffle with a solid beat and wild vocals! The guitar in the background helps to spice things up, but it's really the drumming and bass playing that keep things moving here.

6. "Let It Rock" - Right from the beginning, you can tell that this was originally a Chuck Berry number (with the signature into guitar riff from many of his songs), and i'm sure he got a kick out of it back in the day! Getting hit by the "Blues + Garage Rock" formula, this one works very well and should keep your foot tapping 'till the end. Fun fact: While the worlds of Rockabilly and Garage Rock seem very different, this cover (created during the height of the Garage Rock movement, in the mid sixties) was created just six years after the original was released.

7. "Oh Yeah" - Alright, which influential Blues/Early Rock musician hasn't been covered yet... Yup, Bo Diddley! With the "Hoochie Coochie Man" beat made famous by Muddy Waters (Also known as the "Bad to the Bone" beat to modern audiences), you can't go wrong! This is a very fun Bluesy track, and a great addition to the album!

8. "It Always Happens That Way" - The last of their original tracks, this one is a fun track about a guy who always messes things up. I really like the fuzz-guitar work here, especially in the flourish after the chorus! The dirty and sloppy vocals are right at home here, and the bassist does an admirable job as well.

9. "You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover" - Another cover, this time they go for a WIllie Dixon penned number (which starts a trend that continues until the end of the album). A great rocker with very fun guitar work (especially from the one minutes and twenty seconds mark onward), it's another great Garage tune with a taste for the Blues.

10. "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" - Another song with the "Hoochie Coochie Man" beat, this time it's actually a cover of the original from which the beat came! The masterpiece of the Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters tag-team, it's no surprise that it would pop up on a Blues Revival album. The Shadows of Knight handle it very well, but then again, has there ever been a cover of this song that wasn't great?

11. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" - The final track of the album, it's another Dixon/Morganfield number! And of course, as a Blues song, the Shadows of Knight are right at home here. Again, I've got to give props to the bassist for keeping up and not being drowned up by the others, and the bass solo that they pull off is very fun as well!

All in all, I think Gloria is a very fun and exciting album, but it also has a few problems. The first is that they stick very close to the "Blues + Garage Rock" formula, which means that many of the tracks are similar sounding. While songs like "Darkside" help to change things up, they still could have used a bit more variety. On the plus side, their original numbers were just as good as their covers, and they really did a stand-up job nailing the sound that they were going for! I highly recommend this album, and I believe the entirety of it has been uploaded to youtube if you're looking to get a sample of it.

After demand for their music rose, Dunwich got famous record label Atco to be their distributor, and to help with things like pressing.

I'll part with a fun fact: The Shadows of Knight were originally simply called "The Shadows", but had to change their name after learning about the UK rockers by the same name!

12-09-2014, 07:13 AM	#27 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,355	The 1960's were an interesting time, with many wildly different styles and genres coming together to influence the culture of music. It's always an amazing experience to examine these bands, different as they were from each other, and to appreciate what each song of theirs had to offer. The last few entries of this journal have certainly been fun, and i'm surprised with how much I enjoyed music without any fuzz-guitars (gasp!). It was also fun writing up the first part of that story up there, and I hope you guys got a kick out of it. But it's time to return to the world of go go boots and wild energy (after all, the name of this journal is still "Stuck in the Garage", isn't it?). So let's get into it! I'll start with a band that I've mentioned quite a lot in this journal. They're a Garage band that took their cues from the legendary Blues musicians of old. And now, the context... The legendary and mysterious Robert Johnson. Though not much is known about him, he supposedly died before the age of 21. His songs were very influential on his peers, and luckily were preserved in two recording sessions. Of all the revivals to take place in the world of music, one of the most interesting is the "Blues Revival" of the 1960's. With artists like Robert Johnson posthumously having their work compiled and released to the masses for the first time ("King of the Delta Blues Singers", 1961) as well as long-time Blues Icons having a resurgence of popularity (as with Bo Diddley and McKinley Morganfield, aka "Muddy Waters"), the youth of America and England in particular became bewitched by the raw and powerful style of music that offered an incredible contrast to the Pop music of their time. Not only that, but people began to realize where Rock 'n Roll had gotten it's grit and attitude from, and wanted to learn more about such an influential yet obscure style of music. And of course, wherever young people congregate and listen to music, bands are going to be formed. One such band was... Muddy Waters, a master Delta blues-man, had an incredible amount of influence on the Revival movement. Active throughout his lifetime, including during the 1960's, one of his earliest surviving recordings is a cover of Robert Johnson's influential "Walking Blues". The Shadows of Knight! Influenced by the original Blues artists, as well as the wave of modern Revivalists (most notably The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and The Yardbirds), The Shadows of Knight formed with a mission to put Chicago back on the Blues and Rock 'n Roll map. Created in 1964, they began their career the same way that most every band does, competing with other local bands to play at parties and dance halls. Their career truly took off when they played at "The Cellar", an infamous Illinois club (There were a lot of those in the sixties, huh? Giving a history of those infamous clubs and venues would probably make for an interesting journal in it's own right). They must have impressed the right people, because they quickly became the main attraction. Playing every weekend, they'd routinely pack the joint to capacity with young people eager for a taste of their unique brand of Garage Blues. Their signature song was a cover of "Gloria" by the band "Them", and their audiences always responded very well to it at their shows. It was at such a show that the boys of Dunwich Records heard them, and immediately offered them a contract. The Rolling Stones are one of the most well known Rock bands of all time, and certainly the most well known band of the Blues Revival. The Shadows of Knight accepted, and recorded their signature song to be released as a single. Now, Gloria was a song that many people in America had never heard of, having been famously snubbed by radio-censors for suggestive lyrics. When The Shadows of Knight released their take on it, it was the first time many people had ever heard it, and they immediately fell in love with it's wild energy. It quickly approached the Billboard top ten in America and Canada, receiving extensive radio-play, however it never hit the top of the charts, for multiple reasons. The first reason is simply bad timing. Released in 1965, the single was put out right in the middle of the British Invasion, where even seasoned American musicians had trouble hitting the top of the charts (not to mention that they had to compete with bands like The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, and The Rolling Stones). The second reason is that Dunwich was a small independent label, and had a great deal of trouble capitalizing on the single. They weren't able to press enough 45's to keep up with demand, and didn't have the resources to promote it on the level of their competition. Van Morrison's band "Them". Talented and influential, their hit "Gloria" took the world by storm, but was unfortunately kept from being played on many radio stations. Regardless, "Gloria" was a smash hit, and The Shadows of Knight followed up with an album by the same name. The album Gloria went on to receive critical praise, as well as the praise of their fans, and went gold (sold over a million copies). But like almost every Garage band, after getting their big break they broke apart. Suffering from constant line-up changes, and being overly-pressured to release a follow-up hit to Gloria, the group lost their steam and eventually split apart to go their seperate ways (although the band technically carried on under one original member who remained, and kept the name). However, short lived as they were, their music had a massive influence on the Garage scene of the mid and late sixties, and they helped prove that American bands could indeed compete with their British counterparts. Without further ado, let's begin... Gloria Remember this one from the entry about The Pandoras? 1. "Gloria" - The single that rocked the charts, it's not hard to see why people fell in love with this tune. It's got an infectious guitar line (especially after the chorus), a solid beat, and the trademark raw sound of Garage Rock. The singer's vocals have that Blues-style laxity to them (and graduated with honors from the prestigious "Mick Jagger School of Not Giving a Damn"). This song was a gateway into Garage Rock for many modern listeners and practitioners, as the 45 has always been relatively easy to find and acquire compared to other more obscure Garage numbers, due to it's popularity back in the day. Not only that, this song was what put Dunwich Records on the map. 2. "Light Bulb Blues" - A fast and driving foot-stomper, this is the first of their three original songs on the album, with the rest being covers. For an original, it captures the feeling of Blues very well, and mixes it fantastically with the wild fuzz-guitar laden Garage Rock sound. 3. "I Got My Mojo Working" - The classic Muddy Waters number (originally performed by the amazing Ann Cole), with an injection of speed and distortion! Very fast and infectious, the guitars work very well with the drums and bass to create a solid yet fluid back beat. And of course, the dirty harmonica work is the perfect thing to tie it all together. The Shadows of Knight! 4. "Darkside" - Time to cool down with a slow song that takes it's cues from the Vocal-Pop of it's time, however the occasional guitar flourish help to keep things on the Garage Rock side of things. I'm starting to notice that the band sounds similar to Tommy James and the Shondells (Spin "Hanky Panky" as well as "Crimson and Clover" some time and see if you agree). This is the second original song of theirs. 5. "Boom Boom" - A cover of John Lee Hooker's original, this is a nice and dirty shuffle with a solid beat and wild vocals! The guitar in the background helps to spice things up, but it's really the drumming and bass playing that keep things moving here. 6. "Let It Rock" - Right from the beginning, you can tell that this was originally a Chuck Berry number (with the signature into guitar riff from many of his songs), and i'm sure he got a kick out of it back in the day! Getting hit by the "Blues + Garage Rock" formula, this one works very well and should keep your foot tapping 'till the end. Fun fact: While the worlds of Rockabilly and Garage Rock seem very different, this cover (created during the height of the Garage Rock movement, in the mid sixties) was created just six years after the original was released. 7. "Oh Yeah" - Alright, which influential Blues/Early Rock musician hasn't been covered yet... Yup, Bo Diddley! With the "Hoochie Coochie Man" beat made famous by Muddy Waters (Also known as the "Bad to the Bone" beat to modern audiences), you can't go wrong! This is a very fun Bluesy track, and a great addition to the album! 8. "It Always Happens That Way" - The last of their original tracks, this one is a fun track about a guy who always messes things up. I really like the fuzz-guitar work here, especially in the flourish after the chorus! The dirty and sloppy vocals are right at home here, and the bassist does an admirable job as well. 9. "You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover" - Another cover, this time they go for a WIllie Dixon penned number (which starts a trend that continues until the end of the album). A great rocker with very fun guitar work (especially from the one minutes and twenty seconds mark onward), it's another great Garage tune with a taste for the Blues. 10. "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" - Another song with the "Hoochie Coochie Man" beat, this time it's actually a cover of the original from which the beat came! The masterpiece of the Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters tag-team, it's no surprise that it would pop up on a Blues Revival album. The Shadows of Knight handle it very well, but then again, has there ever been a cover of this song that wasn't great? 11. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" - The final track of the album, it's another Dixon/Morganfield number! And of course, as a Blues song, the Shadows of Knight are right at home here. Again, I've got to give props to the bassist for keeping up and not being drowned up by the others, and the bass solo that they pull off is very fun as well! All in all, I think Gloria is a very fun and exciting album, but it also has a few problems. The first is that they stick very close to the "Blues + Garage Rock" formula, which means that many of the tracks are similar sounding. While songs like "Darkside" help to change things up, they still could have used a bit more variety. On the plus side, their original numbers were just as good as their covers, and they really did a stand-up job nailing the sound that they were going for! I highly recommend this album, and I believe the entirety of it has been uploaded to youtube if you're looking to get a sample of it. After demand for their music rose, Dunwich got famous record label Atco to be their distributor, and to help with things like pressing. I'll part with a fun fact: The Shadows of Knight were originally simply called "The Shadows", but had to change their name after learning about the UK rockers by the same name! Last edited by Oriphiel; 03-25-2015 at 07:28 AM.