FRIDAY MUSIC: The Birth Of Rock 'N' Roll, by JD

The first rock and roll song:

Rocket 88 (Original Version) - Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston

Widely acknowledged as the first “rock and roll” song. The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 was America’s fastest car at the time and cars have often been the subject of popular songs and pop culture in general. The song was written by a 19 year old Ike Turner, the same Ike Turner more famously associated with his wife Tina Turner. The song has been credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats but has also been credited to Ike Turner’s Kings Of Rhythm; in truth they were probably the same musicians.

And here is a brief history of the ‘birth’ of that first Rock ‘n’ Roll Song.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Classic Hits, Part 5, by JD

Mary Wells - My Guy

Frankie Ford "Sea Cruise"

Ronettes - Be My Baby (remastered audio)

Eddie Cochran - Twenty Flight Rock

The Clovers - Love potion number nine.

Little Darlin' - The Diamonds 1957

FRIDAY MUSIC: Classic Hits (Part 4) by JD

More oldies but goodies.

The Crystals - Da Do Ron RonNorman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky (1970)Jimmy Jones - Good Timin' This track was a UK No.1 for three weeks in 1960, it reached No.3 in the US. Jimmy Jones (b. 1937 Birmingham, Alabama) is still highly regarded as an influential character on modern music. His use of falsetto voice in R&B/pop directly influenced Del Shannon, who in turn influenced The Bee Gees disco orientated tracks.Johnny Burnette - Dreamin`Dion & The Belmonts I Wonder Why 1958Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me (Official Audio)
The backing singer is Lou Rawls, in fact it sounds more like a duet with Rawls' voice being an essential part of the song.

FRIDAY MUSIC: 50s/60s Third Helping, by JD

The Coasters - Yakety Yak

Ben E King - Spanish Harlem
Benjamin Earl King (born September 28, 1938), better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me," a U.S. top 10 hit in both 1961 and 1987 and a #1 hit in the UK in 1987, and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters.
Jerry Leiber & Phil Spector wrote Spanish Harlem. Released on the last day of 1960

The Marcels - Blue Moon

The Marvelettes - Please Mister Postman

The Valentinos : It's All Over Now
The Valentinos (also known as the Womack Brothers) was a Cleveland, Ohio-based family R&B group, mainly famous for launching the careers of brothers Bobby Womack and Cecil Womack, the former brother finding bigger fame as a solo artist and the latter finding success as a member of the husband and wife team of Womack & Womack with Linda Cooke. During their 22-year existence, the group was known for R&B hits such as "Lookin' for a Love", notably covered by the J. Geils Band and later a solo hit for Bobby Womack, and "It's All Over Now", covered by the Rolling Stones.

Poetry In Motion - Johnny Tillotson

FRIDAY MUSIC: More Classic Hits of the 50s/60s, by JD

Last week's collection of 'oldies but goodies' looks to have been very popular so here is a second helping, many of them unheard or maybe undeservedly forgotten.

Go Now - Bessie Banks originally recorded this song, written for her by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett, in 1963. It was soon covered by The Moody Blues as well as five other artists.

The Toys - A Lover's Concerto (Stereo Mix)

The Fortunes - You've Got Your Troubles, in color! (1965)

Danny & the Juniors shot straight to the top of the charts in early 1958 with their biggest hit ever, the gold-selling "At the Hop"

Will You Love Me Tomorrow. Carole King was only 17 when she wrote this song for The Shirelles with then husband Gerry Goffin, the first of many chart hits they wrote in the 1960s.

David McWilliams - Days Of Pearly Spencer (1967)

Days of Pearly Spencer has been covered by an astonishing number of singers including David Bowie and Marc Almond, so many I have lost count. The original orchestral arrangement was done by Raymond Lefèvre. But among other orchestral versions is one by Gigi D'Agostino which is worth checking out.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Classic Hits of the 50s/60s, by JD

Among the endless repeats on Freeview is "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads"

and the theme tune has this chorus -

Oh what happened to you?
Whatever happened to me?
What became of the people we used to be?
Tomorrow's almost over, today went by so fast
It's the only thing to look forward to, the past

The show was originally broadcast in 1973/1974 and in that last line of the chorus was a hint of the beginnings of nostalgia. These two 'baby boomers' were looking back at the carefree days of their youth.

Also on Freeview is a channel called "That's oldies: classic hit music" and playing the music the 'likely lads' would have been listening to and dancing to in their younger days. Watching this channel I see very little that could be called 'classic hit music' so perhaps I ought to do it for them and play a few of the really memorable tunes from the Fifties and Sixties. There is a lot to choose from and very few of them get shown on Freeview. This might become a series.

Zager & Evans - In the Year 2525

The Tornados - Telstar

Del Shannon 1961 - Runaway

Elusive Butterfly - Lyrics - Bob Lind

Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou (with solo by James Burton)

The Springfields - Island Of Dreams

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Viña del Mar, Chile, by JD

 

No, that is not a Disney style fantasy castle. It is a real place called Castillo Wulff in Viña del Mar on the Pacific coast of Chile.

When I visited it was a sort of museum dedicated to the Chilean writer and poet Salvador Reyes and contained the memorabilia he had collected. The Castillo is owned by the Municipalidad de Viña del Mar and I believe it is currently used as the municipality's offices.

The bridge you see leading to the tower on that rocky outcrop has a glass floor through which you can see the waves and in rough seas those waves can reach the underside of the glass.

I was fortunate in that I was working in Chile so my employer paid for me to get there and back. Perks of the job I suppose.

I managed to find a video of it, in English, made by the Municipalidad de Viña del Mar
which gives a short history and some wonderful images past and present.

This is a sketch I did of the presidential palace which is in Viña del Mar and not in the capital Santiago as might be expected. It stands atop a hill overlooking the Castillo Wulff. I have taken the liberty of ignoring the office block on the right and replacing it with a few trees.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Amble, by JD

When I see the name Amble I think immediately of the town in Cumbria which is located at the northern end of Windermere. But there is another Amble and that is an Irish folk group, a trio and there is this effusive description attached to their YouTube page. But don't let that put you off. They are very good!

"Channeling the power of tried-and-true friendship and tapping into the serenity of the surrounding countryside, Irish trio Amble harness a rare magic threaded into the fabric of their novelistic folk. The group—Robbie Cunningham (lead vocals/guitar), Ross McNerney (mandolin/bouzouki), and Oisin McCaffrey (guitar/vocals)—have unassumingly gone from quitting their day jobs in rural Western Ireland to the doorstep of an international breakthrough buoyed by over 100 million streams and sold-out shows around the world. After just one gig together, they unlocked uncanny creative interplay with each member penning songs and pouring life experience into the lyrics."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amble_(band)

Amble - Lonely Island (Official Video)

Amble – Schoolyard Days | Mahogany Session

Amble - Mary's Pub (Official Video)

Amble - Of Land and Sea

Amble - Sam Hall (Official Audio)

Amble - Jersey Giant (Live from Dublin)

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Hidden Spain, by JD

Here is the tale of our journey into 'hidden' Spain. I didn't realise how long ago it was. Is time speeding up? And now that I come to think about it, I have seen a lot of places which are really worth seeing; the Alhambra, Toledo, Aranjuez, Alcala de Henares with its links to Cervantes and Don Quijote and there is lots more I have yet to see. I will probably need a couple more lifetimes to see everything!

Cañón del Río Lobos

Travel writers sometimes tell us to step back from the Costas and seek out something different but usually they direct us to the big cities where we can spend even more money.

There is an alternative, a hidden Spain, well off the beaten track but you need a guide and if you are with somebody who knows then there are some beautiful places hidden away “far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.”

One such place is the Cañón del Río Lobos in the province of Soria (Castilla y León) and this really is in the heart of Spain a long way from the usual tourist trails.

After parking the car, we set off following the course of the river along the pathway among the trees. We exchange greetings with a shepherd and step to one side for him as he moves his flock of about 200 or so raggedy looking sheep (not bred for their wool by the look of them.)

And on we walked for about two miles, still following the river and seeing some of the resident colony of griffon vultures flying above the walls of the canyon. Then we came into a large clearing…. this picture was 'borrowed' from Google maps:

….and in the distance the San Bartolomé Hermitage. A small chapel, literally miles from anywhere, which is all that remains of the monastery said to have been built by the Templars in the 13th century. Because it was winter at the time of our visit the Hermitage was locked so we could not see inside.

To the right of the picture is la Cueva Grande, the largest of many caves in the valley and this one has a few rock carvings and cave paintings showing evidence of occupation of this area dating back to the bronze age.

This next picture is also from Google Maps. It is not a painting. It really does look like that, blue and gold striation. Very psychedelic especially in the sunshine.

A magical place and I thank my friends in Spain for taking me to see it. It is probably 20 or even 30 years ago when we were there (as long ago as that?) and at that time it was a hidden valley with few visitors.

But in the intervening years it has been added to the list of tourist attractions persuading visitors to explore inland Spain so there is now this link with a substantial amount of information in English - https://www.cañondelriolobos.com/rio-lobos-canyon/basic-information.html

There is also this BBC link which has a short video in Spanish but with English subtitles giving more information about the link to The Templars as well as the precise location of the Hermitage which is in the exact centre of the Iberian peninsula:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p08q45rj/why-did-the-templars-mark-this-mysterious-spot-on-the-map-