When you start from way back in 1945 and do these one at a time, it gets increasingly difficult to find anything to say, but the year 1963 makes me think....I've read pieces where the period just prior to the British Invasion is described as a near vacuum which the new music rushed in to fill....Hmmm Bobby Bland, Mary Wells, Ruby & The Romantics, Otis Redding, The Miracles, Chuck Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Baby Washington, Marvin Gaye, Solomon Burke, Etta James, Garnet Mimms, Little Johnny Taylor...hardly what I would call a vacuum and that is just within the narrow focus of this compilation. The sad truth is, however, that many of the folks on this disc would be scuffling for work just a year or two down the road.
Looking down the list
I am struck by how little blues there is compared to previous years.
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I, too, have read frequently about the alleged vacuum prior to the Beatles and the British Invasion and have always regarded it as an indication of very restricted taste and the racial attitudes of the day. Perhaps there was a vacuum for those who disregarded rhythm and blues, soul, and jazz, but the great irony is that almost all of the British bands that achieved success here began by admiring and playing the very music that wasn't played on "white" music stations. John Lennon certainly knew what his roots were even if McCartney regarded himself as the reincarnation of Gilbert and Sullivan. Unfortunately the culture here was what it as and, as you note, many of the musicians on the record would have to hustle much harder than they should have to get by. Bettye LaVette has recently spoken of the bitterness she experienced during that time while struggling and hearing young white American and British musicians reaping success from the recycling of her and others' music. Her assessment of the British Invasion was not glowing because for her and others it meant little work and exposure while others with lesser talent received airplay. Almost just as bad in my opinion was the frequent announcement of so many successor bands, such as Badfinger and even the Bay City Rollers, as the new Beatles as if without an ersatz Beatles music popular music suffered an irreparable deficit.
Thanks KC
Was eagerly waiting for this 1963 post
As noted above the British Invasion was just about to start - Of course in retrospect it was sad that many Blues/R&B/Soul artists felt done down by the influx of mostly inferior covers etc - But it must be remembered - in the UK many loved and accepted black music back then and couldn't wait to get to the USA to meet their heroes - There was never any intent to take away business - It was more like a pilgrimage that had had a negative effect on some artists - For many others it was the start of international fame -
Cheers
One of the benefits of the British Invasion was as you write, young white Americans were introduced to the music of Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, and many others by groups like the Stones, Cream, and others. What LaVette resented is the racism in the music industry and this country that allowed the British groups that emulated her and others' music and received much more airplay than the original artists. But then Lonnie Donegan introduced many folks to the music of Leadbelly. Turnabout's fair play; LaVette released Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook in 2010. In the end if listening to Jagger sing Time is On My Side introduces one to Irma Thomas, it's all music, isn't it? The number of R and B and blues music blog spots attests to the recognition the original artists eventually received even if for many it came too late. More importantly, this blog provides the history and the music so folks like us can better appreciate how many of the artists honed their craft and recorded great music without reoognition or profit.
Well said Feilimid
Black music was so powerful and compelling as well as being hip exciting and soulful that it had to prevail in the end - And it did!
Cheers
I got my first radio in June of 1963 at the close of the school year. Prior to that, I had never realized that the radio was an endless source of music. My mother only turned the radio on for the weather report in the morning. Our car didn't have a radio, either. But that summer I took my little radio everywhere and heard most of the songs on this disc. Although I already own many of these tracks, it's very cool to have them all together in one place like this.
The first artist I saw live on a big stage was Clyde McPhatter. This was 1960, the de Montfort Hall, Leicester. He was followed on stage by Duane Eddy and then Bobby Darin.
What happened to Clyde McPhatter was a tragedy. What happened to Arthur Alexander was a tragedy. McPhatter gave Presley a style of singing, Alexander gave Lennon and Jagger good songs and an attitude for the voice. Both helped create the modern music industry, fortunes were amassed on their labour, both were then tossed aside.
They were used, exploited, white boys got rich on their backs.
When Dave Godin broke with Mike Jagger because he had introduced Jagger to black music believing Jagger would serve black music, and instead he found Jagger using black music to serve himself, he spoke for many of us.
As for this stuff about white kids in the USA being turned on to the black artists by the British Invasion, another dollop of horse manure from the dream factory.
Where did Mike Bloomfield learn to play the blues? Who did Bloomfield play with?
What were the whites listening to in the 1950s who went into the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties? In 1956 Bob Dylan wanted to be Little Richard, in 1962 he writes 'Blowin' In The Wind.' Do you seriously think he was on his own?
How many of those touring rock'n'roll shows in the 1950s led to the cops piling in with people getting up to dance, black and white, Fats playing.
How come Buddy Holly, from Lubbock, Texas, who toured on those shows, in New York in the weeks before his death February 1959, was seriously considering producing Ray Charles?
GL Crockett, recorded as a black rockabilly artist for Chess Records, blew history up, as did Bobby Charles.
Black music was always to be found, in the USA and the UK.
The annonymous Zed
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