Rant #1,446: Admittedly Self-Serving Plug

Yes, it is once again time to plug another site that I run that has nothing to do with this site, and nothing to do with Facebook.

It is my long-running Yahoo Groups site, Alternative Top 40.

Yahoo Groups, at this point in time, is one of the most maligned configurations on the Internet, and admittedly, it has brought a lot of this stuff on itself, by changing things way too much for most people to bear, fixing something that wasn't broken.

And then there is Facebook, which made it so much easier to post things like I do there ... but not quite.

Anyway, Alternative Top 40 is the place to find rare and unusual music tracks by some of your favorite artists, as well as some that you may not know too well.

The primary focus of the site is 1964 to 1971, the years that I consider the best in popular music, or at least, the best in rock music, or at most, the best in music in my life span which began in 1957.

Sure, some would argue with me, but the years that I have chosen run parallel to the Beatles' hit years in the U.S., so I will stay with the focus.

The site is a simple one.

I post usually between a dozen and 18 tunes each week, and members vote on the ones that they like the most. They can vote for up to six tunes each week.

The ones that garner the most votes remain available for another week; those that don't do as well are removed.

Simple as that.

On this week's chart, I have some interesting music; everybody from Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits fame with a solo recording to Zero Mostel doing a tune from "Fiddler on the Roof."

It is all there, and everything in between.

I usually put up a lot of single B sides, but I also put up many album tracks.

For instance, on this week's chart, I uploaded Tiny Tim's "Welcome To My Dream-Tip Toe Thru' the Tulips With Me," which are the first two songs which run together from his classic "God Bless Tiny Tim" LP, and I also have the Beach Boys' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," which is the B side of "The Little Girl I Once Knew" single.

I also have A sides that have pretty much been forgotten, such as Lesley Gore's "All of My Life," a really good song that simply didn't make much of an impact on the charts 50 years ago.

Other artists on this week's chart include Ben E. King; Vanilla Fudge; Herman's Hermits; the Monkees; the Tokens; Donovan; Lou Rawls; Terry Knight and the Pack; and B.B. King.

About 75 percent of the recordings that I upload to the site are from my own collection, the remainder I obtain from other sources, including from members.

So please, take a look at the site. I think that you will enjoy it.

It can be accessed at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/AlternativeTop40/info