Rant #2,370: On a Carousel

Politics are boring.

And that is why I am staying away from politics in recent Rants.

Oh, I won't stay away from talking politics entirely--I will bring up issues when I believe they need to be brought up--but generally, people who read this Blog regularly know my stance on certain issues, so why belabor the point, unless it needs to be belabored?

Thus, I would rather talk about other things, things that interest me, might interest you, and certainly, are not as divisive as politics are today.

I would rather talk about my haul of records that I got for my birthday, via eBay cards bought for me by my wife and my parents.

This will be the last Rant about what I have received from these cards, but it has been lots of fun getting stuff in the mail almost every day, stuff that isn't bills, advertisements, and generally, garbage.

I mean, some people might think the music I have purchased is garbage, but heck, I would rather listen and own this music than anything on the radio today, which, if you want a definition of garbage, well, just listen to what is being played on your local music station.

So, now that I have gotten the music politics out of the way, as you know, I vowed to only purchase things that I would never buy with my own cash.

We already talked about some quirky stuff that I have purchased by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich and Gary and the Hornets, but here is a lineup of the more mainstream stuff that I got, mainly from acts that you might know or at least vaguely remember.

"Love In the City" by the Turtles: Well, if you want quirky, there was no act better than the Turtles, who had a lot of chart success, were very visual, appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and every other variety show on the air back then, but never lost the edge that they had which was beneath just about every record they ever put out.

This one happens to be one of the lesser lights of their career--one of their final singles, it only reached No. 91 in 1969--but it is a great song, and really shows the edge these guys had, even when putting together songs that were perfect for Top 40 radio.

"He Little One" by Glen Campbell: Campbell was one of the major architects of the 1960s sound as a member of the studio-based "Wrecking Crew," playing on dozens of hits by many of the major names of 1960s rock and pop. But when he branched out on his own, his career really hit its stride, and he is certainly one of the people who made country rock acceptable.

This is one of his earlier solo singles, not his best by any means, but a song that I really like. Reaching only to No. 54 in 1968, the single came out right before he became a household name with his renditions of Jim Webb songs and his TV show, but the single shows Campbell nearly reaching the mainstream, but not quite there yet.

"On a Carousel" by the Hollies: The Hollies were huge in Europe, but it took them a while to break out over in the states. Their melodic pop took a while to filter into our Top 40, but when it did, they ended up having a good amount of hits over here, although not nearly as many as they had overseas.

This was a highly successful single for them, reaching No. 11 in 1967, and it showcases the band's strengths as good as any record they ever put out. This is a real gem, maybe my favorite Hollies song, which is saying a lot, because they put out such great records during their long career.

"Time Seller" by the Spencer Davis Group: Here is another British act which had a lot of success here in the states, but was much, much more popular in Europe than here. Featuring the very young Steve Winwood, this act had several stateside hits, but this really wasn't one of them.

Only reaching No. 100 in 1967, this record stands as the group's final American chart single, and to me, it is one of their best songs, sounding a bit like the later Traffic but with more of a pop sensibility. Winwood would go onto greater things, but this is where he got his start.

As some of the things I ordered have not yet come in, there are a lot more mainstream stuff that will soon hit my mailbox. Since that stuff isn't here yet--and for one of the records, there is a future Rant for sure in the offing--I decided to go here with two more quirky, off the beaten path singles by acts that you might know (at least one of them) and might remember.

And they featured kids who weren't much older than I was way back when.

"In Need of a Friend" by the Cowsills: This Rhode Island-based family act had several big hits in the late 1960s and were so popular that they were not only featured on every TV variety show on the air, but they even had their own TV special, were regulars in Tiger Beat, and well, if your family was this musically talented, your family would have been the Cowsills.

This particular song was not one of their biggest hits--it only reached No. 54 in 1968--but this act, with their mom in tow, really were talented, way beyond their teenybop image, They still perform today--what is left of them, which is only three kids of the original, what was it, like eight kids and mom?--and their harmonies are to be admired.

"Not the Lovin' Kind" by Dino, Desi and Billy: Along the lines of Gary and the Hornets was this kid act, but these kids were way different than the Hornets or any other kid act at the time. Dino was Dean Martin's kid, Desi was Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's kid, and Billy was a school friend who played a mean guitar. Yes, their "silver spoon in the mouth" connections certainly helped them, and they were signed to Frank Sinatra's Reprise label and put out a slew of singles and four albums in their relatively brief time together.

This is one of those singles, a sort of folk rock mixed with bubblegum ode to non-conformity, which reached No. 25 in 1965, and to come full circle, might have featured Glen Campbell on guitar. Anyway, these guys were on every TV variety show there was, had their time in Tiger Beat magazine, and when Desi starred on "Here's Lucy," the act broke up. Dino died in a plane crash while in the military, Billy became a touring member of the Beach Boys, and Desi is still around, with sister Lucie handling their late parents' affairs.

Well, that is it, and I will speak to you again tomorrow--hopefully with a few more of the records I ordered in hand.