Brian's Weekly Sleevenotes - 4 July 15

Find out more about the songs in today's playlist...

Why Don’t They Let Us Fall In Love - The Ronettes

One of many songs The Ronettes recorded that were written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. This one was recorded in the famous Gold Star studios in Los Angeles in March, 1963. The girls were always asked to do their own hand clapping on their tracks. In actual fact, this was the second of two solo singles released by Veronica to test her sales potential as a soloist. The first was a remake of the Students' classic ballad ‘I'm So Young’ followed by this track both backed by the Ronettes and each withdrawn almost immediately after release.

Happy Together - The Turtles

At the start of 1967, The Turtles released the most important single of their career. A song written by Alan Gordon and Garry Bonner, two members of a New York Band, The Magicians, had been doing the rounds and been rejected by countless performers. The song was ‘Happy Together’ and became their first UK hit reaching number twelve and in America it knocked ‘Penny Lane’ by The Beatles off number one and remained at the top of the charts for three weeks and although The Turtles had further hits, they were never able to repeat the International success of ‘Happy Together.’

I Know The Meaning - Rose St John & The Wonderettes

Quite a lot of mystery surrounds this group as there is little known about Rose St John & The Wonderettes as some reports suggest this Detroit based group released just two singles but it would appear they first recorded for the American Enterprise label leading to a short contract with United Artists before transferring to Veep, releasing this Northern Soul collectable ‘I Know The Meaning’ that was recorded in the motor city in 1966 and has since become a sought after track.

Mess Around - The Animals

The album ‘Animal Tracks’ by The Animals became their second LP release in the UK and their third in America where it contained a completely different track listing with none of the British tracks being included. The Americans decided to include a mix of ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides from previous singles with a few older album tracks, whilst here it was mostly newly recorded material. ‘Animal Tracks’ reached number six in the album charts and the opening track was Ahmet Ertegün’s composition, ‘Mess Around.’

Hold Me -Jackie Ross

African-American singer, Jackie Ross was born in St Louis, Missouri and moved to Chicago in the mid fifties. It is here she became friends with the late Sam Cooke who signed her to his recently formed SAR label releasing just one single, ‘Hard Times’ that featured Sam’s own song, ‘Hold Me’ on the ‘B’ side that would later become the favoured track. In 1964 she signed to Chess achieving a major success with her classic, ‘Selfish One.’ She later recorded for a number of other labels without being able to duplicate the success of her biggest hit.

Soal Coaxing - Raymond Lefevre & His Orchestra

This Michel Polnareff composition is a much sought after track by Northern soul fans across the country. During the early fifties, the late Raymond Lefevre played piano for Franck Pourcel’s Orchestra before signing to the French Barclay label in 1956 recording his debut album in the same year. In the sixties, his orchestra accompanied many leading French stars including Richard Anthony and Claude Francois. In 1968, Peggy March recorded a vocal version of ‘Soul Coaxing’ with English lyrics by Sunny Skyler under the title of ‘If You Loved Me.’

You Got Soul - Johnny Nash

Johnny Nash was born John Lester Nash, Jr in Houston, Texas and is of African-American descent and one of the first non-Jamaican singers to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica where he had several hits in the sixties. Whilst over there, he met up with the struggling Bob Marley & The Wailers and financed their early recording sessions, none of which were successful but Nash himself later recorded several of Marley’s songs. ‘You Got Soul’ was Johnny’s own composition and second UK top ten hit.

The Last of the Secret Agents - Nancy Sinatra

The title song to the spoof spy movie starring comedians Marty Allen and Steve Rossi that made over a million dollars at the box office but no follow up movies were ever made with the duo. The female lead was played by Nancy Sinatra who as Micheline sang the theme song in a scene that saw her wearing nothing other than underwear and high heels. Burt Bacharach and Hal David were approached to write the theme song but they had to pass as they were about to begin work on another comedy spy project, “Casino Royale” so the project was handed over to Lee Hazlewood who had already produced hit singles with Nancy.

Macarthur Park - Richard Harris

In 1968 actor Richard Harris, with little experience as a singer, teamed up with a young ambitious American songwriter named Jim Webb and between them created a melodramatic recording lasting over seven and a half minutes called ‘Macarthur Park’. Despite critics claiming that a song of such length would never get played on the radio, it became an international hit.

King of the Rumbling Spires - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus Rex were formed in 1967 by Marc Bolan and released four albums under that name with their production values improving with each release. Championed by John Peel, their breakthrough record came in 1969 with ‘King of the Rumbling Spires’ on which they began experimenting with electric guitars and a far more rocky approach. It was after this release that they shortened their name to T-Rex and enjoyed a string of successful albums and singles throughout the seventies.