Love how George references the original versions or influences. He was so clued up on all the contemporary artists and musicians. I guess at the time he had to be!
George was obviously a soul fan as he made a point of getting some soul records when he visited the USA in mid 1963. The Beatles had actually toured with Mary Wells so he was spot on about the cover
I thought it was funny when he said "I hate this type of british group sound" 'cause it was really the Beatles that invented that sort of '1964 British group sound".
Suh Synched , that avatar of yours, its a still from Hard Days Night, John Lennon snorting a bottle of Coke. Cute. But not funny. Carbonated liquid can explode the sinus cavity and cause serious brain damage. Play it safe with powdered coke, the way the lord intended. Namaste.
There's a Juke Box Jury, or similar, programme that featured GH. He'd have been the youngest on the panel and younger than most, if not all, of the artistes. But he stands, speaks, and sounds almost infinitely older, deeper, wiser, more aware of the zeitgeist than all other people in the show
This is the second Blind Date you featured by George Harrison. Like so many Blind Dates, he had a mostly duff selection to review, so he had to slam nearly every one of them, like with so many celebrity reviewers then. By late 1964, the British Invasion that he was part of had completely taken over the scene, out-fashioning almost everything before it, making most of it's successful predecessors virtually redundant. But there was little in these new releases here to resemble it. He rightly implied throughout that a lot of these acts who had new releases then were just copying The Beatles' sound, and most of these acts just came and went, and quite deservedly, only releasing a few singles each. But I think there were just three standouts, two of them of American origin. Firstly, the James Brown single he reviewed was a UK reissue, this time on the Sue label, but George didn't seem to know that. It first came out over here on Parlophone over two years earlier, months after it was originally issued in the States on the King label, but sounded mighty advanced for 1962, but he was in those days literally decades ahead of his time. The Betty Everett track was a great Northern Soul number, but George didn't seem to know who it was by. It was written by Van McCoy, who in those days worked as a songwriter and occasional producer, years before he became famous for The Hustle. But the rest were nearly all by artists who like so many others, didn't stand a chance of cracking it, and could not survive more than a few singles each, as in those days, the only records that charted in general were the ones that stood out from the crowd, and the only artists who cracked it were the ones who stood out from the crowd. Whereas most of these artists were just a few of millions, nothing distinctive about them at all. But as for the Pat Wayne single here, George Harrison said he thought he had heard better versions of that song previously, but could not seem to think where, as he thought the song sounded familiar. It was in fact written in the States by Gerry Goffin/Carole King, and originally a U.S. only hit for Richard Wylie over a year earlier. Richard had previously been a brief recording artist and songwriter for Motown, long before that label took off, of which by then he had for long left. But the Pat Wayne version here was just plain ordinary. But I think there was a cherry in the cake here. George was wrong to slam the single by The Pathfinders, as that was quite a good strong single with a good distinctive melody, even though their overall sound may not have been very distinctive. They only released two singles on two labels. Their second was different, as that seemed to aim for the small British Soul market. That was easily passable, but maybe not quite as good as this one. The Little Richard and Rick Nelson ones here were passable, but they were by then deemed as being past their sell-by dates, due to this ever changing music world of the sixties that had already begun by then. But the rest here were just disposable.
"I imagine it's quite nice if you're stoned out of your head" "She hasn't got any soul" "You can take it off" And people tend to say Lennon was the shady one 🤣😂 Lovely outro as per usual, YP 😘❤
Given George was just 21, his assessment with regard to these songs being potential Hits, was astute and absolutely correct. It’s often difficult to gauge a song on first listen but I thought he got some shockers! Looking at the charts, it’s incredible to know the glut of timeless acts that was about to explode onto the music scene! Terrific video as always YP and your outro is exceptional!
If Paul had paid attention to George’s insight regarding bad Christmas songs, the whole planet could have been spared a whole lot of pain and suffering.
George Harrison never held back when giving his critique of a song, which I respect. And he's also right with his barbed responses to the majority of singles on offer that week in December.
5:22 George about christmas tunes. He didn t like it. But....... 10 years later he made a very good one himself ( Ding dong ) He recognised a lot of the stuff btw
Those seemed like fair assessments of the songs he was given and turned out to be accurate as I remember things. There were several memorable songs and albums on the charts that week. Downtown from Petula Clark I remember with particular fondness. My family had moved from the country to the city where there was actually a Downtown to go to, and it really was sort of a big deal.
" DOWNTOWN" was huge in America. Pet Clark was kind of a fluke pop star being over thirty. But, like thirty two year old David MaCCallum, she rode the Brit wave to ststdom
I like Françoise Hardy. What made her unique amongst her contemporaries is that she wrote many of her songs. Some critics called her the ‘Queen of melancholy.’ Her song subjects were on the sad side. She reminded me of Marianne Faithfull and Claudine Longet, being their styles were more wistful and kittenish.
@@YesterdaysPapers I wasn’t even acquainted with her and her French recordings during the 60s. I grew up in the LA area and never once heard her on local radio. It was while in high school during the early part of the 70s, in French class, that my instructor played her LPs and other French artists. I was hooked once I heard it.
@@YesterdaysPapers I wasn’t acquainted with her during the 60s. I grew up in the LA area and never once heard her on local radio. I do remember her in the 1966 film Grand Prix starring James Garner. It was in high school during the early part of the 70s, in French class, that my instructor played her LPs and other French artists. I was hooked once I heard her voice.
George really knew his music and I'm glad he didn't pull any punches when the songs were terrible - and he was right each time. I enjoyed the instrumental of Brian Wilson's When I Grow Up to Be a Man at the end. Very timely.
George starts out diplomatic up to 75%. Towards the end, he's run out of mercy if he doesn't like it. But that's what we love about him- his honesty! I liked that Hammond organ arrangement of the Beach Boys' When I Grow Up (To Be A Man). Beautiful melody and if you hear the song as a kid, those lyrics will be easy to relate to.
Did he say "Stoned out of your head..."?! Ha ha. Would have been retrospectively funny if in one of these he had been reviewing The Chiffons' He's So Fine. Karol Keyes became Luan Peters who was the Australian guest in an episode of Fawlty Towers with whom Basil had a rather embarrassing moment with whilst reaching for a light switch.
Whoever is doing the music for these, (the person who's channel this is?) I definitely hear it. I mean I hear the sounds, the tones, the rhythm, the feel of it. How it simultaneously pays homage to an older sound and style, yet also does it in an original way too! Just listen to the drum beat at the beginning of the top 50 chart. It sounds like Specter but there's also a different twist on it .
@@YesterdaysPapers Coincidentally enough I had your mix of Girl from the North Country randomly stuck in my head today- thanks again for all that you do.
Luan Peters (Karol Keyes) appeared in two Hammer horror movies Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil, as well as Pete Walker's The Flesh and Blood Show. She was also in the pilot for an unaired TV series called Go Girl (1972) which has a great theme tune & can be found on yt.
Intersting background about "Message to Martha," written by Bert Bacharach & Hal David and first recorded as an albun track by Jerry Butler. Then American singer Lou Johnson recorded it but failed to make the Hot 100 chart. The Johnson disc was released in the UK but was quickly overshadowed by the Adam Faith version that made it to # 12. A year later Dionne Warwick wanted to record the song with a female perspective.but Bacharach and David were against the idea. Using her gut feeling, Dionne went ahead and recorded "Message to Michael," reaching # 8 in the US, and # 55 in the UK.
All right - nice trick! I had to wait till #45 on the list to be sure what the backing music was ("When I Grow Up"). This is getting to be a fun game! Anyway, asking George to identify Little Richard's voice is like asking him to identify his mother's voice. I did feel his pain though with a lot of the other singles. He was close with Dean Martin instead of Al Martin(o).
Wow! What precision analysis both of the music and the sales potential. He knows that what he likes or dislikes is not the same as enough of general record buyers making something a hit. He gives clear reasons for his comments
What a genius is Brian Wilson. The instrumental outro of this video, well done! 'I know that....which song it is?' If you realize which song it is by the melody, it's beause it is well written.
Take a second to appreciate that he know who Ricky Nelson's guitar player was. Yes, it sounds exactly like "You Beat Me To The Punch". All good insights, including crapping on Al Martino. YP: "And Then She Kissed Me" or the Beach Boys?
Another comment, that last single George Harrison reviewed by The Baby Dolls, their version may not have been listenable. But it was co-written in the States by Burt Bacharach, and originally recorded there by Paul Evans two years earlier. Not long before this UK version here, it was covered by Bobby Vinton. In following years, it was covered by Herb Alpert, Bobby Helms, and Burt Bacharach himself. But he never pitched it to his main client Dionne Warwick. The song itself was quite pleasant.
2:19 I never knew Betty Everett did a version of "Getting Mighty Crowded", though I was familiar with Van McCoy's and Elvis Costello's versions. Maybe this was the version Costello heard first.
I think grumpy ol George was just staying on script of what would be a hit in England, i'm not sure if Night Train was a hit over there but it was a kick ass song by James Mr. Funk Brown!!
Wondered how Jim Reeves ended up with 4 LP's in the Top 20, but this was a bit after the plane crash, so I assume that is why charted so much this month.
He didn't like the Ricky Nelson record but they later became friends and I guess neighbors--George had a house in LA on the same street from what I've read
