Author: Kim Simpson

A 1966-67 TV ad campaign for Benson & Hedges 100’s focused on the extra long cigarettes’ disadvantages, making for situational giggles. The commercial was popular enough for the alluring musical backdrop to get some airplay on its own. Written by Mitch Leigh, the same man who scored the Man of La Mancha musical, the genuine as-heard-on-television article made enough noise in Cleveland to chart locally and to get listed in a 2/11/67 issue of Billboard as a potential breakout hit. This record was credited to “The Answer” on the red Columbia label, and the arrangers are listed as “Music Makers,” aka Leigh’s own production house. (Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles erroneously cites Bill Dean and John Campbell as the songwriters.) Another arrangement of this song, by Phil Bodner’s studio assembly the Brass Ring, entered the charts a week earlier on the Dunhill label with the hyphenated title “The Dis-Advantages of You” (and an arrangement of the “Dating Game” theme on side B). Peaking at #36, it won the battle of the jingle singles, outpacing the original as a full-blown Top 40 hit.

“Superstar” (1969) – Murray Head with the Trinidad Singers * Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice * 45: “Superstar” / “John Nineteen Forty-One” * LP: Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) * Produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice * Label: Decca * Charts: Billboard #14; UK: #47

The 1969 leadoff single for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s ambitious rock opera starring the Son of God did its part in generating anticipation for an album that wouldn’t hit shelves until late 1970. The single sleeve attributes the track as coming “from the Rock Opera ‘Jesus Christ’ now in preparation.” The single would enter the US Billboard charts three separate times between 1970 and 1971, and appeared on the UK singles chart as late as 1972. A promo clip featuring vocalist Murray Head, who would be Judas Iscariot in the musical and who had recently starred in a London run of Hair, shows him climbing around cathedral ruins and singing alongside a chorus of six women billed as the “Trinidad Singers.” Its early association with the “Respect” or “Oh Happy Day” tradition ought not to be discounted as a broad appeal factor.

“The Jitterbug” (1939) – Judy Garland * Written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg * 78: “Over the Rainbow” / “The Jitterbug” * Label: Decca

“The Jitterbug” is a song that was axed from The Wizard of Oz film, but appeared as the B-side to Judy Garland’s hit version of “Over the Rainbow,” released the same year.  It tapped in to the high energy dance craze of the day and was slated to feature Dorothy and her yellow brick road cohorts jitterbugging to exhaustion under the influence of the title’s critters. Most notable about this recording, though, is the melody Harold Arlen uses in the verses, which foretells Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Bali Ha’i” exactly ten years before South Pacific. This places it in the timeline after Franz Waxman’s 1935 score for The Bride of Frankenstein, which is often cited as a possible influence on “Bali Ha’i.”

“My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'” (1973) – The Chi-Lites * Written by Eugene Record and Stanley (Stank) McKenney * 45: “My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'” / “Just Two Teenage Kids (Still in Love)” * LP: A Letter to Myself * Label: Brunswick * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 (#92)

The early seventies saw an influx of hybrid genres and formats reflecting both a new cultural complexity and more sophisticated methods of audience analysis. The idea of “soul country” thus drifted about, with the massive success of Charley Pride—himself a hardcore country singer— raising questions about such a blend. Chicago’s Chi-Lites brought particular attention to themselves as “soul country” experimentalists, prompting a name check by Nashville promotional executive Chuck Chellman in the Music City News. He referred to recent adds of the Chi-Lites to country station playlists as evidence that country’s dalliance with rock music was leading to far greater travesties. Although their “Oh Girl,” with its laid back, harmonica-driven feel, may spring to mind as an example, it was a 1972 track called “My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'”—a unique hodgepodge of barnyard fiddle, drawled vocals, Philly soul polish, pizzicatto strings and street corner doo wop—that made the strongest pitch. This was “soul country” if there ever was any.

“Morning Much Better” (1970) – Ten Wheel Drive featuring Genya Ravin * Written by Michael Zager and Aram Schefrin * 45: “Morning Much Better” / “Stay With Me” * LP: Brief Replies * Produced by Guy Draper * Label: Polydor * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 (#74)

New Jersey’s Ten Wheel Drive competed with Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears in the thriving late-sixties/early-seventies jazz rock market, where band rosters could also function as fully-staffed softball teams. Among Ten Wheel Drive’s assets was singer Genya Ravin (formerly of ’60s girl group Goldie and the Gingerbreads), who was known to remove her upper attire and perform in body paint. Their lone charting single “Morning Much Better” now stands out for sounding like a precursor to the Family Feud TV game show theme, which debuted in 1976. Although that piece of music, written by Walt Levinski, doesn’t borrow any melodic ideas from the Ten Wheel Drive single, they both share a distinctive banjo and blaring horn DNA. Band member (and “Morning Much Better” co-writer) Michael Zager would later create the 1978 disco hit “Let’s All Chant,” while Ravin would produce Young, Loud and Snotty, the 1977 classic US punk debut LP for the Dead Boys.

“Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45)” (1983) – Circle Jerks * Written by Tandy Almer, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Bill Danoff, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Bobby Braddock, Curly Putnam * 45: “Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45)” / “Rats of Reality” * LP: Golden Shower of Hits * Producer: Jerry Goldstein * Label: LAX Records

The “punk version” shtick seems to only work when levels of sincerity and subtlety manifest themselves, as they do here, courtesy of a Los Angeles band who never knew the meaning of either of those concepts. Behind all the toilet and pee is a series of 5 late-sixties and early-seventies radio hits from the roster’s formative years all strung together into a concise love-found-then-lost narrative. When you’re laughing all the way through, you’re laughing to fight off nascent anxiety. (The five songs: The Association’s “Along Comes Mary,” The Carpenters’ “Close to You,” the Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight,” Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby,” and Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”)

“Why Don’t Somebody” (1977) – Crazy Cavan ‘n’ the Rhythm Rockers * Written by Cavan Grogan and Lyndon Needs * LP: Our Own Way of Rockin’ * Produced by John Schroeder * Label: Charly

This Welsh group helped rally a seventies Teddy Boy revival in the UK which was also catching fire across mainland Europe. The late fifties Teddy Boy look was a suitable fit for the glitter-rock years, when layers of long hair could fold up into a greasy, stringy pompadour worn with an Edwardian gold lamé jacket and leather pants. Throughout most of that complicated decade, the English speaking world already nursed a general case of fifties nostalgia, but by the latter part of it into the early eighties, the “rockabilly revivalism” of groups like Crazy Cavan ‘n’ the Rhythm Rockers developed into more of a distinct genre that bordered on orthodox religion.

“Are You Ready” (1970) – Pacific Gas and Electric * Written by Charles Allen and John Hill * 45: “Are You Ready?” / “Staggolee” * LP: Are You Ready * Label: Columbia * Produced by John Hill

This Jesus-rock track became a 1970 #14 Billboard hit for the LA multiracial soul rock outfit Pacific Gas and Electric (who would need to change its name to PG&E by 1972 to avoid ire from the real life utility company.) The song begins by acknowledging the Vietnam War and ecological concerns (“There’s rumors of war/ Men dying and women crying/ If you breathe air you’ll die”) before stirring up a fuzzed out gospel choir frenzy. The end was nigh, warned the record, and the message must have resonated. The group featured lead vocalist (and Arthur Lee lookalike) Charlie Allen along with former James Gang guitarist Glenn Schwartz, who was likely responsible for their Godward tilt, having been converted to Christianity by street preacher Arthur Blessitt. (Known back then as the “Minister of Sunset Strip,” Blessitt is now remembered for having carried a cross through every nation of the world.) Did Schwartz feel sold out by the album cover? Did God rock, already popular at the time, really need sex to sell it? The 45 for “Are You Ready” gives co-billing to the Blackberries, a group of backup singers associated with the Motown label’s LA studio.