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April 1960 saw the birth of some rock stars as John Maher, drummer of Buzzcocks, was born on the 21st, and Steve Clark, songwriter and lead guitarist of Def Leppard, saw the light on the 23rd. Other than that there isn’t much to write home about. Brasilia did become Brazil’s new capital though, and since I am fond of geography, this nice little trivia deserves to be a footnote a least. There are some other stuff as well, but I’m having trouble verifying them. For instance, this might be the month that RCA Victor Records decided that they were going to release all their singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, becoming the first record company to do so, and Motown became incorporated as Motown Record Corporation. I’m not even sure if that last one is worth mentioning. Buuuut, it might be.

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THE ALBUMS

As I said, it’s not necessarily an easy task figuring out the exact release date for all the records ever released. I’m gonna try to get better at it, but for now, whatever I’m doing has to be good enough. So for that reason, I’m gonna incorporate Jimmy Smith’s Back At The Chicken Shack here in April 1960.

THE INCREDIBLE JIMMY SMITH – BACK AT THE CHICKEN SHACK

Of course, it’s funny that I’m making such a big fuzz about it, cause I’m not gonna write too much about this record. The reason I’m adding this to April is that it’s listed in a book called “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”, edited by Robert Dimery, under the year 1960. And furthermore, they mention a couple places that it was recorded in April, including this book. Aaaanywho, let’s get the fuck on though. I’m rambling about this so much it’s starting to sound like I’m guilty of something. Jimmy Smith is said to be the father of Soul Jazz, and that’s probably a much better description of his music than what I wrote down in my notebook, Country Jazz. I like the sound of that as well though, however, I’m gonna go with Soul Jazz from now on. The album has a great groove throughout and the organ really makes the difference here. The organ is also the culprit of him becoming the so-called father of this music, because when he started playing it the only other places you could hear it was in church and some other not-so-cool arenas. And yeah, Jimmy Smith has made one of the very few jazz records I can actually enjoy and will put on at random times, so there’s that as well. I’m partial to the opening track, Back At The Chicken Shack.

ELVIS PRESLEY – ELVIS IS BACK!

This album was recorded in March and released only days after they finished. Since Elvis had been gone a couple of years I guess people were starved for some Elvis, so the record company wasted no time in giving the public what they wanted. The album reached number two on the album charts and I really enjoy what music historian John Robertson said about the album in his book “Elvis Presley: The Complete Guide to His Music”; As a whole, the record “conjured up the vision of a performer who could be all things: a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold; a tempestuous, dangerous lover; a gutbucket blues singer; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; and a raucous rocker”. But even though people fell in love with this album when it came out, doesn’t mean that I did. Don’t get me wrong, the album is not at all super bad, but it just doesn’t make me wanna dance. Two songs do however make me wanna watch someone else dance; the opening track Make Me Know It and Dirty, Dirty Feeling. Other than those there aren’t much here. There is an awfully boring version of the song Fever and some other tunes that might be ok, but I’d much rather listen to some other album by Elvis than this one to be perfectly honest.

THE KINGSTON TRIO – SOLD OUT

For some reason, the name of this band tricked me into thinking it was gonna be awesome. Probably thought they would be from Kingston, Jamaica, and that the record would be full of songs that would knock me outta my seat. It isn’t. And I’m starting to realize that the people listening to music in 1960 did not share the same taste in music as myself. This album reached number 1 on the charts and actually stayed on the Billboard Top 40 for an amazing 54 weeks!! And I’m sitting here like “What the fuck?”. I only like the songs El Matador, the first single from the album, and Bimini. But I have to mention that this band was immensely successful. At some point, they were responsible for 15% of Capitol Records’ total sales(!) and they have released nineteen albums that made Billboard‘s Top 100, fourteen of which ranked in the top 10, and five of which hit the number 1 spot. This is remarkable considering that I barely like two songs on this album. Anyway, I’m not sure how to end this, so I’m just gonna stop writing…

Dizzy Gillespie also released an album this month, A Portrait of Duke Ellington, but I’ve decided not to touch any more jazz albums just yet.

BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS – BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS

I just realized, as I was searching for the cover photo to put here, that I haven’t been listening to the correct album. The one released this month is not available on Spotify, so I’ve been listening to an album released in 1963 (i think) for the past couple of weeks. Too bad, cause I actually liked it and was gonna name it “Album of the Month”. Well, guess I’ll have to postpone that one.

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THE CHARTS

So, finally Percy Faith is kicked off that number one spot. He’s been too comfortable, too long, with such a boring track(!), so it was about time. And who else but Elvis “The King” Presley gets the honor. Stuck On You was recorded at the same time as the album Elvis Is Back! and it went to number 1 in only four weeks. I guess people missed Elvis. And to be honest, right now I think he is the closest I’ll get to any music that resembles the sixties that I’m so looking forward to. The music is still stuck in the fifties and that, of course, shows in the charts. The other new arrival in the Top 3 is Paul Anka with his song Puppy Love. I think I grew up with this song. For some reason, there is some distant memory of me slow dancing with the girls back in my early teens. And then there’s the novelty/march song Sink The Bismarck by Johnny Horton. I don’t know. I’ve never been a big fan of these kinds of songs. But I guess it’s fun enough.

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April had at least some good music to show for, but I’m still waiting for some really good stuff to arrive. I’ll stay patient and keep crossing my fingers that I’ll discover some new, amazing music that I’ve for some reason never been introduced to.

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Petter Milde

This Band Could be Your Life