I’ve finally stumbled over the first Norwegian release since I started this project. I mean, there have been other releases, but they are not available on the streaming platforms that I use. And like I’ve mentioned before; I’m not rich enough to buy all the records I can’t find on the internet. But The Monn Keys will be the first Norwegian band to get some attention here on This Band Could Be Your Life.

I gotta warn you though. This month is not filled with amazing releases. Or great happenings. But there are some good singles.

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THE ALBUMS

I had some expectations of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and maybe even Frank Sinatra, but I’m left high and dry in a ditch somewhere. Like snorting coke but realizing it’s just aspirin. Well…ok, that might be a bit harsh. All of those are actually ok. Still though. It feels like I’ve wasted a lot of hours listening to all these albums. So I’m not gonna offer much of my own opinions on these, as I feel like I kinda already did, but there’s still some interesting stuff here and there that I’ll try to bring up.

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LES BAXTER’S ORCHESTRA – JEWELS OF THE SEA

Les Baxter has done it all. At least it looks like he did. Not a bunch of cool, interesting stuff, but still. He started out playing the piano and went from there to join Mel Tormé’s band, The Mel-Tones. He has arranged music for Nat King Cole; Mona Lisa and Too Young amongst others, he has composed and conducted scores for movies, and he had his own orchestra. He had some success with a couple of concept albums, and during the ‘60s he started a folk group called The Balladeers (where a young David Crosby played for a short period), he acted as a musical director for some radio shows, and last but not least, he scored music for theme parks and sea worlds(!). Isn’t that something?! Now, almost none of these things are of any interest to me, but I still find it fascinating that he’s done so much different shit. The Balladeers piqued my interest a bit though, so I’ll probably come back to that later. I think their first single was released in 1963 or something.

«Jewels of the Sea» is, not surprisingly, inspired by the sea. Mermaids, Atlantis, all those mythical things. I’m not sure if I can hear it, but if I set my mind to it and close my eyes, then yeah, maybe I can hear it. The album is mostly percussion and strings, spiked with some keyboards or whatnot.

RAY CHARLES – GENIUS + SOUL = JAZZ

I’m pretty damn impressed with how Ray Charles seems to master whatever genre he wants to. On this album, like the one I wrote bout last time, it’s jazz. And I don’t really know what’s good or not when it comes to jazz, but the people who claim to know will tell you that this album is awesome. All I can say is that I do enjoy listening to it, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.

«Ray + Soul = Jazz» was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011, it’s included in a lot of «Best Ever»-lists, and it is generally spoken highly of. The songs are arranged by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns, the orchestra is members of The Count Basie Band and top New York session players, and of course, Ray Charles is at the front of everything. Even I can understand that this is something special.

The album is mostly instrumental, and is “one of the best early ‘60s examples of soul-jazz crossover’”, according to Allmusic.com. A B-3 Hammond organ is also in play on this record, and it helps me enjoy it a bit more. Allmusic.com has highlighted the tracks I’ve Got News For You, I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town, and One Mint Julep as the best tracks on the record.

SAM COOKE – SWING LOW

There are some disagreements online about when this record was released. Some say it was released in ‘58, and others in ‘61. I’ve just decided that it will be released in March 1961. And Sam Cooke is great, so I just wanna cover most of his albums anyway. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced by this one. Even though it includes the hit Chain Gang. But one song never made an album.

The album is pop-oriented, and it really brings out his voice if nothing else. And while I’m not a fan of it some people love it. I’ve read more than a few good reviews, and some even think it is his best album from this period.

Sam Cook isn’t at his best just yet, but I know what’s in store for him. So this little ‘’bump in the road’’ does not curb my enthusiasm.

Allmusic highlights Chain Gang (of course), They Call The Wind Maria, and I’m Just a Country Boy.

FRANK SINATRA – RING-A-DING-DING!

Frankie hasn’t impressed me at all during the ‘60s, but this album is all right. Not great, but much better than the others he has released so far this decade. It might just be because there aren’t any ballads here though.

«Ring-A-Ding Ding!» is the first release on his new record label, Reprise Records, and it got some mixed reviews. I haven’t read any raving ones, but also none that threw him to the wolves. And it did sound 35 weeks on the album charts, so I guess there has to be something for someone here.

Allmusic highlights A Fine Romance, When I Take My Sugar To Tea, and I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.

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Chuck Berry released the album «New Juke Box Hits»; and that’s exactly what it’s missing. I’ve completely given up on Doris Day, but she released «Bright & Shiny» without convincing me otherwise. Ella Fitzgerald does well on her live album «Ella Returns To Berlin». And Dizzy Gillespie plays some jazz on «An Electrifying Evening With The Dizzy Gillespie Quartet».

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BILL EVANS TRIO – EXPLORATIONS

Bill Evans is one of the most important and influential modern jazz pianists. He played a central part on Miles Davis’ «Kind of Blue», but did not play with him for more than a year before he left and started his trio. «Explorations» is one of the albums that are considered to be his best, and he recorded his finest works with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian between 1959 and 1961.

The reviews I’ve read are almost ecstatic and I even find myself enjoying this now and then. It has to be the right setting, but still. Most of the songs are jazz standards and David Rickert from All About Jazz said “These songs were written just so someone like Evans could play them“. The album also won the Billboard Jazz Critics Best Piano LP poll for 1961.

Israel, Beautiful Love, and How Deep Is The Ocean are the songs highlighted by Allmusic.com.

THE MONN KEYS – HERE ARE THE MONN KEYS

I always thought that The Monn Keys stole their name from The Monkees, but that’s not the case. The Norwegians have kept it going since 1948, and their name is a play on words as the band leader’s name is Egil Monn-Iversen and, well, the word keys (I don’t have to explain that one, right?). They had some hits in Norway back in the ‘50s, like Dyrene i Afrika and Øllebrød, and I guess both of those are best explained as children songs, or maybe novelty songs. The band members include Per Asplin, a well known name for Norwegians. He has written a play that has been set up for years and years, called «Putti Plutti Pott», and it will probably be a on a stage for ages. There’s Nora Brockstedt, who represented Norway in Eurovision in 1961, Sølvi Wang, Arne Bendiksen, and Fredrik Cato Conradi.

I can’t find a lot of information on this album, but it was released at a time when they were pretty big in Scandinavia. And I’m pretty sure that it is their first album with english lyrics, According to the «Norwegian Pop & Rock Encyclopedia» it did receive pretty good reviews in the US. Personally, I’m not a fan.

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That was a rough month. It’s hard trying to stay positive when writing and listening to albums that really just turn into background music. But then again, after listening to some of them over and over, some of them did grow on me. Like Ray Charles, The Bill Evans Trio (both jazz albums, and usually way out of my comfort zone), Sam Cooke (because it’s Sam Cooke), Frank Sinatra (because it’s better than the others I’ve listened to for this project), and Ella Fitzgerald (because she does a good job).

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THE SINGLES

Unlike the album releases, there are actually some pretty good singles this month. Like the debut of The Supremes. And the new single from Roy Orbison.

ROY ORBISON – RUNNING SCARED

Running Scared will climb all the way up to the top of the charts in the US, it will reach No. 9 in the UK, and eventually end up as an international hit song. The song’s build-up is great as it starts slow and builds its way up towards the climax at the end. There’s also no chorus here, but it does not need it either. I’ve also read that Roy Orbison gets the credit for bringing the bolero style into rock’n’roll with this song.

Like I said, it’s the build-up that makes this song so great. And the fact that Orbison’s voice feels clear and natural.

The B-side, Love Hurts, was also a hit in some countries. That will actually make Roy the first artist to have a hit with this song.

LITTLE CAESAR & THE ROMANS – THOSE OLDIES BUT GOODIES (REMIND ME OF YOU)

This is a pretty straightforward ballad, maybe with a hint of humor (or it might just be that his voice sounds funny). The song is nothing more than ok though. And it’s one of those songs that seem to belong in the ‘50s. But I guess the title should have offered me some kind of warning there. The band name is funny enough. I don’t know what else to say here.

There’s not much info on Little Caesar out there, so I’ll just leave it at that. You can check out the song here if you’d like.

TROY SHONDELL – THIS TIME

Troy Shondell became an international one-hit wonder with This Time. It did well in the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand, and it ended up at No. 4 on the Norwegian chart. The song is a rock ballad that the teens seem to like at this time, but if I were to compare it to others like it, there’s really nothing special to it. His voice is kinda generic, and I tire of the song pretty quickly.

GENE PITNEY – TOWN WITHOUT PITY

Gene Pitney started his career as a songwriter and has written songs for Roy Orbison and Bobby Vee among others. His solo career took off with A Town Without Pity (recorded for the movie with the same name), and I like the song. It’s a tragic ballad, but it sits right with me and doesn’t really have the feel of a sad song. This one is not written by the songwriter Gene though, and that could make anyone doubt his credentials as a writer. But in this period he also wrote some big hits like Hello Mary Lou for Ricky Nelson, and He’s a Rebel for The Crystals.

THE EVERLY BROTHERS – WALK RIGHT BACK

The last single these guys released was just boring. Luckily this one is a bit better. Walk Right Back was given to the band by the songwriter unfinished, and The Brothers said they would record it if he wrote a second verse to it. But they ended up recording it before he managed to write it, so it was released with just one verse, and it ended up as a hit anyway. Repetition works, we all know that.

This is a classic Everly song, with the harmonies on point and catchy as always. But it’s far from their best.

THE SUPREMES – I WANT A GUY

This month’s best single release is the debut from The Supremes, I Want A Guy. I really like this song, but for some reason, it did not chart. I don’t know why that is, cause this is really great. It has a sort of Eastern feel to it when the singing starts that makes me think of India, or maybe Pakistan. And it sounds more exotic than anything else released so far in the ‘60s. Maybe that’s why it didn’t catch on?

Anyway, The Supremes has started a pretty amazing career now, and we can look forward to a lot of good music coming our way. So until then I’m just gonna put this on repeat and feel like I found a gem that people overlooked.

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Brenda Lee released another one of her ballads, You Can Depend On Me, Shep & The Limelites followed suit with Daddy’s Home, and Faron Young dropped Hello Walls.

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THE CHARTS

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The fact that someone would record another artist’s song less than a year after it was released is beyond me. But this “phenomenon” is widely accepted in the ‘60s. So here’s Jørgen Ingmann, a Danish guy, charting with Apache. The same song was released by The Shadows in July 1960. That’s eight months. So how does this work? Was Jørgen just like “Man, I can do this a lot better than The Shadows. Why shouldn’t I do this?”. It just feels like such a kick in the face. And the song is an almost exact copy. There are just a few minor tweaks here and there. Like, what the fuck?

And what does it say about them as songwriters? Is it the fact that they don’t have a chance in hell to write a song that would be good enough to sell? Cause the way I see it, it doesn’t look good at all. I could understand it if he did this in maybe five years, as a tribute. But this is just too fucking early, man.

The other new songs on the charts are a terrible novelty song, that I might play for my toddler to see if he reacts to the baby talk, called Baby Sittin’ Boogie by Buzz Clifford, and Carla Thomas with Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes).

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Petter Milde

This Band Could Be Your Life