The albums will not be released until later, and Scott passed away in July, but the recording happened in late June 1961. I’m actually looking forward to those albums, as I liked the last record I listened to by this trio of jazzmen. I think the first one is coming out in October, so I’m gonna have to wait until I get there.

---

Boy George was born on June 14th, and he’ll bring us some joy in a couple of decades. Greg Hetson from Bad Religion saw the light of day on June 29th, and Ricky Gervais and Michael J. Fox, two guys who will create and star in some great TV shows and movies, were also born during this summer month.

---

THE ALBUMS

ELLA FITZGERALD – ELLA IN HOLLYWOOD

Ella Fitzgerald is back at it again…kind of. «Ella In Hollywood» was recorded in May, in Hollywood (obviously) at The Crescendo. It’s a live record, again, with a jazz quartet. It starts off with a stressful little number called This Could Be The Start of Something Big. It just goes off in high drive right out of the blocks, and I’m not even sure if she catches her breath once during this song. I really like how her voice sounds on this one, but the song itself stresses me out. There are a couple more of these frantic songs on here, and it’s a bit weird to listen to. It’s like she realized that there are too many words, and she just HAS to get them in there, quick!

There are some slow jazz ballads as well of course. So the feeling that she has to be somewhere else fades away after a while. It’s a pretty good album, but I’m still not a huge fan of Ella. I respect the shit out of her, but it’s still not the kind of music I would play on my stereo at home. She also does some scat solos during this show, and that’s pretty funny. When listening to the scatting I understand why that stuff never really became a natural thing in music. I get that it was used in jazz some, but damn it’s dumb.

It also includes her hit (You’ll Have To Swing It) Mr. Paganini. I didn’t know it was a hit, but it’s written on the cover so I guess it’s true. I thought she was singing ‘’pickaninny’’, which I believe is a pretty offensive word aimed at black children. She wasn’t, of course.

---

Bob Gibson started his career at a club in Chicago called Gate of Horn. Here he met Joan Baez and ended up introducing her to an international audience at the Newport Folk Festival in ‘59. He was a prominent artist on the folk scene in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s and influenced artists like Peter, Paul & Mary. «Yes I See» is, according to most people, not one of his best albums, but I don’t think it’s all that bad. The backup singers don’t fit in very well, but other than that it’s quite alright. No hits to talk about, but a collection of ok songs. Gibson will, like so many others, fuck up his career because of drugs at some point.

---

THE MIRACLES – HI… WE’RE THE MIRACLES

This is actually the first album ever released by Motown Records, even though it was released on their subsidiary label Tamla Records. The Miracles are also the first group to release music on Motown. «Hi… We’re The Miracles» would play a big part in defining the Motown Sound, and it also includes the record company’s first #1 hit, and million seller, Shop Around.

I’ve written about Shop Around earlier, but I didn’t give it the credit it deserved. It’s a great song, to be honest, and I kinda let it slide passed me unnoticed the first time I encountered it. I guess there’s a real chance of that happening when you’re listening to as much music as I do right now. But I’m trying to make my amends. And that’s not the only good song on this album. It’s actually kinda packed with them. There are some great ballads like Who’s Lovin’ You, (You Can) Depend On Me, Cause I Love You, and After All. And of course some more upbeat tunes like A Heart Like Mine, Won’t You Take Me Back, Way Over There, and their version of Motown’s first hit single, Money (That’s What I Want).

The Miracles was founded in Detroit by Smokey Robinson, Emmerson and Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White, and Warren (who for some reason was called Pete) Moore back in the mid-50s. Emmerson left the band pretty quickly and was replaced by his sister, and Smokey’s wife, Claudette. They started working with Berry Gordy in ‘57 when they were known as the Matadors, and according to Wikipedia, it was Smokey Robinson who encouraged him to start his own R&B record label. That label was of course Tamla Records, and later Motown Records.

The Miracles offers up a great debut here, and one can only imagine what will come later as Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy keep writing music together.

---

MARVIN GAYE – THE SOULFUL MOODS OF MARVIN GAYE

Marvin Gaye’s debut album! Man, I’ve never heard this album before, and I’m excited to embark upon his discography. Marvin Gaye is a straight-up legend so to be able to follow his entire career is a pleasure. I can’t wait to see how he evolved from this to where we all know he ended up. Cause, you know, this album isn’t really what I thought it would be. That’s obviously because I know Marvin Gaye better from the ‘70s, and his music from that era is, well, some of the best music ever released.

Marvin Gaye was a minister’s son, but he left his father’s church to make R&B music with a group called the Rainbows, and in 1957 he joined the Marquees who was recording under the guidance of Bo Diddley. In 1960 he left the group to follow Harvey Fuqua to Detroit where he ended up as a session drummer and singer for Berry Gordy and Motown Records. He actually played drums on the early Miracles recordings. In 1961 he married Gordy’s sister, Anna, and was offered a solo record contract. Whether those two events had anything to do with each other is unknown to me, but it does seem less than random. Anyway, to not sign Marvin Gaye would be pretty stupid if you could look into the future like I can, so I guess Berry Gordy knew what he was doing. His first single, (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over, was released under his birth name, Marvin Gay, but it was quickly changed to Marvin Gaye.

Now this first album is nothing like how I know Marvin Gaye. Even though the album is called «The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye», it’s more jazz than it is soul. And I can’t really say I’m a big fan of it. The songs are pretty boring, and the moods aren’t that soulful. The best songs on the album are the ones that have some soul or R&B to them, and that would be Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide and Never Let You Go (Sha Lu Bop), where the latter is written by Harvey Fuqua and Anna Gordy Gaye. Marvin Gaye is considered a pretty damn good songwriter, but he hasn’t written anyone on his debut album.

I’m not blown away by Marvin’s debut, but it was still a fun listen, historically. Musically, not so much. But it is really cool to get to see where these major artist started their career and to be able to see how they develop. So let’s just move past this one and look forward to the next one.

---

Del Shannon’s debut album, «Runaway with Del Shannon», follows his hit single Runaway. That song was really good, and it gave me some pretty big expectations for this album, but sadly they were not lived up to. The album is ok, but none of the other songs are of the quality that Runaway is. But what is more interesting than the music is that one of the reasons Del was so popular is that he seemed so mature, and his talent for writing music was pretty damn good for someone his age. But it actually turned out, many years from now, that he was five years older than what he stated.

And it looks like I’ve missed the two first Ventures albums, «Walk, Don’t Run» and «The Ventures», so now they’re out with their third, «Another Smash!!!». I’ve come to the conclusion that The Ventures works best as a single band, cause this album just didn’t work. I like their style and everything, but it just lost its charm after a couple of songs, and became boring. So, I can listen to a song from this band every now and then, but not as an album with songs lined up like that. Nah, that doesn’t work.

---

ELVIS PRESLEY – SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY

This is his sixth studio album and his fourth album (including soundtrack) since he arrived back home from the army in 1960. Watching Elvis trying to mature and reach a more adult crowd is not amazing. Not at all. This album is part ballads, and part rock ‘n’ roll, which is what the title refers to I guess, but the songs aren’t very good. He sounds fine and all, but the tracks feels a bit generic. Even when he tries to rock it sounds a bit boring.

I’m not sure what Elvis has planned for his future, but I’m a bit alarmed with how this is looking. His last album, «His Hand In Mine», was awful, and this one is pretty boring. Considering that he is The King, I’m expecting a bit more from him. Not this mediocre shit that he’s pulling right now. I guess I just have to wait and see.

---

JOHNNY CASH – NOW HERE’S JOHNNY CASH

Sun Records kept cashing in on the superstar Johnny Cash and released another collection of tracks recorded by him while still signed to the label. This is a rather short compilation, not even 30 minutes, and it’s filled with some classics, unreleased tracks, and demos that have been fixed up a bit.

There are some good songs here, but it’s not a brilliant album. Port of Lonely Hearts and My Treasure are previously unreleased tracks, and they’re pretty good. Can’t really wrap my head around the backup vocals on the first one, but other than that it’s ok. I really like Oh, Lonesome Me, a Don Gibson tune, Home of the Blues, a previously released single back in ‘57, (that one has completely evaded me, so I’m very glad this was on the record), and So Doggone Lonesome. The only songs that are…not bad…just, maybe not very Johnny Cash, is Sugartime and Down the Street to 301.

So even though it’s not a brilliant album, it’s definitively worth checking out. There are a couple of gems here, and the ones I haven’t mentioned are also pretty good. I liked this album a lot better when I put my headphones on and listened more carefully actually, so that might be a good tip.

---

THE SINGLES

Brenda Lee, or ‘’Little Miss Dynamite’’ as she was known, released the song Dum Dum and it eventually ended up at #4 in the US and Australia. Usually, she tops the charts with her love ballads, but this one is a bit more funky and actually kinda cool. Brenda was discovered at a really young age with a voice like a grown woman. The voice is so mature that she once toured France, and because the French promoters thought she was an adult they allegedly spread the rumor that she was a 32-year-old midget. I really hope that’s true! A Girl Like You by Cliff Richard & The Shadows did well in the UK and Norway, but the song is nothing much if you ask me, Joe Dowell released Wooden Heart, recorded by Elvis not too long ago, and it did pretty well. And that’s just crazy. The song is so incredibly dull, and even Elvis couldn’t make it big, so what the hell did Joe Dowell have that Elvis didn’t?

The Mar-Keys releases their debut hit single Last Night, an instrumental little ditty that is pretty damn cool. The single not only put Mar-Keys on the map but also established their record company Satellite Records. Within months of the release the record company changed its name to Stax Records, and Mar-Keys became their house band. Mar-Keys is also the starting point of Booker T. & The M.G’s. as Booker T. Jones and Al Jackson eventually joined the band, and together with Steve Cropper and Donald ‘’Duck’’ Dunn started the band. The Mar-Keys’ success (after this song) was limited, but they served as the backbone to sessions by artists like Otis Redding, and Wilson Pickett.

Bill Anderson recorded a song called Po’ Folks and it reached #9 on the country charts. The song seems to me as a novelty song making fun of poor people, but from what I read it doesn’t seem like that was the intention. Whether this Bill Anderson was poor or not is beyond me, but it supposedly it’s a song that ‘’spoke for all of the Southern baby boomers’’ according to Wide Open Country. The song even helped Bill open a restaurant chain by the same name later in the ‘70s. Helen Shapiro’s You Don’t Know was a hit in numerous countries and became a million seller earning her a gold disc. The song isn’t anything special, but it’s decent.

Ike & Tina Turner is the last single this June, and they are still not messing around. It’s Gonna Work Out Fine is gonna be their second million seller, and their first Grammy nomination for Best Rock & Roll Performance. And the song is that good. Tina’s voice is just so damn powerful, and she makes the song demand your attention. I’m not a huge fan of the talking style verse, but it doesn’t annoy me as much here as it has done on other songs. And I’ll take that as a good sign. This is the first single from their upcoming album «Dynamite!» (1962), and it does a good job in hyping that album.

THE CHARTS

Adam Wade, who became the first African-American to host a game show in the US in the ‘70s, gets some attention with his song The Writing On The Wall. It’s a tune that doesn’t excite much, and the only reason I’m bothering to mention it is because the b-side, Point of No Return, also charted, entering the Top 100. It’s also a lot better than the A-side. Gladys Knight & The Pips, known only as The Pips at the moment, is the other that enters the Top 10 this month. Their song Every Beat of My Heart, originally recorded in ‘54 by The Royals, is a pleasant R&B ballad. The Pips is a family band and was formed way back in 1952 at Gladys’ older brother’s birthday party. They toured with Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson before Gladys had turned 13, but their recording debut in ‘57 went nowhere. So this is their first hit song. The group will struggle a bit after this but will rise again in the late ‘60s.

---

Petter Milde

This Band Could Be Your Life