The Everly Brothers -- A Date With The Everly Brothers

  Rock 'n' roll singing duo The Everly Brothers could have precursored the Beatle and the Beach Boys if they would have emulated the Chuck Berry sound rather than country.  The record features, one interesting Jimmy Reed classic blues cover, Baby What Do You Want Me To Do, a terrible version of Little Richard's Rock masterpiece Lucille, and two head turning numbers, Love Hurts, yes it's the tune that Nazareth murdered, and Cathy's Clown.  Love Hurts's main riff sets the somber mood with moody heartfelt vocals that confirms indeed ... Love Hurts.  Cathy's Clown at first glance just sounds like a stereotypical Everlys track, but if you break it up into parts you find something different, strange off beat drum, jangly piano, minimal guitar, harmonized vocals, the song turns out to be a very well arranged and thought-out, no wonder it was such a mega hit!  I suggest you all have A Date With The Everly Brothers!  (Ha ha they sound skanky now!)

The Jacks -- Jumpin' with the Jacks

  Rare swingin' doo wop group The Jacks were also known as The Cadets, and no they didn't have a simple name change, they actually recorded under both monikers at the same time, I guess they figured two chances are better than one.  They used the Jacks for the ballads and the Cadets for the uptempo rockers.  Although The best Jacks numbers are Rock 'n' Roll songs, Oo Wee Baby and Do You Wanna Rock.  Both tunes are great R & B tracks, Oo Wee Baby has a certain quality to it that grabs your attention, the sound of desperation where all he could sing is Oo Wee Baby, while  Do You Wanna Rock, which they later released under the Cadets, is basic Coasters style music.  The Jacks story is one strange one, they tried to hit two birds with one stone, and missed (twice), but even though they didn't hit it big they were a great doo wop group (or groups), and sure as hell could sing!

Sam Cooke

    The legendary Sam Cooke goes beyond being a music pioneer, maybe it's the mystique of his death, shot in a motel office in only his sports jacket and shoes, not really the end you'd think of when you hear the sound of his music and voice.  Furthermore was it murder, was it self-defense, who was the woman who left Cooke's room, did he rape her, was she a prostitute, the list goes on and on, we'll never know the real story.  I think the point is that an artist with his caliber of brilliance and talent never last too long, it's like they are so damn good that the stress of being  charismatic and loved just sends them into spiral of self-destruction, but who could really handle that?  It'd be great, I'm sure, as time goes on, a little too great, and then what??  Can you really keep up with yourself and be as wonderful as you were, in most cases it's bad ending to a good life, but Cooke was hardly a angel, he might have sounded like one, but sure as sh*t didn't act like one!

  As far as fully exploring this record, I'd would have had to listen to this album at least 10 times to ingrain it into my brain.  As soon as the needle hits you totally get sucked in, Cooke's cool smooth sultry voice is unlike anything else, with the beautifully arranged backups by Bumps Blackwell, takes you away into their world, nothing else really matters, except to keep listening.  Sam Cooke is an essential music legend, up there with Robert Johnson (also shot), putting the world on track and setting the course for the future.

The Doors -- Waiting For The Sun

  Beating the dead horse Waiting For The Sun just isn`t good.  I like the Doors, who doesn`t, but I can`t stand them at the same time, who can??  A couple of the tracks are good, but overall this record is pretentious over the top hippy garbage.  Most of the lyrics drive me bananas, for a so called beat poet genius, the words are weak.  The drugs and booze must have gotten the best of them to the point they thought they could do no wrong.  This sun I'm not waiting for!

The Music Machine -- (Turn on)

  Take out the cheesy covers and the campy stereotypical 60's originals, you've got yourself a Punk Rock record.  These guys had jet black moptops, all wore one black glove, in an all black garb.  Trouble, Wrong, People In Me and Masculine Intuition are fast fuzzed out punk numbers with flirtations of psychedelia -- it's 1966 after all.  Where the real money lies is on hit track Talk Talk, no psychedelia, no hippie bullsh*t, this is the real deal, fast, angry and loud.  The lyrics describe a degenerate who left his child, his reputation is "something more than wild," his name is "Really Mud," he has to hide his face, "or go some other place"; all this because of a life filled with lies and deceit, it eventually gets so bad, he takes off, washes his hand of all the damage he's done.  For a hit tune the theme is not only dark, it's sympathetic to criminalesque anti-social behaviour, makes me think of the Hell's Angels 1% ers.  I probably think that because Lester Bangs had a funny story about a homosexual biker obsessed with this song, only able to commit heterosexual activities while his 45 of Talk Talk is being played over and over, what this story suppose to mean or why I mentioned it I have no idea, but it's something that struck Bangs so it struck me!  Everyone better Turn On The Music Machine, because I doubt these guys would let you turn it off.

The Beatles -- '65

  Beatles '65 foreshadows what is to come from the group.  Lush sounding No Reply, I'll Follow The Sun and  Mr. Moonlight.  Rock 'n' roll classics Honey Don't, Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby and Rock And Roll Music.  Beatlemaniaed I'm A Loser, Baby's In Black and I'll Be Back.  The numbers of interest She's A Woman and I Fell Fine.  She's A Woman is bass driven track turned up to eleven and has a Velvets simplicity, like a slowed down I'm Waiting For The Man.  Super hit track I Fell Fine's influential guitar riff goes into the jangly hippy cool of the Byrds and has a style that is still mimicked today.  1965 was the year of the subtle experimentations acting as a stepping stone to the future.

The Shirelles -- Greatest Hits

  Classic girl group, The Shirelles are amongst the greatest of their era.  All the songs are beautifully arranged and are written by a cool collection of rock luminaries (look it up), meaning this album isn't anything less than perfect!  The main mega hits are the ones I love the most, Dedicated To The One I Love. a group vocaled doo wop track, Baby It's You the beautiful somber mood number, and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow the superbly arranged work of art, but that doesn't mean that any of the other tracks aren't great -- trust me ... get into the Shirelles and listen to the LOVE!