Today, we’re kicking off a new weekly posting series that will focus on recommended music you can listen to both through the library’s digital Freegal Music Service*, which allows you to listen to and download songs to a PC, Mac or mobile device, and via the library’s compact disc collection.
You can think of these postings as an audio version of the traditional reader’s advisory services public libraries provide – instead of suggesting that next great book for you to read – we’re going to recommend that next great song, album or artist you can listen to!
For 2017 our music theme will be sixties rock. Each month we’ll focus on a genre of sixties rock and each week we’ll focus on three artists or groups that fall under the umbrella of our monthly genre of sixties rock.
Each weeks posting will have four sections:
1. Freegal Music Recommendations: These suggestions will feature music available to stream or download from the Freegal Music Catalog (which is free – library card required!). You can stream three hours of commercial free music per day from Freegal so it is a good way to check out artists and groups and expand your musical horizons!
To access Freegal Music from a desktop or laptop simply click on the following link:
http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
The STLS Freegal Music Catalog homepage will display — it looks like this:
The Freegal Music app can be found in your app store and it looks like this:
2. Compact Discs Recommendations: These recommendations will feature songs and albums found in the library’s compact disc collection and available for check out at the library.
3. Videos: This section fill feature short videos found online, mostly on YouTube, of each spotlighted artist.
4. References: This section will include links to the references used to create each weeks posting – so if you want to know more about an artist or song – just click a link!
With that in mind, our February category of Sixties Rock Suggested Listens is Twangy Guitars. And with our guitars in hand, or at least in mind, we’ll enjoy listening to some of the most popular and influential guitarists of the early 1960s (think pre-Beatles guitarists).
And for this first full week of February our three recommended twangy guitar players are Duane Eddy, Lonnie Mack and Link Wray.
FREEGAL MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
Recommended Guitarist 1) Duane Eddy
Album: The Complete US & UK Singles and EP’s A’s & B’s 1955-62:
This album includes a number of Duane Eddy’s best known songs including: Rebel RouserAKA Rebel-‘rouser, Along Came Linda, Caravan, Pt 2, Cannonball, Peter Gunn, Night Train To Memphis and more!
Here’s the link to the album:
https://goo.gl/ebXHd9
Recommended Guitarist 2) Lonnie Mack
Album: Roadhouses and Dance Halls:
This one was Mack’s last solo album, released in 2001 and it is the only full album of Mack’s material found in the Freegal catalog. Having said that, this is a solid album and you can hear that Rockabilly player that he was Mack never ventured too far from his country music roots.
The album includes the songs: Plain Jane (In A Mustang0, Honkey Tonk Man, Riding the Blinds, Hard Life and more. And my favorite song on this album is Lucille which despite the title is not the tune of Little Richard fame but instead a neat song that those of us of a certain age will certainly appreciate – one of the main lines in the song goes “My get up and go, got up and went with Lucille!”
Here’s the link to the album:
https://goo.gl/2fZnxp
Recommended Guitarist 3) Link Wray & The Wraymen:
Album: Link Wray & The Wraymen: The Definitive Edition
(Bonus Track Version):
This album features most of Link’s classic era songs including Rumble & Raw-Hide. In addition to those songs I’m also very fond of the tune Golden Strings which is based on a Chopin Etude and has a nice, and unexpected, piano player alternating his playing with Link’s guitar playing.
Here’s a the link to the album:
https://goo.gl/qJsB20
Week 1 Freegal Wild Card Pick:
Album: Moochin’ Abouts Stateside Hitlist 1962, Vol. 1 by Various Artists
I know I said not all Wild Card picks of the weeks for this year would focus on sixites rock, and indeed the CD Wild Card pick doesn’t; however, this is a really nice collection of popular hits form 1962 including The Night Has A Thousand Eyes by Bobby Vee, I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles, The Stripper by David Rose & His Orchestra, Snap Your Fingers by Joe Henderson, Ramblin’ Rose by Nat King Cole and many, many more – I just couldn’t resists as it is a really fun collection of songs!
Here’s a link to the album:
https://goo.gl/OtZLEw
COMPACT DISC RECOMMENDATIONS:
1) The Very Best of Duane Eddy by Duane Eddy:
This three disc set features all of Eddy’s most popular hits including Rebel Rouser, Because They’re Young, Moon River, Shazam!, Ring of Fire, John Henry, Forty Miles of Bad Road, Cannonball & more!
Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:
https://goo.gl/7mSSA0
2) The Wham of that Memphis Man by Lonnie Mack:
Lonnie Mack’s seminal debut LP featuring the songs: Wham!, Suzie Q, Farther on Down The Road, Chicken Pickin’, Memphis, Why and more!
Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:
https://goo.gl/CSJxef
3) Rumble! The Best of Link Wray by Link Wray:
This album features 20 of Wray’s best songs including: Rumble, The Swag, Raw-Hide, Dixie-Doodle, Ramble, Deuces Wild, Batman Theme, Ace of Spades and more!
Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:
https://goo.gl/tzIbjx
Week 1 CD Wild Card Pick:
Sidewinder by Lee Morgan:
Carried by its almost impossibly infectious eponymous opening track, The Sidewinder helped foreshadow the sounds of boogaloo and soul-jazz with its healthy R&B influence and Latin tinge. While the rest of the album retreats to a more conventional hard bop sound, Morgan’s compositions are forward-thinking and universally solid. Only 25 at the time of its release, Morgan was accomplished (and perhaps cocky) enough to speak of mentoring the great Joe Henderson, who at 26 was just beginning to play dates with Blue Note after getting out of the military. Henderson makes a major contribution to the album, especially on “Totem Pole,” where his solos showed off his singular style, threatening to upstage Morgan, who is also fairly impressive here. Barry Harris, Bob Cranshaw, and Billy Higgins are all in good form throughout the album as well, and the group works together seamlessly to create an album that crackles with energy while maintaining a stylish flow. – AllMusic Review by Stacia Proefrock
Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:
https://goo.gl/OdyGL5
And if you have ten minutes to spare – here’s a link to YouTube where you can listen to one of the most engaging songs on the album Totem Pole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12srcPirMeM
Video Clips:
Duane Eddy:
Rebel Rouser – From the Night Beech-Nut Show. July 19, 1958.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8uZutr1avs
Duane Eddy – The Theme from Peter Gunn – live in Glastonbury 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhVFK9tYu84
Lonnie Mack:
Memphis – the original version from the album The Wham of that Memphis Man – this video features photos of the early sixties but does not show Lonnie Mack himself; however, the sound quality of the song is good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRdQtqHyac
Memphis – this version is from the 1980s and shows Lonnie playing a slightly mellower version of Memphis than the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOlEYLEvkXk
Wham – with another great guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn – from 1986:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbfgBlkSoqc
Link Wray:
Rumble!
Rawhide (Wray and his band are introduced by Dick Clark!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn5hl2IA7_s
References & Brief Artists Description:
Brief Artists Bios:
Duane Eddy (4/26/1938): As many of you will know Duane Eddy has a local connection. He was born in Corning Hospital, the one on Denison Parkway that they are tearing down now, on April 26, 1938 and lived in the Corning area until he was seven. Eddy began his career in the 1950s, picked up steam in the 1960s and continues to play today.
His twangy guitar riffs were heard on 15 top 40 hits released between 1958 and 1963. And his music has been featured in a number of films over the years including Forrest Gump.
Some of Eddy’s best known songs include: Rebel Rouser, Peter Gunn, Movin’ and Groovin’ and one of my favorites John Henry with its cool hammer sounds interspersed with Eddy’s guitar riffs.
Lonnie Mack (7/18/1941-4/21/2016): The great Rockabilly guitarist Lonnie Mack was born Lonnie McIntosh in Harrison, Indiana on July 18, 1941. Mack is best known for his debut album The Wham Of That Memphis Man released in 1964. Also of cool note, Mack played rocking blues solo on the Door’s song Roadhouse Blues. Two of Mack’s best known songs are Wham and his version of Chuck Berry’s Memphis – both found on his debut album.
Link Wray (5/2/1929-11/5/2005): Power Chord pioneer Link Wray was born on May 2, 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina and came to guitar prominence in the late fifties and early sixties. His known for a number of instrumental classics including Rumble and Raw-Hide. Wray’s music came back into pop culture awareness in the nineties when film makers including Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) and Robert Rodriquez (Desperado) used his music in their films.
References:
General References:
Santelli, Robert. Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide. Contemporary Books. Chicago. 1985.
Sidewinder by Lee Morgan, review by Stacia Proefrock, AllMusic.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-sidewinder-mw0000241127
Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books. New York. 2009.
Duane Eddy References:
100 Greatest Guitarists #64: Duane Eddy. Rolling Stone.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123/duane-eddy-20111122
Duane Eddy Biography. LastFM. http://www.last.fm/music/Duane+Eddy/+wiki
Duane Eddy. AllMusic.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/duane-eddy-mn0000171637
Play Like Duane Eddy by Jesse Gress, Guitar Player. http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1026/10-things-you-gotta-do-to-play-like-duane-eddy/22245
Lonnie Mack References:
Lonnie Mack. AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lonnie-mack-mn0000274822/biography
Lonnie Mack, Singer and Guitarist Who Pioneered Blues-Rock, Dies at 74 by William Grimes, New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/arts/music/lonnie-mack-singer-and-guitarist-who-pioneered-blues-rockdies-at-74.html?_r=0
Link Wray References:
Link Wray (Artist Overview). AllMusic.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/link-wray-mn0000240311
Link Wray, 76, a Guitarist With Raw Rockabilly Sound, Dies by Ben Sisario. New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/arts/link-wray-76-a-guitarist-with-raw-rockabilly-sound-dies.html
Have a great week!
Linda, SSCL
*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and including our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York. Library cards are free and at our library you can obtain one by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features both your name and your current address.
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