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Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations for the week; four streaming suggestions* and one recommended album on CD.
(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you’re interested in!)
Freegal Streaming Suggestions*
The 1961 Summer Sessions (2016) by Grant Green (Genre: Jazz):
Grant Green was one of the greatest Jazz guitarist of the sixties and might be much better known today if he hadn’t died so young – in 1979 at age 43. This collection, obviously recorded in the summer of 1961 and includes the songs: Blues in Maude’s Flat, Sunday Morning’, If I Had You, Come Sunshine, So What and I Remember You.
The Essential Donovan by Donovan (Genre: Folk, Pop):
A solid greatest hits collection by the singer-songwriter who made it big in the sixties with hits including Sunshine Superman, Season of the Witch and Mellow Yellow; this collection contains those songs and others including: There Is A Mountain, Sunny Goodge Street, Ile of Islay, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Get They Bearings, Lalena and Atlantis.
Johnnie and Joe (2014) by Johnnie and Joe:
I had never heard of Johnnie and Joe before I stumbled across this four song mini-LP on Freegal.
According to AllMusic Johnnie and Joe, whose full names were Johnnylouise Richardson and Joe Rivers, were a vocal duo that cut a couple of singles for Chess Records in the 1950s. And there most popular of their songs was “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea.”
Having said that, this recording, which was released by Resnick Records in 2014, sounds as if it was recorded in the 1970s but the four songs are very upbeat and definitely worth a listen.
The songs are: Help Me Brother, I Wish That Someone Was Me, Right for the Part & You Can Always Count On Me.
The One And Only Lefty Frizzell (1959) (Bonus Track Version) by Lefty Frizzell:
A classic album by a classic country artist!
Songs in the set include: If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Go The Time, Mom and Dad Waltz, Nobody Knows But Me, Release Me and Why Should I Be Lonely.
Recommended CD of the Week:
The Who Sing My Generation (1965) by The Who (Genre: Rock, Mod-Rock):
The debut album by The Who!
This album features a great mix of mod and Beatlesque music.
Songs on the LP include: Out in the Street, I Don’t Mind, My Generation, The Kids Are Alright, A Legal Matter and The Ox.
Videos of the Week:
Freedom March by Grant Green
Catch The Wind by Donovan
Over The Mountain, Across The Sea by Johnnie & Joe
No One To Talk To by Lefty Frizzell
My Generation by The Who
Have a great weekend!
Linda, SSCL
*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)
P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713
*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 includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!
Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.
Links to the desktop versions of the catalogs for the library system – apps for each are available in your app store:
Digital Library Catalogs:
Freegal offers streaming and downloadable music
OverDrive allows you to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and handful of streaming videos
RB Digital is the place you go to check out magazines – on demand – and you never have to return them!
The Traditional Library Catalog:
You can search for and request books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks on CD and other physical format items through StarCat – it is the modern day card catalog!
Hi everyone, this week we’re kicking off a month long look at what author Robert Santelli, Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide, deems The Second British Invasion – this is the music British artists and bands put out between June 1967 and the end of the sixties.
You can think of the rock music of the sixties as having a musical call and response pattern. British musicians and bands who became popular in the early sixties were influenced by traditional American Rock and R&B artists of the fifties — artists including Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Little Richard. And and you can hear that influence in their music – in the sounds of British Invasion bands like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five and The Hollies. Those bands in turn, influenced the playing of American bands including The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Young Rascals etc.
Then in the aftermath of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967, you get that sort of call and response pattern again – although it starts to spread out like pebbles thrown in water as Sgt. Pepper’s was a colossally influential album, and is arguably, the greatest rock album ever released. The music on Sgt. Pepper’s influenced all rock musicians and bands on both sides of the pond for the rest of the sixties, into the seventies and beyond. Certainly, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sounded more experimental than any rock album released before it; and its release heralded a new more progressive and experimental era in Rock history.
In the aftermath of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s you hear albums that are more innovative and that start seriously taking Rock Music past its youth focused beginnings; albums like The Rolling Stone’s Beggar’s Banquet, The Who’s The Who Sell Out, Traffic’s Dear Mr. Fantasy, Days of Future Passed by the Moody Blues, Piper At The Gates of Dawn by Syd Barret era Pink Floyd and the classic Small Face’s LP Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake.
But enough musical pondering, on to the bands of the week!
So to kick this month long look at the British Invasion music of the late sixties, we’ll start off listening to the music of the three biggest bands of the era: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & The Who and the albums they released between 1967 and 1969.
And as a reminder, our weekly music postings feature the following sections:
I. Links to AllMusic Biographies of the Artists/Groups of the Week
II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week (streaming music)
III. CD Music Recommendations Of The Week
IV. Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups
V. References (for those who’d like to know a bit more about the artists of the week).
I. Links to AllMusic Biographies of the Artists/Groups of the Week:
The Beatles AllMusic Biography by Richie Unterberger:
II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week (streaming music):
Unfortunately, The Freegal Music Catalog doesn’t contain any studio albums by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or The Who. So for the artists specific LP recommendations skip down to the next section – CD Music Recommendations Of The Week.
And for the Freegal streaming suggestions of the week – here are some albums perfect for your summer listening pleasure!
Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor (1972) by Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor
This band’s music contains a great mix of acoustic guitars, traditional rock vibes and a few country threads thrown in for good measure. I’d never heard of this album or band before I stumbled across it in the Freegal Catalog. I don’t know who the Gorgoni and Martin of the group are/were but I was able to discover that the Taylor of the title is the classic rock songwriter Chip Taylor, who interestingly was born John Wesley Voigt and is the brother of the actor Jon Voigt. Chip Taylor is best known as a songwriter although he has also put out his own albums which range from 1971’s Gasoline to 2017’s A Song I Can Live With. Some of his songs that have been made popular by other artists include: I Can’t Let Go recorded by The Hollies, Make Me Belong To You recorded by Barbara Lewis, I Can Make It With You recorded by Jackie DeShannon, Step Out Of Your Mind recorded by The American Bread, Angel of the Morning originally recorded by Merrilee Rush and later by Juice Newton, and the classic rock anthem Wild Thing recorded by The Troggs and many other bands over the years. Getting back to the Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor album, the songs on the LP include: Fuzzy, Choo Choo Sharoo, You Crazy Girl and the Beatlesque Something About The Sunshine.
Here’s a link to stream the Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor LP: https://goo.gl/jrBcZo
Angel of the Morning by Marilee Rush:
Speaking of Marilee Rush, the singer who originally recorded the Taylor song Angel of the Morning, The Freegal Music Catalog features her Angel of The Morning album – which has a light, breezy 1970s country-folk feel to it. The album includes the title track, Taylor’s It’s All Worth It, Sandcastles, San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair), What The World Needs Now and a version of Hush which is quite interesting as it is much lighter in style than the better known Deep Purple version.
And at this point I’ll admit, I got a bit carried away with gathering listening suggestions for this week! The Freegal Music Catalog has some really fantastic musical gems to listen to; if you just have the time to hunt a little bit! And if you don’t have that time – you can just check out our weekly music postings! For the sake of trying to keep this posting semi-short, which admittedly is hard for me, for the rest of this week’s Freegal suggested listens I’m going to list the genres, albums/artists, a list of a few of the songs on each LP and the links to stream them – check them out!
Pop/Rock/Surf Music:
Classic Rock/Pop/Folk & Country: Jukebox Oldies Rockin’ Summer Vol. 1 – Great Rock, Surf, And Soul Songs of the 50s, 60s, And 70s with the Beach Boys, Link Wray, Sam & Dave, The Byrds, Little Richard, And More!
This 16 song set, with the massively long title, contains the following songs: Soul Man by Sam & Dave, Poison Ivy by The Coasters, Rumble by Link Wray, Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin, Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds, Surfin’ Safari by The Beach Boys, Pipeline by The Chantays an Surf City by Jan and Dean.
Guitar Legend: The Very Best Of Dick by Dick Dale:
This 15 song greatest hits collection by the the legendary Surf guitarist, contains the following songs: Miserlou, Let’s Go Trippin’, Hava Nagila, Riders In The Sky, Night Rider and Surf Buggy.
This is the 1965 debut album by the Lovin’ Spoonful. The album features twelve songs including: Do You Believe In Magic, Blues In The Bottle, Did You Every Have To Make Up Your Mind?, The Otherside Of This Life, Alley Oop & On The Road Again.
Here’s the link to the Do You Believe In Magicalbum:
And since no summer would be complete without hearing the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Summer In The City at least once, here’s a link to the album Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful which contains that song and 16 other classic pop/rock tunes:
The Complete Recordings (1964-1968) by Ronnie & The Daytonas:
More fun Surf music! Songs include: G.T.O., Hot Rod Baby, California Bound, The Little Stingray That I Could, Surfin’ In The Summertime, When The Stars Shine Bright and more – 48 songs in all.
Here’s the link to stream the Ronnie & The Daytonas collection:
Skeeter Davis is sometimes classified as a country artist; to my ears though, her music sounds like classic pop music. This neat album features the songs: Under The Boardwalk, That Warm Summer Night, Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand), Sunglasses, That Summer Sunset and a vocal version of the classic Theme to a Summer Place.
Here’s a link to stream the Singin’ In the SummerLP:
This album really is just a great folk album and it is a stretch to classify it a “summer album,” because it only contains one summer themed song – Summer Days Alone. Even so it is a fun record that includes the songs: Frogg No. 2, The Tavern Song, Lady Greensleeves, Ole Smokey &Tarrytown.
Also available by The Brothers Four is a more in-depth collection titled Greenfields and Other Folk Music Greats – First Five Albums which contains, just what it says it does — their first five albums recorded in 1960 & 1961:
This is an entertaining orchestral pop album and contains the following songs: Mr. Lucky (Goes Latin), Rain Drops In Rio, The Dancing Cat, Cow Bells and Coffee Beans & Tango Americano.
Theme From A Summer Place And Other Great Themes by Billy Vaughn And His Orchestra:
This is another cool orchestral album prefect for listening to while relaxing by the pool or reading near the air conditioner. The album includes the songs Theme From A Summer Place, Tammy, Fascination, Some Enchanted Evening & All The Way.
This various artists collection contains 32 songs including: Papa Loves Mambo by Perry Como, Put On A Happy Face by Tony Bennett, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Liza Minnelli, A Steel Guitar And A Glass of Wine by Paul Anka, Green, Green Grass of Home by Elvis Presley, Wonderful! Wonderful! by Johnny Mathis, Day-O by Harry Belafonte, Italian Mambo by Rosemary Clooney and many others – this is a great classic easy listening collection.
Summer Solstice 2 by Various Artists (A Windham Hill Collection):
This LP contains what used to be called New Age Music – and is what Windham Hill fans will expect – generally light, smooth and atmospheric songs including: Birds In Flight by George Winston, Cruisin’ Negril by W. G. “Snuffy” Walden, No Na Mamo by Taj Mahal and A Child’s Song by Will Ackerman.
Jazz:THE MUSIC OF AMERICA: Inventing Jazz – Dave Brubeck by Dave Brubeck
Songs in the set include: The Duke, Ode To A Cowboy, Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra (with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra), The Golden Horn, Kathy’s Waltz & Non-Sectarian Blues.
This album, by Singer Jackie Cain and Singer-Pianist Roy Kral, includes the songs: Day By Day, Lazy Afternoon, Summer Song/Summertime, We Could Be Flying and more.
A fun collection for kids, this singalong set includes the songs: Barefootin’, Catch A Wave, In The Gold Old Summertime, Yes!We Have No Bananas, Bicycle Built For Two, On Top of Spaghetti &The Hokey Pokey.
Here’s the link to stream the 50 Best Summer Songs LP:
This musical is based upon the composer Antonin Dvorak’s visit to Iowa. And I was surprised to stumble across a classic musical whilst browsing through the Freegal Music Catalog! Songs include: Just Around The Corner,Once A Year Is Not Long Enough, Murphy’s Pig & Sing Me A Song.
All the albums released by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & The Who between 1967 and 1970 are worthy of a listen; so I’m going to start out by listing the albums each group released during that pivotal three year period and then suggest several albums that are in the library’s collection.
The Beatles Albums Released Between 1967 – 1970:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Magical Mystery Tour Soundtrack (1968)
The Beatles (aka The White Album) (1968)
Yellow Submarine (1969)
Abbey Road (1969)
Let It Be (1970)
The Rolling Stone’s Albums Released Between 1967 – 1970:
Between the Buttons (1967)
Flowers (1967)
Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) (And yes, they really did title an album “Their Satanic Majesties Request” – they were playing their bad-boy-anti-Beatles alternative band persona to the hilt)
Beggars Banquet (1968)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (1970)
The Who’s Albums Released Between 1967 – 1971:
And I know that is really a baker’s dozen three years! However, I just couldn’t leave out the classic album Who’s Next which was released in 1971.
The Who Sell Out (1967)
Tommy (1969)
Live At Leeds (1970)
Who’s Next (1971)
The Beatles:
If you’re new to listening to Beatles albums, and I’m sure there are few people out there that have heard their songs on the radio but never listen to their albums, I’d recommend you start with their masterpiece Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as it is recognized by most music fans and critics to be their best album. If you’re game to listen to a second full-length album by the band I’d recommend the one that is my personal favorite – Abbey Road. All The Beatles albums are available for request through StarCat.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Song List:
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With a Little Help from My Friends
3. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing a Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I’m Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day in the Life
Here’s a link to request the CD version of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:
Between The Buttons, Flowers & Beggars Banquet will be available for request in StarCat soon.
In the meantime, the greatest hits collection Hot Rocks 1964-71is available for request. This two disc set contains 21 songs including: Time Is On My Side, Play With Fire, Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, Street Fighting Man and Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713*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.
Hi everyone, this week we’re concluding our cliff notes look at the first British Invasion. And in June our musical theme will be the American Response to that First British Invasion!
And as it has been super, super busy in Library Land this week this will be a cliff notes posting – as I’ve just run out of week!
But we’ll hit the high notes and you’ll be able to stream or request some great music with new CDs of the artists of the week to be available shortly.
The 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:
II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week:
The Spencer Davis Group:
The Spencer Davis Group was a blue eyed soul group consisted of Steve Winwood in his pre-Traffic, Blind Faith and solo artist days, on keyboard and vocals, his brother Muff Winwood on bass, drummer Peter York and guitarist Spencer Davis. The band played organ-centric rock and their best known songs include: Keep On Running, I’m A Man and Gimme Some Lovin’.
I’m A Man
From the LP Soul Goes Psychedelic
The Freegal Music Catalog features many albums by The Spencer Davis group. However, most of them do not feature Steve Winwood on vocals.
I did manage to find a radio version of I’m A Man that features Steve Winwood on vocals – on a collection titled Soul Goes Psychedelic. The collection also features music by The Brothers Johnson, Santana, Blues Image, The Soul Survivors and Ike & Tina Turner.
The Yardbirds: The Yardbirds are best known for three of the great rock guitarists that played in the band in the sixties: Eric Claption, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page. The group played a mix of traditional rock and R&B; and the original band consisted of Keith Relf on vocals and harmonica, Chris Deja and Anthony Topham on guitars, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass and Jim McCartey on drums. Eric Clapton replaced Topham in 1963 and he was in turn replaced by Jeff Beck in 1965. Jimmy Page joined the band in 1966. The group disbanded in 1968 and Page formed a new group, original called the New Yardbirds, which shortly after forming changed their name to Led Zeppelin.
The Yardbirds Story:This 89 song collection features every recording The Yardbirds made from 1963 – 1966. The set includes A Certain Girl, Heart Full of Soul, Shapes of Things, Five Long Years and more. https://goo.gl/le9jhu
The Who:
The Who formed in London in the early sixties and consisted of Roger Daltrey on vocals, Pete Townshend on guitar, John Entwistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums. The band had, to say the least, a very energetic and flamboyant stage presence.
And for the purposes of this posting we’re only talking about their sixties music – I feel I should point that out in case you’re not familiar with their work –and also as they put out some great albums in the seventies.
The Freegal Music Catalog features only one album by The Who all on their own – titled The Who Live. The album was put out by Discos Cada Records in 2011. The recordings seems to be of the band playing live and the sound and editing quality is only average at best. However, if you’re a major Who fan you might want to check it out: https://goo.gl/XF0912
Freegal Wild Card Streaming Pick Of The Week:
Bob Dylan – The Complete Album Collection – The 60’s
Since Bob Dylan’s birthday was this week, May 24 to be exact, I’m going to recommend you stream at least part of the set The Complete Album Collection – The 60’s which does indeed feature all the songs on all of Dylan’s sixties albums. This is great music for a holiday weekend: https://goo.gl/wGVvOz
III. Compact Discs Recommendations:
The Spencer Davis Group:
Eight Gigs a Week: The Steve Winwood Years:
This collection features all of the 51 songs recorded by the band while Steve Winwood was with them! So you get the hits, including Keep On Running, I’m A Man & Gimme Some Lovin’ and many more songs.
This Rhino records collection features the band’s hits released between 1964 and 1966. Including the songs: For Your Love, Evil Hearted You, Shapes of Things and A Certain Girl: https://goo.gl/DymOl2
Also coming soon is The Yardbirds Story on CD – this the same 89 song set mentioned in the streaming section – this time in a four compact disc set.
You can’t request the set just yet – but here is the link to the request page: https://goo.gl/MXMM1v
IV: Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups:
Spencer Davis Group:
I’m A Man
Gimme Some Lovin’
Yardbirds:
I Wish You Would (With Eric Clapton)
For Your Love (With Jeff Beck)
Heart Full of Soul (With Jimmy Page)
The Who:
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
I Can’t Explain
VI. General References:
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)
Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide by Robert Santelli (Contemporary Books. Chicago. 1985.)
P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713.
*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.