I confess: I bought THE SIXTIES: GOOVY HITS and THE SIXTIES: MORE GOOVY HITS for the covers. Of course, the music is good, too. You can’t go wrong with The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk” and Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.” “My Guy” by Mary Wells is a classic as is Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman.” And who can resist The Archies’ “Sugar Sugar”?
Herman’s Hermits version of “I’m Into Something Good” is an insidious ear-worm that takes over my brain each time I listen to it. Do you remember these hits from the Sixties? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+ (for both)
TRACK LIST:
Volume 1 | |||
| The Drifters– | Under The Boardwalk | ||
| The Shangri-Las– | Leader Of The Pack | ||
| The Marketts– | Surfer’s Stomp | ||
| Sam & Dave– | Soul Man | ||
| The Chiffons– | He’s So Fine | ||
| Mary Wells– | My Guy | ||
| Percy Sledge– | When A Man Loves A Woman | ||
| The Angels (3)– | My Boyfriend’s Back | ||
| The Archies– | Sugar Sugar | ||
| The Isley Brothers– | Twist & Shout | ||
| Volume 2 |
| 1 | The Kingsmen– | Louis Louis Written-By – Richard Berry | 2:45 |
| 2 | Gene Chandler– | Duke Of Earl Written-By – Bernice Williams, Earl Edwards, Eugene Dixon | 2:30 |
| 3 | Lesley Gore– | It’s My Party Written-By – Herbert Weiner, John Gluck Jr., Wally Gold | 2:16 |
| 4 | The Drifters– | Save The Last Dance For Me Written-By – Pomus-Shuman | 2:34 |
| 5 | Gerry & The Pacemakers– | Ferry ‘Cross The MerseyWritten-By – Gerry Marsden, Les ChadwickWritten-By – Gerry Marsden, Les Chadwick | 2:45 |
| 6 | The Troggs– | Wild Thing Written-By – Chip Taylor | 2:36 |
| 7 | Jan & Dean– | Little Old Lady From Pasadena Written-By – Don Altfeld, Roger Christian | 2:26 |
| 8 | Herman’s Hermits– | I’m Into Something Good Written-By – Goffin And King | 2:31 |
| 9 | The Chiffons– | One Fine Day Written-By – Goffin And King | 2:09 |
| 10 | Jimmy Clanton– | Venus In Blue Jeans Written-By – Greenfield & Sedaka | 2:18 |
Of couraw I remember most of these songs and still like them!
Sometimes I look for them on youtube and recently I found the Shangi-Las and the Leader of the pack – really funny video.
And then of course both records by the Drifters – fond memories!
Wolf, I loved THE DRIFTERS back in the early 1960s. Somehow, they faded away during the British Invasion.
These are almost all early sixties records with a couple of outliers thrown in (like The Troggs). I know Herman’s Hermits and Gerry & the Pacemakers were part of the British Invasion, but most of these songs (not that they aren’t good) feel very pre-Beatles to my ears. With covers like that, I was figuring we’d have songs like “Incense & Peppermints”, “Inna-Gadda-Da-Vita”, and “Green Tambourine”.
TL; DR: good music, misleading covers.
Deb, the covers attracted me. Not quite psychedelic, but strange.
The only one I don’t remember is the Marketts’ track. I suppose “Out of Limits” was unavailable or unaffordable. Pretty good diversity — soul, surf, British Invasion, Brill Building, teen idols male (Jimmy Clanton) and female (Lesley Gore).
Fred, you’re right: pretty good diversity. There’s a little bit of everything on these two CDs.
I’m with Fred on the Marketts song. Otherwise, I know them all, intimately. I don’t know that I’d class most of them as “groovy,” though. “Wild Thing,” yes.
“One Fine Day” (which autocorrect tried to make “Ozone”) is another of Jackie’s favorites.
I once made a list of songs with Groovy” or “Grooving” in the title but it’s gone now.
Jeff, “Goovy” is definitely a Sixties term. And WORDPRESS tried to change “goovy” to “goofy” on me. Blast that damnable Spellchecker!
Let’s see, songs with a variation of “groovy” in the lyrics.
Groovin’
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
Groove Me
Eleanore (“I really think you’re groovy”)
Do You Believe in Magic (“if the music is groovy, it makes you feel happy like an old time movie”)
Spooky (” when everything is getting kinda of groovy”)
A Groovy Kind of Love
Wild Thing (“you make everything groovy”)
Somebody Groovy
Groovy Situation
Workin’ on a Groovy Thing
Shake Your Groove Thing
I would buy that album!