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.
Their kind of “smooth” soul wasn’t quite falling out of favor, but it was losing the focused support of the Top 40 programmers, and even, I suspect, more Black Radio programmers. Even Motown was getting a rougher edge, on balance.
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.
Spot on, Deb…the songs are all pretty much ’60-’65, and those outfits would be more Maybe LA and NYC alt-clubwear in ’65 at earliest.
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!
Jeff, I would buy that goovy album, too!
Nothing here I don’t like at least a little…pretty impressive that way among these no-budget collections.
“Out of Limits” isn’t the most memorable song on the comp, but the Marketts were paying homage more to THE TWILIGHT ZONE musically, even if giving more the nod toward THE OUTER LIMITS in title…1964 being a year when one could catch new episodes of both.
Here ’tis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZa1bDY2JI
Oh, man, I was up early, and it’s definitely showing…somehow misreading Jeff’s comment, and going from there.
“Surfers Stomp” (1962)…less interesting, I’d suggest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk9OKAXASTU
And I haven’t heard “Venus in Blue Jeans” in decades, and I can wait quite a few more before hearing it again, so I might’ve written too soon in that singular case here…and it isn’t the worst banal pop song sold to young fans. Seems rather homely for an “idol”, but he wasn’t on stage for me…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_13davmxPb4
No earworms here but a true collection of favorites.
Leader of the Pack was very popular on Girl Scout camping trips – a bunch of little girls singing those immortal lyrics over and over. The leaders must have wanted to commit suicide – or mass murder.
In either case, an opportunity to shout-sing “Look out! Look out! Look out!”…
Beth, I can top that. Jackie’s senior class trip in 1965 – yes, we’re old – was to Washington, D.C., and she said they sang “Wooly Bully” all the way there and back.
I think Jimmy Clanton was name-checked in one of James Lee Burke’s novels as Dave Robicheux recalls the singers from his ’50s youth.
Jimmy Clanton is still alive and performing. We’ve seen him several times in doo wop concerts and at Jazzfest, his hair white now, wearing a tuxedo.