#627: Too Much Talk by Paul Revere And The Raiders

Peak Month: March 1968
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “Too Much Talk”
Lyrics: “Too Much Talk”

A band called The Downbeats formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. Paul Revere Dick started the band originally as an instrumental group. They had their first chart single in Vancouver in 1960. It was an instrumental riff on the piano tune, Chopsticks, which they titled “Beatnik Sticks”. They changed their name to Paul Revere And The Raiders in 1960. Between 1960 and 1976 they released 41 singles. They charted five songs into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. These included “Kicks”, and “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and their cover of Don Fardon’s 1968 single “Indian Reservation,” which peaked at #1 for the band in 1971. They were even more popular in Vancouver where they charted over fifteen songs into the Top Ten on the local charts here on the West Coast.

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#628: Darling Be Home Soon by The Lovin’ Spoonful

Peak Month: February 1967
6 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube.com: “Darling Be Home Soon”
Lyrics: “Darling Be Home Soon”

Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.

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#629: We’ve Got A Dream by Ocean

Peak Month: September 1971
10 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #83
YouTube.com: “We’ve Got A Dream”

Dave Tamblyn and Greg Brown were high school friends in London, Ontario. Dave played guitar and Greg played keyboards. They played gigs on the weekends with a variety of bands. In time they added singer Janice Morgan and became Leather and Lace. From London, they relocated to Toronto and performed in the hipster scene in trendy Yorkville. They added to their number bass player Jeff Jones and drummer Chuck Slater. In 1970 Yorkville Records was able to get Capitol Records to be the distributor for Ocean. Their debut single, “Put Your Hand In The Hand” went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in Vancouver. The song had been recorded as a track by Anne Murray on one of her albums a few years prior. Ocean quickly went from playing gigs at high schools and night clubs in Toronto to doing concerts across North America and Europe, as well as starring on the A list of pop music TV shows.

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#630: I’ll Never Fall In Love Again by Tom Jones

Peak Month: October 1967
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #49
YouTube.com: “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”
Lyrics: “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”

Thomas John Woodward was born in Wales in 1940. His father was a coal miner. Young Tom began singing at an early age and was in a children’s choir. At age 12 he had tuberculosis. While convalescing he spent more time developing an interest in music and listening to records. In 1963 he was the lead singer for the Welsh band Tommy Scott and the Senators. They had a record made with Tornados producer Joe Meek. In 1964 Jones was heard by a manager in the music industry based in London. Jones was brought to London and renamed Tom Jones. This was a strategy to get his attention after the successful musical Tom Jones won four Academy Awards in 1963, including Best Director and Best Picture.

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#631: Young Blood by Bad Company

Peak Month: May 1976
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube.com: “Young Blood”
Lyrics: “Young Blood”

Bad Company was a band from London, UK, who formed in 1973. Two band members, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, were formerly with Free who had a Top Ten hit in 1970 titled “All Right Now”. Rodgers was the lead singer for Free, and carried on as lead singer for Bad Company. Kirke continued as a drummer. Rounding out the band was former Mott the Hoople guitarist, Mick Ralphs, and bass player Bob Burzell who left King Crimson to join Bad Company. Paul Rodgers recalls the idea came from a book of Victorian morals that showed a picture of an innocent kid looking up at an unsavoury character leaning against a lamp post. The caption read “beware of bad company”

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#632: Rave On by Buddy Holly

Peak Month: June 1958
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Chart (peak #7)
Peak Position ~ #4 Red Robinson Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
YouTube.com: “Rave On”
Lyrics: “Rave On”

In 1936, Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas. When he was five years old he won $5 when he entered a local talent show and sang “Down The River of Memories.” He listened to the Grand Ole Opry growing up and after trying to learn the piano settled on taking up the guitar. During his Junior and Senior years in school, Holley entered some talent shows with friends in duos and doing gigs with a band playing a blend of country & western and rhythm & blues. He had a band that performed live on the Lubbock radio station KDAV. After high school graduation Holly focused on making a career as a musician. He heard Elvis Presley in concert in Lubbock in 1955. Shortly after Hollry would appear as the opening act for Presley in concert three times in 1955. Owen Bradley, who would also produce records for Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, became Holley’s record producer after he signed a record deal with Decca Records in February 1956. After signing the record deal, Buddy Holley dropped the “e” from his surname to become Buddy Holly.

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#633: You Can’t Do That by The Beatles

Peak Month: April 1964
7 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #48
YouTube.com: “You Can’t Do That”
Lyrics: “You Can’t Do That”

Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates  George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.

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#635: Keep Away From Other Girls by Babs Tino

Peak Month: January 1963
7 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Keep Away From Other Girls”
LyricsL “Keep Away From Other Girls”

There is next to nothing online to be found about Babs Tino. She was from Philadelphia and composed her debut single, on Cameo Records, titled “My Honeybun” in 1957. One of the few narrative threads is found in the liner notes from the 1997 Ace Records album, Early Girls Vol. 2. The liner notes reveal: “Babs Tino had the looks and the talent but failed to get the breaks and therefore barely qualifies as a footnote to a footnote in the history books. Having made a solitary single for Cameo Records in 1957, it seems she did not record again until 1961 when she signed with Kapp Records and had six singles released between then and 1963. Owner Dave Kapp was a pillar of New York’s musical establishment, a man with strongly held views on the linear alignment of musical notes in relation to pitch and tempo, and no-one got through the door at Kapp unless they could count bars and sing in tune. The best arrangers/songwriters (including Bacharach and Leiber & Stoller) were assigned to Tino’s sessions but only her third single, ‘Forgive me’, made any sort of impression ‘bubbling’ under the Hot 100 for one week in 1962 and gaining a UK release.

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#636: Games by New Kids On The Block

Peak Month: February 1991
12 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Games”
Lyrics: “Games”

Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight was born in 1970 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Both of his parents are Canadian and he is a duel American-Canadian citizen. He was still 13 years-old when New Kids On The Block was formed. Knight’s vocal style was influenced by The Stylistics. Jonathan Knight was born in 1968, the fifth of six children, and is the older brother of Jordan. Joey (Joseph Mulrey) McIntyre was born on December 31, 1972, making him the youngest member of NKOTB. He joined the band in 1985 while he was 12-years-old. Mark Wahlberg was initially a member of NKOTB, but left the band in 1985 to be replaced by McIntyre.  Mark Wahlberg’s older brother, Donnie, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1969. Daniel William Wood was also born in 1969 in Dorchester.

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Peak Month: July 1973
10 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Dreams Are Ten A Penny”
Lyrics: “Dreams Are Ten A Penny”

John Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1942 in Birmingham, UK. He formed a skiffle band around 1957. In 1961 he co-founded a duo named Carter-Lewis and the Southerners. Jimmy Page, later of the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin, played guitar on a three of their non-hit singles recorded in 1963 and 1964. From 1964 to 1966 Carter was a member of a backing vocal session trio named The Ivy League. They backed The Who on “I Can’t Explain“. In 1965 The Ivy League had two Top Ten hits on the UK singles chart, “Funny How Love Can Be” and “Tossing And Turning”. The latter tune was not a cover of the 1961 Bobby Lewis hit stateside.

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