#705: My Home Town by Seeds Of Time
Peak Month: October 1970
7 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com:”My Home Town”
The Seeds of Time were a garage rock band formed in 1965 in Vancouver by a number of high school buddies. Co-founder, Gary Wanstall, was nicknamed “Rock.” At the time Norton Motorcyles made a motorcycle model named the Rocket. The newly formed band agreed that extending his nickname from Rock to Rocket, and adding Norton as the surname had a good ring to it. Norton played drums while Frank Brnjak and Bob Kripps played guitar, there was John Hall on organ and Steve Walley on bass. It was Bob Kripps who suggested the band’s name, after several underwhelming ideas had been run up the flagpole. Kripps had been reading a science fiction book by John Wyndham called the Seeds of Time. He proposed the book title be the name of the band and everyone agreed. The band got financing help from the very entrepreneurial Steve Grossman. Grossman was a DJ on CKLG and began his stint on the station under the moniker of Stevie Wonder in the fall of 1966 while he was still in Grade 12 at Kitsilano High School. Those 45 RPM singles and albums were recorded between 1969 and 1971, with Grossman’s help.
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#731: Spanish Eyes by Al Martino
Peak Month: January 1966
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube.com:”Spanish Eyes”
Lyrics: “Spanish Eyes”
Jasper Cini was born in 1927 in Philadelphia. His first name was an Anglicization of his father’s name, Gasparino. His parents were immigrants from Abruzzo, Italy. His family were bricklayers. He worked in his father’s construction business. When he was still in his teens he joined the United States Navy. But during World War II he got a shrapnel injury and was sent back home. Next, he was inspired by his boyhood friend, Alfredo Cocozza, and hoped to pursue a singing career. Alfredo Cocozza later changed his name to Mario Lanza. At night, Jasper Cini sang in local Philly bars and clubs. Mario Lanza convinced Jasper Cini to change his name to Al Martino. Al moved to New York City in 1948 and became roommates with Eddie Fischer and Guy Mitchell, fellow crooners also hoping for a big break. Martino got noticed and was invited to appear on the Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scout Show in 1952. He won the context singing a #1 hit from 1951 by Perry Como titled “If (They Made Me A King)”. In 1952 Al Martino had a breakthrough #1 hit in America, Canada and Britain with “Here In My Heart”.
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#706: I Must Have Been Blind by The Collectors
Peak Month: March 1970
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “I Must Have Been Blind”
The Vancouver rock band The Collectors, was formerly named The Classics who were a Vancouver group led by Howie Vickers in the mid-60s. The Classics were part of the regular line-up on Let’s Go, a show on CBC TV. Though the Classics released several singles the group needed room to grow and reformed as The Collectors. They would become one of the most innovative of Vancouver’s recording acts through the rest 60s. In the spring of 1967, Vickers was asked to put together a house band at the Torch Cabaret in Vancouver. Along with Claire Lawrence on horns, they recruited guitarist Terry Frewer, drummer Ross Turney and Brian Newcombe on bass. Within a couple of months, fellow Classics member Glenn Miller replaced Newcombe on bass and Bill Henderson, a student at UBC, replaced Frewer on guitars. With Vickers now handling vocals, their sound changed from doing covers of R&B tunes to psychedelic rock. This led them to gigs along the Canadian and US west coast. Their strongest fan base in America was in California. There audiences welcomed their complex arrangements mixed with harmonies and extended solos and musical ad-libs.
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#707: Barabajagal by Donovan
Peak Month: August 1969
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube.com:”Barabajagal”
Lyrics: “Barabajagal”
Donovan Phillips Leitch was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1946. As a child he contracted polio and was left with a limp. At the age of 14 he began to play the guitar and when he was 16 years old he set his artistic vision to bring poetry to popular culture. He began busking and learned traditional folk and blues guitar. Music critics began branding him as mimicking Bob Dylan’s folk style. Like Dylan, Donovan wore a leather jacket, the fisherman’s cap, had a harmonica cradle and a song with “Wind” in the title. Dylan wrote “Blowing In The Wind” and Donovan had a hit in 1965 titled “Catch The Wind”. Donovan was nicknamed by music critics in the UK as the “British Dylan.” In 1965 Bob Dylan flew to London for a concert tour of England in from April 28, to May 10, 1965. In a 1967 documentary titled Don’t Look Back, by D. A Pennebaker, Donovan appears with Dylan. In a concert performance of “Talkin’ World War Three Blues,” Dylan sings, “I looked in the closet – and there was Donovan.” During the film Dylan and Donovan each play some songs at a hotel party with a concert poster in the background headlined by Donovan, Unit Four Plus 2 and Wayne Fontana and Mindbenders. Dylan patronizes Donovan, while Donovan suggests “I can help you, man.” However, in the by the release of his second studio album, Fairytale, Donovan was forging new musical territory. “Sunny Goodge Street” featured some jazz elements and psychedelia. And Dylan bid farewell to acoustic guitar and picked up an electric guitar.
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#709: Anna Marie by Susan Jacks
Peak Month: November 1975
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Anna Marie”
Lyrics: “Anna Marie”
Susan Pesklevits was born in 1948 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When she was seven years old she was a featured singer on a local radio station. At the age of eight her family moved to the Fraser Valley town of Haney, British Columbia. When she was 13 years old she had her own radio show. In a December 1966 issue of the Caribou newspaper, the Quesnel Observer noted that Susan Pesklevits had auditioned for Music Hop in the summer of 1963 when she was only 15 years old. She had her first public performance at the Fall Fair in Haney when she was just 14 years old. It was noted she liked to ride horseback, ride motorcycles and attend the dramatic shows. Asked about what she could tell the folks in Quesnel about trends in Vancouver, Pesklevits had this to report, “the latest things in Vancouver are the hipster mini-skirts, bright colored suit slacks, and the tailored look. The newest sound is the “Acid Sound,” derived from L.S.D…. it is “pshodelic” which means it has a lot of fuzz tones and feed back. As an example, she gave “Frustration” recorded by the Painted Ship” a local band from Vancouver. Pesklevits added that on the West Coast “the latest dance is the Philly Dog. It mainly consists of two rows, one of girls and one of boys. The idea is to take steps, move in unison, while doing jerking motions and using a lot of hand movement.” In the summer of 1966 Pesklevits formed a trio with Tom Northcott and Howie Vickers called The Eternal Triangle who released one single titled “It’s True”. Vickers went on to form The Collectors which later morphed into Chilliwack.
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#1407: Like A Cannonball by Van Morrison
Peak Month: April 1972
6 weeks on CKVNs Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #119
YouTube.com: “Like A Cannonball”
Lyrics: “Like A Cannonball”
Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison, was born in Belfast on August 31, 1945. He is a singer, songwriter and musician. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1996 he was given the Order of the British Empire for his service to music enriching the lives of people in the UK (and beyond). Since 1996 his formal title has been Sir “Van” Morrison, OBE. In 2016 he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland.
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#708: I Am Here by Grapes Of Wrath
Peak Month: October 1991
13 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “I Am Here”
Lyrics: “I Am Here”
When they were eight years old Kevin Kane and Chris Hooper met. Four years later they became good friends and formed a band at the age of 13, enlisting Chris’ younger brother Tom to play bass. In the late 70’s they formed a punk band they called Kill Pigs. They eased of the harsh sound and reformed in 1983 as the Grapes Of Wrath. The band’s name came from the iconic 1939 novel by John Steinbeck about the dust bowl and the hopeless circumstances of tenant farmers trying to make a living during the Great Depression. The phrase comes from a line in “The Battle Hymn Of The Republic” from 1861, and references several verses from the Book of Revelation 14:18-19 about an angel pressing grapes into the wrath of God. Their debut album, September Bowl Of Green, was released in 1985. Their second album, Treehouse, featured backing vocals by Tom Cochrane, who also produced the 1987 album. In 1989, the band added Vincent Jones to their lineup and released Now And Then. In the fall of 1989, their single, “All The Things I Wasn’t”, made the Top 30 in Vancouver and Hamilton. That fall they toured as the opening act for the Canadian singer, Sarah McLauchlan.
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#1376: Same Song by Digital Underground
Peak Month: May 1991
8 weeks on CKLGs Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Same Song”
Lyrics: “Same Song”
In 1987, Digital Underground formed in Oakland, California. The frontman for the group is Gregory Jacobs who is billed as Shock G. Jacobs was born in 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, and spent most of his childhood in Tampa, Florida. But after his parents divorce when he was age 12, he moved back to Brooklyn. At that time he discovered turntabling: the manipulation of phonograph records and needles and a mixer by a DJ. At that time he used the nickname MC Starchild. His nickname changed to Shah-G when his cousin, Shah-T gave him the name. It shifted in time from Shah-G to Shock G. Moving back to Tampa and then to Oakland, Shock G got work as a clerk in a music store. He met up with Chopmaster J and Kenny-K. The trio became Digital Underground.
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#1358: Ride My See-Saw by The Moody Blues
Peak Month: November 1968
5 weeks on CKLGs Vancouver Charts
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #61
YouTube.com: “Ride My See-Saw”
Lyrics: “Ride My See-Saw”
Born in 1941 in wartime England, Ray Thomas picked up harmonica at the age of nine. He was in the Birmingham Youth Choir and in October 1958 he joined a skiffle group called The Saints and Sinners. The band split up in June 1959. The Saints and Sinners helped Ray discover how well his vocals were received by audiences. Next, he formed El Riot and the Rebels, featuring Ray Thomas as El Riot dressed in a green satin Mexican toreador outfit. The band won a number of competitions in the Birmingham area. It was here that Ray became known for making an entrance onstage by sliding to center stage on his knees. On one occasion Thomas sent a row of potted tulips flying into the audience. El Riot and the Rebels appeared several times on a local variety show called Lunchbox. They made their debut on Lunchbox on November 14, 1962, and played “Guitar Tango” and “I Remember You”. Mike Pinder joined El Riot and the Rebels on keyboards. On April 15, 1963, El Riot and the Rebels performed at The Riverside Dancing Club in Tenbury Wells as the opening act for The Beatles. Pinder went off to serve in the British Army. When he returned, Thomas and Pinder left El Riot and the Rebels and formed a new band called the Krew Kats.
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#1306: Come On Down (From The Top of That Hill) by Jackie De Shannon
Peak Month: February 1967
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #121
YouTube.com:”Come On Down (From The Top of That Hill)
Sharon Lee Myers was born in Hazel, Kentucky, in 1941, a town on the Tennessee and western Kentucky border. When she was only two years old she received her first vocal training. By 1947, she was appearing on a local radio station as a child country and western singer. And by 1952, Sharon Lee Myers was hosting her own radio show. In 1954, with the family farm posing mounting challenges, the family moved to her mother’s home town of Aurora, Illinois, a seven hour drive north of Hazel. A year later, when she was in 8th grade, the family moved to nearby Batavia, Illinois. Her dad became a barber and young Sharon got instant recognition in the local paper. A headline in on May 5, 1955, in the Batavia Herald read “Sharon Lee Myers, Only 13, Is Talented Batavia Vocalist.” The paper enthused, “Though only 13, the youngster can boast almost 11 years of voice training and experience and in the past she has toured most of the south making personal appearances. Also she has sung on radio with a rhythm band for 2 years and has appeared on television 3 times.”
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