Bloggerhythms

The Turtles are another one of those great bands from the 1960s that almost nobody except the baby boomers who came of age during the Lyndon Johnson Administration will remember. The quintet had a nice run during the second half of the decade as they landed many folk influenced soft-rock hits on Top 40 radio. Despite the political turbulence of the era their music was typical of the sunny, Southern California sound popular at the time, offering tight, pleasing harmonies and upbeat, melodic arrangements. Formed by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman in Los Angeles The Turtles began their career with a fine cover version of a Bob Dylan song, "It Ain’t Me, Babe" that became a top ten hit in 1965 and their popularity grew from there. In short order they had two more hits, "Let Me Be" and "You Baby" and then in 1967 The Turtles became huge with the tune that really made them famous. "Happy Together," their only #1 record, was among the more popular so...

Simply put, The J. Geils Band's Full House is one of the finest concert albums in rock history and that's because street-wise bar bands like these guys are always more comfortable on stage where they can play with wild abandon than they are in the confines of the studio. While the group always made good records they paled in comparison to this 1972 five-star classic recorded at Detroit's Cinderella Ballroom. This outstanding party outfit had three great assets, including the bandleader's guitar, but the two biggest stars were lead singer Peter Wolf, who could strut his stuff as well as Mick Jagger did, and harmonica player Magic Dick (Richard Salwitz), whose instrument was often featured in the lead role on many of this Boston sextet's most memorable songs. His most notable contributions to this set are on the frantic instrumental "Whammer Jammer" and "Lookin' for a Love" the group's best known tunes from the early years. Salwitz ju...

Bloggerhythms' top five CDs for 2011 are more mainstream than in previous years. Two of them are by long time veterans (Shelby Lynne and The Jayhawks) and the other three are releases by relative newcomers and Adele has already reached superstardom. In a year when recent online news stories wrote about the probable death of the CD all of the albums on this list should be purchased in their entirety, not just track by track on iTunes. Overall it was a very good year for recorded music. 1. Dawes – Nothing is Wrong With only their second release these SoCal boys hit paydirt in a big way. Twenty-five year old songwriter Taylor Goldsmith offers a rare combination of pleasing vocals reminiscent of Jackson Browne, melodic songwriting with deep hooks ("Time Spent in Los Angeles"), and intelligent, moving lyrics ("A Little Bit of Everything"). If you're a fan of Hall of Famer Browne this CD is for you. It's the comeback album he never made. The 70s sta...