Bloggerhythms

Today we're going to discuss an almost totally forgotten hit record along with a little bit of related Billboard chart history. The inspiration for this post came about while sorting through some extremely old 45s that I didn't remember I owned. I've had "He's Got The Whole World (In His Hands)" by Laurie London - a rare, popular, gospel hit - in my record collection since my childhood, even though it wasn't really mine. The single belonged to either my mother or my grandmother who lived with us. I played it once in awhile because I was always allowed free access to their records, and it was eventually absorbed into my collection. Despite the name, teenager Laurie London (born January 19, 1944) was a boy singer who - at age thirteen - became a one-hit wonder in his native UK and in America the following year. Information about London is sparse. Details vary depending on the particular website you're reading, but according to Wik

Louis In London is a live album of a concert Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars recorded for the BBC on July 2, 1968. It was first aired by the network on September 22, 1968. Armstrong died in 1971 and his health was already taking a a sad turn when this concert took place. It's often been called his last great performance because his health deteriorated significantly shortly thereafter, and his ability to tour was severely limited. When the great tumpeter and singer received a tape recording of his London show he marked it "for the fans" because he was so proud of it. He also made copies on his recently installed high-end Tandberg tape system for each member of the All-Stars. In 1970, nine of the thirteen tracks from this new CD were released on LP as  Louis Armstrong's Greatest Hits Recorded Live  on Brunswick Records in both America and in the UK. The CD was digitally transfered form the original BBC telecast recording and no

In 2022 I wrote a blog post on The Rolling Stones' Blue & Lonesome as part of Bloggerhythms' Last Albums series. Then Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and their friends ruined the whole thing by by releasing Hackney Diamonds two years ago. Despite that, I'm taking my chances that 76 year old James Taylor won't let me down too and release another album, even though that might not be such a bad thing. In 2020, Taylor released a set of tunes from the Great American Songbook, and it's a good one.  American Standard is a fourteen track record of cover tunes from the man who is often credited with jump-starting the entire 70s singer-songwriter movement. Taylor is no stranger to covers. Even though he's a songwriter of great importance he's recorded many singles written by others, most notably, Carole King's "You've Got A Friend," his only Billboard #1 hit from very early in his career. He also charted with "How S

Many blues purists site a lack of authenticity as a reason to dismiss an artist's work but I refuse to participate in such snobbery. If performed well a hybrid arrangement adds unique freshness to an old piece of music. The fact that the great blues singer, composer, and guitarist Chester Burnett (a.k.a Howlin' Wolf ) flew to London in 1970 to record with a few of the hottest British Invasion all-stars of the day - most of them heavily influenced by the blues - shouldn't make the music any less compelling. The participants on The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions include Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Steve Winwood on piano and organ, and three men with Rolling Stones connections: bassist Bill Wyman, drummer Charlie Watts, and pre-worldwide fame Stones' pianist,  Ian Stewart .  Hubert Sumlin - Wolf's devoted longtime sideman - provided rhythm guitar throughout these sessions. Even Ringo Starr proved he could play the blues on one track, "I A

If you know "The Dark End Of The Street" at all there's a very good chance you've heard one of the many cover verions of James Carr's original, 1967 single. Subsequent renditions of the song have been released by artists as diverse as The Flying Burrito Brothers, Elvis Costello, Aretha Franklin, Peter Green, The Commitments, and Bruce Springsteen. I've recently been made aware of at least twenty-five interpretations of it by a friend who says it's his all-time favorite breakup song. "Dark End" was composed by two legends, Dan Penn and Chips Moman , who wrote the entire song in just about a half hour. Penn said their goal was to write "the best cheatin’ song. Ever!"   and in the opinion of many, they succeeded. The record was never a mainstream hit. It climbed to #10 on the Billboard R&B chart, but it only made it to #77 on the Hot 100 which means most top 40 radio stations never add

On New Earth Farmers'  website  composer, singer, guitarist and keyboard player Paul Knowles tells us that he and composer, vocalist, and guitarist Nicole Storto never stick to one style when writing music. He says that " the song drives the treatment and genre of each track ." Their lyrics are the primary concern in an era when they  "often take a backseat to style, fashion, materialism, and hipness ." Because their emphasis is on composition you need to spend some time with The Farmers' new album,  The Sky From The Underground ,   to fully absorb their work. Trust me, it'll be worth your while. Knowles and Storto display their love of topical songwriting with "War Inside Our Hearts," a track he said is inspired by the greatest of all punk bands, The Clash. "You say your way is better than another. That’s how our minds are torn apart." "Frequency" tackles the devastatingly sad subjec

The Very Best Of Cream is the most inclusive, single disc compilation the psychedelic, blues-rock trio, Cream, has ever released. Earlier greatest hits collections were issued on LPs and contained only ten or twelve tracks, but this CD has twenty and would easily fill two 33 1/3 RPM records. When the renowned supergroup was at their best few rock bands of any era could top them. Eric Clapton (guitar), Jack Bruce (bass), and drummer Ginger Baker were all virtuosos, and Bruce's excellent singing was a large heap of icing on the cake. Cream played together for less than two years, but within that short span they released four LPs containing new studio material that included in-concert tracks on their last two albums, Wheels Of Fire and Goodbye . Some of their stuff was overblown such as Baker's live, almost sixteen minute drum solo on "Toad," and there were goofy, seemingly nonsensical songs l

The ondioline is an electronic instrument invented in France by Georges Jenny in 1939, and it's considered to be a predecessor to modern day synthesizers as early models ran on analog circuits and vacuum tubes. Later, in the 1960s, transistors replaced the tubes. Ondiolines possess a three octave keyboard that uses a knob to expand it's range up to eight octaves. It can manufacture its own sounds or simulate other instruments. Jenny made most ondiolines himself and he refused to mass produce his invention, so it appears that no more were made after his passing in 1975. Until now, I've knowingly only listened to the ondioline twice in my entire life. A recent repurchase of the classic, 1968  Super Session  album by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills stirred my curiosity, so I researched the instrument. Previously, I knew nothing about this mostly forgotten keyboard other than Kooper played it on that album's "His Holy Modal Majesty"