60 Years of Music • April, 1964 • The Rolling Stones Debut

April, 1964 and the "British Invasion" is in full swing. The Rolling Stones release their debut album in the UK. This release follows an emerging pattern as England's young stars albums are slightly repackaged for the North American markets by adding prior singles or songs only released in the UK.

The album covers of the three bands featured this month plus Dusty Springfield, show their first release in the UK and the different release jacket in the United States and Canada.

The Rolling Stones whose name was taken from a Muddy Waters tune, debut with mostly cover songs from black American artist's that express their love of the Blues, but also shows their inexperience in crafting their own songs at this early stage in their career. In the playlist this week, I also couldn't resist throwing in the Stones' 1963 second hit single in England which is the Lennon and McCartney song, I Want to Be Your Man.

However, The Rolling Stones are not alone here, as The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five and so many upcoming bands have their first and second albums filled with cover tunes.

For The Beatles second album, With The Beatles, I love Capital Records' complete lack of imagination in just calling the U.S. release, The Beatles' Second Album, not to mention that Capital felt that they had to remix Producer George Martin's mix of With The Beatles, blasphemy!

A Girl Called Dusty is the debut album by London England's Dusty Springfield who for me epitomizes the complete magnetism of American pop, country and soul with other people of the world. As a young person, and with the name Dusty Springfield (born Mary O'Brien), I totally thought she probably grew up in some small town in Ohio or Tennessee. For me Dusty Springfield is one of those "it" girls who was a great singer and interpreter of songs written by other people. There are so many fantastic female singers from the 60's that I love and adore, but Dusty's voice is special, and it transports me back to watching any number of popular "Variety" TV shows in the 1960's. 

I round out this month's selections with Tottenham London's The Dave Clark Five and their debut album, A Session with The Dave Clark Five. The band also known as DC5 started in 1958. Their first big hit single, Glad All Over in January of 1964 knocked off The Beatles', I Want To Hold Your Hand out of the #1 singles spot in the UK. This debut album is a good example of how groups were trying not to blatantly copy The Beatles' sound as they incorporated electric keyboards and sax into their own blend of that early 60's pop sound. I love DC5 and think their lead singer and keyboard player Mike Smith should have gotten a bit more attention than he did. Alas, their time at the top would be short as waves of bands from both sides of the pond would vie for the top of the charts and DC5 would not sustain their early momentum going head to head with The Beatles.

Well, here we are 60 years later and guess who's still under the big bright stadium lights? The Rolling Stones, who in my opinion are the second greatest rock 'n' roll band of all time. 

With the death of Brian Jones in 1969, Mick Taylor's short stint as his replacement until 1974, Ronnie Wood entrance in 1975, Bill Wyman's retirement in 1992, and Charlie Watts death in 2021, there's alway been Mick and Keith, The f***in' Rolling Stones.

Now, you may have read my attempts to see the Stones live on two different occasions this century with tickets in hand, and the band cancelling the event. First in Las Vegas, where my wife and I got a text in our hotel room that Mick had a bad sore throat from singing in the cold dessert air at Coachella the night before. Then, in San Diego where Covid killed that stadium show. But, thanks to our dear friend Ken Forman's persistence with the online sales gauntlet, he has gotten us tickets for the May 15, 2024 show in Seattle. Ken and his wife Vicki, along with my wife Mary Kit and I are all going to Lumen Field for my,"third times a charm" attempt to see this legendary band for the first time. Think good thoughts.

_______________________________

I'll end this post with an announcement that is a bit hard to write down here at the computer keyboard on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

I've decided to take a hiatus from writing Monday Monday Music™ blogs for the time being. I'm not going to fold the tent just yet, hell I got one already baked in for May 15th. But, starting next Monday, I'm going to take a break for awhile and focus on some other things.

Maybe, it's now going to be... "Sporadic Monday Monday Music"?  

This actually has not been my first break from the blog, but since 2021, I have published a blog post every Monday for three years and three months (3 is my favorite number).

Since Monday January 5, 2015, I have written 404 Monday Monday Music™ blog posts. I assure you this is not the last.

I want to thank my faithful readership who read my blog every week. I write this blog for you... and for me. I leave this post at April, 1964, as I had just turned 9 years old at the time. I will not forget that time, and I promise to return to 1964 to carry on what I believe to be the greatest decade in rock 'n' roll history. I promise to return to 1974 and to music of the 1970's, and I promise to write about current bands and artists making music today. 

I will continue to post YouTube music videos @ Monday Monday Music's Facebook and Twitter sites as the music spirits move me. I make time to listen to music most everyday, I got a feeling, you do the same.

Thank you for your support, and as always... Enjoy the playlist my friends.