Various Artists [The Summer Of Love]
Surprisingly this is the first outing for this disc in my Blog, it seems to be compiled just right, a nice eclectic mix of the songs of the era, 'The Summer Of Love' was a gathering in San Francisco in the summer of 1967, spawning the hippie revolution, flower power, and free love, the tracks on this disc range from 1965-1970, only the Joe Cocker track is really out of place, there's certainly an American bent to the album, with 7 American No1's, and 5 UK No1's, and even though i was born in 1961, this album still takes me back to the nostalgia of those open and free times, and it's great music too.
This disc was released in 1990, the front cover is a photo of a white dove in flight, the tail feathers nicely caught, and the wings nicely blurred, a great action shot showing movement, the background is a nice deep blue, but darker at the bottom as in real life, the album title lettering is written over the CND symbol, and the whole thing looks great.
The tracks that i really enjoyed were 2, 6-7 & 9, and here's a synopsis of each,
2 The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man, The only track on this disc to get to No1 on both sides of the Atlantic, it's a Bob Dylan song, and must have made him a fortune in royalties, it has Beach Boys type harmonies, twangy guitars, and i love the use of that first twang of the bass [0:04], the lyrics are quite silly ['in the jingle jangle morning i'll come following you', what!!, what's a jingle jangle morning?], the whole song barely goes beyond 2 minutes, so only one verse sandwiched between two chorus's, but it's certainly better than the Bob Dylan original.
6 Scott McKenzie - San Francisco, The song that stuck in my head the most, now i just love the use of the glockenspiel, it just adds to the twang of the acoustic guitars, and the opening vocals are just heavenly, such a great tune [0:07+], the middle part of the song changes from sweet and lyrical to more serious [1:18-1:50], and i just love the way that tubular bells start to chime, and a secondary change begins [2:26-2:37] with a monotonous bass twang, but it soon turns into the lovely fadeout.
7 Flowerpot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco, More Beach Boys harmonies, and another great tune, the wordless terraced harmonies near the end are great [2:15-2:40], and the following 'lets go, lets go...' afterwards.
9 Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction, I always thought this was a Bob Dylan protest song, like 'Blowing In The Wind' or something, gruff vocals and war propaganda, great lyrics 'You're old enough to kill, but not for voting', and 'Hate your next door neighbour, but don't forget to say grace', a nice compilation.
2 The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man, The only track on this disc to get to No1 on both sides of the Atlantic, it's a Bob Dylan song, and must have made him a fortune in royalties, it has Beach Boys type harmonies, twangy guitars, and i love the use of that first twang of the bass [0:04], the lyrics are quite silly ['in the jingle jangle morning i'll come following you', what!!, what's a jingle jangle morning?], the whole song barely goes beyond 2 minutes, so only one verse sandwiched between two chorus's, but it's certainly better than the Bob Dylan original.
6 Scott McKenzie - San Francisco, The song that stuck in my head the most, now i just love the use of the glockenspiel, it just adds to the twang of the acoustic guitars, and the opening vocals are just heavenly, such a great tune [0:07+], the middle part of the song changes from sweet and lyrical to more serious [1:18-1:50], and i just love the way that tubular bells start to chime, and a secondary change begins [2:26-2:37] with a monotonous bass twang, but it soon turns into the lovely fadeout.
7 Flowerpot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco, More Beach Boys harmonies, and another great tune, the wordless terraced harmonies near the end are great [2:15-2:40], and the following 'lets go, lets go...' afterwards.
9 Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction, I always thought this was a Bob Dylan protest song, like 'Blowing In The Wind' or something, gruff vocals and war propaganda, great lyrics 'You're old enough to kill, but not for voting', and 'Hate your next door neighbour, but don't forget to say grace', a nice compilation.
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