50th Anniversary: 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival: Performance-By-Performance

this would be a good thread to go a bit in depth with each artist that appeared there.

 

LOU RAWLS (introduced by Peter Tork)

1. Love Is a Hurting Thing (A-)
2. Dead End Street Monologue/Dead End Street (A)
3. Monologue/Tobacco Road (A)
4. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
5. Autumn Leaves

Lou Rawls, the R&B singer from Chicago delivered big time here with some very charismatic and articulately humored peformances that the crowd responded to. Every line he utters has a eye wink with it and when he gets serious, he’s a soulful and passionate vocalist. While he’d been around doing jazz, blues and R&B since the 1950’s, only by 1966 did he get big with “Love’s a Hurtin’ Thing”- a #1 R&B chart song. He followed that in ’67 with minor hits in “Dead End Street” and “Show Business”. Having heard much of the Too Much 1967 album that was released around the time of the concert, it’s the same sound and style found in his live act, above average soul with grit, emotion and humor. Some more jazz is evident on the LP, but soul is the word of the night at the Monterey festival.

Fantastic R&B performances from Lou Rawls and his band bring plenty of applause and laughter. Rawls storytelling with instrumental backing and his singing just wins over the audience and me when I first heard how likable he sounds musically and comically. I say “yes and double dee-dee” joking around (a double yes, indeed!)-one of his ad-libs during this set. He seems to use a lot more 60’s slang then most addressing the audience and the set is better for it. “Tobacco Road” brings humor, drama, and a mix of rock, soul, jazz & blues. It’s multi-suite arrangement and long drawn out vocal at the end is stellar. “Love Is a Hurting Thing” is a knock-your-socks-off inspired ballad. [It fades into upbeat horns until fading awkwardly on CD.] “Dead End Street” is similar to “Tobacco Road” in the poor-man-life-in-Chicago-theme, and his delivery makes you root for him. In hindsight, his set stands out as one of the more memorable ones of the first night though the final two songs and anything else he played is unavailable.

Lou Rawls - Dead End Street

 

Beach Boys!

 

I swear I had read David Crosby had high praise for The Association after hearing them live at Monterey, me memory of what he was quoted as saying was almost exactly,like the words in this review:

"The biggest shocker is pop group the Association. Its lush harmonies weren't just the product of studio tinkering, it turns out, and aggressive bass lines and a sharp-edged Rickenbacker guitar sound make ''Windy'' and ''Along Comes Mary'' sound like more than moldy oldies. "

 

Would you consider "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" by Scott McKenzie, written by John Phillips, a tribute?
I think it's main purpose was to promote the festival.
It's still a great song that captures the times and the atmosphere of the festival, even before the event took place.

 

The Association did better at Monterey than I would have expected. If they had worn flower power clothing and been included in the film, it might have given them the credibility to move beyond their AM Top 40 image.

 

Maybe it should be saved for its proper spot, but Tork was chastising a group of kids, telling them not to climb the walls and break down doors and ceilings thinking the Beatles were there.

 

Their set was derailed since Denny dropped acid before going on. A shame. Their debut and sophomore LP, Ellis Island (produced by Eliot Mazer who also produced Jake Holmes' sophomore LP and used Skip, the Paupers drummer on it) are underrated platters.

 

I was just going to post about Denny Gerrard's inability to play at Monterey, and though only a lowly bass player he was a really standout attraction for them and well regarded. Apparently there is some footage where you can hear them playing on stage in the background but of course it's really impossible to tell how it was going for them, we just have to take their word for it that we aren't missing much by there not being any recordings of it available.

In another thread I mention this group as being one I got 'completest' about on vinyl... had to have all their pre-Adam Mitchell singles and Roman Records LP compilation they appeared on! I even managed to get the Long Tall Sally side. There are also a few non LP single sides with Adam Mitchell. Bill Marion (actually Misener) from Hamilton, Ontario was their original lead singer and they were a really good folk-rock group circa 1965. Unfortunately Toronto radio generally did their best to discourage the local talent and treat it like garbage back then, it took an Australian Ritchie Yorke and Duff Roman (of Roman records) to finally help force our radio to support Canadian talent on our airwaves. Toronto and CHUM were very tough, luckily other places like Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal among others did support Canadians as did RCA, Capitol, London, MGM and Mercury. The Paupers had to find support outside Canada just like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Generally only after getting somewhere in the U.S. or England could Canadian artists be considered for real by the Toronto mentality people. Gordon Lightfoot was one of the first to stay in Canada and make a living, get respect and airplay (and being accepted by Ian & Sylvia who had made it in NYC may have helped).

The Paupers | Garage Hangover

 

That's strange that local radio wouldn't support Canadian acts like The Paupers. I figure that wasn't the norm with most local stations aware of their local groups. Also the Paupers article is the most info I've seen on them. There's not a ton of info on the web about them from doing a quick search so it's good to have here. What's interesting about the story you and Yardbyrd were mentioning about Denny Gerrard is that in the Robert Christgau article that was linked earlier, he says this about The Paupers:

On Friday, for instance, the bassist for The Paupers, Dennis Gerrard, a stubby bullfrog with bulging eyes that seem to rise clear out of his head when he gets going, started fooling around with the feedback--The Paupers really know how--and gradually worked into an unanticipated solo. It was good--Gerrard is the most expressive bassman I've ever heard in a rock band, one of the few to explore the kind of facility the electric bass was invented to provide--and he kept going, his eyes half-closed and showing nothing but white, and after a couple of good stretches he got scattered applause. Then he appeared to finish and was cheered enthusiastically. But Gerrard wasn't through yet. He turned to the amplifier, doubling the cord so he got shuddering interference on every note, and played some more, not so well this time, but very intensely, perhaps even hoking it up consciously, and now, although the whole solo was turning into an exhibition, the place really broke up, unable to withstand the impulsion of its own excitement.

I guess he was used to performing inebriated.

 

For moi, killing floor by Hendrix defines that festival.

 

I've always been annoyed that The Who had to make do with crappy equipment, kinda ruins an otherwise prime '67 Who set when there's no more soundboards from that year circulating

 

Seems quite a few performers took a trip onstage... if memory serves, Hendrix, Burdon and Country Joe all dosed before taking the stage at Monterey... I remember a Country Joe interview back in the 80s where he said he took STP, not LSD... and he was laughing at the fact that after he peaked he anticipated the come down but started peaking again, which was the nature of STP as oppossed to LSD... I can't begin to imagine going onstage, tripping...

 

BEVERLEY [KUTNER] (later Beverley Martyn)
(introduced by Paul Simon)

1. Sweet Joy
2. Sweet Honesty
3. Picking Up the Sunshine

Beverley has been the most difficult to find for me. I haven’t heard any of her 60’s material except “Sweet Honesty” and it may have been a re-make of the song. She’s a folk and roots singer from London who learned guitar from her boyfriend, famous fokie Bert Jansch. After being in the Levee Breakers group for a one-off single, she was in an on-and-off relationship with Paul Simon who introduces her here at Monterey. Her quote from the Guardian in 2014:

"It was a blur," she recalls. "I was bricking it and trying desperately not to show it. I shouldn't even have been there; I didn't have a green card. Paul did say: 'If you marry me you can get a green card,' and I thought, well, that's not very romantic."

Unfortunately, she could be right about not belonging because her resume is the smallest of anyone leading up to the festival. While she established a small fan base after with help from John Martyn years later, she never really made much of a mark in the music world and is probably the least known artist of the concert 50 years later despite staying somewhat active. Only The Group With No Name seems to have less written about them.

She has a spoken word line on Simon and Garfunkel’s “Fakin’ It”, followed by a release years later with her then husband John Martyn whom she split with at the end of the 70’s.

I’ll post “Picking Up the Sunshine” which I think was a 60’s single with "Gin House Blues" as the B--one of her few solo ones. It’s a pretty good folk-rock track with organ but it’s so influenced by Donovan that it sounds like the melody was borrowed from Donvoan’s “House of Jansch” on the Mellow Yellow album. “Sweet Honesty” was later released with John Martyn on their 1970 album Harbinger as an 8-minute track. There are no recordings from Monterey from her available though. I think the 3 songs listed are the only 3 she did and it seems her performance didn’t make much of a mark.

Beverley "Picking Up the Sunshine"

 

Bloody hell, I had no idea that Beverly played at Monterey - I quite like that 7" you posted up, has a nice groove to it

 

I thought the Beefheart problem was that Ry had quit the band. The story, IIRC, was that after weeks of long intense rehearsals, Don dropped acid at their first festival gig, saw some girl in the audience turn into something evil, and fell off the stage and had to taken away. The story was without a word to anyone, Ry unplugged, packed up his guitar, and walked away, 'never to be seen again.'

 

Big Brother and the Holding Co. is listed twice.
Edit: Now I see why...

 

Man, reading Christgau's stuff always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Every time he called someone a "spade" in that article, I winced.

 

Yeah...somewhat. Scott's song...well actually I think John Phillips wrote it...certainly DID promote and advertise the summer of love sentiment and since Monterey was the BIGGIE of festivals that summer...yeppur's...it'd be a plugger.

In Newport RI that summer (1967)...the Folk Festival had many hippie-ish folkies and rock ala Janis Joplin and The Big Brother Holding Co. Not till 2 years later did the Jazz Fest have Rock and assorted hippiedom....but those Folk Fests there were the early East Coast one's like that.

If you can get it....check out the documentary 'Festival'. It's about the Folk Fests between 63-65 there in Newport. Great stuff including when Dylan went electric and lots of other cool things.

Festival (1967 film) - Wikipedia

 

Best thread idea in sometime!

 

Great post on Beverley Martyn! There was some kind of unofficial stage too where un-billed performers could perform, plus Beaver & Krause demonstrating synths in the booths area and Tiny Tim in the green room. I remember a good blog with photos by someone who attended which had details about things I hadn't read anywhere else, hard to try to find it now.

 

See also the book "Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of The Monterey Pop Festival". I believe this includes at least one photo of every performer playing at the festival, among the 200+ photos. Actually, I don't think any other book goes into as detail about Monterey as this book. Recommended.

 

Regarding the review of The Association by the OP, I have the following comments:

Larry Ramos joined The Association about 3 months, not one month, before the Monterey Pop Festival and had participated in the recording of their current album, Insight Out.

The verses of "Windy" are a duet between Russ Giguere and Larry Ramos.

The Association unfortunately were saddled with a lightweight image that has endured, but they were from the same group of LA ex-folkies and musicians that many of the better-remembered groups of the time emerged from. Terry Kirkman used to play with Frank Zappa at one time, IIRC. Jules (Gary) Alexander went to India a year before the Beatles did. They were a self-contained group that could play their (Wrecking Crew studio recorded) hits live competently and entertain the crowd with some comedy like "The Machine" and between song bits. Of course, that doesn't sound as cool as The Byrds not acknowledging anybody and tuning up forever...

 

Great thread! This is fun so far!
However, I must say that the emphasis on "hippie culture" and it's ascendance musically is a bit overstated by the OP.
Keep in mind this was the Monterey POP Festival, so bands like the Association, Mamas & Papas fit in well.
Also, The Mothers Of Invention were in the middle of their legendary New York Garrick Theater run. Unless I actually read a quote from FZ that he didn't play because he thought he was better than Bay Area bands, I find that hard to believe.

 

The song was a big advertisement for the festival!
The Bay Area contingent was Not Amused by this blatant commercial. The story goes that some of the SF gang kidnapped the Fender festival backline amps and held for ransom as a joke.