On what end - the cover, or the center labels? I know preparation for LP's is longer than for 45's - and that some pressing plants at certain points weren't updated with newer label backdrops so they use old label backdrops to use them up. (Think "W-7" copies of such LP's as Van Morrison's Moondance or James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, both issued after the label became WB again.)
The label stock. I realize that the RCA plant may have very well used old label stock. The album was pressed on dynaflex. I have three copies of the album, and all of them were on Calendar, despite the jacket saying "Kirshner".
Which plant(s)? That may explain it - they seemed to change their label stock quicker with 45's than with LP's, based on what you're saying.
I thought RCA only had their Camden plant. The design of the label was the same from 1968 to 1971. Only the name of the label varied.
The Camden plant closed in early 1949 due to a sales slump, and in spite of Columbia's introduction of the long-playing record. The plants RCA operated at the point in time of The Archies' moment in the sun were Rockaway, NJ (a stamped or etched 'R' in the deadwax), Indianapolis, IN (stamped 'I') and Hollywood, CA (stamped 'H'). Since you said the copies were Dynaflex, I presume that means a 1" pressing ring. But of those initials I ran off, which were in the runouts? Oh, and RCA distributed Kirshner (ex Calendar) through 1972. Towards the end they put out Gold Standard reissue singles, including "Sugar Sugar" which they inexplicably put out in stereo. James Darren was signed to the label by the point Kirshner and RCA parted ways, and put out a few singles before the plug was pulled.
Honky Tonk Woman I like this song OK, but it's far from my favorite of theirs. I would say I like the B side, You Can't Always Get What You Want, far, far more. In fact, I would go on to say it's one of their best. But as far as 1969 goes, the supreme Stones song is without question Gimme Shelter (or Sheltah as Mick would have it). From the unbelievably tense opening instrumental bit that builds and builds until it bursts into the actual song, to the unforgettable backing vocals by Merrie Clayton (I used to think it was Grace Slick for some reason), Shelter is a masterpiece. When Clayton's voice starts to break apart from the extreme volume she is putting out (rape... raaaaaaape), it's the kind of mistake that makes a song iconic. She takes an already brilliant track into the stratosphere. But this song was probably too intense for AM radio in those days. It's just a shot away... A few comments about Honky Tonk. As I started to think about the song, I realized this is one of their songs I understand almost none of the lyrics for. I Met huh something barroom something Memphis. Even so, I had a sense that Mick was being naughty, and looking up the actual words confirmed my suspicions. If Mick had better diction I highly doubt he would have gotten away with 'I laid a divorcee in New York City' (holy crap, that was Linda Eastman, huh? Makes sense, she was part of the music scene long before she met Paul, but I bet it made conversations between Paul and Mick somewhat awkward). Somewhat more significant is that this is the first #1 Stones number after the death of Brian Jones. Jones struggled with his diminished role in the Stones throughout the 60s, but when the Stones went extra bluesy, Jones' dulcimers and sitars were permanently retired, leaving him little to do. It didn't help that Keith stole his girlfriend to boot. Jones became a shell of himself, buried in drugs. By the time of Rock and Roll Circus in late 1968, he was at times barely hanging on. The Stones finally gave him the ax in June of 1969, and he drowned under mysterious circumstances in his pool not long after that. Jones at the Rock and Roll Circus Jones' replacement was Mick Taylor, a guitarist for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers among others. Taylor secretly worked on several tracks while Jones was still in the band, but when they fired Jones in June, Taylor was announced as his permanent replacement. His first recording as a Stone was none other than Honky Tonk Woman. His first onstage appearance with the group came at the free concert given at Hyde Park in July, in front of a quarter of a million people, right after Jones died. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! Mick and Mick, 1969
Here's a cool clip of Mick and new Mick doing Gimme Shelter. This is really, really good. Mick J's vocal is live. But it just is not the same without Merrie Clayton.
Next time i'm digging in my albums, i'll try to remember this thread and see where they were pressed.
It got some oldies playback in the 70s and 80s and has disappeared from the radio in my area. Totally gone.
Your history is a little off. Mary left Motown in May of 1964 when My Guy was #1 on the charts. She was seduced away when her ex-husband talked her into shopping around (so to speak) and she wound up going with 20th Century Fox with a promise that she'd make it into film and continue to have #1 hits. Of course, neither happened. The Supremes only had one fabulous top 20 hit at that point (When the Lovelight....). Where Did Our Love Go was released in June of 1964, the first of five straight #1 records during the next year. So Mary would have had no fore-knowledge about that. I do agree we have a lot to thank Berry for. And he did totally change the industry. However, it's rumored he was also the person behind Mary's lack of airplay after she left Motown. And what he did to H-D-H after they left Motown shows him to be someone you didn't mess with (or question how he was paying you).
I can tell you that it got nearly ZERO airplay on any oldies radio from the time I can remember, which is 1974 on.
But, did it get lots of airplay in 1969? The reason i'm wondering is because of it's authentic gospel performance. It's very far removed from any type of pop/rock, or even soul music. This issue will come back in 1970.
They evolved -- yes -- but unlike almost any later group-- they were breaking new ground as they were doing it.
In addition, the early '70s had musicals like Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar, both of which had top 40 singles like "Day by Day", "Superstar", and " I Don't Know How To Love Him". All of which hint at a "higher power". Outside of musicals, I'm also thinking of "Put Your Hand in the Hand". What I am trying to say, is that there were a lot of songs with religious overtones at that time. "My Sweet Lord", "Spirit in the Sky" and "Fire and Rain", all from 1970, also mention religious deities in one way or another. I'm just listing these off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others. It definitely was a trend there for a while. It also shows up later too -- I have heard "Morning Has Broken" and "You Light Up My Life" sung in religious settings. ==== Grant - I am too young to answer your "Oh Happy Day" question wrt 1969 playings. But I can tell you I too have never heard this song on the radio; I only know it from the Dick Clark 20 Years of Rock and Roll compilation LP that I have.
It had to have. How else - apart from money under the table - could it have made it to the Top 10 of the pop charts? I strongly disagree with "Oh Happy Day" not having anything in common with soul music. Secularize the lyrics, trim the choir down to four voices, step up the backbeat and you may as well have a soul hit. Over on the pop side, it was twice removed from whatever Andy Kim or the Classics IV were doing, but then again, it was not hard to get a left-field hit back then. Look at the "Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet" - what other MOR piano instrumentals were a hit that year?
Yes. I lived through it. I'm not quite sure how or why the Jesus movement took hold at that time in history, but all those other songs you mentioned did indeed get on the radio in high rotation. I heard them all on the radio. In a way, it was like the religious culture using the hippie movement and going for the younger generation through music. I always found this era and topic interesting, especially because my sister became part of it, but we can't discuss it. I know why we can't. People would start quoting bible scriptures, and the atheists would cry foul, the thread would spiral out of control, and you know.
ESPECIALLY in '69 or '70. After "Oh Happy Day" became a hit, there was a minor trend amongst other gospel artists looking for the same results. That was a minor phenomenon on black radio. Maceo Woods had a mild hit with a remake of "Hello Sunshine" in 1970. Myrna Summers had similar success with "God Gave Me A Song" in 1970. The Beautiful Zion Missionary Baptist Church Choir made it all the way into the Top 40 soul charts with 1973's "I'll Make It Alright." Right around this same time, there were several gospel groups making a reverse crossover move to a more soulish kind of sound, like the Violinaires and the Salem Travelers. If white pop radio was all you knew in 1969, maybe you wouldn't have had a context for this music. But twist the dial over to the black stations, most of which had strong gospel programming on Sunday, and it was definitely in the air. Grant, for a man who loves soul music as much as you claim to, I've noticed that you become tone-deaf when it comes to gospel. That's gotta change. Aretha and Pickett didn't develop their thing in a vacuum, you know...
It was a really big hit in Australia and got lots of airplay. Nick Cave's song Deanna is based on it.
This is pretty good, but now I want to hear a Wilson Pickett cover of Zager and Evans! Man has criiiiiied... a billYUN tears, y'all!
I didn't think that was right, so I looked it up. It was Toni Wine who said 'I'm gonna make your life so sweet', which is, like, the greatest bubblegum moment of that year. I'm thrilled to see that she even looked like Veronica (you know it had to have been Ronnie who said that line and not Betty. It HAD to be her, that's just the kind of saucy she was).
