Roberta Flack--The First Tiime Ever I Saw Your Face (1972)

     Roberta Flack had spent the entirety of the sixties as a music teacher in the Washington DC area.She had graduated from Howard University in late 50's as one of the youngest to ever graduate from that establishment (she was 19 at the time) and had planned to continue on to graduate studies in classical piano and voice. However, the death of her father put her in a position to help with the family finances, so she went into teaching in Farmville, North Carolina then to Washington.      During the 60's...

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The Fixx--One Thing Leads To Another (1983)

     The Fix began life as The Portraits in 1979. Founded by vocalist Cy Curnin and drummer Adam Woods, the brought in Rupert Greenall (keys), Tony McGrail (guitar) and Charlie Barret (bass) to round out the lineup. The band released a couple of singles that went nowhere at which point McGrail left and Jamie West-Oram in mid-1980. About that time they changed the name of the group to The Fix, and a few of their recordings were picked up by the BBC. This higher profile led to a major label contract with MCA who were concerned...

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The Five Stairsteps--Ooh Child (1970)

     Several years before The Jackson Five took the soul/pop world by storm, another family of siblings were making an impact on the charts. Five of the nine Burke children out of Chicago (Alohe Jean, Clarence Jr., James, Dennis, and Keni) were discovered after winning a talent contest at the Regal Theater. They were offered several recording contracts, but a close family friend was Fred Cash of The Impressions who introduced them to Curtis Mayfield who signed them to his Windy City label.      Beginning in 1966...

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The PC's LTD--Fast Man (Booty Man) (1969)

Lovers of obscure 45s will certainly want to listen to Fast Man by The PC's LTD at least once- that is if they can find it of course. It's a pretty underground release; Fran Records in Virginia originally published the record, though it seems that Fran also had some operations in Kentucky as well. The company was a division of Viv, and they had the same ear for funk that their parent company did.Since it was recorded far from the glitter lights provided by the Stax Records company towers in Memphis, Fast Man certainly sounds unpolished. However,...

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Five Man Electrical Band--Signs (1971)

     The Five Man Electrical Band began their existence as The Staccatos in 1963. The Ottawa, Canada-based band began charting in their home country by 1965. They were frequently in the Canadian top 20 over the next few years except for 1967's, "Half Past Midnight" which crept into the top 10. There was never a hit followup, and by the end of 1968 the group was seeking a new direction musically. With that change to a more rock sound, came a new name. the Five Man Electrical Band.      Even with a new name,...

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The Five Americans--Western Union (1967)

     The Five Americans were a band out of Oklahoma and was signed by a small label out of Dallas called Abnak/Jetstar and produced several regional hits in the mid-60's. A couple of those songs, "I See the Light" (1966) and "Evol-Not Love" (1966) made it to the charts. It was a riff by guitarist Mike Raybon however, that provided the foundation for their biggest hit. "Western Union" had a instrumental hook (the sound of the guitar aping a telegraph), and a vocal one (the dit-dit-dits that one hears throughout the song).  ...

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The First Class--Beach Baby (1974)

   Only the mish mash of styles that defined the top 40 charts during the early/middle 70's could have given us one of the best summertime hits about the beach from London. Not only that, but they evoked the sound of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson better than Wilson himself could at the time.       The First Class was a studio group which consisted of songwriter/producer John Carter, studio singer Tony Burrows, and Chas Mills, primarily to promote the music of Carter and his songwriter wife, Jill Shakespeare.     ...

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Firefall--You Are The Woman (1976)

     The beginnings of Firefall came about through the meeting of singer Rick Roberts and guitarist Jock Barkley. Barkley was playing in Gram Parsons backing band "The Fallen Angels", and met the singer when they were playing the same venue. Rick was impressed by the guitarist's style and after jamming a bit inquired about the possibility of forming a new group. They contacted bassist Mark Andes who had played with Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and Larry Burnett and shortly afterward took on the name "Firefall" in 1974. Roberts, who...

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Fleetwood Mac--Tusk (1979)

     Tracing the history of Fleetwood Mac, one might be surprised at the musical twists and turns they've taken. Starting out as a straight blues band, they slowly morphed into a blues/rock/pop sound then dropping all pretensions of the blues as Bob Welch and Christine McVie directed them into California rock. As Welch left the band to be joined by Lindsay Buckingham and his girl friend Stephanie (Stevie) Nicks, the freshness brought to be band was felt and heard immediately on the album "Fleetwood Mac" (1975). That album and...

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Sunday Morning Vault: Darla Hood--My Quiet Village (1959)

     Those of a certain age remember "The Little Rascals". When I was a kid of the late 60's and early 70's they were a staple of my Saturday morning television along with "The Three Stooges". Back when they were made from 1922 to 1942, it was known as the "Our Gang" series. Most casual fans of the show are mostly familiar with the cast from the shows dated 1936-39 with Alfalfa, Spanky, Porky, Buckwheat and Darla Hood.      Darla Jean Hood was born in Leedey, Oklahoma in 1931. Her mother, a music teacher...

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James Taylor Sings James Taylor (1970)

    I usually don't put long videos on the blog, but a lazy Friday morning seemed a great time to share this.     In November 1970, the BBC did a special with James Taylor. Most of the time it's just him and his guitar (with a little piano) telling stories and singing. If anyone questions what the big deal was about JT, I direct you to this video where it's plain to see the connection he makes with an audience. There are not just songs sung by a shy dreamer, but one who by the age of 22 seen a lifetime of experience....

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The Fireballs--Sugar Shack (1963)

     The Fireballs began as an instrumental group out of Raton, New Mexico and recorded out of the same studio (Norman Petty's NorVaJak ) in Clovis that Buddy Holly began his breakout success. The original band consisted of George Tomsco (Lead guitar), Chuck Tharpe (vocals), Stan Lark (Bass), Eric Budd (Drums) and Dan Trammel (Rhythm guitar). Although having a vocalist, they made their early success with instrumentals built around Tomsco's guitar playing. "Torquay" (1959), "Bulldog" (1960), and "Quite A Party" (1961) all made...

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The Fifth Dimension--Wedding Bell Blues (1969)

     By 1969, the Fifth Dimension was riding high. Having had 8 straight top 40 hits, they had also made a major songwriting star our of Laura Nyro. In making the album, "The Age of Aquarius", they returned to Nyro once more on a song that could have written about their two lead singers....      The roots of what became The Fifth Dimension started back in 1963, when singers Lamonte McLemore and Marlyn McCoo hooked up with friends Harry Elston and Floyd Butler to form the Hi-Fi's. They sang at local clubs...

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Ferrante & Teicher--Exdous (1960)

     Much of the time movie soundtracks have been relegated to writing pop songs which can also be used as a marketing tool. This has been a part of the movie going experience almost since the dawn of "talkies". There has however, in my opinion a shift in how an orchestra is used. Orchestrated music is still part of many a movie soundtrack, but very rarely can it be found on the charts. Even in the mid to late 70's, a top arraignment from a film would find it's way to the top 20 (Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind,...

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Jay Ferguson--Thunder Island (1978)

     Jay Ferguson had his first and only hit with this song in 1977, but had been a long respected vocalist/keyboardist in rock circles for quite a long time  before then.       Born in California, he grew up having taken piano and banjo, and in fact was in a bluegrass duo with his brother Tom (fiddle), called, The Oak Hill Stompers. Along with others however, he was inspired by the Beatles, and along with Randy California, Mark Andes, and Ed Cassidy formed The Red Roosters in 1965, but broke up...

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Jose Feliciano--Light My Fire (1968)

     If my memory serves me correct, this was the first version of "Light My Fire" to catch my ears, having come out in the summer of 1968, and the Doors' original coming out more than a year before that. Although the songwriting credits were given to the entire group it was mainly Robbie Krieger's song with Ray Manzarek's providing the iconic organ open. It not only became their first hit, but a number one which set the tone for the band's short but influential career.      At the same time, Jose Feliciano's...

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