Definitive Compilations (60's)

This week we have a variety of left-overs, which while I like them, don’t really fit into any of the sets I’ve used or plan on doing. Shouldn’t I be doing the left-overs last you ask? Yes. But I’m lazy and under prepared and this seemed like the easiest thing to do. A few of these songs are ‘one hit wonders’ in that the artists never did much more however seeing as the songs themselves were never really ‘wonders’ I can’t like really call them that. No, this is a just a few songs from here or there that I’ve always known or have caught my…er….ear. A nice presentation of the variety musical styles going round in the 60s. Also as the title suggests, these are the types of songs you’d find on the supposedly definitive sixties compilations, the ones that can’t afford to pay royalties to the ‘big’ artists – a sometimes ugly yet integral part of everybody’s favourite decade.

1) Wild Thing – The Troggs
This is a nice mellow rock song which practically everyone knows. This is definitely deserved of the ‘one hit wonder’ title, with most of The Troggs’ fame being based around it however that doesn’t deteriorate from its quality. Considered a sort of anthem in the day it has been widely covered and like just about everything else had an influence on things to come.

2) House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals
The Animals were another of the big 60s bands going round however I never really got into them. I wouldn’t really compare them though as at least some (possibly all) of their hits weren’t written by themselves. They have a nice sound and Eric Burden’s voice is great but most of their songs don’t really appeal to me. This song however, which was probably their most known, I’ve always found interesting, with a nice building, epic sound.

3) He’s Got The Power – The Exciters
One prominent style of music in the sixties was girl groups. There was nothing much differentiating them other than the songs they were given to sing. If you happened to get a good one then you were famous for a while. This may be a bit stereotypical but oh well. I found this song on a compilation of such music and though listening to so much of it together was a bit overwhelming I managed to find this song, which whilst whiney at times is one of the better ones I’ve heard

4) No Milk Today – Herman’s Hermits
While hardly a masterpiece this is just a well-rounded, catchy and overall soothing song. My brother bought a best of CD of these guys, 2 CDs of reasonably dull, similar songs broken by a couple of good ones. I don’t look forward to hearing the songs that didn’t make the best of….. However this is the story of so many bands and we should just ignore it and enjoy their good stuff, simultaneously appreciating those bands that went further and managed to produce a constant flow of quality music for us to enjoy.

5) Wooly Bully – Sam the Sham
Best. Song. Ever. Yes ladies and gentlemen I said it. Though I probably don’t mean it, it’s hard for me to explain just how much I love this song. Sitting dormant at the end of a compilation, it exploded onto me changing my life forever. I would have to say this is the funnest (not funniest, FUNNEST) song I’ve heard. Half the fun comes from jumping around to this absolutely awesome tune and the other comes inventing and screaming your own lyrics as it’s anybody’s guess what he’s actually saying.

This was written February 4, 2006. What? Why?