AM Gold 1964

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1995

Labels: Warner Special Products, Time Life Music

Time-Life released this disc as Various - Superhits 1964 (SUD-09) in the Super Hits series in 1991, and as Various - AM Gold 1964 (AM1-11) in the AM Gold series in 1995.

Track durations obtained from software.

Complete liner notes:

In January 1964, the Beatles finally broke in the United States. The ensuing hysteria was fueled by a plethora of Beatle records and Beatle compositions performed by other artists, such as Peter and Gordon's A World without Love. In the wake of the Beatles, nearly every British effort that had the appearance of sales potential was given stateside exposure, and Beatlemania soon became the British Invasion.

Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas' first three English hits were Beatle songs, but on their first U.S. chart record, the Lennon-McCartney Bad to Me was edged out by its non-Beatle flip side, Little Children. Gerry (Marsden) and the Pacemakers' first three singles were produced by George Martin, who worked with the Beatles, but by the time the group charted here with Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying, their style was diverging from the Beatle sound.

Dusty Springfield made the U.S. top 20 in 1962 as lead singer of the British folk trio the Springfields with Silver Threads and Golden Needles. She returned on her own in 1964 as a soul singer, scoring four times that year. The high-water mark was her revival of the Dionne Warwick flop Wishin' and Hopin'. Meanwhile, Warwick reached the top 10 with Anyone Who Had a Heart and Walk On By, the beginning of a string of smashes.

The Zombies stood out among the groups of the first British wave. Their initial hit, She's Not There, and the subsequent Tell Her No sound very different from the style of the Mersey groups and seem less dated than those do today. The band should have had a leg up as rock 'n' roll evolved into rock and became an album medium. Ironically, their best-remembered LP, Odessey and Oracle, containing their final hit, Time of the Season, never rose above cult status.

Although the competition from the influx of foreign talent crowded a few established artists from the American charts, it spurred at least one of them on to greater success. "I do my best work when I am trying to top other songwriters and music makers," said Beach Boy Brian Wilson, referring to the Beatles. In fact, the Beach Boys placed seven sides on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1964, including When I Grow Up (To Be a Man). This introspective song has been made even more poignant by revelations about Brian's dysfunctional relationship with his father, Murry.

The 4 Seasons, led by Frankie Valli with his fantastic three-octave voice, held their own against the British. They had a No. 1 hit during the summer with Rag Doll, written by group member Bob Gaudio and producer Bob Crewe, and racked up a yearly total of eight appearances on the Hot 100, seven of them in the top 30. Only the Fab Four, who had been their U.S. labelmates a year earlier, compiled better stats. Vee-Jay Records didn't have access to any new material from either group, but they wrung considerable chart action from old recordings by both. The Chicago-based company even concocted a double album, The Beatles vs the Four Seasons, by packaging Introducing the Beatles and Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons in a new cover.

RCA Victor missed the boat on the British Invasion, largely because their English operation hadn't been signing up the hot new acts. Still, they were doing well with Broadway shows like Hello, Dolly!, movie sound tracks like Bye Bye Birdie, jazz by Al Hirt and plenty of country, classical and pop LPs. They even had a strong year in folk thanks to singer-songwriter Gale Garnett's Grammy-winning We'll Sing in the Sunshine. Then, of course, they had Elvis, whose output was so voluminous that RCA occasionally miscalculated the potential of an individual track. Terry Stafford covered Suspicion from Presley's Pot Luck LP and joined the exclusive club of successful premortem Elvis impersonators.

Mary Wells had her biggest hit yet with My Guy, but before the year ended she left Motown for 20th Century Records with visions of a film career. She never cracked the top 20 again. The Supremes had been releasing discs on Tamla and Motown since 1961. While other companies were scoring heavily with their girl groups, the "no hit" Supremes were mostly striking out. They found their groove when Berry Gordy teamed them up with the song-writing and production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. The Supremes topped everybody's charts with Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love and Come See about Me. They continued to rack up No. 1 songs for the next five years, outlasting the classic girl-group sound by four years.

Lesley Gore and her producer Quincy Jones were also moving away from trivial female formulas. You Don't Own Me was a radical advance from their earlier It's My Party and Judy's Turn to Cry in terms of both musical complexity and feminist awareness. Prolific producer Bob Crewe's flawless execution elevated Diane Renay's Navy Blue from simplistic fluff to a fondly remembered oldie of the period genre.

A few rock 'n' rollers from the past revived their careers in 1964. Little Anthony and the Imperials had been quiet since 1960. Under the guidance of Teddy Randazzo, alumnus of another '50s group, the Three Chuckles, they came back stronger than ever. Goin' out of My Head became one of the decade's pop classics, with recordings by the Lettermen and Frank Sinatra. Jerry Butler's chart performance had dropped off since Moon River in 1961, but teaming up with Betty "Shoop Shoop" Everett on a revival of the Everly Brothers' Let It Be Me put him back in the top 10. In 1969 the song was revived one more time by Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry.

The Drifters had once again gone through serious personnel changes. Former lead singer Johnny Moore (Ruby Baby) reassumed that position after the death of Rudy Lewis, and Bert "Twist and Shout" Berns replaced Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as producer. This new combination resulted in the Drifters' final smash, Under the Boardwalk. Leiber and Stoller were now concentrating on their own company, Red Bird, but one of their biggest hits of the year was a production job, already in the can, that came out on United Artists. Come a Little Bit Closer by Jay and the Americans combined Mexican and other Latino elements to evoke a Spanish feeling reminiscent of Marty Robbins' El Paso.

Jazz still had popular appeal when applied to the right material. Veteran Louis Armstrong topped the charts between the Beatles and Mary Wells with his hot arrangement of Hello, Dolly! On the cool side, Stan Getz scored his second pop hit in two years, and copped a Grammy for Record of the Year, with The Girl from Ipanema, featuring vocalist Astrud Gilberto with her husband, Joao, on guitar. Getz played tenor sax with several prominent big bands and fronted small combos in the '40s and '50s. His breakthrough to mass appeal came with his introduction of the Brazilian bossa nova dance rhythm to North America.

Although some of the manufactured teen idols of the late '50s and early '60s had declined in popularity, their more sophisticated counterparts were prospering. Bobby Vinton was a frustrated big-band leader born 20 years too late. Once he converted to rock 'n' roll, his impeccable musicianship and talent for picking a revivable oldie or a potential hit like Mr. Lonely made him one of the decade's most consistent artists. Roy Orbison's guitarist Bobby Goldsboro established himself as a solo artist with See the Funny Little Clown and stayed on the charts through the early '70s with a string of similar sad ballads of his own composition.

Gene Pitney was one of the most diversely talented artists of the '60s. I'm Gonna Be Strong displays one side of his vocal virtuosity (he could be just as evocative singing up-tempo material). Even though most of his hits were written by others, his writing credits include such classics as Hello, Mary Lou and He's a Rebel.

-Dr. Oldie

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