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British Invasion - 1960s


I wanted to declare “Kick out the jams, mo’fos!” as a signpost towards the message in this week’s Al compás del mundo radio show, but that actually came about a little later. As humanity descended ever deeper into the Cro-Magnon state, Iggy Pop and the punks claimed that honor. What we have here instead, is a post-WWII let’s shake up the political order a bit, and no, not everyone has signed up to be an unconscious consumer attitude. There’s something afoot with these lads. Not exactly revolutionary fervor, but most certainly promoting a change in the general way of things. Recalling Che Guevara’s famous quote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, the Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones et. al. pouted and preened – some more than others – in a way that hadn’t quite been done before. Youthful vigor ensued. These groups pushed the evolutionary chain of popular music a step further and we’re all better off for it. 

Set list Al compás del mundo programa #183, 6-5-25 - The British Invasion, 1960s

01 Yardbirds - I Wish You Would

02 Rolling Stones - Please Go Home

03 Kinks - You Really Got Me

04 The Who - My Generation

05 Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy

06 Animals - Don't Bring Me Down

07 Zombies - Time of the Season

08 Spencer Davis Group - I'm a Man

09 Yardbirds - I'm a Man

10 Them – Gloria

11 Spencer Davis Group - Somebody Help Me

12 Animals - Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

13 Rolling Stones - Play with Fire

14 Yardbirds - Heart Full of Soul

15 Them - Here Comes the Night

16 Rolling Stones - High and Dry

17 Kinks - Tired of Waiting for You

18 The Who - I Can't Explain

19 Manfred Mann - Sha La La

20 Spencer Davis Group - Keep on Running

21 Zombies - She's Not There



Colleagues note: Failure works for British Invasion Plan  - Failure to exactly recreate American Blues. This I learned. It was pandemic time and I wiled away the hours on YouTube. I learned that Paul Jones was childhood friends with Brian Jones - who invited him to move to London with him to start a band - said Paul, Nah – Later, ok he said I will go to London to jam the blues with some art schoolers – the Manfreds - happily end up reinvigorating Brill Bldg wall of sounders like sha la la and do wah diddy [with connection to American jive or cockney patois - where you fill in the space with nonsensical syllables......The Kinks [Drummer Mick Avory spend a short week as Stones drummer] discovered their sound, as they realized they couldn't  or shouldn't just duplicate Big Bill Broonzy - also took the sound forward in big dark smoggy air...found Raveup on records such as the broken amplifier speaker of Link Wray Rumble-- same with the Who who failed efforts at Ultimate RandB such as  at Vandellas re-do's - the Animals like others heard Nina Simone – and rendered their renditions - jazz and blues were the same to them... Yardbirds owed homage to Bo Diddley and Billy Boy Arnold  ... who started on streets not without  connection to skiffle ethos – and set the RaveUp amplitude to 11 - I wish you would - Im a Man - Zombies were musicians...yes rockn roll and rand b and popsters...but jazzazssy key board riffs  came out of a Ray Charles e-lelctric Wurlitzer piano ... it was inside and it had to comerout... Ray Charles also was the channel for Stevie Winwood of Spenser Davis group - surrounded by organ based gospel emanation...really cranked up eventually - When i was in the covid den...i watched a gazillion youtube vids about British Group history... thanks to BBC scene of history.... I. football couch potato - they were all interconnected I found. e princes - many in manors - they could groove – think big thoughts and take long tokes - princes of the new art. good blokes. 



All went on to pretty weird phase as looked beyond blues and jazz. Bill Wyman’s In Another Land pointed the way. This was an ad hoc creation of Stones' Bill Wyman, a pivotal blast in the shift to really arty psychedelicized records that ruled for 18 months. The musicians joining Wyman on the song show how the scene cross pollinated, with both Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott of the Small Faces on guitar and backing vocals, Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, Charlie Watts on drums. - JV

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Another_Land


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