Posts From Jeff Tamarkin
‘Dancing in the Moonlight’—The Circuitous Path of the One and Only King Harvest Hit
Everybody was “Dancing in the Moonlight” in the early ’70s, but who was the band that recorded this catchy one-hit wonder? We decided to find out.
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Blood, Sweat & Tears—Groundbreaking Debut: Rewind
The idea was simple but brand new: a rock band augmented by a jazz-influenced horn section. Soon, a classic album was born
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From Bobby Freeman to the Beach Boys, Mamas & Papas and Ramones: How ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ Became a Rock ‘n’ Roll Classic
You’ve heard Freeman’s 1958 hit—and most famous song—performed by John Lennon, the Ramones and the Beach Boys. Here’s how it evolved.
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Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of Girl Group Greats the Shangri-Las, Dies at 75
Along with the late Ronnie Spector, Weiss was the voice and face of the ’60s girl groups.
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Reggie Young: The Prolific Guitarist You’ve Likely Never Heard Of
His guitar can be heard on recordings by Elvis Presley, the Box Tops, Dusty Springfield, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr and more.
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16 Songs That’ll Make You Feel Groovy
Nobody says groovy anymore. But there was a time when they said it a lot–and sang it too. Here are some of the grooviest songs you’ve ever heard.
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Dave Clark on ‘All the Hits’: ‘The Imperfections Made Them Perfect’
“We believed the song should have that same excitement of when we played live,” he says, on recording the big DC5 hits like “Glad All Over.”
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Savoy Brown’s Kim Simmonds and 5 Decades of the Blues
The guitarist, singer and songwriter formed the British blues band in London in 1965. “When I started, all the club bands were playing Motown”
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Essra Mohawk, Singer-Songwriter With Ties to Zappa, Garcia, Lauper, Tina and ‘Schoolhouse Rock,’ Dies
Although she never made the Billboard charts, she was highly respected and consistently prolific for more than 50 years.
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Cream: Rock’s Short-Lived First Supergroup
Formed by blues fanatics in 1966 and gone by ’68, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker redefined what a rock band was capable of doing.
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