Confession: Sometimes I’m lazy. Really…freaking…lazy. Lasting momentum eludes me, and this month has encapsulated that struggle. The alloted two weeks of spring here in north Texas have given way to the annual blast furnace which extends into October. I started out fairly active for what is a rather quiet month on the 50th album anniversary front, but today is the first time in a couple of weeks I’ve signed in to the blogosphere. Time to accept what is with the weather and get back to writing, as I’m now feeling spurred on by some random kind words of encouragement from someone I don’t know, but whose work I admire.
Despite my recent inactivity, I did read a couple of books over the past few weeks that I recommend:
JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters, by James Douglass (2008)
The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider’s Diary of the Beatles, Their Million-dollar Apple Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall, by Richard DiLello (1972)
The latter is a fun and quick read. While the Beatles loom throughout, the book is really about the people who worked in and visited (crashed, more like) the madhouse that was Apple Corps. It’s more than a minor miracle that the Apple experiment lasted three years. This is not your typical Beatles bio. As for the former, while I’m not a “conspiracy enthusiast,” to anyone left still inclined to believe Oswald was the lone gunman I recommend checking this out from your local library.
Now on to some June 1968 releases. On one hand, it kind of feels like I’m mailing it in with another month-end roundup of leftovers, but as I mentioned earlier this isn’t a big month for 50th anniversaries. Watch the following be among somebody’s all-time favorites…
Steve Miller Band – Children of the Future
This was the debut album of the Steve Miller Band, produced by Glyn Johns. About half the songs on it were written by Miller, the others by the likes of Big Bill Broonzy and then-bandmate Boz Scaggs. An album later and we’re into those early Miller tunes I really dig.
Jose Feliciano – Feliciano!
Admit it, you like this album. Honestly, it had slipped from my memory. I don’t own it, nor do I hear his version of Light My Fire anymore on any radio station I listen to. But I like it. This all acoustic, all covers album is Feliciano’s most successful release, reaching #2 on Billboard’s Top LP Chart, #3 on the R&B charts, and #3 on the Jazz charts. Besides the Doors, he covers the Mamas and the Papas, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Beatles, and others.
I’ll have more tomorrow. Cheers for now, and thanks for reading!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Future_(Steve_Miller_Band_album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feliciano!
-Stephen
50th Music Anniversaries and Other Musings 
I have those albums on my 1968 albums to listen to list— Feliciano’s greatest contribution to 1968 has to be- singing the National Anthem in Detroit before one of the World Series games that year- have you seen/ heard that? It’s on youtube- one of my favorite versions- and of course after it was over the phoneboard at NBC lit up with protests. Not as great as Marvin Gaye at the NBA All- Star game but my second favorite version of the anthem.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I just dialed it up, and wow! It’s so amazing that people got offended over it. One of the comments below it on youtube pointed out that if Sinatra had done a similar version, he would’ve been praised. Sad, but true.
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Yes, listened to that Feliciano album a couple of weeks ago when researching Fifty Year Friday. Not a bad album. I think Light My Fire is the best track.
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Love that early Miller music.
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Me too. I also picked up a copy of Book of Dreams a while back. I’d forgotten how good the non-radio hits are on that album.
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I have l those really early albums. The anthology i wore out back when. Songs like ‘My Dark Hour’ Space Cowboy’. Killers.
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