Richard DiLello – 50th Music Anniversaries and Other Musings

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)

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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.

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