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50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong
Elvis Presley (1959)
50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong: Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2 (or simply known as Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2) is the fourth compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in November 1959. Basically the album is a compilation of hit singles released in 1958 and 1959 by Presley, from recording sessions going back as far as February 1957.
Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 2 peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It was certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for a Gold Record Award (based on $1,000,000 in wholesale sales) on November 1, 1966. It was certified for a Platinum Record Award for sales of one million copies in the US on March 27, 1992.
There has long been some confusion over the actual title of this album. The phrase 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong does not appear on the labels on any of the original records, and it is the title of the records on the labels—not the jacket—that is usually given preference when conflicting titles appear on albums. Therefore, the phrase was not part of the original title of the album.
Beginning no later than 1962, RCA Victor added 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong to the labels of a few mono records and to the then newly released electronically reprocessed stereo records. The boasting on the label appears nearly exclusive to records manufactured at RCA Victor's Hollywood pressing plant; copies pressed at the other plants tended to use the proper title only.
The 50,000,000 phrase remained there for several years, but by 1968, it was removed from the new orange RCA Victor labels and was not found on any record labels for years afterward. The phrase was added again to the first compact disc releases of this album in 1984, where it has remained.
Them - The "Angry" Young Them 1965
In April 1964, Van Morrison responded to an advert for musicians to play at a new R&B club at the Maritime Hotel–an old dance hall frequented by sailors.
The new club needed a band for its opening night; however Morrison had left the Golden Eagles (the group with which he had been performing at the time), so he created a new band out of the Gamblers, an East Belfast group formed by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison, and Alan Henderson in 1962.
Eric Wrixon, still a schoolboy, was the piano player and keyboardist. Morrison played saxophone and harmonica and shared vocals with Billy Harrison. They followed Eric Wrixon's suggestion for a new name, and the Gamblers morphed into Them, their name taken from the 50s horror movie Them!
The band's strong performances at the Maritime attracted attention. Them performed without a routine and Morrison created his songs live as he performed. While the band did covers, they also played some of Morrison's early songs, such as Could You Would You, which he had written in Camden Town while touring with the Manhattan Showband.
The debut of Morrison's Gloria happened on stage here. Sometimes, depending on his mood, the song could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has said, "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel," believing the band did not manage to capture the spontaneity and energy of their live performances on their records. The statement also reflected the instability of the Them line-up, with numerous members passing through the ranks after the definitive Maritime period. Morrison and Henderson remained the only constants, and a less successful version of Them soldiered on after Morrison's departure.
THE BEACH BOYS - PET SOUNDS (1966)
If you try to describe the importance of The Beach Boys seminal 1966 album Pet Sounds you will find that the songs created by Brian Wilson and the rest of the band will become icons in the annals of music history.
The Pet Sounds album was inspired by The Beatles revolutionary record, Rubber Soul which is considered Wilson’s favorite album of all time. Equally, Pet Sounds has been cited by Paul McCartney as the main inspiration behind his own conceptual masterpiece Sgt. Pepper.
As Brian Wilson was inspired by Rubber Soul and then inspiring both Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, the differences between the album covers is plain to see. The Beatle used strange techniques, odd compositions and highly-stylized illustration for their respective record, meanwhile, for Pet Sounds, the band simply went to their local zoo.
Carl Wilson
When Pet Sounds was released many fans weren't quite sure where the title of Pet Sounds came from. Carl Wilson later mentioned how the album's title came to fruition: ‘The idea (Brian) had was that everybody has these sounds that they love, and this was a collection of Brian Wilson's pet sounds. It was just so much more than a record; it had such a spiritual quality. Pet Sounds had so much more meaning than that.'
Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)
Buffalo Springfield Again is the second album by Buffalo Springfield, released on Atco Records in October 1967.
The band's album features some of the group's best-known songs, including Bluebird, Mr. Soul, Expecting to Fly and Rock & Roll Woman, all of which were released as singles. In contrast to the band's hastily made debut album, recording for Again took place over a protracted nine-month span and was fraught with dysfunction, with each member eventually producing his own material largely independent of one another.
Several factors may have contributed to the slow pace of the recording sessions, including that bassist Bruce Palmer had been deported in January and had re-entered the United States illegally to continue working with the band, and guitarist Neil Young had quit and rejoined the group on several occasions, notably absent for the band's appearance at the famed Monterey Pop Festival where David Crosby substituted in his place at the request of guitarist Stephen Stills.
The Buffalo Springfield 2nd album features the first recordings of songs written by guitarist Richie Furay, who had not contributed any material to the band's debut album. Also unlike the previous record, which had been recorded in its entirety by the band proper, session musicians appeared on various tracks as indicated on the album's inner sleeve.
Palmer's deportation issues necessitated the contributions of outside bass players. During one of the times that Young had left the band, he had booked a studio to record "Expecting to Fly," with session musicians under the impression it was for a Neil Young solo project rather than for Buffalo Springfield. Phil Spector Wrecking Crew associate Jack Nitzsche provided the musical arrangements for "Expecting to Fly" and the track did not feature any members of the Springfield.
Among the many worthy tracks on the album included were Bluebird, Rock & Roll Woman, Mr. Soul and A Child's Claim To Fame.
THE WHO: THE WHO SELL OUT (1967)
The Who’s first two albums My Generation and A Quick One gave Pete Townshend and the group more room to operate than the 3:00 singles they had been churning out.
Their first real songwriting breakthrough came by way of Townshend’s mini-opera A Quick One While He’s Away, which over the course of 9:11 featured Beach Boy style harmonies, clanging guitars, Keith Moon bashing his snare drum and six distinct sections that told an overarching story of an affair between a girl who is unfaithful with a character named Ivor The Engine Driver.
Just a couple of years later, Tommy introduced the world to the concept of rock operas and The Who suddenly were at Woodstock and touring the world.
Townshend was evolving as a songwriter and no other band would have (or could have) in good faith, written and recorded a heartfelt song about deodorant (Odorono) and placed it on the same album as one of the best songs in their discography (I Can See For Miles).
The mix of humor, unique songwriting, and the four different personalities that composed the quintessential lineup of The Who made it not only possible but logical within the context of The Who Sell Out. One need only look at the cover of the album with its pictures of each band member posing in ridiculous fake advertisements for items like deodorant, acne medicine, and baked beans to tell the band was having fun during the album’s creation.
The songs that make up The Who Sell Out may be humorous at times but taken as a whole, the album shows a more polished and mature band than their previous efforts. Moments like Tattoo offered vocalist Roger Daltrey the opportunity to dig into the emotions of the characters in Townshend’s lyric. The coming-of-age story projected in Tattoo is also front and center in the non-album single Pictures of Lily, which is known for its taboo subject matter of self gratification but also happens to be a great rock song.
I Can See For Miles is the Centerpiece of The Who Sell Out and remains the band’s highest charting song in the U.S., reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100…I Can See For Miles describes a relationship full of betrayal and infidelity but instead of forgiveness.
Musically the song takes The Who into new territory by acting as a bridge between the band’s more traditional pop oriented earlier material and the more sophisticated arrangements of Tommy & Quadrophenia. I Can See For Miles also inspired Paul McCartney to write The Beatles’ Helter Skelter so it could be said that heavy music really started to gain momentum around this time with bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath taking inspiration from these the sonic experiments of The Who and The Beatles.
The Who Sell Out contains flashes of brilliance and when cranked on a stereo is still a front-row seat to the zeitgeist of the late 1960s. The band was heavily influenced by psychedelic drugs and counterculture during the album’s recording (e.g. Armenia City In The Sky with its backwards guitar and its trippy countdown of the days of the week) but the songs and overall concept have held up well because the band rarely plays any of these songs live and with the exception of I Can See For Miles, none of the tunes received significant radio airplay, which gives The Who Sell Out a freshness lacking in much of the band’s discography.
"The album may not have made The Who household names in the U.S., but the Smothers Brothers performance put them directly into the homes of Americans and their popularity grew over the next year through word-of-mouth and touring. This would be the last album released prior to the band’s leap into the rock n’ roll stratosphere. The Who Sell Out briefly hints at Tommy (the full-album concept and several musical motifs that are recycled) but for the most part it is a fun, self-contained sonic universe unto itself." (The Touring Fan Live)
