Music News and Events of 1968, Part 2

There was a revival of the instrumental this year, the genre's best showing since 1963. Several made the top 40, including the no.1 smashes, "Love Is Blue" and "Grazing In The Grass", no. 2 smashes "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", "The Horse", and the no. 3 smash "Soulful Strut".

The Sigma Sound Studio opened in Philadephia this year (In the '70s, this place would become legendary for ushering in and creating the new "Philly Sound", led by young producer/songwriters Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thomas "Thom" Bell.

Country-rock was a mini-fad that started in 1967 (and would continue into the early 1970s). Musicians such as The Bryds, Gene Clark, Neil Young (and Crazy Horse), Gram Parsons, and Bob Dylan with The Band grew up listening to 1950s country music and were also influenced by the emergence of rock and roll (of course).
A pivotal album of this genre was "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo", by The Byrds, released this year. It was somewhat ironic and cutting-edge to hear country -purist goals in a rock world where such values were considered old-fashioned and viewed with disdain.
Did you know that this genre came about in Los Angeles? (But many rural Southerners had migrated here during the previous decades.)
Gram Parsons was a key figure; besides founding The Flying Burrito Brothers, he introduced former folk singer Emmylou Harris to the music of George Jones, spawning her pursuit of country. It was a perfect match.
Some other key figures and groups were: The Buffalo Springfield, one of the first country-rock bands, The "Nashville Skyline" and "John Wesley Harding" albums by Bob Dylan, The Band's"Music From Big Pink", Creedence Clearwater Revival, early Linda Ronstadt, Poco, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Electric guitar-driven blues remained red-hot. Besides Cream (before they broke up), there were Jeff Beck, Ten Years After (Alvin Lee, lead singer), and The MC5 (Motor City 5)-who evolved from communal hippies in Detroit to total radicals; the MC5 Social and Athletic fan club evolved into the White Panther Party. The band played for the rioters at the 1968 National Democratic Convention.

After The Yardbirds broke up this year, group member Jimmy Page (who was a session guitarist for the Stones, Who, and Kinks before joining the Yardbirds) recruited session bassist John Paul Jones, drummer John Bonham, and vocalist Robert Plant. The four toured briefly in Scandinavia as "The New Yardbirds" before changing their name to.....Led Zeppelin. Legend has it that Keith Moon (who was seriously considered as a potential member)predicted that the new group would go down like a "lead zeppelin".
Another account says that both Moon and John Entwistle (also strongly considered) -of The Who-like most of you didn't know this already-suggested that a group composed of themselves, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page-a potential lineup-would go down like a lead balloon, Entwistle's term for a bad gig.
The "a" was dropped on purpose, suggested by their manager, Peter Grant, so that Americans wouldn't mispronounce the name as "leed" (because you know we will. And they knew.)
The band also entered the studio this year to record their debut album.
Did you know that Dusty Springfield recommended the group to Atlantic Records? And it didn't hurt that the company was looking for just this type of act, too.

"Cheap Thrills" by Big Brother and The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin) was a chart topper, reaching the million-dollar mark in sales within a few months.
Within weeks of the album's success, Joplin began to shed her psychedelic backdrop. In Sept. of this year, she dumped her one-time psychedelic band to assemble the Kosmic Blues Band.

Young, white Southern blues performers began gaining popularity: Johnny and Edgar Winter, Steve Miller, who formed the Steve Miller Blues Band-the group was signed to Capitol Records and released "Children Of The Future" this year. Miller's longtime friend Boz Scaggs appeared on the album and Miller's second, but upon being spotted by Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Werner, Scaggs was signed to Atlantic Records this year. He was not successful.

Canned Heat was a Los Angeles blues band named after the blues song, "Canned Heat Mama". They had trouble finding work at first, but that changed after an appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Liberty Records signed the group and they hit the charts this year with "On The Road Again".

And there were more blues-rock stars on the way.

(Correction on the info about Max Frost and The Troopers that was mentioned in the last blog entry-Part of this should have read "NOT the Yardbirds song".)