The 1960s Song of the Day (currently featuring: The Animals)

[Orbert]

This song and Tales of Brave Ulysses gave us a hint of what woulda coulda shoulda been before Cream imploded on itself.

Jack Bruce in particular likes to denigrate what Led Zeppelin were and did, but the truth is that Zep fully realized the potential that Cream had only shown flashes of.  Both bands started out by doing the heavy blues standards/covers thing, but Zeppelin was able to branch out beyond that as they progressed in their career while Cream, as great as they were, got buried under the weight of endless blues jams. 

Interesting observation.  Both bands started off firmly rooted in R&B, and Led Zeppelin did go on to much more than that.  But Cream's endless blues jams, it seems to me, were because Clapton was fine playing endless blues jams.  The more adventurous stuff was cool for sure, but I was never into Cream enough to get a feel for who was driving that.  Maybe I'm assuming Clapton had more control over the direction of Cream than he really did; it may well have been a much more democratic band.  I don't know.  Zeppelin got almost proggy sometimes, branched out a bit, but Cream didn't last long enough for us to see what they were truly capable of, and I agree, that's a damned shame.

[KevShmev]

The Association - Windy

I will admit that I was completely unfamiliar with this song until I saw it featured on Breaking Bad, but I liked it a lot right away; fun, little catchy tune.

[Orbert]

I'm old enough to remember hearing this song on the radio, but for a long time, I thought the name was "Wendy".  Later, my sister had a sheet music book with a bunch of songs in it, including this, and I thought they'd managed to get the name wrong (there were other typos in the book).

But apparently it is "Windy".  Like most Association songs, it's a nice, fun song.

[LudwigVan]

This song makes me happy

[KevShmev]

The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin

Moody Blues were like the first band I got into after finally getting a CD player in the summer of 1990 (just before Pink Floyd), so they got a lot of play in my new CD player at the time, and Nights in White Satin, being the last song on the 2nd cd of This Is The Moody Blues compilation I had, was one of many I heard so much I could go hum it on cue without thinking about it.  I rarely go out of my way to hear it anymore, but it's still a song of which I am a fan.  And hey, who doesn't love that mellotron from the original king of the mellotron, Mr. Mike Pinder!!

[jammindude]

I still maintain that The Moody Blues were the first progressive rock band. 

Days of Future Passed was released a full 2 years before ITCOTCK

[Prog Snob]

One of my favorite songs of all time. I love the mood.

[Orbert]

the original king of the mellotron, Mr. Mike Pinder!!

Absolutely!  Mike Pinder was amazing.  Basically, he brought keyboard strings to rock and roll.  We already had real strings, which of course can be better sometimes, but it was an important step bringing that function into the band proper.  Keyboard players were actually legit members of rock bands, sometimes, and Mike helped bring that about.

I still maintain that The Moody Blues were the first progressive rock band. 

They probably have the best claim to that title of anyone.  Their work integrating band and orchestra set the mold for the next 50 years or more (so far).

[Kwyjibo]

This might be the only song by The Moody Blues that I know. I've heard a lot of (mostly good) things about them but never had the time to check them out.

This song is nice but a little bit on the cheesy side. If it is playing somewhere I enjoy it, but I probably wouldn't chose it on my own.

[Prog Snob]

This might be the only song by The Moody Blues that I know. I've heard a lot of (mostly good) things about them but never had the time to check them out.

This song is nice but a little bit on the cheesy side. If it is playing somewhere I enjoy it, but I probably wouldn't chose it on my own.

Check out their second album Days of Future Passed. Pure brilliance.

I still maintain that The Moody Blues were the first progressive rock band. 

Days of Future Passed was released a full 2 years before ITCOTCK

It just might be the first prog album. The Moody's first release was not prog. It was more R & B inspired. The Nice's first album was released early 1968. However, some say Sgt. Pepper was the first prog album and there is definitely a good argument for that. It came out months before Days of Future Passed.

[KevShmev]

I still maintain that The Moody Blues were the first progressive rock band. 

Days of Future Passed was released a full 2 years before ITCOTCK

 

Whenever someone tries to say ITCOTCK was the first prog album, I just laugh. 

the original king of the mellotron, Mr. Mike Pinder!!

Absolutely!  Mike Pinder was amazing.  Basically, he brought keyboard strings to rock and roll.  We already had real strings, which of course can be better sometimes, but it was an important step bringing that function into the band proper.  Keyboard players were actually legit members of rock bands, sometimes, and Mike helped bring that about.

Well said.  When you think about it, they were a very important band in several regards, and it's unfortunate that they rarely get credit for, even in prog circles where they are often not even mentioned as one of the pioneers of the genre.

[KevShmev]

The Band - The Weight

Never have cared much for this band or the song, although I get why it's so popular.  Just not my thing, I suppose.

[Orbert]

Same here, except I don't get why it's so popular either.

[LudwigVan]

Well, I love this song and a bunch of others from The Band.  Their music tries to capture (recapture?) that 'Americana' kinda thing and I think they did that successfully.  Very stripped-down with a back to your rootsy/folksy vibe, which is the antithesis of prog.  I can see how Clapton gravitated toward this scene after leaving the self-indulgent excesses of Cream.

[KevShmev]

The Animals - The House of the Rising Sun

Some songs you can hear a million times and never tire of them; this is one of those songs. Fantastic tune, that I enjoy the heck out of it every single time I hear it.  And the guitar lead is supposedly great and easy to play; I knew several people back in the day who started off on the guitar by learning this song before anything else.

[Orbert]

For a long time, I thought the keyboard break to this song was really stupid.  The first two lines of the melody, then the vocals come back.  Of course it turned out that I'd only heard the radio edit all those times; the original version at least lets it go a whole verse and lets him ham it up a bit.  So the break is actually a bit less stupid, and he does have a great Hammond sound, so what the heck.

This is another song that was in that same sheet music book my sister had, so I learned it a long time ago, but honestly never really thought much of the song.  Seemed kinda pointless, even boring, but I had to admit, the singer was putting his heart and soul into it, I'll give him that.  Probably my favorite Eric Burdon vocal performance.

[Kwyjibo]

The Animals - The House of the Rising Sun

Some songs you can hear a million times and never tire of them;

I can tire of them and especially this song. It's not bad and when it comes on once in a while it's okay. But for some reasons unknown there was a time (some ten years back) when radio played it constantly, it was covered by a lot of bands in our area (and not necessarily good covers) and it was played and sung by every drunken crowd around a campfire. And then I got really tired of it.

[LudwigVan]

For a long time, I thought the keyboard break to this song was really stupid.  The first two lines of the melody, then the vocals come back.  Of course it turned out that I'd only heard the radio edit all those times; the original version at least lets it go a whole verse and lets him ham it up a bit.  So the break is actually a bit less stupid, and he does have a great Hammond sound, so what the heck.

This is another song that was in that same sheet music book my sister had, so I learned it a long time ago, but honestly never really thought much of the song.  Seemed kinda pointless, even boring, but I had to admit, the singer was putting his heart and soul into it, I'll give him that.  Probably my favorite Eric Burdon vocal performance.

Yeah, the vocals are truly outta this world.  So tortured, mean and evil sounding... the devil's blues.  I'm tempted to believe that this song was a blueprint for a lot of what The Doors went on to do. 

[TAC]

I've always been fascinated with The Animals. They had some early heavy metal feel to them.


I had an old tape of Brian Johnson singing HOTRS. It was cool.

[Cool Chris]

Eric Burton has a terrible voice, but somehow it is the perfect voice for The Animals and especially this song. Funny how music can work that way sometimes.