The Pop Open Group J - THE SIXTIES

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This week's Pop Open group is themed around "the sixties" - though as before, this doesn't necessarily mean all tracks will be from the 60s. You have four tracks to listen to, and then you vote for your favourites out of the ones you hadn't heard before. Tracks to be revealed on Thursday - voting closes next Monday!

You can find the tracks streamed here, or you can go here and download them as a zipfile (about 20 Mb).

[Poll #1064664]

Thanks to infov0re, skillextrix, umlauts, and xyzzzz_ for tracks this week. What would YOU have submitted?

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Another strong week, this. One of the tracks I suspect is a VERY big gamble, but you never know.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I assume you mean the one that inspired a (short-lived) feature on another well known pop website :)

...although to be honest I can't swear I've actually heard it before.

[koganbot]

Well, I hadn't heard it before! And it's a home run, a hat trick, a touchdown... oh I don't know. GOAL!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

If recognisability wasn't an issue, I might have picked Arthur "Crazy World Of" Brown's 'I Put A Spell On You'.

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

If recognizability wasn't an issue, I would have chosen something more recognizable. :D

But Arthur Brown.. yes, "Fanfare: Fire Poem/Fire" is a double whammy of late 60s, er, 60s-ness

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

All these tracks are very good! Well done chaps.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Seeing as most stuff I know from the 60s is pretty well-known, I'd probably have gone for something less well-known by Sly Stone, seeing as it would have given me an excuse to explore his back catalogue more which I've been meaning to do for years (seeing as I adore all the well-known stuff by him) but never got round to. And seeing as I didn't get the 60s, looks like it will remain un-got-round to for a while longer.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I like #2 and #4 best but it's possible I've heard them both before and may even own them. I honestly can't remember at the moment (I know the songs in each case obv).

#1 is good. The girl-boy combination is almost proto indie pop!

I've never particularly cared for the style of song featured in #3, but I like the dude's voice and the guitar + double bass combination is winning.

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Vote for mine and I promise to post some serial stuff in future rounds ;-)

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

1.Got my NUMBER ONE vote. Sounds like a great young proto Who/Shocking Blue type thing. I'm a sucker for gonzo percussive bridges that come out of nowhere.

2.Easily the best song of all four, but I've put this version of the song on three separate mix CDs in the last five years, so alas, I've heard it before.

3.God, who is this? I thought it was Incredible String Band or Pearls Before Swine, but it's too suave for either, but not nearly as suave nor subtle as Nick Drake or Scott Walker. The vocals sound slightly Walker-esque. I like this.

4.If I heard this before, it was brief and in the background as I don't recall it. The song is definitely stronger at the beginning, but I love the sense of space in this track. This got my number two vote.

EXCELLENT ROUND!

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

My choice would have been Spanky & Our Gang's "Yesterday's Rain", the version from the Anything You Choose/Without Rhyme Or Reason LP.

[credoimprobus]

Track 2 is a bit of a dirty trick, isn't it? (Not that this would have stopped me from voting for it! I liked track 4 just that little bit more, though, so no go, more's the pity.)

I'm about 99% certain I've heard track 3 before (probably as attached to moving pictures of one sort or another), but I'm also 99% certain I never knew what it was, so I'm not ticking it as known. Which means it's free to get my No. 1 vote, hurrah!

Just as good as last week! Round 2 is shaping up to be a real winner, I have to say. <3

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

If I don't win I will go emo. More so!

[koganbot]

I'd have picked Dyke and the Blazers' "Funky Broadway," thereby losing Martin's vote, since he's already got the album. Or maybe I'd choose Bob Seger's "2 + 2 = ?" which'd be something of a gamble, but my guess is not too many of you knew the guy when he was a raving hard rocker.

I like all these.

[lisa-go-blind.livejournal.com]

I'm a little surprised that I'm the only one who ticked-as-knowing Track One so far. Not only is it included in a fairly famous boxed set, but the male singer went on to become a well-known solo act with a decades-long career.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Track 1: Very nice indie-pop forerunner (as mentioned by other people). It has that same sixties sound as Velvet Underground, and it's the same style that seems to have inspired a lot of the early (i.e. good) R.E.M albums.

Track 2: From the opening bars, this is instantly recognisable. Obviously this version isn't as famous as the covers that followed, but I'd guess most people have still heard this version at some point.

Track 3: At first I thought I'd heard this before, but it turns out I haven't. But it has a certain familiarity no doubt. Traditional folk isn't really my scene.

Track 4: Foreign crooner, catchy jazz number. I like.