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Valleri
"Valleri" is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for the Monkees. The single peaked at #3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent two weeks at #1 on the ''Cash Box'' chart in early 1968, and reached #1 in Canada and #12 in the UK. Background Screen Gems president and music supervisor Don Kirshner asked Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart if they had any "girl's-name" songs to be used in the Monkees television series. After claiming that they had a finished song, Boyce and Hart improvised "Valleri" on their way to Kirshner's office. Kirshner was pleased with their work, and "Valleri" was recorded with Boyce and Hart producing the original sessions in August 1966. The original recording included instrumental backing by the Candy Store Prophets. Wrecking Crew session musician Louie Shelton contributed a flamenco-style guitar solo consisting of hammer-ons and pull-offs. The song was featured in the television show's first season in 1967; a staged performance showed Michael N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees
''The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees'' is the fifth studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees, released in 1968 by Colgems Records. It was the first album released after the cancellation of their TV show and subsequently was their first not to reach No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at No. 3, and their first not to chart in the UK, with their four previous efforts all having reached the top ten. The album has sold over a million copies. History While 1968 presented several misfortunes for the band (their eponymous television series was canceled; their first motion picture project, ''Head'', failed at the box office; and, in December, Peter Tork left the group), ''The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees'' proved to be another successful album, yielding the group's sixth million-selling single in "Valleri" and yet another No. 1 in "Daydream Believer", written by former Kingston Trio member John Stewart. "Tapioca Tundra," an experimental piece of poetry put to mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tapioca Tundra
"Tapioca Tundra" is a 1968 song written by Michael Nesmith and originally performed by the Monkees. Lyrics The lyrics of "Tapioca Tundra" poetically describe how a writer of poetry or prose loses control of a work's meaning and impact once consumed by its audience. Michael Nesmith described his songwriting style for "Tapioca Tundra" as poetry set to music. "One of the ways I got into songwriting was to find poems by great poets and see if I could put them to music," he said in an interview. "At the time that 'Tapioca Tundra' and 'Daily Nightly' came along, I had been writing my own poetry for a while. ... They weren't really designed as songs at all." A handwritten early version of the poem on which the lyrics were based was printed in the July 1967 issue of ''Tiger Beat'' magazine, for which Nesmith served as guest editor. The Monkees Released as the B-side of "Valleri", "Tapioca Tundra" was the first of the Monkees' singles to feature a lead vocal by Nesmith and it was h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Louie Shelton
William Louis Shelton (born April 6, 1941) is an American guitarist and music producer. Biography During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Shelton was a session musician working in recording studios around Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood. Among his more notable session work was for the Monkees, including their first self-titled album, and both recordings of the Boyce and Hart songs, "Last Train to Clarksville", "Valleri", and "(Theme From) The Monkees". Shelton played the flamenco-style guitar solo on "Valleri", which Michael Nesmith had to mimic for the cameras on their TV series. Even after the Monkees began playing on their own records, Shelton remained a favorite among their session players. Shelton was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame and is a member of the famous group of LA session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew (music), The Wrecking Crew". Other recording credits include: Marvin Gaye, Simon and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), The Monkees'' television series, they were one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s. The band produced four chart-topping albums and three chart-topping songs ("Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", and "Daydream Believer"). The Monkees were originally a fictional band created for the NBC television sitcom ''The Monkees''. Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork were cast to portray members of a band in the sitcom. Music credited to the Monkees appeared in the sitcom and was released on LPs and singles beginning in 1966, and the sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968. At first, the band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition, with the remaining music provided by professional song ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized at the time, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in history. Most of the players had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The group had no official name in its early years, and when the name the Wrecking Crew was first used is a subject of contention. The name was in common use by April 1981 when Hal Blaine used it in an interview with '' Modern Drummer''. The name became more widely known when Blaine used it in his 1990 memoir, attributing it to older musicians who felt that the group's embrace of rock and roll was going to "wreck" the music industry. The unit coalesced in the early 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Monkees
The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees'' television series, they were one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s. The band produced four chart-topping albums and three chart-topping songs (" Last Train to Clarksville", " I'm a Believer", and " Daydream Believer"). The Monkees were originally a fictional band created for the NBC television sitcom ''The Monkees''. Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork were cast to portray members of a band in the sitcom. Music credited to the Monkees appeared in the sitcom and was released on LPs and singles beginning in 1966, and the sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968. At first, the band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition, with the remaining music provided by professional songwriters and studio musicians. Though this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Daydream Believer
"Daydream Believer" is a song composed by American songwriter John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. It was recorded by the Monkees, with Davy Jones singing the lead. The single reached No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in December 1967, remaining there for four weeks, and peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the Monkees' third and last No. 1 hit in the U.S. In 1979, "Daydream Believer" was recorded by Canadian singer Anne Murray, whose version reached No. 3 on the U.S. country singles chart and No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song has been recorded by others, including a 1971 version by Stewart. The song title was featured in the name of the 2000 biopic about the band, '' Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story''. '' Far Cry New Dawn'', the 2022 American drama '' Women Talking'' and '' The Quarry'' features this song. Background John Stewart wrote "Daydream Believer" as the third in a trilogy of songs about suburban life, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Colgems
Colgems Records was a record label that existed from 1966 to 1971. History Colgems was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Victor to issue records by the Monkees and other artists affiliated with Columbia/Screen Gems. The label would also issue soundtrack recordings for Screen Gems and Columbia Pictures productions. RCA acted as manufacturer and distributor for Colgems. Outside of the United States, Colgems productions appeared on the RCA Victor label. An earlier label, Colpix Records, was dissolved to make way for the new company, and nearly all Colpix titles went out of print. Even before the Monkees began, Colpix had signed two future members – Davy Jones, recruited to Screen Gems by Ward Sylvester, and Michael Nesmith, who recorded as "Michael Blessing". The Colpix catalog was sold to Roulette Records. The Colpix catalog is owned by Warner Music Group with its Rhino Records unit holding the rights in North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lester Sill
Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was a United States record label executive, music publisher and recording artist manager within the West Coast Rock & Roll, West Coast R&B and Surf genres. Sill rose to become the president of Screen Gems-Columbia Music, became a long term member on the board of directors at ASCAP, and president of Jobete Music (Motown Records publishing division). Resisting prejudicial music-industry norms of the era, Sill represented and produced music for talented artists regardless of race, including, T-Bone Walker, Hadda Brooks, B.B. King, The Coasters, Ray Sharpe, Jimmy Witherspoon and The Pentagons. As an independent producer in the 1950s and 1960s, Sill formed record labels and publishing companies around composers like Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Lee Hazlewood and Phil Spector, rostered artists included Duane Eddy, The Coasters, The Paris Sisters, and The Crystals. Sill is best known as the producer/manager for Duane Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bootleg Recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded among fans without financial exchange, but some bootleggers have sold recordings for profit, sometimes by adding professional-quality sound engineering and packaging to the raw material. Bootlegs usually consist of unreleased studio recordings, live performances or interviews without the quality control of official releases. Bootlegs reached new popularity with Bob Dylan's ''Great White Wonder'', a compilation of studio outtakes and demos released in 1969 using low-priority pressing plants. The following year, the Rolling Stones' ''Live'r Than You'll Ever Be'', an audience recording of a late 1969 show, received a positive review in ''Rolling Stone''. Subsequent bootlegs became more sophisticated in packaging, particularly the Trademark of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Airplay (song)
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in nightclubs and at discotheques between the 1940s and 1960s would also have airplay. Background For commercial broadcasting, airplay is usually the result of being placed into rotation, also called adding it to the station's playlist by the music director, possibly as the result of a Pay for Play sponsored by the record label. For student radio and other community radio or indie radio stations, it is often the selection by each disc jockey, usually at the suggestion of a music director. Geography Most countries have at least one radio airplay chart in existence, although larger countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Brazil have several, to cover different genres and areas of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
