My most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is an all 60’s special, which means that in addition to making a good case for the comeback of short songs, I was able to fit a lot into an hour. Featuring: a teenage Dolly Parton, a spaced out Joe Meek oddity, brutal heartbreak soul, a take on “Bend Me, Shape Me” that weighs a thousand tons, Peruvian garage rock, Ronnie Spector spitting pure rage at an unnamed man, an absolutely deranged Brian Wilson-produced version of “In The Still of the Night,” a cameo from the queen of rockabilly, an Indonesian Beegees cover, and of course, plenty of girl groups.
I love how 60s vocals sound as if everything is being sung with the caps lock on and too many exclamation points–they really grab you by the throat. I love how a song about a woman being disinterested in having sex manages to be anything but prudish or coy, and instead sounds like a venomous, gravelly diatribe delivered from somebody’s dirty basement. I love the unabashed melodrama and the blown-out, gritty production. I love how markedly less prim the musical ethos was than what preceded it, how much more raw and punk. This is one of my favorite musical eras and a lot of these songs make me cry–perhaps least explicably, “Egyptian Shumba,” which is still one of my all-time favorites–so I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. Lou Christie & The Tammys – Outside The Gates Of Heaven 2. The Exciters – Get Him 3. Timi Yuro – What’s A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You) 4. The Cookies – Softly In The Night 5. The Cats Meow – La La Lu 6. Little Frankie – I’m Not Gonna Do It 7. Claudine Clark – Party Lights 8. The Models – Bend Me, Shape Me 9. Screaming Lord Sutch – Don’t You Just Know It 10. Wanda Jackson – Fallin’ 11. The Ronettes – He Did It 12. The Honeys – In The Still Of The Night 13. Joe Meek – Orbit Around The Moon 14. Rosie Lopez – I’ll Never Grow Tired 15. The Crystals – He’s A Rebel 16. Dream Team – There He Is 17. Los Saicos – Ana 18. The Ikettes – I’m Blue (The Gong-Gong Song) 19. The Tammys – Egyptian Shumba 20. Dara Puspita – To Love Somebody 21. Ben E. King – Don’t Play That Song (You Lied) 22. The Shannons – Little White Lies 23. Solomon Burke – If You Need Me 24. Dolly Parton – Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)