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Twangy-twang, silky-silk

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 20/01/63 : Twangy Guitar Silky Strings - Duane Eddy Skipping over another week where Cliff was #1 (starting a fourteen week run at the top) brings us to our second visit this year and fourth overall with Duane and I can't help but feel I've probably had enough Duane in my life now - but maybe he'll surprise me. Well, there's certainly plenty of twangy guitar and silky strings here, but it's all very pedestrian - it just feels like Duane could have knocked this out in his sleep. And I think that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. We're at #13 in the charts this week on his last week of an eight week run, with this being as high as it got - for the last three weeks of the run, which is unusual. The top five this week were  The Shadows  (the third artist we've seen at the top all year, but not quite the last),  West Side Story ,  Elvis Presley , Bobby Vee & The Crickets and  South Pacif...
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I was born into a fractured family where a word could start a war

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 26/06/26 : My Mess, My Heart, My Life - Myles Smith  I know I've heard a Myles track, but I'm blowed if I know what it is - maybe my memory will be jogged here... Oh yes - "ooh ah, nice to meet you. La la - la-di-da" . I can't remember any more words, but it's got a catchy tune. And if that wasn't particularly memorable, the rest of it really isn't - none of it is terrible, but there's really not a lot to it ("it's pretty basic" says Isobel, our guest reviewer). I was reminded of Mumford & Sons in quite a few places (but it's not as good) but finally dredged who it was really reminding me of towards the end of the album. And that was Jack Johnson, who was perfectly tolerable but had no obvious surplus of talent - and Myles feels to be firmly in the same category. And so, obviously we're at #2 with a new entry this week - there's nowt as queer as folk. The rest...
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But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 03/02/63 : Let's Face The Music - Shirley Bassey What? A woman who's not Brenda?!? I do like a bit of Shirley, but I'm looking forward to this one even more than usual because it also features Nelson Riddle and his orchestra, who've done a good job on several Sinatra albums we've met. Yeah, this is pretty much what I'd expect - Shirley belting it out over a decent lush orchestral backing. What more do you want?!? The only ones I recognised were "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and "I Get A Kick Out Of You" (our second version of the year, after Frank's) but it was all very listenable. We're at #14 in the charts this week on the last week of a five week run, with it having peaked at #12 in its debut week. The top five this week were  Cliff Richard ,  Elvis Presley ,  West Side Story ,  The Shadows  and  Elvis Presley (sigh - a '57 release back for no obvious reason) and th...
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If you see somebody crawlin' across the floor

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 10/02/63 : 32 Minutes And 17 Seconds - Cliff Richard Skipping over a week brings us to the joy of Cliff again for our third visit with him this year - taking us up to nine visits in total for him, bringing him level with U2 and Taylor Swift. And, of course, the bloody Shadows are on it too which means we've seen them to varying degrees on FIVE albums this year.  We're back to the "who do I want to be?" Cliff with him trying out a few things on here, but there are definite signs he's working his way towards the "Summer Holiday" kinda thang. It's fair to say big band jazz Cliff was never going to be a starter though because he absolutely murders "Blueberry Hill" on this (but if you want to see it properly murdered, check this out) - and his version of "Spanish Harlem" isn't a lot better. But, for the most part, it's pretty harmless - I think I'm just losing the abil...
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Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 24/02/63 : Sinatra And Swingin' Brass - Frank Sinatra Our seventeenth visit with Frank (taking him into second place on his own) - his swing albums are generally fine, but there's just too many of them! Actually, I'd say this is pretty decent - but it's quite annoying because Wikipedia tells me he'd recorded most of these back in the 50s on a different label, so I guess he was just being the Taylor Swift of his day. I obviously knew "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" but was pleased to be introduced to "At Long Last Love" and "I'm Beginning To See The Light" which I really liked.  We're at #18 in the charts this week on his tenth week of an eleven week run, with it having peaked at #14 in three separate weeks - it does seem like the public's enthusiasm for "more of the same" was finally waning. The top five this week...
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The rubber swan is mine

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 03/03/63 : The First Family - Vaughn Meader This is an album I've never heard of by someone I've never heard of - and that cover is certainly quite something! But Wikipedia will explain to us that this was a big deal, so buckle in for this. It's a comedy album based around JFK and his family, with them struggling with "normal" household issues - and somewhat unsurprisingly, it's dated. However, surprisingly, quite a bit of it was still relevant - and some of it was also actually funny (which was something TW3 didn't manage). I imagine quite a few people greatly objected to the whole thing, but it all feels to be good-natured to me (although I imagine sensitivities were very different back then). It's also of note for featuring a woman in a major role - wonders will never cease. We're at #16 in the charts this week with a re-entry for this one week, but it had previously had a seven week run wi...
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Picky-picky-pick-pick

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 10/03/63 : Caribbean Guitar - Chet Atkins Skipping over a week where Cliff was #1, we also have to skip over our second Joe Brown album of the year - it just doesn't seem to be available anywhere. And that brings us to Chet's first proper visit - he's previously had a couple of mentions for new entries in the lower reaches of the chart but, as far as I'm aware, this will be the first time I've ever heard anything by him. I'm assuming he's a guitar player and he adopts a Caribbean style here, but the title might just be to throw me off the scent. Well, he's certainly a guitar player - I'm not sure I quite the Caribbean influence on all the tracks, but there's certainly a sense of palm trees and dancing girls from time to time. It's a bit more of a classical style than I was expecting, but it's interesting enough to avoid being musical wallpaper and he's obviously a skilful player -...
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