Sounds Of The Sixties Rewound Part 34 Quiz

Answer: The Spencer Davis Group

In April 1966, The Spencer Davis Group took "Somebody Help Me" to number one in the UK. It reached number 47 in the USA and number 37 in Canada.

The Everly Brothers and The Five Americans also covered the song.

Those who know their music history will recognise the influences of The Spencer Davis Group. Hailing from Birmingham, England, the 1966 line-up was Spencer Davis, Steve Winwood, Mervyn "Muff" Winwood and Pete York. Through several personnel changes, the band kept performing until the death of Spencer Davis in 2020.

Answer: Bob Dylan

In 1966, Bob Dylan took "I Want You" to number 20 on the Hot 100 and number 16 in the UK.

Dylan - the man Phil Ochs called "God" - released about 30 singles before hitting the top of the Hot 100 for the first time in 2020.

According to the Official UK Chart Company, "Dylan has released 38 studio albums, 12 live albums and 15 volumes of his Bootleg Series of reissues".

In his 2004 memoir, "Chronicles: Volume One", Dylan said he early on realised his music wasn't meant for mass-market radio play.
"I had no songs in my repertoire for commercial radio... Songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of rivers weren't for radiophiles. There was nothing easygoing about the folk songs I sang ...".

Answer: Cliff Richard & The Shadows

People often forget how popular Cliff Richard & The Shadows were in the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, they probably became too winsome for a new generation who cottoned on to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

And it was from the Stones that Cliff and co took "Blue Turns to Grey". Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote the song and the Stones released it in December 1965, a year after Tracey Day made the first release. The Cliff Richard version made number 15 in the UK and number 20 in the USA in 1966. The Stones do not appear to have released it as a single.

Answer: The Troggs

"With A Girl Like You" was a 1966 UK number one that reached number 29 on the Hot 100. It made number 16 in Canada.

Reg Presley later said: "I wrote that song while I was still a bricklayer."

Answer: The Chiffons

In an era that was crowded with "girl bands", The Chiffons were often held in lesser esteem than others such as The Shirelles, The Supremes, and The Shangri-Las.

They are primarily remembered as the band that sang "He's So Fine" that was later to be the centre of plagiarism claims involving George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". (The instruments on The Chiffons' version were played by The Tokens.)

In 1964, The Chiffons opened for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on their US tour.

"Sweet Talkin' Guy" was a UK number four and a US number ten in 1966. It also reached number one on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart.

Answer: Carla Thomas

Carla Thomas- the Queen of Memphis Soul - released "B-A-B-Y" in 1965. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number seven in Canada the following year.

Aged just ten, Carla Thomas joined the WDIA Radio Teen Town Singers, a chorus of Black high school students. She sang on the station for eight years, through her senior year at Hamilton High. Isaac Hayes was another graduate of the Teen Town Singers.

Hayes and David Porter wrote "B-A-B-Y" for Carla. It received two Grammy nominations in 1967.

She later moved away from those familiar songs and for 40 years was noted as an interpreter of many great jazz numbers.

Answer: Crispian St. Peters

In 1966, "The Pied Piper" was a UK number five and US number four. It topped the charts in Canada.

Answer: The Four Tops

"Reach Out I'll Be There" topped the UK and US charts and was a number six in Canada.

It was written by the Motown songwriting team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland. Holland-Dozier-Holland were writers, sometimes coming up with two or three songs, or ideas, a day. Lamont Dozier told 'New Musical Express' in 1984: "If we didn't complete them at least we would start them. We would have parts of the songs, like hooks, or maybe parts of verse, so that at the end of the day we would have something accomplished."

Answer: Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames

Written to be an advertising song for a petrol company, "Get Away" went on to top the UK charts in 1966. It reached number 70 in the US.

Answer: Edwin Starr

In 1966, Edwin Starr took "Headline News" to number 24 on the US Cash Box charts. It reached number 39 in the UK.

In a career spanning some 30 years, Starr had one chart-topper, "War", in 1970.

Answer: The Velvelettes

"These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" topped out at 43 on the US R&B charts in 1966. It later reached number 43 in the UK.

Diana Ross later covered the song in 1970, and The Temptations in 1971.

Answer: The Lovin' Spoonful

The Lovin' Spoonful had a number two in both the US and UK with "Daydream" in 1966. It topped the charts in Canada. The song later came to be packaged in those lists of feel-good songs from the 1960s and remained popular for decades.

John Sebastian, writer and lead singer, said in an interview: "We had no way of knowing what a nice long shelf life some of that material was gonna have. At the time, we were certainly aiming only for the next few months. That's really what we were trying for, a Top Ten record right now, right then. Everything else is unexpected."

Answer: The Monkees

File "Last Train To Clarksville" among the most unlikely of anti-Vietnam War songs. Co-writer Bobby Hart later said "We couldn't be too direct with The Monkees. We couldn't really make a protest song out of it - we kind of snuck it in."

In 1966, the song reached the top of the Hot 100 in the USA and also the RPM charts in Canada. It was a number 23 in the UK. Drummer Micky Dolenz sang lead vocals.

Answer: The Zombies

Although admired by their contemporaries, The Zombies were perhaps ahead of their time, and "Indication" failed to chart in 1966. In general some of their music was regarded as being "too esoteric". It was also said they were not "interesting enough" as individuals - particularly with bands like The Beatles around.

Answer: The Beatles

Paul McCartney wrote "Here, There and Everywhere", which was on the 1966 album "Revolver". Although not released as a single, it came to be regarded as one of the Beatles' best songs.

McCartney started to write it at John Lennon's house. He later said: "I sat out by the pool on one of the sun chairs with my guitar and started strumming in E,
"And soon [I] had a few chords, and I think by the time he'd woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up."

In a 'Rolling Stone' magazine article "The 100 Greatest Beatles Songs", "Here There And Everywhere was placed at number 25.