Smaller text paraphrased from the possibly in need of editing Wikipedia entry:
The Cyrkle were originally a "frat rock" band called The Rhondells, but were later discovered and managed by Brian Epstein, who was better known as manager of The Beatles. John Lennon provided the unique spelling of their new name. In the summer of 1966, they opened on fourteen dates for The Beatles during their U.S. tour. On August 28, they headed the opening acts performing prior to The Beatles at Dodger Stadium.
The Cyrkle is best known for their 1966 song "Red Rubber Ball," which went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was co-written by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel and Bruce Woodley of The Seekers. The band had one more Top 20 hit, "Turn-Down Day," later in 1966.
"Turn-Down Day"
sitar-riffic!
After the release of the debut album, Red Rubber Ball, they recorded a second album, Neon, in late 1966, and a movie soundtrack, The Minx, in 1967. They followed that with various singles and then disbanded in late 1967.
"It's a Lovely Game, Louise"
The original inspiration for this post. I just ordered The Minx soundtrack from Amazon, so regular visitors to this blog (bless you) can expect to see "It's a Lovely Game, Louise" as my MP3 up there on top, soon. It is such a delicious slice of "West-Coast Sunshine Pop." Too bad the YouTube uploader used such a sucky recording of it for the above video! The soundtrack might have done for The Cyrkle what The Graduate soundtrack did for Simon and Garfunkel, if not for that pesky "X" rating, which caused the film to have a limited release two years later in 1969.
"The Minx (instrumental)"
"plop plop fizz fizz" jingle for Alka-Seltzer
Both bassist Tom Dawes and lead vocalist Don Danneman became professional jingle writers, penning the famous "plop plop fizz fizz" jingle for Alka-Seltzer, jingles for Continental Airlines (my research revealed Dawes did jingles for American Airlines - "We're American Airlines, Doing What We Do Best" and "Something Special in the Air"), Swanson Foods, as well as the original "7-Up, the Uncola" song. In 1977 1973, Dawes produced for Foghat.
There is a whole world of great music out there that never gets much attention. The Cyrkle is a shining example of a band with an excellent catalog of music, yet all we typically hear is Red Rubber Ball and Turn Down Day. There's a lot of other bands that also fit into the "sinfully underplayed" category: Marmalade, The Pretty Things, The Incredible String Band, etc.
I'm interested in The Minx soundtrack. Interesting that we have some of the Cyrkle to thank for the Alka Seltzer ad!
Well, I can't watch streaming video or listen to streaming audio at work, so I'll have to check these out when I get home. Back to the grind!
And here I am thinking your full time job is as a blogger. Your quantity and quality of posts would suggest that! YouTube is filtered at my job, too. That's probably for the best.
Making a mental note here of these groups as future post topics: Marmalade, The Pretty Things, The Incredible String Band.........
Ahh, to be a full time blogger and not have a real job.... dare to dream.
Nope. It's a simple matter of being outnumbered by my children. So, after being exiled from the TV room, I've been enjoying retreating to Retrospace. I guess I could do something constructive like maybe read a book, learn a foreign language, exercise.... naahhh.
I'm in the scientific field and frankly there's not a whole lot of room for creativity and self expression on the job. So, this has been a real treat, and slightly therapeutic.
Smaller text paraphrased from the possibly in need of editing Wikipedia entry:
In the summer of 1966, they opened on fourteen dates for The Beatles during their U.S. tour. On August 28, they headed the opening acts performing prior to The Beatles at Dodger Stadium.
After the release of the debut album, Red Rubber Ball, they recorded a second album, Neon, in late 1966, and a movie soundtrack, The Minx, in 1967. They followed that with various singles and then disbanded in late 1967.
There is a whole world of great music out there that never gets much attention. The Cyrkle is a shining example of a band with an excellent catalog of music, yet all we typically hear is Red Rubber Ball and Turn Down Day. There's a lot of other bands that also fit into the "sinfully underplayed" category: Marmalade, The Pretty Things, The Incredible String Band, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in The Minx soundtrack. Interesting that we have some of the Cyrkle to thank for the Alka Seltzer ad!
Well, I can't watch streaming video or listen to streaming audio at work, so I'll have to check these out when I get home. Back to the grind!
And here I am thinking your full time job is as a blogger. Your quantity and quality of posts would suggest that! YouTube is filtered at my job, too. That's probably for the best.
ReplyDeleteMaking a mental note here of these groups as future post topics: Marmalade, The Pretty Things, The Incredible String Band.........
"It's a turn down day..."
ReplyDeleteAhh, to be a full time blogger and not have a real job.... dare to dream.
ReplyDeleteNope. It's a simple matter of being outnumbered by my children. So, after being exiled from the TV room, I've been enjoying retreating to Retrospace. I guess I could do something constructive like maybe read a book, learn a foreign language, exercise.... naahhh.
I'm in the scientific field and frankly there's not a whole lot of room for creativity and self expression on the job. So, this has been a real treat, and slightly therapeutic.
Enough about me... back to your blog!