I happened upon a compilation while blog hopping last week that featured original recordings of songs that became hits for others. The title of the set is "1st Recordings of World Hit Pops Made Famous By American Artists." And no, that is not a typo, as you can see here:
Most of the tracks are inferior to the hits that we all know so well. And I was surprised by how many I hadn't realized came before the hits, like Sammy Ambrose's version of "This Diamond Ring" or Helen Shapiro's "It's My Party."
This collection is obviously sketchy. But there were enough tracks I hadn't heard before to keep me interested. The other thing I noticed while listening was how little the arrangements changed once covered. Check out The Monkees "Valleri" and the first recording of that "world hit pop" by The Pineapple Heard. It's identical, right down to the "oh yeah, come on."
I also dug the verey garage-y first go of The Grass Roots smash "Midnight Confessions" by The Ever-Green Blues.
8 comments:
I regrettably got rid of my "Hanging On The Telephone" 45 by The Nerves.
Check out the Originals Project, an entire site of this kind of thing, well-researched with rare label shots etc.
http://www.originalsproject.us/
Bob in IL
the "Valeri" is pretty good. The Grass Roots song less so. 😎
Is there a source for this record? Cleveland Jeff
This is a great rabbit hole. A question for the group. Do Motown artists that did "original" versions make the list? Common practice there was to have multiple artists record the same song.
It's a blog that I subscribe to. Here's the link, though not sure you will have access.
https://rollhotrodroll.blogspot.com/?zx=63595c66d81351fb
That bass line in Midnight Confessions always knocks me out. These were pretty cool, but I can see why the hit versions stuck to the same exact arrangements as the energy in the songs is still there.
Speaking of the Grass Roots/Grassroots, 'Let's Live For Today' was originally by an Italian group, but the Roots' version's def the superior one.
C in California
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