GOLDMINE has teamed up with Universal Music to give away “Ed Sullivan Presents: Rock ‘N Roll Revolution: The British Invade America, America Fights Back” DVD Collection.

In the ’60s, a new sound of rock ‘n roll came across the Atlantic from England.  The “British Invasion” was a musical movement unlike anything America had ever experienced.  It sparked a massive cultural change in rock n’ roll and ignited a friendly and creative musical rivalry between British and American rock bands. At the heart of this revolution was The Ed Sullivan Show, chronicling this movement from the beginning by giving these new groups a national platform and broadcasting them into millions of living rooms across America.

On August 2, 2011, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) and SOFA Entertainment presented the DVD collection Ed Sullivan Presents: Rock ‘N Roll Revolution: The British Invade America, America Fights Back.  Hosted by Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas and Graham Nash of The Hollies, this DVD is packed with cutting-edge performances and insightful interviews from the musicians themselves.

When The Beatles landed on Ed Sullivan’s stage in February 1964, our world changed forever. The so-called “British Invasion” took America by storm and bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits and The Animals were all over the record charts. Their beat – a reinvigorated brand of rock ’n roll was taking America by storm and kids couldn’t get enough of it.  How did America respond? We met the British head on with groundbreaking artists of our own such as The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, The Byrds, Bob Dylan and James Brown.

Included on Rock ‘N Roll Revolution is The Beatles historic first American television appearance with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You,” The Rolling Stones performing their hits “Time Is On My Side” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Herman’s Hermits doing “Dandy” and The Animals with “Bring It On Home To Me.” The American acts showcase their own brand of rock ‘n roll including The Beach Boys singing “Good Vibrations,” The Byrds performing their Bob Dylan penned hit “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Godfather of Soul James Brown doing “Please, Please, Please,” the one and only Bob Dylan with “I Don’t Believe You” and The Mamas and The Papas with “Monday, Monday.”

Rock ‘N Roll Revolution also includes additional bonus material that features two previously unreleased and quite revealing interviews with rock legends David Crosby of The Byrds and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas.

The Ed Sullivan Show changed the landscape of American television and music and was an undisputed institution in American pop culture.  Here is the track list of iconic performances by the groundbreaking artists that appear on Rock ‘N Roll Revolution:

1.  I Want To Hold Your Hand               THE BEATLES
2.  Ferry Cross The Mersey        GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS
3.  Time Is On My Side                              THE ROLLING STONES
4.  Bring It On Home To Me                   THE ANIMALS
5.  Mr. Tambourine Man                         THE BYRDS
6.  I Don’t Believe You                          BOB DYLAN
7.  Carrie Anne                                         THE HOLLIES
8.  Dandy                                                 HERMAN’S HERMITS
9.  Please, Please, Please                    JAMES BROWN
10. Come See About Me                         THE SUPREMES
11. Turn On Your Love Light              THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
12. Do You Believe In Magic?               THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL
13. Monday, Monday                               THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS
14. Good Vibrations                               THE BEACH BOYS
15. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction        THE ROLLING STONES
16. She Loves You                                  THE BEATLES

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Seven-Inch Vinyl: A Rock and Roll Novel
By Donald Riggio,
Outskirts Press, Inc., 362 pages, softcover
★★★★

By Todd Baptista

As an author, historian, and music bibliophile, I must confess that I’m rarely drawn to works of fiction. I honestly didn’t know
what to expect when I opened this tome, set squarely in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The author, a native of the Throggs Neck corner of the Bronx, undoubtedly relied on many experiences of his own upbringing to create the vivid characters that come to life within its pages.

This engaging, realistic account of the music business during rock’n’roll’s first generation takes readers on a journey from rural north-central Kentucky to New York City, introducing the ill-fated Elvis-Buddy Holly-inspired Teddy Boyette and his cigar-chomping “Colonel Parker” stereotypical manager, Cap Stewart, the Bronx street corners singers Johnny Seracino and Bobby Vitale who rose to international fame as members of the Du-Kanes, and wiseguys Richie Conforti and Phil Gambetta who graduate from small-time street hustlers to rulers of Alexis Records (thoughts of Morris Levy’s Roulette empire should immediately come to mind).

The central focus of the novel however, is Joseph Rabinowitz, the son of a classical pianist who we first meet in 1953 as an 18-year old stationed at Fort Knox. Riggio’s well-thought out tale introduces the principal characters in individual chapters building up to the formation of Chanticleer Records, which grows from a basement studio-retail shop to a Brill Building powerhouse.

Along the way, we are introduced to Leo Klein, who gives Joe his first job and eventually becomes his partner in the business, the female gospel-R&B trio, the Pixies with vixen lead singer Evie Rhodes, Chanty, the kind black guitarist-service station owner who inspires the main character, and Janet Cavelli, who becomes Joe’s confidant, lyricist, and wife, sharing his dreams, triumphs, and tragedies. Eventually, “Mr. Rabin’s” success and the pressures of the business compromise his priorities and principles, driving a wedge between the pair. We also experience the effects that the British Invasion had on the American music scene of the mid-1960s in detail. A few minor grammatical or spelling errors (Polyphone Records, Capital Records) are the only missteps in this, the author’s initial effort.

Yes, there’s sex, booze, and drugs in Seven-Inch Vinyl. As I said, it’s an authentic look at the business and the time, but rock’n’roll remains the focal point throughout. Historical facts and noteworthy events from the music scene and the world in general are woven into the fabric of the work, allowing readers to absorb the story in proper perspective. Overall, Seven-Inch Vinyl is a well-crafted and appealing read from start to finish, worthy of four stars.

As a kid, I had inherited the 1967 album “Snoopy & His Friends” by  The Royal Guardsmen (SLP2042) from my sister (to be more accurate, she lost interest in it as she became older). For someone who had already loved the comic strip Peanuts, side one of the album became a favorite of mine, with it’s lengthy and (melo)dramatic musical narrative of Snoopy taking on the Red Baron. The album side consisted of  “The Story Of Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron,” “The Story Of The Return Of The Red Baron” and “The Story Of Snoopy’s Christmas.” It was promoted as a Christmas album but I could enjoy it any time of year. Complete with narration, the songs were extremely fun to listen to …. you were right up there in the skies fighting along side Snoopy. Side two was less interesting. The Snoopy vs. the Red Baron theme drifted in and out as some songs broke from the narrative (i.e., “I Say Love” and “So Right (To Be In Love”), and I just did not care enough about any non-related Snoopy offerings by a band called The Royal Guardsmen.

In fact, at first glance, the way the words were situated on the record cover, The Royal Guardsmen seemed like an afterthought:

Snoopy and His Friends
The Royal Guardsmen

It gave the appearance that this was an album released directly from Peanuts creator/cartoonist Charles Schultz rather than a pop rock group from Florida.

Grant it, Charles Schultz did grant permission of usage of the Snoopy name (for a price, of course) — and also contributed art to the album — but this was strictly the music and creativity of The Royal Guardsmen and their handlers. The mid-1960s was at the height of the Peanuts popularity and picking a theme such as Snoopy was a contrived business move by The Royal Guardsmen’s management and record company (Laurie Records).

I often wondered who these guys were (this was, obviously, way before you could look up information on the internet). The Royal Guardsmen, like other “bubblegum” acts of the era, were portrayed in a very lighthearted way on the album cover. Schultz illustrated the band peering around Snoopy’s red doghouse — “Bill,” “John,” “Chris,” “Tom,” “Barry” and “Billy.” Bill is the only one who takes on a very typical Snoopy facial expression, a caricature shaking his fist at the sky and apparently cursing the Red Baron.

The fact is, The Royal Guardsmen were were only teenagers, barely out of high school, at the time of this third album release. The management team had the Snoopy songs written for them. And the pop songs on side two that I ignored as a child — “I Say Love” and “So Right (To Be In Love)” — were the only things written by the actual band members. The credits Bill Balough (bass), John Burdette (drums), Chris Nunley (vocals), Tom Richards (guitar), Billy Taylor (organ), and Barry Winslow (vocals/guitar) weren’t even listed on the album. Instead of a bio of the band, the liner notes on the back cover had one of the owners of Laurie Records wax poetic about Snoopy’s contribution to society.

I think if one has followed the Peanuts’ comic strip and particularly those segments that deal with Snoopy, one quickly becomes aware that one is reading installments of a fascinating allegory. Snoopy is a very individual dog and has a special meaning to all of us. Like all allegories, the significance of Snoopy really depends upon our own experience. For example — to a child, Snoopy represents everything that a child wants to be in his or her fantasy world … Snoopy is a pilot, Snoopy is a secret agent. He can sit on a limb of a tree and hunch himself over and look like a vulture. He can stalk his prey like a sabre-toothed tiger. He flies his doghouse and calls it his Sopwith Camel. He plays baseball and, of course, battles the Red Baron.

It is the battle with the Red Baron that I think expresses the primary adult philosophy. This battle is the battle between good and evil. Snoopy, of course, representing good and the Red Baron evil. However, the evil that the Red Baron represents is not the evil that really exists in the world today. The evil is a gentle evil and in the battle nobody is supposed to get hurt. In this conflict, many of the simple truths that so often get lost in our hectic civilization come readily to the fore. In its simplicity, this conflict becomes almost a romantic adventure.

Our recording of Snoopy’s Christmas was made with this philosophy in mind. There is an underlying seriousness. Snoopy’s Christmas basically exposes the futility of never-ending conflict. The fact is particularly accentuated at Christmas time.

Side 1 of this LP represents a drama as fanciful as any child’s dream world involving all three of the Snoopy records. It uses the medium of radio when radio didn’t really exist to tell the story. We did this because there is a universality and timelessness represented by Snoopy’s battle against the Red Baron. The battle against evil is yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Robert Schwartz (Laurie Records)

A bit deep for a pop album. And, believe me, as a child, I never thought of reading it. But the point is, the band is not even mentioned!

Unfortunately, The Royal Guardsmen pretty much went down in history as nothing more than a novelty act. And over the years the “Snoopy” vinyl that I had a strong connection to as a kid became misplaced.

However, I recently bought a portable ION turntable to introduce my young boy to vinyl records. “Snoopy & His Friends” immediately came to mind. I found one copy available on eBay (photos above). I won an auction for a VG vinyl LP copy of “Snoopy & His Friends” by  The Royal Guardsmen (SLP2042) for $10.99 (Goldmine’s Records & Prices, 4th Edition, lists a VG copy at $7.50). The album also came with a”Merry Snoopy Christmas” poster attached to the back cover — something I didn’t have with my original album. The vinyl actually turned out to be better than VG (more like VG+). Unfortunately, the front cover was a bit worse quality than advertised, showing more wear than I expected. Yet it was good to own the album again — and, in turn, I hope to get my son listening to it.

And whatever the novelty, “Snoopy & His Friends” is the kind of mainstream pop from the past that registers a lot better than much of the contemporary pop that is on a kid’s iPod today. Forget Katy Perry or Bieber. Long live The Royal Guardsmen! If only Rolling  Stone had put them on the cover!

— Pat Prince

The Story Of Snoopy’s Christmas
(Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler)

The news it came out in the First World War
The bloody Red Baron was flying once more
The Allied Command ignored all of its men
And called on Snoopy to do it again

Was the night before Christmas and forty below
When Snoopy went up in search of his foe
He spied the Red Baron and fiercely they fought
With ice on his wings, Snoopy knew he was caught

Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ring out from the land
Asking peace of all the world
And good will to man

The Baron had Snoopy dead in his sights
He reached for the trigger to pull it up tight
Why he didn’t shoot, well, we’ll never know
Or was it the bells from the village below

{Refrain}
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man

The Baron made Snoopy fly to the Rhine
And forced him to land behind the enemy lines
Snoopy was certain that this was the end
When the Baron cried out “Merry Christmas, mein friend!”

The Baron then offered a holiday toast
And Snoopy our hero saluted his host
And then with a roar they were both on their way
Each knowing they’d meet on some other day

Of course, you can get “Snoopy’s Christmas” on CD but what’s the fun in that?

By Carol Anne Szel

To merely call Carlos Alomar a guitarist is a gross understatement. With thirty two international Platinum and Gold records to his name playing with artists from David Bowie to James Brown, John Lennon and Paul McCartney to Iggy Pop, and a veritable potpourri of musical icons in between, this R&B/Punk/Pop/Rock musical legend is still a driving force today at age 60.

While his discography page looking more like the trophy wall of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame then a web site, this Puerto Rican born/Bronx raised artist continues to remain a mainstay in contemporary music. Working recently with the likes of Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, Alomar has also taken on residency as the Distinguished Artist in Residence at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Discussing the past, present, and future of music and it’s ever changing chronicles, I had the honor and privilege to sit down and talk with Carlos Alomar recently as we learn of what albums influenced his musical and personal life.

Carlos Alomar: First of all, the issue of taking ten albums is extremely difficult. The issue of having to decide what [has] influenced as opposed to what did you influence. You know what I mean? These components really create this terrible confusion in my brain as to what albums did influence me. And where was it apparent that this influence came to light? You know, to be influenced by something, its like “My Sweet Lord.” Finally you’re playing this song and you never realize you’ve been influenced. You don’t even know the history, but somewhere along the line you’ve heard something and it just popped up.

Also, another factor is, I love certain songs. But it isn’t the song that you’re asking me for, it is the albums that you’re asking me for. And so that creates another sort of complication. It was difficult in that I had to actually put a million songs down and then starting to analyze it in a form of like ‘what influenced my technique’ because I have to acknowledge that. And what influenced my sensibilities. So those two criteria were the ones I used for the choices I made.

Now there are some inherit problems found in this in that sometimes the influences that I felt were when I was younger, and now that I’m approaching 60 it becomes difficult to see what influenced me recently. So I had to look at it and I realized that most of my influences started early, early on. So I have to start there.

I’m going to start with “Revolver” by the Beatles. Now it’s very difficult to speak about the Beatles because to me they were [it], ten years from the ’60s to maybe the ’70s. So basically…all of the Beatles albums as one influence, but “Revolver” was by far the one that made me leaving that nice, nice area they were in. Going into the more psychedelic, and just all of them having an influence. Harrison stepping out more as a guitarist and writing. That album for me was landmark.

Then a friend of mine introduced me to Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experienced.” As a guitarist I went crazy. First of all, it was coupled with the advent of the stereophonic, hi-fi system. Remember, even with some of the Beatles and some of those other tracks, we had kind of the pseudo-mono. It hadn’t really evolved the way it should have. So Jimi Hendrix came out and it was so influential as a guitarist. I’d like to put it this way, during that same ’60s period that I noted to you — with not only the Beatles but you had Herman’s Hermits — you had all these other bands that were playing at that time and I had just gotten influenced by them. But the guitarist wasn’t the main force. He was interesting as some component and every once in a while a guitarist would step out to play a little lead. But the issue of a power trio was unheard of. And when he [Hendrix] stepped in front with a Marshall and a Strat, I couldn’t believe it. First of all I had to listen to the record a few times when I first heard it with the friend that said ‘what’s wrong with you?’ And then I bought the record and that was it, the record got scratched up immediately because I had to learn every note. And I did, I learned that whole album!

I was influenced, too, by the San Francisco Bay area in the early ’60s or late ’60s actually. There was a band called Cold Blood. And remember, we’re going from the psychedelic kind of thing, and now we’re looking at kind of the R&B fuse kind of thing of rock and blues and jazz. They had this amazing horn section with a singer Lydia Pense that was like Janis Joplin. Rough and hard, singing blues and singing hardcore. The horn section rivaled Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago … They were like ridiculously awesome. As a group, as a band, they were fronted by a horn section. When I heard Cold Blood, they were the ones who made it for me.

Also, the big one. James Brown. And for me, his particular album was “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Now that was influential to me in a different way. Obviously because of the funk factor. But for me if was mostly influential on a different esoteric because as a Latino man, they did not teach Latin American history at that time. It was 1969, you know, late ’60s. I was 18 years old and the whole issue of pride came up at that point. And so not understanding my own history, I finally find out that the Puerto Rican is actually a combination of the Taino Indian, the African slaves, and the Spaniards. So the consciousness of that song, “I’m Black and I’m Proud” really created a moment in my life where black music was a little bit harder felt for me. Just for the sake of the fact that it had its own identity now. That music influenced me as a character, as a personality, as a person.

The next year, 1970, Santana came out with the album “Abraxas.” Now Santana, being a Latino, once again we’re going toward that influence. Now, I see this Latin, for the first time, a Latin guitar player being fronted by any singer he wanted. And from that album you have “Black Magic Woman.” Oh my God, that album was crazy, that album was amazing. “Black Magic Woman,” “Oye Como Va,” “Incident at Neshabur,” all these songs were really heavy duty.

I’d have to include Django Reinhardt. Now the album is called “Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club Quintet.” This man had an accident in his mid-life where he was in a fire and two of his fingers on his right hand were burned and fused together. Now you’re looking at a man who has a thumb and two fingers on his right hand, what we call his ‘picking hand.’ This man developed a technique for gypsy guitar that is the fastest guitar — forget shredding, forget flamenco, forget all of that. This Jazz guitar player is the most amazing guitar player that I have ever heard in my life. He developed his own technique. Guitar gymnastics that will make a million guitar players stop playing guitar for the rest of their lives.

The Main Ingredient “Afrodisiac” album. That has a different type of explanation. I joined the Main Ingredient and that was the first album that I performed on, and that was because I was a session artist for RCA. So it was the place where I finally got the chance to show the world what I had. In particular, there is a song on that album called “You Can Call Me Rover” which if you listen to it you’ll hear little bits of what would later become (David Bowie’s) “Fame.” So that one has to be noted because that kind of took my whole R&B history and at that point it kind of came to an end — not to an end, but there was a period where that stopped and I joined Bowie and obviously slipped into the rock and roll epoch of my life.

Now I have to list David Bowie of course. And the one I’d have to pick is “Young Americans.” And the reason is, I never really had much confidence in the blue-eyed soul situation. Wait, before that I have to mention another influence.

There were some things that happened when I met Bowie. One of the influences that he introduced me to was a band called Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk was a German instrumental band, and they had an album called “Trans-Europe Express.” And that album for me was influential in that it introduced me to this, for lack of a better term, new-age music. Not psychedelic, but that trance-like melodic theme you get not only in disco music but they also gave me a glimpse early on into the whole, what we call, soundscapes. Yes it is instrumental music, but it isn’t instrumental music like for movies. It had a type of beat to it and it had the pounding kick drum, and, of course, songs that go on for like eight minutes.

Kraftwerk was a major, major influence to me; to allow me to take my mindset away from R&B and away from Rock and Roll and kind of couple it with classical music. It allowed me to understand the development of a song. Because usually in pop music and in different cultures we have to get to it right away. Verse chorus, verse chorus, bridge, out. And yet in classical music, you introduce the scene with anything, there’s a prologue to everything. That was about 1975, 76.

Some of these albums are the fact is it’s an influential albums. But then I have to give commentary about how. And the obvious was David Bowie’s “Trilogy” with Brian Eno that I was a part of. All of that happened around this same time. It’s linear, it’s not verse chorus, verse chorus. You know the verse could be the whole song.

Now remember there was a big conflict in 1977, iIn the ’70s, let’s call it, with disco music. Disco music had a different impact than people think. Let’s understand time of a record. In the pop culture of the ’60s, songs were less than three minutes long. As they approached the ’70s, as they left the ’70s, they started becoming longer and longer and longer, where we had disco music in that period of the late ’70s/early ’80s — these songs, oh my god, six minutes long was not out of the question.

And then the artist found out a little known truth. If your record is longer than four minutes long, you get paid for two songs. So you know what? Everyone had songs that were like six minutes long! Yeah, you got more for the longer songs. They soon stopped that practice, but other than that it was a great influence at that time.

Another influential album for me, although I played on it, I have to acknowledge it. It was “Lust for Life“by Iggy Pop. At the same time in 1977 I was introduced to Iggy Pop by David Bowie. And the difference in that influence was that it changed my sensibility in my performance and to revisit punk music as a driving force of what made me feel good and what I needed in order to be a guitarist.

The influence of the pop culture in the ’60s and the rock and roll culture in the ’70s created this nuance that gave me a more sophisticated, not only technique, but my own feeling of comfort. The minute I joined Iggy Pop in his albums, and then later on touring, that whole sensibility took a big change. As there is no back line in punk music, everybody is in the front line with the singer. I wasn’t looking at myself as a rhythm guitar player anymore, now I was a lead guitar player that will kick you in your face if he feels like it! So Iggy gave me a force that I would take into my later life.

The Supremes had a greatest hits album that I used to listen to with my wife Robin. It was “The Best of the Supremes,” and of course it had “Baby Love,” “Where Did Your Love Go,” “Stone Love,” “Reflections.” As you can see, none of the albums I listed are girl trios or girl singers in particular. But there was something about that music. When I was very, very young I heard “Baby Love” through a rolled-down car window. And that influenced me so much. I was a minister’s son and so I was only allowed to play church music. So for me to hear R&B music: The Supremes, The Temptations, I was like ‘oh my god, what are those chords? ‘Oh my god, what are those progressions?’ ‘Oh my god, how amazing!’ They had a bridge, I never knew what a bridge was. A bridge by definition is a totally different song that you just take and put inside of a song. But the reason is, when you think of a song, usually the highlight of a song is the chorus. Now when you think the song can not get any higher, when you think it can’t get any better than it is, you take it to the bridge and that other song kicks in there for about two seconds, your brain just explodes and then you go into super overdrive!

James Brown would take it to the bridge, and [once] I got fined. I was in working with his band as a pick-up musician and I didn’t hit when he said ‘take it to the bridge’ and they docked me fifty dollars. Oh, it’s a serious business if you don’t hit the bridge when it comes around. He wasn’t tough to work with, he was James Brown. He was a task master. And, true to word, he could pick up in the very next stop. Anybody was dying to play with James Brown, so for me to play with James Brown was like ‘oh my god.”

James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Chuck Berry. And these were all people that I performed with or toured with or worked with in the ’60s and yet they were so part of my culture that the influence wasn’t crazy, crazy. It was just there.

So it becomes very difficult when you have to think about what influenced you. Because you have to come from a place that you already were. And influence means to be taken from where you are and influenced to go somewhere else.

Oh wait, I have to put one more band in there. Sly and the Family Stone were the first interracial band to perform at the Apollo Theater. And this was I guess ’68, myself, my wife, and my best friend Luther Vandross were at a small workshop at the basement of the Apollo Theater. We were part of a workshop called “Listen My Brother.” We rehearsed, rehearsed, and rehearsed and our big thing was that we were going to be the opening act for Sly and the Family Stone, in the Apollo Theater, to open up. When we entered into that world, Sly and the Family Stone changed us very quickly. Remember, we were going from the R&B, classic R&B rhythm session/band where you’re sitting down, you are in a sense a band. You don’t stand up, only the lead singer gets in front of the microphone. Suddenly, Sly and the Family Stone comes to the Apollo Theater and the back line gets Fender amplifiers from the floor over three or four stories high to the top of the curtain. From the stage, all you saw was the gray material of the amplifiers. They destroyed that theater so bad it was never the same! And they destroyed me as well!

When we went backstage and to the hotel with them, that was it. I had just finished coming from the chitlin’ circuit of R&B music where the managers would have to take their guns and get their guns ready while everybody waited by the bus when they had to go in to get their money. Where you would take the bus and the bus would stop somewhere in the woods and there would be this speakeasy or whatever it would be called. You’re coming from that into the light of rock and roll, come on. I was like ‘oh my god, I want to do this.’

And a few years later when I had the chance to meet Bowie, that was it. I left R&B and never looked back.