Author Archives: Little Danny

In the trail of Telstar

Posted on 2007/03/26 by Little Danny

There’s a special place in the constellations for the brilliant British pop producer and innovator Joe Meek and his 1962 instrumental hit “Telstar.” Britain’s musical eccentrics and studio experimentalists did not enjoy the same host of independent labels that America’s … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/03/26 by Little Danny | Posted in Instrumentals/Surf | 10 Comments

Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Posted on 2007/03/19 by Little Danny

Dusty Springfield, with her big voice, big bouffant, and hits like “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” “The Look of Love,” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” may have been the queen of ‘60s blue-eyed soul. She wasn’t the only ‘60s white soul … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/03/19 by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 11 Comments

Office Naps Mix Spring 2007

Posted on 2007/03/12 by Little Danny

The second installment of the Office Naps mix. More of my favorite ‘60s soft psychedelics and electronic pop. Office Naps Mix Spring 2007 Millennium, Prelude (7”, Columbia) Appletree Theatre, Hightower Square (7”, Verve Forecast) Joyride, Childhood’s End (Friend Sound, RCA) … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/03/12 by Little Danny | Posted in Garage Bands, Miscellaneous Flotsam, Mixes, Now Sound, Psychedelic/Pop | 24 Comments

Fabu-Les

Posted on 2007/03/05 by Little Danny

If the West has impulsively exoticized the rest of the world for centuries now, then the brilliant Los Angeles arranger and composer Les Baxter was the greatest twentieth century pop music proponent of this impulse. A staff arranger and conductor … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/03/05 by Little Danny | Posted in Exotica/Space-Age | 11 Comments

Psychsploitation

Posted on 2007/02/26 by Little Danny

Three Kandy-Kolored Klassics from the golden age of the psychedelic exploitation cash-in. Psychedelia was in full, gaudy blossom in 1967, and Los Angeles, entertainment engine of the solar system, was right there to capitalize. These particular instrumentals weren’t made for … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/02/26 by Little Danny | Posted in Psychedelic/Pop | 9 Comments

The gospel glow

Posted on 2007/02/19 by Little Danny

Gospel was, and still is, music of the Church. Its recordings are less systematically commercialized (and less anthologized) than music made for popular consumption. Which isn’t to say that there weren’t thousands upon thousands of gospel records made during the … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/02/19 by Little Danny | Posted in Gospel | 11 Comments

West Coast boogaloo

Posted on 2007/02/12 by Little Danny

More this week on the Latin music scene of post-War California, a scene that I find endlessly fascinating and frustratingly undocumented. Boogaloo was a mid-‘60s phenomenon original to New York City’s Spanish Harlem, a juiced-up mash of popular Latin dance … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/02/12 by Little Danny | Posted in Latin | 6 Comments

San Antonio

Posted on 2007/02/05 by Little Danny

Thousands of garage bands flourished weed-like in mid-‘60s America, their thousands of 45 rpm records basically reflecting the homogeneity of suburbs which spawned them. There were vague regional variations in sound amongst the American garage bands, but such variations seemed … Continue reading →

Posted on 2007/02/05 by Little Danny | Posted in Garage Bands | 12 Comments