This is a tribute to some of the unique and forgotten
music and artists of the past. Some of this music and the artists
never received the chance they deserved, some deserve to be
forgotten. None the less, enjoy my tribute to Retro
Rarites
|
I am a fan of Mad Men,
the television series that just concluded its seven-season run on
AMC. I enjoy the show for several reasons. One is the nostalgia
aspect and another being the attention to detail in the show. Wow,
did it ever bring back some memories. I only found a couple
things that I could not call “period correct” as far as the show
goes. One was the IBM Selectric Typewriters, which were even
highlighted in the first episode. And while they never really
said what the date was, I did a little checking. If the first
episode was supposed to be 1960, that particular typewriter was not
introduced until 1961. Possibly they had a line from IBM to get them
in use early, sure. Companies did that to put their products under
fire back then. Put them where they would get used and see how they
hold up. The other, and of this I am sure, was as an episode
where folks were at a party. A 45 RPM record was on the spindle and
the label was “ERIC” -- a label not introduced until the mid 70’s as
I recall. Either way, that one was clearly wrong. But
that’s enough about Mad Men and the reason for all this, the music.
I was reminded of a song, which I hadn’t heard nor even thought of
in at least 30 years. I first heard it on the Zombies greatest hits
double LP called “Time of The Zombies”. It includes all their hits
as well some flip sides and others. One is this song: “This Will Be
Our Year”. The song, originally a B side of “Butchers Tale
(Western Front 1914)” was released after the first issue of “Time of
The Season” on the “Odessey and Oracle” album (the name spelled
incorrectly as a result of a mistake by the designer). They tried to
say it was intentional when the album was released to the
public. It was recorded in 1967 mostly in England at Abbey Road
studios and on a tight budget. The Zombies, which included Colin
Blunstone and Rod Argent of “Hold Your Head Up” fame, rehearsed
everything before the session to keep costs down, and most cuts were
recorded in one take in the studio. There were several mixes of
this song, the original mono version and a “faked’ stereo version
that CBS required for the album. They were told they needed this
after everything was done. That became an issue at the time because
the horns were dubbed directly onto the mono mix by a separate
producer for later release. Using what they had, members Argent and
White using their own money paid for a fake stereo remix tweaking
audio on separate channels and handed it in to CBS. Since the group
owned the master 4-track recordings, subsequent stereo mixes of the
song have been done, but do not include the horns. It is fairly
easy to see why “Butchers Tale” was not a hit, one listen will
explain. It is difficult to listen to. It was just too weird for the
time, a time in which The Beatles could barely get away with such
experimentation. But that brings us to “This Will Be Our Year”. Why
was this single not flipped over and this song discovered? That was
fairly common in the 60’s; see Sookie Sookie by Steppenwolf or
“Gloria” by Them. Furthermore, how has this song gone SO long
without showing up in a TV series or Motion picture? Its lyrics beg
to be incorporated into a movie. “And I won't forget - The way
you helped me – Up, when I was down And I won't forget - The way
you said - Darling I love you You gave me faith to go on Now
we're there - And we've only just begun. This will be our year -
Took a long time to come” I have been humming this song for
weeks, so I thought I would include it here, along with its various
versions. My thanks to Mad Men writers and producers for reminding
me of this great song, released in July of 1968, The Zombies’ “This
Will Be Our Year”.
| This Will Be Our Year … by
The Zombies
Please check out my
tribute to WOLF, The Syracuse
Rocker |
|
Copyright ©
2012 Retrorarities Music
| |