From Encyclopedia Britannica: - pop ballad, form of slow love song prevalent in nearly all genres of popular music. There are rock ballads, soul ballads, country ballads, and even heavy metal ballads. Here is a selection of some of the most popular “pop ballads” of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

AS TEARS GO BY (The Rolling Stones)


(From Wikipedia): "As Tears Go By" is a song written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham. It was released as a single by Marianne Faithfull in 1964 and peaked at #9 in the United Kingdom. The Rolling Stones recorded their own version later, releasing the track in late 1965 on the album December's Children (And Everybody's) and subsequently as a single in North America.
"As Tears Go By" was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards, as until that point The Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing blues standards. A story surrounding the song's genesis has it that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result was initially named "As Time Goes By", the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears". According to Jagger biographer Philip Norman, the song was mainly created by Jagger, in co-operation with session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

I AM I SAID (Neil Diamond)


From Wikipedia:
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. According to David Wild, common themes in Diamond's songs are "a deep sense of isolation and an equal desire for connection. A yearning for home – and at the same time, the allure of greater freedom. The good, the bad and the ugly about a crazy little thing called love."
As of 2001 Diamond has sold 115 million records worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S. In terms of Billboard chart success, he is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John.
Though his record sales declined somewhat after the 1980s, Diamond continues to tour successfully, and maintains a very loyal following. Diamond's songs have been recorded by a vast array of performers from many different musical genres.
Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, and in 2000 he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award.
On Monday, March 14, 2011, Neil Diamond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

AL DI LA (Emilio Pericoli)


From Wikipedia:
"Al di là" (English translation: "Beyond") is a popular Italian song. "Al di là" was one of Betty Curtis' biggest hits in Italy. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on March 18, 1961, after Curtis had won the 1961 edition of the Sanremo Festival on February 2, 1961, (from 1958 to 1966, the winner of the Sanremo Festival would automatically represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest). In the United States, Emilio Pericoli is the artist most associated with the song. He sang "Al Di Là" in the popular 1962 film Rome Adventure, starring Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette, and his single that year on Warner Bros. Records reached number six on Billboard's pop chart and number three on the easy-listening chart. Pericoli's version ranked #48 on Billboard's 1962 Year-End chart.

GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (The Charlie Santos Group)


Track 16 from the album "The British Invaders" by The Charlie Santos Group. A tribute to Tom Jones.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

BLUE VELVET (Bobby Vinton)


From Wikipedia:
Vinton is the only child of a locally popular bandleader, Stan Vinton. At 16, Vinton formed his first band, which played clubs around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. After a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army, where he served as a chaplain's assistant, Vinton was signed to Epic Records in 1960 as a bandleader: "A Young Man With a Big Band." Two albums and several singles were not successful however, and with Epic ready to pull the plug, Vinton found his first hit single literally sitting in a reject pile. The song was titled "Roses Are Red (My Love)." It spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Arguably, his most famous song is 1963's "Blue Velvet", originally a minor hit for Tony Bennett in 1951, that also went to No.1. Twenty-three years later, David Lynch named his movie Blue Velvet after the song. In 1990, "Blue Velvet" climbed to the top of the music charts in Great Britain, after being featured in a Nivea commercial. In 1964, Vinton had two #1 hits, "There! I've Said It Again" (a #1 hit in 1945 for Vaughn Monroe) and "Mr. Lonely". Vinton wrote "Mr. Lonely" during his service in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s where he served as a Chaplain's Assistant. The song was recorded during the same 1962 session that produced "Roses Are Red" and launched Vinton's singing career.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE (Tony Bennett)


From Wikipedia:
"The Shadow of Your Smile", also known as "Love Theme from The Sandpiper", is a popular song. The music was written by Johnny Mandel with the lyrics written by Paul Francis Webster. The song was introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper with a trumpet solo by Jack Sheldon and later became a minor hit for Tony Bennett (Johnny Mandel arranged and conducted his version as well). It won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Well-known versions of the song were recorded by Barbra Streisand (on her 1965 album My Name Is Barbra, Two...), singer Shirley Bassey (on her 1966 album I've Got a Song for You), Andy Williams, Percy Faith, Rita Reys, Al Martino, Perry Como, Nancy Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. It is also the album title from Astrud Gilberto. Connie Francis recorded the song in English, Spanish (La sombra de tu sonrisa), and in Italian (Castelli di sabbia). Trini Lopez included it on his Reprise Records album (Trini). Lill Lindfors recorded it in Swedish as Din skugga stannar kvar. Marvin Gaye recorded several versions of the song. One can be found on Romantically Yours, another on Vulnerable, and a live version on Marvin Gaye: Live at the Copa. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass recorded an instrumental version for their 1966 album What Now My Love. German singer Udo Lindenberg included a more rock oriented cover of the song on his 1986 single "Germans". In 2006 The Central Band of the Royal British Legion recorded an album with "The Shadow Of Your Smile" as the lead title track.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (Tom Jones)


From Wikipedia:
Sir Thomas John Woodward,(born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer. Jones is particularly noted for his powerful voice. Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel. Since 1965, Jones has sold over 100 million records.