Unnecessary to say I had never heard of this guy, he certainly wasn’t played much on Dutch radio, but my mom loved dancing!
So bit by bit I got familiar with his style; big band medleys (or ‘potpourris’!) of hits of the day, a totally new experience to me!
Even so, this was not really my cup of tea, I preferred the original hits.
But somehow the concept of a medley stuck and I started paying more attention whenever I encountered one.
Beatles and 50s rock ’n roll medleys were usually not particular special, but Jerry Lee Lewis did a great one on his London Sessions!
Despite this aural torture I kept my faith on discovering more superior medleys.
Over
the years I encountered some which managed to combine unusual songs to
say the least, stringing Beatles songs together is not that special, but
going from their ‘I Feel Fine’ to Lee Morgan’s ‘The Sidewinder’ is a
whole different story.
And ABBA’s folk medley isn’t bad either, the only time they recorded songs NOT written by themselves!
So here for your listening pleasure I gathered 11 tracks which imho raises the medley quality quite a bit.
Number 12 is a kind of wonky bonus, added just to give you an idea of how James ‘The Gentleman of Pop’ Last did it!
In
hindsight going from Bob Dylan to Shawn Elliot to Screaming Lord Sutch
is quite a feat, although perhaps not a particularly great one, but still…
Please let us at JOKONKY know your favorite medley!
p.s. A second volume will follow in due time.
LINKS:
https://www.discogs.com/https://onebuckrecords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Note our new banner showing our respect for the past (Buck Rogers!) and commitment to the future!
ReplyDeleteWhether anyone alive in the 25th Century actually would care about our eclectic / inane collections remains to be seen of course...
Oh, almost forgot, link for the above medley treasure collection will be featured after several replies, we're nothing but interactive here!
Glad ELP are gone, I'm just saying.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather listen to El-P than ELP. Janes Addiction have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, but years ago (before Perry and Dave became completely full of themselves), they did a fun LA Medley: LA Woman, Nausea, and Lexicon Devil.
DeleteBoy that on-stage tantrum and fist fight sure was something. Oldet but definitely not wiser, that Perry Farrell...
DeleteWhat a great trio of songs, I'll need to hunt that down
Deletehttps://myzuka.club/Song/2166500/Janes-Addiction-L-A-Medley-L-A-Woman-Nausea-Lexicon-Devil-Live-1989
DeleteThis morning I remembered another great punk medley by the Circle Jerks: "Just Like Me/Put A Little Love In Your Heart"
The first thing that came to my mind was the Sex Pistols going from "Johnny B. Goode" (in their words "it's f*ckin' awful!") to "Roadrunner" on the Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle but I didn't think that counted since I was thinking of all the super long pop song medleys that used to be so popular in the 60s and 70s.
DeleteNo rules, maaaan. Mark E. Smith would sometimes shriek "Stars on 45! Stars on 45!" during a Fall song, and the band would try to approximate a disco thump...
DeleteI am Dutch, I am not proud to be Dutch and I spit on those who are proud for anything other than their own results. Proud to be American? And that's all you've ever done? Pfff. Glad you brought in the Wiki page for Stars On 45 were you could have gotten the right info about the origins. A bootleg medley was made and since Joost Den Draaier had the rights to Venus (Shocking Blue), he made sure a legal version was made, and that was so succesful he started a brand (with Jaap E).
ReplyDeleteAs you fail to mention other regions of the world have a High Level of Medley. It was in the past the main go to form of dance music. Cleverly stringing along good tunes for weddings, or any other grande festivity. Latin medleys, jazz medleys, up to the Beatles in Hamburg stringing along songs into the night. Elvis did medleys, most famous his American Trilogy, wether you like it or not. In West Africa, and especially Nigeria, album after album brought medleys. You have had King Sunny Ade. He almost exclusively made medleys. Even his Island albums were medleys here the UK executive spliced the songs for the Uk market.
And now my favourite medley album
CHIEF COMMANDER EBENEZER OBEY AND HIS INTER-REFORMERS BAND - EYI YATO
https://globalgroovers.com/2009/04/chief-commander-ebenezer-obey-and-his-2.html
Download and say thanks to Moos for posting this.
I write these posts usually tongue in cheek, so don't take them too seriously... Having said that, at the time Stars On 45 became popular not many people knew about the background, at least I certainly didn't and therefore tried to convey my 1981 feelings.
DeleteOf course medleys have been around in all parts of the world and Chief Commander Ebenezer is a very good choice. Plus globalgroovers is a great site!
I am reaching out my hand to you.I was glued to the radio at some point of my childhood, and I taped that medley on which Stars on 45 was based. 45 years after the fact, I might have known the Stars on 45 story is not common knowledge for everyone.
DeleteAnd as you usually write things a bit tongue in cheek, I might mostly be over-enthousiastic the serious way up. Here is another one of the best medleys.
Moos: Certainly I’m not the first blogger to post this here LP. Every self respecting African music collector should have this in their archive and I’m sure most of you already do. It’s a classic and therefore it is justified to appear oncemore I guess. If you didn’t have it yet, take your chance today. With Eric Agyeman, Thomas Frimpong, sublime highlife from Ghana.
https://globalgroovers.com/2010/10/dr-k-gyasi-his-noble-kings-sikyi.html
Because I love cover versions of songs, my favorite medleys are when an act does a medley of ANOTHER act's songs. When an artist does a medley of their own songs in concert it always feels to me like they're shortchanging the audience. In my opinion, a song should make the setlist, or it shouldn't. - Stinky
ReplyDeletespringsteen - detroit medley
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, you might be my favorite Dutch person, Koen!
ReplyDeleteThanks OBG! Despite the fake Burritos I feel a bit redeemed ;-)
DeleteUriah Heep's R&R medley from their 1973 Live album. So out of character for them.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/master/31348-Uriah-Heep-Uriah-Heep-Live
And didn't the Dutch kill the last Dodo bird?
Listening to it now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GzMQVveu0g Fun!
DeleteDid we really kill that one? Probably ate it as well!
Thanks Koen, for the video link. I had the album but later when transferred to CD the record company chopped off the medley so it would fit on one disc. It has since been corrected.
DeleteAnd it's OK about the Dodo. No one was counting back then. Besides, if I could walk up to a flightless bird and bop it with a stick, I would have ate him too.
OH, and thank the Dutch for Focus!
DeleteNo sir we are proud to say we did not kill the last Dodo. We ate the eggs. Records showed the birds were foul tasting .BTW Who killed the Passenger pigeon,
Deleteit wasn't the Dutch.
I think Americans killed the Passenger Pigeon. And the Indians.
DeleteAlso liked Golden Earing. They were Dutch weren't they?
DeleteOh yes, very Dutch!
DeleteAnother medley maker was Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers.
ReplyDeleteNever mind Bambi (or the dodo bird) -- who killed Jive Bunny?
DeleteJive Bunny deserved it.
DeleteWe got some interaction going on!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up, but here is the link already: https://mega.nz/file/rZE23K5K#Q19ur5uQQwdfxJ_66A4xrfLOelRcKA8yCItRk2BKVdQ
Steve: Uriah Heep's live rock & roll medley is as unexpected as Pat Boone's metal album! - Stinky
ReplyDeleteStinky, Pat Boone's Metal Album, I've heard of it, but never heard it. I'll stick with the Heep. But I thought it was side long. Enjoyed the video though.
DeleteThanks Stinky for finding the video.
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/master/962744-Pat-Boone-In-A-Metal-Mood-No-More-Mr-Nice-Guy
DeleteIt is as heavy as Karen Carpenter
Here it is https://www.imagenetz.de/mXsLJ repost at will.
Please yourself with this beauty https://www.discogs.com/master/170661-Lobo-The-Caribbean-Disco-Show
ReplyDeleteremember this? https://www.discogs.com/master/199898-Boney-M-Mega-Mix
And how about https://www.discogs.com/master/91125-Louis-Clark-Conducting-The-Royal-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Hooked-On-Classics
Are you satisfied yet? here is https://www.discogs.com/release/1286421-John-Travolta-Olivia-Newton-John-The-Grease-Megamix
Still not enough? https://www.discogs.com/master/113544-Stars-On-45-Proudly-Presents-The-Star-Sisters
also https://www.discogs.com/release/998184-Unlimited-Beat-Queen-Medley
and after Queen , you might like The King, so here you will find https://www.discogs.com/release/2532242-Elvis-Presley-The-Elvis-Medley
https://www.discogs.com/master/365521-Chocolats-Super-Disco-Medley
https://www.discogs.com/master/147849-The-Lovers-Discomania-Medley
https://www.discogs.com/release/1681921-Martin-Circus-Disco-Circus-Medley
https://www.discogs.com/release/1428259-Various-The-ZYX-Disco-Medley
https://www.discogs.com/master/229755-Eastside-Connection-Frisco-Disco-Birthday-Medley
Is the whole Stars on 45 medley thing only a branding, a way of making easy money, or is it a sign of approval that one is willing to make a medley out of one's stuff?
ReplyDeleteOR, is it a sign that your once loved band, is no longer musically interesting. The are Kiss Medleys, Springsteen Medleys, Status Quo medleys Temptations with Four Tops, Jacksons. Oh the once so proud medley to let people dance a few rounds has become a gimmick.
There in lies the beauty of Jokonky's quest. Find them a good one. I go for any Zappa medleys.
Back to James Last, yesterday I bumped into this great blogpost from 7 years ago (link still active!):
ReplyDeletehttp://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/2017/10/james-last-non-stop-dancing-1973.html