Sixties Soft Rock
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Music: B-
The term Soft Rock is actually one associated with a
post-Beatles movement that was the aftermath of the turbulent 1960s and the
effects of the Folk movement. So when I
saw a DVD set called Sixties Soft Rock being released, it was
intriguing. I was curious.
We could at least call this interesting Pop from the era,
but hardly the music of The Carpenters or Bread, which was more acoustic and
feigned a naturalism the following songs were not:
1) You Baby
– The Turtles
2) One Too
Many Mornings – The Association
3) You’re
Adorable – The Dixie Cups
4) I Got
You Babe – Sonny & Cher
5) It’s My
Party – Leslie Gore
6) Sunshine,
Lollipops & Rainbows – Leslie Gore
7) Silhouettes
– Herman’s Hermits
8)
These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ – Nancy
Sinatra
9)
A Lover’s Concerto – The
Toys
10) 1-2-3 – Len Barry
11) Price Of Love – The
Everly Brothers
12) Good Lovin’ – The
Young Rascals
13)
Do The
Freddie – Freddie & The Dreamers
14) Midnight Special – Johnny
Rivers
15) Five O’clock World – The
Vogues
16) Everybody Loves A Clown – Gary
Lewis & The Playboys
Can you imagine The Carpenters doing half of these
songs? Two of them that happened to be
hits in 1965, 1-2-3 and A Lover’s Concerto, are two of the best
attempts to capture “The Motown Sound” by record label’s other than Motown that
were ever pulled off. Some are not even
Top 40 hits. All are too typical of the
1960s Pop to be Soft Rock, but it is an interesting set that gives a brief
(40ish minutes) to listen and think about an era that was.
The picture quality is varied, average, full screen and
all are in black & white and either from videotape, kinescope or filmed
version thereof. The exception is Everybody
Loves A Clown, which is a rare case in the Passport/Koch music series of a
full color clip. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono is also average, but especially sad on Silhouettes by Herman’s
Hermits, because it sounds so much better on their new Super Audio CD hits set
(reviewed elsewhere on this site), plus there are a few cases where these songs
were in stereo. Too bad they could not
have dropped the original recording in here where the acts were
lip-syncing. There are no extras, but
it is a respectable disc.
- Nicholas Sheffo
