KEEP ON PUSHING
EPISODE 2

From Studio C Chicago, it's "Keep On Pushing," a motley and mind-expanding exploration of the Sixties, with plenty of air time given to pop, soul, British Invasion, blues, bossa nova, Broadway, jazz, lounge, film music, folk music, garage rock, and much more. I'm Andy Miles and this is Booker T. & the MG’s.

Booker T. & The MG’s “Time Is Tight” (1968)

Ray Pollard “Drifter” (1965)

Buffalo Springfield “Everydays” (1967)

The Pretty Things “Talking About the Good Times” (1968)

Music from The Pretty Things, "Talking About the Good Times" from the tumultuously eventful year of 1968.

Before that Buffalo Springfield, who we heard doing a Stephen Stills song called "Everydays." It comes from their 1967 album "Buffalo Springfield Again," their second of three studio LPs.

Also in that set, "Drifter," a song from Ray Pollard. If you've never heard of Ray Pollard before, he was a New York-born black singer who fronted a band called The Wanderers, but found success in the U.K. in the Northern Soul movement. In fact, that song was released first in England, in 1965, and only got an American release a couple years later, despite it being written by the hitmaking Motown songwriting team of Holland, Dozier, and Holland, who apparently wrote the song for Pollard himself. A couple other fun facts: That song was later covered by The Jam, who were steeped in Northern Soul, and saxophone on the track was provided by Bobby Keys, who’s probably most famous for his sax work with the Rolling Stones, but also played sessions with John Lennon, George Harrison, and many others.

And speaking of session players, Booker T. & The MG’s started us off with "Time is Tight" from 1968. We heard the single version which was put out by Stax Records in early 1969 and went top 10 all over the world, including a stint atop the South African chart that year.

And you're listening to "Keep On Pushing." I'm Andy Miles. Thanks for joining me. Lots of good stuff on the way this hour, including Ramsey Lewis, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and this from Count Five.

Count Five “Psychotic Reaction” (1966)

Sly and the Family Stone “Stand” (1969)

Ramsey Lewis “Wade in the Water” (1966)

Crosby, Stills & Nash “Blackbird”

Crosby, Stills & Nash covering the Beatles' "Blackbird." From what I know about the cover, it was not released at the time but was later packaged on a 1991 Crosby, Still & Nash box set.

Before that, Ramsey Lewis with "Wade in the Water," the title cut from his popular 1966 album, which also included "Hold It Right There," a song that went on to win a Grammy.

We also heard Sly and the Family Stone, "Stand," their third top 40 hit. It was released on 45 in 1969 and included "I Want to Take You Higher" on the B-side, which also cracked the top 40. "Stand" was also the title track to the band's fourth album, one of their classic LPs.

And “Psychotic Reaction” at the top of the set, the one and only hit song of the San Jose garage band Count Five.

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Keep On Pushing," with wall to wall '60s music. Next up it's Tito Puente.

Tito Puente “La Gloria Eres Tú” (1962)

Stevie Wonder “Light My Fire” (1969)

The Marvelettes “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” (1966)

The Bee Gees “In My Own Time” (1967)

No, it's not the dominant pop group of the ’60s, The Beatles, it's the dominant pop group of the ’70s, The Bee Gees, with one of their early songs. It came out in 1967 on their third album, which was called "Bee Gees' First," with an album cover designed by the same artist who did the cover art for the Beatles' "Revolver" album the year before, Klaus Voorman. That one was written by Barry and Robin Gibb and has a strong "Revolver" influence.

The marvelous Marvelettes before that with one of their best, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," a song written by Smokey Robinson and released by Motown Records on the last Friday of 1966. The backing band on the track was The Funk Brothers, who also backed the trio on their self-titled LP that contained that song, the so-called Pink Album, released in 1967 and produced by Smokey Robinson with the aforementioned Holland, Dozier, and Holland.

Also from Motown, or more accurately the Motown imprint Tamla, we heard Stevie Wonder with his 1969 cover of The Doors' hit "Light My Fire," a version which was definitely not as famous as the Jose Feliciano cover of the song released the year before.

And we heard a 1962 track from Tito Puente at the top of the set.

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Keep On Pushing." I'm Andy Miles. One last set of music on the show; it starts with Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 “Watch What Happens” (1967)

The Everly Brothers “Lord of the Manner” (1968)

Giovanni Fusco “Eclisse Twist (Strumentale)” (1962)

Small Faces “Long Agos and Worlds Apart” (1968)

Small Faces with "Long Agos and Worlds Apart" from their 1968 classic album "Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake."

Before that, an instrumental track from the soundtrack to the 1962 Italian film "The Eclipse,” one of several scores Giovanni Fusco did for Michelangelo Antonioni in the late '50s and '60s.

We heard The Everly Brothers, "Lord of the Manner," the B-side of the 1968 single "Milk Train," one of a bevy of Everly Brothers singles that failed to chart when their run of runaway success came to an end about six years earlier.

And Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, "Watch What Happens," the English-language version of one of Michel Legrand's songs from the score to the 1964 French musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

I also snuck in part of Adlai Stevenson's address to the United Nations Security Council in October of 1962. In the speech, Stevenson, the ambassador to the United Nations for the Kennedy administration, confronted the Soviet Union's propaganda surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis, which had eerie parallels to Russian messaging in the 2022 buildup to their invasion of Ukraine. Stevenson also famously questioned his Soviet counterpart at the U.N. and presented aerial photographs to show the location of missiles sites in Cuba. Ultimately the Soviets agreed to dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, averting nuclear war but causing great embarrassment in the Kremlin, especially for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.  

And you’ve been listening to "Keep On Pushing." I'm Andy Miles. Thanks so much for tuning in. I have one last song on the show; it's a song introduced on the Broadway stage by Sammy Davis Jr. and performed here by Mel Tormé.

Mel Tormé “Too Close For Comfort” (1960)

Visit the main “Keep On Pushing” page