Flashback Friday: The Hollies

FLASHBACK FRIDAY - The Hollies
The Air That I Breathe & more

This week our Flashback Friday spotlight is on The Hollies, a British group that has entertained the public since the mid 1960s. They were part of the original British Invasion of music groups that burned up the charts in the mid 60s along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five and others.

The Hollies are well known for several chart hits, of which the top 10 I have posted here. My favorite Hollies song of all time is "The Air That I Breathe", a 4 minute long opus written by singer / songwriter Albert Hammond who had his own hits in the early 1970s (It Never Rains in Southern California).

"The Air That I Breathe" was a top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at #6 in the summer of 1974.

My 10 top tracks by The Hollies follow:

1. The Air That I Breathe (1974)
2. Long Cool Woman [in a Black Dress] (1972)
3. Bus Stop (1966)
4. Carrie Anne (1967)
5. Jennifer Eccles (1968)
6. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (1970)
7. Look Through Any Window (1965)
8. On a Carousel (1967)
9. Stop Stop Stop (1966)
10. Magic Woman Touch (1973)

Flashback Friday: ¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?

FLASHBACK FRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog

We zoom back to 1959 and this Christmas novelty song sung by 12-year old Augie Rios. My only memory of this song was when it was performed in a holiday skit with my sister Esther being the "Mamasita" during an elementary school presentation when she was in about the 2nd or 3rd grade. She was cute and memorable.

About the record itself, from the Wikipedia it reads:

Dnde Est Santa Claus? (Spanish for Where is Santa Claus?) is a novelty Christmas song. 12-year-old Augie Rios had a hit with the song in 1959 which featured the Mark Jeffrey Orchestra.[1] The 45 record single was backed with the song "Ol' Fatso (I Don't Care Who You Are Old Fatso, Get Those Reindeer Off My Roof)."

Written by George Scheck, Rod Parker, and Al Greiner, and copyrighted in 1958, the copyright was renewed and is owned by Ragtime Music. The song "Dnde Est Santa Claus?" has now been immortalized in a toy called "Animated & Musical Singing Puppy", made in Hong Kong, China, and distributed in the U.S. in 2011. The song was originally released on MGM Records' Metro label. It can now be found on various YouTube videos.

Below is one of the most touching YouTube videos made with this song. Read the caption below the video screen for more information:



"On April 21st 2007 my son Jason and My wife Elizabeth lost their lives in a car fire. Although she was able to free herself she was unable to free my unconscious son. As a result they both perished that day. Thank you to all of you who have enjoyed this video of our little boy who even after death continues to make me so very proud. Thank you for making my little Christmas miracle part of your lives. God Bless You All."

The video has been online for a number of years now.

Flashback Friday: Steely Dan - Black Friday

FLASHBACK FRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog

Well this is the song for the day. "Black Friday" by Steely Dan. Appropriate song for today since it kicks off the official start of the holiday season with of all things, Black Friday Sales.

Black Friday is a traditional shoppers holiday that comes on the day after Thanksgiving for consumers and retailers all over the United States. Thousands of people flock to the malls, stores and online destinations in their first attempts to meet the oncoming Christmas Day deadline of December 25. Bargains galore lead shoppers to the malls only to find that the advertised deals are long gone to the people who came earlier than you. What the stores love is that you stay and buy higher priced items. Yes!

Do you fall into that trap? I don't. I avoid the malls and stores on Black Friday. I rather stay home and eat leftover Thanksgiving turkey and listen to some great music by Steely Dan. I will do that today.

"Black Friday" was issued as a single on ABC Records in 1975. It made it to the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #37. The track is off the album Katy Lied, the 4th for the group.