The Classics IV is a band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, in 1965. The band is often credited for establishing the “soft southern rock” sound. The band, led by singer Dennis Yost, is known mainly for the hits “Spooky”, “Stormy” and “Traces”, released 1967 to 1969, which have become cover standards.

Climax were an American band formed in 1970 in Los Angeles, California, most noted for their 1971-1972 hit song “Precious and Few,” which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #1 on Cashbox magazine’s Top 100 singles chart.

This disc sold over one million copies and was certified gold by the RIAA on February 21, 1972.

John Denver was an American musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, activist, actor, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer, starting in the 1970s. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists.

By 1974, he was firmly established as America’s best-selling performer, and AllMusic has described Denver as “among the most beloved entertainers of his era”. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. Throughout his life, Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed, with total record sales of over 33 million.

He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, his disdain for city life, his enthusiasm for music, and his relationship trials. Denver’s music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, in all earning him twelve gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, “Annie’s Song”, “Rocky Mountain High”, “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”, and “Sunshine on My Shoulders”.

Denver further starred in films and several notable television specials in the 1970s and 1980s. In the following decade, he continued to record, but also focused on calling attention to environmental issues, lent his vocal support to space exploration, and testified in front of Congress to protest against censorship in music. He was known for his love of the state of Colorado, which he sang about numerous times. He lived in Aspen, Colorado for much of his life and was named poet laureate of the state in 1974. The Colorado state legislature also adopted “Rocky Mountain High” as one of its state songs in 2007. Denver was an avid pilot and died in a single-fatality crash of his personal experimental aircraft at the age of 53.

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide throughout their career.

The band has been active for five decades, with their biggest success occurring in the 1970s.

The band’s history can be roughly divided into three eras. From 1969 to 1975 they featured lead vocalist Tom Johnston and featured a mainstream rock and roll sound with elements of folk, country and R&B.

Johnston quit the group in 1975 and was replaced with Michael McDonald whose interest in soul music changed the sound of the band until they broke up in 1982. The Doobie Brothers reformed in 1987 with Johnston back in the fold and are active to the present with occasional contributions from McDonald. Every incarnation of the group emphasized vocal harmonies from the band’s members, and the Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.

Christopher Cross an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas.

His debut album earned him five Grammy Awards. He is perhaps best known for his US Top Ten hit songs, “Ride Like the Wind”, “Sailing”, and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”, the latter recorded by him for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore.

“Sailing” earned three Grammys in 1981, while “Arthur’s Theme” won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen).

Neil Diamond an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor.

His career began in the 1960s and he has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. Early in the 21st century, he was the third most successful adult contemporary artist in the history of the Billboard charts. His songs have been covered internationally by many performers from various musical genres.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an honoree at Kennedy Center. On the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, he has had eleven No. 1 singles: “Cracklin’ Rosie”, “Song Sung Blue”, “Longfellow Serenade”, “I’ve Been This Way Before”, “If You Know What I Mean”, “Desiree”, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”, “America”, “Yesterday’s Songs”, “Heartlight”, and “I’m a Believer”. “Sweet Caroline” is played frequently at sporting events, and has become an anthem for the Boston Red Sox.

Dan Fogelberg was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and bluegrass.

He is best known for his early 1980s hits, including “Longer” (1980), “Leader of the Band” (1981), and “Same Old Lang Syne” (1981).

Peter Frampton is an English-American rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton’s international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive! The album sold more than eight million copies in the United States alone and spawned several hits. Since then he has released several major albums. He has also worked with David Bowie and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others.

Frampton is best known for such hits as “Breaking All the Rules”, “Show Me the Way”, “Baby, I Love Your Way”, “Do You Feel Like We Do”, and “I’m in You”, which remain staples on classic rock radio. He has also appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Frampton is known for his work as a guitar player and particularly with a Talkbox and his tenor voice.

Dobie Gray was an American singer and songwriter, whose musical career spanned soul, country, pop, and musical theater.

His hit records included “The ‘In’ Crowd” in 1965 and “Drift Away”, which was one of the biggest hits of 1973, sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.

Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician, and producer with a career that has spanned over 50 years. He is best known for a long string of hit recordings such as “Mandy”, “Can’t Smile Without You”, and “Copacabana (At the Copa)”.

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-seller charts simultaneously, a feat equaled only by Herb Alpert, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded and released 47 Top 40 singles, including 12 that hit number one and 27 of which appeared within the top ten, and has released many multi-platinum albums. He is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records) and Billboard Magazines, and Rolling Stone crowned him “a giant among entertainers… the showman of our generation.”

Although not a favorite of music critics,[4] Manilow has been praised by several well-known entertainers, including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s saying, “He’s next.” In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, “Don’t stop what you’re doing, man. We’re all inspired by you.”

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, including Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 30, 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, performing hundreds of shows before ending his relationship with the hotel. Since March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time.

The Righteous Brothers: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ is a song written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. It was first recorded by the Righteous Brothers in 1964, and was produced by Phil Spector. Their recording is considered by some music critics to be the ultimate expression and illustration of Spector’s “Wall of Sound” recording technique.[3] It has also been described by various music writers as “one of the best records ever made” and “the ultimate pop record”.

The original Righteous Brothers version was a critical and commercial success on its release, becoming a number-one hit single in both the United States and the United Kingdom in February 1965. It was the fifth best selling song of 1965 in the US. It also entered the Top 10 in the UK chart on an unprecedented three separate occasions

Cream: Sunshine of Your Love is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock, psychedelia, and pop, it is one of Cream’s best-known and most popular songs. Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive bass riff or repeated musical phrase he developed after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert. Guitarist Eric Clapton and lyricist Pete Brown later contributed to the song. Recording engineer Tom Dowd suggested the rhythm arrangement in which drummer Ginger Baker plays a distinctive tom-tom drum rhythm, although Baker has claimed it was his idea.

The song was included on Cream’s second album Disraeli Gears in November 1967, which was a best seller. Atco Records, the group’s American label, was initially unsure of the song’s potential. After recommendations by other label-affiliated artists, it released an edited single version in January 1968.[a] The song became Cream’s first and highest-charting American single and one of the most popular singles of 1968. In September 1968, it became a modest chart hit after being released in the UK.

Cream performed “Sunshine of Your Love” regularly in concert and several live recordings have been issued, including on the Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005 reunion album and video. Hendrix performed faster instrumental versions of the song, which he often dedicated to Cream. Several rock journals have placed the song on their greatest song lists, such as Rolling Stone, Q magazine, and VH1. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it on its list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.

Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company The song became a bigger pop hit when recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968, with lead singer Janis Joplin. The song was taken from the group’s album Cheap Thrills, recorded in 1968 and released on Columbia Records.

This rendition made it to number twelve on the U.S. pop chart. The song’s instrumentation was arranged by Sam Andrew, who also performed three distorted, loud guitar solos giving the song a psychedelic touch.
Franklin said in an interview that when she first heard Joplin’s version on the radio, she didn’t recognize it because of the vocal arrangement.

Noted cultural writer Ellen Willis wrote of the difference: “When Franklin sings it, it is a challenge: no matter what you do to me, I will not let you destroy my ability to be human, to love. Joplin seems rather to be saying, surely if I keep taking this, if I keep setting an example of love and forgiveness, surely he has to understand, change, give me back what I have given”. In such a way, Joplin used blues conventions not to transcend pain, but “to scream it out of existence

The Association: Never My Love is a pop standard written by American siblings Donald and Richard Addrisi and best known from a hit 1967 recording by The Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success was as the songwriters of “Never My Love”. Recorded by dozens of notable artists in the decades since, in late 1999 the Publishing Rights Organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) announced it was the second most-played song on radio and television of the 20th century.

The first recording of “Never My Love” to achieve success was by The Association, an American pop rock band from California. Their version of the song, recorded with members of The Wrecking Crew peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and hit number one on the Cashbox charts in October 1967, one of the band’s five top-ten hits in the late 1960s. Their third #1 on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles Chart, following “Cherish” (1966) and “Windy” (1967), it was featured on the band’s album Insight Out (1967). The song also reached number one in Canada’s RPM charts.

By the time The Association’s record was certified Gold by the RIAA for one million copies sold as of December 1967, Billboard noted that sixteen artists had recorded the song. Their third number one single had made them a top concert act and highly in demand by the TV variety series, specials, and talk shows that were a predominant format at the time, and they performed the hit on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, Hullabaloo, Shindig!, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Dick Cavett Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Steve Allen Show, and a Carol Channing special.

Neil Diamond: Sweet Caroline is a song written and performed by American recording artist Neil Diamond and officially released on September 16, 1969, as a single with the title “Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)”. It was arranged by Charles Calello,[3] and recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

The song reached #4 on the Billboard chart and eventually went platinum for sales of one million singles. In the autumn of 1969, Diamond performed “Sweet Caroline” on several television shows. It later reached #8 on the UK singles chart in 1971.

In a 2007 interview, Diamond stated the inspiration for his song was John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, who was eleven years old at the time it was released. Diamond sang the song to her at her 50th birthday celebration in 2007. On December 21, 2011, in an interview on CBS’s The Early Show, Diamond said that a magazine cover photo of Caroline Kennedy as a young child on a horse with her parents in the background created an image in his mind, and the rest of the song came together about five years after seeing the picture. However, in 2014 Diamond said the song was about his then-wife Marsha, but he needed a three-syllable name to fit the melody

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Proud Mary is a rock song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band’s second studio album, Bayou Country, which was released by the same record company in January 1969.

The single is generally considered to have been released in early January 1969 although at least one source states that it came out just before Christmas 1968. The song became a major hit in the United States, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1969, the first of five non-consecutive singles to peak at #2 for the group

The Animals: The House of the Rising is a traditional folk song, sometimes called “Rising Sun Blues”. It tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock group the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States and France. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the “first folk-rock hit”.[ An interview with Eric Burdon revealed that he first heard the song in a club in Newcastle, England, where it was sung by the Northumbrian folk singer Johnny Handle. The Animals were on tour with Chuck Berry and chose it because they wanted something distinctive to sing. The band enjoyed a huge hit with the song, much to Dylan’s chagrin when his version was referred to as a cover. The irony of this was not lost on Dave Van Ronk, who said the whole issue was a “tempest in a teapot.” He also claimed that this version was based on his arrangement of the song. Dylan stopped playing the song after the Animals’ recording became a hit, because fans accused him of plagiarism. Dylan has said he first heard the Animals’ version on his car radio and “jumped out of his car seat” because he liked it so much.

The Animals’ version transposes the narrative of the song from the point of view of a woman led into a life of degradation to that of a man whose father was now a gambler and drunkard, rather than the sweetheart in earlier versions.

The Animals had begun featuring their arrangement of “House of the Rising Sun” during a joint concert tour with Chuck Berry, using it as their closing number to differentiate themselves from acts that always closed with straight rockers. It got a tremendous reaction from the audience, convincing initially reluctant producer Mickie Most that it had hit potential, and between tour stops the group went to a small recording studio on Kingsway in London to capture it.

Recording and release

The song was recorded in just one take on 18 May 1964, and it starts with a now-famous electric guitar A minor chord arpeggio by Hilton Valentine. According to Valentine, he simply took Dylan’s chord sequence and played it as an arpeggio. The performance takes off with Burdon’s lead vocal, which has been variously described as “howling,” “soulful,” and as “…deep and gravelly as the north-east English coal town of Newcastle that spawned him.” Finally, Alan Price’s pulsating organ part (played on a Vox Continental) completes the sound. Burdon later said, “We were looking for a song that would grab people’s attention.”

As recorded, “House of the Rising Sun” ran four and a half minutes, regarded as far too long for a pop single at the time.[16] Producer Most, who initially did not really want to record the song at all, said that on this occasion – “Everything was in the right place … It only took 15 minutes to make so I can’t take much credit for the production” – nonetheless was now a believer and declared it a single at its full length, saying “We’re in a microgroove world now, we will release it.”

In the United States however, the original single (MGM 13264) was a 2:58 version. The MGM Golden Circle reissue (KGC 179) featured the unedited 4:29 version, although the record label gives the edited playing time of 2:58. The edited version was included on the group’s 1964 U.S. debut album The Animals, while the full version was later included on their best-selling 1966 U.S. greatest hits album, The Best of the Animals. However, the very first American release of the full-length version was on a 1965 album of various groups entitled Mickie Most Presents British Go-Go (MGM SE-4306), the cover of which, under the listing of “House of the Rising Sun”, described it as the “Original uncut version.” Americans could also hear the complete version in the movie Go Go Mania in the spring of 1965.

“House of the Rising Sun” was not included on any of the group’s British albums, but it was reissued as a single twice in subsequent decades, charting both times, reaching number 25 in 1972 and number 11 in 1982.

The Animals version was played in 6/8 meter, unlike the 4/4 of most earlier versions. Arranging credit went only to Alan Price. According to Burdon, this was simply because there was insufficient room to name all five band members on the record label, and Alan Price’s first name was first alphabetically. However, this meant that only Price received songwriter’s royalties for the hit, a fact that has caused bitterness ever since, especially with Valentine.