Four bands from Dangerbird Record, Darker My Love, One AM Radio, Dappled Cities, and Eulogies have recorded songs originally released in 1956. Recorded at Lone Palm Studios, in Los Angeles, the songs are part of a promotion by PF Flyers and are available for free download below.
The Fool – “Darker My Love” (Recorded in ’56 by Sanford Clark)
http://www.dangerbirdrecords.com/public/mp3/02TheFool.mp3
Back in 1956, “The Fool” made Country, R&B and Billboard 100 charts with its haunting expression of lost love. Written by Lee Hazlewood (later one of Frank Sinatra’s producers), rockabilly artist Sanford Clark’s single hit featured Art Casey’s slapback guitar work, a reverb felt throughout rock music. L.A. psychrock band Darker My Love revives the riff with a languid pace marked with tambourine clinks evoking chains of eternal regret.
Love is Strange – “Eulogies” (Recorded in ’56 by Mickey & Sylvia)
http://www.dangerbirdrecords.com/public/mp3/04LoveIsStrange.mp3
For the Cousy project, Eulogies wanted to do a duet with Film School’s Lorelei Plotczyk and this song was an easy choice. It was new to the band but Lorelei knew it very well from watching “Dirty Dancing” over and over again as a young girl. The original from 1956 was recorded by R&B duo Mickey “Guitar” Baker and his former pupil Silvia Van der Pool Robinson, who later co-founded the rap label Sugar Hill Records.
The Wayward Wind – “The One AM Radio” (Recorded in ’56 by Gogi Grant)
http://www.dangerbirdrecords.com/public/mp3/03WaywardWind.mp3
Artists from Patsy Cline to Sonny & Cher covered “The Wayward Wind,” but Gogi Grant’s record topped the charts for eight weeks in 1956. The song fits The One AM Radio’s recurring theme of the isolation of wanderlust like a fellow traveler. Hrishikesh Hirway notes, “I’ve always felt a lot of resonance with this story, someone constantly adrift despite his best intentions, and I was excited to do my own take on it.”
Green Door – “Dappled Cities” (Recorded in ’56 by Jim Lowe)
http://www.dangerbirdrecords.com/public/mp3/01GreenDoor.mp3
The original had a sweet 50s sock-hop spirit but the exuberance of Australia’s Dappled Cities drives the new Green Door to the place where quirky, off-kilter pop plays best. “We really loved the spookiness of the lyrics and exaggerated that in our own version by whispering the words, and then just threw on some crazy Joe Meek organ sounds, an offbeat drum part and voila! Green Door reincarnated.
The PF Flyers’ archival release of the 1956 Bob Cousy All-American low top is available now.
About Bob Cousy:
Bob Cousy is known as one of basketball’s greatest all-time passers and playmakers. Seeing the basketball court “as a canvas,” Cousy is said to have brought the sport as close to an art form as possible. His legacy of style and personal flair both on and off the court are matched only by his head-shaking list of career accolades. As Cousy’s original sponsor (one of the first footwear sponsorships in sports history), PF is proud to work with the Hall-of-Fame player again, who turns 80 in 2008, also marking Cousy’s 30th year of retirement from basketball.