Hi all. First of all, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for my Mom. She decided to have the surgery to remove the mass on her brain and on Tuesday morning she had the 7 hour surgery. She came through it good; the surgeon got 90% of the mass — he said it was one of the largest masses that he’s ever taken out. Mom is still in a sleeping state and still intubated because breathing on her own would be too much effort and energy expended which would cause further swelling in the brain so the breathing tube is doing the work instead. We are far from being out of the woods yet though. There is significant swelling in her brain and we desperately need it to come down so, if you all will, please continue to pray and keep good positive thoughts and energy flowing for her. I want my Mom back home!
I just finished tallying the votes for the Goin’ Out of My Head battle. I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go and after counting all the votes and casting my own (for the Zombies version), I am unable to declare a winner because it ended in a TIE with 5 votes for Classics IV and 5 votes for the Zombies.
I don’t know how I feel about a Tie result. In a way it means the battle had evenly matched contenders, which is a good thing, I strive to have evenly matched contenders because blowouts are never fun. But a tie result in a battle is kinda like watching a really good movie that has a crappy ending, leaving the audience unsatisfied and hanging.
In any case, it is what it is. So rather than not declaring a winner, I’ll declare both contenders in this battle a winner. Obviously both Classics IV and the Zombies did fabulous covers of Little Anthony & the Imperials R&B hit “Goin’ Out of My Head.”
So as to not leave you all disappointed and unsatisfied, let me close with another cover of this song that I had considered using in this battle. I didn’t because I figured that to pit this cover up against either of the two I did use would end the battle in a blowout. What do you all think? Do you agree? If I had used this cover against either the Zombies version or the Classics IV version, would you have liked this one better and cast your vote for the great Luther Vandross?
Here is Luther Vandross covering “Goin’ Out of My Head”:
Please leave a comment and let me know if you would’ve chosen Luther had I used his cover in this battle. Or not.
See you next month on June 15th for another Battle of the Bands entry.
Wow, it’s been a minute or two since I’ve participated in the Battle of the Bands! I’m coming off of a fairly lengthy blogging hiatus. I don’t even know how long it’s been. It’s been so long that Stephen said he didn’t think I was ever coming back! Well, what do they say? You can’t keep a good rock & roll woman down…
I’m thrilled to be back with all of you and will look forward to making the rounds. Just know that it may take me a few days to get around to everyone as my Mom is having brain surgery this week. We just found out about it today, it was completely unexpected and we’re pretty freaked out. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
[UPDATE 5/15: I talked to the neurosurgeon this morning and they don’t want to rush into surgery until the cardiac team evaluates her current heart condition. As many of you know she has been having cardiac issues since her valve replacement and repair surgery in 2016. So there will be a team of specialists working to determine the best course of action, being that the surgery is a major one (6-8 hours) and they need to have all the vital information and test results before proceeding. The evaluation probably won’t be finished until the end of this week. I will keep you posted but please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers if you are so inclined. Thank you all.]
As luck would have it, I already had this battle post queued up to publish on the 15th. So here it is:
First, a quick refresher: BATTLE OF THE BANDS (BOTB) is where you listen to different recordings of the same song and vote for the one you like best. A new Battle gets posted on the 15th of each month (and some participants also do battles on the 1st of each month as well), and voting stays open for six days. You vote by leaving your choice in the Comment section below. Voting closes at midnight on the 21st, I place my own vote, tally them all up and announce the winner on the 22nd.
For my comeback battle, I’m tying into my theme for the Monday’s Music Moves Me blog hop: Songs with Body Parts in the Title. The first in my “Rock & Roll Head to Toe” seriesposted on Monday and features songs with the word HEAD in the title. (Click here if you’d like to check it out. There is some really great music in my playlist).
Today’s battle is veering a little off the rock & roll vibe and instead going mellow with one of my favorite R&B ‘Head’ songs, “Goin’ Out of My Head” by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
Little Anthony and the Imperials is an American rhythm and blues/soul vocal group from New York City founded by Clarence Collins in the 1950s and named in part for its lead singer, Jerome Anthony “Little Anthony” Gourdine, who was noted for his high-pitched voice. In addition to Collins and Gourdine, the original Imperials included Ernest Wright, Glouster “Nate” Rogers, and Tracey Lord, the last two of whom were subsequently replaced by Samuel “Sammy” Strain. The group was one of the very few doo-wop groups to enjoy sustained success on the R&B and pop charts throughout the 1960s. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009, 23 years after the group’s first year of eligibility for induction.
“Goin’ Out of My Head” is a song written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, initially recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials in 1964. Randazzo, a childhood friend of the group, wrote the song especially for them (having also supplied the group with their previous Top 20 Hit “I’m on the Outside (Looking In)”.
Their original version of the song was a Billboard Top 10 Pop hit, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in the Canadian RPM-list in 1965. The song peaked at #8 on Cashbox magazine’s R&B chart (Billboard was in a chart recess for R&B listings at that time). The Little Anthony & the Imperials original recording is the best-known version of the song, although it has since been covered by many other artists.
Here is the original for your reference and enjoyment only. It is NOT part of the battle, so don’t vote for this one!
HERE’S TODAY’S BATTLE! The battle for this song features covers done by these two groups:
CONTENDER #1: THE ZOMBIES – The Zombies, an English rock band formed in 1962 led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone, released their cover of Goin’ Out of My Head in 1966 on their album called The Original Studio Recordings, Vol. 3.
CONTENDER #2: CLASSICS IV – The Classics IV is a band formed in Jacksonville, Florida 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. Their cover of Goin’ Out of My Head appeared on the Classics IV 1968 album Spooky.
TIME TO VOTE! Which versions do you like better and why? Tell me in the Comment section below.
When you’re done voting, please visit these other BOTB participants and check out their cool battles:
Thanks for your participation and your votes! Voting will be open until midnight on the 21st and I’ll post results on the 22nd or shortly thereafter. Until then, Rock On my friends…
Angels Bark 