THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,179) The Music Machine/Bonniwell Music Machine — “Astrologically Incompatible”
This infectious ‘67 B-side is an absolute Zodiac killer by the original Music Machine lineup (and was also the opening track on the Bonniwell Music Machine LP). It was “inspired by [Sean] Bonniwell’s fascination with astrology” (Alec Palao, liner notes to the CD reissue of The Bonniwell Music Machine) and features a James Bond-y, 60’s lounge horn fanfare.
Of Bonniwell and the Music Machine, Mark Deming tells us:
Sean Bonniwell was the leader of the band the Music Machine, who . . . enjoyed a major hit in 1966 with a sneering anthem of teen-aged alienation, “Talk Talk.” The Music Machine had evolved from the Ragamuffins, an earlier Bonniwell project rooted in folk-rock and British Invasion influences. By the time the band renamed itself the Music Machine, Bonniwell and his band mates . . . had taken on a much darker approach, dominated by sharp fuzztone guitars and peals of Farfisa organ. Bonniwell was the principal songwriter and uncontested leader . . . [W]hile they had minor success with the follow-up single “The People in Me” ([#]66), Bonniwell’s bandmates became weary of his hardline leadership of the group, coupled with tough touring experiences and slow payment of record royalties, and by mid-1967, Bonniwell was the only member . . . still on board. . . . [He] managed to free himself from his contract with Original Sound and signed with Warner Bros. Records as he assembled a new lineup . . . . bec[oming] the Bonniwell Music Machine . . . . Bonniwell began to work on another album. The finished product, 1968’s The Bonniwell Music Machine, featured three songs that began as demos cut with the original band, but for the most part it found Bonniwell pursuing a more eclectic sound . . . with arrangements that included horns and woodwinds and songs that moved from garage rock to folk-rock and even a dash of proto-hard rock. Despite (or perhaps because of) its ambitious approach, [it] was a flop in the marketplace . . . . Warner Bros. dropped Bonniwell, and after briefly launching a third edition of the Music Machine, he dissolved the group and went solo, releasing the album Close as T.S. Bonniwell in August 1969. . . . [which] fared no better commercially . . . and Bonniwell gave up on the music business for the next two decades, never recording another album.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-bonniwell-music-machine-mn0000082410#biography
Of the LP, Richie Unterberger writes:
[T]he album was pasted together from some singles (some of which had appeared on Original Sound in 1967) and other tracks, both by the original incarnation and a second outfit that was pretty much a Sean Bonniwell solo vehicle. Accordingly, the tone of the album is pretty uneven, but much of the material is excellent. In fact, some of the songs rate among their best . . . . Some of the cuts (presumably those recorded after the first lineup broke up) find Bonniwell branching out from psych-punk into a poppier and more eclectic direction, sometimes with very good results, sometimes not.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-bonniwell-music-machine-mw0000847923
Of his songwriting process, Bonniwell once mused that:
As is true with most (not all) songs that endeavor to capture timeless, mystical enchantment, their creation is guided by the rush of one, epiphenomenal writing session…a visit for twenty minutes or so with your muse connected — and oblivious to — the sum total of your past and future.
https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2011/07/sean-bonniwell-interview-html.html
Here they are on TV:
TV again:
Here is an alternate take:
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