Monthly Archives: October 2022

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD Two songs hand-selected for Halloween — “My Girlfriend is a Witch” and “Warlock” — one goofy pop rock and one an eerie prog apocalyptic vision. 624) October Country — “My Girlfriend Is a Witch” And he seems tickled pink — “What a fate,Continue reading “Halloween Special: October Country/ Paul Brett Sage: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 31, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 623) The Kinks — “Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home” Mia Kulpa! I featured a song yesterday about a Rosy that I thought might have been written by Ray Davies. Turns out it wasn’t. To make amends, here is a song about aContinue reading “The Kinks — “Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 30, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 622) The Rockin’ Vickers — “Little Rosy” A jaunty music-hally number, unreleased for decades, that is distinguished by two facts: 1) the Vickers’ guitarist at the time was the iconic Lemmy Kilmister, Motörhead to be, and 2) the songwriter may have been RayContinue reading “The Rockin’ Vickers — “Little Rosy”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 29, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 621) The Reekers/The Hangmen — “The Girl Who Faded Away” ’65 B-side of the Hangmen’s (see #560) big Washington, DC hit that knocked the Beatles off the top spot on local radio — a wonderful, wistful garage ballad with a complicated history. Oh,Continue reading “The Reekers/The Hangmen — “The Girl Who Faded Away”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 28, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 620) The Hysterics — “Everything’s There” Richie Unterberger says of this ’65 garage rock classic that “[t]hey had a characteristic organ-guitar sound and snarling, immature teen putdown vocals”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hysterics-mn0000269897). Yup. Did those teen boys sound put upon! “The Hysterics were from San BernardinoContinue reading “The Hysterics — “Everything’s There”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 27, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 619) Bob Lind — “Eleanor” As we used to say at the University of Michigan, “Oh how I hate Ohio State.” Well, oh how I hate “Elusive Butterfly”. But: 1) I love “Eleanor”! As Joe Viglione says, “when you hear . . .Continue reading “Bob Lind — “Eleanor”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 26, 2022″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 618) The Mark Leeman Five — “The Boy Who Walks All Alone” The group’s first demo, circa ‘62, is a haunting and unforgettable mod/northern soul number. The Five had conquered the London clubs and were readying an assault on the realm when theirContinue reading “The Mark Leeman Five — “The Boy Who Walks All Alone”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 25, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 617) Jake Holmes — “Think I’m Being Had” OK, I feel a little dazed and confused after listening to this song, the B-side of Holmes’ first single (’67). It has got to be the greatest “I know you’re cheating on me” song thatContinue reading “Jake Holmes — “Think I’m Being Had”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 24, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 616) The Bonzo Dog Band — “”Humanoid Boogie” The very same year that HAL told David Bowman to take a chill pill and sang “Daisy”, the Bonzos gave us the “Humanoid Boogie”, which “got the humanoid hip-types jumpin’ and-a jivin’”! As Harvey J.Continue reading “The Bonzo Dog Band — “Humanoid Boogie”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 23, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 615) The Outsiders — “ Happyville” The Outsiders give us a randy and “masterful acid punker[]” (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/the-outsiders-cq/) off of CQ, their last album (’68) — as only a band from the Netherlands could. And only a Dutch band could write English lyricsContinue reading “The Outsiders — “Happyville”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 21, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 614) Fever Tree — “Love Makes the Sun Rise” This ’69 A-side and album track is, per Richie Unterberger, a luminous “pretty, wistful ballad” by a Houston psych group. Oh, with guitar courtesy of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons! Richie Unterberger tells us: AContinue reading “Fever Tree — “Love Makes the Sun Rise”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 20, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 613) Herman’s Hermits — “Dream On”/”I Gotta Dream On” Can’t believe Herman’s Hermits never sued Aerosmith over the blatant steal of this song! It is a cool ‘65 album track and B-side that amalgamates a lot of the British Invasion sounds then onContinue reading “Herman’s Hermits — “Dream On”/”I Gotta Dream On”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 19, 2022″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 612) Norman Conquest — “Upside Down” This ’68 B-side is one of British musical genius John Pantry’s (see #494) most glorious pop psych confections. Vernon Joynson calls it “dreamy flowery pop.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) But, was Pantry the lead singer onContinue reading “Norman Conquest — “Upside Down”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 18, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 611) Mercy — “Fire Ball” A horrible ‘69 A-side — treacly pop that reached #2 on the charts, paired with a sensational B-side — one of the best garage-y rock instrumentals of the ‘60’s. WTF? As EastCoastDude says, “Seriously, this is the sameContinue reading “Mercy — “Fire Ball”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 17, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 610) Tim Buckley — “Once Upon a Time” A coulda been ’67 hit single by the troubadour if only the boneheaded record label had deigned to release it. For Buckley, it “is uncharacteristically rocking”. (Joseph Neff, https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2016/11/graded-on-a-curve-tim-buckley-lady-give-me-your-key-and-wings-the-complete-singles-1966-1974/) Andrew Sandoval tells us that: InContinue reading “Tim Buckley — “Once Upon a Time”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 16, 2022″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 609) Joe Tex — “We Can’t Sit Down Now” I’ve featured my two favorite Joe Tex songs (see #42, 455). Here’s another classic, also off Tex’s magnificent ‘69 album Buying a Book. RDTEN1 says that “[e]ven before he converted to Islam and changedContinue reading “Joe Tex — “We Can’t Sit Down Now”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 14, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 608) The Common Cold — “Come Down” There is Beatlesque, and then there is Invasion of the Beatles Snatchers-level Beatlesque. Of course, there is “Lies” by the Knickerbockers. That was early-Beatles snarching. Well, here is a Beatles psychedelic phase snatch that is simplyContinue reading “The Common Cold — “Come Down”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 13, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 607) Ten Years After — “Working on the Road” This ‘70 A-side and album track is one of TYA’s greatest songs. Dave Swanson calls it their 8th best: A killer rock and roller . . , [it is ] another take on theContinue reading “Ten Years After — “Working on the Road”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 12, 2022″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 606) The Kinks — “This Strange Effect” Ray Davies pops up wherever you look. This magical David Lynch-y song has had a strange affect/strange effect (I never know which is right!) on pop culture over the years. As Kurt Wolff tells us, “[f]orContinue reading “Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written By Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 11, 2022”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 605) The Honeybus — “He Was Columbus” I couldn’t find a song I wanted to feature that featured the term “indigenous peoples”, so here is the Honeybus’ “He Was Columbus”. So sue me. Another glorious track from the glorious Honeybus (see #6, 52,Continue reading “The Honeybus — “He Was Columbus”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 10, 2022”