Monthly Archives: June 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 877) The Truth — “Baby You’ve Got It” Roger Dopson calls this ’66 B-side a “fearsomely good — if wholly uncharacteristic [for the band] — slice of Freakbeat” (liner notes to the CD comp Freakbeat Freakout) while Vernon Joynson calls it an “uncharacteristicallyContinue reading “The Truth — “Baby You’ve Got It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 30, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 876) The Cops ‘n Robbers — “I’ve Found Out” This ‘65 B-side is a “Real UK Beat Group gem, a Subtle Soulful Ballad Gem with a Lotta Magic, Dreamy Psych mood.” (Vintage Vinyl Via Valves, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvybezASxLk) It inexplicably starts with a musical quoteContinue reading “The Cops ‘n Robbers — “I’ve Found Out”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 29, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 875) Tim Dawe — “Junkie John” This “catchy, psychedelic folk-rock tune” (Craig Harris, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tim-dawe-mn0001559315/biography) by a future nuclear physicist was a “masterpiece” from “a superb debut, full of psychedelic folk rock with lots of organ, harpsichord and brilliant acid guitar”. (Stephane Rebeschini, https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/penrod.html).Continue reading “Tim Dawe — “Junkie John”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 28, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 874) Tina & David Meltzer — “Hungry” Yesterday I featured a lovely song off of Serpent Power’s sole LP, and today we turn to Tina & David’s solo LP, not 69’s Poet Song, but rather the one that stayed in the can forContinue reading “Tina & David Meltzer — “Hungry”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 27, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 873) Serpent Power — “Up and Down” This “gorgeous” (Alec Paleo, liner notes to the CD comp Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets: 1965-1970) and “winsome . . . lost [folk rock] classic” (David Fricke and Robert Christgau, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-essential-albums-of-1967-198515/the-beach-boys-smiley-smile-199475/) comesContinue reading “Serpent Power: “Up and Down”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 26, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 872) George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” Bob Dylan wrote but never recorded this “lost gem” (Andrew Grant Jackson, https://solobeatles.com/2015/06/02/harrison-revives-an-unfinished-gem-by-dylan/) about not wanting to go on the road and leave his family. Dylan gave it to George Harrison, who demoedContinue reading “George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 25, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 871) Nick Garrie — “Stephanie City” Another song about a prostitute (see #41) by Nick Garrie (see also #3, 19, 65, 104, 137, 245, 362, 493), unforgettable, wry and delightful. The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas is one of the great lost albums ofContinue reading “Nick Garrie — “Stephanie City”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 24, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 870) Perpetual Langley — “Surrender” How was this ’66 A-side not a hit?! It is a “rare R&B treat”, “sung . . . with raw passion” (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2017/07/07/anyway-anyhow-anywhere-ace-collects-shel-talmy-productions-from-the-who-david-bowie-more/) by a teenager from Belfast named Perpetual Langley (real name: Mary Langley). And theContinue reading “Perpetual Langley — “Surrender”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 23, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 869) Rare Earth — “Long Time Leavin’” Chris Rizik perfectly sums up Rare Earth in one extraordinary sentence: “Whereas a number of white acts spent the 50s stealing hit blues and soul songs and sanitizing them for pop audiences, Rare Earth largely madeContinue reading “Rare Earth Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 22, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 868) Los Saicos — “Fugitivo de Alcatraz” Peru’s Los Saicos (see #746) — the Psychos in English, and, yes, pronounced “psychos” — very well may have been the world’s first punk band. The band was “[p]rimitive to the point of primordial” (Lindsay Hutton,Continue reading “Los Saicos — “Fugitivo de Alcatraz”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 21, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 867) The Original Caste — “Highway” This ‘70 B-side to the Original Caste’s Canadian hit “Mr. Monday” (see #659) is pure pop pleasure that gives the listener a portal into the Fifth Dimension. Band founder Bruce Innis says “I wrote it for DixieContinue reading “The Original Caste — “Highway”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 20, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 866) The Dovers — “What Am I Gonna Do” This is a song in “the pantheon of sixties garage rock classics. . . . [f]ew tracks of the decade are so plaintively innocent, and almost none are so perfect.” (Matt Ryan, http://strangecurrenciesmusic.com/on-distant-stations-the-dovers/) ItsContinue reading “The Dovers — “What Am I Gonna Do”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 19, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 865) The Kinks — “Mr. Pleasant” This “[i]nsanely catchy Music Hall whimsy” (Thomas Martinussen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpJGewUyYk) by the Kinks (see #100, 381, 417, 450, 508, 529, 606, 623, 753) displays Ray Davies “penchant for sarcasm. Even before the end of the song, with allContinue reading “The Kinks — “Mr. Pleasant”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 18, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 864) Mark LeVine — “Going to the Country” Today I will let my freak flag fly and spin a: Steve Simels says of “Going to the Country” — no, not the Steve Miller Band song! — that: My new favorite song. . .Continue reading “Mark LeVine — “Going to the Country”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 17, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 863) Embryo — “Opal” A “pure Krautrock masterpiece” (https://roundandroundrecords.com/products/embryo-opal-lp) by a band Miles Davis described as “crazy creative musicians playing really weird stuff” (https://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/87525/embryo/opal-gatefold-colored-vinyl) Maybe because “[b]and leader Christian Burchard was . . . hanging out with the Amon Duul commune of freaksContinue reading “Embryo — “Opal”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 16, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 862) The Knickerbockers — “One Track Mind” No Lies, the Knickerbockers’ follow-up single “sounds even more like a Beatles recording than its predecessor” (me-n-my45, https://www.45cat.com/record/hlh10013) and “gets even closer to Beatlemania. . . . teeter[ing] on the edge of hysteria, with moptop-shaking harmoniesContinue reading “The Knickerbockers — “One Track Mind”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 15, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 861) Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” The first of Maurice’s (see #353, 354, 466) two singles (the other not til ’84) is “an absolutely sensational little song” (Tim Roxborogh, https://www.roxboroghreport.com/2020/04/samantha-gibb-covers-her-dads-greatest-song-my-flashbacks-to-being-backstage-with-the-bee-gees-in-1999.html) and a wonderful “throwback to country-pop balladry”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-loner-mw0001053220 (though I don’t thinkContinue reading “Maurice Gibb — “Railroad”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 14, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD Ah, the team of Pete Atkin and Clive James (see #263). It’s as if Gilbert and Sullivan woke up in Swinging London. And I’m not talkin’ Gilbert O’Sullivan! Christopher Evans: In the early ’70s, the songwriting partnership of Pete Atkin and Clive JamesContinue reading “All Aboard the Pete Atkin “Midnight Special” Edition: Pete Atkin— “Girl on the Train”, Pete Atkin — “The Original Honky Tonk Night Train Blues”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 13, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD John Williams (see #402, 784) was Jimmy Page’s partner in folk. As Corbin explains: John Williams was an artist in the mold of Donovan a sort of traditional folk artist with a twist. . . . He hailed from Bedford, England, a townContinue reading “All Aboard the John Williams “Midnight Special” Edition: John Williams — “C’mon Train”, John William — “Train”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 12, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 856) The Stone Poneys — “2:10 Train” The last song on the Stone Poneys’ (see #751) first album is a wondrous folk rock creation, a “particularly fine vehicle for the striking vocals of [Linda] Ronstadt . . . only 20” (Paul Sexton, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/stone-poneys-stone-poneys-album/?amp),Continue reading “The Stone Poneys — “2:10 Train”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 11, 2023”