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 the song is an early composition by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson and Joshie Armstead! Well, it was a hit — half a decade later in revised form by Diana Ross (#38, #16 R&B and #10 in the UK). It was also done by the Carrolls from Liverpool.
Oh, and it was produced by Shel Talmy, who gave “it a perfect New York girl-group treatment”. (Richard Williams, https://thebluemoment.com/tag/perpetual-langley/) As to Talmy, Williams goes on:
Of the handful of Americans who landed in the UK in the 1960s to try and reverse the tide of the British Invasion, none had a more profound impact than Shel Talmy. A 25-year-old studio engineer with virtually no experience as a record producer but with a handful of Beach Boys and Lou Rawls acetates given to him by his mentor, Nik Venet, in order to persuade prospective employers of his bona fides, Talmy arrived from California in the summer of 1962. Dick Rowe, Decca’s A&R chief, was impressed enough to assign him to work with the Bachelors. It wasn’t really his idea of pop music, but when “Charmaine” was a hit, he was on his way. And after that came a handful of sessions that changed the way British pop records sounded. Talmy had worked as a studio engineer in Hollywood, miking up the Wrecking Crew. He knew how to make records that didn’t sound as though the desks were being manned by men in lab coats who regarded distortion as a form of heresy. The results, when he was let loose on a new generation of English bands, included the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me”, “All Day and All of the Night” and “Tired of Waiting for You”, and the Who’s “I Can’t Explain”, “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere” and “My Generation”. He knew how to use session men like Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins while retaining the raw energy that characterised the young bands in their club appearances.
https://thebluemoment.com/tag/perpetual-langley/
Here are the Carrolls:
Here is Diana Ross:
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