Cherry Smash — “Fade Away Maureen”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 11, 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

889) Cherry Smash — “Fade Away Maureen”

Why this Brit pop psych number wasn’t a hit is beyond me. It’s a “great tune” with an “imaginative arrangement[,] brilliant playing and strong voices”. (Dinnes, Cruickshank, liner notes to the CD comp The Great British Psychedelic Trip: Vol. 2, 1965-1970) It was written by Liverpudlian Tony Hazzard. Vernon Joynson says the song “had commercial potential with quite a memorable guitar riff but sounds distinctly wimpy now.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Call me wimpy!

As to the band, All Music Guide notes that:

Their debut single for Track Records, 1967’s ‘Sing Songs Of Love’, was . . . . [a] melodramatic, syrupy pop song . . . featured on the soundtrack to Manfred Mann’s Up The Junction [which] gained the band some national recognition. . . . [I]t signed to Decca Records for 1968’s ‘Goodtime Sunshine’/‘Little Old Country Home Town’ . . . . This failed to build on the group’s initial impetus and after one final single, ‘Fade Away Maureen’, the group disbanded.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cherry-smash-mn0000775531/biography

Oh, and band member Bryan Sebastian’s brother was Manfred Mann’s drummer Mike Hugg!

Here is Tony Hazzard:

I have added a Facebook page for Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock! If you like what you read and hear and feel so inclined, please visit and “like” my Facebook page by clicking here.

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.

Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.