THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,212) The Ministry of Sound — “In the Sky”
The greatest pop psych ode to aliens, UFO’s and flying saucers wasn’t released for decades. Talk about the X-Files! As to the song, written by Micky Keen and Robin Shaw, Russ Alquist [see #1,201] recalls:
Micky was into mysticism and we used to sit in a park near Denmark Street and talk to pigeons and other animals. Anyway, we lived in Hampstead Heath and Micky swore that he saw flying saucers there. I never saw them and even though I was okay with talking to pigeons, I’m not sure about the flying saucers.
liner notes to the CD comp The Ministry of Sound: Men from the Ministry/Midsummer Nights Dreaming
The Ministry of Sound? Richie Unterberger explains:
The Ministry of Sound issued just one 1966 single . . . . [but] their history was quite complicated considering their small discography, as they were a studio outfit whose personnel included noted songwriter John Carter [see #1,201], although Carter was not the dominant member. The core of the Ministry of Sound was the duo of singer/songwriters Robin Shaw and Micky Keen, who had first performed together back in the late ’50s in Mick Everly & the Prophets. By the mid-’60s they were part of the house band of Southern Music Studios, and signed to Carter’s publishing company as songwriters. They also recorded often at Southern Music Studios as Ministry of Sound, with Carter pitching in with songwriting, guitar, and some lead vocals. Songwriter Russ Alquist also sang lead on some tracks, as well as making some contributions as a writer . . . . At least several dozen songs were recorded by the aggregation between 1966 and 1968, but the only two that found release were issued on the 1966 Decca single “White Collar Worker”/”Back Seat Driver.” In common with much of the material with which the prolific John Carter was associated in the mid- to late ’60s (with groups such as the Flower Pot Men and the Ivy League), it gave a British spin to the harmony sunshine pop of groups like the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Association, and the Tokens. . . . Some of it also drew from psychedelia in the sophisticated production, use of . . . the Mellotron, songs that explored British characters and situations, and lightly trippy lyrics. . . . [S]ome of the songs they recorded were covered by British pop group Amen Corner and Australian singer Normie Row . . . . They came to an end when Robin Shaw joined the touring version of the Flower Pot Men . . . .
Fans of John Carter [me, me, me!] . . . will be familiar with the kind of idiosyncratic spin on late-’60s harmony pop . . . combining elements of sunshine pop, the Beach Boys, the Beatles at their poppiest, pop-psychedelia, and maybe a bit of the early Bee Gees . . . . [with later songs being] more sophisticated and psychedelically inclined . . . with . . . very British lyrical blend of everyday life and fairytale imagery.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-ministry-of-sound-mn0002326453#biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/midsummer-nights-dreaming-men-from-the-ministry-mw0000727479
Mark Frumento adds:
With Carter as the focal point, this group of talented musicians convened weekly, though as Robin points out, they rarely knew which songs were going to be recorded. “We’d get to the studio and John could ask what we had for the week. We’d play him some songs, rehearse them and record them all at once.” When quizzed about the high quality of the recordings against this fairly causal approach, Robin is quick to add, “We were very used to playing together and we somehow knew what the other was going to play. We worked very fast, though admittedly wer later added parts to get a final master recording. . . . [Engineer] John Mackswith [recalls] “It was how we envisioned Motown, just a bunch of people in a small room making great pop songs. Maybe we weren’t up to Motown’s standards but we were like a mini version.”
liner notes to the CD comp The Ministry of Sound: Men from the Ministry/Midsummer Nights Dreaming
While Richie Unterberger writes that “[i]t’s an attractive sound, and so well produced it’s hard to believe these weren’t actual releases”, he also says that the Ministry’s songs weren’t “as good as their most obvious influences, but it was very smoothly recorded and sung, with pleasant if not indelible tunesmithery. . . . just not as memorable, hooky, or penetrating as the best work in this general field.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/midsummer-nights-dreaming-men-from-the-ministry-mw0000727479)
OK, I’m sending Unterberger to the Ministry of Pain! The MoS’s pop psych work is easily within the top 2% of the “general field” of 60’s pop psych. That qualifies for membership in the lysergic Mensa society of sound!
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