THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,272) The Hobbits — “I’m Just a Young Man”
Pop psych from Queens “built on a nifty folk-rock melody with an urgent electric sitar riff” with “background orchestration and some interesting studio effects added to give it a lysergic tinge”. (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hobbits/down-to-middle-earth/) Archie Bunker would have loved it!
As to the Hobbits, RDTEN1 tells us:
The Hobbits . . . were the brainchild of the late Jimmy Curtiss (aka James Stulberger). Born and raised in Queens, New York, Curtis started his musical career as a member of doo-wop group The Enjays. By the early ’60s he’d embarked on a solo career marketed as a teen idol. Initially signed by United Artists he recorded a series of standard sappy teen ballads with little success. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, Curtiss wrote some of his material and when Warner Brothers dropped him from his contract he shifted gears into writing and advertising. He worked with The Regents helping them record a couple of 1965 singles and resumed his own solo career where he demonstrated the sense to adapt to changing public tastes. As an example, 1965’s ‘Not for You’ found him moving into folk-rock, while 1967’s ‘Psychedelic Situation’ saw him diving headlong into [the psychedelic situation]. . . . [and] proved a hit in West Germany. He’s also enjoyed some success as a songwriter – notably a 1967 top-40 hit when Jimmie Rodgers’ covered “Child of Clay'” It was enough for Decca to offer Curtiss a recording contract. And that’s where The Hobbits kick in. Working with songwriters Terry Philips and Jerry Vance, Curtiss next decided to put together a studio group. In an interesting move he recruited model and former Playboy Bunny Heather Hewitt (she provided backing vocals and tambourine), former Sam Butera and the Witnesses bassist Tony Luizza and singer/guitarist Zok Russo for the project. . . . In spite of the album title, 1967’s Philips produced Down To Middle Earth really wasn’t much of a concept album, rather came off as a likeable collection of folk-rock, sunshine-pop and pop-psych performances. . . . serving pretty much as a Curtiss solo effort. In addition to writing and co-writing much of the album, Curtiss arranged the material and served as lead singer . . . .
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hobbits/down-to-middle-earth/
Jason Ankeny notes that “[The] follow-up [LP], Men and Doors: The Hobbirts Communicate, appeared in 1968 — like its predecessor, the record didn’t sell, and Decca terminated the contract. Curtiss then formed his own label and production company . . . . [A]fter rechristening the group the New Hobbits, Curtiss released 1969’s Back From Middle Earth, essentially a solo effort. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-hobbits-mn0001223665#biography)
Opinions differ as to Down To Middle Earth Franko writes:
What separates this album from any number of mid-range sunshine pop albums is that Curtiss’ roots are in doo-wop and vocal groups of the late 50s as well as the teen vocalists of the early 60s. So though the album is laden with the folk pop harmonies popular in sunshine pop there is also quite a bit of emphasis on the vocalist as a soloist. It’s as if Bobby Vee or Bobby Rydell were picked up and dumped into a psych pop band or if Jay and the Americans took acid. And there is nothing wrong with that.
Records As I Buy Them is ambivalent: “It’s an amateurish and occasionally bewildering record, obviously kind of shameless psychedelic bandwagon exploitation, but the most bewildering thing about it is how completely brilliant some of it is somehow.” https://somerecords.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/the-hobbits-down-to-middle-earth-1967/)
Dave Thompson — not so much:
[The album is] firmly in debt to the Turtles and/or the Hollies. Well-arranged melodies and picture-perfect harmonies do grab the attention in places . . . . [The Hobbits were] a band that sounded psychedelic because that’s what was selling at the time. In otherh words, not every lost psych gem is worth its weight in gold. Some are scarcely worth the vinyl they were pressed on.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/down-to-middle-earth-mw0000926005
Here is another song from the LP — “Daffodil Days” — live. It gives the impression that the whole endeavour may have been tongue in cheek!
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Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 
That Sam Gamgee plays a mean organ.
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I got a kick out of that goofy live show.
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