THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,311) The Poets — “Some Things I Can’t Forget”
’65 B-side by Scotland’s greatest ‘60’s band (see #47, 86, 223, 489) — “spellbinding” (Lenny Helsing, https://ugly-things.com/george-gallacher-1943-2012/), and, as Richie Unterberger writes, “[o]ne of the [Poets’] most glorious efforts . . . . [r]eminiscent of the Zombies in its mastery of captivating minor-keyed melody . . . suffused in . . . extra gloom by . . . hurt, anguished vocals . . . echoing, urgent guitar strums . . . high, ghostly harmonies . . . [and] eerie production”. (http://www.richieunterberger.com/urbcd.html)
The Poets’ music is “[m]ean, moody and utterly magnificent” (https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/wooden-spoon-singles-1964-67), their “unique sound . . . a chiming, mournful mix of 12-string guitars and plaintive vocals”. (https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher/) As their singer, songwriter and guiding light George Gallagher put it:
What was distinctly Scottish was that old Celtic self-pitying doom and gloom in our character and in the music, those minor melodies. . . . It’s just as well we remained a minor group; think of the kids that were saved from jumping off bridges[!]
Poets, I love you still.
As to George Gallagher and the Poets, the Herald (Scotland) writes:
[Gallagher had] an inherited regard for the principles of socialism and a love of football. Prodigiously gifted, he signed on as a youth player for Leicester City, aged 17. The solidarity of schoolmates won out and he became vocalist of a beat group, formed with his friends Hume Paton, Tony Myles, John Dawson and Alan Weir. They named themselves The Poets and – in an era when groups embraced gimmicks – created an appropriate look; vaguely Edwardian, with matching velvet jackets and tight trousers, and ruffled shirts intended to evoke Burns. The band were sporting this costume when, in 1964, they appeared in Beat News, a publication covering the Scottish music scene. It caught the eye of Andrew Loog Oldham . . . who was passing through Edinburgh Airport on his way to get married . . . . He . . . secured the singer’s address and made for Glasgow, where Gallacher lived. “It was a Sunday morning,” Gallacher would recount: “I was still in bed and my mother came in and said, ‘George, were you expecting the manager of The Rolling Stones?'”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher/
Lenny Helsing continues the story:
The Poets were quickly signed to Decca by . . . Oldham, who produced for them a brace of highly-innovative singles, all co-written by Gallacher, and guitarists Hume Paton and Tony Myles. . . . The Poets followed manager Oldham into his new Immediate label venture, cutting two singles there including . . . “Some Things I Can’t Forget,” the group’s preferred choice for [a] topside. This was over-ruled by ALO in favor of “Call Again”—“depressing stuff… and we were depressed that it was going to be our single,” recalled Gallacher . . . . In early ’66 . . . Gallacher left the Poets, disillusioned by lack of direction and momentum within the group, and the mess of ongoing management wrangles.
Richie Unterberger adds:
[The Poets were] the best Scottish rock group of the mid-’60s. . . . [T]hey . . . alternated between mournful, almost fey ballads and storming mod rockers. . . . A minor hit single right out of the gate and a management deal with [ALO] seemed to spell probable success. But the Poets fell victim both to subpar promotion and numerous personnel changes . . . Their first single, a characteristically moody original called “Now We’re Thru,” made number 30 in the U.K. Yet that was to be their only taste of commercial success, despite a flurry of fine singles over the next couple of years. . . . [T]he . . . association [with ALO] may have worked against them, as he was naturally inclined to focus most of his energies upon the . . . Stones. The Poets were getting lost in the shuffle and discouraged, and by 1967 not one original member remained from the lineup that had first recorded.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-poets-mn0000355978/biography
Please read Richie Unterberger’s fascinating interview of Gallagher at http://www.richieunterberger.com/gallacher.html.
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.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 