THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,431) American Express — “When the City Sleeps”
A late (’69) garage rock/”psychedelic ode to street walkers!” (Chris Bishop, https://garagehangover.com/americanexpress/) But who was Amex, to whom does the credit belong for this killer 45?
Max Waller partially uncovers the mystery:
Mani-Fournier [the songwriters] does ring a bell. Did some digging … Turns out to be The Challengers’ Ed Fournier with a guy called Dave Mani. They wrote several songs together around 1967-1969 for the Challengers but also for other artists they were behind – often produced by Challenger Richard Delvy, e.g. Free-For-All and Wednesday’s Children. So, this American Express might have been another Los Angeles-based group under their control, may have been a Challengers offshoot . . . or perhaps it was just a studio project.
As to the Challengers, Richie Unterberger tells us:
One of the most popular of the early Southern Californian surf bands, the Challengers were formed by drummer Richard Delvy after he left the Bel-Airs, who had recorded one of the very first surf singles, “Mr. Moto.” Their debut LP, Surfbeat (early 1963), was one of the very first all-instrumental surf albums and sold 200,000 copies, an astronomical number for a regional act. Recording several albums over the next couple of years, most of their repertoire consisted of covers of popular rock and surf tunes; undeniably exciting at the time, their lack of originality can make their work generic to wade through. The moody “K-39,” also available on surf compilations, is their most famous cut.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-challengers-mn0000068584#biography
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