THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,486) The Tickle — “Subway (Smokey Pokey World)”
The band’s only A-side is a “minor masterpiece” (liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: Volumes 1-5: 82 UK Psych Classics), an “urgent, thrillingly hard-edged chunk[] of Beatles-inspired studio psychedelia produced by Tony Visconti”. (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970) “From the initial explosion of blistering guitar . . . the song is one of the high points of its genre. The lyrics encompass voles, rubber soles and Tootsie rolls, while the singer yearns for the girl who has escaped the Subway”. (liner notes to the CD comp Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: Psychedelic Confectionery from the UK Underground 1965-1969)
Richie Unterberger gushes (which he rarely does!):
The Tickle were one of numerous British bands to put out just one or two psychedelic singles in that strange period . . . when major UK labels were taking their chances with a lot of psychedelic one-offs. By the standards of this genre — and indeed the standards of psychedelic rock as a whole — [this one] was pretty phenomenal. An arresting melody; exuberant multi-layered harmonies; a dense arrangement with pounding drums, classical-influenced piano, and squiggly guitar; effects which made some of the vocals sound as if they were issuing from an alternate dimension; and a whimsical, cheerful lyric make this one of the best British psychedelic singles, and certainly one of the very best little-known ones in the style. . . . [It] could have been a hit (albeit one that would have been rather adventurous for some listeners and programmers to embrace), but it wasn’t.
As to the Tickle, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics writes:
A short-lived quintet led by Mick Wayne, who’d started out in the Outsiders with Jimmy Page. Thereafter he played with The Hullabaloos and then The Bunch of Fives*, led by unpredictable Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince. Prince departed after the release of their lone 45 in August 1966, upon which Wayne added John Beckerman in his place and renamed them The Tickle (underworld slang for a crime . . . )** Regular performers in London’s psychedelic dungons, they made their sole 45 with Tony Visconti, who’d recently arrived from America and was en route to fame and fortune with T. Rex and David Bowie. [After “Subway”] flopped . . . Wayne drifted into session work (including Bowie’s Space Oddity), as well as playing with Junior’s Eyes and The Pink Fairies.
liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: Volumes 1-5: 82 UK Psych Classics
* “The idiom ‘a bunch of fives’ is a British slang term dating back to the early 19th century. It refers to a clenched fist, particularly one used for punching. The phrase is used to refer to the five fingers of the hand, emphasizing the closed and forceful nature of the fist.” (https://dictionary.langeek.co/en/word/212043)
** An alternate explanation is that “the group’s name was deemed too confrontational for the prevalent peace’n’love ethos, and they instead adopted the sobriquet THE TICKLE (after all, what could be less aggressive than a tickle?).” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970)
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